may go, but
I don't say it cannot be managed."

"I should think not, Surajah, and it would be worth doing, however
great the difficulties might be. Just think of the grief that her
parents must feel, at her loss, and the joy when she is restored to
them. You see, it would be no great loss of time, if we were obliged
to take her down to Tripataly first, and then come back again to renew
our search. It would take but a week, going and returning, and now
that the passes are all open to us, the difficulties would be nothing
to what they were when we went back after our scouting expedition.
Besides, at that time they were more vigilant, all along the frontier,
than they will be now, because there was war between the two
countries, and Tippoo was anxious that no news of his movements should
be taken down. There is no talk of war now, for though Tippoo makes no
disguise of his fury at his losses, especially at Coorg being taken
from him, and is evidently bent upon fighting again, it will take a
very long time to get his army into an efficient state, to repair his
fortresses, to complete all the new works of defence he is getting up
here, and to restore the confidence of his soldiers.

"I should think it will be fully four or five years before he is ready
to fight again. At any rate, if we once get well away from here with
the girl, we ought to have no difficulty in getting across the
frontier. It would mean but a fortnight lost in the search for my
father, and, anyhow, we are not making any progress that way as long
as we stop here. The only drawback would be, so far as I can see, that
we should lose the benefit of our official positions, but unless we
happen to be sent off with orders to other hill forts, that position
will only hamper our movements. Besides, we should still have our
badges of office, and Tippoo's official orders to the governors.
Possibly, the news that we had disappeared might reach the governors
of some of the forts in this neighbourhood, but it would not be likely
to travel very far. His officers so frequently fall into disgrace, and
are either killed or thrown to the tigers, that the fact of our being
missing would scarce excite a remark, and those who heard of it would
suppose that we had either been secretly made away with, or that,
having learned that Tippoo was displeased with us, we had fled."

Surajah nodded. His confidence in his leader was complete, and he was
always ready to follow unquestio