the new
frontier was the territory ceded to the English on the Malabar coast.
But this would entail a long sea voyage, and they therefore determined
to make for Caveripatam, going by the road that led through Anicull,
and then through Ryacotta, which stood just outside the line of
territory ceded to England, and from whence a road led direct down the
passes. Anicull lay nearly due south of Bangalore, but the road they
would follow would not be the one by which Tippoo would return, as he
would come by the main road, which ran in a direct line between the
two cities.

Ibrahim was informed of their plans, and was told to warn the syce to
get their horses saddled and in readiness at eight o'clock, and that,
as they were going for a long day's ride, he would not be required to
accompany them--as he always did when they rode only into the town,
for then he might be wanted to hold the horses, if they dismounted and
went into a shop.

He was also to give notice, in the kitchen, that they would not return
to the midday meal, and that dishes for them would therefore not be
required. Thus it would be unlikely that any suspicion would be
aroused by their absence until they had been gone twenty-four hours,
by which time they would be more than halfway to the frontier.

They went to bed at their usual time, and slept soundly, for it seemed
to them both that there was practically no risk whatever to be run,
and that they would be across the frontier before any active search
was made for them. Even when it was discovered that they had left the
Palace, it would be thought that they had received some order from
Bangalore, either to join the sultan, or to go on some mission for him
that had occupied more time than they had anticipated on starting. The
idea that two officers, who were considered to stand high in Tippoo's
favour, should desert, would scarcely occur to anyone.

In the morning they were up early, completed their slight
preparations, and took their early breakfast, reserving a portion for
Annie, who, they thought, would not improbably have eaten nothing
before coming to them.

She was a quarter of an hour late in arriving, and looked somewhat
pale and flurried.

"They did not send me out this morning," she said, "and so I had to
stay, until I could slip out without being noticed; but they may miss
me at any moment."

"That will be all right," Dick said confidently. "They will search all
the rooms in the harem for you