an descend from the old wall over the great
defile."

"But it is so awful a place, Yussuf."

"Yes, it is awful; but there is a ledge we can reach, and then creep
along and get beyond the sentries. Then all will be easy, for we can
get a long way some dark night before the alarm is given, and in the day
we can hide. Of course we must load ourselves with the food we have
saved up."

"Yes, yes, of course," said Lawrence thoughtfully; "but Mrs Chumley,
she would not go down a rope."

"Why, not?" said Yussuf quietly; "she talks like a man."

"When are you going to try, then?" said Lawrence excitedly.

"In about ten days. I shall be ready then, and the nights will be dark.
But, patience--you must not be excited."

"But you will tell Mr Preston?"

"Yes; to-morrow night, when I have finished my first rope. Go to sleep
now."

"And you, Yussuf?"

"Oh, I am going to work," he said smiling. "See, my material is here."

He drew out a handful of worsted threads which were evidently part of a
rug which he had unravelled, and as soon as Lawrence had lain down, the
Turk walked to the darkest corner of the building, and Lawrence could
just make out that he was busy over something, but he was perfectly
silent.

CHAPTER FORTY.

A GRAND DISCOVERY.

It was the very next day that the professor took his paper, rule, and
pencils down to a building that seemed to have been a temple. It was at
the very edge of the tremendous precipice, and must once have been of
noble aspect, for it was adorned with a grand entrance, with handsomely
carved columns supporting the nearly perfect roof, and the wonder was
that the brigands had not utilised it for a dwelling or store. But
there it was, empty, and the professor gazed around it with rapture.

The guards stood at the entrance leaning against the wall watching him
and Lawrence carelessly, and then, going out into the sunshine, they
picked out a sheltered spot, and sat down to smoke.

The professor began to draw. Soon afterwards Mr Burne sat down on a
broken column taking snuff at intervals, and Yussuf seated himself with
his back to the doorway, drew some worsted from his breast, and began to
plait it rapidly, while Lawrence went on investigating the inmost
recesses of the place.

"Come and look here, Yussuf," he cried at the end of a few minutes, and
the Turk followed him to a part of the building behind where an altar
must have stood and pointed down.

"Look here," h