If we stumble, and our arms strike a stone, it will be heard by the natives on the opposite heights." They now set forward, feeling their way with the greatest care; but in the dense darkness the task of making their way among the boulders was difficult in the extreme.

They had proceeded but a short distance when a loud yell rose from the height above them.

It was repeated again and again, and was answered by shouts from the opposite side and from the mouth of the ravine.
"By Astarte!" Malchus exclaimed, "they have found out that we have escaped already." It was so.

One of the natives had crept forward along the path, hoping to find the sentry asleep, or to steal up noiselessly and stab him.

When he got to the angle of the rock he could see no form before him, nor hear the slightest sound.