Alwa and four dashed through and under; the rest recovered, spun on their haunches, and followed.

The gongs boomed again down in the belly of the rock, and the gate clanged shut.
"That was good," said Mahommed Gunga quietly.

"Now, watch again!" Almost before the words had left his lips, a hail of lead barked out from twenty vantage-points, and the smoke showed where some forty men were squinting down steel barrels, shooting as rapidly and as rottenly as natives of India usually do.

They did little execution; but before Alwa and his eight had climbed up the steep track to the summit, patting their horses' necks and reviling Jaimihr as they came, the cavalry below had scampered out of range, leaving their dead and wounded where they lay.
"How is that for a start, sahib ?" demanded Mahommed Gunga exultantly, as two men deposited the dishevelled Jaimihr on his feet, and the Prince glared around him like a man awaking from a dream.

"How is that for a beginning ?" "As bad as could be!" answered Cunningham.