CHAPTER XVII.
IMPRISONMENT But if Kumran was let and hindered by his oath from actually killing the Heir-to-Empire in cold blood, or, in lesser degree, from treating him so harshly that he might die, he did not feel so bound towards the others; and being cruel by nature, he set to work upon them at once.
Foster-father he sent to the State prison, which was down a well in the big courtyard.

There were two of these prison-wells, in which the water was reached by a flight of steep steps, and where dark, underground cells opened on to the deep silent pool.

They were terribly damp, but here poor Foster-father had to drag out long, miserable days, cut off even from news of the others.

Until one day, just when the sentry was eating his mid-day meal, he heard a violent barking, and by swinging himself up by the bars of the tiny shaft of the well he could just get a glimpse of Tumbu on the steps.

Why had he come?
Perhaps he had been sent; if so he would come again at the same time.