"If we cannot get in in that way, there seems to me to be no chance, save by taking a careful survey of the fortress, to discover where the rocks can be most easily climbed.

There must surely be some spots, even among the steepest crags, where active fellows like Surajah and myself would be able to scale them.

Of course, we should have to do it after dark; but once up there, one ought to be able to move about in the fort without difficulty, as we should, of course, be dressed as soldiers, and could take dark blankets to wrap round us.

We ought then to be able to find where any prisoners who may be there are confined.
There might be a sentry at the door, or, if there were no other way, one might pounce upon someone, force him by threats to tell us what prisoners there are, and where they are confined; and then bind and gag him, and stow him away where there would be no chance of his being discovered before daylight." "There would be a terrible risk in such a matter," Pertaub said, shaking his head gravely.
"No doubt there would be risk, but we came here prepared to encounter danger, and if it were well managed, I don't see why we should be found out.

Even if we were, we ought to be able to slip away, in the darkness, and make our way to the point where we went up.