Anyhow, our news will be very valuable, for at present he is supposed to be over on the other side, and he would have taken our troops entirely by surprise, if he had suddenly poured out onto the plain.

So we must give up my idea of hiding up, for if we did so we should have to lie there all day, and it would mean the loss of twenty-four hours; for I would not go down those ghauts for any money, except in daylight.

It is a very different thing going downhill to going up, and if we were to attempt it in the dark, we should break our necks for a certainty.

If we can get away early, tonight, we shall be at the edge of that steep place by nine o'clock in the morning, and if we strike the right point, we might be back to the Rajah by nightfall." "It will be difficult to find our way back in the dark," Surajah said.
"No doubt.

Still, we can keep in the general direction, and even if we do not hit upon the stream tonight, we shall find it in the morning." It was late in the afternoon when they reached the village, and it was now growing dark.