There was a momentary pause, and then a voice said: "It is empty." Then followed the command: "Ride on, men.

They can't have got very far.

We shall overtake them in ten minutes." As soon as they started, Dick said: "Take a ramrod, Surajah, and make some holes through the walls, to fire through.

If we were to show ourselves at the windows, we might get shot." The walls were built of mud and clay, and with the iron ramrods they had no difficulty in making four holes, an inch wide and two inches high, on each side of the house.
"Now we are ready for them," Dick said, when they had finished.

"They have been gone half an hour, and it won't be long before they are back." In a few minutes, they heard the clatter of horses' hoofs.