Even when he pushed his hardest against it, it did not yield in the slightest degree.

He sat down on the straw, and turned over every possible idea in his mind.

No scheme of getting out of the difficulty presented itself.
"The only chance that I can see is that, instead of four fellows coming up with the man who brings my food, there may be only two.
Taking them by surprise, and snatching a weapon from them, I might manage three of them; but I could not even hope to silence five, before they gave the alarm.
"I hope that Abdool got away safely.

I think that if he did, he was likely, when he had once shaken off pursuit, to come back and try to find out what had become of me.

His face could not have been particularly noticed, for I expect the troopers were attacked as soon as I entered that scoundrel's house; and if he took off his uniform, and went in in native dress, there would be little chance of his being recognized.