Part 14 (2/2)

There was soazine To be able to appreciate it properly one would be obliged to do what they did-wander through a maze of tunnels in a city-wall, blinded by darkness, oppressed by the stored-up stuffiness and heat of ages and deafened by the stillness-then e hed; and chewed betel-nut at their ease upon the powder-kegs

Both sides were taken by surprise, but the e, for their eyes were accustoe in numbers, too, by al off theThey fully expected to die, and ht as well die that way as any other And a quick death for the wo the rebels had in store for them Brown yelled an order, and the rest was too quick, nearly, for the eye to follow

Three rebels died with bullets in them, and the rest stampeded for the teak-and-metal door, to find it locked on theuard The ether on the two But they had yet to learn that they were tackling, or endeavoring to tackle, the two finest swordsmen in that part of India And when they turned, to find ht in, or to draw their breath, they had to face nine bayonets that hemmed theain They shouted, but no sound could pierce the walls or escape through that tre merely echoed upward until it reached the do above They ht as well have shouted to their friends in Bholat!

For ten ed and swayed on the stone floor first one side rushi+ng, then the other But man afterswordsrim determination of their adversaries, bewildered to feebleness by the suddenness of the attack

Soon there were but eight of the the blood-wet steel, and then Brown shouted for a fresh forent into line and led the mutineers off their feet

Three h the down their ar mercy Brown made a bundle of their arether in a bunch, while he searched theet that trapdoor open noith these to help us,” he re the dotted blood off his sword on a Hindu prisoner's trousers, ”it'll be a heavier proposition than I think!”

”There's a trick to it,” said Juggut Khan, panting too, for the battle had been fierce and furious while it lasted ”The fakir knows the trick It is heavy, in any case But, if we e it”

There followed delay while the fakir was induced to forego the pleasure of a sulking fit He seemed like a child, anxious to e to be reco they needed of hih, to surrender when he felt the weight of a cleaning-rod on his anatoarette for instance-placed where he would get the most sensation froed a lever of sorts, and a rope through an iron ring in the trap, and while Juggut Khan hunted for the secret catch that the fakir sas hidden underneath a sed in the middle of the floor He found it at last, moved it and came across to lend a hand with the lever and the rope

The fakir sat still and sleamed more horridly than ever, and his withered areance on them

”I believe that monster is up to tricks of sout Khan ”If ere all to put our weight against this, all together, we and the prisoners, sahib, we could get it open in a second”

”All together, then!” said Brown ”Come on, there! Lend a hand!”

The prisoners and Brown's ut Khan and the Beluchi bent their backs above the lever, or hauled taut on the rope, and the fakir wriggled with some secret joke

”At the word three!” said Brown ”Then all together!”

”One!”

”Two!”

The fakir writhed delightedly He seemed more than ever like a wickedly malicious child

”Three!”

They strained their utave ith a sudden jerk

”For the love of-”

They all ju position for a quick recovery, and the ten-ton rock rolled back on unseen hinges to crush them all, and rolled back and yet farther back-and then stayed! Brown had snatched a rifle, and had placed it between the rolling rock and the wall!

He stood wiping the sweat from his forehead, while the rest recovered their lost balance and walked out from behind unscathed The rifle creaked and bent and split Then the stone leaned farther back, reached the wall and stayed there!