This is good, so far as it goes, but it only shows
that the other passes are, like this, entirely deserted. Therefore, we
really know nothing whatever. Even at this moment, Tippoo may have
fifty thousand men gathered on the crest of the hills, ready to pour
down tomorrow through one of the passes; and therefore, as I do not
think you would be running any great danger, I consent to your going
with Surajah on a scouting expedition, on foot, among the hills. As
you say, you must, of course, disguise yourselves as peasants. You had
better, in addition to your guns, each take a brace of pistols, and so
armed, even if any of the villagers were inclined to be hostile, they
would not care about interfering with you."
"Thank you, Uncle. When would you expect us back, if we start tomorrow
morning?"
"That must be entirely in your hands, Dick. You would hardly climb the
ghauts and light upon a village in one day, and it might be necessary
to go farther, before you could obtain any news. It is a broken
country, with much jungle for some distance beyond the hills, and the
villages lying off the roads will have but little communication with
each other, and might know nothing, whatever, of what was happening in
the cultivated plains beyond.
Pages:
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153