"
"It is capital," Surajah said. "I could not think what you were doing,
when you turned round the corner of the fort and made for the village,
instead of going the other way. But where did you get that gun from?"
Dick told him how it had come into his possession.
"It was not so much that I cared for the gun," he said, "as that I
wanted to prevent the man from using it. If he had followed me
closely, he could hardly have helped hitting one of us, as we went up
the steps. By shutting the door, we gained a few moments, for they
were all in confusion in the dim light inside, and would certainly not
learn anything, either from the man I pitched in among them, or from
the sentry outside.
"I don't suppose any of them had an idea of what had happened, until
the sentry shouted to them that we had got over the wall. Then they
rushed up, and fired at random from the top, thinking that we should
be running straight from it."
They walked along for a short distance, and then Dick said:
"I have got my wind again, now. We will go on at a jog trot. I
mistrust that officer. He had a crafty face, and as we said we
belonged to a village down the ghauts, he may have a suspicion that we
have been trying to throw him off our scent, and think we should be
sure to double back and make for home.
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