If we should find it so blocked up that we can't get
through, we must then see how we can get past the place in some other
way. If the gate is only barred, no doubt we should be able to
overpower the sentry, and get the gate open before any alarm is given.
If it is locked, we must do the best we can. We may calculate upon
taking the sentry by surprise, as we did in the prison, and on
silencing him at once; then we should have time to break up some
cartridges, and pour the powder into the keyhole, which is sure to be
a big one, make a slow match, and blow the lock open. We could make
the slow match before we start, if we had some water."
"Shall I go down to the stream, and get some?"
"You have nothing to carry it up in, Surajah; and besides, someone
might come along the valley."
"We shall only want a little water. I will take off my sash, and dip
it in the stream; that will give us plenty, when it is wrung out."
"At any rate, Surajah, we will do nothing until it is getting dusk.
See! There are some peasants, with three bullocks, coming down the
valley, and there are four armed horsemen riding behind them. We will
go back to those bushes, a hundred yards behind us, and sleep there
until sunset; then we will make our way down to that heap of boulders
close to the stream, manufacture our slow match, and hide up there
until it is time to start.
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