As soon as the sun rose, Dick shook off his depression. They were now
a considerable distance up the hillside. There was no path, for the
people of Tripataly had no occasion to visit Mysore, and still less
desire for a visit from the Mysoreans. Periodically, raids were made
upon the villages and plains by marauders from the hills, but these
were mostly by the passes through the ghauts, thirty or forty miles
left or right from the little state which, nestling at the foot of the
hills, for the most part escaped these visitations--which, now that
the British had become possessed of the territories and the hills,
had, it was hoped, finally ceased. Nevertheless, the people were
always prepared for such visits. Every cultivator had a pit in which
he stored his harvest, except so much as was needed for his immediate
wants. The pit was lined with mats, others were laid over the grain.
Two feet of soil was then placed over the mats and, after the ground
had been ploughed, there was no indication of the existence of the
hiding place.
The town itself was surrounded by a wall, of sufficient strength to
withstand the attacks of any parties of marauders; and the custom of
keeping a man on a watch tower was still maintained.
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