Some of my
friends, who keep shops in the fort, may be able to do this for me.
This would shorten your task.
"But I cannot hold out any hopes that you will find him whom you seek
in the city. It is among the hill forts you will find him, if he be
alive. I have been turning the matter over, since you spoke to me last
night, and the best plan I can think of is, that you should go as a
travelling merchant, with Surajah as your assistant. You would want a
good assortment of goods; fine muslins and silks, and a good selection
of silver jewellery, from different parts of India. All these I could
purchase for you here. If, by good luck, you could obtain a sight of
the commander of one of these forts, you might possibly obtain
permission from him to go up, and show your wares to the ladies of his
establishment, and to those of other officers. The present of a
handsome waist sash, or a silver-mounted dagger, might incline him
favourably to your petition."
"I think that the idea is an excellent one," Dick said warmly. "If we
cannot get in in that way, there seems to me to be no chance, save by
taking a careful survey of the fortress, to discover where the rocks
can be most easily climbed.
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