Then a gate of the hermitage opened and three Brahmins approached, waving a white cloth. Rana Raj Singh rode to meet them, Blake almost abreast of him and Quorn on Asoka keeping well within earshot. "Halt!" commanded Rana Raj Singh. "Where is the Ranee?" Bamjee came to life and knelt up in the _howdah_, clearing his throat to shout something, but Quorn cursed him into silence. "She is with us in the hermitage," the Brahmin answered insolently. "She bids you go home." Bamjee exploded, Quorn or no Quorn. "Liar!" he shouted. "Your highness, that man is the go-between who tells Maraj what to do. I know him!" The Brahmin promptly played his trump card. "Her Highness the Ranee has apologized to the high priest and has received his blessing. You are to take that elephant away and shoot him. The person known as Maraj has been imprisoned in the hermitage and will be taken to Narada to be tried and executed. "We ourselves will be the Ranee's escort to Narada." Rana Raj Singh's men came dragging prisoners. They threw them to the ground and held them there at the lance-point. "Prince, they say the Ranee is locked into a cell. There are forty more of this sort in there, prepared to defend the place. Maraj is a prisoner, but the Brahmins have offered him freedom if we attack and he helps the defense." They tied the prisoners back to back by necks, hands and feet. There began to be a great commotion in the hermitage--an uproar--and another Brahmin came running, but not through the gate; he climbed the wall, jumped, fell, hurt himself and limped, hurrying as best he could. He stammered; it was hard to understand him. Quorn, who could see the roof of the building better than the rest could, understood first. "Hell's bells!" he exclaimed. "Maraj is loose. He's on the roof. He has turned those other guys against the Brahmins! This guy wants us to go help the high priest! Can you beat that?" "Can you break that wall?" asked Rana Raj Singh. * * * * * Always the easiest thing in the world was to start Asoka smashing things. Quorn's only immediate worry was the risk of damage to Asoka's head, so he chose the mud-and-stone wall rather than the teak gate and sent Asoka charging at it like a five-ton battering-ram. He heard Bamjee crying, "Oh, my God!" behind him--heard the thunder of the Rajput horsemen closing in behind him, two by two, to burst through the gap he should make, saw--through the edge of his eyes--Blake and Rana Raj Singh slightly to his rear, one on either flank, distinctly heard and felt the _ping_ of several bullets, thought he heard Blake answer them, and was dimly aware that a man on the roof was shooting at him, but kept on missing. Then came the shudder and shock as Asoka struck the wall with his enormous forehead--strained his weight against it--grunted--and a section of the wall fell inward in a cloud of dust.