“That will be a very good plan. We will sit down to dinner as if nothing had happened; if they are watching at all, they will be keeping their eyes on us then.” “Very well; I will be in by nine o’clock, Major;” and with a slight bow to Isobel, Bathurst stepped out through the open window, and made his way to the Doctor’s. CHAPTER XIII. The Doctor had just sat down to dinner when Bathurst came in. The two subalterns were dining with him. “That’s good, Bathurst,” the Doctor said, as he entered. “Boy, put a chair for Mr. Bathurst. I had begun to think that you had deserted me as well as everybody else.” “I was not thinking of dining,” Bathurst said, as he sat down, “but I will do so with pleasure, though I told my man I should be back in half an hour;” and as the servant left the room he added, “I have much to say, Doctor; get through dinner as quickly as you can, and get the servants out of the tent.” The conversation was at once turned by the Doctor upon shooting and hunting, and no allusion was made to passing events until coffee was put on the table and the servant retired. The talk, which had been lively during dinner, then ceased. “Well, Bathurst,” the Doctor asked, “I suppose you have something serious to tell me?” “Very serious, Doctor;” and he repeated the news he had given the Major. “It could not be worse, Bathurst,” the Doctor said quietly, after the first shock of the news had passed. “You know I never had any faith in the Sepoys since I saw how this madness was spreading from station to station. This sort of thing is contagious. It becomes a sort of epidemic, and in spite of the assurances of the men I felt sure they would go. But this scoundrel of Bithoor turning against us is more than I bargained for. There is no disguising the fact that it means a general rising through Oude, and in that case God help the women and children. As for us, it all comes in the line of business. What does the Major say?” “The only question that seemed to him to be open was whether the women and children could be got away.” “But there does not seem any possible place for them to go to. One or two might travel down the country in disguise, but that is out of the question for a large party. There is no refuge nearer than Allahabad. With every man’s hand against them, I see not the slightest chance of a party making their way down.”