The Subada Ke Kothee was a large building, forming three sides of a square, a strong high wall forming the fourth side. It was low, with a flat roof. There were no windows or openings in the outside wall, the chambers all facing the courtyard. Two sentries were at the gate. They were in the red Sepoy uniform, and Bathurst saw at once how much the bonds of discipline had been relaxed. Both had leaned their muskets against the wall; one was squatted on the ground beside his firearm, and the other was talking with two or three natives of his acquaintance. The gates were closed. As they watched, a native officer came up. He stood for a minute talking with the soldiers. By his gesticulations it could be seen he was exceedingly angry, and the men took their muskets and began to walk up and down. Then the officer knocked at the gate. Instead of its being opened, a man appeared at a loophole in the gate tower, and the officer handed to him a paper. A minute later the gate was opened sufficiently for him to pass in, and was then closed behind him. “They are evidently pretty strict,” Bathurst said. “I don’t think, Rujub, there is much chance of our doing anything there.” Rujub shook his head. “No, sahib, it is clear they have strict orders about opening and shutting the gate.” “It would not be very difficult to scale the wall of the house,” Bathurst said, “with a rope and a hook at its end; but that is only the first step. The real difficulty lies in getting the prison room open in the first place--for no doubt they are locked up at night--and in the second getting her out of it, and the building.” “You could lower her down from the top of the wall, sahib.” “Yes, if one could get her out of the room they are confined in without making the slightest stir, but it is almost too much to hope that one could be able to do that. The men in charge of them are likely to keep a close watch, for they know that their heads would pay for any captive they allowed to escape.” “I don’t think they will watch much, sahib; they will not believe that any of the women, broken down as they must be by trouble, would attempt such a thing, for even if they got out of the prison itself and then made their escape from the building, they would be caught before they could go far.” “Where does the prison house lie, Rabda?” Bathurst asked. “It is on the left hand side as you enter the gate; it is the farthest door. Along that side most of the buildings--which have been used for storehouses, I should say, or perhaps for the guards when the place was a palace--have two floors, one above the other. But this is a large vaulted room extending from the ground to the roof; it has windows with iron gratings; the door is very strong and heavy.” “And now, sahib, we can do nothing more,” Rujub said. “I will return home with Rabda, and then go over to Bithoor.” “Very well, Rujub, I will stay here, and hear what people are talking about.”