“Defend me from ever leading a double life! It’s too much trouble,” said Ferrers, with a yawn, for he was sleepy. What an immense amount of riding Major Keeling must get through night after night, if he went first westwards to Sheikhgarh and then eastwards to the Akrab! And how in the world did he manage to cram so much activity into the daytime? He must be able to do almost without sleep. It was really a pity such a fine soldier and ingenious plotter should be such a rascal! “Why don’t you go into partnership with Keeling Sahib, Mirza, instead of showing him up?” he asked. “You two might rule Asia, he as Padishah and you as Vizier.” “Am I a dog, to work with perjured men and those false to their salt?” snarled the Mirza. Ferrers laughed unkindly. “Oh, don’t try to come the righteous indignation dodge over me: I know you a little too well for that. Now just touch up my face a bit. If there’s a moon, it’ll be harder for me to pass muster if we meet any one than it was by starlight.” The toilet completed, they slipped out, and, by dint of traversing unsavoury alleys and skulking close under walls, managed to evade various sentries and reach the desert unchallenged. The Mirza made straight for the spot where he had picketed the ponies, and directed their course rather to the south of the hill which commanded the town on the west. The route on this occasion did not lead through the open desert, but up and down hill-paths and dry nullahs, and Ferrers wondered where they would find themselves at last. When they reached a kind of cave in which the Mirza remarked that they must leave the ponies, they were in a part of the hills with which he was totally unacquainted, so far as he could tell in the darkness. The Mirza seemed to know the way well, however; and warning him that the slightest noise would be dangerous, as the Sheikh-ul-Jabal’s servants kept the neighbourhood closely patrolled, led him up what seemed a goat-track in the rocks. He would not allow any loitering for rest, saying that the moon would soon rise, and they must be in shelter first, and by dint of great exertions they reached their goal in time. It was a kind of ledge or shelf on the side of the cliff, overlooking what seemed to be a pile of huge rocks below; but as the moon rose, Ferrers perceived that the apparently shapeless masses were the rude towers and buildings of a hill-fort. The site had been well chosen, for, with the short range of the native matchlocks, it could not be commanded from any of the surrounding hills. From his position Ferrers could see between two of the towers down into the courtyard, and he was startled to perceive a black horse standing saddled in front of the building which represented the keep or chief apartments of the place. The horse was held by a servant, and presently another servant appeared with a torch, and a third brought a bag of food and a skin of water, and fastened them to the saddle. Then, as Ferrers watched,