How long they would remain stationary Bob could not tell; but he thought he had them sufficiently well in hand to give him time to fly to the mine and act on another idea that had occurred to him. On reaching the house, he ordered Shan Tai to put up in two or three baskets a quantity of food, then scribbled a note bidding Lawrence push forward at his utmost speed. This he placed under the lid of a tin weighted with stones, but free from caps or dynamite. Then telling Gur Buksh to keep a careful watch on the track southward, and fire if the Kalmucks showed themselves at the turn half a mile away, he went back to the aeroplane, carrying the tin, and set off down the river. He was anxious that Lawrence should arrive before dark. In the daylight the dynamite bombs might be relied on to bar the road to the Kalmucks; but they might easily take advantage of the darkness to slip past the mine, if not by the track, at any rate by the hill-path above, and the bombs would lose half their terrors. The possibility of a collision between the Kalmucks and his brother’s party filled him with anxiety; for the former, infuriated by their chevying, would wreak their vengeance upon the smaller band coming up-stream. Bob discovered Lawrence and his men taking a rest about half-way between the mine and the broken bridge. They greeted him with a cheer. He flew for some minutes up- and down-stream in the search for a landing-place, but the track being too narrow here, and the neighbourhood too rugged, he swooped down, and as he passed over the group, he got Fazl to drop his tin within a few feet of them. The Gurkha uttered a cry of incredulous amazement when he heard the order, but Bob hastily explained that the tin contained only a chit. Too busy himself with steering to watch the result, Bob asked Fazl what had happened, and he reported that the tin, rolling down the bank towards the river, had been retrieved by Lawrence Sahib himself. Bob flew straight back to the mine, thence over the Kalmucks, who were still halted where he had left them, and beyond them to the Pathans. The country was here much less rugged, but it was some little time before he found a spot where he could alight without risk, nearly half a mile south of the party. On landing, he and Fazl between them carried the baskets of food to the Pathans. "The sahib is a light to our eyes," said the head man. "The men were becoming restless." "I dare say. Well, here is some food for them. This will keep up their courage. I am glad to see that they have obeyed my orders, and before long I hope we shall all be safe at the mine." "Allah be praised!" cried the man. "Food is what we need, and my brothers will delight in the sahib’s care."