"No operation required, you mean," said Captain Fenton laughing. "He does love his knife." "And fork!" added the major drily. "He shall have a look at my arm to-morrow. I propose to return with you to the fort. We must blow this place up. You can hold your own there for some time against a good number, and reinforcements will be hurried up as rapidly as possible. Then I must try the velvet glove with the tribesmen. There won’t be much time to do anything with them before those men we saw get south; but if you discourage them with hot lead at the fort it will help.... This is all very hard on you, Appleton." "That’s all right," said Lawrence. "I was only wishing I had brought more of our bombs with me. I might have checked those hillmen and given you more time." "But that would have involved your remaining in this neighbourhood, and you are wanted at the mine. A bomb or two dropped in flying over would have scattered them for the moment, but they’d have collected again as soon as you were past. I don’t know how much paraffin we’ve got to give you. No: there’s better work for you. You’ll convey the Chief’s message to your brother: hold the gorge for a week at all costs. I’ll do my best to get reinforcements through. It’s vitally important to keep those Kalmucks in check. The fate of India hangs in the balance." Preparations were made for the evacuation of the house on the following morning. Having taken on board more than enough paraffin to carry him back to the mine, together with a dozen rifles and several thousand rounds of ammunition, Lawrence bade the officers good-bye, and started immediately after breakfast. A few minutes after his departure a dull boom proclaimed that the tower had been blown up and the garrison was on the march for the south. Major Endicott had advised him to fly high so as to avoid the risk of further accident if he should encounter the enemy. Some ten miles from the tower he caught sight of them: they appeared like an army of ants crawling on the ground. A few shots were fired at him, but he was far out of effective range, and in a few minutes disappeared from their view. A little uneasy at first as to the staying power of the paraffin, he was soon reassured. In less than an hour he struck the western extremity of the valley, and he flew down it at full speed, maintaining a great altitude in case Nurla Bai and his party should be still on the track or in the hills above. He had almost reached the mine when he heard sounds of rapid firing. The attack, then, had begun in earnest. CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND DITTA LAL INTERPRETS