He went across the platform and along a few yards of the path until he reached the bend. There he peeped cautiously round. He forgot his prime object in the anxiety and concern to which the state of affairs down the river gave rise. Being slightly above the level of the track he was able to take a good view of the position. The enemy had cut a new path along the fallen cliff, and had thrown across it a breastwork about thirty feet long, from loopholes in which they were maintaining a hot fire on the northernmost boundary of the compound. The reply of the garrison was astonishingly feeble; the characteristic rattle of the machine gun was not to be heard, and Lawrence saw the havildar standing inactive by the weapon. Bob was near the wall, smoking a cigarette, and it was apparently only when he gave a distinct order that the men fired. Lawrence guessed that he was husbanding his ammunition, and blessed Major Endicott’s forethought in sending a supply which would be so welcome. Recollecting his purpose, Lawrence scanned the wooden pathway narrowly, to see how far Fazl’s advice was justified. For forty or fifty yards it was fully exposed to the enemy’s marksmen, but beyond that distance it gained some shelter from the buildings in the compound. If the enemy had not already had their attention drawn to it, there was a chance that, in spite of his weak ankle, he might dash across the exposed portion before they noticed him. But after a few seconds he saw with great relief that it was possible to lessen still further the risk of being hit. The pathway being a little higher than the track on the opposite side of the river, he might perhaps crawl along it without being discovered. By lying at full length, and hugging the face of the rock, he would get a certain protection from the outside edge of the pathway. He returned to the platform. "Has any one crossed from or to the mine since the enemy began firing?" he asked Fazl. "No, sahib: it was still dark when we came to relieve the night watch, and none has come or gone since." "Very well: I am going to crawl. Take care you don’t show yourselves." He was rather astonished at his lack of nervousness; but the events of the last few days had in fact exercised a bracing influence upon him. He crawled on all fours as rapidly as possible along the exposed section of the path, rose to his feet on reaching the spot where the buildings gave him cover, and in another few minutes greeted his brother. "Well done, old chap!" said Bob heartily. "I hardly expected you to get back yesterday, but it’s a great relief to see you. You had no trouble?" "Not with the machine, but we came across a lot of hillmen marching south, and they potted the major in the arm, and riddled the petrol cans, so that I ran short. But they gave me some paraffin at the tower, and it serves surprisingly well. It’s lucky we had a second carburetter." Just then a bullet sang overhead.