"
CHAPTER II
"Just as I was getting strong enough to walk, and was beginning to
think of making my escape, a band of five or six fellows, armed to
the teeth, came in, and made signs that I was to go with them. It
was evidently an arranged thing, the girls only were surprised,
but they were at once turned out, and as we started I could see two
crouching figures in the shade with their cloths over their heads.
I had a native garment thrown over my shoulders, and in five minutes
after the arrival of the fellows found myself on my way. It took us
some six hours before we reached our destination, which was one of
those natural rock citadels. Had I been in my usual health I could
have done the distance in an hour and a half, but I had to rest
constantly, and was finally carried rather than helped up. I had
gone not unwillingly, for the men were clearly, by their dress,
Dacoits of the Deccan, and I had no doubt that it was intended
either to ransom or exchange me.
"At the foot of this natural castle were same twenty or thirty
more robbers, and I was led to a rough sort of arbor in which was
lying, on a pile of maize straw, a man who was evidently their
chief. He rose and we exchanged salaams.
"'What is your name, sahib?' he asked in Mahratta.
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