Then the paper was
folded and I addressed it, 'The Officer Commanding,' and I was
given some chupattis and a drink of water, and allowed to sleep.
The Dacoits had apparently no fear of any immediate attack.
"It was still dark, although morning was just breaking, when I was
awakened, and was got up to the citadel. I was hoisted rather than
climbed, two men standing above with a rope, tied round my body,
so that I was half hauled, half pushed up the difficult places,
which would have taxed all my climbing powers had I been in health.
"The height of this mass of rock was about a hundred feet; the
top was fairly flat, with some depressions and risings, and about
eighty feet long by fifty wide. It had evidently been used as a
fortress in ages past. Along the side facing the hill were the remains
of a rough wall. In the center of a depression was a cistern, some
four feet square, lined with stone work, and in another depression a
gallery had been cut, leading to a subterranean storeroom or chamber.
"This natural fortress rose from the face of the hill at a distance
of a thousand yards or so from the edge of the plateau, which was
fully two hundred feet higher than the top of the rock. In the
old days it would have been impregnable, and even at that time it
was an awkward place to take, for the troops were armed only with
Brown Bess, and rifled cannon were not thought of.
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