The natives, in accordance with their cowardly nature, were about to drop on their knees and beg for mercy, when they had wit enough to see their opportunity. At the moment the surgeon seized the arm of the young lady, the trembling wretches slipped noiselessly away. Had they delayed their departure a single minute, Baird Avery would have shot both dead.
"How came you here?" he asked, half believing it was all a hideous dream, until he felt the warm arm of his beloved grasped by his own strong right hand.
"I can hardly tell you, but it must have been my fault. Luchman walked quite rapidly, never once looking behind to see whether I was keeping near him. He had the right to believe that I knew enough to act my part without any help from him; but at one of the bazars the crowd was so dense that I was compelled to turn aside. Then, when I tried to get back, something caused an excitement in front, and I was forced still further away. By that time I had lost Luchman altogether. You know that no woman ventures in such a place at night without her husband, and I was in a sad predicament. With a view of not drawing unpleasant attention to myself, I tried to keep directly behind a stranger."
"That ought to have protected you," said her escort.
"So it did for a time, but I was terrified when I found that a couple of Mohammedans were following me. I started to flee, but they quickly overtook and made me a prisoner. I pleaded with them and offered all my jewelry, but they laughed and replied that they would soon have it any way. I dared not shriek, for that would have brought others around me, and made my danger tenfold worse."
"But where was that pistol of yours?" asked the doctor, drawing her arm within his own. "Why was it loaded with such care, and stowed away in the recesses of your dress?"
"Would you believe that I forgot I had it until after they grasped my arm so tightly that I could not get hold of it?"
"Such forgetfulness cannot happen again; but we shall be a long time getting out of the city at this rate. How far are we from the Cashmere gate?"
"About half a mile."
"Do you know the way?"