Max felt his heart go pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat—louder than he liked.
But to his great astonishment he heard his pursuers declare that he must have scaled the wall.
“The cellar,” said one, by way of suggestion.
“The door has not been opened for a week,” answered one of the eunuchs.
“How blind they were!” mused Max, as he heard the declaration.
His heart gave a big leap for joy when he heard the eunuch call off his men and declare that the “infidel” had escaped.
When the footsteps died away Max began to think about his prison house.
If the door had not been opened for a week, was there any way of egress or ingress?
If not, then might he not starve to death?
“Perhaps the Mahdi will capture the place, and I shall be saved.”