"I quite agree with you," Nita said; "one thing is certain, however, that meat will be of no use to us until we can light a fire to cook it."
"I think that we shall be able to manage that," he said. "You see this depression, which looks as if it had once been a water-hole, is eight or ten feet below the level of the hillside; that's the very place we want for cooking. They will not see the fire itself, but only its light reflected on the ground above us; but I think if we collect stones, and build a circular wall, say four feet in diameter and a few feet high, with a small opening at the foot for feeding the fire and putting on the meat, there will be no fear of any reflection falling on the hillside."
"No, I should think that that would do very well," Nita agreed. "We have another two hours of daylight, and as the hill is everywhere scattered with rocks and boulders we ought to make considerable progress with our oven in that time."
"Well, will you please sit down, then, and I will collect stones. This depression is scattered pretty thickly with them."
"Oh, but you must let me do my share of the work," Nita said; "I am just as keen to have a piece of roast beef as you are. At any rate I will gather up the smaller stones, and as soon as it becomes dark, will go out and cut some brushwood with the sword-bayonet."
"But I have no matches," Carter said, in a tone of dismay.
"I have some," Nita said; "not many, but a dozen or so. I put some loose into the pocket of the tunic, so that I could at once get a light in case of a sudden attack; I had no time even to think of them when the Afridis broke into the fort, but I did think of them when I got to the village, for I saw that if I could make my escape they would be of great use."
"They certainly will be invaluable," Carter said. "We will get the wall up as high as we can and then spread brushwood over the top. This will help to deaden the reflection, but will allow the smoke to escape freely."