"There are three thousand men, in the town," the guard said. "After a party of your soldiers came within a short distance of it, two months ago, fifteen hundred men were added to the garrison."
"Well, you see, with three thousand men they could scour all the woods and, if they overtook us, we should be unable to make any defence. Here, we may hope that they will not discover us; but if they do we can make a desperate resistance for, as only one man can enter that door at a time, it would be next to impossible for them to force their way in. You have your guns, and I have a brace of pistols and, as all the others have spears, it will be as much as the three thousand men could do, to get in through that door. If they did, there is a still narrower door in the corner to defend; and beyond that there is a long, narrow, steep flight of stairs, that one man could hold against a host.
"The first thing in the morning, we will carry our stores to the upper chamber. We have water and rice enough to last us for a month, if we are careful; so that, although I hope they won't find us, I shall not be at all afraid of our beating them off, if they do so."
As soon as it was daylight, the stones that had been added to the steps at the doorway were flung down; and then, by their united efforts, the two remaining steps were removed. Then they helped each other up, the last man being aided by two of his comrades, above.
"There," Stanley said; "if they do come to search for us, they are not likely to suspect that we have got a badly wounded man up here. They may search the big chamber that we were in, before, and any others there may be on the same level; but this narrow entrance, ten feet above them, is scarcely likely to attract their attention. If it does, as I said, we must fight it out; but it will be a wonderfully hard nut for them to crack."
He then ordered the men to carry all the stores to the upper chamber. Just as they began the work, there was a slight movement on the bed. Stanley at once went up to it. Harry was looking round, in a bewildered way.
"Well, Harry, how are you feeling? You have had a capital sleep."
"Oh, is it you, Stanley? I was not quite sure but that I was dreaming. Where am I? I must have gone off to sleep, directly we started; for I don't remember anything, after you spoke to me when they were making the hammock more comfortable."
"You are in a temple--some four or five thousand years old, I should say--and this is a rock chamber. The temple itself is in ruins. We are ten miles from Toungoo, and shall wait here till the pursuit for you has slackened. In another week, you will be more fit to move than you are, at present. I should not like to carry you far, as you are now. Besides, if we had pushed on, they would have been sure to overtake us; for these fellows can run like hares."
"But why should not they find us here, Stanley?"