Then followed the command:
"Ride on, men. They can't have got very far. We shall overtake them in ten minutes."
As soon as they started, Dick said:
"Take a ramrod, Surajah, and make some holes through the walls, to fire through. If we were to show ourselves at the windows, we might get shot."
The walls were built of mud and clay, and with the iron ramrods they had no difficulty in making four holes, an inch wide and two inches high, on each side of the house.
"Now we are ready for them," Dick said, when they had finished. "They have been gone half an hour, and it won't be long before they are back."
In a few minutes, they heard the clatter of horses' hoofs. It ceased some forty or fifty yards away, and by the sound of voices and orders, it was evident that the other houses were being searched. Voices were also heard at the back of the house, and they guessed that the ground was being closely examined, up to the foot of the rock walls which enclosed the valley.
"Now, Surajah, you can take a shot from the window of that side. The others will be here in a minute, and it is just as well to let them know where we are, before they get close up to our door."
Surajah went to the window at the back. Four horsemen were making their way, at a walk, along the level ground between the rocks and the huts. The nearest was but some forty yards away. Surajah fired, and the man at once fell from his horse. The others instantly galloped on at full speed up the valley, and from the window at the end, Surajah saw them gather on the road three or four hundred yards away; and then, after a short consultation, cross to the other side of the valley, with the intention, he had no doubt, of rejoining their comrades.
The sound of the gun had been followed by shouts and exclamations from the party in the village. Dick could hear a conference in low tones; then all was silent. He went to the loophole at the corner, laid his rifle in it, and waited, looking along the barrel. Two or three minutes later the hole was darkened, and he fired at once. There was a sound of a heavy fall, followed by cries of rage, and a moment later there was a rush of men against the door.