"I don't see it, Akram; it is all covered with this white plaster."
"Yes, sahib; but all the houses here are built of brick, that is to say of brick and woodwork, and I noticed this one is also; besides, if you look at the plaster carefully you can make out the lines of the courses of brick underneath it; it is a thin coat, and badly laid on."
"It is a nuisance it is there," Percy remarked. "If it hadn't been for that it might have been possible with our knives to have cut away the mortar between the bricks, and so have got them out one by one, till we made a hole big enough to get through. Of course it would be a long job, but by replacing the bricks carefully in their places and working at night it might have been managed. But this white plaster renders it quite impossible unless the whole thing could be done in one night, which would be out of the question. There is the floor; we must examine that presently. I have read of escapes from prison by men who managed to raise a flooring stone, made a hole underneath big enough to work in, and so made their way either into another room or through the outside wall. It would need time, patience, and hard work; but unless we are able to bribe the man who brings us in food, that is how it must be done."
He pushed aside one of the rugs. The floor was composed of smooth slabs of stone about a foot square. "It could not be better," he said. "There should be no great difficulty in getting up a couple of these slabs. They are fitted pretty closely, but we ought to be able to find one where there is room for the blade of a knife to get in between it and those next to it."
"That is good, sahib; I should never have thought of getting out that way. However, if you tell me what to do I will do it;" and Akram went to the place where he had hidden his knife.
"There is no hurry, Akram. We can fix on a stone while there is daylight, but we can't begin until we are sure that everyone is asleep. They may bring us in some food at any moment; and before we begin in earnest we shall have to find out the hours at which they visit us, and how late they come in at night."
At this moment they heard steps coming along the passage.
"Sit down on that stool," Percy said, while he threw himself down on one of the charpoys. "We must look as dull and stupid as we can."
A man brought in a dish of boiled rice and meat. Akram addressed him in Punjaubi, but he shook his head and went out without a word.
"If none of these fellows speak anything but their own language, sahib, it will be difficult to try and get them to help us, for it will not do to let out that I can talk the language; for if we once get free, that will be our best hope of getting through the country."