"Is there no moon to-night?"
"Not till very late, I think; and in any case we get more shadow than shine in the valley, unless the moon happens to be sailing directly above."
"You're right. I hadn't given it a thought. It will be a ticklish job. Owing to that bend the lights in the compound will be invisible from beyond the ledge. But it's got to be done somehow; I'm glad you mentioned it, because I don't think it would have occurred to me, and now I can try to meet the difficulty."
"You won't start back till daylight, I suppose."
"No. If I find the coast clear when I've had a look down the river I shall come back and drop here. If there are only a few of them we'll wait for our reinforcements and then see if we can't drive them off: that will give us another chance of searching for Uncle. On the other hand, supposing a lot more have come up from the encampment--too many for us to tackle--I'll show a red flag, and that'll be the signal for making tracks at once. There's one thing I'd recommend. Get the Pathans to take their horses a little further up-stream out of range. We don't want them to be hit. It's a pity there's no herbage for the beasts to feed on, their bags will be empty by the morning. Still, they'll be back at the mine by midday to-morrow, all being well."
Dusk fell early upon the river. It was gloomy below even while the mountain tops were still glistening in the glow of sunset, and the sky was bright. At last, when the keenest-sighted of the little party could see scarcely two hundred yards down the track on the opposite bank of the stream, Bob decided that it was time to move. He ordered three of the Pathans to creep cautiously out to the end of the bridge, and lie down behind some flat rocks there, keeping a sharp look-out for the appearance of the enemy. They gained their post without attracting attention.
"By the way," said Bob, as he prepared to walk with Lawrence into the open space on which the aeroplane lay, "you'll have to set a guard at the bridge end all night. Let the men take it in turns, two at a time. They're not used to doing sentry-go: I'm afraid you'll have to be with them yourself. If I'd thought of it before you might have got some sleep this afternoon. You mustn't let the enemy rush you."
"All right, I'll manage to keep awake. Hadn't we better try to clear some of these stones away? Otherwise you won't get a very good run off."
"Yes, but we can't wait to clear the ground properly. Every minute increases the risk of not getting away safely."
With the remaining two Pathans the boys moved quickly into the open space, and carefully lifted the larger fragments of rock from a straight stretch of about fifty yards. They were still engaged in this when the Pathans at the bridge end opened fire. Their comrades instantly joined them, and for some minutes the five men fired briskly across the river. The sentries had discovered a number of the enemy creeping stealthily along the track. Their fire was immediately answered, and bullets began to whistle around, striking the rocks with a dull thud. In the gloom both sides were firing almost at random. The Pathans, crouching behind the rocks, escaped injury, and it was unlikely that they themselves had done much damage among the enemy; but their fire had checked the advance, and by the time that the Englishmen had sufficiently cleared the course for the aeroplane the firing ceased.