The first difficulty was to obtain admission into the fort. Aware that on one side, where the wall was so high as almost to preclude the possibility of scaling it, the sentries posted were fewer and less vigilant, he resolved alone to attempt to climb the wall in this spot. One dark night, having provided himself with several spikes about nine inches long, he proceeded cautiously to the rampart. He had quitted the camp unknown to any one, having passed the sentries by daylight without suspicion, upon some natural pretence. When he reached the base of the rampart, which was here at least eighty feet high, he began to try his spikes upon the masonry. The stones were laid one on the other without cement, so that the interstices between them were sufficiently spacious to admit, with a little management, the introduction of his spikes. Fixing the first about a yard from the ground he stood on it, and placing another a foot above it he again raised himself, and pursuing this plan with cool perseverance, in spite of the great peril, he at length reached the summit of the battlement.
Whilst he was thus ascending, with the patient earnestness of a man who has a personal feeling to gratify, the sentinel above was fortunately whiling away the hours by chanting one of his native songs, which prevented him from hearing any sound made during this perilous ascent.
Previously to attempting the wall, the Rajpoot had cast off his dress, so that, the night being dark, the deep hue of his skin was not likely to be perceived by any eye that might look over the parapet. The white tunic of the soldier upon the ramparts, on the contrary, rendered him visible to a considerable distance through the darkness. When the Rajpoot reached the summit, he sprang over the parapet as the sentinel was leisurely walking from him. Having fairly gained the ramparts, he went deliberately up to the soldier, and, addressing him as if he were one of the garrison, had no difficulty in accounting for his appearance without exciting suspicion. Seeing that he was one of his own caste, the unsuspecting Hindoo entertained no doubt of his belonging to the troops under the command of Jugmul, and consequently allowed him to proceed without further interruption. The Rajpoot threw himself under the portico of a temple, and slept soundly until morning. At an early hour he appeared before the governor.
“You are, no doubt, surprised,” said he, “to behold me again within these walls. You have considered me a traitor, but I shall be able to prove to you that you have been deceived, and to show that I may be the means of saving this town from the cruelty of a vindictive foe.”
“The man who, under the emotions of anger, seeks an enemy’s camp,” said Jugmul, “is to be suspected.”
“But you cannot be ignorant that by seeking the enemy’s camp, I may have obtained that information which will enable you to foil his approaches, and save the lives and properties of those under your government.”
“Show me that you have done so before you expect that I should believe you are not a traitor.”
“I have now sought you to make a proposal for the benefit of all within this fortress.”
“Declare it.”
“Upon certain conditions I undertake to kill the Moslem Sovereign.”