“That’s just the way I feel. Suppose we try to get away. It seems hopeless, but we can try. The guards may be overconfident or drowsy. And, anyway, whatever they would do to us if they caught us would be quicker than the plan Quizquiz is preparing.”
“Then let’s go. Try to get hold of a weapon of some kind; perhaps the guards have stacked their arms, or we might be able to overpower one of them. A knife, a spear, anything will help if we have to fight our way through.”
Apparently the watch was being changed, for they had not heard the footfalls of the sentinels for several minutes.
Cautiously stealing out of the tent, they listened for a moment; then they began to crawl in the direction of the river. If they could gain its banks they would brave the current in an attempt to reach Uti, beyond the wall, and once there the numberless caves offered places of at least temporary security against any horde of besiegers.
When they had crawled a distance of twenty yards they heard the sound of approaching footsteps; they stopped and flattened themselves to the ground. Four sentries passed between them and the end of their tent.
Ted touched Stanley lightly on the shoulder. “We are through the line,” he whispered. Again they resumed their stealthy advance. From out of the blackness ahead of them came the murmur of flowing water; it must be the river.
And then, without warning, a loud clangor broke upon their startled ears; it seemed to come from all around them at the same time, and bewildered them by its suddenness. Before they fully realized what had happened, a dozen soldiers with flaming torches came running from various directions, shouting as they ran. The two sprang to their feet and started away as fast as they could, but other guards headed them off and, tripping them, pinned them to the ground. Before long they had been taken back to their tents, bruised from the rough treatment they had received, but leaving several of the soldiers sprawled on the ground from the mauling they had given in return.
“We travel in circles,” Stanley panted. “Here we are, back again in the place we started from. But that was a clever plan of theirs; we have to give them credit for that. And we fell for it like a couple of chumps.”
“What caused all the racket?” Ted, too, was breathing hard. “I don’t know yet what happened, unless some one saw us and gave the alarm.”
“Nothing of the kind. We gave the alarm ourselves, or at least I did. The place is surrounded with a rope fence with bells attached to it. I was all tangled up in it.”