‘There! there!’ cried several. ‘Look! what can they be?
Herbert saw where they pointed; in the direction where he had heard the firing in the morning, and in the middle of the void before him, for an instant or two were several bright flashes; he rubbed his eyes, which ached from gazing, and from the effect even of those transient flashes. Again he looked and listened; there was no sound except the sigh of the night breeze in a tree near him; but again there were flashes in the same place. And now, while they gazed, a light arose, soared in a little circle into the air, and descended. Another and another. Herbert knew what they were, and his heart bounded within him with a quickness of pulsation it had not known for years. If they should be his countrymen!
His guards turned to one another, and spoke rapidly among themselves with eager gestures. At last Ahmed addressed him.
‘They bid me ask you,’ he said, ‘what this is; you Europeans know all things. Hath the sky such lights?’
‘No, it is a siege,’ said Herbert, ‘and the lights are shells and cannon. Is the Sultaun at war?’
‘I know not, but will ask.’ And Herbert heard the word Feringhee in the answer. He was sure that his countrymen were near, and his heart yearned to them.
‘There have been rumours of war,’ said Ahmed, ‘and we heard that the English were in the Barah Mahal; but they cannot have got so far, for the Sultaun had marched in person with the whole of the army.’
Herbert thought otherwise. He could imagine nothing but victory for the arms he had once borne, and for the cause in which he would gladly have died. After watching long they withdrew from the spot chilled and wearied, and all lay down to rest. But Herbert could not sleep; his thoughts were too engrossing for sleep. Escape was now possible, and long he deliberated whether it was not practicable alone. On the south, east, and north sides of the Droog were huge precipices, as we have already mentioned; the only access to it was from the west, by which he had come. Even were he to escape from the fort, could he venture to descend any of the passes to the plain? Narrow paths, which at the bottom branched out into endless ramification, led he knew not whither through dense forests that extended for miles and miles, the abode of pestilence and of wild beasts innumerable. The thought was appalling; and the more he weighed the risk in his mind, the less chance did there appear of success. Could it be that Ahmed would assist him? the obstacle of language had been broken through; and no sooner did his busy thoughts suggest the idea, than his mind clung to it. Ahmed was poor, he could not refuse money, and he would offer him anything he chose to demand—thousands, for liberty! He waited till his watch came, and when all were asleep and breathing heavily, he called him by name in a loud whisper.
‘Ahmed! Ahmed!’
He was dozing even on his watch, and did not hear at first. Herbert was in agony lest the others should awake.