"Go then, good Prasad," she enjoined, "and in thy most skillful manner seek to obtain for me an audience with Sindhia, at some place without the walls of Gwalior secure from treachery. Go, and may God's blessing rest upon thy head.
"So, my Lords," she cried. "Let us to Gwalior with cautious speed, and good fortune smiling on our efforts."
The nobles rose spontaneously and shouted with rekindled spirits:
"To Gwalior! To Gwalior "!
The cry was caught up by the soldiers on guard in the compound:
"To Gwalior! To Gwalior! Death to the enemy. Victory for the Rani of Jhansi."
Chapter XXII
VICTORY
From remote ages Gwalior had been one of the chief cities of India, owing to the immense natural strength of its position. Many races, succeeding one another, had reared their dwellings about the foot of the huge pile of rock, rising in grim, deep shadowed precipices on all sides, two to three hundred feet from a broken plain, to a plateau crowned by the massive fortress, a mile and a half in length by three hundred yards wide. By a single narrow path alone could the summit be gained.