“Some of the Bolongu men may be at the top,” suggested Jai Singh.
“Do you think so?” asked Jefferson Arnold.
“I do not,” returned the Hindu.
“You don’t?” spluttered Jefferson. “Then why in thunder do you say——”
“It is wise to be steady,” was Jai Singh’s grave rebuke.
The flight of steps was a long one. When they got to the top, Patsy Garvan said he had counted three hundred and nine steps.
“That is correct,” confirmed Jai Singh. “I have counted them before, as well as now. I have often thought that, with a picked twoscore of men I could hold it against a hundred. What do you say, sahib?”
He turned to Nick Carter—as he generally did when he sought confirmation of some statement he had made.
“I think you are right,” returned the detective. “But I am glad the Bolongus are not here, keeping us off. These steps have saved us going a long way around, from the appearance of it.”