"I take it, then, that you favor an abandonment of our home?"

"I do, and with the least possible delay."

"And you, my daughter, are you of the same mind?"

"I am," was the emphatic response.

"Then my decision is that we shall start for the interior and stay
there until it is safe to show ourselves again among these people,
provided it ever shall be safe."

"When shall you start?"

The parent looked at the sky.

"It is two or three hours to nightfall. We will set out early
to-morrow morning before the sun is high in the sky."

"But will we not be more liable to discovery?" asked Jack.

"Not if we use care. I am familiar with the country for miles in every
direction. We shall have to travel for the first two or three days
through a thick jungle, and it is too dangerous work to undertake in
the night-time. This, you know, is the land of the cobra and the
tiger, not to mention a few other animals and reptiles equally
unpleasant in their nature. Last night," continued the doctor, "I saw
a glare in the sky off to the westward on the opposite side of the
river in the direction of Meerut. I wonder what it meant?"