astonished when their captors, whom the moonlight now showed to be white,
instead of cutting their throats as they expected, lifted them tenderly
and carefully from the wagons, and laid them down on a bank a short
distance off.

"Swear by the Prophet not to call for aid, or to speak, should any one
pass the road, for one hour!" was the oath administered to each, and all
who were still conscious swore to observe it. Then with the empty wagons
the troops proceeded on their way. At the last clump of trees, a quarter
of a mile from the castle, there was another halt. The troop dismounted,
led their horses some little distance from the road, and tied them to the
trees. Twenty men remained as a guard. Four of the others wrapped
themselves up so as to appear at a short distance like natives, and took
their places at the bullocks' heads, and the rest crowded into the wagons,
covering themselves with their cloaks to hide their light uniforms. Then
the bullocks were again set in motion across the plain. So careless were
the garrison that they were not even challenged as they approached the
gate of the outworks, and without a question the gate swung back.

"More wounded!" the officer on guard said. "This is the third lot. Those
children of Sheitan must have been aided by their father. Ah, treachery!"
he cried, as, the first cart moving into the moonlight beyond the shadow
of the gateway, he saw the white faces of the supposed wounded.

There was a leap from the nearest driver upon him, and he was felled to
the ground. But the man at the open gate had heard the cry, and drew a
pistol and fired it before he could be reached. Then the British leaped
from the carts, and twenty of them scattered through the works, cutting
down those who offered resistance and disarming the rest. These were
huddled into the guardroom, and five men with cocked revolvers placed at