for the night. Attached to the saddle of each horse was a nose-bag with
some forage. These were put on, the horses fastened up, and the little
party were soon asleep again.

Before starting next morning the first care of the boys was to take off
the embroidery of the horse-cloths, and as much of the metal work on the
bridles as could be possibly dispensed with, in order to conceal the fact
that the horses had belonged to a British cavalry regiment; then they
mounted, with the girls behind them, and rode quietly forward, taking care
not to travel by the main road, as the news of the carrying off the horses
would have been generally known there.

They passed through several villages, attracting but little attention as
they did so, for there was now nothing unusual in the appearance of a
Mohammedan zemindar and follower riding with two closely-veiled women _en
croupe_. Late in the afternoon they stopped at a village store, and Ned
purchased, without exciting any apparent suspicion, some grain for the
horses. That night they slept as usual in a wood, and congratulated
themselves on having made fully twenty-five miles of their journey toward
Meerut.

The next morning, after two miles' riding, they entered a large village.
As they were passing through it a number of peasants suddenly rushed out
into the road, and shouted to them to stop. They were armed with sticks
and hoes, and a few had guns. Looking behind, Ned saw a similar body fill
up the road behind them, cutting off their escape.

"Look, Ned, at that old fellow with the gun; that's the man who sold us
the grain last night," Dick said.