gloom. At other spots the slope is
so precipitous that beasts of burden can scarcely keep their foothold;
indeed, we were soon obliged to transfer ourselves from the camels to
horses accustomed to the rocks. At others, again, it follows the brink
of a yawning precipice, an ugly place to ride or turn rectangular
corners, which half-a-dozen men could hold against an army, and twice it
passes through tunnels, though whether these are natural I do not know.

Besides all these obstacles to an invader there were strong gates at
intervals, with towers near by where guards were stationed night and
day, and fosses or dry moats in front of them which could only be
crossed by means of drawbridges. So the reader will easily understand
how it came about that, whatever the cowardice of the Abati, though they
strove for generations, the Fung had as yet never been able to recapture
the ancient stronghold, which, or so it is said, in the beginning these
Abati won from them by means of an Oriental trick.

Here I should add that, although there are two other roads to the
plains--that by which, in order to outflank the Fung, the camels were
let down when I started on my embassy to Egypt, and that to the north
where the great swamps lie--these are both of them equally, if not more,
impassable, at any rate to an enemy attacking from below.

A strange cavalcade we must have seemed as we crawled up this terrific
approach. First went a body of the Abati notables on horseback, forming
a long line of colour and glittering steel, who chattered as they rode,
for they seemed to have no idea of discipline. Next came a company of
horsemen armed with spears, or rather two companies in the centre of
which rode the Child of Kings, some of her courtiers and chief officers,
and ourselves, perhaps, as Quick suggested, because infantry in the
event of surprise would find it less easy to run away than those who
were mounted upon horses. Last of all rode more cavalry, the duty
of whose rear files it was to turn from time to time, and, after
inspection, to shout out that we were not pursued.

It cannot be said that we who occupied the centre of the advance were a
cheerful band. Orme, although so far he had borne up, was evidently very
ill from the shock of the explosion, so much so that men had to be set
on each side of him to see that he did not fall from the saddle. Also
he was deeply depressed by the fact that honour had forced us to abandon
Higgs to wha