uld shorten your task.

"But I cannot hold out any hopes that you will find him whom you seek
in the city. It is among the hill forts you will find him, if he be
alive. I have been turning the matter over, since you spoke to me last
night, and the best plan I can think of is, that you should go as a
travelling merchant, with Surajah as your assistant. You would want a
good assortment of goods; fine muslins and silks, and a good selection
of silver jewellery, from different parts of India. All these I could
purchase for you here. If, by good luck, you could obtain a sight of
the commander of one of these forts, you might possibly obtain
permission from him to go up, and show your wares to the ladies of his
establishment, and to those of other officers. The present of a
handsome waist sash, or a silver-mounted dagger, might incline him
favourably to your petition."

"I think that the idea is an excellent one," Dick said warmly. "If we
cannot get in in that way, there seems to me to be no chance, save by
taking a careful survey of the fortress, to discover where the rocks
can be most easily climbed. There must surely be some spots, even
among the steepest crags, where active fellows like Surajah and myself
would be able to scale them. Of course, we should have to do it after
dark; but once up there, one ought to be able to move about in the
fort without difficulty, as we should, of course, be dressed as
soldiers, and could take dark blankets to wrap round us. We ought then
to be able to find where any prisoners who may be there are confined.
There might be a sentry at the door, or, if there were no other way,
one might pounce upon someone, force him by threats to tell us what
prisoners there are, and where they are confined; and then bind and
gag him, and stow him away where there would be no chance of his being
discovered before daylight."

"There would be a terrible risk in such a matter," Pertaub said,
shaking his head gravely.

"No doubt there would be risk, but we came here prepared to encounter
danger, and if it were well managed, I don't see why we should be
found out. Even if we were, we ought to be able to slip away, in the
darkness, and make our way to the point where we went up. Once down on
the plain, we could renew our disguise as traders, and, however hotly
they scoured the country, pass without suspicion through them.

"I think that there will be more chance, in that way, than in going in
as traders; f