!" cried Guy, and, lifting a loose stone from the wall, he
hurled it down.

It struck the spear from the rascal's hand, and, before he could recover
himself, Guy and Canaris had dragged Melton to the top of the wall by a
prodigious effort.

"Down, down!" cried Canaris, and as they crouched low three or four
spears went over their heads and a hoarse shout of rage went up from the
baffled Somalis that was caught up and repeated far back into the town.

"Keep cool," cautioned Canaris; "the ropes are up; they can't reach us.
Five minutes more, and----" The words froze on his lips. Loud above the
shouts of the savages rose a harsh, metallic sound that vibrated in
shuddering echoes through the night air. It was the beating of the
tomtom at the Emir's palace.

An electric circuit could not have more speedily roused the town. A
vast, sullen roar went up instantly, and then, mingled with the clang of
the tomtom and the tumult of the people, rang out a harsh rattle of
alarm-drums that swelled and spread until every oval watch-turret on the
town walls was sounding the tocsin announcing to the subjects of Rao
Khan the escape of the hated Englishmen.

CHAPTER XV.

THE PURSUIT.

"Now for it," cried Canaris. "Don't be scared. In two minutes we'll be
out of reach of these fiends."

His appearance belied his words, for he was trembling with fright. The
rope about Melton's legs had not been loosened, and he was instantly
lowered on the other side. In less time than it takes to tell, Guy and
Canaris had joined him, and all three felt the solid earth beneath their
feet again.

The situation was now extremely critical. The tomtom still rang out from
the palace, and the drums were beating in the watch-towers, though their
volume of sound could be heard but faintly above the constantly
increasing roar of the maddened people.

The fugitives had scaled the wall at a point on the western side of the
city very close to the southern angle; the western gate was still more
remote, and from these gates the pursuit must come.

That it would come quickly no one could doubt, for the rabble of Somalis
who had led the chase through the market-place had by this time reached
the gates with the tidings of the fugitives' escape over the wall.

Canaris took a bag and a rifle and Guy followed his example.

Not a second of time was lost, but, turning to the southwest, they
dashed down the long, slanting hill toward the valley that opened