colonel plainly had strong hopes. It is well enough in some cases to
fight to the very last, and have your names printed in the army list as
heroes who died at their post, but in this case the safety of Sir Arthur
was plainly the important point, and any concession must be made to
secure this. So all idea of making a fight of it was given up. Short and
brief would have been the struggle for Guy and Melton, as the three
Hindoos were the only ones armed, and they had but a scant supply of
ammunition.

Makar held a short conversation with three or four Arabs, and then,
slipping down from his camel, he walked off a little from the residency
and shouted loudly, "Inglis men, come down. You no be killed. You
prisoners of war."

The idea of Makar's investing this bloody outbreak with all the dignity
of legitimate warfare was ridiculous, and the colonel laughed.

"What's that about prisoners?" cried Sir Arthur, coming eagerly forward.
"Will they spare our lives, I wonder? Let me talk to the fellow. I'll
try to conciliate him."

He walked pompously to the parapet and bent over. Perhaps the champagne
he had drunk had affected his head. At all events he leaned a little too
far, and, suddenly losing balance, he toppled over and fell with a thud
plump on the heads of two Arab sentries at the door. All three came to
the ground in a heap, and it was a great relief to the anxious watchers
above to see Sir Arthur stagger to his feet apparently unhurt.

The effect on the Arabs was electric. The remaining guards glanced up
apprehensively, and very speedily changed their location.

As for Makar, he evidently believed that Sir Arthur had come down
expressly in response to his summons, for he waited for the rest to
follow his example.

"Bless my heart!" muttered Sir Arthur. "What a narrow escape!"

He started toward Makar, but two Arabs laid hold of him and pulled him
roughly to one side.

"We'd better go down," said the colonel, and raising his voice he
shouted,

"Do you swear to preserve our lives if we come down?"

"By the shades of Mohammed, I swear it. Come down," replied Makar.

"We'll have to trust to his word," said the colonel. "Put the ladder in
position."

The ladder, with one end on the ground, failed to reach the top of the
parapet by four or five feet. It was a ticklish business to drop down on
the upper round, but one by one they accomplished it, and, descending to
the ground, were speedily seized and relieved o