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 nest 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.
"We must charge them, Dick; there's nothing else to do. Hold tight, girls. Now for your revolver, Dick! Now!
And, digging their heels into their horses' sides the boys rode at the crowd of peasants. There was a discharge of guns, and Dick felt as if a hot iron had been drawn suddenly across his cheek; then they were in the midst of the crowd, emptying their revolvers with deadly effect among them; some fell, and the horses dashed forward, followed by the yells of their assailants. A minute later three or four more guns were discharged, the rear party having now joined the other, and being therefore able for the first time to fire.
