He knew that they were
women who managed the sheet, because he bit one's finger through it
and she screamed. Then he heard Yasmini's voice close to his ear.
"Thy colonel sahib and another are outside!" she whispered. "It is
not well to wait here, Ranjoor Singh!"
Next he felt a great rush of air, and after that the roar of flame
was so unmistakable--although he could feel no heat yet--that he
wondered whether he was to be burned alive.
"Is it well alight?" asked Yasmini.
"Yes!" said a maid whose teeth chattered.
"Good! Presently the fools will come and pour water enough to fill
this passage. Thus none may follow us! Come!"
Ranjoor Singh was gathered up and carried by frightened women--he
could feel them tremble. For a moment he felt the outer air, and he
caught the shout of a crowd that had seen flames. Then he was thrown
face downward on the floor of some sort of carriage and driven away.
He lost all sense of direction after a moment, though he did not
forget to count, and by his rough reckoning he was driven through the
streets for about nine minutes at a fast trot. Then the carriage
stopped, and he was carried out again, up almost endless stairs,
across a floor that seemed yet more endless, and thrown into a corner.
He heard a door slam shut, and almost at the same moment his
fingers, that had never once ceased working, tore a corner of the
sheet loose.
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