True to their promise to the sentry, Fou-tan and King did not remain
long within the garden of Lodivarman, the Leper King. Inasmuch as the
walls had been built to keep people out of the royal enclosure, rather
than to keep them in, it was not difficult to find a spot where they
might be scaled, since in many places trees grew near, their branches
overhanging.
Along the unlighted streets of the city proper the sight of a warrior
and a girl was not so uncommon as to attract attention, and so it was
with comparative ease that they made their way to the city's outer
wall. Here, once more, a like condition prevailed. Low sheds and
buildings abutted against the inner surface of the city's ramparts,
and presently King found a place where they could ascend to the roof of
a building and surmount the wall itself. The drop to the ground upon
the outside, however, was considerable, and here they were confronted
with the greatest danger that had menaced them since they had passed
the sentry. For either one of them to suffer a sprained ankle or a
broken leg at this time would have been fatal to both.
In the darkness King could not determine the nature of the ground at
the foot of the wall; the light of the stars was not sufficient for
that.
"We shall have to take a chance here, Fou-tan," he said.
"It is high, Gordon King; but if you tell me to I will jump."
"No," he said, "that is not necessary. I judge that the wall is about
twenty feet high here. My spear is six feet long; your sarong must be
at least eight feet, possibly longer."
"Yes, it is much too long," she said; "it was not intended for a
sarong. But what has that to do with it?"
"I am going to tie one end of the sarong to the end of my spear; I
shall tie a knot in the other end of the sarong. Do you think that you
are strong enough to cling to that knot while I lower you as near the
ground as I can?"
"I am very strong," said Fou-tan, "and desperation lends even greater
strength." As she spoke she commenced to remove her sarong, and a
moment later King was lowering her slowly over the edge of the wall.
"When I have lowered you as far as I can," he whispered in her ear, "I
shall tell you to drop. After you have done so, stand quickly to one
side, and I will drop my spear. Then you must take it away so that I
will not fall upon it; and also if the ground is rough, smooth it a
little for me."
"Yes," she said, and King lowered her away down the outside of the wall
of Lodidhapura.
Presently he was clinging only to the end of the spear and was leaning
far over the edge of the wall. "Drop," he said in a low voice.
Instantly the pull of her weight was gone from the spear handle in his
hand. "Are you all right?" he asked in a low voice.
"Yes," she replied. "Drop the spear," and then an instant later: "the
grass is thick and soft here."
King lowered himself over the edge of the wall and hung an instant by
his fingers. Then he released his hold and dropped. As he rolled over
in the tall grass, considerably jarred but unhurt, Fou-tan was at his
side. "You are all right, Gordon King?" she demanded. "You are not
hurt?"
"I am all right," he said.
"I shall sacrifice a bullock in the temple of Siva when we reach Pnom
Dhek," she said.
"For your sake, Fou-tan, I hope that it will not be long before you are
able to sacrifice the bullock, but we are not at Pnom Dhek yet; I do
not even know where it is."
"I do," replied the girl.
"In what direction?" he asked.