Page:Durgesa Nandini.djvu/82

 to preclude the chance of his missing it on his return. Then softly coming down, he came up to Bimala, and related all that he had seen.

"If I had two spears now!" said he.

"What will you do with spears, pray?" asked Bimala.

Prince. "Then I could ascertain who these men were. The signs bode no good. From the turbans, I think the rascally Pathans have been following us with some evil intent."

Immediately the remembrance of the dying steed at the road-side, the turban, and the traces of horse's hoofs flashed upon Bimala's mind.

"Please stay here then," said she; "I'll bring you the spears presently."

Saying this, she hastened to the base of the castle. A window of the room below that in which she had made her toilet in the evening, faced the mangoe-wood. She got up to the window, and taking out a key from her garment, turned it in a lock which was attached to the door-case. Then grasping a bar, she pushed the window in the direction of the wall. By the power of strange art, the window together with the door-case and the bars entered an opening in the wall, and a passage stood ready open for the entrance of Bimala. After entering the room, she pulled out the door-case, and the window was again placed in its former site. Bimala turned the key in another lock on the inner side, similar to the other one, and the window was fast established in its place, defying all attempts at opening it from the outside.

With hasty steps, Bimala went to the arsenal, where she said to the guard,