CHAPTER NINEAt last they reached the fort at Peshawar and beyond lay the Khyber Pass.
Here the land was very bleak and lonely. Even the fort seemed forbidding, a large grey building that loomed up ahead, seeming to offer more of a threat than a welcome.
Scanning the walls Venetia saw gaps in the bricks, through which huge guns could be glimpsed.
“We keep the cannon ready to repel attack at all times,” said the young officer riding beside her. “There are three facing the Pass and one on each of the other sides.”
“They look so grim,” she murmured.
“They do, but they keep us safe. The Russians know they’re there and it makes them cautious, ma’am. In fact, you could almost say that life gets dull sometimes. It’s a great treat when visitors arrive.”
She soon discovered how true that was,
