midday
But this would entail a long sea voyage , and they therefore determined to make for Caveripatam , going by the road that led through Anicull , and then through Ryacotta , which stood just outside the line of territory ceded to England , and from whence a road led direct down the passes . Anicull lay nearly due south of Bangalore , but the road they would follow would not be the one by which Tippoo would return , as he would come by the main road , which ran in a direct line between the two cities . Ibrahim was informed of their plans , and was told to warn the syce to get their horses saddled and in readiness at eight o'clock , and that , as they were going for a long day 's ride , he would not be required to accompany them -- as he always did when they rode only into the town , for then he might be wanted to hold the horses , if they dismounted and went into a shop . He was also to give notice , in the kitchen , that they would not return to the midday meal , and that dishes for them would therefore not be required . Thus it would be unlikely that any suspicion would be aroused by their absence until they had been gone twenty-four hours , by which time they would be more than halfway to the frontier . They went to bed at their usual time , and slept soundly , for it seemed to them both that there was practically no risk whatever to be run , and that they would be across the frontier before any active search was made for them . Even when it was discovered that they had left the Palace , it would be thought that they had received some order from Bangalore , either to join the sultan , or to go on some mission for him that had occupied more time than they had anticipated on starting .