Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 127.djvu/37

 just above cover. The ruse succeeded perfectly. In a few seconds the hat was observed; muskets protruded from every loophole on the other side, and a sharp fire was opened on the moving object. The riflemen fired in return, and as the fire of the enemy was immediately checked, some execution might be inferred; after this manœuvre the enemy became more cautious. Towards noon the dropping fire which followed this affair slackened, and was followed by a time of perfect quiet, as on the previous day.

The second day of the siege; and it seemed as if they had been shut up for a month. To the first excitement there now succeeded the monotonous discharge of the prescribed routine. The great event was to be off duty at meal-time, so as to be able to meet the delegates from other pickets, and compare notes. The ladies had now taken on themselves the office of bringing their meals to those on duty; and Yorke and the others in the west veranda had the happiness of receiving their plates of curry and damper from Olivia's hands, which the young man would fain have kissed with gratitude as he relieved them of their burden. Seen under the aspect of this crisis, she no longer seemed to be a wife. This must be a dream, thought the young man; she is more like an angel than a being of this world; no harm can come near her; and he felt quite happy at his post.

Most of the officers bathed in the bath, two at a time, and with orders not to splash or make a noise. The billiard-table also was frequented; and some cards had been hunted up, and a party sat down to whist. But the cards curled up with the heat, and got dirty and dusty, and the game soon dropped. Moreover, Olivia, remembering that her father had left some cheroots behind him — Falkland did not smoke — had unpacked and made over the precious windfall to Buxey, who had taken charge of the commissariat; and Buxey served out two cheroots a day to each person — a No. 2 after dinner, and a No. 1 in the evening. They were very good: and never were cigars more appreciated, or smoked more completely to the end.

By tacit, consent the question was avoided, how long the blockade would last, or what would be the end of it; but Buxey said there was a capital stock of provisions. No one, however, but Falkland knew what was the state of the ammunition. This was stored in an underground chamber, constructed by the architect of the residency as a retreat for the hot season, according to a mode of building not unfrequent in the early days of Anglo-Indians, but which had never been used for that purpose.

One thing especially which imparted spirit and confidence to the garrison was the bearing of the native portion of it. Falkland's determination to trust these men had been viewed by several with alarm in the beginning, lest the defence should be undermined by sudden treachery within. Captain Sparrow had been very free in his criticism to all who would listen to him on the foolhardy rashness of his chief; and Mrs. Polwheedle had tried in vain to persuade the brigadier to insist on the sepoys being kept together in the portico outside the building, instead of being distributed about it, and had spent a good deal of her time at first in watching their deportment. If a sepoy looked grave, he was meditating desertion; if he laughed — and most of them seemed now in capital spirits — he was chuckling over some plot in contemplation; a respectful bearing was set down to cringing, the crouching of the tiger before its spring; and if any one seemed more free in manner than usual, the villain was chuckling in his insolence over the prospect of having the sahibs in his power. But the most timid or suspicious could no longer withhold their confidence, on seeing how heartily their dark-coloured allies had thrown themselves into the spirit of the defence. Had the enemy been their bitterest natural foe instead of the comrades of a lifetime, they could not have shown a greater alacrity in the play of sharpshooting; the difficulty was to make them husband their ammunition. Two of the sepoys who proved to be good shots had been supplied with rifles, and Falkland's jemadar had come to be regarded as next to M'Intyre the marksman of the garrison. The six servants, too, did their duty with perfect sang froid; and the ayah was ready at all times to brush any lady's hair, as well as that of her mistress.

"Pandy seems to have had enough of it for the present," observed Braddon between the puffs of his cigar to the little party assembled that evening in the portico, which post he commanded; and as he spoke the silence was unbroken by any firing; nor, looking through the loopholes, was there an enemy to be seen in any direction.

"I calculate we have accounted for at least thirty of them," remarked Mr. Hodder, the missionary, who wore a black 