Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 127.djvu/38

26  coat and trousers, as the symbol of his calling, but had been doing active duty as a sharpshooter, and now sat on a cot, smoking, with a repeating rifle on his knees; "say thirty, besides speculating on the parties who have not been marked down; at least as many more, I'll bet. The remainder perhaps have taken the hint and gone to their own place too."

"That still leaves two thousand nine hundred and seventy pandies unaccounted for," said Sparrow, who from the first had maintained a consistently doleful appearance, "besides all the blackguards in the city, whom the commissioner so wisely provided with arms two days ago. They won't be so easily choked off, take my word for it. This silence means some new mischief, you may depend."

"Well, sir," replied Hodder, a little sallow man with a clear eye, and a face smooth save for a small light beard, "and if they do try any of their tricks, the sooner they do it the better; I guess we are ready for them; we know a thing or two; and we shall give them a warm welcome, I expect." And Mr. Hodder tapped his repeater cheerfully, and indeed his remarks only reflected the spirits of the garrison. The ease with which the enemy had been kept at bay, and their own immunity from any loss so far, had given general confidence. Relief must come soon, and it would be easy to hold out for a long time in such a fortress as this, and against assailants so unenterprising.

As soon as it was dark the ladies again ascended to the roof, and the night passed away in perfect quiet, save that about one o'clock, as Falkland, who had got some sleep during the day, and spent the night on the alert, was going the round of the sentries, the officer who was posted in the covered way — a sentry had been stationed there each night, and the post was a favourite one, the open air being much cooler than the inside of the buildings — reported that he heard an unusual noise in the direction of the entrance-gate.

Falkland stopped to listen. There was certainly a sound as of the movement of men. He went to fetch Yorke and the jemadar, who were asleep in the west veranda, and they came back with him to the trench.

Putting their ears to the ground, they could distinctly hear the sound.

"They are doing something to the barricade," said the jemadar to his master in an undertone, in Hindustani; "shall I go and see what it is?"

For a moment Falkland hesitated. Could the man be intending treachery?

Yorke seemed to divine the colonel's thoughts, for he whispered, "May I go with him, sir?"

But Falkland at once cast the unworthy suspicion from him. And after all, if any native wanted to desert, nothing was easier at any time of the night. The man being told he might go, jumped over the low parapet, and disappeared in the darkness. In about five minutes he returned. He had been down nearly to the gateway. The barricade which closed the entrance there had been made of some carts and carriages, including Falkland's own barouche, taken off their axles and fastened together. Ameer Khan could not tell for certain what the enemy were about, but they appeared to be employed in removing it.

Then Yorke obtained leave to go down and reconnoitre. The enemy had no sentries, and were so busily engaged on their work that he got within a few yards of them without being perceived. There was no moon, but the night was not dark, and lying down he watched their proceedings for some minutes. He could just make out some figures at work, and could hear the grinding noise of something being dragged along the gravel. They were evidently removing the different obstacles which composed the barricade.

Looking round to his right the outline of Sparrow's house stood out against the sky. From where he lay it was almost in his rear; he had been so intent on watching the barricade during his advance that he had not thought about the house and its occupants, and he shuddered for the moment to think how easily he might have been seen by them, and his retreat cut off. To be killed in open fight was a fate he was ready enough to meet; but to be murdered out there, without help, and without being able to sell his life, and no one knowing what had become of him, — what a horrid fate that would be! But the place seemed perfectly quiet, and dismissing his nervous fears, the young man walked stealthily towards the building. No one was stirring, and he advanced as far as the wall of sandbags which the enemy had built up along the front of the house. This he found to be about ten feet distant from the edge of the veranda, and standing by the end of this rampart so that his body would not be distinguishable from it, he took a leisurely view of the place. The veranda seemed to be full of men, all fast asleep; others lay on the gravel path