Page:The Wreck of a World - Grove - 1890.djvu/59

Rh I lifted her in my arms and kissed her,—she was one of a Sunday-school class of my daughter's—and said: "Bless you, dear; at all events you did not blow up the bridge behind us, or desert your post." And the cheers and congratulations ceased, as the citizens realised how little we were deceived by their double-faced treachery, and how ill we appreciated thanks and praise from such as they.

Poor creatures as they were, it was needful to save them if might be from their own pusillanimity. The night passed quietly, but at dawn the streets were filled with an unquiet throng. The machines, still unable to cross the river, were drawn up in an imposing rank miles long on the further side. Behind this we could see others engaged in foraging for fuel or taking in water. They appeared to be in no mind to desert the prize that was separated from them by no more than seven hundred yards of water. Now, more than ever, I regretted the loss of our guns. Had we still possessed them we might have destroyed one after another without the slightest danger to ourselves, until they had chosen to move elsewhere. Our rifles would do little harm at this range. We tried a