Part 40 (1/2)
”I am sure you would not have said anything that he should have been offended about, Miss Hannay; it is not your nature, and I would not believe it whoever told me, not even yourself; so he must be in fault, and, of course, I have nothing more to say about it.”
”He wasn't in fault at all, Mr. Wilson. I can't tell you what I said, but it was very wrong and thoughtless on my part, and I have been sorry for it ever since; and he has a perfect right to be hurt and not to come near me, especially as”--and she hesitated--”as I have acted badly since, and he has no reason for supposing that I am sorry. And now you must not ask me any more about it; I don't know why I have said as much to you as I have, only I know I can trust you, and I like you very much, though I could never like you in the sort of way you would want me to. I wish you didn't like me like that.”
”Oh, never mind me,” he said earnestly. ”I am all right, Miss Hannay; I never expected anything, you know, so I am not disappointed, and it has been awfully good of you talking to me as you have, and not getting mad with me for interfering. But I can hear them coming down from the terrace, and I must be off. I am on duty there, you know, now. Bathurst has undertaken double work in that hole. I didn't like it, really; it seemed mean to be getting out of the work and letting him do it all, but he said that he liked work, and I really think he does. I am sure he is always worrying himself because he can't take his share in the firing on the roof; and when he is working he hasn't time to think about it. When he told me that in future he would drive the tunnel our s.h.i.+ft himself, he said, 'That will enable you to take your place on the roof, Wilson, and you must remember you are firing for both of us, so don't throw away a shot.' It is awfully rough on him, isn't it? Well, goodby, Miss Hannay,” and Wilson hurried off to the roof.
CHAPTER XVI.
The next four days made a great alteration in the position of the defenders in the fortified house.
The upper story was now riddled by b.a.l.l.s, the parapet round the terrace had been knocked away in several places, the gate was in splinters; but as the earth from the tunnel had been all emptied against the sandbags, it had grown to such a thickness that the defense was still good here.
But in the wall, against which one of the new batteries had steadily directed its fire, there was a yawning gap, which was hourly increasing in size, and would ere long be practicable for a.s.sault. Many of the shots pa.s.sing through this had struck the house itself. Some of these had penetrated, and the room in the line of fire could no longer be used.
There had been several casualties. The young civilian Herbert had been killed by a shot that struck the parapet just where he was lying.
Captain Rintoul had been seriously wounded, two of the natives had been killed by the first shot which penetrated the lower room. Mr. Hunter was prostrate with fever, the result of exposure to the sun, and several others had received wounds more or less severe from fragments of stone; but the fire of the defenders was as steady as at first, and the loss of the natives working the guns was severe, and they no longer ventured to fire from the gardens and shrubberies round the walls.
Fatigue, watching, still more the heat on the terrace, was telling heavily upon the strength of the garrison. The ladies went about their work quietly and almost silently. The constant anxiety and the confinement in the darkened rooms were telling upon them too. Several of the children were ill; and when not employed in other things, there were fresh sandbags to be made by the women, to take the place of those damaged by the enemy's shot.
When, of an evening, a portion of the defenders came off duty, there was more talk and conversation, as all endeavored to keep up a good face and a.s.sume a confidence they were far from feeling. The Doctor was perhaps the most cheery of the party. During the daytime he was always on the roof, and his rifle seldom cracked in vain. In the evening he attended to his patients, talked cheerily to the ladies, and laughed and joked over the events of the day.
None among the ladies showed greater calmness and courage than Mrs.
Rintoul, and not a word was ever heard from the time the siege began of her ailments or inconveniences. She was Mrs. Hunter's best a.s.sistant with the sick children. Even after her husband was wounded, and her attention night and day was given to him, she still kept on patiently and firmly.
”I don't know how to admire Mrs. Rintoul enough,” Mrs. Hunter said to Isobel Hannay one day; ”formerly I had no patience with her, she was always querulous and grumbling; now she has turned out a really n.o.ble woman. One never knows people, my dear, till one sees them in trouble.”
”Everyone is nice,” Isobel said. ”I have hardly heard a word of complaint about anything since we came here, and everyone seems to help others and do little kindnesses.”
The enemy's fire had been very heavy all that day, and the breach in the wall had been widened, and the garrison felt certain that the enemy would attack on the following morning.
”You and Farquharson, Doctor, must stop on the roof,” the Major said.
”In the first place, it is possible they may try to attack by ladders at some other point, and we shall want two good shots up there to keep them back; and in the second, if they do force the breach, we shall want you to cover our retreat into the house. I will get a dozen rifles for each of you loaded and in readiness. Isobel and Mary Hunter, who have both volunteered over and over again, shall go up to load; they have both practiced, and can load quickly. Of course if you see that the enemy are not attacking at any other point, you will help us at the breach by keeping up a steady fire on them, but always keep six guns each in reserve. I shall blow my whistle as a signal for us to retire to the house if I find we can hold the breach no longer, so when you hear that blaze away at them as fast as you can. Your twelve shots will check them long enough to give us time to get in and fasten the door. We shall be round the corner of the house before they can get fairly over the breastwork. We will set to work to raise that as soon as it gets dark.”
A breastwork of sandbags had already been erected behind the breach, in case the enemy should make a sudden rush, and a couple of hours' labor transformed this into a strong work; for the bags were already filled, and only needed placing in position. When completed, it extended in a horseshoe shape, some fifteen feet across, behind the gap in the wall.
For nine feet from the ground it was composed of sandbags three deep, and a single line was then laid along the edge to serve as a parapet.
”I don't think they will get over that,” the Major said, when the work was finished. ”I doubt if they will be disposed even to try when they reach the breach.”
Before beginning their work they had cleared away all the fallen brickwork from behind the breach, and a number of bricks were laid on the top of the sandbags to be used as missiles.
”A brick is as good as a musket ball at this distance,” the Major said; ”and when our guns are empty we can take to them; there are enough spare rifles for us to have five each, and, with those and our revolvers and the bricks, we ought to be able to account for an army. There are some of the servants and syces who can be trusted to load. They can stand down behind us, and we can pa.s.s our guns down to them as we empty them.”
Each man had his place on the work a.s.signed to him. Bathurst, who had before told the Major that when the time came for an a.s.sault to be delivered he was determined to take his place in the breach, was placed at one end of the horseshoe where it touched the wall.
”I don't promise to be of much use, Major,” he said quietly. ”I know myself too well; but at least I can run my chance of being killed.”
The Major had put Wilson next to him.
”I don't think there is much chance of their storming the work, Wilson; but if they do, you catch hold of Bathurst's arm, and drag him away when you hear me whistle; the chances are a hundred to one against his hearing it, or remembering what it means if he does hear it.”