When these were completed the whole of the garrison, including the ladies and native servants, again set to work filling sandbags with earth. As fast as they were finished they were carried in and piled two deep against the lower windows, and three deep against the doors, only one small door being left undefended, so as to allow a passage in and out of the house. Bags were piled in readiness for closing this also in case of necessity.
Mrs. Rintoul and another lady had volunteered for a third watch on the roof, so that each watch would go on duty once every twelve hours. The whole of the men, therefore, were available for work below.
A scattered fire was opened at the house soon after daybreak, and was kept up without intermission from bushes and other cover; but the watchers on the roof, seated behind the sandbags at opposite angles, were well under shelter, peering out occasionally through the crevices between the bags to see that no general movement was taking place among the enemy.
About midday there was a desultory discharge of firearms from the native lines; and the Major, on ascending to the roof, saw a procession of elephants and men approaching the camp.
“I expect there are guns there,” he muttered, “and they are going to begin in earnest. Ladies, you are relieved of duty at present. I expect we shall be hearing from those fellows soon, and we must have someone up here who can talk back to them.”
Accordingly the Doctor and Mr. Farquharson, who was the best shot among the civilians, took the places of the ladies on the roof. Half an hour later the Major went up again.
“They have four cannon,” the Doctor said. “There they are, on that slight rise to the left of the lines. I should fancy they are about eight hundred yards away. Do you see, there is a crowd gathering behind them? Our rifles will carry that distance easily enough, I think. You might as well let us have three or four more up here.. The two lads are both fair shots, and Hunter was considered a good shikari some years ago. We can drive their cannon off that rise; the farther we make them take up their post the better, but even at that distance their shooting will be wild. The guns are no doubt old ones, and, as likely as not, the shot won’t fit. At any rate, though they may trouble us, they will do no serious harm till they establish a battery at pretty close quarters.”
The Major went down, and the two subalterns and Mr. Hunter joined the Doctor on the roof.
Ten minutes later the boom of four guns in quick succession was heard, and the party below stopped for a moment at their work as they heard the sound of shot rushing through the air overhead; then came five shots in answer from the parapet. Again and again the rifles spoke out, and then the Doctor shouted down to those in the courtyard, “They have had enough of it already, and are bringing up the elephants to move the cannon back. Now, boys,” he said to the subalterns, “an elephant is an easier mark than a tiger; aim carefully, and blaze away as quickly as you like.”
For five minutes a rapid fire was kept up; then Wilson went below.
“The Doctor asked me to tell you, sir,” he said to the Major, “that the guns have been removed. There has been great confusion among the natives, and we can see with our glasses eight or ten bodies left on the ground. One of the elephants turned and went off at full speed among the crowd, and we fancy some of the others were hit. There was great trouble in getting them to come up to the guns. The Doctor says it is all over for the present.”
Two other large parties with elephants were seen to come up to the native lines in the course of the afternoon. The defenders of the roof had now turned their attention to their foes in the gardens around, and the fire thence was gradually suppressed, until by evening everything was quiet.
By this time the work of filling the sandbags was completed; the doors and windows had been barricaded, and a large pile of bags lay in the inclosure ready for erection at any threatened point.
CHAPTER XV
When the party met at dinner they were for a time somewhat silent, for all were exhausted by their hard work under a blazing sun, but their spirits rose under their surroundings.
The native servants had laid the table with as scrupulous care as usual; and, except that there was no display of flowers, no change was observable.
All had dressed after the work was over, and the men were in white drill, and the ladies had, from custom, put on light evening gowns.
The cook had prepared an excellent dinner, and as the champagne went round no stranger would have supposed that the party had met under unusual circumstances. The Doctor and the two subalterns were unaffectedly gay, and as the rest all made an effort to be cheerful, the languor that had marked the commencement of the dinner soon wore off.
“Wilson and Richards are becoming quite sportsmen,” the Doctor said. “They have tried their hands at tigers but could hardly have expected to take part in elephant shooting. They can’t quite settle between themselves as to which it was who sent the Rajah’s elephant flying among the crowd. Both declare they aimed at that special beast. So, as there is no deciding the point, we must consider the honor as divided.”
“It was rather hard on us,” Isobel said, “to be kept working below instead of being up there seeing what was going on. But I consider we quite did our full share towards the defense today. My hands are quite sore with sewing up the mouths of those rough bags. I think the chief honors that way lie with Mrs. Rintoul. I am sure she sewed more bags than any of us. I had no idea that you were such a worker, Mrs. Rintoul.”
“I used to be a quick worker, Miss Hannay, till lately. I have not touched a needle since I came out to India.”
“I should recommend you to keep it up. Mrs. Rintoul,” the Doctor said. “It has done you more good than all my medicines. I don’t believe I have prescribed for you for the last month, and I haven’t seen you looking so well since you came out.”
“I suppose I have not had time to feel ill, Doctor,” Mrs. Rintoul said, with a slight smile; “all this has been a sort of tonic.”
“And a very useful one, Mrs. Rintoul. We are all of us the better for a little stirring up sometimes.”
Captain Forster had, as usual, secured a place next to Isobel Hannay. He had been near her all day, carrying the bags as he filled them to her to sew up. Bathurst was sitting at the other end of the table, joining but little in the conversation.
“I thought Bathurst was going to faint again when the firing began, Miss Hannay,” Captain Forster said, in a low voice. “It was quite funny to see him give a little start each shot that was fired, and his face was as white as my jacket. I never saw such a nervous fellow.”
“You know he cannot help it, Captain Forster,” Isobel said indignantly. “I don’t think it is right to make fun of him for what is a great misfortune.”
“I am not making fun of him, Miss Hannay. I am pitying him.”
“It did not sound like it,” Isobel said. “I don’t think you can understand it, Captain Forster; it must be terrible to be like that.”
“I quite agree with you there. I know I should drown myself or put a bullet through my head if I could not show ordinary courage with a lot of ladies going on working quietly round me.”
“You must remember that Mr. Bathurst showed plenty of courage in going out among the mutineers last night.”
“Yes, he did that very well; but you see, he talks the language so thoroughly that, as he said himself, there was very little risk in it.”
“I don’t like you to talk so, Captain Forster,” Isobel said quietly. “I do not see much of Mr. Bathurst. I have not spoken to him half a dozen times in the last month; but both my uncle and Dr. Wade have a high opinion of him, and do not consider that he should be personally blamed for being nervous under fire. I feel very sorry for him, and would much rather that you did not make remarks like that about him. We have all our weak points, and, no doubt, many of them are a good deal worse than a mere want of nerve.”
“Your commands shall be obeyed, Miss Hannay. I did not know that Bathurst was a protege of the Major’s as well as of the estimable Doctor, or I would have said nothing against him.”
“I don’t think Mr. Bathurst is the sort of man to be anyone’s protege, Captain Forster,” Isobel said coldly. “However, I think we had better change the subject.”
This Captain Forster did easily and adroitly. He had no special feeling against Bathurst save a contempt for his weakness; and as he had met him but once or twice at the Major’s since he came to the station, he had not thought of him in the light of a rival.
Just as dinner was over Richards and one of the civilians came down from the terrace.
“I think that there is something up, Major. I can hear noises somewhere near where Mr. Hunter’s bungalow was.”
“What sort of noises, Richards?”
“There is a sort of murmur, as if there were a good many men there.”
“Well, gentlemen, we had better go to our posts,” the Major said. “Doolan, please place your watch on the platforms by the wall. I will take my party up onto the terrace. Doctor, will you bring up some of those rockets you made the other day? We must try and find out what they are doing.”
As soon as he gained the terrace with his party, the Major requested everyone to remain perfectly still, and going forward to the parapet listened intently. In three or four minutes he returned to the others.
“There is a considerable body of men at work there,” he said. “I can hear muffled sounds like digging, and once or twice a sharp click, as if a spade struck a stone. I am very much afraid they are throwing up a battery there. I was in hopes they would have begun in the open, because we could have commanded the approaches; but if they begin among the trees, they can come in and out without our seeing them, and bring up their guns by the road without our being able to interfere with them. Mr. Bathurst, will you take down word to Captain Doolan to put his men on the platforms on that side. Tell him that I am going to throw up a rocket, as I believe they are erecting a battery near Hunter’s bungalow, and that his men are to be ready to give them a volley if they can make them out. Tell them not to expose themselves too much; for if they really are at work there no doubt they have numbers of men posted in the shrubs all about to keep down our fire. Now, gentlemen, we will all lie down by the parapet. Take those spare rifles, and fire as quickly as you can while the light of the rocket lasts. Now, Mr. Wilson, we will get you to send them up. The rest of you had better get in the corner and stoop down behind the sandbags; you can lay your rifles on them, so as to be able to fire as soon as you have lit the second rocket.”
The Doctor soon came up with the rockets; he had made three dozen the week before, and a number of blue lights, for the special purpose of detecting any movement that the enemy might make at night.
“I will fire them myself,” he said, as Wilson offered to take them. “I have had charge of the fireworks in a score of fetes and that sort of thing, and am a pretty good hand at it. There, we will lean them against the sandbags. That is about it. Now, are you all ready, Major?”
“All ready!” replied the Major.
The Doctor placed the end of his lighted cheroot against the touch paper, there was a momentary pause, then a rushing sound, and the rocket soared high in the air, and then burst, throwing out four or five white fireballs, which lit up clearly the spot they were watching.
“There they are!” the Major exclaimed; “just to the right of the bungalow; there are scores of them.”
The rifles, both from the terrace and the platforms below, cracked out in rapid succession, and another rocket flew up into the air and burst. Before its light had faded out, each of the defenders had fired his four shots. Shouts and cries from the direction in which they fired showed that many of the bullets had told, whilst almost immediately a sharp fire broke out from the bushes round them.
“Don’t mind the fellows in the shrubs,” the Major said, “but keep up your fire on the battery. We know its exact position now, though we cannot actually make them out.”