(They put their shoulders to it. Brander makes a sign to Tarrasch. They try to pull the men back. There is a scuffle and Brander is knocked over. He rises with the blood running down his face, while Tarrasch still struggles. The door begins to give. A shot is heard within. The men pause and there is another shot.)
Brander.
By God, she’s done it!
(There is a booming of distant artillery.)
Hear!
She was not lying. That came from the south-west.
It is the British!
(A bugle-call sounds in the village street.)
Tarrasch.
The British! A night-attack!
(They all rush out except Nanko, who peers after them from the door. Leaving it open to the night, he takes a marron glacé from the table, crosses the room, and begins to examine the gramophone.
Confused sounds of men rushing to arms, thin bugle-calls in the distance, and the occasional clatter of a galloping horse blow in from the blackness framed in the open door. The deep pulsation of the British artillery is heard throughout, in a steady undertone.)