Jim Braid turned and addressed his companions.
"Has no one any ammunition?" he asked, and in his voice was a note of dire distress.
Both shook their heads. Peter Klein was cowering in the hut.
"This is all that remains," said Fernando. "It shall be put to excellent use."
So saying he slipped it into the chamber of his rifle and closed the breech with a snap.
Both Jim and Harry turned away their faces. In a few minutes they knew that they must be prisoners in the enemy's camp. Harry allowed his eyes to travel over the parapet of the fort. He saw the German officers reorganizing their scattered ranks in preparation for a final charge.
And then, from a hill-top towards the south, there came a sound that was like the bursting of a thunder-cloud. Something shrieked and hooted in the air, and a great shell from a heavy gun burst in a flash of flame in the midst of the German troops.
[CHAPTER XXII—The Conquest of a Colony]
Slowly the guide lowered his rifle. All eyes turned to the south, from which direction had come the shell. For a moment, in the valley, in the enclosure of the fort, there reigned a death-like silence—the silence of suspense. The bombardment of the fort ceased as at a stroke.
The calm voice of Fernando broke upon the stillness.