“Then why not make a mine on the slope of the hill, and blow it up with electricity when the enemy are coming up?”
“Egad! I’ll do that at once. The dynamite can be brought down in about half an hour; it won’t take long to dig a trench and lay a wire: so we ought to have the whole thing ready by the time they assault the battery at dawn. Dick, take Temistocles and some other men up to the magazine.”
Dick went off to obey this order with alacrity; and Justinian, whose spirits were rising at the feasibility of these schemes to conquer his enemies, went on talking hopefully of the future.
“What with cannon, dynamite, and broken bottles to cut their bare feet, I fancy those scoundrels will get a warm reception. Ah, if I only had the full strength of my Melnosians again, I would soon drive these scoundrels back to the ocean!”
“If we smash them up to-morrow with dynamite, they won’t come again, uncle.”
“I trust not; but Alcibiades seems to have made extensive preparations in the way of re-enforcements, and for all I know, a fresh batch may arrive to-morrow; while at every assault our numbers diminish. If we only could get more men! but I fear that is impossible.”
“Not so impossible as you think,” said Crispin deliberately. “Suppose I go to Syra, and get the Eparch there to send you re-enforcements?”
“True; he’s a friend of mine; and if he did not send regular soldiers, he could at least let me have some men of the same fighting powers as these scoundrels. But how are you to get to Syra? and how are you going to bring the troops back?”
“As to bringing them back, by this time my yacht must be there, so it would not take long for me to steam here with a good number of men.”
“Well, but you can’t go. We are beleaguered.”