The major made no reply. For hours that same thought had made him wretched, but he knew better than she how helpless was their own position.
“Could we not make a sortie?” the girl continued. “Might it not be possible, as soon as darkness comes, for us all to make a rush for the fort? We might take them completely by surprise, and once inside, a hundred could hold it for weeks. If only we could get the guns!”
Munro shook his head sadly.
“A hundred to one that we should find the rebels in possession, Ethel,” he made answer, “and then all would indeed be lost. But we should never get so far. Here we may hold our own for days—unless indeed the pandies take the fort and are able to load the guns—but not for half an hour in the street with women to protect and wounded men to carry. No, it is not possible; would it were! Believe me, Ethel, there is not a man here but would gladly take the risk if we had only ourselves to think of.”
“I know it well,” she admitted, “and I know you are right; but it is horrible, horrible to think of, and it is our fault. If we were not here you men could rescue them. That seems so hard.”
“Listen!” said Leigh. “I think I hear the sound of firing again. It is very faint.”
Everyone listened intently, and Ethel could hear the ticking of her watch. She was the first to break the silence.
“I think I hear it. The sound comes from inside the fort.”
She had hardly spoken the words when the roar of a tremendous explosion filled their ears and almost deafened them. The house shook, and a column of dense smoke rose where the fort had been. They looked at one another with blanched faces and then at the ruin in front. That portion of the fort which contained the magazine was demolished, and some buildings that had partially obstructed their view were dismantled or levelled with the ground. Streams of natives rushed to and fro in wild confusion, shrieking with pain and fear. Masses of timber and masonry fell around, killing numbers in the closely-packed streets, and the scene was one of destruction and desolation.
Major Munro clapped his hand to his thigh; his face glowed with admiration and enthusiasm.