"I don't see anything to laugh at at all, Gerald."
"I didn't know that I was laughing."
"You were looking as if you wanted to laugh, which is just as bad. I suppose there is nothing to be done, Gerald?"
"Well, yes, I should go down to the town, and lay in a store of things that will keep. You see, if nothing comes of it we should not be losers. The regiment is likely to be here three or four years, so we should lose nothing by laying in a big stock of wine, and so on; while, if there is a siege, you will see everything will go up to ten times its ordinary price. That room through ours is not used for anything, and we might turn that into a storeroom.
"I don't mean that there is any hurry about it, today; but we ought certainly to lay in as large a store as we can, of things that will keep. Some things we may get cheaper, in a short time, than we can now. A lot of the Jew and native traders will be leaving, if they see there is really going to be a siege; for you see, the town is quite open to the guns of batteries, on the other side of the neutral ground.
"It was a mighty piece of luck we got this house. You see that rising ground behind will shelter us from shot. They may blaze away as much as they like, as far as we are concerned.
"Ah! There is Bob, coming out of his room with the professor."
"Well, take him out and tell him, Gerald. I want to sit down, and think. My head feels quite in a whirl."
Bob was, of course, greatly surprised at the news; and the professor, himself, was a good deal excited.