“Will you take charge of the operation, Bathurst?”
“With pleasure, Major.”
“Very well then. You shall have with you Wilson and Richards and the three youngest of the civilians, Saunderson, Austin, and Herbert. You six will be relieved from other duty except when the enemy threaten an attack. I will put down Saunderson and Austin together. Which of the others would you like to have with you?”
“I will take Wilson, sir.”
“Very well, then, Richards and Herbert will make the third party. After breakfast we can pick out the twelve strongest of the natives. I will tell them that they have to work, but that they will be each paid half a rupee a day in addition to their ordinary wages. Then you will give a general supervision to the work, Bathurst, in addition to your own share in it?”
“Certainly, Major, I will take general charge of it.”
So at breakfast the Major explained the plan agreed upon. The five men chosen at once expressed their willingness to undertake the work, and the offer of half a rupee extra a day was sufficient to induce twelve of the servants to volunteer for it. The Major went down to the cellars and fixed upon the spot at which the work should begin; and Bathurst and Wilson, taking some of the intrenching tools from the storeroom, began to break through the wall without delay.
“I like this,” Wilson said. “It is a thousand times better than sitting up there waiting till they choose to make an attack. How wide shall we make it?”
“As narrow as we can for one to pass along at a time,” Bathurst said. “The narrower it is, the less trouble we shall have with the roof.”
“But only one will be able to work at a time in that case.”