They worked hard, and it was not long before the walls were pierced.
"Now, Surajah, you do the one at the back. The fellows will soon be within range, and I will give them a lesson to be careful. They will naturally break up, and go round behind the houses opposite, as they can find shelter nowhere else; and, for a bit at any rate, we shall get them all on one side of us, which is what we want."
Dick carried the six guns to the end of the hut, and then applied his eye to the loophole there. The enemy were coming along at a run, in a confused mass.
"I can't very well miss them," he muttered to himself, as he thrust his gun through a loophole, and fired. Without waiting to see the result, he thrust another gun out, aimed, and fired.
"Never mind the hole, Surajah," he said. "Come here and reload."
The four other shots were discharged in rapid succession. The Mysoreans at first opened an irregular fire on the hut. When the sixth shot was fired, they left the road in a body, and ran across the valley, leaving four of their number on the ground behind them.
As soon as the guns were reloaded, Surajah returned to his work. It was now broad daylight, and the sun was shining upon the hilltops. A quarter of an hour passed, without a movement from the enemy. Dick and his companion occupied the time in further strengthening the door with crossbeams, kept in their place by struts.
"If they break it to splinters," Dick said, when they had finished, "they will hardly be able to force their way in, for if they were to try to crawl in between those crossbeams, they would be completely at our mercy.
"Now, we must get ready for a rush. I expect they will come all together. There are the six guns, and three pistols each. Keep one of the latter in reserve. We ought not to waste a shot; and if they lose ten men, I should think they will give up the attack on the door.
"Stand clear of it, Surajah. They will probably fire into it before they charge--keep down below the level of the loopholes."