The lanterns were obtained, and Rex went with them to the barricades. The officer in command there was a midshipman of the Orlando. Rex had had several chats with him during the past few days. “Hello, Bateman,” he said, “what are you up to with those lanterns at this hour? Going to look for a subterranean mine?”
“No, I will tell you what I am going to do, but you must keep it a secret; all sorts of objections might be raised, and the enemy would get to know what we were up to.”
“You can trust me.”
“Well, then, we are going out to–night to spike those two guns over there that have been doing so much mischief for the past two days.”
“You are! By Jove! I should like to go with you, but of course I canʼt. I have got to stick here whatever happens till the thing is over. How are you going to do it?”
“Four of us are going out. There is no doubt the fellows who work the guns all go to sleep between ten and four, so we have a fair chance to go up and spike the guns before they wake. Of course the difficulty will be to get through those fellows who keep watch all night. For that we have to trust to chance. We shall carry pistols, and if we come across one or two men we can use them without attracting attention, as anyone who heard the shots would naturally think that some of their own men were sniping.”
“That seems good enough,” the middy said; “but what on earth have you got the lantern for? Do you mean to march out with it to show the way?”
“Not exactly,” Rex laughed. He then explained their plan to the middy.
“First–rate, a jolly good idea!” said his friend. “The guns are somewhere along those ruins over there; they fire every three or four minutes. Just at present, as far as I can make out, they are pounding the French settlement. I should think the line would be somewhere about that house fifty yards behind.”
“I will go and stand there,” Rex said, “and watch for the next shot. It is most important to get the lanterns in the exact line, because if we once got among those houses in the dark we might search for half an hour before we found the position, and likely enough might fall over some of the sleeping Boxers.”