Our arrival had been in the nick of time, and a scene of frantic joy had ensued; but it was soon at an end, for the guns had to be worked again after a very brief period utilised in getting them into position.
Still, small as was the reinforcement, it placed the powder-blackened, ragged, haggard men—soldiers and civilians—in a far better position, and they rushed to the batteries and loopholes, to help pour a rain of bullets on the advancing enemy, while the dismounted lancers worked guns which had been silent for want of help, and our six-pounders grew hot with the rapidity of the fire.
“How long will the colonel be?” said Haynes, coming to my side for a few moments, our men needing no encouragement, but fighting the guns with a look of suppressed rage in their eyes, as if they were seeking to avenge the blow which had fallen upon their captain.
“I cannot say,” I replied. “Certainly not till dark.”
“Then he will be too late,” said Haynes, gloomily. “We shall never be able to hold out till then. Danby is getting busier every moment.”
“Yes; it’s those black wretches on that big building,” I said, pointing at a place a little over a hundred yards away; and as I spoke, a bullet whistled by my ear. “They have some of their best marksmen there. Never mind; let’s show them we have good marksmen too.”
He did as I suggested, and three of our guns were trained and shotted, two being aimed by Sergeant Craig and Denny, whom Brace had made corporal, during the past few days.
“Quickly as you can,” I said, as shot after shot was fired from the roof of the building.
It meant exposure for our men, but they did not heed it, and in ten minutes the top of the building was crumbling about its occupants’ ears, while a couple of cleverly sent shell completed their discomfiture, and they rapidly evacuated the place.
It was only a temporary success, but it relieved us for the time, and enabled us to direct our attention to other dangers.