Then the firing ceased as suddenly as it had begun, leaving the listeners in a frightful state of doubt.
For the cessation might just as probably mean that the enemy had forced their way in as that they had been beaten off; and as the silence continued for quite an hour, Harry and Phra moved so as to be close to the doctor, and then gently take his hand.
The sound of firing, when every shot may mean the death of a fellow creature, is a strange reviver of hope—a peculiar comforter; but when at the end of that weary hour the firing began again, both Phra and the doctor started up with their faces flushed with eager excitement, and Harry felt ready to shout.
"They're not beaten," he said proudly. "The King's too strong, and he drives the wretches back every time. Why, father, when we get to them to-night, they will all be in such good spirits that it will be dangerous for the enemy to show themselves again."
"We must be thinking about our attack, Sree," said Mr. Kenyon, without making any reply to his son's outburst.
"I am going as soon as it grows dark, Sahib. There is not much to do. A little brown earth to moisten and rub over your hands, arms, and faces."
"Yes, yes, that is easy enough; anything will do as it is night; even gunpowder could be used. But the garments? it is of them that I was thinking."
"The sahibs will have to use those of the common people, and so many are away from their boats that it will not be long before I can get padungs enough. Those are all that you will need, and be the best things to hide you; for no one would think that you could be sahibs, dressed like that."
The rest of the day went sluggishly by, with total cessations of the firing filling the listeners with despair and hope returning whenever it was resumed.
At last, after many alarms from passing boats, the sun sank low, and the question of sending off a message to some English vessel in the port had to be decided for Mr. Kenyon had pencilled a few lines containing an urgent appeal for help from any captain into whose hands it might fall, begging that he would at once set sail for the nearest port where a British man-of-war might be found—Hong-Kong or Singapore—and lay before the authorities the critical position in which the tiny English colony was placed, and imploring that steps might be at once taken for their rescue.