"A hollow somewhere in front of the gate, say a dozen yards away; charge it with a small keg of powder, and I think I can contrive a plan for firing it by means of a wire laid underground. The keg, too, will be covered, and the enemy will not know. It would produce a terrible effect when they crowded up to the next attack. The idea is horrible, but it is in defence of all."
"It would be ten times as horrible for us to fall, and the poor women to be brutally massacred by these mad wretches. Can you do this, Kenyon?"
"I can, sir. I will do it in two places, so that if one fails the other will be sure."
"Hah!" ejaculated the King. "Kenyon, old friend, you make me feel strong again, and as if you and the boys have brought me hope in my hour of despair."
CHAPTER XXVII
THE POWDER MINE
"Had a good sleep, Hal?"
Harry sat up with a sudden start from the cushioned seat upon which he had been lying in the open hall of the King's palace, to find the doctor grimly smiling down. His second glance was at a great, grotesque, bronze figure looming up over him, and his third at Phra, who was lying on his back with his lips apart, sleeping heavily.
"Have—have I been asleep?" he stammered.
"Fast as a top, boy."