"Then you, Phra?" said the King.
"I cannot leave my friend," said Phra hoarsely.
"I forgot," said the King quietly; "and you both have your duty to do in guarding the ends of those wires. Hal, boy, your father is a brave man, and he is doing this to save my kingdom to me and our lives for us all. I too, Phra, my son, feel that I cannot leave my friend."
As he finished speaking he turned and walked slowly towards where Mr. Kenyon was still kneeling over his dangerous task; and as the King reached the place it was just as the wire had been successfully looped over the trigger and tied so that it could not slip, when Mr. Kenyon covered his work with a board whose sides rested on two ledges left for the purpose high above the gun.
"Fill in, Sree," he said quietly.—"You here, sir? Go back! Go back! I cannot answer for this. The slightest touch, and the powder will explode."
"You order me, Kenyon, your friend. I, the King, command you. Go on; finish the other now."
"But the danger, sir," said Mr. Kenyon, upon whose brow the moisture stood in great drops.
"I will share it with you," said the King calmly. "Go on."
Mr. Kenyon seized another spade, and helped in the covering in and levelling of the short piece of trench, while those who watched from the gate were in expectation moment by moment of seeing the earth rent asunder and the three standing before them torn to fragments by the explosion.
They were horrible moments, and the two boys could hardly breathe, while their hearts kept up a painful throb, as if unable to fight against the heavy pressure which kept them down.