"I'll hold on here until midnight," said Bob. "I had a good sleep during the day. Tell Ganda Singh to train the captured gun on the bend; if there's an attack he and Gur Buksh can play on the track and cover our retirement."
"I'm not sure whether it wouldn't be better to bring it out again and place it behind our entrenchments."
"No, that would never do. The searchlight isn't powerful enough to be of much good; and the position might be rushed before the gun could come into play. It's too valuable for us to risk that. It would be a very different matter if we had enough men to hold the breastwork and really dispute the advance of the enemy. We can't do that. If they seriously push their attack we shall have to evacuate the position and bolt for the mine, and the gun would only be a hindrance. Now you get back. Send over some food for us, and then go to bed."
"I shan't take my clothes off. Don't hold on too long, Bob, if they do come up."
"Don't be nervous, young 'un. We've had uncommon good luck so far, and I'm inclined to think the enemy won't be in a hurry to tackle us. Those bombs must have been a horrid surprise to them. We may congratulate ourselves on a good day for the first, anyhow."
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH
A CHECK
The night passed undisturbed. Bob was almost sorry. As the slow hours crept towards midnight, when Lawrence would relieve him, he would have welcomed an opportunity for action. It was bitter cold. He dared not kindle a watch-fire, and so enlighten the enemy about his arrangements. Remembering Lawrence's similar vigil forty miles down, he said to himself: "The kid's a good plucked one. He'd have made a first-rate soldier, or political officer, or anything. Pity we're both so hard up!"
Suddenly he bethought himself of the mass of ore which had been tumbled into the cavity in the bank just above the Pathan miners' compound. It must weigh many tons, and according to Mr. Appleton's calculations, sixty per cent. of it was pure silver. Bob did not know the market price of the metal, but the quantity that had been mined must represent a considerable sum of money. The exciting incidents of the last few days had kept his thoughts engrossed with strategy and tactics; and the notion that the mine was itself a valuable property, worth defending for its own sake, came almost with a shock of surprise.
"Who is the owner now?" he thought. "Did Uncle leave a will? I suppose we are his heirs, but what's the law of inheritance in these parts?"