After that he stood still, not knowing whither to move. The trampling of feet, the hasty breathing of struggling men, the dull sound of blows upon living bodies, the yells and exclamations and calls, had all ceased at once. It seemed to him as if everybody in the room had been killed except himself. He could not hear a sound in the darkness besides the beating of his own heart, and an occasional feeble moan rising from the floor. In all his soldierly life he had never known a moment that was anything like so horrible.
At last, after what seemed minutes, remembering that it was his duty as an officer to be a rallying point, he staked his life on his very next breath and called out firmly, "Meyer!"
"Here!" answered the sergeant, as if he were at roll-call.
"Where are you?"
"I am near the toorway, Leftenant. Sweeny is with me."
"'Yis I be," interjected Sweeny.
Thurstane, feeling his way cautiously, advanced to the entrance and found the two men standing on one side of it.
"Where are the Indians?" he whispered.
"I think they are all out, except the tead ones, Leftenant."
Thurstane gave an order: "All forward to the door."