"They won't land, ma'am," he declared with confidence, following along the covered way to the refuge of the sunken bicycle shed under its protecting mound of sandbags and earth. "They couldn't land through shoal water."
His further assurances were cut short by a deafening explosion. The earth shook, there was a prolonged roar and clatter of tumbling masonry, mingled with the splitting of timber and the crashing of glass.
"Wirra-wirra!" cried the Irish cook. "It's the house they've struck, and we'll all be kilt entirely!"
A shower of loose sand, dislodged by the concussion, fell through the cracks in the roof of the shelter, the support timbers creaked ominously. Then suddenly all was silent except for the cries of the frightened kitchenmaid.
Seth ran back along the covered way and found the entrance blocked by a confusion of fallen bricks and garden soil. But there was a second exit which admitted light and air to the refuge, with a second ladder. Up this ladder he climbed and thrust out his head above ground to see what damage had been done and discover if the house were on fire.
His nostrils were assailed by the pungent fumes from the exploded eleven-inch shell. Clouds of drifting smoke and dust obscured his view; but as they cleared he saw that the gable end of the house had fallen, carrying with it a chimney-stack and some of the wrecked furniture of an upper room. The windows were all smashed. The shell seemed to have burst somewhere between the adjoining stables and the conservatory, both of which were a mass of ruins.
"It's a good thing nobody is hurt," he said, returning to report on what he had seen. "You're quite safe now. I don't suppose a second shot will be aimed at the same place."
There was another fierce explosion, very near. Again and again the guns boomed out their thunder. The sounds of bursting shells came clear and sharp, repeated again and again as the bombardment of the town was continued.
"I can't be of any more use here," said Seth, returning the revolver to Mrs. Daplin-Gennery. "When the firing stops, you can get out all right. I must go now. I believe Major Redisham's house has been struck. They're firing their broadsides right into the heart of the town now! Listen!"
He was back at the ladder; but the lady's maid held him.