threw down his
tools and hurried to the place where the men were working about the gun
and told them to cast off the slings.

"You have slung it wrong, lads," said he, "and unless you are very
careful some of you will be hurt. Cast off the slings, and I will show
you the proper way to do it."

The men, accustomed to working under his directions, were about to do as
he bade them, when Ralli looked over the parapet and angrily ordered
them to leave the lashings as they were and to sway away the gun.

"As for you, mister soldier," he said, shaking his fist at Lance, "you
have left your work contrary to my orders, and I will seize you up to a
grating and give you five dozen to-night as a lesson to you. Now go."

Lance turned on his heel and walked away. Things had come to a crisis
at last, he thought; and he began to wonder how the crisis was to be
met; upon one thing he was quite resolved, and that was that he would
never submit to the indignity of the lash; Ralli might kill him if he
chose, but flog him--_never_.

His sombre meditations were brought to an abrupt ending by a sudden
crash accompanied by a shout of consternation in the direction of the
battery. Looking that way he saw the tackle dangling empty from the
sheers, with the lower block about half-way up the cliff face, and at
the base of the cliff were the men grouped closely together about some
object which was hidden by their bodies. Suddenly one of the men left
the rest and ran toward the shipyard, shouting for help.

"There has been an accident," thought Lance. "The gun has slipped from
the slings, and likely enough somebody is killed."

"Muster all the crowbars and handspikes you can, lads," said he, "and
take them over to the battery; there has been an accident, I fear."

A strong relief gang was soon on the spot, only to find Lance's fears
confirmed. The gun had been hoisted nearly half-way up the cliff when
the guide-rope had fouled a rock. The armourer had stepped forward to
clear it, and in doing so had given it a jerk which had canted the gun
in its slings, and before the unfortunate man had realised his danger
the gun had slipped and fallen upon him, crushing both his legs to a
jelly.

There was an immediate outcry among the men for Lance, an outcry which
Ralli would have checked if he could; but his first attempt to do so
showed him that the men were now in a temper which would render it
highly dangerous for him to persist, so he g