ies, and with fierce
cries threw themselves against the door. Once more the ten fired among
them; then Ahmed saw that men were again appearing on the roof of the
nearest house, and before the little party all descended through the
trap-door a Sikh and one of the corporals were hit.

When the others reached the doctor, they found him quietly preparing a
bomb. He had filled a canister with powder, attached a roughly-made
fuse, and was about to light it and fling the bomb among the enemy. At
the sight of it an alternative scheme flashed into Ahmed's mind. He
quickly explained it to the doctor, then hurried away through the
almirah into the secret chamber below. Placing the table on the doctor's
charpoy, he mounted on it, and laid the canister in a little ventilating
recess just below the fountain. Then he lit the fuse and rushed away,
slamming the door behind him.

He was only half-way up the stairs when he heard the back door burst in
with a crash. Immediately afterwards there was a terrific report, that
shook the house. He ran back, waited a minute or two to allow the fumes
of the explosion to clear away, and re-entered the room. It was a wreck.
The fountain had fallen into it, and it was choked with rubbish.
Creeping over obstacles he saw a gap above his head, through which, by
and by, it might be possible to reach the garden. He hurried back to the
surgery. Whatever might have happened to the crowd in the garden, those
who had entered the house had kindled a fire; the room was already full
of smoke. In another minute all the little company had descended the
spiral stairs to the secret room, leaving the wall of the surgery closed
behind them. Below they would be safe for a time, the underground room
being connected with the house only by the stone staircase.

Meanwhile the mutineers, daunted by the sudden explosion, had withdrawn
to the further side of the garden. Some in terror had recrossed the
wall; but the fire was alight; there had been no sign of any attempt at
escape on the part of the garrison; and the fanatical throng exulted in
the belief that ere long their victims would be consumed with the house.

Half-an-hour passed. The waiting men noticed that the uproar above,
which had diminished, now broke out again with redoubled clamour. And it
was not yells of execration and of triumph, but the cries of men in
fight, mingled with the sound of musketry. Ahmed ventured to mount on
the heap of rubbish towards the s