e shots could not be heard."

"Not if we fired both together, sir?" cried Gedge wildly. "I'll load
for you."

"How could they distinguish between our shots and those of the enemy you
can hear crackling?"

"Course not, sir. I'm a poor idjit sometimes. But oh! why does it keep
dark down there so long when it's getting quite light up here? We can't
see what's going on a bit."

"No; but my ears tell me pretty plainly," said Bracy excitedly.

"Mr Bracy, sir."

"Yes?"

"We aren't worse, are we, and all this a sort o' nightmare before we
loses ourselves altogether?"

"No, man, no. Listen. They must be getting the worst of it."

"Our lads, sir? Oh, don't say that! There must be a lot of them, by
the volley-firing. Don't say they're being cut up."

"The enemy, man. Can't you hear how steady the firing is?--Splendid. I
can almost see them. The enemy must be retiring stubbornly, and they're
following them up."

"Yes, sir; that's it," cried Gedge wildly. "Go on, sir; go on."

"Their officers are holding the men well in hand, so as not to come to a
charge in that broken country, and withering the crowd with their fire
to make them scatter."

"Right, sir, right. That's it. Oh, if we was only there!"

There was a pause--the two men listening.

"The enemy's firing sounds more broken up, and is getting feebler."

"Yes, sir; I can make out that," panted Gedge. "Oh! I say, don't let
the lads get out of hand and follow the beggars where they can get hold
of the bay'nets and use their long knives."

For another half-hour the pair lay listening to the engagement going on,
till it seemed as if the daylight below would never come. Then the
darkness gave way, to display far below a cold grey mist, through which
clouds of smoke were softly rising; and Bracy brought his glass to bear
upon the fight still raging furiously, and looked in silence till Gedge
turned to him:

"Oh, do say something, sir! Our lads--they ain't being cut up, sir, are
they?"

"No, no, I think not, my lad; but I can hardly make out what is going on
at present. Ha! it's gradually growing lighter there. The enemy are
not where they were last night, and the troops are there."

"Then they've took the beggars' camp, sir?"

"That does not follow," said Bracy, whose eyes were glued to his
glass.--"I can make out the white-coats now. They have divided, and are
upon the rising ground all round. Our poor fellows must have fallen
into