through the openings wherever a body seemed to
be.

Sudden oaths broke out, and the work stopped. I pulled out one of my
pistols, shoved the muzzle through a hole and pulled the trigger, and still
had wit enough to wonder what would happen if it burst, as Aunt Jeanne had
hinted.

It did not burst, however, and the discharge provoked a further outburst of
curses. I drew the other, and fired it likewise, and stood ready with my
cutlass for the next assault. But they had hoped to break through
unperceived, and possibly the violence of my attack misled them into a
belief in numbers. They drew off along the shingle, and I leaned back
against the side of the tunnel and panted for my life.

I heard a discussion going on, and presently they were at work at
something, but I could not make out what.

I took advantage of the lull to strengthen my defences with some boats'
masts and any odd timbers I could find and lift, till I thought it
impossible that any man should get through.

But I was wrong. There came a sudden roar outside, and a shot of size came
crashing through my barricade, sending pieces of it flying wildly. They had
a carronade, and had had to shift the boat to the end of the shingle to get
the mouth of the tunnel into the line of fire.

Then I began to fear. Men I could fight, but carronades were beyond me.

Still, even when they had knocked my barrier to pieces, the men must come
at last. The great iron shot could not reach me round the corners, though
flying timbers and splinters might. They would fire again and again till
the way was clear, and then they would come in a heap, and I must do my
best with my cutlass. And it was not unlikely that the sound of the heavy
guns might catch the ears of others and bring me help. So I drew back out
of the tunnel on the land side and waited.

A stumble over a piece of timber set me to the hurried building of a fresh
barricade at this end, outside the mouth of the tunnel. If it only stopped
them for minutes, the minutes might be enough. It would in any case hamper
them, and I did not believe they could train their guns upon it. So I
groped in the dark, and dragged, and piled, and found myself using the
wounded arm without feeling any pain, but also without much strength, till
I had a not-to-be-despised fence which would at least give me chance of a
few blows before it could be rushed.

Five times they fired, and the inside of the tunnel crashed with the
fragments of