an hear them coming down from the
terrace, and I must be off. I am on duty there, you know, now. Bathurst
has undertaken double work in that hole. I didn't like it, really; it
seemed mean to be getting out of the work and letting him do it all, but
he said that he liked work, and I really think he does. I am sure he is
always worrying himself because he can't take his share in the firing on
the roof; and when he is working he hasn't time to think about it. When
he told me that in future he would drive the tunnel our shift himself,
he said, 'That will enable you to take your place on the roof, Wilson,
and you must remember you are firing for both of us, so don't throw
away a shot.' It is awfully rough on him, isn't it? Well, goodby, Miss
Hannay," and Wilson hurried off to the roof.

CHAPTER XVI.

The next four days made a great alteration in the position of the
defenders in the fortified house.

The upper story was now riddled by balls, the parapet round the terrace
had been knocked away in several places, the gate was in splinters; but
as the earth from the tunnel had been all emptied against the sandbags,
it had grown to such a thickness that the defense was still good here.
But in the wall, against which one of the new batteries had steadily
directed its fire, there was a yawning gap, which was hourly increasing
in size, and would ere long be practicable for assault. Many of the
shots passing through this had struck the house itself. Some of these
had penetrated, and the room in the line of fire could no longer be
used.

There had been several casualties. The young civilian Herbert had
been killed by a shot that struck the parapet just where he was lying.
Captain Rintoul had been seriously wounded, two of the natives had been
killed by the first shot which penetrated the lower room. Mr. Hunter
was prostrate with fever, the result of exposure to the sun, and several
others had received wounds more or less severe from fragments of stone;
but the fire of the defenders was as steady as at first, and the loss of
the natives working the guns was severe, and they no longer ventured to
fire from the gardens and shrubberies round the walls.

Fatigue, watching, still more the heat on the terrace, was telling
heavily upon the strength of the garrison. The ladies went about
their work quietly and almost silently. The constant anxiety and the
confinement in the darkened rooms were telling upon them too. Several of
the