tle lull in the firing
as the weapons were emptied, and the defenders seizing the bricks hurled
them down into the mass.

"Look out!" the Major shouted; "keep your heads low--I am going to throw
the canisters."

A number of these had been prepared, filled to the mouth with powder and
bullets, and with a short fuse attached, ropes being fastened round them
to enable them to be slung some distance. The Major half rose to throw
one of these missiles when his attention was called by a shout from
Wilson.

The latter was so occupied that he had not noticed Bathurst, who had
suddenly risen to his feet, and just as Wilson was about to grasp him
and pull him down, leaped over the sandbag in front of him down among
the mutineers. The Major gave a swing to the canister, of which the fuse
was already lighted, and hurled it through the breach among the crowd,
who, ignorant of what was going on inside, were still struggling to
enter.

"Look out," he shouted to the others; "mind how you throw. Bathurst is
down in the middle of them. Hand up all the muskets you have loaded," he
cried to the servants.

As he spoke he swung another canister through the breach, and almost
immediately two heavy explosions followed, one close upon the other.

"Give them a volley at the breach," he shouted; "never mind those
below."

The muskets were fired as soon as received.

"Now to your feet," the Major cried, "and give them the brickbats," and
as he stood up he hurled two more canisters among the crowd behind the
breach. The others sprang up with a cheer. The inclosure below them was
shallower now from the number that had fallen, and was filled with a
confused mass of struggling men. In their midst was Bathurst fighting
desperately with his short weapon, and bringing down a man at every
blow, the mutineers being too crowded together to use their unfixed
bayonets against him. In a moment Captain Forster leaped down, sword in
hand, and joined Bathurst in the fight.

"Stand steady," the Major shouted; "don't let another man move."

But the missiles still rained down with an occasional shot, as the
rifles were handed up by the natives, while the Doctor and Farquharson
kept up an almost continuous fire from the terrace. Then the two last
canisters thrown by the Major exploded. The first two had carried havoc
among the crowd behind the breach, these completed their confusion, and
they turned and fled; while those in the retrenchment, relieved of