"Brown sahib?"
"The army has got here from the north! It has come down here from
Harumpore! It's outside the walls now, lying on its arms, and evidently
waiting to attack at daylight!"
"I, too, have news, Brown sahib! All four are living! All four lie
here on the floor of the magazine, and they recover rapidly. They
are all but strong enough to stand."
"Good! Then come up here, Juggut Khan!"
That winding pathway up the inside of the dome took longer to negotiate
than an ordinary stairway would have done, but presently the Rajput
leaned against the parapet and panted beside Brown.
"D'you see them? There they are! Now, look on this side! D'you
see the preparations going on? D'you realize what the next thing's
going to be? They'll come for powder for the guns, so's to have
it all ready for the gun-crews when the fun begins at dawn! Listen!
Here they are already!"
A thundering had started on the great teak door below--a thundering
that echoed through the dome like the reverberations of an earthquake.
It was punctuated by the screams of women.
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