"I--I don't know, sir," stammered Archie.

"Glad of it," said the Doctor. "The worst storm I ever saw."

"Storm, sir?" said Archie. "It's the magazine gone!"

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

THE FLIGHT OF A LIM-BING.

It was no rash a.s.sertion. The small erection that it had been the Major's pride to erect by means of the men a short distance back and just inside the jungle, and to which he had brought to bear all the ingenuity he possessed, so as to ensure safety--sinking it deep in the earth, protecting it by a _chevaux de frise_, and then thickly planting the outside with a dense belt of the closest and most rapid-growing of the jungle shrubs--had been levelled with the earth, and its framework was now blazing furiously.

The first few moments after the explosion, it had seemed to the besieged that defence now would be madness, and that nothing was left for them but to throw themselves on the mercy of the Malays. But that natural desire of the Briton to make the best of things exemplified in the Latin proverb _Nil desperandum_ soon began to a.s.sert itself. A sergeant suddenly shouted, "Look out there, my lads! Want to see the place burnt down?" And first one and then another made a rush towards the different buildings to pick or knock off fragments of burning wood and bright embers, cast by the tremendous force and scattered by the powder, that were beginning to threaten destruction on the roofs where they had fallen. The example set was quite sufficient for the rapid stamping out of the fires.

Meanwhile the remains of the magazine were burning furiously, and though the river was so near, it was no time for any attempt at checking the fire's progress.

"Let it go, my lads," the Major had said, "and be ready to take cover again, for we shall have the enemy back directly."

For, instead of taking advantage of the explosion and the temporary bewilderment that had been caused to the besieged by the shock, the Malays, utterly demoralised by the terrific roar, had to a man made for the shelter of the jungle.

The silence that had succeeded the roar was intense. Where, firing their clumsy old muskets and increasing the noise by their savage yells of defiance all round the cantonments, the Malays had been tearing about and rushing from tree to tree, peace now reigned, while the snapping and crackling of the burning wood, the deep-toned, half-whispered orders of the officers, and the talking of the men seemed to sound unnaturally loud.

In a short time now all risk of further spreading of the fire was at an end, and the question arose, to be discussed by officers and non-coms, as to whether, as the Malays seemed to have retreated, something should not be done in the way of extinguishing the flames by bringing entrenching tools to bear and smothering them out with earth.

"No," said the Major; "it will be useless toil. Let it burn out."

"But the fire's getting brighter, sir," protested Archie.

"Well, sir," said the Major peevishly, "that's plain enough; you needn't tell us that. What then?"

"We shall be having the enemy back directly, sir, and all of us standing out against the light as a mark for their spears."

"Tut, tut!" exclaimed the Major. "How absurd! I had not thought of that. But, all the same, the explosion seems to have completely scared them away, for I don't hear a sound. Do any of you?"

There was no reply.

"Yes," continued the Major sharply.--"Here, Sergeant; half-a-dozen men, and spades. Do the best you can to smother the flames.--The rest take cover, for this can't last. We shall have the enemy back directly."

The Major's _directly_ did not prove to be correct, and while a careful watch was kept on the surrounding jungle and the little patches of fire that were flickering here and there amongst the trees, where goodly pieces of the woodwork had been cast by the explosion, a little meeting was held to discuss their position and the consequences of the catastrophe.

"You had all your ammunition stored there, had you not?" said the Doctor.

"All but what was in the men's pouches," replied the Major.

"Then what do you mean to do?"

"Fix bayonets," said the Major quietly.

"And not surrender?" said the Resident.

"Not while we have any fight left in us, Sir Charles. We have our women to protect; and besides, there are the three detachments out in the jungle. I begin to think that this explosion will prove to be a blessing in disguise, and act as a rallying-call to bring the men back and take the enemy, if they come on again, in the rear."

"Yes, to be sure," said the Resident, who stood half-turned from his companions in distress, and was gazing hard in the direction of the river.

"Well, Sir Charles, I presume you agree with me that we must stand to our guns--or, I should say, hold to our bayonets--till the very last?

Help may come at any hour now."

"Yes, certainly, sir," replied the Resident; "but I am afraid--"

"I wouldn't say so, sir," said the Major, with a bitter laugh.

"You know what I mean," said Sir Charles sternly. "I fully expect that we shall have another body of Malays, to join in the attack, from down the river--I mean, the Rajah Hamet's men."

"Well," said the Major, "our little citadel will hold us all, and when the last cartridges are fired we can make such a breast-work of bayonets as I don't think, in spite of their spears, these Malay scoundrels will pa.s.s."

"We shall do our best, I am sure," said the Resident quietly. "But what do you make of this explosion?"

"Ruin," said the Major bitterly.

"No, no; I mean, what could have caused it? You have all your rules--no fire is ever allowed to approach."

"Ah yes, to be sure," said the Major sharply, "what could have caused it?" and he looked round from one to the other. "I have been so wrapped up in the consequences that it has never occurred to me to think of the cause. We could have no enemy within the camp."

"Look here," said Archie to the Doctor; "one of these fellows is coming to say that the more they throw on earth the more the wood blazes up.-- What is it?" he continued, to the shovel-bearing private, who now joined them, his streaming and blackened face showing plainly in the bright light.

"We've just come upon a wounded man, sir."

"Why didn't you bring him in?" said Archie sharply.

"I don't mean only wounded, sir. He's all black and burnt. Seems as if the blow-up had sent him ever so far away, and he's lying yonder amongst the stripped trees."

"Eh? What's that?" said the Major excitedly. "Not one of my lads?"

"No, sir. As far as I can make out by what's left of his clothes, he's one of the enemy."

"One of the enemy!" cried the Major. "Why, we are coming to the truth, then. No one of the enemy could have been there--unless--"

"Look here," said the Doctor in his busy way, "you said wounded man, my lad?"

"Yes, sir; he's alive, for he moved when we touched him, and groaned.

But he's got it badly."

"Well," said the Doctor sharply, "a wounded man, whether he's one of ourselves or an enemy, is all one to me;" and he walked with the rest, after a glance or two in the direction of the silent forest, from which the attack had come, towards the still blazing fire, where a little group of the spade party was standing round a dark object lying at some distance on the other side of the ruins of the magazine.

The party drew back a little to make way for their officers, and Archie shuddered as he caught sight of the horribly blackened object before them.

"A litter here," said the Doctor shortly. "I will have him up into hospital, but I'm afraid it's a hopeless case."