Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-26

All at once the Colonel dashed his
glass to the floor with a frightful oath.
Between the two gusts of smoke he
had seen the boat turn suddenly over,
and go whirling down the river, keel
upward.
"There' S an end of the poor lad, " NUT
tered the veteran brokenly. "God bless
him for brave little fellow. And now,
Old friend, We must just die hard, for
there's no hope left"
The first few hours of the night passed
quietly, and the exhausted defenders,
utterly worn out, slept as if drugged
with opium. But little after midnight
the quick ears of the two veteran officers
the only watchers in the whole gar
rison except the sentries themselves
caught a faint stirring in the surround
ing thickets, which seemed to argue some
movement ON the part of the enemy.
Listening intently for few moments,
they felt certain that they were right,
and lost no time in arousing their men.
The scanty stores of food were opened
once more, and, crouched together in the
darkness, the doomed men took what
they fully believed to be their last meal
on earth.
They're coming" said Maj Arm
strong, straining his eyes into the
gloom through loop-hole. 81 hear
them creeping forward, though I can't
see them
"What the deuce was that?" ex-
claimed the Colonel, suddenly. {" 1t
looked like fiery arrow flying past"
'tIt's worse than that" said the Ma
jor, IN low voice. "The rascals are
shooting lighted chips of bamboo out on
TO the roof to set it on fire. Send the
women up with buckets to iocd the
thatch there's not a moment to lose"
"PH go and see to it myself I" cried
Mrs. Currie, Fastening out of the room.
But the power Of this new weapon had
already become fatally manifest. The
house was an old one, and dry as
finder from the prolonged heat,
and as fast as the flames were quenched
In one place they broke out in another.
When the day dawned the fire had al
ready got q firm hold of one corner of
the building, and % crushing discharge
was poured upon all who attempted to
extinguish it, while the triumphant yell
Of the human tigers below told them
that they felt sure of their prey.
cts all over with us, old fellow, said
the Colonel, grasping the old comrades
hand; +" but, at least, we shall have done
our duty"
"Glve me one Of your pistols, whis-
pered Mrs. Currie to her husband, in
voice that was not her own. CT must
not fall into their hands alive"
At this moment Maj. Armstrong was
seen to start and bend forward, as If lis
tening intently; for he Thoughtful
though he could scarcely believe his
ears-that he had suddenly caught a
faint sound of distant firing.
In another instant he heard it again.
and this time there could be no doubt,
for several of the others had caught it
likewise, and CLEAN of hope once
more lighted up their haggard faces and
bloodshot eyes.
Louder and nearer came the welcome
sound, while the sudden terror and con-
fusion visible among the enemy showed
that they, too, were at no loss to guess
the meaning.
Then high above the din arose the
well-known "hurrah !" and through the
snoke-cloudssbroke charging line of
glittering bayonets and rudy English
faces, sweeping away the cowardly muir
derers as the sun chases the morning
mist.
''That boys worth his weight in gold"
said Col. Annesley, as, few hours
later, he listened to Ismail's account of
how he had dived under the boat and
kept it between him and the Sepoys,
that they might think him drowned.
"He's the Quickest little fellow I've
seen, and, although he belongs to the
Major, I'm going to take my share of
helping him on, by Jove I"