Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1897-10-21

without word spoken on either side
SIZE made it up to Jack then. She
never hindered him or unsteadied his
| nerves with tears and lamentations;
she was the truest, bravest Lelpmeel
man ever had. Once, near the end,
Wien she thought herself unobserved,
saw her lay her head down on his
shoulder and cry quietly. And I saw
the great tears rolling down his face
as ne bent over her-but I don't be-
ileVe it was case OF white feather
with either of them.
W ell, to cut it short, when the last
| day came, there were less than dozen
or us left-seyen Englishmen, three of
| the faithful Sikhs, and Mrs. Reeves.
Our position was practically hopeless.
the Sepoys had taken the fort build
ings after a lot of stubborn fighting
and heavy loss on our side. Only the
isolated tower remained in our pos
session, and to say that we were in
trenched in that picturesque, but high
| ly incommodious, building would be q
| fine bit of poetic license. We were
boxed in like rats in a trap. The
end was, as the doctors say, merely a
question of time unless help came,
and OF that we had begun to despair
1t lad become plain to us that our
situation was, in all probability, the
rule, and not the exception, and that
the country must be in state of re-
volt. We went about with grim faces
III these days. We knew that we were
doomed, but we meant to exact a high
price for our lives, and had no notion
| Of hU1rying the final issue. The mu-
tileers, to do them justice, were in no
pressing hurry either. either. They
appreciated the race sufficiently to
know that a handful of half-staved
and desperate Englishmen we're likely
to prove dangerous at close quarters,
and they showed no indecent haste to
come in and finish off the dying lion
They had us safe, and waited a day
oc two, with the patience of an ex-
pcrlenced grizzly bear sitting under his
Victims bOugh-not venturing into the
compound within range of our fire, but
contenting themselves with shooting
at lie from the fort buildings. But
when that last day dawned, we knew
our time had come. There were I'M,
lnistakable signs of activity in the
enemy's camp.
hey had dragged a couple of small
guns into the two doorways opening
Oh to the compound, and pounded
away perseveringly at the tough old
tower, chipping large pieces off the
stones, without doing much damage.
don't fancy they cared to try shells
at that short distance. Now and then
their gunners showed themselves, and
gave us an opportunity of retaliation,
OF which we were not slow to avail our
selves, and we did plenty of promiscu-
Gus shooting.
"The stairs leading from the base Of
the tower to the roof were divided
into two flights by a small room or
landing, lit by narrow loopholes and
shut off from the lower fight by y
fairly strong door. The Major took up
his position in this place with some of
the men. Jack and /, with couple of
others, occupied the roof.
"Jack was shooting away with ap-
pail1ng regularity. The muscles of his
good-natured face were set like iron,
his eyes were glittering, his hands cool
and steady. He used two weapons al
ternately, and his wife, with a resolute
exp ession on her pale, beautiful face,
stood quietly by him, loading while he
fired, utterly regardless of the hail Of
bullets that struck the stoneworl1
around her.
Cali at once the guns ceased firing,
and the supply of bullets began to
slacken gradually, and shortly after
we heard the Majors voice below, bel
lowing to us to come down. Jack was
turning slowly away from the parapet,
when I saw him leap suddenly in the
wife's side. Poor thing! She sank
down on her knees beside him with a
cry that went to my heart. Still, l
could do nothing for her, SO I went
down to the Major
"He was greatly shocked at my
news, but drew me hastily toward the
loophole by which he was standing.
"'What do you make of their 81
lence, Ives? Can you guess what their
next move will be?'
81 could not, and told him SO.
""They mean to venture a little
more on the stakes, he said, with a
grim smile They are going to run
gun out into the open, in the face of
our bullets, and pour heavy fire into
| the door below One round of gun
| ners will suffice for the work, and they
will doubtless die happy in the knowl-
edge that they are striking the hated
Englishmens death-blow. Then, the
| instant a breach is made in the door,
the whole pack of fiends will swarm
out of their cover and storm the
| tower
"tAnd we?' I asked, rather lacon-
| ica]ly-the programme was not invit-