ey took the rebels absolutely by surprise, and no man could miss
his mark at that short range. Five of the rebels fell back headlong, and
the rest, who followed up the causeway, turned on their heels and ran.

"'Bout turn!" Brown shouted suddenly. "Use the steel, men! Use the
steel!"

His own sword was flashing, and lunging as he spoke, and he had already
checked a sudden rush by the prisoners.

They had thought the moment favorable for joining in the scrimmage from
the rear.

"All right! That'll do them! I'll attend to 'em now!"

A man came running up with the lantern Brown had asked for, and Brown
took it and began waving it above his head.

"They must have heard that volley!" he muttered to himself. "Ah! There's
the answer!"

A red light began to dance over in the British camp, moving up and down
and sidewise in sudden little jerks. Brown read the jerks, as he could
never have read writing, and a moment later he answered them.

"Now, down below, the lot of you! Give me your rifle, you. I'll need
it."

"Not coming, sir."

"Not yet. There's something else yet, and I can do it best. Besides,
some one has got to guard the causeway still. There might be a rush
again at any minute. Listen now. Obey Juggut Khan implicitly as soon as
you get down. His orders are my orders. Understand? Very well, then. And
you without a weapon, your job is to shut the door that you leave the
magazine by tight from the outside--d'you understand me? Call up when
you're all through the door, and then shut it tight!"

"But, how'll you get out, sir?"

"That's my business. One minute, though. Here they come again. Get ready
to fire another volley!"

The mutineers made another and a more determined rush up the causeway,
coming up it more than twenty strong, and at the double. Brown let one
volley loose in the midst of them, then led his men at the charge down
on them and drove them over the edge of the causeway by dint of sheer
impact and cold steel. Not one of them reached the ground alive, and
in the darkness it must have been impossible for the mutineers below to
divine how many were the granary's defenders.

"That'll keep 'em quiet for a while, I'll wager! Now, quick, you men!
Get down below, and follow Juggut Khan, and don't forget to shut the
door tight on you. These prisoners here are going to follow you--they
may as well go down with you for that matter. No! that won't do. They
could open the door below, couldn't they? They