arge up the path in an irresistible
stream. The plan was well devised, but the thorn-bushes of Amaxosa
ruined it, and the twenty picked Mormons who tried the first rush
perished miserably to a man.

The shooting of the besieged was beautifully accurate, for, in no fear
of their fire being returned, they were able to expose their persons at
will, and aim with murderous precision.

Now, however, two houses were planted at one time, and as two men, even
with Winchesters and posted behind a zareba, are rather short odds to
cope with forty, Grenville washed his face, got ready a shell, and, as
the Mormons charged, coolly stepped up to the very verge of the rock,
and threw the lighted bomb amongst them. None who heard the awful yell
of terror which went up from these miserable and superstitious men could
ever forget it, and the whole Mormon army echoed the name of Grenville
in a shout which almost drowned the thundering and deadly explosion of
the first shell. For such decidedly amateur handiwork, the missile
acted very well indeed and between its results and the Winchesters,
which Dora and Leigh plied unceasingly, not half a dozen men survived
the second charge.

A lull followed, but at three o'clock in the afternoon the foe again
moved up, and fought with increased vigour and renewed cunning. A
dashing charge carried three men out of ten up to the first line of
thorn-bushes, into which they each slipped a lighted torch; and though
all were instantly picked off by the rifles, their work was done, for in
less than ten minutes the bushes were destroyed by fire, and an attempt
to destroy the second line in the same way followed, but failed
ignominiously, owing to the magnificent shooting of the beleaguered
party.

Cunning, nevertheless, matched science, and by putting on rushes of
thirty, forty, and even fifty men, the three lines of bushes were
destroyed, the last charge alone costing the foe forty men, of whom more
than a half were destroyed by one of Grenville's bombs. Now, however,
there was but the last line of bush which fringed the plateau, and with
a terrific shout a full hundred Mormons rushed up the path and made for
this, whilst the defenders rained shot and shell upon them. Still, what
could two men and one woman do? Nearly forty men fell, but the bushes
blazed; and now the whole Mormon army drew together at the foot of the
slope, prepared to charge the moment the fire died out.

The cousins shook hands