ong pause.

"I think they are waiting till it is dark," Lisle said. "Tell the
men to make torches, and thrust them out through the loopholes when
the enemy come."

The chief nodded, after Lisle had repeated the sentence in a dozen
different ways. He at once ordered the men to bring up ropes, and
to soak them with oil; and then in a low voice, so that the
assailants should not hear, repeated the order to the men in the
other houses.

The ropes were cut up into lengths of three feet, and then there
was nothing to do but to wait. The attack had begun at three in the
afternoon, and by six it was quite dark. A loud yell gave the
signal, and the enemy rushed through the hedge and surrounded the
three houses. All had walls round them and, while the assailants
battered at the doors, which had been backed up with earth and
stones, the defenders lighted their torches and thrust them out,
through loopholes in the upper stories, and then retired again to
the ground floor.

The doors soon gave way to the attacks upon them, and the
assailants rushed in, in a crowd. As they did so, the defenders
poured in a terrible fire from their magazine rifles. The heads of
the columns melted away, and the assailants fell back, hastily.

"I do not think they will try again," Lisle said. "If they have
lost as heavily, in the other two houses, as they have here, their
loss must have been heavy, indeed."

The torches were kept burning all night, but there was no
repetition of the attack and, in the morning, the assailants were
seen gathered half a mile away. Presently a man was observed
approaching, waving a green bough. He was met at the hedge by the
chief. He brought an offer that, if the Afridis were allowed to
carry off their dead and wounded, they would be content that the
same tribute as of old should be paid; and to take oath that it
should not, in the future, be increased. The chief agreed to the
terms, on condition that only twenty men should be allowed to pass
the hedge, and that they should there hand over the dead to their
companions.

On returning to his house, he made Lisle understand that, after the
heavy loss they had inflicted on their assailants, there would
forever be a blood feud between them; and that, in future, they
would have to retire for the winter to some valley far away, and
keep a constant watch until spring came again. When Lisle had, with
great difficulty, understood what the chief said, he nodded.

"I can