w-haw! Hooray!" were the varying forms of hoarse guffaw
that went up, and the joke was this. Those immediately behind the
fallen ones, pressed on over the bodies of the latter, intending to rush
the earthwork before the defenders should have time to reload. But
they, too, went down in sheaves, and that before another shot had been
fired. They had got into an entanglement of barbed wire, which had been
stealthily and quickly fixed round the defences the night before, but
_after dark_, lest the watchful eyes of scouts should perceive it and so
prepare their countrymen, for this surprise. And now the surprise was
complete.

"Give it 'em again!" shouted Hyland, setting the example. This time the
fire was not directed upon those who had fallen among the wire
entanglement, but on those immediately behind them. The effect was
awful. The whole roaring, struggling mass fell back upon itself--then,
dropping to the ground, glided away like snakes among the long grass,
and many were picked off while doing so. Then, those especially who had
shot-guns, played upon those who were trying to extricate themselves
from the wires. They could not take prisoners, and they had their
families to defend. The odds were tremendous against them: it was
necessary to read the enemy a severe lesson, to inflict upon him a
stunning loss. Hyland Thornhill for one, the probable fate of his
father clouding his brain as with lurid flame, raked the struggling
bodies again and again with charges of heavy buckshot. The carnage was
ghastly, sickening, but--necessary. The alternative was the massacre of
themselves and of their women and children.

The latter had been stowed within the Court house for safety, and now
with the lull in the attack the frightened screeches of some of the
former, and the unanimous howling of most of the latter were dismally
audible. Edala had carried out her brother's injunction and was trying
to reassure and pacify them. Evelyn too was ably seconding her, and
soon with some effect. The sight of these two, calm and unconcerned,
carried immense weight.

"What's that you're saying, Prior?" said Hyland Thornhill, turning his
head, for he had not moved from his post. "Not come on again? Won't
they? You'll see. I'm only wondering what devil's move they're up to
this time. They're too many, and we're too few for them to give up in
any such hurry. Pity that infernal wire has been cut or we'd soon have
them between