indars had already sent in assurances that they were wholly
with them, and would be here, with guns to batter down the walls, some
time tomorrow."

"That is bad news, indeed," the Major said gravely, when he had
finished. "Of course, when we heard that Nana Sahib had thrown in his
lot with the mutineers, it was probable that many of the landowners
would go the same way; but if the Sepoys had marched off they might not
have attacked us on their own account. Now we know that the Sepoys are
going to stay, and that they will have guns, it alters our position
altogether."

There was a murmur of assent.

"I should tell you before you talk the matter over further," Bathurst
went on, "that during the last hour some hundreds of peasants have taken
up their posts round the house in addition to the Sepoy sentries. I came
back with one party about a hundred strong. They are posted a couple of
hundred yards or so in front of the gate. I slipped away from them in
the dark and made my way here."

"Well, gentlemen, what do you think we had better do?" the Major said;
"we are all in the same boat, and I should like to have your opinions.
We may defend this house successfully for days--possibly we may even
tire them out--but on the other hand they may prove too strong for
us. If the wall were breached we could hardly hope to defend it, and,
indeed, if they constructed plenty of ladders they could scale it at
night in a score of places. We must, therefore, regard the house as our
citadel, close up the lower windows and doors with sandbags, and defend
it to the last. Still, if they are determined, the lookout is not a very
bright one."

"I am in favor of our cutting our way out, Major," Captain Forster
said; "if we are cooped up here, we must, as you say, in the long run be
beaten."

"That would be all very well, Captain Forster, if we were all men,"
Mr. Hunter said. "There are sixteen of us and there are in all eighteen
horses, for I and Farquharson have two each; but there are eight women
and fourteen children; so all the horses would have to carry double. We
certainly could not hope to escape from them with our horses so laden;
and if they came up with us, what fighting could we do with women behind
our saddles? Moreover, we certainly could not leave the servants, who
have been true to us, to the mercy of the Sepoys."

"Besides, where could we go?" the Doctor asked. "The garrison at
Cawnpore, we know, are besieged by overwhelmi