cannon showed above the window, shoved through and now
rested on the ledge; and behind it arose an enormous log. From the
loop-holes in the court-house the gun was raked with buck-shot, but all
the work was done from below and no one stood exposed. Once a hand, like
a black bat, was seen upon the gun, but instantly it flew away, leaving
a blotch of blood. And now the old bell, so quiet all the morning, began
to strike--one, two, ten, thirty--slowly, with dread and solemn pauses.

"Look!" the Major cried. A red-hot poker glowed above the cannon.
Buckshot hailed from a hundred guns, and the poker fell, but soon it
came again and this time flat upon the gun. The hand that held it was
nervous and fumbling. Suddenly the breech of the gun slipped lower down
the upright log. Up went the muzzle, and then came a deafening boom.
There was a crash over-head. The cupola of the court-house was
shattered, and down came the bell upon the roof, and off it rolled and
fell upon the ground with a clang. Out surged Mayo's men, but a fearful
volley met them, and amid loud cries and with stumbling over the dead
and the dying, torn and bleeding, they were driven back. But they set up
a yell when they saw the damage their gun had wrought. They could
foresee the havoc of a better managed fire. Now the yells were hushed.
The Major's men could hear a black Vulcan hammering his iron; then a
lesser noise--they were driving the scraps into the gun.

"It will be worse this time," said the Major. "They have cut a deeper
niche in the log to hold the breech and there'll be no chance of its
slipping. These walls will be shattered like an eggshell. Steady, they
are at it."

Again the gun lay across the window ledge. The red-hot poker bobbed up,
glowing in the dim light, but there was a crash and a rain of shot and
it flew back out of sight; and it must have been hurled through the rear
opening of the wall, for they were a long time in getting it. But it
came again, this time sparkling with white heat. The guns about the
square kept up an incessant fire, but over the powder the poker bobbed,
and then--the whole town shook with the terrific jar, and windows
showered their glass upon the street, and through the smoke a thrilling
sight was seen--the roof of the brick building was blown into splinters
and in the air flew boots, hats and the fragments of men--the gun had
exploded.

"Out and charge!" the Major shouted. "Forward, Captain Batts!" he cried
at t