All partook of the reviving draught, which, to borrow their own expressive language, “made them twice the men they were before.” It is a common belief among physiologists that water only increases the sufferings of those who have long been unable to satisfy their thirst; but it was not so in this instance. It made them twice the men they were before, and thus enabled them to continue their resistance. Sentries were told off for the night, and every man who could stand had to take his share of duty. Every loophole had its guardian; owing to the length of the shed none were left unemployed. The darkness which had now set in was favourable to our men; it prevented the enemy on the roof from watching their movements or observing the position they occupied, and enabled them to fire through the roof with the additional advantage of knowing from the sound of their feet where the Sepoys stood. On discovering this, the latter quitted the roof, and for a time all was still; it seemed as if they had given up the attack as hopeless. When the firing ceased, a reaction set in after the fierce excitement of the day; the stoutest hearts were almost appalled by a sense of their desperate condition. They had long since ceased to hope for deliverance; they clung to life with that instinctive feeling which leads the shipwrecked mariner to cling to a plank, though he knows that escape is all but impossible. If the shed was forced, their only thought was to rush forth and sell their lives as dearly as possible. As they listened to the shrieks of the tortured, they swore in their hearts that, come what might, they would never fall into the hands of the enemy. Death had lost all its bitterness; the grim king was stripped of all his dark imagery of terror. If he had come of his own accord, they would have welcomed him as a friend, but as Christian soldiers, whose lives were not their own, they were bound to wait for his coming. And all through the long, dreary hours of that night of horror they _did_ wait for him, but he came not; those who retained their consciousness almost envied the wounded who had become delirious. Their ammunition was almost exhausted; there only remained about seven rounds for six men; if the enemy renewed the attack, all would soon be over. But the enemy did _not_ renew the attack; they found it easier and safer to torture the wounded in the doolies than to dislodge or destroy a few resolute men driven to bay.