"Yes," she said; "thank God you have returned safe.--No, no; don't touch me," she cried hoarsely. "Here, take me away--lead me out of this!" she said, for at that moment Lieutenant Leigh came quietly in, and she put her hands in his. "Take me out," she said again hoarsely; and then, like some one muttering in a dream: "Take me away--take me away." I said that drawn strange look on Captain Dyer's face seemed to deepen as he stood watching whilst those two went out together; then he passed his hand over his eyes, as if to ask himself whether it was a dream; and then, with a groan, he leaned one hand against the wall, feeling his way out from the room, and something seemed to hinder me from calling out to him, and telling him what I knew. For I was reasoning with myself, what ought I to do? and then, sick and faint, I seemed to sleep again. But this time I was waked up by a loud shrieking, and a rush of feet, and, confused as I was, I knew what it meant: the hole where the blacks escaped--Chunder and his party--had not been properly guarded, and the mutineers had climbed up and made an entrance. The alarm spread fast enough, but not quick enough to save life; for, with a howl, half-a-dozen sepoys, with their scarlet and white coatees open, dashed in with fixed bayonets, and two women were borne to the ground in an instant, while a couple of wretches made a dash at those two children--Little Cock Robin and Jenny Wren, as we called them-- standing there, wondering like, by Harry Lant's bed on the floor, whilst the golden light of the setting sun filled the room, and lit up their little angels' faces. But with a howl, such as I never heard woman give, Mrs Bantem rushed between them and the children, caught a bayonet in each hand, and held them together, letting them pass under one arm, then with a spring forward she threw those great arms of hers round the black fellows' necks as they hung together, and held them in such a hug as they never suffered from before. The next moment they were all rolling together on the floor; but that incident saved the lives of those poor children, for there came a cheer now, and Measles and a dozen more were led in by Lieutenant Leigh, and-- There, I am telling you too many horrors. They beat them back step by step, at the point of the bayonet; and a fierce struggle it was--a long fight kept up from room to room, for our men were mad now as the mutineers, and it was a genuine death-struggle; for the broken window being guarded, not a man of about a dozen mutineers who gained entrance lived to go back and relate their want of success.