’For God’s sake, help!’ I said, jumping towards him. ’Zorilla’s cavalry is all round that bend—the woods are full of his infantry—they’re firing at us from the windows of the Casino, and I can’t make a soul understand.’ ’Where’s your brother?’ he said, out of breath. ’Over to the left—there’s been very heavy firing there—I’ve sent to tell him.’ ’I’ve come on to tell him there’s a pom-pom coming along the road—Jones and Richardson are bringing it—it will be here in half an hour.’ Half an hour! Good God! In half an hour all would be over. ’We must capture the Casino,’ I said, trembling with despair. ’They’ve only about twenty men there at present. Tell him—tell that chap,’ pointing to the ’Gnome’, who was kicking and cuffing some of the little men, squirming on their bellies and fighting each other to get behind two dead men who lay in the road. ’Right you are, old chap,’ and Seymour shouted to him. I saw his face clear, he dashed off, and in a couple of minutes had got hold of some men—those who were lining the beach—harangued them, and then we all rushed along the shore to the Casino. We were hidden, a little, by that bungalow and the garden, but I saw several hit before we got into the open, and then a dozen fell. Seymour was in front of me with a _machete_ in his hand, I was a good second, and the ’Gnome’ and thirty or forty natives were close behind us. We poured over the verandah into the billiard-room, but not a sign of any one was there, and all the regulars were upstairs. Seymour yelled something, and some of our fellows began firing up through the ceiling, bringing the plaster down in clouds. I and some others dashed for the main staircase, but, at the top, the regulars were gathered, and were firing down. It was the most appalling din—rifles firing, mirrors and glasses smashing, and wood-work splintering all round us. Our men wouldn’t face the stairs. ’There’s a back staircase,’ I heard Seymour yell, and I went after him. We clattered up and burst on those chaps from the rear. There was a scuffle, Seymour shouted down for our people to stop firing, and in five minutes there wasn’t a living regular in the house. Most of them had escaped by sliding down from the verandah, and had run back into the forest again, shooting at any one who went near a window. ’On the roof!’ I heard Seymour shouting, and rushed back to find him leaning on the banisters—the excited little brown men, thirsting for more blood, crowding up the stairs, past him. He looked awfully white. ’What’s the matter?’ I yelled. ’Shot through the stomach—make these chaps line the roof.’