“So far so good, ladies,” the Major said cheerily, as the garrison, leaving one man on watch, descended from the roof. “We have had no casualties, and I think we must have inflicted a good many, and the mutineers are not likely to try that game on again, for they must see that they are wasting ammunition, and are doing us no harm. Now I hope the servants have got tiffin ready for us, for I am sure we have all excellent appetites.” “Tiffin is quite ready, Major,” Mrs. Doolan, who had been appointed chief of the commissariat department, said cheerfully. “The servants were a little disorganized when the firing began, but they soon became accustomed to it, and I think you will find everything in order in the hall.” The meal was really a cheerful one. The fact that the first attack had passed over without anyone being hit raised the spirits of the women, and all were disposed to look at matters in a cheerful light. The two young subalterns were in high spirits, and the party were more lively than they had been since the first outbreak of the mutiny. All had felt severely the strain of waiting, and the reality of danger was a positive relief after the continuous suspense. It was much to them to know that the crisis had come at last, that they were still all together and the foe were without. “It is difficult to believe,” Mrs. Doolan said, “that it was only yesterday evening we were all gathered at the Major’s. It seems an age since then.” “Yes, indeed,” Mrs. Rintoul agreed; “the night seemed endless. The worst time was the waiting till we were to begin to move over. After that I did not so much mind, though it seemed more like a week than a night while the things were being brought in here.” “I think the worse time was while we were waiting watching from the roof to see whether the troops would come out on parade as usual,” Isobel said. “When my uncle and the others were all in, and Captain Forster, and the gates were shut, it seemed that our anxieties were over.” “That was a mad charge of yours, Forster,” the Major said. “It was like the Balaclava business--magnificent; but it wasn’t war.” “I did not think of it one way or the other,” Captain Forster laughed. “I was so furious at the insolence off those dogs attacking me, that I thought of nothing else, and just went at them; but of course it was foolish.” “It did good,” the Doctor said. “It showed the Sepoys how little we thought of them, and how a single white officer was ready to match himself against a squadron. It will render them a good deal more careful in their attack than they otherwise would have been. It brought them under our fire, too, and they suffered pretty heavily; and I am sure the infantry must have lost a good many men from our fire just now. I hope they will come to the conclusion that the wisest thing they can do is to march away to Delhi and leave us severely alone. Now what are your orders, Major, for after breakfast?”