A disorderly crowd of sepoys and riff-raff of the town had assembled in front of the large house of Sir Arthur Fletcher, the Commissioner of the district. The windows were being fired into and the doors battered down, in spite of a determined resistance from the inmates. Into the crowd charged the loyal sepoys. Firing a single volley at close quarters they at once let the rioters taste cold steel, and beneath the gallant major's sword fell more than one of the ringleaders. Major Munro was known as one of the strongest officers and best swordsmen in the army, and the mob gave back before his flashing steel and the glistening bayonets of his followers. But as the sepoys recoiled, a number of Wahabis, showering curses upon the faint-hearted, poured with knives and swords down upon the little band. The leader was all but lost. Separating him from his men, half a dozen fanatics set on him at once, yelling triumphantly. But the two who first came within reach of that mighty arm quickly lay in the dust; the third received the point in his heart, and a fourth was cloven almost in twain. Aghast at the fate of their comrades the others faltered. But Munro did not wait to be attacked; stepping over the prostrate bodies he followed up the advantage gained, and the pandies shrank from that fatal sword. Joining forces once more, the sturdy band reached the house, and, standing with backs to the wall, they poured volley after volley--irregularly, but coolly and rapidly--into the dense, disorganized rabble, until at length the barricades were taken from the door, and one by one they were admitted. CHAPTER VIII The Fight in the Arsenal "They are having a hard fight for it," Ted observed to Lieutenant Lowthian. They stood on the walls that surrounded the courtyard of the fort, watching the progress of their comrades through the crowded streets. Lowthian nodded, but, absorbed by the struggle, made no reply. "Yes, and they've left us here to be killed like rabbits," muttered Tynan. "Shut up! Don't whine!" Lowthian scornfully exhorted him. Ted's anxiety had so far been largely centred in the safety of Ethel Woodburn, the charge placed under his protection; and having rightly guessed that the Commissioner's house, surrounded by the clamouring mob, through whose masses Munro was breaking his way, contained the Europeans of Aurungpore, a load was lifted from his mind. The rebels had quitted the immediate vicinity of the fort, and the comparative tranquillity close at hand had made him forget his own danger. Tynan's remark and Lowthian's curtness startled him. "They won't be long in escorting the women here," he cheerfully opined. "And a hundred of us ought to hold this place easily." "Yes, but twenty cannot," Tynan sneered. "If it's as much as Munro can do to force his way through now, how's he going to manage it with a crowd of women to protect?"