It was inside the house that the greatest resistance--which, if it came to that, must be the last--would have to be made; and the saloon, as being the biggest apartment in the manor, as well as because it had windows looking on to both the back and the front of the house, was selected as our principal point of defence; and here we four--Lord St. Amande, Mr. Kinchella, Mary and myself--were assembled. Upstairs, in every room, were told off certain of the white servants, most of the blacks having hidden in the cellars where they shrieked and howled dreadfully; so that, if the enemy did force an entrance, they must undoubtedly soon be discovered; while the rest had run away. Of these white servants, Buck, the man who had been a highwayman, had command, with, under him, Lamb, the brother of my maid. And certainly, judging from the sounds we heard above, these men seemed to have thrown themselves into work of this nature with far more ardour than they ever did into their duties in the fields, for we could hear them laughing and talking, and even singing at such a dreadful time as this. "Ha, ha," we heard Buck roar. "Ha, ha! This is indeed work fit for a gentleman to do; as good, i' faith, as a canter across Bagshot or Hounslow Heath, with the coach coming up well laden. Look now, look, Lamb, lad; look. Do'st see that red devil crawling up from out the plantation; at him, aim low and steady. So-so, wait till he cometh into the moonlight. Ha! now, steady, let go." Then there was a ping heard, a yell from outside, and next, above that, the voice of Buck again. "Fair! Fairly hit. Look how he kicks. So did I once shoot one of the Bow Street catchers who thought to take me at Fulham. Load, lad, load, though the next shot is mine," whereon the desperado fell to singing: Oh, three jolly rogues, three jolly rogues, Three jolly rogues are we As ever did swing in a hempen string Under the gallow's tree.