"All this was satisfactory; but I learned that Por Sing and several
other Zemindars had already sent in assurances that they were wholly
with them, and would be here, with guns to batter down the walls,
some time tomorrow."
"That is bad news, indeed," the Major said gravely, when he had
finished. "Of course, when we heard that Nana Sahib had thrown
in his lot with the mutineers, it was probable that many of the
landowners would go the same way; but if the Sepoys had marched off
they might not have attacked us on their own account. Now we know
that the Sepoys are going to stay, and that they will have guns,
it alters our position altogether."
There was a murmur of assent.
"I should tell you before you talk the matter over further," Bathurst
went on, "that during the last hour some hundreds of peasants
have taken up their posts round the house in addition to the Sepoy
sentries. I came back with one party about a hundred strong. They
are posted a couple of hundred yards or so in front of the gate.
I slipped away from them in the dark and made my way here."
"Well, gentlemen, what do you think we had better do?" the Major
said; "we are all in the same boat, and I should like to have your
opinions. We may defend this house successfully for days--possibly
we may even tire them out--but on the other hand they may prove
too strong for us. If the wall were breached we could hardly hope
to defend it, and, indeed, if they constructed plenty of ladders they
could scale it at night in a score of places.
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