Hunter, and Mrs. Rintoul. The Major
returned to the general room.
"Boy, bring half a dozen bottles of champagne and open them as
quickly as you can," he said; "we have got enough to last us for
weeks, and this is an occasion to celebrate, and I think we have
all earned it."
The others were by this time coming in, for there was no chance of
the enemy renewing the attack at present. Farquharson was on the
roof on the lookout. Quiet greetings were exchanged between wives
and husbands.
"It didn't last long," Wilson said; "not above five minutes, I
should say, from the time when we opened fire."
"It seemed to us an age," Amy Hunter replied; "it was dreadful not
to be able to see what was going on; it seemed to me everyone must
be killed with all that firing."
"It was sharp while it lasted," the Major said; "but we were all
snug enough except against a stray bullet, such as that which hit
poor young Richards. He behaved very gallantly, and none of us knew
he was hit till it was all over."
"But how did Captain Forster get his bayonet wound?" Mrs. Doolan
asked. "I saw him go in just now into the surgery; it seemed to me
he had a very serious wound, for his jacket was cut from the breast
up to the shoulder, and he was bleeding terribly, though he made
light of it."
"He jumped down into the middle of them," the Major said. "Bathurst
jumped down first, and was fighting like a madman with a mace he
has got. We could do nothing, for we were afraid of hitting him,
and Forster jumped down to help him, and, as he did so, got that
rip with the bayonet; it is a nasty cut, no doubt, but it is only
a flesh wound.
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