For the next four hours the lads were hard at work with the rest of the
garrison. Earth was brought in sacks or baskets and piled up, stockades
repaired, and fascines and gabions mended. The work would have been hard
anywhere; on an August night in India it was exhausting. All the time that
they were at work the bullets continued to fly thickly overhead, striking
the wall of the house with a sharp crack, or burying themselves with a
short thud in the earth. Round shot and shell at times crashed through the
upper part of the house, which was uninhabited; while from the terraced
roof, and from the battery in the corner of the garden, the crack of the
defenders' rifles answered the enemy's fire.

By the time that the work was done it was midnight, and the Warreners'
turn for guard. They had received rifles, and were posted with six others
in the battery. There were three guns here, all of which were loaded to
the muzzle with grape; three artillerymen, wrapped in their cloaks, lay
asleep beside them, for the number of artillerymen was so small that the
men were continually on duty, snatching what sleep they could by their
guns during the intervals of fighting. The orders were to listen
attentively for the sound of the movement of any body of men, and to fire
occasionally at the flashes of the enemy's guns. The four hours passed
rapidly, for the novelty of the work, the thunder of cannon and crackling
of musketry, all round the Residency, were so exciting that the Warreners
were surprised when the relief arrived. They retired to their room, and
were soon asleep; but in an hour the alarm was sounded, and the whole
force at the post rushed to repel an attack. Heralded by a storm of fire
from every gun which could be brought to bear upon the battery, thousands
of fanatics rushed from the shelter of the houses outside the
intrenchments and swarmed down upon it. The garrison lay quiet behind the
parapet until the approach of the foe caused the enemy's cannon to cease