with their men."

"Shall we get away without being fired at?" Nelly asked.

"I am afraid you will have to run the gantlet in one or two places," Dick
said. "The enemy keep up an almost incessant fire; and although, we must
hope, they will not have an idea that any number of people are passing
along the road, and their fire will therefore be only a random one, it may
be a little unpleasant; but you are all accustomed to that now. I must be
off again, Mrs. Hargreaves; I really only came to explain why I did not
come yesterday, and only got leave for an hour, so I have come at a trot
all the way."

And so Dick made off again; and as he shook hands with them, he could feel
that Nelly had not yet forgiven the coldness of his last good-by.

Upon the previous day all the sick and wounded had been moved to the Dil
Koosha; that done, the very large amount of money, amounting to nearly a
quarter of a million, in the government treasury, was removed, together
with such stores as were required. Then the guns were silently withdrawn
from the batteries, and at half-past four in the afternoon the emigration
of the women and children commenced. All had to walk to the Secunderbagh,
along a road strewn with _debris_, and ankle deep in sand, and in some
places exposed to a heavy fire. At one of these points a strong party of
seamen were stationed, among whom Dick was on duty. As each party of women
arrived at the spot they were advised to stoop low, and to run across at
full speed, as the road being a little sunk, they thus escaped observation
by the enemy, whose battery was at some little distance, but the grape
whistled thickly overhead, and several were wounded as they passed.