ninepins; but we scarcely saw it, for as we went through them the musketry
fire broke out round the messroom.

[Illustration: BEFORE THE SCOUNDRELS HAD TIME TO GET THEIR GUNS TO THEIR
SHOULDERS, WE WERE UPON THEM.]

"Whether any of the others tried to follow us, we don't know. I think most
of them forgot their arrangement, and rushed to their arms: certainly some
of them did so, for we heard the crack of revolvers between the rifle
shots. We made straight across the parade for Dunlop's bungalow, with
musket balls flying in all directions, as soon as the fellows we had gone
through recovered from their first astonishment; but they are not good
shots at the best, and a man running at his top speed is not an easy mark
by moonlight. We heard yells and musket shots all round, and knew that
while a part of the regiment was attacking us, parties were told off to
each bungalow. By the time we had got over the few hundred yards to
Dunlop's, the whistling of the bullets round us had pretty well ceased,
for the fellows had all emptied their muskets; besides, we were nearly out
of range. None of them were near us, for they had stopped in their run to
fire; they were too much interested in the massacre going on inside, and
we seemed pretty safe; when, just as I entered the gate of the compound, a
stray bullet hit me on the head, and down I went like a log.

"Happily, the syce had proved faithful; he had been with Dunlop ever since
he joined the regiment, and Dunlop once risked his life to save him from a
tiger. There was the syce with the trap. He had not dared bring it out
till the first shot was fired, lest his fellow-servants, who were all
traitors, should stop it; but the instant it began, he came round. They
ran the horse up to where I was lying, lifted me in, and jumped in, and
drove out of the gate as a score of fellows from the mess-house came