Lord Lake cannot be absent more than three days; and if he
be--why, still there is a chance--why do I say a chance?--a CERTAINTY of
escaping from the hands of these ruffians."
"Oh, name it, name it, dear Captain Gahagan!" screeched the whole covey
at a breath.
"It lies," answered I, "in the POWDER MAGAZINE. I will blow this fort,
and all it contains, to atoms, ere it becomes the prey of Holkar."
The women, at this, raised a squeal that might have been heard in
Holkar's camp, and fainted in different directions; but my dear Belinda
whispered in my ear, "Well done, thou noble knight! bravely said, my
heart's Goliah!" I felt I was right: I could have blown her up twenty
times for the luxury of that single moment! "And now, ladies," said I,
"I must leave you. The two chaplains will remain with you to administer
professional consolation--the other gentlemen will follow me up stairs
to the ramparts, where I shall find plenty of work for them."
CHAPTER VII.
THE ESCAPE.
Loth as they were, these gentlemen had nothing for it but to obey,
and they accordingly followed me to the ramparts, where I proceeded
to review my men. The fort, in my absence, had been left in command of
Lieutenant Macgillicuddy, a countryman of my own (with whom, as may be
seen in an early chapter of my memoirs, I had an affair of honor); and
the prisoner Bobbachy Bahawder, whom I had only stunned, never wishing
to kill him, had been left in charge of that officer.
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