I want to keep them back a bit, so that they come on in a crowd, not scattered." We took up our repeating rifles and did as Orme told us, and so dense was the mass of humanity opposite that if we missed one man, we hit another, killing or wounding a number of them.

The result of the loss of several of their leaders, to say nothing of meaner folk, was just what Orme had foreseen.

The Fung soldiers, instead of rushing on independently, spread to right and left, until the whole farther side of the square filled up with thousands of them, a veritable sea of men, at which we pelted bullets as boys hurl stones at a wave.
At length the pressure of those behind thrust onward those in front, and the whole fierce, tumultuous mob began to flow forward across the square, a multitude bent on the destruction of three white men, armed with these new and terrible weapons.

It was a very strange and thrilling sight; never have I seen its like.
"Now," said Orme, "stop firing and do as I bid you.

Kneel the camels fifty yards outside the wall, not less, and wait till you know the end.
If we shouldn't meet again, well, good-bye and good luck." So we went, Quick literally weeping with shame and rage.
"Good Lord!" he exclaimed, "good Lord! to think that, after four campaigns, Samuel Quick, Sergeant of Engineers, with five medals, should live to be sent off with the baggage like a pot-bellied bandmaster, leaving his captain to fight about three thousand niggers single-handed.
Doctor, if he don't come out, you do the best you can for yourself, for I'm going back to stop with him, that's all.