Then charging forth, they quickly crossed the bullet-swept
courtyard, and fell with fury on the amazed gunners and the crowd behind
the wall. Shooting, thrusting, and slashing, they killed or routed every
man about the guns, and seizing them tried to drag them back. But here
their strength was too small, though great their heart, and though they
swung the guns round, and pulled them a few yards, they could not get
them away. The little band was falling fast, right out in the open as it
was; and at last the overwhelming tide returned and drove them back with
the loss of half their numbers. Dr. Kelly, too, must in the sortie have
received his mortal wound, for though he struggled back with the rest,
he was never again seen alive. _Requiescat in pace_: physician and
soldier, he died a hero's death.
Again the furious crowd surged up to the guns, recaptured them, slewed
them round, and laid them on the door. Then came the second salvo heard
by the distant listener; and again, scarce taking breath, Hamilton made
preparations for his new attempt. "Do you stand here and here; and you
two, there and there; and all of you shoot for all you're worth at the
gunners, while I and the rest again charge out and capture the guns," he
said. "And I come too," said Jenkyns.
Then a second time they threw open the door, and a second time those two
young Englishmen at the head of the faithful few charged out on the
guns.
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