"It's all right, lads," I said heartily. "Never mind our colors to-
night; we are all fighting the same way."

I had taken with me Bungay, together with three of my troopers, and
after placing them as advantageously as possible, I stretched myself
out on the floor, and applying an eye to a convenient opening took
careful survey of the situation without. There was little to be
observed, for darkness securely hid the movements of the enemy.
Everything upon our side of the house, however, appeared comparatively
quiet, yet it was clearly evident that the besiegers had no present
intention of withdrawing from the attack; the flame of the stables had
already largely died away, but what little light remained enabled me to
perceive unmistakable signs of their presence. I could distinguish
frequent moving figures in the background, but was unable to determine
their distance from the house. Occasionally a flash out of the night
would evidence the discharge of a gun, and I heard a gruff voice
shouting forth an order. One shot struck the window just above me,
showering my shoulders with fragments of broken glass, and I noticed
one of the Federal soldiers in the room carried his arm in a rude
sling.

This present cessation of activity was, I felt convinced, only
temporary. I did not expect, from all I could now see, that the final
assault would take place upon my side of the building. The massing of
the main body of the besiegers before the front entrance, together with
the presence there of their leaders, was sufficient to convince me that
this was to prove the principal point of attack, and from my knowledge
of such affairs I decided that probably the first signs of returning
daylight would be the signal for a determined assault. The dark