The effect of this murderous discharge was instantaneous and remarkable.  Brave though the Fung might be, they were quite unaccustomed to magazine rifles.  Living as they did perfectly isolated and surrounded by a great river, even if they had heard of such things and occasionally seen an old gaspipe musket that reached them in the course of trade, of modern guns and their terrible power they knew nothing.  Small blame to them, therefore, if their courage evaporated in face of a form of sudden death which to them must have been almost magical.  At any rate they fled incontinently, leaving their dead and wounded on the ground.

Now again we thought of flight, which perhaps would have proved our wisest course, but hesitated because we could not believe that the Fung had left the road clear, or done more than retreat a little to wait for us.  While we lost time thus the mist thinned a great deal, so much indeed that we could see our exact position.  In front of us, towards the city side, lay a wide open space, whereof the walls ended against those of Harmac itself, to which they formed a kind of vestibule or antechamber set there to protect this gateway of the town through which we had ridden in the darkness, not knowing whither we went.

“Those inner doors are open,” said Orme, nodding his head toward the great portals upon the farther side of the square.  “Let’s go see if we can shut them.  Otherwise we shan’t hold this place long.”

So we ran across to the further doors that were similar to those through which we had just fired, only larger, and as we met nobody to interfere with our efforts, found that the united strength of the three of us was just, only just, sufficient to turn first one and then the other of them upon its hinges and work the various bolts and bars into their respective places.  Two men could never have done the job, but being three and fairly desperate we managed it.  Then we retreated to our archway and, as nothing happened, took the opportunity to eat and drink a few mouthfuls, Quick remarking sagely that we might as well die upon full as upon empty stomachs.

When we had crossed the square the fog was thinning rapidly, but as the sun rose, sucking the vapours from the rain-soaked earth, it thickened again for awhile.

“Sergeant,” said Orme presently, “these black men are bound to attack us soon.  Now is the time to lay a mine while they can’t see what we are after.”

“I was just thinking the same thing, Captain; the sooner the better,” replied Quick.  “Perhaps the Doctor will keep a watch here over the camels, and if he sees any one stick up his head above the wall, he might bid him good-morning.  We know he is a nice shot, is the Doctor,” and he tapped my rifle.

I nodded and the two of them set out laden with wires and the packages that looked like tobacco tins, heading for a stone erection in the centre of the square which resembled an altar, but was, I believe, a rostrum whence the native auctioneers sold slaves and other merchandise.  What they did there exactly, I am sure I do not know; indeed, I was too much occupied in keeping a watch upon the walls whereof I could clearly see the crest above the mist, to pay much attention to their proceedings.