The
others hurried to their respective posts, and then turned round and
gazed at the spot where the light would be shown. In their anxiety and
excitement the time seemed interminable, and each began to think that
the native had somehow blundered; at last the light appeared, and they
turned at once to their work. Half a minute sufficed to light the fuses,
and then they hurried away cautiously until past all the waggons, and
then at full speed along the hillside, their thickly-padded shoes making
no noise upon the rocks. Knowing that they were sure to be confused as
to the time, they had calculated before the sun had set how far they
could run in three minutes, which should be, if all went well, the time
they would have after leaving the yard. They thought that even on the
rough ground, and in the dark, they could make a hundred and fifty yards
a minute, and at about four hundred and fifty from the waggons there was
a low ridge of rock behind which they would obtain protection from all
fragments blown directly outwards.
Chris was the first to arrive, for the trucks with the cannon were those
farthest away from the bridge, and he was able to run for some distance
along the line before making for the elope, and therefore travelled
faster than his companions, who had farther to run on broken ground.
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