On
bearing her cousin to the bedroom, after the terrifying
yell first heard from without the fort, she had flown
down the front stairs of the blockhouse, in the hope of
reaching the guardroom in time to acquaint Captain Baynton
with what she and Clara had witnessed from their window.
Scarcely, however, had she gained the exterior of the
building, when she saw that officer descending from a
point of the rampart immediately on her left, and almost
in a line with the block-house. He was running to overtake
and return the ball of the Indian players, which had, at
that moment, fallen into the centre of the fort, and was
now rolling rapidly away from the spot on which Miss de
Haldimar stood. The course of the ball led the pursuing
officer out of the reach of her voice; and it was not
until he had overtaken and thrown it again over the
rampart, she could succeed in claiming his attention. No
sooner, however, had he heard her hurried statement,
than, without waiting to take the orders of his commanding
officer, he prepared to join his guard, and give directions
for the immediate closing of the gates.
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