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'That Frenchman's an all-fired skite, said the digger disgustedly. 'The swaddies don't like the job: they won't strike. We'll have the making of the fight, and we'll call time when it suits us. 'All the same, commented Mike later, 'the Frenchman's got the safest grip o' things, it seems to me.
Further on they saw the massed red coats of swaddies, and heard the faint rattle of kettle-drums. The British flag floated over the camp. A mounted officer in crimson and gold passed them, riding at a gallop, and the sound of a gunshot struck upon their ears, a sharp note of war. Main Road and Plank Road were well-defined streets of tents and stores.
While their powder lasted they beat off the well armed, well trained regulars, and for twenty minutes held the swaddies at bay across their poor palisade; but at the expiration of that time there were not two dozen charges left in the stockade, and now the riflemen were ordered to retreat to the shallow shafts and use them as pits; and presently the noble 40th finding the resistance broken, was tearing at the logs and pickets, and at last the pikemen were on their feet and face to face with the foe.
Archie made no reply, and as the young private watched him he saw that the poor fellow's eyes were once more closed; and the lad half lay on the crisp leaves, which rustled loudly at every movement, and mused on their position. "One would expect," he said to himself, "that at any minute a company of our swaddies would be here to fetch us out of this.
The lights of Ballarat had flickered out; the whole field lay in darkness. The slow hours stole on, the sentinels were changed, and absolute quiet descended upon Eureka, for even the heroic blacksmith had stretched himself by his forge, and was sleeping, with the boy by his side. 'The swaddies are on us! At about three o'clock that one fierce cry shook the camp into action.
The firing from without was maintained, but the swaddies were in no hurry to cover the patch of ground that lay between them and the stockade, although the insurgents had already almost exhausted their ammunition. Lalor sprang to the top of the barrier, and stood for a moment, turning as if to give an order, but the order was never spoken.
'They'll make a good fight of it when the swaddies do come, he said cheerfully, as they settled down in their blankets. 'My oath! replied Mike. 'But we were chumps to give up our revolvers. What good can a man do pokin' round in the dark with a blanky spike? The men lay with their primitive weapons in their hands.
'A bit of a shindy with the swaddies in Warrenheip Gully, and an attack on the troopers at the Gravel Pits. Nothing really serious. The Imperial troops were drawn up under arms at our big meeting on Bakery Hill on the 29th. The flag has been floated, the men have taken the oath under it, and are now drilling within the stockade on Eureka. 'We are none too soon. 'Not a moment.
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