He was still collecting his scattered senses, straining eyes and ears intensely, when there came a second report.
Then he knew what had happened.

The sentries on the Smugglers' Cove post were faithful to their trust.

The enemy was upon them.
At such a moment Jenks was not a man who prayed.

Indeed, he was prone to invoke the nether powers, a habit long since acquired by the British army, in Flanders, it is believed.
There was not a moment to be lost.

He rushed into Iris's room, and gathered in his arms both her and the weird medley of garments that covered her.