The great iron shot could not reach me round the corners, though flying timbers and splinters might.

They would fire again and again till the way was clear, and then they would come in a heap, and I must do my best with my cutlass.

And it was not unlikely that the sound of the heavy guns might catch the ears of others and bring me help.

So I drew back out of the tunnel on the land side and waited.
A stumble over a piece of timber set me to the hurried building of a fresh barricade at this end, outside the mouth of the tunnel.

If it only stopped them for minutes, the minutes might be enough.