It was quite evident that she was
afraid to come too close, lest some blundering shot would strike her.
All of a sudden, a sheet of flame and cloud of smoke from her side
concealed the ship from view, and balls once more rained about the fort.
The fire this day was more destructive than on the preceding. One house
within the enclosure was completely battered down. The church which had
been converted into a hospital was set on fire. Fernando discovered it
in flames and ran thither to hurry out the wounded. Entering the burning
building, through which a shell went screaming, he was horror-stricken
and amazed to find Morgianna at one of the bunks, binding up the wounds
of a sufferer.
"Morgianna, Morgianna!" he cried, "why do you risk your life here?"
"There is suffering and death here!" she answered. "Am I better than
those who risk their lives for me?"
"Morgianna, you must not, yours is no common life--" he began. In the
excitement of the moment he almost forgot himself. She was about to
answer, when he said, "Noble woman! do not, for Heaven's sake, run
needless danger."
They hurried the wounded from the burning building. Another house, lower
down the hill, was also on fire. It was so near to the great gun, that
the heat almost blistered the men who worked it, and for awhile their
magazine was in great peril.
The soldiers did all in their power to extinguish the flames; but both
church and house burned to the ground.
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