As they were preparing, one of the men could just about make out a dim light flickering far off in one of the mine entrances. As he approached to get a clearer view he thought he could hear the sound of soft voices whispering along the shaft. He beckoned Hogart to listen, who agreed it was worth investigating and so ordered a twenty strong party to go and trace these voices and find out to whom the voices belonged.
Some short while later one of the men came running back to the entrance, out of breath and full of excitement, ‘Wom...en!’ he proclaimed, ‘and chil…dren,’ he panted, resting his hands upon his knees he took great gulps of air, ‘maybe as many as a hundred women and god knows how many children. They are hiding in the mine. Well stocked and all bedded in for a long siege I reckon,
