32
There was a noticeable delay in the next change of guards, only partly caused by the fact that the men who should have been waking the relieving guards as they retired, were not conscious. Muffled oaths within the tents were the first signs of trouble.
Shortly afterwards, harassed soldiers appeared in the doorway of their tents, some clutching a boot in one hand and all of them irritated and puzzled. So intent were they on their search for their boots that it took them a few seconds to notice the crumpled bodies of the guards lying in the semi-darkness around the campfires. Immediately, they shouted the alarm and rushed to investigate.
As they ran in bare or stockinged feet towards the quiescent guards, cries of pain rang out and the soldiers began to hobble or collapse onto the grou
