Part 4 Chapter 28 Summary

It is now the end of August, and the rainy season has ended. The hilltop observers return in large numbers, assuming that the finale is about to arrive with the total destruction of the British community. Food becomes an obsession in the Residency area, and the people under siege watch as the natives picnic on the hill above them. People take desperate measures to obtain food. A horse is killed, and one of the men wastes precious shot killing sparrows for a pie. Rotten meat is attached to fishhooks and flung over the wall in an attempt to catch a pariah dog or another wild animal.

Fleury trades several precious pieces of jewelery and other possessions to Rayne and receives two pieces of sugar, which he makes into a "cake" for Louise's birthday in early September. He also buys a teaspoon...