A hundred, a thousand to one; even so;
Not a hope in the world remained:
The swarming, howling wretches below
Gained and gained and gained.
Skene looked at his pale young wife:--
"Is the time come?"--"The time is come!"--
Young, strong, and so full of life:
The line is one syllable short of a tetrameter, to add to the choppy, urgent pace. 
 This is the first of many repetitions in the poem. Here, the desperation is emphasised by the ‘and’s, forming a  syndetic  list.
In The Round Tower At Jhansi June 8 1857