allant leader appeared to be as cool and composed as if he were at
breakfast; with his drawn sword he pointed to the breach, and we heard
him exclaim, "_Suivez moi_!" I felt jealous of this brave fellow--
jealous of his being a Frenchman; and I threw a lighted hand-grenade
between his feet--he picked it up, and threw it from him to a
considerable distance.

"Cool chap enough that," said the captain, who stood close to me; "I'll
give him another," which he did, but this the officer kicked away with
equal _sang froid_ and dignity. "Nothing will cure that fellow,"
resumed the captain, "but an ounce of lead on an empty stomach--it's a
pity, too, to kill so fine a fellow--but there is no help for it."

So saying, he took a musket out of my hand, which I had just loaded--
aimed, fired--the colonel staggered, clapped his hand to his breast, and
fell back into the arms of some of his men, who threw down their
muskets, and took him on their shoulders, either unconscious or
perfectly regardless of the death-work which was going on around them.
The firing redoubled from our musketry on this little group, every man
of whom was either killed or wounded. The colonel, again left to
himself, tottered a few paces further, till he reached a small bush, not
ten yards from the spot where he received his mortal wound. Here he
fell; his sword, which he still grasped in his right hand, rested on the
boughs, and pointed upwards to the sky, as if directing the road to the
spirit of its gallant master.

With the life of the colonel ended the hopes of the French for that day.
The officers, we could perceive, did their duty--cheered, encouraged,
and drove on their men, but all in vain. We saw them pass their swords
through the bodies of the fugitives; but the men did not even mind
that--they would only be killed in their own way--they had had fighting
enough for one breakfast. The first impulse, the fiery onset, had been
checked by the fall of their brave leader, and _sauve qui peut_, whether
coming from the officers or drummers, no matter which, terminated the
affair, and we were left a little time to breathe, and to count the
number of our dead.

The moment the French perceived from their batteries that the attempt
had failed, and that the leader of the enterprise was dead, they poured
in an angry fire upon us. I stuck my hat on the bayonet of my musket,
and just showed it above the wall. A dozen bullets were through it in a
minute: