which filled the plain, the tramp of a patrol
could be distinctly noted, and the hoarse voice of the French sentry upon
the walls, telling that all was well in Ciudad Rodrigo.

The massive fortress, looming larger as its dark shadow stood out from the
sky, was still as the grave; while in the greater breach a faint light was
seen to twinkle for a moment, and then suddenly to disappear, leaving all
gloomy and dark as before.

Having been sent with orders to the Third Division, of which the
Eighty-eighth formed a part, I took the opportunity of finding out
O'Shaughnessy, who was himself to lead an escalade party in M'Kinnon's
Brigade. He sprang towards me as I came forward, and grasping my hand with
a more than usual earnestness, called out, "The very man I wanted! Charley,
my boy, do us a service now!"

Before I could reply, he continued in a lower tone, "A young fellow of
ours, Harry Beauclerc, has been badly wounded in the trenches; but by some
blunder, his injury is reported as a slight one, and although the poor
fellow can scarcely stand, he insists upon going with the stormers."

"Come here, Major, come here!" cried a voice at a little distance.

"Follow me, O'Malley," cried O'Shaughnessy, moving in the direction of the
speaker.

By the light of a lantern we could descry two officers kneeling upon the
ground; between them on the grass lay the figure of a third, upon whose
features, as the pale light fell, the hand of death seemed rapidly
stealing. A slight froth, tinged with blood, rested on his lip, and the
florid blood which stained the buff facing of his uniform indicated that
his wound was through the lungs.

"He has fainted," said one of the officers, in a low tone.

"Are you certain it is fainting?" said the other, in a still lower.

"You see how it is, Charley," said O'Shaughnessy; "this poor boy must be
carried to the rear. Will you then, like a kind fellow, hasten back to
Colonel Campbell and mention the fact. It will kill Beauclerc should any
doubt rest upon his conduct, if he ever recover this."

While he spoke, four soldiers of the regiment placed the wounded officer in
a blanket. A long sigh escaped him, and he muttered a few broken words.

"Poor fellow, it's his mother he's talking of! He only joined a month
since, and is a mere boy. Come, O'Malley, lose no time. By Jove! it is too
late; there goes the first rocket for the columns to form. In ten minutes
more the stormers must fall in."