inutes together I
fired wildly at the figures before me, swung round now to this side,
now to that; was unconscious of the bullets splintering the rock or of
the lead shower pouring on us. The battle raged; we were at the heart
of it. What should a man remember then but those who counted upon him?

Now, you have imagined this picture, and you seem to stand with me upon
that split of rock, that defiant crag in the great Pacific Ocean, with
the darkness of heaven above and the darkness of the sea below, with
the belching guns and the spitting rifles, the yells of agony and the
crouching figures, the hearts beating high and the sweating faces; and
just as the outcome was hidden from me and I knew not from minute to
minute whether it were life or death to us, so will you share the
meaning of that suspense and all the terror of it. From every side now
the rain of shot was poured in upon us, the unceasing torrent came;
above, below, ringing upon the iron shield, scattering deadly
fragments, ploughing the waters, it fell like a wave impotent, a broken
sea whose spindrift even could not harm us. For a good ring of steel
fenced us about; we held the turret, and we laughed at the madness
below.

"Round with the gun!" I would cry, again and again; "round with her,
Dolly. Let them have it everywhere. No favours this night, my lad; full
measure and overflowing--let them have it, for Miss Ruth's sake!"

His joyous "Aye, aye, sir!" was a thing to hear. No sailor of the old
time, black with powder, mad on a slippery deck, fought, I swear, as we
four in that shelter of the turret. Clear as in the sun's day were the
waves about us while the crimson flame leaped out. Crouched all
together, the sweat upon our foreheads, smoke in our eyes, the wild
delight of it quickening us, we blazed at the enemy unseen; we said
that right was with us.

There were, as far as I could make out, six boats set to the attack
upon the great gate, and seventy or eighty men manning them. Acting
together on such a plan as a master-mind had laid down for them, they
tried to rush the rock from four points of the compass, trusting, it
may be, that one boat, at least, would land its crew upon the plateau.
And in this they were successful. Pour shot upon them as we might,
search every quarter with the flying shells, nevertheless one boat
touched the rock in spite of us, one crew leaped up in frenzy towards
the turret. So sudden it was, so unlooked for, that great