earliest recollection. His nurse
had carried him there to play about in the long, rank grass underneath
the shade of the wide-spreading willows that crested the seaward slope
before he was able to walk; and ever since, summer and winter, he had
found it his favourite playground.

The cannons were an unfailing source of delight to him. Mounted high
upon their cumbrous carriages, with little pyramids of round iron balls
that would never have any other use than that of ornament lying beside
them, they made famous playthings. He delighted in clambering up and
sitting astride their smooth, round bodies as though they were horses;
or in peering into the mysterious depths of their muzzles. Indeed, once
when he was about five years old he did more than peer in. He tried to
crawl in, and thereby ran some risk of injury.

He had been playing ball with some of the soldier's children, and seemed
so engrossed in the amusement that his mother, who had taken him into
the fort, thought he might very well be left for a while, and so she
went off some little distance to rest in quiet, in a shady corner. She
had not been there more than a quarter of an hour, when she was startled
by the cries of the children, who seemed much alarmed over something;
and hastening back to where she had left Bert, she beheld a sight that
would have been most ludicrous if it had not been so terrifying.

Protruding from the mouth of one of the cannons, and kicking very
vigorously, were two sturdy, mottled legs that she instantly recognised
as belonging to her son, while from the interior came strange muffled
sounds that showed the poor little fellow was screaming in dire
affright, as well he might in so distressing a situation. Too young to
be of any help, Bert's playmates were gathered about him crying lustily,
only one of them having had the sense to run off to the carpenter's shop
near by to secure assistance.

[Illustration: "Fortunately, a big soldier came along, and, slipping
both hands as far up on Bert's body as he could reach, with a strong,
steady pull drew him out of the cannon."--_Page_ 119.]

Mrs. Lloyd at once grasped Bert's feet and strove to pull him out, but
found it no easy matter. In his efforts to free himself he had only
stuck the more firmly, and was now too securely fastened for Mrs. Lloyd
to extricate him. Fortunately, however, a big soldier came along at this
juncture, and, slipping both hands as far up on Bert's body as he could