tain death awaited them.

"How slowly, too, the time dragged on! 'What o'clock is it?'
someone asked. It was then only ten o'clock, and it seemed as if we
had been fighting more than a day, for up to that moment the firing
had continued unabated.

"Twelve o'clock passed, one o'clock, two o'clock--and still the
fire was kept up; and still the burning rays of the sun were
scorching us. Clouds! But they threw no shadow over us. Everywhere
small patches of shadow chequered the hills and valleys, but they
seemed to avoid us. But a black mass of cloud is rising in the
west, and we know that everything will soon be wrapped in shadow.
Nearer and nearer to the zenith the clouds are rising. What is that
deep rumbling in the distance? Thunder! Nearer and nearer it
sounds, and presently we hear it overhead above the din of the
musketry and the boom of the cannon. How insignificant the crash of
the cannons sounds now. It is as the crackle of fireworks when
compared with the mighty voice of God!

"We got more than shadow from the clouds. At five o'clock great
drops splash on the rocks. Presently the rain fell in torrents, and
I could wash the blood of the wounded from my hands in it.

"It was now just when the rain was descending in sheets of water,
and the thunder-claps were shaking the hills, that the enemy
redoubled their efforts to drive us off the ledge, and our men had
to do their utmost to repel the determined onslaught. Had they been
driven down the hill, every burgher fleeing for his life would have
formed a target for the enemy. The fight was now fiercer than at
any time during the day. It was fearful to hear the roar of the
thunder above and the crash of the rifles below. But the enemy did
not succeed in driving us off. We remained there two and a half
hours longer. Meanwhile we had been able to quench our thirst.
Streams of water dashed down through the rocks, and we drank our
fill. These streams of water came from the forts a few yards above
us, and were red in colour. Was it red earth, or was it the blood
of friend or foe that coloured the water? Whatever the cause, we
were so thirsty that nothing would have kept us from drinking.
After the English had done their utmost to drive us from the hill,
and been baffled in their attempts, they ret