The guns of the ramparts soon replied, and
the roar was deafening; while the plunging of shot along the ramparts
and roofs made our situation perilous in no slight degree. But, in the
midst of this hurricane of fire, I saw a single rocket shoot up from the
camp, and the whole range of the batteries ceased at the instant. The
completeness of the cessation was scarcely less appalling than the roar.
While every telescope was turned intently to the spot, where the columns
and batteries seemed to have sunk together into the earth, a pyramid of
blasting flame burst up to the very clouds, carrying with it fragments
of beams and masonry. The explosion rent the air, and shook the building
on which I stood as if it had been a house of sand. A crowd of engineer
and staff-officers now rushed on the roof, and their alarm at the
results of the concussion was undisguised. "This is what we suspected,"
said the chief to me; "but it was impossible to discover where the
gallery of their mine was run. Our counter mine has clearly failed." He
had scarcely spoken the words, before a second and still broader
explosion tore up the ground to a great extent, and threw the
counterscarp for several hundred yards into the ditch. The drums of the
columns were now distinctly heard beating the advance; but darkness had
again fallen, and all was invisible. A third explosion followed, still
closer to the ramparts, which blew up the face of the grand bastion. The
stormers now gave a general shout, and I saw them gallantly dashing
across the ditch and covered way, tearing down the palisades, fighting
hand to hand, clearing the outworks with the bayonet, and finally making
a lodgement on the bastion itself. The red-coats, which now swarmed
through the works, and the colours planted on the rampart, showed me
that my countrymen had led the assault, and my heart throbbed with envy
and admiration. "Why am I not there?" was my involuntary cry; as I
almost wished that some of the shots, which were not flying about the
roofs, would relieve me from the shame of being a helpless spectator.
"_Mon ami_," said the voice of the brave and good-natured Frenchman, who
had overheard me--"if you wish to rejoin your regiment, you will not
have long to wait. This affair will not be decided to-night, as I
thought that it would be half an hour ago. I see that they have done as
much as they intended for the time, and mean to leave the rest to fright
and famine. To-morrow will tel