onvoy, by which we lost three men, and made for the battery, which we
took without opposition, the French artillerymen running out as we ran
in. The first lieutenant, who commanded, desired O'Brien to remain with
the first cutter, and after the armourer had spiked the guns, as officer
of the boat he was to shove off immediately. O'Brien and I remained in
the battery with the armourer, the boat's crew being ordered down to the
boat, to keep her afloat, and ready to shove off at a moment's warning.
We had spiked all the guns but one, when all of a sudden a volley of
musketry was poured upon us, which killed the armourer and wounded me in
the leg, above the knee. I fell down by O'Brien, who cried out, "By the
powers! here they are, and one gun not spiked." He jumped down,
wrenched the hammer from the armourer's hand, and seizing a nail from
the bag, in a few moments he had spiked the gun. At this time I heard
the tramping of the French soldiers advancing, when O'Brien threw away
the hammer, and lifting me upon his shoulders, cried, "Come along,
Peter, my boy," and made for the boat as fast as he could; but he was
too late; he had not got half-way to the boat, before he was collared by
two French soldiers, and dragged back into the battery. The French
troops then advanced, and kept up a smart fire; our cutter escaped, and
joined the other boat, who had captured the gun-boats and convoy with
little opposition. Our large boats had carronades mounted in their
bows, and soon returned the fire with round and grape, which drove the
French troops back into the battery, where they remained, popping at our
men under cover, until most of the vessels were taken out: those which
they could not man were burnt. In the meantime, O'Brien had been taken
into the battery, with me on his back: but as soon as he was there, he
laid me gently down, saying, "Peter, my boy, as long as you were under
my charge, I'd carry you through thick and thin; but now that you are
under the charge of these French beggars, why, let them carry you.
Every man his own bundle, Peter, that's fair play; so if they think
you're worth the carrying, let them bear the weight of ye."

As soon as our boats were clear of their musketry, the commanding
officer of the French troops examined the guns in the battery, with the
hope of reaching them, and was very much annoyed to find that every one
of them was spiked. "He'll look sharper than a magpie before he finds a
cl