n whose legs had been shot off, but who still
carried her babe in her arms, saying, "Well, sergeant, I hope you are
now compensated for your trouble in the erection of your battery." He
turned his head to where I pointed, and said (I shall never forget his
pathetic manner), "By my conscience, your honour, if I had thought I
should ever have seen such a murderous sight, I would not have come near
the place." I saw him wipe the tear of sympathy from his eye with the
back of his hand, and he continued, "Shall I take the poor creature to
the hospital?"--"No, sergeant," replied I, "you would only increase her
pain." Almost immediately after this, the poor woman breathed her last
sigh. In her last struggle she grasped her child, and, even after death,
her cold eye rested on the features of her unconscious babe. We induced
another woman, whose child had been killed, to take charge of this. She
cheerfully consented; but whether the poor child really found in her a
second mother, I had no means of knowing.

All the outer gates of the fort were barricaded with huge piles of
stones, which we were obliged to remove before we could enter, and which
took up a considerable time. We had prepared everything, in case of
treachery, and we therefore marched in as if proceeding to storm.

As we entered, they threw open the gates; but there was a degree of
expressive fear on the face of every man in the fort, for they were
strangers to the principles of Europeans, and they judged them by their
own. Every man was ready, with his match lighted, resolved, as we were
afterwards given to understand, to sell their lives dearly, should we
prove treacherous. No sooner did we enter, than the eye instinctively
closed, on beholding the appalling scene before us. Terrified and
decrepit old men and women were in great numbers; and agonized mothers
were seen hugging their lifeless babes to their bosoms. Far and wide lay
strewed bodies and parts of bodies. Some young women bared their bosoms
to the pointed bayonets, calling upon our men either to kill them or
return their murdered babes and husbands. One young maiden screamed
bitterly for her father, who had been killed; and her last breath died
upon the breeze, for she fell, and expired in the arms of her aged
mother.

Having observed that we acted on the defensive only, and seemed rather
to sympathize with them in their griefs, the enemy gained confidence,
and left their elevated posts with apparent fa