ess climb was nearly over. We were so
near the redoubt that the muzzles of the guns could no longer be
depressed sufficiently for the shot to take effect; the artillerymen,
therefore, left their cannon and joined the grenadiers in throwing down
hand-grenades upon us, or in pouring in a ceaseless musketry-fire. The
guns in the Cliff Battery also became silent, in dread of striking
friends as well as foes. A few yards more, and we were close enough to
distinguish the stern, bronzed features of the defenders clustering
thick in the breach to bar our entrance, the musketry flashes gleaming
on their glistening eyeballs, and flickering on their levelled bayonet-
points. My recent runs on shore, and the exercise of climbing up and
down the Cliff rock seemed to have given me an advantage over the rest;
for there was by this time no one in front of me. Two individuals there
were, however, close at hand, in one of whom I recognised the skipper,
the other being Major-General Dundas. They were evidently racing for
the breach, and the skipper was getting the worst of it, being
thoroughly blown. We were all three pretty evenly in line, but the
soldier had chosen his road with the greater judgment. At last the
skipper, too exhausted to keep upright any longer, put his sword between
his teeth and went down on his hands and knees. I saw at once the
nature of the rivalry, it was a struggle which should reach the breach
first, the army or the navy; and I knew Captain Hood would rather lose a
hundred pounds than be beaten.

Like them, I was dreadfully exhausted, the fatigue I experienced being
so great that it amounted to positive pain; the muscles of my legs in
particular ached and quivered violently with the exertions I had been
making. Still, I was not nearly so bad as the other two, being
decidedly strong and vigorous for my age, and I determined that the
skipper should be gratified if it lay in my power; so I scrambled to his
side and held out my hand to him shouting,--

"Let me give you a tow, sir; and we'll be in before the red-coat yet."

He grasped my hand without a word, rose to his feet, and together we
strained and pressed upward. A couple of yards still lay between us and
the hedge of bayonets which guarded the breach. The bullets flew about
us thick as hail; one passing through my hat, another shredding away
half the bullion from the skipper's starboard epaulette, two more
actually passing through my jacket and