h through it and take the chances, and Major Frazer,
waving his sword, called on his men to follow him at the double.
Ahead of them, along the foot of the sea-wall, the receding tide had
left a strip of strand, foul with rock and rock pools and patches of
seaweed, dark and slippery. Now and again a shell burst and
illuminated these patches, or the still-dripping ooze twinkled under
flashes of musketry from the wall above; for the defenders had
hurried to the parapet and flanking towers, and their fire already
crackled the whole length of the strand.

Sergeant Wilkes, running a pace or two behind the major, slipping and
staggering at every second yard, was aware--though he could not see
him--of young Corporal Sam close at his shoulder. The lad talked to
himself as he ran: but his talk was no more than a babble of quiet
unmeaning curses, and the sergeant, who understood how the lust of
fighting works in different men, did not trouble to answer until,
himself floundering up to his knees in a saltwater pool, he flung out
a hand for support and felt it gripped.

'Damn them!' The corporal, dragging him to solid foothold, cast a
look up as a shell burst high overhead, and his face showed white
with passion in the glare of it. 'Can't any one _tell_ them there's
no sense in it!'

'Take it easy, lad,' panted the sergeant, cheerfully. 'They're bound
to understand in a minute, hearin' all this musketry. Accidents will
happen--and anyway they can't help seein' us at the breach. Look at
the light of it beyond the tower there!'

They floundered on together. The tower, not fifty yards away, jetted
fire from every loophole; but its marksmen were aiming into the
darkness, having been caught in a hurry and before they could throw
down flares. As the sergeant rushed to get close under the wall of
it, a bullet sent his shako whizzing; but still he ran on, and came
bareheaded to the foot of the breach.

It ran down to the foreshore, a broadening scree of rubble, ruined
masonry, broken beams of timber--some of them smouldering; and over
the top of it shone the blaze of the town. But the actual gap
appeared to be undefended, and, better still, the rubbish on the near
side had so piled itself that for half the way up the stormers could
climb under cover, protected from the enfilading fire. Already the
major had dropped on hands and knees and was leading the way up,
scrambling from heap to heap of rubbish. Close after him went