d against the western light, and from time to time
one of its guns answered the fire from Mount Olia. Save for this and
the sound of falling timbers in the town, San Sebastian kept silence.

'Wonder what it feels like?'

Sergeant Wilkes, not catching the meaning of this, turned about
slowly. The speaker was a tall young corporal, Sam Vicary by name
and by birth a Somerset lad--a curly haired, broad-shouldered fellow
with a simple engaging smile. He had come out with one of the later
drafts, and nobody knew the cause of his enlisting, but it was
supposed to be some poaching trouble at home. At all events, the
recruiting sergeant had picked up a bargain in him, for, let alone
his stature--and the Royals as a regiment prided themselves on their
inches--he was easily the best marksman in B Company. Sergeant
Wilkes, on whose recommendation he had been given his corporal's
stripe, the day after Vittoria, looked on him as the hopefullest of
his youngsters.

'Feels like?' echoed the sergeant, following the young man's gaze and
observing that it rested on the great breach. 'Oh! 'tis the assault
you mean? Well, it feels pretty much like any other part of the
business, only your blood's up, and you don't have to keep yourself
warm, waiting for the guns to tire. When we stormed the San
Vincenty, now, at Badajoz--'

Some one interrupted, with a serio-comic groan.

'You've started him now, Sam Vicary! Johnny-raws of the Third
Battalion, your kind attention, pray, for Daddy Wilkes and the good
old days when pipeclay _was_ pipeclay. Don't be afraid, for though
he took that first class fortress single-handed, you may sit upon his
knee, and he'll tell you all about it.'

'It's children you are, anyway,' said the sergeant, with a tolerant
smile. 'But I'll forgive ye, when the time comes, if ye'll do the
Royals credit--and, what's more, I'll never cast up that 'twas but a
third battalion against a third-class place. Nor will I need to,' he
added, after a pause, 'if the general makes a throw for yon breach
before clearing the hornwork.'

'I wasn't thinkin' of the assault,' explained the young corporal,
simply, 'but of the women and children. It must be hell for them,
this waitin'.'

The same voice that had mocked the sergeant put up a ribald guffaw.

'Didn't the general give warning,' it asked, 'when he summoned the
garrison? "I've got Sam Vicary here along with me," he said, "and so
I give you notice, for Sam's a t