in size, and it
was whispered that the assault would be made on the evening of the
18th, soon after dusk.

"It will be a difficult and bloody business," Captain Lauriston
said, as they sat in their tent that evening. "The garrison of Fort
Saint Michael is only 800, but reinforcements will of course pour
in from the town directly the attack begins, and it may be more
than our men can do to win the place. You remember how heavily the
Germans suffered in their attack on the covered way of Kaiserwerth."

"I should think the best thing to do would be to break down the
bridge of boats before beginning the attack," Lieutenant Dillon
remarked.

"Yes, that would be an excellent plan if it could be carried out,
but none of our guns command it."

"We might launch a boat with straw or combustibles from above,"
Rupert said, "and burn it."

"You may be very sure that they have got chains across the river
above the bridge, to prevent any attempt of that kind," Captain
Lauriston said.

Presently the captain, who was on duty, went out for his rounds,
and Rupert, who had been sitting thoughtfully, said, "Look here,
Dillon, I am a good swimmer, and it seems to me that it would be
easy enough to put two or three petards on a plank--I noticed some
wood on the bank above the town yesterday--and to float down to the
bridge, to fasten them to two or three of the boats, and so to
break the bridge; your cousin in the engineers could manage to get
us the petards. What do you say?"

The young Irishman looked at the lad in astonishment.

"Are you talking seriously?" he asked.

"Certainly; why not?"

"They'd laugh in your face if you were to volunteer," Dillon said.

"But I shouldn't volunteer; I should just go and do it."

"Yes, but after it was done, instead of getting praise--that is, if
you weren't killed--you'd be simply told you had no right to
undertake such an affair."

"But I should never say anything about it," Rupert said. "I should
just do it because it would be a good thing to do, and would save
the lives of some of our grenadiers, who will, likely enough, lead
the assault. Besides, it would be an adventure, like any other."

Dillon looked at him for some time.

"You are a curious fellow, Holliday. I would agree to join you in
the matter, but I cannot swim a stroke. Pat Dillon cares as little
for his life as any man; and after all, there's no more danger in
it than in going out in a duel; and I could do that withou