The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1877-04-25

four pound shot, apparently--and
where waa Lionel Beverly?
Doubled up---a dead and ghaslly
heap under a dying and mangled
chargerl The next who fell was my
friend Wilfotd. Ifho was somewhat
Of dandy in England there was no
want Of pluck in him here. Leading
his troop, he fell close by me, and /
leaPed my horse over him as lie rolled
past, churning a mouthful Of grass
and earth, his features aSfully con
vulsed, and his limbs trembling in
their death agony. Poor Fred. Will
ford
On and yet on Manga familiar
face is gone now; the gaps are fear.
ful, and men who were on the tanks,
now find themselves in the center.
On we still gallop toward the mouth
Of fre--on, ana feariessly. The best
blood Of the three kingdoms is in our
ranks, ali we'll and nobly mounted,
the flower Of our noble cavalry-on
yet like i whirlwind, the hearty Brit
ish "Hurrah ! hurrah hurrah p ring.
ing i'll our ears, the hearts blood
seem mounting to the brain-and now
VIC are upon n>them Now the red flash
ing muzzl sSof the cannon arc passed /;
the gunnersAre throwing themselves
under the wheels and -timbsrs, where
we cut them down, and spear or pin
them to the turf Others are rushing
for shelter to their squares Of Infantry,
under whose rifles they lie fat and Sc
curely, while sheets of lead are tear
ing through us
Oh, the superlatiye bitterness Of
that moment, when, with all our horses
blown, I look back and see that we
are without supports
The guns are taken--the gunners
almost annihiate,l; our horses are
breathless. We have to ride back,
under such a concentrated fire as
troops were never before exposed to.
cts all up-threes about--retire ?"
A single trumpet feebly gives the
call, and away we go.
Shot in tho heart, perhaps my
Arab steed sank down gently beneath
me but | receive a severe blow from
something, | know not what--Lhe
splinter of shell, probably, which
crushed my larcer cap, and almost
stunned me. / must have remounted
myself mechanically, for Wien we
hacked orr way back, and reached
the rear, | was riding bay horse Of
the Eleventh Hussars, the saddle aud
holsters of which were shiny with
blood. The horse fell with me soon
after, as it had been disemhowled by
grapeshot.
Of all those glorious regiments who
formed the Light Brigade there came
back but one hundred and ninety.
eight men ; many Of these were wound.
ed and many dismounted, aud when
the rolls were called over at nightfall,
it was found that one hundred and IF
ty.seyen weIe dead, one hundred and
nineteen wounded, and three hundred
and thirty fine horses were killed,
leaving more than one hundrod and
thirty Dragons unaccounted for.
had not the heart to number the
forty men who Represented the two
squadroas which followed Lionel Rev-
erly. There, on the green sward Of
that Valley Of Death, lay our gallant
Colonel, cut in two by round shot
Travers, torn to pieces by a grape shot
S.eriyen, slain by three lance wounds;
Howard, "the only son Of his mother,
and she was widow Frapk Jocelyn,
our cid Sergeant-Maio and an in.
credible number Of Others killed. The
flower Of our laucers was there, and
among them MY faithful follower,
Pitblado, with a rifle bullet in his leg.
Hot, breathless, stiff, sore and GOV.
cred with bruises, ] now discovered
that in the molee-though | was uu-
conscious of having struck q blow
there we're, at least, twenty notches in
the blade Of my sword, that / had re.
ceived three very severe lance prods,
two sword cuts, and that my uniform
was torn to rags. When we halted
to girth up | threw myself on the rich
grass Of the valley, and, taking off my
battered lancer cap, felt the cool breeze
most grateful as it came from the dis.
tant sea. Then l buried my face
among the verdure, less for coolness
than from excess Of weakness, and to
hide the sorrow that consumed me for
the losses we had sustained
From a distance came the cheers Of
the Heavy Brigade, avengiug Us and
completing tho work we had begun.
Then the fierce excitement-the devil
that had possessed me passed away,
and | thought only Of the dying and
the dead.
Tradition says that years ago, when