, 1877-03-16

turea awfully convulsed and his limbs
trembling in their death agony. Poor
Pred Wiliord,
On and on yeti many q familiar face
IL gone nov: the gaps are fearful. and
men Who vera on the hanks nov find
themselves in the centre.
On Ne still gAllop toward that mouth
Of fre-on. and fearlessly. The best
blood of the three Kindoms il in our
ranks, all we'll and nobly mounted, the
flower Of our gallant eavalry-on yet
like a vhirluind. the. hearty British
"Hurrah hurFah hurrah 7" ringing in
our ears: the hearts blood seemed
mounting 10 the BRAIN. and now we are
upon themi Nov the red flashing muz-
! zles Of the cannon are passed; the gun
ners are throwing themselves under the
wheels and timbers, where we cut them
down and spear or pin them to the turf.
Others are rushing for shelter 10 their
squares Of infantry, under whose rifles
they lie fat and securely, while sheets
Of lead are tearing through us!
Oh, the superlative bitterness Of that
moment, when, with all our horses
blown, i look back and see we are with
out supportsl
The guns are taken-the gunners
almost annihilated; our horses are
breathless. We have no aid, and no re-
source but to ride back, under such
concentrated fire as troops were never
before exposed to.
cts all up-threes about-retire!"
I A single trumpet feebly gives the call,
and away we go.
Shot in the heart, perhaps-my Arab
steed sank down gently beneath me; but
l received o severe blow from some
thing, 1 know not what-the splinter
of shell, probably, which crushed my
lancer cap and almost stunned me. 1
must have remounted myself mechanic
ally, for when we hacked our way back
and reached the rear was riding bay
horse of the Eleventh Hussars, the sad
die and holsters of which were Shiny
with blood. The horse fell with me
soon after, as it had been disembowled
with grape shot.
OF all these glorious regiments who
formed the Light Brigade there came
back but 1913 men; many of these were
wounded and many dismounted; and
when the rolls we're called over at night
fall, it was found that 157 were dead,
119 were wounded, and that $50 fine
horses were killed, leaving more than
130 dragons unaccounted for.
/ had not the heart to number the 40
men who represented the two squad
rons which followed Lionel Beverley.
There, on the green swsrd of that VAL
ley of Death, lay our gallant Colonel,
cut in two by round shot; Travers,
torn to pieces by grape shot; Seriven
slain by three lance wounds; Howard,
"the only son of his mother, and she q
widow" Frank Jocelyp, our old ser
geant-maior, and an Incredible number
of others killed. The flower Of our
lancers were there, and among them
my faithful follower, Pitblado, with q
rife bullet in his leg.
Hot, breathless, stiff, sore, and cover
ed with bruises, now discovered in
the melee-though was unconscious
of having struck blow-there were, at
least, twenty notches in the blade of my
sword, that I had received at least three
very severe lance prods, two sword
cuts, and that my uniform was torn to
rags When we halted to girth up I
threw myself on the rich grass of the
valley, and, taking of my battered
lancer cap, felt the cool breeze most
gratefully as it came from the distant
sea. Then buried my face among the
verd are, less for Goodness than from ex-
cess Of weakness, and to hide the sor-
row that consumed me for the losses we
had sustained.
From the distance came the cheers Of
the Heavy Brigade, ayenging us and
completing the work we bad begun.
Then the fierce excitement-the devil
that had possessed me-passed away,
and 1 thought only of the dying and
the dead. a