d then the same man, being bent on mischief,
thrust his bayonet right through the back of my neck, grazing the
vertebra, and entering on the right and coming out on the left side.
Having, in this manner, made a sheath for his weapon, the blackguard
left it there, and thus, having trussed me as with a skewer, showed me
his back and fled. The butt-end of the musket falling to the ground,
gave me a terrible wrench of the head, but relieved me at the same time
of my incumbrance.

That was the first time I ever _bled_ for my country. Indeed, I bled
much more than my poor captain. However, the gentlemen of the fort
rushed out, as we rushed in, and rolled head over heels down the other
side of the hill. Three or four were killed on the platform; among
whom, at the time, I devoutly wished was the inflictor of my wound; some
were shot as they ran down the inland side of the hill, and the fort was
ours with the loss of one man killed, and, I think, six wounded. My
hurt was very trifling: a piece of adhesive plaster on the two orifices
was all the surgical assistance that I either had or required. But the
case with poor Reud was very different. I detest giving a revolting
description of wounds; I shall only say, that this was a most dreadful
one. He lay for a month almost in a state of insensibility; and, though
he lived for more than half a year with his head plated with silver, I
know that he was never afterwards perfectly sane.

Walking about for a couple of days with a stiff neck, which was all the
inconvenience I experienced, I assumed no little upon my firmness in
storming, and on my honourable scars. The next morning all the prizes
were secured, the town formally taken possession of, and whilst Captain
Reud lay in the torpor of what was all but death, it was deliberated
what we should do with our conquest. It was a matter of some difficulty
to decide upon. At this period, the two factions of the blacks,
Petion's and Christophe's held the western parts of the fine island of
Saint Domingo. The Spaniards had large possessions in the centre of the
island, and the French still held a sway over the city of Saint Domingo,
and had a precarious footing in the eastern division, where we now were.

The place was too insignificant to garrison for a permanent conquest for
the English. Many of our officers, and all the men, wished very
naturally to plunder it; but the captain of the other frigate, now the
commander, would