e divided
into three sections, each of 60 men, and they entered the town at three
different points; one attacking the upper portion, and pillaging and
setting fire to the houses and stores, the other two marching directly
upon the barracks, but from opposite sides. Of these latter two, one
took up a position behind the stacks of logwood, thus commanding one
side and one end of the barrack; and the other established itself close
to the officers' quarters, under cover of a stone building, which
commanded the other side of the barrack and the end already commanded
from the stacks of logwood.

So sudden and unexpected was the attack, that Lieutenant Graham Smith
and Staff-Assistant-Surgeon Edge, who were both at the time having their
morning baths, barely had time to escape to the barracks; Lieutenant
Smith, with nothing on but his trousers, and Dr. Edge in a state of
nudity; while the first notice the men in the barrack had of the
approach of the enemy, was the shower of lead which rattled on the
building.

Lieutenant Graham Smith says: "At about 8 a.m. on September 1st, I was
bathing, when I heard the report of a gun and the whizz of a bullet
along the road running past the south end of the barrack-room. I looked
out of the door of my house facing the barracks, and saw the corporal of
the old guard, which had just been relieved, running towards me. He
said, 'The Indians have come.' I repeated this to Dr. Edge, who was
living in the same quarters with me, then put on my trousers, ran across
to the barrack-room, and got the men under arms as quickly as possible."

Before Lieutenant Graham Smith had reached the barracks, the two
divisions of the enemy had taken up their respective positions, and were
pouring in unceasing discharges of ball, which penetrated the pimento
sticks and raked the building from end to end. The guard, the only men
who had ammunition in their possession, returned the fire, and at this
moment Lieutenant Smith arrived with Dr. Edge.

Sergeant Belizario, coming forward and asking for ammunition to serve
out, reminded Lieutenant Smith that he had left the key of the portable
magazine, in which the ammunition was kept, in his quarters. The open
space between his quarters and the barrack-room was swept with an
unceasing shower of lead; but there was no help for it, and the key had
to be fetched. Accompanied by Sergeant Belizario, Lieutenant Smith ran
over to his house, seized the key, and ran back. Most