a "basking whale, burning in the sunset." Then he
would hurry to tell his mother of the day's exploits, retiring to dream
of strange lands and turbulent scenes, in which the roll of drums and
roar of cannon seemed never absent.

With his youthful mind possessed with the exploits of the King's
soldiers in Europe and America, and influenced by his brother John's
example--then captain in the 8th Regiment of the line--Isaac pleaded
successfully to enter the army. To better prepare for this all-important
step, and to become proficient in French, a necessary accomplishment, it
was arranged, though he was only fifteen, to place him with a
Protestant clergyman in Rotterdam for one year, to complete his
education.

His vacations now were few; his visits to the Island flying ones. But
the old life still fascinated him. His physique developed as the weeks
flew by, and he became more and more a striking personality. This was
doubly true, for while he remained the champion swimmer, he was also the
best boxer of his class, besides excelling in every other manly sport.
In tugs-of-war and "uprooting the gorse" he had no equals, but a sense
of his educational deficiencies kept him at his books.

He had only passed his sixteenth birthday when, one wild March morning
in 1785, he was handed an important-looking document. It was a parchment
with the King's seal attached, his commission of ensign in the 8th
Regiment. Isaac at once joined the regimental depot in England. It was
evident that his lack of learning would prove a barrier to promotion. He
found that much of the leisure hitherto devoted to athletic sports must
be given to study. Behind "sported oak," while dust accumulated on
boxing-glove and foil--neither the banter of his brother officers nor
his love for athletics inducing him to break the resolution--he bent to
his work with a fixity of purpose that augured well for his future.

In every man's life there are milestones. Isaac Brock's life may fairly
be divided into five periods. When he crossed the threshold of his
Guernsey home and donned the uniform of the King he passed his _first_
milestone.

CHAPTER III.

FROM ENSIGN TO COLONEL.

In every young man's career comes a time of probation. During this
critical period that youth is wise who enters into a truce with his
feelings. This is the period when influences for good or bad assert
themselves--the parting of the ways. The sign-posts are painted in
capitals.