to pull one hour and forty minutes before they were
enabled to pass the batteries sufficiently high to drop down to the
landing-place previously mentioned.

By this time nearly all the boats were up, and Captain Loch gave the
order to land, he himself leading the way. The boats' crews, with a
British cheer, leaped on shore, and gallantly charged the enemy. The
Nicaraguans withstood them for some time, but the cutlass and pistol
soon did their work; and in ten minutes they had taken to flight, and
the British flag was hoisted on the fort. One of the first on shore was
a seaman of the _Vixen_ (Denis Burke, stoker), who quickly fought his
way up to the enemy's colours, and captured them.

As the enemy fled, the British pursued them into the thick woods; but
after they had been chased for about thirty minutes, Captain Loch,
considering that they had been sufficiently punished, ordered the recall
to be sounded. The English then destroyed the stockades, spiked the
guns, broke the trunnions, and threw them, together with all the muskets
and ammunition left behind, into the river. The force was next
embarked, when the whole of the defences were set on fire.

From the dangers to which the party were exposed, and the difficulties
they overcame, this affair may well be considered as one of the most
gallant among those we have to record.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

THE DESTRUCTION OF LAGOS--26TH DECEMBER 1851.

The town of Lagos, built at the mouth of the river Ogun, which debouches
in the Bight of Benin, is a healthy place, and well situated for trade.
It is the seaport also of Abbeokuta, a town of considerable dimensions,
sixty miles inland from it, and which it is hoped will become a very
important place, now that Lagos is open for legal commerce.

The more immediate cause of the attack on Lagos was in consequence of an
application made for assistance by Akitoye, the lawful chief of Lagos,
to Mr Beecroft, the British consul for the Bight of Benin, residing at
Fernando Po.

Akitoye, the younger of two brothers, had, by his father's will,
succeeded as king of Lagos. The elder, Kosoko, had been, for
misbehaviour, banished. After the death of the old king, Akitoye
recalled Kosoko, and took him into favour; but Kosoko, bribing the army,
usurped the government, and drove Akitoye to take refuge at Badagry. On
this, Kosoko prepared to attack Badagry, and, had he been successful,
would doubtlessly, as he intended, have attacked