dropped
with a groan; another fell back dead. The horror and roar were overmuch.
Rolf was nervous enough when he entered the fight. Now he was unstrung,
almost stunned, his hands and knees were shaking, he was nearly
panic-stricken and could not resist the temptation to duck, as the balls
hissed murder over his head. He was blazing away, without aiming, when
an old soldier, noting his white face and shaking form, laid a hand
on his shoulder and, in kindly tones, said: "Steady, boy, steady;
yer losing yer head; see, this is how," and he calmly took aim, then,
without firing, moved the gun again and put a little stick to raise the
muzzle and make a better rest, then fired as though at target practice.
"Now rest for a minute. Look at Quonab there; you can see he's been
through it before. He is making a hit with every shot."

Rolf did as he was told, and in a few minutes his colour came back,
his hand was steady, and thenceforth he began to forget the danger and
thought only of doing his work.

When at length it was seen that the British were preparing to charge,
the Americans withdrew quickly and safely to Halsey's Corner, where was
another barricade and a fresh lot of recruits awaiting to receive their
baptism of fire. And the scene was repeated. Little damage was done to
the foe but enormous benefit was gained by the Americans, because it
took only one or two of these skirmishes to turn a lot of shaky-kneed
volunteers into a band of steady soldiers--for they had it all inside.
Thus their powder terror died.

That night the British occupied the part of the town that was north
of the Saranac, and began a desultory bombardment of the fortification
opposite. Not a very serious one, for they considered they could take
the town at any time, but preferred to await the arrival of their fleet
under Downie.

The fight for the northern half of the town was not serious, merely part
of Macomb's prearranged training course; but when the Americans retired
across the Saranac, the planks of the bridges were torn up, loop-holed
barricades were built along the southern bank, and no effort spared to
prepare for a desperate resistance.

Every man that could hold up a gun was posted on the lines of
Plattsburg. The school-boys, even, to the number of five hundred formed
a brigade, and were assigned to places where their squirrel-hunting
experiences could be made of service to their country.

Meanwhile the British had established a batt