k, and our men were driven out with terrible loss. At the
same time, at another point, the French were driven back. Nothing was
left for the allied troops but to wait till morning. It was decided
that when morning came the Highland soldiers must storm and take the
Redan. But this the Russians gave them no chance to do.

While Gordon was on duty in the trenches that night he heard a terrific
explosion.

"At four next morning," he writes, "I saw a splendid sight. The whole
of Sebastopol was in flames, and every now and then great explosions
took place, while the rising sun shining on the place had a most
beautiful effect. The Russians were leaving the town by the bridge;
all the three-deckers were sunk, the steamers alone remaining. Tons
and tons of powder must have been blown up. About eight o'clock I got
an order to commence a plan of the works, for which purpose I went to
the Redan, where a dreadful sight was presented. The dead were buried
in the ditch--the Russians with the English--Mr. Wright" (an English
chaplain), "reading the burial service over them."

The fires went on all day, and there were still some prowling Russians
in the town, so that it was not safe to enter it.

When the allied forces did go in, they found many dreadful sights. For
a whole day and night 3000 wounded men had been untended, and a fourth
of them were dead. The town was strewn with shot and shell; buildings
were wrecked, or burned down.

"As to plunder," wrote Gordon, "there is nothing but rubbish and fleas,
the Russians having carried off everything else."

For some time after the fall of Sebastopol, Gordon and his men were
kept busy clearing roads, burning rubbish, counting captured guns, and
trying to make the town less unhealthy.

He then went with the troops that attacked Kinburn, a town many miles
from Sebastopol, but also on the shores of the Black Sea. When it was
taken, he returned to Sebastopol.

For four months he was there, destroying forts, quays, storehouses,
barracks, and dockyards; sometimes being fired on by the Russians from
across the harbour; never idle, always putting his whole soul into all
that he did.

His work was finished in February 1856, and in March peace was declared
between Russia and Britain.

The name of Lieutenant Gordon was included by his general in a list of
officers who had done gallant service in the war.

By the French Government he was decorated with the Legion of Honour, a