he first man down who dared attempt to leave his
post; but no sooner was I gone than my men were close at my heels; and
one fellow came running up to me, and said, pointing to a small village,
close by the entrance of the bridge, "By the powers, your honour, but
there is a whole generation of cavalry, all mounted on horses. See, your
honour, some of them that are halted are coming this way." I replied,
"What the devil has brought you here?"--"Does your honour think I would
lave you in this blusteration?" said Paddy. On getting pretty close to
these "cavalry on horseback," my attention was drawn off from the
soldier, who, on turning round, I found was close at my elbow, with a
pickaxe on his shoulder. Here the enemy, observing us, rode off to the
left at full speed. One I endeavoured to stop, and he rode at me. I
gathered myself up in an attitude of defence, resolved, if possible, to
dismount him; but, unfortunately, his horse's foot struck the inside of
my thigh, and down I went, and he had the politeness to fire his
matchlock at me, but it did not touch me. He rode on, and I jumped up,
and again recovered my station at the head of the party. We now arrived
at the end of the bridge, where there was a kind of half-moon battery or
breastwork--at least there had been, but now nothing but the parapet and
embrasures remained. Behind these my men, many of whom had followed me,
took refuge, till we had again driven the enemy into the fort. We pushed
on, and on the bridge the struggle was dreadful. The enemy wanted to
come out, and we wanted to go in. They would not permit us to go in; and
we, equally unaccommodating, would not let them out. This was the
dispute; and, after a good deal of fighting, we not only stopped their
intended journey, but put an end to many of their lives. They, for a
time, disputed every inch of ground with us; but Jack Sepoy was not to
be done; and we, after a hard struggle, gained possession not only of
the bridge, but of the inner gate. Here they had the advantage for a
time, for they had fastened the inner gate, which, however, yielded to
force. At this moment I received a tremendous blow from a large piece of
wood that was thrown from the ramparts, and hit me on the head; I fell
to the ground, stunned for a moment, but soon got up again. When I was
knocked down by the log of wood, a sergeant halloed out, "By the powers,
but he is kilt at last outright!"--"Not quite, sergeant," said I; "but
it was a d