ered this impossible; as soon, therefore, as everything
was ready, the party moved forward toward the farther end of the ravine,
the soldiers leading the way, in accordance with the proviso of Major-
General Dundas, who refused to co-operate with the naval brigade upon
any other terms. It took us but a few minutes to reach the end of the
ravine; and directly we were clear and had reached a point where the
first slope became practicable, we were led up it at an easy pace, and
halted just beneath its brow--and consequently under cover--in order
that all hands might recover their wind in readiness for the rush up the
second slope to the redoubt.

I was not, at that period of my life, particularly susceptible to
serious thought or grave reflections; but as I stood on that steep hill-
side in the hush and solemn beauty of the starlit night, and looked upon
that band of silent men, every one of them with the pulses of life
beating quick and strong within him, his frame aglow with health, and
every nerve quivering with intense excitement, the awful thought flashed
through my brain that, with many of them, a few brief seconds only stood
between them and eternity. I wondered to how many of them had the same
idea presented itself; and then came the question, "Does God ever in His
infinite mercy, in such supreme moments as this, inspire similar
reflections in the minds of the doomed ones, in order that they may not
be hurried into His presence wholly unprepared?" It might be so, I
thought; and if that were the case, was it not probable that, coming to
me at such a time, they foreshadowed my own doom, and warned me to
prepare for it while still I had an opportunity? Five minutes hence,
perhaps, and Time would be, for me, no more. The signal to advance--the
breathless rush--the flash and roar of artillery, a sickening crash, a
hideous whirl, in which all nature becomes blotted out, and then--The
Great White Throne.

Was that what lay before me? The oppressive excitement under which I
had been labouring passed away; tears of emotion welled up into my eyes,
and my heart went up to God in a brief, silent, fervent prayer for mercy
and forgiveness; that if I were about to die I might be pardoned for
Christ's sake and received into everlasting life. For a minute or two
the fear of death--or rather, of the eternity beyond death--had been
upon me; but with the conclusion of my hurried prayer the mantle of fear
fell from my shoulders