uilding; and there, in a couple of hammocks, lay two figures
partially undressed; that is to say, they had thrown off their jackets,
waistcoats, and boots. The jackets and waistcoats lay upon two chairs;
and from the quantity of gold lace upon these I rightly conjectured that
they were the officers. I then ventured to take a look in through the
window of the larger room, observing the precaution to stand far enough
away in the first instance to prevent the light falling upon my face and
so betraying my presence to any perchance wakeful artilleryman. All,
however, was perfectly still and silent; the long row of pallets on each
side of the room might have been tenanted by so many corpses for all the
movement that they made. A loud nasal chorus, however, prevented any
apprehension I might otherwise have felt upon this subject. So far, so
good. I now withdrew until I considered myself quite beyond the
influence of the lamps burning in the two apartments--and which, by-the-
bye, I judged from the clearness with which they burned, must have been
very recently trimmed--in order to ascertain the position of the
battery. There it was, sure enough, within twenty yards of me; and the
only reason why I had not seen it before was because the barrack-
buildings were interposed between it and me. I sank hastily down upon
the grass to examine the structure, and made out that it was a sort of
redan, the two faces of which, forming a very obtuse angle, were
composed of stone-work masked with sods. Five thirty-six-pounders
grinned from the embrasures in each face, and alongside each gun was
stacked up a goodly pile of shot. The merlons between the embrasures
appeared to have been constructed in such a way as to form expense
magazines, for I thought I could make out the doors leading thereto.
The magazine proper I could not make out in the darkness, nor did I
trouble to look for it. The battery, I ought to mention, was not
enclosed at all in the rear, being evidently intended strictly as a sea-
defence. I had been so busy noting all this that I had almost forgotten
to look for the sentries which were sure to be posted somewhere. When I
did at last make them out, I found, to my very great satisfaction, that
there were only two of them, one at each wing of the battery; and these,
instead of pacing backward and forward as they ought to have done, were
standing with their backs turned toward me, gazing out to seaward--if
indeed they