rty.

It was arranged that an explosion party, consisting of three officers of
Engineers, Captain Peat, Lieutenants Durand and McLeod, three Serjeants,
and eighteen men of the Sappers in working dresses, carrying 300lbs. of
powder in twelve sand bags, with a hose seventy-two feet long, should be
ready to move down to the gateway at daybreak.

At midnight the first battery left camp, followed by the other four, at
intervals of half an hour. Those to the right of the road were conducted
to their positions by Lieutenant Stuart, those to the left by Lieutenant
Anderson. The ground for the guns was prepared by the Sappers and
Pioneers, taking advantage of the irregularities of the ground to the
right, and of some old garden walls to the left.

The Artillery was all in position, and ready by 3 A. M. of the 23rd, and
shortly after, at the first dawn, the party under Captain Peat moved
down to the gateway, accompanied by six men of her Majesty's 13th Light
Infantry, without their belts, and supported by a detachment of the same
regiment, which extended to the right and left of the road; when they
arrived at the ditch, taking advantage of what cover they could find,
and endeavouring to keep down the fire from the ramparts, which became
heavy on the approach of the party, though it had been remarkably slack
during the previous operations; blue lights were shown, which rendered
surrounding objects distinctly visible, but luckily they were buried on
the top of the parapet instead of being thrown into the passage below.

The explosion party marched steadily on, headed by Lieutenant Durand;
the powder was placed, the hose laid, the train fired, and the carrying
party had retired to tolerable cover in less than two minutes. The
Artillery opened when the blue lights appeared, and the musketry from
the covering party at the same time. So quickly was the operation
performed, and so little was the enemy aware of the nature of it, that
not a man of the party was hurt.

As soon as the explosion took place, Captain Peat, although hurt by the
concussion, his anxiety preventing him from keeping sufficiently under
cover, ran up to the gate, accompanied by a small party of her Majesty's
13th Light Infantry, and ascertained that it was completely destroyed.
There was some delay in getting a bugler to sound at the advance, the
signal agreed on for the assaulting column to push on, and this was the
only mistake in the operation.

The assaulti