LAST SCENE OF ALL. 333 



picket with me joined a party under Lieutenant 

 Sergison, and while breaking in the door of a room 

 Mr Sergison was shot dead at my side, with several 

 men. When we had partly broken in the door I 

 saw that there was a large number of the enemy 

 inside the room, well armed with swords and spears 

 in addition to firearms of all sorts, and not wishing 

 to be either killed myself or have more of the men 

 who were with me killed, I divided my party, 

 placing some at each side of the door to shoot 

 every man who showed himself or attempted to 

 rush out, I then sent two men back to the breach, 

 where I knew Colonel Napier with his engineers 

 was to be found, to get a few bags of gunpowder 

 with slow-matches fixed to light and pitch into the 

 room. 



" Instead of finding Napier, the two men sent by 

 me found the redoubtable Major Hodson, who had 

 accompanied Napier as a volunteer in the storming 

 of the palace. Hodson did not wait for the pov\^der- 

 bags, but after showing the men where to go for 

 them, came running up himself, sabre in hand. 

 ' Where are the rebels ? ' he said. I pointed to 

 the door of the room, and Hodson, shouting ' Come 

 on ! ' was about to rush in. I implored him not to 

 do so, saying, ' It's certain death. Wait for the 

 powder. I've sent men for powder-bags.' Hodson 

 made a step forward, and I put out my hand to 

 seize him by the shoulder to pull him out of the 

 line of the doorway, when he fell back shot through 

 the chest. He gasped out a few words, either ' Oh, 

 my wife ! ' or, ' Oh, my mother ! ' — I cannot now 

 rightly remember — but was immediately choked 

 by blood. ... I assisted to get him lifted into a 



