96 The Rough Ride ( rs 



I do not see, and still less how his horse escaped. 

 I had left mine at the beginning of the action, and 

 was only regretting that I had not left my sword 

 with it, as it kept getting between my legs when I 

 was tearing my way through the jungle. I never 

 wore it again in action. Lieutenant Rivers was with 

 Wood, also leading his horse. Smedburg had been 

 sent off on the by no means pleasant task of estab- 

 lishing communications with Young. 



Very soon after I reached the front, Brodie was 

 hit, the bullet shattering one arm and whirling him 

 around as he stood. He had kept on the extreme 

 front all through, his presence and example keep- 

 ing his men entirely steady, and he at first refused 

 to go to the rear; but the wound was very painful, 

 and he became so faint that he had to "be sent. 

 Thereupon, Wood directed me to take charge of the 

 left wing in Brodie's place, and to bring it forward ; 

 so over I went. 



I now had under me Captains Luna, Muller and 

 Houston, and I began to take them forward, well 

 spread out, through the high grass of a rather open 

 forest. I noticed Goodrich, of Houston's troop, 

 tramping along behind his men, absorbed in making 

 them keep at good intervals from one another and 

 fire slowly with careful aim. As I came close up 

 to the edge of the troop, he caught a glimpse of me, 

 mistook me for one of his own skirmishers who was 



