254 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



least ten to one, still our brave fellows fought on, 

 and the enemy were beginning to give way, when 

 all at once I saw Sir George and Colonel Seymour 

 go down. I forced my way towards the spot where 

 they fell, with a handful of men, and had just 

 passed my sword through a fellow who was 

 bayoneting Seymour, when I saw a red flash, felt 

 my horse sink under me, and all was oblivion. 

 For nine days afterwards I was amongst the dead, 

 having neither feeling nor consciousness, not even 

 being sensible to pain. 



It appears that a shell exploded close under my 

 horse's flank, killing him instantaneously, and one 

 fragment striking me at the side, whilst at the 

 same moment I was hit on the head. I lay where 

 I fell until the next day, as I was thought to be 

 killed. The next morning, when the dead were 

 collected, I was found stripped of my uniform 

 jacket, flannel-shirt, boots and socks, and was 

 taken to be buried at Cathcart's Hill, when a stafi"- 

 surgeon, who formerly belonged to the Holy Boys 

 (the 9th Foot), found that " there was life in the old 

 dog still." I was carried on a French mule to 



