MILITAR Y AD VENTURES. 67 



Major H had not galloped in among 



us and ordered an instant retreat ; none 

 of us subalterns would have dreamed of 

 giving such an order, but we saw nothing 

 more could be done, and it would have 

 been something very like murder to keep 

 us any longer there, nothing being pre- 

 pared for either scaling or breaching the 

 wall. 



It can be well imagined how despairing 

 and sad we felt at having to retrace our steps 

 and retreat from a stockade which we fan- 

 cied we had nobly won ; but, contenting 

 ourselves with the thought that it was the 

 fortune of war, we hoped to be more suc- 

 cessful another time. Our loss was great, 

 and, unfortunately, we could not spare 

 any of our men, so far as we were from 

 our base. Our retreat was not followed, 

 and we were able to carry off our dead 



