At this
preconcerted signal, his battery opened fire on the bastion, and the
battery to his right opened on the wall that fronted them; and the
colonel gave the word to run the gun out of the trenches. They ran it
out into the cloud of smoke their own guns were belching forth, unseen
by the enemy; but they had no sooner twisted it into the line of Long
Tom, than the smoke was gone, and there they were, a fair mark.
"Back into the trenches, all but one!" roared Dujardin.
And in they ran like rabbits.
"Quick! the elevation."
Colonel Dujardin and La Croix raised the muzzle to the mark--hoo, hoo,
hoo! ping, ping, ping! came the bullets about their ears.
"Away with you!" cried the colonel, taking the linstock from him.
Then Colonel Dujardin, fifteen yards from the trenches, in full blazing
uniform, showed two armies what one intrepid soldier can do. He kneeled
down and adjusted his gun, just as he would have done in a practising
ground. He had a pot shot to take, and a pot shot he would take. He
ignored three hundred muskets that were levelled at him.
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