further off at the bottom of the protecting hill. They were
completely screened from the fire by some buildings of the
suburbs abutting upon the slope. Those in front were
watching the cannon-balls which had struck the crest and were
rolling as it were by mere force of gravitation down the
hillside. Some jokes were made about football, when suddenly
a smart and popular young officer - Fox, first lieutenant of
one of the brigs - jumped out at one of these spent balls,
which looked as though it might have been picked up by the
hands, and gave it a kick. It took his foot off just above
the ankle. There was no surgeon at hand, and he was bleeding
to death before one could be found. Sir Thomas had come down
the hill, and seeing the wounded officer on the ground with a
group around him, said in passing, 'Well, Fox, this is a bad
job, but it will make up the pair of epaulets, which is
something.'

'Yes sir,' said the dying man feebly, 'but without a pair of
legs.' Half an hour later he was dead.

I have spoken lightly of courage, as if, by implication, I
myself possessed it. Let me make a confession. From my soul
I pity the man who is or has been such a miserable coward as
I was in my infancy, and up to this youthful period of my
life. No fear of bullets or bayonets could ever equal mine.
It was the fear of ghosts. As a child, I think that at times
when shut up for punishment, in a dark cellar for instance, I
must have nearly gone out of my mind with this appalling
terror.