Peggy in Toyland

by Archibald Marshall

The situation was as follows. The houses in the way had all been knocked down, leaving the battlements of the fort open to attack, but it had cost half the artillery to do it. Would the other half be enough to make a breach in the walls, through which the infantry could pour in and do their work, before they were put out of action, too? And supposing they did, would enough infantry arrive in time to do the pouring in? It was touch and go, as all the episodes of this great battle had been.

As for the infantry, the wooden regiment in which Captain Louisa served had already come up, and was resting under cover waiting till the time came for it to make its attack. And across the downs were marching more regiments, all of lead soldiers. Yes, the infantry would be ready, if the guns could do their work in time.

The artillery now changed its tactics. The time had gone by for moving about and firing guns singly. They would never make a hole in those stout walls, unless all of them fired at one place together. This then was what they had to do. It was costly, because when once the guns of the fort had found the range, they could knock them all out pretty quickly. But it was the only way.

The Colonel of Lancers explained all this very politely to Peggy, and she watched with breathless interest this exceedingly important phase of the battle.

There was silence from the field artillery while the guns were all being trained on to one place in the walls. But the guns from the fort redoubled their efforts. One of them had the good luck to find the range immediately. The moment the field-guns had galloped up to the position that had been decided on, a great bullet came bounding along and knocked one of the batteries down. Then the others found the range. The field-guns were pointed and loaded wonderfully quickly, but before any of them could actually fire, five of them had been knocked out. Just as the order to fire was given, two more were knocked out. So the great blow was only delivered by three guns.

They might just have done it if the balls had all hit exactly the same spot in the walls. Two of them hit it exactly, but the third went a little wild. Peggy distinctly heard them hit the wall. There was a little fall of masonry and a cloud of dust. When this cleared away, she looked eagerly for a hole in the wall. But no hole was there. Those frowning battlements stood as whole and nearly as strong as before.

Immediately afterwards the remaining field-guns were put out of action by the guns of the fort. The artillery attack had failed, and a tremendous cheer arose from the soldiers who were crowding the walls of the fort watching the Homeric contest.

But their cheering soon died away, for this was not the end of it. What followed happened so quickly that Peggy could not afterwards remember exactly how it did happen. But almost before she could draw breath the wooden regiment which had come up first was charging towards the fort with lusty shouts. Shots from the guns in the fort mowed them down in long lanes, but still they charged on. They swarmed over the ruins of the houses, and reached the very walls of the fort; and when they got there they began swarming up the walls themselves, just like flies.

It was a most gallant assault. They were under shelter from the guns of the fort, but the soldiers on the battlements could reach them, and made great havoc in their ranks. They climbed up on each other’s shoulders, but directly one of them reached the top he was knocked down, and then the next one was knocked down, and sometimes a whole line of men was toppled over.

But there were always more to take the place of those who fell. A regiment of lead soldiers came dashing up to help them, and then another and then another still. The advantage of numbers was on the attacking side now, but the advantage of position was very much with the soldiers of the fort, and it seemed impossible that anybody should ever succeed in climbing over the top of the wall.