‘For a minute or two they hesitated, and I despaired. But, seeing the rest moving up, curiosity or cupidity prevailed, and one running to it, seized the spear and made off back to the mob.
‘At once he was surrounded with an eager, excited, jabbering crowd, each man with his chin over his neighbour’s shoulder.
‘The seconds went by like ages. I had reckoned the fuse would last, perhaps, seven or eight minutes. They had untied the flask, and it was being passed from hand to hand.
‘Still no sound!
‘With a deep sigh of regret I gave the affair up as a failure—had even turned away—when an explosion like that of an eighteen pounder made me jump.
‘From out of a cloud of dense white smoke came shrieks and screams of agony. I could dimly see bodies—some quite still, and others rolling over and over.
‘By God! gentlemen,’ exclaimed the speaker, interrupting himself emphatically, and with a cruel gleam [161] ]in his eyes, ‘although afterwards I shot the wretches down in dozens, and always with joy in my heart, yet never with such a complete sense of satisfaction and pleasure as I felt at that moment.
‘As I looked a sharp blaze curled up, spreading broadly, and almost instantly, into a curtain of flame and smoke.
‘The grass was on fire!
‘Never a thought had I given to that. For miles and miles the country was covered with herbage, tall, and dry as tinder.