It was only next morning that he learned the size of it.
"They say there were about fifteen thousand of them out last night," said one of his friends. "One lot went for the French over by the Mamelon, and the rest came up here."
"Gordon's men say he was on top of the trench chucking stones at the beggars as they came up----"
"I saw him," said Eager. "He was standing just above me, shouting to his men and flinging stones as hard as he could. Then they fixed bayonets and went downhill like an avalanche."
"You'd no right to be there, my boy."
"I suppose not. I went to see what was up, and fell into a trench, and ran on with the rest. Was the Colonel hit?"
"Couple of bullets in him, but not deadly."
"It's amazing to me that any one comes through alive."
"Yes, it feels like that at first, but you get used to it."
"Did we lose many?"