be seen.

In reply to my anxious enquiries I learned that he had not been in camp since the previous evening, and wondering, and vaguely fearful that something serious had befallen him, I fell into line with the Grenadiers and a few of our own men under Captain Dennis-a braver officer than whom never led men into action-who had been detailed to intercept the Americans at the landing. The remainder of the volunteers and a few of the 49th were to be left as a guard to the village. A warm rain was falling gently and save for the flickering light of the lanterns everything was in darkness. Boom! came the deep note of the gun in the redan, startling the slumbering noises of the hills and awakening thundering echoes over the valley. Officers were shouting commands and the volunteers were massing silently and quickly. At this moment Pierre himself hurried up and took his place on my left. His manner betrayed great agitation.

"Lambeth, old friend," he whispered, in a voice trembling with emotion, "Not a word to any one. Marie and I were secretly married this morning. Just as the words were pronounced that made us man and wife the bugles blew the assembly and I knew that the enemy were coming. I tore myself from her arms-mon Dieu! never will I forget how she clung to me !———" By the right, quick march! double!"

66

But

I thanked our captain from the bottom of my heart for that command, for Pierre did not see the sudden grief on my face nor the startled look spring into my eyes as he told me the words that sounded the death-knell of my hopeless love. She was lost-lostthe world had become suddenly black and I staggered and almost fell. then a great revulsion of feeling came. What mattered it? I was going to my death and little Pierre would be happy in the love of a true wife. The thunder of the enemy's batteries at Lewiston and our own answering boom was as sweetest music to my ear. Sharply through the village, where the women

and children had already begun to take refuge in the cellars, we went at the double, and halted not until we had gained the ridge that overlooks the river, where, dimly outlined against the frothing water, confused and hesitating in the darkness, were drawn up on the bank over three hundred of the enemy's regulars. They had just landed and were in great disorder, as was evident from the swearing and gesticulating of the men and the hurried commands of the officers. "Fire!" came a sharp command from our captain, and we poured a rattling volley into their yielding ranks, and then another, and still another. The suddenness of the attack, the rapid and effective way in which we loaded and fired and the uncertainty as to what the number of our force might be, completely disheartened them; and disdaining alike the threats and entreaties of their officers, they scurried quickly back to the river and gained shelter under the shelving bank, where the panic at length having subsided, a heavy fire was soon opened upon us, lying all unsheltered in a perilous position. Notwithstanding that we were outnumbered six to one, and that our adversaries were well protected by the riverbank, we were manfully forming up for a charge when the batteries at Lewiston, noting our position from the flashes of musketry, concentrated their fire in our direction and began throwing grape and round shot that screamed and whistled warningly above our heads. Thus, the ridge having become too dangerous to be held with impunity, we retreated in an orderly manner to the shelter of the village, to await daylight and reinforcements.

For a short while we lay behind hedges and fences and maintained a dropping fire on the enemy at the river bank, whose dark blue uniforms appeared but half-distinctly through the uncertain light of the early morning. Pierre was moody and depressed and kept constantly glancing toward the home of his new-made bride and muttering short prayers for her safety

from the shells of the Lewiston batteries. I was cold and wet and my teeth chattered as I aimed and fired at the phantom foe. I was tired of such dull and annoying warfare and chafed and fretted for action. Flasks of rum were passed among the men, and that helped to revive the current of life and to drive the cold and chills from our stiffened frames. Thus the minutes passed by

Morning dawned gray and chill and a thin mist rose slowly from the bosom of Niagara, disclosing four boats filled with soldiers pushing off from the Lewiston landing. At this moment, above the shelving bank of the river appeared the head of a column of troops, (those we had scattered in the darkness), advancing in the direction of the village, with the intention, no doubt, of attacking our greatly inferior force. Captain Dennis, apprehensive that we should be overwhelmed by numbers, hastily ordered a bugler to call down to our support the Company of the 49th Light Infantry stationed at the redan battery on the heights. In response to our appeal, down they came at the double, and as the enemy entered the outskirts of the village, we met them by a sullen British cheer and a rolling volley of musketry.

"On men! on for the honour of America!" came the cry, but our only answer was a hail of bullets that drove them precipitately back to the shelter of their friendly river bank, leaving several dead and wounded on the field.

Then, through the pungent smoke of the battlefield, General Brock came riding up, his noble figure and dauntless bearing exciting the courage and admiration of the men. He was splashed with mud from head to foot, having galloped all the way from Fort George, attracted by the booming of the cannon and the blazing beacons on the height. Reining for a moment to acknowledge our salute, he galloped up the steep incline and dismounted at the redan. Scarcely had he leapt from his horse when a volley was fired at the gunners from above by a large force of the enemy who had clambered up an al

No

most inaccessible fishermen's path and gained the heights from the rear. time was there for generalship, for they followed the volley with a rush, and soon the Stars and Stripes waved over the battery. Fortunately, the gunners had had presence of mind to spike the piece, and it was thus rendered harmless in the enemy's hands for the time being at any rate.

Meanwhile, in spite of the scathing fire from the 24-pounder at Vrooman's Point, which raked the river and the Lewiston landing from below, reinforcements for the enemy had been steadily arriving, boat after boat crossing and depositing its complement of soldiers on the landing beneath the village of Queenston. Several detachments were also sent up to reinforce the Americans on the height, and their force at that point now amounted to over nine hundred men.

As we stood chafing and fuming for the fray, General Brock rode up and dismounted, leaving his horse in the village, and led us on foot to the charge of the heights. We advanced warily and swiftly over the covered ground, and broke into a steady double whenever we came within view of the sharpshooters on the height, and at length, having reached the base of the mountain, we took shelter behind a high stone wall and waited for the word of command. Captain Williams, who had been sent forward with a detachment to turn the enemy's flank, was pressing them hard in that quarter and they were giving way. Seizing the favourable moment, our general sprang over the wall and led the way to the charge, shouting words of encouragement and waving his sword for a general ad

vance.

At this moment, two companies of the York Militia hurried up, much exhausted, having run all the way from Brown's Point, a distance of over three miles, to our assistance. Waiting for them to draw breath, our general turned once more toward the height and shouted that memorable battle-cry that afterward inspired us on many a bloody day:

"Push on, the brave York Volunteers!"

But scarcely were the words fallen from his lips, when a ball struck him in the breast and he fell mortally wounded at our feet. Ah! then, my boys, did we show to the world the courage inspired by that gallant soldier. With a cry of vengeance on our lips, up, up the bloody slope we charged, led by lion-hearted Colonel McDonell, who also died like a soldier and a man at the foot of that fatal height. Up, up we swarmed like demons, with the leaden hail of death hissing about us, and comrades falling at every step.

"Pierre, my lad, for God's sake keep behind me," I cried. "I shall die, but you must live-live to make her happy."

But he heeded not, for the fire of youth and the ardour of the fight were upon him, and he scaled the slope with the wild gleam of action in his eyes. I cried out to him again, but he would not listen.

• If

"Merciful heaven," I groaned, Pierre is killed it will be worse than death to her-if he is brought back to her stiff and cold, with a bullet in his heart-O God, and a bride but this morning!"

Low clouds of rolling smoke hid the top of the height, but through the mist the powder-blackened faces of the enemy were visible, pouring a murderous fire into our men at close range. We were almost upon them. Pierre had outstripped me and was in the front rank, pushing eagerly forward toward the summit, and offering a splendid mark for the American rifle

"Push on, the brave York Volunteers!"

But, hardly had the echoes died away, when I stumbled and lurched forward upon my face among the rocks. The great clamour of the fight melted away into the distance, and the crackling of the muskets seemed to come from far, far over a great river that opened out beneath me. Then I felt myself lifted in gentle arms, and a voice, which I recognized as O'Leary's, muttered:

"Shot through the lungs-poor Keene, your fightin' days is over.'

III.

How beautiful the river looked with the sun gilding the foaming wavelets and baptizing the rugged and pineclad gorge in a flood of gold.

This was my first thought as I awoke to consciousness in the hospital at Queenston, and looked out over the delightful harmony of the landscape that had so recently been deluged with the blood of men. Even though I had courted death, and had come so very near to obtaining it, I awoke to find myself granted a new lease of life. The feeling that I was still alive, and might recover, was not unpleasant. Pierre and his wife-my comrade and my lost love-were seated near the bed-side, conversing in low tones, and making plans for their future happiness. I gathered from their talk that Mr. Clinton had at length relented and accepted Pierre as his son-in-law; although he had at first been furious, and swore he would never speak to his daughter again. But Mary's tears and Pierre's manly avowals that all the fault of the secret marriage was his alone, had finally won the day, and the father had repented of his harsh words and forgiven them-and they were happy.

So I lay and listened to their converse, and as she talked the glance of her eye and the music of her voice cast out the devil within me, and I found myself revolving plans of my own for the future of my comrade and his wife.

found the stone, ran with it to my laboratory, took its specific gravity and hardness, etc., and at once decided that it was a genuine diamond. My reply was equally laconic :- Your stone is a diamond, 21 carats, and worth about £800. Please seal the next, as this was nearly lost on opening the letter.'

"I showed the stone the same day to my neighbour, Bishop Ricardo, who shrugged his shoulders, and smilingly said, Why there are thousands of those in the bed of the Orange River.'

"So much the better,' said I. 'They must be all diamonds.' The next day The next day I took it to our Lieut.-Governor, who kindly said his A. D.C., Mr. Byng, who was going the following week to Cape Town, would give it to the Colonial Secretary. No one in Grahamstown would believe that it was a diamond.

"Perceiving the importance of such a discovery to the Colony, I at once wrote to the Hon. Richard Southy, Colonial Secretary, announcing the fact, and suggesting that diamonds should be sent to the Paris Exhibition, and afterwards sold for the benefit of the finder. On receipt of my letter the Colonial Secretary at once telegraphed to me to send it to him and he would deliver it to the Crown Agent for transmission to the Paris Exhibition. At Cape Town it was recognized by Mr. Herrieth, the French Consul, the Capidary Houd, and other competent judges, and was subsequently sent through Emanuel's (the jeweller's) house in London, to the Paris Exhibition in 1871, and purchased by the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Philip Wodehouse for £500.

"Meanwhile Emanuel sent a competent geologist, Mr. J. R. Gregory, to verify the discovery. Finding the whole of the country volcanic, he naturally concluded that diamonds

could not exist there now; if there had been any fraud or imposture with regard to the discovery of Cape diamonds it would have been in connection with the above-mentioned stone, the first to be proved genuine, but I think subsequent events have proved that my theory was correct, viz :-that the diamonds could and did exist in the throat of the volcano produced by the former union of this continent with the southern part of Asia. When these two continents were still united, the rainfall of both was accumulated during the cretaceous age, and was dammed up, forming lakes above the mines. The water gained access through fissures of the molten rocks below, and the pent-up steam, escaping in the line of least resistance, showered forth ashes, mud, rounded fragments of older rocks and lava.

"That this condition of affairs really existed, has been proved by the fossil remains of creatures living in those lakes, which epochs of the world's history have been amply explained by Professor Owen Seeley and others, (though it has not yet received the sanction of savants in general) even when the final bursting of the barriers which once united the two continents took place, the Island of Madagascar being the only link remaining.

"Two years afterwards I visited the mines, which now all the world knows of.

"Mr. Emanuel took an exact copy of the first diamond, scratched as it was, which he gave me, and also of the uncut Dudley Diamond, 'Star of South Africa,' for which £20,000 was given.

"The history of the arrival of Cecil Rhodes upon the scene, and his subsequent acquisition of a new continent tc the Empire of our Queen, is too well known to need mention here."