They ran it out into the cloud of
smoke their own guns were belching forth, unseen by the enemy; but
they had no sooner twisted it into the line of Long Tom than the
smoke was gone, and there they were, a fair mark.
"'Back into the trenches, all but one!' roared Dujardin.
"And in they ran like rabbits.
"'Quick! the elevation.'
"Colonel Dujardin and La Croix raised the muzzle to the
mark,--hoo! hoo! hoo! ping! ping! ping' came the bullets about
their ears.
"'Away with you!' cried the Colonel, taking the linstock from him.
"Then Colonel Dujardin, fifteen yards from the trenches, in full
blazing uniform, showed two armies what one intrepid soldier can
do. He kneeled down and adjusted his gun, just as he would have
done in a practising-ground. He had a pot-shot to take, and a
pot-shot he would take. He ignored three hundred muskets that were
levelled at him. He looked along his gun, adjusted it and
readjusted to a hair's-breadth. The enemy's bullets pattered over
it; still he adjusted and readjusted.
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