What time was occupied by these operations, and with what loss to the Seventeenth, I have unfortunately been unable exactly to determine. There seems to have been a critical action on the 15th December, to which General Walpole makes allusion, but whereof no account can be found. All that is known is that thirty men of the Seventeenth, together with ten of another regiment (probably the 62nd) were posted so as to intercept the Maroons in one of Walpole’s concerted movements, the whole detachment being under the command of a subaltern, who was not of the Seventeenth. The Maroons, however, managed to surprise this party, and shot down a certain number, including the officer, who, being disabled by his wound, made over the command to Sergeant-Major Stephenson of the Seventeenth. Stephenson was quite equal to the occasion. Far from being dismayed, he rallied his men and made a counter attack on the Maroons with a vigour that astonished them. Such conduct would have been creditable at any time, but it becomes particularly conspicuous when we think of the scare that had been created in Jamaica by the reputation and first successes of the Maroons. Stephenson was offered a commission in the infantry for his gallantry on this occasion, but stuck to his own regiment, in the hope of gaining a commission in the Seventeenth. [Sidenote: 18th Dec.] Three days after, Colonel Hull, still following up the Maroons with his little force of the Seventeenth and 62nd, fell in with them strongly posted on a precipitous hillside. [Sidenote: 1795.] The British halted on the acclivity over against them; and both sides opened a heavy fire. After about a dozen of the Maroons had fallen they ceased firing and began to blow their horns, as if desirous of seeking a parley. Thereupon the English fire was checked, and the Maroons were then told that the Colonel would grant them peace. [Sidenote: 18th Dec.] For a long time they refused to believe it until Mr. Oswald Werge, of the Seventeenth, coolly threw down his arms, scrambled down to the valley below, and invited the Maroons to come and shake hands. It was an act of uncommon courage, for both sides, true to Maroon tactics, kept themselves carefully under cover; and therefore the first man to show himself, however pacific his intention, stood a good chance of being shot down. Werge’s coolness, however, saved him. The Maroons took courage. One of them came down and shook hands with him, and presently exchanged hats with him, which was the Maroon symbol of perfect friendship. Thereupon it was agreed that hostilities should cease, and that Colonel Walpole should be sent for; and it was stipulated that neither British nor Maroons should advance until his arrival. Still neither force trusted the other; and, accordingly, the two tiny armies lay on their arms, weary, and worn and thirsty, to glare at each other through the livelong night. In the valley between them was a well; but in order that neither force should take an unfair