Jack and Will, with two privates and a sergeant, a man of great stature, fought in one group, and terrible were the combats they had. Spite of all, the British had to give ground foot by foot; but they hung on with the bull-dog tenacity of their race. Twice they were driven from the Sandbag Battery, and twice did they retake it, only again to be driven out. Then four officers sprang forward, waving their swords. ‘Follow us, men!’ they cried. They sprang in among the foe, and for a moment no one followed. Two were at once slain. Then Jack ran forward. ‘They will all be killed!’ he cried. ‘To the rescue!’ A rush followed, the Russians were driven back, the bayonets went to work till they dripped blood, and the battery was again in British hands, though at a terrible cost. But now the ammunition failed, and men cried out to General Adams to ask what they should do. ‘You have still your bayonets, boys,’ he replied; and with these they fought on. But numbers told; and, unsupported as they were, they had to fall back, carrying their wounded with them, for they had seen that day that the Russians brained or bayoneted every wounded man they saw. While they were sullenly retreating, General Adams received a mortal wound, and a cry of sorrow went up from the men. Then suddenly, three field-guns behind them opened fire, and instantly the advance of the Russians was checked, the round-shot crashing through their ranks; but presently, being reinforced by yet another battalion, they again advanced, moving cautiously in skirmishing order through the brushwood. Then the guns opened with ‘case,’ and they retreated. Soon, coming through the mist, tall black headdresses were seen, and a cheer went up from the sorely smitten 49th as they recognised the Guards. The Grenadiers were moving down grandly to the attack, and the remnants of the 49th and 41st, not waiting to replenish their ammunition, but depending alone upon their bayonets, formed up and advanced on the left of the Guards. Upon coming up with the enemy, the Guards tried to open fire; but the chambers of their rifles were wet and the caps only snapped, failing to explode the cartridges. Low, angry growls burst from the Guards till a cheery voice rang out, ‘Never mind, Grenadiers; the steel will do it.’ Then they brought their rifles down to the charge, and without any word of command dashed down upon the Russians, sweeping them from the battery and from the ground on its flanks. The Grenadiers used the few minutes’ respite they had won in drying their rifles by firing caps, and by then the Russians had returned to the attack.