Among the incidents of the bombardment, there was one which demands insertion in this work, as the victim—a matross—belonged to the Royal Artillery. Shortly before the bombardment commenced, he had broken his thigh; and being a hearty, active fellow, he found the confinement in hospital very irksome. He managed to get out of the ward before he was cured, and his spirits proving too much for him, he forgot his broken leg, and falling again, he was taken up as bad as ever. While lying in the ward for the second time under treatment, a shell from one of the gunboats entered, and rebounding, lodged on his body as he lay, the shell spent, but the fuze burning. The other sick men in the room summoned strength to crawl out of the ward before the shell burst; but this poor fellow was kept down in his bed by the weight of the shell, and the shock of the blow, and when it burst, it took off both his legs, and scorched him frightfully. Wonderful to say, he survived a short time, and remained sensible to the last. Before he died he expressed his regret that he had not been killed in the batteries. Heroic, noble wish! While men like these are to be found in the ranks of our armies, let no man despair. Heroism such as this, in an educated man, may be inspired by mixed motives—personal courage, hope of being remembered with honour, pride in what will be said at home, and, perhaps, a touch of theatrical effect,—but, in a man like this brave matross, whose courage has failed even to rescue his name from oblivion, although his story remains—the heroism is pure and simple—unalloyed, and the mere expression of devotion to duty, for duty's sake. And this heroism is god-like! This was but one of many heroic actions performed by men of the Royal Artillery. Another deserves mention, in which the greatest coolness and presence of mind were displayed. A gunner, named Hartley, was employed in the laboratory, filling shells with carcass composition and fixing fuzes. During the operation a fuze ignited, and "Although he was surrounded by unfixed fuzes, loaded shells, composition, &c., with the most astonishing coolness he carried out the lighted shell, and threw it where it could do little or no harm. Two seconds had scarcely elapsed, before it exploded. If the shell had burst in the laboratory, it is almost certain the whole would have been blown up—when the loss in fixed ammunition, fuzes, &c., would have been irreparable—exclusive of the damage which the fortifications would have suffered from the explosion, and the lives that might have been lost."[27]