before the little band of Turks, overpowered by numbers, retreated to the boats. Mindful of the sacred duty that devolved upon him, Anderson, with daring devotion, three times threw himself into the ranks of the enemy, and at last rescued the bleeding body of his officer. Though encumbered with his carbine and other arms, he endeavoured to bear it away on his back, but such was its weight—for the lieutenant was a powerful man, and of robust stature—and such the heaviness of the fire upon him, he was obliged to relinquish his purpose, leaving the body concealed in some long grass. Taking the dead man’s sword to save it from falling as a trophy into the hands of the enemy, he made good his retreat to the river. Scrambling down its sedgy bank, which varied from three to six feet in height, the party renewed the conflict, and improved their cover by a hasty entrenchment, in the formation of which the Turks used their hands and bayonets, and the sappers their swords. Corporal Swann was here soon disabled; and, wounded in the head by a blow from the butt end of a musket, he was falling, when, a second blow across the shoulder-blade, threw him into the water. There for four hours he lay insensible, and was providentially saved from drowning by a thick woollen shirt he wore.[147] Anderson, now the only British soldier with the little batch, acted as became his manly character, and encouraging the Turks by his prowess and endurance, the brave detachment maintained the unequal contest with veteran firmness, and only recrossed the Danube when the necessity for their services had ceased. In that hard-contested battle, private Anderson killed no less than fourteen Russians, himself escaping miraculously without wound or hurt. Next morning, though it was uncertain whether the enemy was in ambush or not, he pushed over to the island again, and recovered the body of his officer, but what a sad spectacle did it present! It was headless; thirty wounds from bullet, sabre, and bayonet, riddled his remains, and his fingers had been chopped off to secure the rings he wore! The battle of Giurgevo ended in a victory for the Turks. Ten hours the fight lasted, and the loss on both sides was considerable. For their gallantry Swann was promoted to be second corporal,[148] and private Anderson decorated, by Omar Pacha, with the order of the Medjidie. His highness himself placed the star on the brave man’s breast, and then, in friendship, warmly shook his hand. In the ‘London Gazette’ of January 12, 1855, appeared the following gratifying announcement. “The Queen has been pleased to grant unto private Andrew Anderson of the Sappers and Miners, her royal license and permission that he may accept and wear the order of the Medjidie, which the Sultan has been pleased to confer upon him, in approbation of his distinguished bravery and good conduct at the passage of the Danube on the 7th of July last, and subsequently in