Hamilton, turning from the two, addressed the three battalions.  “Light infantry,” he said, “when the council of war reached the decision to carry the works in our front, Baron de Viomenil argued that both should be left to his troops, as the American soldiery could not be depended upon for an assault.  The commander-in-chief would not disgrace us by yielding to his claim, and ’t is for us to prove that he was right.  We have shown the French artillerists that we can serve our guns quicker and more accurately; now let us see if we cannot prove ourselves the swifter and steadier at this work.  Let the sergeants see to it that each man in his file has a piece of paper in his hat, and that each has removed the flint from his gun.  I want you to carry the redoubt without a shot, by the bayonet alone.”

A murmur of assent and applause passed along the lines, and then all stood listening for the signal.  It was a night of intense darkness, and now, after ten days of unending bombardment, the cannonading had entirely ceased, giving place to a stillness which to ears so long accustomed to the uproar seemed to have a menacing quality in it.

Suddenly a gun boomed loud and clear; and as its echo reverberated out over the river, every man clutched his musket more firmly.  Boom! went a second close upon the first, and each soldier drew a deep breath as if to prepare for some exertion.  Boom! went a third, and a restless undulation swept along the lines.  Boom! for a fourth time roared a cannon, and some of the men laughed nervously.  Boom! rolled out yet a fifth, and the ranks stood tense and rigid, every ear, every sense, straining.

Boom! crashed the sixth gun, and not a man needed the “Forward, light infantry!” of the commander, every one of them being in motion before the order was given.  Steadily they advanced in silence, save only for muttered grumbles here and there over the slowness of the pace.

Without warning, out of the blackness came a challenge, “Who goes there?”

Making no answer, the stormers broke into a run and swept forward with a rush.

“Bang!” went a single musket; and had it been fired into a mine, the tremendous uproar that ensued could not have come more instantaneously, for twenty cannon thundered, and the redoubts fairly seemed to spit fire as the defenders’ muskets flashed.  High in the air rose rockets, which lit up the whole scene, and for the time they lasted fairly turned the night into day.

As the main and flanking parties swept up to the redoubt, the sappers and miners, who formed the first rank, attacked the abattis with their axes; but the troops, mad with long waiting and fretted by the galling fire of the foe, would not wait, and, pushing them aside, clambering, boosting, and tumbling went over the obstruction.  Not pausing to form in the ditch, they scrambled up the parapet and went surging over the crest, pell-mell, upon the British.