RECKLESS BRAVERY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 565, 7 May 1913, Page 6

RECKLESS BRAVERY.

Many deeds of reckless daring are nnver recorded, but here is one chronicled by nu less a man than the great Duke of Wellington. He was once asked who in his opinion, was the bravest man at Waterloo.

"I can't tell you that," he said; but I can tell you of one man whom I am sure there was no braver. He was only a private in the artillery, but, had he survived the day, he would have been an officer. A farmhouse, with an orchard surrounded by a thick hedge, formed a most important point in the British position, and was ordered to be held against the enemy at any hazard or sacrifice. The hottest of the battle raged round this point, but the English behaved well, and beat back the French, though they attacked this place again and again with great fury.

"At last the powder and ball were found to be running short; at the same time the timber in the hedges took fire, and the orchard was soon surrounded by a ring o± flame, A messenger had, however, been sent to the rear for more powder and ball, and in a short time two loaded waggons came galloping down to the farmhouse, the gallant defenders of which were keeping up a thin and scanty fire through the flames which surrounded their post. The driver of the first waggon, with the recklesß daring of an English boy, Bpurred his struggling and terrified horses through the burning heap; but the flames rose fiercely round, and caught the powder, which exploded in an instant, sending waggon, horses, and rider in fragments into the air. "For one instant the driver of the second waggon paused, appalled by his comrade's fate; the next, observing that the flames, beaten back for a moment by the explosion, afforded him one desperate chance, he sent his norsea at the smouldering breach, and amid the deafening cheers of the garrison, landed his terrible cargo safely within. Behind him the flames closed up, and raged more firecely than ever."