" THE FUSE IS BURNING."

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2629, 18 May 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

" THE FUSE IS BURNING."

There occurred on this day (October IStli, 1So4) one of those incidents of war which show how instantaneous in heroic natures is the process of both the thought and the resolve from which brave actions spring. The horses which were drawing an ammunition waggon for the Diamond battery, having refused to face the (ire, some volunteers went to the waggon to clear it, and they succeeded in bringing in their loads ; but before the powder could be stowed away in the magazine, a shell came into the midst of of it while the volunteers were still gathered close to the heap. A voice cried out, "The fuse is burning F' Then instantly, and as a narrator says, " with oue spring." Captain Peel darted upon the liveshell and threw it over the parapet. The shell burst about four yards from his hands without hurting anyone. The official list, in commemorating the services for which Captain Peel obtained the cross, =idds to this feat"On November uth, 18,il, at the Battle of Inkerman, for joining the officers of the Grenadier Guards, and assisting in defending the colors of that regiment, when hard pressed at the Sandbag Battery. Oil the ISth Juno, 1555, for volunteering to lead the bidderparty at the assault on the Redan, and carrying the first ladder until wounded," —From The World of Adventure.