Page:Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas.djvu/154

126 device was tried. A small vessel was beached, stem foremost, in the hope that one at least of her crew might make his way to the shore. But the fury of the elements frustrated even this attempt. Further effort appeared impossible. Colonel Keating was in despair. At this crisis Lieutenant Foulstone of H.M.'s 69th Regiment came forward unsolicited, and volunteered to swim through the surf and carry orders to Colonel Macleod. His offer was promptly accepted. Carried in a boat to the edge of the surf Foulstone jumped in, and, though a good deal knocked about, reached the shore. He conveyed to Colonel Macleod the order to unite the two parties which had landed and at once to attack and storm St. Marie. Macleod carried out these instructions with spirit and energy, occupied the post, and remained there unmolested all night.

As the weather next day showed no signs of moderating, Colonel Keating proceeded with the 3rd and 4th brigades to the leeward, to Grand Chaloupe; where, on the 8th, about eleven a.m., he succeeded in effecting a landing. Colonel Keating at this point was separated from the town by heights. He lost no time in crossing these, and before two p.m. he occupied a position from which he could command the enemy's intrenchments.

But affairs had gone somewhat too fast for him. The 1st brigade, commanded by Colonel Fraser, had succeeded at two o'clock on the afternoon of the 7th in effecting a landing in a position to the south of the