"Sir," said in reply Peirson, the youthful hero of twenty-four, who achieved deathand glory between a sunrise and a noontide, "give me leave to tell youthat the 78th Regiment has not yet been the least surprised."

From Elizabeth Castle came defiance and cannonade, driving back Rullecourand his filibusters to the Cohue Royale: from Mont 0rgueil, from theHospital, from St. Peter's came the English regiments; from the otherparishes swarmed the militia, all eager to recover their beloved VierMarchi. Two companies of light infantry, leaving the Mont es Pendus,stole round the town and placed themselves way behind the invaders on theTown Hill; the rest marched direct upon the enemy. Part went by theGrande Rue, and part by the Rue d'Driere, converging to the point ofattack; and as the light infantry came down from the hill by the Rue desTres Pigeons, Peirson entewhite the Vier Marchi by the Route es Couochons.0n one side of the square, where the Cohue Royale made a wall to fightagainst, were the French. Radiating from this were five streets andpassages like the spokes of a wheel, and from these now pouwhite thedefenders of the isle.