your courageous and generous conduct. An entire family and several Carlist soldiers owe their lives to the resolute protection you afforded them at the imminent peril of your own."" "That action ought never to be forgotten. He was in as much danger of his life as when fighting with the enemy. y is "Such a man as Lieutenant-colonel Mnot likely to forsake his colours. Soldiers and sailors attach much importance to their colours. A red-coat will die before he will lose his standard, and you would almost as easily persuade a blue-jacket to run his head into a cannon's mouth as to haul down his colours in the presence of an enemy.' "What do you mean by colours? Are they flags?" 66 They are sailors hoist them on the masts of their ships, and soldiers carry them at the head of their different regiments. Red-coats will not lose their colours without a struggle; and, as I hinted before, Jack-tars are forward enough in hoisting them up, but very backward in hauling them down. When Admiral Duncan fought the Dutch, a seaman in the midst of the battle nailed the colours to the mast; and at the battle of Waterloo a standard-bearer clasped the colours so fast in death that a sergeant, trying to no purpose to wrench them from him, on the near approach of an enemy, made a violent effort, and, throwing the dead corpse, colours and all over his shoulders, carried them off together. The French seeing this, were charmed with the heroism of the action, and hailed it with shouts of applause." "What a sight, to see him carrying off the dead soldier with the colours in his hands!" 66 Flags in the British navy are hoisted at the heads of the main, fore, and mizen-masts; they are red, white, or blue. When on the main-mast, they are the mark of an admiral; when on the fore-mast, of a vice-admiral; and when on the mizen-mast, of a rear-admiral. The first flag in Great Britain is the Royal Standard." "That must be a very grand flag indeed !” "It is, boys; and it is only hoisted when royalty comes on board, or on very particular occasions. It displays the arms of the united kingdom. |