Chapter 1

BENEATH THE BANNER

BEING NARRATIVES OF NOBLE LIVES AND BRAVE DEEDS

BY

F.J. CROSS

_ILLUSTRATED_

"I have done my best for the honour of our country."--GORDON

SECOND EDITION

1895

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_.

GOOD MORNING! GOOD NIGHT!

TRUE STORIES PURE AND BRIGHT.

In this work will be found a Series of upwards of sixty Chats with Children, suitable for morning and evening reading. The book abounds with anecdotes, and contains numerous illustrations.

_Ready about May, 1895_.

CONTENTS.

_Only a Nurse Girl_,--ALICE AYRES

_A Slave Trade Warrior_,--SIR SAMUEL BAKER

_Two Working Men Heroes_,--CASE AND CHEW

_The Commander of the Thin Red Line_,--SIR COLIN CAMPBELL

_A Sailor Bold and True_,--LORD COCHRANE

_A Rough Diamond that was Polished_,--JOHN CASSELL

"_A Brave, Fearless Sort of Lass_,"--GRACE DARLING

_A Friend of Lepers_,--FATHER DAMIEN

_A Great Arctic Explorer_,--SIR JOHN FRANKLIN

_A Saviour of Six_,--FIREMAN FORD

_A Blind Helper of the Blind_,--ELIZABETH GILBERT

_A Great Traveller in the Air_,--JAMES GLAISHER

_The Soldier with the Magic Wand_,--GENERAL GORDON

"_Valiant and True_,"--SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE

_One who Left All_,--BISHOP HANNINGTON

_A Man who Conquered Disappointments_,--SIR HENRY HAVELOCK

_A Friend of Prisoners_,--JOHN HOWARD

_A Hero of the Victoria Cross_,--KAVANAGH

_The Man who Braved the Flood_,--CAPTAIN LENDY

_A Temperance Leader_,--JOSEPH LIVESEY

_A Great Missionary Explorer_,--DAVID LIVINGSTONE

_From Farm Lad to Merchant Prince_,--GEORGE MOORE

_A Man who Asked and Received_,--GEORGE MÜLLER

_A Labourer in the Vineyard_,--ROBERT MOFFAT

"_The Lady with the Lamp_,"--FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

_For England, Home, and Duty_,--THE DEATH OF NELSON

_A Woman who Succeeded by Failure_,--HARRIET NEWELL

_A Martyr of the South Seas_,--BISHOP PATTESON

"_K.G. and Coster_,"--LORD SHAFTESBURY

_A Statesman who had no Enemies_,--W.H. SMITH

_Greater than an Archbishop_,--THE REV.C. SIMEON

_A Soldier Missionary_,--HEDLEY VICARS

_A Lass that Loved the Sailors_,--AGNES WESTON

_A Great Commander on a Famous Battlefield_ THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON

_A Prince of Preachers_,--JOHN WESLEY

_Some Children of the Kingdom_

_The Victor, the Story of an Unknown Man_

_A Boy Hero_,--JOHN CLINTON

_Postscript_

BENEATH THE BANNER.

_STORIES OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN STEADY WHEN "UNDER FIRE_".

ONLY A NURSE GIRL!

THE STORY OF ALICE AYRES.

On the night of Thursday, 25th April, 1886, the cry rang through Union Street, Borough, that the shop of Chandler, the oilman, was in flames.

So rapid was the progress of the fire that, by the time the escapes reached the house, tongues of flame were shooting out from the windows, and it was impossible to place the ladders in position. The gunpowder had exploded with great violence, and casks of oil were burning with an indescribable fury.

As the people rushed together to the exciting scene they were horrified to find at one of the upper windows a girl, clad only in her night-dress, bearing in her arms a child, and crying for help.

It was Alice Ayres, who, finding there was no way of escape by the staircase, was seeking for some means of preserving the lives of the children in her charge. The frantic crowd gathered below shouted for her to save herself; but that was not her first aim. Darting back into the blinding smoke, she fetched a feather-bed and forced it through the window. This the crowd held whilst she carefully threw down to them one of the children, which alighted safe on the bed.

Again the people in the street called on her to save her own life; but her only answer was to go back into the fierce flames and stifling smoke, and bring out another child, which was safely transferred to the crowd below.

Once again they frantically entreated her to jump down herself; and once again she staggered back blinded and choking into the fiery furnace; and for the third time emerged, bearing the last of her charges, whose life also was saved.

Then, at length, she was free to think of herself. But, alas! her head was dizzy and confused, and she was no longer able to act as surely as she had hitherto done. She jumped--but, to the horror of that anxious admiring throng below, her body struck against the projecting shop-sign, and rebounded, falling with terrific force on to the hard pavement below.

Her spine was so badly injured that although everything possible was done for her at Guy's Hospital, whither she was removed, she died on the following Sunday.

Beautiful windows have been erected at Red Cross Hall, Southwark, to commemorate her heroism; but the best memorial is her own expression: "I tried to do my best"--for this will live in the hearts of all who read of her self-devotion. She had tried to do her best _always_. Her loving tenderness to the children committed to her care and her pure gentle life were remarked by those around her before there was any thought of her dying a heroic death. So, when the great trial came, she was prepared; and what seems to us Divine unselfishness appeared to her but simple duty.

A SLAVE TRADE WARRIOR.

SOME STORIES OF SIR SAMUEL BAKER.

Sir Samuel Baker, who died at the end of the year 1893, aged seventy-three, will always be remembered for the splendid work he did in the Soudan during the four years he ruled there, and for his explorations in Africa.

In earlier life he had done good service in Ceylon, had been in the Crimea during the Russian war, and had superintended the construction of the first Turkish railway.

Then, at the age of forty, he turned his attention to African travel. Accompanied by his wife, he left Cairo in 1861; and, after exploring the Blue Nile, arrived in 1862 at Khartoum, situated at the junction of the White and Blue Nile. Later on he turned southward. In spite of the opposition of slave owners, and without guide or interpreter, he reached the Albert Nyanza; and when, after many perils, he got safely back to Northern Egypt, his fame as an explorer was fully established. His was the first expedition which had been successful in penetrating into Central Africa from the north. On his return to England he was welcomed with enthusiasm, and received many honours.

In the year 1869, at the request of the Khedive of Egypt, Sir Samuel undertook a journey to the Soudan to put down the slave trade.

He was given supreme power for a period of four years. In December, with a small army of about 1500 men, he left Cairo for Gondokoro, about 3000 miles up the Nile, accompanied by his wife. It was a terrible journey. His men fell ill, the water in the river was low in many places, and the passage blocked up. At times he had to cut channels for his ships; the men lost heart; and, had the leader not been firm and steadfast, he would never have reached his destination.

On one occasion he found his thirty vessels stranded, the river having almost dried up. Nothing daunted, he cut his way through a marsh, making a progress of only twelve miles in about a fortnight. At the end of this time he found it was impossible to proceed further along that course, and had to return to the place he had left and begin again.

Still, in spite of all obstacles, he made steady progress.

At Sobat, situated on the Nile above Khartoum, he established a station, and had a watch kept on passing ships to see that no slaves were conveyed down the river.

One day a vessel came in sight, and keeping in the middle of the river would have passed by without stopping. But Sir Samuel, having his suspicions aroused, sent to inspect it.

The captain declared stoutly he had no slaves aboard. He stated that his cargo consisted simply of corn and ivory. The inspector was not convinced, and determined to test the truth of this statement. Taking a ramrod, he drove it into the corn. This produced an answering scream from below, and a moment later a woolly head and black body were disclosed. Further search was made, and a hundred and fifty slaves were discovered packed as close as herrings in a barrel. Some were in irons, one was sewn up in a sail cloth, and all had been cruelly treated.

Soon the irons were knocked off and the poor slaves set free, to their great wonder and delight.

Sir Samuel arrived at Gondokoro on the 15th of April, 1871. Already two years of his time had expired. In addition to checking the slave trade, he had been commissioned to introduce a system of regular commerce. He set to work at once to show the people the benefits of agricultural pursuits. He got his followers to plant seeds, and soon they were happy enough watching for the green shoots to appear.

But before long they began to suffer from want of food. The tribes round about had been set against them by the slave hunters, and would supply them with nothing; so that Baker, in the midst of plenty, seemed likely to perish of starvation. However, he soon adopted energetic measures to prevent that. Having taken official possession of the land in the name of the Khedive he seized a sufficient number of animals for his requirements.

The head man of the tribe and his followers were soon buzzing about his ears like a swarm of wasps; but seeing he was not to be frightened by their threats they showed themselves ready enough in the future to supply him with cattle in return for payment.

His own soldiers were nearly as troublesome as the natives. They were lazy and mutinous; the sentries went to sleep, the scouts were unreliable, they were full of complaints; whilst round about him were the natives, ready to steal, maim, and murder whenever they could get an opportunity.

His life was daily in danger; and, so as not to be taken unawares, he organised a band of forty followers for his personal service. On these men he could always rely. They were proud of the confidence placed in them, and were ready to go anywhere and do anything. By a strange perversity they were nicknamed "the forty thieves," though they were amongst the very few who were honest.

What with sickness and fighting and losses encountered on the way up the river, Baker's force was now reduced to about five hundred men, in place of the twelve hundred whom he had once reviewed at Gondokoro. Still, he did not despair of accomplishing, with God's help, the mission on which he had been sent.

In January, 1872, with his wife and only two hundred and twelve officers and men, he started south on a journey of three or four hundred miles into the region where the slave trade was carried on with the greatest activity.

He had arranged with one of the chiefs to supply him with two thousand porters to carry the goods of the expedition; but when the time came not a single man was forthcoming. So his soldiers had to be their own carriers for a time. At a later date he was enabled to hire five hundred men to assist him to transport his goods, and presented each with a cow as a reward for his services. All took the cows readily enough, but sixty-seven of the carriers did not appear at the time appointed. The others were extremely desirous of going to look after them; but Baker, knowing their ways full well, thought it better to lose the services of the sixty-seven men rather than to allow this; for he felt sure if they once returned to search for their companions there would be no chance of seeing a single one of them again.

After many perils he reached the territory of Kabbu Rega on the Victoria Nile. The king was apparently friendly at first. But on several occasions the war drums sounded, and although no violence was actually offered yet Sir Samuel thought it well to be on his guard.

He therefore set his men to work to build a strong fort. They cut thick logs of wood, and planted them firmly in the ground, prepared fireproof rooms for the ammunition, and were in the course of a few days ready in case of emergency.

These preparations had been made none too soon.

A few days later a very strange thing happened. The king sent Sir Samuel a present of some jars of cider. This he gave to his troops. A little while afterwards one of his officers rushed in to say the men had been poisoned.

It was really so. The men who had drunk of the cider were lying about in terrible pain, and apparently dying. At once Sir Samuel gave them mustard and water and other emetics, and they were soon better. But he knew that trouble was at hand.

Next morning he was standing at the entrance to the fort with one of his men when a chorus of yells burst upon his ear. He told his bugler to sound the alarm, and was walking towards the house to get a rifle when the man beside him fell shot through the heart.

The fort was surrounded by thousands of natives, who kept up a continuous fire, and the bushes near at hand were full of sharp-shooters. But the fort was strong, and its defenders fought bravely; the woods were gradually cleared of sharp-shooters, and the natives, ere long, broke and fled.

Then Sir Samuel sent a detachment out of the fort, and set fire to the king's divan and to the surrounding huts to teach the people a lesson for their treachery.

But the place was full of foes. A poisoned spear was thrown at Sir Samuel, and every day he remained his force was in danger of destruction, so he determined to go on to King Riongo, whom he hoped would be more friendly.

It is wonderful that the party ever got there. First of all it was found that they would probably be a week without provisions; but, happily, Lady Baker had put by some supplies, and great was the rejoicing when her forethought became known.

Then it was discovered that the country through which they had to pass was full of concealed foes. From the long grass and bushes spears were constantly hurled at them, and not a few of the men were mortally wounded. Sir Samuel saw several lances pass close to his wife's head, and he narrowly escaped being hit on various occasions.

But, at last, Riongo's territory was reached. The king was friendly, and for a time they were in comparative safety.

By April, 1873, Baker had returned to Gondokoro, and his mission ended. It was, to a great extent, the story of a failure, so far as its main purpose was concerned, owing to the opposition of the men who were making a profit by dealing in slaves; and who, whilst appearing to be friendly, stirred up the natives to attack him. But, failure though it was, he had done all that man could do; and the expedition stands out as one of the most glorious efforts which have been made against overwhelming odds to put an end to the slave trade.

TWO WORKING MEN HEROES.

THE STORY OF CASE AND CHEW.

The large gasholders, which are often a source of wonder to youthful minds as they rise and fall, are the places in which gas is stored for the use of our cities.

By day, when they are generally receiving more gas than they are giving out, they rise; and again at night, when less is being pumped into them than is going out for consumption in the streets and houses, they fall. The gasholder is placed in a tank of water, so that there is no waste of gas as the huge iron holder fills or empties.

Now it was in one of these gasholders that a few years ago two men did a deed that will live. Here is the brief story.

The holder was being repaired, the gas had been removed, and air had been pumped into it instead of gas so that men could work inside, and the holder had risen about fifty feet. Two men were working inside the holder, one a foreman, and the other a labourer named Case, the latter in a diver's helmet. They were standing on a plank floating on the water. Fresh air was being pumped down to Case, who, so long as he kept on the helmet, was perfectly safe.

All at once the foreman found he was beginning to feel faint, so he told the labourer they would go up to the top for fresh air. But he had not the strength to carry out his purpose. The raft was pulled to the ladder by which they were to get out; but he was unable to ascend, and fell down in a fainting condition.

Then the labourer, regardless of the danger he was running, unscrewed his helmet, into which fresh air was being pumped, and, placing it quite near his fallen comrade, enabled him to get some of the air. The foreman tried in vain to get Case to put on the helmet; and his own strength was too slight to force him to do so. Indeed, he was in such a state of weakness that he fell on the raft, and knew no more till he once again found himself in a place of safety.

Now let us see how the foreman's rescue was effected, and at what cost. The men at the top of the holder had by this time become aware that something was wrong below; and two men, Chew and Smith by name, at once volunteered to go down below. They reached the plank, got a rope round the foreman's body, when they too began to feel the effects of the gas, and ascended the ladder, whilst the foreman was being hoisted up by means of the rope. Smith reached the top in a fainting condition. Chew never arrived there at all; for just as he got within a few feet of safety he became insensible, and fell down into the water below and was drowned. Meantime, Case had become jammed in between the plank and one of the stays; and so, when at length they removed him, life had passed away.

Such deeds are so often done by our working men that they think nothing about it. They do not know that they are heroes--that's the best of it! It is a fact to be thankful for that everywhere throughout the land, beneath the rough jackets of our artisans and labourers, beat hearts as true and fearless as those which have stormed the fort or braved the dangers of the battlefield.

THE COMMANDER OF THE "THIN RED LINE".

THE STORY OF SIR COLIN CAMPBELL.

It was the 21st Of October, 1808. Colin Campbell, not yet sixteen, had joined the army as ensign; and the battle of Vimiera was about to begin.

It was his "baptism of fire". Colin was in the rear company. His captain came for him, and taking the lad's hand walked with him up and down in front of the leading company for several minutes, whilst the enemy's guns were commencing to fire. Then he told the youngster to go back to his place.

"It was the greatest kindness that could have been shown to me at such a time; and through life I have felt grateful for it," wrote Colin Campbell in later life of this incident.

Soon after, the regiment to which he belonged formed part of the army that retreated to Corunna, when our troops suffered such terrible hardships. Colin Campbell had a rough time of it then. The soles of his boots were worn to pieces, and so long a time did he wear them without a change that the uppers stuck firmly to his legs; and, though the boots were soaked in hot water, the skin came away when they were taken off.

After the battle of Corunna,--when the British brought to bay, turned and defeated their foes,--it was Colin's regiment that had the honour of digging the grave in which their heroic commander Sir John Moore was buried.

Battle after battle followed ere the French troops were driven out of Spain, and Colin Campbell, young as he was, fought like a veteran.

At Barossa his bravery brought him into special notice, and at the San Sebastian he led a storming party, and was twice wounded in doing so.

First of all he was shot through the right thigh; but though a storm of bullets was flying about, and men falling thick around him, he was up again, and pressed onward only to be again shot down.

For his gallant conduct on this occasion he was specially mentioned in the despatch that the general commanding the forces sent to the Duke of Wellington.

A few weeks later the troops moved on, and fought at the battle of Bidassoa, Colin Campbell being left in the hospital to recover from his wounds.

But so little was it to his liking to stay in the rear that he escaped from the hospital, and managed not only to fight at Bidassoa, but to get wounded again!

He was, of course, reproved by his colonel; but who could be seriously angry with a youngster for such conduct? So when he was sent back to England to get healed of his wounds, he was made a captain at the early age of twenty-one.

Among the first things that Colin Campbell did when he received his captain's pay was to make his father an allowance of £30 or £40 a year; and later on it was an immense satisfaction for him to be able to provide both for his father and sister.

In the Chinese war of 1842 he was in command of the 98th Regiment. The tremendous heat of the country during the summer terribly thinned the ranks of his forces, and he lost over 400 men in eighteen months. He himself was struck down by sunstroke and fever; but, owing probably to his temperate and careful habits, he soon recovered.

After the Chinese war, Colin Campbell was busy in India, and at Chillianwallah was wounded in the arm. It was in this battle he narrowly escaped with his life. The day after the fight, when he was being assisted to take off his uniform, he found that a small pistol which had been put in his pocket without his knowledge was broken, his watch smashed, and his side bruised. A bullet had struck him, unperceived in the heat of the battle, and his life saved by its force having been arrested by the handle of the pistol.

In 1849 Colin Campbell was made a K.C.B. (Knight Commander of the Bath); so we must henceforth speak of him as "Sir" Colin.

March, 1853, saw Sir Colin Campbell in England; but though he had passed his sixtieth year, most of which had been spent in his country's service, his rest was not of long duration, as in 1854 he went out to the Crimea in command of the Highland brigade, consisting of the 42nd, 79th, and 93rd regiments. Sir Colin was proud of the splendid troops he commanded, and at the battle of the Alma they covered themselves with glory.

The 42nd (the Black Watch) were the first of the three regiments across the river Alma. Whilst ascending the height on the Russian side of the river, Sir Colin's horse was twice wounded, the second shot killing it; but he was soon mounted on another horse, leading his men to victory.

The Guards and Highlanders strove in friendly emulation who should be first in the Russian redoubt; but Sir Colin, well ahead of his own men was first in the battery shouting:--

"We'll hae nane but Highland bonnets here!" and his troops rushed in after him like lions.

The terrific charge of these fierce Highlanders, combined with their dress, struck terror into the hearts of the Russians; who said that they thought they had come to fight men, but did not bargain for demons in petticoats!

"Now, men," Sir Colin had said before the engagement, "you are going into battle. Remember this: Whoever is wounded--I don't care what his rank is--must lie where he falls till the bandsmen come to attend to him.... Be steady. Keep silent. Fire low. Now, men, the army will watch us. Make me proud of the Highland brigade!"

At the conclusion of that well-fought day the commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, sent for Sir Colin. His eyes were full, his lips quivered, and he was unable to speak; but he gave Campbell a hearty handshake and a look which spoke volumes.

That was a joyful day for Sir Colin.

"My men behaved nobly," he writes. "I never saw troops march to battle with greater _sang froid_ and order than these three Highland regiments."

The Alma had been fought on 20th September, 1854, and on the 25th October was fought the battle of Balaclava, memorable for the "Thin Red Line". It looked, at one time, as if the heavy masses of Russian cavalry must entirely crush Sir Colin's Highlanders; and their commander, riding down the line of his troops, said: "Remember, there is no retreat from here, men; you must die where you stand".