The shedding of men’s blood by man is never an edifying spectacle.  The motive that prompts the attack or repels it, the blind obedience that entails the sacrifice, the retribution that follows, are more or less understandable.  What of the compensation?  There may be times when a pure principle is at stake and must be upheld despite all hazards, but there are times when there is no principle at stake whatever.  These considerations, however, have no place in the soldier’s manual.  They are questions for the court, not the camp, and cannot be argued on the battlefield.  The soldier is not invited to reason why, though many an unanswerable question by a dying hero has been whispered in the trenches.

There was much carnage at Egmont-op-Zee, and many a 49th grenadier “lost the number of his mess.”  Isaac directly after the fight wrote to his brothers that “Nothing could exceed the gallantry of his men in the charge.”  To his own wound he referred in his usual breezy and impersonal way.  “I got knocked down,” he said, “soon after the enemy began to retreat, but never quitted the field, and returned to my duty in less than half an hour.”

We must appeal to his brother Savery for the actual facts.  “Isaac was wounded,” said Savery, in reply to a request for particulars, “and his life was in all probability preserved by the stout cotton handkerchief which, as the air was very cold, he wore over a thick black silk cravat, both of which were perforated by a bullet, and which prevented it entering his neck.  The violence of the blow, however, was so great as to stun and dismount him, and his holsters were also shot through.”

That the action had been a hot one can be best judged by the official returns.  Out of 391 rank and file of the 49th in the field, there were 110 casualties—­30 killed, 50 wounded and 30 missing.  Savery Brock shared the honours with his brother.  Oblivious to a hurricane of bullets, he rode from sand-hill to sand-hill, encouraging the men until his truancy was noticed and he was halted by Isaac.  “By the Lord Harry, Master Savery,” shouted the colonel, loud as he could pitch his powerful voice, as the big paymaster strode by, his horse having been shot under him, “did I not order you, unless you remained with the General, to stay with your iron chest?  Go back, sir, immediately.”  To which Savery answered, playfully, “Mind your regiment, Master Isaac.  You surely would not have me quit the field now.”  Of this intrepid brother Isaac wrote, “Nothing could surpass Savery’s activity and gallantry.”  Another of the wounded at Egmont was Lord Aylmer, afterwards Governor-General of British North America.  The loss of the enemy was estimated at 4,000.  Two weeks later the British troops—­while suffering intensely from severe weather—­met with a reverse in the field, to which, through a misunderstanding of orders, their Russian allies contributed.  The Duke of York was ordered to evacuate the country.  The campaign had resulted in much experience and high honour for Brock.  Quick to perceive and learn, his powers of observation on the field had enriched his mind with lessons in the tactics of war never to be forgotten.