* * * * *

Above the dead soldier’s head, clouds, sunshine and rustling foliage; beneath it, fallen forest leaves, moist and fragrant.  About the motionless body swayed tussocks of tall grass and the trampled heads of wild-flowers.  The shouts of the regulars, the clamor of the militia, the shrill war-cry of the Mohawks, and the organ notes of battle, were his requiem.  Then the corpse was hurriedly borne by a few grief-stricken men of the 49th to a house in the village, occupied by Laura Secord—­the future heroine of Lundy’s Lane—­where, concealed by blankets—­owing to the presence of the enemy—­it was allowed to remain for some hours, unvisited.

* * * * *

Later in the day Major Glegg, Brock’s faithful aide—­the brave Macdonell, in extreme agony, lay dying of his wounds—­hastened to the spot, and finding the body of his lamented friend undisturbed, conveyed it to Niagara, “where it was bedewed by weeping friends whose hearts were agonized with bitterest sorrow.”

[Illustration:  BATTLE OF QUEENSTON.  From an old Sketch]

SUPPLEMENT

AFTER BROCK’S DEATH.

The “Story of Isaac Brock” would be incomplete without an epitome of the events that terminated the Battle of Queenston Heights and resulted in an overwhelming victory for the British.

General Brock was killed in action at about half-past seven on the morning of October 13th, 1812.  His body was removed from Government House, Niagara, to a cavalier bastion at Fort George, for final sepulture.  This bastion was selected by Major Glegg, it being the one which Brock’s own genius had lately suggested—­the one from which the range of an observer’s vision covered the principal points of approach—­and had just been finished under his daily superintendence.

After he fell, the handful of men who were with him, overcome by his tragic end, overwhelmed by superior numbers and a hurricane of buckshot and bullets, wavered, and though Dennis attempted to rally them, fell back and retreated to the far end of Queenston village.  Here, about two hours later, Colonel Macdonell, Brock’s aide, collected and reformed the scattered units, and made another bold dash to rescale the heights and retake the redan.  A detailed account of the incidents that followed in dramatic succession would fill a book.

With the cry of “Revenge the General!” from the men of the 49th, Macdonell, on Brock’s charger, led the forlorn attack, supported by Dennis.  At the same moment, Williams, with his detachment, emerged from the thicket, shouting to his men, “Feel firmly to the right, my lads; advance steadily, charge them home, and they cannot stand you.”  The two detachments then combined, and Macdonell ordering a general advance, they once more breasted the ascent.