GENERAL CAMPBELL'S ATTACK. 181
still remained to them ; and— delighted with their c ^ p -
pilot Gerald Graham— a giant intent on his work L_
as though proof against grape-shot and fear — they
wanted, if he would but lead them, to go and at-
tack the Eedan without asking any one other
landsman to share in the bliss of the enterprise.
Their ' pilot ' of course could not humour them in
this wild desire; and on the contrary he soon
brought them back to find shelter under the para-
pet. There, he kept them together in readiness
for any renewed advance that Lord West might
think fit to direct.
It was for his service with the ' ladder- party ' The admira-
tion and
in this, and in the earlier part of the day that approval be-
stowed on
Gerald Graham received the high honour of the Graham and
Victoria Cross. This honour was awarded to
Graham for what the royal warrant described
as his 'determined gallantry at the head of a
' ladder-party,' and the words, unless I mistake,
are blended by him in his memory with the hero-
ism of the sailors who shared his labours and
perils.
' I wish,' wrote Lord West, ' I wish I could do
' justice to the daring and intrepid conduct of the
' party of sailors. . . . Lieutenant Graham of
' the Engineers who led the ladder-party evinced
' a coolness and a readiness to expose himself to
' any personal risk which does him the greatest
' credit.' *
Lord West, however, meanwhile was far from The solo
means at
havim: the means out of which he could form a l<>»i west's
° disposal.
- Lord West to Lieutenant-General Bentinck, ubi ante.
