Another passage

The marines fought on. They did what they were trained to do, and what they did was learn how to fire a musket. Load and fire, load and fire. Months of drill. Pull free a cartridge, bite the top off, prime the lock with a pinch of black powder from the bitten end, close the frizzen to keep the pinch in place, drop the butt, pour in the rest down the blackened barrel, thrust the paper down as wadding, ram it down hard, and inside was the lead ball. Bring the musket back up, pull back the cock, aim, and pull the trigger. Repeat. Mouths would dry out from the saltpetre. Tongues would swell. Faces and hands would blacken. Eyes would sting from the stink and ears would ring from the roar.