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paid me the stipulated reward, I was returning to my regiment with
my other comrade--after having paid, in my German jargon, some
deserved compliments to the black-eyed beauty of Warburg, and
thinking, with no small envy, how comfortable it would be to be
billeted there--when the private who was with me cut short my
reveries by suggesting that we should divide the five guineas the
lieutenant had given me.
'There is your share,' said I, giving the fellow one piece; which
was plenty, as I was the leader of the expedition. But he swore a
dreadful oath that he would have half; and when I told him to go to
a quarter which I shall not name, the fellow, lifting his musket,
hit me a blow with the butt-end of it, which sent me lifeless to the
ground: when I awoke from my> trance, I found myself bleeding with a
large wound in the head, and had barely time to stagger back to the
house where I had left the lieutenant, when I again fell fainting at
the door.
Here I must have been discovered by the surgeon on his issuing out;
for when I awoke a second time I found myself in the ground-floor of
the house, supported by the black-eyed girl, while the surgeon was
copiously bleeding me at the arm. There was another bed in the room
where the lieutenant had been laid,--it was that occupied by Gretel,
the servant; while Lischen, as my fair one was called, had, till
now, slept in the couch where the wounded officer lay.
'Who are you putting into that bed?' said he languidly, in German;
for the ball had been extracted from his side with much pain and
loss of blood.
They told him it was the corporal who had brought him.
'A corporal?' said he, in English; 'turn him out.' And you may be
sure I felt highly complimented by the words. But we were both too
faint to compliment or to abuse each other much, and I was put to
bed carefully; and, on being undressed, had an opportunity to find
that my pockets had been rifled by the English soldier after he had
knocked me down. However, I was in good quarters: the young lady who
sheltered me presently brought me a refreshing drink; and, as I took
it, I could not help pressing the kind hand that gave it me; nor, in
truth, did this token of my gratitude seem unwelcome.
This intimacy did not decrease with further acquaintance. I found
Lischen the tenderest of nurses. Whenever any delicacy was to be
provided for the wounded lieutenant, a share was always sent to the
bed opposite his, and to the avaricious man's no small annoyance.
His illness was long. On the second day the fever declared itself;
for some nights he was delirious; and I remember it was when a
commanding officer was inspecting our quarters, with an intention,
very likely, of billeting himself on the house, that the howling and
mad words of the patient overhead struck him, and he retired rather
frightened. I had been sitting up very comfortably in the lower
apartment, for my hurt was quite subsided; and it was only when the
officer asked me, with a rough voice, why I was not at my regiment,
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