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In an instant

be no tongue to move in answer. the marshal's dress was torn open, and my forefinger, that best of probes, was deep in his side. Not a muscle moved, not a sound was uttered. I felt the rib, smooth and resisting below, whilst the track of the bullet led downwards and backwards, round the convexity of his ample chest. I now spoke for the first time since I had entered the waggon, and said, 'General, your wound is not mortal.' This observation of mine, which I made quite sure could not fail to be particularly interesting to my patient, seemed to have been heard with perfect indifference, for without taking the slightest notice of the very agreeable intelligence I had just communicated, he looked up and asked, 'How does the day go?" Well,' said I: 'the enemy has begun to give way.' 'Hah!' rejoined the marshal, it has been a bloody day!'

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During this brief conversation I had traced the course of the ball by a reddish wheal, which marked its trajet, and I felt the missile itself deeply lodged in the flesh of the left loin. The preliminaries for cutting out were arranged in a moment, and the marshal had turned on his right side, when the wounded sergeant, having by this time, as I suppose, discovered my trade, began most lustily to call upon Nossa senhora,' and the doctor, in the same breath. I requested of him, in his own language, to be silent, telling him at the same time, that his general was lying wounded.

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by his side. Upon this the marshal turned round his head, and with a reproving look said to me, 'Sir, if that poor fellow's wounds require dressing more than mine, dress him first.' Both the words and the manner in which they were spoken made a strong impression on me at the time, and impressions stamped on the field of battle are not easily erased. I assured his Excellency that nothing but amputation could be of any service to the sergeant, and that I had not the necessary instruments by me for such an operation.

"All parties were again silent, and I proceeded to cut out the bullet. My knife was already buried in the flesh, its point grating against the lead, when the marshal, feeling that I had ceased to cut, and calculating, perhaps that my steadiness as an operator might be influenced by the rank of my patient, again turned round, and with as much sangfroid as if he had been said, in an encouraging tone, I never fainted in my life.' instant I placed the bullet in his hand.

merely a spectator, Cut boldly, doctor; Almost at the same

"When the wounds had been bound up, the patient demanded what steps he should next adopt. To this I replied, that it would be prudent to have himself bled after some hours. ' But who is to bleed me?' quickly rejoined the marshal. I was in some measure prepared for this question, and had already determined on the course I should follow.

"From the moment I had recognised the commander-in-chief of the Portuguese army lying wounded in a waggon, close in with the enemy, and had ascertained that his wound was not necessarily mortal, I saw that my being on the spot at such a moment might lead to my promotion. A fair, unimpeachable opportunity of tendering fresh services to him on whom the accomplishment of my ambition seemed to depend, was now afforded me. But such is the influence of an unflinching, unaffected firmness of character in a chief over those below him, and such the impression left on my mind by what I had just witnessed, that I felt convinced I should establish a higher place in the marshal's good opinion by remaining in the fight than by volunteering to leave it, even for the purpose of attending to his wound. I therefore respectfully submitted to his Excellency, that my regiment was then probably in action; that I should be sorry to be out of the way when my friends and comrades might need my assistance, and that I hoped he would be kind enough to permit me to join them. • Most certainly,' was the reply.

"I saw no more of the marshal for many weeks; and when I had the honour of being again presented, I found him very ill, suffering much from inflammation in his side, and a profuse discharge from his wounds, kept up, as was afterwards discovered, by some portions of woollen cloth, which

the bullet had carried forward from the breast of his coat through the loose folds of which the missile had passed before it entered the flesh.

"In quitting the marshal on the field, under the circumstances, and with impressions I have just described, I followed the course most consonant to my feelings, my sense of duty, and even my views of my own interest at the time. Whether I judged rightly upon the latter point or not, certain it is, that when I appeared in the next great battle-scene at Vittoria, the following year, I had already, for some months, filled the station of staff-surgeon in the Portuguese army."

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Sailors must strike their colours, and soldiers surrender when they have death for an enemy.-A court-martial.-Shooting a soldier.Naval execution. - Soldier's burial. Funeral at sea.- Battle of Waterloo. First attack.-Second attack.-Third attack.-Defeat of Buonaparte.-Consequences of the battle of Waterloo.-Chelsea College. Greenwich Hospital. - Old England for ever!-Conclusion.

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"A WORD or two now, boys, on the battle of Waterloo, for that must not be forgotten. Many

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