clear. He says that the passage of the bullet close to his head
caused bleeding from his nose and ears and even from his eyes, signs
which a clinician would regard as probably indicating a serious
fracture of the base of the skull.

I am not a neurologist, but I can think of no neurological injury
which would produce the type of paralysis which he describes except a
high lesion of the spinal cord. What is more, within a few moments he
is in the saddle of a galloping horse and I cannot imagine that
anyone suffering from a form of paralysis could remain there for very
long.

The thoughtful reader may also wonder how the soldier who robbed
him as he lay unconscious could suppose that he was dead, an
unconscious person is quite plainly breathing.

Could it be that having been rendered unconscious as a result of
the fall from his horse, he has some degree of retrograde amnesia and
has invented details to fill the gaps in his memory, or could it be
that writing, as he was, for his family and friends, he was indulging
in a little pardonable exaggeration.

In spite of these reservations the story he tells is full of life
and interest, and gives a vivid impression of war as it was fought
then, including all its horrors and disasters.

In this translation I have not deviated from the gist of events,
but I have taken the liberty of making a variety of omissions and
emendations, with the aim of adding credibility to some of the
events, such as those noted above. I have also prefaced some of his