the names of his parents, but I was too much in the wind, from the use of
rum, to remember them. We might have been half an hour with this young
rifleman, busy on him most of the time, when he murmured a few words, gave
me one of the sweetest smiles I ever saw on a man's face, and made no more
signs of life. I kept at work, notwithstanding, until Bill got back with
the doctor. The latter cast an eye on the rifleman, pronounced him dead,
and coolly walked away.

There was a bridge, in a sort of a swamp, that we had fired on for some
time, and we now moved down to it, just to see what we had done. We found
a good many dead, and several horses in the mire, but no wounded. We kept
emptying canteens, as we went along, until our own would hold no more. On
our return from the bridge, we went to a brook in order to mix some grog,
and then we got a full view of the offing. Not a craft was to be seen!
Everything had weighed and disappeared. This discovery knocked us all
aback, and we were quite at a loss how to proceed. We agreed, however, to
pass through a bit of woods, and get into the town, it being now quite
late in the day. There we knew we should find the army, and might get
tidings of the fleet. The battle-ground was now nearly deserted, and to
own the truth we were, all three, at least two sheets in the wind. Still I
remember everything, for my stomach would never allow me to get beastly
drunk; it rejecting any very great quantity of liquor. As we went through
the wood, open pine trees, we came across an officer lying dead, with one
leg over his horse, which was dead also. I went up to the body, turned it
over, and examined it for a canteen, but found none. We made a few idle
remarks, and proceeded.

In quitting the place, I led the party; and, as we went through a little
thicket, I heard female voices. This startled me a little; and, on looking
round, I saw a white female dress, belonging to a person who was evidently