ull, of which he drank heartily, in a very short time it only fell
out again through his wound. But the most astonishing thing was that
he pointed me out his father's house, which was as far as I could
judge about half a mile off, and said that he had not seen his parents
for six years, for since he had come back to this place, he had not
been able to fall out to go and see them. He begged me to take him so
that he might die there in the presence of his parents, but I told him
I could not do that, as there were a quantity of French there.
However, I got an old blanket and wrapped it round him, making him as
comfortable as I could under the circumstances, and seemingly much
better resigned to his fearful fate, and then I left him and returned
to my own place of repose, and after eating my supper and drinking my
allowance of grog, I wrapped my own blanket round me, lay down, and
was soon unconscious in sleep. I woke early in the morning, and having
nothing particular to do, I crept out of my blanket and put all things
straight; and then, more out of curiosity than from any other motive,
proceeded to the poor Frenchman to ascertain if he was yet living;
but his death must have taken place some hours before, as he was quite
cold and stiff.

The loss of the Allies in this conflict was over four thousand in
killed and wounded, more than two thousand being of the British,
whilst that of the enemy was upwards of three thousand. But then there
must be considered the advantageous ground they fought on, and the
fearful havoc they made in our ranks before we were able to return a
shot.

Lord Wellington now finding that Toulouse would not surrender, ordered
fortifications to be thrown up for the reduction of that place, but
they proved to be unneeded, for in the dead of the night the French
disappeared from the place and retreated in a south-easterly direction
towards Villefranche. We were soon following them up, and part of our
army had slight skirmishes with them, but we never again saw their
main body in that part of their country, for a day or two after our
move from Toulouse the news came of Buonaparte's overthrow and the
proclamation of peace, Buonaparte himself having been sent to the
island of Elba. This was indeed good news for most of our troops:
certainly for the young officers it took away many chances of
promotion, though it made death less likely as well; but ambition
sometimes leads a man a long way out of his cours