lied with; and the promise was faithfully kept. The two lads were
allowed to continue as comrades after they had joined the regiment;
and in this situation maintained that feeling of tender friendship for
each other, which had distinguished the previous part of their lives.

Two handsomer or finer-looking soldiers than James M'Intyre and
Roderick M'Leod, after they had donned the full costume of the corps
to which they belonged, and had acquired the military air of their new
profession, could not have been found, not only in their own regiment,
but perhaps in the whole British army. Modest in their manners, quiet
and civil in their deportment, cleanly, sober and attentive to their
duties, they were beloved by their equals, and looked upon with
especial favour by their superiors; they were, in short, the pride and
boast of the regiment--no small honour in a corps where there was an
unusual proportion of stout and steady men.

For some years, the military life of M'Intyre and M'Leod was unmarked
by any striking vicissitude. The usual movements of the corps from
place to place occurred; but hitherto they had not been called on to
take any share in active service. Their turn, however, was to
come--and it did come. They were ordered to America, shortly after the
commencement of the first war with that country and Great Britain.
Previous to their embarking for the seat of war, the two comrades
obtained three days' leave of absence--it was all that could be
allowed them--to visit their friends in the Highlands. The time was
short--too short for the distance they had to travel; but, as the
point of embarkation was Greenock, they thought they could make it
out; and, by travelling night and day, they did so. They presented
themselves in their native glen in the full costume of their corps,
and gratified their mothers' hearts by this display of their military
appointments. A few short hours of enjoyment succeeded; another bitter
parting followed; and the two comrades were again on their way to
rejoin their regiment. On the second day after, they were crossing
the ocean with their regiment, to the seat of war in the new world.

In this new scene of experience, the two friends distinguished
themselves as much by their bravery as they had before by their
exemplary and soldierly conduct. In all the actions in which they were
engaged, they made themselves conspicuous by their gallantry, and by
several instances of individual heroism.