our hands.

It is much to be lamented, on those occasions, that the people who
contribute most to the victory should profit the least by it; not that
I am an advocate for plunder--on the contrary, I would much rather
that all our fighting was for pure _love_; but, as every thing of
value falls into the hands of the followers, and scoundrels who skulk
from the ranks for the double purpose of plundering and saving their
dastardly carcasses, what I regret is, that the man who deserts his
post should thereby have an opportunity of enriching himself with
impunity, while the true man gets nothing; but the evil I believe is
irremediable. Sir James Kempt, who commanded our brigade, in passing
one of the captured waggons in the evening, saw a soldier loading
himself with money, and was about to have him conveyed to the camp as
a prisoner, when the fellow begged hard to be released, and to be
allowed to retain what he had got, telling the general that all the
boxes in the waggon were filled with gold. Sir James, with his usual
liberality, immediately adopted the idea of securing it, as a reward
to his brigade, for their gallantry; and, getting a fatigue party, he
caused the boxes to be removed to his tent, and ordered an officer and
some men from each regiment to parade there next morning, to receive
their proportions of it; but, when they opened the boxes, they found
them filled with _hammers, nails, and horse-shoes_!

Among the evil chances of that glorious day, I had to regret the
temporary loss of Colonel Cameron,--a bad wound in the thigh having
obliged him to go to England. Of him I can truly say, that, as a
_friend_, his heart was in the right place, and, as a _soldier_, his
right place was at the head of a regiment in the face of an enemy. I
never saw an officer feel more at home in such a situation, nor do I
know any one who could fill it better.

A singular accident threw me in the way of a dying French officer, who
gave me a group of family portraits to transmit to his friends; but,
as it was not until the following year that I had an opportunity of
making the necessary inquiries after them, they had then left their
residence, and were nowhere to be heard of.

As not only the body, but the mind, had been in constant occupation
since three o'clock in the morning, circumstances no sooner permitted
(about ten at night) than I threw myself on the ground, and fell into
a profound sleep, from which I did not awake until