rkness and general
confusion effectually prevented me from observing how others,
except my own immediate party, were employed.

Offering this as my apology for a line of conduct which I should
otherwise blush to pursue, and premising that I did nothing, in
my own person, which was not done by my comrades at least as
effectually, I go on to relate as many of the particulars of this
sanguinary conflict as came under the notice of my own senses.

My friend Grey and myself had been supplied by our soldiers with
a couple of fowls taken from a neighbouring hen-roost, and a few
bottles of excellent claret, borrowed from the cellar of one of
the houses near. We had built ourselves a sort of hut, by piling
together, in a conical form, a number of large stakes and broad
rails torn up from one of the fences; and a bright wooden fire
was blazing at the door of it. In the wantonness of triumph, too,
we had lighted some six or eight wax-candles; a vast quantity of
which had been found in the store-rooms of the chateaux hard by;
and having done ample justice to our luxurious supper, we were
sitting in great splendour and in high spirits at the entrance of
our hut, when the alarm of the approaching schooner was
communicated to us. With the sagacity of a veteran, Grey
instantly guessed how matters stood: he was the first to hail
the suspicious stranger; and on receiving no answer to his
challenge, he was the first to fire a musket in the direction of
her anchorage. But he had scarcely done so when she opened her
broadside, causing the instantaneous abandonment of fires,
viands, and mirth throughout the bivouac.

As we contrived to get our men tolerably well around us, Grey and
myself were among the first who rushed forth to support the
piquets and check the advance of the enemy upon the right.
Passing as rapidly as might be through the ground of encampment
amidst a shower of grape-shot from the vessel, we soon arrived at
the pond; which being forded, we found ourselves in front of the
farm-house of which I have already spoken as composing the
head-quarters of General Keane. Here we were met by a few
stragglers from the outposts, who reported that the advanced
companies were all driven in, and that a numerous division of
Americans was approaching. Having attached these fugitives to
our little corps, we pushed on, and in a few seconds reached the
lower extremity of a sloping stubble-field, at the other end of
which we could dis