For ages so separate had its interests been from those of France, that James III. of Scotland was requested by Charles VIII. to send thither a body of troops to capture and annex Brittany to his northern kingdom but the Scottish parliament declined to sanction the subjugation of a free people; so this strange scheme was abandoned. A strong wall surrounded St. Malo, and every night twelve dogs of great size and ferocity were led round it by a soldier of the city watch, that their barking might give notice if brigands or an enemy approached. The last ray of sunlight soon faded upward from the cathedral spire of St. Vincent, and the shades of twilight were already casting into obscurity the rocky basement of the whole city and its weedy reefs amid the chafing sea, when in a lonely part of our camp by St. Servand my two comrades and I reclined on the turf beside our accoutred horses, and drank the contents of the wine-keg, using one horn--for we possessed but one--fraternally by turns. "It is very true," continued Charters, with reference to my adventure of the preceding night; "egad, friend Gauntlet, you had a narrow escape! In other hands--particularly those of old Preston--you had assuredly been brought to the drum-head and had a volley of ten carbines for dereliction of duty. To fall asleep on one's post before an enemy----" "But I was _not_ asleep," I persisted. "Well, well; but to let the enemy pass you----" "I was thinking of other times, Jack." "Very likely," said Kirkton; "on such a lonely duty, and at such a time, by night, I have too often found the thoughts of other times, and images of those I have loved or lost, who are dead, or far, far away, all come unbidden before me." "It is unwise to look back regretfully--for the past can never come again. Oh, never more!" continued Charters, sadly, as he thought of some cherished episode of his own life; "so the wiser and the manlier way is to improve the present (pass the keg, Tom), and look boldly at the future." "You are right, Jack," said I, as this military philosopher proceeded to light his pipe and groom his horse, which he carefully covered with his cloak; "but I fear it will be long before I can school myself into your cool way of taking things. I have seen but little of the world, Jack, and have only learned to enjoy life since embracing the profession which sets no value upon it." "Time and travel will improve your views, my boy; and 'all travel,' says Dr. Johnson, 'has its advantages; if it lead a man to a better country, he learns to improve his own; if to a worse, to enjoy it.' I have travelled much in my time--steady, old horse, steady!--and as I did so with sundry rounds of ball cartridge at my back, I have learned much that Dr. Johnson never thought of." "In what way, Jack--to handle a dice-box and make love to the barmaids?" asked Tom.