"Who could ever forget him that served there--who could ever forget him or his story?" exclaimed the old general flourishing his silver-headed cane; "not I, certainly. It was he who was entrusted by my Lord Rawdon as a military courier (_estafette_, the French term it), to bring me an important despatch concerning the movements of the regiment, and this despatch the Yankees were determined I should not receive, for spies had informed them of the bearer and his route, so the way was beset by riflemen. The soldier who accompanied him fell mortally wounded; O'Lavery was riddled by bullets too, yet he rode manfully on, until from loss of blood he fell from his saddle. Then Girvan, resolved that the important paper which he bore should never fall into the hands of the Yankees, he crumpled it up and thrust it into one _of his wounds_. I discovered it, when next morning we came upon him dying in the bush, and he had just life sufficient left to point to the fatal place where Rawdon's letter was concealed.* As one of our greatest orators said, when Martius Curtius to sacrifice himself for his country leaped into the gulf of the forum, he had all Rome for his spectators; but the poor Irish corporal was alone in the midst of a desert--I quote at random, quartermaster. And yet, after all the brave deeds and service of those days to refuse me this brigade for service--zounds! it was too bad--too bad!" But Rohallion survived his disappointment, and the two following years glided peacefully away, at his old castle in Carrick. * "The surgeon declared the wound itself not to be mortal; but rendered so by the insertion of the despatch. Corporal O'Lavery was a native of the county of Down, where a monument, the gratitude of his countryman and commander Lord Rawdon, records his fame."--_Records of the 17th Lancers_. CHAPTER VIII. QUENTIN'S CHILDHOOD. "Ah, happy time! ah, happy time! The days of mirth and dream; When years ring out their merry chime, And hope and gladness gleam. Then how we drink the storied page, In boyhood's happy home: The marvels of the wondrous age Of old Imperial Rome."--_All the Year Round_.