United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Fiction; War stories
"Close at thy side I walk unseen,
And feel thy passion and thy prayer.
Wide separation doth but prove
The mystic might of human love."
The poor lieutenant was soon turned over scornfully by a musket butt and
the toe of a stout Whitehaven shoe. The blood was steadily running from
his shoulder, and his coat was all sodden with a sticky wetness. He had
struck his head as he fell, and was at this moment happily unconscious
of all his woes.
"Let him lie, the devil!" growled a second man who came along,—a citizen
armed with a long cutlass, but stupid with fear, and resenting the loss
of his morning sleep and all his peace of mind. They could see the
light of the burning vessel on the roofs above. "Let’s get away a bit
further from the shore," said he; "there may be their whole ship’s
company landed and ranging the town."
"This damned fellow ’ll do nobody any mischief," agreed the soldier, and
away they ran. But presently his companion stole back to find if there
were anything for an honest man and a wronged one in this harmless
officer’s pockets. There were some letters in women’s writing that
could be of no use to any one, and some tobacco. "’T is the best
American sort," said the old citizen, who had once been a sailor in the
Virginia trade. He saw the knife sticking fast, and pulled it out; but
finding it was a cheap thing enough, and disagreeable just now to have
in hand, he tossed it carelessly aside. He found a purse of money in
one pocket, and a handsome watch with a seal like some great
gentleman’s; but this was strangely hooked and ringed to the fob
buttons, and the chain so strong that though a man pulled hard enough to
break it, and even set his foot on the stranger’s thigh to get a good
purchase, the links would not give way. The citizen looked for the
convenient knife again, but missed it under the shadow of the wall.
There were people coming. He pocketed what he had got, and looked
behind him anxiously: then he got up and ran away, only half content
with the purse and good tobacco.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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