right arm, halfway
between the elbow and the shoulder, and the sword dropped from his
hand.

[Illustration: Lord Sackville stood without speaking, while
the surgeon bandaged up his arm]

Lord George Sackville had borne himself well in several duels, and
was accounted a gentleman, though arrogant and overbearing. He
stood without speaking, while the surgeon bandaged up his arm. Then
he said quietly:

"I ask your pardon, Major Drummond. This matter was altogether my
fault. I said that I would give you a lesson, and you have given me
one, which assuredly I shall never forget. I trust that you will
accept my apology for the words I uttered."

"Certainly, general, the more so that I own I gave provocation by
failing to salute you--my only excuse for which is that officers of
the highest rank, in Prussia, always return the salute of a junior
officer, of whatever rank; and that I did not reflect that you,
having many important matters in your mind, might have neglected to
return mine from pure absent mindedness, and not with any
intentional discourtesy. I can only say that I have not spoken of
this matter to any but my three friends here, and I am sure that
the matter will not be mentioned by them, when it is my earnest
request that it shall go no further."

The parties then mutually saluted, and rode off to their respective
camps. The story of the duel did not leak out from Fergus's
friends; but Sackville had openly spoken of the matter, the evening
before, to several officers; and had added to their disgust at his
conduct by declaring that he wished it had been the Duke of
Brunswick, instead of this upstart aide-de-camp of his, with whom
he had to reckon the next morning. He, on his part, exacted no
pledge from the officers who had accompanied him, but rode back to
camp without speaking a word, and an hour later left in a carriage
for Bremen.

The news of the encounter, then, circulated rapidly, and excited
intense amusement, and the most lively satisfaction, on the part of
the British officers.

On Sackville's arrival in England he was tried by court martial,
sentenced to be cashiered, and declared incapable of again serving
his majesty in any military capacity. This the king proclaimed
officially to be a sentence worse than death and, taking a pen, he
himself struck out his name from the list of privy councillors.

No satisfactory explanation has ever been given of Sackville's
conduct at Minden. Many say