ghly broken
down by starvation, cold, exposure, and fatigue. The officers supplied
him with the clothing necessary to make him comfortable.

15. I have a hundred axmen in my charge, felling timber on the
mountain, and constructing rough breastworks to protect our left flank.

General Reynolds came up to-day to see De Lagniel. They are old
acquaintances, were at West Point together, and know each other like
brothers.

The irrepressible Corporal Casey, who, in fact, had nothing whatever to
do with the capture of De Lagniel, is now surrounded by a little group
of soldiers. He is talking to them about the prisoner, who, since it is
known that he is an acquaintance of General Reynolds, has become a
person of great importance in the camp. The Corporal speaks in the
broadest Irish brogue, and is telling his hearers that he knew the
fellow was a _sesesh_ at once; that he leveled his musket at him and
towld him to halt; that if he hadn't marched straight up to him he would
have put a minnie ball through his heart; that he had his gun cocked and
his finger on the trigger, and was a mind to shoot him anyway. Then he
tells how he propounded this and that question, which confused the
prisoner, and finally concludes by saying that De Lagniel might be d--d
thankful indade that he escaped with his life.

The Corporal is the best-known man in the regiment. He prides himself
greatly on the Middle Fork "skrimage." A day or two after that affair,
and at a time when whisky was so scarce that it was worth its weight in
gold, some officers called the Corporal up and asked him to give them an
account of the "skrimage." Before he entered upon the subject, it was
suggested that Captain Dubois, who had the little whisky there was in
the party, should give him a taste to loosen his tongue. The Corporal,
nothing loth, took the flask, and, raising it to his mouth, emptied it,
to the utter dismay of the Captain and his friends. The dhrap had the
effect desired. The Corporal described, with great particularity, his
manner of going into action, dwelt with much emphasis on the
hand-to-hand encounters, the thrusts, the parries, the final clubbing of
the musket, and the utter discomfiture and mortal wounding of his
antagonist. In fact by this time there were two of them; and finally, as
the fight progressed, a dozen or more bounced down on him. It was
lively! There was no time for the loading of guns. Whack, thump, crack!
The head of one was broken, a