d proceeded to the spot where I had left
my friend. I looked for some time in vain. So active had been the work of
the pillagers that followed the camp, that the dead and the dying had been
stripped; and by the countenance alone could one discover a friend from a
foe, I examined every face amidst a heap of dead bodies, and discovered my
friend. Life was not yet extinct. I had him removed to my tent, and went
for a surgeon, who examined and dressed his wound, but gave me no hopes of
his recovery. He was carefully removed into Oudenard, where our hospitals
were established, and for some days his life was despaired of; but youth
and a good constitution prevailed, and he again bade fair for life and
happiness. As soon as he was enabled to converse, I was at my usual place
by his bedside, when, after thanking me for his preservation, he expressed
the deepest sorrow for the loss of his ring, which had been torn from his
finger by the pillagers.

"I had, until now, scarcely paid any attention to this bauble; but
remembered, when he spoke of it, of having seen at all times a ring upon
his finger. I expressed my concern at his loss, but said, that it ought not
to give him so much concern, at a time when a miraculously spared life
called for his gratitude to God.

"'I value it next to life itself,' was his reply, 'for it was the gift of
my mother, and had been in our family for ages. Publish among the sutlers,
my good friend, that fifty dollars will be given for the ring, upon its
delivery to me; and twenty dollars to any one who will give information
that will lead to its recovery.'

"I promised, and left him, consoled with the hopes of again getting the
jewel; yet I could not help thinking my friend too profuse in his offer. I
immediately published in the camp, a reward of ten dollars for the ring, or
five for any information to lead to its recovery, and next morning the ring
was delivered, and the ten dollars paid to one of the fiends in human
shape, that, like vultures, follow in the track of war. My fingers itched
to cut the ruffian down, but I restrained myself. I paid him the promised
reward with a hearty curse--the word of a soldier is sacred; and it was at
this time that I examined the bauble so minutely, that I never can forget
it. I never saw joy more vividly expressed than when he placed it upon his
emaciated finger, and said I had given him a medicine that would quickly
recover him.

"'Shade of my sainted mother,'