epeated he, reading from a paper in his
hand.

"The same, sir."

"Well, your talents as a draughtsman have procured you promotion, my
friend; I have obtained your discharge from your regiment, and you are now
my orderly--orderly on the staff, do you mind? so mount, sir, and follow
me."

I saluted him respectfully, and prepared to obey his orders. Already I
foresaw the downfall of all the hopes I had been cherishing, and
anticipated the life of tyranny and oppression that lay before me. It was
clear to me, that my discharge had been obtained solely as a means of
punishing me, and that Captain Discau, as the officer was called, had
destined me to a pleasant expiation of my note-book. The savage exultation
with which he watched me, as I made up my kit and saddled my horse--the
cool malice with which he handed me back the accursed journal, the cause
of all my disasters--gave me a dark foreboding of what was to follow; and
as I mounted my saddle, my woeful face, and miserable look, brought forth
a perfect shout of laughter from the bystanders.

Captain Discau's duty was to visit the banks of the Rhine, and the Eslar
island, to take certain measurements of distances, and obtain accurate
information on various minute points respecting the late engagement, for,
while a brief announcement of the victory would suffice for the bulletin,
a detailed narrative of the event, in all its bearings, must be drawn up
for the minister of war, and for this latter purpose various
staff-officers were then employed in different parts of the field.

As we issued from the fortress, and took our way over the plain, we struck
out into a sharp gallop; but, as we drew near the river, our passage
became so obstructed by lines of baggage-wagons, tumbrils, and
ammunition-carts, that we were obliged to dismount and proceed on foot;
and now I was to see, for the first time, that dreadful picture, which, on
the day after a battle, forms the reverse of the great medal of glory.
Huge litters of wounded men on their way back to Strasbourg, were drawn by
six or eight horses, their jolting motion increasing the agony of
sufferings that found their vent in terrific cries and screams; oaths,
yells, and blasphemies, the ravings of madness, and the wild shouts of
infuriated suffering, filled the air on every side. As if to give the
force of contrast to this uproar of misery, two regiments of Swabian
infantry marched past as prisoners. Silent, crest-fallen, and