This
reprimand, softened with the appellation of child, convinced me that
the satirical lady was no other than Miss Snapper, and I resolved
to regulate my conduct accordingly. The champion, finding himself
so smartly handled, changed his battery, and began to expatiate
on his own exploits. "You talk of shot, madam," said he; "d--me!
I have both given and received some shot in my time--I was wounded
in the shoulder by a pistol ball at Dettingen, where--I say nothing--but
by G--d! if it had not been for me--all's one for that--I despise
boasting, d-me! whiz!" So saying, he whistled one part and hummed
another, of the Black Joke; then, addressing himself to the lawyer,
went on thus; "Wouldn't you think it d--d hard, after having, at
the risk of your life, recovered the standard of a regiment that
had been lost, to receive no preferment for your pains? I don't
choose to name no names, sink me! but, howsomever, this I will
refer, by G--d! and that is this--a musketeer of the French guards,
having a standard from a certain cornet of a certain regiment,
d--e! was retreating with his prize as fast as his horse's heels
could carry him, sink me! Upon which, I snatched up firelock that
belonged to a dead man, d--me! Whiz! and shot his horse under him,
d--n my blood! The fellow got upon his feet, and began to repose
me, upon which I charged my bayonet breast high, and ran him through
the body by G--! One of his comrades, coming to his assistance,
shot me in the shoulder, as I told you before; and another gave
me a contusion on the head with the butt-end of his carbine; but,
d--me, that did not signify.
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