I was at the moment riding in the rear of my troop--having fallen back
to hold conversation with my two unattached followers, thus incidentally
introduced. The last trooper in the rank--except the corporal, who rode
alongside of him--was a man of large body, somewhat slouched and
unshapen; as were also his arms, limbs, and the forage-cap on his head.
Altogether, he was a slovenly specimen for a cavalry soldier--to look at
from behind; and his aspect from the front did not alter the impression.
A long cadaverous countenance, bedecked with a pair of hollow-glass-like
eyes; a beard long as the face, hanging down over his breast, defiled
with fragments of food and the "ambeer" of tobacco; behind which
appeared a row of very large white teeth, set between lips of an
unnaturally red colour; above these a long nose, broken near the middle,
and obliquing outward to the sinister angle of his mouth;--such was the
portrait presented by the individual in question.
I did not see his face, for I was behind him; but it did not need that
to enable me to identify the man. By his back, or any part of his body,
I could have told that the trooper before me was Johann Laundrich, the
Jew-German.
"What of _him_?" I inquired, in an undertone, seeing that he was the
individual referred to in the speech of the old trapper.
"Don't 'ee see, Cap'n! them theer boots! I heern ye stopped 'im from
takin' 'em last night. He's got 'em along wi' him for all that. Thar
they be!"
Rube's gesture was this time more definite; and pointed to the cloak of
the trooper, rolled and strapped to the cantle of his saddle.
Between the folds of the cloth, ill-adjusted as they were, I saw,
protruding a few inches outward, something of a buff colour, that
evidently did not belong to the garment.
A slight scrutiny satisfied me that it was a boot; and, guided by what
the trapper had said, I saw that it could be no other than one of the
pair I had prevented Laundrich from pilfering from the corpse of the
Mexican officer.
I had only hindered him for the time. He had evidently returned to the
tent, and made a finish of his filthy work.
A loud angry "halt!" brought the troop to a stand.
I ordered Laundrich to ride out of the ranks; unstrap his cloak from the
saddle; and spread it out. On his doing so, the buff boots fell to the
ground--where they were permitted to lie.
I could not contain my temper at the double disobedience of orders; and
riding alongside the ruffian, I struck him over the crown with the flat
of my sabre.
He made no movement to avoid the blow, nor did he stir on receiving it--
further than to show his white teeth, like a savage dog suffering
chastisement.
With Laundrich once more in the saddle, we were about to move on; when
the corporal, touching his cap, came up to me.
"Captain!" said he, "there's even worse than him among the men. There's
one o' them got in his havresack a thing I think you ought to see. It's
a scandal to the corps."
"Which one--who?"
"Bully, the Englishman."
"Order Bully to ride this way."
The trooper thus designated, on being summoned by the corporal, drew his
horse out of the rank, and rode up--though evidently with an awkward
reluctance.
He was quite as ill-favoured as the delinquent just punished. His evil
aspect was of a type altogether different. He was bullet-headed and
bull-faced, with a thick fleshy neck, and jowls entirely destitute of
beard; while, instead of being of dark complexion, like the Jew-German,
his face was of the hue of dirty shining tallow, not _adorned_ by a
close crop of hay-coloured hair that came far down upon a low square
forehead. His nose was retrousse, with nostrils widely spread, like
those of a pure-bred bull dog; and his eyes were not very unlike the
optics of the fierce Molossian.
The man was known by the name above given to him; though whether he
answered to this appellation at roll-call, or whether it was only a
sobriquet bestowed upon him by his comrades, I really do not now
remember.
His appearance was simply stupid and brutal, while that of Laundrich was
cunning and savage.
They were the two worst men in the troop; and I had reason to believe
that both had been convicts in their respective countries; but this was
not much in the ranks of a campaigning army.
"Bully!" I demanded, as he drew near; "let us see what you've got in
your havresack!"
A hideous grin overspread the fellow's features, as he proceeded to draw
out the contents of the bag.
"What is it?" I inquired of the corporal, impatient to learn what could
be carried in a cavalry havresack, calculated to set a stigma upon a
whole troop.
"A piece o' a man," was the reply.
By this time Bully had produced the identical article. Knowing what was
wanted of him, he saw there would be no use in attempting to "dodge" the
demand; and, without troubling the other impedimenta, which the sack
contained, he drew out only the article requiring inspection.
It was the finger of a man, encircled by a heavy gold ring, deeply
embedded in the swollen flesh! It had been cut off at the posterior
joint, close to the hand; and a portion of the muscle of the two
adjacent fingers was still attached to it. All this had been done to
secure the ring which could not, without breaking it, have been detached
from the finger.
The sight, taken in connection with the history deduced from its being
in possession of the trooper, was sufficiently horrible.
I did not allow my eyes to dwell upon it; and the shower of blows which
I administered to the inhuman scoundrel were not the less heavily dealt
on my being told that the finger had belonged to the same corpse which
Laundrich had despoiled of its boots!
Ordering the fragment of humanity to be brought along--with the design
of some day sending the ring to the friends of the mutilated man--I
resumed the route; painfully impressed with the disagreeable
circumstances, which had thus disturbed the tranquillity of my temper.
Story 1, Chapter XVII.