"Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the
dragon shalt thou trample under foot."
"Ah!" exclaimed the sentry, "they are talking of dragoons--the Queen's
dragoons, I suppose?"
On making this remark, he paused suddenly in his steps. He had been
timing his paces with that regular tread habitual to sentries, and in
such a fashion as to maintain the same distance between himself and the
corpses--which he had no inclination to approach. This time, on turning
his face, it appeared to him that he had got much nearer to one of them;
and at the next turn nearer still! This induced him to count the steps
he was taking; and though on each round he made exactly the same number,
he could not resist the conviction that he was constantly approximating
to the corpse. Either he must be mistaken, or the dead body must have
moved from its place! The latter was, of course, the more probable
supposition; but, to assure himself, he approached the corpse to examine
it.
The dead man was lying upon his side; and a blotch of crimson colour
conspicuous behind his cheek, marked the place where his ear had been
cropped off.
A brief examination satisfied the sentry that the man was dead. It
followed, therefore, that he himself must have been labouring under an
illusion as to the distance. He almost gave way to an impulse to thrust
his bayonet through the corpse; but a dead body, seen under the shadows
of night, inspires a certain air of imposing solemnity, which repels
profanation; and this, acting upon the spirit of the sentinel, hindered
him from yielding to the temptation.
"If it were possible for dead men to get upon their legs and walk, I
should say these fellows could do so. I am almost sure I counted only
nine at first. Now there are ten; and devil take me if that fellow,
whom I have examined, does not look as if he wished to have a chat with
me, for the fun of the thing. _Carrambo_! the voices of those rebels in
the town are not very gay at the best; but for all that, they are
pleasanter to bear than the silence of these companions here. There
goes the sing-song again!"