The Child of Waterloo, or, The Horrors of the Battle-Field — page 15: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

12 THE CHILD OF WATERLOO. wounds one he will follow him up with relentless severity. He ae powerful man, and reputed one of the best swordsmen in urope.” " Faith, sir, a lively sort of character; and your friend, who bas made you sich a mighty handsome present, sir, of the child, would have stood no great chance, if he had not taken him- self off to glory as soon as he did.” ‘*1 fear the Prussian, Sternholde, would have killed him, and we were too powerless to hinder it, Rafferty; but see, the light again gleams across the field.” ‘‘And great glory to them, sir: they are coming this way, too.” A corporal’s party now steadily approached the spot, and with a gush of joy which brought tears to his eyes, he heard the cry of ‘*‘ Wounded—wounded! Any wounded?” uttered in an En- glish voice. ‘*- Yes, here,” he said, faintly. ‘‘ Here.” ‘* And when you have nothing else to do, boys,” said Rafferty, ‘‘ you can come and see how the spalpeens have made game of me, and pick up all the pieces of me somehow.” The corporal who had command of the party, which was an offshoot from a much larger one, commanded by an officer, selected the ensign, and then, as he stooped to assist in placing him in a blanket which was stretched out by the men for his re- ception, he started with surprise to see the child clinging to the breast of the officer with the greater tenacity that strangers were present. ‘A child!” he exclaimed. ‘“ Yes, my friend,” said the ensign. ‘‘It bas been brought to me by some one who 1s now dead, and I have promised to take care of it. Can you assist me in so doing, and I will take care you are no loser by it ?” ‘‘My wife, sir, will see to it, poor little thing. We had one of our own, sir, once.’ ‘You have lost it?” The man turned aside, and a visible emotion shook his whole frame, as in a half-choked voice he said: ‘‘It was blown to pieces by the explosion of an ammunition wagon.” The ensign shuddered, and still holding the child, he was laced in a blanket and slowly carried off the field: nor was fferty left behind, for he was taken likewise by four men of the same party, whom he wonderfully amused all the way by detailing, in his own peculiar manner, the various incidents that had occurred during the time that he and the young ensign had been lying wounded on the field, so that the men thought it no labor to carry him to one of the hastily-arranged military hospitals which were formed for the wounded in every house be- tween the plains of Waterloo and the city of Brussels, which could be made available for that purpose. The young ensign. before he reached a house, had some more conversation with the corporal concerning the child, and after receiving a solemn promise that he and his wife would take care comicbooks. com