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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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the act of levelling his musket at him * I inquired what was the matter , and was informed that he would not give the men his money ; they declared he had some—he swore he had none ; upon which I begged that they would not shoot him , but allow me to speak to him , as I thought I could speak better Spanish than the rest . It was agreed . I then said to him , " Diga me 9
Vmd [ usted ] donde esta su dinero V—Tell me where is your money ? * ' 33 a Vmd a mis camarados . "—Give it my comrades ! He then rose , kissed my hand , and going to a huge clay wine-Vessel , which rested upon cross sticks , and which was round , or rather pot-bellied in the middle , and tapered towards a point at each end , he drew out from underneath a bag of dollars , which he laid with trembling hands upon the counter . There were six of us present ; four of the 88 th , and two rifles , viz ., I and my comrade O'Brien . It was immediately agreed to divide the dollars , without the trouble of counting them , into six heaps , and allot one to each . Accordingly one of the 88 th stood with his back towards the counter , and while another man , pointing to one of the heaps , cried , " Who shall have this ? " He who had his face turned from the money answered , such or such
an one , belonging to the 88 th , or to the rifles . Thirty-six Spanish dollars fell to my share . I now returned to the fire ^ place and requested the Frenchman to lend me his jacket , as my own was thoroughly wet through . Grateful for my having
spared his life , he did so in a moment , indeed he said over and over again that he would not leave me ; that he would follow ine through the world . I was sitting by the fire with this Frenchman ' s jacket on , when the street door of the house was forced open , and a number of Portuguese soldiers entered . One of them , supposing me to be a Frenchman by my jacket , snapped his musket at me ; I immediately , as well as my
wounded leg allowed me , rushed at him , and some of the 88 th also interfered . A scuffle took place , which ended in one of these Portuguese soldiers being run through the body with a bayonet , and the rest of the party , with the dead body , were ejected into the street . I had not long returned to my seat when some of the men , in ransacking the house , discovered the
two daughters of the old man , who had concealed themselves up stairs . They were both young—they could oppose only a feeble resistance to any violence . Hitherto their mother had escaped ; but she too was now dragged from her hiding-place , . a ^ d their concealment so long was cruelly avenged . Without dwelling on the frightful details , it may be sufficient to add that our men , more infuriated than before , seized on the old jnan apd insisted on a fresh supply of money . His protestations that he had given them all he possessed were vain , and
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J 30 Fragments of a Soldier ' s Life .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 1, 1837, page 170, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1829/page/44/
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