The warrior's powder was quite spent; the lawyer advised him to drop the prosecution, and a grave matron, who sat on the left hand of the victorious wit, told her she must not let her tongue run so fast among strangers.

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.

I killed one, put the other to flight, and taking up the standard, carried it off very deliberately.