The first words he uttered were, “The child! the child!” We assured him that the child was safe; but he would not believe us, and it became necessary to send into the village to search for the little creature, who had been hurried home with the others upon the confusion that the accident had occasioned.  He continued to call for the child, and was in the greatest distress of mind till we had found it, and had taken it to him as he lay.  His delight at seeing it alive and unhurt was intense; he wept, he laughed, he hugged it to his bosom, and it was not till he grew very faint and weary that he would suffer us to remove it.

A surgeon arrived; and pronounced that the poor man was so much hurt, inwardly as well as outwardly, that nothing could be done to save him; and desired us merely to give him cordials or cooling drink, as he should appear to wish for either.  He lingered for a few days.

I had been the cause, although innocently, of the poor fellow’s death:  of course I took care that all was done that could alleviate his sufferings; and, as long as he lasted, I went everyday to pass a few hours by his bed-side.  The rescued child, too, was brought to him each day by his own desire.  From the moment he had first ascertained that it was unhurt, he had been calm and contented.  He knew he was dying, but he could part with life without regret; and the cloud which I had so often observed upon his weather-beaten countenance before the accident never after returned.

The day before he died, as I was watching alone by his side, he asked me for a cordial.  Soon after he had swallowed it, he laid his hand upon my arm, and said,—­“Sir, if you will not think it too great a trouble to listen to an old man’s talk, I think it will ease my mind to say a few words to you.”

He was of course encouraged to proceed.

“I die contented,” he continued; “happier than I have for some years lived.  I have had a load upon my heart, which is not quite removed, but it is a great deal lightened.  I have been the means, under Providence, of saving a young child’s life.  If I have strength to tell you what I wish, sir, you will understand the joy that blessed thought has brought to my heart.”

I gave him another cordial, and he spoke as follows:—­

“It was in a stirring time of the Duke of Wellington’s wars, after the French had retreated through Portugal, and Badajos had fallen, and we had driven them fairly over the Spanish frontier, the light division was ordered on a few of their long leagues further, to occupy a line of posts among the mountains which rise over the northern hanks of the Guadiana.  A few companies of our regiment advanced to occupy a village which the French had just abandoned.