“And yit, Captin, it sames to me,” observed Lieutenant Murphy, in allusion to the remark of Blessington rather than in reply to the last speaker,—­“it sames to me, I say, that promotion in ony way is all fair and honourable in times of hardship like thase; and though we may drop a tare over our suparior when the luck of war, in the shape of a tommyhawk, knocks him over, still there can be no rason why we shouldn’t stip into his shoes the viry nixt instant; and it’s that, we all know, that we fight for.  And the divil a bitter chance any man of us all has of promotion thin yoursilf, Captin:  for it’ll be mighty strange if our fat Major doesn’t git riddlid like a cullinder through and through with the bullits from the Ingians’ rifles before we have quite done with this business, and thin you will have the rigimintal majority, Captin; and it may be that one Liftinint Murphy, who is now the sanior of his rank, may come in for the vacant captincy.”

“And Delme for the lieutenancy,” said Charles de Haldimar significantly.  “Well, Murphy, I am happy to find that you, at least, have hit on another than Sir Everard Valletort:  one, in fact, who will render the promotion more general than it would otherwise have been.  Seriously, I should be sorry if any thing happened to our worthy Major, who, with all his bustling and grotesque manner, is as good an officer and as brave a soldier as any his Majesty’s army in Canada can boast.  For my part, I say, perish all promotion for ever, if it is only to be obtained over the dead bodies of those with whom I have lived so long and shared so many dangers!”

“Nobly uttered, Charles,” said Captain Blessington:  “the sentiment is, indeed, one well worthy of our present position; and God knows we are few enough in number already, without looking forward to each other’s death as a means of our own more immediate personal advancement.  With you, therefore, I repeat, perish all my hopes of promotion, if it is only to be obtained over the corpses of my companions!  And let those who are most sanguine in their expectations beware lest they prove the first to be cut off, and that even before they have yet enjoyed the advantages of the promotion they so eagerly covet.”

This observation, uttered without acrimony, had yet enough of delicate reproach in it to satisfy Lieutenant Murphy that the speaker was far from approving the expression of such selfish anticipations at a moment like the present, when danger, in its most mysterious guise, lurked around, and threatened the safety of all most dear to them.

The conversation now dropped, and the party pursued their course in silence.  They had just passed the last sentinel posted in their line of circuit, and were within a few yards of the immediate rear of the fortress, when a sharp “Hist!” and sudden halt of their leader, Captain Blessington, threw them all into an attitude of the most profound attention.

“Did you hear?” he asked in a subdued whisper, after a few seconds of silence, in which he had vainly sought to catch a repetition of the sound.