"
"The petticoat doctor!--she with the aurora borealis complexion," said
the trooper, with a smile, that began to cause uneasiness to his
companion. "But the lady was not the gentleman's daughter, only his
medico-petticoat attendant; and the Harvey, whose name was made to rime
with every word in her song, is the renowned peddler spy."
"What? He who unhorsed you?"
"No man ever unhorsed me, Dr. Sitgreaves," said the dragoon, gravely. "I
fell by mischance of Roanoke; rider and beast kissed the earth
together."
"A warm embrace, from the love spots it left on your cuticle; 'tis a
thousand pities that you cannot find where the tattling rascal
lies hid."
"He followed his father's body."
"And you let him pass!" cried the surgeon, checking his horse. "Let us
return immediately, and take him; to-morrow you shall have him hanged,
Jack,--and, damn him, I'll dissect him!"
"Softly, softly, my dear Archibald. Would you arrest a man while paying
the last offices to a dead father? Leave him to me, and I pledge myself
he shall have justice."
The doctor muttered his dissatisfaction at any postponement of
vengeance, but he was compelled to acquiesce, from a regard to his
reputation for propriety; and they continued their ride to the quarters
of the corps, engaged in various discussions concerning the welfare of
the human body.
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