Let us hope that
this was the case, as I should think that so their death would not have
been very painful: the position in which their bodies were lying when
found seems to warrant this supposition. A porcupine was found close to
their trees, burnt to a cinder. It blew very hard last night, and I
passed an almost sleepless night in thinking of these poor fellows. It
gives a man an awful shake in going through life, seeing the very
fellows you have lived with for the last two years, in whose proceedings
you have borne a part, brought suddenly before you in such a state: a
man in these situations thinks more in two hours than he does in the
whole course of his natural life under ordinary circumstances. It proves
what helpless beings we are; how little we can control our own actions:
truly, "in the midst of life we are in death."
I wrote to you on the new year's day everything that had happened up to
that time; the letter was to have gone by the overland mail of the 19th.
I hope you will receive it safe, as I should be sorry you should lose
anything from me now, as it may be the last you may ever have, so
precarious are the chances of a soldier's life on actual service.
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