‘And what is this man?’
Jack related what had happened; and on the officer translating to the General, he gave a curt command; when two of the soldiers, despite the screams of the wretch, knelt the fellow up, levelled their muskets at him, and shot him dead.
‘Sharp work,’ said Will, shuddering, ‘but served the scoundrel right.’
That being finished, the officer, translating for General Liprandi, said, ‘Do you belong to one of the regiments which charged down the valley this morning?’
Jack replied that they did, and that they were both in the charge.
General Liprandi took a lantern and held it up to their faces; then noticing the skull and cross-bones on the buttons of their jackets, asked, through his interpreter, how they came to have such a badge. On Jack replying, the General, with a small penknife, cut two of the buttons from his jacket and put them in his pocket. He then asked, ‘Were not all your men and officers drunk when they charged this morning?’
‘On the contrary,’ replied Jack, ‘none of them had even broken their fast.’
This the General did not seem inclined to believe, when, an idea striking Jack, he said, ‘If you like to look in the haversacks of any of my dead countrymen you will doubtless find their day’s rations untouched!’
This was done, and the General actually inspected the food found in the haversack of a dead Hussar.
Various other questions as to the number of troops the English had, what they thought of the action of the day, and so on, were put to Jack and Will, none of which they would answer. They were then asked if they could prove they had only ventured on the field of battle in search of wounded comrades, and Jack replied that if the Russians would return a little way along the valley with him he would show them the body of a comrade whom they had decently laid out.