“I suppose so. But where are we now, then?”
“I don’t know, Punch, except that this is a little Spanish village which the French have been occupying as a sort of hospital.”
“But where’s all the fighting?”
“I don’t know, Punch, much more than you do. There was some firing last night. I heard a good deal of tramping close at hand, as if some more men were marching in, and then more and more came through the night, and I heard firing again about a couple of hours ago; but it seemed to be miles away.”
“And you don’t know who’s beat?”
“I know nothing, I tell you, only that everything has been very quiet for the last hour or so.”
“Perhaps because you have been asleep,” said Punch.
“No; I have been quite awake, fetching water from a mountain-stream here for the poor fellows who keep asking for more and more.”
“Do they know we are English?”
“I don’t think so. Poor fellows! their wounds keep them from thinking about such a thing as that; and, besides, I am just able to understand what they say, and to say a few words when they ask for drink or to be moved a little.”