"Charger, sir?" said the colonel.
"Yes, sir, the elegant horse I sent you yesterday."
"The elegant horse you sent me, sir?"
"Yes, sir, and by your sergeant, sir, as he called himself."
"An elegant horse! and by my sergeant? Why really, sir, I-I-I don't understand all this."
"Why, my dear, good sir, did you not send a sergeant yesterday with your compliments to me, and a request that I would send you my very best horse for a charger, which I did?"
"No, sir, never!" replied the colonel; "I never sent a sergeant on any such errand. Nor till this moment did I ever know that there existed on earth such a being as you."
The old man turned black in the face; he shook throughout; and as soon as he could recover breath and power of speech, he broke out into a torrent of curses, enough to make one shudder at his blasphemy. Nor was Colonel Tarleton much behind him when he learned what a valuable animal had slipped through his hands.
When Sergeant Macdonald was asked how he could reconcile the taking of the horse he replied:
"Why, sir, as to that matter, people will think differently; but for my part I hold that all is fair in war; and besides, sir, if I had not taken him Colonel Tarleton, no doubt, would have got him. And then, with such a swift strong charger as this he might do us as much harm as I hope to do to them."