Behind these came Captain Blessington's
company, and in their rear, the prisoner Halloway, divested
of his uniform, and clad in a white cotton jacket, and
cap of the same material. Six rank and file of the
grenadiers followed, under the command of a corporal,
and behind these again, came eight men of the same company;
four of whom bore on their shoulders a coffin, covered
with a coarse black pall that had perhaps already assisted
at fifty interments; while the other four carried, in
addition to their own, the muskets of their burdened
comrades. After these, marched a solitary drummer-boy;
whose tall bear-skin cap attested him to be of the
grenadiers also, while his muffled instrument marked the
duty for which he had been selected. Like his comrades,
none of whom exhibited their scarlet uniforms, he wore
the collar of his great coat closely buttoned beneath
his chin, which was only partially visible above the
stiff leathern stock that encircled his neck. Although
his features were half buried in his huge cap and the
high collar of his coat, there was an air of delicacy
about his person that seemed to render him unsuited to
such an office; and more than once was Captain Erskine,
who followed immediately behind him at the head of his
company, compelled to call sharply to the urchin,
threatening him with a week's drill unless he mended his
feeble and unequal pace, and kept from under the feet of
his men.
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