BLOODY FIGHT. 73 
concluded to make but a short march, and, leaving the com- 
mand in charge of the serjeant, preceded a short distance to 
search for good camping ground. 
Immediately, a scene of brutal and bloody sitet com- 
menced, which left indelible marks, not only on our memories, 
but upon the heads and limbs of the drunken-actors in it. 
_ Searcely had we reached.a good camping spot, when a 
man came up, breathless, saying, that murder had been com- 
mitted; and before the officer in command could gallop to 
the battle ground, two men came in, one, so completely 
bathed in blood, that but for his oaths, imprecations, and 
gesticulations, he would have been taken for any thing else 
than a human being, ~ 
These men were both Irishmen, who had oa been inimi- 
cal, and meeting during the general melee, both heated with 
liquor, and one over elated from having just come off cham- 
pion in a single combat, the desperate manner in which they 
fought, was evidenced by the injuries received. 
' Upon’examination, one was found to have received twenty- 
two incised wounds upon the head, neck, face and arms, one : 
finger cut off, terribly bruised about the body, and a stab in 
the back, seven inches long, and an inch and a quarter deep, 
: yet, like a wild beast, he wallowed in his gore, and with the- 
strength of a lion, strove again and again, to reach his 
antagonist, who, with a wound from a bayonet, in the left 
breast, lay panting for breath and vomiting blood, a few 
ae 
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