A RASH QUARREL. 
223 
deliberate Irishman., who, moreover, played with a 
temper and coolness which gave him an additional 
advantage over his intemperate adversary. I was 
watching the game with some interest, when the rash 
youth, excited to a sudden paroxysm of rage at a 
merry remark by his gay competitor, in consequence 
of the former having made an injudicious move, dash- 
ed the dice-box into his face, at the same time stamp- 
ing and swearing like a maniac. 
The injured party instantly quitted the tent with- 
out uttering a word ; and I endeavoured, but in vain, 
to persuade his aggressor to follow and apologise for 
the unwarrantable provocation he had offered him. 
Nothing could appease his vehemence; he said he was 
determined to brave all consequences, and urged, in 
justification of his violence, that he had been im- 
pudently sneered at. I foresaw at once the conse- 
quences, but not the extreme consequences, of this 
reckless folly. As, however, my suggestions appeared 
to give umbrage, I soon ceased to urge them, and 
quitted the unhappy youth with certain forebodings, 
the worst of which were too soon realized. 
Early the following morning I entered his tent. He 
was absent ; but I had not been long within it, when 
I saw him brought home to die. I assisted the very 
person whom he had so grievously insulted the pre- 
ceding evening to bear him from his palenkeen and 
place him on his bed. He was soon stripped, and the 
wound examined by a surgeon who had been hastily 
summoned. Its appearance was to my mind any- 
thing but promising ; it was small, the orifice ap - 
pearing scarcely larger than sufficient to admit a 
