tallow, which was the only grease we could get, at the
same time not forgetting to mix a plenty of hot whiskey-toddy, making up a hot blazing fire and laying down an
ox-hide upon the hearth. Thus prepared with arms and
ammunition, we began the operation by plying each other's outsides with brimstone and tallow and the inside with hot whiskey sling. Had the animalcule of the itch been endowed with reason they would have quit their entrenchments and taken care of themselves, when we had made such a formidable attack upon them; but as it was we had to engage, arms in hand, and we obtained a complete victory, though it had like to have cost some of us our lives;—two of the assailants were so overcome, not by the enemy, but by their too great exertions in the action, that they lay all night naked upon the field; the rest of us got to our births somehow, as well as we could, but we killed the itch and we were satisfied, for it had almost killed us. This was a decisive victory, the only one we had achieved lately. The next night the other half of our men took their turn, but, taking warning by our mishaps, they conducted their part of the battle with comparatively little trouble or danger to what we had experienced on our part.
I shall not relate all the minute transactions which passed while I was on this foraging party, as it would swell my narrative to too large a size; I will, however, give the reader a brief account of some of my movements that I may not leave him entirely ignorant how I spent my time. We fared much better than I had ever done in the army before, or ever did afterwards. We had very good provisions all winter and generally enough of them. Some of us were constantly in the country with the wagons, we went out by turns and had no one to control us; our Lieutenant scarcely ever saw us or we him; our sergeant never went out with us once, all the time we were there, nor our corporal but once, and that was when he was the "little Captain." When we were in the country we were pretty sure to fare well, for the inhabitants were remarkably kind to us. We had no guards to keep, our only duty was to help load the wagons with hay, corn, meal or whatever they were to take off, and when they were thus loaded, to keep them company till they arrived at the commissary's, at Milltown, from thence
