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36 quite a secondary matter; hard duty and nakedness were considered the prime evils, for the reader will recollect that we lost all our clothing in the Kipp's Bay affair. The British were quite indulgent to us, not having interrupted our happiness since the check they received in the action before mentioned, but left us at our leisure to see that they did not get amongst us before we were apprised of their approach, and that, in all its bearings, was enough. It now began to be cool weather, especially the nights. To have to lie, as I did, almost every other night, (for our duty required it,) on the cold and often wet ground, without a blanket, and with nothing but thin summer clothing, was tedious. I have often, while upon guard, lain on one side until the upper side smarted with cold, then turned that side down to the place warmed by my body, and let the other take its turn at smarting, while the one on the ground warmed; thus alternately turning for four or six hours, till called upon to go on sentry, as the soldiers term it; and when relieved from a tour of two long hours at that business, and returned to the guard again, have had to go through the operation of freezing and thawing for four or six hours more;—in the morning, the ground as white as snow, with hoar frost. Or, perhaps it would rain all night like a flood; all that could be done in that case, was, to lie down, (if one could lie down,) take our musket in our arms and place the lock between our thighs, "and weather it out."

A simple affair happened while I was upon guard at a time, while we were here, which made considerable disturbance amongst the guard and caused me some extra hours of fatigue at the time;—as I was the cause of it at first, I will relate it. The guard consisted of nearly two hundred men, commanded by a field-officer;—we kept a long chain of sentinels, placed almost within speaking distance of each other, and, being in close neighbourhood with the enemy, we were necessitated to be pretty alert. I was upon my post, as sentinel, about the middle of the night; thinking we had overgone the time in which we ought to have been relieved, I stepped a little off my post towards one of the next sentries, it being quite dark, and asked him in a low voice how long he had been on sentry; he started as if attacked by the enemy, and roared out, "who comes there?" I saw I had alarmed him, and