ABSTRACT
A short abstract of the story is all for which one can afford room. At the siege of Barcelona by the French, in the year 1697, two young officers entered into the service at its most hot and critical period. Their appearance excited some surprise and perplexity. They distinguished themselves in the service by a kind of careless and desperate courage that appeared equally insensible of praise or of danger. They forced themselves into all the coups de main, the wild and perilous sallies, and that abounds in a spirited siege, and marks it with a greater variety and vivacity of character than a regular campaign. In the mixture of emotions that passed over their countenances, no one predominant or decisive could be traced by the many and anxious witnesses that surrounded them. They separated; the Italian officer was persecuted with inquiries about the strangers.
