Patrick gave a somber nod and paid the smoke no mind.

"A Brit," he answered. "It's fine luck for you I'm such a good Catholic, else you might've not woke at all."

This was to say, he didn't know this man at all. He looked like the sort of snarling scoundrel that recruiting officers would go about snatching up to be enlisted, so men like Harper could make decent soldiers out of them. He idly wondered how many lashings this man would have to go through before he gained some proper army discipline of his own.