A WALK IN THE DARK.

149

After dark a number of drafts arrived for regiments in camp. There are few I see here who would not eagerly leave the service, if they could do so with honour, and my friends consider me a most enviable being.

I stayed late at the Second Division camp; the night was pitch dark, the ground muddy, and the road indistinguishable except by feeling it. I lost my way several times, and got into the bushes. I was on the point of turning back, but I struggled on, and after great difficulty managed to reach the tent I occupied in the Light Division. Soon after I lay down, it came on to blow hard, and the rain fell in torrents. I remained awake, expecting the tent to come down every minute, as it vibrated with each gust; but it stood bravely, and I was not sorry when morning broke.

Clouds

23rd. Thick, foggy morning. hanging low on all the hills, and every prospect of a drenching day. From the rain of last night, the ground is saturated with water, and anything like locomotion about the camp is out of the question, except on horseback. I had intended to remain, but, such being the case, I shall retreat.

Truly, the troops here are martyrs; for the wretchedness they undergo has not often been equalled, and rarely surpassed, for a continuance. Up to this time, they have been well rationed, which has covered a multitude of other evils. As I could do nothing by remaining in camp, I looked out for the first vehicle going to Balaklava. I had not long to wait, for an artillery waggon, drawn by eight horses, passed by very soon, going down for forage. I jumped up, having had no time for breakfast. It rained the greater part of the way down. The road was deep in mud, all broken up, full of holes and ruts, and in many places only passable for carts and waggons with light loads. It took about two hours and a half to go seven miles, and several times the waggon was almost upset. The road was jammed, in places, with arabas and mulecarts, going up to camp with provisions. Artillery and gun-carriages were there also, some drawn by twenty horses. Over such bad ground, even thirty horses-half-starved, as they now are-are frequently unable to draw a heavy gun. If something is not done, the

road will soon become impracticable. There appears to be a general want of forethought in the management of our affairs out here; at least, those who have it are not in a position to use it.

Those whose business it was, have evidently overlooked the fact, or did not know that a mud road, which, in dry weather, was as hard as a brick, would break up, after a few hours' rain, into an impassable sludge. This was evident to all who knew the country, for it is the same in Turkey.

Although there was neither time nor means to make a new road, still I cannot but think that something effective might have been done. to improve the existing one. The mud was certainly very deep at the surface, but there was a substratum of rock, and faggot-wood and stone were close at hand. There was also labour, for there were plenty of Turks who were not employed in the trenches, except to a very small extent; and they might, by feeding them, and placing them under proper overseers, have been made to exert themselves-under the direction of officers who knew something of road-making, and there are plenty of such men in the army.

CHAPTER XI.

CONSTANTINOPLE AND SCUTARI.

I WANDERED about in search of a ship to go to, when I luckily met an old acquaintance, and went with him on board the Sanspareil, anchored in the harbour. Here I had the luxury of a cabin to sleep in-a dark one, certainly, even in the day time; for, during the action of the 17th of October, off Fort Constantine, a shell had come through the scuttle, and burst inside, and the hole had been stopped with wood. The ship altogether funnel was full of

looked war-worn. The

patches; the quarter-gallery had been shot

THE SANSPAREIL.'

153

away; the ward-room was marked with the scars of shell, and pieces of shell were still sticking in the wood-work-besides marks of shot all over the ship.

All wandering

November 24th.-Very wet. about is now out of the question; and, as the weather shows no sign of improving, I shall go to Constantinople by the first opportunity. The new Staff Corps landed yesterday and to-day, looking fat and fresh, dressed in red frock coats, and with sleek-coated horses. Some Turks are employed in landing guns and shot.

25th. A most dismal day. Blowing hard and raining in torrents. Went ashore, and up to the camp of the 93rd Highlanders, just outside Balaklava. Here I staid for shelter for a long time, and was told that on the 25th of October, when the Turks ran away, many of them stopped in time to plunder some of the tents, which they did most effectually, of eatables and whatever they could lay their hands on.

In the plain are numbers of large dogs, which feed on the dead horses, killed at the