The record-union., 1897-01-24

! fine regiment into action; but STILL war
is terrible thing, not to be lightly en-
tered upon. I suppose that you know
that our regiment is almost the first
on the list for active service, so we
may be called on to be off at a day s
| notice.
Shortly afterwards the Colonel rose
and left the table, beckoning to the
Major and Adjutant to follow him, and
livery soon afterwards all the senior Off
GERS left the table, and we subs were
left to our own devices. and roaring
time we had of it. More champagne
was ordered, and war songs, with
rafting choruses and noisy applause.
were the order of the day. For once in
my life 1 found myself drinking cham
pagne for the sake of getting what is
called Dutch courage; it had the de-
sired effect and soon I was as noisy and
as ripe for mischief as any of the rest.
After time we found the mess-room
| oppressive, and agreed to sally out and
see what fun could be got out of the
streets of the quiet country town in
which we were quartered. AS we en-
tered the barracks square we found t.
our surprise that it was full of our own
men, very unusual thing at that hour.
The sight rather sobered us up, and the
senior sub asked what it meant. A Ser
geant came forward and said that the
men had heard all sorts Of rumors of
| war, and were in state of great eX-
| citement, and he would be much
| obliged, If we were at liberty to do 50,
if we could tell them what had hap
pened. Il think, gentlemen he added,
they would go more quietly to their
quarters if they were told" He was
answered that the news was no secret,
and that England and France had de-
ciared war against Russia. The men
| raised wild cheer, but to my ears 1T
| sounded rather hollow; and somehow
| when we got out of the barracks half
the fun seemed knocked out of US, and
we did not do much more than give the
| townSpeople some harmless chaff. To
be sure, Charlie danced a polka in the
market-place with gypsy woman,
While an old man seated on a barrel
played the fiddle. But Charlie was
bound to do something out of the COM
mon, though there was no harm in his
fun; and we ended rather tamely by
gCing quietly back to our quarters ear
lier than usual.
A few days after this came orders to
march to our port of embarkation,
| where a transport was waiting to take
us in the first place to Malta. Nothing
| occurred worthy of note till We were
| halfway across the Bay of Biscay.
Then one morning, when it was blowing
| rather stiff1y from the west with high
sea, there was a cry of man over
| board" / was on deck at the time, right
aft, talking to Charlie, but most of the
fellows were below, hardly able to
crawl out of their berths. Looking over
the side, 1 saw one of our men strug
Cling in the water. Two life belts had
already been thrown to him, but being
unable to swim he could not reach
them, and it was evident he must
drown long before a boat could reach
him; for although our engines were re-
| versed, we should carry our way an
other quarter Of a mile.
/ was a strong swimmer, so seizing
a lifebelt that was close to my hand,
dropped overheard just as the man had
passed.
A few strokes brought me to him, and
then came the difficult job of getting the
belt over him, for the man was strug-
Cling dangerously. l managed it at
last, when he was nearly drowned, for
1T was not till then he had the sense to
see that his best plan was to keep quiet.
When l looked about for the ship, she
| seemed a very long way off, and often
We lost sight of her altogether as we
sank down between the waves. l was
getting exhausted myself; the lifebelt
would only support one, so I looked
round for another, and fortunately
there was one not far Off 1 swan to it,
| after getting my arms through it, re-
turned to my man, and stayed quietly
| by him waiting for help. 1t was a try
| ing time, for it was quite possible that
they might miss US in the heavy sea that
was running. But l was pleased to see
as we rose on wave, that there was an
officer high up in the rigging signaling
which showed me that a boat had al
ready put off, and that the officer could
still see us. At last we saw the boat
but she was not heading for US: then we
lost sight OF her, but the next time we
saw her she was nearer 1 shouted
with all my might; my shout was an
swered, and two minutes later we were
| hauled on board
bottom of the boat, but 1 was not much
the worse, only very cold. AS we came
near the vessel the Captain sung out
Have you got them both?" The an
swering shout of Yes, all right" was
hardly given, when such a cheer arose
from over SO0 men as l never expect to
hear again; and as we came up the side
our old Colonel came forward and shook
hands with me, saying: well and
bravely done, sir; 1 am proud of you"
AS was making my way below, Char
lie gave me such slap on the back as
nearly sent me on my nose on the deck
! saying: "Splendidly done old fellow
l knew the man was saved when you
went over for him. / would have come
with you, but you know 1 am a poor
swimmer, and l should have only
drowned myself, without saving the
man. Poor Jones came to thank me
next morning for life saved. / told
him he might very likely have a chance
OF doing the same for me before we saw
! home again.
In due time We arrived at Malta
where We Were detained many weeks.
| While most of our fellows were fretting
to get on / confess 1 was quite con-
tented to stay where 1 was: l quite en-
joyed my visit to the island and all the
strange scenes to be Witnessed there.
Troops We're constantly pouring in,
and after time several French regi-
ments Joined us, creating considerable
interest and curiosity among our men,
for Tommy Atkins was very anxious to
stand treat on every possible occasion
to his new friends.
AT last we were off again. and our