The record-union., 1897-01-24


verely; our field hospitals filled to over
flowing, and our poor doctors worked
day and night to save and relieve the
sufferers till they themselves were
ready to drop from sheer fatigue.
One evening our doctor, as good .
fellow as ever stepped, came into my
tent and threw himself down in cane
chair in a state of utter exhaustion;
mixed a stiff glass of grog and made
him drink it, and then got him to light
his pipe and pull himself together. He
told me it was heartrending work, that
they had not half enough doctors. and
nothing like enough nurses, and that
men were dying daily who, in all prob
ability, would have lived with little
careful nursing, which, alas, could not
be given them. l asked him if l could
be of any help, for, if SO, I was quite
willing to come and do what l could
when off duty. The doctor thought for
a minute and then said: mo. 1t is my
duty to risk my life from contaglon in
the hospitals, yours to risk your HE
from the bullets of the enemy, II we
ever get sight of them. 1t would not
be fair to let you take the double risk.
When insisted and told him had no
fear of contagion, he admitted that any
help was worth having just at thar
time. Accordingly / arranged TO be-
gin the next day. For several weeks,
till a sufficient number Of nurses ar
rived, l attended regularly when Off
duty, and / believe was of some little
help to the overworked doctors. Our
Colonel came in one day to see some of
II
and seemed pleased, 1 think, to see me
there, but he only said: so 1 see you
go in for saving life on land as we'll as
at sea-
Oh what a dreary time that was at
Varna. We came there a small army,
indeed, but in perfect health, strength
and discipline; when we left we had
lost about a tenth of our number and
many hundreds of poor fellows had got
the seeds of disease in them which
eventually brought them to an early
grave.
1t might have been necessary from a
political point of view to keep the army
in reserve; but surely it should have
been placed in some healthy spot
where it might have retained its full
strength.
H.
Towards the end of August there was
a great increase in the number of YES
sells of war and transports off Varna.
1t was evident that some move was
shortly to be made, and in the early
days of September we received orders
to hold ourselves in readiness to EN-
bark for the Crimea at an hours no.
tice
We We're now at last about to come
face to face with the enemy, and the
| result to me was that all my dread of
battle returned in full force. Why
should 1 go and get killed while 1 was
| in the full enjoyment of youth, health
and strength; yes, and wealth (for L
was we'll Off to boot? So argued my
fears, while honor bade me go on and
do my duty like a brave Englishman.
On the 9TH of September the French
began their embarkation. On the 1th
we were ordered on board ship, and
soon after we got under way, and left
behind us plague stricken Varna and
all it's horrors. / do not suppose there
was man in all that vast fleet who
ever wished to see Varna again, or who
was not glad to go. Even l felt it a
relief.
We sailed and steamed to a certain
point in the Black Sea, and there an
chored out of sight of land 1t was the
rendezvous for all the fleets After we
arrived ships were constantly coming
| in, till at last there was gathered to-
gether a huge fleet of some 700 ves-
sells, from the great man-ofwar carry
ing a hundred guns to the impudent
little gunbOat with it's one sixty eight
FOUNDER. When all were assembled we
again got under way, and soon ap-
peared off Eupatoria. Two or three
vessels were sent in to take possession
of the place; as it was not fortified no
resistance was offered Then we
steamed away again to a part of the
coast which had been decided on by
our commander for a landing.
1t was late in the day when we ar
rived, and saw before us a low sandy
coast farther to the south than Eupa-
toria and nearer to Sebastopol, subse-
quently known to our men as Old Fort
Late though it was, the landing at
once commenced. A few Cossacks were
to be seen galloping about in the dis
tance, but it was very soon evident that
ing, and by the time night fell some
%, 900 soldiers of the British army and
some 10000 Frenchmen We're drawn up
on the shore; but what a landing it
was. Early in the day the weather
had been bright and fine, but all this
changed towards evening, when it came
or to blow and rain heavily No tents
were landed that night / suppose our
commanders were so anxious to get a
strong force on shore to resist a possi-
BILE attack that there was no time to do
ANYTHING but land the men and horses
Or was it, as Charlie suggested, that
they had determined to kill off the
weakly ones, and have a survival only
of the fittest?
Those who could get hold of anything
to burn made camp fires, but many had
to go without even this comfort Char
lie and got a seat by one poor fire. and
having eaten part of our cold rations,
lay down side by side, and got what rest
we could with the rain pouring down
upon us. Even Charles spirits were
depressed with the present misery. Day
came at last, and then we found that
during the night three fellows belong
ing to our regiment had passed away
the cholera was following us.
Three days We're spent in landing the
artillery and stores, the weather i'm
proved. and after the first night we had
our tents. Then on the 10Th came the
order to return all tents on board ship;
there was no help for it, but it meant
throwing away the last chance for
many weakly one. We marched early
on the morning of the 10Th. The day
was fine, and it was a splendid sight to
see that army of over $4,000 men ad-
vancing in line of columns; at first the