rm is cut absolutely to ribbons. However, old boy,
we did a good night's work. We saved sixteen lives, we got no end of
credit, and the chief says he shall send a report in to the Admiral;
so we shall be mentioned in despatches, and it will help us for
promotion when we have passed. The bay is a wonderful sight. The
shores are strewn with floating timber, bales of stores, compressed
hay, and all sorts of things. Fellows who have been down to the town
told me that lots of the houses have been damaged, roofs blown away,
and those gingerbread-looking balconies smashed off. As for the camps,
even with a glass there is not a single tent to be seen standing on
the plateau. The gale has made a clean sweep of them. What a night the
soldiers must have had! I am put on the sick list for a few days so I
shall be able to be with you. That's good news, isn't it?"

"Wonderfully good," Jack laughed, "as if I haven't enough of your jaw
at other times. And how long do you suppose I shall be before I am
out?"

"Not for some little time, Jack. The doctor says you've got four ribs
broken as well as your arm."

"Have I?" Jack said, surprised. "I know he hurt me preciously while he
was feeling me about this morning; but he didn't say anything about
broken ribs."

A broken rib is a much less serious business than a broken arm, and in
ten days Jack was up and about again, feeling generally stiff and
sore, and with his arm in a sling. The surgeon had talked of sending
him on board ship, but Jack begged so hard for leave to remain with
the party ashore, that his request was granted.

Winter had now set in in earnest. The weather was cold and wet;
sometimes it cleared up overhead, and the country was covered with
snow. A month after the accident, Jack was fit for duty again. Seeing
what chums the lads were, the officer in command had placed them in
the same watch, for here on land the same routine was observed as on
board ship. The duties were not severe. The guns were kept bright and
polished, the arms and accoutrements were as clean as if at sea. Each
day the tars went through a certain amount of drill, and fatigue
parties went daily down to the harbor to bring up stores, but beyond
this there was little to do. One of the occupations of the men was
chopping wood for fuel. The sides of the ravine immediately below the
battery had long since been cleared of their brushwood, and each day
the parties in search of fuel had to go farther away.