not till every little
item is got by heart, that the letters are folded up and put away, to
be re-read over and over again until the next batch arrive.

Jack, of course, had heard much of his family from his brother, but
the long letters of his father and mother, the large, scrawling
handwriting of his little brothers and sisters, brought them before
him far more vividly than any account could have done. Enclosed in his
father's letter was one with a Russian postmark, and this Jack found
was from Count Preskoff. It had been written six weeks after he had
left them, and had, curiously enough, arrived in England on the very
day after his own letter had reached home. The count wrote expressing
their anxiety regarding him, and their earnest hopes that he had
effected his escape. He said that his wife and daughters diligently
read every paper they could get from end to end, but having seen no
notice of the capture of two young Englishmen in disguise, they
entertained strong hopes that their friends had effected their escape.
The count said he was sure that Jack would be glad to hear that things
in Russia looked brighter; that it was rumored that the Emperor
Alexander intended on the occasion of his coronation to proclaim a
general emancipation of the serfs, and that other measures of reform
would follow. The party of progress were strong in the councils of the
new monarch. The decree for his own banishment from court had been
cancelled, and he was on the point of starting for St. Petersburg with
his wife and daughters. A personal friend of his own had been
appointed commandant of Berislav, and the late deputy commandant had
been sent to join his regiment in the Crimea. The countess and his
daughters were well, and Olga was studying English. He said that when
the war was over he intended with his family to make a tour through
the capitals of Europe, and hoped that they should see Jack in
England. This was very welcome news, and Jack returned to the naval
camp at the front in high glee.

One morning a lieutenant named Myers, asked Jack if he would like to
accompany him on a reconnaissance, which he heard that a party of the
Sardinian cavalry were going to push some little distance up the Baida
Valley. Jack said that he would like it very much if he could borrow a
pony. Mr. Myers said that he could manage this for him, and at once
went and obtained the loan of a pony from another officer who was just
going down into the batte