fire from the
rifle-pits, they flung themselves down upon the mud and greasy mire at
night, and snatched a few fitful moments of repose, wrapped in a blanket
as worn out as themselves, and almost certainly dripping with moisture.

It was no one's fault, this lack of clothing and supplies. It was the
absence of a commissariat system of wide teaching power and with ample
funds at its command. Given a base in England, with men there to choose
and forward the necessary supplies in hired transports, there must still
be others at the base in the invaded country to distribute what is sent,
and yet again there must be more with clear brains and ready hands to
bring those stores of food and clothing, and a thousand-and-one other
things, to the very outskirts of the camp. Otherwise another burden is
thrown upon your already hardly-taxed fighting regiments. And to
distribute stores in this thorough manner, horses and carts are
required, and, since the former cannot live on air, forage with which to
feed them. Horses, too, like men, are apt to sicken and die, especially
if ill-fed and exposed to bitter winds; and therefore remounts are
always required, and these must often be sent for from far-off
countries, and brought in big transports specially fitted for the
purpose.

All this was admirably carried out in the Boer War of 1899-1900. A
perfect system of transport and supply had long before been arranged,
and officers and men trained to carry it out. Those who have seen will
give unstinted praise, for supplies, remounts, clothing, every
conceivable thing, were obtainable, often brought to the front at the
cost of no small amount of labour and forethought by those responsible
for the work.

In the days of the Crimea there was no such system, and, to add to
everything, horses were extremely scarce, while eight long miles of mud
intervened between the harbour of Balaclava and the trenches. Daily,
men made beasts of burden of themselves, waded through the mud to
Balaclava, and struggled back with food, which, when distributed, had
too often to be eaten in an uncooked state, for fuel was at a premium.

It is no wonder, then, that men were incessantly falling ill, and that
the hospital at Scutari was thronged with soldiers, who died at an
alarming rate. Up to and during that November, one poor wretch died out
of every two, for if there was no transport or supply system, there was
likewise no hospital organisation worthy of