contrivances that the men had
made to make themselves comfortable. A few only of the officers had
tents; for these, as well as all other necessaries of war, were wanting;
and the troops who had, for some little time, been in camp there, had
raised all sorts of shelter from the weather. Some had constructed little
huts of turf, thatched with straw or rushes; others had erected little
tents, some of sailcloth obtained from the shipping, others of blankets,
coarse linen cloaks, or any other articles on which they could lay hands.
All were in high spirits at the prospect of the termination of the
monotony of continued drill, and of the commencement of active
campaigning. Huge fires blazed everywhere, and the country, for some
distance round, had been completely stripped of its wood.

Everywhere was life and bustle. Men were cleaning their arms, preparatory
to the march of next day. Others were cooking at the fires. Troopers were
grooming their horses. Snatches of song, and loud laughter, rose in the
air.

After wandering about for an hour, Walter rejoined his father. Captain
Davenant was sitting with the two officers of his troop, Lieutenant
O'Driscoll and Cornet Heron, by a fire, the materials for which the three
troopers who acted as their servants had collected. There was no cooking
to be done, for sufficient cold provisions had been brought with the
troop.

"You are just in time, Walter," his father said. "We are going to fall
to, at once, at our meal.

"Hand over that cold chicken, Larry; and do you, Tim Donelly, broach that
keg of claret. Give me the bread, Fergus--that's right.

"Now, gentlemen, here's a hunk each. Plates are a luxury which we must do
without, in the field. Now let us fall to."

Walter seated himself on a truss of straw beside his father, and thought
he had never enjoyed a meal so much, in his life, as the bread and cold
chicken, eaten as they were in the open air in front of the crackling
fire. Each was provided with a horn, and these were filled from the keg.

"Here's to the king, gentlemen. Success to his arms!"

All stood up to drink the toast, and then continued their meal. Three
chickens vanished rapidly, and the troopers kept their horns filled with
claret.

"If we always do as well as that," Captain Davenant said, as they
finished the meal, "we shall have no reason to grumble. But I fear that's
too much to expect.

"Bring me my pipe and tobacco, Larry. You will find them in the ho