but you know just
as well as I do that, if the offer were made to you to go home, at
once, you would treat it with scorn."

"Oh, of course I should! Still, one may be allowed to have one's
grumble and, after all, I think we are pretty sure of some stiff
fighting, which makes up for everything. I am not afraid of the
enemy a bit, but I do funk fever."

"I don't think we are likely to get fever, so long as we are on the
move; though I dare say a good many of us will go down with it,
after the work is done. We have only to think of the starving
soldiers and people, in Coomassie, to make us feel that, whatever
the difficulties and dangers may be, we must get there in time. The
great nuisance is, that we can get no news of what is doing there.
We constantly hear that the governor, with a portion if not all of
the force, has broken out, some days since; and we begin to look
out for them; and then, after a time, comes the news that there has
been no sortie whatever. It is really most annoying, and I am often
kept awake at night, even after a day's fight, thinking of the
position of the garrison."

"I don't think, if there were a hundred garrisons in danger,"
Hallett laughed, "it would affect my sleep in the slightest. I lie
down as soon as I have eaten what there is to eat, which certainly
is not likely to affect my digestion; and however rough the ground,
I am dead asleep as soon as my head touches it, and I do not open
an eye until the bugle sounds in the morning. Even then I have not
had enough sleep, and I always indulge in bad language as I put on
my belts, at the unearthly hour at which we are always called. I
don't begin to feel half awake till we have gone some miles."

"You would wake up sharp enough, Hallett, at the sound of the first
gun."

"Yes, that is all right enough; but unless that comes, there is
nothing to wake one. The close air of the forest takes out what
little starch you have in you, and I verily believe that I am very
often asleep, as we march."

"It is monotonous, Hallett, but there is always something to see
to; to keep the men from straggling, to give a little help,
sometimes, to the wretched carriers."

"You are such a desperate enthusiast, Bullen. I cannot make out how
you keep it up so well. I really envy you your good spirits."

"They are indeed a great blessing; I had plenty of occasion to make
the most of them, when I was marching in the ranks of the 32nd
Pioneers, on the way up t