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their fate to that of the crew; but about noon, the weather having become calm and help approaching from the Fleet, it was found most convenient to take advantage of a Guernsey trader, whose captain, seeing our situation, bore down in a handsome manner to offer his assistance, and we were all put on board,—an act of no little difficulty, for the Venerable, being without her main and mizen mast, rolled in so decided a way that it required much dexterity to seize the proper moment for leaving her and stepping into the boat. However, no accident occurred, our Guernsey captain received us in a disinterested manner, and it was with some trouble we could persuade him to accept a purse which it was agreed to present to him, and to which the passengers subscribed a guinea each. We were landed at Flushing in the evening-my baggage left to take its fate with the wreck, which, however, we had the satisfaction of knowing was safe, and, having had a sail passed under her, was towed into the harbour by the boats of the Fleet the following day.

Having reported my arrival to the commanding officer, my temporary exchange was effected, and I was established in the quarters of the officer I relieved. I was appointed to a company doing duty at Flushing, originally 120 strong, including two captains and three subalterns-it was now reduced to ene 2nd lieutenant, myself, and twenty rank and

file.

The loss by sickness and death was the same in every part of the army. I had ample time to contemplate our wretched trophy, and to ask, is this all we had got for England's best blood-a town in ruins and inhabitants looking like so many spectres? The house I inhabited was one of the best in the town-it had only received two or three shells. It belonged to the wife of an aide-de-camp of one of the French generals, who with her sister, mother, and an infant child had taken refuge during the bombardment in one of the cellars. Here, however, they were not secureone shell had made its way to their retreat and burst amongst them. They escaped without wound. They soon forgot their past dangers, and seemed to think that the three or four English officers of artillery quartered in the house would certainly have taken pains to have spared it had they known of its agreeable inmates.

It would appear that from the moment the advance to Antwerp was abandoned, Flushing must have been merely intended as a temporary possession,for no measures were adopted to repair such houses as were used as barracks. It was almost a comparative blessing to be on the sick list, for a man was either sent home, or at least had a roof to protect him at a hospital. Much of the sickness must have arisen from the total absence of any of the comforts to which soldiers are used at home. Never was an army so neg

lected every person's efforts seemed paralysed, there was but one feeling, "Surely we shall soon be sent away from this charnel-house."

The fortifications had indeed suffered little, and being chiefly of earth might have been easily repaired. It was proposed to continue the great works of Napoleon, contemplated by that extraordinary man for rendering Flushing impregnable. The tracings of two great forts east and west on the Scheld had already been laid down, and even some progress made in the construction of the largest, Fort Napoleon. These works were to have been connected by dykes and lines to another looking towards the country-and lines to enclose a large portion of land which could be inundated at pleasure. By proceeding on this plan it was imagined Flushing could have been retained with a small garrison, and the rest of the island might be left to its fate. However plausible this scheme appeared, the Government luckily would not listen to it-and it soon was evident our possession would soon be abandoned. In the meantime the duties of the

artillery were very limited, and so long as the Fleet remained in such force off the island we had little to fear from an enemy though I have often wondered no at

tempts with fire-ships or treachery were made. My excursions in the island made me acquainted with the different points of attack, and many a half-buried body startled my

At

horse or myself out of our paths. One impression could not fail of being stamped on my mind, -the sickening aspect of the country: much of it in the vicinity of Flushing was under water, and though the dykes which the French general had cut had been repaired, and had ineffectually served his intentions, yet from the soil being considerably below high-water mark it could not easily be drained. The water remained stagnant, the sun's force was still strong, the effluvium rising from the wet ground in which many dead bodies were rotting was perceptible to the least sensitive organs of smell, and to me was at times quite sickening. Every where the work of death was in progress. Rameking, a fort commanding the entrance of the canal from Middleburgh to the Scheld, there was a small garrison, I do not believe more than a subaltern's detachment. It was designated as an important fortress when surrendered, but a stout man-o'- war's boat's crew would, I think, have sufficed to carry it. This, too, had its hospital and its dead house, where I saw four or five handsome young soldiers laid in their wooden shells on the day I visited it. To all appearance, no spot could be more healthy: the canal is remarkable for its width and depth its banks beautifully verdant, a delightful walk on their summit overlooked luxuriant country, it was the resort of the holiday-makers of Middleburgh, and the castle

had all the benefit of the fined space. It was necessary breezes from the Scheld, which were certainly not unhealthy, as our sailors suffered little from the fever,-yet here the malady was as strong as elsewhere.

There was luckily no scarcity of provisions. Wine and spirits were abundant. The countrypeople were delighted at the ready sale for their produce, and though the countenances of the men bore marks of the unhealthiness of the climate, yet the women were as healthy looking and ruddy as in more favoured spots-I should even add were handsome. I cannot say my time was passed profitably in this my second visit to Walcheren. Society there was none; the thoughts of the garrison were fixed on one object-home. The few artillery who could be mustered for divine service were taken to the Scotch meeting-house, the duties of which were performed by an old Scotch pastor, many years resident at Flushing, who had remained there during the bombardment. I do not remember an English clergyman with the army. There were, however, few examples of misconduct-the view of the daily destruction by the prevailing malady seemed to check all excesses.

It appears that during one part of the bombardment great alarm for the safety of the principal magazine required the exertions of all ranks to save it. Strange to say, it was in one of the most exposed situations, at a narrow angle of the town, in a con

to keep engines constantly at work to drown, as it were, all chance of its being set on fire. Luckily for the crowd forced at the point of the bayonet into this service, no shell struck the magazine, though part of it was set on fire. It was a critical moment, but despair gave the workmen courage. They succeeded in tearing away the parts on fire, and the horrid explosion which threatened them did not occur. It is hardly possible to contemplate without shuddering what would have been the terrible effect of such an event. The poor inhabitants would have scarcely been avenged by all our succeeding losses.

It was now my turn to experience the effects of the climate. I had been occupying myself for two or three successive days in tracing a plan of the fortifications. This brought me into close contact with the stagnant water of the ditches, which had worked apparently no effect previously on me. But the time had arrived for my sufferings. I had scarcely entered my quarters at noon, after one of my excursions, when I was fixed in my seat by the most acute pain in the head and violent shivering. I had just strength to reach my bed, when the violence of the attack showed itself. Three times I attempted to rise to call for assistance, and as often fell back motionless. My situation, however, was soon discovered by the entrance of one of my brother officers, and

relieve me. I was put into a Harwich packet and landed in England. The change of air almost instantly brought back my strength, and my health returned.

The evacuation of Walcheren

the usual medical attendance in returning to Flushing to given me. Nothing could describe the agonising pain that fixed itself in my head. I can only compare it to the pressure of a burning iron on the most vital parts, with a sensation as if the burning instrument was worked round and round in quick succession. My surprise has often been that I preserved my senses. Such a state, however, could not last long, and I felt I should either sink under it or recover. But the mind has much influence, and I chose rather to take the bright side and trust I should struggle through my malady.

After some days of confinement I was convalescent. My friend, whose place I occupied, heard in England of my illness, and lost not a moment

was already in progress. Every article of public property was shipped, or in the course of embarkation. The few ships of war that were building in the arsenals at our arrival were either completed by our own workmen or taken away piecemeal. We terminated our inglorious expedition by setting fire to the store - houses and magazines, amidst the stifled execrations of the lookers-on. The framers of the expedition justified themselves as they could. It was a lamentable episode in England's glory.

GRANDE GUERRE.

BY MAJOR G. F. MACMUNN, D.S.O.

THIS is the story of a move in Grande Guerre for almost the first time that the British took the field with a trained war staff. . . . The story as it appeared to the pawn who watched by the way. For nearly eight weary weeks Lord Methuen and Piet Cronje had watched each other on the Modder, and daily had the forest of tents on the south side of the river grown, as the "grand army," to quote the wags, gathered. For several days now had Cronje watched the forest from the top of Magersfontein Kopjie, and dug and dug and dug again till he had almost the lines of a Plevna. Daily had Cassandra, in the shape of the good German gunner Albrecht, said, "Cronje, Cronje, take care of your left flank," and Cronje had said "Ach nein, the English will never leave their railway line." And again Albrecht would say, "Beware of Jacobsdal," the small Dutch dorp above Brown's drift that was his extreme left.

While Cronje watched and slept, the English buried their dead and held sports, and laughed at their own and other's adventures in what the poor folk at Home called the "black week." Which was red more like, by the Bar near Modder station. And reservist barber from Truefits, who would cut your hair with

the

the horse-clippers, would say, much as did Albrecht-" And don't you think, sir, as 'ow Lord Methewen should go round by this 'ere Jacobstown?"

And so the dust blew and blew, and enteric fever raged, and the naval guns at sundown daily fired a few rounds into the Boer lines by the simple and cheery process of "Tip her up, Quartermaster, tip her up," and a long-range Krupp would reply, and all the while men said that "Bobs is coming, and K. too," and every possible tale held sway for an hour in the camp, after the manner of armies. Sappers sweated long into the night laying rows of sidings, and up went tents and more tents, till Cronje must have thought half England in canvas and glued to their railway line, which was exactly the impression that it was meant that he should imbibe. Then quite suddenly one afternoon there was a sound of cheering that ran along from west to east at the front of the camps. It was Bobs who had arrived, and was seeing his army. But still the tents increased, and the dust blew deeper, and nothing came of it. And any man who could pretend to know what was doing could command a drink at any camp.

One morning the pawn's

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