id not
increase. One regiment could only muster nine men fit for duty. Many
were reduced to the strength of a company. The few survivors of one
regiment were sent down to Scutari until fresh drafts should arrive
and the regiment could be reorganized, and yet this regiment had not
been engaged in any of the battles. Scarce a general of those who had
commanded divisions and brigades at the Alma now remained, and the
regimental officers had suffered proportionally. The regiments which
had won the Alma still remained before Sebastopol, but their
constituents had almost entirely changed, and the proportion of those
who had first landed in the Crimea that still remained there when Jack
returned was small indeed.

The sufferings of the French, although great, had not been nearly so
severe as our own. Their camps were much nearer to their port, the
organization of their services was far better and more complete, and
as in the first place the siege work had been equally divided between
them, the numbers at that time being nearly the same, the work of our
men had become increasingly hard as their numbers diminished, while
that of the French grew lighter, for their strength had been trebled
by reinforcements from home. Thus, while our men were often five
nights out of the seven on duty in the cold and wet, the French had
five nights out of seven in bed. This gave them far greater time to
forage for fuel, which was principally obtained by digging up the
roots of the vines and brushwood--every twig above the surface having
long since been cleared away--to dig deep holes under their tents, to
dry their clothes and to make life comfortable.

At last the strength of the English diminished to such a point that
they were at length incapable of holding the long line of trenches,
and they were obliged to ask the French to relieve them, which they
did by taking over the right of our attack, a measure which placed
them opposite to the two Russian positions of the Mamelon and Malakoff
batteries, which proved to be the keys of Sebastopol.

As spring came on matters brightened fast. English contractors sent
out large bodies of navvies, and began to lay down a railway from
Balaklava to the front, reinforcements poured in, and the health of
the troops began to improve. Troops of transport animals from every
country on the Mediterranean were landed. A village of shops, set up
by enterprising settlers, was started two miles out of Balaklava. Hut