suffered dreadfully from the
cold, it being then winter, and they had to be sent back to their own
country long before we left.

Our chief reason for lying there so long was to see all settled and to
wait for orders before we proceeded back to England. When the order
did come, joy was in every mouth, for this was indeed a short campaign
compared with our Peninsular affairs, and it may be supposed we were
by no means sorry for that. We embarked on board the same ships, and
again tacked to the West Indies to get provisions at one of the
Spanish islands, where we took on board live cattle and water, and as
food for the former a kind of cabbage, which on account of their size
were called cabbage-trees.

Thence we proceeded on our route to Portsmouth, and had a very
pleasant voyage with fair weather prevailing; but when near England we
fell in with an English frigate, which informed us that Napoleon
Buonaparte had left the island of Elba with a small force and had
landed in France to collect more troops. This was indeed a
disappointment to me, for I felt sure that if he again intended
disturbing Europe, we should have to be on the scene again. But in
another way it caused no small amount of stir on board, for the young
officers, who were looking ravenously forward to promotion, were so
rejoiced at the news that they treated all the men to an extra glass
of grog, to make everybody as lively as themselves.

Nothing else of any particular note occurred on our voyage, and
having arrived near Portsmouth a signal was raised, and we fell in on
the quarantine ground, hoisting a yellow flag for a doctor to inspect
us on board. When he came he found all on board our ship to be in very
good condition, which was reported to the general, and the very next
morning he signalled to us to weigh anchor and proceed to Flanders; so
without setting foot on English ground we again went on our way to
meet our common enemy. This time, however, he was not in his old
quarters, but in the north of France, where he had collected more than
a hundred thousand troops.

I left Portsmouth this time with a good deal lighter heart than I had
last, being now more used to war and hardships than to peace and
plenty, though perhaps I would rather have landed than proceed on this
errand; and, indeed, there were many of us who had left wife and
children at home who went off with a very sad heart.

Our voyage this time was a very short one, only occupying one