Light Brigade at Balaclava.

There was no blunder about this charge, however, which was made in face of
point-blank fire from "5.9's" and other guns, all of which were captured.
It is no more than bare justice to say that the Austrian gunners gallantly
stuck to their guns till the Yeomanry swept through them and cut them down
where they stood.

Later, the Yeomanry had further opportunities of which they availed
themselves to the full; they, too, had a few painful memories to wipe out.
After the occupation of Huj, where the Turks had an enormous depot, the
pursuit quickened, as could be seen by the increasing litter of stores the
enemy left behind. Some idea of the amount of material used in a modern
battle may be gathered from the fact that one of our cable-sections salved
forty thousand pounds' worth of copper wire alone, all of which had been
employed on the battlefield.

Infantry and mounted troops marched and fought to their utmost capacity,
ignoring their hardships. Rations arrived--when they arrived, and some days
they came not at all. If there were but four men to share in one tin of
bully-beef or one pound of biscuits they counted themselves fortunate.
Almost every man carried a "billy" slung on to the hook at the back of his
tunic, a habit learnt from the Australians. This was generally made out of
an empty fruit tin, with a piece of wire for a handle. Perhaps the drivers
of one team would have one billy-can, the genuine article, between them,
and this is large enough to hold about four mugs of tea.

The scarcity of wood was a great difficulty. Every man in the team was
strictly enjoined to "scrounge" any scrap of wood he could find en route,
and it was a common sight to see a driver suddenly hop off his horse, dart
across the road triumphantly to seize a stick he had spotted, after which
he rushed after his team and scrambled into the saddle again, the horses
meanwhile plodding patiently along. Then, the moment word of a halt for a
quarter of an hour came down the long line, every man in the team quickly
dismounted and a toll of sticks was collected from each by the "cook." Then
the billy was placed precariously on the heap and in a few minutes you
would see the tiny fires all along the column.

What wonderful tea that was! In hot countries there is no drink to equal
it, either taken scalding hot to prevent heat apoplexy or as cold as you
can get it, without milk or sugar, to be carried in your water-bottl