on on picket we could see a short distance in front, the
ground having been partially cleared of trees and undergrowth. A chain
of double sentries was posted, and the utmost vigilance observed. We
could hear the batteries opening on the ridge, while occasionally, as if
to harass the picket, a 13-inch shell would burst either in our front or
in our rear. The night passed quickly, and at daybreak, when visiting
the sentries, I heard distinctly the bugles of the rebels sounding the
reveille, succeeded by other familiar calls. It seemed strange to hear
our own bugle-calls sounded by men who were now our enemies; and not
only was this the case, but also the insurgents for some time wore the
scarlet uniform of the British soldiers, and invariably to the end of
the war gave the English words of command they had been taught in our
service.

We were relieved from picket on the morning of the 8th, and returned to
our camp, remaining quiet during the day. Executions by hanging took
place every day, but after the first horrible experience nothing would
induce me to be a spectator. The rain, which had begun on the 3rd,
continued almost without intermission, our camp becoming a quagmire, and
the muggy, moist atmosphere increasing the ravages of cholera amongst
our unfortunate soldiers.

_July 9_.--At sunrise on the 9th, a terrific cannonade woke us out of
our sleep; but, the main camp being some distance from the right of the
ridge, we for a long time heard no tidings of what was going on. At 8 a.
m. the bugles of the regiments on the right sounded the alarm, followed
at once by the "assembly."

Some 200 men of my regiment, all that remained off duty, paraded in
front of the tents, and received orders to march to the centre rear of
the camp, in rear of the quarters of the General in command. Here we
were joined by some companies of the 8th Regiment and a battalion of
Sikhs, and, continuing our march, we halted near the tents of Tombs'
battery of Horse Artillery.

Lying around and even among the tent-ropes were dead bodies of the
enemy's cavalry, and a little way beyond, close to the graveyard,
some men of the 75th were firing into the branches of the trees which
surrounded the enclosure. Every now and then the body of a rebel would
fall on the ground at their feet, the soldiers laughing and chatting
together, and making as much sport out of the novel business as though
they were shooting at birds in the branches of a tree.

How