hird day the wind freshened and blew dead foul, decimating
the horses with sea-sickness, prostrating three-fourths of the men,
and shaking the two regiments down into a sociability which outlasted
their sufferings. To be sure my comrades of the 52nd (as, with a
fearful joy, I named them to myself in secret), being veterans for
the most part, recovered or recovering from wounds taken in the land
to which they were returning with common memories of Sir John Moore,
of Benevente, Calcabellos and Corunna, treated the riflemen with that
affable condescension which was all that could be claimed by third
battalion youngsters with their soldiering before them. But the 52nd
knew the 95th of old. And, veterans and youths, were they not bound
to be enrolled together in that noble Light Division, the glory of
which was already lifting above the horizon, soon to blaze across
heaven?

Sergeant Henderson did not suffer from seasickness. For no reward--
unless it be the fierce delight of tackling a difficulty for its own
sake--he had sworn to make a bugler of me, given moderately bad
weather: and when the evening of September 2nd brought us off the
coast of Portugal, he allowed me to shake hands over his success.
Early next morning we began to disembark at a place called Figueira,
by the mouth of the Mondego river. I stepped ashore with a swelling
heart.

But I carried also a portentously swollen under-lip, with a crack in
it which showed signs of festering. Now there was a base hospital at
Figueira, to the surgeon in charge of which fell the duty of
inspecting the men as they landed and detaining those who were sick
or physically unfit. I need not say that his eye was arrested at
once by my unfortunate lip. He examined it.

"Blood-poisoning," he announced. "Nasty, if not attended to.
Detained for a week."

He saw my eyes fill with tears at this blow, the more cruel because
quite unexpected; and added not unkindly:

"Eh? What? In a hurry? Never mind, my lad--you'll go up with the
next draft I dare say. Jericho won't fall between this and then."

I was young, and never doubted that even so slight a promise must be
remembered.

Still, that my merit might leave him no excuse for forgetting, I
determined that it should not escape attention: and finding myself
confined to hospital with a trifling hurt which in no way interfered
with my activity, and being at once pounced upon by an over-worked
and red-eyed orderly and