isted of two khaki blankets and a waterproof sheet, and my kitchen
utensils comprised a pot, a washing basin, a pail, two enamelled
plates, two large mugs, and a spoon. This is a complete inventory of
the articles with which I was provided. I and the prisoners who had
accompanied me had not tasted food throughout the whole day, and we
would have gone supperless to bed had it not been that some
compassionate brother prisoners ministered to our inner needs by
providing us with some bully beef and bread, which, though but a
frugal meal, was very welcome to us.

Camp life of the kind I now experienced was wearisome indeed. There
was nothing to do, and we tried to while away the time by singing
psalms and songs. At night the camp and its environments were rendered
almost as bright as day by the glaring light of huge naphtha flares
and by large search-lights which played round, making attempts at
escape hopeless. It appeared to me that the search-lights were
continually being turned in my direction, and I can assure you that I
wished these glaring abominations at Hades. The buzzing and roaring
noise given forth by the naphtha lamps, the monotonous chanting of the
prisoners, the perpetual "All's well" of the sentries, and the
intermingling notes of the bugle calls suffused the air with their
distracting sounds and made me feel as if my head were in a maelstrom.
The bugler was so amiable a person that he always made it a point of
standing close to my tent when launching forth to the world his
shrieking calls. Happily I became acclimatised to my distasteful
surroundings, or I fear I should have soon graduated as a patient for
a lunatic asylum.

I unhappily became at an early date acquainted with Colonel Price,
commanding the troops on the Island. I shall never forget his
demeanour towards me, for from the first his attitude was arrogant,
cruel, and generally unbearable. He refused me parole, and declined to
give me a pass beyond the confines of the camp. The unreasonableness
of this hard treatment will be seen when it is remembered that not the
slightest possibility of escape from the Island existed. The close
confinement began to play havoc with my health, and I was in the fair
way to the hospital, when a friendly doctor intervened and restored me
to health once more. The rigid discipline and the stern regulations
that were enforced can only be likened to what is experienced in
monastic life. The "red-tape" curse prevailed ev