He was coming from the horse-lines to his tent when he met Will, whom he determined to tell what he was going to do.
‘Good heavens, man!’ said Will when he heard; ‘what a strange thing. The hand of God is indeed evident.’
‘What do you mean, Will?’
‘That Napper was taken with cholera at ten o’clock this morning, and died at three. You must have passed his funeral as you marched in.’
Jack raised his cap. ‘God rest his soul!’ he said fervently; ‘truly His ways are inscrutable.’
CHAPTER XVIII.
A WELCOME MOVE.
WEEKS of discontent, sickness, and inactivity followed. Daily, dozens of stalwart men, who not many weeks before had left England in all the pride of glorious manhood, were stricken by the foul plague of cholera, died in a few hours, and, wrapped only in the blankets they had died in, were consigned to the earth.
Discipline became slack, the men grew beards and moustaches, dress regulations were relaxed, and wonder of wonders, the men were actually allowed to leave off their stocks!
The 11th Hussars, fresh from England, arrived to take up their quarters at Devna, and a very handsome show they made in their crimson overalls and richly laced pelisses; for those were the days before false economy had been introduced into the army and the soldier’s dress shorn of its chief attractions.
In the camp the distant boom of big guns besieging Silistria could be heard, and for three days a more heavy cannonade than usual was maintained. On the fourth day it absolutely ceased, and it was feared the gallant garrison who had made such a heroic defence had been overcome; but later the news was spread that the siege had been raised, and that the Russians were in full retreat, although the gallant young English officer who had been the heart and soul of the defence had met a soldier’s death in the trenches.