'The East,' cried he, flinging his cap up to the ceiling.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE ROUTE—WE SAIL.
'The route—the route has come!' What a commotion that momentous announcement makes in the little world of a barrack, as it passes from mouth to mouth—from the commanding officer to the adjutant, and from that indefatigable vizier to the sergeant-major—from mouth to mouth, and room to room!
This important document, fresh under the seal of the Adjutant-General's office at Edinburgh, stated in usual form, that 'it was Her Majesty's pleasure that one field officer, two captains, four subalterns, six sergeants, three pipers, and two hundred rank and file of the —th regiment of Highlanders be held in readiness to march at such a time, as may be judged expedient, from the castle of Dumbarton, and to embark on board such tonnage as may be provided for their reception, and conveyance to Constantinople.'
The field-officer was our rough and bearded Major Duncan Catanagh, K.H.; the captains were Mac Pherson and Logan; the subalterns, Lieutenants Rigg and Johnstone, with two ensigns—viz., Jack Belton and myself.
The Vestal, formerly a donkey-frigate of twenty-six guns, but now, cut, lengthened, and fitted with a screw-propeller, and transmogrified into a troop-ship, lay off Dumbarton, with her top-sails loose and blue-peter at the fore-mast head.
We embarked next day. I remember how much I was impressed by the service-like aspect of our chosen two hundred, who were to join our first battalion—all with their bonnets cased in oil-skins; their white gaiters on; their great-coats rolled on the top of their packs; their haversacks and wooden canteens slung above their accoutrements, as they paraded in the grey light of the early morning, when the sun was yet below the hills, and when the shrill 'gathering,' woke the echoes of dark and shadowy Dumbarton.
On the roll being called, one of our men, Lance-corporal Donald Roy, was reported to be absent.
'Absent,' reiterated the adjutant; 'devilish odd—were not all the men of this detachment confined to barracks immediately on the route arriving?