He was still serving at Chatsmouth, his young and beautiful wife the
life of the gay garrison, when the war-clouds gathered dark upon the
horizon, and, thanks again to the Essendine interest, he found himself
transferred, still on the staff, to the expeditionary army under
orders for the East.




CHAPTER V.

THE WAR FEVER.


They were stirring times, those early days of '54. After half a
century of peace the shadow of a great contest loomed dark and near.
The whole British nation, sick and tired of Russian double-dealing,
was eager to cut the knot of political difficulty with the sword.
Everyone was mad to fight; only a few optimists, statesmen mostly,
still relying on the sedative processes of diplomacy, had any hopes of
averting war. A race reputed peace-loving, but most pugnacious when
roused, was stirred now to its very depths. British hearts beat high
throughout the length and breadth of the land, proudly mindful of
their former prowess and manfully hopeful of emulating former glorious
deeds.

It was the same wherever Englishmen gathered under the old flag; in
every corner of the world peopled by offshoots from the old stock,
most of all in those strongholds and dependencies beyond sea captured