were dispelled. A feeling almost of contentment stole over them. There
is something so particularly adventurous and at the same time soothing
about a camp fire. They had all read books at school full of camp fires
and fighting and prairies, and they had all more or less envied such a
life. Here it was. But the adventure part of it was so minute, and the
drudgery and nerve strain so great that the most adventurous soul among
them had long since admitted that "if _this_ was Active Service, it was
not the life for him!"




CHAPTER XIII

HEAT AND DUST


The Subaltern did not get to sleep until twelve, and the Regiment made
another start as early as half-past two. It seemed to him that when
necessity drives there is no limit to the nerve force that we have in
us! They marched some miles in a westerly direction before they rejoined
the main road southwards.

To describe in detail the sufferings of that day would be to repeat
almost word for word some of the preceding paragraphs. It was just as
hot as usual, just as dusty as usual. An order had come from somewhere
that there was to be no looting. Men were to be forbidden to snatch an
apple from a fruit-strewn orchard, or an egg from a deserted barn! The
owners had already fled from their homes, and here Mr. Thomas Atkins was
solemnly asked to go hungry and thirsty and to relieve the enemy of one