Small tooth combs.'

No wonder there was trouble in plenty. The routine of a
small and uncongenial station is part of a regular's
second nature, though a very disagreeable part. But it
maddens militiamen when the stir of active service is
past and they think they are being kept on such duty
overtime. The Massachusetts men had the worst pay and
the best ringleaders, so they were the first to break
out openly. One morning they fell in without their
officers, marched on to the general parade, and threw
their muskets down. This was a dramatic but ineffectual
form of protest, because nearly all the muskets were the
private property of the men themselves, who soon came
back to take their favourite weapons up again. One of
their most zealous chaplains, however, was able to enter
in his diary, perhaps not without a qualm, but certainly
not without a proper pride in New England spirit, the
remark of a naval officer 'that he had thought the New
England men were cowards--But that Now he thought that
if they had a Pick ax and Spade they would digg ye way
to Hell and storm it.'

The only relief from the deadly monotony and loneliness
of Louisbourg was to be found in the bad bargains and
worse entertainment offered by the camp-followers, who
quickly gathered, like a flock of vultures, to pick the
carcass to the bone. There were few pickings to be had,
but these human parasites held on until the bones were
bare. Of course, they gave an inordinate amount of trouble.