The Return Home 197 



We had the camp policed thoroughly, and I made 

 the men build little bunks of poles to sleep on. By 

 July 23, when we had been ashore a month, we were 

 able to get fresh meat, and from that time on we 

 fared well; but the men were already sickening. 

 The chief trouble was the malarial fever, which was 

 recurrent. For a few days the man would be very 

 sick indeed ; then he would partially recover, and be 

 able to go back to work; but after a little time he 

 would be again struck down. Every officer other 

 than myself except one was down with sickness at 

 one time or another. Even Greenway and Good- 

 rich succumbed to the fever and were knocked out 

 for a few days. Very few of the men indeed re- 

 tained their strength and energy, and though the 

 percentage actually on the sick list never got over 

 twenty, there were less than fifty per cent who were 

 fit for any kind of work. All the clothes were in 

 rags ; even the officers had neither socks nor under- 

 wear. The lithe college athletes had lost their 

 spring; the tall, gaunt hunters and cow-punchers 

 lounged listlessly in their dog-tents, which were 

 steaming morasses during the torrential rains, and 

 then ovens when the sun blazed down; but there 

 were no complaints. 



Through some blunder our march from the in- 

 trenchments to the camp on the foothills, after the 

 surrender, was made during the heat of the day; 



