18 SPORTING AND 



called " to attention," and then came the 

 words " quick march," when every man 

 stepped off with the left foot to the enli- 

 vening tune of " The girl I left behind 

 me." It is dreary work the first start in 

 the early morn, and we plodded along in 

 the dark, thinking of all the agreeable 

 girls and kind friends we had quitted ; and 

 I was brooding over my uncertain pros- 

 pects, with other matters not of a cheering 

 or exhilarating nature, when I was roused 

 from my reflections by the " halt." After 

 an hour's marching in India there is always 

 a halt for ten minutes, and this has a capital 

 effect, as it allows the men time to re-settle 

 their knapsacks, or take a boot off, making 

 them more prepared to encounter the 

 fatigues of the next three and a half miles, 

 this distance being about the usual pace 

 at which soldiers march. We now lighted 



