Awaiting orders we remained under arms until our captain came round, accompanied by M. Joly, our surgeon, to enquire if there were any casualties. On our lieutenant replying in the negative, we heard our commanding officer laughingly inform him that the only patient for the doctor was the sergeant-major's dog, which had been shot clean through the body. Strange to say, this animal, a liver-coloured pointer, recovered completely from its wound. At about a quarter to two the "dismiss" was sounded, and we returned to rest again. For the next few weeks the work of building went on apace, and by the end of May all the garrison was comfortably lodged and the defences completed. The _tirailleurs_ laboured with us at this task; and it was whilst watching them at work that I was struck by the diversity of uses to which these natives are capable of adapting the bamboo. They used it for almost everything. Roof-beams, doorposts, window-frames and rafters were obtained from it for building purposes, and also beds, tables, chairs, matting and blinds. The whole of our position was surrounded by two barriers of bamboo, and in the space between them, about 20 feet, thousands of small pointed stakes of the same wood, boiled in castor oil to harden them, were planted in the ground. The native troops were undoubtedly cunning workmen, and were of great assistance in the construction of the fort. They are, however, held in small respect by the Legionaries, whose opinion of them as fighters is of the poorest. The majority of these troops, recruited in the Delta provinces--the population of which are good agriculturists, but possess no military virtues--are of small value as a fighting unit. The few companies formed of Thos and Muongs (mountain tribes of the Tonquin) have, however, rendered great service to the army, and their courage and _morale_ is of the best. Unfortunately, only about one-fifth of the total strength of each regiment is composed of these highlanders. At the beginning of 1891 the colony possessed three regiments of _tirailleurs Tonkinois_. Each of these corps was composed of four battalions of one thousand men. In June, 1895, a fourth regiment of three battalions was raised, and in 1902 a fifth of similar composition was added to the strength of the army in Tonquin. Each corps possesses a _cadre_ of French officers and "non-coms," composed as follows: a colonel and an adjutant-major for each regiment, a major to each battalion, and a captain, two lieutenants and twelve sergeants to each company. There exists, however, a great defect in the organisation of these native corps, of important significance to those acquainted with the admirable system adopted for our Indian army, for not two per cent. of the Frenchmen who compose the _cadres_ of the _tirailleurs_ regiments can speak the vernacular. The disadvantages consequent on this state of things are too evident to require explanation. CHAPTER IV