Presently a cry arose, ‘The hospital-tent is down!’ and this was seen to be the case. Hundreds of poor fellows suffering from ghastly wounds received at Inkermann and in the trenches since were exposed to all the fury of that dreadful storm, and many succumbed. All who were able to stand fought their way over to the hospital-tent, and, moving up to their knees in mud, lashed by the storm, they helped to carry the poor, uncomplaining fellows behind walls, into barns and stables, anywhere, so that they could get a little shelter until the fury of the elements abated. All the morning Jack and Will worked at the hospital; and when they had finished, a good-hearted doctor took the lads into a hut which had been erected for his stores, and there gave them a hot cup of tea each--luxury of luxuries--some beef and ration-biscuits, and then a glass of brandy. To the doctor’s kindness the two lads always attributed the fact that they took no serious harm from the effects of the storm. About midday the wind changed; it got piercingly cold, and snow fell heavily, soon covering everything with a mantle of white. During the afternoon the wind abated somewhat, and some attempts were made to recapture and re-erect tents; but only a few were recovered, and the ground being literally turned to mud the pegs would not hold. A few were got up by some means or other; but, the wind again rising, they were all blown down again. Night approached, and the storm showed but small signs of abating. Jack and Will, huddled up in their cloaks, wet through and through, were sheltering from the wind under the lee of a wall, when a sergeant of the 8th Hussars whom both knew passed them. ‘Hallo, boys,’ he said, ‘there’s small comfort there. Have ye no better shelter?’ ‘No, Flannigan,’ replied the lads. ‘Come with me, then. I’m going up to the barn used as a stable by the men of “Ours” who are Lord Raglan’s escort.’ The lads gladly followed the kindly sergeant, and presently reached the great barn. Here they found a mixed company, Hussars, Lancers, linesmen, officers, privates, all mixed up together, huddling round two fires which they had managed to light. There were a number of horses in the barn which the smoke from the fires made very restless. It is impossible to describe the combination of smells in the place; but it was heaven compared with outside, and thankfully Jack and Will squeezed up to a fire, and standing in their steaming garments thankfully accepted the bit of fried ration-pork offered to them, and drank a tot of rum. Dozing by fits and starts, disturbed by the constant going and coming of different people, the neighing and stamping of the horses, and a tremendous cannonading opened by the Russians on the French lines, they passed the night, and awoke in the morning to find a bright, cold sky, the country covered in snow, every place ankle-deep in mud; but oh, blessing of blessings! the wind gone, and the sun, the genial sun, shining gloriously!