Gordon's sufferings were very great, though borne with a fortitude only equalled by his courage in the field; his thirst was insatiable. When about half way, one of the stretcher poles broke in two; we had, however, taken the precaution to bring a spare stretcher, which was laid on the ground, the other placed gently on it, its poles withdrawn, and we went on again as before. We were still four miles from the end of our march, when it became evident that we were going to have a mountain storm; the lowering sky deepened into an intense indigo behind the distant mountains; eddying clouds of sand, dry grass, and leaves, caught by successive whirlwinds, came sweeping along our desolate track, until a bright blinding flash shot from behind the dark peak of the Didama, and the oppressive silence was suddenly broken by a terrific peal of thunder, followed, before its prolonged echoes had ceased among the crags, by a downpour of hail and rain, such as we never before witnessed. The hailstones were literally the size of walnuts, and fell with such force that the horses became frantic, and in a couple of minutes we ourselves were soaked to the skin. As we entered a narrow glen, down which foamed a genuine Highland stream, the road became much rougher, and was most trying to the wounded men, who yelled with agony as the waggon jolted over the rocks; seeing me removing the large loose stones out of the way of the wheels, a private, named M'Coll, with his left arm in a bandage, after amputation of the fingers, jumped out and walked the rest of the way, assisting me with his one hand. At a turn in the narrow road, the little fort appeared about half a mile before us, standing dreary and lone on a rising ground in the centre of an amphitheatre of dark mountains half hidden in the clouds. As we approached it a detachment of the 12th came out to meet us, and helped to carry the sufferers into the hospital, already half full of wounded men. I was in time to take a last look at the bodies of our chief and poor Carey, which were laid out in the commissariat forage store, before the Sergeant-Major nailed down the hastily made coffins. The funeral will never be forgotten by those who were present. The thunder, mingled with the booming of the distant artillery, rolled grandly and solemnly among the mountains, as the motley groups from each regiment assembled in their worn and ragged uniforms. As the rough deal coffins were borne out, the "firing party," dripping wet, and covered with mud, "presented arms," the officers uncovered, and we marched in slow time out of the gate and down the road, the Pipers playing the mournful and touching "Highland Lament," to where the graves had been dug, a few hundred yards from the post, and close to three others newly made, the last resting place of our gallant men who had fallen on the 16th of October.