At the request of Omar Pacha a detachment of the corps, under Captain Gage, R.A. and Lieutenant Pratt, R.E., started from Aladyn for Rustchuk on the 8th July, to form a bridge over the Danube for the passage of the Ottoman troops. It consisted of sergeant John F. Read, one bugler, and thirty-two rank and file, accompanied by fifteen French pontoneers, and thirty-five English seamen from the fleet, under Lieutenant Glynn and Prince Leiningen, R.N., twenty of whom led the way, and fifteen covered the rear. With characteristic pride, the seamen gave importance to the honour accorded them by carrying unfurled, both in front and rear, a large union jack. All were on horseback. Next to the advance sailors were the sappers, unskilled in equitation, in every conceivable attitude, mounted on young horses. Each led a second horse loaded with intrenching tools, &c. Behind them followed about 150 horses ridden by native grooms and guides, bearing tools, baggage, and forage; and then came the party of French pontoneers. The expedition went from twenty to thirty miles in twelve hours, killing three horses in the first two days. Many of the animals, unaccustomed to the rattling of picks and shovels against their flanks, were difficult to manage, and in their fright and restiveness, frequently dashed away from the cavalcade. Considerable delay occurred in recovering and restraining them, and what with unavoidable halts at Schumla and Rasgradt, the party did not reach Rustchuk until the 13th July, though the distance travelled was only 120 miles. This novel equestrian journey was accomplished without any material mishap, except a few almost harmless falls, and the occasional diversion of a horse and his rider rolling together on the road. Hard riding, however, on ill-formed and broken tracks, made the men so sore and stiff, that when the time for rest arrived, they found it preferable to sleep standing! On the 15th, the sappers were sent over to Giurgevo, and for a few days assisted to intrench the position of the Turks; when, on the 19th, at the desire of Omar Pacha, they moved up to Slobedsie, and under the superintendence of Captain Bent and Lieutenant Pratt constructed, in a very creditable manner, a trestle bridge over the Slobedsie Creek, which was 450 feet across, to a small island in the Danube. Notwithstanding that several of the men, as many as fifteen in one day, had been ill during the operation, the work was finished on the 25th.