These were queer days in the services. The men in the navy were in a perpetual state of mutiny. There had been cases where the seamen had risen and murdered their officers. There had been a lack of actual naval fighting for some time, and the consequent dullness, added to the poor pay, made the navy a somewhat ragged and discontented unit. The seamen usually took the lead in revolt, and the soldiers sympathized with them. In the army there was additional reason. The officers were often bullies. Different ideas of discipline were held from those we know to-day. The average British officer terrorized over his men. He punished them heavily for the slightest offence. It was considered the proper thing to give a man fifty lashes or so for a mild misdemeanor, such as having dirty boots on parade, and on that scale the punishment was allowed to over-fit the crime. Bad barrack-room conditions and little leave were other reasons for growing discontent which smouldered, and then broke out in mutiny. So far as his own regiment was concerned, Brock showed his ability to solve this problem of lax discipline. He was indefatigable in his efforts to familiarize himself with what was wrong, and unwearying in the task of setting it right. As we have already seen, he was thorough in whatever he did. It was so now. He never relaxed vigilance and rested little either day or night. When he slept, it was with pistols ready to his hand. Daily he would make the round of the barracks. Whatever displeased him he ordered changed and frequently he would tear down insurgent notices from the walls with his own hand. He tempered justice with kindliness. He was aware that former regimental rulers had tried the patience of the men a good deal, and he made generous allowance for this in his own treatment. By so doing he won them over to himself, and they learned to respect and love him. The men knew that he would insist on rigid discipline and orderliness, but they knew too that on their side they might count on justice, not unmixed with generosity and affectionate regard. Brock made a great change in the temper and behavior of the 49th. When the Duke of York inspected the regiment, therefore, he put himself on record that the 49th, under Brock’s direction, had become instead of one of the worst regiments in the service, one of the best. CHAPTER II EGMONT-OP-ZEE AND COPENHAGEN