Tudway took me with him on board the _Sumana_ to see the effects of the recent bombardment. By a miracle one shell missed the main steam-pipes and carried away part of the bridge and cabin and funnel. Tudway is a keen officer, and has all the delightful insouciance of his service. We went over the whole boat and the barges. He was all on the alert, in his quiet way, to gather any suggestions for further protecting his alumnus. We sat in his dismantled cabin and talked of the sea, or rather he did, and I mentally annotated him with my own dreams. The sea, the sea, so vast, so great, so deep, so far away! As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so pant we Englishmen after thee, O Sea, even after thee, wild and lonely as thou art, and after thy waters briny as tears. Mighty, untamed, eternal! We, thy children, love thee. Alone, thou art free! Turkish snipers followed us up, and we had to run the gauntlet on the way to the shore over the waters of the flood. I bought three small fish yesterday here, but some one's native servant was killed last evening by a stray shell while fishing, so for the future it's all off. On one occasion, Tudway and I tried to net some, but both the Turks and the fish were against us. This siege is a perfect device for leaving a man to his own plaguings. A book is now almost as great a luxury as bread. I am even driven to re-robing and criticizing some of our early endeared legacies. Let us begin with the poet's notion of service--admittedly of a bygone day. _The Soldier's Dream._ By the other Campbell. _Our bugles sang truce for the night-cloud had lowered--_ Delightful arrangement that, one must admit. A truce is, after all, more fun than a night attack. And perhaps the cloud was a big one and it looked like rain! _And the Sentinel stars set their watch in the sky--_ Much better! But that does away with the rain theory. _And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered--_ Bad-fitting word. Sounds like avoirdupois. But it must have referred to gas fumes, otherwise the line certainly reflects on the condition of the men. This climate could be called "overpowering." _The weary to sleep and the wounded to die--_ That scouts the gas theory! As a matter of fact it's the last thing the weary have a chance to do, and the wounded certainly take weeks to die. Look at Cockie! _While reposing one night on my pallet of straw--_