A few words of digression may here be allowed to the system of signals which proved of such use to both Pearson and Chelmsford at this juncture. When Lord Chelmsford came first to Tenedos and Fort Pearson, it became evident to him that Pearson was so completely blockaded that runners could rarely get through. It was at the same time most essential to his plans that the General should know exactly how the colonel's resources were lasting, and the exact time to which his garrison could hold out. In this emergency Haynes, of the Engineers, was sent for, and asked if he could not do something with the heliograph, and bring the rays of the sun into requisition for the transmission of messages. The General was at once seen, and although by no means sanguine, he gave every facility for the attempt. The difficulties were by no means light. In the first place there were no proper mirrors, and a most diminutive chamber looking-glass had to be employed. Then again there were no skilled or mechanically-trained workers for the improvised apparatus, and all appliances were of the most primitive nature. Another and, as was feared, the most fatal difficulty was that there was no way of attracting the notice of the Ekowe garrison, which from the nearest vantage-point, was fully thirty miles as the crow flies. Nothing daunted, however, by these obstacles Haynes persevered, and knowing that the lives of many gallant soldiers were dependent on success or failure, redoubled his exertions, which after long anxiety and delay were crowned with success. The most sanguine hopes lay in the fact that the Naval Brigade were with Pearson, and that some of them would undoubtedly be trained to mirror signalling. After much delay in getting everything ready, Haynes chose a bright sunshiny morning and went to the top of a hill about five miles from the fort and commenced his flashing, but without the smallest success. The church tower at Ekowe could be plainly seen, but there was no response, and it was evident that the attempts at communication were not noticed, or, if noticed, not understood. Nothing discouraged, although a little chaffed by his comrades, the young Engineer continued day by day, whenever there was a gleam of sunshine, to attend the hill and work his mirror. At length, after a whole week had passed before any indication from the garrison at Ekowe had been made, another thought struck Haynes, and this was to flash occasional whiffs of gunpowder to attract notice. To his intense delight, after a few attempts, this plan succeeded, and when a gleam was once flashed from the beleaguered fort in return the rest was all plain sailing. Another week, however, elapsed before a perfectly intelligible answer was received, and then it was found that Haynes's messages had been read from the beginning, but that they could not get the Ekowe answers at first to work. It is hardly necessary to mention how pleased Lord