all the time, fed on scanty and inferior rations, with little or no fuel with which to cook them, any infantry except the British would have revolted _en masse_, and left their rulers to fight their own battles. We had, before our arrival at Balaclava, been reinforced by the Scots Greys, who had been landed from the _Himalaya_ at the Katcha river, and here also the French were joined by large reinforcements, said to be upwards of ten thousand men. In coming from Varna to Balaclava, the 1st Royal Dragoons and the Enniskillen Dragoons had upwards of 200 horses washed overboard in a heavy gale of wind, and the men were landed in a very disheartened state. There is nothing so miserable for a trooper on a campaign as to be without his horse: it is part and parcel of himself, as, besides furnishing him with an easy means of transport from place to place, it is essential to his personal safety. CHAPTER THIRTY. Above the tide each broadsword bright Was brandished like a beam of light, Each targe was dark below; And with the ocean's mighty swing, When heaving to the tempest's wing, They hurled them on the foe. Scott. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Passing over much that would be interesting to my young readers, I must now bring them to the morning of the battle of Balaclava, celebrated for the most daring cavalry charge that ever was known in the memory of mankind. The time that had been wasted at Gallipoli, Varna, and Devna, had not only greatly diminished by death the number of our men, but our horses were absolutely pined to death for want of forage; not a morsel of grass could be found, and the hay which had been landed at Balaclava in compressed trusses as hard as a stone, and bound together with iron hoops, was much of it musty, while of this not more than a mere handful (a third of the quantity served out in barracks) was given daily, and the oats were also served out in corresponding quantities. The consequence of this bad management was, that our horses soon grew too weak to carry us; therefore it was no wonder that on the 25th October not more than six hundred could be mustered in any degree fit for duty. Our batteries opened fire upon Sebastopol about ten days previously, and the forts had replied with vigour, therefore the fighting was fairly begun, and continued night and day, not only with cannon, but between skirmishers, foraging parties, continual sorties of infantry from the forts upon the men engaged in the trenches, and between riflemen at long range, from every imaginable position, and in every attitude where a cover could be found and a sight of a Russian's head could be obtained. The cavalry, therefore, were doubly diligent, as to them was principally confided the defence of Balaclava, and the keeping open of communications with the camp to obtain supplies from the fleet. Our tents were situate, as near as I can guess, about three miles from