At 6.45 A.M. all the troopers who had had their names put down on the sick list were taken to the infirmary by the Corporal of the Week. We awaited the Surgeon-major's arrival in a corridor; that morning there were about fifty troopers on the sick list, and, to my great relief, I learned that the Assistant Surgeon-major was going to pay the medical visit. I had been specially recommended to this officer, and when I had previously called on him with my letter of introduction he had received me most kindly, and promised that if I ever wanted his services he would be glad to do anything he could for me. As soon as he arrived we were called into the consulting-room in batches, the troopers of each squadron going in together. The consulting-room was small, the only furniture consisting of a large table, on one side of which sat the doctor, with the infirmary Corporal opposite to him. When the Corporals of the Week in each squadron brought the sick troopers to the infirmary, they handed over to the infirmary Corporal a book drawn up as on p. 101. As the troopers came to be examined by the Surgeon-major, this book was placed by the infirmary Corporal before the doctor, who filled in the figures--these signifying the number of days during which each trooper was to be exempt from the work stated at the head of each column. "Duty" means absolute exemption from all work, and if the trooper so exempted was under punishment in the _Salle de Police_, he was excused from sleeping in the cells. "Boots" means that the trooper is excused from all exercises necessitating the use of boots--viz., mounted and dismounted drill, gymnastics, and _voltige_. +-----------------+--------------------------------------------------+ | | Exemptions | | Names. +-----+------+-------+----------+------------------+ | |Duty.|Boots.|Riding.|Dismounted| Remarks. | | | | | | Drill. | | +-----------------+-----+------+-------+----------+------------------+ |Dupont, Sergeant | 1 | | | | | |Martin, Corporal | | 2 | | | | |Duval, Trooper | | | 2 | | | |Perrin, Trooper | | | | 4 | | |Bouchaud, Trooper| | | | |Is able to do | | | | | | |his work. 2 days' | | | | | | |_Salle de Police_ | | | | | | |for having come to| | | | | | |the medical visit | | | | | | |with unwashed | | | | | | |feet. | +-----------------+-----+------+-------+----------+------------------+ The two other columns need no explanation.