Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/149

142 reading the second lesson for the morning each day with me. It adds not a little to my pleasure. I have lately changed my quarters, and have now got a palace of a room, with a beautiful view of the sea, or rather, the harbour.

"Nares and Macgregor are in the same building with me, and Ensign Derman, who was lately promoted from Serjeant-Major, and in whom I am much interested; so that I am surrounded by those I should wish to have near me. With Derman I have had several most delightful conversations, and I believe he will come out boldly on the Lord's side. Decision and courage at first are absolutely necessary for an officer who wishes to become a soldier of the cross. Without such he will have endless difficulties and trials, and will have no peace given him by those who oppose, until he returns to the allegiance of the god of this world, or else fearlessly shows his colours."

There was another trial to which he was to be subjected, which though short, was not slight to a heart so keenly alive to anxiety regarding those it loved. Early in October it was stated at the Horse Guards that the 97th had been ordered on to the Crimea. But a delay was occasioned by the want of a transport at Malta to convey the 3d Buffs to replace the 97th in the Piræus. On the 15th of November, with the Orinoco again for their transport ship, in the highest spirits, this gallant regiment proceeded to the Crimea, "eleven hundred strong." In ignorance of this delay, Hedley Vicars' family and friends addressed their letters to the Crimea from the middle of October.