Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/161

154 this. About ten o'clock I read by the light of the first bivouac fire, Psalms xxiii., xc, and xci., with Captain Ingram, and derived great comfort and peace from them. One of my brother officers came up to warm himself while I was reading, and begged me to go on (not that I had any intention of stopping.) God grant that he may soon find "a dwelling in the secret place of the Most High," even in the heart of the Lord Jesus; and be able to say, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, I will not fear what man can do unto me.' Resting on Jesus, my precious Saviour, I went to sleep securely. My bed was made of dry leaves, with a stone for the pillow, and but for the biting cold, I should have slept like a top.

"The regiment fell in at day break. We had a fine view of the surrounding country. Encamped on our right was the brigade of Highlanders, their tents stretching away on the heights above us. Beneath lay the burial-ground, in which the Turkish soldiers were continually burying their dead. Far away in our front was the plain with the battery beyond, in endeavouring to take which the Light Cavalry suffered so fearfully. Through our telescopes we could see the Russians moving about like bees. Our lines are very extensive, and naturally strong, all the country around being hilly. I took a stroll into the country, and enjoyed the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, sitting in the dry bed of a mountain torrent. From the top of a mountain range covered with brushwood, I had a fine view of the cavalry encampment.

"In the afternoon I walked into Balaklava, a miserable place, the streets indescribably dirty. Many British, French, Turkish, and Tartar soldiers were moving about in all directions. I saw several men of the Guards looking very different to the appearance they present in St. James' Square, with unwashed faces, tattered coats, and trousers patched