Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/199

 SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMIES. 155 attack and defence, left abundance of the ' hands ' chap. VIII that were needed for other campaigning tasks. If they wanted new wharves or new roads, they ^^e'dfrom had men enough ready to make them.(20) If "eHc^r they stood in need of warm clothing, they at strength, least could go down to the port and bring ,up thence any articles which the intendants might be ready to issue ; whilst, moreover, their numbers enabled them to find and appropriate things of various kinds which afforded protection from cold ; so that — taking but one ready instance — no Eussian soldier fell stricken upon ground the quick Frenchmen could reach without their finding him out, becoming at once his heirs, acquiring his coat, his cloak, and his specially useful high boots. If their horses perished so fast as to cripple the usual means of land-trans- port, they themselves could become the carriers, bringing up by sheer bodily toil not only shot and shell for their part of the siege, and supplies for their camp, but also coming generously to the aid of our perishing army by helping it in the transport of sick, and of ammunition and food. If fuel was so scarce that it could only be won by the patient labour of numbers of men digging underground for fibres and roots, the ' hands ' they required for this labour were always in readiness. If their rations were not of such kind as to sustain them in health and strength when suffering the rigours of winter, they at least had amongst them a sufficient number of men who — not having been utterly cruslied by excessive work — could and would by due preparation con-