Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/215

SUFFERINGS OF THE ARMIES. 171 and hoises belonfrinG: to ofificers, the acquisition chap. . VIII of the needed blankets and warm clothing was '_ soon effected. Thus, for instance, the 7th Eoyal Fusiliers was one of the regiments encamped before Sebastopol at a distance of seven or eight miles from Balaclava ; but Colonel Yea was a man of great energy, and took good care that the crippled state of the transport-service pro- vided by the Commissariat should not prevent his regiment from having the blankets and coats which awaited it in the neighbouring port. He made his requisition, he had it approved, he collected the bat horses of the regiment, he laid an embargo upon the horses of his officers, and finally, out of that remnant of the corps which was not for the moment engaged in outpost duty or in the trenches, he drew men enough for his purpose. (^2) By these means he formed a land- transport force which moved no doubt with infinite toil and difficulty, but still with ulti- mate success through miles of tenacious clay, and at length brought up into camp the needed supplies of warm clothing. By some of our other regiments the like was promptly done, but not by all ; for the regiments of the 4th Division had not with them the bat horses which formed a main part of Colonel Yea's resources. And again, so fixed was the habit of looking to the Commissariat authorities for the delivery of expected stores that it could not be easily shaken off by a narrowly regulated mind ; and many an officer, as was natural, proved less swift than others to see that, by evoking the energies and