182 THI-. WINTER TROUBLES.
- II AP. liis strength, his health, liis life, as thou<^h it
VIIL o - ^ . were nothing worth. Lord Ifaglan, when visit- ing the field-liospitals, nsed to ask upon entering each tent whether any of the men there collected had any complaints to make ; and then it com- monly happened that one of the sufferers an- swered by firmly alleging a grievance, but a grievance, strange to sav, unconnected with the privations then threatening his very life, a grievance based in general upon some question of ' stoppages,' and always concerning money. Thereupon Lord Eaglan would promise that the question raised should be considered, and his attendant aide-de-camp (who on these occasions was generally Colonel Nigel Kingscote) used then to make a careful note of the complaint. This process was repeated until all the complaints had been heard; but invariably they related to money questions. No man ever used to say : ' My Lord, you see ' how I am lying wet and cold, with only this ' one blanket to serve me for bed and covering. ' The doctors are wonderfully kind, but they have ' not the medicines, nor the wine, nor any of the ' comforting things they would like to be giving ' me. If only I had another blanket, I think ' perhaps I miglit live.' Such words would have been true to the letter, and also, I imagine, ap- propriate in the judgment of almost any civilian ; but the soldier was not the man who would deign to utter them. He would hold the State fast to its bargain in respect to those pence that were promised him through the lips of the recruiting
