SUPPER AND BED. 167 high. The better huts were divided into two or more rooms, very clean and neat perhaps owing to every portable article having been taken away before we arrived.

Orders had been issued for a parade at 4.30 next morning to see about taking Metemmeh ; so obviously the only thing to do was to have a good feed all round and get as much sleep as possible in the interval. Our indefatigable little old cook, Carlo,* had prepared a capital meal by the time we were ready for it, and in a very short time after its consumption most of us were fast asleep. Occasionally a house, or rather its roof, would catch fire, and alarm us a bit, and then there was a little excitement till it was put out, but that was all ; the enemy left us in peace. The night was horribly cold, and I felt the loss of my blankets keenly. The only thing I could get hold of was a straw mat, and that wasn't warm : luckily Jacky came sniffing about, so I got him to lie alongside me, and we kept each other warm till the morning.

* A Maltee who had served in the Crimea.