HLI Chronicle 1914 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE. 161left this scene of death, and joined my companionswith feelings that can easier be conceivedthan described. We were obliged toretire after this dearly bought victory, andfell back upon the frontiers of Portugal,after suffering many hardships and privations.On this retreat we suffered severelyfor want of provisions. We got nothing fromthe commissary stores, and the country forleagues around was swept of everything.For eight or nine days, I think, we had toshift for ourselves. The first supply we gotwas a little ripe wheat which providentiallyescaped the hand of the destroyer. We setto work at once, rubbed the grain from thehead, ground part of it between two stones,and made porridge. The part we left wholewas boiled and equally divided among us tocarry in our haversacks in place of bread.After a full meal-the first we had for threedays-we finished with a drink of good coldwater-the best beverage--then rolled ourselvesinto our blankets and stretched outour meagre frames upon the green grass,thought of friends and home, soon fell into asound sleep, and, strange to say, I dreamed ofplenty. The only supply we had after thisin the shape of food till we arrived at Badajoswas some beans and honey. The wheat whenwell boiled made a wholesome meal; thebeans were tolerable; but how to make a dishof beans, wheat, and honey, went beyond ourart of cookery. Some were for keeping thedifferent articles separate and cooking themin the usual way; others were for amalgamatingthe whole; while a wag with theappetite of a tiger bawled out-" SendSergeant Douglas to London for a bottle ofthe King of Oude's sauce, and Corporal Kermackto Paris for Bonaparte's cook. I haveno doubt but he will make a good job; but,at all events, we know that hunger is goodsauce, and if it be true what the wise mansaid-and who can doubt it 1--' contentmentis great gain.''' We finished the controversyby the usual culinary process, without seasoningof any kind, and after eating our scantyallowance we took a little honey by way ofdessert. After reviewing the past part of thepresent campaign, and giving and receivingeach other's opinion as to its final result,we all agreed that we had gained nothingbut the battle of Talavera. We rolled ourselvesup in the usual way, and, stretchedupon the ground, with our knapsacks forpillows, slept as sound as the most opulentpossessC?r. Although we occasionally sufferedsevere privations we were in general regularlysupplied with rations, and no army, I believe,were ever better cared for; but notwithstandingthe greatest attention the soldier on activeservice suffers privations daily that people incivil society know nothing about. What adreadful scourge war is upon a nation, andhow little and how lightly do we esteem theblessings of peace and plenty! How dreadfulto the feeling heart to see the fields laid waste,the crops destroyed, the beautiful vineyardsplundered and trodden under foot, and thepoor peasants, with their little ones runningat their feet, with their little bundles, abandoningtheir homes, and when (if ever) theyreturned to find themselves "ithout a home,the house unroofed, doors and windows tornout and burned, everything destroyed, nothingleft but bare walls in a ruined condition!While I earnestly wished for the te.minationof the war my heart grieved for the poorinhabitants of Spain and Portugal. Wearrived at last at Badajos, and encamped ina wood on the left bank of the Guadianariver. From the commencement of our retreattill our arrival here, I think, comprehendeda space of eighteen days, duringwhich time our method of living was withoutvariation. The irregular manner of livingsoon began to undermine the constitution.Numbers of the weaker constitutions sankunder the severe plivations, and those ofrobust temperaments became like walkingsticks.When at last we got into our regularmethod of living I felt little desire for food,but a constant desire for water, and after adlaught of pure water I felt myself much