At  the  gate,  the  sentry  asked  us,  hurriedly  in  a  whisper,
if  we  were  the  recruits  they  had  heard  of,  who  had  a
set  of  bagpipes  with  them ;  "  for  if  you  be,"  he  said,
"  don*t  bring  them  in  ;  everything  you  bring  in  will  be
burned."  And  then,  in  a  tone  of  duty,  as  if  he  had  been
questioning  us  also  in  discharge  of  duty,  he  said — "  Oh  I
recruits  are  you?  Pass  on."  It  had. been  rumoured
that  recruits  were  coming  with  bagpipes,  and  pipes  not
being  regimentaUy  allowed,  the  men  on  guard  had
secretly  agreed  to  warn  the  recruits  before  they  came
within  the  gates,  to  save  their  bagpipes ;  some  of  the
wives  of  the  soldiers  were  hovering  about  for  the  pur-
pose of  smuggling  the  pipes.  But  we  were  not  the
pipers*

Listead  of  the  men  rushing  out  of  the  rooms  as  they
usually  do  when  fresh  recruits  enter  the  barrack-yard,  to
look  at  them,  inquire  who  they  are,  and  where  they  come
from,  no  one  came  near  us ;  they  were  ordered  not  to
speak  to  us.  They  looked  over  the  windows,  and  one  or
two  called  "  Where  do  ye  come  from  ?"  and  "  What  do
they  ca'  ye  P"  but  nothing  more :  nor  were  we  permitted
to  answer  them.
The  report*  of  the  appearance  of  the  Asiatic  cholera  in


20(7  THE .  ATJTOBIOGEiLPnT  OF

Britain  was  new  to  us ;  for  we  did  not  kaow  wliat  the
newspapers  had  published  concerning  it.  And  besides
the  reports  in  newspapers,  a  case  of  sudden  illness,  pro-
nounced to  be  one  of  cholera  in  its  worst  form,  had
occurred  in  the  barracks  that  day,  in  the  person  of  pri-
vate James  Miller,  the  servant  of  Comet  Macquarrie.
