By eight we were in total darkness, except for the dim little paraffin hand-lamp the Sisters kindly lent me, which, for precaution's sake, had to be placed on the floor.

Extraordinary noises emanated from those long uncarpeted passages, echoing backwards and forwards, in the ceiling, till they seemed to pertain to the world of spirits.

The snoring of the men on the relief guard was like the groans of a dying man, the tread of those on duty like the march of a mighty army.

Then would come intense stillness, suddenly broken by a volley from the enemy sounding appallingly near--in reality about a mile off--and provoked, doubtless, by some very innocent cause.

Many of these volleys were often fired during the night, sometimes for ten minutes together, at other times singly, at intervals; anon the boom of a cannon would vary the entertainment.