The tent which should have been forthcoming from the cure's for the
guards, had gone to Cagliari; but I found another, [a] green,
Turkish tent, in the ELBA and soon had him up. The square tent
left on the last occasion was standing all right and tight in spite
of wind and rain. We landed provisions, two beds, plates, knives,
forks, candles, cooking utensils, and were ready for a start at 6
P.M.; but the wind meanwhile had come on to blow at such a rate
that I thought better of it, and we stopped. T- and S- slept
ashore, however, to see how they liked it, at least they tried to
sleep, for S- the ancient sergeant-major had a toothache, and T-
thought the tent was coming down every minute. Next morning they
could only complain of sand and a leaky coffee-pot, so I leave them
with a good conscience. The little encampment looked quite
picturesque: the green round tent, the square white tent and the
hut all wrapped up in sails, on a sand hill, looking on the sea and
masking those confounded marshes at the back. One would have
thought the Cagliaritans were in a conspiracy to frighten the two
poor fellows, who (I believe) will be safe enough if they do not go
into the marshes after nightfall.
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