A litter was formed of two muskets with a great-coat laid between them, and Dick, being seated on this, was taken up by four men, and Jack taking his place beside him, the procession started.

They halted some four miles off at a village in a valley beyond the Tchernaya.
The next day the boys were placed on ponies, and, under the escort of an officer and six troopers, conducted to Sebastopol.

Here they were taken before a Russian general who, by means of an interpreter, closely examined them as to the force, condition, and position of the army.
The lads, however, evaded all questions by stating that they belonged to the fleet, and were only on duty on the heights above Balaklava, and were in entire ignorance of the force of the army and the intentions of its general.

As to the fleet, they could tell nothing which the Russians did not already know.
The examination over, they were conducted to one of the casemates of Fort St.Nicholas.Here for a fortnight they remained, seeing no one except the soldier who brought them their food.

The casemate was some thirty feet long by eighteen wide, and a sixty-eight-pounder stood looking out seaward.