On the third of June we had our marching orders also, and on the same night we took ship from Leith, reaching Ostend the night after.

It was my first sight of a foreign land, and indeed most of my comrades were the same, for we were very young in the ranks.

I can see the blue waters now, and the curling surf line, and the long yellow beach, and queer windmills twisting and turning--a thing that a man would not see from one end of Scotland to the other.

It was a clean, well-kept town, but the folk were undersized, and there was neither ale nor oatmeal cakes to be bought amongst them.
From there we went on to a place called Bruges; and from there to Ghent, where we picked up with the 52nd and the 95th, which were the two regiments that we were brigaded with.

It's a wonderful place for churches and stonework is Ghent, and indeed of all the towns we were in there was scarce one but had a finer kirk than any in Glasgow.
From there we pushed on to Ath, which is a little village on a river, or a burn rather, called the Dender.