They had expected to find Ostend full of troops, for several regiments
had landed before them; but they soon found they were to be marched
inland. As soon as the regiment had landed they marched to a spot
where a standing camp had been erected for the use of troops on their
passage through. Their baggage was at once sent forward, and the men
had therefore nothing to do but to clean up their arms and
accoutrements, and to wander as they pleased through the town. They
started early next morning, and after two days' marching arrived at
Ghent, where several regiments were quartered, either in the town
itself or in the villages round it. Ralph's company had billets
allotted to them in a village a mile from the town, a cottage being
placed at the disposal of the captain and his two subalterns. The next
morning, after the parade of the regiment was over, most of the
officers and many of the men paid a visit to the town, where the
fugitive King of France had now established his court.
Ralph, who years before had read the history of Ghent, was greatly
interested in the quaint old town; though it was difficult to imagine
from the appearance of its quiet streets that its inhabitants had once
been the most turbulent in Europe. Here Von Artevelde was killed, and
the streets often ran with the blood of contending factions.
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