n barked back viciously at them, and so did the field guns,
but the enemy were firing with the red and dazzling setting sun, behind
them, and shining directly in our fellows' eyes, who were blazing
apparently at poor old Sol, and cussing him and the wily Boer in a
manner by no means ambiguous. I know not whether we did them any harm or
not; certainly they shifted their positions once or twice. As regards
ourselves, it seems beyond belief, no damage was done. The enemy could
not even boast of the bag which the Americans achieved at Santiago--that
famous mule.

[Illustration: Oliver Twist on the Veldt.

_Pember, of the Sussex, asking for an extra allowance of tea, at the
cook-house, while the camp is being shelled by the Boers, at Hekpoort._

(_Persuasively_) "It may be your last chance, Cookie!"]

CATTLE LIFTING.

HEKPOORT.
_Saturday, September 8th, 1900._

I fancy I stopped in my last near the end of a rather long-winded
account of the shelling we experienced at the hands of Brother Boer, on
Thursday evening last. To conclude that day's events, we finally shifted
our horse lines a bit and turned in, spending a night undisturbed by the
distant booming of the Boer guns or the ear-splitting cracking of our
4.7. The next day we returned to our old lines, and settled down for a
good day's rest, as we heard that Clements was waiting for Ridley to
come up.

I had hardly unsaddled, however, when the sergeant-major came round and
told half-a-dozen of us to saddle up and go out with the two guides
(civilians, British farmers, who are with this column and know the
locality). So we flung on our saddles, and slipping on our bandoliers,
mounted and set out in our shirt sleeves (mark that!) with our guides in
their civilian togs (mark that!). From these individuals we gathered we
were off cattle-lifting, the Boers having left some in a kloof about a
couple of miles south of the camp. With jocular allusions to our last
quest of a similar nature (the laager near Rustenburg) we smoked and
trotted along, comfortable in our shirt sleeves after so much of the
usual marching order. Following, came four "boys" to drive the cattle
home. We soon reached our objective. The "boys" were sent into the
kloof, while we dismounted a little way up the stone-covered kopje on
the right, and leaving a couple to look after the gees, the guides and
the remainder of us