tive.
For some days the men had been bathing in and drinking from the polluted
stream, and it was quite wonderful that enteric had not seized upon the
troops. A Dutch lady stated that she had seen four dead Boers with
stones round their necks thrown into the river by their comrades, but
when the bed of the stream came to be investigated, at least seventeen
corpses were hauled out. The enemy's loss was estimated at 500, and
doubtless those of the slain who were not lying under an inch layer of
sand were disposed of in the river. The air, too, was far from
salubrious. The winds of evening were reminiscent of the dead horses and
mules that remained half-buried on the banks. Fortunately the vultures
and ants, and other useful agents, soon reduced the pestiferous masses
to harmless skeletons.

Meanwhile the rest of the Highland Brigade was on its way up to join
Lord Methuen at headquarters. Some went by train and others marched, as
the line--a single one--was frightfully congested with traffic. Stores
and ammunition and baggage of all kinds were being sent up, while the
wounded, in "emptied" trains, were being sent down. The march was a
trying one, even for hardy men who could well have managed twenty-five
to thirty miles a day on their native heath. Now, they were supposed to
carry 35 lbs. each, without counting clothes, and twelve miles a day in
the broiling heat of a South African midsummer was counted remarkably
good going. What with rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition, a big coat, a
two-quart water-bottle, field-glasses, and haversack, officers and men
were nearly as heavily weighted as itinerant peddlers. They carried
their warlike pack over sandy roads that threw off clouds of dust which
caked hair and skin, and made the whole outer man a complete study in
kharki. What failed to go down their throats went into their eyes,
blinding or worrying, while overhead a merciless sun blazed and
tortured. There was no shade; there was little water. The night was cold
as the day was hot. In the small hours the men were thankful for the
single blanket which was allowed each of them, and which was carried in
mule and bullock waggons for their use. Luxuries for the toilet were no
longer in vogue. A sponge, a shirt, a pair of socks--these made the sum
total of the Highland officers' wardrobe. Some still stuck to their
razors, and others had succumbed to necessity and wore nature's hirsute
decorations, plus a peppering of ochreous dust. B