to!"
I cannot make a book out of what little I've seen but I will come out
about even. It has been very rough on Cecil. Today I went to the
Maine and asked Lady Randolph to give me a lift down to Cape Town as
the ship gets there two days ahead of the Castle Steamer. So, they
were apparently very glad to have me and I am going on Saturday. I
like it on the ship where I have been spending the day as it is fun
taking care of the wounded and listening to their stories. I am to
write an article for her next Anglo Saxon magazine on the Passing of
the War Correspondent. The idea is that he must either disappear
altogether like the Vivandiere or be allowed to do his work. As it is
now the Government forces him upon the Generals against their will and
so they get back by taking it out of him. Either they should persuade
the Government that their objections to him are weighty and suppress
him altogether, or recognize him as a part of the outfit. I don't much
care which as I certainly would never again go with an English army. I
am sorry the letters home have been so dull but I have had rather hard
luck straight through, and the distances are so very great and the time
spent in covering them seems very wasteful. I shall be glad I saw it
because it is the biggest thing as to scale that I ever saw of the
sort, and I could not have afforded to have missed being in it. It is
the first big modern war and all the conditions and weapons are new. I
don't think the English have learned anything by it, because the fault
lies entirely with their officers who are all or nearly all of one
class.

DICK.

March 25th, 1900.

Cape Town.

This is just to explain our plans and as they take a bit of explaining
this is meant for the Houses of Clark and of Davis. So, pass it on--
After Ladysmith was relieved Buller decided he would not move for a
month, so I came back to join Roberts. I could not do that on first
arriving because there was a Mail man with him. I meant to do it later
as a Herald man, and to let The Mail go. But on arriving here, having
spent a week in coming and having sold all my outfit at a loss, I found
that Roberts did not intend to move for three weeks either. So I
decided I had seen enough to justify my returning. There were other
reasons, the chief one being that the English irritated me and I had so
little sympathy with them that I could not write with any pleasure of
their work. My sporting blood re