whether it is advisable to halt now and go on after a rest,
or do a greater distance and have a long rest at the end. And then, when
the time for the five minutes' rest in the hour has arrived, "_Halt_!"
is passed down the column, and one hears the word running down squadron
after squadron until it is lost among the lines of the ammunition
column. The connecting files pass it forward to the advance guard, who
send it out to their scouts and patrols, until the great serpent that
winds over the country is completely at rest. Then follows a sound of
horses cropping grass and men talking. Then "_Stand to your horses_!"
runs down the column, followed by a shuffling of feet as men scramble
from the ground where they have been lying; "_Prepare to mount_!" and
there is a general gathering up of reins; "_Mount_!" and a long rustle
and jingle as the men swing into their saddles; "_Walk march_!" and the
serpent is off again, feeling his way before him.

Three miles in front of us the furthest scouts of the advance guard are
working cautiously in the bush, and from the officer in command of the
guard a note occasionally comes back to the Brigadier, carried from
squadron to squadron and passed along the connecting files until it
reaches the head of the main column. One never becomes accustomed to the
interest and mystery attaching to these notes, and one almost holds
one's breath while they are read; they may contain so much, may carry
news of the gravest or most astonishing nature; for if the advance guard
found the enemy in strength standing on his head in a donga the
information would still be conveyed through the cold propriety of Army
Form No. C 398. It is one of the sanest of cold-blooded regulations; let
a patrol be never so hard pressed and requiring help never so urgently,
the officer commanding it must take time to say so in writing.

I am glad to see that no more farms are being burned, and that we are
not burdening ourselves further with the insurgent prisoners. We have
already twenty-five, but the Brigadier has been content to read the
insurgents who have been taken since a lecture on the folly of their
ways, and to warn them that a day of reckoning is coming. I came up to
a house yesterday where the Dutch farmer, who was known to be disloyal,
had just been arrested and taken away. The troops were making
preparations to burn the house, acting on the general order, which had
not been cancelled. Within, a child had droppe