d his toys to stare in
astonishment at the strangers, and his mother was weeping alone. I rode
back to the Brigadier and said what I could, with the result that I was
able to return and assure the woman that her house would not be burned,
and in addition to see her husband come back in half an hour. The effect
has really been produced already, and prisoners in a flying column are a
particular nuisance.

BRODIE'S FARM, _Sunday, May 13th_.

The end is drawing near now, and a fight is almost certain this
afternoon or to-morrow. A commando of Boers, 400 strong, was reported
yesterday afternoon about eighteen miles on our right flank, and some
time during last night they pushed on and occupied a kopje at
Koodoesrand, directly in our path, where they laid an ambuscade with
three guns. They expected (as well they might) that we should come on
and butt into their position. But we have learned our lesson, and this
morning we made a detour and have got past them. We have marched nine
miles; we shall reach the next water (twelve miles) this evening, and
to-morrow we must march straight on to Mafeking (twenty-four miles), for
there is no water all the way, and there is the prospect of heavy
fighting at the end of it. The horses will simply be used up, but that
cannot be helped; if we win it will not matter, and if we lose----. It
will be a trying day for everyone, and we shall only have a few hours'
sleep to-night, but I think no one grudges the discomfort. I write on
the eve of what may be a very brilliant, a very disastrous, or a very
simple affair. We are a small force, the march so far has been
brilliant, and success will be a brilliant crown for the expedition and
its leader. Everyone is more than a little anxious, but it is hard to
foretell any result.

I forgot to say that we had a runner from Mafeking, with messages from
Colonel Plumer and Colonel Baden-Powell; they asked us what our numbers
were, how many our guns, and what the state of our supplies. The answer
was most ingenious, as we had no code to which they had a key, and we
could not trust a straightforward statement of such important facts to
the risks of the road. So Colonel Rhodes invented this answer:--

"Our numbers are the Naval and Military multiplied by ten; our guns, the
number of sons in the Ward family; our supplies, the O.C. 9th Lancers."

Excellent as the Boer Intelligence is, I do not suppose that they are
aware that the Naval and Military Club i