ith
the siege, and through all the darkness of those terrible four months
such work runs as a golden thread of light.

=Christian Workers in Ladysmith.=

There were in Ladysmith when the siege began three Church of England
chaplains and one acting chaplain, viz.: Rev. E.G.F. Macpherson (senior
chaplain), at first attached to the Divisional troops; Rev. A.V.C.
Hordern, attached to the Cavalry Brigade; Rev. J.G.W. Tuckey, attached
to the 7th Brigade; and the Rev. D. McVarish (acting chaplain), attached
to the 8th Brigade. In addition to these there were Archdeacon
Barker, of the local civilian church, and the Rev. G. Pennington, a
local clergyman attached as acting chaplain to the Colonial Volunteers.

[Illustration: REV. A.V.C. HORDERN.

(From a photograph by Knight, Newport, I.W.)]

The Presbyterians had one chaplain, viz., the Rev. Thomas Murray, of the
Free Church of Scotland, and one acting chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Thompson.

The Wesleyan Methodists had one acting chaplain, the Rev. Owen Spencer
Watkins, who had but a short time before returned from the Soudan, where
he had accompanied the troops to Omdurman. There were also in the town
the Rev. S. Barrett Cawood, the local Wesleyan missionary, and the Rev.
S.H. Hardy, of Johannesburg, who happened to be on a visit to the town,
and who, though without official position, rendered yeoman service
throughout the siege.

In addition to these chaplains there were two or three Army Scripture
Readers.

=Every Man Hit except the Chaplain.=

Most of these chaplains had already received their baptism of fire. At
Reitfontein Messrs. Macpherson and Hordern had found themselves in a
particularly warm corner. Some fifteen men of the Gloucesters, with an
officer, were in a donga which provided hardly any cover, and the two
chaplains going out to the Field Hospital had perforce to share with
their comrades the dangers of the terrible position. The Boers were
firing at them with awful precision, and when the Liverpools--all
unconscious that a handful of English were seeking cover in the
donga--commenced to fire at the Boers, it made retreat for the
dauntless fifteen impossible. They had unwillingly to remain where they
were until the Boers were put out of action by the Liverpools. When at
last the firing ceased, it was found that nearly every man of that
unlucky fifteen was hit, with the exception of the chaplains, who came
out unscathed.

This was an experience that pe