the Boers called "King
David," and not only in the authoritativeness of his tone, but also
in the sharp diversities of his martial experiences, bore some not
remote resemblance to his ancient namesake.

Far as either of us then was from foreseeing it, the general's path
and mine, though just now so divergent, were destined to meet once
more. Within a year in Pretoria on the following Whit-Sunday I was
sitting in the house of a friend, and was startled, as all present
were, by the firing, as we all supposed, of one of our huge 4.7 guns.
Later in the day we learned it was the bursting of a 4.7 shell, nearly
two miles away from where we heard the dread explosion. That
particular British shell happened to be the first that had long ago
been fired in the fight near Colesberg, and as it had fallen close to
the general's tent without bursting, he brought it away to keep as a
curio, and on that particular Sunday, so it is said, was showing it to
a Boer friend, and explaining that the new explosive now used by the
English is perfectly harmless when properly handled.

His demonstration, however, proved tragically inconclusive. Precisely
what happened there is now no one left alive to tell. As in a moment
the part of the house in which the experimenters sat was wrecked, and
as I next day noted, some neighbouring houses were sorely damaged. The
general was blown almost to pieces; one of his daughters who was
sitting at the piano was fatally hurt. On the day of the general's
funeral the general's friend died from the effect of the injuries
received, and three other members of that family circle barely escaped
with their lives.

On my first Whit-Tuesday in South Africa I marched with the triumphant
Guards into Pretoria. On this second Whit-Tuesday I stood reverently
beside the new-made grave of this famous Pretorian general, who had
proved himself to be one of the best of the Boers, one of the few
concerning whom it is commonly believed that his word was as good as
his bond; and thus all strangely a shot ineffectually fired from one
of our guns in Cape Colony, claimed eighteen months afterwards this
whole group of victims in far-off Pretoria. Thus in the home of peace
were so tragically let loose the horrors and havoc of war!

This general's case aptly illustrates one of the most debatable of all
points in the conduct of this doubly lamentable struggle. Whilst those
who were far away from the scene of operations denounced what t