d if they were Boers. Lance
and pennon were gone. Barely a tunic or regimental button remained to
the two squadrons. Their collective headgear would have disgraced a
Kaffir location, and their boots were mostly the raw-hide imitations
of the country. But they were men. Rags and dirt could not conceal
that fact. Theirs was not the dirt of sloth and sluggard. The
essentials were bright and clean. There was not a man of the 150
attempting to represent two service squadrons who had not at some
period balanced his life against his proficiency with the rifle, and
who had not realised that on service his firelock was the soldier's
best and staunchest friend. Nor were the officers easy to distinguish
from the men. A shade cleaner, perhaps; but they, too, were
rough-bearded, hard bitten by long exposure and responsibility. How
different from the exquisites of popular fancy! Gone the beauties of
effeminate adornment. Gone the studied insolence of puppyhood--that
arrogance of bearing traditional with the British officer in times of
peace. These were the men who had been eyes and ears to French's
magnificent cavalry, who had ridden unflinchingly to the relief of
Kimberley, who had more than held their own against fearsome odds at
Diamond Hill. Did you hear that boy give an order? It was a man who
spoke, and a man of resolution and understanding, yet judged by a
standard in years he should still be a Sandhurst cadet.

The regulars are followed by a squadron of Yeomanry,--the old original
yeomanry, and, 'pon one's honour! it is hard to distinguish them from
the Lancers. They, too, have been a year in the country. It takes all
that to make any mounted regiment, however educated your material. You
may make the men in less, but not the officers, and, all told, the
officers are the essential in every corps. This is illustrative of
another of our mistakes: we have sent back our Volunteers just when
they really became efficient. These very men were under orders for
home. Knowing what we know of the capabilities of young and green
troops in mounted war, we may say with confidence that the authorities
were ill advised when they failed to enforce the clause "until the end
of the war," which was part of these men's undertaking. It has been
the same all through, the exigencies of the service have been
sacrificed to satisfy garrulous impatience on the part of home-abiding
politicians.

The New Cavalry Brigade had been freshly provided with tra