ried by the gallant Plumer's tenacity,
riddled and torn by Nanton's armoured trains, harassed by Heneker and
Crabbe, panting for rest, they would have been no match for
blood-seeking dragoons and a Horse Artillery battery that had been
studying range-finding in South Africa ever since the battle of
Magersfontein. All we can do is to shrug our shoulders and say, "The
pity of it!" while we pay the extra twopence in the income-tax which
our confidence in effete leaders, and disinclination to recognise, and
make soldiers recognise, that our army is a national institution, has
cost us.

It so happens that in war the rank and file know little of what is
taking place, and, one is inclined to add, care less. Consequently
those in the brigade who had no knowledge of the state of affairs
existing with regard to Strydenburg were delighted at the prospect of
a halt. At this period of the campaign halts were rare, and men looked
to them in much the same spirit as the average house-holder in England
looks to a spring cleaning, since, provided there is water, an "off
afternoon" will allow of a little of the cleanliness which hard
trekking renders impossible. The Dragoon Guards had not been long
enough in the country to feel the necessity of a thorough overhaul of
their linen. But the Horse gunners were old soldiers, and as soon as
the intended halt became common knowledge the men stripped the shirts
off their backs and indulged in the luxury of sand-baths where water
was not available. This may appear a simple operation, but those who
have campaigned long upon the veldt will know that a change of clothes
exposes not the least of "the horrors of war."

But, halted or moving, there is no cessation of trouble and anxiety
for the staff of any unit engaged in active service, and when the
brigadier issued his orders to meet the instructions of his superior
officer, his acting staff-officer discovered that the column was two
troops short. One troop had been missing ever since the first day out
from Richmond Road, the other had lost itself that morning in Minie
Kloof. This may sound absurd, but it is not an isolated incident; and
if we are to believe the evidence of those who marched with the "Grand
Army" into Bloemfontein, it was not a matter then of troops that were
missing, but fifty per cent of the whole army, and so badly missing
that it took the quartermaster-general's department a fortnight of
solid labour to definitely find them. Th