d player breaks up the
balls at the beginning of a game. I trust that out of the crowd just
one may get home. The captain is a hearty fellow, and will probably
make his way into Strydenburg; but he is about the only one that it
would be worth betting upon. I should be sorry to lose him, for I like
enthusiasts; but as for his gang, I would willingly present the lot to
'brother.' I had some cyclists down Calvinia way. I found that on a
down gradient they were terrors, but when any climbing came their way
they afforded 'brother' any amount of fun. The cyclist, to be any use
in war, must have roads and luck; otherwise, as Scout or messenger, he
is valueless. It is all very well for faddists to prophesy a future
for them. I like to see them working out their own salvation: pictures
of dismounted cyclists behind stacks of bicycles prepared to receive
cavalry fill me with delight. I like to anticipate the glee of the
cavalry which has forced them to dismount for action at some
disadvantageous spot, and then, while they are doubling up their
machines as a _chevaux de frise_, shoots them from the cover of a
hay-stack at a thousand yards."

_Brigade-Major._ "But surely, sir, there must be some use in cycles
for military purposes. The French, for instance, use them almost
exclusively for carrying messages in their manoeuvres!"

_Brigadier._ "True for you. But then in France they have roads. Though
even with the best of roads there is a limit to their utility. Behind
an army they are excellent; in front of an army their value is still
problematical. Even down in Calvinia, where Burghers were scarce and
main roads fair, they rarely carried a message as safely and as
quickly as a mounted Kaffir. They are vulnerable all round from other
causes than the hazards of war. Machine vulnerable, man vulnerable,
and in a country like this, where the roads are not masked by
hedgerows, they furnish a kind of 'running-deer' to every Burgher
observation-post, and, as far as I can judge, an observation-post is
to be found on every kopje!"...

It will be seen from the above that the brigadier had no intention of
undertaking the wild-goose chase which had been proposed to him. The
missive which he had sent to Strydenburg had been cunningly
constructed. It ran: "Local information indicates that the invaders
have doubled back to the north, evidently with the object of
recrossing the Orange River. I am moving with all reasonable despatch
upon Hopeto