be "unhonoured and unsung." Think what it meant, you
who may read this, in years to come, in civilised places, comfortably
seated in your armchairs, conveniently near the cellaret, and,--honour
our brave! They had at least two days to face (with no prospect of
obtaining supplies anywhere) and they discovered, here, that _the case
of whisky was lost,_ left behind, vanished--they knew not what, only
that it had disappeared!

Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs not to moan or sigh,
E'en though their throats were dry,
Noble "Tacuruers"!

True, the comforting thought that they still had a bottle and a-half of
the precious drink with them may have helped them to keep their spirits
up with the hope of pouring spirits down, but a bottle and a-half is
not much amongst so many thirsty souls for three days, and, we repeat,
that great courage and bravery was shown by the equanimity with which
the party bore the news of their loss.

A minor loss was that the dinner napkins were not forthcoming, but that
surprised no one, for they were in the charge of The Kid, and, of
course, she had forgotten them at Lucero. We believe she said something
about their being "left to be washed" there, but no one listened to her,
and we used glass cloths instead.

At our first camp evening meal everyone did justice to the goods that
The Chaperon provided. Coffee was not forgotten, and, after their
dinner, the more musical members of the band tried to sing--it kept the
mosquitoes off--and when "a catch" was attempted even the bicho colorado
was cowed into silence. We had looked forward to hearing the guitar
played by one of the peons here. He had brought his instrument with him,
but, unfortunately, had dropped a large packing case upon it, which did
not improve its tone, and this accident prevented our hearing the
national dances played on a guitar in the open camp as we had hoped to
do.

Weary with the exertions of the day the party turned their thoughts and
steps early towards those tents where rows of little bedsteads, each
with its mosquito net above, looked so attractively inviting, and before
long lights were out and peace reigned as far as possible.

"Thus done the Vales to bed they creep,
By whispering winds soon lulled asleep."

Guards were set and they, with Monte, were left to protect the horses
and camp through the night.

CORRESPONDENCE.

_March 31st, 1910._

SIR,

I feel that, a