o-hand fighting, the night attacks, the charges up
precipitous hills, the retreats made carrying the wounded under constant
fire, which he witnessed and in which he bore his part, he never
again can see with the same fresh and enthusiastic eyes. Then it was
absolutely new, and the charm of the book and the value of the book are
that with the intolerance of youth he attacks in the service evils that
older men prefer to let lie, and that with the ingenuousness of youth he
tells of things which to the veteran have become unimportant, or which
through usage he is no longer even able to see.

In his three later war books, the wonder of it, the horror of it, the
quick admiration for brave deeds and daring men, give place, in "The
River War," to the critical point of view of the military expert, and
in his two books on the Boer war to the rapid impressions of the
journalist. In these latter books he tells you of battles he has seen,
in the first one he made you see them.

For his services with the Malakand Field Force he received the campaign
medal with clasp, and, "in despatches," Brigadier-General Jeffreys
praises "the courage and resolution of Lieutenant W. L. S. Churchill,
Fourth Hussars, with the force as correspondent of the _Pioneer_."

From the operations around Malakand, he at once joined Sir William
Lockhart as orderly officer, and with the Tirah Expedition went through
that campaign.

For this his Indian medal gained a second clasp.

This was in the early part of 1898. In spite of the time taken up as
an officer and as a correspondent, he finished his book on the Malakand
Expedition and then, as it was evident Kitchener would soon attack
Khartum, he jumped across to Egypt and again as a correspondent took
part in the advance upon that city.

Thus, in one year, he had seen service in three campaigns.

On the day of the battle his luck followed him. Kitchener had attached
him to the Twenty-first Lancers, and it will be remembered the event of
the battle was the charge made by that squadron. It was no canter, no
easy "pig-sticking"; it was a fight to get in and a fight to get out,
with frenzied followers of the Khalifa hanging to the bridle reins,
hacking at the horses' hamstrings, and slashing and firing point-blank
at the troopers. Churchill was in that charge. He received the medal
with clasp.

Then he returned home and wrote "The River War." This book is the last
word on the campaigns up the Nile. From the