are
to the Military Offices, and in a few minutes was shown into his room. He
informed me that he had been unable to arrange with the Government to
raise the nucleus of the Permanent Artillery Force which was required to
take charge of the lately constructed Fort Glanville, and that, as a
matter of fact, the contractors had asked for an extension of the time
for its final handing over to the Government. He had, however, pointed
out the necessity for a duly qualified Staff Instructor to be appointed
to the Volunteer Force. Several new units had been formed throughout the
colony. The localities in which the units had been raised were far
distant from the headquarters at Adelaide, and, unless the services of
some such Staff Instructor were made available, it could not be expected
that they could be held together. The Government had considered his
recommendation and had approved of it. He had, therefore, recommended me
for the position, pending the raising of the artillery unit, and he had
that morning been notified that his recommendation had met with their
approval.

"I have much pleasure," he said, "in telling you this. I have been
watching your work, while you have been in the police, and instructing
them, with keen interest, and, I am satisfied that you are quite capable
of carrying out the duties attached to your new appointment. I have seen
Mr. Peterswald, your Commissioner, and he is quite prepared to grant you
your discharge from the police. Please arrange to see him, and tell him
that I sent you, because I would like you to start your new duties from
the first of the year."

I have wondered, ever since that fateful interview with the general,
whether there is such a thing as second sight, or--to put it another way,
whether a person is permitted at times to have a glimpse into the future.
While the general was talking to me, and as soon as he told me that his
recommendation had been approved of, and that the appointment was
actually made, I was looking at him sitting in his chair at his office
desk, and I thought that I saw myself sitting in that very chair,
actually in his place, as Commandant of South Australia. The vision was a
passing one, but I well remember being seized with a determination to do
all I could to make that vision come true. As will be seen later on, it
did come true, and in much shorter time than I or anybody else could have
possibly expected.

I at once, in accordance with the general's wis