own troops. I reported
myself at headquarters, saw Grierson and asked him, as a special favour,
not to give me the charge of any more supply columns in the near future.
He was kind enough to give me a short note from Lord Roberts, personally
thanking me for the good result of the two special jobs he entrusted to
my care from the time he had left Bloemfontein.

[Illustration: Viscount Kitchener in Field-Marshal's Uniform]

After the Battle of Belfast, about August 25, the organization of the
brigade was practically broken up, and there was no further necessity for
the special post to which I had been appointed as Chief of the Staff for
Overseas Colonials. On Lord Roberts' departure for England I left in the
ss. _Moravian_ for Adelaide, making my ninth voyage across the world.

CHAPTER XIII

SOME SOUTH AFRICAN REMINISCENCES

I never enjoyed better health than I did during the twelve months when
the hard veldt was my bed and the deep, dark, starry night was the roof
over my head. No one can wish for a more healthy climate than that of the
Orange River Colony during the dry season. I was only twice hit; once
near Karree Siding when a pom-pom shell burst just under my horse and
took off the heel of one of my boots; the second time a sniper's bullet
went through my coat sleeve without touching me. But I was unfortunate
otherwise. One night I was riding along the veldt on a horse which had
been presented to me when I left Adelaide by a friend of mine, one of the
best horsemen in South Australia, Stephen Ralli, which we had christened
Bismarck. We suddenly came to the edge of a dry donga with, of course,
rotten sides. Down we had to go, and down we went. For a moment I had no
idea whether we were being flung into a river or into a dry channel. It
happened to be a dry channel, some sixteen feet deep and about the same
width. We hit the bottom hard. I was sent rolling off, Bismarck fell on
his head and broke his neck, turning over on his side. I picked myself up
and could find no bones broken, and I called out to some of my men who
had seen us disappear and had halted on the edge. They were glad to hear
me call out. The question was then, how to get out of the donga. The
banks were steep. So, unhooking the horses out of one of the Cape carts,
they joined up the traces and I was safely hauled up. I did not for some
time afterwards really feel any ill results from my fall. In fact I had
forgotten all about it. But, lat