bandolier, and a rifle; and lads in their teens affected one-and-twenty
with the _sang froid_ of one-and-forty. Camp life, and, mayhap, a little
fighting, would be a novelty--for three weeks. Certain employers were at
first disposed to keep their employees exclusively to the work they
engaged them to perform; but the most obtuse among the captains of
industry were soon made to realise that such an attitude, if persisted
in, would scarcely pay. This truth was brought home to them so forcibly
that they forthwith developed the fighting spirit, and became the most
blood-thirsty entities in, the service of the Queen. All were needed,
and When afterwards a merchant found himself "officered" by his
_factotum_, he enjoyed (after a fleeting spasm); the humour of the
revolution as much as anybody.

The manner in which the drills were muddled through at the beginning was
primitive and amusing. The agony depicted on the faces of the "raw"; the
_hauteur_ of the seasoned campaigner; the blunders of the clerks; the
leggings of the lieutenants: made spectators risk martial law and laugh
in the face of it. Ever and anon, the butt of a rifle would come in
contact with some head other than that of him who carried the gun, and
the victim--not the assailant--would be sharply reprimanded for omitting
to "stand at ease." The marching and the turning movements were comical,
too; but practice did much to make perfect the amateur soldiers in
mufti. They, naturally, desired a little target practice. With many of
them experience in the use of arms had been limited to a snowball, a
pop-gun, or a bird-sling; and they were not only dubious of their
marksmanship, but fearful that their rifles in the rough and tumble of
war's realities would "kick" to pieces their 'prentice shoulders. The
authorities, however, could not allow ammunition to be wasted; it might
all be needed for actual warfare. This only tended to make the men
anxious to try conclusions with the Boers--or, better still, the foreign