On arriving at Orange River we carried our load of wounded to the base
hospital. I wish some of those well-meaning enthusiasts in Trafalgar
Square who clamoured for war could have viewed the interior of these
hospital tents and seen the poor twisted forms lying on the ground in
every direction. What a stupid and brutal thing war is! Certainly the
alleged "bringing out of our nobler qualities" is dearly purchased! If a
superior national type is the outcome of all this death and pain and
misery, War, like Nature, seems at any rate utterly "careless of the
single life"!

The battle of Magersfontein has been frequently described in the Press
and the main outlines of the fight are already well known to the public.
The Highland Brigade, consisting of the Black Watch, Argyll and
Sutherland Highlanders, Seaforths and Highland Light Infantry, had
dinner on Sunday at 12. They then marched from 2 to 7.30 P.M., when they
bivouacked. They advanced again at 11 P.M. in quarter column through the
darkness, using ropes to keep the direction and formation intact. At
3.30 the order to extend had just been given when a murderous fire was
suddenly poured into the Brigade from the first line of Boer trenches at
the foot of a large kopje. Our men had already seen two red lanterns
burning at either extremity of this entrenched position. All at once the
lamp on the left of the line was extinguished, and this seemed to be
the signal for the Boer riflemen to commence fire. The light was so
bad--in fact there was scarcely any light at all--that it was impossible
to see the foresight of a rifle clearly. How were the Boers able to
discern our approaching columns? One very intelligent boy in the Black
Watch told me that he thought the "wild-fire"--the summer lightning
which plays over the veldt--showed up the approaching troops. Others who
were present stated that the Kimberley flash-light did the mischief, and
a sergeant who marched in the rear of the brigade told me that he could