bits; next day a Boer shell fell plump into a party of Lancers and
killed four horses. On another occasion more than fifty shells--so I
heard--fell round the 4.7 gun, and although the gunners were compelled
to seek cover the gun was absolutely uninjured.

Apart from this interchange of artillery fire the camp was undisturbed.
The trenches were of course manned day and night, but spare time was
filled up to some extent by various games. Goal posts were visible here
and there, and Lord Methuen had offered a challenge cup for "soccer"
football, the ties of which were being keenly contested.

We took on board a fresh load of sick and wounded men--chiefly the
former--bound for Wynberg hospital. Just before we left I walked a
hundred yards from the line and saw the graves of Colonel Downman,
Lieutenant Campbell, Lieutenant Fox, and a Swede called, I think, Olaf
Nilsen. The graves were marked by simple wooden crosses: those who were
enemies in life lay side by side in the gentle keeping of Death, the
Healer of Strife, for so the Greeks of old time loved to call him.

Soon after leaving the Modder the sky grew black with clouds, the birds
hid themselves from view and the veldt-cricket ceased from his
monotonous chirrup. Then all at once the storm burst upon us. The
lightning played incessantly and sheets of rain blotted out the kopjes
and the veldt from view. It was in weather like this that our poor
fellows advanced through the darkness upon the Magersfontein trenches!

At Orange River we halted for some time, and somebody suggested a snake
hunt in the scrub, but no one seemed very keen about this form of sport.
The "ringhals" in the veldt are very deadly. I remember speaking to a
Kaffir about them and asking him if he had known of any fatal bites. He