Thus night by night, in the tent and in the open air, Christ was
preached. Perhaps, however, the most blessed of all the services were
the meetings of Christian soldiers upon the veldt. Here and there among
Mr. Burgess's letters one chances on such passages as this:--

'At 7.30 p.m. eight of us went a little distance from the tents
into the veldt, and read the fifteenth chapter of St. John's
Gospel together, and knelt down on the grass, and had a happy time
in prayer. The lads got back to their tents in time for the first
post, when the roll is called.'

Such records as these give us a glimpse of the Christian soldier's life
at once beautiful and pathetic. Such intercourse must have been of the
sweetest character; and, far away from home and friends, they drew very
near to God.

For weeks from this time Mr. Burgess's letters are full of stories of
conversion. Now a corporal that he chats with at the close of a hard
day's work, now the trumpeter of the regiment, now several together at
the close of an open-air service. Thus all workers rejoiced together in
ever continued success, and the greatest joy of all--the joy of
harvest--was theirs.

But the time of inactivity was over. For weeks reinforcements had been
gathering, and the chaplains' work had covered a larger area. It was now
time to strike their tents and march. But this unfortunate column was
unfortunate still. With the memory of the disaster to the Northumberland
Fusiliers at Stormberg still in their minds they marched forward, only
to meet with fresh disaster at Reddersburg.