trust in God could after the most trying days lie down and rest in
perfect peace. Even at his worst the British soldier is capable of
better things, and out there upon the veldt he has many a time thought
of God, and wondered what possibilities for good there were within him.
Going to the front has made a _new_ man of Tommy. It remains to be seen
whether in the easier times of peace the _old_ man will come back.




Chapter VIII

WITH LORD ROBERTS TO BLOEMFONTEIN


The advent of that splendid Christian soldier, Field-Marshal Lord
Roberts of Kandahar, put an entirely different face upon the war. He
came with a heavy sorrow resting upon him. His son had been struck down
at the front, earning, however, the Victoria Cross by a conspicuous act
of bravery before he died. He himself had by long service earned the
right to rest upon his laurels. He was an old man, but at the call of
duty he cheerfully left home and friends, and, with heart sore at his
great loss, went out to win for England the victory in South Africa. His
first thought was to send for Lord Kitchener, and when these two men
landed in South Africa England knew that all things possible would be
accomplished.

And surely their task was great. England's prestige had suffered
severely. Lord Methuen had fought at Belmont, Graspan, Modder River and
Magersfontein, but the enemy's entrenchments were apparently as strong