any man; I am too fond of 'em all for that."

I went out after breakfast, and I gave him a leg up on to his very
sorry horse, which he sat like a tailor or a sailor. He held the
reins like tiller-lines, and indulged in a pleased smile at the
effect of the yellow boots.

"No great hand at this sort of thing," he said, with a nod of
farewell. "When the beast does anything out of the common, or
begins to make heavy weather of it, I AM NOT."

He ranged up alongside his beloved gun, and gave the word of command
with more dignity than he knew what to do with.

All that day I was employed in arranging quarters for the nurses.
To do this I was forced to turn some of our most precious stores out
into the open, covering them with a tarpaulin, and in consequence
felt all the more assured that my chief was making a great mistake.

At nine o'clock in the evening they arrived, one of the juniors
having ridden out in the moonlight to meet them. He reported them
completely exhausted; informed me that he had recommended them to go
straight to bed; and was altogether more enthusiastic about the
matter than I personally or officially cared to see.

He handed me a pencil note from my chief at headquarters, explaining
that he had not written me a despatch because he had nothing but a
"J" pen, with which instrument he could not make himself legible.
It struck me that he was suffering from a plethora of assistance,
and was anxious to reduce his staff.