direction, and I had some
exciting walks to and fro, very often alone, but sometimes accompanied
by any chance visitor. One morning Major Tracy and I had just got across
the railway-line, when we heard the loading bell, and immediately there
was a _sauve qui pent_ among all the niggers round us, who had been but
a moment before lolling, sleeping, and joking, in their usual fashion.
Without losing our dignity by joining in the stampede, we put our best
foot forward, and scurried along the line till we came to some large
coal-sheds, where my companion made me crawl under a very low arch, he
mounting guard outside. In this strange position I remained while the
shell came crashing over us, a bad shot, and continued its course away
into the veldt. Another evening the same officer was escorting me to the
institute, and, as all had been very quiet that afternoon, we had not
taken the precaution of keeping behind the railway buildings, as was my
usual custom. We were in the middle of an open space, when suddenly an
outburst of volleys from the Boer trenches came as an unpleasant
surprise, and the next moment bullets were falling behind us and even
in front of us, their sharp ring echoing on the tin roofs. On this
occasion, as the volleys continued with unabated vigour, I took to my
heels with a view to seeking shelter; but Major Tracy could not be moved
out of a walk, calling out to me I should probably run into a bullet
whilst trying to avoid it. My one idea being to get through the zone of
fire, I paid no attention to his remonstrances, and soon reached a safe
place. The Boers only learnt these detestable volleys from our troops,
and carried them out indifferently well; but the possibility of their
occurrence, in addition to the projectiles from "Creechy," added greatly
to the excitement of an evening stroll, and we had many such episodes
when walking abroad after the heat of the day.

In January, Gordon was laid up by a very sharp attack of peritonitis,
and was in bed for over a week in my bomb-proof, no other place being
safe for an invalid, and the hospital full to overflowing. When he began
to mend, I unfortunately caught a chill, and a very bad quinsy sore
throat supervened. I managed, however, to go about as usual, but one
afternoon, when I was feeling wretchedly ill, our hospital attendant
came rushing in to say that a shell had almost demolished the
convalescent home, and that, in fact, only the walls were standing. Th