on.
On that evening the column again started off for a last long wearisome
tramp, the men, who had not been out of their clothes for a week, being
now ready to drop from sleeplessness and exhaustion. But valiantly they
held on. Not a word, not a grumble. All had confidence in General Yule
and his officers, who shared with the men every hardship and every
fatigue; each realised his individual duty to make the very best of a
very bad job, and pluckily kept heart till the last moment. Torrents of
rain fell, making the night into one vast immensity of slough and pool,
but the stumbling, straining left, right, left, right, of the retreating
men continued ceaselessly through the weary hours. On Thursday morning,
the 26th, to their intense relief, they found themselves at last in the
long-looked-for camp at Ladysmith.

The excitement of arrival was almost too much for the exhausted,
fainting troops, but the cheers that went up from a thousand throats
brought light to their sleep-starved eyes and warmth to their chilled
frames. There was rest at last--rest and safety, food and warm covering,
though of a more practical than artistic kind. The Devons--who had just
come grandly through the fight at Elandslaagte and looted the Boer camp
of innumerable saleable odds and ends--out of their newly-gained wealth
"stood treat." In the joy of their hearts each of the men subscribed
sixpence, and the gallant Dublin Fusiliers, the heroes of Glencoe, who,
all unwashed and unshorn, now looked like chimney-sweeps rather than the
warriors they were, were invited to a fine "square meal." It is
difficult to imagine the condition of those battered braves after their
week of hardship, fighting, and privation, and sticklers for etiquette
would have been shocked at the manners and customs enforced by warlike
conditions. One who dined with the Dundee column gave the following
graphic description of the luxurious repast:--

"To begin with, there was no sort of furniture either in the messroom or
the anteroom. If you wanted to sit down, you did so on the floor. We
each got hold of a large tin mug, and dipped it into a large tin
saucepan of soup and drank it, spoons not existing. A large lump of salt
was passed round, and every one broke off a piece with his fingers. Next
you clawed hold of a piece of bread and a chunk of tongue, and gnawed
first one and then the other--knives and forks there were none. This
finished the dinner. Add to this two or three