s at 94, Piccadilly; that the
house of Dudley rejoices in six stalwart sons; or that the officer
commanding the 9th Lancers is Colonel Little.

XXII

WE REPEL AN ATTACK AND JOIN FORCES WITH PLUMER

BUCK REEF FARM, _Monday, May 14th_.

A diary is the last place in which to indulge in prophecy; it preserves
too clearly the record of fallacy. In the last twenty-four hours have
been reversed all the expectations of those in charge of this column,
and even the direction of our march has been completely changed. My last
entry was made at midday yesterday, and at 2.30 we resumed the march
northwards, intending to reach a point ten miles distant at which there
was water. The road was very heavy, or rather there was no road at all,
the way lying over rough bush veldt, which consists of long, rank grass,
with thorn bushes at small intervals and hardwood trees at greater
distances--the whole something like an English paddock or park of young
trees, except, of course, for the grass. This was heavy going; the mules
were hot and tired, and the convoy trailed out and straggled; we spent
quite two hours in covering the first four miles.

I have said that the convoy straggled, and there were long intervals
between one part of it and the next. During one such interval, the
afternoon being very hot, I lay down under a tree and left my horse to
graze. A cloud of locusts flying high and beating the air with millions
of wings made a pleasant sound as of wind in a forest, and listening to
these and to the thousand other minute noises that proceed from the
insect life on a few square yards of veldt, I almost fell asleep. There
was not a sound from the column; you could not imagine a more peaceful
spot; and the obvious contrast between the purpose of this little army
and its present circumstances impressed me more vividly than ever. And
in less than half an hour from that moment of absolute peace the bullets
were hailing round us and the air was resonant with the boom of guns.
This is how it happened.

It was half-past three when I left the shade of the tree and joined
Colonel Mahon in front of the Horse Artillery, and at twenty minutes to
four we heard the sound of rifle-shots--three or four--to the
south-east. We had now got into a kind of wood in the bush, and here and
there could see beyond the edge of it eastwards towards a hillside that
sloped up from us to a ridge four miles away. On this ridge we could see
a cloud of dust