many
voices.

And so we went driving along again through a wonderful sea of deep blue
rollers jousting on a grey ground. It did not yet appear where we should
go or what would be our lot; to-night or to-morrow we should know; but
to-day it was enough that the sun shone and that the waters were wide.

V

SCENES AT CAPE TOWN

When at last the _Kinfauns Castle_ carried us on a sunny evening out of
blue emptiness into Cape Town harbour and dumped us down on dry land,
about thirty of us who were on our way to the front took elaborate
farewells--only to meet again twelve hours later in the vestibule at
headquarters.

No one was in the least excited by our arrival. If we were special
service men, we were told that there were no instructions for us, and
that we had better turn up three or four times a day and look at the
order-board. If we were correspondents, heads were shaken, and
smooth-spoken people with stars and crowns on their shoulder-straps said
they doubted very much whether Lord Roberts would grant any more passes.
If we were nobodies who had come out (with more or less direct
encouragement from the officials) in the hope of getting commissions, we
were turned away like tramps, and told that there was "nothing for us."
It was all rather flattening and dispiriting.

When we turned up again at headquarters next morning we found the place
empty but for a Kaffir charwoman snuffling over her brushes: Lord
Roberts gone, Lord Kitchener gone, all the staff gone, stolen away like
thieves in the night, gone "to the front." No one was left in authority,
no one knew anything about us; so we went to the barracks and worried
irresponsible officers who would have moved heaven and earth for us if
they could, but they "had no instructions." At last, in a remote corner
of the barrack buildings, someone discovered a major who was in charge
of the Intelligence Department. Didn't we all fall upon him like birds
of prey! In half an hour the telegraph that connected Cape Town with the
Commander-in-Chief was thrilling all our wants northward; in six hours
half the special service men were flying about the town collecting
sardines and whisky and ink; in twenty-four hours only a few of us were
left, still worrying the unfortunate major. Then the wires began to come
back from Lord Roberts saying that no licence must be granted to this
man and that; that there were more than enough correspondents at the
front; and at this news s