said Mr Hunter.
"But first of all, pass me another cigar, Jack, and shout to Tom Thumb
for some more of this stuff. It's rather dry work giving you a yarn of
this length."

Tossing away the stump of his old cigar, Mr Hunter carefully selected
another, and having lit it and gulped down a few mouthfuls of
lemon-squash, he placed his feet on the rail of the verandah, leant back
in his comfortable chair, and proceeded with his narrative.

"Wilfred knows all about it, of course," he commenced, "but I dare say
you'll be surprised to hear, Jack, that I was once a soldier of the
Queen. That is to say, I was a gunner with my battery in Africa when
the Boer troubles first began. I look comfortable and fat enough now, I
think you'll agree, and I'm doing as well in the world as I could wish;
but the fact remains that I was once a soldier. I had been a reckless
and restless lad at home in England, and rather than settle down in
trade as a grocer's assistant, I donned the queen's uniform. And let me
tell you, my boys, the army is by far the best place for all such
youngsters as I was. It's a kind of big school where those who like can
climb up the rungs of the ladder, and find themselves, when they go back
to civil life, in far better positions than they might otherwise have
occupied. It does not matter who or what you were before you 'listed;
it's each for himself, and it is the smart, sober lad, who is respectful
and knows his work, who gets promotion to the non-commissioned rank.

"But I'm talking of the Boer War. Well, my battery of six guns was sent
up into Natal, with about 870 men, mostly of the 58th Regiment and the
60th Rifles, with a few of the 2nd Scots Fusiliers and a Naval Brigade,
all under Sir George Pomeroy Colley. We joined hands at Newcastle, some
thirty miles south of Laing's Nek, and marched up there on January 26th,
forming camp at Mount Prospect, three miles from the slopes of the
Drakenberg range, where the Boers were known to be in force.

"Now I am not going to tell you every incident of the engagements we
fought. The memory of three successive defeats is too painful, but to
make matters clear to you I will just mention each in turn.

"Laing's Nek was the first, and on that fatal day we marched out of camp
and up the rugged and zigzag road which leads to the pass of that name.
On either side of us some 1500 Boers were posted, and we attacked those
on the right. Our gallant boys of the 60th Rif