s you could see at home.

"But mark my words, you chaps. The Boers are getting restless.
Reinforcements are being hurried up-country to Buller, besides extra
guns, and they know very well that he is only getting everything ready
before making another--and let us hope this time successful--attempt.
Their aim and object is to capture this camp before he comes. They are
getting desperate, for to fail to take us will make them the
laughing-stock of the world. But an assault is distasteful to the Boer.
Nothing goes so much against his grain, unless perhaps it is a British
bayonet. But he will try it, and when he does we shall have our work
cut out. There, now you know all about it, and if you hurry up and get
strong, Jack, you'll be able to take a hand in the affair."

"Well, I feel almost fit for a tussle now," Jack laughed, "and if the
camp is assaulted you may be sure I shall get hold of a rifle somehow
and join in the fun."

"I'm sure you will," Rawlings answered heartily. "Such a fire-eater as
you are would be certain to be somewhere in it. But come along to our
mess and lunch. They can spare you from the hospital for once, and I
don't suppose it matters much what you eat, now that you are up and
about."

Jack accepted the invitation, and much enjoyed it, for it was the first
time he had had a repast out of hospital since he came to Ladysmith.
After lunch he was given a big chair and a large cigar, and ordered to
tell the story of the defence of the farmhouse near Kimberley.

He obeyed the order, and had to put up with a good deal of good-natured
chaff. Then he drove off with Guy and Rawlings to the football ground.

It was an exciting and fast game, and was closely contested, there being
little to choose between the smart riflemen and the brawny Highlanders.
The whole camp was there to look on, and evidently the Boers were also
watching through their field-glasses, for in the midst of a severe
tussle, and when the two sides were grouped close together, there was a
screaming noise overhead, and a huge Creuzot shell plunged into the
middle of them, narrowly missing one man's head, and buried itself deep
in the ground.

Instantly the umpire's whistle sounded, and he shouted: "Half-time,
boys!"

A roar of laughter followed, and all the players decamped hastily and
threw themselves on the ground. A second later there was a muffled
roar, sand and earth were driven in all directions, and a large fragment
o