nspired
during the defence of the armoured train, that I am compelled to
explain. Besides the soldiers of the Dublin Fusiliers and Durban Light
Infantry who had been captured, there were also eight or ten civilians,
including a fireman, a telegraphist, and several men of the breakdown
gang. Now it seems to me that according to international practice and
the customs of war, the Transvaal Government were perfectly justified in
regarding all persons connected with a military train as actual
combatants; indeed, the fact that they were not soldiers was, if
anything, an aggravation of their case. But the Boers were at that time
overstocked with prisoners whom they had to feed and guard, and they
therefore announced that the civilians would be released as soon as
their identity was established, and only the military retained as
prisoners.

In my case, however, an exception was to be made, and General Joubert,
who had read the gushing accounts of my conduct which appeared in the
Natal newspapers, directed that since I had taken part in the fighting I
was to be treated as a combatant officer.

Now, as it happened, I had confined myself strictly to the business of
clearing the line, which was entrusted to me, and although I do not
pretend that I considered the matter in its legal aspect at the time,
the fact remains that I did not give a shot, nor was I armed when
captured. I therefore claimed to be included in the same category as the
civilian railway officials and men of the breakdown gang, whose
declared duty it was to clear the line, pointing out that though my
action might differ in degree from theirs, it was of precisely the same
character, and that if they were regarded as non-combatants I had a
right to be considered a non-combatant too.

To this effect I wrote two letters, one to the Secretary of War and one
to General Joubert; but, needless to say, I did not indulge in much hope
of the result, for I was firmly convinced that the Boer authorities
regarded me as a kind of hostage, who would make a pleasing addition to
the collection of prisoners they were forming against a change of
fortune. I therefore continued to search for a path of escape; and
indeed it was just as well that I did so, for I never received any
answer to either of my applications while I was a prisoner, although I
have since heard that one arrived by a curious coincidence the very day
_after_ I had departed.

While I was looking about for means, a