but certainly the improper bullets were very numerous. I have a specimen
of this particular kind by me as I write, and I am informed by people
who shoot big game that it is the most severe bullet of its kind yet
invented. Five other sorts have been collected by the medical officers,
who have also tried to classify the wounds they respectively produce.

I cannot be accused of having written unfairly about the enemy; indeed,
I have only cared to write what I thought was the truth about everybody.
I have tried to do justice to the patriotic virtues of the Boers, and it
is now necessary to observe that the character of these people reveals,
in stress, a dark and spiteful underside. A man--I use the word in its
fullest sense--does not wish to lacerate his foe, however earnestly he
may desire his life.

The popping of musketry made me hasten to rejoin my regiment. The
squadron of mounted infantry had reached Pieters Railway Station, only
to be heavily fired on from a low hill to the westward; and they now
came scampering back with half a dozen riderless horses. Happily, the
riders mostly arrived on foot after a few minutes. But it was evidently
necessary to push forward very carefully. Indeed, it is hard to imagine
how pursuits will occur in future war. A hundred bold men with magazine
rifles on a ridge can delay a whole army. The cavalry must reconnoitre
and retire. Infantry and guns must push forward. Meanwhile the beaten
troops are moving steadily to safety.

In a little while--to revert to the narrative--the horse artillery
battery came up, and the offending hill was conscientiously shelled for
an hour. Then the patrols crept forward again, but progress was
necessarily slow. We were still six miles from Ladysmith at three
o'clock.

At this hour the Boer ambulances had been invited to come for such of
their wounded as could be moved, for since the enemy returned our
wounded from Spion Kop we have followed the practice of sending back
theirs on all occasions should they prefer it.

Anxious to find out the impression produced on the Boers by the late
actions, I hastened to meet the ambulances, which, preceded by three
horsemen carrying a large white flag, were now coming from the direction
of Bulwana. They were stopped at our cavalry picket line, and a report
of their arrival was sent back to the nearest brigadier. Their leader
was a fine old fellow of the genuine veldt Boer type. He spoke English
fluently, and we wer