HOME AGAIN!

THE EjM? Of A PERIOD; (By EDGAR WALLACE, in the "Daily Mail.")- --' : . . *T r T;'- ■ ■ ■'- Even as unrelenting fate, Sp. does Smij:hy! dog my footsteps. .: I leave him at Heilbrori guarding stores, .and two days later Ma Strident Voice-h'Sils'-mfe sonmyherer between) Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp, with a de* mahd fpr "pipers." I was; npt surprised, therefore, . pn bpardr ing the good ship Dunottar Castle to discover the pensive Smithy-Mlo longer a common soldier, but- ofiicer^s servant, -vvith ri^htj tp wear mufti — hpldipg forth, to a confrere p?i the blessings of. home }\fe as cpm_>aredl with life on the veldt, Kitchener as a strategist and De Wet as a fighter. '• ? Ome ! Think of it, cocky," said Sputhy* ecstatically, "no, more trek,; dio more biscuit an' J berf, rib more 'pa Wettin', but. breakfast in bed, and a pm** At CVefy cpirner!" . -•* y v ALIi OF f HfiM HAPPY. There were 380 Smithies on board, hot all as^lpquent as niy iriend, hu|*,^er*Y,manj as hgppyXX I watched tfeem troop i^tjpar^; froni 'the Vantage place of the upper deck. Tanned, hardened, Tfiry Ujttle men, release^ from work, released frpm scnppl-rr-that %rd, hard* school where the art of taking cover and sleeping cofnfprtahly in thje rain is taught in the kindiergartent stage. : And they were going towk to England. " Think" oi it !" To. jijtiglaod, where you peopje live and work $n4 play -vfithout ever thinking ybu are doing tfropderiul things in «.wpn-r derfui country.:; It was; th4ir.-;r«ward/ othat tih.ey. might be allowed, to do and. He what you are /doing and what you have been unconscious of— -vonr blessed privileges. - There was a nian on; thi quarter-deck* ita kharki, with heavy gold lacing on the peak] 1 of his cap. A nice, comfortable, (handsome gentleman, ;*a^little indHriedi- to -Sfotitn^ss.. The Tommies on Ijrard did nptkijbw hiaffi because they had never served mider' him. Smithy knew* ihim/ind' cbnm^cated tha hews to the troop deck, andr four days "Oiit Smithy, acting as a sort bf deputation ffrinlj ".forrard/'waited-on me with .the qhestdony "Is Charlfey K^o* to get* a bjg fecepfioh at Southampton?'' - I opined not, and Smithy wai bitter". ~ " 'Cos 'p- ain't hiade a song about ■fvhai*' 'p'e done '!ikerr : -— "said Smithy. The generic officer heme^ipi^ would not for the world name. " .y : >; DOESN'T ADVERTISE. ' " Oan't you put something in the paper about 'im f - asked Smithy A almost ; tearfully, fop the men vibo served uiMer ; Enoi are very jealous for thwirgeneral. I prpmis* cd. Writ you kindly insert this? General Sir Chas.' Knpx, . K.C.B.i is the best of our younger generals. He has v?on) his way to the honour tpat hav6 been bestowed uppn hini by courage, en^ura-hcet and Idgh n__itaury qualities. He doesn't \ care tFppehce-fSr. the buttemg. of ne-«srs-pji'per~cbrr^ip^'3ehts, Und, as the '~t£Psi wpiulcß sound" like fulspnie flattery, I. will liefraitt, my dear pursuing the subject. -Suffice -that he captured more j-pons than.any other general, and, never got! his portrait into a bipg'japbjseries. -.-: There were .other men cf %"* Knox Stamp op bpgird, and th»lr ppcuphtinns were vari--ous.. Capper, for instance. Ypu know v Capperf-Who floggpd the rebels back from the edge of Gape ' Town. Capper spent his time in taking the sun with ai sextant and working out impossible longitudes. Once, off Sierra Leone, he made the alarming discovery that we were thirty miles inland! TPJS QTHEftS THERE. ..'. Then there was Ewart-r-colone in the Army, and kindly gentleman wherever he bey Ewart, in canvas slippers, doing nothing \& ]ter^i<mUtt"s rpadjag a littlb, talking a little, is not the Ewart I saw in December, 1899, bririgmg'J&Ck the battered ranks of the Highland Brigade from Magersfontein, the nkn who that early morning groped blindly forward* in tho daaftylifr only by th^' threads of fir^thiit; darted frrfitt the Boers' front- tranches- ahd^he fitful summer light-fogs' behiiid the Iboinirig kdpj_3. "Not thb Ewart that stumbled in the' trenches seeking his dying chief what time Wauchope fell among his Highlanders. A strange change this from that horrible field, blpjtk, sodden, 'X carpeted Mth Ifrritbirig men, frtinkinjg with -cPrdite - and humming with bullets,' to this graceful ship, slipping -so easily o*vbr the sunny Seas. - • -' '■"'- Here is a man in pince-nez gravely bending over a r cheiss-b'o&di- *■ "He" was with Methireri afc Tweeb'oSch, and could tell you things about irregular -cavalry. His opponent was a prisoner of -De Wet, land lived 'on ihealie pap for two months. He; at^any rate, is not an enthusiastic pro-Boer. Burly and bluff, a typical 'country gentleman', SpensV revives the' glory of HsmpShire OTcket Tfith' an oakum ball on a 20ft pitch, soldier •'and-geheratbfl-oeri- coiflpaiqr officet'ahd'' jilnSSr "snbaltern,oft*fy"'' ivotfe : is done, and how well do"&T~ - ~~ * '".' ," SQ^ffpl^ W& Hp*^lE. ,, It is hoftie r A chilly epp^gh ©Orning, , wij-j| ioijr-lyipg lanidpn the. "port jbpjv, and\a ydlotv/jjght glaring f^termittejutly front a slip Of land to sjtarbpard. A hundred snp\vy se{b-gulis sadlipg placidly in the wake of the shiprrr^' feathery escort for. the hbmewardbpun.d Wfrgprs who ftopk tp the sides and to the fp'c'sle head'for'a' gifinpse of gyeen. 'I^e engines s}pw and stopr— * dead stillness, #nd then a sWver.from bow to stenj.as they are reversed. ~ A little bpat dances ,py«r the grjey latere, a little.. T^oat with a yellpw Ught, and a rope ladder drpps over ppr side. A silenpe, "and.. then the beat of the prppeijer — the pilot -is aboard. And so past the' Needles, -white and solegrtn in the earjy light. The channel narrp\ra, and' half-speec". becomee qu^rter^speed. Houses on both banks,, and tiny ys-chts lying at anchor,, till p. bend brings in vicFf *. dozen steam yachts lying bp-w tp stepi, and in the centre a hlack two-fuifpellecl vessel of peculiar shape. A man.-p'.-wap ,^l'oat. and alo^f . A black, •flat majs of metal brc^iling bij the vvatenf. In lierLs^addy angtl*^" A l a ?8? !£s£ — blajck\ p Aioio x with .%-eie flaast?. Ihree masts- , that fly^ . thjee. fla>gs. We jppve jjbresst ,and "?wing rpund to port. TtO^fp. cpmef pi^r ensien slpwry— we arp dipping a salute to the W^ck yach.t-. .., , , ; . , , rV , , Through your glasses you gee the flag : she flies. Ait is the Royal Sj^-pdard, aijd VAtkins gazpswith, reverence. "'• ».' ' Smithy tpjiche's my eIbPTT. "TJiis, is ; som«thing like home," he Tfhrspe*rt, husk-, ily. ''Gppd~ old England! I-^I wbnd^r how -tlie King is?"