DE WET AND TOMMY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7371, 24 January 1902, Page 4

DE WET AND TOMMY.

A GOOD TALE OF BROTHERHOOD IN WAR.

A good story of De Wet, just fresh from South Africa, has been immediately " commandeered " by an appreciative Express representative. Fart of the East Kent Regiment, soon after the abortive conference between Botha and Lord Kitchener, was engaged in pursuing the wily De Wet. Suddenly the guerilla chief turned on his pursuers and captured some of them after a hard fight. The Britishers, some of whom were badly wounded, were hurried along to the Boer hospital, where the wounded were put to bed, while their comrades who were sound in wind and limb were made hospital attendants.

On the second day De Wet and Botha visited the hospital. Botha was smoking a cigaretteV but De Wet had a huge pipe between his teeth. One of the East Kents jumped up in his bed, shook his fist at De Wet, and said : " You bloomin' Dutchman, you're the cause of this 1" De Wet took the pipe from between his teeth, and said : " You ought to think yourself lucky that you are allowed to lie there in peace, when there are better men than you and me out there fighting. Wait till you get well, and won't I lead you a dance 1" Then, turning to another East Kent, he said : " Can Ido anything for you ?" Tommy looked at De Wet in surprise ; then he promptly replied: "Yes, sir; give me a pipeful of 'bacca and a match." The Boer chief handed the soldier his pouch and a box of matches. Then he said : " You'll be released in a day or two."

A fortnight after the vory same soldier was engaged in tbe eternal chase of Be Wet, and had the hard luck to be captured a second time, after re ceiving a nasty wound in tbe forehead, which made him unconscious. He awoke after a while, and found De Wet binding his wound with his own handkerchief. Suddenly De Wee cried : " I've seen you before, haven't I ? Yes, you were the chap I caught the week before last. Well, don't you get caught again, because next time we might have no tobacco and no handkerchiefs."