CAPTAIN SENTIMENTAL AND THE BABY

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1510, 7 February 1901, Page 11

CAPTAIN SENTIMENTAL AND THE BABY

(By Edgar Jepson, in the “Strand 1 .”; When the Transvaal war broke out six of us irregulars were up in Montsioa’s country recovering cattle stolen from a farmer on the northern border of Bechuanaland ; and for our sins Captain Ssntitimantal himself had come in command of us. Despenser had given him the name after overhearing hi mi oner night, when he was on sentry-go, talking aboutwomen to Captain Warrender, of the Mounted Police*, whom he had dined. Bospfenser> said that he had never heard such shrivelling and sulphurous talk; it had made him feel squeamish—which was very hard to believe —and should have blighted etvery woman within ten miles. He gave us a few examples .of it, and when he said that Captain Sentimental was his name, we felt that he was right. Before that we had called Kim Captain Satan, sometimes the devil for short, for many reasons, most of them good. He was a big black man, the blackest white man I ever saw: his skin was white enough when, he turned his sleeves up; but his face and neck and hands and wrists burned in the hot weather to as dark a brown as you can imagine; his .eyes were black, and his hair, moustache! and beard were coalblack.

For all his blackness he was of a neatness that in a campaign or on an expedition was truly diabolical; no matter liow rough the work, or how long it had lasted, you always saw him with his hair short, his beard neatly clipped to a point, and his hands fit for a dinner at Marlborough House; and Jam, his Kaffir boy, would brush at him while he smoked his pipe at night and his first pipe in the morning, till he started the day witn the cleanest uniform and boots in thel expedition. His temper was, if anything, blacker than his face; he was for ever bully-rag-ging us ■ he hazed us perpetually with hundreds of needless little jobs, and 'Cohdition; he took ten times as much care of our hordes as he did of us, and told us so. He had a civiU'word for anyone : he never smiled ; and the only man who had ever hehrd his laugh, said that he never wanted to hear it again. But after Despener told Baring, Urquhart, and me, of his talk about women, we called him Captain Sentimental, and grinned at his temper. He might grind out the rasping, unfair jeers which made the hardest-bitten old roustabout in the squadron souirm, at us, and we only grinned. \Vee knewe all about women; we had been there) ourselves, poor beggars. _ , , ~ _ But lie was a leader. He had the tinest knack of nursing ms command and bringing it fitter into action than any other, xac knew the exact moment when to let 'us out to hit our hardest, and when to draw us gently out of a tight place. Anu when we did come out, w© knew that we haa done every bit of damage possible. Nothing else could have induced a squadron of such wastrels to stand his hazing. , , By the last days of October we had gathered into our camp, a head or two at a time, the stolen cattle, and ' were feeding them up and resting them tor the! long journey south. We had nine prisoners whom Cstptftin Sentimental proposed to take back with him to civilisation, because he held that a civilised flogging with the proper ceremonies was better reported, and more soothing to the tribes, tnan a flogging ten times as severe at the hack-end of the world. He had been away from us for some days, shooting big game with a chiefir, and his absence had not damped our spirits. One morning he rode* into camp with Jam, just as we had finished grooming our horses; remed up before us, and said, dropping out his words one by one as though they were! too good to* waste on suohas us, “Scum of the world —his pretty way of addressing us— the Transvaal and Free State have declared war against England!’ aT , We shouted, and he went on, 1 m go ing to let the tranckers try and drive thl cattle back-not that they can And I’m going to take you* to Mafeking. Be 6ffl We shouted again, rushed to fill our haversacks and water bottles, and ... minutes were) in our saddles, and rid g slowly south. We did not even wait to punish the prisoners. We raged at the pace Captain Sentimental set; buttheie) was very little grass, and any hard work would sigrely founder our horses. VVe talked and talked of the war, where the fighting would be, what it would be like, and how long it would last. By noon on the third day we had' gone some seventy miles, and expeteted to reach the Melono River next morning, when we should find more fodder, and, therefore, faster going. On the day before w© had x>as3eatwo or three kraals, and 1 found them humming like angry beehives. It looked as if trouble was brewing; but the niggers

did not go beyond yelling at us. About noon w© were riding up a long stony ridge, hoping to see beyond it a likely shady place for our midday meal, when there came over it the sound of rifle shots and yelling. “Open order!’' shouted Captain Sentimental, and led us at a hand-gallop to the top of the ridge. We looked down the farther slope on «i waggon surrounded by a hundred joyful, yelling niggers looting it. “This is the kind of derviiry I’ve been looking for,” Captain Sentimental growled savagely. “Pick your men! Six hundred yards! Fire! ” We fired a volley, which bowled rvtr three or four.; the others yelled, and began to fire at us. We knew their shooting : they could not have hit a liner at the distance, and we walked our horses quietly down the ridge, halting every few yards to fire. Before we had gone a hundred and! fifty yards we had them on the run; we quickened our pace to a trot, and then to a, canter that we might keep them at a* comfortable range, and we clotted! their line of flight with sprawling bodies. As we passed the waggon Captain Sentimental called to me to look to it. I cantered up to it, the common, well-worn and rather rickety waggon of th© small trader, and, as I pulled up, heard the wailing of a baby. The oxen, out-spanned, weire scattered over the plain; by a newly-kindled fire lay the bodies of the trader and two Kaffir drivers, riddled with bullets from a shallow donga sixty yards away, where the! ambush hadl lain.

I dismounted:, and looked into the waggon. A glance showed me tlisbody of a woman huddled in the far corner, her head half-severed from her body, among the folds of a roll of bright blue, cloth, which the niggers had unwound; and across her feet lay a little baby, screaeming. I climbed into the waggon, swearing under my breath, but fully. It smelt like a butcher's shop m hot weather, and I wanted to get out rf it, quickly. I picked up the child and climbed down with it. It screamed dismally, wriggling. I stood looking about, feel ! *:g sick, when Captain Sentimental came trot.ting up with thel others. “Any cue left alive ?” he cried.

“Only a baby, sir,” I answered. He pulled up, looked at me and the child, which I was what you would cal) dandling, and! burst into a storm rf swearing. I stared at him still stupid from the sight under the waggon-ten r, and not understanding. He, ended with, “You dunder-headed, bottle-cosed Laboon*! Is that how you hold a baby? its back!’’ pitched himself off his horse; dashed at me*; snatched it from me; balanced it somehow on the flat* of his big hand; swung it to* and fro veirv gently; and in about a minute it had stopped l screaming and was blinking. We looked at one another; and a kind of gasp went round.

He propped the baby on his arm somehow ; went and peered under the wag-gon-tent ; and swore. One by one the others did; the same. Then we stood in an undecided group, waiting for him to speak, and the baby began to wail. . He thought a moment, and said, “Bury th© man and l his wife. Be smart! We may have a thousand niggers on our track in an hour; and the soone’r we’re out of this the* bettor!”

Despenser found a, spade in the forepart of the waggon; Baring and Capell let down the back, and lifted the dead -woman out.

Captain Seritimental glanced at her jface, said “Scotch,” and drew off her wedding ring. They wound a* blanket round the body and brought it to* thel place, about fifty yards away, where Despenser had already broken ground. Captain Sentimental climbed into the waggon, and we heard him rummaging. Digging quickly by turns we soon had a grave dug, and lowered the man and woman into it. Then, since it was a woman ive were burying, Despenser —the comer of his eye turned uncomfortably hack towards the waggon, in fear of Captain Sentimental hearing him—said a prayer and some* texts ofut of the Burial Service; we filled up the grave, and piled a dozen big stones on it —it took three of us to* move each. We came back to the waggon and found Captain Sentimental watching a tin pot full of milk on the fire A small pile of baby clothes, little, three-cornered pieces of blanket, a sponge, and a puffbox lay beside it, and on them lay the baby, sleeping.

He looked at us thoughtfully for a moment, and said, “You may as well be useful for once. Take these things, and keep them dry, or I’ll ask you why they are not.” And he divided the little pile among—us, two or three pieces to a man. While we were stowing them away the milk boiled, and he poured it into his water-bottle. Then he fastened thetm pot to his saddle, rolled the baby in a blanket, and mounted, carrying it before him. We rode away at a good pace, Jam hanging a coupld of miles in ou,r rear, Montgomery and Urquhart half-a-mile in front, to look out for niggers. We had ridden for an hour when the baby began tot howl; and we drew up nearer to Captain Sentimental to see what would happen. He) shifted it on to his other arm, and it was quiet. Presently it began again, and he shifted it back. But at the end of another mile, for all his shifting, it was howling steadily, and he bade us halt and eat our meal. We dismounted; sat or sprawled twenty yards away from him; and began to

chew our biltong, with an eye on his doings. He poured some milk into the silver cup of his flask, set th© baby on his left arm, and began to feed it with a teaspoon. Plainly it was not used to being fed in that way, for it howled and choked piteously, and howled and choked again. It was dreadful to* see it choke. Every time he popped it forward, and patted its back, swearing; and once, turning a raging eye upon us, he growled across to us, “Just like a woman! Senseless jades! Here she is in a wild country, and never teaches u to drink! Senseless jades, all of them \” “Yes, sir!” we cried together; it- was so seldom that he came so far out of his sulkiness as to speak to us, that we were in a. hurry to say the right thing. He was a good half-hour feeding it; and when he stood up lie stamped up and down as thong! it had craimM Luo, and mopped the sweat from h : s lorehead. It fell asleep in a few minutes; and we rode on. But presently it. awoke and screamed for nearly an hour with indigestion; do what he would lie could not quiet it, and again and again he cursed all womeji for senseless jades who did not teach their children to drink cow’s milk. Its wails got on the nerves of Can ell and Baring, and they dropped a hundred yards behind.- At last it fell asleep: but in another hour it awoke, howling with hunger, and we halted while it was fed. It seemed to choke less; but we had not riddeln far before it was wailing again with indigestion. There was a bright moon; we rode on through the night and came down into the bed of the Molopo* at about 10 o’clock. There was not much water in the river, and what there was was muddy ; but by' good luck we struck a little spring bubbling out of the bank and made cur fire by it. As soon as it burned up Captain Sentimental put a big handful of meal into his tin-pot, and let it boil and boil. Then, when it was half-boiled away, he strained the liquor through his handkerchief into his bottle of milk. Twice lie did it, eating his supper the while; and when he strained in the second- potful he said : “There, it’ll digest that all right!”

The order of our watch had been fixed! ; rolled in our blankets we wcie drows ing over our last pipes, when we were set wide awake by the doings Capram Sentimental. With the aid of Jam he had made a very fair sere ei by vlrag up a couple of blankets on sticks; p- ked up the fire to a great blaze; took the baby on his knee, and began to change it. We sat up and staved at him w:t:i the eyes of a party of children in a box at a pant-amine. It was a wonderful sight. Plainly enough he ir.d the theory of the thing, but not the practice ; he had! seen it done many tim but he had never done it, for his fingers wets all thumbs. Yet it was wonderful bow gently 7 his big hands handled the little, soft body. He sponged him all over with hot water out of the pot, dried him, powdered him, tied him up, and dressed him. And all the while his face was anxious and painstaking. The child stared at the fire, and let him turn him about with never a howl. Then he rolled him in a blanket, and began to walk up and down with him, crooning; I give you my word, crooning!

It was too much; Baring said, “Well, I’m hanged!” Capell spat viciously into the fire; Urquhart and Montgomery buried their heads in their blankets and choked; Despenser, who was on guard, walked quickly away. I get up and went after him. He was leaning against a boulder, shaking. “WesiTt I right? Wasn’t I right?” he said. “Captain Sentimental, by all that’s holy!” “I’m not sure you’re not a_ blamed fool,” I said, trying to work it out in my mind.

He turned quiet, and presently he said, “Well, I believe you’re right. After all, some beast of a woman lost a good thing there.” We went back to the fire and found Captain Sentimental rolled in his blanket* cuddling the sleeping child to him. “Despenser,” he said, sleepily, “if I stir just come and shake me awake. I might overlay him.” He made but a poor night of it. Three, times I awoke to* find him feeding the child, or walking up and down, husnng him to sleep; and all my wo hours’ watch he did not get twenty irmutes’ rest.

At dawn we breakaftsf d and red 3 east, keeping along the hills on the ; uthern. bank of the Molopo. AH she while ve kept dropping back by two 3 lo discuss how Captain Sentimental had learned to deal with babies. The child’s appetite regulated our march; every two honrs we halted while he was fed. At noon we had another wash and change in the warm sun. He took his meals now with no more than three chokes, and those not bad ones, in each, and he wailed very little with indigestion. Capell and Montgomery grumbled continually at the delay, but out of Captain Sentimental’s hearing. His nights were very bad. and when ever we halted for our noon rest he would fall dead asleep if the baby would let him. But he was happy enough ; his face cleared of its scowl as he tended the child, and he would ride along over smooth ground looking down at him in a curious, hungry way that made us uncomfortable.

Now and againfi we got information from parties of niggers, or at a farm, but very little, and that vague. But at last

the day came when we should be in Mafeking by night, and we rode along very cheerful. In the afternoon, when, we were some fifteen miles away, a faint boom came over the hills from the east. At no word of command we pulled, up our horses, and, looking at one another, listened. We heard nothing, and were just moving on when the boom came again; we knew it for the report of a big gun. But there were no guns m Mafeking of a to be heard at that distance. The town'was besieged! Jam was sent on a mile ahead, Despenser rode half-a-mile behind hirn: I rode ha.if-a-mile out on the right flank, Montgomery on the left; and we moved forward slowly raid cautiously 7 . We were three hours going seven miles; and ail the while the booming grew louder. Just before nightfall I saw Jam and Despeiiser coming back to the others with three niggers, and rode in to hear Die l ews. The town* was surrounded and being bombarded.

We burst into a debate as to what we better do—try and sneak through the Boer lines, or move down the Free State frontier. Suddenly 7 Caotain Sentimental cried, ‘Milk! I must have milk! I have used up the last in the bottle, thinking we should bo in Mafeking to-night!” And he turned and led us south-east.

The night fell very' dark; the moon, in its last quarter, would not rise for nours; the black veldt sucked up the starlight. We travelled slowly. "There was more need than ever to save our horses, for we might be chased. Except Captain Sentimental, we raged at the slowness. He was absorbed bv his baby, and quite happy. - Presently we cam© to the end of the fin© weather, and rode and slept in a continuous cold rain. The effort to keep the baby dry kept Captain Sentimental for ever wet, but be showed no sign of discomfort. Twenty miles from V ryburg we chanced on the farm of an Englishman of the name of Morris, and there we learned of Scott’s suicide and the occupation of the town by the Boers. There was nothing for it but to push on to Kimberley. We took twelve hours’ rest, filled up our flasks with whisky, took as much bread as we could trusting to the cattle of the disloyal Dutch for meat. Captain Sentimental was made haopier than ever by a small bag of oatmeal—he said the oat-meal-water-would be far better to mix ■with the baby’s milk than the maize-wa-ter he had been using; and we set out again. Mrs Morris begged hard to be allowed to take charge of the baby till the war was over; but Captain Sentimental would not hear of it. ,We were riot growing interested in the child, and keen on bringing him through. „*. t - <- ; - We travelled mor© slowlythan ever, mostly 7 by r night; fof the country swarmed with parties of uoers. Often they were within a mile of us. We awoke one wet and chilly dawn ten miles away from Mafeking, to find a strong investing force between us and the town. We lay where we were, in good covert, all the day; and at night made a lorn? circuit, and tried to get- into it from the east through Free State territory. We got within four miles of it, and stirred up a Boer commando. They chased us a good twenty miles east; arid, for all that we kept our horses in* good condition, we did not shake them off till an hour before dawn. Then we turned at right angles to our course, and rode slowly due south, breathing our horses. Rut at last we halted on the top of a kopje; our horses were done, and we had had enough. We ate some food ravenously; rolled ourselves in our blankets, and went to sleep in such shelter as th- boulders would give us from the* pourmg rnih. ' The sun was setting when Captain Sentimental awoke us; and we found ourselves in a bad case, out of our reckoning enemy’s country, with very little food. In the clear air, the* clearer that it had been raining, we could see t ; .e smoke of five homesteads, the nearest three miles away to the south. Captain Sentimental was strangely restless for him, and kept going to* look at the baby, who* was sleeping in its blanket under a boulder. It seemed best to stay where we were. We hung up our blankets m the level sun-rays, and ate the very little food we had left. For an hour after sunset we smoked gloomily. Of a sudden there came a savage curse from Captain Sentimental. “The child’s got a touch of dysentery!” he cried in a curious, trembling voice.

We jumped up and crowded round him, c-ursing softly.

“It—it—kills then in three dkysb—unless—they’re treated,” he said, and struck us silent.

Despenser found voice firsthand said I..at we must ride to* the nearest town and find the doctor, even though it meant surrendering. “Surrender? Not I! I should lose the child,” crier Captain Sentimental. “I don’t want a doctor! I can treat him myself with medicine and warmth, and—and eggs.” “There’s no medicine nearer than a doctor, sir; and no doctor nearer than a town. We must surrender,” said Despenser.

“And lose the child? Ah, you never had a child of your own—or thougtit- you had,” groaned Captain Sentimental. “Besides, where’s there a town?” he snapped. And he took the child on his knee. We said nothing and presently he said, “We will wait an hour; that won’t make any difference.” We stood about, fidgeting. After a while the child brake out into short bursts of wailing—not the wailing of hunger, which we knew, but a different

kmd. /Wo had to keep .walking away,,; kicking at the stones, and cursing. ’ ‘‘lt’s like a corkscrew turning in your vitals,” said Despenser,- and he waa. right. At the ’end of half-an-hour Captain Sen- v tiinental,: who. was bent over the child and gnawing, at his, fingers said sharply, “Come along t' V -;'/•? ' ?.• We scuttled to - our .horses.. gasping., with relief, bridled them, and were in-, our- saddles in half-a-iulnute; and he bade darn, lead us straight to the nearest, homestead. . We pushed: cm through the darkness, over the ground. as quickly as our stumbling horses could. But we were .nearly an hour going that three. miles. We came to a big, low building; halted fifty yards away from it. : Despenser held the baby Jam the hordes. We crept to within twenty yards, of the house before., the dogs bark-. , ed. :At their noise the door half-opened, and a. woman peered, out . Y e : forward, and tumbled pell-mell nito the big kitchen and living-room. An eld... Butch vrow, by the fire, and two young or ones, by the door,..frouzy slatterns, .yelled! out- at our bursting in ; then huddled., together on the hearth, muttering, ‘has rooineks! Das rooineks!” and staring at us with the vicious eves of trapped wild oats?' Then there came a howling of frightened children from one of the side-, rooms, and tousled heads and shining, just-awakened eyes, at the door of it. ■/'“You won’t be harined! Medicine 1 IJfrire you auj: mediciue cried Captain Senfifrieiitalfi and slid-ufced to Despenser to’bring the.bdbyl ' :?Th6boldvfQw r t-grc)wuedsc>methiug in her throat, spat oh the door, and turned ’4idlehlyi•away- He wasted xio more words, but burned to the shelves at the end: of ' the room and began to search them feverishly/ Bespenser brought an/ the baby and carried mm to the, fire; crowded rotuid him to look at him. He winked at the. fire a moment, and then?began to wail and squirm. His pheeka looked less' round already. Captain Sentimental caught up a candle and dashed into the nearest sideroom. We heard him rummage about; then he came out , ’ and hurled into the next ; out again? and into the room of the children, who 'Screamed loudly; and' then came- a shout; and he came forth bearing a. large bottle of ’ castor-oil.

„ In, three minutes the baby had swallpyred a teaspoonful as -though he liked it,:-ysfo sooner was it swallowed than Captain Sentimental Undressed him, and spt him on his knee, in the full heat of the fir© p pulled a flannel shirt out of his knapsack, cut ..a long strip.., about fourijicnes wide from it; and called to me tor bring him needle and cotton from the dilapidated work-box of the family which stood on the table. I brought them, and after a lot of trouble he threaded the needle, wound, the strip of flannel round the child’s body, and began, jto sew it on. I.was, so afraid of his running the needle into the. child’s bodv - that I held my breath over some of the I breathed easily. He rolled him in his blanket, and set him in the big armchair before the fire. The women watched his doings with the same savage, sullen, stare?.'/; r -

■ He rose with a deep sigh, and began to give orders;’ Jam was to go down- to t>he nigger hut®, and see. that one of them stole away to tell of. our raid • two of ..us, iff 'turn, were to. ride round ; the-house,for, tVrO through ther night, MontsTiOW'ed the women into the childte’nps roomiS, made sure that the window was trio sriiall.for them to escape through, ahd shut them in; the rest of us went foraging,' Captain Sentimental put some • oatmeal and water into a pot arid set it to boil. We found a joint of cold beef;, breads coffee,, arid eggs, and made a luxurious in eal, In the middle of it ho strain-' ed off the oatmeaiwater, and set it to oodl;;i When we had finished -it was coo! enough; he broke throe eggs, • and mixed; the;whitOs df them with, it. He- looked dsb Pthe; mixture,: and said,. “If we can. Hold 'oii. . hefe .ior ;twehity-four Hours J’lli v We soon; made ararigemeats ior : .thoriSWht, dragging the. iriattr Vsses, and bed" ding- out of the. empty room*; t l>eiy : '\ver ;slerip:P'pWePdid s e,ep vf hut, tired eSSrjwe were: w.e awoke • every time t he baby ;cried for fpdcb.p Cantairi/iSen timen~ tkl fed him: on his new mixture, a ye ry ; Htttd at a time. P We" f reslu ’find fit? In the morning, and it. V*as. a pleasure,tp aw-ake jyarm, with cur _l> mbs supple. Obtain Sentimeri cal ,Jf i»r t he r brig h teued our spirits by telling us that.' the baby wasun tlie mend The fv/vflfiy riisvids.br-, yants coming o a -' J _*.c r ~ts;e. house were am&zedtb find us there ; we' set t*»eni ie clean up, and" riet onr breakfast. When; we had finished we sent them away, and let but the Boer'Women and children to theirs. Gapell; Barings TJrquhart, arid rode up into the kopjfeb, north, south, .east and .west; to watch approaches to thqhouseP? Theday wdfd pleasantly through, sunny, since Wd hkd good shelter ; Despemser and I Sfriokdd, kept an eve on the Kaffirs, and played with the little Boer children. Thejt were dirty, urikeihpfc, shock-haired beggars P arid long : getting' over thdiri lear and shyness of us. ~ The women only stirred opt of. their room for meals, rifld’ltared at us always with the same dtiil'eff sarageriSS's; / Captain Sentimen-. tad Hover'ed; about His baby; ;pln the aftearniffpri he brought Tiirn idftitt' : into the -Despeirser ;wafcsriappirig & ffrifeers at him. '“pP p,.;;” p "p. -P •3Jove!” : cried Captain ‘He crowed:!” .. : ' J ~r - “Well; said Despenser; with' more truth than tact, ‘ ne; certainly squeaked.” “What!” roared Captain SentimentaV

“Here am I, wandering about Africa with the sciuri of the Universities, and they haven’t even the sense to know a babVs crow from a scoieak!” ..“Oli,, if you put it like that, he c-row*. ed,” said Despenser agreeably; and Captain Sentimental grunted. > ' It wa§ dusk ; we had stuffed the haversacks with biltong and bread, for we might not get the chance of taking any more hospitality.; a big round of roast beef smoked on the table; Baring and Montgomery had already come in ; then Urquhart galloped in from the north with the news that a party of Boers were coming straight to the homestead about four miles -away. W e fell upon the beef, cutting great slices, and sticking them between hunks of bread to eat as we rode£ Captain Sentimental called the old vrow from the bedroom ; and, laying, a couple of sovereigns on the table, told her that that was to pay for what we had taken. She gripped on to them..and started at him with the stupidest wonder I ever saw on human face. We mounted, and started through the quickly-gath-ering darkness cfown the southward track. I came last; and we had gone a hundred veards when I heard a cry behind me. I pulled up. arid in a minute or two there floundered out of the gloom one of the. voting vrouws. She came up to me, and thrust a little bundle into mv hand, and. said, “Voor de kleirie,”. I don’t know Butch, but I knew it- meant, “For the child.” ./ : . '?/// ? V-.- ■? >■ She .turned and went. hack. I after „the others, and at the first halt- we examined the bundle. It contained lit-, tie flannel garments.. • • “It must take a deuced lot oi practice to hide a good heart under that sulleriness.'v growled Captain Sentimental. ? “Expert’s opinion,” said Bespenser, softly. We rode; ho)u,r after hour due south. Jam guiding us, for all ,the darkness, as straight as a compass. . Soon a drill lain began to falland we cursed the luck which had given us two fine nights for that warm kitchen, and a drenching for the open air. The baby was the only dry one of the party. We slept from 3, till dawn, and then pressed on, steadily but cautiously, for we knew that we were very near the frontier. At noon, we eauerht sight of the Orange River, and. at about 5 o’clock, - after a long hunt for a drift, and a dangerous crossing, . we were riding cheerfully on British soil, scon struck a road, arid overtook two Dutchmen driving a waggon; they seemed surprised to see us, and told us that we were on the road to Colesburg. the road ran up a sharp rise into a nek between two kopjes; we' came through the nek, and looked down oh a long trgiri of waggons crawling along the plain, escorted bv bodies of armed horsemen. Captain Sentimental took one look at them ; cried, “Boers!” swung his horse round ; and we galloped through the nek, and down along the kopje to the west. We had gone a mile when Captain Sentimental cried. “Here they come!” and, looking back, I saw a crowd of horsemen pouring through the nek. We were down on the level veldt ; and we put another half-a-mile between us before they were off the kopie -side. We . sat. down to ride all we knew, saving- our horses. They did not save -theirs ; • they raced, and at the end of five miles were no more than 800 yards off. Some :-oft hem pull ed- up-and -fired-;-- the bullets.came singing among us, but no -Oriri.rwaso hit. .“Open order!?; cried Captain,Sentimental, and we spread oqt. ?.< -..*•% They fired now and again ; but .pre-, sently we rode into, a wood at the foot of: a line of low kopjes., We.halted,v waited till the first dozen Boers were within 400 yards, emptied three saddles, and, as they galloped back, bowled _Qver two. more. - They did not stop before they were 2000 yards away, and, , without wait-, ing to see what they would do,- : .. wej walked our horses through the w00p, 4 slipped between two kopjes, turned south--. west, and rode like" demons aerbss.r/an-’ other plain. Once through another group of kopj es we cantered gently; on. till, it, was dark. IVe must haye put five or six miles between us and'our pursuers when we halted on the top of a wooded kopje. The moment heiVasoff'his horse jQaptain Sentimental slung; round his waterbottle to feed' tb© wailing,, hungry baby. - An angry curse broke;from him;, ap/unlucky bullet bad'gone clean and the food had run otit; , /??. y “Quick, Jam'?’ he / cried,, “fr ’ firel- I must give him thick' oatmeal-water!? It was the rfiost dangerous thing possible, if bur pursuers were still hunting us’; but, though we might pay for it with our lives, not a man said a word. set to work to gather fuel; and the/tin-, pot whs soon steaming: ? ? ?/.';/? Then Captain Seritiriierital/"said, “I’riitaking ‘ this .risk. It "will take’ me two hdiirs to boil enough for- the night. J Jam Will take / thri rest of yott miles south and bbine’backfrtO. ihel ' I’ll .jqiii ybu in the I can. Off,' you ' g Q ,> .yv.-,;-I sat down,' opened tny haversack; arid took out my supper; 1 /Despenser,; hart., and Baring did' the same? /?: /?/;. “Wbll, well.” said Captain Sentiihental, looking at u!s, “if you will be more to -look after the baby:?/ v ‘ Capell and Montgomery shnffled to thedr hbrSes ’ and/ rode off iiito -the darkness; ( .. The v liquor, was long boiling thick enough; anil the. baby/ wailed continuously; . At I '' last he was . fed. By the ;tiriie eno.ugli tb last ihe night had been boiled fhat if was too late 10 mbye.j; Cither we were suryounded,' or we wefp' not. Two of , us kept- Watch t at a time, and towards morning we ’heard move-* ’rnents in the valley beneath. We lay

around the hilltop, cur eyes straining into the darkness. At last- the dawn came, and the darkness ererpt slowly down the kopje site into the valley; half-a-dozen cows were feeding in the bottom. “Milk, by Jove!” cried Captain Sentimental, and, dropping his rifle, lie caught up the tin pot arid went scrambling down the billThe cows were tame enough, and lie filled the pot. He rose up from milking and came hurrying back as fast as he could' without spilling the milk. He - taken but a few steps when there came a- guttural cry from the facing kopje, and a dozen rifles cracked. He stumbled, dropped on his knees, set down the pot, and fell forward on his face. We stiffened as we lay. scouring the facing kopje with our eyes. I saw a bush quiver, and fired into it very carefully. With a squeal a Boer jumped high out of it, and fell back. A dozen rifles, flashed in answer, and the bullets z-z-z-zipped about us. Once started, the Boers emptied their magazines. We fired at- the flashes, and twice we got a yell. There came a pause, and I looked down for Captain Sentimental’s body. It had gone. I fired at once to keep tlie Boers busv, and drew their fire. We shuffled back to the hollow in the middle of the. crown of the hill, out of fire, and were debating how to. get down to him ,and; help him, when we heard a rustling down a denga- on the left, and caught sight, of' him staggering painfully up.? . ? “Get tp > your, master and help him up,/ Jariif” I cried, arid" we crawled forward to keep- the Boers busy. They were moving down, and Urquhart got one as he crawled from one boulder to another. Booking back, I saw Captain Sentimental, supported by Jam, stagger - into the hollow, the pot "of milk gripped by therim between his teet. The blocd was trickling fast over both his hands, and his arms hung limp to his side. He sank down; Jam took the pot from his teeth. He muttered, ‘‘Feed the baby first!” and fainted.

Suddenly.Despenser yelled, twisted to the right-,' and fired hurriedly. I was just in time to see a score of Boers bolt-; ing into the timber at the foot of. our kopje. . “We shall have to chuck it!” cried Bespenser.. “But. we’ll have a shot, or two first!?

“I’ll hold these gentry! You chaps take those!” said I, andl very carefully put. a bullet through what looked like a boot sticking out behind a boulder. It was a boot. . .. . / . -

, The other shuffled away, and presently were firing merrily. The Boers facing me, : encouraged, moved down never firing twice from the same spot.: they knew our shooting, I spent a cart-, ridge or two without a hit. “Bere are Boers all roun’ de kopje!” Jam yelled. The game was up, and x shouted to Despenser that we’d better surlender. As I spoke the top of the kopje in front was ringed with rifle flashes; and Montgomery roared across: beys! There are plenty of us here!” And on his words there came another burst of firing on the left, - I cheered: scrambled out of fire, and ran to feed the baby. Despenser was there first, and already had him on his knee; Captain Sentimental lay scowling at him ; Jam was binding up his> master’s arm. I went/ disconsolately to get another shot. J- -- ■ > There was a continuous cracking of rifles and shouting’, on <tlie;-' left and front, and suddenly the-Boers bolted out of the wood at the back. That was our chance ; we dropped three before they were under cover. ‘ Presently, twenty or thirty of Montmorenci’s Scouts came pushing up the hill. - I was begging that greedy beast; Bespenser, to let me finish feeding the baby. He refused. . : ; There was no niore shooting. - The Boers had got to their horses, and presently the scouts began scouring the kopjes:/. i They found, four dead and ; five wounded, and had. taken five prisoners. We set off at once with Captain Sentir mental, and it was weary work getting him to: camp ;, he had three wounds, in the arms arid a nasty cue in the shoul-: der. Despenser stuck to the baby i all the-way. ???. -•< v >? ...

??We .were drafted; into Montmore.nci’s Scouts; : and a- few/days later, 1/ went.-to. see Captain Sentimental in hospital.;: He; was; on the mend; but he kept fidgeting about, and seemed absent-minded. Pte-. sently a nurse brought in the baby, and bis eyes; shone. .> Hb scowled at her as she set him, face downwards, on a Pillow half-wa,v down tbe bed, chirping to him. The baby gazed about, and them stared seriously at the wounded man.. “Ugly - little isn’t he ?” said Captain Sentimental; and he smiled.