ON THE HEELS OF DE WET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7422, 7 June 1902, Page 4

ON THE HEELS OF DE WET.

SOME EXTRACTS FROM A STIRRING STORY. " Blackwood's Magaeino " for April gives the place of honour to the continued narrative of tho officer who took part in the great chase of De Wet more than, a year ago, and -who relates his observations » and experiences under the heading "Oni the Heels of De Wet." The following are three extracts : — A COLONIAL SHERLOCK HOLMES. Tho Intelligence Officer and, .the Tiger (the name by which a colonial was known) had not left the column a mile behind them when they met * Cape cart coming along the dusty road from Britstown. It -was driven, by a youth of -some eighteen summers, who stopped his pair of mules with the greatest unconcern) to the signal from the Tiger. Tiger. — " Good morning. What is your name?" Driver. — " Good morning. Naude." T. — " Where have you come from?" , D.— "Britstown." T. (who was now close up to the cart and busy in examination of it)— " What have you been doing in Britstown, and Ihow long have you been; there?" J). — " I have been there about ten days ; my wife has been confined there !" T. — "So you have taken her out for a drive to-day?" D.— "No. How could I?" ' T.. — "Then you have been driving another lady?" D.— ".No." T.— "What have you got those two cushions on the seat for? What's the good of lying? Where are you going now?" ■ D. — "Back to my home!" T — "Where is that?" D. — " Drieputs, two hours on." T, (decidedly)—" Now, l<jpk here; it is no use lying ?jny more. I will tell you what you have been doing .and who you are. You are the son of old Pretorius, of Richmoad road. Yesterday you were on eqpi« inando with Lotter ; your brother was shot and taken by us. I don't know where you slept last night j but this I do know, that lasfc night you drove a wounded man into Britstown, and probably ft lady as well. The lady oame from Nieywjaarsfpntein. JTor you se9 those cushions you have on your froijt seat came out pf the; Nieuwjaarsfon. tein sitkpmer. I have got a similar one, which I took myself from the farm. «So don't lie any more. Tell me who j* in Britstown?" D. (who had lost his air of stolid indifference, a<nd was beginining tp moy.e un-com. fortably)— " Britstown is full of Kharkis; .they are conning in now fast." Intelligence Officer. — ",Is this road clear into the dorp?" , D. (with polite sarcasm) — "You may ride along this road' in perfect safety." T. (cheerily) — "That is more than you can, my friend. (Turning to Intelligence Officer)— This man has evidently, sir, carried information to Brand's people and a wounded man into" Britstowh; see the blood on the back of the seat. I should keep him a prisoner, sir — send him back to the column with a man. Besides, if I am to stay with you, sir, I should like his cart and mules. They are good mules, you see. They have been into the town and back, and have scarcely turned a hair I" THE BRITISHER'S FIRST LESSON IN " SQtJTH AFRICA. The first lesson brought tome to the Englishman in Soulh Africa is, that he must not judge the country by any European standard, for as long as he continues so to do he will find himself at sea. To shp-vf surprise is to declare ignorance— and the British and Dutch South Africans., after the ( manner of ail superlatively ignorant races', have the profoundest contempt for those in whom they themselves can.' discern ignorance. Thus, when the kindly eminence of a 'hill gives you a ten-milo view of some tiny tpwnletr— a view conveying no inkling of the importance of the centre which you are about; to approach, —it is well to be silent. For the colonial is surely more imaginative than the phlegmatic EiiglishraKin — apd the sorry collection of tin shanties and. flimsy villas, which, at so great a distance appear to you of little more significance than, a farm with straggling outhouses, represent to his mind a town, and 'he will resent a less appreciative rating (for them. This may appear unreasonable ; ifc is, but it is none the less true ; and. in a great measure the variance of focus between the English and the colonial mind lias been responsible for the girth-galling -which at the beginning of the war marked our efforts in harness with our colonial confreres. We have heard all the defects of the British officer, because the colonial thinks quickly and lightly, and wastes no time in giving' expression to his thoughts; we have not heard so much of the defects of the colonial, because the British officer, while focussing his opinions less rapidly, though snore seriously, *han the majority of colonials, reserves his criticisms. (Bub they are an easy people to manage |if you «an preserve your silence with.o.ub offending their vanity. They ad-m-ire in *he tEnglishinmn the qualities which they themselves have not yet fully developed ; but it cuts them to the quick if the evidence of superiority is thrust upon them. THE IRREGULAR OFF DUTY. Drunkenness is the worst attribute of irregular soldiering upon five shillings a day. If°the colonial has money ihe will drink. Where the average white man .greets a, friend and 'acquaintance with, a handshake, the. South African colonial calls him to the nearest bar, and they drink their salutation. When half a dozen colonial corps "off the trek" meet in a wayside township they turn it into an inferno. Here they were crowding in and out of the houses ia drunken hilarity. The townsfolk, delighted' at their opportune arrival when 'Brand was at theiy gates, ply them with the spurious spirit which passes for whisky in South Africa. If the spirit is there, no amount of military precaution will prevent the colonial trooper from securing it- You cannot place -tfhole regiments—^officers and) men alike— under arrest. And when a colonial regiment is "going large," in the majority of cas.es it would baffle any 'but an expert to distinr Aguish officer from mran. Ana while young men in- smasher hats fall over each other in the streets, the sober 'British troops look stolidly on and wonder. Some, it is true, fall away with the rioters. But_ they aro few. Want of means and discipline buoy them at least upon a surface of virtue. Yet, be it said to the,, credit of these roysterei's in town-, the.' man who ■will drink the hardest in the afternoon will follow you the straightest in the morning.