The Boers could do little with them.  Those who stood by the guns noticed that very large numbers of men in the Boer ranks were either niggers or half-castes, and it was also very noticeable that they knew but little about the use of the rifle.  They fired high and wide, and notwithstanding the fact that they poured their ammunition away in wholesale fashion, they did little harm worth mentioning, although many of them fired at little more than pistol range.  They were simply crazed with excitement, and did not succeed in cutting off a single member of that adventurous band.  Whenever an Australian found himself in a tight place he simply dug his spurs into his horse’s flanks, lifted his rifle, and blazed into the ranks of the foe.  If his horse was shot dead under him he coo-eed to his mates, and kept his rifle busy, and every time the coo-ee rang out over the whispering veldt the Australians turned in their saddles, and riding as the men from the South-land can ride, they dashed to the rescue, and did not leave a single man in the hands of the enemy.  Many a gallant deed was done that day by officers and men.  Captain Moor gave one fellow his horse, and made a dash for liberty on foot, but he would have failed in his effort had not Lieutenant Darling, a West Australian boy, ridden to his aid, and together the two officers on the one horse got back to the shelter of the guns.  The enemy still blazed away in the wildest and most farcical fashion.  Had they been Boer hunters or marksmen very few of the West Australians would ever have got across that strip of veldt alive.  As it was, only two of them got wounded, none were killed, one or two horses were shot dead, and then the big guns got to work in grim earnest.

A party of Boers, however, got round one of the kopjes, where some of the Lancers were posted, and now half a dozen of those brave fellows are missing, and I fear they are to be counted amongst those who will never return again.  Sergeant Watson, of the R.H., was killed, and several of his men and a few of the Lancers were wounded, but the R.H. guns soon swept the plain clear of the enemy, and they retired, carrying their dead and wounded with them.  The work for the day was done, and well done, for the enemy had shown his hand.  We knew his position and his strength, and next day we went out in force to have a word with him, but the wily Boers kept strictly under cover, and refused on any terms to be drawn again.

The west Australians.

Bethany.

I was feeling miserable as I sat in the hospital garden, and I rather fancy I looked pretty much as I felt, for a cheery-faced Boer nurse, with her black hair, blacker eyes, and rose-blossom lips, came up to where I sat, bringing with her two or three slightly wounded Boers.  “I have brought some Boers who know something of your countrymen, Mr. Australian,” she said.  “I thought you would be glad to hear all about them.”  “By Jove!