LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7795, 11 April 1905, Page 4

LITERATURE.

I" "•" i ' IRON'S'TBEA'A '-'<' ■'■ ' IS' ; , *,''■ '"' ' : ' '"' || (ConMaued). - s On his left were the yeomanry and fjt horse lines, ■■ wMhftheir sil--jMent guards moving up {, and; down, jfr .while round and about him were row row of sifeni recumbent figures away beyond, he could dimly gj'aeo the outlying piquets, with their feahallow little, half-moon shaped How»well he knew tlmt kratf of Usncb, 1 just a Utjptis make-believe of a shelter, hastily up by the silent piquet themselves. ' Then his eyes gazed away up tho f elope, till they rested on a dense i mass of busk that crqwned the top ?. of the hill. Just on the right he jjr- could d mly see the. whitish red road /'Winding by it, and then suddenly, it to him, -what a gorgeous for an ambush, for the wood iff was thick, and there was enough of Pit to conceal.an army. Then -he began to wonder if the g.,TW>od did conceal anything. So vivEcf idly was the matter mpressed on |/Ws; mind, .t*at ho turned oarer and &Jwoke Dicky Bird, and there and then |MoIB Mm his fears. p%- Dicky Bird sat up deliberately, rclooked around,, asd then remarked IS'Pith great solemnity,' " that there SgEno's ain't seemed to a-donc you KUjimch good ; 'sides, -. that 'ere wood's of range, anyhow. Get down to t*tt» and if yer can't sleep, .start couhi£tin' from one hundred to a million. do the trick," and Dicky tjß&d subsided. |i , „T. B. took his advice, and though r<Be'mxt gat' well into thousands, he f|Ai length attained his object and B slept.

f 'Morning came ail-too soen, and ttto erics of the sergeants &P)tre heard all along the line, 'Vail i-iii," " fall in," junt ia-twenty Tnin- [ ntes .the whole convoy was on the

I The light was very poor, and thero .wes a dense white mist. Suddenly .the leading waggons stopped, and those bchind/stopped in detail. " What was the matter ? " No one seemed, to know. Presently word «*me down the fines that ono of the advanced guardt thoaght he had seen some mounted men ride into the bush, but be was not correct — ffc least, they told him so. . Then the convoy moved on again, 'Mid soon the leading waggons were <nell abreast of the wood, when without warning , there came floating ._Jilown through the dense air the sharp |s ;er«ck of rifle fire, and again the wagE~. gons stopped, W Two process passed T. B, and Dicky bBW a gallop. Two or 'three minSStntet after, the colonel cantered up ■-(With the two guns behind himV as KJw passed he ordered the. infantry to ] E£e*U»d, lie down; and cover the wagKfkpns, but they were to hold their ■Mbm lme to! the fog lifted a little. Hi*' It) was -the-work of a minute only Kgor the half companies to reform, Sbnfaff out right and left to the confspoy, J extending. as they advanced. pfThree hundred yards at the double, |i**nd they halted and lay down. £ '*The mist was still so thick they fgttOuHLjtat see beyond a. few -i: yards. g. -either way, and, with the exception some desultory firing still going f. on far in advance, they could hear s^'nothing. I' T. B. turned to Dicky Bird, who * was his rtght-hand man and said ; you think there are many of Wban?-"

fc, say," replied Dicky Bird ; f' maybeV maybe not, but I wish this S" : blootnin' fog would lift—can't sco j£: natto"—it's as lick as the Old Kent. f Bond in a London particular, only \~ it ain't so yeller ; but, say, can yer r y !**r aoyfing— 'orses gallopin' like? " »£- T, that hojhought lie a? "Could, but he. wasn't-sfire. k - M 'WeU," «aht Dicky Bird, ■« lam ; I bo. turn in the flaps of yer bando--1 liera—all on 'eut, mind—and open yer *-~"iiQil iim*. fixed sights, amf don't try < r v twinkle, twinkle little » stars ; ft% ricochets as does it, and f don't yer f3%it it." £ , "Dicky Bird;' 7 "said T. 8., "lean &*; see a whole bunch, of mounted men ! coming this way. Some arc dressed g, ht khaki, but some of them are in fc,_ civies, and have got beards." g? " They are Johnnies, then. I reek- , gg,. on, let 'cm 'ave it, cully,"- said Dicky Bird, and ho himself opened W/ fire irith the steadiness and precisMr. «m'of the- veteran he was. H T. B. was not so steady ;it was |jg the first time he had been under fire, ft-'JOd H flurried Mm a bit, but his O'conMence came back to him presentr ly. when he found that, though tho : •- angry bullets were whizzing all row** fc, him, none of them seemed tu ' ■» C !*»• . -nit l?. The warm reception comky' ti?, quarter they least expected, > from a & ; '*ta Bpers, and they surprise* <k and disappeared live - ,e * about i&.GSffie* ~*> a y ««cyna« &;: all risk* „ £/Blrd{ "they wot -> remarked Dicky m.'taed to. We'l> ->'t *<"*. it like they EL The mist * - "»•*""»' soon.' W~' gradually ' all tms tm,<} had been W~ front h' "fting. and the firing in KV, goon J d died down to nothing. fey <Q , the waggons in front began j|r. t_r aiove again-, the infantry moving &. .UK them, bub still maintaining fc'» their distance and marching in open p> order: »

•-'(A s*o waggon convoy had also alterferf «d its formation, and was moving I"" * now hi four parallel lines instead of gg,',' two, 'thus lessening this objective, and gf" allowing for the better protection of g> Rs flanks. S'-,-< The attack seemed to. have petered [W out, for the- time being at all events. §£ , for all had proseeded 1 qnietly (or >' three-quartor of a mile ; indeed, tlie - >°»if'"g files of she "infantry were, well f~ ", jrjjtria) range of tba wood, when sud<jfe,T<tenlr, without warning, a perfect hail &&Z+l ballets swept down the slope. i|f>> There was not a scrap of cover, ft few ant hills. Men dropped BfC |H|'«U sides, before they.could even «.wek what lifctle'cover the long grass Jp", afforded, "■" The mutes, too,~ began to stampede and the . native, driver and loaders, ijcargtl out of their wits, left their ana bolted ; the confusion was j slsffai. Whole teaup fell either kilfed -s* Jrr badly wounded. Those who surbelted in all directions, runover tho prone infantry, who 1111,-Trjere sticking grimly to their unton-Sk-TOte position. was steads*, now, steady as a Bjk nek, steady with an icy, calculating' Mpjasldaegg: 'he was realising that his HSpriißßion was to kill, and kilt he Hggjbeont if ho could. Worst of it was that he Could ■H|We Hrr gne whom he niighUkill. That .wood was \omiting bullets Hgljlcerliail; they came in gusty sleets, song overhead like millions of mosq'uitos, and now and wsuld. strike a pal. ' He HBfWfj*" 1 "*" that happened, for in all HHraHy£ *** Pal ceared firing. HR||m atop—what/ was this f They HHSS& Ppming from another direction MMaigf as, well as from bis left flank to DicWy Bird to change he had no reply ; Vicky never change front again. |HHhh&||& around ~on his fife en ttojsfflew

[lot of devils—for devils they seemed to T. ft—moreover, there seemed no lend, to .them.

Then his eyes crept back to his own vicinity, and they fell 'on the prostrate figure of a Boer, He knew he must be a Boer, for he wore no uniform, but was dressed in sltabby black ceat and cord trousers. He had a pair of rusty, swan-necked spurs, put on upside down, on a pair of-shabby veld schoons. But thero 'was something odd about him. T. B. remembered now that he had fired at a Boer just before he himself was hit. But, then, that particular man had a big black beard, tout this one's was red, at least part of it—dyed red with blood.

, He could, however, 6ee this new lot ; they were coming towards him at a gallop. He- shifted his back sight a little and emptied his magazine into them, closed his cut off, and slipped a round in the breech from a. little pile of cartridges he had put on the ground in front of him, and fixed his eye on a huge Boer with a black beard. This man seemed to T. B. to dominate the whole surroundings, and as T. B. took careful aim at him ho seemed to grow into an enormous size—to miss him was an impossibility. . Just one half second after he pulled the trigger something like a sledge-hammer struck him on the left elbow, and a moment after he had a second blow on his ' right shoulder, and T. B. ceased firing. It was many hours after this ere T. B. regained consciousness, and when he did ho lay for a \ long time wondering what everything was about.

A deadly stillness pervaded everything, lie hail n« recollection as yet of anything that had happened that day, and he was vaguely troubled by a throbbing pain in his left arm, and, .wondered rather why he had no feeling in his right shoulder. ' Presently he mado an attempt to roll ; over on his back, but the effort #ost him much pain, and for a time he desisted*' Presently he tried.agahv, this time wilvh more success ; ho even managed toj ' shuffle himself to a sitting position. All about him were recumben* figures, strangely still. two or tflree waggons were on fire; one of them was an ambulance, he could tell that, by the canvas tilt, and hie wondered why they were burning* I* was quite a minute before TV B. ahderstood tho reason of When it ; dawned on Hm he laughed. "How darned funny," he remarked, ' and laughed' again.- Then' something seemed to break inside himv! and he quietly rolled over in a heap. Private I Thomas Browlow was dead.