The times., 1898-09-11

to his brother, and l next saw him feed
ing him. They are funny fellows
A letter, this time not from an officer,
but a corporal of the Seaforth Highland
ers, who was in the same fight, and who
was by mistake reported wounded in the
dispatches.
He wrote: "Of course, you will have
read the dispatches where l figure
amongst the wounded and pose as an in
teresting invalid. ] was wounded, it is
true, but so slightly that I thought no
more of il than a football accident. But
after that day became quite an object
of curiosity to officers and men, who
unanimously dubbed me the inyulner-
able and appear 10 fancy l can under
go the fire Of a whole regiment without
any bad effect. AS a matter of fact. /
went through the battle with my clothes
riddled by bullets. and yet notwithstand-
ing the official account, without a wound
When attacking the intrenchments / had
TO congratulate myself on my habit of
wearing boots size too big, as both my
shoes were torn to pieces by bullets. AL
most at the same moment a bullet
smashed the wooden stock of my gun,
which ] threw away to grasp my sword.
/ then noticed that the thongs on my bag
had been cut in two, that my water
gourd, containing my tea, had been drill
ed, that my sleeves were in holes, and I
htdIu OIl my helmet something ike a
hailstorm. Sword in hand l followed my
comrades, and was quickly engaged with
two hideous fellows, who finished my
dressing by slicing my jacket with their
lances- A bullet tickled the top of my
right hand enough to bruise it, and ] be-
lieve it is to this wound, though / dare
not swear 1t, that the official dispatch al
ludes.
In short, when we reformed compa-
MI srroc licnr not
including shoes helmet and accouter-
ments, had received 162 wounds, each
more deadly than the other l was naked
and marched along dragging my tatters
with me. ] looked so funny that my col
onel took me to show me to the general,
though rarely had been less presentable
Sir Herbert Kitchener could hardly credit
his eyes / then learnt that my sergeant
had entered the scratch on my hand as
my wound However. l came well out of
the affair, for instead of getting a wound
l received brand new uniform at the
hands of the chief
1t is generally thought that the
lot of a war correspondent in the Soudan
was by no means a happy one, and that
his liquid refreshment took the form, as
a rule, of cold tea made with Nile water.
But Mr. Stevens has corrected that i'm
preston.
writes 81 should never have come twice
to the Soudan-
''The true Soudan thirst" he continues
'is insatiable-the true Soudan thirst is
born of sheer heat and sheer sweat. Till
you have felt it you hare not thirsted.
Every drop of liquid Is wrung out of your
body. You could swim in your clothes,
but inside your muscle shrinks to dry
sponge, your bones to dry pith. All your
strength, your substance, your self is
draining out of you; you are conscious of
a perpetual liquefaction and evaporation
of good solid you. You must be wetted
till you soften and swell to life again"
Ah-h-l And what beverages are used
to slake this lordly thirst? Listen to Mr..
Stevens.
'"The sweet revenge for all the torments
of the day take the form of gin and soda
with or without lime juice or an Abu
Hamed, which is a compound or gin, ver-
mouth, angostura, lime juice and soda
water.
cially plenty of soda-and then drink. For
this is to drink indeed. This splashes
round your throat, slides softly down till
you feel it run out into your stomach. 1t
spreads blessedly through body and spir-
it-not swirling through like the Atbara,
but irrigating like the Nile. 1t is soil
in the sand, substance in the void life in
death. Your biltong muscles take on elias
ticity, your mummy bones tougher. Your
self has sprung up alive and you almost
think you know how ii feels to rise from
the dead"