The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-13
RUDYARD KIPLINC WITH THE WOUNDED
OFTHE BRITISH ARMY IN SOUTH AFRICA.
Copyright. 1900 by Rudyard Kipline)

he is the klndeSt OF SOUS 10 an III
valid.
The twins are not on their feet yet.
They are both Australians. both have
broken legs. they lie side by side.
their legs in sings. and one Loyalty |
caps the others tallest yarn. y few |
DAYS back talk turned on what black |
fellows could do with boomerang.
\ Fusilier cut to pieces with barb
ed wire, Ninth Lancer and West |
Yorkshireman told the twins to dr. -
it mild. Sticks could not twist and /
turn in that way 1t was as absurd as |
the word WoollOOmoolOo. Entered |
then from another tent convalescent |
Rae, of Manitoba. hit down at Sling |
er's or Arundel
Rae said he did not understand |
boomerangs, but things could be made |
to curve in the air. for all the Ninth |
LANCER said. For instance. there was
a game called baseball Rae illustrat-
ed with his sound arm how a pitcher
sends in a curved ball. and the twins. |
applauding. welcomed him rs an ally. |
They had a file of Australian papers |
with pictures of boomerangS. Would |
the Ninth Lancer please get them out |
from the shelf and they would eN-
plain?
So. under the pines painted in South |
Africa by men fro mthe North, Welsh
men, tyke. cockney and Canadian, |
bent their heads over Melbourne |
weekly. while a Queenslander read |
the letterpress.
Johnson, of a Highland regiment
he looked yery like Alan Breck-had |
tried to stop shell splinter with his
stomach. and it cost him eight weeks
agon. The first time we met he
walked crab fashion, his blue eyes
alight with pain. Hear, O heaven. and
bear witness, o earth. that there was
no more South Africa for johnson
and his stomach \ fortnight later
we sat in the sun with a Whispering
guardsman. half of whose larnyx had
been put out of condition by a down
dropping bullet.
But johnson was a changed man. |
He had developed scheme. and eN-
planned it as he sat orasping his ankle
and rocking to and fro. They were
going to send him to Green Point
with other convalescents. The odds
were they would send him home and
that did not suit .Johnson'S revised
book. I'm saddler by trade. They'll
miss the likes Of me when they're
repairing collars and harness. I'll
not be sent home>till the war is over
if can help it. Surely they'll need
a colar-maller. Then I'll be able to
get back again.
He went off to draw his xii. walk
| ing corkily and the guardsman whis-
! pered husky congratulations
| But there is no spring in Mc( Onnell.
sergeant of another Highland regi
ment nothing but sour disgust. He
! got it in the hand. round Paardeberg.
a rending SCATTERING bullet. that has
marked him for England. And there
| is what is left of his company to
! cons ider. and there is his unpaid debt
to the Boer. drawing interest every
day. and there is his right hand
throbbing and aching in the night
watches. His chief interest is the
daily paper and the list Of the Boer
dead. He lies in his corner, smoking.
brooding and meditating how TO es-
right hand with the iron hard fore
arms useless. He always comes
back to that.
Not far from him lies Carter. who
went down hill by reason of a fractur
ed thigh and some fever.
Then he got bed sores-twO he told
me-and then they got him an air
mattress. Carter came near losing his
| life. but the story in the ward is that
Neeld. a oraceless Cockney Highland
er. bucked him up. precisely as Din
Mss bucked up the man shot through
the lungs.
| Anyhow. Carter is spared, which is
a sign of grace. and they have taken
! him out for a small walk in Il wheeled
/ chair. He KEEP askin' us all the way
up hill if he was too heavy" said one
of Carriers steeds-a convalescent
with head wound. 'Well. you see.
it's voluntary. not compulsory, talin'
convalescents out says Carter. rath-
er tremulous about the mouth.
You don't weigh more'n a rat
now, is the answer. and then the
voice. touched with beautiful tender
ness. Did We like it. 'Arry?'
Did he like it? After three months
he has seen trees and sunshine. and
felt the big sky above him. He picked
up the good dirt of the earth and let
it run through his fingers. Now he
! is going to sleep.
| III