The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-06-17

a good place to go to. As you mark
the rise, the hubble bubble grows
Siearer-a man is walking towards you.
ms coat is hanging loose over his
shoulder. his arm is tied uD in a white
DahdaSei II has red spots on IT, May be
/ me man is smoking q pipe. "How's it
going on up thereg" you ask "Oh. very
sood' SIR. The Bluffs is we'll in 'front.'
tit might be any other regiment. but
/ the answer would be the sameD
Inc wounded man doesn't seem to
care much He'd stay and chat with
YOU II you liked. He's quite pleased
win himself Perhaps he has visions
OF the three weeks holiday at Wvnberp-
/ down in the colony. where they faad
men on Jeliies and gi-re them flowers.
ana where well-intentIOned Young la
oles speak freely without introducfions
Al any rate, there doesn't seem to he
any thlng trightful about it. So YOU
WISH MN good luck and go on toward
s slie hholt. cor course, 1 am taking it
LOT granted that your curiosity is nor
yet satlshed.) It is perhaps here that
you get the first shock. as il were for
you suddenly come upon the dressing
station. pitched amidst a little sluit i'm
/ the rocks. There are two score of men
/ siltihg or lying about. the doctors are
/ operating IN the center. Some men
NA'f NNAAEAc lie MNMn 10 IL II he
1 doctor works like a seamstress fitting
on gown; he tries to be seeing how
nIuch ne can do IN a minute in order
( mat MS customers shall not be kent
waiting There is no complaining. II
Is all very businesslike: there is no
tossing about, no groaning, no praying.
aItnougn near by lie several still figures
covered up in brown blankets with
tnelf hOD-nailed boots prOtruding. or
perhaps only with a handkerchief or
helmet covering their faces. Names
ana numbers VIII be posted in the war
once tomorrow, and people will come
ana look at them and go away.
me bearers with the Red Cross
bandages on their arms bring in more
burdens. One of the burdens is an Off,
GET ne Is badly hurt The men
grouped about whisper. The surgeon
greets him by name The man on the
stretcher smiles at him family.
Going to send me down the line. old
chaDE he asks The doctor makes no
reply. He's busy bending over him.
The officer is going a longer Journey
than down the line" Won Can See tbst
at glance. The doctor whispers 10
him. He mods his head.
Easy to Get in the Row.
You may feel as if you were intruda
ing; a desire comes to you to see whar
- NV - UnUat NNEI the CREST or
the MIL And it is strange how quickly
you get into it. It increases in clear
ness with every step you take; now II
rs IKE the Jolting Of a wagon, and now
IKE the sound of a boy running down
the side OF stretch of palings with q
stick. You can see the fighting men.
Some are quite close to you, others on
50 far ahead that you wonder how they
got there, and they are still moving
forward. On, on, on, they goI
Ihey are on the foot Of the kopje,
away off from the left a little band has
almost gained the crest-the row is
awful there-but there is no smoke, no
enemy. nothing but invisible, death
dealing sounds.
The men laugh and talk. sometimes
they grunt, fall down, and lie limp
huddles in the grass.
suddenly an officer comes galloping
Oack- He is the first mounted man
you have seen for a time.
The So-and-sO's have turned the
flank" he shouts. THE cavalry are
working UP from behind. We've got
them on the rum" Then off he goes to
look for a general, where the red flag
waves on the hill.
A lun follows, preceded by a few
dropping obstinate sounding shots.
Everyone moves forward. Looking
back you can see the water carts with
their Juggling mules and lar behind the
dark line of the transport. So YOU
climb the hill with the rest. and many
limp figures are there.
few unkempt, bearded farmers.
some gray, some hardly more than
boys, lie here along the crest. If they
are alive, they glare at you at first.
The soldiers stand about and look at
them with curiosity, while others kneeI
beside them and offer water bottles.
Behind the rocks in the well concealed
trenches are shining piles of ammuni-
ton. Pencil-like Mausers, clumsy Mar
TINS, and, alas, deadly explosive mis-
siles that the Tommies pick up and
curse It is overall but the recover
ing, for shouting there is none.
Where has the day gone? Where
are the guns, and where are the rest
of the unkempt bearded ones2 Cleared.
vanished. made off with the guns that
they had laboriously drawn up to the
top of the kopje.
They are back there some seven or
eight miles in another line Some may
be watching now from the river bank.
As Tommy facetiOusly remarked,
They are not dead, but gone before
And this is what a battle is like. and
not one battle, bat many in South
Africa There is meaning there. there
are things that have caused one much
wonder and all these I leave out of the
telling. JAMES BARNES.