Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-23

to look for the graves of the Highland Bri-
gade. Even now the name boards are split
and blistered and the date carries us back
a thousand years.
And 50 it went on, hour after hour, this
procession Of faces, this tangle of half
caught tales
The Light Cases.
Toward evening the remnants, as 1t were,
| of a battalion moved from the hospital tent
! in broken squads, one man supporting an
other
They were our light" cases-men denied
| the merciful cushioning shock of a severe
wound-in acute and annoying pain. They
would go down to Naauwpoort by the Kim
berley train. but first they must be called
| over.
They reached the Platform haltingly; their
uniforms We're darkened in places by
| patches, as Of caelessly spilled varnish,
| and sometimes their trouser hens were
eumlny with the same stuff.
| They sat down by companies in the dust
half a score of regiments mixed.
Their officers got them fruit and cigar
| cites; the mere sound filled their compan-
| ions water bottles.
| They chaffed greatly in undertones, but
| they did not say one single word which by
| any construction could be considered even
| coarse. They did not complain, they did
not growl; they did not curse They were
going to Naauwpoort to get well. In a few
days they would return. They had out
marched and outmaneuVered their enemy
on couple of biscuits day, for they had
| also outmarched their provisions Their
| companions were now attending to that
enemy and they Were content.
On their departure Number Three walked
| to life.
The wagons were coming in from the hos
pitfalls. The doors of the cars flew back;
orderlies went to their stretchers; the side
boards We're ripped out of the hunks; the
cook put the last 1iavoring to the big stock
pot: the sisters stood to attention, each
in her ward-a doctor and a sister are re-
sponsible for half a train apiece-and the
blessed morphine needles were made ready.
They want rest from pain, our wounded.
Food and clean sheets will often bring it,
but on occasion We must help nature.
Loading the Cars.
The worn, Clipped and scratched rifles
clattered into the arm racks. the thin,
| dusty kits followed, and after them the
| loaded stretchers.
FRACTURED thigh" said an elderly.
(which? Left or right?" said the sister.
Right said the man, and he was
| slipped on to his back accordingly, injured
| leg outside, where it could be got at east
est.
| clean stomach wound. He could eat milk
| and Stops in a bunk marked to that effect,
| and the gentlemanly Mauser would suffer
| him to live. Down the car he went, think
ing nobly of his soul, and in no way ap-
proving of milk diet.
Entered one amputation below the right
| elbow-very CHEEKY. Full diet for this am
putation, but no full diet for yonder lung
shot. who cannot lie down without pain.
| Were there any sick?
| There were no sick, and the doctors
| thanked heaven. They would sooner bring
down three trains of wounded than one of
| sick
Dysentery, that mlks the heart out of a
| man and shames him before his kind; rheu-
matiSm which is the seven devils of tooth
| ache, in the marrow of your bones; typhoid
of the loaded breath and the silly eye in
continent and consuming; pneumonia that
stabs in the back and drives the poor soul
suffocating and bewildered, through all the
hells of delrium-we are clear of these for
this journey.
The clean aseDtic bullet kiss and the
shell splinter are all our care.
Quietly and quickly, but above all quietly
come the StretcherS
Fractured shoulder; elbow joint; lung
again from right to left, but nothing vital
touched: shattered forearm (owner saws ex-
plosive bullet; two head cases, but both
| will live. Eye. head and neck; upper arm;
thigh again; two three clean shots
through the thigh Owners very hungry;
shoulder smashed and top of finger shot
off townar much annoyed over this little
| extra; forearm again, and please sir, the
handases. are pinchin' me horrid.'
IT isn't the bandage, but the doctor does
not say so. He exhibits the merciful squirt
and the bandages miraculously loosen
| themselves.
Now come the officers
one colonel, bearded like the heavy swell
OF the sixties; another colonel Che High
| ianders must have bean catching it cruel
ly); major; bearded captain con investi-
CATION this turns out to be a lieutenant
aged twenty-three, when he is shaved: and
sp7nkling of subalterns and doctors.
In each mans bed is bag holding shirt.
pa5amas, towel, brush, sponge, soap and
tooth brush They call it the Good Hope
bag, but 1t was evidently Invented bv a
thoughtful she-angel
Man after man shakes off or is helped out
OF the creased dusty, greasy, gloomy.
bloodstained khaki and nestles into the lux
ury of clean body clothes between clean
sheets. They have rest; now they must
nave food-thick soup for choice, if they
and brandy for the stomach and lung nenN
pie. peo-
To be continued tomorrow1