The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-07-06

or gathered from pictures or reading. 1t
| Is utterly and absolutely void of grandeur
or of glamor; it has a work-a- day aspect,
the modern battle, and yet it produces;
a strange sensation of unreality So let
us take an ail-day fight, which may be
one OF any of the seven or eight that |
| have seen while with the western col
umn.
| The evening before rumors are rife
1he Generals light burns late. 1t is
whispered about that lighting will begin
at daybreak, but exactly where is uncer-
tain. The Beers are the ones who have
won the toss, they are so mobile and can
change front so quickly, their positions
are so well hidden; and, alas, the scout
ing of the English is usually so miser-
able that the only fact known is that the
enemy are in front.
The camp strs at early dawn; it Is
afoot quicker than usual, perhaps; there
is no bugle call, the men awake in their
blankets, shake themselves, and move
about; there is rattle of Announcements:
little fires are lit and the early coffee is
brewed. 1t anP tea are Tommy's fighting
draughts. There is no sign of hushed eX-
poCtanCy or nervousness; the privates
joke and talk and laugh; they squat
about the little fires, feeung them with
bits of bush and brushwood. 1t seems
like any other day save for the gallop-
Ing orderlies from headquarters, VINO,
Gathering here and there, change from
one regiment to another. LAUNDERING bat
teries of artillery move out through the
camp lines. Roll call follows as the COM
pnnios are formed, and as the sun rises
the shrouded masses dissolve themselves
into lines of dusty yellow.
Without martial music or pomp or GER
omony the army moves, and the non
combatant falls in somewhere or any
where and moves forward, too. 4 priyi-
lnpnl he yrn whore ha lilSac
He is subject to no orders. His danger
zone is bounded by his curiosity ana his
scent for news.
There is n line of kopjes rolling in sue
cession down to the bush dotted banks of
a river. The Beers are there. But in
the spreading morning light these kopjes
look as innocent as any of the hundreds
OF other mighty hummocks that have
been passed in safety There is no ilut-
terlng flag to mark the onemy's position,
there are no bristllng guns, no line of
earthworks, nothing but the bare rocky
hills rising out of the gray green plain.
on TO the left and right stretch the lines
or men In khaki. Incy do not look like |
the spruce soldiers one sees at Aldershot
or staggering down Piccadilly. Their |
uniforms are weather stained, the heavy |
helmets are dented and battered, their
trousers are in rents, their boots in some |
cases are held together with strips OF |
tlNNl OF ltdAHtI, litlT iuttS are bthIhru
and burnt red bronze with the sun. But |
on they so from left to right and for
ward always. heads mp and shoulders |
back with their heavy harness welghting |
them down and their pouches filled wit
cleaning brass cartridges. TIE rides |
form n threatening fringe above.
The Highland Brigade. with kits show
ing q black line. is In the van. Their kha-
XII aprons make the Highlanders look
from the front like medieval black
smiths, but they have the old Highland
swing. and along with the fighting front
with each company marches the piper
his pipes, and armed with moth
Ing but long Scottish knife,
You turn and look back. behind the last
line. Here come the amhu-
lances making the onIy bit OF color in
The whole picture with their great fiutter-
Ing Red Cross flags They draw up In n
little hollow In the rear where they walt
for the loads that viii soon be theirs.
You can see the doctors and their assist
ants stretching an awning SO they can do
their work I'm the shade,
There Is halt, and the dun-colored
ranks sink down in the grass. The men
light their pipes; two or three take out