The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-04
Seeing WAR IN AFR|CA|H GAY OLD NEW York.
(Continued from Page -


rises near where the battery of horses
standing.
$50 they've got a gun, too you think.
Yes, two of them, or three perhaps for
more screeches and more red spurts fol-
low. The battery of horses does not
move, the drivers sit apparently uncon-
cerned and the men at the guns Jump
hither and thither at their work The lit
tie puffs of smoke still rise in the air in
front.
But it is the Fourth of July in front.
and you perceive that the little hollow in
to which the infantry has disappeared is
good place to go to. AS you mark the
rise, the hubble-bubble grows clearer-a
man is walking toward you, his coat
hanging loose over his shoulder, his arm
is tied up IN white bandage ii has red
spots on it. Maybe the man is smoking
a pipe
"How's IT going on up thereg you ask
"Oh, very good, sir. The Bluffs is we'll
in front" 1t might be any other regi-
rnent. but the answer would be the same.
This wounded man doesn't seem to care
much. He'd stay and chat with you if
you liked. He's quite pleased with him
self Perhaps he has visions of the three
weeks holiday at Wynberg down in the
Colony, where they feed men on jellies
and give them flowers, and where we'll
intentioned young ladies sneak freely
without introductions.
At any rate, there doesn't seem to be
anything frightful about it, So you wish
I him good luck and go on toward the
knoll of course l am taking It for grant
/ ed that your curiosity is not yet salts
/ fed. 1t is perhaps here that you get the
4 first shock, as il We're, for you suddenly
/ come upon the dressing station pitched
amid a little SLUT in the rocks. There
are two score of men sitting or lying
about, the doctors are operating in the
/ center. Some men stand up, others lie
down TO it, The doctor works like a
seamstress fitting on a gown; he seems
to be trying how much he can do in a
minute in order that his customers shall
not be kept waiting. There is no COM
planning. 1t is all very businesslike;
/ there is no tossing about, no groaring,
no praying, although near by lie several
still figures covered up in brown blank
cts with their hob-nailed boots protrud-
ing or perhaps only with a handkerchief
or a helmet covering their faces. Names
and numbers Will be posted i'm the Wal
Office tomorrow, and people viii come
and look at them and go away
The bearers with the Red Cross band
ages on their arms bring in more bur
dens. One of the burdens is an officer
He is badly hurt. The men grouped
about whispering. The surgeon greetl
him by name. The man on the stretchel
smiles at him family.
Going to send me down the line. ole
chap" he asks. The doctor makes n,
reply. He's busy bending over him. Tn
officer is going a longer journey thar
down the line" you can see that at
glance. The doctor whispers to him. II
: mods. his head
You may feel as If you were intruding
a desire comes TO you to see what all tn
row is about over the crest of the hill
And il is strange how quickly you ge
into it. 1t increases in clearness with ev
cry step you take: now IL is like the jolt
ing of a wagon, and now like the SCUM
of a boy running down the side of
stretch of palings with stick. You ca
see the fighting men. Some are quit
close to you; others on so far ahead tina
you wonder how they got there, an
they are still moving forward. On, or
on, they gol
They are on the foot of the kopje Ava
off from the left little band has almos
gained the crest-the row is awful Their
but there is no smoke, no enemy, moth
ing but death-dealing sounds.
The men laugh and talk: sometime
they grunt, fall down, and lie limp hud
dies in the grass.
Suddenly officer comes gallopin
back. He is the first mounted man yo
have seen for n time.
J THE so-and-sos have turned the flank
he shouts. The cavalry are working u
from behind. We've got them on tn
run" Then off he goes to look for
General where the red flag waves on tn
hill
lull follows. preceded by a few drop
ping obstinate sounding shots. Ever
one moves forward. Looking back yo
can see the water carts with their tug
ging mules. and far beyond the dark lin
> of the transport. So you climb the hi
with the rest. and many limp figures ar
there.
few unkempt, bearded farmers, som
gray. some hardly more than boys, Ii
here along the crest. If they are alive
they glare at you at first. The soldier
} stand about and look at them with curl
! osity, while others kneel beside ther
and offer water bottles. Behind tn
rocks in the well-concealed trenches ar
shining piles of ammunition. Pencil-lilI
Mausers, clumsy Martins and ala:
, deadly explosive missiles that the Tom
mics pick up and curse. 1t is over-a
, but the recovering, for shouting there
none.
Where has the day gone? Where ar
the guns, and where are the rest of tn
unkempt. bearded ones? Cleared, vanish
ed, made OF with the guns that they Ia
laboriously drawn up to the top of III
kopje.
They are back there some seven {
| eight miles in another line. Some ma
be watching now from the river banl
AS Tommy facetiously remarked: THE
are not dead, but gone before
And this is what "a battle is like. an
not one battle. but many in South Africi
There is a meaning there; there al
things that have caused one much woI
der and all these 1 leave out Of the tel
ing.