The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-07-31
CONVEYED
,s BY A SPARK

The big fighting is over, with it's La
dysmiths, Modder Rivers and Storm
bergs,. and in it's place a new warfare
has sprung up, a warfare on the run.
The British are in Pretoria; they hold
the towns and the railways, and the
lively, waspish commanders are act
i've in their endeavors to make the out
side country uninhabitable.
There are in the Transvaal tranquil,
whitewashed, iron-roofed dorps,
through which the trains run twice
daily with a homely punctuality; where
shopkeepers grow fat in trade with the
the big garriSons and officers fill COM
Portable billets as Provost Marshals,
District Commissioners and what not,
which are none the less in a state of
actual siege, SO far as their surround
ings go. In the streets and market
places; in the shops and pretty houses,
there is nothing-save the everlasting
topic of conversational indicate the
presence of war and the proximity of
an armed foe. Good-natured soldiers
lounge through the place and guards
change with clasp and rattle at the
like Germany in khaki, and the good
relations which prevail between the
townsfolk and the soldiery heighten the
resemblance. Surrendered burghers,
who have buried their Sunday-bes
Mausers and temporarily suspended
active operations, smoke on their stoops
with an outward air of patriarchal be-
nevoIence that discredits caution and
ny faith Rri f.
Usher, with his belts and bayonets,
ranks and files, stars and grades, is
an ever-interesting anomaly; a pushing
creature to be tolerated to a certain
point. but to be sniped at and rushed
on proper occasion. They come and they
CO. these burghers, regarding oaths of
neutrality like the laws of the old con-
stitution, framed for the advantage and
not FOR the oppression of the wise men.
This Is view of the inside. Beyond
the pickets it is otherwise. From the
hills which rise abruptly like islands
standing out of the water the gray.
comfortless veldt rolls markedly to the
very skirts of the town. The skyline
is bare and clean as the edge of a
knife, and, looking straight before one,
one seems to see the rim of the earth.
An OK stalks solemnly across his graz
ing ground; he is the only moving thing
visible between here and the sky. An
innocent outlook: most innocent out
look. So innocent and open that the
cossack post striding slowly from one
boulder to another and back again-it
is well to have cover at hand--almost
permits himself to think Of home-and
that girl. In the Transvaal the night
drops quickly; cat one stride comes the
dark" The twilight, for the few brief
minutes that 1t lasts, is exquisite. 1t
smooths out the creases of the day,
healing where the sun has touched, cas-
ing where the dust has stung, cooling
the brain and comforting the body. The
cossack post does think of home; he re-
members Just such another evening.
Then talk was not of war.
But-a light, a mere spark, winks
across the miles. 1t might have been
a star, accommodating over the edge Of
a cloud before making It's debut at the
dance Of the zodiac. On the other hand
it might have been signal lamp, an
affair of lenses and pivots, the tongue
of a fate. The cossack posts home.
whisks aloft to bide better while, and
his eyes nail themselves on the point
where that light appeared and went
cut
He waits perhaps five minutes. Then
it lodges up again. Dot-dash, dash
dash-dot, 1t says, blinking brazenly to
his very face. The code is very
strange one; nothing is to be gathered
from watching the message. He shout
ders his rifle, steps briskly over the
parched grass toward his home-side
a.
where some OF the patriarchal surren-