The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-08-27
CONVEYED BY A SPARK
MESSAGE OF THE PEACEFUL BOER
TO HIS FIGHTING BROTHER.

The big fighting Is over. with its
l-adysmiths, Modder Rivers and
StormbergS. ana in its place n new
warfare has sprung up. warfare on
the run, says the Pretoria correspond
snt of the London Chronicle. The
British are i'm Pretoria; they hold the
towns and the railways. and the live
". waspish commanders are active in
their endeavors TO make the outside
country uninhabitable.
There are in the Transvaal TRANQUIL
white-washed, iron-roofed dorps.
through which the trains run twice
daily with homely punctuality;
where shopkeepers grow fat in trade
with the big garrisons and officers fill
comfortable billets as Provost Mar
shalS, District Commissioners and
what not. which are none the less I'm
state of actual siege, so far as their
surroundings 20. In the streets and
market places, in the shops and pretty
houses, there is nothing-save the ever
lasting topic OF conversations indi-
cate the presence Of war and the prox-
unity of an armed foe. Good.natured
soldiers lounge through the place and
guards change with clasp and rattle
at the corners Of the streets. 1t looks
rather like Germany in khaki. and the
good relations which prevail among
the townsfolk and the soldlery height
en- the resemblance. Surrendered
burghers, who have buried their Sun
day-best Mausers, end temporarily
suspended active operations. smoke on
their stoops with an outward air of
patriarchal benevolenee that discred-
Its caution and invites good faith. To
them the Britisher, with his belts and
bayonets, ranks and files, stars and
grades. is an ever-interesting anomaly;
n pushing creature TO be tolerated to
a certain point, but to be sniped at
and rushed on proper occasion. They
come and they 90, these burghers. re-
garding oaths of neutrality like the
laws of the old constitution. framed
for the advantage. and not for the CD
preston 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.
very skirts Of the town. the skyline
is bare and clean as the edge of n
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: n most
innocent outlook. SO innocent and
open that the cossack post striding
slowly from one boulder to another
and back again--it is we'll to have
cover at hand-almQst permits himself
to think of Homeland that girl. In
the Transvaal the night drops quickly:
lat one stride comes the dark! The
twilight, for the few brief minutes
that it lasts, IS exquisite. 1t smooths
out the creases of the day. healing
where the sun has touched. easing
where the dust has stung cooling the
brain and comforting the body. The
cossack post does think of home: he
remembers just such another evening
Then talk was not of war.
But-a light, n mere spark. winks
across the miles. 1t might have been
star. accommodating over the edge
Of a cloud before making its debut
at the dance OF the zodiac. On the
other hand, II might have been n sig
nal lamp, an AFFAIR of lenses and piv-
OTIS. the tongue OF fate. The cos
sack posts home whisks aloft to bide
bet while, and MS eyes nail them.
selves on the point where that light
appeared and went out.
He waits perhaps five minutes. Then
II lodges up again. Dot-dash. dash
dashdot, II 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. and steps briskly over
the parched grass toward his home
side man. They are signalling to the
town. where some Of the patriarcha!
surrendered ones are making the most
OF their time among the soldiers who
do not practice keeping secrets or hav-
ing secrets 10 keep.
The light is announced from most TO
post, and n clever young lieutenant is
dragged from n card table TO observe
what he is too clever to hope to under
stand. They are men Of arms these
soldiers, and do not recognize the
brain rs a fighting unit-yet. That
viii come, but only after the next big
licking.
Meanwhile, n dear old boy with n
most benevolent beard, ana owning
TO sixty years. despite his straight
back and keen eye and fresh cheek