The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1906-10-13
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Red Cloud Of War.

It was a day of stirring incident.
Colonel Hamilton no sooner reached
the cape to take up the command Of
the Second battalion of his regiment
than the storm burst. The red cloud
that had crept up, small as mans
hand at first, now grew to the size and
darkness that threatened to blot out
the sun. There had been threatening
rolls of thupaer-mutterings, not loud,
but portentously deep. Now there
came a growl from one side of the
heavens to the other; a lurid fash-a
glow-a rattle; and the day of war had
broken-the red cloud had burst.
The regiment was ordered up to
Rittersk]oof, a small garrison not far
from Ladysmith. Colonel Hamilton
would not let Ursula go with it, though
those were the days when expectation
was 1high-as~te- the eaaa~-< and speedy
termination of the campaign-the
times when the whole affair was light
ly spoken OF as walk-over and treat
ed like a picnic. She must stay at
Wynberg or go back to England. There
was no possibility of her going up
country-that was decided at once.
She chose Wynberg with as much de-
cision as the choice was offered. Go
back to England? The idea was not
to be entertained for a moment She
would not leave South Africa while
daddy remained.
So she stayed with acquaintances at
Wynberg, and tried to content herself
with what patience was hers, in the
face Of the suspense and anxiety. Her
father at Ritterskloof and Noel at
Colenso-for she had heard news of
him since she came out. There had
been no letter from him: he was stern
ly true to his promise not to keep up
communication with her til1 his name
was cleared. But she heard of him as
being one of the irregular forces, and
already having drawn attention to him.
self by acts of daring and enterprise.
She could guess how he courted dan
ger and difficulty, that he might do
something great.
the dark vista before her. It is often
so, in the lives Of us all. There comes
a place where the way seems closed in
by thick, strong wall of doubt and
darkness, and no way shows through
it. 1t is oftenest then that the light is
just beyond.
Whoever has sailed about the coasts
of Norway, and explored it's wild and
lovely fjords, may have tried to make
their way up the most wonderful,
where a passage seems denied. The
frowning cliffs that tower grim and
+. rigid on either hand, as high as the
eye can reach from the deck below,
grow with every boats length closer
together-there seems no room for
canoe to pass. There can be no turn
ing for a yacht that has found its way
tn--there can be no exit, to the won
dering eye. Closer and still closer the
cliffs knit together-the- black wall OF
TUCK E16CS ;lApC1lCL1 dU1C-L11C4, dS CuC
last chance goes, there is sudden
turn, bend. and the. fjord opens out
into wide and glorious space. Just SO
life treats us-and we must trust for
the beauty and the safety beyond, in
blind clinging to hope that seems to-
have no foundation for itself.
It was one evening Yin the first weeks
of the war-while still the colony
waited breathlessly for some step
more decisive than the futile skirm
ishes and forays that had done no
good. Ursula had gone down to the
foot Of the garden. for she could not
rest indoors. Her friends were Eng
lish people, civilians, who had no close
association with the army, and regard
ed the whole campaign as . kind Of
military tournament got up for their:
special benefit. There was no inten-
tton 70 be. cailous,,t but the casualties
and losses already: 5sss suffered our
troops had no intimate 5signln ncance ito
81 9thann .SaIxxT Th0Y 1arA Cheerful over fha5