"
"But we should have been wet through before we lay down, Chris."
"Yes, they would not have kept us dry, but they would have gone a long
way towards keeping us warm. It would be like putting oilskin over wet
lint; we should have felt as if we were in a hot poultice in a short
time. And even while riding it would have been very comfortable, if we
had worn them as we did the blankets, with a hole in the middle to put
our heads through."
"But that would spoil them for tents," Carmichael said.
"Well, we could have flaps sewn so as to cover the hole."
"Our blankets were very useful last night," Horrocks remarked. "I don't
know how we could have got many of those poor fellows down the hill if
we had not carried them in the blankets. It was infinitely easier for
them and a great deal easier for us. I saw lots of soldiers using theirs
in the same way." "Are you sure you will be able to sit your horses down
to Ladysmith?" Chris asked Brown, Capper, and Harris, the three wounded.
All laughed. "One would think that we were babies, Chris," Harris said.
"We could ride to Maritzburg if necessary, though I feel my arm rather
stiff, and no doubt it will be stiffer still to-morrow. I felt a bit
miserable at sunrise after lying there shivering, and envied you fellows
who could keep yourselves warm by working; but I am beginning to thaw
out now, and the sight of the Kaffirs coming towards us with the horses
half an hour ago, and the thought of hot coffee, did even more than the
sun to warm me.
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