"
"I agree with you thoroughly, Harris," Chris said. "As most of us are
likely to remain out here for life, we shall often meet, and I do hope
that when we talk of these times we shan't have our pleasure marred by
having to say how we miss so and so, and so and so. I should be sorry
even to lose one of our blacks. They have stuck to their work well, and
are always cheerful and willing in the worst of weather and under the
most miserable conditions. I should really be very sorry if any of them
were killed."
It needed but a day or two for the troops to recover their cheerfulness.
It was certain that they would soon be launched against the enemy again,
and it was known that General Buller would himself command. The ground
was now more known than it was before, the plans could he better laid,
and all looked forward confidently to the next engagement.
No thanks were due to the weather for the renewed spirits of the men. It
rained almost unceasingly. The flat ground on which the troops were
encamped was a sea of mud. There was one good effect in this: there was
water in all the spruits, and the men were able to indulge in a wash-up
of their clothes and an occasional bath; and although they had to put
their clothes on wet, they were scarcely more damp than when they took
them off.
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