"
"You did wrong, sir," the general said, his face relaxing into a smile
at the lad's defence of himself. "Well, as you are there, you may as
well stop."
"Thank you, sir!" Chris said, saluting, and then hurried off to rejoin
his comrades.
"He is a plucky boy," the general said to his staff. "I heard the other
day--though not officially, so I was not obliged to take notice of it--
that he, with the twenty lads with him, rode out to a place seventy
miles away, and rescued some farmers who were besieged by Boers,
defeated their assailants, killed and wounded more than their own
number, made the rest of them, still double their own strength, lay down
their arms, and recaptured nearly two thousand head of cattle they had
driven off. The news came to me from the mayor of Maritzburg, who had
heard of it from a friend who had ridden in from Grey town. He wrote to
me expressing his admiration at the exploit. I sent privately to their
captain and questioned him about it, intending to reprimand him severely
for letting them go; but he said that they had all resigned, as they had
a right to do, for they are all sons of gentlemen, and draw no pay or
provisions, and that he had therefore no control whatever over their
actions after they left camp.
Pages:
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463