Bukartsu 



green birds hopped about and sang to me in the 

 sunshine. Over all was a delicious fragrance of 

 some highly scented bloom, and around me the 

 most perfect scenery of lakes and hills, spread over 

 by a canopy of azure sky, from which shone the 

 rays of a sun, equatorial certainly, but mitigated 

 to a European strength by the high altitude; and 

 if ever I again find myself amidst such enjoyable 

 surroundings I do not think anything could afford 

 me a greater pleasure. I lingered about that spot 

 whilst my boys were clearing up, and I was very 

 loth to leave it. But one cannot remain still in this 

 life. One must be for ever pushing on. You may 

 delay a little, but time passes before you are aware 

 of it. What pleases you to-day displeases you 

 to-morrow; so that change is the only method we 

 have of driving away that bogey we all dread, 

 monotony. The everlasting excuse for all we do — 

 anything for a change. The boy who breaks away 

 from home, the girl who leaves her staid existence 

 for more giddy pleasures, the man who runs away 

 from his stereotyped employment to enlist, they all 

 say the same — they could not stand it any longer: 

 wanted a change. 



I arrived in camp as tired as could be, and 

 found a veldt fire blowing in dangerous proximity, 

 which I had to extinguish promptly before I gave 

 out the food. The next day I ambled very quietly 

 back to Bukartsu to await the main body. 



From Bukartsu we marched slowly back to 

 the base, all very dejected. The "safari" was an 



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