Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



could not help reviewing my present existence as 

 a supremely happy one, notwithstanding all the 

 drawbacks. With scarce a thought beyond the 

 morrow, with mundane cares beyond the horizon 

 and dulness banished by the brightness of the 

 sun, what more would you ? I always mark down 

 these supremely happy moments in my existence, as 

 they do not occur in sufficient numbers to allow me 

 to overlook them; whereas troubles are gregarious 

 in their nature, and, as Dickens says, flying in 

 flocks, are apt to perch capriciously. But he also 

 states that thoughts of worldly men are ever 

 regulated by a moral law of gravitation, which, like 

 the physical one, holds them down to earth. To 

 return, therefore, to the necessary and common 

 habits of this life. I arrived back at my hut with 

 a gigantic appetite, and there I found my boy had 

 laid out a fine-looking ham, which I had received 

 the day before by parcel post. I had not tasted 

 ham since leaving England, nearly ten months ago, 

 and I did justice to it. I also received a pair of 

 tennis flannels, which were rather superfluous, seeing 

 I had not been out of my uniform for four months, 

 and as far as I could see not likely to be for 

 another four. 



One must be at a pretty useful distance from 

 civilization to be without any troubles. I had been 

 suffering from toothache, off and on, for some 

 months past, but during the eighth week of our 

 position at Kigezi it recurred in its worst form. I 

 sat down and rocked with the pain. My nerves 



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