Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



Well, I am not far from my friends here, and shall 

 soon see them again. How awful the idea that this 

 feeling may attack me at some later period when I 

 shall have hied me home again, with no likelihood 

 of its gratification. It is an overpowering feeling, 

 this longing desire, when it is on you ; the slightest 

 evidence of civilization irritates you. The ordinary 

 routine of life becomes distasteful. Your well-made 

 clothes annoy you ; the very ease with which you can 

 purchase your every want and enjoy your lightest 

 whim will grate upon you. Yes, it is a sort of 

 madness, I suppose, but a delightful one to give 

 way to. 



I thought I espied a rose bush at the bottom of 

 the valley outside my hut : beautiful pink and red 

 blossoms peeping out of a sturdy green mass. On 

 nearer approach I found these to be flowers 

 resembling exaggerated buttercups, but rosy-red 

 instead of yellow. The bees were buzzing round 

 as evidence that they thoroughly agreed in my 

 admiration of them. They must have sprung into 

 bloom during a single night. 



The bad food, want of vegetables and nervous 

 waiting had began to tell on my constitution. I 

 erected a bar to show my men how to pull themselves 

 up. I am good for a dozen at home. To-day once 

 nearly defeated me. 



At last, after this long imprisonment in an out- 

 of-the-world country, confined to a hillside by an 

 opposing force, I was selected to return to Mbarara 

 to take over some reinforcements. My Command- 



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