Native Recruits 



youths whom I was taking to headquarters to enlist 

 as soldiers. These boys afforded me the greatest 

 amusement. They would march about swinging 

 their arms in true military style, and throwing out 

 their chests to make the most of themselves. Their 

 tent was always the last up and the last down. 

 The old soldiers would stand looking on, and 

 occasionally, jeering at them, but it took much 

 more than that to upset their equilibrium. The 

 amount of noise and shouting that this tent evolu- 

 tion required was extraordinary, and at intervals a 

 fearful rough and tumble between two of the boys 

 over some fancied difference would take place. I 

 marvelled how they lived, as they only had a few 

 cents which I gave them each evening out of pity, 

 and occasionally some food which I shot for them. 



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