UNFITNESS OF THE DRESS. 25 



makes an effort to get on to the front, but finds himself 

 most unaccountably held in the obstinate grasp of an 

 unexpected native foe. The thick -spreading and verdant 

 bush, under which the ' chako ' has rolled, is the ' wacht- 

 een-beetje' and, to his cost, he feels in his woollen gar- 

 ments the tenacious hold of its hooked claws; for the 

 more he struggles to get free, the more he becomes en- 

 tangled in the thorny web. He now hears f retire ' 

 echoing through the adjoining rocks ; and his friends, the 

 'Totties/ as they briskly run past, warn him, in their 

 retreat, that the enemy who knows right well our bugle- 

 calls is at their heels. Exhausted by his protracted 

 struggle, whilst maddened at the thought of falling into 

 the power of his cruel foe, the poor fellow makes a 

 desperate effort at escape. In so doing, the ill-omened 

 ' chako ' is left to its fate ; the wacht-een-beetje retains 

 in triumph part of his dress. As he ' breaks covert/ the 

 Kaffirs, with insulting yells, blaze away at him from the 

 Bush ; and, scudding across the plain, towards his party, 

 with the ill-adjusted pouch banging against his hinder 

 parts, the poor devil, in addition to the balls whistling 

 around him, is also exposed, as he approaches, to the 

 jeers and laughter of his more fortunate comrades ! 



"Far be it to attempt here to detract from the effi- 

 ciency and merits of our gallant troops, whose services 

 spite of every obstacle raised in their way have been so 

 conspicuous in every part of the globe; I merely wish 

 to point out how very much that efficiency might be 

 increased, by a little attention to the dictates of reason 

 and common sense." 



