202 Sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



chosen one more unsuitable to his temperament. The life was 

 much too tame and unexciting, but it was short-lived. A com- 

 bination of stockbroking and love affairs ran away with all his 

 money, and, to put it shortly, he played the mischief all round. 



He then disappeared and enlisted in the Royal Marine 

 Artillery. With his Majesty's shilling in his pocket the prison 

 walls of the barracks swallowed him up, but only for a short time. 

 The army is a mill that grinds " exceeding small. " Harum- 

 scarum young Benton had already demonstrated to all whom it 

 might concern that he objected to being ground small after any 

 fashion whatever. It was, therefore, not surprising that he and 

 the army soon came into collision, which led to a fight with a 

 corporal and desertion. 



The history of these events is rather slight, but he appears 

 to have been in the habit of paying other men to do his fatigues 

 for him. One day the corporal told Benton (who had enlisted 

 under the name of White) to scrub his allotted span of floor 

 himself. Benton suggested the corporal could do it ; this led 

 to words, followed by blows, and the non-com)nissioned officer 

 being laid out on the floor under discussion. Benton, being an 

 athlete and quick with his fists, had the corporal at a dis- 

 advantage. 



After this little episode Benton ran away and hid himself in 

 various places until an opportunity of going to Australia came 

 his way. The date of his departure I do not know, but he 

 arrived in that country being known as, and having travelled 

 as, Richard White. He now kept himself with any odd job 

 that came his way until the Boer war broke out, when he 

 immediately volunteered and joined the Australian Artillery as 

 a gunner, still under the name of Richard White. He served all 

 through the Boer war without being wounded and without any 

 illness. He had been recommended for a commission when 

 peace was declared. 



Being now a homeless wanderer once more, he made up his 

 mind to join the Cape Mounted Police, and was stationed in a 

 part of the country where opium-dens abounded. 



While in Cape Town he heard of a vacancy for a cook on 

 Robben Island amongst the lepers. For this post he applied 

 and was engaged, proving himself a useful man, acting as cook, 

 painter, laundryman, and general factotum. 



