On the Firing Line

eek and portly Uitlanders who thronged the hotels and made too audible mourning for their imperiled possessions. Viewed in either light, it was hot, crowded and unclean. From his caricatu

of the Snows had obviously been christened as a welcome to the scores of his fellow colonials who had gone that way

towards Adderley Street and the Grand Hotel. It was nightfall before their luggage was safe through the cu

ied languidly from the

account o

's th

what we nee

Carew hooked his toe around a second chair, drew it towards him and promptly converted it into a foot-rest. "Besides," he added tranquilly; "to-morrow is Box

n lau

hat," he said, as he dived into the trun

m from between h

ddy?" he

s in there." A pair of dark gray blankets lan

he bed to me," Carew advised him. "You're in the wrong trunk for your

them to lie

eover, from the look of the place, you could make calls in either pajamas or khaki, and it would pass muster. I s

he drew out a frock-coat and i

perhaps," he o

gorously. "So you have a bid

the extra chair and utilized the

d to call upon Miss Ophelia Arthur. Now you will p

cess of undressing. Then, emptying his pipe and sn

l have all we can do to get ourselves enlisted and our horses into condition. We haven't time for much els

edge of the bed, Weld

ul any good, and it only renders you a bore. It has always been

khaki everywhere and yet more khaki, and, rising grimly behind it all, the naked face of Table Mountain covered with its cloth of clouds! It was all a tumult of busy change, bounded by the unchanging and the eternal. For one entire morning, Weldon loitered about the streets, viewing all things with his straightforward Canadian gaze, jostling and jostled by turns. War had ceased to be a myth, and, of a sudden, was become a grim reality; yet in the face of it all his courage never faltered. His sole m

third, one full half must be left with the negro servants at the hotel. His toilet fixtures would have been adequate for a Paris season; his superfluous rugs would have warmed him during a winter on the apex of the North Pole. It was with something bet

th and fine linen, chose his stick and gloves with care, and, leaving A

rs of Table Bay. Dressed in a thin white gown which, to Weldon's mind, was curiously out of keeping with all

she gave him her hand. "I began to fe

to the bamboo chairs at the shaded western end of the veranda. "In fa

ked quickly. "Has somethin

e thing I referred to was my f

ace c

s that

e sat down. "I came out here with all sor

questioned

't worth much in any line, least of all in the firing line.

er his alert, wel

tart for the front

know I sta

opposite me?" she asked light

ell you-?"

looking cont

r died out

ly content. I am enrolled in the

?" she asked quickl

now anyth

that little is good. Then it is

mniscient,

hat she asks. My father, you know, is in the thick of things, and it seems t

Tommies?" he

recollection of h

same squadron with his groom. In my one London season, I met only officers. Out here, I find Lord Thomas t

hout its tablecloth?" he parried. "In bot

she advised him. "It really does have a life

ance of my knowing it better," h

s away, and you've not met m

with the conscious air of a man su

thur for a drive through Rondebosch. That

s the redoubtable

firm lips displayed itself su

y short. More remarkable still is the fact that sh

does she

et his eyes in

forming my mother of the prese

aised hi

here, when I come back

tence of misund

uch less stri

sible with us. I don't mean the lorgnette itself; but the acute accent wh

Have you seen her

and Carew and I called on them there.

about Mr

o Maitland. He is

ng thoughtfully ou

he will make," she said, half to

hy

is an embodied

m. The alternations of her cordial moments with her formal ones were no more marked than were the alternations of her viewpoint. As a rule, she looked on life with the impartial eyes of a healthy-minded boy; occasionally, however, she

ghs at life like a child; but he lives it like a man. I have known him since we were boys together; I have never known him to shi

l Dent told herself that Weldon's simple words had been descr

s were needless to show him that here was one born to command. Glancing up, Weldon looked into a pair of keen blue eyes exactly on a level with his own, took swift note of the full, broad forehead, of the black lashes contrasting with the yellow hair and of the