Page:The Bromsgrovian, 1883-06-08, New Series, Volume 2, Number 5.pdf/6

 the enemy bolts. Ulundi would have been a terrible cutting up if Crealock had only got his coast column up behind the enemy in time. As it was we burnt the place, had a good pursue for about two and a-half miles, and came in, bivouacked, and then set off back to permanent camp at Magnum Bonum; then, in heavy rains, marched back with our wounded: slow, uninteresting work, as the whole affair was over. Our route through Natal was somewhat different from the one going up, i.e., we went through Helpmakaar, Sevenoaks, and Greytown to Petermaritzburg; then on the same way to Pinetown. All this on foot. The "King's" took over our horses at Koppje Allien, a place 15 miles from Landtman's Drift. My horse left me even sooner: when we were at Magnum Bonum. At Pinetown we camped for a month, and began to harden our hearts and clean up traps ready for going to India. Here (at Pinetown) I dropped across my cousin, a captain in the 91st. He had been with Crealock, and was under orders for Mauritius. We had awful difficulty in getting off from Natal to the Serapis, for the surf was very bad indeed; as it was we had to wait six days before the boats could be got out at all. After a fortnight's crowding on the Serapis, we landed at Bombay, having called in at Mauritius, and having received a present of two oxen from the Queen of Madagascar. By the way, Madagascar looks rather a fine land en passant. On landing we were only a few hours in Bombay, and started by the E.I.P. Railway for Mhow, resting one night in Khandwa. This was the first bed we had slept in for nine months. Mhow is a large garrison, near to Indore, some twenty-four hours by rail from Bombay northwards.

If I could get a good appointment in India I would rather live. there than any place I have been in. Everybody in India appears to vie with his or her neighbour in making society as agreeable as possible. I only regret that I was in the ranks in India. And despite the fun that is made of your Anglo-Indian at home, your old General and his "Mem Sahib"—to say nothing of "Missy Baba"—do more than a little to make their fellow-countryman's life pleasant in an otherwise dreary land. Moreover, in India men remember their true position. Society is as good there as at home, and the