I had determined to return to England; but it was with mixed feelings that I watched the departure of the gallant column in whose good company I had marched so many miles and seen such successful fights. Their road led them past Lord Roberts's headquarters, and the old Field-Marshal came out himself to see them off. First the two Cavalry Brigades marched past. They were brigades no longer; the Household Cavalry Regiment was scarcely fifty strong; in all there were not a thousand sabres. Then Ridley's 1,400 Mounted Infantry, the remnants of what on paper was a brigade of nearly 5,000; thirty guns dragged by skinny horses; the two trusty 5-inch 'cow-guns' behind their teams of toiling oxen; Bruce-Hamilton's Infantry Brigade, with the City Imperial Volunteers, striding along--weary of war, but cheered by the hopes of peace, and quite determined to see the matter out; lastly, miles of transport: all streamed by, grew faint in the choking red dust, and vanished through the gap in the southern line of hills. May they all come safely home.
APPENDIX
COMPOSITION OF LIEUT.-GENERAL IAN HAMILTON'S FORCE
DIVISIONAL STAFF
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL IAN HAMILTON.
C.B., D.S.O.
A.D.C.s--Captain de Heriez Smith.
Captain Balfour, late 11th Hussars.
Captain Maddocks, R.A.
Captain Duke of Marlborough, I.Y.
A.A.G.--Lieut.-Colonel Le Gallais, 8th Hussars.
D.A.A.G.s--Captain Vallentin, Somerset L.I.
Captain Gamble, Lincoln Regiment.
Captain Atcherley, A.S.C.
Captain Kirkpatrick, R.E.