But we must not be tempted into stories such as these.  They abound, and if the Victoria Cross could be given wherever it was deserved, the sight of it upon the breast would be common indeed!

=Their Dread of the ’Pom-pom.’=

Of one thing, however, our men were afraid—­the dreaded ‘pom-pom’ of the Boers.  Some two hundred one-pound shells a minute these Vickers-Maxim guns are supposed to fire.  But as a matter of fact we are told the number rarely reached a score.  Still the dull pom-pom-pom of the gun, with the knowledge that shell after shell was coming, always made Tommy shake; and when he got to the camp fire at night, one man would say to another, ’I cannot get used to it.  It frightens me nearly out of my life.’

=The Christian under Fire.=

We have asked many of our Christian soldiers how they felt when they went into fire.  All sorts of answers have been given.  Most have confessed to a nervous tremor at first.  Said a lance-corporal of the 12th Lancers:  ’The worst time I ever had was when we were relieving Kimberley.  There were Boers in front of us and Boers on our flank.  We rode through a perfect hail of bullets.  At first I wondered if I should get through it, and then I became utterly oblivious of shells and bullets.  I rode steadily on, and the only thing that concerned me as we rode right for the Boer position was to keep my horse out of the ruts.’

Perhaps this is the general experience.  No thought of turning back, no particular fear, no great exultation, simply a keeping straight on.  No wonder from before such a wall of determination the Boers fled for their lives.

The soldier’s great complaint is that he has been kept ill-informed of the progress of events.  He has simply been a pawn on the chess-board, or a cog in the great wheel.  And he laments that often at the end of a long day’s march or fighting he lies down to rest in his wet ragged clothes, not knowing where he is or whether he has accomplished little or much.

This is inevitable, of course, and the officers themselves were, in many cases, but little better informed.  But one and all have implicit faith in their generals, and those who added to that faith implicit trust in God could after the most trying days lie down and rest in perfect peace.  Even at his worst the British soldier is capable of better things, and out there upon the veldt he has many a time thought of God, and wondered what possibilities for good there were within him.  Going to the front has made a new man of Tommy.  It remains to be seen whether in the easier times of peace the old man will come back.

Chapter VIII

WITH LORD ROBERTS TO BLOEMFONTEIN