’"Crewdson did not know whether I was alive or dead at first, but at my shouts brought my knife; and while I was gripping its throat with both hands so that it could not breathe at all, and rolling about to avoid kicks, Crewdson tried to cut its gullet.  This he could not do at first, so I took the knife with my left hand, holding the neck with my right, and dug the blade under the uplifted wing.  It took effect, and the wing seemed to lose force, but the blade of my knife was broken, leaving half in the bird.  I threw Crewdson the knife, and he opened another blade, and managed to cut the gullet.  The thing was nearly stifled, and, feeling the knife, it gave a last and awful struggle, and I really feared I should be beaten; however, I also put forth a last effort, and gradually the kicks and the struggles subsided.  I loosened my grip and let the blood flow; and when I thought it was pretty far gone, I jumped off and joined Crewdson.  Even then it made a wild attempt to rise, but could not.  Covered with dirt and blood, we plucked a few feathers, thanked the Lord for life, and tramped to Arundel, and arrived truly tired out.

     ’"The stationmaster told us that in 99 cases out of 100 the ostrich
     would have killed me.  He says there is not a man in the country who
     would attempt to do what I did."’

So there are in South Africa not only perils of Boors, of bullets, of shells, of snakes, and of scorpions, but perils of ostriches too!  And from them one and all His workers may well pray, ’Good Lord, deliver us!’

Chapter XIV

WITH SIR REDVERS BULLER

Christian work among the troops in Natal went on apace for months prior to the advance upon Ladysmith.  The Pietermaritzburg Y.M.C.A., for instance, provided two correspondence tents, which were of great service to the troops.

We have the report of No. 1 tent before us.  From December to April this tent was pitched successively at Chievely, Frere, Springfield, Spearman’s, Zwart Kopjes, beyond Colenso, outside Ladysmith, Modder Spruit, and finally at Orange River Junction.  Its work can be divided under four heads—­Correspondence, Evangelistic, Literary, and Social.

Every day saw the tent full of letter writers, and they were lying on the ground in front of it also.  As a rule not more than two sheets of paper and two envelopes were given to each applicant.  But in this way no less than twelve thousand sheets and an equal number of envelopes were distributed during the period named.  These workers also performed amateur post office duties.  They sold L25 worth of stamps, and received over nine thousand letters and three hundred papers and packages.  Efforts were made to supply newspapers for the men, but the difficulties of transport proved in the end too great to be satisfactorily overcome, though whenever possible they were obtained.