Part 6 (1/2)

The picturesque hand-to-hand fighting, the night attacks, the charges up precipitous hills, the retreatsthe wounded under constant fire, which he witnessed and in which he bore his part, he never again can see with the same fresh and enthusiastic eyes Then it was absolutely new, and the charm of the book and the value of the book are that with the intolerance of youth he attacks in the service evils that older enuousness of youth he tells of things which to the veteran have becoer even able to see

In his three later war books, the wonder of it, the horror of it, the quick adive place, in ”The River War,” to the critical point of view of the military expert, and in his two books on the Boer war to the rapid impressions of the journalist In these latter books he tells you of battles he has seen, in the first one he made you see them

For his services with the Malakand Field Force he received the caadier-General Jeffreys praises ”the courage and resolution of Lieutenant W L S Churchill, Fourth Hussars, with the force as correspondent of the _Pioneer_”

From the operations around Malakand, he at once joined Sir William Lockhart as orderly officer, and with the Tirah Expedition went through that caained a second clasp

This was in the early part of 1898 In spite of the time taken up as an officer and as a correspondent, he finished his book on the Malakand Expedition and then, as it was evident Kitchener would soon attack Khartuain as a correspondent took part in the advance upon that city

Thus, in one year, he had seen service in three cans

On the day of the battle his luck followed him Kitchener had attached him to the Twenty-first Lancers, and it will be ree ”; it was a fight to get in and a fight to get out, with frenzied followers of the Khalifa hanging to the bridle reins, hacking at the horses' ha point-blank at the troopers Churchill was in that charge He received the medal with clasp

Then he returned home and wrote ”The River War” This book is the last word on the cans up the Nile From the death of Gordon in Khartum to the capture of the city by Kitchener, it tells the story of thefailures, the , slow progress toward the final winning of the Sudan

The book made a distinct sensation It was a work that one would expect froypt, he laid down his sword to pen the story of his life's work Fro enough to gain the desert tan, it was a revelation As a contribution to military history it was so valuable that for the author it made many admirers, but on account of his criticisained him eventhat caused the retired army officer to sit up and choke with apoplexy:

”General Kitchener, who never spares himself, cares little for others

He treated all men like machines, from the private soldiers, whose salutes he disdained, to the superior officers, whoidly controlled The comrade who had served with hi aside as soon as he ceased to be of use The wounded Egyptian and even the wounded British soldier did not excite his interest”

When in the service clubs they read that, the veterans asked each other their favorite question of what is the ar to, and to their own satisfaction answered it by pointing out that when a lieutenant of twenty-four can repris

To the newspapers, hundreds of thenatures, on the service club stationery, wrote violent, furious letters, and the newspapers theave to the book editorial praise and editorial condeer officers of the service They nicknamed his book ”A Subaltern's Advice to Generals,” and called Churchill himself a ”Medal snatcher” A medal snatcher is an officer henever there is a ruh influence in high places and for the sake of the can medal has himself attached to the expeditionary force But Churchill never was a medal hunter The routine of barrack life irked hin parts he served his country far better than by reuard mount Indeed, the War Office could cover with medals the man rote ”The Story of the Malakand Field Force” and ”The River War” and still be in his debt

In October, 1898, a month after the battle of Omdurman, Churchill s in Dover and Rotherhithe History does not record that these first speeches set fire to the Channel During the winter he finished and published his ”River War,” and in the August of the following summer, 1899, at a by-election, offered himself as Meraph_ his letters froypt had eneral desire to hear him and to see him In one who had attacked Kitchener of Khartum, the men of Oldham expected to find a stalwart veteran, bearded, and with a voice of command When they were introduced to a small red-haired boy with a lisp, they refused to take hi Lately, Curzon, Churchill, Edward Grey, Hugh Cecil, and others have orous can, in which Lady Randolph took an active part, Oldha Churchill for a member Later he was Oldham's only claim to fame

A week after he was defeated he sailed for South Africa, where ith the Boers was ii Post_

Later in the war he held a coienerals acted as galloper and aide-de-camp To this combination of duties, which was in direct violation of a rule of the War Office, his brother officers and his fellow correspondents objected; but, as in each of his other cans he had played this dual role, the press censors considered it a traditional privilege, and winked at it

As anever seeht, did his duty to his paper ever prevent hierent

War was declared October 9th, and only athe railroad line between Pieter and Colenso, the cars were derailed and Churchill was taken prisoner

The train was made up of three flat cars, two arine, with three cars coupled to the cow-catcher and two to the tender

On the outward trip the Boers did not show thelish passed Frere station they rolled a rock on the track at a point where it was hidden by a curve On the return trip, as the English approached this curve the Boers opened fire with artillery and poerness to escape, rounded the curve at full speed, and, as the Boers had expected, hit the rock The three forward cars were derailed, and one of the the escape of the engine and the two rear cars From these Captain Haldane, as in command, with a detachment of the Dublins, kept up a steady fire on the enemy, while Churchill worked to clear the track To assist him he had a company of Natal volunteers, and those who had not run away of the train hands and break-down crew

”We were not long left in the comparative safety of a railroad accident,” Churchill writes to his paper ”The Boers' guns, swiftly changing their position, reopened fire froot out of the stage of excla the hills, until it encircled the wreckage on three sides, and froround on the opposite side of the line a third field-gun came into action”