Waiting for a general is a serious undertaking, and the Intelligence officer was tired. Moreover, he did not know where the camp was, or when he would be expected to take over from the chief staff officer of the column. But on active service all these things work out in their own time, so he just sat down on the whitewashed steps of the verandah and lit a cigarette. The tall Yeoman orderly did likewise on the far side of the entrance. The Intelligence officer smoked in silence for some time, engaged in the occupation most welcomed by tired men on service--thinking of better times--until the nightmare of the column, the orders for the morrow, the supplies and the camp, broke in upon his reverie. _Intelligence Officer._ "Do you know where the camp is?" _Orderly._ "Yes, sir; it is about half a mile from here." _I. O._ "You can find your way there in the dark?" _Ord._ "Yes, sir; it is straight down the main street, and then the first to the left. It would be impossible to miss it." _I. O._ "What do you belong to?" _Ord._ "I don't quite know what I belong to now. I came out originally with the 218th Company Imperial Yeomanry; but they have gone back home." _I. O._ "Then what are you doing out here now?" _Ord._ "Well, you see, sir, I came to the general as orderly about four months ago, and I liked being with him so much that I did not rejoin the company. As a matter of fact, we were away down in Calvinia District; I don't quite see how I could have got back to them, even if the general would have let me go. I haven't seen the company since I was wounded at Wittebergen seven months ago. I joined the general from Deelfontein Hospital!" _I. O._ "I hope that your billet has been kept open for you in England." _Ord._ "I sincerely trust it has, sir; but I have missed a season's hunting. I don't intend to miss another if I can help it." _I. O._ "The devil you don't. What do you do at home?" _Ord._ "I hunt four days a-week in the winter, and in the----" _I. O._ "I mean, what is your job?" _Ord._ "I haven't much of a job, sir; I'm the junior partner in an engineering firm, and as we do some very big things in contracts, there isn't much left for me to do except amuse myself!" _I. O._ "Then whatever made you come out in the ranks?" _Ord._ "It suits me, sir. I am not fond of responsibility: besides, if every one who could afford it had taken a commission in our company, we should have been all officers, with no one to command!" _I. O._ "I call it most sporting of you."