My _vis-à-vis_--I had almost said my opponent--much more formal, is content to plant a bag on my knees, and a box on my feet.... How beautiful is the simplicity of rustic manners! At last, on March 17, we reach Kroonstad and establish our camp there. We take advantage of this sojourn to pursue the education of our ’boys.’ In consequence of our having ’chummed’ with other comrades, our suite has taken on alarming proportions; we look like a company of slave-dealers. The biggest and oldest of our boys is called John. He seems to have an inordinate affection for straws, with which he delights to adorn the calves of his legs. The second is also called John; he is one of the best. We have christened him ’Cook,’ in allusion to his functions. An old stove, found in a house that had been burnt, gives him quite an important air when he prepares our meals. The third is called Charlie. He is very intelligent, an excellent mule-driver, but a thorough rascal. The fourth, who is chocolate-coloured, is good at guarding the mules at the pasture. He is called ’Beguini,’ which means little. The fifth is not of much use for anything, but he is very fond of his master, a sympathetic survivor of ’Fort Chabrol.’ The sixth belongs to no one. But noting that his compatriots seem happy enough with us, he has established himself in our kitchen, and serves us more or less like the others. The Walsh River, a very remarkable stream, for there is water in it,[#] flows past Kroonstad, and we occupy our leisure moments with the bucolic occupation of fishing. [#] Most of the rivers are dried up in summer-time. All the members of the Government have assembled at Kroonstad; the two Presidents, the generals, the military attachés, and Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil are present at their deliberations. There seems to be a tendency to energetic measures. A martial law decreeing the death-penalty against deserters is passed and proclaimed. Unfortunately, it was never enforced. The confidence of the Burghers has been somewhat shaken. The Executive begins to understand that he who foretold the consequences of their blunders so unerringly may perhaps be able to remedy them. On the 20th, accordingly, Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil is appointed Vecht-General, and all the Europeans are placed under his command. But scarcely had this just and intelligent resolution been passed, when jealousy, pride, and fear of seeing a stranger succeed where they themselves had failed took possession of the Burghers, and the orders to concentrate were never carried out. It is much to be regretted that sentiments so injurious to the national cause should have deprived the Government of the inestimable services that might have been rendered by a corps of 1,500 or 2,000 resolute Europeans, all formerly soldiers, under the command of a man of the science, the valour, and the worth of General de Villebois-Mareuil.