I have, up till now, said but very little of the various ways in which we tried to amuse ourselves when resting in camp or, as we now were, marking time in our Hau Hau tail-twisting operations. True, we were much scattered, being located in different forts, but our O.C., fully recognising the necessity of allowing the men recreation, as all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, eagerly grasped every opportunity of affording the men any amusement that lay in his power. So that we indulged in an occasional cricket match, race meeting and athletic sports, with now and then a camp fire and sing-songs. [Illustration: TITOKOWARU.] Some of the competitions were very good, as amongst such a mixed crowd as ours there were naturally some really good athletes, not only among the white men but also among the friendly natives, all of whom took a very keen interest in the events. Of course, after one or two trials the crack men were discovered, but we had such clever handicappers that the interest in the various events was always kept up to the required excitement pitch, so necessary to render this form of sport attractive to the looker-on, and as there was much healthy rivalry between the various posts there was no chance of the general interest in these sports flagging. It was through taking a very keen interest in my post’s chances for distinction that I discovered a man who, had he been taken in hand and been well trained and taught in his youth, would I am sure have turned out to be one of the greatest athletes the world has ever possessed. Strange to say the man himself, a London Cockney, was profoundly ignorant of his own capabilities, and it was quite by accident I discovered them. The way it was done is as follows. A big athletic meeting was to be held at headquarters on Christmas Day, at which each station was to be represented, and the rivalry was not so much between individuals as it was between the various stations, one garrison against another, also trooper _v._ footslogger, and the men at my post were very keen. We were, however, sadly in want of a sprinter and high leaper. I could run and jump a bit, but then I had been beaten so easily on a previous occasion at all these events that it was hopeless to expect me to win on the coming one. True, we had a most reliable man in Tim for the mile and the long jump, and although he also had been defeated before, still, on that occasion he had been unfit, while now he was in splendid trim, so that we had great hopes of him pulling off his events, but I could offer no such excuses as I had been in splendid fettle and had done my very best, but had not succeeded in getting placed, as I had been fairly beaten by better men, and as I was by a long way the best man at the post things looked very black for us, and our hearts were very dark indeed.