Between Snow and Fire — page 136: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

CHAPTER XXI. J UNDER ORDERS FOR HOME. THE Kaffrarian Rangers were ordered home. To be strictly accurate, that redoubtable corps had ap- plied to be withdrawn. There was not enough to do to render it worth the while of the men who composed it— men mostly with a substantial stake in the country—to re- main any longer wasting their time in a series of fruitless — patrols on the off-chance of an occasional very long dis- tance shot at a stray Gcaléka scout or two; for the enemy no longer attempted to meet them in battle. He had suf- fered severely, both in men and possessions, and there were those who declared that he had had nearly enough of it. The Frontier Armed and Mounted Police and, if neces- sary, the regular troops now stationed along the border, _ would be sufficient to cope with any further disturbance ; so most of the volunteer forces applied to be withdrawn. They had been several weeks in the ve/dt—several weeks absent from their farms and businesses. ‘They had rendered excellent service ; had, in fact, constituted the very back- bone of the offensive operations. It was only fair, now that there remained no more to be done, to allow them to return. Brathwaite’s Horse had already withdrawn, so had most of the mounted corps. The Kaffrarian Rangers were nearly the last. The men were in excellent health and spirits. They had lost one of their number—the poor young fellow who had met his fate with the patrol under Shelton, and had been buried near where he fell—a few had received wounds, none of these being, however, of a very serious nature. But they had left their mark upon the enemy, and were re- turning, withal, in possession of a large number of the lat- — cattle. Yet they had a grievance, or fancied they had. They had not nearly enough fighting. The combined plan of the campaign had not been carried out according to 128 Gomichoo