Adventure, November 1915 — page 217: what you’re looking at

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

Pe? os" - = “ _ oe” |. Fe ee OY FET £2 | ae Sk, el oe PR J et = 47 al Dee ee al ee es t y5 yr? ge es ns : ; oe - - i“ Vins Ge ’ yp At ten f bs » ' if} aN 4 Any ‘ar ay : \ « r . Camp-Fire with the French corps; Captain Ganjetzki, of the Russian army, in command of some Cossack scouts; Major Lynch, commanding the Sécond Irish Brigade and now a member of the British Parliament; Captain Hassel, in charge of the American scouts; Count de Breda, attached to the corps of Villebois- Mareuil, and Captain Johnsen, in command of the ill-fated Scandinavians. - Within the class of soldiers of fortune may also be counted Major Albrecht, command- ing the artillery of the Orange Free State, and Commandant Schiel, both of them Ger- mans. The latter’s career was brief, ending at Elandslaagte. To his efforts was due, in a measure, the fine organization and train- ing of the Staats Artillerie of the Transvaal. Schiel at.one time was a great favorite with the Zulus and Swazis, so much so in fact that he became known as Cetewayo Mabile —Cetewayo the Second. To name all the foreign officers who came to the veld in search of experience and com- missions would be too great a task. There were dozens, however, whose ex- ploits have been recounted around many a camp-fire, and whose names can never be forgotten on the Rand, in Natal, or wher- ever hearts quicken at the memory of those trying years. Still two more might be men- tioned. Colonel von Braun held a com- mission in a Prussian Guard artillery regi-. ment and assisted greatly in the planning - of redoubts, intrenchments and the like at -Ladysmith. He was captured by the British ———— A GOOD while ago I told you Gordon McCreagh had given me a turquoise and that some day I would tell you the story of his adventure in obtaining it. More properly I should have given you the tale along with Mr. McCreagh’s “Kite Dickin- son, Non-Combatant,” in the August issue, for the incident was made part of that 1THE CAMP-FIRE | AMEETING-PLACE FOR | + READERS, WRITERS AND |,4 | ADVENTURERS ~ +27 [ Se a Bhutia lama. 215 in one of the affairs along the Tugela and spent many a weary month on St. Helena. There was also the notorious von Briise- witz, who paid for the cold-blooded murder of a civilian at. Heidelberg on the slopes of Spion Kop. And, now, perhaps, a short estimate of the value of the soldier of fortune as a fighter will be in order. Properly handled one of them, considering the average of the whole, is the equal of any three men ordi- narily put in the field. He is invariably a good shot, and cool in action when not a mere novice at his dan- gerous game. There seems to be little of the sordid about him; in fact he usually is an idealist who would rather fight for nothing in a cause which he considers just than take the money of the other camp. For these considerations he expects bet- ter treatment than is ‘generally given the rank and file. He has no great objection to strict dis- cipline, but does not seem averse to getting even with the martinet. His high degree of initiative is the cause of this. His knowl- edge of military science is usually nil, ex- cepting those cases in which commissions have been held in regular establishments. Allin all he is a gentleman not to be trifled with by friend or foe. Had the Boer gov- ernments been able to enlist in their cause every soldier of fortune ready to*fight on the veld, the map of South Africa it seems rea- sonable to believe would look decidedly different today. story, but I often make mistakes, and that was one of them. But he has a story in this issue and, anyway, here’s his adventure: I had sneaked into Tibet under the guidance of The Bhutias are an offshoot of the Tibetans, inhabiting the independent State of Bhutan on the southern side of the Himalayas. This fellow, Tajun Kama, was a most amusing cuss, Gomicbooks (E@)