Every lorry now has a military guard, armed with a rifle, "whose duty ig to protect the Yood and, move Important, to prevent soldiers or other, Would-be passengers going board by force,
found us roping in the darkness.
Nine oclock one, hilly moe morning.
vound convoy of lorries which was to take us to Slangyane, tined Up. with roaring engines. in Tehang's un streets, With railtying promptness, the convoy started out, "The guard, one dither Chinese passenger. and myself nade ourselves ax comfortable as hosslble on the coils of wire with Which our tory: wax loaded.
Soon after daybreak. it began to rain steadily, and we crawled beneath Gayed tarpaulin in-an effort to Roop dry, but in vain, Teickles of water bein to pour on our heads, fund. we grew steadily wetter and note uncomfortable.
The road itself, fair in dry wens ther, became a morass in which we Hkidded alarmingly. Soon we were tunable {0 proceed further, and Hopped outside the little town "Tanyang for the night.
"The next morning, the driver having stated that he" intended to Wait three hours. for the arrival of mother conyes, T set out to explore presented a monotonously familiar sight. Within tx walls alt was in ruins, and the few people to be seen hurried through the town By some euirioux trick of fate, the Magistrate's yamen was compa tively unharmed, und the Magistrate Inimself was there. "He was a quiet, scholarly man, who xeeeted me with ipologics for the state of his yamen and. proceeded to tell me Toco conditions vehicle with resounding crash and causing even my Chinese fellow passengers to look somewhat uneasy.
After this had happened several times, we concluded that the bombs must be good ones, and settled down to enjoy the morning sunshine and watch for raiding aircraft.
Wild white climbing roses bloomed gloriously along the roadside, Alling the air with their fragrance: the marshy hollows were studded with brilliant kingcups, and where the highway wound sinuously over the chalky up-lands the clear blue camapanulas matched the sky in colour as they nodded in the wind over the close-cropped turf. Tt was the height of spring, and we were going to war.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.