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Show brcu;;ht his bottle to their lieutenant, for be our hero was wounded. Ono wiped the foam from his mouth and l)ut a cup to his lips, and he drank greedily. Eut his head fell on one side, so they iaid him to sleep under the stars. And when the morning broke it was seen that this hero among a baud of hcrcc3 where all are heroes was dead. All his manliness and courage had parsed away. Two bullets had gone through his body, the sand hid drunk of his blood, and his soul had gone forth to him who gave ii. The lady whom he loved she who lived far away across the seas! Ah. how should this grief be toid to her? It never was. "here was no need of so great a sorrow, for she, too, was emancipated from her clay. At the gates of heaveh "e bride BDd bridegroom met. The Sketch. BEYOND THE GATES. Here w.-.s as fine a fellow as ever Irew sword; within half an inch cf six t2et, broad shouldered, and as sound is a bell. Under the tan the bloom of health and youth flushed in his cheek, rhiruigh his calm, clear eyes he looked the whole world io the face and owed ao man except his tailor. A fearless fellow, this gentleman in khaki, Ura'ght as a shaft, true as steel, too good a man to become food for pow-ier. pow-ier. A whole shipload of his kin and Icind were with him. bound for the war. The farewell came, the sad tdieu. and every heart was full of love's joodby. He stooped to kiss the "one woman Df his lire. Her arms were about his neck as she clung to him. faint '?ad weeping. His brow was stern and his i-ws set, for his English honor compelled com-pelled him to shed never a tear. So he raised her from the ground to his lips and set her down with a parting that was almost chill, though his full heart was pulsing like a fire .engine. Then her'' people took her and set her an some baulks of timber, wrapped another an-other shawl about her for they knew ail too well how frail she' was and let her weep, as they, -too. were weeping.1 weep-ing.1 Every one who knpw her, except her soldier lover himself, knew well that they had parted forever in this world, for her. days were numbered by the angels. ' . ' Her great eyes were like lamps In which the spirit of her life was fast consuming. Her buty was not of earth. The pallor and the pink alike proclaimed her the bride of death. In her and in him only reposed the blissful bliss-ful ignorance of this sorrow. Well is It that love is blind. The quay was lined with groups of ! people waving their tearful farewells. Steam whistles and cogry snorts from Impatient engines rent the air. The I great hausers strained taut and- were j let go as the dockmen shouted to the 7 . ? "n ;S ) k pilo. Then, from the crowding soldiers sol-diers on the ship, swarming bareheaded barehead-ed at the bulwarks and clustering on the rigging aad shrouda. came hoarsely hoarse-ly long, loud, reverberating cheers. The screw churned the harbor water, and out to sea, out into mist, passed the troopship. Wide-eyed, with, wet rose blossoms on her cheeks, still sat she there gazing gaz-ing gazing gazing, seeing one soldier sol-dier only, till the ship was a little spaek at sea, and they led her away. Poor, stricken soul! Not for her would ever come the joy of wedding bells. The veldt was like a furnace. The hot South African sun blazed on high. The men in khaki were stretched upon the burning saod, athirst on the waterless wa-terless plain. Ahead of thenv, beyond the ant heaps amid which they sought some trivial shade and cover, stood a kopje full of the Boer enemy. And there water was or death. All day those brave English boys lay under the burning sun. Little wreaths of sand curled up and eddied and swept away iin the distance like a beautiful beau-tiful cloud. Particles of silica and specks of impalpable dust hung like a mist over the torrid earth, and the sun played with thpse glittering particles, gilding and painting the iridescent beauty. But it was an agony and a horror to endure. ' Eyes and ears and j oostrils were full of sand. Every man's water .bottle was empty, every tongue was swollen; the men's lips were too parched even to curse Suddenly the enemy's Mauser fire re-ir,pnp.i re-ir,pnp.i at close Quarters, and manv a man fell. Volley after volley was giv-sn giv-sn back, until out rang the stirring iry, "Fix bayonets!" There was a ring of merry steel ad l loud hurrah. But the crack of the Mauser rattled yet from bush and bowlder. Many a Briton fell before the Boers were met, and then then there was carnage and fierce bayonet work, grim fighting and deedB of rage and battle and blood. The kopje was cleared. 1 Ere this the thirsty soldiers, with their hands in the mud sad their lips 1 In the foul-smelling water, had be&a 1 drinking deep draughts of the muddy I itream. Now that the fight was over itbey were again on hands and knees, cooling their parched and swollen tongues. Then one who had slaked his thirst |