The woman's face had the skin stretched tight over the bones and that transparency which means under-feeding; I fancied she did not have the liberal allowance that soldiers' wives get in England.

The children looked better nourished, but it was by their mother's sacrifice.

I did my best to cheer them up.

I told them long yarns about Africa and lions and tigers, and I got some pieces of wood and whittled them into toys.

I am fairly good with a knife, and I carved very presentable likenesses of a monkey, a springbok, and a rhinoceros.