Lang who introduced me to Mr。 Balfour。 Of this circumstance I was reminded the other day when I met Sir Ian Hamilton； mander…inChief of the British forces in the Mediterranean stations； on the Orient liner Otway when I was returning from Egypt （April 1912）。 He asked me if I remembered a little dinner that Lang gave at the Oxford and Cambridge Club somewhere about 1886 or 1887； at which Balfour； he； and I were the only guests。 Then it all came back to me。 Lang asked me to meet Mr。 Balfour because he knew that already I wished to escape from novel…writing and re…enter the public service； a matter in which he thought Mr。 Balfour might be of assistance。 Ian Hamilton； his cousin； he asked because he had escaped from Majuba； and I also knew a great deal about Majuba。
By the way； General Hamilton； whom I had not met from that day to this； gave me； while we were on the ship together； a long and full account of his experiences and sufferings in that dreadful rout； but as these tally very closely with what I have written in this book and elsewhere； I will not repeat them in all their painful detail。 He was shot through the wrist and struck on the head with splinters of stone。 The Boers dismissed him； telling him that he would “probably die。” He passed a night in the cold； and； had it not been for a kindly Boer who found him and bound up his wrist — I think he said with a piece of tin for a splint — he would probably have perished。 That Boer； Sir Ian Hamilton — who； by the way； is now the only officer in the British Army who was present at Majuba — met at Bloemfontein the other day。 Naturally they were the best of friends； and Sir Ian has sent him a souvenir of the event。 Finally； as he lay unable to move； he was found by a British search…party and taken back to camp； where