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diff --git a/old/13235-8.txt b/old/13235-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0eaab61 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13235-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5578 @@ +Project Gutenberg's In the Ranks of the C.I.V., by Erskine Childers + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the Ranks of the C.I.V. + +Author: Erskine Childers + +Release Date: August 20, 2004 [EBook #13235] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V. *** + + + + +Produced by Clare Boothby, Ben Harris and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: _Photo by Arthur Weston, 16, Poultry, London._] + + + + +IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V. + +A NARRATIVE AND DIARY OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH THE C.I.V. BATTERY +(HONOURABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY) IN SOUTH AFRICA + +BY DRIVER +ERSKINE CHILDERS +CLERK IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS + +_WITH A FRONTISPIECE_ + +1900 + + + +DEDICATED +TO +MY FRIEND AND COMRADE +GUNNER BASIL WILLIAMS + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER + + I. THE "MONTFORT" + + II. CAPETOWN AND STELLENBOSCH + + III. PIQUETBERG ROAD + + IV. BLOEMFONTEIN + + V. LINDLEY + + VI. BETHLEHEM + + VII. BULTFONTEIN + +VIII. SLABBERT'S NEK AND FOURIESBERG + + IX. TO PRETORIA + + X. WARMBAD + + XI. HOSPITAL + + XII. A DETAIL + +XIII. SOUTH AGAIN + + XIV. CONCLUSION + + + + +IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE "MONTFORT." + +A wintry ride--Retrospect--Embarkation--A typical day--"Stables" in +rough weather--Las Palmas--The tropics--Inoculation--Journalism-- +Fashions--"Intelligent anticipation"--Stable-guard--Arrival. + + +With some who left for the War it was "roses, roses, all the way." For +us, the scene was the square of St. John's Wood Barracks at 2 A.M. on +the 3rd of February, a stormy winter's morning, with three inches of +snow on the ground, and driving gusts of melting flakes lashing our +faces. In utter silence the long lines of horses and cloaked riders +filed out through the dimly-lit gateway and into the empty streets, +and we were off at last on this long, strange journey to distant +Africa. Six crowded weeks were behind us since the disastrous one of +Colenso, and with it the news of the formation of the C.I.V., and the +incorporation in that regiment of a battery to be supplied by the +Honourable Artillery Company, with four quick-firing Vickers-Maxim +guns. Then came the hurried run over from Ireland, the application for +service, as a driver, the week of suspense, the joy of success, the +brilliant scene of enlistment before the Lord Mayor, and the abrupt +change one raw January morning from the ease and freedom of civilian +life, to the rigours and serfdom of a soldier's. There followed a +month of constant hard work, riding-drill, gun-drill, stable work, and +every sort of manual labour, until the last details of the +mobilization were complete, uniforms and kit received, the guns packed +and despatched; and all that remained was to ride our horses to the +Albert Docks; for our ship, the _Montfort_, was to sail at mid-day. + +Hardships had begun in earnest, for we had thirteen miles to ride in +the falling snow, and our hands and feet were frozen. As we filed +through the silent streets, an occasional knot of night-birds gave us +a thin cheer, and once a policeman rushed at me, and wrung my hand, +with a fervent "Safe home again!" Whitechapel was reached soon enough, +but the Commercial Road, and the line of docks, seemed infinite. + +However, at six we had reached the ship, and lined up into a great +shed, where we took off and gave up saddles and head-collars, put on +canvas head-stalls, and then enjoyed an excellent breakfast, provided +by some unknown benefactor. Next we embarked the horses by matted +gangways (it took six men to heave my roan on board), and ranged them +down below in their narrow stalls on the stable-deck. Thence we +crowded still further down to the troop-deck--one large low-roofed +room, edged with rows of mess-tables. My entire personal accommodation +was a single iron hook in a beam. This was my wardrobe, chest of +drawers, and an integral part of my bed; for from it swung the +hammock. We were packed almost as thickly as the horses; and that is +saying a great deal. The morning was spent in fatigue duties of all +sorts, from which we snatched furtive moments with our friends on the +crowded quay. For hours a stream of horses and mules poured up the +gangways; for two other corps were to share the ship with us, the +Oxfordshire Yeomanry and the Irish Hospital. At two the last farewells +had been said, and we narrowed our thoughts once more to all the +minutiæ of routine. As it turned out, we missed that tide, and did not +start till two in the next morning; but I was oblivious of such a +detail, having been made one of the two "stablemen" of my +sub-division, a post which was to last for a week, and kept me in +constant attendance on the horses down below; so that I might just as +well have been in a very stuffy stable on shore, for all I saw of the +run down Channel. My duty was to draw forage from the forward hold (a +gloomy, giddy operation), be responsible with my mate for the watering +of all the horses in my sub-division--thirty in number, for preparing +their feeds and "haying up" three times a day, and for keeping our +section of the stable-deck swept and clean. We started with very fine +weather, and soon fell into our new life, with, for me at least, a +strange absence of any sense of transition. The sea-life joined +naturally on to the barrack-life. Both are a constant round of +engrossing duties, in which one has no time to feel new departures. +The transition had come earlier, with the first day in barracks, and, +indeed, was as great and sudden a change, mentally and physically, as +one could possibly conceive. On the material side it was sharp enough; +but the mental change was stranger still. There was no perspective +left; no planning of the future, no questioning of the present; none +of that free play of mind and will with which we order our lives at +home; instead, utter abandonment to superior wills, one's only concern +the present point of time and the moment's duty, whatever it might be. + +This is how we spent the day. + +The trumpet blew reveillé at six, and called us to early "stables," +when the horses were fed and watered, and forage drawn. Breakfast was +at seven: the food rough, but generally good. We were split up into +messes of about fourteen, each of which elected two "mess orderlies," +who drew the rations, washed up, swept the troop-deck, and were +excused all other duties. I, and my friend Gunner Basil Williams, a +colleague in my office at home, were together in the same mess. +Coffee, bread and butter, and something of a dubious, hashy nature, +were generally the fare at breakfast. I, as stableman, was constantly +with the horses, but for the rest the next event was morning stables, +about nine o'clock, which was a long and tedious business. The horses +would be taken out of their stalls, and half of us would lead them +round the stable-deck for exercise, while the rest took out the +partitions and cleaned the stalls. Then ensued exciting scenes in +getting them back again, an operation that most would not agree to +without violent compulsion--and small blame to the poor brutes. It +used to take our whole sub-division to shove my roan in. Each driver +has two horses. My dun was a peaceful beast, but the roan was a +by-word in the sub-division. When all was finished, and the horses fed +and watered, it would be near 12.30, which was the dinner-hour. Some +afternoons were free, but generally there would be more exercising and +stall-cleaning, followed by the afternoon feeds and watering. At six +came tea, and then all hands, including us stablemen, were free. + +Hammocks were slung about seven, and it was one of the nightly +problems to secure a place. I generally found under the hatchway, +where it was airy, but in rainy weather moist. Then we were free to +talk and smoke on deck till any hour. Before going to bed, I used to +write my diary, down below, at a mess-table, where the lights shot dim +rays through vistas of serried hammocks, while overhead the horses +fidgeted and trampled in their stalls, making a distracting thunder on +the iron decks. It was often writing under difficulties, crouching +down with a hammock pressing on the top of one's head--the occupant +protesting at the head with no excess of civility; a quality which, by +the way, was very rare with us. + +Soon after leaving the Bay, we had some rough weather. "Stables" used +to be a comical function. My diary for the first rough day +says:--"About six of us were there out of about thirty in my +sub-division; our sergeant, usually an awesome personage to me, +helpless as a babe, and white as a corpse, standing rigid. The +lieutenant feebly told me to report when all horses were watered and +feeds made up. It was a long job, and at the end I found him leaning +limply against a stall. 'Horses all watered, and feeds ready, sir.' He +turned on me a glazed eye, which saw nothing; then a glimmer of +recollection flickered, and the lips framed the word 'feed,' no doubt +through habit; but to pronounce that word at all under the +circumstances was an effort of heroism for which I respected him. +Rather a lonely day. My co-stableman curled in a pathetic ball all +day, among the hay, in our forage recess. My only view of the outer +world is from a big port in this recess, which frames a square of +heaving blue sea; but now and then one can get breathing-spaces on +deck. In the afternoon--the ship rolling heavily--I went, by an order +of the day before, to be vaccinated. Found the doctor on the saloon +deck, in a long chair, very still. Thought he was dead, but saluted, +and said what I had come for. With marvellous presence of mind, he +collected himself, and said: 'I ordered six to come; it is waste of +lymph to do one only: get the other five.' After a short absence, I +was back, reporting the other five not in a condition to do anything, +even to be vaccinated. The ghost of a weary smile lit up the wan face. +I saluted and left." + +Our busy days passed quickly, and on the ninth of the month a lovely, +still blue day, I ran up to look at the Grand Canary in sight on the +starboard bow, and far to the westward the Peak of Teneriffe, its +snowy cone flushed pink in the morning sun, above a bank of cloud. All +was blotted out in two hours of stable squalors, but at midday we were +anchored off Las Palmas (white houses backed by arid hills), the +ill-fated _Denton Grange_ lying stranded on the rocks, coal barges +alongside, donkey engines chattering on deck, and a swarm of bum-boats +round our sides, filled with tempting heaps of fruit, cigars, and +tobacco. Baskets were slung up on deck, and they drove a roaring +trade. A little vague news filtered down to the troop-deck; Ladysmith +unrelieved, but Buller across the Tugela, and some foggy rumour about +120,000 more men being wanted. The Battery also received a four-footed +recruit in the shape of a little grey monkey, the gift of the +Oxfordshire Yeomanry. He was at once invested with the rank of +Bombardier, and followed all our fortunes in camp and march and action +till our return home. That day was a pleasant break in the monotony, +and also signalized my release from the office of stableman. We were +off again at six; an exquisite night it was, a big moon in the zenith, +the evening star burning steadily over the dim, receding island. We +finished with a sing-song on deck, a crooning, desultory performance, +with sleepy choruses, and a homely beer-bottle passing from mouth to +mouth. + +Then came the tropics and the heat, and the steamy doldrums, when the +stable-deck was an "Inferno," and exercising the horses like a +tread-mill in a Turkish bath, and stall-cleaning an unspeakable +business. Yet the hard work kept us in fit condition, and gave zest to +the intervals of rest. + +At this time many of us used to sling our hammocks on deck, for down +in the teeming troop-deck it was suffocating. It was delicious to lie +in the cool night air, with only the stars above, and your feet almost +overhanging the heaving sea, where it rustled away from the vessel's +sides. At dawn you would see through sleepy eyes an exquisite sky, +colouring for sunrise, and just at reveillé the golden rim would rise +out of a still sea swimming and shimmering in pink and opal. + +Here is the diary of a Sunday:-- + +"_February 11._--Reveillé at six. Delicious bathe in the sail-bath. +Church parade at ten; great cleaning and brushing up for it. Short +service, read by the Major, and two hymns. Then a long lazy lie on +deck with Williams, learning Dutch from a distracting grammar by a +pompous old pedant. Pronunciation maddening, and the explanations made +it worse. Long afternoon, too, doing the same. No exercising; just +water, feed, and a little grooming at 4.30, then work over for the +day. Kept the ship lively combing my roan's mane; thought he would +jump into the engine-room. By the way, yesterday, when waiting for his +hay coming down the line, his impatience caused him to jump half over +the breast-bar, bursting one head rope; an extraordinary feat in view +of the narrowness and lowness of his stall. He hung in a nasty +position for a minute, and then we got him to struggle back. Another +horse died in the night, and another very sick. + +"Inoculation for enteric began to-day with a dozen fellows. Results +rather alarming, as they all are collapsed already in hammocks, and +one fainted on deck. It certainly is no trifle, and I shall watch +their progress carefully. I can't be done myself for some days, as I +was vaccinated two days ago (after the first unsuccessful attempt), in +company with Williams. We went to the doctor's cabin on the upper +deck, and afterwards sat on the deck in the sun to let our arms dry. +After some consultation we decided to light a furtive cigarette, but +were ignominiously caught by the doctor and rebuked. 'Back at school +again,' I thought; 'caught smoking!' It seemed very funny, and we had +a good laugh at it. + +"It is a gorgeous, tropical night, not a cloud or feather of one; a +big moon, and dead-calm sea; just a slight, even roll; we have sat +over pipes after tea, chatting of old days, and present things, and +the mysterious future, sitting right aft on the poop, with the moonlit +wake creaming astern." + +Inoculation was general, and I was turned off one morning with a +joyous band of comrades, retired to hammocks, and awaited the worst +with firmness. It was nothing more than a splitting headache and +shivering for about an hour, during which time I wished Kruger, +Roberts, and the war at the bottom of the sea. A painful stiffness +then ensued, and that was all. My only grievance was that two dying +horses were brought up and tied just below me, and dosed--lucky +beasts--with champagne by their officer-owners! Also we had the hose +turned on us by some sailors, who were washing the boat-bridge above, +and jeered at our impotent remonstrances. In two days we were fit for +duty, and took our turn in ministering to other sufferers. + +We were a merry ship, for the men of our three corps got on capitally +together, and concerts and amusements were frequent. They were held +_al fresco_ on the forward deck, with the hammocks of inoculates +swinging above and around, so that these unfortunates, some of whom +were pretty bad, had to take this strange musical medicine whether +they liked it or no, and the mouth-organ band which attended on these +occasions was by no means calculated to act as an opiate. Of course we +had sports, both aquatic and athletic, and on the 18th Williams and I +conceived the idea of publishing a newspaper; and without delay wrote, +and posted up, an extravagant prospectus of the same. Helpers came, +and ideas were plentiful. A most prolific poet knocked off poems +"while you wait," and we soon had plenty of "copy." The difficulty lay +in printing our paper. All we could do was to make four copies in +manuscript, and that was labour enough. I am sure no paper ever went +to press under such distracting conditions. The editorial room was a +donkey engine, and the last sheets were copied one night among +overhanging hammocks, card-parties, supper-parties, and a braying +concert by the Irish just overhead, by the light of an inch of candle. +We pasted up two copies on deck, sent one bound copy to the officers, +and the _Montfort Express_ was a great success. It was afterwards +printed at Capetown. Here is an extract which will throw some light on +our dress on board in the tropics:-- + +THE FEBRUARY FASHIONS. + +_By our Lady Correspondent._ + +"DEAR MAUDE, + +"I don't often write to you about gentlemen's fashions, because, as a +rule, they are monstrously dull, but this season the stronger sex seem +really to be developing some originality. Here are a few notes taken +on the troopship _Montfort_, where of course you know every one is +smart. (_Tout ce qu'il y a de plus Montfort_ has become quite a +proverb, dear.) Generally speaking, piquancy and coolness are the main +features. For instance, a neat costume for stables is a pair of strong +boots. To make this rather more dressy for the dinner-table, a pair of +close-fitting pants may be added, but this is optional. Shirts, if +worn, are neutral in tint; white ones are quite _démodé_. Vests are +cut low in the neck and with merely a suggestion of sleeve. Trousers +(I blush to write it, dear) are worn baggy at the knee and very varied +in pattern and colour, according to the tastes and occupation of the +wearer. Caps _à la convict_ are _de rigueur_. I believe this to spring +from a delicate sense of sympathy with the many members of the +aristocracy now in prison. The same chivalrous instinct shows itself +in the fashion of close-cropped hair. + +"There is a great latitude for individual taste; one tall, handsome +man (known to his friends, I believe, under the sobriquet of 'Kipper') +is always seen in a delicious confection of some gauzy pink and blue +material, which enhances rather than conceals the Apollo-like grace of +his lissome limbs. + +"At the Gymkhana the other day (a _very_ smart affair), I saw Mr. +'Pat' Duffy, looking charmingly fresh and cool in a suit of blue +tattooing, which I hear was made for him in Japan by a native lady. + +"In Yeomanry circles, a single gold-rimmed eye-glass is excessively +_chic_, and, by the way, in the same set a pleasant folly is to wear a +different coat every day. + +"The saloon-deck is less interesting, because less variegated; but +here is a note or too. Caps are usually _cerise_, trimmed with blue +_passementerie_. To be really smart, the moustache must be waxed and +curled upwards in corkscrew fashion. In the best Irish circles beards +are occasionally worn, but it requires much individual distinction to +carry off this daring innovation. And now, dear, I must say good-bye; +but before I close my letter, here is a novel and piquant recipe for +_Breakfast curry_: Catch some of yesterday's Irish stew, thoroughly +disinfect, and dye to a warm khaki colour. Smoke slowly for six hours, +and serve to taste. + +"Your affectionate, + +"NESTA." + + * * * * * + +Here is Williams on the wings of prophecy:-- + +OUR ARRIVAL IN CAPETOWN. + +_(With Apologies to "Ouida.")_ + +"It was sunset in Table Bay--Phoebus' last lingering rays were +empurpling the beetling crags of Table Mountain's snowy peak--the +great ship _Montfort_, big with the hopes of an Empire (on which the +sun never sets), was gliding majestically to her moorings. Countless +craft, manned by lissome blacks or tawny Hottentots, instantly shot +forth from the crowded quays, and surged in picturesque disorder round +the great hull, scarred by the ordure of ten score pure Arab chargers. +'Who goes there?' cried the ever-watchful sentry on the ship, as he +ran out the ready-primed Vickers-Maxim from the port-hole. 'Speak, or +I fire ten shots a minute.' 'God save the Queen,' was the ready +response sent up from a thousand throats. 'Pass, friends,' said the +sentry, as he unhitched the port companion-ladder. In a twinkling the +snowy deck of the great transport was swarming with the dusky figures +of the native bearers, who swiftly transferred the cargo from the +groaning hold into the nimble bum-boats, and carried the large-limbed +Anglo-Saxon heroes into luxurious barges, stuffed with cushions soft +enough to satisfy the most jaded voluptuary. At shore, a sight awaited +them calculated to stir every instinct of patriotism in their noble +bosoms. On a richly chased ebon throne sat the viceroy in person, clad +in all the panoply of power. A delicate edge of starched white linen, +a sight which had not met their eyes for many a weary week, peeped +from beneath his gaudier accoutrements; the vice-regal diadem, blazing +with the recovered Kimberley diamond, encircled his brow, while his +finely chiselled hand grasped the great sword of state. Around him +were gathered a dazzling bevy of all the wit and beauty of South +Africa; great chieftains from the fabled East, Zulus, Matabeles, +Limpopos and Umslopogaas, clad in gorgeous scarlet feathers gave +piquancy to the proud throng. Most of England's wit and manhood +scintillated in the sunlight, while British matrons and England's +fairest maids lit up with looks of proud affection; bosoms heaved in +sympathetic unison with the measured tramp of the ammunition boots; +bright eyes caught a sympathetic fire from the clanking spurs of the +corporal rough-rider, while the bombardier in command of the composite +squadron of artillery, horse-marines, and ambulance, could hardly pick +his way through the heaps of rose leaves scattered before him by +lily-white hands. But the scene was quickly changed, as if by +enchantment. At a touch of the button by the viceroy's youngest child, +an urchin of three, thousands of Boer prisoners, heavily laden with +chains, brought forward tables groaning with every conceivable dainty. +The heroes set to with famished jaws, and after the coffee, each +negligently lit up his priceless cigar with a bank-note, with the +careless and open-handed improvidence so charming and so +characteristic of their profession. But suddenly their ease was rudely +broken. A single drum-tap made known to all that the enemy was at the +gates. In a moment the commander had thrown away three parts of his +costly cigar, had sprung to his feet, and with the heart of a lion and +the voice of a dove, had shouted the magical battle-cry, 'Attention!' +Then with a yell of stern resolve, and the answering cry of 'Stand +easy, boys,' the whole squadron, gunners and adjutants, ambulance and +bombardiers, yeomen and gentlemen farmers, marched forth into the +night. + +"That very night the bloody battle was fought which sealed the fate of +the Transvaal--and the dashing colour-sergeant nailed England's proud +banner on the citadel of Pretoria." + + * * * * * + +About once every week, it was my turn for stable-guard at night, +consisting of two-hour spells, separated by four hours' rest. The +drivers did this duty, while the gunners mounted guard over the +magazines. On this subject I quote some nocturnal reflections from my +diary:--"Horses at night get very hungry, and have an annoying habit +of eating one another's head-ropes reciprocally. When this happens you +find chains if you can, and then they eat the framework of the stall. +If you come up to protest, they pretend to be asleep, and eat your arm +as you pass. They also have a playful way of untying their breast-pads +and standing on them, and if you are conscientious, you can amuse +yourself by rescuing these articles from under their hind feet." + +The days were never very monotonous; variety was given by revolver +practice, harness cleaning, and lectures on first aid to the wounded. +At the same time it came as a great relief to hear that we were at +last close to the Cape. + +From my diary:-- + +"_February 26._--Heavy day at stables. Land reported at eleven; saw +through forage-port a distant line of mountains on port beam, edged by +a dazzling line of what looked like chalk cliffs, but I suppose is +sand. I am on stable-guard for the night (writing this in the +guard-room), so when stables were over at four I had to pack hard, and +only got up for a glimpse of things at five, then approaching Table +Bay, guarded by the splendid Table Mountain, with the tablecloth of +white clouds spread on it in the otherwise cloudless sky. I always +imagined it a smooth, dull mountain, but in fact it rises in +precipitous crags and ravines. A lovely scene as we steamed up through +a crowd of shipping--transports, I suppose--and anchored some way from +shore. Blowing hard to-night. I have been on deck for a few minutes. +The sea is like molten silver with phosphorescence under the lash of +the wind. + +"_February 27._--Tiresome day of waiting. Gradually got known that we +shan't land to-day, though it is possible still we may to-night. +Torrid, windless day, and very hot work 'mucking out' and tramping +round with the horses, which we did all the morning, and some of the +afternoon. News sent round that we had captured Cronje and 5000 +prisoners; all the ships dressed with flags, and whistles blowing; +rockets in evening, banging off over my head now, and horses jumping +in unison. Shall we be wanted? is the great question. We are packed +ready to land any minute." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CAPETOWN AND STELLENBOSCH. + +Landing--Green Point Camp--Getting into trim--My horses--Interlude-- +Orders to march--Sorrows of a spare driver--March to Stellenbosch-- +First bivouac--A week of dust and drill--The road to water--Off again. + + +"_March 4._--_Sunday._--_Green Point Camp._--This is the first moment +I have had to write in since last Tuesday. I am on picket, and writing +in the guard-tent by a guttery lantern. + +"To go back:--On Wednesday morning, the 28th of February, we steamed +slowly up to a great deserted quay. The silence struck me curiously. I +had imagined a scene of tumult and bustle on the spot where troops in +thousands had been landing continuously for so long. We soon realized +that _we_ were to supply all the bustle, and that practical work had +at last begun, civilian assistance dispensed with, and the Battery a +self-sufficient unit. There was not even a crane to help us, and we +spent the day in shoving, levering, and lifting on to trucks and +waggons our guns, carriages, limbers, ammunition, and other stores, +all packed as they were in huge wooden cases. It was splendid exercise +as a change from stable-work. Weather melting hot; but every one was +in the highest spirits; though we blundered tediously through the job, +for we had no experience in the fine art of moving heavy weights by +hand. I forgot to take note of my sensations on first setting foot on +African soil, as I was groaning under a case of something terribly +heavy at the time. + +"We worked till long after dark, slept like logs in the dismantled +troop-deck, rose early, and went on until the afternoon of the next +day, when we landed the horses--of which, by the way, we had only lost +four on the voyage--harnessed up some waggons to carry stores, and +were ready. While waiting to start, some charming damsels in white +muslin brought us grapes. At about four we started for Green Point +Camp, which is on a big plain, between the sea and Table Mountain, and +is composed of soft white sand, from which the grass has long +disappeared. + +"Directly we reached it, the horses all flung themselves down, and +rolled in it. We passed through several camps, and halted at our +allotted site, where we formed our lines and picketed our horses heel +and head. Then the fun began, as they went wild, and tied themselves +in strangulation knots, and kept it up all night, as the sleepless +pickets reported. + +"After feeding and watering, we unloaded the trucks which had begun to +come in, ate some bully-beef and bread, and then fell asleep anyhow, +in a confused heap in our tents. Mine had thirteen in it, and once we +were packed no movement was possible." + +For two more days we were busily employed in unpacking stores, and +putting the _materiel_ of battery into shape, while, at the same time, +we were receiving our complement of mules and Kaffir drivers for our +transport waggons. Then came our first parades and drills. Rough we +were no doubt at first. The mobilization of a volunteer battery cannot +be carried out in an instant, and presents numberless difficulties +from which infantry are free. Our horses were new to the work, and a +few of us men, including my humble self, were only recent recruits. + +The guns, too, were of a new pattern. The H.A.C. at home is armed with +the 15-pounder guns in use in the Regular Field Artillery. But for the +campaign, as the C.I.V. Battery, we had taken out new weapons +(presented by the City of London), in the shape of four 12-1/2-pounder +Vickers-Maxim field guns, taking fixed ammunition, having practically +no recoil, and with a much improved breech-mechanism. They turned out +very good, but of course, being experimental, required practice in +handling, which could not have been obtained in the few weeks in the +London barracks. + +On the other hand, the large majority of us were old hands, our senior +officers and N.C.O.'s were from the Regular Horse Artillery, and all +ranks were animated by an intense desire to reach the utmost +efficiency at the earliest possible moment. + +My impressions of the next ten days are of grooming, feeding, and +exercising in the cool twilight of dawn, sweltering dusty drills, +often in sand-storms, under a blazing mid-day sun, of "fatigues" of +all sorts, when we harnessed ourselves in teams to things, or made and +un-made mountains of ammunition boxes--a constant round of sultry +work, tempered by cool bathes on white sand, grapes from peripatetic +baskets, and brief intervals of languid leisure, with _al fresco_ +meals of bully-beef and dry bread outside our tents. + +Time was marked by the three daily stable hours, each with their +triple duty of grooming, feeding, and watering, the "trivial round" +which makes up so much of the life of a driver. As a very humble +representative of that class, my horses were two "spares," that is, +not allotted to any team. Much to my disgust, I was not even provided +with a saddle, and had to do my work bareback, which filled me with +indignation at the time, but only makes me smile now. My roan was +always a sort of a pariah among the sub-division horses, an +incorrigible kicker and outcast, having to be picketed on a peg +outside the lines for his misdeeds. Many a kick did I get from him; +and yet I always had a certain affection for him in all his troubled, +unloved life, till the day when, nine months later, he trotted off to +the re-mount depot at Pretoria, to vex some strange driver in a +strange battery. My other horse, a dun, was soon taken as a sergeant's +mount, and I had to take on an Argentine re-mount, a rough, stupid +little mare, with kicking and biting propensities which quite threw +the roan's into the shade. She also had a peg of ignominy, and three +times a day I had to dance perilously round my precious pair with a +tentative body-brush and hoof-pick. The scene generally ended in the +pegs coming away from the loose sand, and a perspiring chase through +the lines. I had some practice, too, in driving in a team, for one of +our drivers "went sick," and I took his place in the team of an +ammunition-waggon for several days. + +Abrupt contrasts to the rough camp life were some evenings spent with +Williams in Capetown, where it already felt very strange to be dining +at a table, and sitting on a chair, and using more than one plate. +Once it was at the invitation of Amery of the _Times_, in the palatial +splendour of the Mount Nelson Hotel, where I felt strangely +incongruous in my by no means immaculate driver's uniform. But _how_ I +enjoyed that dinner! Had there been many drivers present, the +management would have been seriously embarrassed that evening. + +Wildly varying rumours of our future used to abound, but on March 14, +a sudden order came to raise camp, and march to Stellenbosch. Teams +were harnessed and hooked in, stores packed in the buck waggons, tents +struck, and at twelve we were ready. Before starting Major McMicking +addressed us, and said we were going to a disaffected district, and +must be very careful. We took ourselves very seriously in those days, +and instantly felt a sense of heightened importance. Then we started +on the road which by slow, _very_ slow, degrees was to bring us to +Pretoria in August. + +My preparations had been very simple, merely the securing of a blanket +over the roan's distressingly bony spine, and putting a bit in his +refractory mouth. As I anticipated, there had been a crisis over my +lack of a saddle at the last moment, various officers and N.C.O.'s +laying the blame, first on me (of all people), and then on each other, +but chiefly on me, because it was safest. Not having yet learnt the +unquestioning attitude of a soldier, I felt a great martyr at the +time. The infinite insignificance of the comfort on horseback of one +spare driver had not yet dawned upon me; later on, I learnt that +indispensable philosophy whose gist is, "Take what comes, and don't +worry." + +We passed through Capetown and its interminable suburbs, came out on +to open rolling country, mostly covered with green scrub, and, in the +afternoon, formed our first regular marching camp, on a bit of green +sward, which was a delicious contrast after Green Point Sand. Guns and +waggons were marshalled, picket-ropes stretched between them, the +horses tied up, and the routine of "stables" begun again. + +It was our first bivouac in the open, and very well I slept, with my +blanket and waterproof sheet, though it turned very cold about two +with a heavy dew. A bare-backed ride of thirteen miles had made me +pretty tired. + +The next day we were up at five, for a march of eighteen miles to +Stellenbosch. At mid-day we passed hundreds of re-mount ponies, +travelling in droves, with Indian drivers in turbans and loose white +linen. Half-way we watered our horses and had a fearful jostle with a +Yeomanry corps (who were on the march with us), the Indians, and a +whole tribe of mules which turned up from somewhere. In the afternoon +we arrived at our camp, a bare, dusty hill, parching under the sun. + +We passed a week here, drilling and harness cleaning, in an atmosphere +of dust and never-ending rumours. + +Here are two days from my diary:-- + +"_March 18._--Still here. Yesterday we rose early, struck tents, +harnessed horses, and waited for orders to go to the station. Nothing +happened: the day wore on, and in the evening we bivouacked as we were +in the open. The night before we had great excitement about some +mysterious signalling on the hills: supposed to be rebels, and the +Yeomanry detachment (who are our escort) sent out patrols, who found +nothing. To-day we are still awaiting orders, ready to start in half +an hour, but they let us have a fine slack day, and we had a great +bathe in the afternoon. Ostriches roam about this camp, eating empty +soda-water bottles and any bridoon bits they can find. Three times a +day we ride bareback to water horses at the re-mount depot, passing +picturesque Indian camps. Williams and I are sitting under our +ammunition waggon, where we are going to sleep: it is sunset and the +hills are violet. A most gorgeous range of them fronts this camp. + +"_March 19._--Worse than ever. No orders to start, but orders to +re-pitch tents. Delays seem hopeless, and now we may be any time here. +Cooler weather and some rain to-day: much pleasanter. Only two tents +to a sub-division, and there are sixteen in mine, a frightful squash. +Long bareback ride for the whole battery before breakfast; enjoyed it +very much. Marching-order parade later. Argentine very troublesome: +bites like a mad dog and kicks like a cow: can't be groomed. To-day +she tried to bite me in the stomach, but as I had on a vest, shirt, +body belt, money belt, and waistcoat, she didn't do much damage, and +only got a waistcoat button and a bit of pocket!" + +We were uncommonly glad to receive definite orders on the 20th to move +up country. The Battery was to be divided. The right section to go to +Matjesfontein, and the left section, which was mine, to Piquetberg +Road. Nobody knew where these places were, but we vaguely gathered +that they were somewhere on the line of communications, which, rightly +or wrongly, we thought very disappointing. For two more days we stood +in readiness to start, chafing under countermanding orders, and +pitching and re-pitching of tents, so little did we know then of the +common lot of a soldier on active service. + +We were to go by train, and the right section under the Major started +about midnight on the 20th, and we on the next day, at four o'clock. + +Guns, horses, and waggons were entrained very quickly, and just at +dark I found myself in a second-class carriage, one of a merry party +of eight, sitting knee-deep in belts, haversacks, blankets, cloaks, +and water-bottles. We travelled on till midnight, and then stopped +somewhere, posted guards, and slept in the carriages till dawn. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PIQUETBERG ROAD. + +Piquetberg Road--A fire--Kitless--A typical day--A bed--"Stableman"-- +Picket--A rebel--Orders for the front, with a proviso--Rain--An +ungrateful patient--"Bazing"--Swimming horses--My work--The weather--A +blue letter. + + +When I woke up on the morning of the 22nd of March, the legend +"Piquetberg Road" was just visible on a big white board opposite the +carriage. So this was our destination. There was a chill sense in +every one of not having got very far towards the seat of war--indeed, +we were scarcely eighty miles from Capetown; but our spirits were soon +raised by the advent of some Tommies of the Middlesex Militia, who +spoke largely of formidable bodies of rebels in the neighbourhood, of +an important pass to guard, and of mysterious strategical movements in +the near future; so that we felt cheerful enough as we detrained our +guns and horses, harnessed up, and marched over a mile and a half of +scrub-clothed _veldt_, to the base of some steep hills, where we +pitched our camp, and set to work to clear the ground of undergrowth. +We were at the edge of a great valley, through which ran the line of +railway, disappearing behind us in a deep gorge in the hills, where a +little river ran. This was the pass we were to help to guard. + +Below in the valley lay a few white houses round the station, a farm +or two dotted the distant slopes, and the rest was desert scrub and +veldt. + +Now that the right section had parted from us, we had two officers, +Captain Budworth commanding, and Lieutenant Bailey; about sixty men, +two guns, two ammunition waggons, and two transport waggons, with +their mules and Kaffir drivers, under a conductor. Our little square +camp was only a spot upon the hill-side, the guns and horse-lines in +the middle, a tent for the officers on one side, and a tent at each +corner for the men. Here we settled down to the business-like routine +of camp life, with great hopes of soon being thought worthy to join a +brigade in the field. + +The work was hard enough, but to any one with healthy instincts the +splendid open-air life was very pleasant. Here are some days from my +diary:-- + +"_March 23._--Marching order parade. Drove centres of our sub-division +waggon. + +"I have got a saddle for my own horse at last, and feel happier. Where +it came from I don't know. + +"I am 'stableman' for three days, and so missed a bathing parade +to-day, which is a nuisance, as there is no means of washing here +nearer than a river some distance off, to which the others rode. While +they were away there was an alarm of fire in the lines of the +Middlesex Militia, next to ours. Bugles blew the 'alarm.' The scrub +had caught fire quite near the tents, and to windward of us. There +were only four of us in camp, one a bombardier, who took command and +lost his head, and after some wildly contradictory orders, said to me, +'Take that gun to a place of safety.' How he expected me to take the +gun by myself I don't know. However, the fire went out, and all was +well. + +"I forgot to say that on the day we left Stellenbosch, a mail at last +came in, and I got my first letters. They came by the last mail, and +we have evidently missed a lot. Also a telegram, weeks old, saying +Henry (my brother) had joined Strathcona's Horse in Ottawa and was +coming out here. Delighted to hear it, but I shall probably never see +him. + +"By the way, I am parted from all my kit at present. Having had no +saddle, I have been used to put it on the transport waggon of our +sub-division, but this went with the other section for some +inscrutable reason, or rather didn't go, for it was wrecked by a train +when crossing the line. I heard vaguely that the contents were saved +and sent on with the right section, but am quite prepared to find it +is lost. Not that I miss it much. One wants very little really, in +this sort of life. Fortunately I kept back my cloak and blanket. A +lovely night to-night: Williams and I have given up tents as too +crowded, and sleep under the gun; to-night we have built a rampart of +scrub round it, as there is a fresh wind. + +"_March 28._--Marching order parade at eight. I was told to turn out +as a mounted gunner, which is a very jolly job. You have a single +mount and ride about as ground-scout, advance-guard, rear-guard, etc. +We had a route-march over the pass through the mountains, a lovely +ride, reminding me of the Dordogne. We came out into a beautiful +valley the other side, with a camp of some Highlanders: here we fed +and watered ourselves and horses and then marched home. My kit turned +up from Matjesfontein. + +"It strikes me that I have given very few actual details of our life +and work, so, as I have got two hours to myself, I will try and do it +more exactly. + +"Reveillé sounds at 5.30, and 'stables' at six, with the first gleam +of dawn; horses are now fed, and then groomed for half an hour. From +this point the days differ. Here is the sketch of a marching order +day, from a driver's point of view. To resume, then:--From 6.30 we +have half an hour to pack kits, that is to say, to roll the cloak and +strap it on the riding saddle, pack the off saddle with spare boots +and rolls made up of a waterproof sheet, blanket, harness-sheets, +spare breeches, muzzles, hay-nets, etc., and finally to buckle on +filled nose-bags and our mess-tins, and strap horse-blankets under the +saddles. His stable-kit and the rest of a driver's personal belongings +are carried in four wallets, two on each saddle. + +"At seven, breakfast--porridge, coffee, and bread, and sometimes jam. +Our tent has a mess-subscription, and adds any extras required from +the canteen. But we always fare well enough without this, for the +Captain thinks as much of the men as of the horses, and is often to be +seen tasting and criticizing at the cooks' fire. + +"At 7.30 'boot and saddle' sounds, and in half an hour your horses +have to be ready-harnessed and yourself dressed in 'marching order,' +that is to say, wearing helmet, gaiters, belt, revolver, haversack, +water-bottle, and leg-guard. + +"At eight 'hook in' is ordered; teams are hooked together and into the +guns and waggons. 'Mount the detachment' and gunners take their seats. +'Prepare to mount' (to the drivers) followed by 'Mount,' 'Walk March,' +and you are off. We always go first to the watering-place, a sandy +pool in the river, unhook and water the horses. Then we either march +away, and drill and exercise over the veldt, or go for a route-march +to some distance. The weather is always hot, and often there is a +dust-storm raging, filling eyes, ears, and mouth, and trying the +temper sorely. + +"We are back at camp about 1.30, form our lines again, between the +guns and waggons, unharness, rub down horses, and then have dinner. +There is fresh beef generally (that unlovely soldiers' stew), and +either rice, duff, or, now and then, stewed quinces, which are very +common in the country. We can buy beer at a canteen, or, better still, +draught ginger-beer, which is a grand drink. At three 'stables' +sounds, with grooming first, and then (I am choosing a full day) +harness cleaning; that is to say, soaping all leather-work, and +scouring steel-work. Harness-cleaning is irksome work, and, as far as +appearances go, is a heart-breaking task, for the eternal dust is +always obliterating every trace of one's labour. I have none of my own +to look after yet, but help the others. + +"At 4.30 or five 'Prepare for water' sounds. You put a bridoon on one +horse, and, if you are luxurious, a blanket and surcingle to sit on, +lead the other, and form up in a line; then 'file right' is the order, +and you march off to the watering place, wearing any sort of costume +you please. And very slight and _negligé_ some of them are. In the +cool of the evening, this is a very pleasant three quarters of an +hour. After watering comes the evening feed, followed by tea at six +o'clock, and then the day's work is done." + +The evenings in that climate are delicious; we could sit in our +shirt-sleeves until any hour, without any perceptible chill in the +air, playing cards, or smoking and talking, or reading by a lantern. +Williams and I found picket a great resource; and many a good game of +whist have I had sitting in a crowded quartette in our ramshackle +battery Cape-cart, with an inch of candle guttering among the cards. + +Most of us slept in the tents, but I preferred the open, even in +dust-storms, when choosing a site required some skill. The composition +of a bed was a question of sacks. There was one very large variety of +chaff-sack, which was a sleeping-bag in itself; with this and your +blanket and cloak, and under the lee of some forage or scrub, you +could defy anything. The only peril was that of a loose horse walking +on you. + +On some afternoons we were quite free till the stable-hour at four. +Till then we could bask in camp, or go for a bathe in the river, where +there was one splendid deep-water pool, whence you could hear the +baboons barking on the hill-sides, and see the supply trains for the +front grinding heavily up the pass. + +Rumours of a move never lost their charm. At first we used to take +them seriously, but gradually the sense of permanence began to pervade +our camp. Solid tin shelters rose for the guard and the sergeants; a +substantial tin canteen was erected close to the lines by cynical +provision-dealers. Those visionary rebels declined to show themselves; +nobody attacked our precious pass; and, in short, we had to +concentrate our minds upon the narrow circle of our daily life. + +A recurring duty for drivers was that of "stableman." There were two +of these for each sub-division, who were on duty for the whole day in +the lines. Their function, in addition to the usual duties, was to +draw forage, watch the horses, and prepare all the feeds in the +nose-bags, ready for the drivers. The post was no sinecure, for in +addition to the three standard oat feeds, there was oat straw to be +put down after dinner, and, at eight o'clock at night, a final supper +of chaff, except for invalids, who got special feeds. A list of these +was given you generally at the last moment, and it was a test for your +temper to go round the lines on a windy night, lighting many futile +matches, in order to see the number on the off fore hoof, so as to hit +off the right ones. There was generally a nose-bag missing at this +stage, which was ultimately found on a C horse (my sub-division was +D), and then there was a lively five minutes of polite recrimination. +At 8.30 the nose-bags had to be taken off, and muzzles put on--canvas +affairs with a leather bottom, strapped on by the head collar--as a +preventive against disease from the chill morning air. Every man, +after evening stables, was supposed to leave his muzzles on the +jowl-piece of his horses, but a stableman was quite sure to find two +missing, and then he would have to scour the tents, and drive the +offender to the lines to repair his neglect; then he could go to bed. +Another extra duty was that of picket at night, which came round to +gunners and drivers alike, about every ten days. "Two hours on and +four hours off" was the rule, as on all sentry-duty. I rarely found +the night watches long. There was plenty to do in watching the horses, +which are marvellously ingenious at untying knots, and in patrolling +the camp on the look-out for imaginary rebels. By the way, the only +live rebel I ever saw was the owner of a farm, near which we halted +during one sultry dusty route-march. He refused to allow us to water +our horses and ourselves at his pond, defying us with Lord Kitchener's +proclamation enjoining "kind treatment" of the Dutch! + +As the days passed without orders for the front, impatience and +disappointment grew. We were fit and well, and were not long in +reaching the standard of efficiency which carried us successfully +through our campaigning later. We used to "grouse" vigorously over our +bad luck, with what justice I do not pretend to say; but no one who +has not experienced it, can understand the bitterness of inaction, +while the stream of reinforcements is pouring to the front. Scraps of +news used to come in of the victorious march of the army northward, +and of the gallant behaviour of the C.I.V. Infantry. Companies of +Yeomanry used to arrive, and leave for destinations with enticing +names that smelt of war, and night after night rollicking snatches of +"Soldiers of the Queen" would float across the valley from the +troop-trains, as they climbed the pass northward. + +As early as April 15th, the word went round that we were under orders +to go to Bloemfontein--"as soon as transport could be ready for us." + +"_April 15._--Amid great delight the Captain to-day read a telegram +saying we are to go to Bloemfontein as soon as the railway can take +us. We had just come in from the ride to water in drenching rain and +ankle deep in mud, but a great cheer went up. The railway limitation +is a rather serious one, as I believe the line is in a hopeless state +of block; but we'll hope for the best. The rainy season has begun in +the most unmistakable fashion. It has poured so far in buckets for +twenty-four hours; I slept out last night, but daren't to-night; +outlying parts of me got wet, in spite of the waterproof over me. +Thank goodness, we have good boots, gaiters, and cloaks. We rode to +water at eleven in various queer costumes, and mostly bare legs, and +afterwards dug trenches through the lines. The rest of the day we have +been huddled in a heap in our tent, a merry crowd, taking our meals in +horrible discomfort, but uproarious spirits. + +"I still have the roan, but have lost the Argentine and got a bay mare +instead; it's not a bad animal. There was a false alarm of glanders +the other day. One of the gun-team had a swollen throat, but it turns +out to be something else. I was told off to help foment him with hot +water the night it was discovered. He kicked us all, and completely +floored me with a kick in the chest, which didn't hurt happily. +Yesterday I had to take him down to the station and foment him from +the kitchen boiler of the station-master's wife. I enjoyed it, as I +had plenty of rests, and the station-master's wife made me delicious +tea, served to me by a sweet little white-frocked girl. By the way, on +the road to water the other day a caravan full of people stopped us, +and small maidens went down the line, giving us apples and cigarettes +and cakes." + +Little we understood that ironical "railway" proviso of a harassed +general staff. We had been reviewed the day before, and the good +practice of our guns had been praised by the inspecting officer. Now +was our chance, we thought. Nevertheless, we had to live on that +guarded "order" for another month. + +But in spite of our disappointment I believe all of us will look back +with real pleasure to that time. There was no monotony in the life, +thanks to our officers, who continually introduced variety into our +work. "Marching order" days were the commonest; but there were others +of a lighter sort. On one day we would go for a long expedition in +drill-order with the guns, taking cooks and our dinner with us, and +have what we used to call a picnic by some pleasant river-side. On +another the guns would be left at home, and we would ride out for +exercise, often through the pass, which led through a lovely ravine to +a pretty little place called Tulbagh, where there was another small +camp of troops. Sometimes "bazing" was the order, a portmanteau-word +describing a morning spent in grazing the horses, and bathing +ourselves. My diary of April 8th says, "Yesterday about twenty of us +went out to practice swimming with horses. We rode about seven miles +to a deepish river, stripped, off-saddled, and swam them across. Some +wouldn't do it at all, but most of them swam across and back. You +buckle the rein up short and leave him alone. It's a very queer motion +at first. One of those I took declined to go in, in spite of half a +dozen chaps goading him on in various ways, and finally bolted away +over the veldt, carrying me naked. He soon came back though. The +horses have got the habit now of sticking together, and if they get +loose in camp never leave the lines. It is a nuisance sometimes, if +you have to act as a single mount, and ride away on some errand. My +Argentine greatly resents such a move, and tries to circle like a +clockwork mouse. She has grown as fat as a pig, though some horses are +doing poorly. The oats are of a very bad quality." + +That brings me to my horses and my own work. We all of us changed +horses a good deal in those days, and I and the roan had several +partings and re-unitings. As a spare driver, my own work was very +varied, now of driving in a team, now of riding spare horses, and +occasionally of acting as a mounted gunner. Williams was a regular +mounted gunner, his mount being a wicked, disreputable-looking little +Argentine (called "Pussy" (with a lisp) for her qualities), to whom he +owed three days in hospital at one time from a bad kick, but whom he +ended by transforming into as smart and peaceable a little mount as +you could find. My own chance came at last; and when about the end of +April one of our drivers was sent home sick, I took his place as +centre driver of an ammunition waggon, and kept it permanently. I said +good-bye to the roan and Argentine, and took over a fine pair of bays. + +My chief impression of the weather is that of heat and dust, but there +were times when we thought the dreaded rainy season had begun; when +the camp was a running morass, and we crouched in our tents, watching +pools of water soaking under our harness sheets, and counting the +labour over rusted steel. But it used to pass off, leaving a wonderful +effect; every waste oat seed about the camp sprouted; little green +lawns sprang up in a single night round the places where the forage +was heaped, and the whole veldt put on a delicate pink dress, a powder +of tiny pink flowers. + +By the middle of May we began to think we had been forgotten +altogether, but at last, on the morning of the 17th of May, as we were +marching out to drill, an orderly galloped up, and put a long blue +letter into the Captain's hand. We had seen this happen before, and +our discussions of the circumstance, as we rode along, were sceptical, +but this time we were wrong. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BLOEMFONTEIN. + +The railway north--Yesterday's start--Travelling made easy--Feeding +horses--A menu--De Aar--A new climate--Naauwport--Over the frontier-- +Bloemfontein--A fiasco--To camp again--The right section--Diary days-- +Riding exercise--A bit of history--Longman's Hospital--The +watering-place--Artillery at drill--A review--A camp rumour--A taste +of freedom--A tent scene. + + +From my diary:-- + +"_May 20._--_Sunday._--I write this on the train, on the way up north, +somewhere near Beaufort West; for the long-wished day has come at +last, and we are being sent to Kroonstadt, which anyway is pretty near +to, if not actually at, the front. Our only fear is now that it will +be too late. All day the train has been traversing the Karoo, a desert +seamed by bare rocky mountains, and without a sign of life on it, only +vast stretches of pebbly soil, dotted sparsely with dusty-green dwarf +scrub. But to go back. We started yesterday. All went smoothly and +simply. At eight, kit was inspected; in the morning, bareback +exercise; at twelve, tents struck; at 12.30 dinner; at one, 'boot and +saddle.' When we were hooked in and mounted, the Captain made a +splendid little speech in the incisive forcible voice we had learned +to know so well, saying we had had for long the most trying experience +that can befall a soldier, that of standing fast, while he sees his +comrades passing him up to the front. He congratulated us on the way +we had met that experience. There had been no complaining or slackness +in our work on that account. He hoped we would have the luck to go +into action, and his last advice to us was 'to keep our stomachs full +and our bellies warm!' + +"Then we marched to the station, unharnessed, packed harness, boxed +the horses, put the guns and waggons on the trucks, and were ready. +But the train didn't start till about eight o'clock in the evening. +One box was reserved for kickers, and you should have seen their +disgust when they found nothing to bully! We had, and have, a vague +idea that the journey was to last about a week, so Williams and I +bought a large box of provisions and a small paraffin stove. +Accustomed to delays, we quite expected no engine to turn up or +something like that, but finally a whistle blew and we were off, and a +delirious shout went up, and then we all sighed with relief, and then +got doubly merry, shouting vain things over a long untasted beverage, +whisky and water. One hears so much about the horrors of war that I +scarcely dare to describe the men's accommodation on board this train. +It is strange, but true, that I have never travelled more comfortably +in my life, and probably never shall. Most compartments have only four +men to them, and by great good luck, and a little diplomacy, Williams +and I have one to ourselves, though we form our mess with the four +chaps in the next one. Now the beauty of it is that no one can get +into our train, so, if you get out at a station, you need have no fear +of finding a nurse with twins in your special corner seat. You live +without these terrors, and have room to stretch, and sleep, and read, +and have meals, with no one to ask you to show your ticket. In fact, +things are reversed; we are not herded and led, and snubbed by porters +and officials, but the train belongs to us, and we ignore them. + +"We sat up late last night, and then Williams and I slept in great +comfort, though it felt quite odd to have something between one and +the stars. It's true there was a slight break, caused by the door +being flung open, and sacks of bread being hustled in from the +outside. But a soldier's training takes no account of these things, +and you instinctively jump out half-dressed, and help to shovel more +sacks in, you don't know why, or what they are. Being woken up, we got +on to the platform over an intervening train, and sent cables home +from an office standing invitingly open. Then to bed again. Later, in +my dreams, I was aware of a sergeant and an irascible little +station-master coming into the carriage with lanterns and throwing +most of the sacks out again, which it seemed had been annexed +feloniously by our Captain, at the last station, in his zeal to keep +our 'stomachs full.' I was glad to get rid of the sacks, as they +filled our carriage up completely. The train has to stop for about +three-quarters of an hour or less, three times a day, for feeding and +watering the horses. The first stop to-day was about 6.30 A.M. We +tumbled out in the delicious fresh air, and formed into pre-arranged +feeding and watering parties. I am on the feed party of our +subdivision, and we climbed like beetles up the sides of the trucks, +which are open, and strap on the nose-bags. Then we washed at a +friendly tap, and had our own breakfast which the cooks had +cooked--coffee and porridge. Then we climbed back and took off +nose-bags, and then the train went on. At this station we +'commandeered' a splendid table in the shape of a large square tin +advertisement of a certain Scotch whisky, and played whist on it after +breakfast. The train wound slowly through a barren stretch of brown +plain and rocky wild. Stations happened now and then, little silent +spots in the wilderness, their _raison d'être_ a mystery, no houses, +roads, or living things near, except a white tent or two, and some +sunburnt men in khaki looking curiously at us. There are troops in +small bodies all up the line in this 'loyal' colony. At one station +the Kimberley mail caught us up, and the people threw us magazines and +biscuits from the windows. All engines and stations were decorated +with flags in honour of the relief of Mafeking, the news of which came +through yesterday. A hospital train bound to Capetown also passed, +with some pale faces and bandaged limbs in evidence. + +"At 1.30 we stopped again for feed and water, and when we went on our +mess sat down to the following lunch, which I think does credit to our +catering powers. + + MENU. + + R.B.S. + Emergency Soup. + Cold Roast Fowl, with Stuffing. + Bully Beef, with Mustard. + Whiskied Biscuits. + Desserts Variés. Chocolate. Ginger. Bonbons. Oranges. + German Beer. + Cigars. Cigarettes. + +"I wrote the _menu_ out in French first, but it seemed not to suit. + +"All the afternoon the same desolation, like pictures one sees of the +moon's surface. About six, water and feed at Beaufort West, and horses +led out, trucks mucked out, and tea served out. + +"The night was very cold; in fact, the climate is quite different on +these high table-lands. I woke up about six, looked out, and saw, just +opposite, the legend DE AAR, which for the first time seemed to +connect us with the war. We stopped a moment, and then moved on +through lines of tents, loaded waggons, mountains of ammunition, etc. +Then I saw a strange sight, in the shape of ice on puddles and white +hoarfrost. Soon out on the broad, brown veldt, far-distant hills +showing finely cut in the exquisitely clear air. Such an atmosphere I +have never seen for purity. The sun was rising into a cloudless sky +from behind a kopje. The flat-topped kopje is now the regular feature. +They are just like miniature Table-mountains, and it is easy to see +how hard to capture they must be. Water, feed, and breakfast at a tiny +roadside place, with the inevitable couple of tents and khaki men. We +were at whist when we steamed up to a big, busy camp-station, the Red +Cross flying over a dozen big marquee tents, and a couple of hundred +sorry-looking remounts (by the look of them) picketed near. This was +Naauwport. We stopped alongside a Red Cross train full of white, +unshaven faces--enterics and wounded going back to the base. They were +cheerful enough, and we shouted inquiries about one another. They were +unanimous in saying we were too late, which was very depressing news, +but I don't suppose they knew much about it. We washed ourselves in +big buckets here. As we were steaming out I saw a long unfamiliar +sight, in the shape of a wholesome, sunburnt English girl, dressed in +short-skirted blue serge, stepping out as only an English girl can. +She was steering for the Red Cross over the tents, and, I daresay, was +nursing there. Off again, over the same country, but looking more +inhabited; passed several ostrich farms, with groups of the big, +graceful birds walking delicately about; also some herds of cattle, +and a distant farm or two, white against the blue hill-shadows. Soon +came the first visible signs of war--graves, and long lines of +trenches here and there. At a stop at a shanty (can't call it a +station) a man described a fight for a kopje just by the railway. +Coleskop was in view, a tall, flat-topped mountain, and later we +steamed into the oft-taken and retaken Colesberg Junction, and were +shown the hill where the Suffolks were cut up. All was now barren +veldt again, and the strangeness of the whole thing struck me +curiously. Why should men be fighting here? There seemed to be nothing +to fight for, and nothing behind to get to when you had fought. + +"_May 22._--_Tuesday._--As I write we are standing just outside +Bloemfontein; cold, sunny morning; the Kaffir quarter just on our +right, a hideous collection of mud houses with tin roofs; camps and +stores on the left; boundless breadth of veldt beyond; the town in +front under a long, low kopje, a quiet, pretty little place. + +"We reached the frontier--Norval's Pont--at 6 P.M. yesterday, and +after a long delay, moved slowly out in the dark, till the shimmer of +water between iron girders told us we were crossing the Orange river. +Once off the bridge, a shout went up for our first step on the enemy's +country. Then all went on the same. We made ourselves comfortable, and +brewed hot cocoa, for all the world as though we were travelling from +Boulogne to Geneva. The only signs of hostility were the shrill +execrations of a crowd of infant aborigines. + +"We woke up to a changed country. The distances were still greater, +low hills only occasionally breaking the monotony of flat plain, but +the scrub had given way to grass, not verdant Irish grass, but sparse, +yellow herbage. Ant-hills and dead horses were the only objects in the +foreground, except eternal wreaths and tangles of telegraph wire along +the tracks, and piles of sleepers, showing the damage done, and now +repaired, to line and wire. The same pure crisp air and gentle +sunlight. + +"_May 24._--_Thursday._--I write in our tent on the plateau above +Bloemfontein, and will go on where I left off on the 22nd. To our +utter disgust, after standing for hours in a siding of the station, +chatting to all sorts and conditions of the species soldier, the order +came to detrain. We drivers took the horses first to water, and then +picketed them on an arid patch of ground near the station, where the +gunners had meantime brought the guns and waggons. It was now dark, +and there were no rations served out; very cold, too, and we had no +kit, but it wasn't these things we minded, but the getting out instead +of training on. 'Kroonstadt' is redolent of war, but, 'Bloemfontein' +spells inaction. However, there was no help for it. We slept on the +ground, and precious cold this new climate was. I hadn't my Stohwasser +blanket, and spent most of the night stamping about and smoking. At +reveillé next day rations were still lacking, but we all trooped off +to a tin hut and had tea, given by an unseen angel, named Sister +Bagot. 'Boot and saddle' sounded at nine, and we marched off to the +camp, about two miles away. There was a very nasty ravine to cross, +and we had to have drag ropes on behind, with the gunners on them, to +steady us down the descent. I was driving centres as usual, and saw +the leaders almost disappear in front of me. At the bottom we crossed +a stream, and then galloped them up the other side. Soon after we +passed through Bloemfontein, a quiet, dull-looking place, like a +suburb of Cape Town, mounted a long hill, and came out on to another +broad plain, kopjes in the distance, and tents dotted far and wide. +The first moving thing I saw was a funeral,--slow music, a group of +khaki figures, and the bright colours of a Union Jack glinting +between. + +"Our right section, that is, the other half of the Battery, from which +we had been separated ever since Stellenbosch, had trained on a day +ahead of us, and were now already encamped, so we marched up and +joined our lines to theirs, pitched our tents, and once more the +Battery was united. And what a curious meeting it was! Half of them +were unrecognizable with beards and sunburn, as were many of us, I +suppose. What yarns we had! All that day, in the intervals between +fatigues, and far into the night, in the humming tents. Jacko was with +them. He had been lost on the journey, but came on by a later train +very independently." + +We all had a presentiment of evil, and, as it turned out, we were kept +nearly a month at Bloemfontein, while still reports of victories came +in. Yet news was very scarce, and had we known it, the period was only +just beginning, of that long, irregular warfare, by which the two +provinces had to be conquered, when the brilliancy of Roberts's +meteoric march to Pretoria was past. We were to take our small share +in work as necessary and arduous as any in these latter stages of the +war. + +Meanwhile we were now a complete battery, and worked hard at our drill +as such, though there was very little to learn after our long training +in Cape Colony. We kept our spirits up, though the time was a +depressing one. Mortality was high in Bloemfontein at that time, in +spite of the healthy, exhilarating climate. A good many of us had to +go into hospital, but we were fortunate enough to lose no lives +through illness. + +Here are some extracts from my diary:-- + +"_May 24._--_Queen's Birthday._--The guns went to a review, and got +high praise for their turn out. The rest of us exercised on stripped +saddles, trotting over bare flat ground, with sparse grass on it, the +greatest contrast to the Piquetberg Road country. + +"In the evening Williams and I and some others wandered off to try and +get a wash. We prowled over the plain and among the camps asking the +way to water, and carrying our towels and soap, and finally stumbled +over a trough and a tap. The water here is unfit for drinking, and we +are forbidden to drink it except boiled. + +"_May 28._--Riding exercise again; a long and jolly ride round the +country. Half-way we did cavalry exercises for some time, which, when +every man has a led horse, and many two of them, is rather a rough +game. I was riding Williams's Argentine, Pussy, a game little beast, +but she got very worried and annoyed over wheeling and forming fours +and sections. Directly we got back and had off-saddled we fell in, and +one out of four was allowed to go down to town and see the +Proclamation of Annexation read. I was lucky enough to be picked, +tumbled into proper dress, and hurried down just in time. The usual +sight as I passed the cemetery, thirteen still forms on stretchers in +front of the gate, wrapped in the rough service blanket, waiting to be +buried. I found the Market Square full of troops drawn up, and a +flag-staff in the middle, with a rolled-up flag on it. Soon a band +heralded the arrival of the Governor, Colonel Pretyman, and the +Staff-officers. Then a distant voice began the Proclamation, of which +I couldn't hear a word except 'colony' at the end, at which every one +cheered. Then the flag was unrolled, and hung dead for a minute, till +a breeze came and blew out 'that haughty scroll of gold,' the Royal +Standard. Bands struck up 'God save the Queen,' a battery on a hill +above the town thundered out a royal salute, everybody cheered, and I +was standing on British soil. I saw not a single native Dutchman +about, only crowds of the khakied of all ranks and sorts. After this +little bit of history-making I hurried back to the commonplace task of +clipping my mare's heels, an operation requiring great agility on the +part of the clipper. + +"For a 'stableman,' as I am now, the evening is rather a busy one. At +seven you have to make up the feeds for the last feed; at 7.45 put +them round the harness-sets behind the horses; at eight feed, for +which all hands turn out; at 8.30 take off nose-bags and put on +muzzles; and after that make up another feed ready for early next +morning. You can't finish before 'lights out,' and have to go to bed +in the dark, to the loudly expressed annoyance of your neighbours in +the tent (I sleep in a tent these nights), on whose bodies you place +the various articles of your kit while you arrange your bed, and whose +limbs you sometimes mistake for materials for a pillow, when you are +composing that important piece of upholstery. + +"_May 30._--_Wednesday._--In the afternoon Williams and I went to +visit a friend in Langman's Hospital. Bloemfontein is a town of +hospitals, red crosses flying at every turn. The mortality is high, +even, I was surprised to hear from our friend, among sisters and +hospital orderlies. Out of six sisters in his hospital, which seemed a +very good one, four had enteric at the time, and one had died of it. I +was on picket duty this night, and had a lively time chasing loose +horses in the dark. A new sort of head-rope we are using seems very +palatable to the horses, as they mostly eat it for supper, and then +get loose. + +"_May 31._--Out at riding exercise we came to a fortified kopje, where +we dismounted, and were allowed to examine a beautifully made trench +running round the top, very deep, and edged by a wall of stones +arranged to give loopholes. Some one found a Boer diary in the dust, +the entries in which seemed to alternate between beer and bible +reading. We always water at the common trough, the last thing before +return. Such varieties of the horse species you could see no where +else; thick, obstinate little Argentines, all with the same Roman +noses and broad, ugly heads; squab little Basuto ponies, angular +skeletonesque Cape horses, mules of every nationality, Texan, Italian, +Illyrian, Spanish; here and there a beautiful Arab belonging to some +officer; and dominating all, our own honest, substantial 'bus and tram +horses, almost the only representatives of English horseflesh. There +are always a few detached horses stampeding round ownerless, or +limping feebly down with a lost, hopeless look in their eyes, tripping +at every step over a tattered head-rope, and seeming to belong to +nobody and care for nothing. We always ride down in strict order, each +man leading one or two. + +"_June 3._--Marching-order parade. We had a good morning drill over +what is perfect artillery country, with just the right amount of +excitement in the shape of ditches to jump, and anthills, which are +legion, and holes to avoid. I am delighted with my pair, which are +both very fit now; and our waggon team has been going very well. + +"_June 4._--Riding exercise and sham-fight; an enemy supposed to be +attacking a convoy. Being in the convoy, I haven't a clear idea of +what happened, but only know we were kept dodging about kopjes, and +bolting across open places uncaptured. + +"_June 5._--Another field-day, with guns and waggons, before Colonel +Davidson, the Brigadier of Artillery here. We went out to some distant +kopjes, and went into action at two different points. I believe the +shooting was very good; they had targets of biscuit-tins stuck up on +the kopjes. Some of you who read this at home may not know how +artillery work, so I may as well roughly sketch what happens on these +occasions. There are four guns and five waggons. A waggon is built on +the same plan as a gun, that is, in two parts, the waggon-body and the +waggon-limber, the limber being in front, and having the pole for +draught, just as the gun-carriage and the gun-limber form the two +parts of the 'gun.' Both waggon-body and waggon-limber carry +ammunition, as does the gun-limber. There are four gunners on the gun, +and four on the waggon. When suitable ground has been selected by the +Major, and thoroughly scouted first by the mounted gunners, the order +is given to advance into action. The guns trot up in line; 'Action +front, right about wheel' is given, and each swings round, thus +bringing the muzzle of the gun to the front. The limber is then +unhooked from the trail of the gun, and the teams trot back with the +limbers to the rear, leaving the guns to be worked by the gunners. At +the same time the signal is sent back to the waggons, who, meanwhile, +have been halted in the rear, if possible under cover, to send up two +waggons. Two are told off, and they trot up to the firing line. +'Halt,' 'Unhook!' The wheelers are rapidly unhooked, the team trots +back again to the rear. Presently two more are called up with more +ammunition. These do the same thing, but after unhooking trot round +and hook into the other two (now empty) waggons, and trot them back. +The empty waggons are refilled from the mule-waggons, which follow the +battery with the reserve shells, and their black crews and all. +'Limber-supply,' that is, use of the shells in the _gun_-limber, is +only ordered in the last resort or in exceptional cases. Finally, when +the firing position is to be changed, the gun-limbers trot up; 'Limber +up' is given. The gun is hooked to the limber, and the re-united +machines trot away to the new position, followed by the waggons. In +some cases, too, when the waggons come up to the firing-line, they +only leave the waggon-body there, trot away with the limber, and come +back and 'limber up' later, in the same way as the gun. It all depends +on how much ammunition is wanted. Of course, there are many variations +of movement, but this is an average specimen. + +"_June 10._--_Sunday._--I and Williams are stablemen, and the rest +have gone to church parade. We have just had an icy wash with +far-fetched water in an old ammunition box. The weather has turned +very cold again at nights, with considerable frost. I have been +sleeping out again though since the first week of our coming here, +finding snug lairs under the quartermaster's stores. We have marching +order parades most days now, and are pretty hard-worked. Yesterday we +were reviewed by General Pretyman, together with another field-battery +and a pom-pom battery. We trotted about in various formations, and the +guns went into action once; and that was all. Our guns got into action +quicker than either of the regular batteries. A message was +communicated to us by the General from Lord Roberts, saying we must +not be disappointed at not having gone to the front; that there was +plenty more work to be done, and that meanwhile we were doing very +useful work in helping to guard this place. I am afraid we are not +very sanguine, but we never entirely lose hope, and a wild idea that +this review and the other day's inspection might be preliminary to an +order to go up, cheered us up a lot for the time. Camp rumours, too, +are just as prolific and as easily swallowed as before. Latterly there +have been all sorts of mysterious reports about the Boers having got +behind Roberts, re-taken Kroonstadt and cut the railway, massacring +various regiments, whose names change hourly. A camp rumour is a +wonderful thing. Generally speaking, there are two varieties, +cook-shop rumours and officers' servants' rumours. Both are always +false, but there is a slightly more respectable mendacity about the +latter than the former. The cooks are always supposed to know if we +are changing camp by getting orders about rations in advance. Having +this slight advantage, they go out of their way to make rumours on +every sort of subject. How many scores of times the cooks have sent us +to the front I shouldn't like to say. Officers' servants of course +pick up scraps of information from their masters' tents; in the +process of transmission to the battery at large the original gets wide +variations. We are often just like kitchenmaids and footmen discussing +their betters. You will hear heated arguments going on as to the +meaning of some overheard remarks, and the odd thing is that it no +longer seems strange. + +"_June 13._--... The moon was full this day, and to see it rising +sheer out of the level veldt was a thing to remember. For ten minutes +before there is a red glow on the horizon, which intensifies till a +burning orange rim shows above, and soon the whole circle is flaming +clear of the earth, only not a circle, but seemingly almost square +with rounded corners. Round its path on the veldt there is a broad +wash of dusty gold. A lot of us came out of the tents, and were +spell-bound by the sight. Every evening the sun goes down plumb into +the veldt out of a cloudless sky, and comes up just so in the morning. +While he is gone it is bitterly cold now, always with hard frost, but +in the middle of the day often very hot. I have never known such +extremes of temperature before. + +"_June 16._--Yesterday was a red-letter day for me and Williams. We +got leave off afternoon stables, getting gunners to water and groom +our horses, and had from after dinner till 8.30 P.M. to ourselves. +That was the first time I have ever missed duty from any cause +whatever since I enlisted on January 3rd, so I think I deserved it. We +started off, feeling strangely free, and hardly knowing how to use our +freedom, for two hours is the longest interval from work one usually +gets. We determined to visit the Irish Hospital Camp, where four of +our chaps were sick. The Irish Hospital came out with us in the +_Montfort_, so we knew them all. We hired a carriage in the town(!) +and drove the rest of the way feeling like lords. We had a long talk +with the invalids, who were mostly doing well, in most comfortable +quarters, large roomy tents, with comfortable beds, and clean white +nurses going about. Pat Duffy turned up as a hospital orderly, looking +strangely clean. The air was heavy with rich brogue. Later we strolled +off, and shopped and shaved in the town, had afternoon tea, and then +went to a hotel and wrote letters till 6.30, when we dined in +magnificent style, and then sauntered back, feeling as if an eternity +had passed, and lay down in the dust to sleep. + +"_June 17._--_Sunday._--A night and day of rain, in spite of the fact +that everybody was clear hitherto that the rainy season was over +months ago. Exercise at eight, and a smart trot round the country +warmed horses and men, for it is very cold. Meanwhile, the horse lines +had been shifted, for they were ankle-deep in mud. Once or twice in +the day we were called out to rub legs, ears, and backs of the horses. + +"I am now lying on my back in our tent on a carefully constructed +couch of sacks, rugs, and haversacks, with a candle stuck in a +Worcester sauce bottle to light me. Most of us are doing the same, so +the view is that of the soles of muddy boots against strong light, the +tentpole in the middle hung thick with water-bottles, helmets, and +haversacks, spurs strung up round the brailing, faces (dirty) seen +dimly in the gloom beneath. Some write, some sew, some read. One is +muttering maledictions over a tin of treacle he has spilt on his bed +(he thought it was empty and stuck a candle on the bottom); one is +telling stories (which nobody listens to) of happy sprees in far-off +London. The air is thick with tobacco-smoke. Outside there is a murmur +of stablemen trying to fit shrunk nose-bags on to restive horses, +varied by the squeal and thump of an Argentine, as he gets home in the +ribs of a neighbour who has been fed before him." + +On the day after this was written our long period of waiting came to +an end with orders to go at once to Kroonstadt. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LINDLEY. + + +We were off for the front at last, and I shall now, making a few +necessary alterations, transcribe my diary, as I wrote it from day to +day and often hour to hour, under all sorts of varying conditions. + +_June 21._--_7 A.M._--I am writing this on the seat of a gun in an +open truck on the way by rail to Kroonstadt. I have been trying to +sleep on the floor, but it wasn't a success, owing to frozen feet. Now +the sun is up and banishing the hoar-frost from the veldt, and the +great lonely pasture-plain we are travelling slowly through looks +wonderfully pleasant. + +But I must go back. + +Yesterday afternoon things looked profoundly settled. I walked down to +town with a lot of clothes, and left them to be washed by a nigger, +and also left my watch to be mended. But when I got back to "stables" +it was announced that we were to leave for Kroonstadt that night. +There was great joy, though I fear it means nothing. It's true De Wet +and some rebels have been giving trouble round there, and even held up +a train, and captured a battalion of militia not long ago; but I +believe it's all over now. It was soon dark, and camp had to be struck +and horses harnessed in the dark. I got leave, ran down to town and +fetched up my unwashed clothes, and put most of them on there and +then. There was the usual busy scene of packing kit, striking tents, +drawing rations, filling water-bottles; the whole scene lit up by +blazing bonfires of rubbish. In leaving a camp no litter may be left; +it has to be left as clean as the surrounding veldt. At nine hot +coffee was served out, and at 9.45 "boot and saddle" went. Harnessing +in pitch dark is not very easy, unless you have everything exactly +where you can lay your hand on it. + +We marched down to the station, and unharnessed near the platform in a +deposit of thick mud. Entraining lasted all night, the mules and +buck-waggons giving a lot of trouble. Some exciting loose-mule-hunts +round the station in the dark. Hours of shoving, hauling, lifting, +slamming. At last all was in but ourselves. There were evidently no +carriages, so we hurriedly shovelled our kit and ourselves into the +open gun-trucks, squirming into cracks and corners; and at 6.30 A.M. +to-day, with the sun just topping the distant veldt, the whistle blew, +and we started. It was a piercing frosty morning; but we were all so +tired that we slept just as we were. I found myself nestling on the +floor of a truck (very dirty), between a gun-wheel and the three foot +high side with feed-bags for pillows. Cold feet soon roused me, and I +got up on to the gun in the sun, and saw we were slowly climbing a +long incline through the usual veldt and kopjes, only more inhabited +looking, with a tree and a farm or two. A lovely scene with the sun +reddening the veldt in the pure crisp air. I smoked a cigarette in +great content of mind. Soon shapeless heaps of blankets began to move +down the trucks, muffled heads blinked out from odd corners, and +gradually the Battery woke, and thawed, and breakfasted on biscuit and +bully beef. We have said good-bye to bread. + +We rumbled slowly on all the morning, past the same sort of country, +with dead horses and broken bridges marking Roberts's track, and at +Brandfort stopped to feed horses, which, by the way, is a nasty +dangerous game when you are dealing with closed horse-boxes. You have +to climb through a small window, get in among the horses, and put the +feeds on as they are handed up. The horses are not tied up, and are +wild with hunger. You have simply to fight to avoid being crushed or +kicked in that reeking interior, for they are packed as thick as +possible. + +At Vet River we got the first news of fighting. Boers under De Wet had +been breaking bridges, and cutting wires. A very seedy-looking +Guardsman gave us the news, and said they were cold and starving; and +they looked it. What regiment was there? "Oh, we're all details 'ere," +he said, with a gloomy shrug. At Zand River infantry were in trenches +expecting attack. A fine bridge had been blown up, and we crossed the +river, which runs in a deep ravine, by a temporary bridge built low +down, the track to it most ingeniously engineered in a spiral way. An +engineer told us they had had hard fighting there a day or two ago. We +reached Kroonstadt about dark; but remained outside all night, +supperless and freezing. + +_June 22._--I walked about most of the night, and got an engine driver +to squirt some hot water into a mess-tin to make tea with out of +tablets. In early morning a train disgorged a crowd of men who had +been prisoners with the Boers at Pretoria, some ever since the first +battle. When Roberts came they all escaped, under shell-fire from the +Boers as a final _congé_. They were a most motley crew, dressed in all +manner of odd clothes. At 7 P.M. coffee and porridge, and at 7.30 +orders came to detrain and harness up sharp, the sections to separate +again. Then followed a whole series of contrary orders, but we +ultimately harnessed up and hooked in; the right section marched away, +and soon after we of the left section did so too, about two o'clock. +About three miles off, after climbing a long hill, we unlimbered the +guns in a commanding position, and remained there till dark, in the +close and fragrant neighbourhood of about twenty dead horses. I +believe we had something to do with some possible or probable fight, +but what, I don't know. A very dull battle. We marched back at dark, +and bivouacked near the town, close to some Lancers. Of course tents +are said good-bye to now. I slept by my harness, very cold. + +_June 23._--I woke early and chatted to the Lancers' cook over a +roaring wood fire till reveillé. Orders came to start at two, as part +of the escort of a convoy going to Lindley, distant about fifty miles +east. Something real to do at last. Quiet morning; sewed buttons on. +At one "boot and saddle," and at two we started and joined the convoy, +a long train of ox-waggons, with some traction engines drawing trucks. +Our officers are Captain Budworth (in command) and Lieutenant Bailey, +just as at Piquetberg Road. The troops with us are some Buffs Militia, +Yorkshire Light Infantry, Australian Mounted Infantry (Imperial +Bushmen Contingent), and some Middlesex Yeomanry. Went through the +rambling white desolate town, forded a broad river, mounted a steep +hill, and came out on the open, rolling veldt. Here we halted till +near sunset, waiting for some waggons, and many and eager were our +speculations on what was in store for us on this first step into the +field of war. For the first time we saw and talked to infantry on the +march. Our escort (there is always an escort for guns) is a company of +Buffs, lean, stained, ragged, and very _blasé_ about this journey +which they have made twice before. They are short of most things, and +pitifully clad. I saw two with no breeches, only under-pants. All say +they are "fed up," a phrase always used out here to mean "sick and +tired of the war." The Bushmen seem a pleasant set of fellows. It is +their first campaign too. + +When the truant waggons came up we marched on a few miles, following +the road, which is just a hard track across the veldt, and bivouacked +for the night, the out-spanned waggons ranged in rows in a rough +square, as far as I could see, but it was very dark, and we had plenty +to do ourselves. After unhooking, we drivers had a long ride over the +veldt to a watering-place, losing the way in the dark two or three +times. It was late when we got back to camp, guided by the fires. We +unharnessed, fed the horses, swallowed some tea and biscuit, and laid +down as we were to sleep. + +_June 24_--_Sunday._--Up at 3.45 A.M. and harnessed; very cold. We +started at five, in the dark, and marched over rolling switchback +veldt till 9.30, and then halted to let the convoy oxen get their +day's graze and chew. Unharnessed our horses. Coffee and porridge. I +went on fatigue to fill water-bottles at a filthy pond, and afterwards +laboriously filtered some in a rather useless filter, which is carried +on the gun. The water was so foul that the filter had to be opened and +cleaned every four strokes. + +At 12.45 we harnessed up and started again. I am writing now at one of +the periodical halts, when every one dismounts. A soft, mild sunset is +laying changing tints of colour on the veldt, rose, amber, fawn, with +deep blue shadows. When I speak of _veldt_ I mean simply grass-land, +but not a hint of green in it. The natural colour at this season is +buff, with a warm red undertone. When the setting or rising sun +catches this the effect is exquisite. + +There is a rumour that a Boer patrol has been sighted, and a prisoner +captured. I believe there is no doubt that De Wet and his force are +between us and Lindley, and will have a shot at this convoy. We were +warned that we might be attacked to-night. At dark we bivouacked, and, +soon after, our right section, under the Major, whom we parted from at +Kroonstadt, marched in. They had been sent out with a relief column to +Honing Spruit, where a train had been attacked and the troops in it +hard pressed. The Boers cleared off just before the Battery came up, +which then had followed and overtaken us. Another bothersome hunt +after water for the horses in the dark. All we could find was a +stagnant pool, which ought to poison those that drank of it. Some more +troops also joined the column. Colonel Brookfield (M.P.) is in command +of the whole force. + +_June 25_--_(My birthday)._--Up at 4.15 A.M. Off at 5.15, as part of +the advance guard of the column, the Bushmen and Yeomanry scouting far +ahead, and the infantry on either flank in a widely extended line. We +all admired the steady regularity of their marching, heavily weighted +as they were. Our own gunners also have a good deal of walking to do. +"Dismount the detachment" is the order at all up-grades, and at +difficult bits of the road. Drivers dismount at every halt, however +short, but on the move are always safe in the saddle. We marched over +the same undulating land, with occasional drifts and _spruits_, which +are very hard on the horses. The convoy behind looked like a long +sinuous serpent. Watered at seven at a farm. Williams was sent out to +forage, and bought a sheep for 15s., chickens at 1s. 6d., and a +turkey. Gunners were sent out to pillage a maize field. Then we +marched on some miles to the top of a steep ridge looking down upon a +lower plain, the road crossing a deep ravine at the bottom by a big +steel bridge. We took up a commanding position at the top, overlooking +the bridge, so as to cover the convoy while it descended and crossed. +An attack seems likely,--a curious birthday treat!--4 P.M.--Nothing +has happened. An interminable procession of ox and mule-waggons files +down the pass; it is a much larger convoy than I thought, and must +have received additions since we started. At this rate we shall be +ages getting to Lindley. + +One no longer wonders at the slowness of an army's movement out here. +The standard of speed is the trek-ox, lurching pensively along under +his yoke, very exacting about his mealtimes, and with no high notions +about supreme efforts, when he has to get his waggon out of a bad +drift. He often prefers to die, and while he is making up his +ponderous mind he may be blocking up a column, miles in length, of +other waggons in single file. We talk of the superior mobility of the +Boers; but it puzzles me to know how they got it, for oxen and mules +are their standards of speed too, I suppose. + +At dark, when all had passed, we followed ourselves down an abominably +dangerous road, and over the bridge to camp, which looked and sounded +like a big busy town, scintillating with fires and resonant with the +yells of black drivers packing their waggons. + +_June 26_--_Eight A.M._--We are in action, my waggon at present halted +in the rear. We harnessed up at 3.45 this morning, and marched some +miles to the top of another hill, overlooking another plain, a +crescent of steep kopjes on the left, occupied by Boers. The convoy +halted just as a spattering rifle-fire ahead struck on the still +morning air (it was just dawn), and the chatter of a Maxim on the left +flank. We were all rather silent. A staff-officer galloped up, +"Walk,--March," "Trot," rang out to the Battery, and we trotted ahead +down the hill, plunged down a villainous spruit, and came up on to the +level, under a pretty heavy fire from the kopje on our left. For my +part, I was absorbed for these moments in a threatened mishap to my +harness, and the dread of disgrace at such an epoch. My off horse had +lost flesh in the last few days, and the girth, though buckled up in +the last hole, was slightly too loose. We had to gallop up a steep bit +of ascent out of the drift, and to my horror, the pack-saddle on him +began to slip and turn, so I had to go into action holding on his +saddle with my right hand, in a fever of anxiety, and at first +oblivious of anything else. Then I noticed the whing of bullets, and +dust spots knocked up, and felt the same sort of feeling that one has +while waiting to start for a race, only with an added chill and +thrill. + +The guns unlimbered, and came into action against the kopje, and we +and the limbers trotted about 300 yards back, and are waiting there +now. A gunner and a driver slightly wounded, and some horses hit. One +bullet broke our wheel-driver's whip. Our shrapnel are bursting +beautifully over the Boer lines. + +_(Later.)_--We have just taken our waggon up to the firing line, and +brought back an empty one with our team. + +_(Later.)_--We have been back to the convoy, and refilled the empty +waggon from the reserve, and are back again. The Boers seem to be +dislodged from the ridge, and infantry have occupied it. I hear some +Boers made for a farm, but we plumped a shell right into it, and they +fled. The convoy is now coming on, and crossing the drift with +discordant yells. Infantry and mounted infantry pressing on both +flanks. Our guns have taken up another position farther on. The +Captain asked after the broken whip, and told us we could not have +gone into action better. He has been riding about all day on his +stumpy little Argentine, radiant and beaming, with his eternal pipe in +his mouth! + +_(Later.)_--We marched on a few miles, and bivouacked, while the whole +convoy slowly trailed in, and formed up in laager. This operation, and +the business of posting the troops for the night, is horribly tedious. +It has to be done in the dark, and one is continually mounting and +dismounting, and moving on a bit, and making impossible wheels round +mules and waggons. Probably we get too small a space allotted, and the +horses are all jammed together in the picket-lines, causing a vast +loss of temper at unharnessing. After unharnessing and feeding horses, +which you have to look sharp about, or you will miss coffee, every one +crowds round the cook's fire, and looks with hungry eyes at the pots. +Coffee or tea, biscuits and tinned meat, are served out. You are +ravenous, as you have lived on chance scraps during the day. Then you +make your bed, stretching your blankets behind your harness, standing +a saddle on end, and putting a feed-bag behind it for a pillow. Next +morning's feeds have first to be made up, and then you sleep like a +log, if you can, that is. I generally have to get up at least once, +and walk about for the cold. Fellows who are lucky enough to have fuel +make small fires (an anthill provides a natural stove), and cook soup, +but it's hard to spare the water, which is as precious as gold in this +country. Besides, drivers are badly placed for such luxuries; their +work is only begun when camp is reached, while gunners can go off and +find beds under waggons, etc. It is the same all day, except, of +course, in action, when the gunners have all the work. At all halts we +have to be watching a pair of horses, which have manifold ways of +tormenting one. To begin with, they are always hungry, because they +get little oats and no hay. One of mine amuses himself by chewing all +leather-work in his reach, especially that on the traces, and has to +be incessantly worried out of it. The poor brutes are standing all the +time on rich pasture, and try vainly to graze. They are not allowed +to, as it involves taking out big bits, undoing wither straps, etc., +and you have to be ready to start at a moment's notice. There are +thousands of acres of rich pasture all about, vast undeveloped wealth. +Farms are very few and far between; mostly dismal-looking stone +houses, without a trace of garden or adornment of any sort. There was +a load off all our minds this night, for the H.A.C. had at last been +in action and under fire. All went well and steadily. My friend +Ramsey, the lead-driver of our team, brushed his teeth at the usual +intervals. I don't believe anything on earth would interfere with him +in this most admirable duty. He does it with miraculous dexterity and +rapidity at the oddest moments, saying it rests him! + +_June 27._--Up at 3.45 and harnessed, but it was almost dawn before +our unwieldy convoy creaked and groaned into motion. We are rearguard +to-day, with some Yeomanry, Australians, and Buffs, but just now we +were ordered up to the front, trotted past the whole convoy, and are +now in action; limbers and waggons halted behind a rise. The Boers +have guns in action to-day, and a shell of theirs has just burst about +400 yards to our right, and others are falling somewhere near the guns +ahead. It seems to be chiefly an artillery duel so far, but a +crackling rifle fire is going on in the distance. + +_(Midday.)_--The convoy is closing up and getting into a sort of +square. We have changed positions several times. Shells have fallen +pretty close, but have done no damage. Some of them burst, others only +raise a cloud of dust. We are already getting used to them, but the +first that fell made us all very silent, and me, at any rate, very +uncomfortable. Later we relieved ourselves by a rather overstrained +interest in their probable direction and point of impact. We were +standing waiting, of course, with no excitement to distract our minds. + +_(2 P.M.)_--A curious feature in the scene is the presence of veldt +fires all over the place, long lines of dry grass blazing. Possibly +the Boers start them to hide their movements. The Boers evidently want +this convoy; they are right round our rear and on both flanks; all our +troops are engaged. The convoy is being moved on, and my section is +left as rear-guard. The smoke of burning grass has blotted out the +sun, and it is cold. The sun is a red ball, as on a foggy day in +London. Shells have ceased to fall here, but a hill on the left is +being heavily shelled by the enemy, and the infantry on it are in +retreat. + +_(4 P.M.)_--We are slowly getting on, covering the convoy's rear, the +enemy pressing hard. Our guns are now firing over our dismounted +troops. Williams has just ridden up. He has been orderly to the +Captain; a shell fell just by his horse without bursting. I have been +fearfully sleepy, and have snatched a few minutes of oblivion, during +halts, on the ground by my horses, who are as tired as I am, poor +beasts. + +_(Written later.)_--The Boers, as it seemed to me (but what does one +know?), had us in a very tight place, but they never pressed home +their attack, and the convoy was rushed through the remaining seven +miles to Lindley. We covered its retirement till dark, and then +followed it with all speed. I shan't forget those seven miles. They +included the worst drifts of the whole journey, and getting up and +down them in pitch-dark was unpleasant work and a pretty severe test +of driving. Three mule-waggons of the convoy had to be abandoned at +one place, but the rest of it reached Lindley safely, as did we. It +was rather like making a port after a storm when the lights appeared +and a bugle blowing "first post" was heard. We passed some silent +houses, groped into an open space, picketed horses, chucked off +harness, and slept by it, dog-tired. We had hoped for a good night's +rest, but, the last thing, orders went round for reveillé at four. + +_June 28._--It was icy cold at 4 A.M., and one's fingers could hardly +cope with straps and links. I had done one horse, when welcome orders +came that my waggon was not wanted. So I sat by the cook's fire and +cooked in the lid of my mess-tin a slice of meat I had hastily hacked +from an ox's carcase at our last camp. Also some Maggi soup. About +sunrise the limbers returned, having left the guns and gunners in +position on a hill somewhere, where they shot at any Boers they saw, +and were sniped at themselves. A slack day for the rest of us, and I +had a good sleep. Of course we are all delighted that the days of +waiting are over, and that we have had fighting and been of use. +Everything has gone well, and without a single hitch, and we were +congratulated by the Brigadier. As for De Wet, the plucky Boer who is +fighting down here, now that his cause is hopeless, we have sworn to +get him to London and give him a dinner and a testimonial for giving +us the chance of a fight. + +Of course the whole affair was trivial enough, and I don't suppose +will ever figure in the papers, though it was interesting enough to +us. I should be sorry to have to describe what went on as a whole. I +just wrote what was under my eye during halts, and to grasp the plan +of the thing, when distances are so great and the enemy so invisible, +is impossible. But, as far as I could see, it was pretty well managed. +We had no casualties yesterday, chiefly owing to shells not bursting. +The Infantry and Yeomanry had some killed and wounded, but I don't +know the numbers. Some of the Boer practice was excellent. Once we +watched them shell some Infantry on a kopje, every shell falling clean +and true on the top and reverse edge of it. The Infantry had to quit. +But on the whole I was at a loss to understand their artillery +tactics, which seemed desultory and irresolute. They would get our +range or that of the convoy and then cease firing, never concentrating +their fire on a definite point. Their ammunition too was evidently of +an inferior quality. I saw no shrapnel fired. It is all very novel, +laborious, exciting, hungry work, and perhaps the strangest sensation +of all is one's passive ignorance of all that is happening beyond +one's own narrow sphere of duty. An odd discovery is that one has so +much leisure, as a driver, when in action. There is plenty of time to +write one's diary when waiting with the teams. One pleasant thing is +the change felt in the relaxation of the hard-and-fast regulations of +a standing camp. Anything savouring of show or ceremonial, all +needless _minutiæ_ of routine, disappear naturally. It is business +now, and everything is judged by the standard of common-sense. + +The change of life since we left Bloemfontein has been complete; no +tents, no washing, no undressing, only biscuit and tinned-meat for +food, and not too much of that, very little sleep, etc.; but we have +all enjoyed it, for it is the real thing at last. The lack of water +was the only really trying thing, and the cold at night. We had fresh +meat for supper this night from a sheep commandeered on the march, and +weren't we ravenous! Another very cold night, but the joyful orders +for reveillé at 7 A.M. + +_June 29._--"Stables" and harness-cleaning all the morning. In the +afternoon we were sent to graze our horses outside the town with a +warning to look out for sniping. As I write I am sitting under a rock, +the reins secured to one of my legs, which accounts for bad writing. +Lindley is below, a mere little village with a few stores, which +nevertheless was for a proud week the capital of the Free State. For +some time past it has been closely besieged by the Boers, and entirely +dependent on one or two armed convoys like ours. The Boers have been +shelling the town most days, and fighting goes on outside nearly every +day. The day before we relieved it the Boers made an effort to take +it, and our Infantry lost heavily. There was a garrison of about a +thousand, I think, before we came. There is nothing eatable to be +bought at any price, and no communication with the outside world, +except by despatch-riders. I was talking yesterday to two Yeomanry +fellows who had escaped from one of the Boer commandos. They had lived +entirely on fresh meat, and were devouring dog-biscuit by our cook's +fire like famished terriers. They said they had been well treated. + +_June 30._--Not much rest was allowed us. Reveillé was at 4 A.M., with +orders for our section, under Lieutenant Bailey, to march half-way to +Kroonstadt again, as part of an escort for a return convoy carrying +sick and wounded. + +Started at five with Yeomanry, Bushmen, and Buffs, as before, but were +delayed two hours outside town, waiting for some traction-engines, +which puffed asthmatically at the bottom of a drift, unable to get up. +Marched rapidly for sixteen miles (most of the country burnt by veldt +fires), over the same difficult road, and (for a luxury) encamped +while it was still light. Washed in a river with great zest. Fresh +mutton for supper. Turned in with orders for reveillé at 4 A.M. But at +11.30 P.M. we were all awakened by "Come on, get up and harness up." +"Why, what's the time?" "11.30." However, up we got, not knowing why, +tossed on harness, and started straight away back for Lindley, +supposing they were being attacked. It was a hard march over those +detestable drifts, in pitch dark and freezing cold, with one halt only +of ten minutes. The centre driver has a trying time in bad places of +the road, for at steep bits on the down grade, if the wheelers get at +all out of control, he has the pole bearing down on him, either +punching his horses and making them kick, or probing for vulnerable +places in his own person. He has the responsibility of keeping his +traces just so that they are not slack, and yet that the horses are +not in draught and pulling the gun or waggon down. The lead-driver has +to pick the road and, with one eye on the gun just ahead, to judge a +pace which will suit the wheel-driver, who at such moments must have a +fairly free hand. All three live always in a fierce glare of criticism +from the gunners riding behind, who in their nasty moments are apt to +draw abusive comparisons between the relative dangers of shell-fire +and riding on a waggon. By the way, there is always a healthy +antagonism between gunners and drivers. When one class speaks of the +other there is generally an adjective prefixed. + +_July 1._--_Sunday._--We marched into camp before dawn blear-eyed and +hungry, to find to our disgust that there was no hurry after all. It +seems an order had been received for the whole Battery to march away +this morning, to join some column or other, so they sent a messenger +to recall us. Meanwhile a countermanding order came to "Stand fast." +So here I am, at 8 A.M., sitting against my harness in the blessed +sunlight, warm, fed, sleepy, and rather irritated. What is going to +happen I don't know. It's no use writing the rumours. + +_(Later.)_--A sudden order to harness up. Did so, and were all ready, +when we were told to take it off again. It seems General Clements has +come up near here with a division, and they want to finish off De Wet +at once. A quiet day. I foraged in the town in the afternoon, but got +nothing, though I heard of mealy biscuits at one cottage. + +Later on we found a cottage kept by an Englishwoman, who gave us +delicious tea at 6d. a cup, and again in the evening porridge at 6d. a +plate. There was a number of mixed soldiers in there, all packed round +the room, which was dark and smoky, and full also of squalling +children. The way she kept her temper and fed us was wonderful. It is +safe to say that nowadays one can always eat any amount at any time of +day. The service biscuit is the best of its kind, I daresay, but not +very satisfying, and meat is not plentiful. We have never yet been on +full rations. Five is the full number of biscuits. We generally get +three or four. Sometimes the meat-ration is a "Maconochie," which is a +tin of preserved meat and vegetables of a very juicy and fatty nature, +most fascinating when you first know it, but apt to grow tinny and +chemical to the palate. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +BETHLEHEM. + + +_July 2._--Reveillé 5 A.M. Harnessed up, and afterwards marched out +and joined a column of troops under General Paget. We have with us +some Yorkshire Light Infantry, Munster Fusiliers, Yeomanry, Bushmen, +and the 38th Field Battery. Where we are going we don't know, but I +suppose after De Wet.[A] + +[Footnote A: Without knowing it at the time, we were joining in +General Hunter's big enveloping movement, by which all the scattered +commandos in this part of the Free State were to be driven into the +mountains on the Basuto border and there surrounded. Paget's brigade +(the 20th) was part of the cordon, which was gradually drawn closer by +the concentric marches of columns under him, and General Clements, +Rundle, Boyes, Bruce Hamilton, and Hunter himself. The climax was the +surrender of about 5000 Boers under Prinsloo at Fouriesberg on July +29, a success much impaired by the escape of De Wet from the +fast-closing trap. For the sake of clearness I append this note; but I +leave my diary as I wrote it, when our knowledge of events rarely went +beyond a foggy speculation.] + +_(8.30 A.M.)_--We have marched for about two hours to the top of a +range of hills which surrounds the town; there is firing on the right +and left, and the Infantry are advancing in extended order. Our right +section has just gone into action. A big drove of wild-looking Boer +ponies has come stampeding up to the column with some of our mounted +men vainly trying to corner them. + +_(1.30 P.M.)_--The battle is, as usual, unintelligible to the humble +unit, but the force is advancing slowly, the Yorkshire Light Infantry +and Munster Fusiliers on either hand of us. Our section is in action +now. We have just taken our waggon to the firing line and brought back +the team. The corporal's horse stepped in a hole just as we were +reaching the guns and turned a complete somersault. He is all right, +but his was our second mishap, as the near wheeler fell earlier in the +day, and the driver was dragged some yards before we could stop. The +ground is very dangerous, full of holes, some of them deep and +half-covered with grass. Another driver is up, but the former is only +a bit shaken, I think. Our section has silenced a Boer gun in three +shots, at 4200 yards, a good bit of work, and a credit to Lieutenant +Bailey as a judge of range. The right section also cleared the kopje +they fired at, but had a narrow escape afterwards, coming suddenly, +when on the move, under the fire of Boer guns, of whose presence they +were ignorant, the shells falling thick but not bursting. Bivouacked +at four on the veldt. The Boers had retired from the line they held. A +long ride to water after unharnessing; nothing much to eat. Williams +and I have taken to ending the day by boiling tea (from tablets) over +the embers of the cook's fire, or on one of our own if we have any +fuel, which is very seldom. How the cooks get their wood is a mystery +to me. The Kaffir drivers always have it, too, though there are no +visible trees. We always seem to sit up late, short though our nights +are. A chilly little group gathers sleepily round the embers, watching +mess-tins full of nondescript concoctions balanced cunningly in the +hot corners, and gossiping of small camp affairs or large strategical +movements of which we know nothing. The brigade camp-fires twinkle +faintly through the gloom. A line of veldt-fire is sure to be glowing +in the distance, looking like the lights of a sea-side town as seen +from the sea. The only sound is of mules shuffling and jingling round +the waggons. + +The "cook-house" is still the source of rumours, which are wonderfully +varied. There is much vague talk now of General Clements and a brigade +being connected somehow with our operations. But we know as little of +the game we are playing as pawns on the chessboard. Our tea is strong, +milkless, and sugarless, but I always go to sleep the instant I lie +down, even if I am restless with the cold later. + +_July 3._--Reveillé at 4.30. Our section, under Lieutenant Bailey, +started at once for a steep kopje looming dimly about three miles +away. The right section, with the Major and Captain, left us and went +to another one. We had a tough job getting our guns and waggons up. + +_(8 A.M.)_--Just opening fire now. A Boer gun is searching the valley +on our left, but they can't see the limbers and waggons. + +_(8.30.)_--The Boers seem to have some special dislike to our waggon. +They have just placed two shells, one fifty yards in front of it, and +the other fifty yards behind; one of them burst on impact, the other +didn't. The progress of a shell sounds far off like the hum of a +mosquito, rising as it nears to a hoarse screech, and then "plump." We +mind them very little now. There is great competition for the +fragments, as "curios." It is cold, grey, and sunless today. Last +night there was heavy rain, and our blankets are wet still. It seems +the Boers are firing a Krupp at 7000 yards; our guns are only sighted +up to 5000 yards, but we have managed to reach them by sinking the +trail in the ground, and other devices. + +_(12.30 P.M.)_--A long halt here, with nothing doing. The Boer gun has +ceased to fire, and we call it "silenced," possibly with truth, but +the causes of silence are never quite certain. As far as I can make +out, it was on the extreme left of their position, while our main +attack is threatening their centre. It is raining hard, but we have +made a roaring fire of what is the chief fuel in this country, dry +cow-dung, and have made cocoa in our mess-tins, from a tin sent me a +month ago; also soup, out of the scrapings of Maconochie tins. + +----. What seemed likely to be a dull day turned out very exciting. +About two a staff officer came up with orders, and we marched down +from our kopje and attacked another one[A] (which I made out to be +their centre), taking up several positions in quick succession. The +Boers had a gun on the kopje, which we dislodged, and the infantry +took the position. (About 2.30 it began to rain again and poured all +the afternoon in cold, slashing torrents.) We finally went up the +kopje ourselves, over a shocking bit of rocky ground near the top, +fired on the retreating Boers from there, and then came down on the +other side. Soon afterwards came an old story. It was about five, and +had cleared up. A staff officer had said that there were no Boers +anywhere near now, and that we were to march on and bivouac. We and +the Munsters and some Yeomanry were marching down a valley, whose +flanks were supposed to have been scouted, the infantry in column of +companies, that is, in close formation, and all in apparent security. +Suddenly a storm of rifle-fire broke out from a ridge on our right +front and showed us we were ambushed. The Munsters were nearest to the +ridge, about 600 yards, I should say. We were a bit further off. I +heard a sort of hoarse murmur go up from the close mass of infantry, +and saw it boil, so to speak, and spread out. Our section checked for +a moment, in a sort of bewilderment (my waggon was close behind our +gun at the time), but the next, and almost without orders, guns were +unlimbered and whisked round, a waggon unhooked, teams trotting away, +and shrapnel bursting over the top of the ridge in quick succession. +All this time the air was full of a sound like the moaning of wind +from the bullets flying across the valley, but strange to say, not a +man of us was hit. Some of them were explosive bullets. The whole +thing was soon over. Our guns peppered their quickest, and it was a +treat to see the shrapnel bursting clean and true along the ridge. The +infantry extended and lay down; some Yeomanry made a flank move, and +that episode was over. It might have been serious, though. If they had +held their fire undiscovered for ten minutes longer we might have been +badly cut up, for we were steadily nearing the spur which they +occupied. It is right to say, though, that our Lieutenant, having +doubts about the safety of the place, had shortly before sent forward +ground-scouts, of whom Williams was one, who would possibly have been +able to warn us in time. Needless to say, it was not our duty to scout +for the column. + +[Footnote A: The name of this kopje was Barking Kop, I believe, and we +have since always applied it generally to the fighting on this day.] + +It was nearly dark now, a burning farm ahead making a hot glow in the +sky, and we moved off to join the rest of the column with its unwieldy +baggage-train and convoy, and all camped together, after the usual +tedious ride to water horses at a muddy pool. They had had a very hard +day and had done well, but were very tired. On days like this they +often get no water till evening. A feed is ordered when a free +interval seems likely, but the chances are that it is snatched off, +and their bits thrust in again, half-way through. When we got in and +rejoined our right section, all were full of a serious mishap to the +38th Field Battery, with which they had been acting on the left flank. +Both were in action in adjoining fields, when a party of Boers crept +up unseen and got within fifty yards of the 38th guns, shooting down +men and horses. The 38th behaved splendidly, but all their officers +were killed or wounded, a number of gunners, and many horses. Two guns +were for a time in the hands of the Boers, who, I believe, removed the +tangent sights. It appears that the M.I. escort of the Battery, owing, +I suppose, to some misunderstanding, retreated. The situation was +saved by Captain Budworth, of our Battery, who collected and brought +up some mounted infantry, whether Yeomanry or Bushmen I am not clear +about. They beat the Boers off, and our teams helped to take the guns +out of action. We came off all right, with only one gunner slightly +wounded. + +I was desperately hungry, and only coffee was issued, but later a +sheep's carcase turned up from somewhere, and I secured a leg, and +Williams some chops, which we promptly laid as they were on one of the +niggers' wood fires and ate in our fingers ravenously. The leg I also +cooked and kept for to-day (I am writing on the morning of the 4th), +and it is hanging on my saddle. I was rather sleepless last night, +owing to cramp from a drenched blanket, and got up about midnight and +walked over to the remains of one of our niggers' fires. Crouching +over the embers I found a bearded figure, which hoarsely denounced me +for coming to its fire. I explained that it was _our_ fire, but that +he was welcome, and settled down to thaw. It turned out to be a +sergeant of the 38th Battery. I asked something, and he began a long +rambling soliloquy about things in general, in a thick voice, with his +beard almost in the fire, scarcely aware of my presence. I can't +reproduce it faithfully, because of the language, but it dealt with +the war, which he thought would end next February, and the difference +between Boer and British methods, and how our cavalry go along, heels +down, toes in, arms close to side, eyes front, all according to +regulation, keeping distance regardless of ground, while the Boer +cares nothing as long as he gets there and does his work. He finished +with the gloomy prophecy that if we didn't join Clements to-morrow we +should never "get out of this." Not knowing who or where Clements was, +I asked him about the affair of that day, and produced a growling +storm of expletives; then he muttered something about the Victoria +Cross and driving a team out of action, asked the way to his lines, to +which I carefully directed him, and drifted off in the opposite +direction. + +By the way, this General Clements seems to be a myth, and the talk now +is of Rundle and Ian Hamilton, who are supposed to be getting round De +Wet from other quarters, while we drive him up this way into their +arms. It is said we are going to Bethlehem. I forgot an important +event of the evening in the arrival of a bag of mails, parcels only, +brought by a convoy from Kroonstadt, which has just come in. To my +delight I got one with a shirt and socks (which I at once put on over +the others), cigarettes (a long exhausted luxury), Liebig, precious +for evening soup, and chocolate, almost too good to eat for fear of +getting discontented. We are on half rations of biscuit, which means +three, and a tin of Maconochie each, a supply about enough to whet +your appetite for one meal in a life like this, but it has to last the +day of about seventeen hours. The ration is issued the night before, +to eat as we please, and, of course, there is coffee soon after +reveillé, and tea in the evening. There is a cupful of porridge also +with the coffee, paid for by deduction from our pay, so that one +starts in good fettle. I don't know why the whole column shouldn't get +fresh meat every day, for the country is teeming with cattle, which +are collected and driven along with the column in huge herds. Many of +the farmhouses are smoking ruins, the enemy, after annexation, being +rebels according to law, and not belligerents; but it seems to me that +such a policy is to use a legal fiction for an oppressive end, for it +is quite clear that this part of the Orange River Colony has never +been conquered.[A] + +[Footnote A: I leave this as I wrote it, but drivers are not +politicians, and doubtless there were special circumstances, such as +treachery, concealed arms or sniping, to justify what at the best must +be a doubtful policy; for a burnt farm means a desperate farmer.] + +_July 4._--_Wednesday._--Up at five after a bitterly cold night, but +there was a long delay before starting. We are rear-guard to-day. Just +before leaving an infantry man shot himself while cleaning his rifle. +There was a little buzz and stir, and then all was quiet again. He was +buried in half an hour. + +A dull day's marching. After about ten miles we halted to water horses +and rest. While watering, the Boers sent over a futile shell from a +big gun. On return we unhooked and grazed the horses. Things looked +peaceful, and there was a warm sun, so I ventured to unstrap my +kit-roll and spread my blankets out to dry. They were still wet from +the rain of two nights ago. I had scarcely spread them out when "Hook +in" was shouted, and back they had to go, half-folded, in a perilously +loose bundle. (You can never count on five minutes, but it's worth +trying.) At about 4.30 we and the 38th Battery trotted ahead about a +mile and a half, and began shelling a ridge; but I think it was soon +abandoned, for shortly after we limbered up and camped with the rest +of the brigade, which had followed us. I am "stableman" to-day for +three days. On the march this involves drawing sacks of forage from +the Quartermaster Sergeant in the early morning and late evening, and +serving out the oats to the drivers of the sub-division. It is not so +irksome a duty as in a standing camp, but has its trying moments; for +instance, when drivers are busied with bed-making or cocoa-cooking in +the evening, and are deaf to your shouts of "D drivers, roll up for +your feeds!" a camp-cry which has not half the effect of "Roll up for +your coffee!" or, more electrical still, "Roll up for your rum!" + +_July 5._--We were up at 4.30, but as usual had to stand by our horses +for over an hour, freezing our feet in the frosty grass before +starting. Harnessing up with numbed fingers in the dark was a trying +job. My harness sheets were stiff as boards with frozen dew, and I had +to stamp them into shape for packing. I had a warm night, though. My +bed is made thus: I place the two saddles on end, at the right +distance for the length of my body, and facing inwards, that is, with +the seats outwards; I leave the horse-blankets strapped on underneath +them, as there is not much time to re-fold and re-strap them in the +morning, and my head (pillowed on two feed-bags filled overnight for +the early morning feed) goes in the hollow of one saddle, between the +folds of the blanket, and my feet in the hollow of the other. The rest +of each set of harness is heaped behind each saddle, and when the +harness-sheets are spread over each set there is enough for the ends +to lap over and make a roof for the head, and also for the feet. Then +I wrap myself in my two blankets, and if an oatsack is obtainable, +first get my feet into that. My waterproof sheet serves as +counterpane. It is not wanted as a mattress, as no dew falls till the +morning, and the ground is dry at bed-time. After rain, of course, it +has to go beneath one. The great point is to keep your blankets as dry +as you can, for, once wet with dew or rain, they remain wet, since we +both start and arrive in the dark, and thus cannot count on drying +them. It is a good plan before turning in to see that the horses in +the lines near you are securely tied up, as it is vexatious to be +walked on in the night by a heavy artillery horse; also to have all +your kit and belongings exactly where you can lay hands on them in the +dark. At reveillé, which, by the way, takes the shape of a rude shake +from the picket of the night (there is no trumpet used in +campaigning), you shiver out of your nest, the Sergeant-Major's +whistle blows, and you at once feed your horses. Then you pack your +off-saddle, rolling the ground-sheet, blankets, and harness-sheet, +with the muzzles, surcingle-pads, hay-nets, etc., and strapping the +roll on the saddle. Then you harness as fast as you can (generally +helped by a gunner), make up two fresh feeds and tie them up in +nose-bags on the saddle, and put on your belt, haversack, +water-bottle, and other accoutrements. In the middle of this there +will be a cry of "D coffee up!" and you drop everything and run with +the crowd for your life to get that precious fluid, and the porridge, +if there is any. You bolt them in thirty seconds, and run back to +strap your mess-tin on your saddle, put the last touches to your +harness, and hook in the team. Of course we sleep in our cloaks, and +wear them till about eight, when the sun gets strength. Then we seize +a chance to roll them at a halt, and strap them in front of the riding +saddle. + +To return to to-day. It has been very inconclusive and unsatisfactory. +We have marched about twelve miles, I think, with some long halts, in +one of which we unhooked and rode to a pool some distance off to water +horses. I have been fearfully sleepy all day. Two guns of the 38th +Battery have joined us, and we march as a six-gun battery under Major +McMicking. They have no officers fit for duty, and our Captain looks +after them. In the evening some shrapnel began bursting on a ridge +ahead, and we went up and fired a bit; but I suppose the Boers +decamped, for we soon after halted for the night. It is said that the +mythical Clements is now one march behind us, our scouts having met +to-day, and that Bethlehem is three miles ahead, strongly held by De +Wet. Other mythical generals are in the air. I am getting used to the +state of blank ignorance in which we live. Perfect sunset in a clear +sky. One of the charms of Africa is the long settled periods of pure +unclouded sky, in which the sun rises and sets with no flaming +splashes of vivid colours, but by gentle, imperceptible gradations of +pure light, waning or waxing. And as for rain, when it is once over it +is thoroughly over (at this season, at any rate). This night the +darkness was soon lit up by a flaming farm. All desperately hungry, +when it was announced that an extra ration of raw meat was to be +served out. If I can't cook it, shall I eat it raw? To-morrow's ration +is a pound of fresh cooked meat, instead of the eternal Maconochie. It +was drawn to-night, and looked so good that I ate half of it at once, +thus yielding to an oft-recurring temptation. Orders for reveillé at +seven. Great joy. + +_July 6._--Reveillé was marked by a Boer shell coming over the camp, +followed by others in quick succession, real good bursting shrapnel, a +rare thing for the Boers to possess, but they came from a long range +and burst too high. Nobody took the least notice, and we went on +harnessing and breakfasting as usual. It is strange how soon one gets +a contempt for shells. In about half an hour the firing stopped. We +hooked in, but unhooked again, and rode to water. There is some delay; +waiting for Clements, perhaps. I write this sitting by my horses in a +hot sun, with the water frozen to a solid lump in the bottle at my +back, through the felt cover, and after being under a harness sheet +all the night. Had a jolly talk with some Paddies of the Munster +Fusiliers, about Ireland, etc. They were miserable, "fed up," but +merry; that strange combination one sees so much of out here. They +talked about the revels they would have when they got home, the beef, +bacon, and stout, but chiefly stout. We have already learnt to respect +and admire the infantry of our brigade, and I think the confidence is +mutual. (Starting.) + +_(4.30)._--We have had a hard day's marching a long distance out on +the right flank. There is a biggish battle proceeding. + +I think Clements's brigade has joined ours, for our front is some +miles in length, with the wavy lines of khaki figures advancing slowly +and steadily, covered by artillery fire. The 38th are with us. We have +been in action several times in successive positions, but the chief +attack seems to be on a steep conical kopje in the centre, behind and +below which lies Bethlehem, I believe. It is just dark, but heavy +rifle-firing is still going on in front. One of our gunners has been +shot in the knee. We camped near our last firing position, but waited +a long time for our transport and its precious freight of cooks and +"dickseys" (camp-kettles). Williams and I ruthlessly chopped down +parts of a very good fence, and made a fire with the wood and a lot of +dry mealy stalks, which burn furiously. Then we and Ramsey cooked our +meat in our mess-tin lids, and made cocoa with water which Ramsey +fetched from some distance. It was a thick brown fluid, and froze +while we were waiting to put it on, but it tasted excellent. + +_July 7._--Reveillé at 3.45. We marched out about a mile and waited +for the dawn. + +_7 A.M._--At first dawn firing began, and we went into action at once, +as did the whole line of infantry. A tremendous fusillade of shells +and bullets is now being poured upon the position in front, and +chiefly on the central conical kopje. My waggon is halted, waiting to +go up. The sun is just getting strength, warming our numbed feet, and +spiriting away the white frost-mantle that the land always wears at +dawn. + +_(3 P.M.)._--Guns, Maxims, and rifles hailed lead into the Boer +trenches for a long time, and then the infantry seized them, and the +Boers retired. The practice of the 38th and our guns seemed to me to +be very good. We have also a five-inch lyddite gun (Clements brought +it), which sent up huge clouds of brown dust where the shell struck. +We have now advanced over very heavy ground to the late Boer position, +halted, and ridden some way to water down a precipitous slope, into a +long, rocky hollow. From this point the country seems to change +entirely to steep, rocky hills and hollows, rising and increasing to +the whole Drakensberg range, which is blue and craggy on the sky-line. +They say the Boers have evacuated Bethlehem with a baggage train three +miles long. I don't know why we are not following them up. Perhaps the +mounted infantry are. Our horses are done up. It was cruel work +spurring and lashing them over heavy ploughed land to-day. + +_July 8._--Rest at last. It is Sunday morning, and we are all lying or +sitting about, bathed in warm sunshine, waiting for orders, but it +seems we shan't move to-day. My blankets are all spread out, getting a +much-wanted drying, but what I chiefly want is a wash. I have had +three imperfect ones since leaving Bloemfontein and one shave, and my +boots off for about ten minutes now and then. + +_(3 P.M.)._--Nothing on to-day. I have had a wash in a thimbleful of +water, and shaved, and feel another man. They gave us an hour of +stables, but the horses certainly needed it, as they never get groomed +now, and are a shaggy, scraggy-looking lot. I'm glad to say mine are +quite free from galls and sore backs. As one never sees their backs by +daylight, it is interesting to get a good look at them at last. They +are very liable to sore backs (partly owing to the weight of the +military saddle), if there is any carelessness in folding the blanket +beneath the saddle. It has been a real hot day, and yet there was +thick ice on the pool we watered at this morning. + +As to yesterday, it appears that De Wet and his army effected a safe +retreat, but our General was pleased with the day's work, and +congratulated us and the 38th. We put one Boer gun at least completely +out of action, and it was captured by the infantry. The infantry lost +but few that day, but rather heavily the day before, especially the +Munsters. Paget is already very popular with us. We trust his +generalship and we like the man, for he seems to be one of us, a +frank, simple soldier, who thinks of every man in his brigade as a +comrade. I understand now what an enormous difference this makes to +men in the ranks. A chance word of praise dropped in our hearing, a +joking remark during a hot fight (repeated affectionately over every +camp-fire at night), any little touch of nature that obliterates rank, +and makes man and general "chums" for the moment; such trifles have an +effect on one's spirits which I could never have believed possible, if +I had not felt their charm. I wonder if officers know it, but it takes +nothing for them to endear themselves to men. + +It seems to be beyond doubt that our guns are a success, but their +special ammunition is a source of great difficulty. We have stacks of +it at Bloemfontein, but cannot carry much about with us, and of course +the ammunition column with its fifteen-pounder shells is of no use to +us. We have been short after every action, and have to depend on +precarious waggonfuls, coming by convoy from somewhere on the railway. +They say General Hunter and a division is concentrating here too, and +a large force is visible in the valley, marching up. They are flooding +us with fresh meat to-day, by way of a change. It is said that Paget +has ordered a certain number of sheep and cattle to be slaughtered +daily for the brigade. + +_(Later)._--I had scarcely written the above lines when the order came +to harness up at once. We did so, and were soon off; the sections +separated, ours making for a steep hill about three miles away, on +which we were ordered to take post. It was an awkward climb in the +gathering darkness, with drag-ropes on the upper wheels, when moving +along a very steep slope. A final rush of frantic collar work, and we +were on a flat plateau, where we unlimbered the guns, so as to command +the valley, and camped near them. I was on picket duty this night, and +quite enjoyed it, though I had one three-hour spell at a go. It was +warmer than usual, with a bonnie moon in a clear sky, a dozen +veldt-fires reddening in the distance, mysterious mists wreathing +about the valley beneath, and the glowing embers of a good wood-fire +on which to cook myself some Maggi soup. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +BULTFONTEIN. + + +_July 9._--A delicious, warm day. Reveillé at six. I am afraid it +looks as if we were to be kept on this lonely hill-top for some time. +It's true we deserve a rest, for we have been on the move for some +time; but I would much prefer to march on and see the last of De Wet. +After campaigning, the routine of a standing camp seems dull and +irksome. We have just shifted our camp a few hundred yards, bringing +it to the very brow of the hill, which drops straight down into the +valley. In fact, it is below the brow, and the horses are on a most +awkward slant. The Munsters are camped just above us. Below, and about +two miles away, lies Bethlehem, with hills behind it, and the mountain +range mistily seen behind all. Unlike Lindley, this is the first time +Bethlehem has been occupied by the British. Williams has just come in +from a foraging expedition he was sent on. He got mealy flour for the +battery, and a chicken for ourselves, and had had cigarettes and +marmalade with the Lifeguards, who, with the whole of Hunter's +division, are camped near here. He also got some Kaffir bread from a +kraal, a damp, heavy composition, which, however, is very good when +fried in fat in thin slices. We ate our tea sitting on rocks +overlooking the valley, and at dark a marvellous spectacle began for +our entertainment, a sight which Crystal-Palace-goers would give +half-a-crown for a front place to see. As I have said, all day long +there are casual veldt-fires springing up in this country. Just now +two or three began down in the valley, tracing fine golden lines in +spirals and circles. The grass is short, so that there is no great +blaze, but the effect is that of some great unseen hand writing +cabalistic sentences (perhaps the "Mene, Mene" of De Wet!), with a pen +dipped in fire. This night there was scarcely a breath of wind to +determine the track of the fires, or quicken their speed, and they +wound and intersected at their own caprice, describing fantastic arcs +and curves from which one could imagine pictures and letters. The +valley gradually became full of a dull, soft glow, and overhung with +red, murky smoke, through which the moon shone down with the strangest +mingling of diverse lights. Very suddenly a faint breeze began to blow +in from the valley directly towards our camp. At once the aimless +traceries of fine flame seemed to concentrate into a long resolute +line, and a wave of fire, roaring as it approached, gained the foot of +the hill, and began to climb it towards us. Watchful eyes had been on +the lookout. "Drivers, stand to your horses," was shouted. "Out with +your blankets, men," to our gunners and the infantry behind, and in an +instant the chosen sons of Cork were bounding out of their lines and +down the hill, and belabouring the fire with blankets and +ground-sheets and sacks. They seemed to think it a fine joke, and +raised a pæan of triumph when it was got under. "Wan more victory," I +heard one say. + +_July 10._--Slack day, most of it spent in grazing the horses. For +this duty each man takes four horses, so that only half of us need go; +but on the other hand, if you stay, you may come in for a "fatigue," +which it requires some insight to predict. Beyond that, our whole +energies were concentrated on cooking our meals, raw meat only being +served out. Williams and I borrowed a camp-kettle from the Munsters, +and cooked our mutton with a pumpkin which we had commandeered. The +weather is a good deal warmer. We are camped near the scene of a hard +stand made by the Boers, dotted with trenches and little heaps of +cartridge-cases, and also unused cartridges. I found one complete +packet sewn up in canvas roughly and numbered. In most cases they are +Lee-Metfords, and not Mausers. The Boers have, of course, captured +quantities of our rifles and ammunition in convoy "mishaps" of various +dates. Spent the evening in trying cooking experiments with mealy +flour and some Neave's Food, which one of us had. One longs for a +change of diet from biscuit and plain meat, which, without vegetables, +never seem to satisfy. Even salt has been lacking till to-day, and +porridge has ceased. It was announced that a convoy was to leave for +Kroonstadt the same night, taking wounded and mails, and I hurriedly +wrote two notes. I am afraid we are here for some time. I wish I could +hear from Henry. + +_July 11._--Reveillé at 6.30. Stables, grazing, exercise, and more +stables, till 1.30, and grazing again in the afternoon. Sat up late at +night over embers of cook's fire, talking to a Munster sergeant about +the last two days' fighting and other experiences of his. They had +thirty-two casualties on the second day, including four officers +wounded. All sorts of rumours to-day: that we stop a month on this +hill; that we go to Capetown on Friday; that we march to Harrismith +and Durban in a few days, etc., etc. + +_July 12._--At breakfast, mealy porridge was served out with the +coffee. It is eatable, but not pleasant without sugar. + +Williams and I got leave to spend the morning out, and walked to +Bethlehem over the veldt. A rather nice little town, but all the +stores shut, and looking like a dead place. It was full of troops. +Some stores had sentries over them, for there had been a great deal of +looting. We hammered at a store door, and at last a man came out and +said he had nothing to sell. However, he gave us leave to look round, +which we did with an exhaustive scrutiny which amused him. At first +there seemed to be nothing but linseed meal and mouth-organs, but by +ferreting round, climbing to shelves, and opening countless drawers, +we discovered some mealy flour, and reproached him for his +insincerity. He protested that it was all he had to live on, but at +last consented to sell us some, and some mixed spices, the only other +eatable he had, besides a knife and fork, braces and sponges. Then we +tried another store. A crusty, suspicious old fellow let us grudgingly +in, locked the door, and made the same protests. We were just going +when I descried some bottles on a distant shelf. He sourly brought +them down. They were Mellin's Food for Infants, and we bought six at +half a crown each; also some mixed herbs, and essence of vanilla. Then +we made a house-to-house visitation, but only got some milk from an +Englishwoman, who was so full of stories of Boer rapacity that she +forgot our wants, and stood, cup in hand, complaining about eight +ponies they had taken, while we were deaf and thirsty. The whole town +had an English appearance. They all abused De Wet. No fresh supplies +had come in for nine months, and the whole place was stripped. On the +whole, we thought we had done pretty well, as we had half a sack of +things, and another one full of fuel laboriously collected on the way +back. + +Rumours in the town were rife. All agreed we could do nothing till a +supply-convoy comes in, now expected from Kroonstadt. We are +fifty-four miles, across mountains, from Harrismith on the east, and +seventy or eighty from Kroonstadt on the west. All supplies from the +latter must come by ox-waggons over dozens of bad drifts, with raiding +Boers about, and it is easy to see how an army might be starved before +it knew it. We are very short now, I believe. It seems De Wet is ten +miles off in the mountains, being watched by Broadwood's cavalry, and +as soon as we can move I expect we shall go for him. Grazing in the +afternoon. Williams and I played picquet, lying by our horses. This is +always rather a precarious amusement, as the horses have a way of +starting off suddenly to seek "pastures new," and you look up and find +them gone, and have to climb rocks and view them out. We tie them all +four close together, but there is generally one predominant partner +who personally conducts the rest. In the evening we baked cakes of our +mealy flour, adding Mellin's Food, mixed herbs, vanilla, and fat, and +fried it in a fatty dish. It was very good, and was followed by meat +fried in mealy crumbs, and later on, some mealy porridge and Mellin +mixed. We tried Mellin alone first, but it seemed thin. We read the +directions carefully, and used the proportions laid down for infants +_over_ three months. I dare say it would have been all right had we +been four months old, but being rather more mature, it seemed +unsubstantial. Its main advantage is its sweetness. In this hungry +life, one misses sugar more than anything. + +_July 13._--Reveillé 6.30, and grooming, while the infantry chaps sat +up in their beds and watched us sarcastically. At nine, +harness-cleaning for drivers, and grazing for gunners, but I have got +a gunner who dislikes bare-back riding to do my harness while I graze. +I am writing on the veldt; warm sunny day, pale blue sky--very +pale.--Back to finish harness-cleaning. We always "grouse" at this +occupation, as I believe all drivers do on active service. We don't +polish steel, but there is a wonderful lot of hard work in rubbing +dubbin into all the leather. It is absolutely necessary to keep it +supple, especially such parts as the collar, girths, stirrup-leathers, +reins, etc. Grazing again all the afternoon. The horses have been on +half rations of oats since we came here, so I suppose it is necessary. +I was sitting writing by my horses, when a cart rattled by. Some one +shouted, "Anything to sell?" It stopped, and there was a rush. In it +was a farmer and a rascally old Yeomanry sergeant who had been buying +bread for his men, and now sold us a loaf and a half for six +shillings. There was no doubt about paying, and I got a third of one +loaf, which we ate luxuriously in the evening. It was of mealy flour, +and tasted velvety and delicious after eternal biscuit. We also +organized a large bake of mealy cakes, which were a distressing +failure, as the pan got red-hot. I am afraid food and eating have +become very prominent in my diary. My only excuse is that they really +are not disproportionately so, seeing their absorbing importance in +the life of a soldier on active service, especially when he is far +from a base and rations are short. + +Some Boer tobacco was kindly sent to us by the Major, and was very +welcome, for 'baccy has been very scarce, and you see fellows picking +the wet dottels out of the bottoms of their pipes and drying them in +the sun for future use. Matches also are very precious; there are none +to be got, and they are counted and cared for like sovereigns. The +striking of a match is a public event, of which the striker gives +previous notice in a loud voice. Pipes are filled, and every second in +the life of the match is utilized. + +_July 14._--We came back to camp after the last spell to find that the +gunners had shifted the lines to the bottom of the hill, on a dismal +patch of burnt veldt. We dragged and carried our harness and kit down +the rocks, and settled down again, after the usual fatigues connected +with change of camp. Everybody very irritable, for this looked like a +long stay, but after tea the word went round that we were off next +day, to our great delight. We are sick of this place. + +_July 15._--We harnessed up at 6.30, and at 9.30 climbed to the top of +the hill again, a hard pull for the horses. Then marched off with an +escort of Highlanders, and halted on what it seems is the Senekal +road, near to the site of our last camp after the battle. Here we +joined our own right section and a large convoy with sick and wounded, +besides the transport for our own brigade, which had mustered there +too. They say we are going with the convoy to Senekal, which is quite +unexpected, and a doubtful prospect. It seems to be taking us away +from De Wet, and promises only hard marching and a dull time. We +marched about ten miles entirely over burnt veldt, a most dismal +country. There was a high cold wind, which drove black dust over us +till we were all like Christy Minstrels. Camped at five. + +_July 16._--Reveillé at six. There was a deficiency in the meat +ration, and at the last moment a sheep's carcase for each sub-division +was thrown down to be divided. Ours was hacked to bits pretty soon, +but raw meat on the march is a great nuisance, as there is no +convenient place to pack it, and very likely much difficulty in +cooking it. + +_1.15._--Marched from eight till one over very hilly country, mostly +burnt. It seems there are Boers about; their laager was seen last +night, and I believe our scouts are now in touch with them. The pet of +the left section, a black and white terrier named Tiny, has been +having a fine hunt after a hare, to the amusement of the whole +brigade. She is a game little beast, and follows us everywhere. Jacko, +of the right section, rides on a gun-limber. We passed a farm just now +which was being looted. Three horsemen have just passed with a chair +each, also picture-frames (all for fuel, of course), and one man +carrying a huge feather mattress, also fowls and flour. Artillery +don't get much chance at this sort of game. + +_(2 P.M.)._--Firing began on the right, and we were trotted up a long +steep hill into action, bullets dropping round, but no one hit. In +front are two remarkable kopjes, squat, steep, and flat-topped. We are +shelling one of them.[A] + +[Footnote A: We were (as we heard long after) in action against De +Wet's rear-guard. He had escaped from the cordon just before it was +drawn tight, with a small and mobile force, and was now in retreat +towards Lindley. Broadwood's cavalry pursued him, but in vain.] + +_(4.30 P.M.)._--This is the warmest work we have had yet. Our waggon +is with the guns, unhooked, and we and the team are with the limbers +in rear. There is no shelter, for the ground is level. Boer guns on a +kopje have got our range, and at one time seemed much interested in +our team, for four shells fell in a circle round us, from thirty to +forty yards off. It was very unpleasant to sit waiting for the +bull's-eye. + +_(4.35 P.M.)._--We have shifted the teams a bit, and got out of the +music. To go back: we have been in action all the afternoon, shelling +a kopje where the Boers have several guns. It is a wooded one, and +they are very difficult to locate. They have a great advantage, as we +are on the open level ground below, and they have been fairly raining +shells round us. Fortunately most of them burst only on impact, and +are harmless, owing to the soft ground, outside a very small radius; +they seem to be chiefly segment shell, but I saw a good many shrapnel, +bursting high and erratically. The aim was excellent, and well-timed +shrapnel would have been very damaging. Still, we have been very lucky +even so, only one man wounded, and no guns, waggons or horses touched. +Once, when trotting out of action, a shell burst just beside our +team--an excellent running shot for the sportsman who fired it! It +made a deafening noise, but only resulted in chipping a scratch on my +mare's nose with a splinter. She thought she was killed, and made a +great fuss, kicking over the traces, etc.; so that we had to halt to +put things straight. + +In this case, again, the veldt was alight everywhere, but it was only +short grass, and we could trot safely through the thin lambent line of +flame. I'm afraid we shall be short of ammunition soon. We started +yesterday with only one hundred rounds per gun. + +Can it be that De Wet has got round here, and that we are up against +his main position? What is happening elsewhere I don't know. There are +a lot of cavalry, Yeomanry, infantry, etc., about somewhere, but here +we seem alone with a small infantry escort, and no sound but the +opposing guns. It shows how little a single Tommy sees or knows of a +fight. + +At dark we marched away about a mile, and bivouacked. Williams and I +minced our meat in one of the battery mincing machines, and made a +grand dish of it over the cook's fire. There was a red glare over half +the sky to-night, as though a Babylon were burning. It was only a +veldt-fire. + +_July 17._--_Tuesday._--Reveillé at six. Our horses are grazing, +harnessed. We are waiting for the Staff to say if this is a good +position. It appears that De Wet retreated in the night, and went +towards Lindley, which will complete the circle of the hunt. Our +sections are separated again. The right, under Lieutenant Lowe, has +gone on with the convoy to Senekal, and we and the 38th Battery (who +have now fresh officers), and most of the brigade, have taken up a +position just under one of the remarkable kopjes I spoke of, and are +told we shall stay here four days. I suppose we are part of some +endeavour to surround De Wet, but the whole operations seem to get +more obscure. He has played this game for months in this part of the +Free State, and is no nearer capture. Thinking over it, one's mental +state during a fight is a strange paradox. I suppose it arises from +the nature of my work, but, speaking for myself at least, I feel no +animosity to any one. Infantry, no doubt, get the lust of battle, but +I don't for my part experience anything like it, though gunners tell +me they do, which is natural. One feels one is taking part in a game +of skill at a dignified distance, and any feeling of hostility is very +impersonal and detached, even when concrete signs of an enemy's +ill-will are paying us noisy visits. The fact is--and I fancy this +applies to all sorts and conditions of private soldiers--in our life +in the field, fighting plays a relatively small part. I doubt if +people at home realize how much in the background are its dangers and +difficulties. The really absorbing things are questions of material +welfare--sordid, physical, unromantic details, which touch you at +every turn. Shall we camp in time to dry my blankets? Biscuit ration +raised from three to three and a half! How can I fill my water-bottle? +Rum to-night! Is there time for a snooze at this halt? Dare I take my +boots off to-night? Is it going to rain? There are always the thousand +little details connected with the care of horses and harness, and all +along the ever-present problem of the next meal, and how to make it +meet the demands of your hunger. I don't mean that one is always +_worrying_ about such things. They generally have a most humorous +side, and are a source of great amusement; on the other hand, they +sometimes seem overwhelmingly important. Chiefly one realizes the +enormous importance of food to a soldier. Shortage of sleep, +over-marching, severe fighting, sink into insignificance beside an +empty stomach. Any infantry soldier will tell you this; and it is on +them, who form the bulk of a field force, that the strain really +tells. Mounted men are better able to fend for themselves. (I should +say, that an artillery _driver_ has in the field the least tiring work +of all, physically; at home, probably the heaviest.) It is the +foot-soldier who is the measure of all things out here. In the field +he is always at the extreme strain, and any defect of organization +tells acutely and directly on him. Knowing what it is to be hungry and +tired myself, I can't sufficiently admire these Cork and Yorkshire +comrades of ours, in their cheerful, steady marching. + +By the way, the General was giving orders close to me this morning. He +said to our Major, "Your guns are the best--longest range; go up +there." So the Lord Mayor is justified; but the special ammunition is +a great difficulty. This, however, is only a matter of organization. +As to the guns themselves, we have always understood that the pattern +was refused by the War Office some years ago; it would be interesting +to know on what grounds. They are very simple, and have some features +which are obvious improvements on the 15-pr. + +There was a serious alarm of fire just now. There is a high wind, and +the grass is unusually long. A fire started due to windward, and came +rushing and roaring towards us. We drivers took the horses out of +reach, and the gunners and infantry attacked it with sacks, etc. But +nothing could stop it, though by great efforts they confined its +width, so that it only reached one of our waggons and the watercart, +which I don't think are damaged. No sooner well past than fellows +began cooking on the hot embers.--Stayed here all day, and unharnessed +and picketed in the evening. + +_July 18._--Reveillé at six, and harnessed up; but did nothing all the +morning but graze the horses, and at twelve unharness and groom them. +I believe we have to take it in turn with the 38th to be in readiness +for instant departure. Firing is heard at intervals. We are, I +believe, about twenty miles from Senekal, eighteen from Bethlehem, and +thirty from Lindley. We call the place Bultfontein, from a big farm +near, where the General has his head-quarters. Water is bad here; a +thick, muddy pool, used also by cattle and horses. + +There has been some to-do about the sugar, and we now draw it +separately ourselves, two ounces, and find it goes further. There is +enough for the morning mealy porridge, which is very nasty without it. + +_July 19._--Reveillé at six. Harnessed up. Cleaning lines, and grazing +all the morning. Grazing is now practically a standing order in all +spare time. I believe it is necessary for the horses; but it acts as +an irksome restraint on the men. When not on the move, we have the +three stable-hours as in a standing camp, and often "grouse" over them +a good deal; but the horses are certainly in wonderfully good +condition with the care taken of them. The weather is warmer. Frost at +night, but no dew; and a hot sun all the windless, cloudless day. + +Visited a pile of loot taken by some 38th men, and got a lump of +home-made Boer soap, in exchange for some English tobacco. It has a +fatty smell, but makes a beautiful white lather. They had all sorts of +household things, and a wag was wearing a very _piquante_ piece of +female head-gear. In the afternoon I got leave away, and washed in the +muddy pool aforesaid. It seems odd that it can clean one; but it does. +On the way back found a nigger killing a sheep, and bought some fat, +which is indispensable in our cooking; if there is any over, we boil +it and use it as butter. We cooked excellent mealy cakes in it in the +evening. "We don't know where we are" to-day; we had mutton, rice, and +cheese for dinner! + +_July 20._--Harnessed up as usual at dawn, and "stood by" all the +morning. The rumour now is that De Wet never went to Lindley at all, +but only a small commando, and that he is at Ficksburg, fifty miles +away on the Basuto border. What an eel of a man! + +Clements's brigade arrived to-day from somewhere, and is just visible, +camped a few miles away. The biscuit ration was raised from three to +four and a half to-day. Five is the full number. Rations are good now. +Cooked mutton is served out at night, and also a portion of raw +mutton. Drawing rations is an amusing scene. It is always done in the +dark, and the corporal stands at the pot doling out chunks. It is a +thrilling moment when you investigate by touch the nature of the +greasy, sodden lump put into your hand; it may be all bone, with +frills of gristle on it, or it may be good meat. Complaints are +useless; a ruthless hand sweeps you away, and the _queue_ closes up. +Later on, a sheep's carcass (very thin) is thrown down and hewed up +with a bill-hook. There is great competition for the legs and +shoulders, which are good and tender. If you come off with only ribs, +you take them sadly to the public mincing machine, and imagine they +were legs when you eat the result. A rather absurd little modicum of +jam is also served out, but it serves to sweeten a biscuit. There is +rum once a week (in theory). Duff at midday the last few days. It is +difficult to say anything general about rations, because they vary +from day to day, often with startling suddenness, according to the +conditions of the campaign. I was on picket this night, a duty which +is far less irksome when in the field than when in a standing camp. +Vigilance is of course not relaxed, but many petty rules and +regulations are. There is no guard-tent, of course, in which you must +stay when not on watch; as long as it is known where you can be found +at a moment's notice, you are free in the off hours. You can be +dressed as you like as long as you carry your revolver. + +By the way, I have lost my C.I.V. slouch hat long ago. It came of +wearing a very unnecessary helmet, merely because it was served out. +That involved carrying the hat in my kit, and it is wonderful how one +loses things on the march, in the hurried nocturnal packings and +unpackings, when every strap and article of kit must be to your hand +in the dark, or you will be late with your horses and cause trouble. +My great comfort is a Tam-o'-Shanter, which I wear whenever we are not +in marching order. + +As for the revolver, I got into trouble with the Sergeant-Major this +night for parading for picket without it. It was not worth while to +explain that I had no ammunition for it; to take your "choking-off," +and say nothing, is always the simplest plan. I once had one cartridge +given me, but lost this precious possession. I suppose there was some +hitch in the arrangements, for our revolvers are only cumbrous +ornaments. + +There are three pickets and a corporal in charge; each of the three +takes two hours on and four off, which works out at about four hours +on watch for each, but less if reveillé is early. Personally I don't +mind the duty much, even after a long day's march. On a fine still +night two hours pass quickly in the lines, especially if one or two +picket ropes break, and the horses get tied up in knots. If there is a +lack of incident, you can meditate. Your head is strangely clear, and +for a brief interval your horizon widens. In the sordid day it is +often narrowed to a cow's. + +_July 21._--The same old game; harnessed up and remained ready. There +was a sudden alarm about three, and we jumped into our kit, hooked in, +and moved off, only to return in a few minutes. The General possibly +gave the order to see if we were ready. He reviewed us before we went +back, and seemed pleased. I heard him admiring the horses, and saying +there was plenty of work in them. "You've been very lucky after that +shell-fire the other day," he said. + +A much-needed convoy turned up from Bethlehem to-day with ammunition +for us. We took our waggon down in the morning and filled it. A box of +matches per man was also served out. In the evening came the joyful +news that we were to start tomorrow, two days' fighting expected. +Williams and I made a roaring fire of an ammunition box in honour of +the occasion, and a grand supper of mealy-cakes and tea, and smoked +and talked till late. Summing up our experiences, we agreed that we +enjoyed the life thoroughly, but much preferred marching to sitting +still. Both thoroughly fit and well, as nearly all have been since +campaigning began. In numbers, I hear, we are twenty-two short of our +full complement. + +One thing that makes a great difference is that campaigning has become +routine. One doesn't worry over little things, as one did in early +days, when one dreamt of nose-bags, bridoons, muzzles, etc., and the +awful prospect of losing something important or unimportant, and when +one harnessed-up in a fever of anxiety, dreading that the order "hook +in" would find one still fumbling for a strap in the dark, in oblivion +of the hot coffee which would be missed cruelly later. In a score of +little ways one learns to simplify things, save time, and increase +comfort. Not that one ever gets rid of a strong sense of +responsibility. Entire charge, day and night, of two horses and two +sets of harness, is no light thing. + +_July 22._--_Sunday._--Reveillé at six. Boot and saddle at 7.30; +started at 8.30--a lovely day. Marched out about three miles with the +brigade, and are now halted. An officer has just explained to the +non-coms, what is going to happen. The Boer forces are in the +mountains east of us, whence there are only three outlets, that is, +passes (or neks, as the Dutch call them), one at each corner of a +rough triangle. British columns are watching all these, Hunter, Paget, +Clements, and Bruce Hamilton. Ours is called Slabbert's Nek, and +to-day's move is a reconnaissance in force towards it, without +likelihood of fighting. The delay here has been to allow every column +to get into position, so that when an attack is made there may be no +escape from the trap. The trap, of course, is a very big one, one +corner, I believe, being at the Basuto border. Something like a whole +army corps is engaged. It is most novel and unusual to know anything +about what one is doing. It makes a marvellous difference to one's +interest in everything, and I have often wondered why we are not told +more. But I suppose the fact is that very few people know. + +We halted while the mounted troops made a long reconnaissance, and +then came back to camp. It clouded up in the evening, and about eight +began to rain, and suddenly, with no warning, to blow a hurricane. I +rushed to my harness, covered up my kit in it, seized my blankets and +bolted for a transport-waggon, dived under it, tripping over the +bodies of the Collar-maker sergeant and his allies, breathlessly +apologized, and disposed myself as best I could. But the rain drove +in, and there seemed always to be mules on my feet; so, when fairly +wet through, I crept out and joined a circle at a great fire which +similar unfortunates had built, where we cooked two camp-kettles full +of mysteriously commandeered tea and porridge, and made very merry +till reveillé at 4.30 in the morning. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SLABBERT'S NEK AND FOURIESBERG. + + +_July 23._--Harnessed up at 4.30, and marched out in a raw, cold fog, +all wet, but very cheerful. While halting at the _rendezvous_ to await +our escort, there were great stories of the night, especially of a +tempestuous scene under a big waggon-sheet crowded with irreconcilable +interests. We marched straight towards the mountains, ten or twelve +miles, I suppose, till we were pretty close up, and then Clements's +two great lyddite five-inch guns came into position and fired at long +range. They are called "Weary Willie" and "Tired Tim," and each is +dragged by twenty-two splendid oxen. We soon moved on a mile or two +farther, crossed one of the worst spruits I remember, climbed a very +steep hill, and came into action just on its brow, firing at a distant +ridge. All this time the infantry had been advancing on either flank +in extended order. + +_(3.30 P.M.)_--We and the 38th and the cow-guns, as they are called, +have been raining shell on the Boer positions and on their guns. The +situation, as I see it, is this: we are exactly opposite the mouth of +the nek, stretching back into the mountains like a great grass road, +bordered with battlements of precipitous rock, which at this end--the +gate we are knocking at--swell out on either side into a great natural +bastion of bare rock. On these are the Boer trenches, tier above tier, +while their guns are posted on the lower ground between. It looks an +impregnable position. The Royal Irish, I hear, are attacking the right +hand bastion; the Munsters, I think, the left, and there is a +continuous rattle of rifle-fire from both. + +Our teams, waggons, and limbers, have been shell-dodging under the +brow of the hill. They have fallen all around us, but never on us. +One, which I saw fall, killed five horses straight off, and wounded +the Yeomanry chap who was holding them. We have shifted position two +or three times; it is windy, and very cold. A new and unpleasant +experience in the shape of a pom-pom has come upon the scene. Far off +you hear pom-pom-pom-pom-pom, five times, and directly afterwards, +like an echo, pom-pom-pom-pom-pom in your neighbourhood, five little +shells bursting over an area of about eighty yards, for all the world +like a gigantic schoolboy's cracker. The new captain of the unlucky +38th has been hit in two places by one. + +At the close the day was undecided; the infantry had taken some +trenches, but were still face to face with others, and fire was +hottest at sunset. But I believe the pom-pom was smashed up, and a big +gun silenced, if not smashed. We bivouacked where we were, but +desultory rifle-fire went on long after dark. + +_July 24._--Reveillé at five. Directly after breakfast we took our +waggon back to the convoy to fill up with shells from the reserve. All +the artillery, including ours, took position again, and began +hammering away, but not for long, as the Boers had been evacuating the +whole position in the night, and the last of their trenches was now +occupied. I believe the Royal Irish have lost heavily, the Munsters +only a few. We got away, and marched through the nek, up and down +steep grassy slopes, and through the site of the Boer laager. I was +struck by its remarkable cleanliness; I thought that was not a Boer +virtue. We halted close to the emplacement where one of the Boer guns +had been yesterday. There was a rush to see some horrible human +_débris_ found in it. I was contented with the word-pictures of +enthusiastic gunners, and didn't go myself. From the brow, a glorious +view opened out. The nek, flanked by its frowning crags, opened out +into an immense amphitheatre of rich undulating pasture-land, with a +white farm here and there, half hidden in trees. Beyond rose tier on +tier of hills, ending on the skyline in snow-clad mountain peaks. You +could just conjecture that a "happy valley" ran right and left. After +the scorched monotony of the veldt it was a wonderful contrast. We +camped just where the nek ends, near an empty farm, which produced a +fine supply of turkeys, geese, and chickens. The Captain, who has +charge of our commissariat, never misses a chance of supplementing our +rations. Williams was sent to forage, and for personal loot got some +coffee and a file of Boer newspapers, or rather war-bulletins, +published in Bethlehem, and roughly lithographed, chiefly lies, I +expect.[A] The Boers have retired south, deeper into the trap. Poultry +was issued, and the gunners and drivers of our waggon drew by lot the +most amazing turkey I have ever seen. It had been found installed in a +special little enclosure of its own, and I fear was being fattened for +some domestic gala-day which never dawned. It was prodigiously plump. + +[Footnote A: Here is an extract, since translated, from one of these +precious "newspapers," which ought to be one day edited in full. It is +a telegram from General Snyman at the Boer laager at Mafeking, dated +March 2, 1900, when the famous siege had been going on for five months +and a half. After some trivial padding about camp details, it +concludes: "The bombardment _by the British_ (sic) is diminishing +considerably. Our burghers are still full of courage. _Their sole +desire is to meet the enemy!_" This is only a mild specimen of the +sort of intelligence that was allowed to penetrate to a remote farm +like this at Slabbert's Nek, whose owner was now fighting us, +probably, to judge from these documents, in utter ignorance of the +hopelessness of his cause.] + +_July 25._--_Wednesday._--Reveillé at six. Started at 8.30, at the +outset crossing a very awkward drift. It was a sort of full dress +crossing, so to speak, when all the officers collect and watch the +passage. We dived down a little chasm, charged through a river, and +galloped up the side of a wall. One waggon stuck, and we had to lend +it our leaders. There was a strong, cold wind, and we kept on our +cloaks all day; a bright sun, though, in which I thought the brigade +made a very pretty spectacle in its advance, with long streamers of +mounted troops and extended infantry on either flank. About one, our +section was ordered to march back some miles and meet the rearguard. +On the way we passed Hunter and his staff, and his whole brigade, +followed by miles of waggons, which we halted to allow to pass, and +then followed. They might have discovered they wanted the rearguard +strengthening a little sooner, for the road was very bad, and our +horses had a hard job. The united brigades camped at sunset. Rumours +rife, and one, that De Wet has cut the line near Kroonstadt, seems +really true. Very cold. + +_July 26._--Reveillé at 6.30. We waited for orders all the morning, +with the horses hooked in ready. While sitting by my team I had my +hair cut by a Munster, and an excruciating shave. Rumour is that the +Boers have been given till two to surrender. Rumour that they have +surrendered. Stated as a fact. Rumour reduced to story that the town +of Fouriesberg (five miles on) has surrendered. Anyway, some British +prisoners have escaped and come in. Grazing in harness for the rest of +the day. + +_July 27._--Reveillé at 5.15. Hooked in and waited for the whole +convoy to file by, as we are to be rearguard. It took several hours, +and must be five or six miles long. It was a heavy, misty day, and +some rain fell. Started at last and marched up the valley, which +narrowed considerably here, under the shadow of beetling cliffs, for +about eight miles, with incessant momentary halts, as always happens +in the rear of a column. Suddenly the valley opened out to another +noble circle bounded by mountains on all sides, some wearing a +sprinkling of snow still. Here we came to the pretty little town of +Fouriesberg, and joined the general camp, which stretched as far as +you could see, thousands of beasts grazing between the various lines, +and interminable rows of outspanned waggons. At night camp fires +twinkled far into the distance, and signals kept flashing from high +peaks all round. An officer has been telling us the situation, which +is that the trap is closed, the Boers being surrounded on all sides; +that they are expected to surrender; that it will be a Paardeberg on a +bigger scale--the biggest haul of prisoners in the war. + +Some commandeered ham was served out, and we fried ours over the +cook's fire with great success. I may say that the service mess-tin is +our one cooking utensil, and the work it stands is amazing; it is a +flat round tin with a handle and a lid. It is used indiscriminately +for boiling, frying, and baking, besides its normal purpose of holding +rations. + +_July 28._--Reveillé at six. After waiting in uncertainty for some +time we were left, with the Staffords from Hunter's column, to guard +the town, while the other troops moved off. We camped just outside the +town, and there was a rush for loot directly, of course only from +unoccupied houses, whose rebel owners are fighting. Unhappily others +had been there before us, and the place was skinned. But we got a +Kaffir cooking-pot, and a lot of fuel, by chopping up a manger in a +stable. My only domestic loot was a baby's hat, which I eventually +abandoned, and a table and looking-glass which served for fuel. But we +found a nice Scotch family in a house, and bought a cabbage from them. +There was a dear old lady and two daughters. Williams dropped two +leaves of the cabbage, and got a playful rebuke from her. She said he +must not waste them, as they were good and tender. By the way, we +bought this cabbage with our last three-penny bit. We had sovereigns, +but they are useless in this country, for there is no change. These +people told us that they had been ten months prisoners (at large) of +the Boers. Their men had gone to Basutoland, like many more. They had +been well treated, and suffered little loss, till the advent of the +conquering British, when forty or fifty hens were taken by Highlanders +at night. + +A lovely warm afternoon, and for a wonder freedom till four, the first +spell of it for weeks. Went to a puddle some way off, near a Kaffir +kraal, and washed. Some women came with calabashes for water, and I +tried to buy the bead bangles and waist-lace off a baby child, but +failed. Then I invaded the kraal for meal and chickens, but failed +again. I never thought, when I visited Earl's Court a year ago, that I +should look on the African original so soon. Round mud hovels, with a +tall plaited-straw portico in front. Most of the men look like +worthless loafers; the women finely-built, capable creatures. + +Heavy firing has been going on all day, mostly with lyddite, on our +side, by the sound. You can see the shells bursting on the top of a +big kopje. + +This is a funny little place: pleasant cottages dotted round in +desultory fashion, as though the town had been brought up in waggons +and just tipped out anyhow. Half the houses are empty and gutted; we +are all going to sleep in houses to-night. There has been a row about +looting a chemist's shop; our fellows thought he was away with the +Boers, but he turned up in the middle. There were some curious bits of +plunder. + +We are much disappointed at being left out of the fighting to-day, but +it's only natural. We are only half a battery, and have no reserve +ammunition, actual or prospective, for some time. + +I have struck my last match. I have now to rely on cordite, which, +however, only acts as a spill. You get a rifle cartridge (there are +plenty to be got, the infantry seem to drop them about by hundreds), +wrench out the bullet and wad, and find the cordite in long slender +threads like vermicelli. You dip this in another man's lighted pipe, +when it flares up, and you can light your own. + +In the evening Williams and I made a fire, and cooked our cabbage in +our Kaffir pot, a round iron one on three legs, putting in meat and +some (looted) vinegar. How good it was! It was the first fresh green +food we had eaten since leaving England, and it is what one misses +most. Two escaped prisoners of the Canadian Mounted Infantry came to +our fire, and we had a most interesting chat with them till very late. +They spoke highly of the way they had been treated. In food they +always fared just as the Boers did, and were under no needlessly +irksome restrictions. They said that in this sort of warfare the Boers +could always give us points. They laugh at our feeble scouting a mile +or two ahead, while their own men are ranging round in twos and +threes, often fifteen miles from their commando, and at night +venturing right up to our camps. In speed of movement, too, they can +beat us; in spite of their heavy bullock transport they can travel at +least a third quicker than we. Their discipline was good enough for +its purpose. A man would obey a direct order whatever it was. They +only wanted a stiffening of our own class of military discipline to +make them invulnerable. They sang hymns every night in groups round +their fires, "but are hypocrites." (On this point, however, my +informants differed a little.) They said the leader of this force was +Prinsloo, and that we had not been fighting De Wet at all. It seems +there are two De Wets, Piet and Christian. There was a rumour +yesterday that Piet had been captured near Kroonstadt, though +Christian seems to be the important one. But the whole thing is +distracting, like constructing history out of myths and legends. + +_July 29._--_Sunday._--Church parade at eleven. It is reported, and is +probably true, that the whole Boer force has surrendered. If so we +have missed little or nothing. About twenty prisoners came in in the +morning, quaint, rough people, shambling along on diminutive ponies. +In the afternoon Williams went foraging for the officers, and I +visited our Scotch friends, the donors of the cabbage, who were very +kind, and asked me in. The married son had just come in from +Basutoland, where he had been hiding, a great red, strapping giant, +with his wife and babies by him. He had originally been given a +passport to allow him to remain neutral, but later they had tried to +make him fight, so he ran away, and had been with a missionary over +the border, whose house he repaired. It was pleasant to see this +joyful home-coming. + +Rations to-day, one biscuit and a pound of flour. How to cook it? Some +went to houses, some made dough-nuts (with deadly properties, I +believe). No fat and no baking-powder. Fortunately, Williams brought +back from his expedition, besides fowls, etc., for the officers, some +bread and, king of luxuries, a big pot of marmalade, which he bought +from a pretty little Boer girl, the temporary mistress of a fine farm. +Her father, she proudly explained, was away fighting us, "as was his +duty." Williams was quite sentimental over this episode. The Canadians +came round to our fire again, and we had another long talk. They said +there were very few Transvaalers in this army. The Free Staters hate +them. The remains we found in the gun-emplacement at Slabbert's Nek +were those of Lieutenant Muller, a German artillerist. The Boers +always had plenty of our harness, stores, ammunition, etc. + +_July 30._--After stables Williams and I went foraging in the town and +secured scones, a fowl (for a shilling), another cabbage, and best of +all, some change, a commodity for which one has to scheme and plot. We +managed it by first getting into a store and buying towels, spoons, +note-books, etc., up to ten shillings, and then cajoling and bluffing +a ten-shilling bit out of the unwilling store-keeper. This was changed +by the lady who sold us the fowl, an Englishwoman. On our return there +was harness-cleaning, interrupted by a sudden order to move, but only +to shift camp about a mile. This is always annoying, because at halts +you always collect things such as fuel and meal and pots, which are +impossible to carry with you. Of course this is no matter, if regular +marching and fighting are on hand, but just for shifting camp it is a +nuisance. However, much may be done by determination. I induced the +Collar-maker to take our flour on his waggon; marmalade, meal, etc., +were hastily decanted into small tins, and stuffed into wallets, and +just before starting Williams furtively tossed the fuel-sack into a +buck-waggon, and hitched up the Kaffir pot somewhere underneath. I +strung a jug on my saddle, which, what with feed-bags (contents by no +means confined to oats), and muzzles, with meat and things in them, is +rather Christmas-tree-like. We marched through the town, and to the +base of a kopje about a mile away, where preparations for a big camp +had been made. It is confirmed that the Boers have surrendered _en +masse_, and they are to be brought here. + +After we had unharnessed, I got leave to go back to town and send a +joint telegram home from a dozen of us. The battery has a telegraphic +address at home from which wires are forwarded to our relations. The +charge for soldiers is only 2s. a word, so a dozen of us can say +"quite well" to our relations for about 2s. 8d. The official at the +office said the wire was now open, but that he had no change. However, +he produced 5s. when I gave him £2. It was a little short, but the +change was valuable. He said that to pass the censor it must be signed +by an officer, so I had to look for one. After some dusty tramping, I +found a captain of the Staffords, saluted, and made my request. We +were, I suppose, about equal in social station, but I suddenly--I +don't know why--felt what a gulf the service put between us. He was +sleek and clean, and talking about the hour of his dinner to another +one, just as if he were at a club. I was dirty, unshaven, out +at knees, and was carrying half a sack of fuel--a mission like +this has to serve subsidiary purposes--and felt like an abject +rag-and-bone-picking ruffian. He took the paper, signed it, and went +on about his confounded dinner. However, I expect mine rivalled his +for once in a way, for when I got back one of the "boys" (nigger +drivers) had cooked our chicken and cabbage, and we ate it, followed +by scones and marmalade, and, to wind up with, black coffee, made from +some rye coffee given us by one of our Canadian prisoner friends. I +had met one of them near the telegraph office, and visited his +quarters. Rye makes remarkably good strong coffee, with a pleasant +burnt taste in it. The camp had filled up a bit, the Manchesters, +Staffords and 2nd Field Battery, of Rundle's division, having come in. +We also played with flour and fat over our fire, and made some +chupatties. The Captain had sent a foraging party out to secure fat at +any price. Quite a warm night. A deep furrow passed near my harness, +and I had a most comfortable bed in it. + +_July 31._--The first batch of 250 prisoners have come in, and are +herded near. They are of all ages from sixty to fifteen, dressed in +all varieties of rough plain clothes, with some ominous exceptions in +the shape of a khaki tunic, a service overcoat, etc. Some seemed +depressed, some jocular, the boys quite careless. All were lusty and +well fed. Close by were their ponies, tiny little rats of things, +dead-tired and very thin. Their saddles were mostly very old, with +canvas or leather saddle-bags, containing cups, etc. I saw also one or +two horses with our regimental brands on them. Some had +bright-coloured rugs on them, and all the men had the same, which lent +vivid colour to the otherwise sombre throng. + +We watered and grazed near an outlying picket, and saw many prisoners +coming in in twos and threes, and giving up their rifles. What will +they do with them? They are nominally rebels since the 15th of June; +but I doubt if a tenth of them ever heard of Roberts's proclamation. +Communications are few in this big, wild country; and their leaders +systematically deceive them. Besides, to call the country conquered +when Bloemfontein was taken, is absurd. The real fighting had not +begun then, and whole districts such as this were unaffected. It seems +to me that morally, if not legally, these people are fair-and-square +civilized belligerents, who have fought honestly for their homes, and +treated our prisoners humanely. Deportation over-sea and confiscation +of farms seem hard measures, and I hope more lenience will be shown. + +In the evening Doctor Moon, of the Hampshire Yeomanry, a great friend +of Williams, turned up, and had supper with us. We had no fatted calf +to kill; but fortunately could show a tolerable _menu_, including beef +and marmalade. + +I was on picket this night. About midnight a lot of Boer prisoners, +and a long train of their ox-waggons, began coming in. It was very +dark, and they blundered along, knocking down telegraph posts, and +invading regimental lines, amidst a frightful din from the black +drivers, and a profane antiphony between two officers, of the camp and +the convoy respectively. + +In my second watch, in the small hours, a Tommy with a water-cart +strayed into our lines, asking for the Boer prisoners, for whom he had +been sent to get water. He swore copiously at the nature of his job in +particular, and at war in general. I showed him the way, and consoled +him with tobacco. + +_August 1._--Grazing and harness-cleaning all day. More prisoners came +in, and also our old friends the Munsters, and General Paget. Rumours +galore. We are going to Cape Town with the prisoners; to Harrismith; +to Winberg; to the Transvaal on another campaign, etc. Definite orders +came to move the next morning. In the evening an unusual flood of odds +and ends of rations was poured on us; flour, a little biscuit, a +little fat for cooking, diminutive hot potatoes, a taste of goose, +commandeered the same day by the mounted gunners, a little butter from +the same source, besides the usual sugar, cooked meat, and tea. +Drawing from this _cornucopia_ was a hard evening's work. We also got +hold of some dried fruit-chips, and as a desperate experiment tried to +make a fruit pudding, wrapping the fruit in a jacket of dough and +baking it in fat in our pot. The result, seen in the dark, was a +formless black mass, very doughy and fatty; but with oases of +palatable matter. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +TO PRETORIA. + + +_August 2._--Reveillé at six. Harnessed up, and started out to join +the brigade and its long column of prisoners, mounted on their ponies, +and each leading another with a pack on it. We only went about seven +miles (back towards the Nek), and camped at midday. I had been +suffering from toothache for some days, and was goaded into asking the +doctor to remove the offender. He borrowed a forceps from the R.A.M.C. +and had it out in a minute. The most simple and satisfactory visit to +the dentist I have ever had. No gloomy fingering of the illustrated +papers, while you wait your turn with the other doomed wretches, no +horrible accessories of padded chair and ominous professional plant; +just the open sunny veldt, and a waggon pole to sit on! In the evening +I got some 38th fellows to cook us some chupatties of our flour. They +treated me to fried liver over their fire, and we had a jolly talk. It +is said that we are to take the prisoners to Winberg, and then go to +the Transvaal. Cold night; hard frost. + +_August 3._--Reveillé at six. Sunrise this day was peculiarly +beautiful; a milky-blue haze lay in festoons along the hills, and +through this the sun shot a delicate flush on the rocks and grassy +slopes, till the farther side of the valley looked unreal as a dream. + +Started at nine; marched as far as the inward end of the Nek, and +camped. I got a splendid wash, almost a bath, in a large pond, in the +company of many Boer prisoners, who, I am bound to say, seemed as +anxious for cleanliness as we were. I talked to two most charming +young men, who discussed the war with me with perfect freedom and +urbanity. They dated their _débâcle_ from Roberts's arrival, and the +use of flanking movements with large numbers of mounted men. They made +very light of lyddite, and laughed at the legend that the fumes are +dangerous. In action they leave all their horses in the rear, +unwatched, or with a man or two. (Our mounted infantry leave a man to +every four horses.) I asked if a small boy, who was sitting near, +fought. They said, "Yes: a very small stone suffices to shelter him." +They talked very good English. + +The right section have turned up and, I hear, are camped about two +miles away. They have been a fortnight away doing convoy work, to +Senekal, Winberg, and back. They brought us no mails, to our great +disappointment. We have had no letters now since June 15th. Strange +rumours come in about 40,000 troops going to China. A very cold night; +I should say 15 degrees of frost. + +_August 4._--Did a rapid five hours' march through the Nek, and back +to Bultfontein, as part of the advance-guard. On the way we picked up +the right section, and exchanged our experiences. They had had no +fighting, but a very good time. They had distractingly luscious stones +of duff, rum, and jam at Winberg, and all looked very fat and well. We +camped, unharnessed, and watered at the same old muddy pool, muddier +than ever. I visited an interesting trio of guns which were near us, +in charge of Brabant's Horse; one was German, one French, one British. +The German was a Boer gun captured the other day, a 9-pr. Krupp, whose +bark we have often heard. It has a very long range, 8000 yards, but +otherwise seemed clumsy compared with ours, with a cumbersome breech +action and elevating gear. The French one was a Hotchkiss, made by the +French company, belonging to Brabant's Horse--a smart little weapon, +but not so handy, I should say, as ours. The British one was a 15-pr. +field gun, of the 77th Field Battery, lost at Stormberg and recaptured +the other day. It had evidently had hard and incessant use, and was +much worn. Brabant's Horse were our escort to-day, a fine, seasoned +body of rough, wild-looking fellows, wearing a very noticeable red +puggaree round their slouch hats. They are fine scouts, and +accomplished marauders, for which the Boers hate them. Jam for tea, +and milk in the tea--long unknown luxuries, which the right section +brought with them. In the evening I went to a sing-song the 38th gave +round their camp fire. It was very pleasant, and they were most +hospitable to us. + +_August 5._--Reveillé at five. Harnessed up; but some hitch ahead +occurred, and we unhooked, watered, and grazed. Finally started about +8.30, and made a rapid march as advance guard, of about fourteen +miles, with only momentary halts. Country very hilly; steep, squat, +flat-topped kopjes and several bad drifts. We camped about 1.30 near +five small houses in a row, with the novel accessory of some big +trees--probably a town in large letters on the map. It appears the +convoy has halted some way back for the four midday hours dear to the +oxen. The rest of the column came in at dusk. A warm night. Every +night in camp you may hear deep-throated choruses swelling up from the +prisoners' laager. The first time I heard it I was puzzled to know +what they were singing; the tune was strangely familiar, but I could +not fix it. It was not till the third night that I recognized the tune +of "O God, our help," but chanted so slowly as to be difficult to +catch, with long, luxurious rests on the high notes, and mighty, +booming crescendos. Coming from hundreds of voices, the effect was +sometimes very fine. At other times smaller groups sang independently, +and the result was a hideous noise. I wonder if the words correspond +to our tune. If so, every night these prisoners, who have staked and +lost all in a hopeless struggle, sing, "O God, our help in ages past." +This is faith indeed. + +_August 6._--_Bank Holiday._--At 6.45 we started as advance-guard +again, and marched for five and a half hours, with only a halt or two +of a few minutes, to Senekal. The country gradually became flatter, +the kopjes fewer and lower, till at last it was a great stretch of +arid, dusty plain. It seemed quite strange to be driving on level +ground, after endless hills and precipitous drifts. We and Brabant's +Horse were advance guard, and clattered down in a pall of blinding +white dust into a substantial little tin-roofed town, many stores +open, and people walking about in peace (the ladies all in black). +Full of soldiers, of course, but still it was our first hint for +months of peace and civilization, and seemed home-like. One of the +first things I saw was a jar of Osborne biscuits in a window, and it +gave me a strange thrill! The convoy and prisoners follow this +evening. The column is miles long, as besides our own transport, there +are all the Boer waggons, long red ones, each with some prisoners on +it and a soldier. Also scores of Cape carts, with a fat farmer in +each. There was a wild rush for provisions in the town by our +orderlies and Brabant's. They got bread, and I bought some eggs and +jam on commission. After camping and unharnessing, I had a good wash +in the river, an orange-coloured puddle. I wonder how it is that by +some fatality there is always a dead quadruped, mule, horse, or +bullock, near our washing places. We don't mind them on the march; +they are dotted along every road in South Africa now, I should think; +but when making a refreshing toilette they jar painfully. Kipling +somewhere describes a subtle and complex odour, which, he says, is the +smell of the great Indian Empire. That of the great African Empire in +this year of grace is the direct and simple one which I have +indicated. In the evening we had a grand supper of fried eggs, jam, +chupatties, and cocoa. This meal immediately followed tea. We made our +fire in the best place for one, an ant-hill, about two feet high. The +plan is to hack two holes, one in the top, another on the windward +side, and to connect the two passages. There is then a fine draught, +and you can cook both on the top and at the side. Inside, the +substance of the hill itself gets red-hot and keeps a sustained heat. + +_Recipe for jam chupatties._--Take some suet and melt rapidly in a +mess-tin, over a quick fire (because you are hungry and can't wait); +meanwhile make a tough dry dough of flour and water and salt; cut into +rounds to fit the mess-tin, spread with jam, double over and place in +the boiling fat; turn them frequently. Cook for about ten minutes. A +residual product of this dish is a sort of hard-bake toffee, formed by +the leakage of jam from the chupatties. + +Brabant's Horse left in the night. + +_August 7._--A bitterly cold, windy day. Marched for several hours +over a yellow, undulating plain and camped, near nothing, about 12.30. +After dinner I walked over to a Kaffir kraal and bought fuel, and two +infants' copper bangles. I was done over the bangles, so I made it up +over the fuel (hard round cakes of prepared cow's dung), filling a +sack brim-full, in spite of the loud expostulations of the black lady. +They were a most amusing crowd, and the children quite pretty. I also +tasted Kaffir beer for the first, and last, time. Kaffir bangles +abound in the Battery. In fact, you will scarcely see a soldier +anywhere without them. The fashion is to wear them on the wrist as +bracelets. They are of copper and brass, and often of beautiful +workmanship. The difficulty about collecting curios is that there is +nowhere to carry them, though some fellows have a genius for finding +room for several heavy bits of shell, etc. Empty pom-pom shells, which +are small and portable, are much sought after; and our own brass +cartridge, if one could take an old one along, would make a beautiful +lamp-stand at home. Rum to-night. + +_August 8._--Reveillé at six. Off at 7.30. Another march over the same +bare, undulating plain. About eleven we passed a spruit where there +was a camp of infantry and the 9th Field Battery, who told us they +came out when we did, but had only fired four rounds since! Near here +there was a pathetic incident. A number of Boer women met us on the +road, all wearing big white linen hoods; they stood in sad groups, or +walked up and down, scanning the faces of the prisoners (we were with +the main body today) for husbands, brothers, sweethearts. Many must +have looked in vain. The Boers have systematically concealed losses +even from the relatives themselves; and one of the saddest things in +this war must be the long torture of uncertainty suffered by the +womenfolk at home. + +We camped at twelve near a big dam, and unharnessed, but only for a +rest, resuming the march at about three, and halting for the night +about ten miles farther on. A profligate issue of rations--five +biscuits, four ounces of sugar (instead of two or three), duff and rum +again. A lovely, frosty night, the moon full, delicate mists wreathing +the veldt, hundreds of twinkling camp-fires, and the sound of psalms +from the prisoners' laager. + +_August 9._--In to-day's march the character of the country changed, +with long, low, flat-topped kopjes on either side of us, and the road +in a sharp-cut hollow between them, covered with loose round stones--a +parched and desolate scene. After about ten miles we descended through +a long ravine into Winberg, with its red-brick, tin-roofed houses +baking in the sun. We skirted the town, passing through long lines of +soldiers come to see the prisoners arrive, and out about a mile on to +a dusty, dreary plain, where we camped. We were all thrilling with +hopes of letters. (Winberg is at the end of a branch of railway, and +we are now in touch with the world again.) Soon bags of letters +arrived, but not nearly all we expected. I only got those of one mail, +but they numbered thirteen, besides three numbers of the _Weekly +Times_, and a delightful parcel from home. I sat by my harness in the +sun, and read letters luxuriously. It was strange to get news again, +and strike suddenly into this extraordinary Chinese _imbroglio_. It +appears the war is still going on in the Transvaal, and the rumour is +that we shall be sent there straight. Among other news it seems that +the H.A.C. are sending the Battery a draft of twenty men from home, to +bring us up to strength. I heard from my brother at Standerton, dated +July 21. He was with Buller; had not done much fighting yet; was fit +and well. There was a disturbance just at dusk, caused by a big drove +of Boer ponies, which were being driven into town, getting out of hand +and running amok in the lines of the 38th. Wrote a letter home by +moonlight. Very cold, after a hot day. I should think the temperature +often varies fifty degrees in the twenty-four hours. Some clothing +served out; I got breeches and boots. I wish I could get into the +town. There are several things I badly want, though, as usual, the +home parcel supplied some. + +_August 10._--We were rather surprised to hear we might move that day, +and must hold ourselves in readiness. We all much wanted to buy +things, but there was no help for it. Had a field-day at button-sewing +and letter-writing. At eleven there was harness-cleaning, and I was +sadly regarding a small remnant of dubbin and my dusty girths and +leathers, when the order came for "boot and saddle," and that little +job was off. In the end we did not start till three, and marched with +the whole brigade nine miles, with one five-minute halt, through easy +country, with an unusual number of clumps of trees, and camped just at +dusk, near a pool, unharnessed and watered. There was a curious and +beautiful sight just before, the sun sinking red into the veldt +straight ahead, and the moon rising golden out of it straight behind +us. It seems we are bound to Smalldeel, a station on the main line, +now eleven miles off. We left all the prisoners at Winberg. Some chaps +bought schamboks, saddle-bags, and spurs from them, but being +stableman, I hadn't time. I write this by moonlight, crouching close +to a fine wood fire, 10 P.M. Well, I shall turn in now. + +_August 11._--Reveillé at 5.45. We started at eight, and marched the +remaining eleven miles in a blinding dust-storm, blown by a gale of +cutting wind right in our faces. My eyes were sometimes so bunged up +that I couldn't see at all, and thanked my stars I was not driving +leads. The worst march we have had yet. About 11.30 we came to the +railway, and groped through a dreary little tin village round a +station, built on dust, and surrounded by bare, dusty veldt. This was +Smalldeel. There was a general rush to the stores after dinner, as we +hear we are to entrain for Pretoria to-morrow. To-day we +revolutionized our harness by giving up our off-saddles, our kit to be +carried on a waggon. Some time before centre and lead horses had been +relieved of breeching and breast-strap, which of course are only +needed for wheelers. In the ordinary way all artillery horses are so +harnessed that they can be used as wheelers at any moment. The off +horse is now very light therefore, having only collar, traces, and +crupper, with an improvised strap across the back to support the +traces. Of course there are always "spare wheelers," ready-harnessed, +following each subdivision in case of casualties. As far back as +Bethlehem we discarded big bits also and side-reins, which are quite +useless, and waste time in taking in and out when you want to water +rapidly, or graze for a few moments. The harness is much simplified +now, and takes half the time to put on. The mystery is why it is ever +considered necessary to have so much on active service, or even at +home, unless to keep drivers from getting too much leisure. Several +houses in this place have been wrecked, and many fellows slept under +the shells. In one of them a man was selling hot coffee in the +evening, at 6d. a cup. It was a striking scene, which I shall always +remember--a large building, floorless and gutted inside, and full of +heaps of rubble, very dimly lit by a couple of lanterns, in the light +of which cloaked and helmeted figures moved. I thought of sleeping in +a house, for it was the coldest night I remember; but habit prevailed, +and I turned in as usual by my harness. The horses have got a +head-rope-eating epidemic, and seemed to be loose all night. + +_August 12._--_Sunday._--Reveillé at six. Harnessed up, and waited for +orders to entrain for Pretoria. The 38th Battery have gone already, +and the Wilts Yeomanry. A draft of twenty new men from England came in +by train. They looked strangely pale and clean and tidy beside our +patched and soiled and sunburnt selves. Marched down to station, and +were entraining guns, waggons, horses, etc., till about four. The +usual exciting scenes with mules, but it all seems routine now. Our +subdivision of thirty men were packed like herrings into an open +truck, also occupied by a gun and limber. + +_August 13._--I write sitting wedged among my comrades on the floor of +the truck, warm sun bathing us after an Arctic night, and up to my +knees in kit, letters, newspapers, parcels, boxes of cigarettes, +chocolate, etc., for all our over-due mails have been caught up in a +lump somewhere, and the result of months of affection and thoughtful +care in distant England are heaped on us all at once. I have about +thirty letters. It is an orgie, and I feel drunk with pleasure. All +the time the train rolls through the wilderness, with its myriad +ant-hills, its ribbon of empty biscuit tins and dead horses, its +broken bridges, its tiny outpost camps, like frail islands in the +ocean, its lonely stations of three tin houses, and nothing else +beyond, no trees, fields, houses, cattle, signs of human life. We +stopped all last night at Zand River. All trains stop at night now, +for the ubiquitous De Wet is a terror on the line. To-day we passed +the charred and twisted remains of another train he had burnt; graves, +in a row, close to it. Williams and I slept on the ground outside the +truck, after feeding and watering horses and having tea. It was an +uneasy slumber, on dust and rubble, interrupted once by the train +quietly steaming away from beside us. But it came back. We were off +again at 4.30 A.M., a merry crowd heaped together under blankets on +the floor of the truck. We ground slowly on all day, and halted for +the night at Viljoen's Drift, the frontier station. + +_August 14._--Sleepy heads rose from a sea of blankets, and blinked +out to see the crossing of the Vaal river, and a thin, sleepy cheer +hailed this event; then we relapsed and waited for the sun. When it +came, and we thawed and looked about, we saw an entire change of +country; hills on both sides, trees here and there, and many farms. +Soon the upper works of a mine showed, and then more, and all at once +we were in a great industrial district. At Elandsfontein, the junction +for Johannesburg, we had a long halt, and a good breakfast, getting +free coffee from a huge boiling vat. + +_(9 P.M.)_--We reached Pretoria just at dusk, the last five miles or +so being a very pretty run through a beautiful pass, with woods and +real _green_ fields in the valley, a refreshing contrast to the +outside veldt. We detrained by electric light, and bivouacked in an +open place just outside the station. I write this in the station bar, +where some of us have been having a cup of tea. Paget's Brigade are +all here, and I hear Roberts is to review us to-morrow. A Dublin +Fusilier, who had been a prisoner since the armoured-train affair at +Estcourt until Roberts reached Pretoria, told us we "had a good name +here," for Bethlehem, etc. He vaguely talked of Botha and Delarey +"dodging round" near here. We have heard nothing of the outside world +for a long time, and as far as I can make out, the Transvaal has still +to be conquered, just as the Free State has had to be, long after the +capture of both capitals. + +_August 15._--I had gone to sleep in splendid isolation under the +verandah of an empty house, but awoke among some Munsters, who greeted +dawn with ribald songs. Harnessed up after breakfast, and marched off +through the town, past the head-quarters, where Roberts reviewed us +and the 38th. He was standing with a large Staff at the foot of the +steps. The order "eyes right" gave us a good view of him, and very +small, fit, and alert he looked. + + "'E's little, but 'e's wise, + 'E's a terror for 'is size." + +I liked what we saw of the town, broad boulevards edged with trees, +and houses set back deep in gardens; the men all in khaki uniforms, or +niggers, but a good many English ladies and nurses. We marched to a +camp on the top of a hill outside the town, and joined the rest of the +brigade. A lovely view of the town from here, in a hollow of +encircling hills, half-buried in trees, looking something like +Florence in the distance. I can hardly believe we are really here when +I think of the hopeless depression of June and May at Bloemfontein. +Much to our disgust, we weren't allowed to go down to the town in the +afternoon. However, we visited a reservoir instead, where a pipe took +away the overflow, and here we got a real cold bath in limpid water, +on a shingly bottom, a delicious experience. After evening stables +Williams and I got leave to go down to town. We passed through broad +tree-bordered streets, the central ones having fine shops and +buildings, but all looking dark and dead, and came to the Central +Square, where we made for the Grand Hotel, and soon found ourselves +dining like gentlemen at tables with table-cloths and glasses and +forks, and clean plates for every course. The complexity of civilized +paraphernalia after the simplicity of a pocket-knife and mess-tin, was +quite bewildering. The room was full of men in khaki. Heavens! how +hungry that dinner made me! We ordered a bottle of claret, the +cheapest being seven shillings. The waiter when he brought it up +paused mysteriously, and then, in a discreet whisper to Williams, said +he supposed we were sergeant-majors, as none under that rank could be +served with wine. Gunner Williams smilingly reassured him, and Driver +Childers did his best to look like a sergeant-major, with, I fear, +indifferent success. Anyway the waiter was easily satisfied, and left +us the claret, which, as there were three officers at the table, was +creditable to him. We walked home about 8.30, the streets all silent +as death, till we were challenged by a sentry near the outskirts of +the town, and asked for the countersign, which we didn't know. There +were muttered objections, into which a bottle of whisky mysteriously +entered, and we bluffed it out. I have never found ignorance of a +countersign a serious obstacle. + +_August 16._--Grazing most of the morning, during which I have managed +to get some letters written, but I have great arrears to make up. +Several orders countermanding one another have been coming in, to the +general effect that we are probably to start somewhere to-day. The +usual crop of diverse rumours as to our future. One says we go to +Middelberg, another Lydenberg, another Petersberg. There seem to be +several forces of Boers still about, and De Wet, who ought to become +historic as a guerilla warrior, is still at large, nobody knows where. +I only trust our ammunition-supply will be better managed this time. +Anyway, we are all fit and well, and ready for anything, and the +horses in first-class order. I forgot to say that I had to part with +one of my pair, the riding-horse, a few days before we reached +Smalldeel. He was taken for a wheeler in our team. I now ride the mare +and lead my new horse, which is my old friend the Argentine, whose +acquaintance I first made at Capetown. Hard work has knocked most of +the vice out of her, though she still is a terror to the other horses +in the lines. She looks ridiculously small in artillery harness, but +works her hardest, and is very fit, though she declines to oats unless +I mix them with mealies, which I can't always do. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WARMBAD.[A] + + +[Footnote A: In this new campaign Paget's Brigade was, in conjunction +with the forces of Baden-Powell, Plumer, and Hickman, to scour the +district whose backbone is the railway line running due north from +Pretoria to Petersberg. He was to occupy strategic points, isolate and +round up stray commandos, and generally to engage the attention of the +enemy here, while the grand advance under Roberts and Buller was +taking place eastward.] + +_August 16, continued._--We started at 4 P.M., and had a most tedious +march for about four miles only, with incessant checks, owing to the +badness of the ground, so that we arrived long after dark at the +camping-ground in indifferent humour. We had followed a narrow valley +in a northerly direction. Most of the transport waggons, including our +own, stuck in a drift some way back, so that we had no tea, and the +drivers no blankets to sleep in (gunners carry their kit on the +gun-carriages and limbers and ammunition-waggons). However, I got up +at midnight and found the kit-waggon had arrived, and got mine; also +some tea from a friendly cook of the 38th, so I did well. + +_August 17._--Reveillé at 4.15. Started at five, and to our surprise +marched back about a mile and a half. Picked up the rest of our buck +waggons on the way, and halted for a hurried breakfast at dawn. Then +marched through what I hear is called Wonderboom Port, a narrow nek +between two hills, leading due north, to judge by the sun. We forded a +girth-deep river on the way. The nek led out on to a long, broad +valley, about six miles in width, bordered on the Pretoria side with a +line of steep kopjes, and on the north by low brown hills. Long yellow +grass, low scrub, and thorny trees, about the size of hawthorns; no +road, and the ground very heavy. + +_(2 P.M.)_--We are halted to feed. There is some firing on the left +front. Had a good sleep for an hour. Later on we went into action, but +never fired, and in the evening marched away behind a hill and camped. +The Wilts and Montgomery Yeomanry are with us, and at the common +watering-place, a villainous little pool, with a steep, slippery +descent to it, I recognized Alexander Lafone, of the latter corps. I +walked to their lines after tea, found him sergeant of the guard, and +we talked over a fire. We had last seen one another as actors in some +amateur theatricals in a country town at home. They had been in action +for the first time that day, and had reported 500 Boers close by. A +warm night. Quite a change of season has set in. + +_August 18._--A big gun was booming not far off, during breakfast. A +hot, cloudless day. Started about 8.30, and marched till twelve, +crossing the valley diagonally, till we reached some kopjes on the +other side. A pom-pom of ours is now popping away just ahead, and +there is a good deal of rifle-fire. + +_(3.15.)_--The old music has begun, a shell coming screeching overhead +and bursting behind us. We and the convoy were at once moved to a +position close under a kopje between us and the enemy. Shells are +coming over pretty fast, but I don't see how they can reach us here. A +most curious one has just come sailing very slowly overhead, and +growling and hiccoughing in the strangest way. I believe it was a +ricochet, having first hit the top of the kopje. When it fell there +was a rush of gunners to pick up the fragments. I secured one, and it +turned out to be part of a huge forty-pounder siege-gun shell. Such a +gun would far out-range ours, and I believe the scouts have not +located it yet, which explains our inactivity. + +_(3.30.)_--Our right section has gone into action, and is firing now. +Some wounded Yeomen just brought in. One of them, I'm sorry to say, is +Lafone, with a glancing wound under the eye, sight uninjured. We +camped at five, and unharnessed. It seems the Yeomanry lost ten men +prisoners, but the Boers released them after taking their rifles. + +_August 19._--_Sunday._--Reveillé at four. Some days are very +irritating to the soldier, and this was a typical one. We harnessed up +and stood about waiting for orders for five hours. At last we moved +off, only to return again immediately; again moved off, and after a +few minutes halted; finally got more or less started, and marched five +or six miles, with incessant short halts, at each of which the order +is to unbuckle wither-straps and let horses graze. This sounds simple, +but is a horrible nuisance, as the team soon gets all over the place, +feet over traces, collars over ears, and so on, if not continually +watched and pulled about. When it is very hot and you are tired, it is +very trying to the temper. At one halt you think you will lunch. You +get out a Maconochie, open it, and take a spoonful, when you find the +centres tying themselves up in a knot with the leaders. Up you get, +straighten them out, and sit down again. After two more spoonfuls, you +find the wheelers playing cat's-cradle with the centres' traces. +Perhaps the wheel-driver is asleep, and you get up and put them right. +Then the grazing operations of the leaders bring them round in a +circle to the wheelers. Up you get, and finally, as the fifth spoonful +is comforting a very empty stomach, you hear, "Stand to your horses!" +"Mount!" You hurriedly stuff the tin into a muzzle hanging from the +saddle, where you have leisure to observe its fragrant juices +trickling out, stick the spoon under a wallet-strap, buckle up +wither-straps, and mount. At the next halt you begin again, and the +same thing happens. It is a positive relief to hear the shriek of a +shell, and have something definite to do or interest you. About two +the 38th fired a few shots at some Boers on the sky-line, and then we +came to Waterval, where we camped and watered. The Petersberg railway +runs up here, and this was a station on it, with a few houses besides. +Its only interest is the cage in which several thousand English +prisoners were kept, till released by Roberts' arrival. I visited it +on the way to a delicious bathe in the river after tea. It is a large +enclosure, full of the remains of mud huts, and fitted with close rows +of tall iron posts for the electric light, which must have turned +night into day. It is surrounded by an elaborate barbed-wire +entanglement. In one place was a tunnel made by some prisoners to +escape by. It began at a hole inside a hut, and ran underground for +quite forty yards, to a point about five yards outside the enclosure. +Some of our chaps passed through it. In a large tin shed near the +enclosure was a fine electric-lighting plant for lighting this strange +prison on the open veldt. + +This morning the Captain came back, to our great delight. He had been +away since Winberg, getting stores for us at Bloemfontein. He brought +a waggon full of clothing and tobacco, which was distributed after we +had come in. There were thick corduroy uniforms for winter use. If +they had reached us in the cold weather they would have been more +useful. It is hot weather now; but a light drill tunic was also served +out, and a sign of the times was stewed dry fruit for tea. The ration +now is five biscuits (the full ration) and a Maconochie, or bully +beef. Only extreme hunger can make me stomach Maconochies now. They +are quite sound and good, but one gets to taste nothing but the +chemical preservative, whatever it is. We have had no fresh meat for a +long time back, but one manages with an occasional change of bully +beef or a commandeered chicken. + +The camp is a big one, for infantry reinforcements have come in, and +two cow-guns. + +_August 20._--There was no hour appointed for reveillé overnight, but +we were wakened by the pickets at 2.30 A.M. At once harnessed up, and +marched off without breakfast. Went north still, as yesterday, +following the railway. Dawn came slow, silent, and majestic into the +cloudless sky, where a thin sickle of waning moon hung. It was a +typical African dawn, and I watched every phase of it to-day with +care. Its chief feature is its gentle unobtrusiveness. About an hour +before sunrise, the east grows faintly luminous; then just one arc of +it gradually and imperceptibly turns to faint yellow, and then +delicate green; but just before the sun tops the veldt there is a +curious moment, when all colour fades out except the steel blue of a +twilight sky, and the whole firmament is equally lighted, so that it +would be hard to say where the sun was going to rise. The next moment, +a sharp rim of dazzling gold cuts the veldt, and in an instant it is +broad day. The same applies to sunset. There are no "fine sunsets" +here, worthy of Ruskinian rhapsodies; they are just exquisitely subtle +transitions from day to night. But, of course, directly the sun is +below the horizon, night follows quickly, as in all countries in these +latitudes. There is very little twilight. + +_(9.30 A.M.)_--The country we cross is studded thickly with small +trees. About 6.30 the enemy's rifle-fire began on our front. Our side +at first answered with pom-poms, Maxims, and rifle-fire, but our guns +have just come into action. The enemy's position appears to be a low +ridge ahead covered with bush.--I fancy they were only a skirmishing +rear-guard, for after a bit of shrapnel-practice we moved on, and had +a long, tiring day of slow marching and halting, with scattered firing +going on in front and on the flanks. The country must demand great +caution, for the bush is thick now, and whole commandos might be +concealed anywhere. The Wilts Regiment (some companies of which are +brigaded with us) lost several men and an officer. We camped on an +open space just at dark. Watering was a long, tiresome business, from +buckets, at a deep, rocky pool. There were snipers about, and a shot +now and then during the evening. + +_August 21._--We harnessed up at four; but waited till seven to move +off. This is always tiresome, as drivers have to stay by their horses +all the time; but of course it is necessary that in such a camp, with +the enemy in the bush near, all the force should be ready to move at +an early hour. The nights are warm now, but there is a very chilly +time in the small hours. We marched through the same undulating, +wooded country, crossing a brute of a drift over a river, where we +hooked in an extra pair of horses to our team. In the summer this must +be a lovely region, when the trees and grass are green; very like the +New Forest, I should think. We had a long halt in the middle of the +day, and then marched on till five, when we camped. We waited till +eight for tea, as the buck-waggons had stuck somewhere; but I made +some cocoa on a fire of mealy-stalks. I forgot to say that +Baden-Powell has joined the column with a mounted force and the +Elswick Battery, and is now pushing on ahead. I hear that Paget's +object is to prevent De Wet from joining Botha, and that Baden-Powell +has seized some drift ahead over which he must pass. Fancy De Wet up +here! An alternative to Maconochie was issued to-day, in the shape of +an excellent brand of pressed beef. + +_August 22._--Reveillé at 3 A.M. for the right section, who moved off +at once, and at 3.45 for my section. We started at 5.30, and marched +pretty quickly all the morning to Pynaar's River, which consists of a +station on the railway, and a few gutted houses. A fine iron bridge +over the river had been blown up, and was lying with its back broken +in the water. We camped here about one, and thought we were in for a +decent rest, after several very short nights. I ate something, and was +soon fast asleep by my saddle; but at three "harness up" was ordered, +and off we went, but only for a few hundred yards, when the column +halted, and after wasting two hours in the same place, moved back to +camp again. One would like to know the Staff secrets now and then in +_contretemps_ like this; but no doubt one cause is the thick bush, +which makes the enemy's movements difficult to follow. Rum to-night. +We went to bed without any orders for reveillé, which came with +vexatious suddenness at 10.45 P.M. I had had about two hours' sleep. +Up we got, harnessed up, hooked in, and groped in the worst of tempers +to where the column was collecting, wondering what was up now. We soon +started--no moon and very dark--on a road composed of fine, deep dust, +which raised a kind of fog all round, through which I could barely see +the lead-driver's back. The order was no talking, no smoking, no +lights, and we moved silently along under the stars, wrapped in +darkness and dust. Happily the road was level, but night marching is +always rather trying work for a driver. One's nerves are continually +on edge with the constant little checks that occur. The pair in front +of you seem to swim as you strain your eyes to watch the traces, and +keep the team in even draught; but, do what you can, there is a good +deal of jerking into the collar, and narrow shades of getting legs +over traces. Once I saw the General's white horse come glimmering by +and melt into the darkness. About 3.30 A.M. lights and fires appeared +ahead, and we came on the camp of some other force of ours, all ready +to start; soldiers' figures seen silhouetted against the dancing light +of camp fires, and teams of oxen in the gloom beyond. A little farther +on the column stopped, and we were told we should be there two hours. +We fed the horses, and then lit fires of mealy-stalks, and cooked +cocoa, and drowsed. At six our transport-waggons came up, and we got +our regular breakfast. Then we rode to water, and now (August 23) I am +sitting in the dust by the team, writing this. There was a stir and +general move just now. I got up and looked where all eyes were +looking, and saw a solitary Boer horseman issuing from the bush, +holding a white flag. An orderly galloped up to him, and the two went +into a hut where the General is. The rumour is that a thousand Boers +want to surrender.--Rumour reduces number to one Boer. + +In the end we stopped here all day, and what in the world our forced +march was for, is one of the inexplicable things that so often +confront the tired unit, and which he doesn't attempt to solve. + +The camp was the most unpleasant I ever remember, on a deep layer of +fine dust, of a dark, dirty colour. A high wind rose, and eyes, ears, +mouth, food, and kit, were soon full of it. Roasting hot too. There +was a long ride to water, and then I got some sleep behind my upturned +saddle, waking with my eyes glued up. To watering again and evening +stables. The wind went down about six and things were better. None of +us drivers had blankets, though, for the kit-waggon had for some +reason been left at Pynaar's River. However, I shared a bed with +another chap, and was all right. + +_August 24._--I am now cursing my luck in an ambulance waggon. For +several days I have had a nasty place coming on the sole of my foot, a +veldt-sore, as it is called. To-day the doctor said I must go off +duty, and I was told to ride on one of our transport-waggons. This +sounds simple; but I knew better, and made up my mind for some few +migrations, before I found a resting place. With the help of Williams +I first put myself and my kit on one of our waggons. Then the Major +came up, and was very sympathetic, but said he was sending back one +waggon to Pynaar's River, and I had better go on that, and not follow +the Battery. So I migrated there and waited for the next move. It came +in a general order from the Staff that nothing was to go back. I was +to seek an asylum in an R.A.M.C. ambulance waggon. So we trudged over +to an officer, who looked at my foot and said it was all very well, +but he had no rations for me. However, rations were sent for, and I +got into a covered waggon, with seats to hold about eight men, sat +down with six others, Munsters and Wilts men, and am now waiting for +the next move. It is 11 A.M. and we have not inspanned yet, though the +battery and most of the brigade have started. I hear the whole column +is to go to Warm Baths, sixteen miles farther on. + +We didn't start till 1.30, and halted about five. They are very +pleasant chaps in the waggon, and we had great yarns about our +experiences. They were in a thorough "grousing" mood. To "grouse" is +soldiers' slang for to "complain." They were down on their scanty +rations, their hot brown water, miscalled coffee, their incessant +marching, the futility of chasing De Wet, everything. Most soldiers +out here are like that. To the men-calculators and battle-thinkers it +doesn't matter very much, for Tommy is tough, patient, and plucky. He +may "grouse," but he is dependable. It came out accidentally that they +had been on half-rations of biscuit for the last two days, and that +day had had no meat issued to them, and only a biscuit and a half. By +a most lucky hap, Williams and I had the night before bought a leg of +fresh pig from a Yeomanry chap, and had it cooked by a nigger. In the +morning, when we separated, I had hastily hacked off a chunk for him, +and kept the rest, and we now had a merry meal over the national +animal of the Munsters. It was pleasant to hear the rich Cork brogue +in the air. It seems impossible to believe that these are the men whom +Irish patriots incite to mutiny. They are loyal, keen, and simple +soldiers, as proud of the flag as any Britisher. At five we +outspanned, with orders to trek again at the uncomfortable hour of +1 A.M. The Orderly-corporal left me and a Sergeant Smith of the Munsters +to sleep on the floor of the waggon, and the rest slept in a tent. +They gave us tea, and later beef-tea. The sergeant and I sat up till +late, yarning. He is a married reservist with two children, and is +more than sick of the war. They gave us three blankets between us, and +we lay on the cushions placed on the floor, and used the rugs to cover +us both. After some months of mother earth this unusual bed gave me a +nightmare, and I woke the sergeant to tell him that the mules were +trampling on us, which much amused him. These worthy but tactless +animals were tethered to the waggon, and pulling and straining on it +all the time, which I suppose accounted for my delusion. + +_August 25._--_Saturday._--At 1 A.M. the rest tumbled in on us, and we +started off for the most abominable jolt over the country. For a +wonder it was a very cold night, and of course we were all sitting up, +so there was no more sleep to be got. At sunrise we arrived at Warm +Baths, which turns out to be really a health-resort with hot springs. +The chief feature in this peculiar place is a long row of tin houses, +containing baths, I hear; also an hotel and a railway station, then +the bush-covered veldt, abrupt and limitless. Baden-Powell and his +troops are here, and I believe the Boers are behind some low hills +which lie north of us, and run east and west. Our cart halted by a +stream of water, which I washed in, and found quite warm. Coffee and +biscuits were served out. A lovely day, hot, but still, so no dust. +The column stops here a day or so, I hear. We have been transferred to +a marquee tent, where fifteen of us lie pretty close. The Battery is +quite near, and Williams has been round bringing my blankets, for it +appears the drivers' kits have come on from Pynaar's River. Several +fellows came round to see me, and Williams brought some duff, and +Ramsey some light literature; Williams also brought a _Times_, in +which I read about the massacre in China. I'm afraid the polyglot +avengers will quarrel among themselves. Restless night. I believe I +shall never sleep well under a roof again. A roof in London will be a +bit smutty, though. + +_August 26._--Breakfast at seven. Told we were going to shift. Packed +up and shifted camp about a mile to some trees; the other site was +horribly smelly. Installed again in a tent. I have a hardened old +shell-back of a Tommy (Yorkshire Light Infantry) on my right, and a +very nice sergeant of the Wilts Regiment on my left. Some of the +former's yarns are very entertaining, but too richly encrusted with +words not in the dictionary to reproduce. How Kipling does it I can't +think. The sergeant is a fine type of the best sort of reservist. He +astonished me by telling me he had been a deserter, long ago, when a +lad, after two years in the Rifle Brigade, where he was sickened by +tyranny of some sort. He confessed, after re-enlistment, and was +pardoned. He had been fourteen years in his present corps, and had got +on well. Opposite is a young scamp of Roberts's Horse. Looks eighteen, +but calls it twenty-two: his career being that he was put in the Navy, +ran away, was apprenticed to the merchant service, ran away (so +forfeiting the premium his parents had paid), shipped to the Cape, and +joined Roberts's Horse. I asked him what he would do next. "Go home," +he said, "and do nothing." If I were his father I'd kick him out. He's +a nice boy, though. There are several Munsters, jolly chaps, and a +Tasmanian of the Bush contingent, tall, hollow-eyed, sallow-faced +fellow, with dysentery--a gentleman, and an interesting one. Williams +has been here a good deal. He made some tea for the two of us in the +evening, and we talked till late. I am on ordinary "camp diet," which +means tea, biscuit, and bully-beef or stew. They give us tea at four, +and nothing after, so one gets pretty hungry. Some men are on milk +diet. + +_August 27._--_Monday._--My foot gets on very slowly. Veldt-sores, as +they are called, are very common out here, as though you may be +perfectly well, as I am, the absence of fresh food makes any scratch +fester. Most entertaining talks with the other chaps in the tent. The +Captain has been several times, and brought papers. + +_August 28._--This is a very free-and-easy field hospital; no irksome +regulations, and restrictions, and inspections. A doctor comes round +in the morning and looks at each of us. The dressings are done once in +twenty-four hours by an orderly. He is a very good chap, but you have +to keep a watchful eye on him, and see that he doesn't put the same +piece of lint on twice; yet you must be very tactful in suggestions, +for an orderly is independent, and has the whip-hand. An officer walks +round again in the evening, pretty late, and says he supposes each of +us feels better. This very much amused me at first, but, after all, it +roughly hit off the truth. We are nearly all slight cases. Meals come +three times a day, and otherwise we are left to ourselves. The food +might, I think, be better and more plentiful. I have had the privilege +of hearing Tommy's opinions on R.A.M.C. orderlies, and also those of +an R.A.M.C. orderly on Tommy, or perhaps rather on his own status and +grievances in general. Inside the tent Tommy was free and unequivocal +about the whole tribe of orderlies, the criticism culminating in a +ghoulish story from my right-hand neighbour, told in broadest +Yorkshire, about one in Malta, "who stole the ---- boots off the ---- +corpse in the ---- dead-'ouse." Outside the tent a communicative +orderly poured into my ear the tale of Paardeberg, and its unspeakable +horrors, the overwork and exhaustion of a short-handed medical corps, +the disease and death in the corps itself, etc. I conclude that in +such times of stress the orderly has a very bad time, but that with a +column having few casualties and little enteric, like this, he is +uncommonly well off. His class has done some splendid work, which +Tommy sometimes forgets, but it must be remembered that it had to be +suddenly and hurriedly recruited with untrained men from many outside +sources, some of them not too suitable. My impression is that they +want more supervision by the officers. The latter, in this hospital, +are, when we see them, very kind, and certainly show the utmost +indulgence in keeping off duty men who are not feeling fit for work. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +HOSPITAL. + + +_August 29._--Suddenly told we were all to go to Pretoria by train, +railway being just open, it seems. I am disgusted with the slowness of +my foot, and at being separated from the Battery. It goes to-morrow +back to Pynaar's River, and then joins a flying column of some sort. + +_August 30._--I write lying luxuriously on a real spring-mattress bed, +between real sheets, having just had my fill of real bread and real +butter, besides every comfort, in a large marquee tent, with a wooden +floor, belonging to the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, Pretoria. I landed +in this haven at four o'clock this morning, after a nightmare of a +journey from Warm Baths. We left there about 2.30 P.M. yesterday, +after long delays, and then a sudden rush. Williams came over to say +good-bye, and the Captain, Lieutenant Bailey and Dr. Thorne; also +other fellows with letters, and four of our empty cartridges as +presents for officers of the Irish Hospital in Pretoria. We were put +into a truck already full of miscellaneous baggage, and wedged +ourselves into crannies. It was rather a lively scene, as the General +was going down by the same train, and also Baden-Powell on his way +home to England. The latter first had a farewell muster of his men, +and we heard their cheers. Then he came up to the officers' carriage +with the General. I had not seen him before, and was chiefly struck by +his walk, which had a sort of boyish devil-may-care swing in it, while +in dress he looked like an ordinary trooper, a homely-looking service +jersey showing below his tunic. As the train steamed out we passed his +troops, drawn up in three sides of a square facing inwards, in their +shirt-sleeves. They sent up cheer after cheer, waving their hats to +Baden-Powell standing on the gangway. Then the train glided past camps +and piles of stores, till the last little outpost with its wood fire +was past, and on into the lonely bush. It was dark soon, and I lay on +my back among sacks, rifles, kit-bags, etc., looking at the stars, and +wondering how long this new move would keep me from the front. We +stopped many times, and at Hamman's Kraal took aboard some companies +of infantry. At intervals down the line we passed little posts of a +few men, sentries moving up and down, and a figure or two poring over +a pot on a fire. About midnight, after a rather uneasy slumber, I woke +in Pretoria. Raining. With the patient, sheep-like passivity that the +private soldier learns, we dragged ourselves and our kit from place to +place according to successive orders. A friendly corporal carried my +kit-sack, and being very slow on my feet, we finally got lost, and +found ourselves sitting forlornly on our belongings in the middle of +an empty, silent square outside the station (just where we bivouacked +a fortnight ago). However, the corporal made a reconnaissance, while I +smoked philosophical cigarettes. He found the rest in a house near by, +and soon we were sitting on the floor of a room, in a dense crowd, +drinking hot milk, and in our right minds; sick or wounded men of many +regiments talking, sleeping, smoking, sighing, and all waiting +passively. A benevolent little Scotch officer, with a shrewd, +inscrutable face, and smoking endless cigarettes, moved quietly about, +counting us reflectively, as though we were a valuable flock of sheep. +We sat here till about 2.30 A.M., when several waggons drove up, into +which we crowded, among a jumble of kit and things. We drove about +three miles, and were turned out at last on a road-side, where +lanterns and some red-shawled phantoms were glimmering about. We sat +in rows for some time, while officers took our names, and sorted us +into medical and surgical classes. Then a friendly orderly shouldered +my kit and led me into this tent. Here I stripped off everything, +packed all my kit in a bundle, washed, put on a clean suit of pyjamas, +and at about 4 A.M. was lying in this delicious bed, dead-beat, but +blissfully comfortable. Oddly, I couldn't sleep, but lay in a dreamy +trance, smoking cigarettes, with a beatific red-caped vision hovering +about in the half light. Dawn and the morning stir came, with fat soft +slices of fresh bread and butter and tea. I have been reading and +writing all day with every comfort. The utter relaxation of mind and +limb is a strange sensation, after roughing it on the veldt and being +tied eternally to two horses. + +There are twelve beds in this tent, and many regiments are represented +among the patients; there is an Imperial Light Horse man, who has been +in most of the big fights, a mercurial Argyll and Sutherland +Highlander, with a witty and voluble tongue; men of the Wilts, Berks, +and Yorks regiments, and in the next bed a trooper of the 18th +Hussars, who was captured at Talana Hill in the first fight of the +war, had spent seven months at Waterval in the barbed-wire cage which +we saw, and two since at the front. It was under his bed that the +escape-tunnel was started. He gave me an enthusiastic account of the +one "crowded hour of glorious life" his squadron had had before they +were captured. They got fairly home with the steel among a party of +Boers in the hills at the back of Dundee, and had a grand time; but +soon after found themselves surrounded, and after a desperate fight +against heavy odds the survivors had to surrender. + +_September 2._--Getting very hot. Foot slow. The reaction has run its +course, and I am getting bored. + +_September 4._--_Monday._--In the evening got a cable from "London," +apparently meant for Henry (my brother), saying "How are you?" and +addressed to "Hospital, Pretoria." Is he really here, sick or wounded? +Or is it a mistake for me, my name having been seen in a newspaper and +mistaken for his? I have heard nothing from him lately, but gather +that his corps, Strathcona's Horse, is having a good deal to do in the +pursuit of Botha, Belfast way. + +_September 5._--Got the mounted orderly to try and find out about +Henry from the other hospitals (there are many here), but, after +saying he would, he has never turned up and can't be found. There are +moments when one is exasperated by one's helplessness as a private +soldier, dependent on the good-nature of an orderly for a thing like +this. + +_September 6._--_Wednesday._--A man came in yesterday who had been a +prisoner of De Wet for seven weeks, having been released at Warm Baths +the day I left. He said De Wet had left that force a week before, +taking three hundred men, and had gone south for his latest raid. He +thought that De Wet himself was a man of fair ability, but that the +soul of all his daring enterprises was a foreigner named Theron. This +man has a picked body of thirty skilled scouts, riding on picked +horses, armed only with revolvers, and ranging seven or eight miles +from the main body. De Wet always rode a white horse, and wore a +covert coat. By his side rode ex-President Steyn, unarmed. The +prisoners were fed as well as the Boers themselves, but that was +badly, for they were nearly always short of food, and generally had +only Kaffir corn, with occasional meat. One day a prisoner asked a +field-cornet when they were going to get something to eat. "I don't +care if you're a brass band," he said, "but give us some food." "Well, +I'm very sorry," was the apologetic reply, "we've been trying for a +week to get one of your convoys; it will be all right when we get it." +De Wet himself was very pleasant to them, and took good care they got +their proper rations. They rode always on waggons, and he spoke +feelingly of the horrible monotony of the jolt, jolt, jolt, from +morning to night. They nearly always had a British force close on +their heels, and no sooner had they outspanned for a rest than it +would be "Inspan--trek." "Up you get, Khakis; the British are coming!" +Then pom-pom-pom, whew-w-w-w, as shells came singing over the +rear-guard. At these interesting moments they used to put the +prisoners in the extreme rear, so that the British if they saw them, +could not fire. He accounted for the superior speed of the Boers by +their skill in managing their convoy; every Boer is a born driver (in +fact, most of their black drivers had deserted), and they take waggons +over ground we should shudder at, leaving the roads if need be, and +surmounting impossible ascents. Again they confine their transport to +the limits of strict necessity, and are not cumbered with all the +waggon-loads of officers' kit which our generals choose to allow. +Their rapidity in inspanning is marvellous; all the cattle may be +scattered about grazing, but in five minutes from the word "Trek!" +they are inspanned and ready. Their horses, he said, were wretched, +and many rode donkeys; how they managed to get about so well he never +could understand, but supposed the secret of their success was this +body of well-mounted, reliable scouts, who saved all unnecessary +travelling to the main body. A very large proportion of the Boer force +were foreigners--French, Germans, Dutch, Russians, Norwegians. + +The soul of this tent is Jock, an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander. He +was wounded at Modder River, and is now nominally suffering from the +old wound, but there is nothing really the matter with him; and as +soon as the Sister's back is turned, he turns catherine wheels up the +ward on his hands. His great topic is the glory and valour of the +Highland Brigade, discoursing on which he becomes in his enthusiasm +unintelligibly Scotch. It is the great amusement of the rest of us to +get rises out of him on the subject, and furious arguments rage on the +merits of various regiments. He is as simple as a child, and really +seems to believe that the Highland Brigade has won the war +single-handed. He is no hand at argument, and gets crushing +controversial defeats from the others, especially some Berks men, but +he always takes refuge at last "in the thun rred line," as his last +entrenchment. "Had ye ever a thun rred line?" he asks, and they quail. +The matter came to a crisis yesterday, when one of them produced a +handbook on British regiments and their histories. The number of +"honours" owned by each regiment had been a hotly contested point, and +they now sat down and counted them. The Royal Berks had so +many--Minden, Waterloo, Salamanca, Vittoria, Sevastopol, etc. In +breathless silence those accredited to the Argyll and Sutherland +Highlanders were counted. There were fewer, and Jock was stunned at +first. "Ah, but ye ha' not counted the thun rred line," he shouted. +"Ga'rn, what battle's that?" they scoffed. "The battle of the thun +rred line," he persisted. Balaclava was on his list, but he didn't +even know it was there that his gallant regiment formed the thin red +line. Yet he had his revenge, for, by a laborious calculation, lasting +several hours, it was found that the united honours of the Scotch +regiments were greater than the united English or Irish. + +_September 6._--_Thursday._--I am allowed to go to a chair outside the +tent, a long, luxurious canvas lounge. In the valley below and to the +right lies Pretoria, half buried in trees, and looking very pretty. +Behind it rises a range of hills, with a couple of forts on the +sky-line. Across the valley lies quite a town of tents, mostly +hospitals. We all of us live in pyjamas; some wear also a long coat of +bright blue. Sisters flit about, dressed in light blue, with white +aprons and veils, and brilliant scarlet capes, so that there is no +lack of vivid colour. A road runs in front of the tent; an occasional +orderly gallops past, or a carriage passes with officers. + +_September 7._--To my delight this afternoon, I heard a voice at my +tent door, saying, "Is Childers here?" It turned out to be Bagenal, +one of the released Irish Yeomanry, and a friend of Henry's, who had +come from him to look for me. Henry is wounded in the foot, but now +"right as rain." He is in the Convalescent Camp, which is plainly +visible from here, about a mile off. It seems that by another lucky +coincidence he received letters meant for me, and so knew I was in +Pretoria. The whole affair abounds in coincidences, for had I answered +the cable home I should have said "foot slight," or something like it, +and he would have said the same. It would have done for either. We are +lucky to have found one another, for the Secretary's inquiries led to +nothing. + +I have been reading in the _Bloemfontein Post_ a report of the +Hospital Commission. I have no experience of General Hospitals, but +some of the evidence brings out a point which is heightened by +contrast with a hospital like this, and that is the importance of +close supervision of orderlies, on whom most of the comfort of a +patient depends. To take one instance only; if a man here is ordered +port wine, it is given him personally by the Sister. To give orderlies +control of wine and spirits is tempting them most unfairly. On the +whole, I should say this hospital was pretty well perfect. The Sisters +are kindness itself. The orderlies are well-trained, obliging, and +strictly supervised. The Civil Surgeon, Dr. Williams, is both skilful +and warm-hearted. There is plenty of everything, and absolute +cleanliness and order. + +_The Strange Story of the Occupation and Surrender of Klerksdorp, as +told by a Trooper of the Kimberley Light Horse, taken Prisoner about +July 10, by De Wet, released at Warm Baths on August 28, and now in +this ward._ + +Early in June, twenty-one men and four officers of the Kimberley Light +Horse rode out thirty miles from Potchefstroom, and summoned the town +of Klerksdorp to surrender. It is a town of fair size, predominantly +Dutch, of course, but with a minority of English residents. The +audacious demand of the Liliputian force was acceded to. They rode in, +and the British flag was hoisted. With charming effrontery it was +represented that the twenty-one were only the forerunners of an +overwhelming force, and that resistance was useless. The Dutch were +cowed or acquiescent, and a splendid reception was given to the army +of occupation; cheering, flag-waving, and refreshments galore. Their +commanding officer mounts the Town Hall steps, and addresses the +townspeople, congratulating them on their loyalty, announcing the +speedy end of the war, hinting at the hosts of British soon to be +expected, and praising the Mayor, a brother of General Cronje, for his +wise foresight in submitting; in return for which he said he would try +to obtain the release of the General from Lord Roberts. The troop is +then escorted by a frantic populace to their camping ground; willing +hands off-saddle the horses, while others ply the tired heroes with +refreshments. The town is in transports of joy. Days pass. The news +spreads, and burghers come in from all sides to deliver up their arms +to the Captain. He soon has no fewer than twelve hundred rifles, of +which he makes a glorious bonfire, thus disarming at one stroke a +number of Boers fifty times greater than his own force. There is no +sign of the overwhelming forces of the British, but their early +arrival is daily predicted, and the delay explained away. Meanwhile, +the twenty-one live in clover, eating and drinking the best of +everything, and overwhelmed with offers of marriage from adoring +maidens. Luxury threatens to sap their manhood. Guards and patrols are +unsteady in their gait; vigilance slackens. A grand concert is given +one night, during which the whole army of occupation is inside one +room. Two guards are outside, but these are Dutch police. At this +moment a handful of determined enemies could have ended the +occupation, and re-hoisted the Boer flag. Weeks pass, still the +British do not come, but the twenty-one hold sway, no doubt by virtue +of the moral superiority of the dominant race. + +But at last their whole edifice of empire tumbles into ruin with the +same dramatic suddenness with which it rose. The ubiquitous De Wet +marches up and surrounds the town with an overwhelming force; the +inevitable surrender is made, and the Boer flag flies again over +Klerksdorp after six glorious weeks of British rule by a score or so +of audacious troopers. + +_September 8._--Henry turned up in a carriage and pair, and we spent +all the afternoon together. It is a strange place to meet in after +seventeen months, he coming from British Columbia, I from London. A +fancy strikes me that it is symbolic of the way in which the whole +empire has rallied together for a common end on African soil. He is +still very lame, though called convalescent, and we are trying to work +his transfer over here. The day-sister has very kindly written a +letter to the commanding officer at his camp about it. We compared +notes, and found we had enough money to luxuriously watch his carriage +standing outside at five shillings an hour. It cost a pound, but it +was worth it. We had so much to talk about, that we didn't know where +to begin. A band was playing all the afternoon, and a tea-party going +on somewhere, to which Miss Roberts came. She came round the tents +also and talked to the men. It turns out that Henry and I both came +down from the front on the same day from widely different places, for +he was wounded at Belfast, under Buller. + +_September 9._--Jock gave us a complete concert last night, songs, +interspersed with the maddest, most whimsical patter, step-dances, +ventriloquism, recitations. He kept us in roars for a long time. +Blended with the simplicity of a baby, he has the wisdom of the +serpent, and has the knack of getting hold of odd delicacies, with +which he regales the ward. He is perfectly well, by the way, but +when the doctor comes round he assumes a convincing air of +semi-convalescence, and refers darkly to his old wound. The doctor is +not in the least taken in, but is indulgent, and not too curious. As +soon as his back is turned, Jock is executing a reel in the middle of +the ward. + +The I.L.H. man is very interesting. Like most of his corps, which was +recruited from the Rand, he has a position on a mine there, and must +be well over forty. He had been through the Zulu war too. His squadron +was with Buller all through the terrible struggle from Colenso to +Ladysmith, which they were the first to enter. They were shipped off +to the Cape and sent up to relieve Mafeking with Mahon. He has been in +scores of fights without a scratch, but now has veldt sores. He says +Colenso was by far the worst battle, and the last fortnight before the +relief of Ladysmith was a terrible strain. But he spoke very highly of +the way Buller fed his men. The harder work they did, the better they +fared. (The converse is usually the case.) I have heard the same thing +from other fellows; there seem to have been very good commissariat +arrangements on that side of the country. From first to last all men +who served under Buller seemed to have liked and trusted him. +Curiously enough, he says that Ladysmith was in far worse case than +Mafeking when relieved. The latter could have held out months longer, +he thinks, and they all looked well. In Ladysmith you could have blown +any of them over with a puff of air, and the defence was nearly broken +down. + +Judging from this casual intercourse, he represents a type very common +among colonial volunteers, but not encouraged by our own military +system--I mean that of the independent, intelligent, resourceful unit. +If there are many like him in his corps, it accounts amply for the +splendid work they have done. He told me that not one of them had been +taken prisoner, which, looking at the history of the war, and at the +kind of work such a corps has to do, speaks volumes for the standard +of ability in all ranks. But what I don't like, and can't altogether +understand, is the intense and implacable bitterness against the +Boers, which all South Africans such as him show. Nothing is too bad +for the Boers. "Boiling oil" is far too good. Deportation to Ceylon is +pitiful leniency. Any suggestion that the civilized customs of war +should be kept up with such an enemy, is scouted. Making all +allowances for the natural resentment of those who have known what it +is to be an Uitlander, allowing too for "white flag" episodes and so +on, I yet fail to understand this excess of animosity, which goes out +of its way even to deny any ability to Boer statesmen and soldiers, +regardless of the slur such a denial casts on British arms and +statesmanship. After all, we have lost ten thousand or more prisoners +to the Boers, and, for my part, the fact that I have never heard a +complaint of bad treatment (unnecessarily bad, I mean) from an +ex-prisoner, tells more strongly than anything with me in forming a +friendly impression of the enemy we are fighting. Many a hot argument +have we had about Boer and Briton; and I'm afraid he thinks me but a +knock-kneed imperialist. + +_September 10._--_Monday._--To my great delight, Henry turned up as an +inmate here, the commanding officer at the convalescent camp having +most kindly managed his transference, with some difficulty. The state +of his foot didn't enter into the question at all, but official +"etiquette" was in danger of being outraged. The commanding officer +was a very good chap, though, and Henry seems to have escaped somehow +in the tumult, unpursued. He had to walk over here. + +A wounded man from Warm Baths came in to-day, and said they had had +two days' fighting there; camp heavily shelled by Grobelaar. + +_September 13._--_Thursday._--Foot nearly well, but am not allowed to +walk, and very jealous of Henry, who has been given a crutch, and +makes rapid kangaroo-like progress with it. There are a good many in +his case, and we think of getting up a cripples' race, which Henry +would certainly win. + +Letters from Williams and Ramsey at the front. It seems Warm Baths is +evacuated, and the Brigade has returned to Waterval. Why? However, +it's nearer here, and will give me a chance of rejoining earlier. + +A splendid parcel arrived from home. A Jäger coat, chocolate, ginger, +plums, cigarettes. Old Daddy opposite revels in the ginger; he is the +father of the ward, being forty-seven, a pathetic, time-worn, +veldt-worn old reservist, utterly done up by the fatigues of the +campaign. He has had a bad operation, and suffers a lot, but he is +always "first-rate, couldn't be more comfortable," when the Sisters or +doctors ask him; "as long as I never cross that there veldt no more," +he adds. + +A locust-storm passed over the hospital to-day--a cloud of fluttering +insects, with dull red bodies and khaki wings. + +_September 15._--_Saturday._--My foot is well, at any rate for +moderate use, and I am to go out on Monday. What I should like, would +be to rejoin at once, but unfortunately one has first to go through +the intermediate stages of the Convalescent camp, and the Rest camp, +where "details" collect, to be forwarded to their regiments. I don't +look forward to being a detail at all. Henry's foot is much better, +and he is to go out on Monday too. He is still rather lame, though. It +has been most delightful having him here. + +The evenings are deliciously cool, and you can sit outside in pyjamas +till 8.30, when you are turned in. We sat out for long last night, +talking over plans. A staff officer has twice been in here, and seemed +much amused by us two brothers having fore-gathered. I asked him about +Paget's brigade, and he seemed to think they were still at or near +Waterval. + +_September 16._--_Sunday._--We went to church in the evening; a tent +pleasantly filled up, a Sister at the harmonium, hymns, a few prayers, +the Psalms, and a short sermon; a strange parti-coloured congregation +we were, in pyjamas, slippers and blue coats, some on crutches; +Sisters in their bright uniforms. Chairs were scarce, and Henry and I +sat on the floor. It was dark before the end, and in the dim light of +two candles at the harmonium we looked a motley throng. + +Both bound for the Convalescent camp tomorrow. + +_September 17._--_Monday._--What we actually did to-day, seeing the +commandant, regaining our kit, drawing new kit, might have been done +in half an hour; but we took from nine till three doing it, most of +which time we were standing waiting. However, about three we found +ourselves in a covered cart with five others and our kits, bound for +the Convalescent camp. We had said good-bye to the Sisters and our +mates. Old Daddy, I am glad to say, had "worked it," as they say, and +was radiant, having been marked up for home. No more of "that there +veldt" for him. Jock had already been sent out and given a post as +hospital orderly, and was now spreading the fame of the Highland +Brigade in new fields. We both felt, on the whole, that we had been +looked after very well in a very good hospital. + +The mules jolted us across the valley, and landed us at a big block of +tents, and we took places in one; mother earth again. Tea, the +milkless variety again, at 4.30, and then we went to Henry's old tent +in the General Hospital, which adjoins this camp, and talked to a +friend of his there, a man in the Rifle Brigade, with a bad splintered +knee. He was shot about the same time as Henry in a fine charge made +by his battalion, which I remember reading about. + +Both much depressed to-night; the atmosphere of this camp is like a +convict settlement. The food and arrangements are all right, but +nobody knows any one else; all are casual details from every possible +regiment and volunteer corps in the Empire. Nearly all are "fed up;" +nearly all want to get home. A vein of bitter pessimism runs through +all conversations; there is a general air of languor and depression. +Fatigues are the only occupation. I should go melancholy mad here, if +I stayed; but I shall apply to return to the Battery. Even then there +is another stage--the Rest camp--to be gone through. We sat up late +this night outside the lines, talking of this strange coincidence of +our meeting, and trying to plan future ones. He feels the same about +this place, but is still too lame to rejoin his corps. + +_September 18._--We washed in a stream some distance off, and then had +breakfast. Then general parade. There must be some two or three +hundred of us, and a wretched, slipshod lot we looked. A voice said, +"Those who want to rejoin their regiments, two paces to the front." A +few accepted the invitation. I gave in my name, and was told to parade +again at two, with kit packed. The next moment we were being split up +into fatigue parties. Fatigues are always a nuisance, but I don't mind +them under my own folk, with a definite necessary job to be done. A +fatigue under strange masters and with strange mates is very irksome, +especially when, as in this case, there is little really to be done, +but they don't want to leave you idle. This was a typical case. I and +a dozen others slouched off under a corporal, who showed us to a +sergeant, who gave us to a sergeant-major, who pointed to a line of +tents (Langman's Hospital), and bade us clean up the lines. To the +ordinary eye there was nothing to clean up, but to the trained eye +there were some minute fragments of paper and cigarette ends. Now the +great thing in a fatigue of this kind is: (1) To make it last. No good +hurrying, as fresh futilities will be devised for you. (2) To appear +to be doing something at all costs. (3) To escape unobtrusively at the +first opportunity. There are some past-masters in the theory and +practice of fatigues who will disregard No. 1, and carry on No. 2 till +the golden moment when, with inspired audacity, they achieve No. 3, +and vanish from the scene. This requires genius. The less confident +ploddingly fulfil Nos. 1 and 2, and don't attempt No. 3. Well, we +loitered up and down, and collected a few handfuls, and when we had +eked out the job to the uttermost, stood together in a listless knot +and waited. "What shall we do?" we asked the corporal. "Do any ---- +thing," he despairingly cried, "but do some ---- thing!" By this time +the sergeant-major too was at his wits' end as he looked round his +spotless lines. But you can't easily baffle a sergeant-major. There +was a pump, with a big tub by it, to catch the waste, I suppose. The +artistic possibilities of these simple objects flashed across him. In +his mind's eye he saw this prosaic tub sublimed into a romantic pool, +and girdled by a rockery, in whose mossy crannies errant trickles of +water might lose themselves, and perhaps fertilize exotic flora yet +unborn. At this moment I espied a wheelbarrow in the distance, and +went for it with that purposeful briskness, which may sometimes be +used in fatigues of this sort to disguise your real intentions. For it +is of the greatest importance in a fatigue to have an implement; it is +the outward symbol of labour; if observation falls on you, you can +wipe your brow and lean on it; you can even use it for a few minutes +if necessary. Without some stage property of this sort only a +consummate actor can seem to be busy. Well, I got to the barrow just +in time. There were two; a Grenadier Guardsman got the other, and amid +envious looks we wheeled them off towards a heap of rubble in the +offing, "conveniently low." Then, with a simultaneous sigh of relief, +we mechanically produced our pipes and tobacco, found comfortable +seats against the pile of rubble, and had a good chat, lazily watching +the genesis of the naiad's grotto in the distance. When we had had a +good smoke, and fought our battles over again, we got up and saw signs +that the fatigue was guttering out; so we put a few stones in each of +the barrows, and, well content, journeyed back to the scene of +operations, and laid our stones round the base of the tub, more +because we knew nowhere else to lay them than for any other reason, +for the sergeant-major had apparently forgotten his grandiose designs +in other schemes, and had disappeared. The fatigue party was thinning. +The corporal said what may be freely translated as "disappear +quietly," and we made off to our camp, where I found Henry, who had +doctor's leave to be excused fatigues, being lame. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A DETAIL. + + +_September 18, continued._--At two we paraded again with our kits, and +about a dozen of us marched off to the Rest camp, which is the next +stage. Everything was very hurried, but Henry had just time to tell me +that he was ordered to Bloemfontein, when I had to start. We said +good-bye, and I don't suppose will meet again till London. The Rest +camp was about four miles off, on the other side of Pretoria. Arrived +very hot and dusty. Waited some time, and then was told that I must go +to the Artillery Barracks, another two miles in quite a different +direction. I might just as well have gone there direct. However, I was +lucky enough to get a lift for my kit and myself most of the way, and +landed about 5.30 at a collection of big, red-brick buildings outside +the town, was handed from person to person for some time, and finally +found a resting-place on the floor of a huge bare room in a sort of a +tin outbuilding, where some 150 R.A. men of all batteries were sitting +or lying on their kit round the walls and down the centre; like lost +souls, I pictured them, sitting round one of Dante's purgatorial +retreats. I felt exactly like going to school again for the first +time, though, of course, I soon found them all very friendly. I +learned that there was no food to be got till to-morrow, but I foraged +about till I found a sort of canteen-tent, where they sold buns, and, +having some tea of my own, got water boiled over a friendly fire, and +now feel happier; but I fervently hope I shall get back to the Battery +soon. When I heard last from Williams, they had returned to Waterval +after some hard forced marching. + +_September 19._--Loafed away last evening somehow. A wan electric +light half lit the room after dark; the souls "twittered" like Homer's +in dejected knots. "Fatigues all day, and a pass into town once a +week," seem to be the prospect. Reveillé to-day at six. At parade, +after breakfast, I was told off to act as an office orderly to Captain +Davies, the Inspector of Ordnance, an all-day job, but otherwise with +possibilities in it, I judged. Found the office, swept it out, and +dusted and tidied things. Parlour-maid's work is nearly new to me (I +have only cleaned windows before, in barracks at St. John's Wood), and +I found myself trying to remember what I used to see Mary doing in the +flat. I fancy my predecessor must have been a "slattern," for +everything was thick with dust. I wish the Captain would leave his +matches behind; there is not a match to be got in Pretoria now for the +ordinary mortal. I'm afraid there are no perquisites in this +situation. Also I wish he would get a waste-paper basket. I have made +a humane resolve never to be without one myself, at home. Captain rode +up about 9.30; I tied up his pony, and then sat on a stone step +outside, feeling rather like a corner-boy trying to pick up a job. +Found a friendly collar-maker in a room near. He also is a "detail," +or "excess number," but a philosopher withal. He told me that from his +observation I had a "soft job."--Nothing happened, so I have adjourned +to some tarpaulins in the back yard. A shout of "Ord'ly" from the +office interrupted me, and I was sent with a blue letter to the Chief +Ordnance Officer in a camp about a mile away. Again to the same place +in the afternoon, and one or two other little errands, but between +whiles I had plenty of time to write. The Captain rode off about five, +and I somehow got attached to the collar-maker, who was extremely +friendly, and we spent the evening together. Looked in at a S.C.A. +tent, and found a service going on. The Chaplain of the Bushmen was +speaking. + +_September 20._--I got a pass and walked to Pretoria in the evening; +saw the place by daylight, and was rather disillusioned. The good +buildings and the best shops are in a very small compass, and are +nothing much at the best, though the Palace of Justice and the +Government buildings are tolerably dignified. All this part seems +quite new. There is very little to be bought. Indeed, the wonder is +that there is anything, for no trade supplies have come in since the +war began. By way of testing prices, I took a cup of tea and some cake +in a pleasant little shop; half a crown; worth it though, for the tea +had fresh milk in it. Groceries seem unobtainable, but I made a +valuable haul at a chemist's, in the shape of tea-tablets, which I +think are the most useful things one can have out here. Matches can't +be bought at all, but if you buy other things, and then are very +polite, they will throw in a box for love; at least, a tobacconist did +so for me. They used to be a shilling a box, but the authorities +limited the price to a penny, a futile proceeding. + +The charm of Pretoria lies in its outlying roads, with its cool little +villas peeping out of green. The place is very quiet, and every one is +in khaki. + +_September 12._--Can't get sent to the Battery yet. Our tin room grows +fuller. At night it is much too crowded, and is horribly stuffy; for +the nights are very hot. But I am quite at home now, and enjoy the +society, mixed though it is. I have literary arguments with a +field-battery bombardier. We both rather pity one another, for he +can't appreciate Thackeray and I can't understand Marie Corelli, whose +works, with their deep spiritual meaning, he speaks of reverently. He +hopes to educate me up to "Ardath," and I have offered him the +reversion of "Esmond," which I bought yesterday. + +Went down to town in the evening and visited the Irish Hospital, which +has commandeered the Palace of Justice, and turned it to better uses +than Kruger's venial judges ever put it to. The patients dwell "in +marble halls," spacious, lofty rooms. Had a pleasant chat with Dr. +Stokes. (The I.H. were shipmates of ours on the _Montfort_.) Also, to +my great delight, found two men of our Battery there; it was a great +treat to see familiar faces again. They said the Battery or part of it +was at Waterval. I don't see why I shouldn't rejoin at once if they +will only let me. I joined them in an excellent tea. They spoke most +highly of the hospital. I had no pass to get back with, and didn't +know the countersign, but I bluffed through all right. + +_September 22._--No prospect of getting away, though I apply daily to +rejoin. Sent down to Pretoria with a letter in the middle of the day, +so took the opportunity of visiting the Soldiers' Home, where you can +get mild drinks, read the papers, and write. Visited the Battery chaps +again in the evening. I have grown quite reckless about the lack of a +pass; "Orderly to Captain Davies," said in a very off-hand tone I +found an excellent form of reply to sentries. I have an "Esmond," and +am enjoying it for about the fiftieth time. It serves to pass away the +late evenings. A great amusement in the barrack-room after dark is +gambling. The amounts won and lost rather astonish me. Happily it is +done in silence, with grim intensity. But I have only an inch of +candle, and can't buy any more. Next me on the floor is a gunner of +the 14th Battery, which lost its guns at Colenso. He has just given me +a graphic account of that disastrous day, and how they fought the guns +till ammunition failed and then sat (what was left of them) in a donga +close behind, with no teams with which to get more ammunition or +retire the guns. I have also had the story of Sanna's Post from a U +Battery man who was captured there. He described how they were +marching through a drift one morning, with no thought of Boers in +their heads, when they suddenly attacked at close range, and were +helpless. I may mention a thing that strikes me about all such stories +(and one hears a good many out here) from soldiers who have been +"given away" by bad leadership. There is criticism, jesting and +satirical generally, but very little bitterness. Bravery is always +admired, but it is so universal as to be taken for granted. The +popularity of officers depends far more on the interest they show in +the daily welfare of the men, in personal good-fellowship, in +consideration for them in times of privation and exhaustion, when a +physical strain which tells heavily on the man may tell lightly on the +officers. It is a big subject and a delicate one, but rightly or +wrongly, I have got the impression that more might be done in the army +to lower the rigid caste-barrier which separates the ranks. No doubt +it is inevitable and harmless at home, but in the bloody, toilsome +business of war it is apt to have bad results. Of course is only part +of the larger question of our general military system, deep-rooted as +that is in our whole national life, and now placed, with all its +defects and advantages, in vivid contrast with an almost exactly +opposite system. + +_September 23._--_Sunday._--Ammunition fatigue for most of us, while I +attended as office-boy as usual, and was walking about with letters +most of the day. There are farriers and wheelers also at work in this +yard, so that one can always light one's pipe or make a cup of tea at +the forge fire. Just outside are ranged a row of antiquated Boer guns +of obsolete types; I expect they are the lot they used to show to our +diplomatic representative when he asked vexatious questions about the +"increasing armaments." I believe the Boers also left quantities of +good stores here when Pretoria was abandoned. These are fine new +barracks scarcely finished. They enclose a big quadrangle. Three or +four batteries, horse and field, are quartered in them now. Tried to +get to Pretoria after hours, but was stopped by a conscientious +sentry, who wanted my pass. I wished to get to the station, with a +vague idea of finding when there would be a train to Waterval, and +then running away. + +_September 24._--Worried the Sergeant-Major again, and was told that I +might get away to-morrow. Meanwhile, I am getting deeper in the toils. + +I was sitting on my tarpaulins writing, and feeling rather grateful +for the "softness" of my job, when a shout of "Ord'ly!" sent me into +the office. The Captain, who is a good-natured, pleasant chap, asked +me if I could do clerk's work. I said I was a clerk at home, and +thought I could. He said he thought I must find it irksome and lonely +to be sitting outside, and I might just as well pass the time between +errands in writing up ledgers inside. I was soon being initiated into +Ordnance accounts, which are things of the most diabolical complexity. +Ordnance comprises practically everything; from a gun-carriage to a +nail; from a tent, a waggon, a binocular, a blanket, a saddle, to an +ounce of grease and all the thousand constituents which go to make up +everything. These are tabulated in a book which is a nightmare of +subsections, and makes you dizzy to peruse. But no human brain can +tabulate Ordnance exhaustively, so half the book is blank columns, in +which you for ever multiply new subsections, new atoms of Ordnance +which nobody has thought of before. The task has a certain morbid +fascination about it, which I believe would become a disease if you +pursued it long enough, and leave you an analyticomaniac, or some +such horror. Myriad bits of ordnance are continually pouring in and +pouring out, and the object is to track them, and balance them, and +pursue every elusive atom from start to finish. It may be expendible, +like paint, or non-expendible, like an anvil. You feel despairingly +that a pound of paint, born at Kimberley, and now at Mafeking, is +disappearing somewhere and somehow; but you have to endow it with a +fictitious immortality. An anvil you feel safer about, but then you +have to use it somewhere, and account for its surplus, if there is +any. Any one with a turn for metaphysics would be at home in Ordnance; +Aristotle would have revelled in it. + +It has just struck me that 1s. 5d. a day for a charwoman, a messenger +and an accountant, to say nothing of a metaphysician, all rolled into +one, is low pay. In London you would have to give such a being at +least a pound a week. + +_September 25._--Ledgers, vouchers, errands, most of the day. Melting +hot, with a hot wind. Good news from the Sergeant-major that he is +putting in an application for a railway pass for me to Waterval, +without waiting for the other formalities. + +_September 26._--_Wednesday._--Hopes dashed to the ground. Commandant +won't sign the application till some other officer does something or +other, which there seems little chance of his doing. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SOUTH AGAIN. + +Ordered home--Back to the Battery--Good-bye to the horses--The charm +of the veldt--Recent work of the Battery--Paget's farewell speech-- +Hard-won curios--The last bivouac--Roberts's farewell--The southward +train--De Wet?--Mirages--A glimpse of Piquetberg road--The _Aurania_-- +Embarkation scenes--The last of Africa--A pleasant night. + + +September 27 was a red-letter day. News came that all the C.I.V. were +going home on the following Monday. I was overwhelmed with +congratulations in the barrack-room. I exercised the Captain's +Argentine in the afternoon, and visited the station, where I learnt +that the Battery had been wired for, and had arrived, but was camped +somewhere outside. + +On the next day I got another charwoman-clerk appointed, said good-bye +to my R.A. friends and the Captain, who congratulated me too, and was +free to find the Battery and rejoin. After some difficulty, I found +them camped about four miles out, close to the C.I.V. Infantry. It was +delightful to walk into the lines, and to see the old familiar scenes, +and horses, and faces. Every one looked more weather-beaten and +sunburnt, and the horses very shaggy and hard-worked, but strong and +fit. My mare had lost flesh, but was still in fine condition. The +Argentine was lashing out at the others in the same old way. Tiny, the +terrier, looked very weary and travel-stained after much forced +marching, which she had loyally undergone to the last. Jacko had not +turned a hair. + +Williams turned up with "Pussy" in a lather, having been hunting for +me all round Pretoria. We ate bully-beef and biscuit together in the +old style. I took my pair down to water for the last time, "for auld +lang syne," and noticed that the mare's spine was not the comfortable +seat it used to be. + +Then the last "boot and saddle" went, and they were driven away with +the guns and waggons to the station, and thence to the remount depôt, +to be drafted later into new batteries. Ninety-four horses were handed +over, out of a hundred and fourteen originally brought from England, a +most creditable record. + +The camp looked very strange without the horses, and it was odder +still to have no watering or grooming to do. In the evening, the +change from barrack-room to veldt was most delightful. We made a fire +and cooked tea in the old way, and talked and smoked under the soft +night sky and crescent moon. Then what a comfortable bed afterwards! +Pure air to breathe, and plenty of room. I felt I had hardly realized +before how pleasant the veldt life had been. + +The Battery had done a great deal of hard work since I left; forced +marches by night and day between Warmbad, Pynaar's River, Waterval, +Hebron, Crocodile River, and Eland's River; generally with Paget, once +under Colonel Plumer, and once under Hickman. They had shared in +capturing several Boer laagers, and quantities of cattle. When they +left the brigade, a commando under Erasmus was negotiating for a +surrender, which was made a day or two later, as we afterwards heard. +Altogether, they had done very good work, though not a round was +fired. I only wish I could have been with them. + +One thing I deeply regret missing, and that was Paget's farewell +speech to us, when all agree that he spoke with real and deep feeling. +One of our gunners took it down in shorthand, and here it is:-- + +"Major McMicking, Officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the +C.I.V. Battery,-- + +"Lord Roberts has decided to send you home, and I have come to say +good-bye and to express my regret at having to part with you. We have +been together now for some months, and have had rough times, but in +its many engagements the C.I.V. Battery has always done its work well. +Before my promotion I commanded a battalion, and I know what a +heart-breaking it is to lead gallant fellows up to a strong position +unsupported by artillery; and I made up my mind that, if ever I had a +separate command, I would never advance infantry without an artillery +support. I was fortunate enough to have your Battery with me, and it +is very gratifying to know that everything we attempted has been +successful. Owing to the excellent practice made by your guns, you +have the satisfaction of knowing that you have been the cause of great +saving of lives to the Infantry, and at times the Cavalry. I am sorry +to lose you, and I shall miss you very much. There is more hard work +to be done; and you cannot realize what it is to me to lose a body of +men whom I knew I could always rely upon. There are many episodes, +some of which will remain a lasting memory to me. One in particular I +might refer to, when, two days after leaving Lindley, two companies of +Munster Fusiliers came unexpectedly under heavy rifle-fire at short +range; your guns coming smartly into action, dispersed the enemy with +a few well-directed shrapnel. It was one of the smartest pieces of +work I have ever seen. On another occasion, outside Bethlehem (I +forget the name of the place),[A] when in a rear-guard action with De +Wet, you advanced under a heavy cross-fire of shrapnel, when you +rendered splendid service, and saved Roberts' Horse by silencing two +guns and smashing a third. On that day not a single life was lost on +our side. On still another occasion, outside Bethlehem, under heavy +shell-fire from five guns in a strong position, the steadiness with +which your guns were served would have done credit to the finest +troops in the Empire. There are other incidents that I might mention, +but these three occur to me specially at the moment. You are returning +home, to receive a hearty welcome, which you undoubtedly deserve, and +I hope you will sometimes think of me, as I certainly shall of you; +and now you can tell your friends what I think of you. I wish you a +safe and pleasant voyage. Good-bye." + +[Footnote A: Bultfontein.] + +We shall also tell them what we thought of him. There was not a man of +us but liked, admired, and trusted him--as I know did his whole +brigade. And that he trusted us, is an honour we shall not forget. + +It was good to be going home again; but I think every one felt half +sorry that we were not to share in finishing the work before his +brigade. The whole C.I.V. regiment was being sent home together; but +the Infantry, of course, had done the bulk of their work when we began +ours. It was curious that this was the first occasion on which the +three arms of the C.I.V., Infantry, Mounted Infantry, and Artillery, +had been united under one command. + +We spent the next two days in preparations for departure, in sorting +of harness, sifting and packing of kit, and great burnings of +discarded rubbish. + +On the first of October, Williams and I walked into Pretoria to do +some business, and try and pick up some curios. We had an exhausting +conflict with a crusty old Jew, with whom we bargained for scjamboks +and knobkerries. It was with great difficulty we got him to treat with +us at all, or even show us his wares. He had been humbugged so often +by khakis that he would not believe we were serious customers, and +treated our advances with violence and disdain. We had to be +conciliatory, as we wanted his wares, though we felt inclined to loot +his shop, and leave him for dead. After some most extraordinary +bargaining and after tempting him with solid, visible gold, we each +secured a scjambok and a knobkerry at exorbitant prices, and left him +even then grumbling and growling. + +Scjamboks are whips made of rhinoceros' hide. They take a beautiful +polish, and a good one is indestructible. A knobkerry is a stick with +a heavy round knob for a head, overlaid, head and stem, with copper +and steel wire, in ingenious spirals and patterns. The Kaffirs make +them. + +I also wired to my brother to meet our train at Elandsfontein. He had +written me, saying he had been sent there from the Convalescent Camp, +having the luck to find as his commandant Major Paul Burn-Murdoch, of +the Royal Engineers, who was a mutual friend of ours. + +I was on picket duty that night--my last on the veldt. The camp looked +very strange with only the four lines of men sleeping by their kits, +and a few officers' horses and a little knot of ten mules for the last +buck-waggon. It was an utterly still moonlight night, only broken by +the distant chirruping of frogs and the occasional tinkle of a mule's +chain. + +At seven the next morning we met the C.I.V. Infantry and Mounted +Infantry, and were all reviewed by Lord Roberts, who rode out with his +Staff to say good-bye to us. He made us a speech we were proud to +hear, referring particularly to the fine marching of the Infantry, and +adding that he hoped we would carry home to the heart of the country a +high opinion of the regular British soldier, alongside whom we had +fought. That we certainly shall do. He prophesied a warm reception at +home, and said he hoped when it was going on we would remember one +man, our Honorary Colonel, who would have liked to be there to march +at our head into the city of London; "good-bye and God speed." Then we +cheered him and marched away. + +At half-past twelve we were at the station, where the guns had already +been entrained by a fatigue party. Ours was the first of three trains, +and was to carry the Battery, and two companies of Infantry. Williams +and I secured a small lair underneath a limber in an open truck, and +bundled in our kit. The platform was crowded with officers and +Tommies, and many and envious were the farewells we had. Kilsby, of T +Battery, whom I had made friends with at the barracks, was there to +see me off. At 4.30, amidst great cheering, we steamed out and began +the thousand mile run to Capetown, slowly climbing the long wooded +pass, under an angry, lowering sky. At the top a stormy sun was +setting in a glowing furnace of rose-red. We hastily rigged some +tarpaulins over our limber, and escaped a wetting from a heavy shower. +We had managed to distribute and compress our kit so as to leave room +to lie down in, and after dark we lit a lantern and played picquet. +About eight we came to Elandsfontein, and there on the platform were +my brother and Major Burn-Murdoch. The latter hurried us off to the +restaurant--forbidden ground to us men as a rule, sat us down among +the officers, and gave us a rattling good dinner, while our comrades +munched their biscuits outside. De Wet, we heard, was ahead, having +crossed the line with 1000 men, two nights ago, further south. We +agreed that it would be a happy irony if he held up our train, the +first to carry troops homeward--the herald of peace, in fact; and just +the sort of enterprise that would tickle his fancy. Suddenly the train +jerked off, and I jumped into my lair and left them. It was a warm +night, and we sat under the stars on the seats of the limber, enjoying +the motion and the cool air. About ten we pulled up at a station, and +just after we had stopped, four rifle-shots rapped out in quick +succession not far ahead. De Wet, we at once conjectured. In the +darkness on our left we heard an impatient corporal turning out his +sleepy guard, and a stir and clatter of arms. One of our companies of +infantry was also turned out, and a party formed to patrol the line, +outposts having reported some Boers tampering with the rails. The rest +of the train was sound asleep, but we, being awake, got leave to go +with the patrol. Williams borrowed a rifle from somewhere, but I could +not find a weapon. They made us connecting files between the advance +party and main body, and we tramped up the line and over the veldt for +about an hour, but nothing happened, and we came back and turned in. + +De Wet let us alone, and for five days we travelled peaceably through +the well-known places, sometimes in the pure, clear air of true +African weather, but further south through storms of cold rain, when +Scotch mists shrouded everything, and we lay in the bottom of our +truck, on carefully constructed islands of kit and blankets, among +pools of water, passing the time with books and cards. Signs of war +had not disappeared, and at every station down to Bloemfontein were +the same vigilant camps (often with parties posted in trenches), more +charred remains of trains, and ever-present rumours of raiding +commandos. + +One novel sight I saw in the interminable monotony of desert veldt. +For a whole afternoon there were mirages all along the horizon, a +chain of enchanted lakes on either side, on which you could imagine +piers, and boats, and wooded islands. + +At Beaufort West we dropped our "boys," the Kaffir mule-drivers; they +left us in a great hubbub of laughing and shouting, with visions +before them, I expect, of a golden age, based on their accumulated +wealth of high pay. We passed Piquetberg Road about midnight of +October 6th. Plumbley, the store-keeper, was there, and the belle of +the village was holding a moonlight levée at the end of the train. +There was a temporary clear from the rain here, but it soon thickened +down again. When we steamed away I climbed out on the buffers (the +only way of getting a view), and had a last look at the valley, which +our wheels had scored in so many directions. Tulbagh Pass, Bushman's +Rock, and the hills behind it were looking ghostly through a humid, +luminous mist; but my posture was not conducive to sentimentality, as +any one who tries it will agree; so I climbed back to my island, and +read myself to sleep by a candle, while we clattered and jolted on +into the night. + +When I woke at dawn on October 7th we were standing in a siding at the +Capetown docks, the rain coming down in torrents, and Table Mountain +blotted out in clouds. Collecting our kit from sopping crannies and +corners, we packed it and paraded at six, and marched off to the quay, +where the _Aurania_, our homeward transport, lay. Here we gave in +revolvers, carbines, blankets, etc., were split up into messes, and, +after much waiting, filed off into the fore part of the ship, +descended a noisome-smelling funnel by an iron staircase, and found +ourselves on the troop-deck, very similar to that of the _Montfort_, +only likely to be much more crowded; the same low ceiling, with +cross-rafters for kit and hooks for hammocks, and close-packed tables +on either side. + +More C.I.V. had arrived, and the quays were swarming with soldiers and +civilians. Williams had decided to stay and see something of Capetown, +and was now to get his discharge. There were a few others doing so +also. He was discharged in form, and drove away to the Mount Nelson +Hotel, returning later disguised as a civilian, in a long mackintosh +(over his uniform), a scarf, and a villainous-looking cap; looking, as +he said, like a seedy Johannesburg refugee. But he was free! The +Manager of his hotel, which, I believe, is the smartest in South +Africa, had looked askance at his luggage, which consisted of an +oat-sack, bulging with things, and a disreputable-looking bundle. + +At about three there was a great shouting and heaving of the crowd, +and the High Commissioner came on the scene, and walked down the quay +through a guard of honour which we and the Infantry had contributed to +form, industriously kinematographed on his progress by a fat Jew. +Several staff-officers were with Milner, and a grey-bearded gentleman, +whom we guessed to be Sir Gordon Sprigg. Milner, I heard, made a +speech somewhere. Then a band was playing, and we were allowed half an +hour off the ship. Williams and I had our last talk on the quay, in a +surging crowd of khaki and civilian grey, mingled with the bright hats +and dresses of ladies. Then bells began to ring, the siren to bellow +mournfully, and the band to play valedictory tunes ("Say _au revoir_ +and not goodbye," I thought rather an ominous pleasantry). We two said +good-bye, and I squeezed myself up the gangway. Every inch of standing +room aboard was already packed, but I got a commanding position by +clambering high up, with some others, on to a derrick-boom. The pilot +appeared on the bridge, shore-ropes were cast off, "Auld Lang Syne" +was played, then "God save the Queen." Every hat on board and ashore +was waving, and every voice cheering, and so we backed off, and +steamed out of the basin. + +Sober facts had now to be considered. There were signs of a heavy +swell outside, and something about "the lift of the great Cape +combers" came into my head. We all jostled down to tea, and made the +best of our time. There was no mistake about the swell, and a terrific +rolling soon began, which first caused unnatural merriment, and then +havoc. I escaped from the inferno below, and found a pandemonium on +deck. The limited space allotted to the troops was crammed, and at +every roll figures were propelled to and fro like high-velocity +projectiles. Shell-fire was nothing to it for danger. I got hold of +something and smoked, while darkness came on with rain, and the +horrors intensified. I bolted down the pit to get some blankets. One +glance around was enough, and having seized the blankets, up I came +again. Where to make a bed? Every yard, sheltered and unsheltered, +seemed to be carpeted with human figures. Amidships, on either side of +the ship, there was a covered gallery, running beneath the saloon deck +(a palatial empty space, with a few officers strolling about it). In +the gallery on the weather side there was not an inch of lying room, +though at every roll the water lapped softly up to and round the +prostrate, indifferent bodies. On the lee side, which was dry, they +seemed to be lying two deep. At last, on the open space of the main +deck aft, I found one narrow strip of wet, but empty space, laid my +blankets down, earnestly wishing it was the dusty veldt, and was soon +asleep. It was raining, but, like the rest, misery made me +indifferent. _Montfort_ experience ought to have reminded me that the +decks are always washed by the night watch. I was reminded of this +about 2 A.M. by an unsympathetic seaman, who was pointing the nozzle +of a hose threateningly at me. The awakened crowd was drifting away, +goodness knows where, trailing their wet blankets. I happened to be +near the ladder leading to the sacred precincts of the saloon deck. +Its clean, empty, sheltered spaces were irresistibly tempting, and I +lawlessly mounted the ladder with my bed, lay down, and went to sleep +again. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CONCLUSION. + +Impressions of the voyage--Sentry-go--Troopship--Limitations-- +Retrospect--St. Vincent--Forecasts--The Start--The Needles-- +Southampton Water--Landing--Paddington--A dream. + + +I am not going to describe the voyage in detail. Africa, with all it +meant, was behind us, England was before, and the intervening time, +monotonous though it was, passed quickly with that absorbing thought. +My chief impression is that of living in an eternal jostle; forming +interminable _queues_ outside canteens, washing-places, and stuffy +hammock-rooms in narrow alleys, and of leisure hours spent on deck +among a human carpet of khaki, playing euchre, or reading the +advertisement columns of ancient halfpenny papers. There was physical +exercise, and a parade every day, but the chief duty was that of +sentry-go, which recurred to each of us every five days, and lasted +for twenty-four hours. The ship teemed with sentries. To look out for +fire was our principal function, and a very important one it was, but +I have also vivid recollections of lonely vigils over water-tight +doors in stifling little alley-ways, of directing streams of traffic +up troop-deck ladders, and of drowsy sinecures, in the midnight hours, +over deserted water-taps and empty wash-houses. These latter, which +contained fourteen basins between fourteen hundred men, are a good +illustration of the struggle for life in those days. That a sentry +should guard them at night was not unreasonable on the face of it, +since I calculated that if every man was to appear washed at the ten +o'clock parade, the first would have had to begin washing about six +o'clock the night before, allowing ten minutes for a toilet, but +unfortunately for this theory, the basins were always locked up at +night. Another grim pleasantry was an order that all should appear +shaved at the morning parade. Luckily this cynical regulation was +leniently interpreted, for the spectacle of fourteen hundred razors +flashing together in those narrow limits of time and space was a +prospect no humane person could view with anything but horror. + +There was plenty of time to reflect over our experiences in the last +nine months. Summing mine up, I found, and thinking over it at home +find still, little but good in the retrospect. Physically and +mentally, I, like many others, have found this short excursion into +strict military life of enormous value. To those who have been lucky +enough to escape sickness, the combination of open air and hard work +will act as a lasting tonic against the less healthy conditions of +town-life. It is something, bred up as we have been in a complex +civilization, to have reduced living to its simplest terms and to have +realized how little one really wants. It is much to have learnt the +discipline, self-restraint, endurance and patience which soldiering +demands. (For a driver, it is a liberal education in itself to have +lived with and for two horses day and night for eight months!) Perhaps +the best of all is to have given up newspaper reading for a time and +have stepped one's self into the region of open-air facts where +history is made and the empire is moulded; to have met and mixed with +on that ground, where all classes are fused, not only men of our blood +from every quarter of the globe, but men of our own regular army who +had fought that desperate struggle in the early stages of the war +before we were thought of; to have lived their life, heard their +grievances, sympathized with their needs, and admired their splendid +qualities. + +As to the Battery, it is not for a driver in the ranks to generalize +on its work. But this one can say, that after a long and trying +probation on the line of communications we did at length do a good +deal of work and earn the confidence of our Brigadier. We have been +fortunate enough to lose no lives through wounds and only one from +sickness, a fact which speaks highly for our handling in the field by +our officers, and for their general management of the Battery. +Incidentally, we can fairly claim to have proved, or helped to prove, +that Volunteer Artillery can be of use in war; though how much skill +and labour is involved in its sudden mobilization only the few able +men who organized ours in January last can know. + +To return to the _Aurania_. + +On the 19th of October we were anchored at St. Vincent, with the +fruit-laden bum-boats swarming alongside, and the donkey-engines +chattering, derricks clacking, and coal-dust pervading everything. + +Here we read laconic telegrams from London, speaking of a great +reception before us on Saturday the 27th, and thenceforward the talk +was all of runs, and qualities of coal, and technical mysteries of the +toiling engines, which were straining to bring us home by Friday +night. Every steward, stoker, and cabin boy had his circle of +disciples, who quoted and betted on his predictions as though they +were the utterings of an oracle; but the pessimists gradually +prevailed, for we met bad weather and heavy head-seas on entering the +bay. It was not till sunrise on Friday itself that we sighted land, a +white spur of cliff, with a faint suggestion of that long unseen +colour, green, behind it, seen across some miles of wind-whipped +foaming blue. The optimists said it was the Needles, the pessimists +the Start; the latter were right, and we guessed we should have to +wait till Monday before landing; but that did not lessen the delight +of watching the familiar shores slide by till the Needles were +reached, and then of feasting our eyes, long accustomed to the parched +plains of Africa, on fields and hedges, and familiar signs of homely, +peaceful life. + +It was four o'clock when we dropped anchor in Southampton Water, and +were shouting a thousand questions at the occupants of a tug which lay +alongside, and learnt with wonder, emotion, and a strange sense of +unworthiness, of the magnificent welcome that London had prepared for +us. + +The interminable day of waiting; the landing on the quay, with its +cheering crowds; that wonderful journey to London, with its growing +tumult of feelings, as station after station, with their ribboned and +shouting throngs, flashed by; the meeting at Paddington with our +comrades of the Honourable Artillery Company, bringing us their guns +and horses; the mounting of a glossy, smartly-equipped steed, which +made me laughingly recall my shaggy old pair, with their dusty, +travel-worn harness; all this I see clearly enough. The rest seems a +dream; a dream of miles of upturned faces, of dancing colours, of +roaring voices, of a sudden dim hush in the great Cathedral, of more +miles of faces under gaslight, of a voice in a packed hall saying, +"London is proud of her--," of disconnected confidences with +policemen, work-people, street-arabs, and finally of the entry once +more through the old grey gateway of the Armoury House. I expect the +feelings of all of us were much the same; some honest pride in having +helped to earn such a welcome; a sort of stunned bewilderment at its +touching and passionate intensity; a deep wave of affection for our +countrymen; and a thought in the background all the time of a dusty +khaki figure still plodding the distant veldt--our friend and comrade, +Atkins, who has done more and bloodier work than we, and who is not at +the end of it yet. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In the Ranks of the C.I.V., by Erskine Childers + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V. *** + +***** This file should be named 13235-8.txt or 13235-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/3/13235/ + +Produced by Clare Boothby, Ben Harris and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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