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diff --git a/15131-8.txt b/15131-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7f7541 --- /dev/null +++ b/15131-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5899 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of With Rimington, by L. March Phillipps + +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: With Rimington + +Author: L. March Phillipps + +Release Date: February 21, 2005 [EBook #15131] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH RIMINGTON *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Garrett Alley, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +WITH RIMINGTON + + +BY + +L. MARCH PHILLIPPS + +LATE CAPTAIN IN RIMINGTON'S GUIDES + + + +SECOND IMPRESSION + + + +LONDON + +EDWARD ARNOLD + +37 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. + +1902 + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +_DEDICATION_ + + +_This book is dedicated to the memory of my friend Lieutenant Gustavus +Coulson, D.S.O., of the King's Own Scottish Borderers, who fell at +Lambrechtfontein on May 19, 1901._ + +_The Colonel in command writes that in that action Lieutenant Coulson +rallied some men and saved a gun from falling into the enemy's hands. He +lost his life in bringing off a wounded man from under the enemy's fire. +For this deed, the last of many deeds as brave, he was recommended for +the Victoria Cross._ + +_I knew him from his childhood, and on the march from Lindley to +Pretoria, and thence far south to Basutoland, we often rode together, +and talked of West Country sport and his Devonshire home and faces that +we both knew and loved there._ + +_A keen soldier, a cheery comrade, and a brave and kindly English +gentleman, he stands, it seems to me, the very type of those gallant +boys who in this South African war have died for England_. + + + + +PREFACE + + +These letters were written without any idea of publication, and it was +not until I had been home some months that suggestions from one or two +sources caused me to think of printing them. They appear much as they +were written, except that sometimes several letters dealing with the +same event have been thrown into one; and occasionally a few words have +been added to fill up gaps. In no case have I been wise after the event, +or put in prophecies which had already come off. + +The parts in inverted commas are extracts from note-books which I used +to carry about in my pocket, and these passages I have left just as they +were jotted down, thinking that such snap-shots of passing scenes might +have an interest of their own. + +It is unlucky from a descriptive point of view that the big actions and +fine effects should all have occurred during the first part of the war, +leaving the dulness and monotony for the later stages. During the last +six months of my service it was not my chance to see any important +action, though slight skirmishing was constant, and I find therefore +nothing in the later letters of a very exciting nature. + +Such as they are, however, these letters contain a quite faithful +account of things that happened under my own eyes throughout the chief +stages of the western campaign. During the early part of the war many +things happened that were splendid to see and that it gave me great +pleasure to write about. During the later stages nothing particularly +splendid occurred, though the patience and endurance of our men were in +their way fine; but some things happened which were, as we say, +regrettable; and these things also are in their turn briefly described. + + L.M.P. + + 15 BURY STREET, + ST. JAMES'S, S.W. + + + + +CONTENTS + +LETTER PAGE + + I. ORANGE RIVER CAMP 1 + + II. BELMONT 8 + + III. GRASPAN 15 + + IV. MODDER RIVER 22 + + V. THE 4.7 30 + + VI. MAGERSFONTEIN 34 + + VII. A RECONNAISSANCE 43 + + VIII. SCOUTING ON THE MODDER 49 + + IX. THE ADVANCE 59 + + X. RELIEF OF KIMBERLEY 63 + + XI. PAARDEBERG--THE BOMBARDMENT 73 + + XII. PAARDEBERG--THE SURRENDER 77 + + XIII. POPLAR GROVE 83 + + XIV. BLOEMFONTEIN 89 + + XV. MODDER REVISITED 97 + + XVI. JUSTIFICATION OF THE WAR 104 + + XVII. THE MARCH NORTH 112 + +XVIII. PRETORIA 126 + + XIX. THE MARCH SOUTH 139 + + XX. PRINSLOO'S SURRENDER--I 151 + + XXI. PRINSLOO'S SURRENDER--II 165 + + XXII. FIGHTING AND TREKKING 173 + +XXIII. WRITTEN FROM HOSPITAL 185 + + XXIV. FIGHTING AND FARM-BURNING 192 + + XXV. THE SITUATION 205 + + XXVI. PLAIN MISTER! 217 + + + + +WITH RIMINGTON + + + + +LETTER I + +ORANGE RIVER CAMP + + +ORANGE RIVER, _November_ 18, 1899. + +The sun is just rising on Orange River Camp. Our tents are pitched on +the slopes of white sand, soft and deep, into which you sink at every +step, that stretch down to the river, dotted with a few scraggy +thorn-trees. There are men round me, sleeping about on the sand, rolled +in their dark brown blankets, like corpses laid out, covered from head +to foot, with the tight folds drawn over their feet and over their +heads. A few bestir themselves, roll, and stretch, and draw back the +covering from their sleepy, dusty faces. The first sunbeams begin to +creep along the ground and turn the cold sand yellow. + +I am beginning this letter in the shade of a mimosa. The whole scene +reminds me very much of Egypt; and you might easily believe that you +were sitting on the banks of the Nile somewhere between the first and +second cataract. There are the same white, sandy banks, the same narrow +fringe of verdure on each side, the same bareness and treelessness of +the surrounding landscape, the same sun-scorched, stony hillocks; in +fact, the whole look of the place is almost identical. The river, slow +and muddy, is a smaller Nile; there only wants the long snout and heavy, +slug-like form of an old crocodile on the spit of sand in the middle to +make the likeness complete. And over all the big arch of the pure sky is +just the same too. + +Our camp grows larger and rapidly accumulates, like water behind a dam, +as reinforcements muster for the attack. Methuen commands. We must be +about 8000 strong now, and are expecting almost hourly the order to +advance. Below us De Aar hums like a hive. From a deserted little +wayside junction, such as I knew it first, it has blossomed suddenly +into a huge depôt of all kinds of stores, provisions, fodder, +ammunition, and all sorts of material for an important campaign. Trains +keep steaming up with more supplies or trucks crowded with khaki-clad +soldiers, or guns, khaki painted too, and the huge artillery horses that +the Colonials admire so prodigiously. Life is at high pressure. Men talk +sharp and quick, and come to the point at once. Foreheads are knit and +lips set with attention. Every one you see walks fast, or, if riding, +canters. There is no noise or confusion, but all is strenuous, rapid +preparation. + +Do you know Colonials? In my eight months of mining life at Johannesburg +I got to know them well. England has not got the type. The Western +States of America have it. They are men brought up free of caste and +free of class. When you come among Colonials, forget your birth and +breeding, your ancestral acres and big income, and all those things +which carry such weight in England. No forelocks are pulled for them +here; they count for nothing. Are you wide-awake, sharp, and shrewd, +plucky; can you lead? Then go up higher. Are you less of these things? +Then go down lower. But always among these men it is a position simply +of what you are in yourself. Man to man they judge you there as you +stand in your boots; nor is it very difficult, officer or trooper, or +whatever you are, to read in their blunt manners what their judgment is. +It is lucky for our corps that it has in its leader a man after its own +heart; a man who, though an Imperial officer, cares very little for +discipline or etiquette for their own sakes; who does not automatically +assert the authority of his office, but talks face to face with his men, +and asserts rather the authority of his own will and force of character. +They are much more ready to knock under to the man than they would be to +the mere officer. In his case they feel that the leader by office and +the leader by nature are united, and that is just what they want. + +There are Colonials out here, as one has already come to see, of two +tolerably distinct types. These you may roughly distinguish as the +money-making Colonials and the working Colonials. The money-making lot +flourish to some extent in Kimberley, but most of all in Johannesburg. +You are soon able to recognise his points and identify him at a +distance. He is a little too neatly dressed and his watch-chain is a +little too much of a certainty. His manner is excessively glib and +fluent, yet he has a trick of furtively glancing round while he talks, +as if fearful of being overheard. For the same reason he speaks in low +tones. He must often be discussing indifferent topics, but he always +looks as if he were hatching a swindle. There is also a curious look of +waxworks about his over-washed hands. + +This is the type that you would probably notice most. The Stock Exchange +of Johannesburg is their hatching-place and hot-bed; but from there they +overflow freely among the seaside towns, and are usually to be found in +the big hotels and the places you would be most likely to go to. Cape +Town at the present moment is flooded with them. But these are only the +mere froth of the South African Colonial breed. The real mass and body +of them consists (besides tradesmen, &c., of towns) of the miners of the +Rand, and, more intrinsically still, of the working men and the farmers +of English breed all over the Colony. It is from these that the fighting +men in this quarrel are drawn. It is from these that our corps, for +instance, has been by the Major individually and carefully recruited; +and I don't think you could wish for better material, or that a body of +keener, more loyal, and more efficient men could easily be brought +together. + +Many of them are veterans, and have taken part in some of the numerous +African campaigns--Zulu, Basuto, Kaffir, Boer, or Matabele. They are +darkly sunburnt; lean and wiry in figure; tall often, but never fat (you +never see a fat Colonial), and they have the loose, careless seat on +horseback, as if they were perfectly at home there. As scouts they have +this advantage, that they not only know the country and the Dutch and +Kaffir languages, but that they are accustomed, in the rough and varied +colonial life, to looking after themselves and thinking for themselves, +and trusting no one else to do it for them. You can see this +self-reliance of theirs in their manner, in their gait and swagger and +the way they walk, in the easy lift and fall of the carbines on their +hips, the way they hold their heads and speak and look straight at you. + +Your first march with such a band is an episode that impresses itself. +We were called up a few days ago at dead of night from De Aar to relieve +an outlying picket reported hard pressed. In great haste we saddled by +moonlight, and in a long line went winding away past the artillery lines +and the white, ghostly tents of the Yorkshires. The hills in the still, +sparkling moonlight looked as if chiselled out of iron, and the veldt +lay spread out all white and misty; but what one thought most of was the +presence of these dark-faced, slouch-hatted irregulars, sitting free and +easy in their saddles, with the light gleaming dully on revolver and +carbine barrel. A fine thing is your first ride with a troop of fighting +men. + +Though called guides we are more properly scouts. Our strength is about +a hundred and fifty. A ledger is kept, in which, opposite each man's +name, is posted the part of the country familiar to him and through +which he is competent to act as guide. These men are often detached, and +most regiments seem to have one or two of ours with them. Sometimes a +party is detached altogether and acts with another column, and there +are always two or three with the staff. Besides acting as guides they +are interpreters, and handy men generally. All these little subtractions +reduce our main body to about a hundred, or a little less; and this main +body, under Rimington himself, acts as scouts and ordinary fighting men. +In fact, a true description of us would be "a corps of scouts supplying +guides to the army." + +One word about the country and I have done. What strikes one about all +South African scenery, north and south, is the simplicity of it; so very +few forms are employed, and they are employed over and over again. The +constant recurrence of these few grave and simple features gives to the +country a singularly childish look. Egyptian art, with its mechanical +repetitions, unchanged and unvaried, has just the same character. Both +are intensely pre-Raphaelite. + +South Africa's only idea of a hill, for instance, is the pyramid. There +are about three different kinds of pyramid, and these are reproduced +again and again, as if they were kept all ready made in a box like toys. +There is the simple kopje or cone, not to be distinguished at a little +distance from the constructed pyramids of Egypt, just as regular and +perfect. Then there is the truncated or flat-topped pyramid, used for +making ranges; and finally the hollow-sided one, a very pretty and +graceful variety, with curving sides drooping to the plain. These are +all. Of course there are a few mistakes. Some of the hills are rather +shakily turned out, and now and then a kopje has fallen away, as it +were, in the making. But still the central idea, the type they all try +for, is always perfectly clear. Moreover, they all are, or are meant to +be, of exactly the same height. + +Most strange and weird is this extraordinary regularity. It seems to +mean something, to be arranged on some plan and for some humanly +intelligible purpose. In the evenings and early mornings especially, +when these oft-repeated shapes stand solemnly round the horizon, cut +hard and blue against the sky like the mighty pylons and propylons of +Egyptian temples, the architectural character of the scenery and its +definite meaning and purpose strike one most inevitably. So solemn and +sad it looks; the endless plains bare and vacant, and the groups of pure +cut battlements and towers. As if some colossals here inhabited at one +time and built these remains among which we now creep ignorant of their +true character. The scenery really needs such a race of Titans to match +it. In these spaces we little fellows are lost. + +Well, farewell. My next will be after some sort of a contest. There has +been a touch or two; enough to show they are waiting for us. A corporal +of ours was shot through the arm yesterday and struggled back to camp on +another man's horse. The dark-soaked sleeve (war's colour for the first +time of seeing!) was the object, you may guess, of particular attention. + + + + +LETTER II + +BELMONT + + +BELMONT SIDING. + +It is to be called Belmont, I believe, from the little siding on the +railway near which it was fought. On the other hand it may be called +after the farm which it was fought on. Who decides these things? I have +never had dealings with a battle in its callow and unbaptized days +before, and it had never occurred to me that they did not come into the +world ready christened. Will Methuen decide the point, or the war +correspondents, or will they hold a cabinet council about it? Anyhow +Belmont will do for the present. + +What happened was the simplest thing in the world. The Boers took up +their position in some kopjes in our line of march. The British +infantry, without bothering to wait till the hills had been shelled, +walked up and kicked the Boers out. There was no attempt at any plan or +scheme of action at all; no beastly strategy, or tactics, or outlandish +tricks of any sort; nothing but an honest, straightforward British march +up to a row of waiting rifles. Our loss was about 250 killed and +wounded. The Boer loss, though the extent of it is unknown, was probably +comparatively slight, as they got away before our infantry came fairly +into touch with them. The action is described as a victory, and so, in a +sense, it is; but it is not the sort of victory we should like to have +every day of the week. We carried the position, but they hit us hardest. +On the whole, probably both sides are fairly satisfied, which must be +rare in battles and is very gratifying. + +Our mounted men, Guides, 9th Lancers, and a few Mounted Infantry, +marched out an hour before dawn. A line of kopjes stood up before us, +rising out of the bare plain like islands out of the sea, and as we +rounded the point and opened up the inner semicircle of hills, we could +distinguish the white waggon tops of the Boer laager in a deep niche in +the hillside, and see the men collecting and mounting and galloping +about. By-and-by, as we advanced, there came a singing noise, and +suddenly a great pillar of red dust shot up out of the ground a little +to our left. "That's a most extraordinary thing," thinks I, deeply +interested, "what land whale of these plains blows sand up in that +fashion?" Then I saw several heads turned in that direction, and heard +some one say something about a shell, and finally I succeeded in +grasping, not without a thrill, the meaning of the phenomenon. + +The infantry attack came off on the opposite side of the ridge from +where we were, and we could see nothing of it. But we heard. As we drew +alongside of the hills, suddenly there broke out a low, quickly uttered +sound; dull reports so rapid as to make a rippling noise. The day was +beautifully fine, still, and hot. There was no smoke or movement of any +kind along the rocky hill crest, and yet the whole place was throbbing +with Mausers. This was the first time that any of us had listened to +modern rifle fire. It was delivered at our infantry, who on that side +were closing with their enemy. + +The fire did not last long, though in the short time it did terrible +damage, and men of the Northumberlands and Grenadiers and Coldstreams +were dropping fast as they clambered up the rocky hillside. But that +brief burst of firing was the battle of Belmont. In that little space of +time the position had been lost and won, and we had paid our price for +it. During the march across the flat, as I have been told since, our +loss was comparatively light; but when the climbing of the hill began, +numbers of Boers who had been waiting ready poured in their fire. All +along the ridge, from behind every rock and stone, the smokeless Mausers +cracked (it was then the fire rose to that rippling noise we were +listening to on the other side of the range), and the sleet of bullets, +slanting down the hill, swept our fellows down by scores. But there was +never any faltering. They had been told to take the hill. Two hundred +and fifty stopped on the way through no fault of theirs. The rest went +on and took it. That's the way our British infantry put a job through. + +Soon, on our side, scattered bands of the enemy began to emerge from the +kopjes and gallop north, whilst right up at the top of the valley their +long convoy of waggons came into view, trekking away as hard as they +could go, partly obscured by clouds of dust. We made some attempts to +stop them, but our numbers were too few. Though defeated, they were not +in any way demoralised, and the cool way in which they turned to meet +us showed that they knew they were safe from the infantry, and did not +fear our very weak cavalry. We did not venture to press the matter +beyond long shots. Had we done so, it was evident we should have been +cut up. + +Various little incidents occurred. This one amused me at the moment. We +had captured a herd of cattle from some niggers who had been sent by the +Boers to drive them in, and I was conveying them to the rear. From a +group of staff officers a boy came across the veldt to me, and presently +I heard, as I was "shooing" on my bullocks, a very dejected voice +exclaim, "How confoundedly disappointing." I looked round and saw a lad +gazing ruefully at me, with a new revolver tied to a bright yellow +lanyard ready in his hand. "I thought you were a Boer," he said, "and I +was going to shoot you. I've _got leave_ to shoot you," he added, as +though he were in two minds about doing the job anyway. I looked at him +for a long while in silence, there seemed nothing to say, and then, +still ruefully, he rode away. This, you will understand, was right up +our end of the valley, and I was driving cattle on to our ground, only I +had a soft hat on. + +We have plenty of youngsters like this; brave, no doubt, but thoughtless +and quite careless about the dangerous qualities of the men they have to +meet. "They'll live and learn," people say. They'll learn if they live, +would perhaps be nearer the mark. The Boers, on the other hand, such as +I have seen yet, are decidedly awkward-looking customers, crafty, but +in deadly earnest, versed in veldt wars and knowing the country to an +anthill. Looking from one to the other, I fear there are many mothers in +England who'll go crying for their boys this campaign. + +Later a troop of us penetrated into the deep recess among the hills +where they had their laager. It seemed evident, from the number of +waggons and the amount of clothing and stores left behind and littered +in every direction, that the Boers had not expected to be shifted nearly +so suddenly as they were. There were heaps of provisions, quantities of +coffee tied up in small bags, sugar, rice, biltong, _i.e._ dried strips +of flesh, a sort of bread biscuit much used by them on the march, and +made at the farms, and other things. All were done up in small +quantities in such a way that individual men could carry it. There were +waggons loaded, or half loaded, with old chests and boxes, and many +heaped about the ground. Most contained clothes, and the place was +strewn in all directions with blankets, greatcoats, and garments of all +sorts, colours, and sizes. I annexed a very excellent black mackintosh, +quite new and splendidly lined with red; a very martial and imposing +garment. + +Diligent search was made for any paper or memoranda, which might show +the plans or strength of the enemy, but all we found were the +love-letters of the young Boers, of which there were vast numbers, +extremely amusing. It never seems to have occurred to any of the writers +that they could be going to get the worst of it. They seem to put the +responsibility for the management of the whole campaign into the hands +of the Deity. They are religious but practical. "God will protect us. +Here is a pound of coffee," is about what they all come to. It is the +fashion to scoff at the calm way in which our enemies have appropriated +the services of the Almighty, but all the same it shows a dangerous +temper. People who believe they have formed this alliance have always +been difficult to beat. You remember Macaulay's Puritan, with his "Bible +in one hand and a two-edged sword in the other." The sword has given +place to a Mauser now, but I am not sure that we are likely to benefit +much by the change. As to the Bible, it is still very much in evidence. +Not a single kit but contained one; usually the family one in old brown +leather. Now it is an historical fact that Bible-reading adversaries are +very awkward customers to tackle, and remembering that, I dislike these +Bibles. + +More practically important than love-letters and Bibles, we found also a +lot of abandoned ammunition, shell and Mauser. Our ambulance parties +were at work in the hills. Several Boers, as they fled, had been shot +down near the laager. We found one, shot through the thigh, groaning +very much, and carried him into the shade of a waggon, and did what we +could for him. Meantime some of us had gathered bits of boxes and wood, +and made a fire and boiled water. Tea-cups, coffee, sugar, and biscuits +were found, and we made a splendid feast in the midst of the desolation. +Horrid, you will say, to think of food among the dead and wounded. And +yet that coffee certainly was very good. Somehow I believe the Boers +understand roasting it better than we do. + +Before going we collected all the ammunition and heaped it together and +made a pile of wood round it which we set ablaze and then drew out into +the plain and reined in and looked back. Never shall I forget the view. +The hills, those hills the English infantry had carried so splendidly, +were between us and the now setting sun, and though so close were almost +black with clean-hacked edges against the sunset side of the sky. To +eastward the endless grassy sea went whitening to the horizon, crossed +in the distance with the horizontal lines of rich brown and yellow and +pure blue, which at sunrise and sunset give such marvellous colouring to +the veldt. The air here is exactly like the desert air, very +exhilarating to breathe and giving to everything it touches that +wonderful clearness and refinement which people who have been brought up +in a damp climate and among smudged outlines so often mistake for +hardness. Our great ammunition fire in the hollow of the hill burned +merrily, and by-and-by a furious splutter of Mauser cartridges began, +with every now and then the louder report of shells and great smoke +balls hanging in the air. But sheer above all, above yellow veldt and +ruined Boer laager, rose the hill, the position we had carried, grim and +rigid against the sunset and all black. And, with the sudden sense of +_seeing_ that comes to one now and then, I stared at it for a while and +said out loud "Belmont!" And in that aspect it remains photographed in +my memory. + + + + +LETTER III + +GRASPAN + + +_November_ 26, 1899. + +We marched out from our Orange River Camp on November 22nd, and fought +at Belmont on the 23rd. On the 24th we marched north again, and on the +25th (yesterday) fought another action at Graspan, or, as some call it, +Enslin--there is still the difficulty about names. March a day and fight +a day seems the rule so far. + +At home, when you are criticising these actions of Methuen, you must +always bear two facts in mind. First, we are bound to keep our line of +communication, that is, the railway, open, and hold it as we advance. We +can bring Kimberley no relief unless we can open and guard the railway, +and so enable supplies to be poured into the town. Second, we are not +strong enough, and above all not mobile enough, while holding the +railway to attempt a wide flanking movement which might threaten the +Boer retreat, or enable us to shell and attack from two sides at once. +If we had anything like a decent force of mounted men I suppose we could +do it, but with our handful to separate it from the main body would be +to get it cut off. "Want of frigates" was to be found on Nelson's heart, +as he said on some occasion, and I am sure by this time that "want of +cavalry" must be written on poor Methuen's. So you must figure to +yourself a small army, an army almost all infantry, and an army tied to +the railway on this march; and if we bring off no brilliant strategy, +but simply plod on and take hard knocks, well, what else, I ask, under +the circumstances can we do? + +Yesterday in the early morning we found ourselves emerging from some +stony hills with a great plain before us about four miles wide, I should +think, with an ugly-looking range of hills bounding it on the north and +the railway running north and south on our left. This we had every +reason to believe was the enemy's position; toll-gate No. 2 on the +Kimberley road. We went on to reconnoitre. Rimington led us straight +towards the hills in open order, and when we were somewhere about rifle +range from them, we right turned and galloped in line along their front; +but no gun or rifle spoke. When we reached the eastern point of the +range, we turned it and rode on with the hills on our left; and now, +with the Lancers a little farther out on our right, we offered too good +a shot for the enemy to resist. They opened on us with, as I thought +three, but others think two, guns, and put in some quick and +well-directed shots, of which the first one or two fell short and the +rest went screaming over our heads and fell among the Lancers. + +One point of difference, I notice, so far as a short experience goes, +between cavalry and infantry, which is all in favour of the cavalry; and +that is, that when they get into fire the infantry go calmly on, while +the much wiser cavalry generally run away. We retired from these guns, +but when opposite the corner of the range the Lancers got on to some +bad ground in front of us, and we had to halt a minute, which gave the +Boer Long Tom an excellent chance of a few parting words with us. The +first shell came along, making the mad noise they do, whooping and +screaming to itself, and plunged into the ground with a loud snort only +about thirty or forty yards off. The gunner, having got his range, was +not long in sending down another, and when the white curl of smoke +appeared lying again on the hillside, one guessed that the individual +now on his way would prove a warmish customer. It burst with a most +almighty crack, and I involuntarily bent down my head over my horse's +neck. "Right over your head," shouted the next man, in answer to my +question as to where it burst. + +If you are at all interested in "projectiles," you may care to hear that +shrapnel is most effective when it bursts over, but a little short of, +the object aimed at; the bullets, released by the bursting charge, +continuing the line of flight of the shell, which is a downward slant. +There is a rather anxious interval, of about ten or fifteen seconds +generally after you see the smoke of the gun, and before anything else +happens. Then comes the hollow boom of the report, and almost +immediately afterwards the noise of the shell, growing rapidly from a +whimper to a loud scream, with a sudden note of recognition at the end, +as if it had caught sight of and were pouncing on you. It is a curious +fact, however, that, in spite of the noise they make, you cannot in the +least distinguish in which direction they are coming. You find yourself +looking vaguely round, wondering where this yelling devil is going to +ground, but till you see the great spurt of earth you have no idea where +it will be. We came back across the plain, having more or less located +the position and the guns. Rimington with one squadron got into a tight +place among some kopjes on our right. The rifle fire was very hot, and +at close range. The Major took up his orderly, whose horse was shot, on +his own pony, and brought him off. For a moment the squadron came under +cover of a hill, but they had to run the gauntlet of the Boer fire to +get away. Rimington laughingly asked for a start as his pony was +carrying double, and rode first out into the storm of bullets. Several +men and horses were hit, but no men killed, and they were lucky in +getting off as cheap as they did. We then drew back to a cattle kraal on +the slope overlooking the plain, from which we watched the development +of the infantry attack. + +I usually carry a note-book and pencil in my pocket, partly to jot down +any information one may pick up at farms from Kaffirs, &c., and partly +to make notes in of the things I see. Here is a note from the kraal. + +"10 A.M.--There is a wide plain in front of me, four miles across, flat +as the sea, and all along the farther side a line of kopjes and hills +rising like reefs and detached islands out of it. You might think the +plain was empty at first glance, but, if you look hard, you will see it +crawling with little khaki-clad figures, dotted all over it; not packed +anywhere, but sprinkled over the whole surface. They are steadily but +very leisurely converging on the largest end hill of the opposite range. +Meantime, from three or four spots along the sides of those hills, locks +and puffs of white smoke float out, followed at long intervals by deep, +sonorous reports; and if you look to the left a bit, where our naval +guns are at work, you will see the Boer shells bursting close to or over +them. The artillery duet goes on between the two, while still the +infantry, unmolested as yet, crawls and crawls towards those hills." + +This is our first sight of an infantry attack, and it doesn't impress me +at first at all. Its cold-bloodedness, the absence of all excitement, +make it so different from one's usual notions of a battle. It is really +difficult to believe that those little, sauntering figures are +"delivering an attack." They don't look a bit as if they were going to +fight. The fact is, they have a long distance to cover before reaching +the hills, and must go fairly slow. Accordingly, you see them strolling +leisurely along as if nothing particular were happening; while the hills +themselves, except for the occasional puffs of smoke, look; quite bare +and empty; ridges of stone and rock, interspersed with grass tussocks, +heaped up against the hot, blue sky. + +But now, as they advance farther across the plain, the muffled, +significant sound of the Mauser fire begins. The front of the attack is +already so far across that it is impossible to see how they are faring +from here; but it is evident that our shell fire, heavy though it has +been, for all our guns have been in action some time now, has not turned +the Boers out of their position. The big chunks of rock are an +excellent defence against shrapnel, and behind them they lie, or down in +the hollow of the hills, as we saw them earlier in the day, to be called +up when the attack approached; and now, gathering along the crest, their +fire quickens gradually from single shots to a roar. But it has no +effect on that fatal sauntering! Of the men who leave this side nigh on +two hundred will drop before they reach the other, but still, neither +hurrying nor pausing, on they quietly stroll, giving one, in their +uniform motion over that wide plain, a sense as of the force and +implacability of some tidal movement. And, as you watch, the +significance of it all grows on you, and you see that it is just its +very cold-bloodedness and the absence of any dash and fury that makes +the modern infantry attack such a supreme test of courage. + +Of the details of the attack, when it came to the last charge, we could +see nothing. The Naval Brigade, who had the hardest part of the position +to take, lost terribly, but did the job in a way that every one says was +perfectly splendid. It is said, however, that they made the mistake, in +the scaling of the hill, of closing together, and so offering a more +compact mass to the enemy's fire. We came on behind the infantry with +our friends the Lancers, and passed through a gap in the range and on +across some open ground and through a few more kopjes as fast as we +could go. Then we came in sight of the enemy, and the same thing +happened as at Belmont. A lot of horsemen, enough to have eaten us up, +that were hanging about the rear of the Boer column, came wheeling out +against us, and as we continued to approach, opened fire. Luckily there +was good cover for our ponies behind some hillocks, and, leaving them +there, we crawled out among the rocks and blazed at the Boers. But this +was all we could do. We daren't attack. The only hope was guns, and it +was a long and inexplicable time before any guns came up. By that time +the Boer column was almost across the plain, winding its way in among +the kopjes on the farther side, but the 15-pounders made some very +pretty practice at the rear-guard, and considerably hastened their +movements. The Boer retreat seems to have been conducted with much +coolness and method. They ceased firing their big guns while the attack +was still a good way distant, and limbered up and sent them on, the +riflemen remaining till the attack was close upon them, and firing their +last shots right in our infantry's faces, then rushing down to their +horses and mounting and galloping off. No doubt, they exposed themselves +a bit in doing this, but pumped and excited men can't be expected to +shoot very straight, and I'm afraid their losses were light compared to +ours. They have now retired, we presume, to the next range of kopjes, +there to smoke their pipes and read their Bibles and await our coming. I +suppose we shall be along to-morrow or next day. + + + + +LETTER IV + +MODDER RIVER + + +MODDER RIVER CAMP, + +_December 1_, 1899. + +We had a great old fight here two days ago, and suffered another +crushing victory; but though I saw it all, I daresay you know more about +the whole thing by this time than I do. + +This is Modder River, deep and still, just beneath my feet. It is a +lovely, cloudless morning, and going to be a very hot day. I am writing +my letter on the banks of the river in the shade of green trees and +shrubs, with birds singing and twittering, and building their nests +round me; it is spring-time here, you know, or early summer. Here and +there, sauntering or sitting, are groups of our khaki soldiers enjoying +mightily a good rest after the hard work, marching and fighting, of the +last ten days. From the river-bed come voices calling and talking, +sounds of laughing, and now and then a plunge. Heads bob about and +splash in the mud-coloured water, and white figures run down the bank +and stand a moment, poised for a plunge. Three stiff fights in seven +days doesn't seem to have taken much of the spring out of them. + +You would scarcely think it was the scene of a battle, and yet there are +a few signs. If you look along the trees and bushes, you see here and +there a bough splintered or a whole trunk shattered, as though it had +been struck by lightning. A little lower down the river there is a shed +of corrugated iron, which looks as if some one had been trying to turn +it into a pepper-pot by punching it all over with small holes. They run +a score to the square foot, and are a mark of attention on the part of +our guards, who, lying down over yonder in the plain, could plainly +distinguish the light-coloured building and made a target of it. In many +places the ground is ploughed up in a curious way, and all about in the +dust lie oblong cylinders of metal, steel tubes with a brass band round +one end. These would puzzle you. They are empty shell cases. The tops, +as you see, have been blown off, which is done by the bursting charge +timed by a fuse to ignite at a certain range, _i.e._, above and a little +short of the object aimed at. The explosion of the bursting charge by +the recoil, checks for an instant the flight of the shell, and this +instant's check has the effect of releasing the bullets with which the +case is filled. These fly forward with the original motion and impetus +of the shell itself, spreading as they go. Horizontal fire is easy to +find cover against, but these discharges from on high are much more +difficult to evade. For instance, ant-hills are excellent cover against +rifles, but none at all against these shells. It is shrapnel, as this +kind of shell is called, that does the most mischief. The round bullets +(200 to a caseful) lie scattered about in the dust, and mixed with them +are very different little slender silvery missiles, quite pretty and +delicate, like jewellers' ornaments. These are Lee-Metford bullets. You +could pick up a pocketful in a short time. + +The action itself was mainly an infantry one. Here are one or two +jottings taken that day:-- + +"_November 26th_, 7.30 A.M.--We left camp, six miles south of Modder +River, a little before daylight and marched north. The country is like +what one imagines a North American prairie to be, a sea of whitish, +coarse grass, with here and there a low clump of bushes (behind one of +which we are halted as I write this). One can see a vast distance over +the surface. Along the north horizon there is a ripple of small hills +and kopjes, looking blue, with the white grass-land running up to them. +It is a comparatively cool morning with a few light clouds in the sky +and a pleasant breeze. On our left is the railway, and all along on our +right, extending far in front and far behind, advances the army." + +"We incline to the left near to the railway. The horrid, little, +grey-bluish, armoured train crawls in front. It is dreadfully excited +always in presence of the enemy, darting forward and then running back +like a scorpion when you tease it with your stick-end. One can see by +its agitation this morning that the enemy are not far off. Behind it +comes a train of open trucks with the famous Naval Brigade, with their +guns, search-light, &c. The river flows somewhere across the landscape +yonder in the plains. One cannot see it, but a few belts of bushes +indicate its course. It is just that awkward moment before one gets +touch of the enemy. They, no doubt, can see us (I wonder how they like +the look of us), but we cannot see them. They must be somewhere along +the river among those bushes, and probably in trenches. But where does +their main strength lie? where are their guns? There goes fire, away on +the right (probably at the Lancers, who are the right flankers); the +dull short discharge of Mausers. The train moves forward a hundred +yards, but as yet the men keep their places, clustered in the trucks. +Two officers standing on a carriage roof watch with a telescope the +distant fire. It has now ceased. A flag-wagger flutters his flag in +eager question. Nothing moves on the plain save here and there a lonely +prowling horseman, cantering on, or dismounted and peering through his +glass. It was three minutes to eight when the first shot was fired. +'This will be a bit more history for the kiddies to learn,' yawns the +next man to me, leaning idly over his pony." + +"It is a half-hour later as the great guns begin their booming; that +solemn, deep-toned sound like the striking of a great cathedral clock. +We moved forward to the top of a rise overlooking the distant river and +village." + +"A dead level stretches below us to the river, marked by some bush tufts +and the few roofs of Modder River village. The Naval Brigade have got +their four guns in the plain just near the foot of our hill. They are +hard at work now bombarding the enemy's big gun by the river. This, +after a while, is almost silenced. Each time it speaks again the deadly +naval guns are on to it. At last, when it does fire, it shows by its +erratic aim that its best gunners are out of action." + +"9.30.--The naval guns draw slowly closer to the river. Every shell +bursts along the opposite bank where the enemy are. More to the right +and nearer the river our field-batteries are pounding away as hard as +they can load and fire. All the time the subdued rumble of Maxims and +rifles goes on, like a rumble of cart-wheels over a stony road. Now it +increases to one continuous roar, now slackens till the reports +separate. Now, after one and a half hours, the fight seems to be +concentrating towards the village opposite. A haze of smoke hangs over +the place. The guns thunder. The enemy's Maxim-Nordenfelt goes +rat-tat-tat a dozen times with immense rapidity. 'Come in,' says a Tommy +of the Grenadiers who has come to our hill for orders; and indeed it +sounds exactly like some one knocking at a street door. Now the +under-current of rifle fire becomes horrible in its rapidity. Can +anything in that hell down there be left alive? Suddenly their plucky +big gun opens again and sends several well-directed shells among our +batteries. The naval guns turn their attention to it immediately. You +can see the little, quick glints of fire low along the ground at each +discharge, and then the bursting shell just over the big gun on the +river-bank." + +"10 A.M.--Both sides are sticking to the business desperately. The +rattle of rifle-fire is one low roar. The air shudders and vibrates +under it. Now the naval guns draw towards the river again; so do the +rest of our batteries. Things can't stand at this tension. The big gun +speaks again, but wildly; its shell bursts far out on the plain." + +"10.30.--The aspect of the place is now awful. The breeze has died a +little and the smoke hangs more. It is enveloped in a haze of yellow and +blue vapour, partly from bursting shell and partly firing guns. Those +volumes of smoke, with gleams of fire every now and then, make it look +like some busy manufacturing town, and the blows and throbs with which +the place resounds convey the same idea." + +"11 A.M.--The fight is dogged as ever but slower. There are cessations +of firing altogether, and it is comparatively slow when continued. The +stubbornness of the enemies' resistance to our attack and to the fearful +shelling they have had is calling forth expressions of astonishment and +admiration from the onlooking officers on the hill." + +"As the circle narrowed and our attack concentrated on the village and +bridge, we all thought that the end was coming, and, on a lull of the +firing about 11.30 the Major even exclaimed, 'There, I think that's the +end, and I can only say thank God for it.' But he was wrong. He had +scarcely said it when that indomitable heavy gun of theirs, re-supplied +with gunners, began again; again the Naval guns, on a tested range, +crack their shrapnel right in its face; the batteries all open and soon +the whole orchestra is thundering again. That dreadful muttering, the +'rub-a-dub, a-dub-a-dub, a-dub-a-dub' (say it as fast as you can) of the +rifles keeps on; through all the noise of fire, the sharp, quick bark of +the Boer Maxim-Nordenfelt sounds at intervals and the mingled smoke and +dust lies in a haze along the river." + +It was, all through, almost entirely an infantry action, but about the +middle of the day we were sent down to the river on the Boer right, as +parties of the enemy were thought to be breaking away in that direction. +And here, I am sorry to say, poor Parker who had served in the +Greek-Turkish war, and used to beguile our long night marches with +stories of the Thessalian hills and the courage of the Turks, was hit, +it is feared mortally. The fight itself continued with intermissions all +day, and even in the evening, though parts of the Boer position had been +captured and many of them had fled, there were some who still made good +their defence, holding out in places of vantage with the greatest +obstinacy. These took advantage of the night to escape, and it was not +till next morning that we had the place in our possession. The Boers +themselves, as we are told by people here, thought the position +impregnable. Certainly it was very strong. The river has cut a channel +or groove thirty feet deep in the ground; the edges, sharp and distinct, +so that men can lie on the slant and look out across the plain. A big +loop in the river is subtended by a line of trenches and rifle-pits +hastily dug (they only decided twenty-four hours before the attack to +defend the position; this by Cronjé's advice, who had just come south +from Mafeking, the others were for retiring to the next range of hills), +from which the whole advance of our infantry across the level is +commanded. "We," as the soldiers explained to me, "could see nothing in +our front but a lot of little heads popping up to fire and then popping +down again." These shelters, a long line of them, are littered thick +with empty cartridge cases, hundreds in each; one thinks involuntarily +of grouse-driving. Bodies, still unburied, lay about when I was there. +Such odours! such sights! The unimaginable things that the force of shot +and shell can do to poor, soft, human flesh. I saw soldiers who had +helped to do the work turn from those trenches shaking. + + + + +LETTER V + +THE FOUR POINT SEVEN + + +MODDER RIVER CAMP, + +_December_ 1899. + +A few days ago we welcomed a distinguished stranger here in the shape of +a long 4.7 naval gun. They set him up in the road just outside the +station, with his flat-hatted sailors in zealous attendance, where he +held a day-long levée. The gun is a remarkable object among the rest of +our artillery. Its barrel, immensely long but very slender, has a +well-bred, aristocratic look compared with the thick noses of our +field-guns. It drives its forty-five pound shell about seven miles, and +shoots, I am told, with perfect accuracy. It is an enlarged edition of +the beautiful little twelve-pounders which we have hitherto been using, +and which exceed the range of our fifteen-pounder field-guns by about a +half. Why should naval guns be so vastly superior to land ones? + +I interviewed the sailors on the accomplishments of the new-comer, and +on the effects especially of lyddite, about which we hear so much. One +must allow for a little friendly exaggeration, but if the mixture of +truth is in any decent proportion, I should say that spades to bury dead +Boers with are all the weapons that the rest of us will require in +future. The gun uses shrapnel as well, but relies for its main effects +on lyddite. As for this horrible contrivance, all I can say is that the +Geneva Conference ought to interdict it. The effects of the explosion of +a lyddite shell are as follows:--Any one within 50 yards is obliterated, +blown clean away. From 50 to 100 yards they are killed by the force of +the concussion of the air. From 100 to 150 yards they are killed by the +fumes or poisonous gases which the shell ex-hales. From 150 to 200 they +are not killed, but knocked senseless, and their skin is turned to a +brilliant green colour. From 200 to 250 they are so dazed and stupefied +as to be incapable of action, and, generally speaking, after that any +one in the district or neighbourhood of the shock is "never the same man +again." This is no mere rumour, for I have it direct from the naval +gunners themselves. + +This morning, well before light, we took out our gentleman, dragged by +an immense string of oxen, to introduce him to his future victims and +whet his appetite by a taste. The Boer position lies some six miles to +the north of the river. The most conspicuous feature of it is a hill +projecting towards us like a ship's ram and dipping sharply to the +plain. Magersfontein, they call it. The railway going north leaves it to +the right, but other hills and kopjes carry on the position westward +across the railway, barring an advance. It is evident that we shall have +to take the place in front, as we are not strong enough nor mobile +enough to go round. + +We have a few reinforcements, notably the Highland Brigade, also the +12th Lancers under Airlie, and some Horse Artillery pop-guns. + +There is a good deal of bush on the plain, especially to the right of +the steep hill, where it is quite thick. During the last week we have +been poking about in this a good deal, approaching the hill now on this +side, now on that, under cover of the scrub, examining and searching, +but with very little result. They keep themselves well hidden. The hills +look untenanted except that now and then we have seen parties of Boers +wending their way in between the kopjes and driving in herds of cattle. + +In the thick bush on the eastern plain, as we lay one morning at +daybreak, we could hear the shouts of men and catch glimpses of them +here and there riding about and urging their cattle on. Some passed not +far from where we lay crouched (we had left our ponies on the outskirts +of the bush). It seemed funny to watch them riding to and fro, +unconscious of our presence and calling to each other. It reminded me of +some boy's game of hide-and-seek or Tom Tiddler's ground. We have had +two or three casualties, and lost two prisoners, and we have bagged +several of them. The army is resting. + +Well, this morning, as I was saying, we take our Long Tom (Joey, as he +is now called, out of compliment to Chamberlain) out for a shot. Here is +a note about it:-- + +"4.30 A.M.--Our little groups of horse, in threes and fours, are +clustered behind bushes. There is a whispered consultation round our +large gun and his nose slowly rises. The jerk of the lanyard is followed +by a frightful explosion and then comes the soaring noise of the flying +shell and the red spark and column of dust on the kopje. The range has +been well judged, for the first shot falls with beautiful accuracy just +on the hill where they are supposed to be. + +"It is worth getting up at this time to enjoy the delicious, pure, and +fresh air. The glow of sunrise is in the sky, but not yet the sun. There +are some long streaks and films of rosy cloud along the east. Already, +after five shots, the whole kopje is enveloped in dust and reddish smoke +from the bursting lyddite, but elsewhere between us and the sunrise the +hills are a perfect dark blue, pure blocks of the colour. The Lancers on +their horses show black against the sky as they canter, scattering +through the underwood with graceful slanting lances. At slow deliberate +intervals the long gun tolls. Dead silence is the only reply. The sun +rises and glares on the rocky hills. Not a living thing is to be seen." + + + + +LETTER VI + +MAGERSFONTEIN + + +MODDER RIVER CAMP, + +_December 13_, 1899. + +When we were camped a day's march south of this, two Boers brought in a +wounded man of ours in a Cape cart. "You will never get to Kimberley," +they said to us. "It will take better men than you to stop us," said we. +"Not a bit of it," said they, and off they drove. As it turns out, they +were nearer the mark than we were. + +While I write this, early on the morning of the 13th, you at home may +just be reading in the papers the accounts of our last two days' +disastrous fighting. It was a defeat, but yet it was a defeat which was +not felt nor realised by the bulk of the army. It was a blow that fell +entirely on one brigade, and the greater part of our force was still +awaiting the order to advance, and expecting to engage the enemy when +already the attack, unknown to us, had been delivered and repulsed. + +Last Sunday, December 10th, about 2 P.M., we moved out of camp northward +towards the point of the big hill, that, like a cape, juts south into +the plain. With all our guns ranged about the point of the hill, we then +proceeded to thrash and batter it with shell-fire. No gun-fire that we +have had as yet has approached this for rapidity. The batteries roared +ceaselessly from the plain; the big 4.7 lifting up its voice from a +little in the rear high above the din. The day was cloudy, and rain fell +at intervals, but towards the evening it cleared. My troop was on the +extreme left front, on the west side of the hill, and we had a fine view +of the effect as the shells burst one after another, or sometimes three +or four together, all along the hill flank, up on the crest, or in the +plain along the base. + +"5 P.M.--The hill is all one heavy dull hue in the sombre evening light, +and against it the sharp glints of fire as the shrapnel bursts, and the +round puff-balls of white smoke show vividly. Every now and then a great +curtain of murky vapour goes up to show where the old lyddite-slinger in +the rear is depositing his contributions. We had three field-batteries +engaged, the naval twelve-pounders, Joey, and the pop-guns; about thirty +guns altogether." + +We slept that night by the side of the railway, tethering our horses to +the wire fence that runs down it. Rain fell heavily all night. Most of +us had no blankets, and we lay bundled up, shivering under our +greatcoats on the sopping ground. Unable to sleep well, I heard, just +about or before dawn, a distant drumming, like the noise of rain on the +window, but recognised immediately as distant rifle-fire. Morning broke, +cheerless and wet. I asked if any one had heard firing during the night, +but no one near me had. Shivering and breakfastless, save for a morsel +of biscuit and a sip of muddy water, we saddle our dripping horses and +fall in. A Tommy sitting in the ditch, the picture of misery; cold, and +hungry, with the rain trickling from his sodden helmet on to his face; +breaks into a hymn, of which the first verse runs:-- + + "There is a happy land + Far, far away, + Where they get ham and eggs + Three times a day." + +I find myself dwelling on the words as we move off. Can there be such a +land? Can there be so blessed a place? + +We reach the ganger's hut, and the light spreads and rests on the hills. +Immediately we are deafened by a shattering report close behind us, and +starting round, find the long nose of Joey projecting almost over our +heads, while the scream of the shell dies away in the distance as it +speeds towards the Boer hill. One of the naval officers gives me a first +hint of the truth. There has certainly been an attack, he says, but he +fears unsuccessful. + +We took the matter up, then, where we left off yesterday, all our +batteries coming into action and shelling the hills most furiously. The +enemy replied with three guns only, but so well placed were they that we +found it impossible to silence them. While our fire was concentrated on +to any one of them, it would remain silent, but, after a short interval, +would always begin again, to the rage of our gunners. There is +especially a big gun of theirs in a fold of the hill just at the crest, +between which and "Joey" exist terms of mortal defiance. Nothing else it +appears can touch either of them; so while the lesser cannonade rages in +the middle, these two lordly creatures have a duel of their own and +exchange the compliments of the season with great dignity and +deliberation over the others' heads. It has gone all in favour of "Joey" +while I was watching, the Boer gun being rather erratic and most of its +shells falling short. It made one good shot just in front of us, and it +was really comic to see how "Joey," who had been looking for other +adversaries for the moment, came swinging round at the voice of his +dearest foe. The explosion of the big gun almost knocks one backwards, +and I feel the sudden pressure on my ears of the concussion. + +Later in the day "Joey" and I got quite thick. There is a double kopje, +detached from the main Boer position on our side, known as the Dumbell +Kopje. From our left-front place we could see a lot of Boers clustered +under the hill, pasted, like swarming bees, up against the lee of it, +while the naval gun's shells--for he evidently had a nonchalant idea +that there was some one about there--went flying overhead and bursting +beyond. This was very irritating to watch, and I was glad to be sent +back to "whisper a word in his ear." Making a hasty sketch of the hill, +I galloped back and presented it to the captain with explanation, and +had the satisfaction of seeing 300 yards knocked off "Joey's" next shot, +which was, I should judge, a very hot one. "Stay and have some grub," +said the jolly naval captain. We sat on the ground eating and drinking, +while "Joey" peppered the Dutchmen. + +As for the fight itself, people seem inclined to make a great mystery +about it and talk about "the difficulty of getting at the truth;" but I +don't see myself where the mystery comes in. What happened was this. The +Highland Brigade (Black Watch, Seaforths, Argyle and Sutherlands, and +Highland Light Infantry) was told off for the night attack and marched +before light to the hill. The night was very dark and heavy rain +falling. The ground was rough, stony, and rocky, with a good deal of low +scrub, bushes, and thorn trees, very difficult to get through at night. +The difficulty of moving masses of men with any accuracy in the dark is +extreme, and to keep them together at all it was necessary for them to +advance in a compact body. In quarter column, therefore, the Brigade +advanced and approached the foot of the hill. I have noticed several +times that when you get rather close to the hill the rise comes to look +more gradual and the ridge itself does not stand up in the abrupt and +salient way that it does from a distance. Whether it was this, or simply +that the darkness of the night hid the outline, at any rate the column +approached the hill and the trench which runs at the foot of the hill +much too closely before the order to extend was given. When it was given +it was too late. They were in the act of executing it when the volley +came. + +Of course an attack like this cannot be intended altogether as a +surprise--that is, it cannot be pushed home as a surprise. You cannot +march 4000 heavy-booted men through broken ground on a dark night +without making plenty of noise over it; also the Boers must certainly +have had pickets out, which would have moved in as we advanced and +given the alarm. But had our fellows deployed at half a mile, or less, +under cover of darkness, and then advanced in open order, the enemy +could not have seen clearly enough to shoot with accuracy until they +were fairly close, and I daresay the fire then would not have stopped +their rush. + +As it was, the fire came focussed on a mass of men, such a fire as I +suppose has never been seen before, for not only was it a tremendous +volley poured in at point-blank range, but it was a sustained volley; +the rapid action of the magazines enabling the enemy to keep up an +unintermittent hail of bullets on the English column. To advance under +fire of this sort is altogether impossible. It is not a question of +courage, but of the impossibility of a single man surviving. At the +Modder fight our men advanced to a certain distance, but could get no +nearer. They were forced to lie down and remain lying down. The fire of +magazine rifles is such that, unless helped by guns or infinitely the +stronger, the attackers have no chance of getting home. People will keep +on talking as if courage did these things. What the devil's the use of +the bravest man with half-a-dozen bullets through him? It is just as +certain as anything can be that, if the Highlanders had "gone on," in +two minutes not a man would have been left standing. Already in the +brief instant that they stood, dazed by the fire, they lost between six +and seven hundred men. The Black Watch was in front, and nineteen out of +twenty-seven officers were swept down. You might as well talk of "going +on" against a volcano in eruption. + +I am writing this on the day after the action in my favourite +lurking-place by the side of the river under the evergreens and big +weeping willows that overhang the sluggish water. Our own small camp is +close to the stream, and here every morning the Highlanders are in the +habit of turning up, usually with much laughing and shouting, to bathing +parade. There is no laughing this morning, only sad, sullen faces, +silence and downcast looks. Still they are glad to talk of it. A few +come under the shade of my tree, and sit about and tell me the little +bit that each saw or heard. You only get a general impression of chaos. +Some tried to push on, some tried to extend, some lay down, and some ran +back out of close range and took up such cover as they could get. This +was, luckily, pretty good, there being a lot of bush and rocks about, +and here they gradually crawled together and got into some sort of +order, and kept up a counter fire at the Boer position. The Brigade, +however, had been badly shaken, and as hour after hour passed all +through the blazing day, and they were kept lying there under the fire +of an entrenched enemy, exhausted and parched with thirst, their +patience gradually failed, and they made another rush back, but were +rallied and led up again to where the Mausers might play on them. They +were not allowed to retire till after five, when all the troops were +withdrawn--that is, until they had been shot over at close range for +about fourteen mortal hours. + +The Brigade was asked to do too much, and when at last they staggered +out of action, the men jumped and started at the rustle of a twig. It's +a miserable thing when brave men are asked to do more than brave men can +do. + +One thing that added to the panic was that none, at least among the men +and junior officers, knew anything at all about the trench. They thought +they were going to storm the hill. So that things were so contrived that +the bewilderment of a surprise should be added to the terrors of the +volley. You will scarcely believe this perhaps. I have just come from +having tea with the Argyle and Sutherland. Of the eight or ten officers +there, not one had heard of the trench. Here, by the river, I have +talked to a score of Highlanders, and not one had heard of it either. +They "didn't know what the hell was up" when the volley came. We could +scarcely have provided all the elements of a panic more carefully. + +Nothing of note followed during the day. Airlie fended off a Boer +flanking move on our right, and the Coldstreams backed up the +Highlanders a bit, but practically only the Highland Brigade was in it. +It was a disaster to that Brigade only, and consequently the rest of the +army does not feel itself defeated, and is not in any way discouraged. +Some people suggest now that we in our turn may be attacked, and that +the enemy may try and retake the river position from which we shifted +him a fortnight ago. It is reported that they have got up heavy +reinforcements from Natal, and some long-range guns that will reach our +camp from the hill. All kinds of rumours are afloat, mostly to the +effect that the Boers are circling round behind us, _via_ Douglas on the +west and Jacobsdal on the east, and mean cutting our communications. +However, as I have long since found out, a camp is a hot-bed of lies. +Nothing positive is known, for every one is kept in careful ignorance of +everything that is going on. The idea is that the British soldier can +only do himself justice when the chance of taking anything like an +intelligent interest in his work is altogether denied him. The +consequence is he is driven to supply the deficiency out of his own +imagination. Ladysmith has already been taken and relieved at least a +dozen times, and Mafeking almost as often. To-day Buller is on his way +to Pretoria; to-morrow the Boer army will be marching on Cape Town. + +As for our own little army, we have been digging ourselves in here, and +are perfectly secure, and I daresay we shall be able to keep open the +line all right. As to relieving Kimberley, that is another thing. Cronjé +evidently doesn't think we can, for he has just sent us in a message +offering us twenty-four hours to clear out in. He is a bit of a wag is +old Cronjé. + + + + +LETTER VII + +RECONNAISSANCE + + +BIVOUAC ON THE MODDER, + +_January 15_, 1900. + +At Modder River camp the dust lies thick and heavy. Every breeze that +blows lifts clouds of it, that hang in the air like a dense London fog, +and mark the site of the camp miles and miles away. The river, more +muddy than ever, moves languidly in its deep channel. There is a Boer +laager some miles above the camp, the scourings of which--horrid +thought!--are constantly brought down to us. The soldiers eye the +infected current askance and call it _Boervril_. Its effect is seen in +the sickness that is steadily increasing. + +Thank goodness we escape it. An advantage of scouting is, that, when it +comes to a standing camp, with its attendant evils of dirt, smells, and +sickness, your business carries you away, in front, or out along the +flanks, where you play at hide-and-seek with the enemy, trap and are +trapped, chase and are chased, and where you bivouac healthily and +pleasantly, if not in such full security, at some old Dutch farm, where +probably fowls are to be bought, or milk and butter; or under groups of +mimosa trees among stoney deserted kopjes, where there is plenty of wood +for burning, as likely as not within reach of some old garden with figs +in it ripening and grapes already ripe. + +One of the little pictures I shall remember belonging to Modder camp is +the sight of the soldiers at early mass. You can picture to yourself a +wide, flat dusty plain held in the bent arm of the river, with not a +tree or bush on it; flat as a table, ankle-deep in grey dust, and with a +glaring, blazing sun looking down on it. The dust is so hot and deep +that it reminds one more of the ashes on the top of Vesuvius--you +remember that night climb of ours?--than of anything else. + +Laid out in very formal and precise squares are the camps of the various +brigades, the sharp-pointed tents ranged in exact order and looking from +far off like symmetrical little flower-beds pricked out on the sombre +plain. + +A stone's throw from the river is a mud wall, with a mud house at one +side scarcely rising above it, yet house and wall giving in the early +morning a patch of black shadow in the midst of the glare. Here the old +priest used to celebrate his mass. A hundred or two of Tommies and a few +officers would congregate here soon after sunrise, and stand bare-headed +till the beams looked over the wall, when helmet after helmet would go +on; or kneel together in the dust while the priest lifted the host. +Every man had his arms, the short bayonet bobbing on the hip; every +brown and grimy hand grasped a rifle; and as the figures sink low at the +ringing of the bell, a bristle of barrels stands above the bowed heads. +Distant horse hoofs drum the plain as an orderly gallops from one part +of the camp to another. Right facing us stands Magersfontein, its ugly +nose with the big gun at the end of it thrust out towards us. How many +of this little brotherhood under the mud wall, idly I wonder, will ever +see English meadows again? + +The Boers still face us at Magersfontein. Their left is south of the +Modder. They have a strong laager at Jacobsdal on the Reit, and have +pushed west and south of that, where, from the kopjes about Zoutspan and +Ramdam, they threaten our lines of communication. The Reit river, +flowing almost south and north for some distance parallel to the +railway, though a good way east of it, is a strengthening feature for +them in that part of the field, and taking advantage of it, they have +brought their left well round. Their right, on the other hand, is +scarcely brought round at all, but stretches about east and west, +following the course of the Modder, and extending as far west as +Douglas, fifty miles from Modder camp. They make raids south. Pilcher +the other day cut some of them up at Sunnyside and took Douglas, but +evacuated it again, and it is now in their hands. Altogether you can +compare the Boer attitude to a huge man confronting you, Magersfontein +being his head, his left arm brought round in front of him almost at +right angles to his body and his right stretched wide out in line with +his shoulders. From time to time he makes little efforts to bring these +outstretched arms farther round, as if to clasp and enfold the British +position at Modder River, and it is with the special object of observing +and reporting on these movements that our scouting is carried on. This +is now attended to by fifteen of us only, under Chester Master, the +rest of the corps, with the Major, having gone down to join French at +Colesberg now that the advance here has ceased. On the east side of the +line we patrol the plain nearly to Jacobsdal, and often lie in the grass +or sit among the rocks and watch the little figures of Boers cantering +along the road that leads south by the river. Further scouting in that +direction is carried on by the garrison along the line. + +A strong reconnaissance of ours the other day (January 9th) in the +direction of Jacobsdal was a very dignified and solemn exhibition. Our +guns rumbled forward with their eight-horse teams across the plain, +while our cavalry, stretched out in open order at fifty yards apart, +traversed the country in long strings that might have been seen and +admired by the enemy at a distance, I daresay, of twenty miles. Chester +Master took us forward on the left close to the river, where a party of +the enemy, stealing up from the river-bed, tried to cut us off--there +were only six or eight of us--and chivied us back to the main body as +hard as we could go, two miles _ventre à terre_ through the pelting +rain, blazing away from horseback all the time at us, but naturally +doing no harm. We thought we should lead them into a trap when we lifted +the rise, but our troops had all halted far back in the plain, and our +pursuers turned as soon as they saw them. However, we got some men to +join us, and set to work to chase them as they had done us. It was +really quite exciting; little bent figures of horsemen with flapping +hats on ahead, bundling along for dear life, each with its spot of dust +attending, we following, whooping and spurring. But bustled as they +were, the Boers knew the way they were going. There are some narrow +belts of bush that run out from the river into the plain, and as we +neared one of these, crick-crack, crick-crack, the familiar croaking +voices of Mausers warned us against a nearer approach. We dismounted and +fired away vaguely at the distant foe, not so much with the idea of +hitting anything, but it is always a relief to one's feelings. I don't +know why the guns didn't come up, but was told that they didn't like to +push on too far, as the Boers were supposed to be in force here. It +seemed a pity to miss such a good shot, especially as we had an enormous +great escort and an open country back to camp. But that is the way with +guns; sometimes they rush up to within 500 yards of the enemy before +they shoot, and sometimes they won't shoot at all. + +The afternoon was spent in carrying out our reconnaissance. A +reconnaissance is undertaken with a view to exposing the enemy's +position and strength. Without intending a real attack, you demonstrate, +feign a forward movement, push on in one place or another, or threaten +to turn his flanks; so obliging him to move his men here and there, +expose his strength and the limits of the position, and, perhaps, the +whereabouts and number of his guns, if they should be tempted to open +fire at our scouts. This is the theory of the thing. In practice it +doesn't quite work, owing to the utter ignorance of the Boers of all +military tactics. On all occasions when we have carried out these +manoeuvres, notably round the Magersfontein hills before the battle, +they have not only failed to make the proper responses to our moves, but +have neglected to take notice of them in any way whatever. Not a gun +speaks, not a man is to be seen. We demonstrate before empty hills. +Creepily, you may conjecture the fierce eyes along the rock edge, but +nothing shows. In vain we circle about the plain, advance, retire, +curtsey, and set to him; our enemy, like the tortoise, "will not join +the dance." Nothing is more discouraging. It is like playing to an empty +house. However, as young B---- said to me, we did our part anyway, and +if they are so ignorant as not to know the counter-moves, well, they +must take the consequences. Manoeuvres of this kind, I must tell you, +are a high test of military skill, and are often not fully intelligible +to the lay mind. As an instance of this, I heard a man of ours, a shrewd +fellow but no soldier, say, in his coarse Colonial way, as we were +riding home, that he "was glad we had finished making a b----y +exhibition of ourselves." It is to be hoped that after a little we shall +get to appreciate these manoeuvres better. Just at first there is a +slight suggestion of Gilbert and Sullivan about them. + + + + +LETTER VIII + +SCOUTING ON THE MODDER + + +THORNHILL FARM, _January 30_, 1900. + +On the eastern or Jacobsdal side the country is all a plain, dull and +monotonous like a huge prairie, with no shade from the heat or shelter +from the thunderstorms. On the western side it is very different. Great +hills run roughly parallel to the river course, but leave a wide plain +between themselves and it. They are clothed with a few scant bushes, out +of which their tops rise bare and rocky; but in the shady hollows and +gorges the low thorn-trees (mimosas) grow thickly, and over the plain +that stretches to the river their grey foliage gathers into thick covers +or is sometimes dotted here and there. The smell of the mimosa flowers +(little yellow balls of pollen-covered blossom) is the most delicious I +know, and the air as we ride through these lonely covers, where a few +buck seem the only tenants, is fragrant with it. Far apart there are +farms, prettily situated, generally close to the hills, the rocky sides +of the kopjes rising behind, the wide plain spread in front. Each has +its dam, sometimes more than one, built round with mud embankments, with +huge weeping willows overhanging, and rows of tall poplars and blue gums +(with shreds of bark rattling), and plenty of other trees. The +farmhouses themselves are uninteresting, but the gardens, with their +great thicket hedges of prickly pear and quince and brilliant blossoming +pomegranate, are delightful, especially at this time, when the fruit is +just getting ripe. + +It was out on this western side, where we were feeling for the enemy's +right flank, some twenty miles from camp, in a niche half way up the +mountain, that we spent our last Christmas. We rather expected an +attack, as a Kaffir of ours had been taken by them, and might be +expected to reveal our movements. After dark we climbed the hill, +dragging our ponies over the boulders and scratching our way through the +thorns. + +The Boer hill was four or five miles distant, north across the plain. +All along its purple sides we ranged with our glasses, seeing nothing; +but after dark several little points of light showed where their laager +was. We sat all night among the rocks (I thought of you and the +roast-turkey and holly), occasional heavy drops of rain falling, and a +flicker of lightning now and then. Heavy clouds rolled up, and the night +set in as dark as pitch. The level plain below us lay flat as a pancake +from their hill to ours. So passed our '99 Christmas, picturesque +possibly, but not very comfortable. Dark hillside; rain in large warm +drops; night dark, with a star or two and struggling moon. In front, a +distant hillside, with points of camp-fire twinkling, where the Boers, +indifferent to our little party, were carousing and drinking their +_dop._ Now and then a yawn or groan as a man stretches his cramped +limbs. Down below under us an expanse of dark plain, like a murky sea, +reaching to our feet, which we peer across, but can make out nothing. +Peep-of-day time is the Boer's favourite hour for a call, and we were +all very much on the _qui vive_ when the white line showed along the +east. No doubt, however, they all had such heads after their Christmas +drink that they were in no humour for such a diversion. At any rate, +they let us alone. Very stiff and weary and wet, we crept down the hill +soon after daybreak and started on our twenty-mile homeward march. It +was 5 P.M. before we reached camp, and we had had nothing to eat all +day. I don't know if we were most tired or hungry. Take that three days +as a sample of work. We start at 6 A.M. on Sunday; do a full day's +riding and scouting, and get three hours' sleep that night at Enslin. +Then we saddle up and pass the rest of the night and all the next day +riding, except when we are climbing hills on foot to look out. The +second night we sit among the hills expecting an attack, and next day +till one o'clock are in the saddle again. _À la guerre comme à la +guerre_. Three days and two nights' hard work on three hours' sleep. And +all this time you are drinking champagne (well, most of it, anyway), and +sleeping in soft beds with delicious white sheets, and smoking Egyptian +cigarettes, and wearing clean clothes, with nice stiff collars and shirt +cuffs, and having a bath in the morning, warm, with sweet-smelling soap +(Oh, my God!), and sitting side by side at table, first a man and then a +woman; the same old arrangement, I suppose, knives to the right and +forks to the left as usual. Ho! ho! There are times I could laugh. No +doubt we shall all get _redigested_ as soon as we get back, but +meantime, as a set-off to the hardship, one knows what it is to feel +free. We eat what we can pick up, and we lie down to sleep on the bare +ground. We wash seldom, and our clothes wear to pieces on our bodies. We +find we can do without many things, and though we sometimes miss them, +there comes a keen sense of pleasure from being entire master of oneself +and all one's possessions. Your water-bottle hangs on your shoulder; +your haversack, with your blanket, is strapped to your saddle; rifle, +bandolier, and a pair of good glasses are your only other possessions. +As you stand at your pony's side ready to mount, you may be starting for +the day or you may be away a fortnight, but your preparations are the +same. + +Above all others does this scouting life develop your faculties, sharpen +your senses of hearing and of seeing, and, in practical ways, of +thinking too; of noting signs and little portents and drawing +conclusions from them; of observing things. You feel more _alive_ than +you ever felt before. Every day you are more or less dependent on your +own faculties. Not only for food and drink for yourself and your pony, +but for your life itself. And your faculties respond to the call. Your +glance, as it scans the rocks and the plain, is more wary and more +vigilant; your ears, as you lie in the scrub, prick themselves at a +sound like a Red Indian's, and the least movement among cattle or game +or Kaffirs, or the least sign that occurs within range of your glasses, +is noticed and questioned in an instant. + +This you get in return for all you give up--in return for the +sweet-smelling soap and the footman who calls you in the morning. Oh, +that pale-faced footman! It is dawn when, relieved on look-out, I +clamber down the rocks to our bivouac. A few small fires burn, and my +pal points to a tin coffee cup and baked biscuit by one of them. It is +the hour at home for the pale-faced footman. I see him now, entering the +room noiselessly with cautious tread as if it were a sick-room, softly +drawing a curtain to let a little light into the darkened apartment, and +approaching with a cup of tea that the poor invalid has barely to reach +out his hand to. Round our little camp I look, noting trifles with a +keen enjoyment. Shall I ever submit to that varlet again? No, never! I +will leap from my bed and wrestle with him on the floor. I will anoint +him with my shaving soap and duck him in the bath he meant for me. Do +you know the emancipated feeling yourself? Do you know the sensation +when your glance is like a sword-thrust and your health like a devil's; +when just to touch things with your fingers gives a thrill, and to look +at and see common objects, sticks and trees, is like drinking wine? +Don't you? Oh, be called by twenty footmen and be hanged to you! + +This Christmas patrol of ours was of use in touching the southernmost +and westernmost limits of the Boer position. It has shown that the +enveloping movement of which so much has been said, and which has been +pressed now and then on the east side, has not made much progress on the +west. + +The big mountain range, running east and west, comes to an end some +thirty miles west of Modder Camp, where it breaks up into a few detached +masses and peaks. The extreme one of these, a sugar-loaf cone, is called +the Pintberg, and on this lonely eerie a picket of ours is generally +placed; crouched among the few crags and long grass tufts that form its +point, the horses tethered in the hollow behind; listening by night and +watching by day. When we come out thus far, we sometimes stay out a week +or more at a time. The enemy's position is along the hills north of the +plain by the river--chiefly north of it, but in places south. + +I am turning over my diary with the idea of giving you a notion of the +sort of life we lead, but find nothing remarkable. + +"Last night, Vice, Dunkley, and I were on lookout on the kopje. There +had been a heavy storm in the afternoon and another broke as we reached +the hill. We crouched in our cloaks waiting for it to pass before +climbing up, as the ironstone boulders are supposed to attract the +lightning (I have heard it strike them; it makes a crack like a +pistol-shot, and Colonials don't like staying on the hill tops during a +storm). We passed all night on our airy perch among the rocks, half wet +and the wind blowing strong. It was a darkish and cloudy night, rather +cold. Watched the light die out of the stormy sky; the lightning +flickering away to leeward; wet gleams from the plain where the water +shone here and there; moaning and sighing of wind through rock and +branch. We were relieved by Lancers in the morning and jogged back to +Thornhill, where our little camp is, and I am writing this in the shade +of a big mimosa close to the garden wall. + +"I have seen prints in shop windows of farms and soldiers, bits of +country life and war mixed, a party of Lancers or Uhlans calling at some +old homestead, watering their horses or bivouacking in the garden. Often +what I see now makes me think of these subjects. A large camp is hideous +and depressing; dirty and worn, the ground trampled deep in dust; filth +and refuse lying about; the entrails and skins of animals, flies, +beastly smells, and no excitement or animation. But these outlying +scenes, scouts, pickets, &c., have a peculiar interest. This garden, for +instance, is itself pretty and wild, with its tangle of figs, its avenue +of quinces (great golden fruit hanging), its aloes all down the side, +with heavy, blue spikes and dead stems sticking thirty feet in air, +branching and blackened like fire-scorched fir-trees, and its dark green +oranges and other fruit and flower-trees all mixed in a kind of +wilderness; and behind this the steep kopjes, with black boulders heaped +to the sky, and soft grey mimosas in between. It is a pretty spot in +itself, but what a different, strange interest is brought in by the two +or three carbines leaning against the wall, the ponies, ready saddled, +tethered at the corner, the hint of camp-fire smoke climbing up through +a clump of trees, and now and then a khaki-clad figure or two passing +between the trunks or lying under them asleep." + +Here is another little extract, a bit of a night-spy by three of us on +the west side, where we had heard that the Douglas commando was +establishing a laager near a drift some thirteen miles below camp; a +move forward of their right arm, if true. + +"The night was dark as pitch, and very windy, just what we wanted. After +missing our way several times, whispering, consulting, and feeling about +in the dark, we came on the wattle fence and beehive huts of a Kaffir +kraal. Up to this we crept, and Vice dived into the hole of an entrance, +and after some underground rumblings emerged with an old nigger as you +draw a badger from his earth. The old man was soon persuaded by a +moderate bribe to be our guide to the spot we wished to reconnoitre. He +told us that parties of Boers were pretty often round that way, and that +one had passed the previous night at the kraal. Dunkley agreed to stay +with the horses, and Vice and I went on with the Kaffir. The country was +grassy, with plentiful belts and clumps of silvery bush. After a while +the moon shone out and the clouds dispersed, which made us feel +disagreeably conspicuous in the white patches between the bush." + +Exmoor, as far as the contour of the ground is concerned, is a little +like the more up-and-down parts of the veldt, and scouting there would +be very much like scouting here. For instance, suppose your camp was at +Minehead, the Boers being in strength at Winsford, and a report comes in +that they have pushed on a strong picket to Simonsbath. This rumour it +is your business to test. With two friends on a dark, windy night you +set out. You leave the road and take to the moor. You ride slowly, +listening, watching intently, keeping off the high ground, and as much +as possible avoiding sky-lines. At some cottage or moorland farm you +leave the horses and creep forward on foot, working along the hollows +and studying every outline. If they are at Simonsbath, they will have a +lookout on the hill this side. A British picket would show its helmets +at a mile, but the Boers don't affect sky-lines. They will be on this +side, with the hill for a background, and very likely right down on the +flat; for though by day the higher you are the better for seeing, yet at +night, when your only chance is to see people against the sky, the lower +you are the better. These points and others you discuss in whispers, +crouched in the dark hollows, and then creep forward again. + +"Vice and I crawled to the top of our ridge at last just as morning was +breaking. There were bushes and rocks to hide among, and the clouds had +all gone, and day broke clear. The deep river ravine lay right below us, +and as the light penetrated, the first thing we saw was a small shelter +tent with a cart or waggon by the side of it. We grinned and nudged each +other and wagged our heads at the discovery, but kept them carefully +hidden. Farther west was a detached kopje, the site of a permanent Boer +picket, according to the Kaffir; but there was no regular laager. There +were no horses grazing about, no cattle, no smoke, none of the usual and +inevitable signs. A picket! Yes. Pushed out from Koodoosberg, the big +hill which rises abruptly from the plain three or four miles off, but no +real occupation. After studying the country yard by yard with our +glasses, and making a few notes about the lie of the land and the names +and positions of farms, we creep off and get back to camp by mid-day." + +The results of these exciting little prowls, when worth while, are sent +in to the General, and from the mass of evidence thus placed before him +he is supposed to be able to define the enemy's position and movements. + +Chester Master and our little body were paid a pretty compliment by the +General the other day; for the Major having written to ask if we might +join him, Methuen replied that he was sorry to have to refuse, but that +we were doing invaluable work, and he really couldn't spare us. + +Well, fare you well. We hear of heavy reinforcements arriving. They will +be very welcome. Magersfontein, Colenso, Stormberg; we could do with a +change. But what a revelation, is it not? Are these the prisoners that +we played at dice for? One thing in it all pleases me, and that is the +temper and attitude of England. I like the gravity, the quiet, dogged +rolling up of the shirt-sleeves much better than the blustering, +wipe-something-off-a-slate style which the papers made so familiar to us +at the beginning. + + + + +LETTER IX + +THE ADVANCE + + +MODDER RIVER CAMP, + +_February 13_, 1900. + +We are back in the old camp, but only for a few hours. This afternoon we +march. Yesterday, crossing the line, we had a glimpse of Rimington and +the rest of the corps. They have come up with French, and are off +eastward on the flank march. We shall be after them hotfoot before dark. +Things begin to shape themselves. We are going to bring our right arm +round, leaving Magersfontein untouched, and relieve Kimberley by a flank +march in force. Methuen stays here. Poor fellow! I wish him joy of it. +Bobs and Kitchener direct the advance; French heads it. They say we +shall march 50,000 strong. The line is choked with troop trains, +batteries, siege guns, naval guns, and endless truckloads of stores and +provisions. _At last!_ is every one's feelings. The long waited for +moment has come. You know a hawk's hover? Body steady, wings beating, +and then the rushing swoop. So with the army. We have hovered steady +here these two months with our wings stretched. Now we swoop. + +Far out on the left flank our little body of fifteen has been in a great +state of suspense for several weeks. We knew the great tide of advance +was setting up from Orange River to the Modder, and as no orders came +for us, we began to think we should be out of it. Then one evening, as I +was sitting on some boulders above camp looking out over the country, I +saw Chester Master riding in from headquarters with a smile on his face, +and the sort of look that a man has who brings good news. Down I +clambered. Yes, it had come. We were to move that night. The advance had +begun, and we were off on an all-night march to catch up French. What a +change came over the men! Instead of bored, sulky faces, and growlings +and grumblings, all were now keen and alert. When the moon rose we +started. Our very ponies seemed to know they were "in the movement," and +stepped out cheerily. The night was clear as silver, and each man's +shadow moved by his side, clean cut on the ground like the shadows +thrown by the electric light outside the Criterion. Song and joke passed +once more, and soon up went the favourite cavalry march, the most +stirring tune of any, "Coming thro' the Rye." It was very jolly. Not +often has one ridden on such a quest, on such a night, to such a tune as +that. + +So, old Modder, fare you well! Farewell the huge plain that one grew so +fond of, with its blue and yellow bars of light, morning and evening; +the shaggy kopjes heaped with black rocks, the secluded, lonely farms +nestling beneath, old Cook's, where the figs were ripe in the garden, +and Mrs. Dugmore, who gave us fresh bread and butter and stewed peaches. +Not soon shall I forget those morning patrols. The sea of veldt, the +pure air, the carelessness, the comradeship, and the freedom. Old +Gordon has a good verse that I find sometimes running in my head-- + + "It was merry in the morning + Among the gleaming grass, + To wander as we've wandered many a mile, + And blow the cool tobacco cloud + And watch the white wreaths pass, + Sitting loosely in the saddle all the while." + +And then the secret bivouacs and lurking-places along the river or in +among the deserted hills. The lookout from the tall pyramid, where I +have kept watch so many hours day and night, in heat of sun or with +stars glittering overhead. + +It was from this kopje that we got notice to quit, by the way. Our +notice taking the shape of several little brown-backed Boers galloping +about and spying at us from a hill one and a half miles to the north. +That night we drew out in the plain after dark and camped (no fires) +among the bushes, and at grey dawn stole back to have another look. Back +dashes one of our advance scouts to tell us that a big force of Boers +was just rounding the point. Next minute we were swinging out into the +plain, through the low scrub and thorn bush, and as we did so the Boers +came through the Nek. They must have known exactly where our usual camp +was, and crept up overnight to cut us off. It wasn't by much that they +missed. Three or four loiterers, as it was, had a warm minute or two. +The first single shots grew to a sudden fierce crackle, like the crackle +of a dry thorn branch on the fire, as they came through the bush. But +they came on nevertheless, one horse hit only, and joined us, and we +formed up and started at a steady gallop for the hills beyond the plain, +six miles off; where there was a quite strong camp, established a few +days before, for which we have lately been scouting. The Boers chased us +some way, but we had got a long start, as they came through the rough +ground, and they were never on terms with us. Still it was near enough. +Five minutes earlier and what a slating we should have got! + +We were told afterwards that the plan on this side was to draw the Boers +south of the hills, so as to give the cavalry, which was to move +westward just north of the range, a chance of cutting them off. The +cavalry, however, didn't turn up. No one seemed to know what had become +of them, and I daresay they were saying the same of us. The advice not +to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing is sometimes +rather too literally followed in these manoeuvres, I think. Meantime the +Boers have driven off all old Cook's cattle and all Mrs. Dugmore's too; +and as we were sent out with the express object of "reassuring the +farmers," the result is not entirely satisfactory. + +No matter; this was all a side issue; now for a larger stage and more +important operations. Blow trumpets and sound drums. Enter Lord Roberts +and the main army. + + + + +LETTER X + +RELIEF OF KIMBERLEY + + +KIMBERLEY CLUB, _February 18_. + +It is with feelings of the deepest satisfaction that I look at the +address at the head of this notepaper. Indeed for the last five minutes +I have been staring at it dreamily without putting pen to paper, +repeating "Kimberley Club, Kimberley," to myself, vaguely thinking of +all it portends; the varied fortunes of the last three months; the +cheery setting out; the first battles, that already seem so long ago; +the repulse, and long, dreary wait by Modder; the gradual reconstruction +of the whole plan of attack, and now the final achievement. Christian +and I have been sharing a pint of champagne in the club bar. It was not +till I heard the bottle pop that I realised, as by a sudden inspiration, +that the British army had really attained its object at last. Very +gravely we gave each other luck, and gravely drank our wine. Both of us, +I am glad to be able to tell you, rose to the occasion, and as we looked +across the bubbles, no foolish chaff or laughter marred the moment. + +I wrote you my last letter from old Modder just as we were leaving to +catch French. Marching light and fast, we got up with him on the night +of the 15th at the Klip Drift on the Modder, northeast of Jacobsdal. +From there we were sent back to guide on Kitchener, which we did, +bringing him to French's camp on the river by 6 A.M. next morning +(16th). We met on the way our little ambulance cart bobbing home with +the adjutant languidly reclining. He had had one of those escapes that +now and then come off. There was a high hill to the north, and up this +the previous morning, R., an active walker, had climbed to have a view +of the country. He reached the top, which is like a gable, slanting both +sides to a thin edge, and precisely as he did so, ten or a dozen great +hairy Boers reached it from the other side, and, at ten yards' distance +across the rock edge, their eyes met. Can you conceive a more disgusting +termination to a morning stroll? Without a word said, R. took to his +heels and the Boers to their Mausers. Down the hill went R., bounding +like a buck, and all round him whipped and whined the bullets among the +rocks. Twice he went headlong, twisting his ankle badly once as the +stones turned underfoot; but he reached the bottom untouched and the +shelter of the bluff where he had left his pony, jumped on and dashed +out into the plain and under the Boer fire again, and got clean away +without a scratch, him and his pony. Was ever such luck? + +French started on his final relief march about an hour later, and we +were not able to accompany him as our horses were absolutely done up. It +was very disappointing at the time to see him ride off on this last +stage with a large party of our comrades, led by Rimington himself (he +was first into Kimberley, we heard afterwards) at the head. However, as +things turned out, it did not much matter, for the next day we had an +interesting time, and saw a big job put in train, which is not finished +yet, and which we shall probably see more of if we start, as they say, +to-morrow. + +The thing began at grey dawn. Chester Master and two or three Guides +were sent forward to reconnoitre a kopje where the Boers the day before +had had a gun. We found the gun gone. Some marks of blood, a half-dug +grave, and two dead horses, showed that the fire of our long naval gun +had been more or less effective. We then rode on, the column we were +guiding getting gradually into formation, and we were just mounting the +next ridge, when down in the valley beneath we saw a long line of +waggons, stretching away eastward for miles, dragged by huge bullock +teams. They were making the best of their way forward, each with a party +of mounted men riding at the side, and at the first glance, so close to +our army and camp were they, I almost fancied it must be a convoy of our +own. However, we realised what was up pretty quickly. The Boers, hearing +of French's flank march, and fearing they would be cut off if they +remained, were abandoning their position in the hills about +Magersfontein, which they had intrenched so strongly, and were quietly +and promptly moving off towards Bloemfontein. The rearguard of their +line was at that moment just opposite to us. + +Chester Master immediately sent back an orderly as hard as he could go +to tell our fellows what was in front and hurry them up, every moment +being now of the utmost importance if we wanted to intercept the enemy. +The Boers themselves took their measures instantly and with their usual +coolness. A long line of kopjes ran eastward across the plain, flanking +the line of their march, and directly they saw they were discovered, +their horsemen dashed forward and began to occupy these, thus guarding +the right flank of their retreat from our attack. Seeing this, Chester +Master galloped back himself to urge on our Mounted Infantry, who were +now mustering rapidly to the attack. + +From the kopje on the extreme left front, where we were, we could now +see extended at our feet the whole plan of the approaching battle, while +as yet the two sides were invisible to each other. In the valley on the +north side of the kopjes the Boers were urging on their convoy and +rapidly despatching their sharpshooters to hold the hills along their +right. On the south side were the masses of our columns, with the +squadrons of Mounted Infantry now detaching themselves from the main +body, and beginning to stream across the level plain towards the same +hills; all with heads bent one way, horses prancing and pulling, and +with all the signs of eager excitement, as though they divined, though +as yet they could not see, the presence of the enemy. Over the dusty +plain they canter, but they are too late by a few minutes. The Boers are +there already, and as the Mounted Infantry come along, passing close +beneath us, an outbreak of rifle-fire occurs, and the dry plain, which +is of perfectly bare earth, is dotted with little white puffs of dust as +the bullets strike along it. The fire is a bit short, but schooled by +this time in "kopje tactics," and realising what is coming, our +squadrons very prudently pull up and wait for the guns. They haven't +long to wait. I always love to see the guns come up. Over stones and +rocks and bushes, six strong horses at the gallop, the drivers lashing +the off horses, the guns jumping and rumbling and swinging; then the +yell, "Action front," and round come the teams with a splendid sweep; +next instant they are cast off and jingle to the rear, and the little +venomous guns are left crouching like toads, looking towards the enemy; +the gunners are upon them before they are at a standstill (everything +happens simultaneously); there is an instant's pause while the barrel +rises, and then comes the naked spurt of fire, no smoke, and the officer +steps clear of the dust and glues his glasses to his eyes as the shell +screams on its way. Within ten minutes of our first viewing the enemy, +half a battery had got into action near our kopje, and was bombarding +the first hill along the enemy's flank. + +Two or three of the Boer waggons, the last of the line, had been +abandoned when their retreat was first discovered. These we took +possession of, and with them two Dutchmen and some coloured boys, one of +whom had been driver to a field-cornet of Cronjé's. From him we learnt +that Cronjé had definitely abandoned the whole Magersfontein position, +that this was the tail of his force going through, and that consequently +there was nothing to be feared from a rear attack. Chester Master wrote +a hasty despatch to this effect to Kitchener and gave it to me, after +which I had a most amusing ride through our lines from the extreme left +to the extreme right, where Kitchener was. First by our batteries, +thundering and smoking (the enemy only had one gun in action that I saw, +but I must say it did very well, feeling for the range with two short +shots, and after that getting well into our guns every time), and then +on through the Mounted Infantry, who kept on charging and retiring, +until finally after three miles' ride I came to the far right, where +Kitchener and the big naval gun sat together in state on the top of a +small kopje strewn with black shining rocks. Here I gave in my despatch, +"From Captain Chester Master, left front, sir," and the best military +salute I have yet mastered (inclined to go into fits of laughter at the +absurdity of the whole thing all the time), and the great man, with his +sullen eye, sitting among his black rocks all alone, reads it and asks +me a question or two, and vouchsafes to tell me that the information is +"very important," which I suppose meant that he had not been certain +whether he was in contact with the middle or extreme tail of the enemy's +force. Various officers of the staff come up and I tell them all I know. +I am very hungry and parched with thirst, but I know I shall get nothing +out of these fellows. However, my luck holds. Under some thorn-trees +below I spy the flat hats of the sailors, and under the lee of an +ammunition waggon hard by a group of officers. All is well. Five minutes +later I am pledging them in a whisky and sparklet, and sitting down to +such a breakfast as I have not tasted for weeks. God bless all sailors, +say I! + +Orders meantime come thick and fast from the grim watcher on the rocks +above, and troop after troop of Mounted Infantry go scouring away to the +attack. It is a running fight. Kopje after kopje, as the Boers push on, +breaks into fire and is left extinct behind. But still they keep their +flank unbroken and their convoy intact. For the hundredth time I admire +their dogged courage under these, the most trying of all circumstances, +the protection of a slow retreat. + +So it goes on through the day, and I have great fun galloping about on +my own account, looking into things here and there, and watching the +general progress of events. I meet Chester Master again about 5 P.M., +and he asks me to ride forthwith to Kimberley with him if Flops can +stand it. All the Boer force has cleared from Magersfontein (our +information was all right) and is in retreat on Bloemfontein, and +Kitchener is sending word by Chester Master to French, bidding him right +turn and march to head off the Boer retreat, while he (Kitchener) hangs +on their tail. + +An hour later we start; four of us. Chester Master, myself, May, and a +black boy. It is a twenty-three mile ride. A full moon is in the sky but +clouds obscure it, which is a good thing, as the country is being +traversed by stragglers of theirs, leaving the hills and in retreat +eastward. We hear of several such fugitive bodies from our pickets for +the first few miles. Then we are in absolute solitude. The plain lies +bare and blanched around us. A thorn bush or two sticks up on it, or, +now and then, the ghastly shape of a dead horse lying in puffed up +relief with legs sticking out stiff and straight and an awful stench +blowing from it. Kimberley's search-light at stated intervals still +swings its spoke over our head. + +Six or seven miles out from Kimberley my pony gives out, and Chester +Master and May on fresh horses ride on, leaving me the boy. We plod on, +an interesting, delicious ride. I get off and walk. A little wind +rustles over the dry earth and bushes, but otherwise there is not a +whisper of sound. The landscape at one moment lies white before us as if +it had been washed in milk, and the next is blotted out with clouds. Now +and again we pause to listen, and the boy stands like a bronze image of +Attention with bent head and held breath, the whites only of his eyes +moving as he rolls them from one object to another. At last from a low +kopje top by the path comes the first loud and welcome "Halt! Who goes +there?" of an English picket. Another two or three miles brings me to an +outpost of the town, and there, dead tired and Flops the same, I fling +myself on the ground, after hearty greetings and a word or two of talk +with the guard, and do a three hours' sleep till the dawn of the 17th. + +In a grey light I rouse myself to look out across the wet misty flat, +hearing some one say, "Who's that? What force is that?" followed +immediately by "Call out the guard; stand to your arms, men." But then, +as light increases, we see by the regular files and intervals that the +force is British, and I know that Chester Master has got in all right +and delivered his message, and French already, at a few hours' notice, +is casting back with that terrible cavalry of his after Cronjé and the +retreating Boers. + +Kimberley does not in the least give one the idea of a beleaguered and +relieved town. There are a few marks of shells, but so few and far +between as not to attract attention, and you might walk all about the +town without being struck by anything out of the common. I have sampled +the roast-horse and roast-mule which the garrison seems to have been +chiefly living on for the past five or six weeks, and find both pretty +good, quite equal, if not superior, to the old trek-ox. Some people tell +us pathetic stories of the hardships to women and young children and +babies, owing to the difficulty of getting proper food, especially milk. +On the other hand, many seem to have actually enjoyed the siege, and two +or three young ladies have assured me that they found it infinitely +diverting and enjoyed an excellent time, making up afternoon tea-parties +among their friends. The relief was not the occasion of any excitement +or rejoicing whatever. People walked about the streets and went about +their business and served in their shops without showing in their +appearance or manner any trace of having passed through a bad time or +having been just delivered from it. They seemed, on the whole, glad to +see us, but there was no enthusiasm. This was partly due, I think, to +the absence of drink. The Colonial's idea of gratitude and +good-fellowship is always expressed in drink, and cannot be separated +from it, or even exist without it. Many felt this. Several said to me, +"We are awfully glad to see you, old chap, but the fact is there's no +whisky." On the whole, except the last week, during which the Boers had +a hundred-pounder gun turned on, one doesn't gather that the siege of +Kimberley was noteworthy, as sieges go, either for the fighting done or +the hardships endured. But that is not to reflect on the defenders, who +showed a most plucky spirit all through, and would have resisted a much +severer strain if it had been brought to bear upon them. + + + + +LETTER XI + +PAARDEBERG--THE BOMBARDMENT + + +_February 24_, 1900. + +We are once more upon the Modder. I should think the amount of blood, +Dutch and English, this river has drunk in the last few months will give +it a bad name for ever. There is something deadly about that word +Modder. Say it over to yourself. Pah! It leaves a taste of blood in the +mouth. + +We have been fighting in a desultory kind of way for the last week here. +Coming from Kimberley, where we had gone to holloa back French (you +could follow him by scent all the way from the dead horses), we made a +forced march and rejoined him here by the river, where he is busily +engaged, with Kitchener at the other end, in bombarding old Cronjé in +the middle. They have fairly got the old man. Kitchener had stuck to him +pretty tight, it seems, after we left them that evening at Klip Drift. +French has nicked in ahead. Macdonald has arrived, I believe, or is +arriving, and there are various other brigades and divisions casting up +from different quarters, all concentrating on unhappy Cronjé. Lord +Roberts, I suppose, will get the credit, but part of it, one would +think, belongs to Kitchener, who planned the movement and put it in +train before Lord Roberts arrived. + +Cronjé, by all accounts, has about 4000 men with him. He has dug +himself into the river banks, which are steep and afford good cover. You +would never guess, sweeping the scene with your glasses, that an army +could be hiding there. The river curves and winds, its course marked by +the tops of the willows that grow along its banks. The land on both +sides stretches bare and almost level, but there are a few rises and +knolls from which our artillery smashes down its fire on the Boer +laager. At one point you can make out a ragged congregation of waggons, +broken and shattered, some of them burning or smouldering. That is where +the laager is, but not a soul can one see move. The place looks an utter +solitude, bare and lifeless in the glare of the sun. There is no reply +to our busy guns. The little shrapnel clouds, stabbed with fire, burst +now here now there, sometimes three or four together, over the spot, and +the blue haze floats away, mingling with the darker, thicker vapour from +the less frequent lyddite. "What are they shooting at?" a stranger would +say; "there is nobody there." Isn't there? Only 4000 crafty, vigilant +Boers, crowding in their holes and cuddling their Mausers. Ask the +Highlanders. + +You will have heard all about that by this time. The desperate attempt +last Sunday to take the position by storm. It was another of those +fiendish "frontal attacks." Have we been through Belmont and Graspan and +Modder River and Magersfontein for nothing? Or must we teach every +general in turn who comes to take charge of us what the army has learnt +long ago, that a frontal attack against Mausers is leading up to your +enemy's strong suit. For Methuen there were reasons. Methuen could not +outflank, could not go round, was not strong enough to leave his lines +of communication, and had practically no cavalry. He had to go straight +on. Belmont, Graspan, and Modder were turnpike gates. The toll was +heavy, but there was no choice but to pay. But what was the reason of +this latest? We had them here safely bottled up. We have them still. It +is only a question of days. The attack could have gained nothing by +success; has lost little by its failure. The casualties were 1500. I +know all about eggs and omelettes, but these were simply thrown in the +gutter. + +Never tell me these Boers aren't brave. What manner of life, think you, +is in yonder ditch? Our artillery rains down its cross fire of shells +perpetually. The great ox-waggons are almost totally destroyed or burnt. +The ammunition in the carts keeps blowing up as the fire reaches it. The +beasts, horses and oxen, are strewn about, dead and putrid, and +deserters say that the stench from their rotting carcasses is +unbearable. Night and day they have to be prepared for infantry attacks, +and yet, to the amazement of all of us, they still hold out. + +Old Cronjé's apparent object is to try and save Bloemfontein by delaying +us till reinforcements come up from the south and east. This is really +what we want, because the more of the enemy we get in front of this +great army of ours, the harder we shall be able to hit them. But +evidently Cronjé is ignorant of our strength. + +Meantime we can make out in our break-of-day scoutings up the river that +bodies of men are approaching from the east. They have made a laager +about ten miles up, and evidently mean to dispute our passage to the +capital. The longer old Cronjé holds out, the more men from Colesberg +and Natal will come up, the more entrenchments will be cut, and the +harder will be our way to Bloemfontein. 'Tis the only way he sees to +save the town, for we should march straight in else. Perhaps, too, he +cherishes some hope of being relieved himself; of a determined attack +from without, which might enable him, by a sudden sally, to break +through; though, for dismounted men (and their horses are all dead by +this time), the chances of ultimate escape in a country like this must +be very small, one would think. Anyhow, he sticks to his work like a +glutton. The shells burst over them. The lyddite blows them up in smoke +and dust, the sun grills, the dead bodies reek, our infantry creep on +them day and night; foul food, putrid water, death above and around, +they grin and bear it day after day to gain the precious hours. And all +the time we on our side know perfectly well that no relief they could +possibly bring up would serve our army for rations for a day. + + + + +LETTER XII + +PAARDEBERG--THE SURRENDER + + +_March 5_, 1900. + +Well, that is over, and I hope you are satisfied. We have got Cronjé. +His victories are o'er. We have also got Mrs. Cronjé, which was a bit +more than we bargained for. They cut her an extra deep hole, I hear, to +be out of shell-fire, and she sat at the bottom all day long, receiving +occasional visits from Cronjé, and having her meals handed down to her. +One can fancy her blinking up at her "Man," whom she always, I am told, +accompanies on his campaigns, and shaking her head sorrowfully over the +situation. There is nothing very spirit-stirring about a mud hole and an +old woman sitting at the bottom of it, but the danger and the terrible +hardships were real enough. That is always the way with these Dutch. +They have all the harsh realities and none of the glamour and romance. +Athens, with their history and record, would have made the whole world +ring for ever. But they are dumb. It seems such a waste. + +Albrecht too is among the prisoners, the famous German "expert," who +designs their works for them and manages their artillery; and we have +taken 4000 prisoners, and several guns and one detested "pompon." Come, +now, here is a little bit of all right at last. + +I was one of a party that rode down with the Major on the morning of +the surrender to the laager and saw the prisoners marched in. They +seemed quite cheery and pleased with themselves. They were dressed in +all sorts of ragged, motley-looking clothes; trousers of cheap tweed, +such as you see hung up in an East End slop-shop; jackets once black, +now rusted, torn and stained, and battered hats. They reminded me more +of a mob of Kent hop-pickers than anything else, and it was a matter of +some surprise, not to say disgust, to some of us to think that such a +sorry crowd should be able to withstand disciplined troops in the way +they did. + +I talked to several of them. They all agreed in saying that they had +been through the most ghastly time in the last ten days and were +heartily glad it was over. They exchanged nods and good-days with us and +the soldiers who were standing about, and altogether seemed in a very +friendly and conciliatory mood. All this, however, it struck me, was +rather put on, a bit of acting which was now and then a trifle overdone. +Boers are past-masters at hiding their real feelings and affecting any +that they think will be acceptable. It is a trait which has become a +national characteristic, and the craft, dissimulation, the _slimness_, +as it is called, of the Boers is a by-word. I suppose it comes from the +political situation, the close neighbourhood of a rival race, stronger +and more energetic, which fosters in the stolid Dutchman, by way of +buckler, this instinctive reticence and cunning. His one idea is to make +what he can out of the situation without troubling his head for a +moment about his own candour and sincerity. It is Oriental, the trait +you expect to find in a John Chinaman, but which surprises you in a +burly old Dutchman. Still there it is. At any farm you go to, men, +women, and children will put on a semblance of friendship, and set to +work to lie with a calmness which is really almost dignified. No one in +this country ever believes a thing a bit the more because a Dutchman +says it. + +We went on into the captured laager. It was an extraordinary, +interesting, and loathsome sight. Dead bodies of horses and men lay in +all directions in various stages of decomposition, and the reeking smell +was something quite indescribable. I fancied, even after leaving the +place, that I carried the smell about with me, and that it had got into +my clothes. The steep river banks were honeycombed with little holes and +tunnels, and deep, narrow pits, like graves; narrow at the top, and +hollowed out below to allow less entrance for shells. Evidently each man +had cut his own little den. Some were done carelessly, mere pits scooped +out. Others were deep, with blankets or old shawls spread at the bottom, +and poles with screens of branches laid across the top to keep off the +sun. I saw one or two which were quite works of art; very narrow tunnels +cut into the side of the river-cliff, and turning round after you +entered, making a quite secure retreat, unless perhaps an extra heavy +old lyditte might happen to burst the whole bank up. This actually +happened, they told us, with the very last shot fired the night before; +a bit of the bank having been blown up with eight men in it, of whom +five were killed and three wounded. The whole river channel looks as if +a big colony of otters or beavers had settled here, honeycombing the +bank with their burrows, and padding the earth bare and hard with their +feet. It was all worn like a highroad. On the other side, the waggons +were a sight; shattered, and torn, and wrecked with shot; many of them +burnt; several, huge as they are, flung upside down by the force of a +shell bursting beneath them. All their contents were littered and strewn +about in every direction; blankets, clothes, carpenters' and +blacksmiths' tools, cooking utensils, furniture. You would have thought +the Boers were settlers moving to a new country with all their effects, +instead of an army on the march. This is how they do things, however, in +the homely, ponderous fashion. They often take their women and children +with them. There were many in the crowd we captured. + +I wandered about alone a long time, looking at the dismal, curious scene +where so much had been endured. White flags, tied to poles or stripped +branches, fluttered from waggon tops. Our ambulance carts came along, +and the Tommies, stripping to the waist, proceeded to carry, one by one, +the Dutch wounded through the ford on stretchers. + +We are bivouacked ourselves far up the river, in a secluded nook among +mimosas and kopjes with the thick current of the lately unknown, but now +too celebrated, Modder rolling in front of us. The weather has changed +of late. It is now autumn. We have occasional heavy rains, and you wake +up at night sometimes to find yourself adrift in a pool of water. It +gets chilly too. + +The enemy are all about the place, and we interview them every morning +at daybreak, sometimes exchanging shots, sometimes not. We lay little +traps for each other, and vary our manoeuvres with intent to deceive. +This advance guard business (we are dealing here with the relief parties +of Boers that have come up between us and Bloemfontein) always reminds +me of two boxers sparring for an opening. A feint, a tap, a leap back, +both sides desperately on the alert and wary. + +We lost poor Christian yesterday in one of these little encounters. He +was mortally wounded in stopping at short range to pick up a friend +whose horse had been shot. I have mentioned him, I think, to you in my +letters. There was no one in the corps more popular. "Tell the old dad I +died game," was what he said when the Major, coming up with supports, +knelt down to speak to him. + +Nothing very noteworthy has occurred since the surrender. The army has +been quietly resting, taking stock of the prisoners, and sending them to +the railway, and we are expecting every day now the order to advance. +The enemy, meanwhile, have been collecting in some force, and are +evidently prepared to dispute our march east. Yesterday we had a duel +with a gun which they have managed, goodness knows how, to drag up to +the top of a commanding hill some miles up the river. However, it was +too strongly placed. We lost several men. The enemy's fire was very +accurate, and they ended up by sending three shots deliberately one +after the other right into our ambulance waggons. + +We shall be able to post letters to-day, and the reason this one is so +extremely dirty is that I am finishing it in a drizzling rain, being on +picket guard a couple of miles up the river, not far from the scene of +yesterday's shooting. The Boers are on the bustle this morning. One can +see them cantering about on the plain just across the river, where +thousands of their cattle are grazing. In front the big-gun hill +glimmers blue in the mist. Two or three of the enemy have crept up the +woody river-course and tried a shot at us; some close; the bullets +making a low, quick whistle as they flit overhead. My two +companions--there are three of us--are still blazing an indignant reply +at the distant bushes. By the amount of fire tap, tap, tapping like an +old woodpecker all round the horizon, it seems that there is a sudden +wish for a closer acquaintanceship among the pickets generally this +morning. Those fellows in the river are at it again! + + + + +LETTER XIII + +POPLAR GROVE + + +_March 8_, 1900. + +We left our camp on Modder River at midnight of the 6th. The night was +clear and starlit, but without moon. Moving down the river to take up +our position in the flank march, we passed battalion after battalion of +infantry moving steadily up to carry the position in front. The plan is +this. The infantry advance up the river as if to deliver a frontal +attack; but meanwhile the mounted troops, which have started during the +night, are to make a wide detour to the right and get round at the back +of the Boer position, so as to hem them in. The idea sounds a very good +one, but our plans were upset by the Boers not waiting to be hemmed in. +However, it is certain that if they _had_ waited we _should_ have hemmed +them in. You must remember that. + +The guns go rumbling past in the darkness. We are on the right of the +column. Along our left we can just distinguish a long, black river of +figures moving solidly on. It flows without break or gap. Now and then a +jar or clank, the snort of a horse, the rattle of chains, rises above +the murmur, but underneath all sounds the deep-toned rumbling of the +wheels as the English guns go by. + +Close in front of us is a squadron of Lancers, their long lances, +slender, and black, looking like a fringe of reeds against the fast +paling sky, and behind us there is cavalry without end. The morning is +beautifully clear with a lovely sunrise, and that early hour, with +horses fresh, prancing along with a great force of mounted men, always +seems to me one of the best parts of the whole show. + +As soon as we can see distinctly we make out that we have got to the +south of the enemy's hills, and are marching along their flanks. They +look like a group of solid indigo pyramids against the sunrise. Are +those kopjes out of range? is a question that suggests itself as we draw +alongside, leaving them wide on our port beam. Yes, no! No! a lock of +smoke, white as snow, lies suddenly on the dark hillside, followed by +fifteen seconds of dead silence. Then comes the hollow boom of the +report, and immediately afterwards the first whimper, passing rapidly +into an angry roar of the approaching shell, which bursts close +alongside the Lancers. "D----d good shot," grunts the next man to me, +with sleepy approval, as indeed it is. + +The order to extend is given, but before the Lancers can carry it out +the smoke curl shows again, and this time the shell comes with a yell of +triumph slosh into the thickest group of them, and explodes on the +ground. There is a flutter of lances for an instant round the spot, and +the head and mane of a shot horse seen through the smoke as it rears up, +but the column moves steadily on, taking no notice, only now it inclines +a little to the right to get away from that long-range gun. + +We march on eastward as day broadens, through a country open and +grassy, rising and falling in long slopes to the horizon. Suddenly from +the far side of one of these ridges comes the rapid, dull, +double-knocking of the Mausers. The enemy are firing at our flankers; +these draw back under cover of the slope, and we continue to advance, +the firing going on all the time, but passing over our heads. Now the +Major, curious as to the enemy's position, sends half-a-dozen of our +troop up the slope to get a view. These ride up in open order, and are +at once made a mark of by the Boer riflemen, luckily at long range. +Wing, wing, with their sharp whirring note, came the bullets. They take +a rapid survey and return to tell the Major that the scenery in that +direction is exceptionally uninteresting, a long slant of grass +stretching up for a mile or more, and somewhere about the sky-line Boers +shooting. Then comes the usual interval while we wait for "the guns." +The guns shortly arrive and a brace of Maxims. These open a hot fire at +the top of the hill. They are rather in front of us, and fire back up +the slope across our front; the bullets passing sound like the rushing +of wind through grass. + +After a bit the order is given to take the hill, and we advance firing +as we go. Beyond the guns and Maxims other men are moving up. You notice +that the Colonials shoot as sportsmen do. The regulars blaze away all +the time, seeing nothing, but shooting on spec at the hill top; load and +shoot, load and shoot, as hard as they can. Our fellows have a liking +for something to shoot at. With their carbines at the ready, they walk +quickly forward as if they were walking up to partridges. Now a man sees +a head lifted or the grass wave, and instantly up goes the carbine with +a crack as it strikes the shoulder. Another jumps up on to an anthill to +get a better view. Every time an extra well directed shell falls among +the prostrate Boers, one or two start up and run back, and noticing +this, several of the Guides wait on the guns, and as each shell screams +overhead on its way to the hill top, they stand ready for a snapshot. +_Wang_! goes the shell, up leaps a panic-stricken Dutchman, and crack, +crack, crack, go half-a-dozen carbines. Though absolutely without cover, +the enemy keep up for some time a stubborn reply, and when at last we +reach the crest, tenanted now only by a few dead bodies, we have lost +nearly two precious hours. Below across the vast plain the Dutch are in +full retreat. It is doubtful already if we shall be able to intercept +them. + +The doubt is soon decided against us. We are crossing the flat, kopjes +in front and a slope on the right. Suddenly several guns open from the +kopjes ahead, the shells dropping well among us. At this coarse +behaviour we pause disgusted. An A.D.C. galops up. We are to make a +_reconnaissance_ (hateful word!) on the right to see if the slope is +occupied. "Will the Guides kindly ...?" and the officer waves his hand +airily towards the hill and bows. We are quite well aware that the slope +is occupied, for we have seen Boers take up their position there, and +several experimental shots have already been fired by them. However, +"anything to oblige" is the only possible answer, and the squadron +right wheels and breaks into a canter. Once on the rise the bullets come +whizzing through our ranks quick enough. Down goes one man, then +another, then another. Maydon of the _Times_, who is with us, drops, but +only stunned by a grazing bullet, as it turns out. The Life Guards +deploying on our left catch it hot, and many saddles are emptied. + +A charge at this time would have scattered the Boers instantly (they +were very weak) and saved both time and lives. Instead of this, however, +it is thought more advisable to keep every one standing still in order +to afford a more satisfactory test of Boer marksmanship. It is very +irksome. The air seems full of the little shrill-voiced messengers. Our +ponies wince and shiver; they know perfectly well what the sound means. +At last the fact that the hills are held is revealed to the sagacity of +our commanders, and we are moved aside and the guns once more come into +action. + +It is easy (thank goodness!) to be wise after the event. I find every +one very discontented over this action, and especially the cavalry part +of it. Had we made a good wide cast instead of a timid little half-cock +movement, and come round sharp, we should have intercepted the Boer +convoy. As it is, we lose two more hours at this last stand which brings +us till late in the afternoon, and soon afterwards, on approaching the +river, we see five miles off the whole Dutch column deliberately +marching away eastward. Our failure stares us in the face, and we see +with disgust that we have been bluffed and fooled and held in check all +day by some sixty or eighty riflemen, while the main body, waggons, +guns, and all, are marching away across our front. "The day's +proceedings," says one of our officers to me with laughable +deliberation, "afford a very exact representation of the worst possible +way of carrying out the design in hand." + + + + +LETTER XIV + +BLOEMFONTEIN + + +My last letter was written after Poplar Grove, and we marched in here +six days later on the 13th. Of the fighting on the way I can give you no +account, as I was knocked up with a bad chill and had to go with the +ambulance. Unluckily we had two nights of pouring rain, and as I had +left behind my blanket and had only my Boer mackintosh (with the red +lining), I fared very badly and got drenched both nights and very cold. +This brought on something which the doctor described as "not real +dysentery." However, whatever it was (or wasn't), it made me as weak as +a baby, and I was transferred to our ambulance, in which I lay, +comfortable enough, but only vaguely conscious of my surroundings. + +The next day, the 10th, they fought the battle of Spytfontein. All I +remember of it was some shells of the Boers falling into the long river +of convoy which stretched in front of me in an endless line, and the +huge bullock and mule waggons wheeling left and right and coming back +across the veldt, with long bamboo whips swaying and niggers uttering +diabolical screams and yells. We lost a good many men, but did fairly +well in the end, as our infantry got into the enemy among some hills, +where there were not supposed to be any enemy at all, and cut them up a +good deal. + +The following day I made the march on a bullock-waggon, which is really +a very fine and imposing way of getting along. Your team of twenty +strong oxen, in a long two-by-two file, have a most grand appearance, +their great backs straining and the chain between taut as a bar, and the +view you get over the field from your lofty perch among the piled-up +kits and sacks is most commanding. There used to be an old print at home +of Darius at the head of the Persian host "o'erlooking all the war" from +the summit of some stately chariot or other, which much reminded me of +my present position. I managed to mount my pony to ride into +Bloemfontein, which we did on the 13th, and am now quite well. + +This morning I sent you a wire to tell you that I had got my commission, +thinking thereby to impress you with the importance of the event. The +past five months of trooper life have not passed unpleasantly. There +have been the inconveniences and hardships of the moment, "les petites +miserès de la vie militaire," which sound trifling enough, but are +rather a tax on one's endurance sometimes. The life of a trooper, and +especially of a scout, is often a sort of struggle for existence in +small ways. You have to care for and tend your pony, supplement his +meagre ration by a few mealies or a bundle of forage, bought or begged +from some farm and carried miles into camp; watch his going out and +coming in from grazing; clean him when you can, and have an eye always +to his interests. Your life and work depend so entirely on your pony +that this soon becomes an instinct with you. Then there are your own +wants to be supplied. You will be half starved often if you can't raise +something to put in your pocket--eggs from a Kaffir, or a fowl, or a +loaf of bread. Then there is the cooking question. Wood is scarce; +unless you or your pal have an eye to this, you may go supperless for +want of a fire. Another scarcity is water. Very likely there will be +none nearer than a mile from camp, and this means a weary tramp after a +long day. Then what about your bedding? You can carry only a blanket or +greatcoat on your horse, so that, when you are away from your convoy, +which is often enough, you have not much covering, and if it comes on to +rain you have a poor time of it. Of clothes, too, you have only what you +ride in. If wet, they dry on you; and few and far between are your +chances of washing them. All these things sound and are trifles. A man +would think little of them in a sporting expedition in the Himalayas; +but after a long time the monotony tells. The heat tells. You are +sometimes "a bit slack," and at those times the cooking of your wretched +morsel of flesh, or the struggle for a drop of pea-soup coloured water +becomes irksome. + +The little star on your shoulder saves you from all that. You can tell +the new commissioned man by the way he has of constantly looking over +his shoulder. Poor fellow! he likes to catch the pretty glitter--the +"twinkle, twinkle, little star"--that lifts privates' hands to him as +they pass. Some one else cooks for him now, and there is the officers' +mess cart with a few welcome extras and a merry gathering at meals and a +batman to tend the pony (though you keep an eye on that yourself too), +and extra clothes and blankets, and a shelter of some sort to sleep +under, and a Kaffir boy to put out his washing things when he comes in +hot and tired, and altogether life seems, by comparison, a very +luxurious and pleasant affair. I am a bit of a democrat, as you know, +and all for equality and the rights of man; but now I say, like Mesty, +when they made him a butler, "Dam equality now I major-domo." + +Bloemfontein is a pretty little place, but it takes you by surprise. The +country round is, for endless leagues, so barren, a mere grassy, +undulating expanse of prairie land, with a few farms at ten-mile +intervals, that the appearance of a town seems incongruous. All of a +sudden you come to a crowd of low bungalow-like roofs under the shadow +of some flat-topped kopjes and realise the presence in this void of the +Free State capital. + +The place is suggestive, in its low single storey houses and pretty +gardens, of quiet ease, and has a certain kindliness about it. It is +pleasant to see the creeper grown fronts and flower patches, and few +shady trees after our long sojourn in the veldt. But the one memorable +sight of the place, the scene of a special and unique interest, is the +Bloemfontein Club. This is the first time that the great army under Lord +Roberts has found itself in occupation of any town, and the first time, +therefore, that all its various contingents have had a chance of meeting +together in one place. At the Bloemfontein Club the chance has occurred, +and certainly never before, in any time or place, could you have seen +such representative gatherings of the British race from all parts of +the world as you will see if you stroll any day into the verandah and +smoking-room and bar of the Bloemfontein Club. From the old country and +from every British colony all over the world these men of one race, in a +common crisis, here for one moment meet, look into each others' faces, +drink, and greet and pass on; to be drawn back each to his own quarter +of the globe and separated when the crisis is passed and not to meet +again. But what a moment and what a meeting it is, and what a +distinction for this little place. Organise your mass meetings and pack +your town-halls, you never will get together such a sample of the +British Empire as you will see any afternoon in this remote pothouse. +What would you give for a peep at the show; to see the types and hear +the talk? You would give a hundred pounds, I daresay. I wish I could +take you one of these afternoons: I would do it for half the money. + +You can see the great mountain of Thaba Nchu quite clearly from here, +though it is forty miles away, and trace every ravine and valley in its +steep sides, defined in pure blue shadows. We have been out there these +last ten days on what is known as a "bill-sticking" expedition; +distributing, that is, a long proclamation which Lord Roberts has just +issued, in which he explains to the Free State Burghers that all their +property will be respected, and they will be allowed themselves to +return to their farms forthwith if they will just take a little quiet +oath of allegiance to the British Crown. A few have done so and received +passes, but the interest taken in the scheme seems less on the whole +than one would have supposed likely. Some explain it by saying that the +Boers are such liars themselves that they can't believe but what the +English are lying too; while others think the move is premature, and +that the Free State is not prepared yet to abandon the war or her +allies. + +We were by way also of endeavouring to cut off any stray parties of +Boers who might be making their way north from Colesberg and that +neighbourhood. Broadwood was in command of us. There was a stray party, +sure enough, but it was 7000 strong. It passed across our bows, fifteen +miles east of us, and we let it severely alone. + +Meantime there is a general lull. In the midst of war we are in peace. I +am going off to-morrow to our old original Modder River camp (having +ridden in from Thaba Nchu yesterday), that cockpit where so much +fighting was done and where we spent so many weary weeks watching the +heights of Magersfontein, to get luggage and things left behind. It will +be strange to see the old place deserted and to ride near the hills +without being shot at. Buller is peacefully sleeping at or near +Ladysmith; the sound of his snoring faintly reaches us along the wires. +Gatacre slumbers at Colesberg. Kitchener has disappeared, no one knows +exactly where; and Little Bobs has curled himself up at Government House +here, and given orders that he is not to be called for a fortnight. What +news can you expect in such times? There is positively none. + +Bloemfontein gives one the curious impression just now of a town that +has been unpacked and emptied of all its contents, and had them dumped +down on the land alongside. The shops contain little or nothing. They +have been bought up and have not had time to restock. But outside the +town, on the veldt, a huge depot of all sorts of goods is growing larger +and larger every day, as the trains, one after another, come steaming +north with their loads of supplies. There is a street, ankle deep in +mud, of huge marquees, each with a notice of its contents outside: +"Accoutrements," "Harness," "Clothing," "Transit Store," and what not. +Behind and between are vast piles of boxes, bales, bags, and casks +heaped up, and more arrive every hour on loaded trucks along a branch +rail from the station. It is a busy, animated scene. Orderlies run or +gallop about; quartermasters and adjutants and others hurry here and +there, with their hands full of papers from one marquee to another, +collecting their orders; shopping as it were, but shopping on rather a +large scale; and the big ox-waggons come creaking along and churning up +the mud. This is where the cost of a war comes in. These are a few of +the little things that our army will require on its way to Pretoria. +There will be money to pay for this. We shall feel this some day, you +and I. + +And poor unstuffed Bloemfontein lies there empty. There are all the +shops, and here all the merchandise. You may guess that the tradesmen +are indignant. Never has there been such a market. Here is the whole +British army clamouring for all kinds of things; most furiously perhaps +for eatables and drinkables, baccy and boots. All these things have long +been bought up, and the poor Tommies can only wander, sullen and +unsated, up and down the streets and stare hungrily in at the empty +shop windows; while out of the empty shop windows the shopkeeper glares +still more hungrily at them. I have heard how in the Fraser River the +fish positively pack and jostle as they move up. So here; but the +unhappy sportsman has nothing to catch them with. Brass coal-scuttles +and duplex lamps are about all that remains in the way of bait, and +these are the only things they won't rise to. He rushes off to +Kitchener. "Give me a train a day. Give me a train a week." "You be +d----d," growls Kitchener. Back he comes. The hungry eyes are still +staring. Incarnate custom flows past. Never in all his life will such a +chance recur. Poor wretch! It is like some horrible nightmare. + + + + +LETTER XV + +MODDER REVISITED + + +BLOEMFONTEIN, _April 9_, 1900. + +All the way from Modder River down the Kimberley line and up the central +one from Naauwpoort, the most dismal rumours reached me at all stations, +growing more definite as I neared Bloemfontein. Sanna's Post and +Reddersberg! You have heard all about them by now. Nearly 1000 +casualties and seven guns taken. + +You remember I told you in my last letter that a big body of Boers +marched north across our bows. Pilcher was out on that side and drew +back. The Boers got wind of him, and wheeled west in pursuit. Broadwood, +not strong enough to hold Thaba Nchu, moved in on Bloemfontein, the +Boers after him. + +It is no fun describing things one has not seen. The ground I know. It +is a flat plain the whole way, but down the middle of it is a deep sluit +or watercourse, some thirty feet deep, with steep, sudden banks, and +through this the road dips down and passes. Broadwood halted on the east +side of it, thus leaving it between himself and home. In doing this he +gave a chance to an enemy who never throws a chance away. The Boer +leader was Christian De Wet. + +The first thing in the morning the enemy began shelling our camp. The +convoy was sent on, not a scout with it. Meantime, during the night +several hundred Boer marksmen had been sent round into the sluit, and +were now lying right across poor Broadwood's retreat. The Boers, acting +with their devilish coolness as usual, took possession of the waggons +without giving the alarm. Our two batteries and Roberts' Horse came +along, and were allowed to get to point-blank distance, and then the +volley came; magazine rifles at pistol-shot range. For the moment the +result, as at Magersfontein, was chaos. + +Hornby dealt the first counter-blow. With the five manageable guns he +galloped back a bit and brought them into action at 1000 yards. He +showed first that it was going to be a fight and not a stampede. "Steady +and hit back," said Q Battery. You should hear the men talk of that +battery. It lost almost every man, killed or wounded, but it was the +chief means in restoring some sort of order to the retreat. But the +disaster was past retrieving. In killed, wounded, and prisoners we lost +a third of our force, the whole convoy, and seven guns out of twelve. I +can see the question you are dying to ask. Why on earth did Broadwood +camp the wrong side of that ditch? That is exactly the sort of question +that a "blooming civilian" would ask. And then came Reddersberg and the +loss of another five hundred. Christian De Wet again! And all this +within hearing, as you may say, of the main British army. + +These disasters come most inopportunely for us. Many of the Orange Free +State Burghers, when their capital was taken, seem to have thought it +was all up and some of them took the oath. But this right and left of De +Wet's has changed that impression. It comes just in time to fan into a +fresh blaze embers that seemed dying out. We hear that all the farmers +who had taken the oath are under arms again. They had not much choice, +for the fighting Boers simply came along and took them. + +My visit to old Modder River was very interesting. It was quite +deserted; only a few odds and ends of militia, where, when I remember it +last, there were stately great squares of ordered tents and long lines +of guns and limbers and picketed horses, and the whole place crawled +with khaki, and one felt around one all the bustle and energy of a huge +camp. I felt quite melancholy, as when one revisits some scene of +childhood changed beyond recall. Trains were running regularly up to +Kimberley and ordinary citizens were travelling up and down. It seemed +the war was forgotten. To me, who had been living in the head and front +of a big army for seven months, all these old signs of peace and a quiet +life seemed strange enough. There were some children going up with their +papas and mamas. As we came one after another to the lines of hills at +Belmont and Graspan they pointed and crowded to the windows, and papa +began to explain that the great fights had been here, and to tell all +about them, quite wrong. + +The hills look peaceful enough now. The children press their noses and +little india-rubber fingers against the glass, and chatter and laugh and +bob up and down-- + + "Little they think of those strong limbs + That moulder deep below." + +And I sit back in my corner ashamed of my dirty old tunic and the holes +in it, and peer between two small flaxen heads at hills I last saw alive +with bursting shell. + +At Modder village I hired a horse and rode across the plain to +Magersfontein. I must often have described the place to you--the great +flat and the beak of hill, like a battleship's ram, thrust southward +into it. Do you know, I felt quite awestruck as I approached it. It +seemed quite impossible that I, alone on my pony, could be going to ride +up to and take single-handed that redoubtable hill, which had flung back +the Highlanders, and remained impregnable to all our shelling. I thought +some Boer, or ghost of a Boer, would pop up with his Mauser to defend +the familiar position once more. However, none did. I picked my way +through the trench, littered with scraps of clothing and sacks and +blankets, with tins and cooking things, and broken bottles and all sorts +of rags and debris littered about. The descriptions of the place sent +home after the battle are necessarily very inaccurate. Those I have seen +all introduce several lines of trenches and an elaborate system of +barbed wire entanglements. There is only one trench, however, and no +barbed wire, except one fence along a road. There are, however, a great +number of plain wire strands, about ten yards long perhaps, made fast +between bushes and trees, and left dangling, say, a foot from the +ground. They were not laid in line, but dotted about in every direction, +and, in anything like a dim light, would infallibly trip an advancing +enemy up in all directions. The single trench is about five feet deep, +the back of it undercut so as to allow the defenders to sleep in good +shelter, and the number of old blankets and shawls lying here showed it +had been used for this. It followed closely the contour of the hill, +about twenty yards from its base. Eastward it was continued across the +flat to the river. + +The "disappearing guns," in the same way, were not disappearing at all. +They simply had strong redoubts of sandbags built round them, the +opening in front being partly concealed by bushes. On each side of the +gun, inside the redoubt, was a pit, with a little side passage or +tunnel, where two or three gunners could lie in perfect security, and +yet be ready at an instant's notice to serve their gun. As for the +kopjes themselves, every rock and stone there was split with shell and +starred with bullet marks. The reverse side of the slopes were steepened +with stone walls here and there, as a protection against shrapnel, and +sangars and lookout places were built at points of vantage. Altogether, +though not so elaborate as one had been led to believe, the defences +struck one as extremely practical and business-like. + +I stayed there for two interesting hours. You can guess with what +feelings I looked down on the plain from Long Tom's redoubt, poor old +Joey's rival, and traced the long line of the river, with its fringe of +willows, and marked, up and down, a score of places where we had +skirmished or hidden, distinguishing the positions of our guns and +pickets, and all the movements and manoeuvres of our army. For the +first time one realised what a bird's-eye view the Boers had of it all, +and how our whole position and camp lay unrolled like a map almost at +their very feet. + +I must add a word to tell you that the boxes have arrived! I only wish +you could have been here to see the contents distributed. First (this +was about a week ago) came a huge box full of good things to eat, +raisins, figs, a great many tins of cocoa and milk, chocolate, and other +things. We spread them all out on sheets in the verandah of the farm in +little heaps, and very pretty and tempting they looked, the white sheets +down the shady verandah, and little piles of sweetmeats and things +dotted all over them. Each man drew a ticket and chose his eatable, some +putting it carefully away, others bolting it immediately. One can get +absolutely nothing in Bloemfontein, and the men were as keen as school +children. It was an excellent idea sending such a lot of figs and +raisins. They are soon gone, but they are so immensely appreciated while +they last; they give the men the badly wanted holiday feeling. I almost +think that, in the way of provisions, delicacies are more liked by men +on service, and really do them more good than the more practically +useful things. + +Then, a day or two ago, came another great box full of clothing. Flannel +shirts, socks, under-clothing, &c. There was, especially, in this box, a +packet of little handkerchiefs with a card, and on it written: "Worked +by Mrs. Hope and her little girls for the soldiers." The little present +touched us all very much. I have kept the card with the intention of +thanking "the little girls" if ever I get the chance. + +We are only about a hundred strong now, and there were enough things to +go round several times. If you had foreseen and planned the date of +their arrival they could not have reached us at a more opportune moment. +The men have scarcely anything to wear, for all our kit and clothes, +everything we possess, was lost at the Sanna Post surprise party. I +assure you they are grateful. I read them the names of the subscribers, +and they all send their best thanks. Several came up to me and asked +that their thanks might be sent to you for your trouble in getting the +subscriptions, &c. No money that could have been expended in any charity +could have been better spent than this. The men have done fearfully hard +work, and were many of them literally in rags. It has been the greatest +help. The Major has sent you a few words of thanks, but has asked me to +write more particularly. You will let those know who have helped, will +you not, how this Colonial corps of ours has appreciated your English +present. + +And now, farewell. They say we move forward in a week. I hope it may be +true. They also say we shall finish the campaign in a couple of months. +Fiddle-de-dee! is what I say. Tell H. to educate little S. as a scout +among the Devonshire hedges, and give him a bit of practical training +against the time he will be old enough to come out. There will be Boers +to take him on. + + + + +LETTER XVI + +JUSTIFICATION OF THE WAR + + +BLOEMFONTEIN, _April_, 1900. + +Yes, certainly, my own reason for fighting is plain and strong. I am +fighting for a united South Africa. A united South Africa will, in my +opinion, justify the war. The Boers are genuinely patriotic, I haven't a +doubt. They have every right and reason to fight to the last for their +freedom and independence. But the continued existence of independent +States on the pattern of the Dutch republics in the midst of South +Africa is bound to be a perpetual irritation. The development of the +resources of the country will be checked. The effort to remain separate +and apart has obliged, and will more and more oblige, these States to +build themselves round with a whole system of laws specially directed to +hamper immigration; and the richer are found to be the resources of the +country, the more harassing and stringent will this system of laws have +to become. In fact, in this great, free, and undivided country, to hedge +a State round with artificial barriers of this sort, in order that it +may enjoy a kind of obsolete, old-fashioned independence of its own, +soon becomes intolerable. It is unjust to all the rest of the continent. +The country, if it is to have its due weight and influence in the +affairs of the world, must be united and make itself felt as a whole. +It is not fair on such a country, young but rapidly developing, to take +two of the richest tracts of it right in its midst and to say, "You may +go ahead with the development of all the rest, but these two portions +are to be left on one side, to drop out of the running, to be withered +and useless members, and instead of contributing to the total, and +joining in with the progress of the rest, are to do all in their power +to impede the general advance." + +It is bad enough when any naturally separate State shows the retrograde +temper and an inability to profit by its own resources, but when that +State is an integral part of one great and young continent, then its +action becomes intolerable. I think it is not only the people in a +country that have claims, but the country itself that has a claim. If +you want South Africa to ripen ultimately into a great first-class world +Power (and that is _its_ claim), instead of a bunch of fifth-rate +antagonistic States, the first thing to do is to range the country under +one Government, and as a British Government will be progressive, and a +Dutch one will certainly be retrograde, you must put it under a British +one. That is the first essential, and if any genuinely patriotic +instincts are overridden in the process, it is very sad, but it cannot +be helped. Better this than that the whole country should miss its +destiny. + +As for the Uitlanders and their grievances, I would not ride a yard or +fire a shot to right all the grievances that were ever invented. The +mass of the Uitlanders (_i.e._, the miners and working-men of the Rand) +had no grievances. I know what I am talking about, for I have lived and +worked among them. I have seen English newspapers passed from one to +another, and roars of laughter roused by the _Times_ telegrams about +these precious grievances. We used to read the London papers to find out +_what our grievances were_; and very frequently they would be due to +causes of which we had never even heard. I never met one miner or +working-man who would have walked a mile to pick the vote up off the +road, and I have known and talked with scores and hundreds. And no man +who knows the Rand will deny the truth of what I tell you. + +No; but the Uitlanders the world has heard of were not these, but the +Stock Exchange operators, manipulators of the money market, company +floaters and gamblers generally, a large percentage of them Jews. They +voiced Johannesburg, had the press in their hands, worked the wires, and +controlled and arranged what sort of information should reach England. +As for the grievances, they were a most useful invention, and have had a +hand in the making of many fortunes. It was by these that a feeling of +insecurity was introduced into the market which would otherwise have +remained always steady; it was by these that the necessary and periodic +slump was brought about. When the proper time came, "grievances," such +as would arrest England's attention and catch the ear of the people, +were _deliberately invented_; stories again were deliberately invented +of the excitement, panic, and incipient revolution of Johannesburg, and +by these means was introduced that feeling of insecurity I have spoken +of, which was necessary to lower prices. + +Not a finger would I raise for these fellows. And another war-cry which +I profoundly disbelieve in, and which will probably turn out in the long +run to be a hoax, is the "Dutch South Africa" cry. How any one who knows +his South Africa, who knows the isolation of life among the farmers, and +the utter stagnation of all ideas that exists among the people, can +credit the Boers with vaulting ambitions of this sort, is always a +surprise to me. I fancy such theories are mostly manufactured for the +English market. Naturally I form my opinion more or less from the men in +our corps who seem best worth attending to. They, most of them, have an +intimate knowledge of the Colony and of one or both of the Republics, +and I do not find that they take the "Great Dutch Conspiracy" at all +seriously. Some people maintain that, though perhaps the Boer farmers +themselves were not in it, yet their leaders were. But the farmers form +the vast majority of the Boers. They are an independent and stiff-necked +type; and it is as absurd to suppose that their leaders could pledge +them to such vast and visionary schemes as it is to suppose that such +schemes could have the slightest interest for them. As a matter of fact, +what has given old Kruger his long ascendency is the way in which he +shares and embodies the one or two simple, dogged ideas of the mass of +the Burghers. "God bless the Boers and damn the British" are two of the +chief of these, but they only apply them within their own borders. + +But it's a case of the proof of the pudding. If this scheme for a +general rising existed, why is not the Colony in arms now? What do you +think the answer to that is? Why, that the plot did indeed exist and had +been carefully matured, and that it would have come off all right if the +Boers had marched boldly south; but that, for some unknown reason, their +hearts failed them at the last moment, and they didn't dare go on and +reap what they had sown. "If only they had marched on Cape Town, the +whole Colony would have risen." + +Doesn't it sometimes occur to you that, when his own interests are +concerned, the Boer is a tolerably wide-awake gentleman, and that he +knows how to look after those interests of his almost as well as we can +teach him? Are you prepared to believe of him: first, that he laid down +and organised this vast conspiracy; second, that he deliberately armed +himself to the teeth with a view of carrying it out; third, that he +chose his own time for war and declared it when he thought the moment +was ripe; fourth, that he gained advantages to begin with, and had the +Colony at his feet; and fifth, that he was seized with a sudden +paralysis at the last moment, and found himself unable to march ahead +and gather in the recruits who were on tip-toe to join him? No, no. If +the plot existed, why didn't the plot work? It had every chance. + +I will tell you what there was. There were a number of appeals and +letters (some of them I have seen) from families in the north to their +relations in the Colony, praying for sympathy, and perhaps for active +help. But these were merely personal appeals. There is no hard and fast +line, so far as the people are concerned, between the Colony, Orange +Free State, and Transvaal. The same big families, or clans almost, have +their branches in all three, and probably there is not a family of any +consequence in either that has not a number of relations in the other +two. Consequently as war drew closer the excitement and anxiety it +caused spread southward from family to family. There was a good deal of +sympathy felt, no doubt, by the Dutch in the Colony for their relations +farther north, and there has been surreptitious help, information given, +and sympathy. But there the matter has usually ended. There have been +very few recruits, and there never was an organised conspiracy. + +It is curious to notice how the several sections of the Dutch were +picked up just as they were laid down. The most determined spirits of +all, the most bitter against English rule, the irreconcilables, had +fought their way farthest north, and formed the Transvaal. South of them +came the Orange Free State, just across the Colony border--independent, +but not so bitter; while in the Colony itself remained all those weaker +brethren whose hearts had failed them in the Great Trek days, and who +had remained under our government. + +The present war has revealed these strata just as they were deposited. +The northern State was the leader and aggressor. The southern one, drawn +in by its fiercer neighbour, was still true to the cause. And so, too, +the Dutch of the Colony were exactly to-day where they had been sixty +years ago. They could no more join the war than they could join the +trek. And, in spite of individual appeals to relations, &c., you may be +sure that the northerners knew pretty accurately how the land lay. Their +own action shows this. + +Therefore, I put aside utterly, so far as I am concerned, the Uitlander +and Dutch conspiracy arguments, of which one hears so much, as things +which, though they may occupy the attention of leading article writers +in London, yet are not convincing, and have no smack of reality to any +one who knows something about the Uitlanders from personal observation, +and something about the Boers and Boer life from personal observation. I +put these aside and come back to the only argument that will really +wash, that has no clap-trap in it. And that is South Africa under one +Government, and under a strong and progressive Government. Human nature +is pretty much the same all the world over, and if the Boers have been +to blame in the past, no doubt the Britons have been just as much to +blame. Anyway, it is impossible and would be useless to strike a balance +between them now. The fact that stands out salient and that has to be +dealt with in the present is that South Africa is divided against +itself; that it never can and never will step up into its proper place +until it is united, and that, therefore, to fight for a united South +Africa is to fight on the right side and in a good cause. + +And one thing I much like this plain reason for is, that it makes it +easy for one to do full justice to one's adversaries. I admire their +courage and patriotism very much. I acknowledge fully their dogged +obstinacy in defence and their dangerous coolness in retreat, and I am +sorry for them, too, and think it a sad thing that such brave men should +be identified with so impossible a cause. You must be careful how you +believe the reports sent home by war correspondents. I suppose people +like to hear harm of their enemies, and a daily paper's best business is +to give the public what the public wants rather than what is strictly +true. The consequence is that accounts of Boer fighting and of the Boers +themselves (traitors and cowards are the commonest words) are now +appearing which are neither more nor less than a disgrace to the papers +which publish them. I don't know since when it has become a British +fashion to slander a brave adversary, but I must say it seems to me a +singularly disgusting one, the more so when it is coupled with a gross +and indiscriminating praise of our own valour and performances. + + + + +LETTER XVII + +THE MARCH NORTH + + +NEAR JOHANNESBURG, _May 31_, 1900. + +"_May 1st_, 1900.--The long-looked, long-waited for moment has come at +last. We march from Bloemfontein on a glorious autumn morning, in fresh +cool air and the sky cloudless. Forty miles off Thaba Nchu, that hill of +ill omen, might be ten, so bold and clear it stands up above the lower +ranges. The level plain between the island hills is streaked with gauzy +mist. + +"North of Bloemfontein we get into a pretty, uneven country with several +level-topped kopjes set end to end like dominoes, and thickets of grey +mimosas clustering in the hollows. The great column is moving forward on +our left. Big ambulance waggons, with huge white covers nodding one +behind the other, high above the press; the naval twelve-pounders, with +ten-oxen teams and sailors swinging merrily alongside; infantry marching +with the indescribable regular undulation of masses of drilled men, +reminding one of the ripple of a centipede's legs; field artillery, +horse artillery, transport waggons, more infantry, more guns--they +stretch in a long, dark river right across the plain. + +"Now a halt is called. The men drop on one knee where they stand, or +hitch up their knapsacks to ease their tired shoulders. Then on again, +guns jolting, men sweating, marching at ease, with helmets on wrong side +first to shelter their eyes, and rifles with butt-ends over shoulders. +They have a rest after a few hours, and fall out by the wayside, fling +off the heavy accoutrements, light pipes, and fall a-yarning, stretched +on the grass, or pull out scraps of old newspapers to read." + +That was written the day we left Bloemfontein, just a month ago, and 250 +miles away. We have come along well, have we not? + +Brandfort is a little town on the railway some forty miles north of +Bloemfontein, overlooked by a big rocky kopje on the north. Here we find +our dear friends once more assembled to meet us after this long +interval, and we have a little battle with them, of which I will spare +you the description. An incident of some interest was the appearance of +the "Irish Brigade" from the Natal side, who held the hill above the +town. Rimington got leave from Hutton to turn them out, which he did so +cleverly, and taking us at them at such a pace that we did the business +without loss, except, indeed, in horses, of which several were hit. I +don't know if the two or three prisoners we took (and that we had some +thought of shooting out of hand) were a fair sample of the brigade, but +fouler-mouthed scoundrels I think I never set eyes on. + +Our plan of advance has been all along very simple and effective. Our +centre keeps the railway, while our wings, composed largely of mounted +troops, are spread wide on each side, and threaten by an enclosing +movement to envelop the enemy if he attempts to make a stand. These +tactics have been perfectly successful, and the Boers have been forced +again and again to abandon strong positions from a fear of being +surrounded. A bear's hug gives the notion of the strategy. No sooner do +our great arms come round than away slip the Boers while there is still +time. The Vet River was probably their strongest position, and here they +did make some attempt at a stand. This is how things looked that +morning:-- + +"_May_ 5_th_, 12.30.--We have just got to the big slopes overlooking Vet +River. The enemy is in a strong position along the river-bed, which is +thickly wooded, and in the hills beyond. Our left has touched them, and +as I write this our pompon on that side has a couple of goes. Kaffirs +tell us that the valley is full of Boers. Boers everywhere; in the +river-bed, in the sluits on the far side, in the hills; and that they +have plenty of guns. It is something like the Modder River position, but +stronger, inasmuch as there are ranges of hills on the far side of and +overlooking the river; so that they have two lines of defence, the +second commanding the first. An excellent arrangement. Walking forward +to the brow, a few of us had the whole panorama at our feet. We had no +idea it was so strong, and you might notice a thoughtful look on more +than one face as we walked back to our men behind the hill. + +"We have now got the guns to a nearer rise, sloping to the river, and +are standing in extended order waiting for the next move. This will take +the form of artillery practice, and it is prophesied that we shall get +it pretty hot, as they will certainly have better guns than our +twelve-pounders. The sun is melting. Guns unlimber (1.15). Teams jingle +back, and the guns open fire from edge of slope, each one as it delivers +its shot starting back as if with surprise at its own performance. + +"3 P.M.--Our guns are blazing away merrily now. The Boers, if they have +guns, are very reticent. They have sent us a few shells, which have done +no harm, mostly falling short. Hamilton is said to be at or near +Winburg. If this is so, he will be threatening the retreat of the Boers +here soon. Meantime a huge column, miles long, is crawling in the +distance across the flattish grass sweeps far to the east. This is the +main column, under Lord Roberts." + +We thought, you see, that we were in for quite a big fight. We thought +the same often later. At this river or this range they will make their +stand. But always, as here at Vet River, we advanced on such a wide +front that the enemy had to retire betimes to avoid being outflanked, +and so the "stand" was never made. We joined Ian Hamilton at Kronstad, +and while we were out with him on the east side the enemy once or twice +attacked our flank or rearguard in the most determined manner. However, +we held on our way very composedly, our waggons rumbling along sleepily +indifferent, while the Boers with all their might would be hanging on to +our tail. Usually, after we had towed them for a day or two, they would +let go, and then another lot would come along and lay hold. The first +party would then retire to its own village and district, feeling, no +doubt, that it had barked us off the premises in great style, and lay in +wait for the next army of ten or twenty thousand men that should happen +to pass that way. + +It is the convoy that always hampers our movements so, that dictates the +formation of an advance and makes us almost a passive target to attack. +Our convoy with Ian Hamilton must have been seven or eight miles long, +and was often delayed for hours at fords and creeks, where scenes of +wild confusion took place and you were deafened with yelling Kaffirs and +cracking whips. This convoy has of course to be guarded throughout, +which means a very attenuated and consequently weakened force, an attack +on one part of which might be carried on without the knowledge of the +rest of the column, or the possibility of its giving much help anyway. +When we left Lindley we had a sharp rearguard action, and the Boers +pushed their attack very vigorously. They did the same on the right +flank, and the advance guard also had some fighting. Neither of these +parties knew that the others were engaged at all, and probably the bulk +of the main column were quite ignorant that a shot had been fired +anywhere. + +Lindley is one of those peculiar, bare, little Dutch towns, the presence +of which on the lonely hillside always seems so inexplicable. It is +even more than usually hideous. There is the inevitable big church, the +only large building in the place, occupying a central position, and +looking very frigid and uninviting, like the doctrine it inculcates; a +few large general stores, where you can buy anything from a plough to a +pennyworth of sweets, and some single-storey, tin-roofed houses or +cottages flung down in a loose group. But around it there are none of +the usual signs of a town neighbourhood. No visible roads lead to it; no +fertile and cultivated land surrounds it; no trees or parks or pleasure +grounds are near it. The houses might have been pitched down yesterday +for all the notice the veldt takes of them. Spread out over the hills +and valleys for some hundreds of miles each side this barren treeless +veldt, which, after all, is the main fact of South African life, seems +to carry these little unexpected towns on its breast with the same ease +and unconsciousness that the sea carries its fleets of ships; +surrounding and lapping at their very hulls; not changed itself nor +influenced by their presence. + +During our stay of a day or two at Lindley it became increasingly +evident that the people of that neighbourhood resented our presence +there. Our pickets were constantly engaged. There are some rather abrupt +hills on the east side of the town, among the nearer ones of which our +look-outs were stationed while the Boers prowled among the others. Here +the Mausers and Lee-Metfords talked incessantly, and the conversation +was carried on in a desultory way down in the river valley and among the +rolling hills on the southern side. It was plain that the enemy was +quite prepared to "put up a show" for us, and no one was surprised, when +the morning of our departure came, to see the strong force of Mounted +Infantry told off for rearguard, or note the presence of the General +himself in that part of the field. + +There are long slanting hills that rise above the village on its south +side, the crests of which were occupied by our pickets. As the pickets +were withdrawn, the Boers rapidly followed them up, occupied the crest +in turn, and began to put in a heavy fire and press hard on our +retreating men. + +From a square and flat-topped kopje just north of the town we had the +whole scene of the withdrawal down the opposite slopes before our eyes. +Our Mounted Infantry were hotly engaged but perfectly steady. They lay +in the grass in open order, firing, their groups of horses clustered +lower down the hill; then retired by troops and set to work again. This +giving ground steadily and by degrees is a test of coolness and +steadiness, and it was easy to see that our men were under perfect +control. At last they came under the protection of our hill. We had got +our battery of guns up it, and it was a moment of great satisfaction to +all concerned, except possibly the Boers, when the first angry roar rose +above the splutter of rifles, and the shell pitched among some of the +foremost of the enemy's sharpshooters. In a duel of this sort the +interference of artillery is usually regarded as decisive. Guns, as +people say, have "a moral effect" that is sometimes out of proportion to +the actual damage they inflict. Anyway, skirmishers seldom advance +under gun-fire, and the Boers on this occasion were decisively checked +by our battery. Even when the guns left, we were able from the +vantage-ground of the hill to keep them at arm's length until the time +came to catch up the column. + +On the right flank they were more successful, pressing home a heavy +attack on the Mounted Infantry on that side. A squadron got cut off and +rushed by the enemy, who rode in to it shooting at pistol-shot distance, +and shouting "Hands up!" We lost pretty heavily in casualties, besides +about fifty prisoners. These small mishaps are of no great importance in +themselves, but they encourage the enemy no doubt to go on fighting. The +story as it goes round the farms will lose nothing in the telling. +Probably in a very short time it will amount to the rout of Hamilton's +column, and the captured troopers will lend a colour to the yarn. +Burghers who have taken the oath of allegiance will be readier than ever +to break it. However, time no doubt will balance the account all right +in the long-run. + +From Lindley, fighting a little every day, we marched north to Heilbron, +where Broadwood got hold of the Boer convoy by the tail, and succeeded +in capturing a dozen waggons. From there we cut into the railway, and +crossed it at Vredefort, passing through the main body of the advance in +doing so. Anything like the sight of these vast columns all pushing in +one direction you never saw. In this country one can often see thirty or +forty miles, and in that space on the parched, light-coloured ground +you may see from some point of vantage five or six separate streams of +advance slowly rolling northward, their thin black lines of convoy +overhung by a heavy pall of dust. As we closed in and became involved +for a moment in the whole mass of the general advance, though accustomed +to think no small beer of ourselves as an army, for we number 11,000 +men, we realised that we were quite a small fraction of the British +force. Endless battalions of infantry, very dusty and grimy, but going +light and strong (you soon get into the habit of looking attentively at +infantry to see _how they march_); guns, bearer-companies, Colonial +Horse, generals and their staffs, go plodding and jingling by in a +procession that seems to be going on for ever. And beside and through +them the long convoys of the different units, in heavy masses, come +groaning and creaking along, the oxen sweating, the dust whirling, the +naked Kaffirs yelling, and the long whips going like pistol-shots. The +whole thing suggests more a national migration than the march of an +army. And ever on the horizon hang new clouds of dust, and on distant +slopes the scattered advance guards of new columns dribble into view. I +fancy the Huns or the Goths, in one of their vast tribal invasions, may +have moved like this. Or you might liken us to the dusty pilgrims on +some great caravan route with Pretoria for our Mecca. + +We crossed the Vaal at Lindiquies Drift, being now on the west flank, +and met the Boers the day before yesterday two miles from here on the +West Rand. The fight was a sharp one. They were in a strong position on +some ridges, not steep, but with good cover among stones and rocks. We +came at them from the west, having made a circuit. Our advance was +hidden by the rolling of the ground, but the enemy guessed it, and sent +a few shells at a venture, which came screaming along and buried +themselves in the ground without doing much damage that I could see +beyond knocking a Cape cart to pieces. By 2 P.M. we had crawled up the +valley side and got several batteries of artillery where they could +shell the Boer position. The two great "cow-guns," so called from the +long teams of oxen that drag them, were hauled up the slope. The enemy +got an inkling of our intention now, and his shells began to fall more +adjacent. Then our fire began. It was difficult to see clearly. The dry +grass of the veldt, which is always catching fire, was burning between +us and the Boers; long lines of low smouldering fire, eating their way +slowly along, and sending volumes of smoke drifting downward, obscuring +the view. Half the ground was all black and charred where the fire had +been; the rest white, dry grass. The Boer position was only about two +miles from our ridge; a long shallow hollow of bare ground, without bush +or rock, or any sort of cover on it, except a few anthills, separating +us from them. Our field-batteries opened, and then the great five-inch +cow-guns roared out. We ourselves were close to these with Hamilton (we +are acting as his bodyguard), and with the other officers I crept up to +the ridge and lay among the stones watching the whole show. After a shot +or two all our guns got the range, a mere stone's throw for the great +five-inchers. Their shrapnel burst along the rise, and we could see the +hail of bullets after each explosion dusting the ground along the top +where the Boers lay. The enemy answered very intermittently, mostly from +their Long Tom far back, which our big guns kept feeling for. I never +heard anything like the report of these big guns of ours and the shriek +of the shells as they went on their way. + +After the cannonade had been kept up for a bit, the infantry began their +advance. This was, I think, the finest performance I have seen in the +whole campaign. The Gordons did it; the Dargai battalion. They came up, +line by line, behind our ridge and lay down along with us. Then, at the +word "Advance," the front line got up and walked quietly down the slope, +and away towards the opposite hill, walking in very open order, with +gaps of about fifteen yards between the men. A moment or two would pass. +Then when the front line had gone about fifty yards, the "Advance" would +again be repeated, and another line of kilted men would lift themselves +leisurely up and walk off. So on, line behind line, they went on their +way, while we watched them, small dark figures clearly seen on the white +grass, through our glasses with a painful interest. Before they had +reached half way across, the vicious, dull report, a sort of double +"crick-crack," of the Mausers began. Our guns were raining shrapnel +along the enemy's position, shooting steady and fast to cover the +Gordons' advance; but the Boers, especially when it comes to endurance, +are dogged fellows. They see our infantry coming, and nothing will move +them till they have had their shot. Soon we can see the little puffs of +dust round the men, that mark where the bullets are striking. All the +further side, up the long gradual slope to the Boer rocks, has been +burnt black and bare, and the bullets, cutting through the cinders, +throw up spots of dust, that show white against the black. Men here and +there stagger and fall. It is hard to see whether they fall from being +hit, or whether it is to shoot themselves. The fire gets faster and +faster, our guns thunder, and through the drifting smoke of the veldt +fires we can still see the Gordons moving onward. Then among the +looking-out group, crouched near the guns, goes a little gasp and mutter +of excitement. We catch on the black background, glistening in the sun, +the quick twinkle of a number of little steel points. They are fixing +bayonets! Now the little figures move quicker. They make for the left +side of the ridge. A minute more, and along the sky-line we see them +appear, a few at first, then more and more. They swing to the right, +where the enemy's main position lies, and disappear. There is a sharp, +rapid interchange of shots, and then the fire gradually lessens and dies +away, and the position is captured. They have lost a hundred men in ten +minutes, but they've done the trick. + +Later on, Hamilton, one of the most beloved of our Generals, gallops +forward, and on the hill they have won, as evening is closing, says a +few words to the Gordons. "Men of the Gordons, officers of the Gordons, +I want to tell you how proud I am of you; of my father's old regiment, +and of the regiment I was born in. You have done splendidly. To-morrow +all Scotland will be ringing with the news." This charge will, no doubt, +take rank as one of the most brilliant things of the war. + +Next morning at dawn, escorting the cow-guns, I came to where the Boers +had held out so long among the scattered rocks. The Gordons were burying +some of the Boer dead. There were several quite youngsters among them. +One was a boy of not more than fourteen, I should think, like an English +schoolboy. One of the Gordons there told me he saw him, during the +advance, kneeling behind a stone and firing. He was shot through the +forehead. There is something pathetic and infinitely disagreeable in +finding these mere children opposed to one. + +These infantry advances are the things that specially show up the +courage of our troops. Each man, walking deliberately and by himself, is +being individually shot at for the space of ten minutes or more, the +bullets whistling past him or striking the ground near him. To walk +steadily on through a fire of this sort, which gets momentarily hotter +and better aimed as he diminishes the distance between himself and the +enemy, in expectation every instant of knowing "what it feels like," is +the highest test of courage that a soldier in these days can give. +Nothing the mounted troops are, as a rule, called upon to perform comes +near it. Knowing exactly from experience what lay in front of them, +these Gordons were as cool as cucumbers. As they lay among the stones +with us before beginning the advance, I spoke to several, answering +their questions and pointing them out the lie of the ground and the +Boer position. You could not have detected the least trace of anxiety or +concern in any of them. The front rank, when the order to advance was +given, stepped down with a swing of the kilt and a swagger that only a +Highland regiment has. "Steady on the left;" they took their dressing as +they reached the flat. Some one sang out, "When under fire wear a +cheerful face;" and the men laughingly passed the word along, "When +under fire wear a cheerful face." + + + + +LETTER XVIII + +PRETORIA + + +PRETORIA, _June 6_, 1900. + +It is generally considered rather a coup in war, I believe, to take the +enemy's capital, isn't it? like taking a queen at chess. We keep on +taking capitals, but I can't say it seems to make much difference. The +Boers set no store by them apparently; neither Bloemfontein nor Pretoria +have been seriously defended, and they go on fighting after their loss +just as if nothing had happened. + +For months Pretoria has been our beacon, and at first it seemed quite an +impossibly long way off. Looked at from Bloemfontein, across 300 miles +of dreary veldt and rugged kopjes and steep-banked rivers, and allowing +for the machinations and devilments of ten or fifteen thousand Boers, +our arrival here did seem a vague, indefinite, and far-off prospect. And +yet in a day or two over the month here we are. Lord Roberts has brought +us up in the most masterly way. He has moved with a big central column +on the railway, while at the same time other columns, stretched far to +right and left, moved parallel and threatened to outflank and enclose +the enemy at every stand. So with wings beating and body steadily +advancing, like some great kite or bird of prey, we have flapped our way +northward. + +Even here no stand was made. The town is strongly defended with several +new forts, armed, we were told, with 10-inch guns, with a range of about +twelve miles, which we supposed would put the noses of our poor cow-guns +completely out of joint. The Boers had burnt the grass on all the hills +to the south of the town, so that the blackened surface might show up +the khaki uniform of our men, and offer a satisfactory mark, and things +generally, as we slowly approached the tall black rampart of mountain +south of Pretoria, seemed to point to a big engagement. But here, as so +often elsewhere, it was borne in upon them that if they finally stayed +and defended their capital, they would assuredly be surrounded and cut +off; and so, though only at the last moment, we hear, they decided to +leave. They put up an afternoon fight on the hills near the town, but +this was only the work of a handful of men, probably intended to stave +us off for a while while they finished their packing in Pretoria and got +away. Lord Roberts got a battery up to the crest of a great big ridge, +and we got a pompon up a still steeper one, and a vigorous cannonade was +kept up and a good deal of rifle-fire indulged in till nearly dark. But +this is often very deceptive. No doubt if it was the first battle you +had been at, you would have put down the casualties, judging from the +noise made, at several hundred. As a matter of fact, the peculiar thing +about all this shooting is that, like the cursing in the _Jackdaw of +Rheims_, "nobody seems one penny the worse." Loading is now so easy that +it is not the slightest trouble to fire. The consequence is that a +glimpse of a Boer's head on the sky-line a couple of miles off will +find work for a battery of guns and a few score of rifles for the rest +of the afternoon. About sunset time, when it begins to get cold, they +will limber up and come away, and the report will go in that our +shelling was very accurate, but that the enemy's loss could not be +positively ascertained. + +The day after the fight we made a triumphal procession through Pretoria, +and marched past Lord Roberts and his staff, and all his generals and +their staffs, assembled in the big square facing the Parliament House. +We came along a long, straight street, with verandahed houses standing +back in gardens, and trees partly shading the road, a ceaseless, slow, +living river of khaki; solid blocks of infantry, with measured, even +tread, the rifle barrels lightly rising and falling with the elastic, +easy motion that sways them altogether as the men keep time; cavalry, +regular and irregular, and, two by two, the rumbling guns. Mile after +mile of this steady, deliberate, muddy tide that has crept so far, +creeps on now through the Dutch capital. Look at the men! Through long +exposure and the weeding out of the weak ones, they are now all picked +men. The campaign has sorted them out, and every battalion is so much +solid gristle and sinew. They show their condition in their lean, +darkly-tanned faces; in the sinewy, blackened hands that grasp the rifle +butts; in the way they carry themselves, with shoulders well back and +heads erect, and in the easy, vigorous swing of their step. + +I should like, while I am about it, to speak to you rather more at +length about the British soldier. I should think my time spent on +service, especially the five months in the ranks, time well spent, if +only for the acquaintanceship it has brought with soldiers. In the +field, on the march, in bivouac, I have met and associated and talked +with them on equal terms. Under fire and in action I have watched them, +have sat with them, long afternoons by rivers and under trees, and +yarned with them on tramps in the blazing sun. Their language, habits, +and character have to some extent grown familiar to me. + +They are not, to begin with, a bit like the description I sometimes read +of them in newspapers. In one of Kipling's books there is a description +of a painting of a soldier in action; realistic and true to life; dirty +and grimed and foul, with an assegai wound across the ankle, and the +terror of death in his face. The dealer who took the picture made the +artist alter it; had the uniform cleaned and the straps pipe-clayed, and +the face smoothed and composed, and the ferocity and despair toned down +to a plump and well-fed complacency, and made, in fact, all those +alterations which were supposed to suit it to the public taste. + +The newspapers describe the British soldier, I suppose, to suit the +public too, much on the same lines. He is the most simpering, +mild-mannered, and perfect gentleman. If you asked him to loot a farm, +he would stare at you in shocked amazement. He is, of course, "as brave +as a lion," his courage being always at that dead level of perfect +heroism which makes the term quite meaningless. Except, however, when +they are shining with the light of battle, his eyes regard all people, +friends and foes alike, with an expression of kindness and brotherly +love. He never uses a strong word, and under all circumstances the +gentleness and sweet decorum of his manner is such as you would never +expect to meet outside the Y.M.C.A. + +This is about as much like our dear, old, real Tommy Atkins as Kipling's +portrait was. Such a likeness does no honour to the man. It is simply +lifeless. Whatever Tommy is, he is a man; not a round-eyed, pink-cheeked +waxwork stuffed with bran. The truth is coarse and strong, but he can +stand having the truth told about him. + +Soldiers as a class (I take the town-bred, slum-bred majority, mind) are +men who have discarded the civil standard of morality altogether. They +simply ignore it. This, no doubt, is why civilians fight shy of them. In +the game of life they don't play the same rules, and the consequence is +a good deal of misunderstanding, until finally the civilian says he +won't play with the Tommy any more. In soldiers' eyes lying, theft, +drunkenness, bad language, &c., are not evils at all. They steal like +jackdaws. No man's kit or belongings are safe for an instant in their +neighbourhood unless under the owner's eye. To "lift" or "pinch" +anything from anybody is one of the Tommy's ordinary everyday interests, +a thing to be attended to and borne in mind along with his other daily +cares and duties. Nothing is more common than to see some distracted +private rushing about in search of a missing article, which he declares +in anguished tones he has only just that instant laid down; his own +agitation a marked contrast to the elaborate indifference of every one +near him. + +As to language, I used to think the language of a merchant ship's +fo'c'sle pretty bad, but the language of Tommies in point of profanity +quite equals, and in point of obscenity beats it hollow. This department +is a speciality of his. Of course, after a little it becomes simply +meaningless, and you scarcely notice it, but the haphazard and +indiscriminate way, quite regardless of any meaning, in which he +interlards ordinary sentences with beastly words, at first revolts you. +Lying he treats with the same large charity. To lie like a trooper is +quite a sound metaphor. He invents all sorts of elaborate lies for the +mere pleasure of inventing them. He will come back from headquarters and +tell you of the last despatch which he has just read with his own eyes +(a victory or disaster, according to his mood at the moment), with all +kinds of realistic details added; and you go and see for yourself, and +there is no despatch at all. Looting, again, is one of his perpetual +joys. Not merely looting for profit, though I have seen Tommies take +possession of the most ridiculous things--perambulators and sewing +machines, with a vague idea of carting them home somehow--but looting +for the sheer fun of the destruction; tearing down pictures to kick +their boots through them; smashing furniture for the fun of smashing it, +and may be dressing up in women's clothes to finish with, and dancing +among the ruins they have made. To pick up a good heavy stone and send +it _wallop_ right through the works of a piano is a great moment for +Tommy. I daresay there is something in it, you know. + +These are roughish traits, are they not? Sit down by this group of +Tommies by the water-hole in the mid-day halt. They are filthy dirty, +poor fellows. Their thin, khaki, sweat-stained uniforms are rotting on +them. They have taken off tunics and shirts, and among the rags of +flannel are searching for the lice which pester and annoy them. Here is +a bit of raw humanity for you to study, a sample of the old Anglo-Saxon +breed; what do you make of it? Are thieving, and lying, and looting, and +bestial talk very bad things? If they are, Tommy is a bad man. But for +some reason or other, since I got to know him, I have thought rather +less of the iniquity of these things than I did before. + +The day has been fearfully hot, as usual, and they have done a long +march. They were up last night on picket, and have had nothing to eat +all day as yet but a biscuit or two and a cup of milkless coffee. This +sort of thing has been going on for months. They are tired and hungry +and footsore. More than one falls back where he sits and drops into a +sleep of utter exhaustion. But of any serious grumbling or discontent +there is no sign. A few curse at the heat perhaps, but their hardships +are mostly a subject for rough chaff and Cockney jokes. You thought you +were roughing it a good deal, but look at the state these men are in. +You gave yourself credit for some endurance, but look at their +unaffected cheeriness. The whole army is the same. In their thousands, +as you see them pass, the prevailing expression down all the swarthy +faces is one of unfailing good-humour. They make no more of their +hardships than Sandow of throwing about bars and bells that would crush +an ordinary man flat. It dawns on one, the depth of manhood that is +implied in endurance like this. "We sometimes get licked at first, but +we mostly come out all right in the end." Tommy's good-natured face as +he sweats it across the veldt gives some meaning to that boast. + +In the crowds of his mates in the East End, in crowds of the unemployed +and the like, you see the same temper--a sort of rough, good spirits, an +indomitable, incorrigible cheerfulness that nothing, no outward misery, +seems able to damp. In West End crowds (Hyde Park, for instance) you +don't get this. There are smiles and laughs, as you look about at the +faces, but they seem merely individual--one here, another there. In the +crowd of roughs--though goodness knows there is little cause for +merriment, so far as one can see--there is a quite different, deeper, +and more universal feeling of bluff cheeriness, not put on, but +unconscious, as though, in spite of present misery, things were going +right for them somehow. I should say an East End crowd gave one a far +deeper impression of animal spirits, of hope and cheeriness, than a West +End one. And it is the same with soldiers. The officers are fine +fellows, but in this point they yield to the soldiers. + +And it means a lot. Of what use is even courage itself if it goes with +impatience and a flash in the pan endurance? This quality of +cheerfulness is really the quality that outlasts all others. It means +not only that you have an army in good fighting trim to-day, but that +this time next year, or the year after, you will still have an army in +good fighting trim. In the long-run it wears down all opposition, but it +is not a characteristic you notice at first. Gradually it makes itself +felt, and gradually it governs your estimate of the whole army. And then +the peculiar wickedness of Tommy (a child's naughtiness for +superficiality) ceases to offend you so much. Rather your own regulation +code seems a trifle less important than it did. Let's all lie and steal; +what does it signify? I would lie and steal till the crack of doom to +gain the serene endurance of the British soldier.[1] + +Of his courage one need scarcely speak. It is a subject on which a great +deal of rubbish has been talked. It is not true that all soldiers are +brave, nor is it true that even brave soldiers will go anywhere and do +anything. On the other hand, it certainly is true that our soldiers' +courage--that is, their apparent unconsciousness of danger--strikes one +as very remarkable. You need not believe more about the _light of +battle_ and the _warrior's lust_, and all that sort of thing, than you +want to. There is very little excitement in a modern battle, and the +English soldier is not an excitable man, but this only makes the display +of courage more striking. Nothing can be more terrible than one of our +_slow_ charges, a charge in which all the peril which used to be +compressed into a hundred yards' rush in hot blood is spread out over an +afternoon's walk. I am sure any man who has ever taken part in one of +those ghastly processions, and, at thirty yards interval, watched the +dust-spots, at first promiscuous, gradually concentrating round him, and +listened to the constant soft whine or nearer hiss of passing bullets, +and seen men fall and plodded on still, solitary, waiting his turn, +would look upon the maddest and bloodiest rush of old days as a positive +luxury by comparison. + +What I think about our soldiers' courage is that it is of such a sort +that it takes very little out of them. One of the foreign officers on +Lord Roberts' staff, in a criticism in one of his own papers, has +written that the English infantry, more than any he knows, has the knack +of fighting and marching and keeping on at it, day after day, without +getting stale or suffering from any reaction. The fact is, our Tommies +go into a fight with much the same indifferent good-humour that they do +everything else with. Towards the end of each day's march the soldiers +all begin to look out for firewood, and if at that time you knock up +against the enemy, you may see our infantry advancing to the attack with +big logs tied to their backs and sticking up over their heads. Though it +encumbers and bothers them and makes them much more conspicuous, not a +Tommy will abandon his wood. Supper is a reality. The thought of being +shot does not bother him. Men who fight like this can fight every day. + +Taking him altogether, then, your general impression of the Tommy is one +of solid good temper and strength. Of his faults and failings, when you +get to know him, you cannot help making light; for his faults are faults +of conduct only, while his strength is strength of character. As an +individual, I daresay you could criticise him, but in the mass, for the +strength of breed he shows and the confidence he gives you in your race, +you will have nothing but admiration. + +I have told you what I could about him, because he is a man you have +never seen, and will probably never have a chance of seeing. For no one +who has not seen Tommy in the field has seen him at all. If you love +England, you must love the army. If you are a patriot, not merely a +Jingo, the sight of these ragged battalions passing will give you such a +thrill as only very fine and splendid things do give; and very proud you +will feel if ever you have had a hand in sharing their work and been +admitted to some sort of fellowship with them. + +These are the lads who in their packed thousands tramped yesterday +through Pretoria. Past old Kruger's house, a cottage you might almost +call it, with its lions in front and several old burghers in black +crying in the verandah, we went at a foot's pace, choking in the cloud +of red dust, with the strains of "God Save the Queen" in our ears. We +emerge into the square. The Volksraad is on our right; then the Grand +Hotel, with all its windows full of English people, or sympathisers with +England, many of them women, all waving handkerchiefs and raising a +cracked cheer as we pass. I was staring at all this, whilst a big band +on the right broke merrily out with the "Washington Post," and did not +see till I almost brushed his horse's nose, our Commander-in-Chief +standing like an amiable little statue at the head of all his generals +and their staffs, with finger raised to helmet. It is quite a moment to +remember, and I do really feel for an instant, what all the morning I +have been trying to feel, that we are what literary people call "making +history." + +As for Pretoria itself, it is a pretty and well-wooded little place, +with pink and white oleander trees in blossom, fir-trees, gums, and +weeping-willows along the streams and round the little bungalow houses. +The shady gardens and cool verandahs give these houses a very inviting +air in this land of blazing sun. They have a comfortable, and at the +same time sociable, look, the houses being near by each other, but each +with a pretty garden and trees overhanging. Like all the works of these +very practical people, the place is designed for convenience and comfort +and not a bit for beauty. But the first two give it the last to some +extent, give it a sort of simple and homely beauty of its own which is +pleasing as far as it goes. + +"Take heed to thyself, for the devil is unchained." We are told that +Christian De Wet is loose again, and is trifling with our lines of +communication. If this is so, our supplies will be cut off, the army +will be starved, and you will never get this letter. There has been a +pretty general hope that the taking of the capital would mean the end of +the war. "We have fired our last shot," said some. At least we counted +on a good rest. Alas! orders have just come in. Good-bye flowers and +shady gardens and dreams of bottled beer and a dinner at the club. We +march immediately. + +Talking of soldiers, here is a soldier's story for you-- + +Officer (to distracted Tommy, fleeing for his life under shower of +bullets): "Dash you! what the dash are you running for?" + +Tommy, tearing on: "'Cause I ain't got no b----y wings." + +Here's another-- + +First Tommy: "And the bullets was comin' that thick----" + +Second Tommy: "Well, but 'adn't you got no ant'ills?" + +First Tommy: "Ant'ills! Why, there wasn't ant'ills 'nough for the +orficers." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: This account is true of a type, but I should not let it +stand if I thought it would make the reader forget that, besides these, +there are any number of men in the army who lead lives in every way +straight and honourable.] + + + + +LETTER XIX + +THE MARCH SOUTH + + +BETHLEHEM, _July 14_, 1900. + +Whenever in this campaign we have dealt the enemy what looked like a +crushing blow, he has always hit back instantly at us. When Methuen +reached the limit of his advance at the Modder River victory, the Boers +were round immediately threatening us from behind. When we took +Bloemfontein they at once swarmed round to the east and south, and dealt +us two nasty blows at Sanna's Post and Reddersberg; and no sooner had we +taken Pretoria than the same activity was displayed again. + +They threatened us now from two points. Louis Botha had collected a +large force, and was watching us from the hills east of the town, while +the everlasting De Wet, far south, was breaking up the railway and +burning our letters. The first thing we did, and we did it the very day +after entering the capital, was to march against Botha. Ian Hamilton has +paid our little corps the compliment of taking it on as his bodyguard. +He is a general that inspires every one under him with great confidence. +It is curious, by the way, how very soon troops get to know the worth of +a leader; just as a pack of hounds knows by instinct when it is properly +handled. Outsiders may argue about this or that general, and analyse +his tactics, and never very likely get much nearer the truth (for there +is a monstrous lot of luck one way or the other in all manoeuvres, and +the ones often succeed that didn't ought to, and _vice versa_); but once +you are under a man, you don't need to argue; you know. We all know that +Ian Hamilton, with his pleasant well-bred manner, and the mutilated hand +dangling as he rides, is the best man we have had over us yet, and we +would all do great things to show our devotion. + +The Diamond Hill action was one of those great big affairs which it +would be impossible to explain without a plan of the country and a lot +of little flags. Our attack from extreme left to right was spread over a +frontage of, I daresay, twenty miles. The idea was for the mounted +troops to turn the enemy's flanks and let in the infantry in front. Ian +Hamilton had to deal with the Boer left flank, French with the right. Of +course we saw and heard nothing of French, who might as well have been +fighting in another planet, so far as we knew. Our difficulty here, as +on some former occasions, was to find the limit of their flanks. The +more we stretch out, the more they stretch out. They have the advantage +of being all mounted, while the bulk of our force is infantry, massed +inertly in the middle; and also from the lofty position they occupy they +can command a bird's-eye view of the wide valley across which we are +advancing, and perceive the disposition of our forces, and in what +strength we are threatening the various points of defence, while their +forces are quite concealed from us. This is so much in their favour +that, on our flank at least, it is we, and not they, who are threatened +with being outflanked. + +Their position could scarcely have been stronger if nature had designed +it for the purpose. A low range of hills gives admittance on the west +side to a long wide valley, and on the east side of this a steep rocky +range rises boldly up, showing in the sky a level outline like a rampart +fringed with wall-like slabs of rock or detached masses, giving +excellent cover from shrapnel. But besides this higher and last line of +defence, there are some lower hills and slopes which project from the +main rampart and command the valley, while they are in turn commanded by +the heights. It is a two-step position, in fact. You carry the lower +step first, and immediately come under the fire of the upper. The +General told me next day that he thought it as strong as anything he had +seen on the Natal side, and Winston Churchill set the matter at rest by +pronouncing it stronger in point of formation than Spion Kop. + +In the first day's fighting we drove them from the western hills and +across the valley, which was more fertile than usual and full of cover, +until we had forced them into the two-step eastern range. My own work +lay right out on the flank end, at the very finger-tips, where the +farthest limit of each force was trying to feel a way round the other. +Here, with some of the Camerons, we felt about the hills, shelling them +with a couple of guns for Boer sharpshooters, and occasionally flushing +one or two. We were rather detached and out of the main action, feeling +rather like a gun that has been sent to stop birds from "going back" +while the main battue is at work in front. We stayed out all day, and as +we rode in that night to headquarters the whole valley under the +starlight was echoing like a great gallery and bustling with the +multitude of our army arranging itself and settling down for the night. +We picked our way through the various convoys hurrying forward in search +of their brigades, but often losing their way or getting off the track, +checked by muddy fords, where an engulfed team wallows piteously, +barring the passage. We pass detachments of infantry hurrying in tired +and silent, and meet other detachments with blankets and greatcoats +coming out on picket. Waifs and strays, by ones and twos, who have lost +their way, shout for guidance, hallooing dismally for the brigades or +regiments to which they belong, and which many have small hope of +rejoining that night. Meantime, right down the valley and far across it, +the various camp-fires twinkle out like glow-worms. The air is keen and +frosty, and stars, clear and sharp as icicles, glitter all over the sky. +Above everything is still and calm, very well arranged evidently, and +everything in its proper place. Below all is confusion, noise, and +darkness, disappointment, and difficulty, vague wandering to and fro, +lamentations, and general chaos. They manage these things better up +there! However, after a bit order begins to reign. The several units +draw together. The camp-fires are beacons. The waggons struggle up. The +bleating of the lost sheep is gradually hushed, as one by one they find +their way to their various folds, and slowly, in spite of darkness and +broken ground, the tangle is smoothed out. + +By a small farm, where the General lodges, blazes a huge fire. Round it +gather some staff officers, and among them, recognised from afar, are +the welcome tiger-skins of the Guides' officers. The Major sits by the +blaze in that familiar attitude of his, like a witch in "Macbeth," with +a wolf-skin karross drawn over his shoulders, and the firelight on his +swarthy face as he turns it up with a grim laugh to chaff the others +standing round. But there is rather a gloom on the party to-night. News +has just come in that poor Airlie, charging at the head of his Lancers, +has been killed. Many here knew him, and every one who knew him seems to +have been fond of him. + +Winston Churchill turns up and enlivens us. There are several colonels +and senior officers squatting about, and Churchill takes the opportunity +of giving them a bit of his mind. He is much annoyed with the day's +proceedings. He has been a good deal shot at; so has the Duke, and so +has the General. They have had to use their Mauser pistols. This sort of +thing should not happen. Then where was French? Checked, indeed! a +pretty fine thing! And the Guards? The Guards were somewhere where they +had no business to be, instead of being somewhere else. Would any one +kindly tell him why the Guards were not somewhere else? And Churchill +(he has a face like a good-natured child, and looks about fourteen) eyes +the old colonels, who fidget nervously round the fire like disturbed +hens. He talks and argues incessantly, but very cleverly. Before he goes +he dashes off a sketch of South Africa's future with a few words about +farming and gold-mining. He gives us a cup of hot cocoa all round, which +he produces from nowhere, like a conjuring trick, re-arranges our fire, +tells us when the war will be over, and strolls off (daring the old +colonels with his eye to so much as look at him) to the farm to give the +General his final instructions about to-morrow's action. + +Next day our infantry established itself on the lower step of the Boer +position, but the final ridge still remained in their hands. It was a +ding-dong fight between the two, for the positions were within +half-rifle shot of each other. However, we could not turn them out, +though we got a field-battery right up in the firing line, which cracked +shrapnel over them as hard as ever it could load and fire. They had +determined to hold that ridge till night gave them the opportunity of +moving off their waggons and guns safely; and hold it they did. No doubt +we could have carried it by storm, but crossing that thousand yards of +open ground would have meant a terrible loss, and the General did not +attempt it. As it was, there was a great deal of banging and blazing, +almost like the old Modder days, for a time; guns hard at it, and +Mausers and Lee-Metfords jabbering away at a great rate, though, as both +sides were under cover, the loss was not heavy. The firing went on till +pitch dark, and we camped close under the ridge we had won. Next morning +we found the ridge vacant, with only heaps of empty cartridge cans and +an occasional blood-stain on the rocks to show where our enemy had lain. + +A little way out from Pretoria there are some very smart-looking new +houses, what they call "villa residences" in England, built in the +style, a sort of mild and tepid Gothic (what I call grocer's Gothic, for +it always reminds me of brown sugar and arrowroot), common around +watering-places; small gables sticking out everywhere, till it looks +like a cluster of dog-kennels; walls faced with ornamental tiles and +lath and plaster; small shrubberies round, and a name on the gate. There +were two especially beautiful ones. The General had one and we had the +other. Ours was quite new. There was no furniture in it; but this, as we +had been so long without it, we did not miss. But everything we really +needed--gorgeous wall-papers, and dados, and polished floors, and +electric-bells, and stained-glass windows--was there. We had hot baths +at the Grand Hotel, and we dined at the club, and we forgot all about +the war, and the veldt, and the dust, and the long marches, and the Boer +lurking in ambush, and the whispering bullet from the hill. This went on +for two days, and then we marched again, and we have been marching ever +since. + +We left Pretoria on June 19th, and, taking it easy, reached Bethlehem on +July 9th, doing a bit under 200 miles in the twenty days. The meaning of +the new scheme begins to dawn on us. Clements and Paget have come up +from the west; Rundle is down south-west, near Ficksburg; the Basuto +border runs up from there south and south-east, and within the ground +thus enclosed we have penned a very considerable force of the enemy, +among whom is that Jack-in-the-box, Christian De Wet. We know they are +there, and indeed we have little fights with their scouts every day. The +question is, how are we to collar them? The country is very broken and +hilly and very extensive. + +Hunter is looking after us now. Poor Ian Hamilton, as you will know, had +an accident at Heidelberg. His horse put a foot in an antbear's hole, +just in front of me as it happened, and came down, flinging the general +forward over his head. I thought he was killed, he lay so still, but it +was only his collar-bone and a bad shaking. He is in the field again +now. + +Hunter has a great reputation as a fighter, which is rather alarming, +especially when we are confronted with such a poisonous country as the +one before us now; a medley of big mountain ranges, fantastically +heaped, stretching thirty miles south to Basutoland, and forming part of +the great mountain formation that reaches to and culminates in the +Drakensberg range. These hills are garrisoned by about 7000 Boers with +several guns, and De Wet to lead them; altogether a formidable force. +There is a saying, that you should not bite off more than you can chew. +I hope we have not done that. Hunter looks as if he could chew a good +lot, I think. Still the job is likely to be a difficult one to handle, +and if he asks my advice I shall tell him to leave it to Rundle. + +I should think a life of this sort would be likely to have some +permanent effect on one's mind and intellect. The last mail--that is to +say, the last news of any sort of the outside world--which we have +received was on April 27th before leaving Bloemfontein; three months +less a week since any whisper concerning events or people out of our +immediate sight has reached us. My ignorance of things in general weighs +on me. It is a taste of life in the dark ages before modern inventions +kept one in touch with the world. + +During all this time we have been wandering like an army in a dream over +the unlimited surface of the veldt. The same programme is repeated day +by day. A little before dawn you hear through your blanket-folds the +first unwelcome "Saddle up," and the muttered curses in reply. You +unwind yourself with groans. A white-frost fog blots out everything at +fifty yards, and a white sugary frost encrusts the grass. These first +hours are piercingly cold, for it is now mid-winter with us. A cup of +water left overnight is frozen solid. You dress by simply drawing your +revolver-strap over your shoulder, and flinging your blanket round you, +make your way to where a couple of black boys are bending over the +beginnings of a fire, and to which several other blanketed and shivering +figures are converging with the same thought--_coffee_--in every mind. + +Then the great army column that has curled itself up like a caterpillar +for the night begins slowly to uncurl. On the march our huge convoy +stretches out in line, waggon following waggon along the rude track, and +extending to a length of nearly ten miles. At night, of course, it +collects (parks is the proper word) at some selected spot where the +ground is favourable, and where in the shape of a sluit, river, or +farm-dam there is water. On the slopes and hills around infantry pickets +are set, while the convoy and main camp are massed in the hollow +beneath. You must not think of our _camp_ in the English sense of the +word. We have no tents. The men sleep tightly rolled in greatcoat and +blanket, stretched on the bare earth, with saddles for pillows. If +anything takes you about the camp at night, you might think you were +walking among thick strewn corpses after a fearful carnage, so stiff and +still the frosted bodies lie on the ground. + +Now the great creature wakes for its next crawl. First its antennæ, or +long feelers, are pushed out in front. Its scouts, that is, among which, +if you belong to our corps, you will probably find yourself, go +cantering on ahead. They pass the pickets on the hill, who promptly +shoulder blankets and turn back to camp, and break into extended order, +and throw out little feelers of their own in front and to the sides as +they enter an unexplored country. Following them come several companies +of infantry, a block of solid strength, marching at the top of the +column, and a battery or section of guns. Then comes the long line of +convoy waggons, piled high with provisions, fodder, and kit, +strengthened and protected at intervals by companies of infantry +marching at ease, with the two great cow-guns somewhere about the +middle. The tail of the column, like the head, is strengthened by a +considerable force of infantry, followed at an interval of a mile or so +by the mounted rearguard, which has scattered its scouts far and wide +across the track of the column, and withdraws them from point to point +as we advance. Likewise to left and right, far out on the plain, the +horsemen of the flank guards are scattered in little bands of twos and +threes, cantering along or stopping and spying, sniffing cautiously +round kopjes or peeping into farms, and by-and-by you will probably hear +from one direction or other a few scattered single shots, and yonder two +scouts in the distance, lately advancing so quietly, are now seen to be +turned and galloping back as hard as they can split, while two or three +Mausers crack at them from the sky-line. + +It is a pretty sight, from some hill far in advance, to turn back and +watch the army coming into view. You push on, scouts feeling the way, to +occupy some prominent kopje on the line of march, and climbing up and +sitting among the rocks, command with your glasses a view far and wide +over the plain. The air has been very cold and sharp, with an intense +penetrating cold hitherto, but now the sun is shining and its mellow +warmth is instantly felt. The rich pure colour-lines, only seen when the +sun, rising or setting, is low in the sky, lie straightly ruled across +the plain, brown and orange and pale yellow, and in the distance blue. +The ten-mile off rocks look but a mile in this air. Every object, +distant or near, is exact to the least detail. So clear are the outlines +you would think there was no atmosphere here at all, and that you might +be looking out over the unaired landscapes of the moon. One would think +that such an air would breed an exceptional race, and that the men, and +horses too, for that matter, of this country would show something of the +Arab character, sensitive, fiery, and high strung. Yet nothing can be +conceived less Arab like than your stolid but practical Dutchman and the +underbred screw he rides. + +Left and right of you, your two or three flankers, half a mile off, have +halted, in obedience to your halting, and are standing by their horses' +heads scanning the country. Under the kopje your main body are sitting +about, while their ponies, with bridles thrown over their heads, graze. +Far back, two or three miles, the bits of dark kilt showing behind their +khaki aprons, a company of the Camerons comes into view, the brown +colour so exactly matching the plain that they are first visible only by +their motion. Here come the flank guards, sprinkled far out over the +country. And now, at the point where the distant kopjes slope to the +plain, the air grows heavy with dust-wreaths, rising like steam from a +cauldron, and underneath, slowly emerging, comes something dark and +solid. It is the head of the column. The great caterpillar is crawling +forward. You must push on--"Stand to your horses!" + + + + +LETTER XX + +PRINSLOO'S SURRENDER--I + + +CAMP, NEAR FOURIESBERG, _July 26_, 1900. + +We have a whole day of peace and rest before us--very welcome after the +hard fighting we have been doing lately. This lull is to allow +Bruce-Hamilton and Macdonald to stop the exits at the eastern end of the +valley. We don't want to push the enemy east till we are sure the passes +in that direction have been secured. Some of us are annoyed at the +delay. We were in touch with the enemy this morning, our scouts and +advance guard exchanging shots with their rearguard. We could see them +prancing about on the bare hills east of Fouriesberg, and making off in +a leisurely way up the eastern valley, and most of us were quite +expecting that we should give chase immediately. + +Hunter rode forward to have a look. He watched the tiny horsemen +hovering on the hills or cantering away; then back he came with a quiet +smile on his face, and instead of ordering the advance, as the impetuous +ones expected, he led his column back over the way we had come for +several miles, and then camped. + +So here we are, sitting or lying about, sleeping, smoking, or reading. +Our camp is in a small plain, five or six miles from Fouriesberg, +surrounded by ranges of great hills. Those south and east, their gaunt +peaks rising, streaked with white, above the lower and nearer ones, are +in Basutoland. They play an important part in our programme, for it is +against that huge barrier that we are pressing the Boers. There are some +rounded, turf-clad hills, but most are rocky. Sharp points and stony +ridges rise up with jagged and clear-cut outlines into the sky, with +gorges and valleys retreating in between, full of deep blue shade, and +often horizontal bands of strata, showing like regularly built courses +of white masonry along the flanks of the mountains. It is very fine, +though gaunt, bare, and untenanted. We have had nothing but level veldt +to march on for weeks past, and the change to the eye is a pleasant one. +Nevertheless, it is a bad country for our business. To us mountain +ranges are not fine scenery, but strong positions; and rocks and crags +are not grand and picturesque, but merely good cover. We always serve +out extra-ammunition when we come to a pretty bit of scenery. + +The present position is this: We have got the Boers, a big lot of them, +at any rate, into a very broken and mountainous country, a country +which, though it suits their tactics and is strong for defence, is +nevertheless very difficult to get out of. The way south is barred by +the Basutoland border. They dare not cross that or they would have the +hordes of Basutos, who are already buzzing and humming like a +half-roused hive, on to them. The other passes Hunter occupies in this +way: Rundle comes up from the south-west to Fouriesberg through Commando +Nek. Paget and Clements march south towards the same point through +Slabbert's Nek. A little farther east Hunter himself forces Retiefs +Nek, while farther east still Bruce-Hamilton, helped by Macdonald, is to +hold Naawpoort Nek and block the Golden Gate road. The western columns, +_i.e._ Rundle's, Clement's, Paget's, and Hunter's, are to force a +simultaneous entrance into the Fouriesberg valley, and having got the +enemy's force jammed against the Basuto border, to force it to turn +eastward up the rugged Caledon valley, the only two exits to which are, +we hope, by this time held by Bruce-Hamilton and Macdonald. This we have +now done. Now it only remains to see whether these eastern exits have +been successfully occupied by our columns or not. + +[Illustration: PLAN TO ILLUSTRATE PRINSLOO'S SURRENDER] + +From the moment of leaving Bethlehem, at which place we remained nearly +a fortnight while the General placed his columns, we entered among the +hills and fighting was continuous. Our passage to force was Relief's +Nek, and, as we had expected, the Boers made a determined stand there. +The ground lay in a naturally defensive position; a narrow plain among +steep, almost precipitous, ranges, and in the plain, arresting further +progress, an abruptly sunken valley, scooped out to a depth of a couple +of hundred feet; as though, what must perhaps have happened, some sudden +collapse down below had allowed the ground here to fall in. The sides +are in most places precipitous, but to the north they shelve up by +degrees in terraces of sloping rock which a man can easily clamber up. +The first terrace is only a few feet deep, and accordingly a number of +men can form here along the brink and fire across the plain, being +totally concealed from the advancing troops. Moreover, the edge of this +curious and sudden valley is indented and pierced with a number of +little crevices and fissures in which riflemen can snugly ensconce +themselves with little risk of being seen by attackers in front. This +was the main Boer position. You see it departed from the general rule, +and instead of occupying a hill, occupied a hollow. They are +past-masters in the art of choosing ground. The adjacent heights were +also held. + +On the morning of the 23rd we struck our camp a few miles north of the +Nek, and advanced to find out whether the enemy were in position here or +not. We started before daylight. The night had been intensely cold and +very wet. On the high mountains snow had fallen. The sky was heavily +clouded, and about sunrise-time dense masses of mist rose and clung +about the hills, sometimes closing in the view at fifty yards and then +drifting off and leaving it clear again. Our scouts advanced steadily, +reconnoitring hill after hill and ridge after ridge, but still there was +no sound of firing, and we began to think that the enemy had abandoned +the place altogether. This preliminary scouting work, poking about in +the hills with a handful of men to find the enemy, always reminds me of +tufting for deer in the Exmoor woods before the pack is laid on. + +Then there came a few shots from our extreme right, from the hills on +the right of the valley's nose, sounding very muffled and dull in the +mist, and we, out on the left, advanced with the more caution. It was my +chance to come upon the enemy first on this side, and as it will give +you a fair notion of the usual risks of scouting, I will tell you how it +happened! + +I was out with my tufters on the left front, and we were drawing with +all possible care the hills on that side. In front of us was a tall +peak, and I sent a few men to work round it on the left while I went +round the right. This hill really overlooked the Boer position. My left +flankers got round and rejoined me in front. Either they must have been +concealed from the Boers by the mist or have been mistaken for a party +of Boers themselves, for they had passed within a few hundred yards of +the edge where the enemy lay and were not fired at. + +Damant, our captain, coolest and bravest of officers, now joined me, and +with two or three men we pushed cautiously on towards some loose rocks, +which, from the top of the rise, seemed to command a view of the valley +beneath. We had advanced to within eighty yards of the rocks, in open +order, when we thought we heard voices talking, and immediately +afterwards some one said loudly in Dutch, "Who rides there?" And then +another voice more to the right exclaimed, "Here they are!" At the same +instant one caught a motion as of heads and shoulders cuddling down and +adjusting themselves in a disagreeable way. There they were and no +mistake, all tucked in among the rocks like wood-lice. + +Our position then was a curious one, for we had actually walked quite in +the open up to within speaking distance of the main Boer position, a +position that was to defy our army for a day and a half. + +The ground sloped down in a slight hollow. It was thickly sprinkled with +snow and dotted here and there with little green spots where the grass +tufts showed through. A wire fence crossed the hollow lower down. +Luckily we heard their voices before they started shooting, and +instantly we turned and rode for it, the Mausers all opening +immediately and the bullets cracking and whistling round our ears. As +bad luck would have it, my pony, which, like most of them, knows and +dreads the sound of rifles fired at him (though he will stand close to a +battery or among men firing without minding it in the least), became so +frantic at the noise of the bullets that I was quite unable to steer +him. With head wrenched round he bored away straight down the hill +towards the wire. As we got to it I managed to lift him half round and +we struck it sideways. The shock flung me forward on to his neck, which +I clasped with my left arm and just saved myself falling. For an instant +or two he struggled in the wire, a mark for every rifle, and then got +clear. In his efforts he had got half through his girths and the saddle +was back on his rump. A pretty spectacle we must have looked, I sitting +back on his tail, my hat in my hand, both stirrups dangling, and the +bullets whistling round both of us like hailstones. However, I lugged +him out at last, and we went up the side of the fence broadside on to +the shooters, as hard as ever we could lay legs to the ground. It is a +difficult thing to bring off a crossing shot at that pace, and in a few +hundred yards we were over the slope and out of shot. I have seen lots +of our men have much narrower escapes than this. + +Well, after all that, we will get back to the action. Having located the +enemy, the Guides all collected behind the conical hill, climbed up, and +from the edges of it began shooting down into the Boer position. Here we +were joined by the Black Watch, who carried on the same game. It was +not, however, at all a paying game, and the fact that the Boers had not +held this hill themselves, though so close to their position, is +sufficient of itself to show their remarkable skill in choice of ground. +For the hill, conical and regular in shape, was perfectly bare, and +while they behind the sharp ledges and in the fissures of the rocks +below were well concealed from the men above, these as they crept round +the smooth hillside came into immediate view against the sky. The sleet +of bullets shaving the hill edge was like the wind whistling past. The +Black Watch lost a lot of men here. In the afternoon the Guides and some +of Lovat's Scouts pushed forward on the left and gained a low ridge, +where, lying down, we could command a part of the enemy's position, and +send in a flanking fire. This manoeuvre was useful and suggested a plan +for next day. That night I had to take out a picket on a hill on our +south-east front and had but a sorry time of it; for it was a bitterly +cold, rather wet night, and the position was not without its anxiety. I +got little sleep. + +Next morning, July 24, soon after light, the main body of the Guides and +Lovat's Scouts (who are under Rimington at present) came out, and we +rode down to the slopes on the left of the Boer valley again. Here we +crept up as far as we could and began to put in our fire. It must have +been very annoying for them, for a part of their position was quite +exposed to us. We could see the short white cliff at the edge of the +basin and the Boers moving about and running up and down, diving into +fissures and getting under cover, for all the world like rabbits, as our +fire searched the position. They replied, but though a lot of bullets +were whistling about, no one was hit. There was a Maxim at the foot of +the conical hill rattling away, and the Black Watch were again on the +hill itself, blazing away at the rocks as vigorously as ever. Then at +last between us and them up gallops a section of guns, and the little +puff balls begin to burst along the rock edge in a way which we could +see was very disconcerting for the Boers, who were rapidly finding the +place too hot for them. A little after, some one sings out, "Here comes +the attack!" and true enough we can make out the little khaki dots in +long loose strings moving forward round the hill towards the valley +head. It is the Seaforths. We on our side "carry on the motion," dash +forward, lie down and shoot, and on again. We make for a kopje on our +edge of the valley. The fire is too hot for the Boers to dare to show up +much and there is not much opposition. But I can assure you that a +charge of 1500 yards, even without the enemy's fire, is a serious thing +enough. Puffing and panting, I struggle on. Long-legged Colonials go +striding by land leave me gasping in the rear. When at last we reach the +kopje and look down into the sunken valley, the Seaforths are pouring in +their fire on the retreating Boers, our fellows are doing the same from +the kopje top, but I myself am too pumped out to care for anything and +can only lie on the ground and gasp. + +I see in your last letter you want to know about the character of the +Guides, and whether there has been any cases of treachery among them. I +don't know what started these old yarns. They were invented about +Magersfontein time, probably to account for that awful mishap, and got +into the local press here and made a lot of fuss, but we have heard +nothing since on that score. There is such a lot of treachery put here +(owing to the intermingling of English and Dutch in their two +territories) that almost anything in that line seems credible, and there +are numbers of people about, loafers in bars and fifth-rate +boarding-houses, to whom anything base seems perfectly natural, and who +delight in starting and circulating such tales. At the same time there +are also numbers of honest and loyal men, and it is from these, and +exclusively from these, that the fighters are drawn. In South Africa, +and among the South Africans, a war of this sort, between neighbours and +cousins, is the sternest test of loyalty. Many have failed to stand it. +But the loyalty of those who have not wavered, but have taken up arms +for their country in a quarrel like this, is of a sort you can trust to +the utmost extremity. There are no men in the field who feel so deep an +animosity towards the Boers, and whom the Boers in their turn hate so +much, as the fighting South African Colonials. As for the Guides, I can +assure you that there has not been a single case of any one of our men +having been accused of treachery, nor suspected of treachery. I have +made careful inquiries, lest such a case might have occurred without my +knowledge, and I am assured by our adjutant (C.H. Rankin, Captain 7th +Hussars) that there has been no such case, and that the slander was +without the slightest foundation whatever. + +Shortly after Magersfontein the greater part of the Guides turned back +to Colesberg, leaving fifteen of us with Methuen, the services of the +whole corps not being required, as Methuen's force was now stationary. +Before it left, Methuen paraded the corps and spoke in the warmest terms +of the good work it had done. Nevertheless it was their turning back, or +being _sent back_, as it was called, that gave a pretext to the slander +that was then started. Later, when his attention was called to the +story, Methuen wrote to the _Cape Times_ a most emphatic letter +vindicating the corps from the least suspicion, and indignantly denying +that the least cause for any had existed. Lord Roberts himself, who came +up soon afterwards, wrote a very handsome and decisive letter to the +same paper, and since then I don't think we have heard anything about +it. The whole story is so ridiculous, considering the way the Guides +hate the Boers, and the danger of the services they do, that to any one +who knows anything about the corps it is a tale rather to be laughed, at +than seriously resented. I saw the other day a letter from Hunter to +Rimington, in which the General speaks of the corps with a kind of +weighty deliberation that is very satisfactory, mentioning emphatically +its "trustworthiness," its "bravery," and its "exceptional and proved +value in the field." + +Our casualty list so far is about forty per cent., I believe; but this +loss, though not light, does not in a Colonial corps give an adequate +idea of the service done. All the Colonials, so far as I know (the +Australians and South Africans certainly), have much the same qualities +that make our enemies so formidable. They have individual intelligence +and skill, a faculty for observation, and the habit of thinking for +themselves. They are therefore able to take care of themselves in a way +which our regular troops, mostly town-bred men, without independent +training, cannot do. + +The difference comes out chiefly in scouting, including all the flanking +and advance guard business, extending for several miles to left and +right, and in front and rear of an army column, by which that column +feels its way through an enemy's country. The regulars usually carry out +these tactics in long lines with wide intervals between the men. But +nothing is so conspicuous as a long line of men riding at fifty yards' +interval. They can be detected a dozen miles off, and plenty of +opportunities will occur for a mobile, cunning enemy like the Boers to +lie in ambush and get a shot at the outsider. Our regulars are better at +this game than they used to be, but many lives have been lost at it. On +the other hand, Colonials adopt more the tactics of a Scotch gillie in a +deer forest, whose object is to see, but not to be seen. Sky-lines are +avoided and cover taken every advantage of. From places where a good +view is to be obtained the country is intently studied; not by a +horseman poised in relief like the Achilles statue in Hyde Park, but by +a man who has left his horse on the reverse slope and lies hidden among +the rocks with his glass. Again, if a farm or suspicious-looking kopje +has to be approached, this is partly encircled, and threatened or +examined in flank or rear before being occupied; while if the place, a +long range of hills for instance, has to be approached in front, a +sudden left or right wheel at long range may often draw the enemy's +fire. These are a few of the many expedients that sometimes suggest +themselves to lessen risk. In all, the first necessity is personal +intelligence in the men and the habit of taking notice and thinking for +themselves, faculties which the independent, self-reliant life of the +Colonials has greatly developed. Just the same holds good when it comes +to shooting; choosing cover, keeping oneself hidden, creeping on from +point to point without giving the enemy a fair shot, or detecting the +probable bushes or rocks behind which an enemy may be lying, or any sign +of his whereabouts. The Tommy as he advances is apt to expose himself, +because he doesn't think. The Colonial will get to the same spot perhaps +quite unperceived. This is why I say that our loss does not give an +adequate idea of the work done by the corps. The defence of the conical +hill here at Relief's Nek is a good example. Our men hold the hill for +several hours before the regulars come up, and lose one man. As soon as +the regulars arrive (though by this time the exposed places are known +and the enemy located), they begin to lose men, and by the conclusion of +the action have lost, I am told, over forty. I think, and have often +spoken so highly of our soldiers' courage, that I don't hesitate to +point out their weakness. They are lacking in personal intelligence. +For all their pluck, they don't know how to look after themselves. There +have been, as you will have heard, many cases in which detached parties +of our cavalry, mounted infantry, and yeomanry have been cut off and +captured. How often has this happened to the Colonials? + + + + +LETTER XXI + +PRINSLOO'S SURRENDER--II + + +_August 4th_. + +We have been up the valley and back again, and I write this once more +from Fouriesberg. We passed through here, joining Rundle, as I told you +a week ago, and pushed on eastward in the direction of Naawpoort Nek and +the Golden Gate. Six miles out from here, passing through a very rugged +country, we came on their outposts. These we shelled and drove back. +They then retired to some hills not very high, but with perpendicular +sides of low white cliffs commanding the approach across the plain. +These they held till nightfall. We shelled them a good deal and knocked +out the only gun they had, and the infantry pushed forward in front and +we took a hill on the right, but the attack was not pressed home, as it +would have cost too many lives. The infantry took the hill during the +night, but found it evacuated, the Boers having retired as soon as it +got dark. + +We did not know all this time how things had gone with Macdonald and +Bruce-Hamilton, and whether or not they had been able to block the +eastern exits. On this everything depended. So it was with a feeling of +the most gleeful satisfaction that we heard next morning, having +followed the Boers up some two or three miles without seeing anything +of them, the deep, heavy baying of a big gun in the distance, which we +all recognised as the voice of one of the 5-inch cow-guns that had gone +with Bruce-Hamilton. It fired a few shots and then ceased. With infinite +toil, forty oxen to each gun, we then dragged our own two 5-inchers up +the hill we were on, and got them into position for shelling the defiles +ahead. They were not, however, needed. Messengers now began to arrive +from the Boer laagers carrying white flags. There was a lot of palaver. +These went, others came. Le Gallais, our chief of the staff, interviewed +them, while Hunter strolled a little way apart, dreamily admiring the +view. It was evident the Boer envoys were sticking out for terms which +they couldn't get. I could see Le Gallais indicate the surroundings with +summary gestures. The Boers looked very glum. They eyed the cow-guns +especially with profound disgust. These were looking particularly +ridiculous. The nose of one of them projected in the direction of those +secret Boer-tenanted defiles as if the great creature were sniffing for +its enemies in the distance; which gave it a very truculent and +threatening air, as who should say, "Come now, Le Gallais, old fellow, +suppose you let me put a word in," while the other, hanging its head +till its nose touched the very ground, seemed overcome, poor wretch, +with a sudden fit of bashfulness, most absurd in so huge and warlike a +monster. The Boers looked from them to Le Gallais and from Le Gallais to +them, but there was no more hope from one than the other, and at last +they realised that there was nothing for it but to surrender, and +surrender was agreed to. We could scarcely believe our good fortune. At +Paardeberg we caught 4000, but we used 50,000, more or less, to do it, +and we lost about 1500 doing it. Here we trapped as many or more, +composed of some of the best commandoes of the Free State, caught them, +too, in a wild mountainous country such as you would think was almost +impregnable. We used 15,000 to do it, and we lost, I suppose, not 200 +altogether. Also, we have taken enormous quantities of horses, oxen, and +waggons, which will come in very useful. + +It seems to me that Hunter deserves the utmost credit that can be given +to him. We have had plenty of generals who have done direct fighting and +done it well; but, with the doubtful exception of Paardeberg, we have +had no triumph of tactics. We have never scored off the Boers, never +made a big capture, or cut them up, or taken guns or transport, or +bested them in any decisive way by superior strategy till now. This has +always been our lament. We have always said, "Why, with all these armies +in the field, cannot we surround them, or catch them, or deal a decisive +blow of some sort?" But hitherto we have never succeeded in bringing off +such a coup. We have pushed them before us, losing as many or more than +they at every shift, but, whenever we have thought to get a hold of +them, they have always eluded us. You may think it is a strange thing +that they have been caught this time. The daring of Hunter's plan and +the rapidity it was carried out with made it succeed. The Boers--so they +tell me at least--never believed that we should venture with so small a +force to penetrate by four or five different routes into such a strong +country. The scheme seemed to lay us open to a disaster if the enemy had +rapidly concentrated and flung itself on one of the separated forces. +This danger, however, was more apparent than real, because the ground +manoeuvred over was not altogether of very large extent, so that relief +might be sent from one column to another, or the enemy, if concentrated +against one column, rapidly followed up by one or more of the others. +Besides which, if the country offered strong positions to take, it +offered strong ones to hold, and in a very short time any threatened +column could have placed itself in such a position as to make it +impossible for the Boers to shift it in the time at their disposal. +Still the plan, considering the Boers' skill in defending strong +positions, had an audacious look about it. Several of the Boer prisoners +have since told me--I don't know with what truth--that they thought we +should follow them in by the Relief Nek pass, and that it was their +intention to work round and threaten our communications, and either cut +us off or force us to fight our way out as best we could. + +The quickness of our advance, too, was of the utmost importance. From +the moment we started, the enemy was given no opportunity to pull +himself together and look about him. Hunter, Paget, Clements, and Rundle +dashed into the Fouriesberg Valley exactly together. Directly we had got +through, Hunter detached the main part of his column, the Highland +Brigade, under Macdonald, and sent it with several guns as hard as it +could pelt to back up Bruce-Hamilton, knowing, now that we had carried +our end of the valley, that the pressure would come at the east end. +Meantime, while Macdonald marched, we waited. We even retreated two or +three miles, and for twenty-four hours lay on the pass and slept. Then +we got up and began sauntering up the big irregular valley along the +Basutoland border towards Naawpoort Nek. + +It was a moment of infinite expectation. Bets were laid on the amount of +our bag. The general impression was that we should get some of them, but +that the main body would, somehow or other, escape. We had so often +toiled and taken nothing, that this sudden miraculous draught quite +flabbergasted us. And what must have been the feelings of the poor +Boers? They tried Naawpoort Nek: no exit. They knocked at the Golden +Gate: it was locked. Then back they turned and met Hunter sauntering up +the valley, and we gave them the time of day with our cow-guns, and told +them how glad we were to see them. "Fancy meeting you, of all people in +the world!" And so they chucked it. It was a complete checkmate. + +The surrender occupied the next three days; our total bag 4100, I am +told. I wish you could have been there. It was a memorable sight among +those uninhabited and lonely mountains. The heights of Basutoland, ridge +behind ridge, to right of us; the tops snow streaked; groups of excited +Basutos riding about in the plains, watching our movements; to left the +great mountain chain we had fought our way through; and in the midst +spread over the wide saddle-backed hill, that slopes away +north-eastward, and breaks up in a throng of sharp peaks and a jumble +of inaccessible-looking hills in the direction of the Golden Gate, is +drawn up the dirty, ragged, healthy, sun-scorched British army with +greasy rifles in its blackened hands, watching imperturbably and without +much interest, the parties of Boers, and waggons, and droves of cattle +as they come meandering in. Each Boer, as he rides up, hands over his +rifle, or more often flings it angrily on the ground, and the armourers +set to work, smashing them all across an anvil. Rather a waste of good +weapons it seemed, I must say. Many of the Boers were quite boys, about +fourteen or fifteen. They are much better looking than you would think +from the men. The men are big and well built, but they look, for the +most part, stupid and loutish, and when this is not so, their expression +is more often cunning than intelligent. The amount of hair about their +face, too, and their indifference to washing, does not improve their +appearance. However, in the boy stage, and before the dulness of their +surrounding has had time to tell, they are quite different, frank-faced +and manly, with clear skin, tall and well grown, like young larches. It +does seem strange that such mere children should be in the field against +us. What would you think of giving Puckie a rifle and sending him out to +fight? Boer prisoners have told me that the courage of these boys could +be relied on; they were often braver, and would stick to a position they +had been placed in longer than the men. They showed traces of the +experience they had been through, though. Not only in being deeply +tanned and more or less ragged and thin, but by an unmistakable +expression (in many instances) in their faces and in their eyes; a +dilated look, as of one who sees something appalling before him, and +braces himself to face it out. Considering what it is to be exposed to +lyddite and shrapnel fire (the absolute hell of din and concussion +besides rain of bullets), one doesn't wonder that it leaves marks on +young faces. + +R. and I rode eastward through the hills in the Golden Gate direction, +meeting parties of Boers, waggons, Cape-carts, &c., coming straggling +in. It reminded me of the road to Epsom on a Derby morning. There is +some pleasure in meeting Boers on these terms. "Good morning. How are +you? A pleasant morning for a ride, is it not?" "Good morning, sir; it +is fine now, but I think we shall have rain later." That's what I like. +There's nothing like a little urbanity. + +Towards the end of a long valley we come to some signs of defensive work +that interest us. The Boers evidently expected to be able to await our +advance here before they found their retreat was cut off. They have +thrown up some shelters. We noticed from afar off several very +conspicuous stone sangars, but coming close, we were surprised to find +that they were made of stones loosely put together with big chinks, very +flimsy and frail, and much too high for their purpose, too. They +evidently were not intended for shelters at all. What were they there +for? We looked carefully round, and at last the meaning of the device +struck us. A hundred yards to the right the ground dropped sharp, +leaving an edge; here was the real position and the natural cover. We +walked over, and found the usual little hollows and inconspicuous +stones arranged. Here was where their riflemen had lain, with a view +right up the valley. And the meaning of those conspicuous edifices was +now plain. Stuck up on the bare brow, plain to be seen at 2000 yards, +they were simply meant to draw our fire. The smokeless Mausers would +have told no tales, and I have no doubt that, if the attack had come +off, the device would have more or less succeeded, for the stone +shelters, though obviously dummies on close inspection, looked all right +at a distance. Besides, a definite mark always attracts fire. It was +characteristic of Boer cuteness. + + + + +LETTER XXII + +FIGHTING AND TREKKING + + +HEILBRON, _August 17_. + +We stayed several days among the mountains on the scene of the +surrender, collecting our prisoners and the waggons, guns, horses, &c., +and sending them off to the railway. The valley, viewed from the hill +where we were camped, looked much like one of our West Country horse +fairs on a very large scale. The separate commandoes were herded +together in big groups of several hundred men, sitting and lying about +and talking. The ox-waggons and battered Cape-carts were drawn up +together in a great array; but the busiest part of it all was the +division of the horses into mobs fit or unfit for remounts, and the +distribution of them to the various regiments. Rimington superintended +this job. Of course, after all our marching, we were sadly in want of +remounts. The Boers had any number of horses, many of them bringing in +two or three apiece, and the majority were in good condition and fit for +work, probably owing to the fact that the grazing all about this side of +the Free State, especially among these mountains, is excellent. The +South African ponies, I may tell you, are the only satisfactory mounts +for South Africa. We have tried horses from all parts of the world now, +and they can none of them stand the climate, work, and food like the +native breeds. The South African pony, wretched little brute as he +looks, will tripple and amble on, week after week and month after month, +with a heavy man on his back, and nothing to eat but the pickings of +sour, dried-up veldt grass and an occasional handful of Indian corn; and +though you will eye him with an eye of scorn, no doubt (if he should +happen to be allotted to your use), and envy some other man his fat +Burmese or Argentine, yet by-and-by you will find out your mistake; for +the fat Burmese and the Argentine, and all the other imported breeds, +will gradually languish and fade away, and droop and die, worn down by +the unremitting work and the bad, insufficient food; but your ragged +little South African will still amble on, still hump himself for his +saddle in the morning, and still, whenever you dismount, poke about for +roots and fibres of withered grass as tough as himself, or make an +occasional hearty meal off the straw coverings of a case of whisky +bottles. With an action that gives the least possible exertion; with the +digestion of an ostrich, and the eye of a pariah dog for any stray +morsel of food; with an extraordinary capacity for taking rest in +snatches, and recouping himself by a roll whenever you take his saddle +off; and of course, from the natural toughness of his constitution, too, +he is able to stand the long and gradual strain of being many hours +under the saddle every day (and perhaps part of the night, too) in a way +that unaccustomed horses cannot do. By this time we all know his +merits, and there is immense demand from every mounted corps for the +Boer ponies. The Major is up to his eyes in work, as officers and +orderlies come galloping up with requisitions from the various +regiments. He has the born horse lover's dislike for parting with a +really good horse except to a man he knows something about. Loud and +uproarious is the chaff and protestations (now dropping to confidential +mutterings) as the herds of horses are broken up and the various lots +assigned. As I say, it looks from the hilltop exactly like a west +country fair on an enlarged scale, and the great lonely Basuto +mountains, too, might seem a larger edition of the Exmoor hills around +Winsford. The Boer prisoners, poor fellows, have no eye for the +picturesque. They congregate together and grumble and watch the +distribution of their horses with a very sour expression. + +From this point we sent our prisoners in, _viá_ Winberg, to the railway, +the Major and most of the corps going with them as part of the escort; +while I with twenty men, consisting partly of Guides and partly of +Lovat's Scouts, was detached to continue as bodyguard to Hunter. He, +with the main column (we reunited at Bethlehem), marched to Lindley and +then here to Heilbron. + +It was ten miles south of this that we came in contact with Olivier. +Olivier and De Wet had both broken through our cordon at different times +and escaped from the hills. Sent one morning with a message to the +Sussex outside Slabbert's Nek I saw shells bursting, and all the +appearance of a heavy fight going on over the hills to the north-west. +This was Christian De Wet, who with several guns and about 1500 +well-mounted men, had made a dash for freedom when he found the place +was getting too hot, and had been promptly tackled by Broadwood when he +got outside. Pursuer and pursued vanished into the blue distance of the +veldt, battering each other as they went, like birds that fight and fly +at the same time. Broadwood, however, had got hold of his enemy by the +wrong end. What happened exactly we don't know, but De Wet got clear +somehow, and immediately turned his attention to his beloved railway +line, which he never can tear himself away from for more than a few days +at a time. He is now, I should imagine, in the very seventh heaven of +delight, having torn up miles of it, besides capturing several trains. + +De Wet is getting an immense reputation. The rapidity of his movements +is extraordinary. He always has two or three of our columns after him; +sometimes half-a-dozen. Among these he wings his way like a fowl of some +different breed, a hawk among owls. Some amusement was caused by the +report in orders the other day that De Wet had marched north pursued "by +various generals;" as if two or three, more or less, didn't matter, as +indeed it didn't. Of course, mere fast marching would not always +extricate him, but he shows such marvellous coolness and common sense in +the way in which he doubles. Several times he has been reported +surrounded; but each time when we came to look he had disappeared. It is +like a conjuring trick. He seems to have an intuitive knowledge of the +plans of our generals, and to divine how any movements of his will +modify theirs. He makes a swift march. This he knows will set in motion +a certain column. Night comes and back he steals, and dashes out through +the gap left without any one being the wiser. He never loses his +sangfroid, but acts always, in the most hopeless positions, with equal +craft and rapidity. In short, like the prophet Isaiah, he is "_capable +de tout_." For he can hit hard, too. I think since the arrival of the +main army he is the only man who has scored off us at all freely. +Sanna's Post and Reddersberg came first; then, last May, came the +capture of the 500 Yeomanry at Lindley; that was followed immediately by +the surprise of the Heilbron convoy and all its escort; then came the +capture of the Derbyshire Militia, and a few days later the taking of +Roodeval with a train of mails and various details. Even when he had +bolted out the other day between our legs, and was flying north with two +or three cavalry brigades after him, he found time to snap up a hundred +Welsh Fusiliers and break the line as he passed. He is, they say, +extremely amusing, and keeps his men always in a good temper with his +jests; the other day, after one of his many train captures, he sent a +message to the base to say that "he was sufficiently supplied with +stores now, and would they kindly send up some remounts." He is now the +only prize left worth taking, and every one is desperately keen in his +pursuit. I notice, however, that people never seem to meet him when they +want to, though when they don't want to, they very often do. + +Olivier, with a force about equal to De Wet, also broke out from the +hills, and having reached the open country, hung about to watch our +movements. There are some kopjes ten miles south of Heilbron, very +nicely arranged, with a back hill commanding a front one, so that the +first position gained would only bring us under the fire of the second; +a very favourite Boer trick. Here Olivier awaited our coming, and, +knowing the range to an inch, landed his first shell plump in the middle +of our convoy. Hunter, and we with him (it is certainly great fun being +with the Staff for the time being), were at the head of the column, and +heard the shell go over. Never have I seen a better shot. It exploded on +the track, right underneath a great waggon, to the amazement and +consternation of the Kaffir drivers and the wretched oxen; though they +were all, I believe, a good deal more frightened than hurt. Three or +four more quickly followed. "Roll that up," said Le Gallais to the Guide +carrying the General's flag. A few minutes passed, during which we were +shot at without being able to reply. Then two Field Batteries came +galloping to the front. Guns! Guns! Way for the guns! like the +fire-engines down Piccadilly they came tearing along. As the iron wheels +strike upon rocks the guns leap and swing. Stones and splinters fly +right and left, and the dust flung up by wheel and hoof boils along +their course. Nothing is more stirring than to see guns coming full +speed into action. In another minute they have lined up on the ridge and +their shells are bursting on the enemy's hill. + +Hector Macdonald is a man who always amuses me. Ordinarily he is a +somewhat grim-looking individual; but when there is any fighting going +on his whole manner changes, and he beams and mantles with a sort of +suppressed mirth. He comes swaggering up now as the guns are opening, +looking like a man who has just been told the best story he ever heard +in his life, and is still chuckling over it. "They're on to us again," +he bubbles out, knocking his boot with his whip in irrepressible glee. +"What! what! they're on to us again." He looks round at us and grins, +and seems to lick his lips as a shell goes howling overhead and bursts +behind us. His merits as a general are very much discussed, but there is +one thing he does thoroughly enjoy, more than any man I know, and that +is being shot at. I suppose he would rather win a battle than lose one, +but I am sure he would rather lose one than not fight at all. + +Next to him, in marked contrast to his excitement, stands out the cool +attentive face of "Archie" Hunter; the most popular officer, as I +believe one might call him, of all the British army. He is noted chiefly +as a fighter and for his dash and gallantry. He did all the fighting in +the Egyptian campaign. During the siege of Ladysmith it was he who +planned and led the night attack which blew up the big Boer gun. When I +was coming out on the steamer the one question asked among the war +correspondents, who wanted to be where the most fighting was going on, +was "Where will Hunter be?" But it is probably his kindness and the deep +interest he feels in all his men that makes him so universally popular. +Here is a tiny instance, perhaps not worth mentioning. We were halted on +the march for a moment, sitting about and smoking, when the General gave +the word to mount, and one of the orderlies, a trooper of the Lancers, +jumped up in a hurry and left his pipe behind him. Hunter saw the +filthy, precious object lying on the ground, and put it in his own +pocket. At the next halt he went up to the trooper, and with that manner +of his of deliberate kindness, returned it to him. A mere nothing, of +course, but very characteristic. + +He has a way of looking at you, no matter who you are, Tommy or officer +or what not, with a wonderfully kind expression, as if he felt the most +friendly interest in you. And so he does; it is not a bit put on. He +does not seem to think about himself, but about the people and things +round him. Every morning he finds time to stop and ask after the horses +and men of our little body, and to exchange a word with one or two of +the men whom he has had occasion to notice. Not a grain of condescension +is there in him; not even a thought that he is giving them pleasure. It +is a natural impulse with him, the result of the real regard and +interest he feels in every soldier that marches under him. In action his +manner, always calm, is just as calm as at any other time. He says +little; observing the most important developments or listening to the +reports of orderlies from various parts of the field, more often than +not without any comment at all. Yet nothing escapes him. + +Our action with Olivier is a rather stupid one, and I shall not attempt +to describe it. We take the first position, losing from forty to fifty +men, only to find that the enemy have retired to the second range, and +that it is too late to follow them up. Probably the only man at all +satisfied with the day's performance is old Mac. + +Through a weary land we have come marching north these ten days. The +veldt is at its worst, parched and dry and dead. Our column trekking +raises a huge cloud of reddish dust that hangs still in the air, and +marks for miles back the way we have come. The whole expanse is quite +colourless--almost white, or a dirty grey. All day long the blue sky is +unvaried, and the sun glares down unobscured by a cloud; sky and earth +emphasising each other's dull monotony. Only at sunrise and late evening +some richer and purer lines of colour lie across the distant plain, and +the air is fresh and keen. Round about the town, which, like all these +Boer towns, stuck down in the middle of the veldt, reminds one of some +moonstruck flotilla becalmed on a distant sea, the grass is all worn and +eaten to the very dust. Whiffs of horrid smell from dead carcases of +horses and cattle taint the air. All the water consists of a feeble +stream, stagnant now and reduced to a line of muddy pools, some reserved +for horses, some for washing, and some for drinking, but all of the same +mud colour. + +And yet even for this country, I think it with a kind of dull surprise +as I look out over the naked hideousness of the land, men can be found +to fight. What is it to be a child of the veldt, and never to have known +any other life except the life of these plains? It is to reproduce in +your own nature the main features of this extraordinary scenery. Here is +a life of absolute monotony, a landscape, huge, and on a grand scale, +but dull and unvaried, and quite destitute of any kind of interest, of +any noteworthy detail, of any feature that excites attention and remark. +And the people, its children, are like unto it. Their minds are as +blank, as totally devoid of culture and of ideas as the plains around +them. They have an infinite capacity for existing without doing anything +or thinking anything; in a state of physical and mental inertia that +would drive an Englishman mad. A Boer farmer, sitting on his stoep, +large and strong, but absolutely lethargic, is the very incarnation of +the spirit of the veldt. At the same time, when one remembers the +clatter and gabble of our civilisation, it is impossible to deny him a +certain dignity, though it may be only the dignity of cattle. + +The problem will apparently be, when we have burnt these people out or +shot them, and in various ways annexed a good deal of the land they now +live on, how are we to replace them? What strikes one is that time and +the country, acting on the naturally phlegmatic Dutch character, has +produced a type exactly suited to this life and these surroundings. And +it does seem in many ways a pity to destroy this type unless you have +something to take its place. Except in one or two very limited areas, +accessible to markets, and where there is a water supply, no English +colonist would care to settle in this country. The Canadians and +Australians, many of whom volunteered, and came here with the view of +having a look at the land and perhaps settling, are, I hear, unanimous +in condemning it. Indeed, it does not require any great knowledge of +agriculture to see that a country like this, a lofty table-land, dry and +barren, with no market handy, or chance of irrigation, is a wretched +poor farming country. Hence the pity it seems of wiping out the +burghers. They may not be a very lofty type of humanity, but they had +the advantage in nature's scheme of filling a niche which no one else, +when they are turned out, will care to fill in their place. The old +dead-alive farm, the sunny stoep, the few flocks and herds and wandering +horses sparsely scattered over the barren plain, the huge ox-waggon, +most characteristic and intimate of their possessions, part tent and +part conveyance, formed for the slow but sure navigation of these +solitudes, and reminding one a great deal of the rough but seaworthy +smacks and luggers of our coasts, that somehow seem in their rudeness +and efficiency to stand for the very character of a whole life, all +these things are no doubt infinitely dear to the Boer farmer, and make +up for him the only life possible, but I don't think it would be a +possible life for any one else. It seems inevitable that large numbers +of farms, owing to death of owners, war indemnity claims, bankruptcy, +and utter ruin of present holders, &c., will fall into the hands of our +Government when the war is over, and these will be especially the poorer +farms. But yet probably as years pass they will tend to lapse once more +into Dutch hands, for it is difficult to believe that men of our race +will ever submit to such a life of absolute stagnation. In dealing with +the future of the country, it will always be a point that will have to +be borne in mind, that the natural conditions of life outside the towns +are such as favour the Dutch character very much more than they do the +English. + + + + +LETTER XXIII + +WRITTEN FROM HOSPITAL + + +HOSPITAL, KRONSTADT, _September 6_, 1900. + +It is only a bad attack of influenza. I lie here in a dim, brown holland +coloured twilight. A large marquee of double folded canvas keeps out the +sun; a few shafts of light twinkle through here and there. Through three +entrance gaps I catch glimpses, crossed by a web of tent ropes, of other +surrounding tents, each neatly enclosed by a border of whitened stones, +the purpose of which is to prevent people at night from tripping over +the ropes. Everything is scrupulously neat and clean. Orderlies run from +tent to tent minding their patients. Every now and then a pretty little +nursing sister, with white cuffs and scarlet pelisse, trips across the +open spaces between the straight lines of marquees, or stops to have a +moment's chat and a little quiet bit of a flirt (they can always find +time for that, I notice) with one of the officers or doctors. I watch +with faint interest and a feeling of vague recollection. She looks up +sideways and shades the sun off her eyes with her fingers. They keep it +up still then! + +Some way off, among the Tommies' quarters, I can see groups of patients +in clean, dark-blue clothes walking about, or sitting on seats, taking +the air; some hobbling on crutches, some with arms in slings, heads +bandaged, or patched and mended in some way or other. You feel like some +damaged implement tossed aside a moment for repair. "Mend me this +lieutenant!" The doctors get to work, deft and quick; a little +strengthening, repairing, polishing, and out you are shot again. + +It has been the only glimpse of absolute peace and rest I have had this +eleven months. Every one is kind and sympathetic; a cool breeze blows +through the looped-up tents; it is all very luxurious and pleasant for +wearied-out soldiers. I like to lie and watch the little pictures +through the tent openings of low blue veldt hills in the distance (which +somehow remind one of the background glimpses in old Italian pictures), +and dream over things one has seen and done, many of which seem already +such ages ago, and listen to the bugle calls that sound at intervals in +the camp. I have managed to buy some pyjamas. Probably you would see +something very ludicrous in the way in which, after an elaborate +hot-bath and hair-cutting, dressed out in one's clean pyjamas and lying +between clean sheets, one rolls one's eyes with unutterable complacency +on one's surroundings. All our comforts are attended to. We have a +shell-proof shelter in a ravine close by, handy in case of visits from +De Wet; and the two great cow-guns, like guardian angels, doze on the +top of the hill behind the hospital. Under the shadow of their wing I +always feel perfectly safe. + +From patients who come in daily from various parts of the country and +various columns we get a general impression of how things are going. +The army seems to be adopting very severe measures to try and end the +campaign out of hand, and the papers at home are loudly calling for such +measures, I see, and justifying them. Nevertheless, it is childish to +pretend that it is a crime in the Boers to continue fighting, or that +they have done anything to disentitle them to the usages of civilised +warfare. The various columns that are now marching about the country are +carrying on the work of destruction pretty indiscriminately, and we have +burnt and destroyed by now many scores of farms. Ruin, with great +hardship and want, which may ultimately border on starvation, must be +the result to many families. These measures are not likely, I am afraid, +to conduce much to the united South Africa we talk so much of and +thought we were fighting for. + +I had to go myself the other day, at the General's bidding, to burn a +farm near the line of march. We got to the place, and I gave the +inmates, three women and some children, ten minutes to clear their +clothes and things out of the house, and my men then fetched bundles of +straw and we proceeded to burn it down. The old grandmother was very +angry. She told me that, though I was making a fine blaze now, it was +nothing compared to the flames that I myself should be consumed in +hereafter. Most of them, however, were too miserable to curse. The women +cried and the children stood by holding on to them and looking with +large frightened eyes at the burning house. They won't forget that +sight, I'll bet a sovereign, not even when they grow up. We rode away +and left them, a forlorn little group, standing among their household +goods--beds, furniture, and gimcracks strewn about the veldt; the +crackling of the fire in their ears, and smoke and flame streaming +overhead. The worst moment is when you first come to the house. The +people thought we had called for refreshments, and one of the women went +to get milk. Then we had to tell them that we had come to burn the place +down. I simply didn't know which way to look. One of the women's +husbands had been killed at Magersfontein. There were others, men and +boys, away fighting; whether dead or alive they did not know. + +I give you this as a sample of what is going on pretty generally. Our +troops are everywhere at work burning and laying waste, and enormous +reserves of famine and misery are being laid up for these countries in +the future. + +How far do you mean to go in this? Are you going to burn down every +house, and turn the whole country into a desert? I don't think it can be +done. You can't carry out the Cromwellian method in the nineteenth +century. Too many people know what is going on, and consciences are too +tender. On the other hand, nothing is so disastrous as that method half +carried out. We can't exterminate the Dutch or seriously reduce their +numbers. We can do enough to make hatred of England and thirst for +revenge the first duty of every Dutchman, and we can't effectively +reduce the numbers of the men who will carry that duty out. Of course it +is not a question of the war only. It is a question of governing the +country afterwards. + +So far we only really hold the ground on which our armies stand. If I +were to walk out from this tent a mile or two over the hills yonder, I +should probably be shot. Kronstadt has been ours for four months. It is +on the main railway. The country all round is being repeatedly crossed +by our troops. Yet an Englishman would not be safe for a minute out of +range of those guns on the hill. + +There is a delightful feeling of spring in the air. We have had some +warm, heavy rains lately. The veldt grass, till now dry and dusty and +almost white, is beginning to push up tiny green blades, and the green +colour is beginning to spread almost imperceptibly over the distant +hills. I begin to feel a sort of kindred impulse in myself. The old +lethargy, bred of the dull, monotonous marches over the dreary plains, +is passing, and I begin to cock an attentive eye at the signs of +awakening, and feel that I am waking up myself. If you could see the +view from here, the barren expanse of veldt stretching miles away, the +cluster of tin roofs and the few leafless thorn-trees beyond, I have no +doubt you would laugh at this fancy of a spring day. And yet I am sure I +can feel it; there is a change in the air. It has grown elastic and +feels alive, and there is a smell in it to my mind of earth and +vegetables. Yesterday, when I toddled in as far as the village, I saw a +little fruit tree in a garden that carried white starry blossoms at the +ends of its black twigs. It gave me quite a thrill. Oh, to be in England +now that April--Dear me! I was forgetting 'tis autumn, and partridges +and stubble fields with you. + +The Hospital Commission of Inquiry has just turned up here, very +dignified and grand in a train of half-a-dozen saloon carriages, which +must be a great nuisance on the overworked lines. I have had several +talks with the R.A.M.C. officers and men here about the alleged neglect +and deficiencies, especially with the second in command, a very candid, +liberal-minded man. He quite admits the shortcomings. The service is +under-manned. There are not enough medical officers and not enough +orderlies. This hospital, for instance, is entitled to a full colonel +and two lieutenant-colonels, instead of which it has only one +lieutenant-colonel, and the same proportion is preserved in the lower +grades. Men in all departments are stinted, and the hospitals are all +seriously short-handed. They have done their best to make up the +deficiency with volunteers and civilian doctors and surgeons, but it is +only partly made up. Their numbers compare very unfavourably with the +numbers allotted to other nations' hospitals in the field. This has all +been represented to the War Office many times of late years without +result. + +At the same time, with the men and accommodation they had, the hospitals +have done their utmost. In the base hospitals there was nothing to +complain of. At Bloemfontein there was great suffering owing to lack of +medical staff, surgeons, nurses, orderlies, &c., and also owing to the +lack of necessary supplies and medical comforts. For the shortness of +the staff the War Office is of course responsible, and as blaming the +War Office hurts nobody, I dare say the Commission will come down on it +severely. For the shortness of supplies, this was due to the working of +our line of communication, which considered the efficiency of the army a +great deal, and the lives of the sick very little. But here you come to +individuals, and the matter craves careful handling. + +It is no fun fighting for you people at home, because you don't know +when to clap. The English papers' account of Prinsloo's surrender have +just come in. By Jupiter, for all the notice you take of it, it might be +the capture of a Boer picket and a dozen men. Here have we been marching +and fighting and freezing and sweating and climbing up great Alpine +mountains in the snow for weeks, and captured 4000 great ugly live Boers +and all their guns and baggage, and by the god of war, you hardly take +the trouble to say thank you. This sort of thing will just suit Hunter, +because his idea of bliss is to do the work and run the risk, and then +somehow to evade the praise. But he ought not to be allowed to evade it. +It is true we had no war correspondents with us, but I should have +thought the bare facts would have spoken for themselves. It was the +first thing of the war and our one really big score off the Boers. +However, I shall not discuss it any more. I am disgusted with you. +Mafeking day is about your form. + + + + +LETTER XXIV + +FIGHTING AND FARM-BURNING + + +Frankfort, _November 23_, 1900. + +Frankfort is one of our small garrison towns. It exists in a perpetual +state of siege, like Heilbron, Lindley, Ladybrand, Winberg, Bethlehem, +and a dozen others in this neighbourhood; in fact, like all the towns +held by us not on the railway. At intervals of a month or two a column +comes along bringing supplies and news from the outside world; mails, +papers, parcels, clothes and kit, great quantities of regular rations, +ammunition, &c., &c. You can imagine how eagerly the little garrison, +stranded for months in this aching desolation, looks for the column's +coming. Then arise other questions. Sometimes a part of the garrison is +relieved and receives orders to join the column, while some of the +troops forming the column are left behind in their place. Of course +every one in the town is longing to get away, and every one in the +column is dreading having to stay, and there is an interval of ghastly +expectation while contradictory rumours go hurtling from village to camp +and back again; and men look at each other like cannibals, every one +hoping the doom will fall on some one else. We in our corps are spared +all this anxiety, and can lie on our backs and look on and condole with +the unlucky ones. We never get left anywhere. + +For the last few weeks we have been cruising about over the veldt from +one little British fort to another with our huge fleet of waggons, +doling out supplies. During this time we have been fighting more or +less, I think, every day. Perhaps you would hardly call it fighting; +long-range sniping the greater part of it. Out of our 250 mounted men we +have had some half-dozen casualties only, and we have accounted for a +dozen or so of the enemy and a few prisoners. They have the advantage of +their intimate knowledge of the country. We have the advantage of a +pompom and two 15-pounders. These are invaluable in keeping the Boers at +a respectful distance. It is rather satisfactory to plump some shrapnel +on to a group of waiting, watching Boers three miles off, who are just +concocting in their sinful hearts some scheme for getting a shot at you; +or to lay a necklace of exploding pompom shells among some rocks where +you guess they are hiding. "There, my boys, take that, and I hope you +enjoy it," I feel inclined to say. You will understand that the side +that has no guns at this game is apt to look rather silly. Rimington has +initiated an entirely new use for guns. They are used now _with the +Scouts_. Instead of remaining with the column, where they would never be +of the slightest use, he takes them right out to the limits of his +flankers or advance or rear guard, or wherever there is most need of +them. So that when these scattered skirmishers get engaged, as they are +constantly doing, instead of having to extricate themselves as they best +can from an awkward corner, and being followed up and hampered and +pressed as they keep up with the column, they know that in about two +minutes they will hear the voice of one of the 15-pounders or the +indignant pompom speaking on their behalf, and that the pressure will be +immediately relieved. I am sure that the use made of these guns has +saved us a number of casualties, besides inflicting loss on the enemy. +It isn't very orthodox, I fancy, and I have noticed officers of the +column rather stare sometimes at the sight of these volatile guns of +ours careering away in the distance, but with the Colonel this is only +another reason for using them so. At the same time the pertinacity of +these Dutchmen is really remarkable, and the instant the guns limber up, +on they come, darting round corners and creeping upon us with a zeal +that never seems to diminish. + +The work falls chiefly on front and rear guards, but perhaps mainly on +the rear, as the difficulty of retiring is usually greater than +advancing; _i.e.,_ if the advance guard gets pressed, all they have to +do is to sit tight and the natural advance of the column will bring them +up supports. But when the rear guard gets engaged, the advance of the +main column tends to leave it stranded; it is bound to keep on retiring +to avoid this, and retiring under fire is a difficult and dangerous job. +The Boers, who have an instinctive knowledge how to make themselves most +disagreeable, of course know all about this susceptibility of a +rearguard, and there are always sure to be a number of them sniffing +about in that direction. "Where are you to-day?" "Rearguard." "Oh! +_Good-bye, then!_" was the farewell given to a rearguard officer this +morning. + +On the other hand, the advance is of course the most exciting. You make +a dash for a kopje, probably uncertain if it is held or not. The +clucking of the old Mausers at long range warns you that it is, and a +few bullets kick the dust up. The squadron swing to the right to flank +the kopje, and the fire gets hotter and the whistle of bullets sharper +and closer. Suddenly the welcome report of a gun, followed by a second +one, sounds behind you, and next instant the rush of the quick-coming +shells is heard overhead. Then the squadron goes headlong for the kopje. +The ponies tear along, mad with excitement, their hoofs thundering on +the hard ground. The men grip their loaded carbines with their right +hands; not one that won't be first if he can. There go the shells! There +is a little shout of approval; one bursts right among the rocks on the +top of the kopje in a puff of white smoke; the other half-way down, +raising a great cloud of dust. The Mauser fire ceases as if by magic, +and the next instant the racing squadron has reached the rise. Down jump +the riders and clamber up over the stones. Yonder the enemy go, bundling +along a rough track not 500 yards away, half seen through whirling dust. +The men fling themselves down, some tearing a handful of cartridges from +their bandoliers to have handy, and settle their carbines on the rocks. +Crack! goes the first shot, and at the sound, as at a signal, the covey +of fleeing Boers shakes out and scatters over the veldt. The fire +quickens rapidly as the carbines come into action. Every Boer as he +rides off, you can see through the glasses, is pursued and attended by +little dust tufts that tell where the bullets strike. Surely they can't +be going to get off scot-free. "Take your time, men; _now do take your +time_," insists our captain. "A thousand yards, and aim well ahead!" And +now at last it is seen with glee that something is the matter with the +man on the white horse. Horse is it, or man? Both apparently. The man +seems to be lying on his horse's neck, and the horse has lapsed into a +walk. Instantly two of his comrades have turned to him. One begins +thrashing the horse with his rifle into a canter. The other seems to be +holding the rider in the saddle. Every carbine is on to them. Another +Boer jumps off and lies down, and the report of his rifle reaches us at +the same instant that a bullet whistles overhead. No one attends to him. +Every man is blazing away at the little slow moving group of three, a +good mark even at this distance. But it is not to be; though the dust +spots are all round them, hit them we can't; and at last as they move +away in the distance, the last reluctant shot is fired, and we give it +up. On this particular occasion we capture one of the Boers a little +further on hidden in a farm garden, his horse having been shot, though +we did not notice it. This accounts for two anyway, which is about what +we expect, and we proceed good-naturedly to help the farm people out +with some of their furniture before burning the house down. + +I am writing this lying on my back in our tiny tent. Outside the sun is +blazing. Across the river, on the edge of the hill, our picket, under +the lee of a kraal wall, is shooting at intervals. It sounds as if some +one in the distance were chopping wood. The Colonel and Driscoll are +standing just outside watching through their glasses. They can make out +Boer scouts on the horizon, but no one pays much attention. + +Driscoll, of Driscoll's Scouts, is a thick-set, sinewy man, rather short +than tall. He is of an absolute sooty blackness. Hair and moustache +coal-black, and complexion so scorched and swarthy that at a little +distance you might almost take him for a nigger. There is about his face +a look of unmistakable determination amounting to ferocity in moments of +excitement. He looks and is a born fighter, but is apt to be over +headlong in action. His scouts are part of our 250 mounted men under +Rimington. + +As for the Colonel I don't know if I have ever tried to describe him to +you. He is a man who invites description. Of all the men in the army he +is the one you would single out to sketch. An artist would be at him at +once. He is the living image of what one imagines Brian de Bois Guilbert +to have been. An inch or two over six feet high, his figure, spare but +lengthy and muscular, has been so knocked about (by hunting and polo +accidents) that it has rather a lopsided look, and he leans slightly to +one side as he walks, but this does not interfere with his strength and +activity nor detract from the distinguished and particularly graceful +look of the man. His face, like Driscoll's, is sun-blackened rather than +sun-browned; its general expression stern and grim, and when he is +thinking and talking about the Boers (he talks about them just as Bois +Guilbert did about the Saracens) this expression deepens into something +positively savage, and he looks, and can perhaps sometimes be, a +relentless enemy. But this is only half the man. In ordinary talk he is +quite different. He has the Celtic sensitiveness and humour. He is an +artist. His manner among friends is extraordinarily winning and +sympathetic, and his grave melancholy face has a way of breaking into a +most infectious laugh. Altogether, what with his tall person, dark +determined face, his fierceness and gentleness, and the general air of +the devil about him, you are not surprised to find that no soldier's +name is more common in men's mouths out here than Mike Rimington's. You +might fit Marmion's lines to him well enough-- + + "His square-turned joints and length of limb + Show him no carpet knight so trim, + But in close fight a warrior grim." + +He ought to have lived five hundred years ago and dressed in chain-mail +and led out his lances to plunder and foray. As it is he does his best +even in the nineteenth century. Picturesque is the word that best +describes him. He makes every one else look hopelessly commonplace. His +men admire him immensely, like him a good deal, and fear him a little. +Generals in command sometimes find him, I fancy, a bit of a handful, +that is, if their policy is at all a backward one. But most people watch +him and talk of him with a certain interest, and whatever their opinions +or ideas of him may be, one feels sure that none who have once met will +easily forget him. + +He is essentially a man who means business, who believes that the army +is here to fight, and it is especially in action that he makes his value +felt. Then, when he leads his squadron and the rifles begin to speak, +and the first few shots come one by one like the first drops of a +shower, and when he turns round in his saddle and thunders his, "Let +them go" down the ranks, then I tell you there is not a trooper at his +heels who does not realise that the man at their head is the right man +in the right place. + +At the same time it would be a mistake to think of him as one of our +"let me get at them," all sword and spurs officers. There have been +several of this sort in the army, and it is impossible to help very +often admiring their dash. But they are most dangerous leaders. What +chiefly distinguishes the Boers is their coolness. You cannot bluff or +flurry them, or shift them by the impetuosity of your attack from a +position which they are strong enough to hold. If indeed you have reason +to believe them weak, then the faster you go at them the better: for if +they mean going this will force them to go in a hurry and you will +diminish the time you are under fire. But see your calculations are +pretty sound, for if they don't mean bolting it will not be the fury of +your charge that will make them. Generally when they begin on you at a +very long range it is safe to go for them; but if they reserve their +fire then look out for squalls. The Colonel has a very cool judgment in +these matters; and though no one, when he does go for them, goes +straighter and faster than he, no one, on the other hand, calculates +more coolly the probable effect and consequence of the move. + +In all scouting operations in our frequent long patrols he shows the +same mixture of prudence and daring. He goes long distances from his +supports and penetrates far into the enemy's country, and yet in none of +these expeditions has he ever got trapped or cut off. Of course with men +like the Guides, who have experience of the country and the enemy, and +ways of picking up information not open to strangers, this is easier +than it would be with men who had no such experience; but at the same +time the chief credit and responsibility in these affairs must rest with +the commanding officer. For one thing Rimington has an extraordinary +good eye for a country. Perhaps at first you will scarcely realise the +value of this gift. The features of this country and the way the long, +undulating slopes of the veldt merge into each other are extremely +perplexing, and as an engagement may be carried on over many miles of +ground and your own movements may be extensive and involved, it becomes +very difficult, in fact to most people absolutely impossible, to +remember the lie of the land and how the various hills and slopes are +related to each other. Thinking about it and trying to observe does no +good at all; but some people have an extraordinary instinct by which +they hold the configuration of the ground mapped in their head; judging +not by slow calculation and an effort of the memory, but intuitively and +at once. This instinct is called "an eye for a country," and is a most +valuable gift. Personally, I am very ill equipped with it, which makes +me the more inclined perhaps to admire it in others. It is developed in +the Colonel to an extraordinary degree, and is one of the chief means by +which, however hard beset, he has always been able, so far, to find a +way out. Most nearly of any of our officers his tactics in daring and in +craft resemble the tactics of that prince of scouting officers, +Christian De Wet. + +Kronstadt, Lindley, Heilbron, Frankfort, has been our round so far. We +now turn westward along the south of the Vaal. Farm burning goes merrily +on, and our course through the country is marked as in prehistoric ages, +by pillars of smoke by day and fire by night. We usually burn from six +to a dozen farms a day; these being about all that in this +sparsely-inhabited country we encounter. I do not gather that any +special reason or cause is alleged or proved against the farms burnt. If +Boers have used the farm; if the owner is on commando; if the line +within a certain distance has been blown up; or even if there are Boers +in the neighbourhood who persist in fighting--these are some of the +reasons. Of course the people living in the farms have no say in these +matters, and are quite powerless to interfere with the plans of the +fighting Boers. Anyway we find that one reason or other generally covers +pretty nearly every farm we come to, and so to save trouble we burn the +lot without inquiry; unless, indeed, which sometimes happens, some names +are given in before marching in the morning of farms to be spared. + +The men belonging to the farm are always away and only the women left. +Of these there are often three or four generations; grandmother, mother, +and family of girls. The boys over thirteen or fourteen are usually +fighting with their papas. The people are disconcertingly like English, +especially the girls and children--fair and big and healthy looking. +These folk we invite out on to the veldt or into the little garden in +front, where they huddle together in their cotton frocks and big cotton +sun-bonnets, while our men set fire to the house. Sometimes they entreat +that it may be spared, and once or twice in an agony of rage they have +invoked curses on our heads. But this is quite the exception. As a rule +they make no sign, and simply look on and say nothing. One young woman +in a farm yesterday, which I think she had not started life long in, +went into a fit of hysterics when she saw the flames breaking out, and +finally fainted away. + +I wish I had my camera. Unfortunately it got damaged, and I have not +been able to take any photographs. These farms would make a good +subject. They are dry and burn well. The fire bursts out of windows and +doors with a loud roaring, and black volumes of smoke roll overhead. +Standing round are a dozen or two of men holding horses. The women, in a +little group, cling together, comforting each other or hiding their +faces in each other's laps. In the background a number of Tommies are +seen chasing poultry, flinging stones, and throwing themselves prostrate +on maimed chickens and ducks, whose melancholy squawks fill the air. +Further off still, herds and flocks and horses are being collected and +driven off, while, on the top of the nearest high ground, a party of +men, rifles in hand, guard against a surprise from the enemy, a few of +whom can generally be seen in the distance watching the destruction of +their homes. + +One hears the women talk. Their ideas about the war are peculiar, for +they all maintain that they will succeed in the long-run in asserting +their independence, and seem to think that things are going quite +satisfactorily for them. "Of course we shall go on fighting," they say, +quite with surprise. "How long?" "Oh, as long as may be necessary. Till +you go away." It is curious coming to household after household and +finding the whole lot of them, women and children, so unanimous, so +agreed in the spirit in which they face their afflictions. Husbands and +sons in the hill fighting. Homes in the valley blazing, and they sitting +and watching it all, almost always with the same fortitude, the same +patience, and the same resolve. I am impressed, for I have never seen +anything of the sort before. It is not often in these days that you see +one big, simple, primitive instinct, like love of country, acting on a +whole people at once. Many of our officers, the thoughtful and +candid-minded ones, do these people justice; but many don't. Many catch +at any explanation but the true one, and attribute every kind of motive +save the only one that will explain the facts. They refuse to call the +Boers patriots, but that the Boers are prepared to face a slow +extermination in defence of their country is now evident. It has become +more evident since the war has assumed its present character of +individual, personal effort. I much respect and admire them for it. + +It is time to bring this long letter to an end. I wish I could see an +end to the campaign. When I come home "an old, old, aged and infirm old +man," I mean to pass the evening of my days in a quiet cottage with its +full allowance of honeysuckle and roses. There I shall grow sweet +williams and, if I can stand the extra excitement, perhaps keep a pig. +They tell me the _Times_ has pronounced the war over. I would be glad to +pay £5 out of my own pocket to have the man who wrote that out here on +the veldt with us for a week. We have just heard that Dewetsdorp has +fallen, and that there is a rising in the Colony near Aliwal North. +_Vogue la galère!_ + + + + +LETTER XXV + +THE SITUATION + + + CAMP ON THE VAAL, + NEAR KLERKSDORP, + _December 23_, 1900. + +We are encamped close to the Vaal, which is here a fine stream, as wide +as the Thames at Richmond. I have just been bathing in it. It is early +morning, and I am sitting under a thicket of great weeping willows by +the river. The banks slope down and make a trough for the stream a good +deal below the level of the plain, and in this hollow, hidden till you +are close to it, congregates all the verdure there is for miles, +especially a quantity of willow trees, with gnarled black trunks leaning +down to the stream, sometimes bending over and burying themselves in the +ground and then shooting up again, making arches and long vistas, with +green grass below and silvery foliage waving above. After our long +marches on the veldt, the contrast here is wonderfully refreshing. One +seems to drink in the coolness and greenness of the scene with eyes that +have grown thirsty for such things. The trees straddling down the bank +are rather like figures of men, giants that have flung themselves down, +resting on hands and elbows, delighted, one would think, as I am, to +come and rest near water again. + +I can hardly believe that it only wants two days to Christmas. Our last +Christmas we spent on the Modder. I remember it well; a wet night, and +all night long we sat on a steep kopje watching the lights of a Boer +laager and expecting to be attacked. Methuen's little campaign strikes +one now as a sort of prelude, or overture, to the main show; but how +very much surprised we should have been that November morning when we +marched from Orange River Camp if you had told us we should ever be +looked at in that light. Ten thousand men was a big army in those days. + +We have been on the trek now for about six weeks with Bruce-Hamilton, +and though we have not so far been seriously engaged, there has been +almost daily fighting round the fringes and skirts of the column +("skirt-fighting," you may call it). + +"_November_ 17.--Left Lindley. This neighbourhood quite as disturbed as +ever. Shooting. + +"_November_ 18.--More shooting. Boers in all hills. + +"_November_ 19.--More shooting and galloping about. Reached Heilbron. + +"_November_ 20.--Left for Frankfort. Boers in attendance as usual. Our +two guns and pompom very useful." + +Those were the last entries I made in my diary. The day's events became +too monotonous to chronicle, but very much the same sort of entries +would have applied to almost every day since. Sometimes there are +exciting incidents. Yesterday half-a-dozen Boers hid in a little hollow +which just concealed them until our column came along, and opened fire +at close range on the flank guard. One or two men were hit and several +horses. My friend Vice had five bullets through his horse and was not +touched himself, which was rather lucky for him (or unlucky for the +horse). A few days before that we were camped on the river and had a +picket on the other side. Two or three Boers crept up the river right +between our picket and the main body, and then walked straight to the +picket as if coming from us and fired into it at point-blank range. They +mortally wounded one of our men and in the dusk escaped. They are as +cunning as Indians. Sometimes, as in these cases, they show great +coolness and daring, while at others they are easily dispersed; but they +are generally pretty keen, and you have to be very much on the alert in +dealing with them. + +You at home will probably be annoyed to find the war dragging on so. +About election time the papers were announcing that it was over. It had +been a hard job, they said, but it was finished at last. A good deal was +occurring out here which did not quite tally with that theory, but those +things were ignored or very slightly referred to, so that we on the spot +wondered to see the war drop out of sight, and were puzzled to read in +the _Times_ that only a few desperadoes remained in the field just at +the time that two commandoes were invading the Colony, another raiding +Natal, a garrison and two guns captured at Dewetsdorp, and the line +blown up in ten different places. The continuance of the war must strike +you as a renewal, but there was never a lull really. + +People who think the war can be ended by farm-burning, &c., mistake the +Boer temper. I scarcely know how to convey to you any idea of the +spirit of determination that exists among them all, women and even +children as well as men. The other day I picked up at a farmhouse a +short characteristic form of prayer, written out evidently by the wife +in a child's copybook, ending thus: "Forgive me all my sins for the sake +of your Son Jesus Christ, in whom I put all my trust for days of sorrow +and pain. And bring back my dear husband and child and brothers, and +give us our land back again, which we paid for with blood from the +beginning." Simple enough as you see, and no particular cant about it, +but very much in earnest. At another farm a small girl interrupted her +preparation for departure to play indignantly their national anthem at +us on an old piano. We were carting the people off. It was raining hard +and blowing--a miserable, hurried home-leaving; ransacked house, muddy +soldiers, a distracted mother saving one or two trifles and pushing +along her children to the ox-waggon outside, and this poor little wretch +in the midst of it all pulling herself together to strum a final +defiance. One smiled, but it was rather dramatic all the same, and +exactly like a picture. These are straws, but one could multiply them +with incidents from every farm we go to. Their talk is invariably, and +without so far a single exception, to the same effect--"We will never +give in, and God sooner or later will see us through." + +And then I see a speech of Buller's explaining that the war is being +carried on by a few mercenaries and coerced men, and that it is in no +sense a patriotic war. He is emphatic on this point and his audience +cheer him. One realises the difficulty of getting you to understand. The +breaking up of the big commandoes and the change to guerilla tactics, in +which every man fights on his own account, shows in a way there is no +mistaking that it is the personal wish of each man to fight out the +quarrel to the last. It is just because they are so individually keen +that this sort of warfare of theirs is so hard to cope with. These men +are uncoerced. Spontaneously and one by one they turn out to fight us as +soon as we show ourselves in their neighbourhood, and all the suffering +we can inflict only serves to harden their resolution. + +Yet we certainly inflict a great deal. Boer families usually average up +to a dozen. They stick together, and grow up on their farms, which are +of enormous extent, and which they get to love with the instinctive +force of people who have never seen any other place. Love of family and +love of home are their two ruling affections. The household life of a +big family on a 20,000 acre farm--three and often four generations +represented--is usually uninterrupted for weeks at a time by the sight +of a strange face or a bit of outside news. Their lives are altogether +bound up, in their serene and stolid way, with each other and with their +homes. Anything that breaks up a family is felt by them more grievously +than would be the case with most people; and, in the same way, anything +that severs them from "the land" would be more profoundly felt too. It +amounts to an entire dislocation of their ideas of life. + +This must make the war at present very hard to bear. "My dear husband +and child and brothers" are away fighting. One or two of them very +likely killed by this time, or in Ceylon or St. Helena. "And as for the +others who are still in the field, we are in constant terror of hearing +the bad news, which we know, if the war continues, must some day come." +So the family is quite broken up, and now the home is being destroyed +and the occupants carried off, so that altogether the chances of ever +renewing the old life again in the old place seem very remote indeed. + +All this should be enough to break Boer hearts, and there is no doubt +they feel it very much. I can recall many scenes and incidents which +show that--scenes which, if you saw them out of your peaceful, natural +life, you would perhaps be never able to forget. But yet, in spite of +all they have to suffer, their determination remains just the same. +Anything like loud lamentations or complaints are almost unheard. They +rise to the occasion, and though naturally a very simple people, who +express openly what they feel, they act now in this crisis with a +constant composure which I have often thought most remarkable. + +What supports them and keeps them going is just that spirit of +patriotism which Buller denies the existence of. A patriot is a man who +puts his country first thing of all. The final result of it all, "the +uselessness of prolonging the struggle," and such newspaper talk as +that, is not for him. There fronts him one fact, his country is invaded; +and there fronts him one duty, to fight till he dies for it. This would +have been a Greek's definition of the word, and it is the Boer farmer's +definition. It is of course just because patriots never do count the +cost, and are what the newspapers call "deaf to reason," that they +sometimes bring off such astonishing results. + +The Boers have now to watch a slow, implacable, methodical devastation +of their country, tract by tract. Day by day they fight, and one by one +they fall. Comrades and friends drop at each other's sides; sons drop by +fathers, and brothers by brothers. The smoke rises in the valley, and +the home is blotted out. All that makes life worth living goes, then +life itself. What sterner test can a nation be put to than this? It is a +torture long and slow; the agony and bloody sweat. I know well that if +my own country were invaded I should, or hope I should, behave exactly +as these men are doing; and as I should call it patriotism in my own +case, I cannot refuse to call it the same in theirs. You see bribery and +coercion are not adequate motives, and do not explain the facts; only, +unfortunately, a lot of people would rather hunt up any base motive, +however inadequate, than take the obvious one if it did their enemy any +credit. + +It is most important that the situation should be realised at home, for +if it were the conduct of the war would be changed. You cannot torture +and terrorise men like this into submission. Probably no system will end +the war off quickly, but certainly kind, or at least fair, treatment is +the best chance and best policy in every way. The present system hardens +these men's resolution to iron, and so tends to prolong the war; and it +embitters Dutch hatred of the British, and so tends to perpetuate the +ill effects of the war. In fact, I am convinced that it is the worst +policy you could possibly adopt, and the sooner you change it the +better. + +As for the fighting itself, you must make great allowance for our +difficulties. So long as we had big commandoes with guns, convoys, &c., +to deal with, there was a definite object to hit at. It was possible to +deal a blow that took effect. Now we are fighting shadows. Our columns +march through the country and see no enemy, or at most only a few small +parties hovering on the sky-line. Scouts and patrols are often engaged, +and no one can wander out of sight of the column but the ugly voice of a +Mauser will warn him back. Invisible eyes watch us all the time, ready +to take advantage of detached parties or unprotected convoys. We are +teased and annoyed, but never definitely engaged. We are like the +traveller and the gnats-- + + "Nor could my weak arm disperse + The host of insects gathered round my head, + And ever with me as I walked along." + +Carried on in a country like this, where a man on horseback is like a +bird in the air, and by people so individually keen as the Boers, the +present kind of war may go on indefinitely. After all, it is the sort of +war the Boers understand best. The big-battle war is a matter of science +which he had in a great measure to be instructed in, but this is a war +which the natural independence of his own character and self-reliant +habits make natural to him. The war, now that it has become a matter of +individuals, is exciting all its old enthusiasm again, and the Burghers +are up in arms in every district in the country. Fighting in their own +country, the Boers have one advantage over us, which is their salvation: +they can disperse in flight, but we cannot disperse in pursuit. + +This vagrant form of war is more formidable than it sounds. These +wandering bands can unite with great rapidity and deal when least +expected a rapid blow. As we cannot catch them we must be prepared to +receive them at all points. The veldt is a void to us, all darkness, and +it hides a threat which, as it may fall anywhere, must be guarded +against everywhere. This, what with all our garrisons and enormous lines +of communication, means that the far greater part of our army has to act +on the defensive; to sit still waiting for an enemy who may be a hundred +miles off or behind the next hill. As for our wandering columns, they +have about as much chance of catching Boers on the veldt as a Lord +Mayor's procession would have of catching a highwayman on Hounslow +Heath. The enemy are watching us now from a rise a few miles away, +waiting for our next move, and probably discussing some devilry or other +they are up to. The line of our march is blotted out already. Where we +camp one day they camp the next. They are all round and about us like +water round a ship, parting before our bows and reuniting round our +stern. Our passage makes no impression and leaves no visible trace. It +does amuse me to read the speeches and papers in England with their +talk of what we are to do with the country now we have conquered it. +"With the conclusion of the war in South Africa arises the question," +&c., &c. It reminds one of a child's game of make-believe. There is the +same pompous air of reality. "This is the shop and you are the +shopwoman. Good morning, Mrs. Snooks, I have come to buy a pound of +sugar." Unfortunately the facts remain. I find that some of the +shrewdest onlookers out here are just beginning to feel a sort of half +doubt whether we shall ever conquer the country at all. It depends on +whether the home Government and press give up their babyish "let's +pretend" attitude and face the difficulties of the situation. + +All this is very sad and lugubrious, is it not? and I daresay you think +me a croaker; but there is a melancholy satisfaction in trying to see +things as they are, and I believe what I have told you is nearer the +truth than what you get from the papers. I only hope I may turn out to +be wrong. + +I add a note (January 12th) from Ventersberg, where we have just +arrived. This has been our last trek, we believe. Rimington takes +command of his regiment, and the corps, like the rest of the Colonial +Division, will be paid off. I have a vision of a great blue steamer with +a bow like a cliff bursting her way through the seas on her homeward +voyage. And yet I can scarcely believe it. + +Bad news waits us here. They say the Colony is rising. Now mark my +words. If we don't watch it, we shall end by bringing about the very +state of things we have been dreading. There will be a Dutch South +African conspiracy, but it will be one of our own making. We shall have +our own treatment of these people to thank for it. Be sure of this, that +for every house up here that is destroyed, three or four in the south +are slowly rousing to arms. + +You will think, I daresay, that I have been putting the case +one-sidedly. Possibly that is so; but I am putting the side that wants +putting. I am constantly seeing it stated that any measures are +justifiable so long as they are likely to end the war. "Well, but we +must end it somehow," is a common phrase. That is all rubbish. We must +fight fairly, that's the first rule of all. I daresay there may have +been individual acts of cruelty or treachery on the part of the Boers, +but I am sure that any just and unprejudiced officer will tell you that +on the whole they have behaved surprisingly well, and in a way that is +really very striking when we consider how undisciplined and individually +independent they are. Let us then, on our side, play the game fairly. No +doubt it is very exasperating to have the thing dragging on in the way +it is doing, and the present intangible, elusive warfare is desperately +irritating, but there is after all nothing unfair about these tactics of +the Boers, nothing illegitimate in any way; they are merely the turning +to account of natural advantages; and this being the case, we have no +right to lose our tempers and get vicious just because we have taken on +a tougher job than we thought for. Unluckily there seems to be a big +party who are prepared to do anything and fight anyhow to get the thing +finished. You will gain nothing by those means. You will not hasten the +end of the war, and you will make its after effects more lasting and +hard to deal with.[2] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 2: Here is a telegram copied from the _Evening Standard_ of +October 16, 1901. "Addressing the volunteers who have returned from the +front, the Governor of Natal this morning said that he could not now +refer to the Boers as dogs of war, but rather as yelping, snarling +curs." As against that take the opinion of Lord Cranborne who has just +come back from the front: "They had fought and they were fighting with +some of the bravest, some of the most tenacious, and some of the most +admirable troops that the nation had ever had to encounter;" and he ends +his speech: "Personally he had, as one who had served as a soldier in +South Africa, a great admiration for the Boers themselves." What I +submit is, that it makes the whole difference to your chances of a +settlement whether you speak of and regard your enemy as brave and +admirable, or as a yelping cur. We shall have to settle down with these +people sooner or later, and every paltry insult uttered and countenanced +against them only makes the process much more difficult. The odd thing +is that even in England they seem to excite no surprise or dissent. They +are printed as a natural comment on the situation. What I always feel +is, now as when I was out there, that the chances of a future agreement +would be very much improved if the English people were to treat the +Boers in the way that brave enemies ought to be treated, with a certain +amount of courtesy and respect.] + + + + +LETTER XXVI + +PLAIN MISTER! + + +Cape Town. + +I am trying to din the fact into my head that I am a civilian again and +not a soldier any more. It is difficult. I find myself looking +questioningly at my suit of grey flannel. It feels like a disguise. No +soldiers' hands as I pass them rise in salute now, though my own +involuntarily half rises in answer They look at me and take no notice. A +recruiting sergeant tried to induce me this morning to join an irregular +corps. He told me I should get five shillings a day, and that it was a +fine life and a beautiful country. + +And yet I know that, in a few days even, the civilian life that seems so +unreal now will be the real, and the old soldier life the unreal. I +shall not in my walks find my eyes wandering "with a vague surmise" over +the nearest hilltops in search of Boers, nor measuring unconsciously the +range from the top of Table Mountain, which I find myself doing even as +I write this, looking up at it through the window. The trekking, the +fighting, the croak of the invisible rifle, the glare of the sun, the +row of swarthy determined faces, the roar of horse hoofs, all this, and +the lounging days by river banks (shooting guinea-fowl and springbuck), +will drop back and be shut off from one's life to rise now and then, I +suppose, with the creeping of an old excitement in one's memory. + +There was a heavy gloom on the last days of my soldiering. It was at +Naauwpoort that I first joined the Guides. We stopped there coming down. +There was the waiting-room, the very table I had slept on; the sun-baked +flat where first I met the Major; the slopes where our tents were +pitched--Lord! how the sight of the place brings it all back, and how +different everything has turned out from what we expected; it was there +that I joined, and it was there, travelling down with our time-expired +men, that we first heard the news of the Queen's death. You at home will +feel this deeply--of course every one must--but I can't help thinking +that out here, far away from home and fighting, one feels it even more. +I am almost surprised at minding so much. There is an irksome sense at +the back of one's mind, even when one is thinking of other things--of +loss, of something wanting. England seems less England to me than it did +and I less of an Englishman. It gives a faint satisfaction to have been +one of her soldiers at the end. + +I will spare you my raptures on reaching Cape Town and seeing the woods +and clear streams and sea again. The change from a comparatively barren +country to the richly-wooded slopes under Table Mountain, and the burst +of sparkling sea beyond is quite sudden. At one step, in the twinkling +of an eye, you pass from monotony and desolation and the old life of the +veldt into everything that is most lovely and suggestive of freedom and +variety. Huge Table Mountain rises high over the town, its steep slopes +wooded with forests of pine and oak. Gorge-like narrow passages wind +into the upright precipices of rock and separate them into great +pinnacles of grey stone. I clambered up there a few days ago, through +hot-smelling pine woods, heaths of all sorts, evergreens and flowers, +clear water like Scotch burns coming down among the rocks with its toss +of white froth and amber pools, and such a view, when one got to the +top, down over the whispering woods and out over the flat sea! + +The sea was the thing that beat all--"the great sea perfect as a +flower,"--the sight of it was a stab. There are great four-masted +barques and full-rigged ships lying at the wharfs and outside--double +t'gallant yarders, my boy; I yelled at them by way of greeting down +across the tree-tops. + +Nearer in lies a long black steamer, a transport. She is an ugly looking +old tub, but in my eyes perfect. Handsome is as handsome does. She takes +us home to-morrow, my pony and me. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of With Rimington, by L. March Phillipps + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH RIMINGTON *** + +***** This file should be named 15131-8.txt or 15131-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/3/15131/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Garrett Alley, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +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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