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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15520-8.txt b/15520-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df66bf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/15520-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2629 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of With Methuen's Column on an Ambulance Train +by Ernest N. Bennett + +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 Methuen's Column on an Ambulance Train + +Author: Ernest N. Bennett + +Release Date: April 1, 2005 [EBook #15520] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN ON AN *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Louise Pryor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +The Author's share of the profits arising from the sale of this book +will be given to Lady Lansdowne's Fund for the Widows and Families of +Officers. + + + + + WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN ON AN AMBULANCE TRAIN + + by + + ERNEST N. BENNETT + FELLOW OF HERTFORD COLLEGE, OXFORD + + + LONDON + SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIM. + PATERNOSTER SQUARE + 1900 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +When I returned from South Africa I had no intention of adding to the +war literature which was certain to be evoked by the present campaign. +But I now publish this simple narrative because it was suggested to me +by a friend that the sale of such a book might perhaps serve to augment +in some measure the Fund established by the patriotism and energy of +Lady Lansdowne and her Committee. Lady Lansdowne has cordially approved +of the suggestion; so I trust that the profits derived from this little +volume may be enough to justify its existence. + +ERNEST N. BENNETT. + + + + +WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN ON AN AMBULANCE TRAIN. + + +The first view of Capetown from the sea is not easily forgotten. We +sailed into the bay just as the sun was rising in splendour behind the +cliffs of Table Mountain. The houses of the town which fill the space +between the hills and the sea were still more or less in shadow, picked +out here and there by twinkling lights. On the summit rested a fleecy +cloud which concealed the pointed crags and hung from the edges of the +precipice like a border of fine drapery. On the right, groups of +buildings stretched onwards to Sea Point, where the surf was breaking on +the rocks within a few feet of the road; on the left were the more +picturesque suburbs of Rosebank, Newlands and Claremont nestling amid +their woods and orchards; and still further on lay Wynberg, with its +vast hospital, already become a household word in English homes. The +dreary flats of Simon's Bay, where British war-ships lay at anchor, shut +in the view. + +Pleasing as the picture is when seen from the deck of a Castle Liner, +disappointment generally overtakes the voyager who has landed. Capetown +itself has little to boast of in the way of architecture. Except +Adderley Street, which is adorned by the massive buildings of the Post +Office and Standard Bank, the thoroughfares of the town offer scarcely +any attractions. The Dutch are not an artistic race, and the fact that +natives here live not in "locations" but anywhere they choose has +covered some portions of the town's area with ugly and squalid houses. +Nor, as a matter of fact, does the general tone of thought and feeling +in Cape Colony naturally lend itself to aesthetic considerations. Even +the churches fail to escape the influence of a spirit which subordinates +everything else to practical and utilitarian considerations. Can two +uglier buildings of their kind be found in the civilised world than the +English and Dutch cathedrals at Capetown? + +Another unpleasant feature of life in Capetown is the misfortune, not +the fault, of the inhabitants in being frequently exposed to the full +fury of the south-east wind. Sometimes for whole days together the Cape +is swept by tremendous blasts, which tear up the sea into white foam and +raise clouds of blinding dust along the streets of the town. + +Nevertheless the kindness and generosity of the people are not in any +way lessened by these unpleasant features in their surroundings. The +warmth of colonial hospitality is acknowledged by all travellers, and +may be partly due to that love of the mother country which survives in +the hearts of Englishmen who have never left South Africa, and yet +recognise in the visitor a kind of tie, as it were, between themselves +and old England. Such hospitality blesses him that gives as well as him +that takes, and the host listens with deepest interest to his guest's +chatter about London, or perhaps the country town or village where he or +his forefathers lived in days gone by. Any one who is accustomed in +England to the conventional "Saturday to Monday" or the "shooting week" +in a country house opens his eyes with wonder when he receives a warm +invitation from a colonial to spend a month with him at his house on the +Karroo. And such invitations, unlike those which the Oriental traveller +receives, are uttered in earnest and meant to be accepted. + +Capetown is by far the most cosmopolitan of all our colonial capitals. +Englishmen, Dutchmen, Jews, Kaffirs, "Cape boys" and Malays bustle about +the streets conversing in five or six different languages. There is a +delightful freedom from conventionalism in the matter of dress. At one +moment you meet a man in a black or white silk hat, at another a +grinning Kaffir bears down upon you with the costume of a scarecrow; you +next pass a couple of dignified Malays with long silken robes and the +inevitable _tarbush_, volubly chattering in Dutch or even Arabic. These +Malays form a particularly interesting section of the population. They +are largely the descendants of Oriental slaves owned by the Dutch, and, +of course, preserve their Moslem faith, though some of its external +observances, _e.g._, the veiling of women, have ceased to be observed. I +did my best during a few days' stay at Somerset West to witness one of +their great festivals called "El Khalifa". At this feast some devotees +cut themselves with knives until the blood pours from the wounds, and a +friend of mine who had witnessed the performance on one occasion seemed +to think that in some cases the wounding and bleeding were not really +objective facts, but represented to the audience by a species of +hypnotic suggestion. As, however, my visit to Somerset West took place +during the month of Ramazan there was no opportunity of witnessing the +"Khalifa," which would be celebrated during Bairam, the month of +rejoicing which amongst Moslems all the world over succeeds the +self-mortifications of Ramazan. Even if their external observances of +the usages of Islam seem somewhat lax, the Cape Moslems, I found, +faithfully observe the month of abstinence, and I remember talking to a +most intelligent Malay boy, who was working hard as a mason in the full +glare of the midday heat, and was touching neither food nor drink from +sunrise to sunset. + +All around were signs and tokens of the war. Large transports lay gently +rolling upon the swell in every direction, and it was said that not less +than sixty ships were lying at anchor together in the bay. H.M.S. +_Niobe_ and _Doris_ faced the town, and further off was stationed the +_Penelope_, which had already received its earlier contingents of Boer +prisoners. It is very difficult, by the way, to understand how some of +these captives contrived later on to escape by swimming to the shore, +for, apart from the question of sharks, the distance to the beach was +considerable. + +On land the whole aspect of the streets was changed. Every few yards one +met men in khaki and putties. This cloth looks fairly smart when it is +new and the buttons and badges are burnished; but, after a very few +weeks at the front, khaki uniforms become as shabby as possible. No one +who is going into the firing line has any wish to draw the enemy's fire +by the glint of his buttons or his shoulder-badges, and so these are +either removed or left to tarnish. Nor does khaki--at any rate the +"drill" variety--improve its beauty by being washed. When one has +bargained with a Kaffir lady to wash one's suit for ninepence it comes +back with all the glory of its russet brown departed and a sort of limp, +anæmic look about it. And when the wearer has lain upon the veldt at +full length for long hours together in rain and sun and dust-storm his +kit assumes an inexpressible dowdiness, and preserves only its one +superlative merit of so far resembling mother earth that even the keen +eyes behind the Mauser barrels fail to spot Mr. Atkins as he lies prone +behind his stone or anthill. + +As our lumbering cab drove up Adderley Street to the hotel a squadron of +the newly raised South African Light Horse rode past. The men looked +very jaunty and well set up with their neat uniforms, bandoliers and +"smasher" hats with black cocks' feathers. There has never been the +slightest difficulty in raising these irregular bodies of mounted +infantry. The doors of their office in Atkinson's Buildings were +besieged by a crowd of applicants--very many of them young men who had +arrived from England for the purpose of joining. A certain amount of +perfectly good-humoured banter was levelled against these brand-new +soldiers by their friends, and some fun poked at them about their +riding. Occasionally, for instance, a few troopers were unhorsed during +parade and the riderless steeds trotted along the public road at +Rosebank. But certainly the tests of horsemanship were severe. Many of +the horses supplied by Government were very wild and sometimes behaved +like professional buckjumpers; and it is no easy task to control the +eccentric and unexpected gyrations of such a beast when the rider is +encumbered with the management of a heavy Lee-Metford rifle. Since the +day on which I first saw the squadron in question it has passed through +its baptism of fire at Colenso. The Light Horse advanced on the right of +Colonel Long's ill-fated batteries, and was cruelly cut up by a +murderous fire from Hlangwane Hill. + +Capetown is not well furnished with places of amusement. There is, it is +true, a roomy theatre, whose manager, Mr. de Jong, sent an invitation +to the staff of the "Pink 'Un" to dine with him and his friends at +Pretoria on New Year's Day! How the Boers must have laughed when they +read of this cordial invitation! During the few days which elapsed +before our ambulance train started for the front we paid a visit to the +theatre, but we found the stage tenanted by a "Lilliputian Company," and +it is always tiresome and distressing to watch precocious children of +twelve aping their elders. One feels all the time that the whole +performance scarcely rises above an exhibition of highly-trained cats or +monkeys, and that the poor mites ought all to be in bed long ago. +Nevertheless, this dreary theatre was, in default of anything better, +visited again and again by British officers and others. A friend of mine +in the Guards told me with a sigh that he had actually watched the +performances of these accomplished infants for no less than seven +nights. + +There are several music halls in Capetown. I have visited similar +entertainments in Constantinople, Cairo, Beyrout and other towns of the +East, but I never saw anything to match some of these Capetown haunts +for out-and-out vulgarity. There was, it is true, a general air of +"patriotism" pervading them--but it was frequently the sort of +patriotism which consists in getting drunk and singing "Soldiers of the +Queen". On one occasion I remember a curious and typical incident at one +of these music halls. Standing among a crowd of drunken and half-drunken +men was a quiet and respectable-looking man drinking his glass of beer +from the counter. One of the _habitués_ of the place suddenly addressed +him, and demanded with an oath whether he had ever heard so good a song +as the low ditty which had just been screamed out by a painted woman on +the stage. The stranger remarked quietly that it "wasn't a bad song, but +he had certainly heard better ones," when the bully in front without any +warning struck him a violent blow in the face, felling him to the +ground. A comrade of mine, a Welshman, who was standing near the victim, +protested against such cowardly behaviour, and was immediately set upon +by some dozen of the audience, who savagely knocked him down and then +drove him into the street with kicks and blows. These valiant +individuals then returned and were soon busy with a hiccuping chorus of +"Rule, Britannia". How forcibly the whole scene recalled Dr. Johnson's +words: "Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of a scoundrel". + +The Uitlander refugees were numerous in Capetown, and the principal +hotels were full of them. Those whom I happened to meet did not seem at +all overwhelmed by their recent oppression, and some of them contrived +out of their shattered fortunes to drink champagne for dinner at a +guinea a bottle. I do not think that the average Johannesburg Uitlander +impresses the Englishman very favourably. Mining camps are not the best +nurseries for good breeding or nobility of character, and one could not +help feeling sorry that gallant Englishmen were dying by hundreds while +some of these German Jews wallowed in security and luxury. Quite +recently an officer overheard a "Jew-boy" loudly declaring in a shop +that "after all, British soldiers were paid to go out and get shot," +etc., and in a fit of righteous indignation the Englishman seized the +Semite and threw him out of the door. + +English visitors to the Cape who, like myself, wished to contribute our +humble share towards the work of the campaign had several directions in +which to utilise their energies. The Prince Alfred's Field Artillery was +raising recruits, and on the point of leaving for the front for the +defence of De Aar. The Duke of Edinburgh's Rifle Volunteers enlisted men +on Thursday, drilled them day and night, and sent them off on the +Tuesday. This fine corps has, much to its vexation, been almost +continuously employed in guarding lines of communication and protecting +bridges and culverts from any violence at the hands of colonial rebels. +The South African Light Horse has already been mentioned. For those of +us who found it impossible to pledge ourselves for the whole period of +the war, owing to duties at home which could not be left indefinitely, +and who possessed some knowledge of ambulance work, an excellent opening +was found in one of the ambulance corps originated by the Red Cross +Society under Colonel Young's able and energetic management. + +Having volunteered for service on one of the ambulance trains and been +accepted, I set off with a corporal to Woodstock Hospital to secure my +uniform and kit. The quartermaster who supplied me was justly annoyed +because some mistake had been made about the hour for my appearance, and +when he rather savagely demanded what sized boots I wore, I couldn't for +the life of me remember and blurted out "nines," whereas my normal +"wear" is "sevens". Instantly a pair of enormous boots and a +correspondingly colossal pair of shoes were hurled at me, while, from +various large pigeon-holes in a rack, bootlaces, socks, putties and +other things were rained upon me. I couldn't help laughing as I picked +them up. Here I was equipped from head to foot with two uniform suits of +khaki--which mercifully fitted well--shirts, boots, shoes, helmet, +field-service cap and other minutiae, and the entire equipment occupied +some four minutes all told. What a contrast to the considerable periods +of time often consumed at home over the colour of a tie or the shape of +a collar! + +Shouldering the waterproof kit-bag containing my brand-new garments, and +saluting the irritated officer, I marched off to ambulance train No. 2, +where I speedily exchanged my civilian habiliments for her Majesty's +uniform. The "fall" of my nether garments was not perfect, but on the +whole I was rather pleased with the fit of the khaki, relieved on the +arm with a red Geneva Cross. + +One of the two ambulance trains on the western side is manned entirely +by regulars, the other (No. 2) is in charge of an R.A.M.C. officer, but +the staff under him is composed almost wholly of volunteers. This staff +consists of a civilian doctor from a London hospital attached to the +South African Field Force, two Red Cross nurses from England, a staff +sergeant, two corporals, a couple of cooks and ten "orderlies" in charge +of the five wards. + +Introductions to my comrades followed. We were certainly one of the +oddest collection of human beings I have ever come across. Our pursuits +when not in active service were extremely varied--one of our number was +an accountant, another a chemist, a third brewed beer in Johannesburg, a +fourth was an ex-baker, and so on. We were, on the whole, a very +harmonious little society, and it was with real regret that I left my +comrades when I returned to England. At least four of our number were +refugees from Johannesburg, and very anxious to return. These +unfortunates retailed at intervals doleful news about well-furnished +houses being rifled, Boer children smashing up porcelain ornaments and +playfully cutting out the figures from costly paintings with a pair of +scissors, and grand pianos being annexed to adorn the cottages of Kaffir +labourers. Another member of our little society had a very fair voice +and good knowledge of music, for in the days of his boyhood he had sung +in the choir of a Welsh cathedral; since that time he had practised as a +medical man and driven a tramcar. The weather was very trying sometimes +and J----, our Welsh singer, had acquired an almost supernatural skill +in leaping from the train when it stopped for a couple of minutes, +securing a bottle of Bass and then boarding the guard's van when the +train was moving off. On one of these successful forays I saw J---- send +three respectable people sprawling on their backs as he violently +collided with them in his desperate efforts to overtake the receding +train. The victims slowly got up and some nasty remarks about J---- were +wafted to us over the veldt. We had a couple of cooks. One of them was +an American who had served in the Cuban war, the other a big Irishman +called Ben. The American _chef_, being the only man out of uniform on +the train, had access to alcoholic refreshments at the stations, which +were very properly denied to the troops, and he rejoiced exceedingly to +exercise his privilege. He could sleep in almost any position, and +generally lay down on the kitchen dresser without any form of pillow, or +slept serenely in a sitting posture with his feet elevated far above his +head. + +We steamed away from the Capetown station in the afternoon. The regular +service had to a large extent been suspended, and here and there +sentries with fixed bayonets kept watch over the government trains as +they lay on the sidings. If it was thought prudent to guard trains from +any injury in Capetown itself, one can realise the absolute necessity of +employing the colonial volunteers in patrolling the long line of some +600 miles from the sea to Modder River. + +"Queen Victoria's afternoon tea"--as we called it--was served about +five. The two orderlies for the day brought from the kitchen a huge +tea-urn, some dozen bowls, and two large loaves. We supplemented this +rudimentary fare with a pot of "Cape gooseberry" jam, the gift of a +generous donor, and improved the quality of the tea with a little +condensed milk. Fresh from the usages of a more effete civilisation I +did not feel after two cups of tea and some butterless bread that +"satisfaction of a felt want"--to quote Aristotle--which comes, say, +after a dinner with the Drapers' Company in London, and for two nights I +tore open and devoured with my ward-companion a tin of salmon which I +bought from a Jew along the line. But, strange to say, after a few days +of this _régime_, which in its chronological sequence of meals and its +strange simplicity recalled the memories of early childhood, my +internal economy seemed to have adapted itself to the changed +environment, and after five o'clock with its tea and bread I no longer +wished for more food. Exactly the same experience befalls those +inexperienced travellers in tropical countries who, at first, are +continually imbibing draughts of water, but soon learn the useful lesson +of drinking at meal-time only, and before long do not even take the +trouble to carry water-bottles with them at all. + +Our destination was supposed to be De Aar, but nobody ever knew exactly +where we were going or what we were going to do when we got there. +During a campaign orders filter through various official channels, and +frequently by the time they have reached the officer in charge of a +train others of a contradictory purport are racing after them over the +wires. This sort of thing is absolutely unavoidable. Between the army at +the front and the great base at Capetown stretched some 700 miles of +railway, and over this single line of rails ran an unending succession +of trains carrying troops, food, guns, and last, but by no means least, +tons upon tons of ammunition. The work of supplying a modern army in the +field is stupendous, and the best thanks of the nation are due to the +devoted labours of the Army Service Corps. The officers and men of the +A.S.C. work night and day, they rarely see any fighting, and are seldom +mentioned in the public press or in despatches; yet how much depends +upon their zeal and devotion! Amateur critics at home have frequently +asked why such and such a general has not left strong positions on the +flank and advanced into the enemy's country further afield. Quite apart +from the fearful danger of exposing our lines of communication to attack +from a strong force of the enemy, these critics do not seem to possess +the most elementary idea of what is involved in the advance of an army. +How do they suppose hundreds of heavily laden transport waggons are to +be dragged across the uneven veldt, intersected every now and then by +rugged "kopjes" and "spruits" and "dongas"? Ammunition alone is a +serious item to be considered. Lyddite shells, _e.g._, are packed two in +a case: each case weighs 100 lb., and I have frequently seen a waggon +loaded with, say, a ton of these shells, and drawn by eight mules, stuck +fast for a time in the open veldt; the passers-by have run up and shoved +at the wheels and so at last the lumbering cart has jogged slowly on. +This load would probably in action disappear in half an hour; and when +one reflects that in one of our recent engagements each battery fired +off 200 shells, it is easy to understand the enormous weight of metal +which has to follow an army in order to make the artillery efficient, +and to realise how unwilling a general is to leave a railway behind him, +and attempt to move his transport across the uncertain and devious +tracks of an unmapped African veldt. Lord Kitchener's successful march +upon Omdurman was only rendered possible by the fact that the army kept +continuously to the railway and the Nile. + +The railway journey northwards is full of interest. Between Capetown and +Worcester the country is well watered and fields of yellow corn +continually meet the eye, interspersed with vines and mealies. Yet here +and there that lack of enterprise which seems to characterise the Dutch +farmer is easily noticeable. Irrigation is sadly neglected and hundreds +of acres which with a little care and outlay would grow excellent crops +are still unproductive. + +Soon after leaving Worcester the line rises by steep gradients nearly +2,500 feet. Right in front the Hex River Mountains extend like a vast +barrier across the line and seem to defy the approaching train. But +engineering skill has here contrived to surmount all the obstacles set +up by Nature. The train goes waltzing round the most striking curves, +some of them almost elliptical. Tremendous gradients lead through +tunnels and over bridges, and the swerving carriages run often in +alarming proximity to the edge of precipitous ravines. What a splendid +position for defensive purposes! Had the present war been declared three +weeks earlier De Aar would have been quite unable to stand against the +Boers, and thus the enemy might with his amazing mobility have made a +swift descent along the railway and occupied the Hex River pass. Out of +this position not all the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men would +have dislodged him without enormous loss. With the armed support of all +the Dutch farmers from Worcester to the Orange River, a Boer occupation +of this strong position would have been a terrible menace to Capetown +itself. As it is, shots are occasionally fired at trains as they run +northward from Worcester, and as a few pounds of dynamite would wreck +portions of the Hex River line for weeks the government patrols in this +locality cannot be too careful. + +Our first passage through the Karroo was by night, but during the busy +days of service which followed we frequently saw this dreary expanse of +desert in daylight. Some mysterious charm, hidden from the eyes of the +unsympathetic tourist, dwells in the Karroo. The country folk who +inhabit these vast plains all agree that to live in them is to love +them. Children speak of the kopjes as if they were living playmates, and +farmers grow so deeply attached to their waggons and ox teams that Sir +Owen Lanyon's forcible seizure of one in distraint for taxes appeared a +kind of sacrilege in the eyes of the Boers. + +At times nothing can be more unlovely than the stony, barren wilderness +of the Karroo. The Sudan desert with its rocky hills and the broad Nile +between the yellow banks is infinitely more picturesque than this vast +South African plain. Still, at certain periods of the day and year the +Karroo becomes less forbidding to the view. Sometimes after heavy rain +the whole country is covered with a bright green carpet, but in summer, +and, indeed, most of the year, the short scrub which here takes the +place of grass is sombre in tint. Nevertheless cattle devour these +apparently withered shrubs with avidity and thrive upon them. Again, +when the warm tints of the setting sun flood the whole expanse of +desert, there is a short-lived beauty in the rugged kopjes with all +their fantastic outlines sharply silhouetted against the glowing sky. +The farms on the Karroo, and, in fact, generally throughout the more +northern parts of the colony, are of surprising size. It is quite common +to find a Dutchman farming some 10,000 acres. Arable land in the Karroo +is of course very rare, and one would think that the "Ooms" and the +"Tantas" and their young hopefuls would have their time fully occupied +even in keeping their large herds and flocks within bounds. One +continually sees half a dozen ostriches stalking solemnly about a huge +piece of the veldt, with no farm-house anywhere in sight, and it is +difficult to understand how these people contrive to catch their +animals. + +At the lower extremity of the vast Nieuweveld range which shuts in the +Karroo on the west lies the little township of Matjesfontein, a +veritable oasis in the desert. Here lies the body of the gallant +Wauchope who perished in the disastrous attack on the Magersfontein +trenches. The whole line north of this point was patrolled by colonial +volunteers, amongst whom I noticed especially the Duke of Edinburgh's +Rifles, with gay ribbons round their "smasher" hats. Nothing could be +less exciting or interesting than their monotonous routine of work. We +continually came across a little band of, say, twenty or thirty men and +a couple of officers stationed near some culvert or bridge. Their tents +were pitched on a bit of stony ground, with not a trace of vegetation +near it, and here they stayed for months together, half dead from the +boredom of their existence. Nevertheless such work was quite essential +to the success of the campaign, for the attitude of the Dutch colonists +up-country has been throughout the war an uncertain factor, and if these +long lines of communication had been left unprotected it is more than +likely that our "Tommies'" supplies would not have arrived at the front +with unfailing regularity. As it was, shots were occasionally fired at +the trains, and at one spot we passed a curious incident occurred in +this connection. A patrol suddenly came across a colonist who had +climbed up a telegraph post and was busily engaged in cutting the wires. +"Crack" went a Lee-Metford and the rebel, shot like a sitting bird, +dropped from his perch to the ground. On another occasion we heard a +dull explosion not unlike the boom of a heavy gun, and found a little +later that a culvert had been blown up a few miles ahead of us not far +from Graspan. In short, I do not think that the British public fully +realised the danger threatened by any serious and extensive revolt of +the Dutch colonists. Had the farmers in that vast triangle bounded by +the railway, the coast and the Orange River thrown off their allegiance, +it would have taken many more than 15,000 colonial volunteers to prevent +their mobile commandos from swooping down here and there along this long +line of railway, and utterly destroying our western line of +communication as well as menacing Lord Methuen's forces in the rear. +Whatever may be said or thought of some of Mr. Schreiner's actions, it +is held, and justly held, by level-headed people of both parties at the +Cape, that the continuance in office of the Dutch ministry has +contributed more than anything else to preserve the colony from the +peril of an internal rebellion. For this we cannot be too thankful! + +Signs of animal life in the Karroo are few and far between. There are +scarcely any flowers to attract butterflies, and I never saw more than +four or five species of birds. There was one handsome bird, however, as +big as a crow, with black and white plumage--probably the small bustard +(_Eupodotis afroides_)--which occasionally rose from among the scrub and +after a brief flight sank vertically to the ground in a curious +fashion. Sometimes too, at nightfall, a large bird would fly with a +strong harsh note across the stony veldt to the kopjes in the distance. +Of the larger fauna I saw only the springbok. A small herd of these +graceful little creatures were one evening running about the veldt +within 500 yards of the train. On another occasion too, very early in +the morning, one of our two Red Cross nurses was startled by the sudden +appearance of a large baboon which crept down a gully near +Matjesfontein--the only one we ever saw. + +Between Matjesfontein and the great camp of De Aar there is little to +interest or amuse the traveller. The only town which is at all worthy of +the name is Beaufort West, nestling amid its trees, a bright patch of +colour amid the neutral tints of the hills and surrounding country. Here +reside many patients suffering from phthisis, for the air is dry and +warm and the rainfall phenomenally small. But after all what a place to +die in! Rather a shorter and sweeter life in dear England than a cycle +of Beaufort West! + +As we steamed into De Aar the sun had set, and all the ways were +darkened, so, after a vain attempt to take a walk about the camp after +the regulation hour, 9 P.M.--an effort which was checked by the +praiseworthy zeal of the Australian military police--we returned to the +train. Here I was greeted to my amazement by the notes of an anthem, "I +will lay me down in peace," sung very well by our Welsh ex-choir-boy and +two other members of the corps, who nevertheless did not lay them down +in peace or otherwise till the small hours of the morning. + +Next day we rose early, but found that we should have to spend five or +six days at De Aar. This news was not at all pleasant. I have been in +many dreary and uninteresting spots in the world, _e.g._, Aden or Atbara +Camp, but I have never disliked a place as much as I did De Aar. The +whole plain has been cut up by the incessant movement of guns, transport +waggons and troops, and the result is that one is nearly choked and +blinded by the dense clouds of dust. Huge spiral columns of sand tear +across the plain over the tops of the kopjes, carrying with them scraps +of paper and rubbish of all sorts. The irritation produced by the +absorption of this permeating dust into the system militates to some +extent against the rapid recovery of men who suffer from diseases like +dysentery or enteric fever. It travels under doors and through window +sashes, and a patient is obliged, whether he will or no, to swallow a +certain amount of it daily. Nevertheless the South African dust does not +appear to be so bacillus-laden as, _e.g._, that of Atbara Camp, which, +amongst other evil effects, continually produced ulceration in the mouth +and throat. + +De Aar lies in the centre of a large plain, shut in on every side by +kopjes. In fact its position is very similar indeed to that of +Ladysmith. The hills on the east and west were always held by pickets +with some field guns belonging to the Royal Artillery and the Prince +Alfred's Artillery Volunteers. A much loftier line of kopjes to the +north was untenanted by the British, but any approach over the veldt +from the north-east was blocked by several rows of shelter trenches and +a strongly-constructed redoubt with wire entanglements, ditch, and +parapet topped with iron rails. Signallers were continually at work, and +at night it was quite a pretty sight to watch the twinkling points of +the signal lights as they flashed between the tents on the plain and the +distant pickets on the tops of the kopjes. Boers had been seen to the +east and on the west; some at least of the Dutch colonists were in open +revolt; so officers and men were always prepared at a moment's notice to +line the trenches for defence, while the redoubts and the batteries on +the hills were permanently garrisoned. + +Everybody loathed De Aar. With the exception of some feeble cricket +played on some unoccupied patches of dusty ground, and a couple of +shabby tennis courts, usually reserved for the "patball" of the local +athletes of either sex, there was absolutely nothing to do, and we were +too far off Modder River to feel that we were at all in the swim of +things. The heat was sometimes appalling. On Christmas day the +temperature was 105° in the shade, and most people took a long siesta +after the midday dinner and read such odds and ends of literature as +fell into their hands. + +We train people, of course, read and slumbered in one of the wards, +while our comrades under canvas lay with eight heads meeting in the +centre of a tent and sixteen legs projecting from it like the spokes of +a wheel. Mercifully enough scorpions were few and far between at De Aar, +so one could feel fairly secure from these pests. How different it was +in the Sudan campaign, especially at some camps like Um Teref, where +batches of soldiers black and white came to be treated for scorpion +stings, which in one case were fatal. _A propos_ of reading we were +wonderfully well provided with all manner of literature by the kindly +forethought of good people in England. The assortment was very curious +indeed. One would see lying side by side _The Nineteenth Century_, _Ally +Sloper's Half Holiday_, and the _Christian World_. This literary +syncretism was especially marked in the mission tent at De Aar, where +the forms were besprinkled with an infinite variety of magazines and +pamphlets--to such an extent indeed that in some cases the more vivid +pages of a _Family Herald_ would temporarily seduce the soldier's mind +from the calmer pleasures of Mr. Moody's hymn book, and those who came +to pray remained to read. + +In the evening about 5 o'clock, when the rays of the setting sun were +less vertical and the cool of the evening was not yet merged in the +chill of the night, we sallied out for a stroll. Everybody walked to and +fro and interchanged war news--such as we had!--and mutual condolences +about the miseries of our forced inaction at De Aar. Canteens were +opened in the various sections of the camp, and long columns of +"Tommies" stood with mess-tins, three abreast, waiting their turn to be +served, for all the world like the crowd at the early door of a London +theatre. The natural irritability arising from residence in De Aar, +added to the sultry heat and one's comparative distance from the canteen +counter, frequently caused quarrels and personal assaults in the swaying +column. But those who lost their temper generally lost their places too, +and the less excitable candidates for liquor closed up their ranks and +left the combatants to settle their differences outside. +Non-commissioned officers enjoyed the privilege of entering a side door +in the canteen for their beer, and thus avoided the crush: and one of my +comrades cleverly but unscrupulously secured a couple of stripes somehow +or other and, masquerading as a corporal, entered the coveted side door, +and brought away his liquor in triumph. + +Apart from these liquid comforts, which were, very properly, restricted +in quantity, those of us who possessed any ready money could purchase +sundry provisions at two stores in De Aar. The volunteers were paid at +the rate of 5s. a day, which seems a very high rate of pay when one +remembers that the British soldier, who ran much greater risk and did +more actual fighting, received less than 1s. Of course there were +volunteers here and there like myself who possessed some means of our +own and so thought it right and proper to return our pay to the Widows' +and Orphans' Fund, but nevertheless I fail to see why we should be paid +at this exorbitant rate. The most glaring instances of over-paid troops +were the Rimington Scouts, who actually received 10s. a day and their +rations. One trembles to think of the bill we shall all have to pay at +the close of the campaign! + +The articles most in request at De Aar were things like "Rose's lime +juice cordial," Transvaal tobacco, cigarettes, jam, tinned salmon, +sardines, etc. Now it happened that the entire retail trade of the place +was in the hands of two Jewish merchants. The more fashionable of the +two shops took advantage of our necessities and demanded most exorbitant +prices for its goods. "Lime juice cordial," _e.g._, which could be got +for 1s. 6d. or 1s. 3d. in Capetown, was sold for 2s. 6d. and 3s. at De +Aar, and the other charges were correspondingly high. Nemesis, however, +overtook the shopman, for the camp commandant hearing of his evil deeds +placed a sentry in front of the store and so put it out of bounds. He +held out for a couple of days, while his more reasonable if less +pretentious rival flourished exceedingly, but a daily loss of £200 is +too severe a tax on the pertinacity of a Jew, or indeed of anybody, so +the rival tariffs were arranged on similar lines, and the sentry sloped +rifle and walked off. The mission workers at De Aar--some excellent +people--dwelt in two railway carriages on a siding. There were, I think, +two ladies and a gentleman. They worked exceedingly hard and their +mission tent was generally well filled. It is astonishing what keenness +is evoked by evangelical services with "gospel hymns". We all sang a +hymn like "I _do_ believe, I _will_ believe," with an emphasis which +seemed to imply that the effort was considerable, but that nobody, not +even a Boer commando, could alter our conviction. Many of the +hymns--poor doggerel from a literary point of view--were sung to +pleasing tunes wonderfully well harmonised by the men's voices. Then +there was a brief address by a young man with a serious and kindly face, +and this was succeeded by a series of ejaculatory prayers taken up here +and there by the men. It was a strange and impressive spectacle to see a +soldier rise to his feet, his beard rough and unkempt, his khaki uniform +all soiled and bedraggled, and forthwith proceed to utter a long prayer. +Such prayers were largely composed of supplications on behalf of wives +and families at home, and one forgot the bad grammar, the rough accent +and the monotonous repetition in one's sympathy for these honest fellows +who were not ashamed to pray. + +Would we Churchmen had more enthusiasm and courage in our teaching and +our methods! This was the quality that enabled the infant church to +emerge from its obscure dwelling in a Syrian town and spread all the +world over. It is this warmth of conviction which lent fortitude to the +martyrs of old time, and at this moment breathes valour into our brave +enemies. But where is such vital enthusiasm to be found in the Church of +England? In one of our cathedrals we read the epitaph of a certain +ecclesiastic: "He was noticeable for many virtues, and sternly repressed +all forms of religious enthusiasm". History repeats itself, and for +manly outspeaking on great questions of social and political importance +the laity are learning to look elsewhere than to the pulpit. Oh! for one +day in our National Church of Paul and Athanasius and Luther, men who +spoke what they felt, unchecked by thoughts about promotion and +popularity and respectability. Enthusiastic independence is as unpopular +in religion as it is in politics; and the fight against prejudice and +unfairness is often exceeding bitter to the man who dares to run his +tilt against the opinion of the many. The struggle sometimes robs life +of much that renders it sweet; nevertheless it may help to make history +and will bring a man peace at the last, for he will have done what he +could to leave the world a little better than he found it. These good +mission-folk looked after our physical as well as our spiritual +necessities. They had annexed a small house and garden just opposite +their tent, and here we could buy an excellent cup of tea or lemonade +for one penny, as well as a variety of delectable buns, much in request. +So pressing was the demand for these light and cheap refreshments that +the supply of cups and glasses gave out, and the lemonade was usually +served out in old salmon or jam tins. Very often, after a couple of +hymns and, perhaps, a prayer, we went across and finished up the evening +with a couple of buns and a cup of tea. One of my ambulance comrades, +an ex-baker from Johannesburg, was extremely good in helping on the +success of the refreshment bar, and frequently stood for hours together +at the receipt of custom. The returns were very large. One day, I +remember, they amounted to £22 in pennies: this would mean, I think, on +a low estimate, that something like 1,500 soldiers used the temperance +canteen on that evening. Apart from this enterprising work, private +gifts in the way of fruit occasionally arrived on the scene, and I well +remember one day when almost every "Tommy" one met carried a pine apple +in his hands. In addition to such pleasures of realised satisfaction we +enjoyed the pleasures of anticipation; for was not her Gracious +Majesty's chocolate _en route_ for South Africa? The amount of interest +exhibited in the arrival of these chocolate boxes was amazing. Men +continually discussed them, and a stranger would have thought that +chocolate was some essential factor in a soldier's life, from which we +had, by the exigencies of camp life, been long deprived! As a matter of +fact, portable forms of cocoa are extremely valuable in cases where +normal supplies of food are cut off. Every soldier on a campaign carries +in his haversack a small tin labelled "emergency rations". This cannot +be opened unless by order from a commanding officer and any infraction +of the rule is severely punished. At one end of the oblong tin are "beef +rations," at the other "chocolate rations," enough to sustain a man amid +hard and exhausting work for thirty-six hours. The chocolate rations +consist of three cubes and can be eaten in the dry state; once, however, +I came across a spare emergency tin, and found that with boiling water a +single cube made enough liquid chocolate for ten men, a cup each. People +make a great fuss in England if they don't get three or four meals a +day, but a healthy man can easily fight with much less nourishment than +this. I have seen Turkish troops during the Cretan insurrection live on +practically nothing else than a few beans and a little bread, and on +this meagre and precarious diet they fought like heroes. In the Sudan a +few bunches of raisins will keep one going all day. At the same time, +these things are to some extent relative to the individual. I have known +huge athletic men curl up in no time because they couldn't get three +meals a day on a campaign, whereas others, of half their build and +muscle, may bear privations infinitely better. It is annoying to find +here and there in the newspapers querulous letters from men at the front +complaining that plum puddings and sweetmeats haven't reached them, and +that their Christmas fare was only a bit of bully beef and a pint of +beer. These men don't represent the rank and file of the army a bit. The +English soldier is better fed and clothed and looked after than any +other fighting man in the world, except possibly the American, and the +manly soldier is not in the habit of whining after the fashion of these +letters because he doesn't get quite as good a dinner on the veldt as he +does in the depôt at home. + +The military authorities at De Aar exercised the utmost stringency in +refusing permission to unauthorised civilians to stay in the camp or +pass through it. These regulations were absolutely necessary. The +country round De Aar was full of Dutchmen, who were, with scarcely an +exception, thoroughly in sympathy with the enemy, and throughout the +campaign, at Modder River, Stormberg, the Tugela, and even inside +Ladysmith and Mafeking spies have been repeatedly captured and shot. +Some of the attempts by civilians to get through De Aar without adequate +authorisation were quite amusing. I remember a particularly nice Swedish +officer arriving one night, equipped after the most approved fashion of +military accoutrements--Stohwasser leggings, spurs, gloves, etc., but +his papers were not sufficient for his purpose, and charm he never so +wisely, the camp commandant politely but firmly compelled him to return +to Richmond Road, which lay just outside the pale of military law. +Another gentleman, well known in England, failed in his first effort to +penetrate the camp on his way northwards, but succeeded finally in +reaching De Aar by going up as an officer's servant! + +The run from De Aar to Belmont is about 100 miles. The ambulance train +arrived there on the evening of the battle, and the staff on board +found plenty of work ready for them. The wounded men were all placed +together in a large goods' shed at the station. They lay as they were +taken from the field by the stretcher-bearers. Lint and bandages had +been applied, but, of course, uniforms, bodies and even the floor were +saturated with blood. Such spectacles are not pleasing, but nobody ever +thinks about the unaesthetic side of the picture when busily engaged in +helping the wounded. "The gentleman in khaki," poor fellow, has often +precious little khaki left on him by the time he reaches the base +hospital. When the femoral artery is shot through one does not waste +time by thinking of the integrity of a pair of trousers--a few rips of +the knife and away goes a yard or two of khaki. If the cases had not +been so sad we should often have laughed at the extraordinary appearance +of some of the men. One soldier, for example, was brought into our train +with absolutely nothing on him except one sleeve, which he seemed to +treasure for the sake of comparative respectability! Wounded men +frequently lose so much blood before they are found that their clothes +become quite stiff, and the best thing to do is to cut the whole uniform +off them and wrap them in blankets. + +Perhaps it is worth while writing a few words about the general method +pursued in the collection and treatment of our wounded men. In a frontal +attack upon a position held in force by the enemy, our men advance in +"quarter column," or other close formation, till they get within range +of the enemy's fire. They then "extend," _i.e._, every man takes up his +position a few paces away from his neighbour, and in all probability +lies or stoops down behind whatever he can find, at the same time +keeping up an incessant riflefire on the enemy. Far behind him, and +usually on his right or left, the artillerymen are hard at work sending +shell after shell upon the trenches in front. Every now and then the +infantrymen run or crawl forward fifty or sixty yards, and thus +gradually forge ahead till within two hundred yards of the enemy, when +with loud cheers and fixed bayonets they leap up and rush forward to +finish off the fight with cold steel. + +Even from this skeleton outline it is easy to see that the wounded in a +battle like Belmont and Graspan are all over the place, though the +motionless forms grow more numerous the nearer we get to the enemy's +lines. Now, strictly speaking, stretcher-bearers ought not to move +forward to the aid of the wounded _during the battle_. The proper period +for this work is two hours after the cessation of hostilities. But +in almost every engagement of the present campaign our stretcher-bearers +with their officers have gallantly advanced during the progress of the +fighting and attended to the wounded under fire. Such plucky conduct as +this merits the warmest praise. In the non-combatant, who has none of +the excitement bred of actual fighting to sustain him, it requires a +high decree of courage to kneel or stoop when every one else is lying +down, and in this exposed position first to find the tiny bullet +puncture, and then bandage the wound satisfactorily. Many and many a +life has been saved by this conduct on the part of our medical staff, +for if an important artery is severed by a bullet or shell-splinter a +man may easily bleed to death in ten minutes. I have myself on one +occasion in Crete seen jets of blood escaping from the femoral artery of +a Turkish soldier, without being able to render him any assistance. In +short, it is believed that quite three-fifths of those who perish on a +battle-field die from loss of blood. In some cases a soldier may, by +digital pressure or by improvising a rough tourniquet, check the flow of +blood from a wound, but the nervous prostration which accompanies a +wound inflicted by a bullet travelling nearly 2,000 feet a second is so +great, that most men seriously wounded are physically incapable of +rendering such assistance to themselves, even if they understand the +elementary amount of anatomy requisite for the treatment. + +At the same time it is only fair to point out that stretcher-bearers who +advance during an engagement and render this gallant assistance to the +wounded do so entirely at their own risk and must take their chance of +getting hit. Complaints have been from time to time made, by persons who +did not know the circumstances, that our stretcher-bearers have been +shot by the Boers. If this took place during an action no blame can +fairly attach to the enemy, for in repelling an attack they cannot of +course be expected to cease fire because stretcher-bearers show +themselves in front. The hail of bullets comes whistling along--ispt, +ispt, ispt--and everywhere little jets of sand are spurting up. Can we +wonder if now and then a stretcher-bearer is struck down? To put the +case frankly--he is doing a brave work, but he has no business to be +where he is. It is easy to see why the usages of war do not permit the +presence of ambulance men in the firing line. Quite apart from the +serious losses incurred by so valuable a corps, advantage might be taken +by an unscrupulous enemy to bring up ammunition under cover of the Red +Cross. + +It is no easy task in the dark or in a fading light to find the +khaki-clad figures lying prone upon the brown sand. But when the wounded +are discovered the ambulance man finds out as quickly as he can the +position and nature of the wound, and a "first aid" bandage or a rough +splint is applied. The sufferer is raised carefully upon a stretcher or +carried off in an ambulance waggon to a "dressing-station" somewhere in +the rear. If there are not enough stretchers, or the wound is merely a +slight one, the disabled soldier is borne away on a seat made of the +joined hands of two bearers. A second row of ambulance waggons is loaded +from the dressing-station--each waggon holds nine--and goes lumbering +off to the field hospital. Here the men are laid on the ground with +perhaps a waterproof sheet under them and a blanket over them. The +R.A.M.C. officers come round, select certain cases for operation, and +see to the bandaging and dressing of the others. Finally one of the +ambulance trains arrives, about 120 men are packed in it and it steams +off rapidly to some base hospital at Orange River, De Aar, Wynberg or +Rondebosch. + +Any detailed account of Lord Methuen's battles lies outside the scope of +this little volume, and the British public know already practically all +that can be known about the general plan of such engagements as Belmont, +Graspan and Modder River. + +Belmont is an insignificant railway station lying in the middle of as +dreary a bit of veldt as can well be imagined. A clump of low kopjes run +almost parallel to the railway on the right, and to ascend these hills +our men had to advance over an absolutely level plain devoid of any +cover save an occasional big stone or an anthill (precarious rampart!) +or the still feebler shelter of a bush two feet high. In their +transverse march our men had to cross the railway, and lost considerably +during the delay occasioned by cutting the wire fences on either side to +clear a way for themselves and the guns. + +The Boers did not apparently intend to make any serious stand against +Lord Methuen's column at Belmont. The fight was little else than an +"affair of outposts" on their side and it seems very doubtful if more +than 800 of the enemy had been left for the defence of the position. +Their horses were all ready, as usual, behind the kopjes, and when our +gallant men jumped up with a cheer and for the last 100 yards dashed up +the rough stony slope in front, very few Boers remained. Most of them +were already in the saddle, galloping off to Graspan, their next +position. The unwounded Boers who did remain remained--nearly all of +them--for good; rifle bullets and shrapnel and shell splinters are +deadly enough, but deadliest of all is the bayonet thrust. So much +tissue is severed by the broad blade of the Lee-Metford bayonet that the +chances of recovery are often very slight. As volunteer recruits know +sometimes to their cost, the mere mishandling of a bayonet at the end of +a heavy rifle may, even amid the peaceful evolutions of squad drill, +inflict a painful wound. When the weapon is used scientifically with the +momentum of a heavy man behind it, its effects are terrible. Private St. +John of the Grenadiers thrust at a Boer in front of him with such force +that he drove not only the bayonet, but the muzzle of the rifle clean +through the Dutchman. St. John was immediately afterwards shot through +the head and lay dead on the top of the kopje, side by side with the man +he had killed. + +When our train, after its journey to Capetown, next returned to Belmont, +few signs of the recent engagement were visible. The strands of wire +fencing on either side the line were cut through here and there, and +twisted back several yards where our fifteen-pounders had been galloped +through to shell the retreating Boers. Now and again the eye was caught +by little heaps of cartridge cases marking the spot where some soldier +had lain down. + +Less pleasant reminiscences were furnished by the decomposing bodies of +several mules, and four or five vultures wheeling over the plain. Some +enthusiasts on our train had on the previous journey cut off several +hoofs from the dead mules as relics of the fight. Our under-cook had +secured a more agreeable souvenir of Belmont in the shape of a small +goat found wandering beside the railway. This animal now struts about a +garden in Capetown with a collar suitably inscribed around its neck, and +the proud owner has refused a £10 note for it. Before their abandonment +of the position the enemy had hurriedly buried a few of their dead, but +it is very difficult to dig amongst the stones and boulders, and the +interment was so inadequate that hands and feet were protruding from the +soil. In fact several of our men whose patrol-beat covered this ground +told me it was terribly trying to walk among these rough and ready +graves in the heat of the day. + +Along the whole line from Belmont northwards and to some distance +southwards the telegraph lines had been cut by the Boers. Not content +with severing the wires here and there, they had cut down every post for +miles along the railway. I wondered what the grinning Kaffirs thought of +such a spectacle; here were the white men, the pioneers of +enlightenment, engaged in cutting each other's throats and destroying +the outward signs of their civilisation! Perhaps it is worth mentioning +that native opinion in Cape Colony has, as far as can be judged from the +native journal _Imvo_, been decidedly against us in the present war. +This is a factor which must be reckoned with as regards the question +whether or no blacks shall be armed and permitted to share in the +fighting. Of course it seems at first sight perfectly fair to give the +Zulus or Basutos the means of defending themselves from cattle-raiding +Boers, but if you once arm a savage there is a very real danger of his +getting out of control, and Zulus might make incursions into the Free +State or Basutos into Cape Colony. From such things may we be preserved! +There is an intensely strong feeling amongst colonial Englishmen as well +as Dutchmen--much more intense than anything we feel at home--against +the bringing of natives into a quarrel between white men. + +The train soon traverses the distance between Belmont and Graspan. None +can wish to linger on this journey, for the surrounding region is dreary +and forbidding. The everlasting kopje crops up here and there, looking +like--what in fact it is--a mere vast heap of boulders and stones from +which the earth has been dislodged by the constant attrition of wind and +rain. The hillocks in the Graspan district are by no means lofty--none +of them seemed to get beyond a few hundred feet--but beyond Modder River +the big kopje on the right which was seamed with Boer trenches must be, +I should guess, well over six hundred feet from the plain. A large +proportion of the kopjes in this part of the country have absolutely +flat tops--why, I cannot imagine--and the whole appearance of the +country suggests at once the former bed of an ocean. _A propos_ of +geology, I once in camp came across a sergeant who was surrounded by a +little band of privates, deeply interested in his scientific remarks, +which began as follows: "Now, some considerable time before the Flood, +Table Mountain was at the bottom of the sea, for sea shells are found +there at the present day, etc." It is quite a mistake to suppose that +the soldier cares for none of these things. As a "Tommy" myself I had +some unique opportunities of learning what they talked about and how +they talked, and certainly the subjects discussed sometimes covered a +very big field. I have heard a heated discussion as to the position of +the port of Hamburg, and was finally called on to decide as arbitrator +whether this was a Dutch or German town. Theological discussions were +also by no means infrequent. One of my comrades insisted with a fervour +almost amounting to ferocity upon the reality of "conversion," and was +opposed by another whose tendencies were more Pelagian, and who went so +far as to maintain that no one would employ the services of a +"converted" man if he could secure one who was "unconverted". The amount +of bad language evoked in the course of this theological argument was +extraordinary. Such acrimonious discussions as these acted, however, as +a mere foil to our general harmony, and a common practice on an evening +when we had no wounded on our hands was to start a "sing-song". The +general tone of these concerts was decidedly patriotic. "God save the +Queen" and "Rule Britannia" were thrown in every now and then, but +seldom, if ever, I am glad to say, that wearisome doggerel "The +Absent-Minded Beggar". It is quite a mistake, by the way, to suppose +that Mr. Kipling's poetry is widely appreciated by the rank and file of +the army. From what I have noticed, the less intelligent soldiers know +nothing at all about Mr. Kipling's verses, while the more intelligent of +them heartily dislike the manner in which they are represented in his +poems--as foul-mouthed, godless and utterly careless of their duties to +wives and children. I remember a sergeant exclaiming: "Kipling's works, +sir! why, we wouldn't have 'em in our depôt library at any price!" Of +course it would be ridiculous to maintain that many soldiers do not use +offensive language, but the habit is largely the outcome of their social +surroundings in earlier life and is also very infectious; it requires +quite an effort to refrain from swearing when other people about one are +continually doing this, and when such behaviour is no longer viewed as a +serious social offence. As to Mr. Atkins' absent-mindedness I shall have +a word to say later on. + +In addition to the National Anthem and "Rule Britannia," we had, of +course, "Soldiers of the Queen," and a variety of other less known +ballads which described the superhuman valour of our race, and deplored +the folly of any opposition on the part of our enemies even if they +outnumbered us by "ten to one". One of our cook's greatest hits was a +song entitled "Underneath the Dear Old Flag". In order to furnish a +touch of realism the singer had secured a small _white_ flag which +floated on the top of our train; but he never seemed to realise the +incongruity of waving this peaceful emblem over his head as he thundered +out his resolve "to conquer or to die". + +Just below Graspan Station the Boers had made one of their many attempts +to wreck the line. They had torn up the metals and the sleepers, and a +good many bent and twisted rails lay beside the permanent way. But this +sort of injury to a railway is very speedily set right. In an hour or +two a party of sappers can relay a long stretch of line if no culverts +or bridges are destroyed. Mishaps to the telegraph are still more easily +repaired, and already, side by side with the wreckage of the original +wires, the piebald posts of the field telegraph service ran all along +the lines of communication. + +Here and there Kaffir families sat squatting about their primitive huts, +or kept watch over flocks of goats and sheep. Ostriches stalked solemnly +up to the railway and gazed at the train, and sometimes their curiosity +cost them the loss of a few tail feathers if we could get a snatch at +them through the wire railings. On one occasion a soldier attempting to +take this liberty with an ostrich was turned upon by the indignant bird, +and a struggle ensued which might have proved serious to the man; he +was, however, lucky enough to get a grip on the creature's neck and +succeeded by a great effort in killing it. Ordinarily, however, the +ostriches, despite an occasional surrender of tail feathers, lived on +terms of amity with our men, and at Belmont they were to be seen walking +about the camp and concealing their curiosity under a great show of +dignity. During the fight one of these birds took up its quarters with a +battery, and watched the whole battle without taking any food, except +that on one occasion when a man lit his pipe the bird suddenly reached +out for the box of lucifers and swallowed it with great gusto. + +It was curious to notice a variety of chalk marks upon some of the ant +hills on the battle-field. The Boers had carefully measured their ground +beforehand, as we did at Omdurman, and knew exactly how to adjust their +sights as we advanced against their position. The battle of Graspan +consisted, as at Belmont, in a frontal attack upon a line of kopjes held +by a much larger force of the enemy than was present at the earlier +engagement. Lord Methuen succeeded in working his way to the foot of the +kopjes, and a final rush swept the Boers away in headlong flight. His +victory would have been much more complete had the cavalry succeeded in +cutting off the enemy's retreat, but this was not done. + +We brought back a load of wounded men from this fight. The corps which +suffered most heavily was the naval brigade, composed of 200 marines and +50 bluejackets. It is worth mentioning the numbers here, because I have +seen several accounts of this fight in which the gallantry of the +"bluejackets" is spoken of in the warmest terms with absolutely no +mention of the marines. Correspondents, some of them without any +previous knowledge of military matters, repeatedly single out certain +regiments and corps for special mention, even when these favoured +battalions have not taken any leading part in the battle. We have, of +course, had the case of the Gordons at Dargai--who ever hears of any +other regiment popularly mentioned in this connection? Again, at the +battle of Magersfontein the Gordons were not amongst the Highland +battalions which bore the full brunt of that awful fusilade, yet various +English newspapers singled them out for special mention. I speak in this +way not because I am at all lacking in appreciation for the valour and +dash of both Gordons and "bluejackets," but simply because other +regiments who have often done as good or even better work--in special +cases--bitterly resent the unfair manner in which their own achievements +are sometimes slurred over in the press. Needless to say these +thoughtless reports are due almost entirely to journalists and would be +repudiated by none more keenly than the gallant men of the Gordon +Highlanders and the Royal Navy. + +At the battle of Graspan the marine brigade left their big 47 guns in +the rear and advanced as infantry to the frontal attack. At 600 yards +from the Boer lines the order was given to fix bayonets: the brigade +then pushed forward for fifty yards further, when it was met by a storm +of Mauser bullets, which had killed and wounded no less than 120 out of +the 250 before the survivors reached the foot of the kopjes. It is +extremely difficult to clamber up the rough sides of an African kopje. +To do it properly one needs india-rubber soles or bare feet, for boots +cause one to slip wildly about on the smooth, rough stones. By the time +our men had got to the summit of the low ridge the Boers had leapt upon +their horses and were already nearly 1,000 yards away. Our gallant +fellows were out of breath with the arduous climb, and as it is almost +impossible to do much effective shooting when one is "blown," and the +cavalry had not appeared on the scene, the enemy got off nearly scot +free. + +Amongst a number of wounded men brought down by our train from Modder +River was a private of that fine corps, the R.M.L.I., who had, after +passing through the perils of Graspan, suffered an extraordinary +casualty at the Modder River fight. He was standing near one of the 47 +guns which was firing Lyddite shells at the enemy's trenches. Suddenly +the force of the explosion burst the drum of his right ear and, of +course, rendered him stone deaf on that side. He was an excellent +fellow, very intelligent and well informed, and I hope by this time the +surgeons at Simon's Bay naval hospital have provided him with an +artificial ear-drum. This marine had, as said above, come out of the +awful fire at Graspan unscathed, but I counted no less than _five_ +bullet holes in his uniform; two of them were through his trousers, two +had pierced his sleeves, and the other had passed through his coat just +to the left of his heart! + +The kopjes which were ultimately carried by the gallantry of our troops +at Graspan had been subjected to an awful shell fire before the infantry +attack. Nevertheless, the enemy was able to meet the advance with a +rifle fire which swept our men down by scores. On the right of the naval +brigade there was a little group of nineteen men, of these one only +remained! The Boers exhibited here, as elsewhere, the most marvellous +skill in taking advantage of cover. These farmers lay curled up behind +their stones and boulders while shrapnel bullets by thousands rained +over their position, and common shell threw masses of earth and rock +into the air. Then at the moment when the artillery fire was compelled +to cease, owing to the near approach of our infantry, the crafty +sharp-shooters crawled out of their nooks and crannies and used their +rifles with deadly precision and rapidity. + +On this point--the general ineffectiveness of artillery fire when the +enemy possesses good cover--the history of modern warfare repeats +itself. The Russian bombardments of Plevna were quite futile, and +General Todleben acknowledged that it sometimes required a whole day's +shell fire to kill a single Turkish soldier. At the fight round the +Malaxa blockhouse in Crete, at which I was present, the united squadrons +of the European powers in Suda Bay suddenly opened fire on the hill and +the village at its foot. In ten minutes from eighty to one hundred +shells came screaming up from the bay and burst amongst the insurgents +and their Turkish opponents. We all of us--on the hill and in the +village--bolted like rabbits and took what cover we could. The total net +casualties from these missiles--some of them 6-inch shells--were, I +believe, three, all told. + +Some of those amateur critics at home who write indignant letters about +the War Office labour under a twofold delusion. They frequently ask +indignantly how it is that our guns have been outclassed by those of the +Boers? As a matter of fact in almost every engagement of the present +campaign our artillery has been superior to that of the enemy; but, of +course, the artillery of a defending force, well posted on rising +ground, possesses enormous advantages over that of the assailants, who +have frequently to open fire in open and exposed positions easily swept +by shrapnel fire from guns, which, hidden amid trenches and rocks, are +often well-nigh invisible. + +Another fundamental error in many of the indignant letters about the +alleged defects of our artillery arises from a misunderstanding of the +real value of guns in attacking a fortified position. The most sanguine +officer never expects his shells actually to kill or disable any very +large number of the enemy if they are protected by deep and +well-constructed earthworks. Of course, if a shell falls plump into a +trench it is pretty certain to play havoc with the defenders, but, when +one considers that the mouth of a trench is some five or six feet wide, +it is easy to realise the difficulty of dropping a shell into the narrow +opening at a range, say, of 4,000 yards. Moreover, some of the more +elaborate Boer trenches are so cleverly constructed in a waving line +like a succession of S's, that even if a shell does succeed in pitching +into one bit of the curve it makes things uncomfortable only for the two +or three men who occupy that portion of the earthwork. No, the real +value of artillery in attack is to shake the enemy and keep down his +rifle fire. If shells are accurately fired the tops of trenches may be +swept by a constant rain of shrapnel bullets, under which the enemy's +riflemen will of necessity suffer when they expose their heads and +shoulders to take aim over the parapet. But even in this case the shell +fire must be extremely accurate if it is to be of any great use. If +shrapnel shells burst well, some thirty yards in front of the enemy, the +force of the bullets released by the explosion is terrific; if, on the +other hand, the shells burst high up in the air, 150 yards in front, you +might almost keep off the bullets with an umbrella; and one sometimes +hears of these missiles being actually found in the pockets of +combatants. At Omdurman our shells played tremendous havoc with the +dense masses of the enemy; but here the Dervishes advanced to the attack +in broad daylight and over a flat plain absolutely devoid of cover, and +with its "ranges" well known and marked out beforehand. + +In one of our southward journeys with a load of wounded men we passed, a +little below Graspan, through the midst of a swarm of locusts. We pulled +up the windows and so kept the wards free from these clumsy insects. At +one period they seemed to almost shut out the daylight, and it was easy +to realise how unpleasant it would be to meet a flight of locusts when +walking or even riding on horseback. Some odd stories are told about +these creatures. I have heard it gravely stated that occasionally a +train is stopped by the accumulated masses which fall on the metals. My +informant evidently believed that the engine in these cases was +absolutely unable to force its way through the piled up insects, in the +same way as trains are sometimes blocked by gigantic snowdrifts! This, +of course, is ridiculous; what really happens is that the rails become +so greasy from the crushed bodies of the locusts that the wheels can +secure no grip on the metals and spin round to no purpose. + +The attitude of the Boers towards the locust is very quaint. If a swarm +of these insects settles on a Dutchman's land, the owner will not +attempt to destroy them because he regards them as a visitation of +Providence. But I have heard that he does not scruple to modify slightly +the schemes of Providence by shovelling the unwelcome locusts upon any +of his neighbours' fields which may adjoin his own estate! + +On this same journey we pulled up, as usual, for a brief interval at De +Aar, and just opposite our train was a carriage containing seventeen +Boer prisoners, returning to the front. At the battle of Graspan a +number of Boer artillerymen were found with the Geneva Red Cross on +their arms, and it seems pretty clear that these men had deliberately +slipped the badge on the sleeves in order to avoid capture. They were, +of course, at once secured and treated as ordinary prisoners of war. But +in the hurry of the moment, and very naturally under the circumstances, +some seventeen of the Boers who were _bonâ-fide_ ambulance men were +arrested on suspicion and despatched with the crafty gunners to +Capetown. Here they were examined, and when the authorities realised +that they were genuinely entitled to the protection of the Red Cross, +and were not combatants fraudulently equipped with this protective +badge, the seventeen were forthwith sent back to General Cronje. As they +were returning we met them and had a chat with them. Five at least of +the number were Scotchmen or Irishmen; two more of them did not speak, +and I rather think from their appearance that they too were of English +race, and preferred to remain silent. Several of them complained of +ill-treatment at our hands, but I must say their complaints appeared to +resolve themselves into the fact that on their journeys to and from +Capetown their meals had not been quite regular. Three of us gave them +some bread, jam and cigarettes, for which they were extremely grateful. +They wore ordinary clothes much the worse for wear, and told me that +they left their "Sunday" suits at home. On the whole I was most +favourably impressed by these fellows, with one exception. The exception +was a Free-Stater who spoke English volubly. He loudly declared that he +was sick of the war and intended the moment he secured an opportunity to +desert and go home to his farm. I felt rather indignant at this person's +remarks, and with an air of moral superiority I said: "We don't think +any the better of you for saying that; although you are an enemy you +ought to stick to your General, and not sneak away from the front". But +the Free-Stater was not a bit impressed by my rhetoric, and simply said, +"Oh, skittles!" + +Some of the prisoners were from the Transvaal and they seemed to me much +more keen and enthusiastic than their Free State companions, and evinced +no signs whatever of despondency or depression. There was a very +pathetic note in the conversation of one of the Transvaalers, a mere +boy of seventeen. He said to me in broken English, "It is such a +causeless war. What are we fighting for, sir?" and I referred him for +his answer to three Johannesburg Uitlanders who were standing by. +Accursed as war always is, it is thrice accursed when young boys and old +men are called upon to fight. At present every man in the Republic from +sixteen to sixty years of age is at the front. The authorities intend as +their losses increase to call out children from twelve to sixteen, and +every old man from sixty onwards who can still see to sight a rifle. +Last and most terrible thought of all, it is an undoubted fact that +wives and daughters are everywhere throughout the Republic engaged in +rifle practice! May God preserve us from having to fight against women! +At present entire families are fighting together. I know one Dutch lady +who has no less than six brothers amongst the burghers who have been +fighting round Ladysmith, and another who has already lost four sons in +the war. In one of our engagements a Boer boy of seventeen was struck +down by a bullet; the father, a man of sixty, left his cover and went +to the succour of his son, when he himself was shot, and the two lay +dead, one beside the other. + +A little to the north of the kopjes which formed the scene of the +Graspan engagement lies the station of Enslin. Here one of the pluckiest +fights of the campaign took place. Two companies of the Northamptons +occupied a small house and orchard beside the line. They had thrown up a +hurried earthwork and placed rails along the top of the parapet. In this +position they were suddenly attacked by a force of apparently 500 +Boers--so it was supposed--with one or two field guns. The small +garrison lined their diminutive trenches and succeeded in keeping the +enemy off for several hours; but had not some artillery reinforcements +come up the line most opportunely to their assistance it might have +fared badly with the plucky Northamptons. As it was, the Boers finally +withdrew with some loss. On December 10th we were delayed for some time +at Enslin by an accident and I had a careful look at the position held +by our men in this minor engagement. There was scarcely a twig or leaf +in the orchard which was not torn by shrapnel and Mauser bullets. The +walls of the house were chipped and pierced in every direction, and one +corner of the earthwork had been carried off by a shell. Yet in the two +companies there were only eight casualties! An almost parallel case was +furnished by Rostall's orchard at Modder River, which was held by the +Boers, and swept for hours by so fearful a fire of shrapnel that the +peach-trees were cut down in every direction and scarcely a square foot +behind the trenches unmarked by the leaden hail. Nevertheless, when the +guns had perforce to cease fire on the advance of our infantry, the +Boers who held the orchard leapt up from behind the earthwork and poured +such a murderous fire upon our men that they were forced to withdraw. It +was the old story over again--that shell fire, unless it enfilades, does +not kill men in trenches. + +As everybody called the river crossed by the railway the Modder, Modder +let it be. Its real name, however, is the Riet, of which the Modder is a +tributary flowing from the north-west and joining the main stream well +to the east of the line. As a stream the river does not impress the +visitor favourably: its waters were yellow and muddy, and the vegetation +on its banks was thin and scrappy. There are no respectable fish in +either the Modder or the Orange River; even if the fish could see a fly +on the top of the liquid mud, they haven't the spirit to rise at it. +Some of our officers, it was said, had managed to land a few specimens +of a coarse fish like a barbel which haunts these streams, but I should +not think any one, even amid the monotony of camp rations, was very keen +about eating his catch, for a good many dead Boers had been dragged out +of the river. It was, in fact, a rather grisly joke in camp to remark, +_à propos_ of our water supply, on the character of "Château Modder, an +excellent vintage with a good deal of body in it"! There was a tap at +the station, which by the way is some distance north of the river, but +on attempting to fill a bucket I found the tap guarded by a sentry, +because, apparently, the water came from the river and was thought to be +dangerous. + +The water question is always a difficult one in exploring or +campaigning. One can do a certain amount with alum towards rendering the +water less foul. Rub the inside of a bucket with a lump of alum, and in +ten minutes most of the mud sinks to the bottom, and the water is +comparatively clear. But besides producing a nasty flavour in the water, +if used in any quantity, the astringent alum tends to produce +disagreeable effects internally. Of course the only absolute guarantee +against the bacilli of enteric fever or other diseases which may be +admitted into one's system by drinking, is to boil the waters for five +minutes; but it is very provoking, when the thermometer stands at 90° in +the shade, to wait until the boiled water cools, and as it is impossible +to boil a whole river a few thousand bacilli may quite well get into our +food through "washing up". + +The Boers have almost raised trench digging to the level of a fine art, +and on every occasion when their commandants have found it necessary to +withdraw they have had an entrenched position ready for them at some +distance in the rear. At Modder River the trenches on either side of +the stream were, as far as I saw them, a series of short ditches holding +about six riflemen. These small trenches were separated from each other +in order possibly to avoid that appearance of continuity which would +have rendered their detection more easy to our scouts. In the Modder +River fight a new factor is noticeable. For the first time in the +campaign the Boers fought on level ground. Hitherto their bullets had +come from the summits of the hills, and for this reason had not proved +nearly so effective as a sustained fire from rifles raised, say, about +four and a half feet from the ground. It is of course very much harder +to hit a moving enemy when you aim from above at a considerable angle +than when you merely hold your rifle steadily at the level of his chest +and fire off Mauser cartridges at the rate of twenty a minute. The +enemy's fire was very deadly at the Modder. As Lord Methuen said in his +despatch, it was quite unsafe to remain on horseback at 2,000 yards' +range. The result was that our infantry were compelled to lie prone on +the ground, and, without being able to do much by way of retaliation, +were exposed for hours to a scathing fusilade from the trenches beside +the river. One poor fellow, of whom I saw a good deal, had been through +the battle despite the fact that he was suffering great pain from +dysentery. He, together with two friends, lay on the veldt for no less +than fourteen hours. They had fortunately descried a slight hollow in +the ground some 500 yards from the Boer trenches, and between them they +"loosed off" quite 1,000 rounds of ammunition. "Well," I asked him, "did +you hit anything?" "I don't think we did," was his reply, "because we +never saw a Boer the whole day." When the enemy are firing smokeless +powder behind their splendidly constructed earthworks they are +practically invisible, a fact born witness to by Captain Congreve, V.C., +in his account of the first reverse at the Tugela. Now of course when +you can't see your enemy you can't very well hit him, so when we clear +our minds of fairy-stories about Lyddite and the universal destruction +wrought by concussion, it seems highly probable that there is much more +truth in the Boers' returns of their casualties than has been believed +at home. Take, _e.g._, the lurid account sent by one of our +correspondents about the awful effects of our shell fire upon General +Cronje's laager. We were told in graphic language of every space in the +laager being torn and rent by the deadly fire of more than fifty field +guns, of the trenches being enfiladed and the green fumes of Lyddite +rising up from the doomed camp. Cronje emerges with a casualty roll of +170 men, and the only inconvenience from our bombardment experienced by +the ladies was the slight abrasion of a young woman's forefinger! + +The fact that so many of our Generals have been struck by bullets during +the campaign would seem to corroborate what I have heard on good +authority, _viz._, that some of the best shots in the Transvaal forces +have been told off for long range shooting, and the picking off of our +leaders. One of these fancy shots--a German--was captured in Natal and +told an officer that he was glad to be a prisoner, as he heartily +disliked the task imposed upon him. Some little distance north of the +Modder bridge is a small white house. Within this was found a Boer lying +on a table stone-dead, with a shrapnel bullet in his skull. His Mauser, +still clutched in his stiffened hands, lay on a tripod rest in front of +him and the muzzle pointed through a vertical slit made in the masonry +of the cottage. Every house in the neighbourhood was more or less +injured by shrapnel, and one of them was the scene of a sanguinary +conflict which was utterly misrepresented by one of the Cape papers. The +misrepresentation was to the effect that at the battle of Modder River +the house in question was occupied by a number of Boer wounded from +Belmont and Graspan in charge of several attendants. It was alleged that +two of the attendants deliberately fired upon our troops, who forthwith +entered the house and bayoneted every occupant, wounded and unwounded +alike, the bodies being afterwards weighted, with stones and thrown into +the river. This terrible story spread like wildfire through the Colony, +and Lord Methuen despatched an official denial of the alleged +circumstances to Capetown. The Boer General never, as far as I am +aware, brought any such charge against our troops, but as it undoubtedly +gained considerable credence in the Colony it is perhaps worth while to +mention the real facts of the case. The house in question was occupied +as an outpost by thirty-six Boers, who fired upon some companies of +British troops. About a dozen of our men, chiefly Argyll and Sutherland +Highlanders with a lieutenant of the Fifth Fusiliers--for an +extraordinary intermingling of various units took place in this +engagement--rushed the house. Two of the Highlanders were shot down but +the rest took a speedy revenge. The thirty-six Boers clubbed their +rifles and fought pluckily, but they were crowded together and could do +little against our bayonets. Every man of the thirty-six perished. "I +didn't like to see it, sir," said one of the Highlanders to me. This is, +of course, a very different story from the disgraceful tale alluded to +above. None of the Boers in the house were wounded before our men +appeared on the scene, and it is clear that the Boer corpses in the +river, with stones tied to their ankles, were put there by their own +comrades. + +Fair-minded and thoughtful men who have followed the events of the +present campaign must long ago have come to the conclusion that +non-official news must frequently be received with great caution. Before +the war began misrepresentation was rife on both sides, and it has +continued ever since. Mr. Winston Churchill may well call South Africa a +"land of lies". Various slanders against ourselves have emanated to some +extent from the Dutch papers in Cape Colony and the Transvaal, but in a +much fuller and more substantial form from the Continental papers, +notably the Parisian Press. On the other hand, our own journalists have +not been altogether free from this taint. Let us take one or two +concrete instances, _e.g._, violation of the white flag, firing on +ambulances, the use of "explosive" bullets, looting. Just after the +first reverse at the Tugela, a correspondent wired home that the Boers +were "shooting horses and violating all the usages of civilised +warfare". A man who would write such tomfoolery about horses ought to be +kept in Fleet Street, and not sent out as a war correspondent; and as +to his sweeping accusations in general, it is worth noticing that he was +publicly and severely rebuked by Sir Redvers Buller, who denied his +statements, and said that it was dishonourable to malign our brave +opponents in this fashion. + +As to the _vexata quaestio_ of the white flag, it seems clear that in +some instances the Boers have used this symbol of surrender in an +absolutely unjustifiable way. Such a misusage of the flag occurred, for +example, at Belmont.[A] But, as a Boer prisoner said to me, there are +blackguards in every army, and it is utterly unfair to represent the +whole Boer army as composed of these treacherous scoundrels--who, by the +way, in almost every instance have paid the penalty of their treachery +with their lives. Moreover, a white flag--which is sometimes merely a +handkerchief tied to a rifle--may, in a comparatively undisciplined +force like that of our opponents, be easily raised by a combatant on +one side of a kopje, without being ordered or being noticed by his +officer or the bulk of his comrades. How easily this may happen can be +seen from what occurred amongst our own men at Nicholson's Nek. Here the +white flag was raised, according to the published letter of an officer +present, by a subaltern, without the knowledge and against the wishes of +the officer in command. The officer who raised the flag may quite +well--we do not know the circumstances accurately--have wished to save +the lives of the men immediately round him, or may have been unable to +see what was happening elsewhere on the kopje, and so have imagined that +he and his men alone were left. + +Something very similar to this appears to have happened at Dundee. A +body of Boers standing together raised a white flag when our men +approached and were duly taken prisoners, but the rest of their commando +were, according to Boer accounts, already engaged in retreating with +their guns, and, being either unaware of this unauthorised surrender or +completely ignoring it, continued their flight. + +I have already spoken of the risks incurred by stretcher-bearers and +ambulance waggons which approach close to the firing line. Wounded men +have told me again and again that the Boers at Magersfontein did not +fire wilfully on our ambulance waggons, except when our troops got +behind them in their retreat. Moreover, excitable people in England, who +greedily swallow any story about such alleged occurrences, have probably +the vaguest idea of what a modern battle-field looks like, and of the +enormous area now covered by military operations. It may be extremely +difficult to see a small white or Red Cross flag a long way off. At +Ladysmith, _e.g._, one of our guns put a shell clean through a Boer +ambulance, and Sir George White, of course, at once sent an apology for +the mistake. If mistakes occur on one side they may occur on the other. +Reuter's agent at Frere Camp reports on 4th December:-- + +"After the evacuation of Dundee the Boers shelled the hospital and the +ambulance until the white flag was hoisted, when their firing ceased. +Captain Milner rode with one orderly into the Boer camp with a flag of +truce, and was told that the Boers could not see the Red Cross flag. +This statement he verified by personal observation." + +As to the use of "explosive" bullets, which makes the "man in the +street" so indignant, it is worth mentioning that, as far as I am aware, +not a single instance of the employment of such a missile came under the +notice of our medical staff with Lord Methuen's column. I do not for one +instant deny that occasionally such bullets may have been fired at our +troops, but it is clear that the utmost confusion prevails about the +nature of these projectiles. The Geneva Convention prohibits the use of +explosive bullets, _i.e._, hollow bullets charged with an explosive +which is fired by a detonating cap on coming in contact with a resisting +surface. Now it is almost impossible to render a Mauser bullet +"explosive," owing to its extreme slenderness, so that any explosive +bullets which may have been used by the enemy must have come from +sporting rifles, which are--as all evidence goes to show--extremely rare +in their commandos. Expansive bullets are made by cutting off the +rounded tip of the bullet, scooping out its point, constructing its +"nose" of some softer metal, or simply making transverse cuts across the +end. These missiles are not prohibited by the Geneva Convention: +nevertheless their employment against white men is altogether +unnecessary and reprehensible. + +As to looting, we must not forget that all commandeering of goods on the +part of the enemy has been so described. But, of course, it is perfectly +legitimate according to the usage of modern warfare to seize any +property necessary for an army provided receipts are duly handed over to +the persons from whom the goods are obtained. The Germans invariably +acted in this way during the Franco-Prussian war, and no historian has +ever described them as "savages" for this reason. Of course the wanton +destruction of property which appears to have been perpetrated by the +Boers in Natal is absolutely indefensible. + +If any one on reading the above thinks the writer "unpatriotic" he can +only say that many British soldiers serving their Queen and country are +"unpatriotic" in the same way. I hold no brief for the Boers, and I +feel sure that here and there one may find an unmitigated scoundrel in +their ranks who would fire on white flags, loot houses and use explosive +bullets. On the other hand wounded and captured soldiers have repeatedly +testified to the great kindness shown them by the enemy. In short, I +have invariably found soldiers more generous and fair towards the enemy, +and less disposed to blackguard them recklessly and unjustly, than +newspaper writers and readers. Men who have faced the Boers have learnt +to respect their courage and devotion, and I feel sure that British +officers and soldiers deprecate much of the atrocity talk anent foemen +so worthy of their steel, and however little they may sympathise with +some portions of Dean Kitchin's sermon, they would at any rate desire to +support his wish that the "quarrel should be raised to the level of a +gentlemen's quarrel".[B] Quite recently Lord Methuen spoke like an +honourable and chivalrous British soldier when he declared that he +"never wished to meet a braver general than Cronje and had never served +in a war where less vindictive feelings existed between the two opposing +armies than in this." + +One more word on a kindred topic and we will leave criticism alone! The +tone adopted by some sections of the Colonial and even British Press +with respect to the religious feeling of the Boers is very painful. Some +correspondents have described with evident glee how Boer prayer-meetings +have been broken up by Lyddite shells. I feel sure that no British +General would think for a moment of deliberately shelling any body of +the enemy assembled for prayer, and the vulgarity and wickedness of such +paragraphs would certainly not commend itself to the best sentiment of +the British army. Again and again the Boers are described in the Press +as "canting hypocrites" or their thanksgivings to God as +"sanctimonious". What right have we as Christians to bring such +wholesale charges against our Christian enemies? Several thousand +burghers advanced from Jacobsdal to reinforce Cronje, and as it marched +the entire force sang the Old Hundredth in unison. There is something +splendid and majestic in such a spectacle as this. Let us as Englishmen +fight our best against these men and defeat them thoroughly, but do not +let us sneer at their religious enthusiasm! + +On December 10th, as we were standing on a siding at De Aar, a telegram, +arrived ordering us to leave for Modder River in the morning. We were +delighted at the prospect of getting rid of our enforced inaction at De +Aar. The air was full of rumours about an impending attack on Cronje's +position, and we fully expected to be in time for the fight and probably +to be employed as stretcher-bearers during the battle. Alas! our hopes +were all in vain. Next day, some miles below Modder River, our engine +with its tender suddenly left the metals. The stoker jumped off, but the +engine fortunately kept on the top of the embankment and nobody was +hurt. We none of us knew how or why the accident had occurred, but one +of the officials suspected very strongly that the rails had been +tampered with. + +At any rate, there we were within a few miles of a big fight, off the +metals and quite helpless! We were all perfectly wild with vexation and +disappointment. But up flew a wire to Modder River for a gang of sappers +with screwjacks. Pending the arrival of their assistance I climbed up to +the top of a neighbouring kopje with a lot of Tasmanians. From this +point the flashes of the guns above Modder River were visible, and the +dull boom of Lyddite was borne to our ears. Methuen's artillery was +still doing its best to avenge or retrieve the disaster of the early +morning. The sappers at length arrived. We all helped--pushing and +digging and lifting--and at length after several hours' delay steamed +off to Modder River, too late for anything, except to wait for the +morning and the wounded. We knew by this time that at 3:30 that morning +the Highland Brigade had made a frontal attack on the Magersfontein +lines and had been repulsed with terrible loss. The accounts which were +vaguely given of the disaster were frightful, but accurate details were +still lacking. Yes, here we were within four miles of the nearest point +of Cronje's lines and we did not know half as much about the fight as +people in Pall Mall 7000 miles away! + +On 12th of December I woke at four. The sun was just beginning to rise +and the raw chill of the night had not yet left the air. In the grey +light a long string of ambulance waggons was moving slowly towards the +camp from the battle-field. Parallel to the line of waggons a column of +infantry was marching northwards, perhaps to reinforce some of our +outlying trenches against a possible Boer attack. I shall long remember +the sight--the column of dead and wounded coming in, the living column +going out, and scarcely a sound to break the silence. + +The wards of the train were all ready for the wounded, so I went off +with a couple of buckets to replenish our water supply. Wounded men are +generally troubled with thirst, and the washing of their hands and faces +always refreshes them greatly. I found the station tap, however, +guarded by a sentry; no water was to be drawn for the use of the +troops, as the pipes--so it was said--came from Modder River, which was +contaminated by the Boer corpses. + +We were soon busy with the wounded Highlanders and well within an hour +we had safely placed some 120 men in our bunks, and some on the floor. I +am afraid the poor soldiers often suffered agony when they were lifted +in or rolled from the stretchers on to the bunks. It was sometimes +impossible to avoid hurting a man with, say, a shattered thigh-bone and +a broken arm in thus changing his position. We however did our best and +lifted them with the utmost care and gentleness, but they often, poor +fellows, groaned and cried out in their cruel pain. + +At 6 P.M. we saw the funeral of sixty-three Highlanders--all buried in +one long trench close to the line. No shots were fired over the vast +grave, but tears rolled down many a bronzed cheek and the bagpipes +played a wild lament. Surely there is no music like this for the burial +of young and gallant men. The notes seem to express an almost frenzied +access of human sorrow! + +Soon after this my old Sudan acquaintance, Frederick Villiers, passed +through the train. He did not recognise me in my uniform and I did not +make myself known to him as he was with an officer and I was only an +orderly. I wonder if he remembers that dreadful night, 31st August, +1898, when we lay side by side in the desert at Sururab, soaked to the +skin from a tropical downpour, and, to make his misery complete, he was +stung in the neck by a large scorpion. + +We ran down to Orange River with our first load of wounded men, and just +as we were crossing the sappers' pontoon bridge over the Modder a trolly +or small waggon broke loose and rushing down the incline in front met +our engine and was broken into matchwood. Most of our cases on this +first run were "severe" or "dangerous". Some of the men had no less than +three bullet wounds, and several were still living whose heads had been +pierced by bullets. During a former journey, after Belmont, poor ---- of +the Guards lived for several days with a bullet through his brain; he +was apparently unconscious or semi-conscious and struggled so +desperately to remove the bandages from his head that it took three +orderlies to hold him down. When he died the wounded soldier next him +burst into tears. + +Amongst some cases peculiarly interesting from a medical point of view +was that of a Highlander who had three of his fingers shot off with the +result that his arm and side were paralysed; in another case a bullet +tore its way through and across the crown of a soldier's head and caused +paralysis of the opposite side of the body. Another man had, so it was +said, been hit on the shoulder; the bullet passed right through his body +piercing his lungs and intestines and coming out at the thigh. Yet, +strange to say, the poor fellow was in excellent spirits and complained +only of slight pain in the abdomen. + +There was one death at Magersfontein which seemed especially painful to +ourselves. It was that of a young officer in the Argyll and Sutherland +Highlanders who, after the fight on the Modder, came into our train and +had a kindly word for every one of his wounded men; he walked along the +wards shaking hands with them and giving them little money presents as +he passed. His voice was full of sympathy, and at length he broke down +utterly in his compassion for some of their terrible wounds. His tears +did him credit, and we heard with genuine sorrow that he had fallen at +Magersfontein. So good a man was indeed worthy of a longer life and a +kindlier fate. + +Almost all the wounds inflicted by the Mauser bullets seemed to be quite +clean and healthy, with no signs of suppuration. It has been suggested +that the satisfactory condition of such wounds is partly due to a +species of cauterisation produced by the heat of the bullet. But I +hardly think this can be so, for it is extremely doubtful if a bullet +ever gets hot enough to cauterise flesh. I once picked up a spent +Martini bullet which dropped within a yard or two of where I was +standing; it was quite warm but not nearly hot enough to hurt my bare +hand. A Mauser bullet fired at a fairly close range, say, 500 yards, +travels at such a tremendous velocity that it generally splinters any +bone it meets; on the other hand at long ranges--1,000 yards and +upwards--the bullet frequently bores a clean little hole through the +opposing bone and thus saves the surgeon a great deal of trouble. + +The wounds from shell fire were not numerous in our wards. It seems +likely that if a one-pounder shell from the Maxim-Nordenfeldt hits a man +it is pretty sure to kill him. Some of the wounded men told me how +terrible it was to hear the cries of a comrade ripped to pieces by this +devilish missile. + +The condition of the Highlanders' legs was terrible. Many of the poor +fellows lay in the open for hours--some of them from 4 A.M. to 8 +P.M.--and the back of their legs was, almost without exception, covered +with blisters and large burns from the scorching sun. Very many of those +who had escaped bullet wounds could not, I should think, have marched +ten miles to save their lives. The Highland Light Infantry wore trousers +and their legs were all right. How much longer are we going to clothe +our Highland regiments in kilts on active service? Every man I spoke to +was dead against their use in a subtropical campaign like the present +one. Besides, even as it is, our men have to put up with a compromise in +the matter of kilts which makes their retention almost ridiculous, +_i.e._, in order to screen his gay attire from the keen eyes behind the +Mauser barrels every Highlander wears over the tartan a dingy apron of +khaki. The war pictures we occasionally see in illustrated papers of +Scotch regiments charging with flying sporrans are probably drawn in +England. Even when the apron is used, the khaki jacket, the tartan kilt +and the white legs offer a good mark when the wearer is lying on the +ground. At Omdurman I stood with the Seaforths and Camerons in the +firing line and I noticed that they appeared to lose more than any other +battalion. + +On arriving at Orange River we carried our load of wounded to the base +hospital. I wish some of those well-meaning enthusiasts in Trafalgar +Square who clamoured for war could have viewed the interior of these +hospital tents and seen the poor twisted forms lying on the ground in +every direction. What a stupid and brutal thing war is! Certainly the +alleged "bringing out of our nobler qualities" is dearly purchased! If a +superior national type is the outcome of all this death and pain and +misery, War, like Nature, seems at any rate utterly "careless of the +single life"! + +The battle of Magersfontein has been frequently described in the Press +and the main outlines of the fight are already well known to the public. +The Highland Brigade, consisting of the Black Watch, Argyll and +Sutherland Highlanders, Seaforths and Highland Light Infantry, had +dinner on Sunday at 12. They then marched from 2 to 7.30 P.M., when they +bivouacked. They advanced again at 11 P.M. in quarter column through the +darkness, using ropes to keep the direction and formation intact. At +3.30 the order to extend had just been given when a murderous fire was +suddenly poured into the Brigade from the first line of Boer trenches at +the foot of a large kopje. Our men had already seen two red lanterns +burning at either extremity of this entrenched position. All at once the +lamp on the left of the line was extinguished, and this seemed to be +the signal for the Boer riflemen to commence fire. The light was so +bad--in fact there was scarcely any light at all--that it was impossible +to see the foresight of a rifle clearly. How were the Boers able to +discern our approaching columns? One very intelligent boy in the Black +Watch told me that he thought the "wild-fire"--the summer lightning +which plays over the veldt--showed up the approaching troops. Others who +were present stated that the Kimberley flash-light did the mischief, and +a sergeant who marched in the rear of the brigade told me that he could +see the whole line of helmets in front of him illumined by these +electric flashes. Apart from this, it is quite possible that some +treacherous signals from Dutchmen near Modder River camp may have +apprised the Boers of our approach. + +Be this as it may, the first volleys from the opposing trenches swept +through the crowded ranks of the Black Watch with deadly effect. Great +confusion ensued, our men could do little by way of retaliation, +contradictory orders were given, and the Brigade, unable to hold its +ground under the murderous fire, fell back. The fusilade was fearfully +severe and what added to its severity was its unexpectedness. It is +especially the case in war that the unexpected is terrible. This has +been exemplified again and again. On one occasion during the siege of +Paris a body of Zouaves had fought splendidly all day in a sortie under +a hot fire from the Prussians. They were at length ordered to withdraw +some distance into a hollow which would shield them effectually from the +Prussian shells and bullets. The Zouaves ensconced themselves in this +excellent bit of cover and after their exertions prepared to get a +little rest. Suddenly, to their astonishment, a Prussian shell fell +plump into the hollow, and although it hurt nobody the entire company +leapt to their feet and never stopped until they found themselves within +the ramparts of Paris. Yet these men had faced a deadly fire all day +when they expected it. + +No troops in the world could have done anything in face of the +Magersfontein fire: some of the Highlanders, however, lay down and +maintained their position actually within 200 yards of the Boer lines +throughout the day. They had scarcely any cover, and if they showed +themselves by any movement they were picked off by the enemy's +sharp-shooters. Several of our wounded told me that they had seen one +Boer, got up in the most sumptuous manner--polished jackboots, silk +neck-cloth and cigar--strolling leisurely about outside the trenches and +firing with extraordinary accuracy at the recumbent figures which dotted +the ground before him. + +As the Brigade fell back various units were, in the darkness +inextricably mixed up, and our losses became more severe as the accuracy +of the enemy's fire increased. The booming of our artillery and the rush +of our shells upon the Boer trenches put fresh heart into our +temporarily disheartened troops, and rallying lines were formed in +various directions. Occasional rushes were made towards the almost +invisible enemy over the slope already thickly dotted with the bodies of +our dead and wounded, and at the close of the disastrous day several +gallant Highlanders were found lying dead across the wire entanglements +within 150 yards of the Boers, riddled with bullets. The 12th Lancers +dismounted, and at one moment, advanced as infantry right up to the Boer +trenches. Every one I spoke to expressed the warmest admiration for +their coolness and pluck. + +A sergeant in the Black Watch, when all the officers had apparently been +struck down, cried out to the Highlanders near him: "Charge, men, and +prepare to meet your God!" He rushed forward at the head of a few +comrades and fell dead with a bullet through his brain within a yard or +two of the trenches. There is something truly sublime in this man's +devotion to his duty. Many and many an individual act of heroism was +displayed during those awful moments in the semi-darkness when the enemy +opened fire on our crowded battalions. British officers stood upright, +utterly regardless of self, doing their best to rally the shaken troops, +and then falling beneath the pitiless hail of bullets. Later on the +hillside was littered with field-glasses. + +Almost 1,000 yards from the line of kopjes three lines of wire had been +placed, which were cut during our advance, and other entanglements were +stretched just in front of the trenches. Several men in each company +carried wire-cutters with them, but to stand up and snip through lines +of barbed wire when the Mauser bullets and the deadly shells of the +Pom-Pom gun are tearing up the soil around is perilous work. Some of +these entanglements had already been removed after the bombardment on +Sunday night, for E Company of the Black Watch and a company of the +Seaforths went forward about 7 P.M. in skirmishing order and pulled up +the iron stakes and knocked over three parallel lines of barbed wire. + +Some of the Highland Brigade very sensibly withdrew towards the right of +the Boer position with the idea of outflanking and enfilading the enemy. +They succeeded for some time and actually captured some prisoners, but +were soon afterwards themselves enfiladed and compelled to retire. Eight +men of the Seaforths, however, when the frontal attack failed, retired +towards the left instead of the right and suddenly found themselves, to +their dismay, well inside the enemy's trenches! The Boers took away +their rifles but forgot their side-arms, whereupon one of the +Highlanders drew his bayonet, leapt to his feet and stabbed the sentry +who was guarding them in the neck. The whole eight then jumped over the +earthwork and decamped, escaping unhurt through the bullets which +followed them from the enraged burghers. + +Many of our wounded lay on the ground from early morning till seven or +eight in the evening, exposed all day to the scorching rays of an almost +tropical sun. Some of the men brought away in the ambulances were, in +fact, suffering from sunstroke, in addition to their wounds, and, as was +said above, the bare legs of the three kilted battalions were terribly +burnt. The Boers were very kind to our wounded. They came out of the +trenches and gave them water. They did not in any case shoot at our +wounded men, but frequently shot at any one who came forward during the +fight to bandage the wounded. The slightest movement, however, of the +_bonâ-fide_ combatants in our ranks drew a hail of bullets from the +trenches. A Scotch sergeant, Gilham by name, a most kindly and +courageous man, noticed that a comrade near him had been shot through +the abdomen. He raised himself up from his recumbent position and began +to bandage the wounded man. "Lie down you ---- fool," said the friend; +"can't you see you are drawing the fire?" As he spoke a bullet passed +between Gilham's knees and struck the wounded man. Soon afterwards an +officer called out for a stretcher, so Gilham jumped up and put on his +best "hundred" pace in a slanting run towards the ambulance waggons. +Several other wounded men leapt up and joined him. One of them was +immediately shot through the shoulder, and the good sergeant again +stopped and bandaged him. The Boers had been watching him, and as he +recommenced his devious course they sent two bullets through a bush two +feet in front of him. These small bushes formed very inadequate cover, +and the enemy, taking for granted that men were lying concealed behind +them, fired repeatedly into the shrubs. In one case no less than eight +Highlanders were shot behind one bush. + +I have made no attempt to give a detailed account of the day's +fighting. If I did I should naturally speak of the excellent work done +by the Guards on the right, where the Scandinavian contingent was almost +annihilated, and, later on in the day, by the Gordons, who left their +convoy work on the left and advanced gallantly towards the Boer +position. No praise can be too high for our artillery. It was their +excellent shooting that helped our men to rally after the first shock, +and which ultimately succeeded in driving the Boers from their first +line of trenches. These trenches were admirably constructed in long deep +parallel lines connected at the ends so that a force could advance or +withdraw from any point without being noticed by ourselves. Shell fire +could do little against troops so splendidly entrenched. The Boers, like +the Turks at Plevna, crept under their _épaulements_ while the shells +screamed overhead or swept the parapets with shrapnel bullets, and then, +when this tyranny was overpast, crept out and poured in one of the most +terrific fusilades of the century's warfare. + +When we returned to Modder River with our carriages ready for a fresh +load we found all our troops and guns back again in camp. The trenches, +however, were manned, and every one on the alert. The armistice to bury +the dead expired on the 13th, and a Boer commando had been sighted to +the west. In a brief interval of leisure I took a short stroll, and I +noticed how much more plentiful tobacco was now than a month ago when a +Mauser rifle was offered for a sixpenny packet of cigarettes. One +soldier told me that he had actually paid three shillings for a single +cigarette. + +We loaded up with 120 fresh cases and steamed off for Capetown. The +armoured train was moving fitfully about as we left, but the poor +thing's energies were rather cramped as the line disappeared about 300 +yards north of the station. + +Just before we crossed the river we saw the two war-balloons floating +above the camp, and our cook informed us with a great show of expert +knowledge that these balloons were absolutely proof against bullets or +even shells, "for," said he, "if anything hits them it rebounds from +them like my fist does from this 'ere pillow". A rather similar story +was told me by a wounded Highlander. He declared that a pal of his had +been struck in the stomach by a shell at the Modder River fight. "Oh," +said I, "there wasn't much of your poor friend left, I suppose?" "He +wasn't much hurt," was the reply, "though he did spit blood for a few +hours." "Great Scot! what became of the shell?" "Oh," said my informant, +"I didn't notice, but it must have bounced off Bill's stomach." The +soldier quite believed that this marvellous incident had occurred. What +had happened was probably this: a shell had passed so close to the man +that the concussion of the air had "taken his wind" and ruptured some +small blood-vessels. I remember at the capture of Malaxa in Crete that +three insurgents were hurled to the ground by the air pressure of a +Turkish shell which passed within a yard or two of their heads. + +Several of our cases on this downward journey were interesting. Corporal +Anderson of the Black Watch lay in our ward, struck deaf and dumb from +the bursting of a Boer shell, though he was otherwise uninjured by the +explosion. Wounds through the intestines were to be found here and +there. Such injuries in the larger intestines, if left to themselves and +not operated on, have--when inflicted by the humane Mauser bullet--a +fairly good chance, and that is all that can be said. One man had been +shot through the elbow as he lay at the "present". The bullet had +shattered the bone, but there was every prospect of the arm being saved. +How different would have been the probable effects, in such a case, of +the big Martini bullet! + +One incident which seemed to amuse the men very much was this. During +the Modder River battle a bullet struck a corporal on the back; it +glanced superficially across his shoulder and then piercing his +canteen-tin remained inside. The corporal, imagining himself _in +extremis_, fell to the ground and called for the ambulance. Somebody ran +up to the prostrate man, and after a diligent but fruitless search for +the wound at length discovered the bullet in the canteen-tin. The +apparently moribund corporal, seeing this, instantly recovered, and +leaping briskly to his feet told them to countermand the +stretcher-bearers and pressed forward to the attack with renewed +vigour. + +Just as we left De Aar a train full of Queensland Mounted Infantry was +entering the station _en route_ for the front. The occupants were in the +highest spirits and cheered loudly. "Ah!" said some of our poor fellows, +"we were like that when we went up!" The contrast between the two +trains--there, life and vigour: here, weakness and death--was very +striking. + +So far from being "absent-minded" about their people at home, the +wounded soldiers were continually thinking about their sweethearts, +wives and families. Several soldiers in my ward, _e.g._, had lined their +helmets with ostrich feathers. "My eye," said they, "won't the missus +look fine in these!" One of the reservists asked me: "Do you think I +shall lose my thigh? You see, I want to do the best I can for my family, +and if I do lose my leg I shall be useless, as I work in the pits in +Fife." Another Scotchman, a shoemaker, was full of anxiety about the +future support of his wife and children. "If only my wound," he said +dejectedly, "had been below my knee instead of above it! Because +this"--pointing to the wounded spot--"is just the place I use for my +work." + +Yes! to mix with the rank and file of an army as one of themselves is a +great privilege. One understands them in this way far better than +through the medium of books. Many little acts of unostentatious heroism +are casually spoken of--noble deeds done by humble soldiers who live +without a history and often perish without a memorial--as, for instance, +the devotion of a private at Modder River who applied digital pressure +to the severed artery of a comrade for hours under fire and so saved his +life. Again, the soldier's religion, where it exists, is often very +genuine indeed. Just after the Magersfontein reverse a wounded +Highlander entreated me to find his rosary for him which was hidden +under a pile of accoutrements. On another occasion we picked up on the +floor of the train a piece of paper which proved to be the will of a +poor private, a Roman Catholic, who left "all he possessed" to the +Church. I need not say that this will was forwarded to the proper +quarter. The wounded men too were frequently very grateful for any +little services one could render them, and made us odd little presents +by way of return. One H.L.I. man gave me the badges from his ruined +khaki jacket, and an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander bestowed upon me a +pair of goggles he had taken from the face of a dead Boer. + +By the time we reached Richmond Road the usual influx of private +offerings for the wounded had, as usual, begun. We always left the front +with the ordinary comforts of an ambulance train; by the time we reached +Capetown we looked like a sort of cross between a green-grocer's stall +and a confectioner's shop. We simply didn't know what to do with the +masses of fruit and flowers, puddings and jellies, which the people +along the line forced upon us. These kindly folk--men, women and +children--thrust their various offerings through the windows; then they +peeped through themselves, and the women would say "poor dear" to some +six-foot guardsman, who smiled his thanks or told them how he got hit. +As I say, the train was, by the time we reached Wynberg, simply choked +with luxuries--some of them quite unsuitable for wounded men--a +veritable _embarras de richesses_. We used to begin the journey with +moderation and end it with a species of debauch! But it was most kind +and thoughtful of these colonists all the same. + +By the time we reached Wynberg on 16th December it was quite dark. A row +of ambulance waggons stood ready beyond the platform, and in front of +them a line of St. John's Ambulance men, fresh from England, looking +very spruce and neat. The wounded were speedily conveyed to the waggons +and safely lodged in the hospital. On a former occasion one poor fellow +died at the moment he was being lifted out of the train. My comrades and +myself had had about six hours' sleep in three consecutive nights, and +after we had remade the beds and swept the train we slept soundly. Next +morning we were on duty till twelve, when we were allowed a few hours' +leave. A warm bath and a lunch at the Royal Hotel with a good bottle of +wine was very welcome, and we were all in excellent spirits when the +whistle sounded and we steamed away once more to the north with 600 +miles before us. + +We halted again at De Aar, where we remained till Christmas. The weather +grew hotter and hotter. The whirling dust, the stony plains, the glaring +heat, the evening coolness, the glowing sunsets, the bare rocky hills, +how it all recalled the Sudan! Train after train lumbered by with stores +and guns and ammunition for the front, the whole of this enormous +traffic being run on a single line of rails. Amongst the most +troublesome items to deal with were the mules. Sometimes a mule would +suddenly produce a violent uproar in a waggon by beginning to kick, his +hoof against every mule and every mule's hoof against him. Even if these +beasties were taken out of the waggon to be watered their behaviour was +unseemly. A soldier would with infinite patience marshal the mules in +line with himself, their halters all tied together. The march would then +begin, but within half a dozen yards the mules in the centre would press +forward till the whole thing looked like a Pyrrhic phalanx. The wearied +soldier would then smite the aggressive animals, and, after a few more +strides, the centre mules would hang back while the wings would close +in, and then, as confusion became worse confounded, some of the restless +brutes would commence to roll, and the group finally resembled a sort of +mulish "scrum" with the soldier on his back as football. + +There were, of course, various camp services on Christmas Day: most of +my comrades on the train went to the little Episcopal Church in De Aar. +The Church of England community in this out-of-the-way village numbers +some fifty all told. Nevertheless these churchmen had contrived to build +a pretty little church and their services were very hearty. Officers, +men, and two Red Cross sisters formed the bulk of the congregation and +we listened to a delightful sermonette written and delivered in +excellent style by the good Vicar, an old Corpus man at Oxford. We sang +the old familiar hymns, "While shepherds watched" and "Hark, the Herald +Angels sing," which took our thoughts away to distant homes and +services in England, 7,000 miles away. At the close of the service came +that hymn of prayer, "O God of peace, give peace again;" and as we +walked back to the train a sergeant said to me: "If there is a God who +will listen to prayer, my prayer for peace went straight to Him". I +think he spoke for all of us. Most people who love war for war's sake +are not soldiers. + +Our Christmas dinner was a most gorgeous affair. We were determined to +do everything in the best possible style, and everybody helped. We first +rigged up a trestle table beside the train and stretched a tarpaulin +above it to shelter us from the fierce heat. Three of our number were +then despatched to secure all the green stuff they could for decorative +purposes, and as the good people of De Aar were quite ready to give us +some of their scanty flowers and allow us to dismember their shrubs, our +envoys returned with armfuls of material. The outside of the train and +the surface of the table were gaily decorated, and two photographs of +her Majesty which we had cut out of magazines were framed in leaves and +flowers and bits of coloured paper, the very best we could do! We had +secured an order for some beer and a couple of bottles of whisky, and +when these adjuncts had been duly fetched from the canteen we sat down +to our Christmas dinner. Towards the end of it our kind and deservedly +popular C.O. Captain Fleming, R.A.M.C., paid us a visit, with a civilian +doctor and the two nurses. The Captain made us a little speech and +informed us that the Queen had sent her best Christmas wishes to the +troops. We then cheered her Majesty, and Captain Fleming and Dr. Waters +and the nurses, and our visitors left us to enjoy the rest of the +evening as we liked. + +After various toasts--the Queen, our General, Absent Friends and so +on--several comrades from other corps dropped in and every one was +called upon for a song. It is curious to find the extraordinary +popularity amongst soldiers of lugubrious and doleful songs. The +majority of our songs at that Christmas dinner dealt with graves and the +flowers that grew upon them, on the death of soldiers and the grief of +parents. One song, I remember, was almost ludicrously sad. It told how +a young soldier on active service in the Sudan or some other distant +region hears, apparently by telepathic means, that his mother--the +conventional grey-haired mother--is in some distress. The soldier at +once, without any attempt to secure leave of absence, sets out for +"home" on foot. He is brought back, and, as the excuse about his mother +is very naturally discredited, the deserter is sentenced to be shot. +Just as his lifeless body falls back riddled with bullets the mother +arrives--how, it is not explained--so, as the refrain has it, "The +Pardon comes too late". There were also several pauses in the +conversation for "solos from the band," to wit, a flute and a fiddle. + +After dismantling the marquee and dinnertable we started through the +darkness for Modder River. We had thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas fare, +and K----, a Scotchman, attempted with some success to perform a +sword-dance on two crossed sticks, and when we pulled up at some station +with a Dutch name his fervid patriotism broke loose in an attempt to +address the people on the platform, whom he apostrophised as "rebels" +and threatened with dire vengeance. Our cook was equal to the occasion. +He dragged K---- back and apologised to the aggrieved colonists, +explaining--by a pious fraud--that he was K----'s father and so +responsible for bringing him out that evening. Our gleemen now stepped +into the breach with "Ye Banks and Braes," and we left the station amid +cheers. + +Another of my friends under the excitement of song and mirth frequently +clutched my arm and pointed to imaginary batches of Dutchmen standing +suspiciously near the line and presumably intent on wrecking the train. +These were usually prickly-pear bushes. When we approached Modder River +he exclaimed that we were now within range of the Boer guns, and +accordingly pulled up the windows as a sort of protection against shells +and bullets. + +As we steamed into Modder River station the 4.7 gun called "Joe +Chamberlain" loosed off a Lyddite shell at the Magersfontein trenches. +Some desultory shelling continued on both sides at 7,000 yards, chiefly +in the early morning and evening--a kind of "good day" and "good night" +exchanged between "Joe Chamberlain" and "Long Tom,". During our stay on +this occasion some excellent practice was made on both sides. On the +26th a shell from our gun struck a Boer water-cask and smashed it to +bits; next day a Boer shell fell plump into a party of Lancers and +killed four horses. On another occasion more than fifty shells--so I +heard--fell round the 4.7 gun, and although the gunners were compelled +to seek cover the gun was absolutely uninjured. + +Apart from this interchange of artillery fire the camp was undisturbed. +The trenches were of course manned day and night, but spare time was +filled up to some extent by various games. Goal posts were visible here +and there, and Lord Methuen had offered a challenge cup for "soccer" +football, the ties of which were being keenly contested. + +We took on board a fresh load of sick and wounded men--chiefly the +former--bound for Wynberg hospital. Just before we left I walked a +hundred yards from the line and saw the graves of Colonel Downman, +Lieutenant Campbell, Lieutenant Fox, and a Swede called, I think, Olaf +Nilsen. The graves were marked by simple wooden crosses: those who were +enemies in life lay side by side in the gentle keeping of Death, the +Healer of Strife, for so the Greeks of old time loved to call him. + +Soon after leaving the Modder the sky grew black with clouds, the birds +hid themselves from view and the veldt-cricket ceased from his +monotonous chirrup. Then all at once the storm burst upon us. The +lightning played incessantly and sheets of rain blotted out the kopjes +and the veldt from view. It was in weather like this that our poor +fellows advanced through the darkness upon the Magersfontein trenches! + +At Orange River we halted for some time, and somebody suggested a snake +hunt in the scrub, but no one seemed very keen about this form of sport. +The "ringhals" in the veldt are very deadly. I remember speaking to a +Kaffir about them and asking him if he had known of any fatal bites. He +replied, pathetically enough: "Yes, sah, a brudder of me--two hours, he +was dead--mudder and sister and me was there". + +Near Enslin a most unhappy accident had occurred. A sentry of the +Shropshire had seen two figures advancing in the evening towards his +post, had challenged, and, failing to get the prescribed reply, had +fired off seven bullets into the two supposed Boers, who turned out to +be a sergeant and private of his own regiment. By a miracle both these +wounded men ultimately recovered, but while we were at Enslin we heard +that the poor sentry was absolutely prostrated by grief and horror over +the unfortunate affair. + +At a station lower down a lighter incident took place. A corporal from +our train, a Johannesburg man, in taking a short stroll came across +three Uitlander volunteer recruits. They did not for the moment +recognise their quondam acquaintance in his uniform, so he called +"Halt!" The recruits became rigid. "Medical inspection," cried the +corporal--"Tongues out!" Three tongues were instantly thrust out. +"Salute your general," was the next order. This was too much. In the +middle of a spasmodic attempt at a salute a dubious look began to +spread over the faces of the three victims, which broadened into +certainty as with a yell they leapt upon their oppressor and made him +stand them a drink. + +At Richmond Road we came across a detachment of Cape Volunteers who were +practising the capture of kopjes in the neighbourhood of the line. In +condoling with one of them on the dreariness of the place, he remarked +that they occasionally shot a hare with a Lee-Metford bullet. This is +pretty good shooting if the hare is moving. I remember hearing a Boer +say with apparent _bona fides_ that he invariably shot birds on the wing +with Mauser bullets. Some of his birds must have looked ugly on the +table. + +As we passed through the Karroo somebody remarked that a Cape newspaper +had suggested that our yeomen should ultimately settle in the country +and continue their pastoral life in the veldt-farms of South Africa. +Evidently the journalist who wrote this article imagines that our +gallant yeomen were all tillers of the soil. Even if they were, few +Englishmen will care to exchange the green fields and leafy copses of +England for the solitude of these dreary, sun-baked plains. Moreover, +where is the land to come from for any considerable number of such +settlers? Practically all the land which is worth cultivating in the +colonies of South Africa and the two Republics is already occupied. Even +if we confiscate the farms of those colonial rebels actually and legally +proved to be such, I doubt very much whether the land thus obtained +would provide for more than three or four hundred settlers. Enthusiasts +in England who write to the papers on this topic seem often to take for +granted that the farms of the burghers in the two Republics will at the +close of the war be presented to any reservist or yeoman who wishes to +settle in South Africa. But is there any precedent in modern times for +the confiscation of the private property of a conquered people? Are the +burghers who survive the struggle to be evicted from their farms and +left with their wives and children to starvation? This would be a bad +beginning towards that alleviation of race hatred after the war which +all good men of every political party earnestly desire. There is, it is +true, a certain amount of land owned by the State in the Transvaal, but +if we distribute this _gratis_ to a few hundred individuals we shall be +depriving ourselves of one of the few sources from which a war-indemnity +could accrue to the nation as a whole. + +Nothing, of course, could be more desirable than the planting in South +Africa of a large body of honest, hard-working English settlers with +their wives and families. But there are many difficulties to be overcome +before the idyllic picture of the reservist surrounded by the orchards +and cornfields of his upland farm can be realised in actual fact. The +Dutch farmers of South Africa are as a rule very poor. They rise up +early and take late rest, and eat the bread of carefulness, but their +life is one of constant poverty. If we talk of "improvements" we must +remember that irrigation in such a country is sometimes difficult and +costly, and light railways demand considerable capital. Who is to +provide the money for these? I doubt very much if many Englishmen or +Australians or New Zealanders _who have seen South Africa_ will +exchange their present homes for the dreary and unproductive routine of +an African farm. + +During the latter part of our run the kindly enthusiasm of the colonists +was as much in evidence as ever. Offerings of flowers and delicacies +were again showered upon the wounded. It was amusing to notice how +truculent some of the ladies were. One of them, as she put her welcome +basket through the window, remarked _à propos_ of Kruger, Steyn, etc., +"Yes, bury them all, bury them all!" + +After our sick men had been duly conveyed to the hospital we stayed in +Capetown till the close of the year. A plentiful supply of English +newspapers were lying about in the smoking-room of the hotel and it was +exceedingly painful to read of the violent criticisms passed upon our +Generals. If journalists in England wish to criticise the behaviour of +our Generals, let them do so over their own signature when the war is +over and these servants of the Government can defend themselves fairly. +During the progress of a campaign a General has practically no +opportunity of defending himself against newspaper attacks. Military +success amid the surroundings of a South African campaign is often so +difficult: criticism in Fleet Street is so easy! Very frequently the +same man who cheers wildly at Waterloo and labels the outgoing General's +luggage "To Pretoria" is the first to vituperate the same officer if +amid the vicissitudes of warfare some measure of defeat falls to his +lot. Military success does not depend entirely on the devotion or +capacity of a commander. How cruel were those of the paragraphs which we +read directed against our own General, Lord Methuen--the only British +commander who had, if we except Elandslaagte, won any successes up to +the present. Let the public wait before they so freely condemn a General +who drove back the enemy in three successive engagements. That +Magersfontein was a bad reverse is patent to everybody, but the causes +of that defeat are not nearly so apparent.[C] It is disgraceful that +English newspapers should, during the progress of a campaign, print +letters from soldiers at the front which asperse the character and +conduct of their commanding officers. Publicity of this sort strikes at +the root of military discipline and common fairness too, for the public +can scarcely expect a British General to reply in the public Press to +the letter of a private serving under him! + +The bells of the Cathedral tolled mournfully as the old year died. Would +that its bitter memories could have perished with it! And then from +steeple and steamship, locomotive and factory, a babel of sound burst +forth as sirens and bells and whistles welcomed the birth of 1900. Yet, +as the shrill greetings died away, one heard the tramp of infantry +through the streets. The Capetown Highlanders--a volunteer +battalion--were under arms all that night, as a rising of the Dutch had +been anticipated on New Year's Day. May the new year see the end of this +cruel strife, and the sun of righteousness arise upon this unhappy land +with healing in his wings! As one sits in the dimly-lit wards while the +train tears through the darkness, and nothing breaks the silence save +the groan of a wounded man or the cries of some poor fellow racked with +rheumatic fever--at times like these one thinks of many things, past, +present and future. An ever-deepening gloom of military disaster seemed +to be spreading itself around us--Magersfontein, Stormberg and the +latest repulse on the Tugela, a veritable [Greek: trikumia kakôn]! Of +course, in the long run, we _shall_ and _must_ win. But what afterwards? +Will the vanquished Dutch submit and live in peace and amity with their +conquerors, or will they preserve the memory of their dead from +generation to generation, and cherish that unspeakable bitterness which +they at present feel for England and her people? Verily all these things +lie on the knees of the gods! + + + +ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] Since these lines were written Lord Roberts has personally testified +to the misuse of the white flag in the Paardeberg fighting. + +[B] Cf. _The River War_, by Winston Spencer Churchill, vol. ii., p. 394. +"It is the habit of the boa-constrictor to besmear the body of its +victim with a foul slime before he devours it; and there are many people +in England, and perhaps elsewhere, who seem to be unable to contemplate +military operations for clear political objects, unless they can cajole +themselves into the belief that the enemy is utterly and hopelessly +vile." + +[C] _Cf._ Tacitus, _Agricola_, xxvii.: Iniquissima haec bellorum +condicio est; prospera omnes sibi vindicant, adversa uni imputantur. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of With Methuen's Column on an Ambulance +Train, by Ernest N. 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Bennett. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of With Methuen's Column on an Ambulance Train +by Ernest N. Bennett + +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 Methuen's Column on an Ambulance Train + +Author: Ernest N. Bennett + +Release Date: April 1, 2005 [EBook #15520] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN ON AN *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Louise Pryor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="blockquot"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>The Author's share of the profits +arising from the sale of this book +will be given to Lady Lansdowne's Fund for the Widows and Families of +Officers.</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h1><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN</h1> +<h2>ON AN AMBULANCE TRAIN</h2> + + +<div class="center"><br /><br />BY</div> + +<h2>ERNEST N. BENNETT</h2> +<div class="center">FELLOW OF HERTFORD COLLEGE, OXFORD<br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h4>LONDON<br /> +SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIM.<br /> +PATERNOSTER SQUARE<br /> +1900</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>When I returned from South Africa I had no intention of adding to the +war literature which was certain to be evoked by the present campaign. +But I now publish this simple narrative because it was suggested to me +by a friend that the sale of such a book might perhaps serve to augment +in some measure the Fund established by the patriotism and energy of +Lady Lansdowne and her Committee. Lady Lansdowne has cordially approved +of the suggestion; so I trust that the profits derived from this little +volume may be enough to justify its existence.</p> + +<p>ERNEST N. BENNETT.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="WITH_METHUENS_COLUMN" id="WITH_METHUENS_COLUMN"></a> + <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a> + <a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN ON AN AMBULANCE + TRAIN.</h2> + + +<p>The first view of Capetown from the sea is not easily forgotten. We +sailed into the bay just as the sun was rising in splendour behind the +cliffs of Table Mountain. The houses of the town which fill the space +between the hills and the sea were still more or less in shadow, picked +out here and there by twinkling lights. On the summit rested a fleecy +cloud which concealed the pointed crags and hung from the edges of the +precipice like a border of fine drapery. On the right, groups of +buildings stretched onwards to Sea Point, where the surf was breaking on +the rocks within a few feet of the road; on the left were the more +picturesque suburbs of Rosebank, Newlands and Claremont nestling amid +their woods and orchards; and still further on lay Wynberg, with its +vast hospital, already <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>become a household word in English homes. The +dreary flats of Simon's Bay, where British war-ships lay at anchor, shut +in the view.</p> + +<p>Pleasing as the picture is when seen from the deck of a Castle Liner, +disappointment generally overtakes the voyager who has landed. Capetown +itself has little to boast of in the way of architecture. Except +Adderley Street, which is adorned by the massive buildings of the Post +Office and Standard Bank, the thoroughfares of the town offer scarcely +any attractions. The Dutch are not an artistic race, and the fact that +natives here live not in "locations" but anywhere they choose has +covered some portions of the town's area with ugly and squalid houses. +Nor, as a matter of fact, does the general tone of thought and feeling +in Cape Colony naturally lend itself to aesthetic considerations. Even +the churches fail to escape the influence of a spirit which subordinates +everything else to practical and utilitarian considerations. Can two +uglier buildings of their kind be found in the civilised world than the +English and Dutch cathedrals at Capetown?</p> + +<p><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>Another unpleasant feature of life in Capetown is the misfortune, not +the fault, of the inhabitants in being frequently exposed to the full +fury of the south-east wind. Sometimes for whole days together the Cape +is swept by tremendous blasts, which tear up the sea into white foam and +raise clouds of blinding dust along the streets of the town.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the kindness and generosity of the people are not in any +way lessened by these unpleasant features in their surroundings. The +warmth of colonial hospitality is acknowledged by all travellers, and +may be partly due to that love of the mother country which survives in +the hearts of Englishmen who have never left South Africa, and yet +recognise in the visitor a kind of tie, as it were, between themselves +and old England. Such hospitality blesses him that gives as well as him +that takes, and the host listens with deepest interest to his guest's +chatter about London, or perhaps the country town or village where he or +his forefathers lived in days gone by. Any one who is accustomed in +England to the conventional "<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>Saturday to Monday" or the "shooting week" +in a country house opens his eyes with wonder when he receives a warm +invitation from a colonial to spend a month with him at his house on the +Karroo. And such invitations, unlike those which the Oriental traveller +receives, are uttered in earnest and meant to be accepted.</p> + +<p>Capetown is by far the most cosmopolitan of all our colonial capitals. +Englishmen, Dutchmen, Jews, Kaffirs, "Cape boys" and Malays bustle about +the streets conversing in five or six different languages. There is a +delightful freedom from conventionalism in the matter of dress. At one +moment you meet a man in a black or white silk hat, at another a +grinning Kaffir bears down upon you with the costume of a scarecrow; you +next pass a couple of dignified Malays with long silken robes and the +inevitable <i>tarbush</i>, volubly chattering in Dutch or even Arabic. These +Malays form a particularly interesting section of the population. They +are largely the descendants of Oriental slaves owned by the Dutch, and, +of course, preserve <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>their Moslem faith, though some of its external +observances, <i>e.g.</i>, the veiling of women, have ceased to be observed. I +did my best during a few days' stay at Somerset West to witness one of +their great festivals called "El Khalifa". At this feast some devotees +cut themselves with knives until the blood pours from the wounds, and a +friend of mine who had witnessed the performance on one occasion seemed +to think that in some cases the wounding and bleeding were not really +objective facts, but represented to the audience by a species of +hypnotic suggestion. As, however, my visit to Somerset West took place +during the month of Ramazan there was no opportunity of witnessing the +"Khalifa," which would be celebrated during Bairam, the month of +rejoicing which amongst Moslems all the world over succeeds the +self-mortifications of Ramazan. Even if their external observances of +the usages of Islam seem somewhat lax, the Cape Moslems, I found, +faithfully observe the month of abstinence, and I remember talking to a +most intelligent Malay boy, who was working hard as a mason in the full +glare of the <a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>midday heat, and was touching neither food nor drink from +sunrise to sunset.</p> + +<p>All around were signs and tokens of the war. Large transports lay gently +rolling upon the swell in every direction, and it was said that not less +than sixty ships were lying at anchor together in the bay. H.M.S. +<i>Niobe</i> and <i>Doris</i> faced the town, and further off was stationed the +<i>Penelope</i>, which had already received its earlier contingents of Boer +prisoners. It is very difficult, by the way, to understand how some of +these captives contrived later on to escape by swimming to the shore, +for, apart from the question of sharks, the distance to the beach was +considerable.</p> + +<p>On land the whole aspect of the streets was changed. Every few yards one +met men in khaki and putties. This cloth looks fairly smart when it is +new and the buttons and badges are burnished; but, after a very few +weeks at the front, khaki uniforms become as shabby as possible. No one +who is going into the firing line has any wish to draw the enemy's fire +by the glint of his buttons or his shoulder-badges, and <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>so these are +either removed or left to tarnish. Nor does khaki—at any rate the +"drill" variety—improve its beauty by being washed. When one has +bargained with a Kaffir lady to wash one's suit for ninepence it comes +back with all the glory of its russet brown departed and a sort of limp, +anæmic look about it. And when the wearer has lain upon the veldt at +full length for long hours together in rain and sun and dust-storm his +kit assumes an inexpressible dowdiness, and preserves only its one +superlative merit of so far resembling mother earth that even the keen +eyes behind the Mauser barrels fail to spot Mr. Atkins as he lies prone +behind his stone or anthill.</p> + +<p>As our lumbering cab drove up Adderley Street to the hotel a squadron of +the newly raised South African Light Horse rode past. The men looked +very jaunty and well set up with their neat uniforms, bandoliers and +"smasher" hats with black cocks' feathers. There has never been the +slightest difficulty in raising these irregular bodies of mounted +infantry. The doors of their office in Atkinson's Buildings were +besieged by <a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>a crowd of applicants—very many of them young men who had +arrived from England for the purpose of joining. A certain amount of +perfectly good-humoured banter was levelled against these brand-new +soldiers by their friends, and some fun poked at them about their +riding. Occasionally, for instance, a few troopers were unhorsed during +parade and the riderless steeds trotted along the public road at +Rosebank. But certainly the tests of horsemanship were severe. Many of +the horses supplied by Government were very wild and sometimes behaved +like professional buckjumpers; and it is no easy task to control the +eccentric and unexpected gyrations of such a beast when the rider is +encumbered with the management of a heavy Lee-Metford rifle. Since the +day on which I first saw the squadron in question it has passed through +its baptism of fire at Colenso. The Light Horse advanced on the right of +Colonel Long's ill-fated batteries, and was cruelly cut up by a +murderous fire from Hlangwane Hill.</p> + +<p>Capetown is not well furnished with places of amusement. There is, it is +true, a roomy theatre, <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>whose manager, Mr. de Jong, sent an invitation +to the staff of the "Pink 'Un" to dine with him and his friends at +Pretoria on New Year's Day! How the Boers must have laughed when they +read of this cordial invitation! During the few days which elapsed +before our ambulance train started for the front we paid a visit to the +theatre, but we found the stage tenanted by a "Lilliputian Company," and +it is always tiresome and distressing to watch precocious children of +twelve aping their elders. One feels all the time that the whole +performance scarcely rises above an exhibition of highly-trained cats or +monkeys, and that the poor mites ought all to be in bed long ago. +Nevertheless, this dreary theatre was, in default of anything better, +visited again and again by British officers and others. A friend of mine +in the Guards told me with a sigh that he had actually watched the +performances of these accomplished infants for no less than seven +nights.</p> + +<p>There are several music halls in Capetown. I have visited similar +entertainments in Constantinople, Cairo, Beyrout and other towns of <a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>the +East, but I never saw anything to match some of these Capetown haunts +for out-and-out vulgarity. There was, it is true, a general air of +"patriotism" pervading them—but it was frequently the sort of +patriotism which consists in getting drunk and singing "Soldiers of the +Queen". On one occasion I remember a curious and typical incident at one +of these music halls. Standing among a crowd of drunken and half-drunken +men was a quiet and respectable-looking man drinking his glass of beer +from the counter. One of the <i>habitués</i> of the place suddenly addressed +him, and demanded with an oath whether he had ever heard so good a song +as the low ditty which had just been screamed out by a painted woman on +the stage. The stranger remarked quietly that it "wasn't a bad song, but +he had certainly heard better ones," when the bully in front without any +warning struck him a violent blow in the face, felling him to the +ground. A comrade of mine, a Welshman, who was standing near the victim, +protested against such cowardly behaviour, and was immediately set upon +by some dozen of the audience, who <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>savagely knocked him down and then +drove him into the street with kicks and blows. These valiant +individuals then returned and were soon busy with a hiccuping chorus of +"Rule, Britannia". How forcibly the whole scene recalled Dr. Johnson's +words: "Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of a scoundrel".</p> + +<p>The Uitlander refugees were numerous in Capetown, and the principal +hotels were full of them. Those whom I happened to meet did not seem at +all overwhelmed by their recent oppression, and some of them contrived +out of their shattered fortunes to drink champagne for dinner at a +guinea a bottle. I do not think that the average Johannesburg Uitlander +impresses the Englishman very favourably. Mining camps are not the best +nurseries for good breeding or nobility of character, and one could not +help feeling sorry that gallant Englishmen were dying by hundreds while +some of these German Jews wallowed in security and luxury. Quite +recently an officer overheard a "Jew-boy" loudly declaring in a shop +that "after all, British soldiers were paid to go out and get shot," +etc., and <a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>in a fit of righteous indignation the Englishman seized the +Semite and threw him out of the door.</p> + +<p>English visitors to the Cape who, like myself, wished to contribute our +humble share towards the work of the campaign had several directions in +which to utilise their energies. The Prince Alfred's Field Artillery was +raising recruits, and on the point of leaving for the front for the +defence of De Aar. The Duke of Edinburgh's Rifle Volunteers enlisted men +on Thursday, drilled them day and night, and sent them off on the +Tuesday. This fine corps has, much to its vexation, been almost +continuously employed in guarding lines of communication and protecting +bridges and culverts from any violence at the hands of colonial rebels. +The South African Light Horse has already been mentioned. For those of +us who found it impossible to pledge ourselves for the whole period of +the war, owing to duties at home which could not be left indefinitely, +and who possessed some knowledge of ambulance work, an excellent opening +was found in one of the ambulance corps originated by the <a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>Red Cross +Society under Colonel Young's able and energetic management.</p> + +<p>Having volunteered for service on one of the ambulance trains and been +accepted, I set off with a corporal to Woodstock Hospital to secure my +uniform and kit. The quartermaster who supplied me was justly annoyed +because some mistake had been made about the hour for my appearance, and +when he rather savagely demanded what sized boots I wore, I couldn't for +the life of me remember and blurted out "nines," whereas my normal +"wear" is "sevens". Instantly a pair of enormous boots and a +correspondingly colossal pair of shoes were hurled at me, while, from +various large pigeon-holes in a rack, bootlaces, socks, putties and +other things were rained upon me. I couldn't help laughing as I picked +them up. Here I was equipped from head to foot with two uniform suits of +khaki—which mercifully fitted well—shirts, boots, shoes, helmet, +field-service cap and other minutiae, and the entire equipment occupied +some four minutes all told. What a contrast to the considerable periods +of time often consumed at <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>home over the colour of a tie or the shape of +a collar!</p> + +<p>Shouldering the waterproof kit-bag containing my brand-new garments, and +saluting the irritated officer, I marched off to ambulance train No. 2, +where I speedily exchanged my civilian habiliments for her Majesty's +uniform. The "fall" of my nether garments was not perfect, but on the +whole I was rather pleased with the fit of the khaki, relieved on the +arm with a red Geneva Cross.</p> + +<p>One of the two ambulance trains on the western side is manned entirely +by regulars, the other (No. 2) is in charge of an R.A.M.C. officer, but +the staff under him is composed almost wholly of volunteers. This staff +consists of a civilian doctor from a London hospital attached to the +South African Field Force, two Red Cross nurses from England, a staff +sergeant, two corporals, a couple of cooks and ten "orderlies" in charge +of the five wards.</p> + +<p>Introductions to my comrades followed. We were certainly one of the +oddest collection of human beings I have ever come across. Our <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>pursuits +when not in active service were extremely varied—one of our number was +an accountant, another a chemist, a third brewed beer in Johannesburg, a +fourth was an ex-baker, and so on. We were, on the whole, a very +harmonious little society, and it was with real regret that I left my +comrades when I returned to England. At least four of our number were +refugees from Johannesburg, and very anxious to return. These +unfortunates retailed at intervals doleful news about well-furnished +houses being rifled, Boer children smashing up porcelain ornaments and +playfully cutting out the figures from costly paintings with a pair of +scissors, and grand pianos being annexed to adorn the cottages of Kaffir +labourers. Another member of our little society had a very fair voice +and good knowledge of music, for in the days of his boyhood he had sung +in the choir of a Welsh cathedral; since that time he had practised as a +medical man and driven a tramcar. The weather was very trying sometimes +and J——, our Welsh singer, had acquired an almost supernatural skill +in leaping from the train when it stopped for a couple of minutes, +<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>securing a bottle of Bass and then boarding the guard's van when the +train was moving off. On one of these successful forays I saw J—— send +three respectable people sprawling on their backs as he violently +collided with them in his desperate efforts to overtake the receding +train. The victims slowly got up and some nasty remarks about J—— were +wafted to us over the veldt. We had a couple of cooks. One of them was +an American who had served in the Cuban war, the other a big Irishman +called Ben. The American <i>chef</i>, being the only man out of uniform on +the train, had access to alcoholic refreshments at the stations, which +were very properly denied to the troops, and he rejoiced exceedingly to +exercise his privilege. He could sleep in almost any position, and +generally lay down on the kitchen dresser without any form of pillow, or +slept serenely in a sitting posture with his feet elevated far above his +head.</p> + +<p>We steamed away from the Capetown station in the afternoon. The regular +service had to a large extent been suspended, and here and there +sentries with fixed bayonets kept watch over the <a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>government trains as +they lay on the sidings. If it was thought prudent to guard trains from +any injury in Capetown itself, one can realise the absolute necessity of +employing the colonial volunteers in patrolling the long line of some +600 miles from the sea to Modder River.</p> + +<p>"Queen Victoria's afternoon tea"—as we called it—was served about +five. The two orderlies for the day brought from the kitchen a huge +tea-urn, some dozen bowls, and two large loaves. We supplemented this +rudimentary fare with a pot of "Cape gooseberry" jam, the gift of a +generous donor, and improved the quality of the tea with a little +condensed milk. Fresh from the usages of a more effete civilisation I +did not feel after two cups of tea and some butterless bread that +"satisfaction of a felt want"—to quote Aristotle—which comes, say, +after a dinner with the Drapers' Company in London, and for two nights I +tore open and devoured with my ward-companion a tin of salmon which I +bought from a Jew along the line. But, strange to say, after a few days +of this <i>régime</i>, which in its chronological sequence of meals and its +strange simplicity <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>recalled the memories of early childhood, my +internal economy seemed to have adapted itself to the changed +environment, and after five o'clock with its tea and bread I no longer +wished for more food. Exactly the same experience befalls those +inexperienced travellers in tropical countries who, at first, are +continually imbibing draughts of water, but soon learn the useful lesson +of drinking at meal-time only, and before long do not even take the +trouble to carry water-bottles with them at all.</p> + +<p>Our destination was supposed to be De Aar, but nobody ever knew exactly +where we were going or what we were going to do when we got there. +During a campaign orders filter through various official channels, and +frequently by the time they have reached the officer in charge of a +train others of a contradictory purport are racing after them over the +wires. This sort of thing is absolutely unavoidable. Between the army at +the front and the great base at Capetown stretched some 700 miles of +railway, and over this single line of rails ran an unending succession +of trains carrying troops, food, guns, <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>and last, but by no means least, +tons upon tons of ammunition. The work of supplying a modern army in the +field is stupendous, and the best thanks of the nation are due to the +devoted labours of the Army Service Corps. The officers and men of the +A.S.C. work night and day, they rarely see any fighting, and are seldom +mentioned in the public press or in despatches; yet how much depends +upon their zeal and devotion! Amateur critics at home have frequently +asked why such and such a general has not left strong positions on the +flank and advanced into the enemy's country further afield. Quite apart +from the fearful danger of exposing our lines of communication to attack +from a strong force of the enemy, these critics do not seem to possess +the most elementary idea of what is involved in the advance of an army. +How do they suppose hundreds of heavily laden transport waggons are to +be dragged across the uneven veldt, intersected every now and then by +rugged "kopjes" and "spruits" and "dongas"? Ammunition alone is a +serious item to be considered. Lyddite shells, <i>e.g.</i>, are packed two in +a case: each case weighs <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>100 lb., and I have frequently seen a waggon +loaded with, say, a ton of these shells, and drawn by eight mules, stuck +fast for a time in the open veldt; the passers-by have run up and shoved +at the wheels and so at last the lumbering cart has jogged slowly on. +This load would probably in action disappear in half an hour; and when +one reflects that in one of our recent engagements each battery fired +off 200 shells, it is easy to understand the enormous weight of metal +which has to follow an army in order to make the artillery efficient, +and to realise how unwilling a general is to leave a railway behind him, +and attempt to move his transport across the uncertain and devious +tracks of an unmapped African veldt. Lord Kitchener's successful march +upon Omdurman was only rendered possible by the fact that the army kept +continuously to the railway and the Nile.</p> + +<p>The railway journey northwards is full of interest. Between Capetown and +Worcester the country is well watered and fields of yellow corn +continually meet the eye, interspersed with vines and mealies. Yet here +and there that lack of <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>enterprise which seems to characterise the Dutch +farmer is easily noticeable. Irrigation is sadly neglected and hundreds +of acres which with a little care and outlay would grow excellent crops +are still unproductive.</p> + +<p>Soon after leaving Worcester the line rises by steep gradients nearly +2,500 feet. Right in front the Hex River Mountains extend like a vast +barrier across the line and seem to defy the approaching train. But +engineering skill has here contrived to surmount all the obstacles set +up by Nature. The train goes waltzing round the most striking curves, +some of them almost elliptical. Tremendous gradients lead through +tunnels and over bridges, and the swerving carriages run often in +alarming proximity to the edge of precipitous ravines. What a splendid +position for defensive purposes! Had the present war been declared three +weeks earlier De Aar would have been quite unable to stand against the +Boers, and thus the enemy might with his amazing mobility have made a +swift descent along the railway and occupied the Hex River pass. Out of +this position not all the Queen's <a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>horses and all the Queen's men would +have dislodged him without enormous loss. With the armed support of all +the Dutch farmers from Worcester to the Orange River, a Boer occupation +of this strong position would have been a terrible menace to Capetown +itself. As it is, shots are occasionally fired at trains as they run +northward from Worcester, and as a few pounds of dynamite would wreck +portions of the Hex River line for weeks the government patrols in this +locality cannot be too careful.</p> + +<p>Our first passage through the Karroo was by night, but during the busy +days of service which followed we frequently saw this dreary expanse of +desert in daylight. Some mysterious charm, hidden from the eyes of the +unsympathetic tourist, dwells in the Karroo. The country folk who +inhabit these vast plains all agree that to live in them is to love +them. Children speak of the kopjes as if they were living playmates, and +farmers grow so deeply attached to their waggons and ox teams that Sir +Owen Lanyon's forcible seizure of one in distraint for taxes appeared a +kind of sacrilege in the eyes of the Boers.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>At times nothing can be more unlovely than the stony, barren wilderness +of the Karroo. The Sudan desert with its rocky hills and the broad Nile +between the yellow banks is infinitely more picturesque than this vast +South African plain. Still, at certain periods of the day and year the +Karroo becomes less forbidding to the view. Sometimes after heavy rain +the whole country is covered with a bright green carpet, but in summer, +and, indeed, most of the year, the short scrub which here takes the +place of grass is sombre in tint. Nevertheless cattle devour these +apparently withered shrubs with avidity and thrive upon them. Again, +when the warm tints of the setting sun flood the whole expanse of +desert, there is a short-lived beauty in the rugged kopjes with all +their fantastic outlines sharply silhouetted against the glowing sky. +The farms on the Karroo, and, in fact, generally throughout the more +northern parts of the colony, are of surprising size. It is quite common +to find a Dutchman farming some 10,000 acres. Arable land in the Karroo +is of course very rare, and one would think that the "Ooms" and the +"<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>Tantas" and their young hopefuls would have their time fully occupied +even in keeping their large herds and flocks within bounds. One +continually sees half a dozen ostriches stalking solemnly about a huge +piece of the veldt, with no farm-house anywhere in sight, and it is +difficult to understand how these people contrive to catch their +animals.</p> + +<p>At the lower extremity of the vast Nieuweveld range which shuts in the +Karroo on the west lies the little township of Matjesfontein, a +veritable oasis in the desert. Here lies the body of the gallant +Wauchope who perished in the disastrous attack on the Magersfontein +trenches. The whole line north of this point was patrolled by colonial +volunteers, amongst whom I noticed especially the Duke of Edinburgh's +Rifles, with gay ribbons round their "smasher" hats. Nothing could be +less exciting or interesting than their monotonous routine of work. We +continually came across a little band of, say, twenty or thirty men and +a couple of officers stationed near some culvert or bridge. Their tents +were pitched on a bit of stony ground, with not a trace of vegeta<a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>tion +near it, and here they stayed for months together, half dead from the +boredom of their existence. Nevertheless such work was quite essential +to the success of the campaign, for the attitude of the Dutch colonists +up-country has been throughout the war an uncertain factor, and if these +long lines of communication had been left unprotected it is more than +likely that our "Tommies'" supplies would not have arrived at the front +with unfailing regularity. As it was, shots were occasionally fired at +the trains, and at one spot we passed a curious incident occurred in +this connection. A patrol suddenly came across a colonist who had +climbed up a telegraph post and was busily engaged in cutting the wires. +"Crack" went a Lee-Metford and the rebel, shot like a sitting bird, +dropped from his perch to the ground. On another occasion we heard a +dull explosion not unlike the boom of a heavy gun, and found a little +later that a culvert had been blown up a few miles ahead of us not far +from Graspan. In short, I do not think that the British public fully +realised the danger threatened by any serious and extensive revolt of +the Dutch colonists. Had <a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>the farmers in that vast triangle bounded by +the railway, the coast and the Orange River thrown off their allegiance, +it would have taken many more than 15,000 colonial volunteers to prevent +their mobile commandos from swooping down here and there along this long +line of railway, and utterly destroying our western line of +communication as well as menacing Lord Methuen's forces in the rear. +Whatever may be said or thought of some of Mr. Schreiner's actions, it +is held, and justly held, by level-headed people of both parties at the +Cape, that the continuance in office of the Dutch ministry has +contributed more than anything else to preserve the colony from the +peril of an internal rebellion. For this we cannot be too thankful!</p> + +<p>Signs of animal life in the Karroo are few and far between. There are +scarcely any flowers to attract butterflies, and I never saw more than +four or five species of birds. There was one handsome bird, however, as +big as a crow, with black and white plumage—probably the small bustard +(<i>Eupodotis afroides</i>)—which occasionally rose from among the scrub and +after a brief <a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>flight sank vertically to the ground in a curious +fashion. Sometimes too, at nightfall, a large bird would fly with a +strong harsh note across the stony veldt to the kopjes in the distance. +Of the larger fauna I saw only the springbok. A small herd of these +graceful little creatures were one evening running about the veldt +within 500 yards of the train. On another occasion too, very early in +the morning, one of our two Red Cross nurses was startled by the sudden +appearance of a large baboon which crept down a gully near +Matjesfontein—the only one we ever saw.</p> + +<p>Between Matjesfontein and the great camp of De Aar there is little to +interest or amuse the traveller. The only town which is at all worthy of +the name is Beaufort West, nestling amid its trees, a bright patch of +colour amid the neutral tints of the hills and surrounding country. Here +reside many patients suffering from phthisis, for the air is dry and +warm and the rainfall phenomenally small. But after all what a place to +die in! Rather a shorter and sweeter life in dear England than a cycle +of Beaufort West!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>As we steamed into De Aar the sun had set, and all the ways were +darkened, so, after a vain attempt to take a walk about the camp after +the regulation hour, 9 P.M.—an effort which was checked by the +praiseworthy zeal of the Australian military police—we returned to the +train. Here I was greeted to my amazement by the notes of an anthem, "I +will lay me down in peace," sung very well by our Welsh ex-choir-boy and +two other members of the corps, who nevertheless did not lay them down +in peace or otherwise till the small hours of the morning.</p> + +<p>Next day we rose early, but found that we should have to spend five or +six days at De Aar. This news was not at all pleasant. I have been in +many dreary and uninteresting spots in the world, <i>e.g.</i>, Aden or Atbara +Camp, but I have never disliked a place as much as I did De Aar. The +whole plain has been cut up by the incessant movement of guns, transport +waggons and troops, and the result is that one is nearly choked and +blinded by the dense clouds of dust. Huge spiral columns of sand tear +across the plain over the tops of the kopjes, carrying with them scraps +of <a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>paper and rubbish of all sorts. The irritation produced by the +absorption of this permeating dust into the system militates to some +extent against the rapid recovery of men who suffer from diseases like +dysentery or enteric fever. It travels under doors and through window +sashes, and a patient is obliged, whether he will or no, to swallow a +certain amount of it daily. Nevertheless the South African dust does not +appear to be so bacillus-laden as, <i>e.g.</i>, that of Atbara Camp, which, +amongst other evil effects, continually produced ulceration in the mouth +and throat.</p> + +<p>De Aar lies in the centre of a large plain, shut in on every side by +kopjes. In fact its position is very similar indeed to that of +Ladysmith. The hills on the east and west were always held by pickets +with some field guns belonging to the Royal Artillery and the Prince +Alfred's Artillery Volunteers. A much loftier line of kopjes to the +north was untenanted by the British, but any approach over the veldt +from the north-east was blocked by several rows of shelter trenches and +a strongly-constructed redoubt with wire <a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>entanglements, ditch, and +parapet topped with iron rails. Signallers were continually at work, and +at night it was quite a pretty sight to watch the twinkling points of +the signal lights as they flashed between the tents on the plain and the +distant pickets on the tops of the kopjes. Boers had been seen to the +east and on the west; some at least of the Dutch colonists were in open +revolt; so officers and men were always prepared at a moment's notice to +line the trenches for defence, while the redoubts and the batteries on +the hills were permanently garrisoned.</p> + +<p>Everybody loathed De Aar. With the exception of some feeble cricket +played on some unoccupied patches of dusty ground, and a couple of +shabby tennis courts, usually reserved for the "patball" of the local +athletes of either sex, there was absolutely nothing to do, and we were +too far off Modder River to feel that we were at all in the swim of +things. The heat was sometimes appalling. On Christmas day the +temperature was 105° in the shade, and most people took a long siesta +after the midday dinner and read such odds and ends of literature as +fell into their hands.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>We train people, of course, read and slumbered in one of the wards, +while our comrades under canvas lay with eight heads meeting in the +centre of a tent and sixteen legs projecting from it like the spokes of +a wheel. Mercifully enough scorpions were few and far between at De Aar, +so one could feel fairly secure from these pests. How different it was +in the Sudan campaign, especially at some camps like Um Teref, where +batches of soldiers black and white came to be treated for scorpion +stings, which in one case were fatal. <i>A propos</i> of reading we were +wonderfully well provided with all manner of literature by the kindly +forethought of good people in England. The assortment was very curious +indeed. One would see lying side by side <i>The Nineteenth Century</i>, <i>Ally +Sloper's Half Holiday</i>, and the <i>Christian World</i>. This literary +syncretism was especially marked in the mission tent at De Aar, where +the forms were besprinkled with an infinite variety of magazines and +pamphlets—to such an extent indeed that in some cases the more vivid +pages of a <i>Family Herald</i> would temporarily seduce the soldier's <a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>mind +from the calmer pleasures of Mr. Moody's hymn book, and those who came +to pray remained to read.</p> + +<p>In the evening about 5 o'clock, when the rays of the setting sun were +less vertical and the cool of the evening was not yet merged in the +chill of the night, we sallied out for a stroll. Everybody walked to and +fro and interchanged war news—such as we had!—and mutual condolences +about the miseries of our forced inaction at De Aar. Canteens were +opened in the various sections of the camp, and long columns of +"Tommies" stood with mess-tins, three abreast, waiting their turn to be +served, for all the world like the crowd at the early door of a London +theatre. The natural irritability arising from residence in De Aar, +added to the sultry heat and one's comparative distance from the canteen +counter, frequently caused quarrels and personal assaults in the swaying +column. But those who lost their temper generally lost their places too, +and the less excitable candidates for liquor closed up their ranks and +left the combatants to settle their differences outside. +Non-commissioned <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>officers enjoyed the privilege of entering a side door +in the canteen for their beer, and thus avoided the crush: and one of my +comrades cleverly but unscrupulously secured a couple of stripes somehow +or other and, masquerading as a corporal, entered the coveted side door, +and brought away his liquor in triumph.</p> + +<p>Apart from these liquid comforts, which were, very properly, restricted +in quantity, those of us who possessed any ready money could purchase +sundry provisions at two stores in De Aar. The volunteers were paid at +the rate of 5s. a day, which seems a very high rate of pay when one +remembers that the British soldier, who ran much greater risk and did +more actual fighting, received less than 1s. Of course there were +volunteers here and there like myself who possessed some means of our +own and so thought it right and proper to return our pay to the Widows' +and Orphans' Fund, but nevertheless I fail to see why we should be paid +at this exorbitant rate. The most glaring instances of over-paid troops +were the Rimington Scouts, who actually received 10s. a day and their +rations. <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>One trembles to think of the bill we shall all have to pay at +the close of the campaign!</p> + +<p>The articles most in request at De Aar were things like "Rose's lime +juice cordial," Transvaal tobacco, cigarettes, jam, tinned salmon, +sardines, etc. Now it happened that the entire retail trade of the place +was in the hands of two Jewish merchants. The more fashionable of the +two shops took advantage of our necessities and demanded most exorbitant +prices for its goods. "Lime juice cordial," <i>e.g.</i>, which could be got +for 1s. 6d. or 1s. 3d. in Capetown, was sold for 2s. 6d. and 3s. at De +Aar, and the other charges were correspondingly high. Nemesis, however, +overtook the shopman, for the camp commandant hearing of his evil deeds +placed a sentry in front of the store and so put it out of bounds. He +held out for a couple of days, while his more reasonable if less +pretentious rival flourished exceedingly, but a daily loss of £200 is +too severe a tax on the pertinacity of a Jew, or indeed of anybody, so +the rival tariffs were arranged on similar lines, and the sentry sloped +rifle and walked off. <a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>The mission workers at De Aar—some excellent +people—dwelt in two railway carriages on a siding. There were, I think, +two ladies and a gentleman. They worked exceedingly hard and their +mission tent was generally well filled. It is astonishing what keenness +is evoked by evangelical services with "gospel hymns". We all sang a +hymn like "I <i>do</i> believe, I <i>will</i> believe," with an emphasis which +seemed to imply that the effort was considerable, but that nobody, not +even a Boer commando, could alter our conviction. Many of the +hymns—poor doggerel from a literary point of view—were sung to +pleasing tunes wonderfully well harmonised by the men's voices. Then +there was a brief address by a young man with a serious and kindly face, +and this was succeeded by a series of ejaculatory prayers taken up here +and there by the men. It was a strange and impressive spectacle to see a +soldier rise to his feet, his beard rough and unkempt, his khaki uniform +all soiled and bedraggled, and forthwith proceed to utter a long prayer. +Such prayers were largely composed of supplications on behalf of wives +and families <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>at home, and one forgot the bad grammar, the rough accent +and the monotonous repetition in one's sympathy for these honest fellows +who were not ashamed to pray.</p> + +<p>Would we Churchmen had more enthusiasm and courage in our teaching and +our methods! This was the quality that enabled the infant church to +emerge from its obscure dwelling in a Syrian town and spread all the +world over. It is this warmth of conviction which lent fortitude to the +martyrs of old time, and at this moment breathes valour into our brave +enemies. But where is such vital enthusiasm to be found in the Church of +England? In one of our cathedrals we read the epitaph of a certain +ecclesiastic: "He was noticeable for many virtues, and sternly repressed +all forms of religious enthusiasm". History repeats itself, and for +manly outspeaking on great questions of social and political importance +the laity are learning to look elsewhere than to the pulpit. Oh! for one +day in our National Church of Paul and Athanasius and Luther, men who +spoke what they felt, unchecked by thoughts <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>about promotion and +popularity and respectability. Enthusiastic independence is as unpopular +in religion as it is in politics; and the fight against prejudice and +unfairness is often exceeding bitter to the man who dares to run his +tilt against the opinion of the many. The struggle sometimes robs life +of much that renders it sweet; nevertheless it may help to make history +and will bring a man peace at the last, for he will have done what he +could to leave the world a little better than he found it. These good +mission-folk looked after our physical as well as our spiritual +necessities. They had annexed a small house and garden just opposite +their tent, and here we could buy an excellent cup of tea or lemonade +for one penny, as well as a variety of delectable buns, much in request. +So pressing was the demand for these light and cheap refreshments that +the supply of cups and glasses gave out, and the lemonade was usually +served out in old salmon or jam tins. Very often, after a couple of +hymns and, perhaps, a prayer, we went across and finished up the evening +with a couple of <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>buns and a cup of tea. One of my ambulance comrades, +an ex-baker from Johannesburg, was extremely good in helping on the +success of the refreshment bar, and frequently stood for hours together +at the receipt of custom. The returns were very large. One day, I +remember, they amounted to £22 in pennies: this would mean, I think, on +a low estimate, that something like 1,500 soldiers used the temperance +canteen on that evening. Apart from this enterprising work, private +gifts in the way of fruit occasionally arrived on the scene, and I well +remember one day when almost every "Tommy" one met carried a pine apple +in his hands. In addition to such pleasures of realised satisfaction we +enjoyed the pleasures of anticipation; for was not her Gracious +Majesty's chocolate <i>en route</i> for South Africa? The amount of interest +exhibited in the arrival of these chocolate boxes was amazing. Men +continually discussed them, and a stranger would have thought that +chocolate was some essential factor in a soldier's life, from which we +had, by the exigencies of camp life, been long deprived! As a matter of +fact, port<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>able forms of cocoa are extremely valuable in cases where +normal supplies of food are cut off. Every soldier on a campaign carries +in his haversack a small tin labelled "emergency rations". This cannot +be opened unless by order from a commanding officer and any infraction +of the rule is severely punished. At one end of the oblong tin are "beef +rations," at the other "chocolate rations," enough to sustain a man amid +hard and exhausting work for thirty-six hours. The chocolate rations +consist of three cubes and can be eaten in the dry state; once, however, +I came across a spare emergency tin, and found that with boiling water a +single cube made enough liquid chocolate for ten men, a cup each. People +make a great fuss in England if they don't get three or four meals a +day, but a healthy man can easily fight with much less nourishment than +this. I have seen Turkish troops during the Cretan insurrection live on +practically nothing else than a few beans and a little bread, and on +this meagre and precarious diet they fought like heroes. In the Sudan a +few bunches of raisins will keep one going all <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>day. At the same time, +these things are to some extent relative to the individual. I have known +huge athletic men curl up in no time because they couldn't get three +meals a day on a campaign, whereas others, of half their build and +muscle, may bear privations infinitely better. It is annoying to find +here and there in the newspapers querulous letters from men at the front +complaining that plum puddings and sweetmeats haven't reached them, and +that their Christmas fare was only a bit of bully beef and a pint of +beer. These men don't represent the rank and file of the army a bit. The +English soldier is better fed and clothed and looked after than any +other fighting man in the world, except possibly the American, and the +manly soldier is not in the habit of whining after the fashion of these +letters because he doesn't get quite as good a dinner on the veldt as he +does in the depôt at home.</p> + +<p>The military authorities at De Aar exercised the utmost stringency in +refusing permission to unauthorised civilians to stay in the camp or +pass through it. These regulations were absolutely <a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>necessary. The +country round De Aar was full of Dutchmen, who were, with scarcely an +exception, thoroughly in sympathy with the enemy, and throughout the +campaign, at Modder River, Stormberg, the Tugela, and even inside +Ladysmith and Mafeking spies have been repeatedly captured and shot. +Some of the attempts by civilians to get through De Aar without adequate +authorisation were quite amusing. I remember a particularly nice Swedish +officer arriving one night, equipped after the most approved fashion of +military accoutrements—Stohwasser leggings, spurs, gloves, etc., but +his papers were not sufficient for his purpose, and charm he never so +wisely, the camp commandant politely but firmly compelled him to return +to Richmond Road, which lay just outside the pale of military law. +Another gentleman, well known in England, failed in his first effort to +penetrate the camp on his way northwards, but succeeded finally in +reaching De Aar by going up as an officer's servant!</p> + +<p>The run from De Aar to Belmont is about 100 miles. The ambulance train +arrived there on <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>the evening of the battle, and the staff on board +found plenty of work ready for them. The wounded men were all placed +together in a large goods' shed at the station. They lay as they were +taken from the field by the stretcher-bearers. Lint and bandages had +been applied, but, of course, uniforms, bodies and even the floor were +saturated with blood. Such spectacles are not pleasing, but nobody ever +thinks about the unaesthetic side of the picture when busily engaged in +helping the wounded. "The gentleman in khaki," poor fellow, has often +precious little khaki left on him by the time he reaches the base +hospital. When the femoral artery is shot through one does not waste +time by thinking of the integrity of a pair of trousers—a few rips of +the knife and away goes a yard or two of khaki. If the cases had not +been so sad we should often have laughed at the extraordinary appearance +of some of the men. One soldier, for example, was brought into our train +with absolutely nothing on him except one sleeve, which he seemed to +treasure for the sake of comparative respectability! Wounded men +frequently lose so much blood <a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>before they are found that their clothes +become quite stiff, and the best thing to do is to cut the whole uniform +off them and wrap them in blankets.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it is worth while writing a few words about the general method +pursued in the collection and treatment of our wounded men. In a frontal +attack upon a position held in force by the enemy, our men advance in +"quarter column," or other close formation, till they get within range +of the enemy's fire. They then "extend," <i>i.e.</i>, every man takes up his +position a few paces away from his neighbour, and in all probability +lies or stoops down behind whatever he can find, at the same time +keeping up an incessant riflefire on the enemy. Far behind him, and +usually on his right or left, the artillerymen are hard at work sending +shell after shell upon the trenches in front. Every now and then the +infantrymen run or crawl forward fifty or sixty yards, and thus +gradually forge ahead till within two hundred yards of the enemy, when +with loud cheers and fixed bayonets they leap up and rush forward to +finish off the fight with cold steel.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>Even from this skeleton outline it is easy to see that the wounded in a +battle like Belmont and Graspan are all over the place, though the +motionless forms grow more numerous the nearer we get to the enemy's +lines. Now, strictly speaking, stretcher-bearers ought not to move +forward to the aid of the wounded <i>during the battle</i>. The proper period +for this work is two hours after the cessation of hostilities. But +in almost every engagement of the present campaign our stretcher-bearers +with their officers have gallantly advanced during the progress of the +fighting and attended to the wounded under fire. Such plucky conduct as +this merits the warmest praise. In the non-combatant, who has none of +the excitement bred of actual fighting to sustain him, it requires a +high decree of courage to kneel or stoop when every one else is lying +down, and in this exposed position first to find the tiny bullet +puncture, and then bandage the wound satisfactorily. Many and many a +life has been saved by this conduct on the part of our medical staff, +for if an important artery is severed by a bullet or shell-splinter a +man may easily bleed to death in ten minutes. <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>I have myself on one +occasion in Crete seen jets of blood escaping from the femoral artery of +a Turkish soldier, without being able to render him any assistance. In +short, it is believed that quite three-fifths of those who perish on a +battle-field die from loss of blood. In some cases a soldier may, by +digital pressure or by improvising a rough tourniquet, check the flow of +blood from a wound, but the nervous prostration which accompanies a +wound inflicted by a bullet travelling nearly 2,000 feet a second is so +great, that most men seriously wounded are physically incapable of +rendering such assistance to themselves, even if they understand the +elementary amount of anatomy requisite for the treatment.</p> + +<p>At the same time it is only fair to point out that stretcher-bearers who +advance during an engagement and render this gallant assistance to the +wounded do so entirely at their own risk and must take their chance of +getting hit. Complaints have been from time to time made, by persons who +did not know the circumstances, that our stretcher-bearers have been +shot by the Boers. If this took place during an action no <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>blame can +fairly attach to the enemy, for in repelling an attack they cannot of +course be expected to cease fire because stretcher-bearers show +themselves in front. The hail of bullets comes whistling along—ispt, +ispt, ispt—and everywhere little jets of sand are spurting up. Can we +wonder if now and then a stretcher-bearer is struck down? To put the +case frankly—he is doing a brave work, but he has no business to be +where he is. It is easy to see why the usages of war do not permit the +presence of ambulance men in the firing line. Quite apart from the +serious losses incurred by so valuable a corps, advantage might be taken +by an unscrupulous enemy to bring up ammunition under cover of the Red +Cross.</p> + +<p>It is no easy task in the dark or in a fading light to find the +khaki-clad figures lying prone upon the brown sand. But when the wounded +are discovered the ambulance man finds out as quickly as he can the +position and nature of the wound, and a "first aid" bandage or a rough +splint is applied. The sufferer is raised carefully upon a stretcher or +carried off in an ambulance <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>waggon to a "dressing-station" somewhere in +the rear. If there are not enough stretchers, or the wound is merely a +slight one, the disabled soldier is borne away on a seat made of the +joined hands of two bearers. A second row of ambulance waggons is loaded +from the dressing-station—each waggon holds nine—and goes lumbering +off to the field hospital. Here the men are laid on the ground with +perhaps a waterproof sheet under them and a blanket over them. The +R.A.M.C. officers come round, select certain cases for operation, and +see to the bandaging and dressing of the others. Finally one of the +ambulance trains arrives, about 120 men are packed in it and it steams +off rapidly to some base hospital at Orange River, De Aar, Wynberg or +Rondebosch.</p> + +<p>Any detailed account of Lord Methuen's battles lies outside the scope of +this little volume, and the British public know already practically all +that can be known about the general plan of such engagements as Belmont, +Graspan and Modder River.</p> + +<p>Belmont is an insignificant railway station <a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>lying in the middle of as +dreary a bit of veldt as can well be imagined. A clump of low kopjes run +almost parallel to the railway on the right, and to ascend these hills +our men had to advance over an absolutely level plain devoid of any +cover save an occasional big stone or an anthill (precarious rampart!) +or the still feebler shelter of a bush two feet high. In their +transverse march our men had to cross the railway, and lost considerably +during the delay occasioned by cutting the wire fences on either side to +clear a way for themselves and the guns.</p> + +<p>The Boers did not apparently intend to make any serious stand against +Lord Methuen's column at Belmont. The fight was little else than an +"affair of outposts" on their side and it seems very doubtful if more +than 800 of the enemy had been left for the defence of the position. +Their horses were all ready, as usual, behind the kopjes, and when our +gallant men jumped up with a cheer and for the last 100 yards dashed up +the rough stony slope in front, very few Boers remained. Most of them +were already in the saddle, galloping off to Graspan, their next +<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>position. The unwounded Boers who did remain remained—nearly all of +them—for good; rifle bullets and shrapnel and shell splinters are +deadly enough, but deadliest of all is the bayonet thrust. So much +tissue is severed by the broad blade of the Lee-Metford bayonet that the +chances of recovery are often very slight. As volunteer recruits know +sometimes to their cost, the mere mishandling of a bayonet at the end of +a heavy rifle may, even amid the peaceful evolutions of squad drill, +inflict a painful wound. When the weapon is used scientifically with the +momentum of a heavy man behind it, its effects are terrible. Private St. +John of the Grenadiers thrust at a Boer in front of him with such force +that he drove not only the bayonet, but the muzzle of the rifle clean +through the Dutchman. St. John was immediately afterwards shot through +the head and lay dead on the top of the kopje, side by side with the man +he had killed.</p> + +<p>When our train, after its journey to Capetown, next returned to Belmont, +few signs of the recent engagement were visible. The strands of wire +fencing on either side the line were cut through <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>here and there, and +twisted back several yards where our fifteen-pounders had been galloped +through to shell the retreating Boers. Now and again the eye was caught +by little heaps of cartridge cases marking the spot where some soldier +had lain down.</p> + +<p>Less pleasant reminiscences were furnished by the decomposing bodies of +several mules, and four or five vultures wheeling over the plain. Some +enthusiasts on our train had on the previous journey cut off several +hoofs from the dead mules as relics of the fight. Our under-cook had +secured a more agreeable souvenir of Belmont in the shape of a small +goat found wandering beside the railway. This animal now struts about a +garden in Capetown with a collar suitably inscribed around its neck, and +the proud owner has refused a £10 note for it. Before their abandonment +of the position the enemy had hurriedly buried a few of their dead, but +it is very difficult to dig amongst the stones and boulders, and the +interment was so inadequate that hands and feet were protruding from the +soil. In fact several of our men whose patrol-beat covered <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>this ground +told me it was terribly trying to walk among these rough and ready +graves in the heat of the day.</p> + +<p>Along the whole line from Belmont northwards and to some distance +southwards the telegraph lines had been cut by the Boers. Not content +with severing the wires here and there, they had cut down every post for +miles along the railway. I wondered what the grinning Kaffirs thought of +such a spectacle; here were the white men, the pioneers of +enlightenment, engaged in cutting each other's throats and destroying +the outward signs of their civilisation! Perhaps it is worth mentioning +that native opinion in Cape Colony has, as far as can be judged from the +native journal <i>Imvo</i>, been decidedly against us in the present war. +This is a factor which must be reckoned with as regards the question +whether or no blacks shall be armed and permitted to share in the +fighting. Of course it seems at first sight perfectly fair to give the +Zulus or Basutos the means of defending themselves from cattle-raiding +Boers, but if you once arm a savage <a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>there is a very real danger of his +getting out of control, and Zulus might make incursions into the Free +State or Basutos into Cape Colony. From such things may we be preserved! +There is an intensely strong feeling amongst colonial Englishmen as well +as Dutchmen—much more intense than anything we feel at home—against +the bringing of natives into a quarrel between white men.</p> + +<p>The train soon traverses the distance between Belmont and Graspan. None +can wish to linger on this journey, for the surrounding region is dreary +and forbidding. The everlasting kopje crops up here and there, looking +like—what in fact it is—a mere vast heap of boulders and stones from +which the earth has been dislodged by the constant attrition of wind and +rain. The hillocks in the Graspan district are by no means lofty—none +of them seemed to get beyond a few hundred feet—but beyond Modder River +the big kopje on the right which was seamed with Boer trenches must be, +I should guess, well over six hundred feet from the plain. A large +proportion of the kopjes in this part of <a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>the country have absolutely +flat tops—why, I cannot imagine—and the whole appearance of the +country suggests at once the former bed of an ocean. <i>A propos</i> of +geology, I once in camp came across a sergeant who was surrounded by a +little band of privates, deeply interested in his scientific remarks, +which began as follows: "Now, some considerable time before the Flood, +Table Mountain was at the bottom of the sea, for sea shells are found +there at the present day, etc." It is quite a mistake to suppose that +the soldier cares for none of these things. As a "Tommy" myself I had +some unique opportunities of learning what they talked about and how +they talked, and certainly the subjects discussed sometimes covered a +very big field. I have heard a heated discussion as to the position of +the port of Hamburg, and was finally called on to decide as arbitrator +whether this was a Dutch or German town. Theological discussions were +also by no means infrequent. One of my comrades insisted with a fervour +almost amounting to ferocity upon the reality of "conversion," and was +opposed by another <a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>whose tendencies were more Pelagian, and who went so +far as to maintain that no one would employ the services of a +"converted" man if he could secure one who was "unconverted". The amount +of bad language evoked in the course of this theological argument was +extraordinary. Such acrimonious discussions as these acted, however, as +a mere foil to our general harmony, and a common practice on an evening +when we had no wounded on our hands was to start a "sing-song". The +general tone of these concerts was decidedly patriotic. "God save the +Queen" and "Rule Britannia" were thrown in every now and then, but +seldom, if ever, I am glad to say, that wearisome doggerel "The +Absent-Minded Beggar". It is quite a mistake, by the way, to suppose +that Mr. Kipling's poetry is widely appreciated by the rank and file of +the army. From what I have noticed, the less intelligent soldiers know +nothing at all about Mr. Kipling's verses, while the more intelligent of +them heartily dislike the manner in which they are represented in his +poems—as foul-mouthed, godless and utterly careless of their duties to +<a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>wives and children. I remember a sergeant exclaiming: "Kipling's works, +sir! why, we wouldn't have 'em in our depôt library at any price!" Of +course it would be ridiculous to maintain that many soldiers do not use +offensive language, but the habit is largely the outcome of their social +surroundings in earlier life and is also very infectious; it requires +quite an effort to refrain from swearing when other people about one are +continually doing this, and when such behaviour is no longer viewed as a +serious social offence. As to Mr. Atkins' absent-mindedness I shall have +a word to say later on.</p> + +<p>In addition to the National Anthem and "Rule Britannia," we had, of +course, "Soldiers of the Queen," and a variety of other less known +ballads which described the superhuman valour of our race, and deplored +the folly of any opposition on the part of our enemies even if they +outnumbered us by "ten to one". One of our cook's greatest hits was a +song entitled "Underneath the Dear Old Flag". In order to furnish a +touch of realism the singer had secured a small <i>white</i> flag which +floated on the top of <a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>our train; but he never seemed to realise the +incongruity of waving this peaceful emblem over his head as he thundered +out his resolve "to conquer or to die".</p> + +<p>Just below Graspan Station the Boers had made one of their many attempts +to wreck the line. They had torn up the metals and the sleepers, and a +good many bent and twisted rails lay beside the permanent way. But this +sort of injury to a railway is very speedily set right. In an hour or +two a party of sappers can relay a long stretch of line if no culverts +or bridges are destroyed. Mishaps to the telegraph are still more easily +repaired, and already, side by side with the wreckage of the original +wires, the piebald posts of the field telegraph service ran all along +the lines of communication.</p> + +<p>Here and there Kaffir families sat squatting about their primitive huts, +or kept watch over flocks of goats and sheep. Ostriches stalked solemnly +up to the railway and gazed at the train, and sometimes their curiosity +cost them the loss of a few tail feathers if we could get a snatch at +them through the wire railings. On <a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>one occasion a soldier attempting to +take this liberty with an ostrich was turned upon by the indignant bird, +and a struggle ensued which might have proved serious to the man; he +was, however, lucky enough to get a grip on the creature's neck and +succeeded by a great effort in killing it. Ordinarily, however, the +ostriches, despite an occasional surrender of tail feathers, lived on +terms of amity with our men, and at Belmont they were to be seen walking +about the camp and concealing their curiosity under a great show of +dignity. During the fight one of these birds took up its quarters with a +battery, and watched the whole battle without taking any food, except +that on one occasion when a man lit his pipe the bird suddenly reached +out for the box of lucifers and swallowed it with great gusto.</p> + +<p>It was curious to notice a variety of chalk marks upon some of the ant +hills on the battle-field. The Boers had carefully measured their ground +beforehand, as we did at Omdurman, and knew exactly how to adjust their +sights as we advanced against their position. The battle <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>of Graspan +consisted, as at Belmont, in a frontal attack upon a line of kopjes held +by a much larger force of the enemy than was present at the earlier +engagement. Lord Methuen succeeded in working his way to the foot of the +kopjes, and a final rush swept the Boers away in headlong flight. His +victory would have been much more complete had the cavalry succeeded in +cutting off the enemy's retreat, but this was not done.</p> + +<p>We brought back a load of wounded men from this fight. The corps which +suffered most heavily was the naval brigade, composed of 200 marines and +50 bluejackets. It is worth mentioning the numbers here, because I have +seen several accounts of this fight in which the gallantry of the +"bluejackets" is spoken of in the warmest terms with absolutely no +mention of the marines. Correspondents, some of them without any +previous knowledge of military matters, repeatedly single out certain +regiments and corps for special mention, even when these favoured +battalions have not taken any leading part in the battle. We have, of +course, had the case of the Gor<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>dons at Dargai—who ever hears of any +other regiment popularly mentioned in this connection? Again, at the +battle of Magersfontein the Gordons were not amongst the Highland +battalions which bore the full brunt of that awful fusilade, yet various +English newspapers singled them out for special mention. I speak in this +way not because I am at all lacking in appreciation for the valour and +dash of both Gordons and "bluejackets," but simply because other +regiments who have often done as good or even better work—in special +cases—bitterly resent the unfair manner in which their own achievements +are sometimes slurred over in the press. Needless to say these +thoughtless reports are due almost entirely to journalists and would be +repudiated by none more keenly than the gallant men of the Gordon +Highlanders and the Royal Navy.</p> + +<p>At the battle of Graspan the marine brigade left their big 47 guns in +the rear and advanced as infantry to the frontal attack. At 600 yards +from the Boer lines the order was given to fix bayonets: the brigade +then pushed forward for fifty yards further, when it was met by a storm +<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>of Mauser bullets, which had killed and wounded no less than 120 out of +the 250 before the survivors reached the foot of the kopjes. It is +extremely difficult to clamber up the rough sides of an African kopje. +To do it properly one needs india-rubber soles or bare feet, for boots +cause one to slip wildly about on the smooth, rough stones. By the time +our men had got to the summit of the low ridge the Boers had leapt upon +their horses and were already nearly 1,000 yards away. Our gallant +fellows were out of breath with the arduous climb, and as it is almost +impossible to do much effective shooting when one is "blown," and the +cavalry had not appeared on the scene, the enemy got off nearly scot +free.</p> + +<p>Amongst a number of wounded men brought down by our train from Modder +River was a private of that fine corps, the R.M.L.I., who had, after +passing through the perils of Graspan, suffered an extraordinary +casualty at the Modder River fight. He was standing near one of the 47 +guns which was firing Lyddite shells at the enemy's trenches. Suddenly +the force of the <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>explosion burst the drum of his right ear and, of +course, rendered him stone deaf on that side. He was an excellent +fellow, very intelligent and well informed, and I hope by this time the +surgeons at Simon's Bay naval hospital have provided him with an +artificial ear-drum. This marine had, as said above, come out of the +awful fire at Graspan unscathed, but I counted no less than <i>five</i> +bullet holes in his uniform; two of them were through his trousers, two +had pierced his sleeves, and the other had passed through his coat just +to the left of his heart!</p> + +<p>The kopjes which were ultimately carried by the gallantry of our troops +at Graspan had been subjected to an awful shell fire before the infantry +attack. Nevertheless, the enemy was able to meet the advance with a +rifle fire which swept our men down by scores. On the right of the naval +brigade there was a little group of nineteen men, of these one only +remained! The Boers exhibited here, as elsewhere, the most marvellous +skill in taking advantage of cover. These farmers lay curled up behind +their stones and boulders while shrapnel bullets by thousands <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>rained +over their position, and common shell threw masses of earth and rock +into the air. Then at the moment when the artillery fire was compelled +to cease, owing to the near approach of our infantry, the crafty +sharp-shooters crawled out of their nooks and crannies and used their +rifles with deadly precision and rapidity.</p> + +<p>On this point—the general ineffectiveness of artillery fire when the +enemy possesses good cover—the history of modern warfare repeats +itself. The Russian bombardments of Plevna were quite futile, and +General Todleben acknowledged that it sometimes required a whole day's +shell fire to kill a single Turkish soldier. At the fight round the +Malaxa blockhouse in Crete, at which I was present, the united squadrons +of the European powers in Suda Bay suddenly opened fire on the hill and +the village at its foot. In ten minutes from eighty to one hundred +shells came screaming up from the bay and burst amongst the insurgents +and their Turkish opponents. We all of us—on the hill and in the +village—bolted like rabbits and took what cover we could. The total net +casualties from these <a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>missiles—some of them 6-inch shells—were, I +believe, three, all told.</p> + +<p>Some of those amateur critics at home who write indignant letters about +the War Office labour under a twofold delusion. They frequently ask +indignantly how it is that our guns have been outclassed by those of the +Boers? As a matter of fact in almost every engagement of the present +campaign our artillery has been superior to that of the enemy; but, of +course, the artillery of a defending force, well posted on rising +ground, possesses enormous advantages over that of the assailants, who +have frequently to open fire in open and exposed positions easily swept +by shrapnel fire from guns, which, hidden amid trenches and rocks, are +often well-nigh invisible.</p> + +<p>Another fundamental error in many of the indignant letters about the +alleged defects of our artillery arises from a misunderstanding of the +real value of guns in attacking a fortified position. The most sanguine +officer never expects his shells actually to kill or disable any very +large number of the enemy if they are protected by deep and +well-constructed earthworks. <a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>Of course, if a shell falls plump into a +trench it is pretty certain to play havoc with the defenders, but, when +one considers that the mouth of a trench is some five or six feet wide, +it is easy to realise the difficulty of dropping a shell into the narrow +opening at a range, say, of 4,000 yards. Moreover, some of the more +elaborate Boer trenches are so cleverly constructed in a waving line +like a succession of S's, that even if a shell does succeed in pitching +into one bit of the curve it makes things uncomfortable only for the two +or three men who occupy that portion of the earthwork. No, the real +value of artillery in attack is to shake the enemy and keep down his +rifle fire. If shells are accurately fired the tops of trenches may be +swept by a constant rain of shrapnel bullets, under which the enemy's +riflemen will of necessity suffer when they expose their heads and +shoulders to take aim over the parapet. But even in this case the shell +fire must be extremely accurate if it is to be of any great use. If +shrapnel shells burst well, some thirty yards in front of the enemy, the +force of the bullets released by the explosion is terrific; <a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>if, on the +other hand, the shells burst high up in the air, 150 yards in front, you +might almost keep off the bullets with an umbrella; and one sometimes +hears of these missiles being actually found in the pockets of +combatants. At Omdurman our shells played tremendous havoc with the +dense masses of the enemy; but here the Dervishes advanced to the attack +in broad daylight and over a flat plain absolutely devoid of cover, and +with its "ranges" well known and marked out beforehand.</p> + +<p>In one of our southward journeys with a load of wounded men we passed, a +little below Graspan, through the midst of a swarm of locusts. We pulled +up the windows and so kept the wards free from these clumsy insects. At +one period they seemed to almost shut out the daylight, and it was easy +to realise how unpleasant it would be to meet a flight of locusts when +walking or even riding on horseback. Some odd stories are told about +these creatures. I have heard it gravely stated that occasionally a +train is stopped by the accumulated masses which fall on the metals. My +informant evidently believed that <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>the engine in these cases was +absolutely unable to force its way through the piled up insects, in the +same way as trains are sometimes blocked by gigantic snowdrifts! This, +of course, is ridiculous; what really happens is that the rails become +so greasy from the crushed bodies of the locusts that the wheels can +secure no grip on the metals and spin round to no purpose.</p> + +<p>The attitude of the Boers towards the locust is very quaint. If a swarm +of these insects settles on a Dutchman's land, the owner will not +attempt to destroy them because he regards them as a visitation of +Providence. But I have heard that he does not scruple to modify slightly +the schemes of Providence by shovelling the unwelcome locusts upon any +of his neighbours' fields which may adjoin his own estate!</p> + +<p>On this same journey we pulled up, as usual, for a brief interval at De +Aar, and just opposite our train was a carriage containing seventeen +Boer prisoners, returning to the front. At the battle of Graspan a +number of Boer artillerymen were found with the Geneva Red Cross on +their arms, and it seems pretty clear that these men <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>had deliberately +slipped the badge on the sleeves in order to avoid capture. They were, +of course, at once secured and treated as ordinary prisoners of war. But +in the hurry of the moment, and very naturally under the circumstances, +some seventeen of the Boers who were <i>bonâ-fide</i> ambulance men were +arrested on suspicion and despatched with the crafty gunners to +Capetown. Here they were examined, and when the authorities realised +that they were genuinely entitled to the protection of the Red Cross, +and were not combatants fraudulently equipped with this protective +badge, the seventeen were forthwith sent back to General Cronje. As they +were returning we met them and had a chat with them. Five at least of +the number were Scotchmen or Irishmen; two more of them did not speak, +and I rather think from their appearance that they too were of English +race, and preferred to remain silent. Several of them complained of +ill-treatment at our hands, but I must say their complaints appeared to +resolve themselves into the fact that on their journeys to and from +Capetown their meals had not been quite regular. <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>Three of us gave them +some bread, jam and cigarettes, for which they were extremely grateful. +They wore ordinary clothes much the worse for wear, and told me that +they left their "Sunday" suits at home. On the whole I was most +favourably impressed by these fellows, with one exception. The exception +was a Free-Stater who spoke English volubly. He loudly declared that he +was sick of the war and intended the moment he secured an opportunity to +desert and go home to his farm. I felt rather indignant at this person's +remarks, and with an air of moral superiority I said: "We don't think +any the better of you for saying that; although you are an enemy you +ought to stick to your General, and not sneak away from the front". But +the Free-Stater was not a bit impressed by my rhetoric, and simply said, +"Oh, skittles!"</p> + +<p>Some of the prisoners were from the Transvaal and they seemed to me much +more keen and enthusiastic than their Free State companions, and evinced +no signs whatever of despondency or depression. There was a very +pathetic note in the conversation of one of the Transvaalers, <a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>a mere +boy of seventeen. He said to me in broken English, "It is such a +causeless war. What are we fighting for, sir?" and I referred him for +his answer to three Johannesburg Uitlanders who were standing by. +Accursed as war always is, it is thrice accursed when young boys and old +men are called upon to fight. At present every man in the Republic from +sixteen to sixty years of age is at the front. The authorities intend as +their losses increase to call out children from twelve to sixteen, and +every old man from sixty onwards who can still see to sight a rifle. +Last and most terrible thought of all, it is an undoubted fact that +wives and daughters are everywhere throughout the Republic engaged in +rifle practice! May God preserve us from having to fight against women! +At present entire families are fighting together. I know one Dutch lady +who has no less than six brothers amongst the burghers who have been +fighting round Ladysmith, and another who has already lost four sons in +the war. In one of our engagements a Boer boy of seventeen was struck +down by a bullet; the father, a man of sixty, left <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>his cover and went +to the succour of his son, when he himself was shot, and the two lay +dead, one beside the other.</p> + +<p>A little to the north of the kopjes which formed the scene of the +Graspan engagement lies the station of Enslin. Here one of the pluckiest +fights of the campaign took place. Two companies of the Northamptons +occupied a small house and orchard beside the line. They had thrown up a +hurried earthwork and placed rails along the top of the parapet. In this +position they were suddenly attacked by a force of apparently 500 +Boers—so it was supposed—with one or two field guns. The small +garrison lined their diminutive trenches and succeeded in keeping the +enemy off for several hours; but had not some artillery reinforcements +come up the line most opportunely to their assistance it might have +fared badly with the plucky Northamptons. As it was, the Boers finally +withdrew with some loss. On December 10th we were delayed for some time +at Enslin by an accident and I had a careful look at the position held +by our men in this minor engagement. There was scarcely a <a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>twig or leaf +in the orchard which was not torn by shrapnel and Mauser bullets. The +walls of the house were chipped and pierced in every direction, and one +corner of the earthwork had been carried off by a shell. Yet in the two +companies there were only eight casualties! An almost parallel case was +furnished by Rostall's orchard at Modder River, which was held by the +Boers, and swept for hours by so fearful a fire of shrapnel that the +peach-trees were cut down in every direction and scarcely a square foot +behind the trenches unmarked by the leaden hail. Nevertheless, when the +guns had perforce to cease fire on the advance of our infantry, the +Boers who held the orchard leapt up from behind the earthwork and poured +such a murderous fire upon our men that they were forced to withdraw. It +was the old story over again—that shell fire, unless it enfilades, does +not kill men in trenches.</p> + +<p>As everybody called the river crossed by the railway the Modder, Modder +let it be. Its real name, however, is the Riet, of which the Modder is a +tributary flowing from the north-west and <a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>joining the main stream well +to the east of the line. As a stream the river does not impress the +visitor favourably: its waters were yellow and muddy, and the vegetation +on its banks was thin and scrappy. There are no respectable fish in +either the Modder or the Orange River; even if the fish could see a fly +on the top of the liquid mud, they haven't the spirit to rise at it. +Some of our officers, it was said, had managed to land a few specimens +of a coarse fish like a barbel which haunts these streams, but I should +not think any one, even amid the monotony of camp rations, was very keen +about eating his catch, for a good many dead Boers had been dragged out +of the river. It was, in fact, a rather grisly joke in camp to remark, +<i>à propos</i> of our water supply, on the character of "Château Modder, an +excellent vintage with a good deal of body in it"! There was a tap at +the station, which by the way is some distance north of the river, but +on attempting to fill a bucket I found the tap guarded by a sentry, +because, apparently, the water came from the river and was thought to be +dangerous.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>The water question is always a difficult one in exploring or +campaigning. One can do a certain amount with alum towards rendering the +water less foul. Rub the inside of a bucket with a lump of alum, and in +ten minutes most of the mud sinks to the bottom, and the water is +comparatively clear. But besides producing a nasty flavour in the water, +if used in any quantity, the astringent alum tends to produce +disagreeable effects internally. Of course the only absolute guarantee +against the bacilli of enteric fever or other diseases which may be +admitted into one's system by drinking, is to boil the waters for five +minutes; but it is very provoking, when the thermometer stands at 90° in +the shade, to wait until the boiled water cools, and as it is impossible +to boil a whole river a few thousand bacilli may quite well get into our +food through "washing up".</p> + +<p>The Boers have almost raised trench digging to the level of a fine art, +and on every occasion when their commandants have found it necessary to +withdraw they have had an entrenched position ready for them at some +distance in the <a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>rear. At Modder River the trenches on either side of +the stream were, as far as I saw them, a series of short ditches holding +about six riflemen. These small trenches were separated from each other +in order possibly to avoid that appearance of continuity which would +have rendered their detection more easy to our scouts. In the Modder +River fight a new factor is noticeable. For the first time in the +campaign the Boers fought on level ground. Hitherto their bullets had +come from the summits of the hills, and for this reason had not proved +nearly so effective as a sustained fire from rifles raised, say, about +four and a half feet from the ground. It is of course very much harder +to hit a moving enemy when you aim from above at a considerable angle +than when you merely hold your rifle steadily at the level of his chest +and fire off Mauser cartridges at the rate of twenty a minute. The +enemy's fire was very deadly at the Modder. As Lord Methuen said in his +despatch, it was quite unsafe to remain on horseback at 2,000 yards' +range. The result was that our infantry were compelled to lie prone on +the ground, and, <a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>without being able to do much by way of retaliation, +were exposed for hours to a scathing fusilade from the trenches beside +the river. One poor fellow, of whom I saw a good deal, had been through +the battle despite the fact that he was suffering great pain from +dysentery. He, together with two friends, lay on the veldt for no less +than fourteen hours. They had fortunately descried a slight hollow in +the ground some 500 yards from the Boer trenches, and between them they +"loosed off" quite 1,000 rounds of ammunition. "Well," I asked him, "did +you hit anything?" "I don't think we did," was his reply, "because we +never saw a Boer the whole day." When the enemy are firing smokeless +powder behind their splendidly constructed earthworks they are +practically invisible, a fact born witness to by Captain Congreve, V.C., +in his account of the first reverse at the Tugela. Now of course when +you can't see your enemy you can't very well hit him, so when we clear +our minds of fairy-stories about Lyddite and the universal destruction +wrought by concussion, it seems highly probable that <a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>there is much more +truth in the Boers' returns of their casualties than has been believed +at home. Take, <i>e.g.</i>, the lurid account sent by one of our +correspondents about the awful effects of our shell fire upon General +Cronje's laager. We were told in graphic language of every space in the +laager being torn and rent by the deadly fire of more than fifty field +guns, of the trenches being enfiladed and the green fumes of Lyddite +rising up from the doomed camp. Cronje emerges with a casualty roll of +170 men, and the only inconvenience from our bombardment experienced by +the ladies was the slight abrasion of a young woman's forefinger!</p> + +<p>The fact that so many of our Generals have been struck by bullets during +the campaign would seem to corroborate what I have heard on good +authority, <i>viz.</i>, that some of the best shots in the Transvaal forces +have been told off for long range shooting, and the picking off of our +leaders. One of these fancy shots—a German—was captured in Natal and +told an officer that he was glad to be a prisoner, as he heartily +disliked the task imposed upon him. Some <a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>little distance north of the +Modder bridge is a small white house. Within this was found a Boer lying +on a table stone-dead, with a shrapnel bullet in his skull. His Mauser, +still clutched in his stiffened hands, lay on a tripod rest in front of +him and the muzzle pointed through a vertical slit made in the masonry +of the cottage. Every house in the neighbourhood was more or less +injured by shrapnel, and one of them was the scene of a sanguinary +conflict which was utterly misrepresented by one of the Cape papers. The +misrepresentation was to the effect that at the battle of Modder River +the house in question was occupied by a number of Boer wounded from +Belmont and Graspan in charge of several attendants. It was alleged that +two of the attendants deliberately fired upon our troops, who forthwith +entered the house and bayoneted every occupant, wounded and unwounded +alike, the bodies being afterwards weighted, with stones and thrown into +the river. This terrible story spread like wildfire through the Colony, +and Lord Methuen despatched an official denial of the alleged +circum<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>stances to Capetown. The Boer General never, as far as I am +aware, brought any such charge against our troops, but as it undoubtedly +gained considerable credence in the Colony it is perhaps worth while to +mention the real facts of the case. The house in question was occupied +as an outpost by thirty-six Boers, who fired upon some companies of +British troops. About a dozen of our men, chiefly Argyll and Sutherland +Highlanders with a lieutenant of the Fifth Fusiliers—for an +extraordinary intermingling of various units took place in this +engagement—rushed the house. Two of the Highlanders were shot down but +the rest took a speedy revenge. The thirty-six Boers clubbed their +rifles and fought pluckily, but they were crowded together and could do +little against our bayonets. Every man of the thirty-six perished. "I +didn't like to see it, sir," said one of the Highlanders to me. This is, +of course, a very different story from the disgraceful tale alluded to +above. None of the Boers in the house were wounded before our men +appeared on the scene, and it is clear that the Boer corpses in the +river, with <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>stones tied to their ankles, were put there by their own +comrades.</p> + +<p>Fair-minded and thoughtful men who have followed the events of the +present campaign must long ago have come to the conclusion that +non-official news must frequently be received with great caution. Before +the war began misrepresentation was rife on both sides, and it has +continued ever since. Mr. Winston Churchill may well call South Africa a +"land of lies". Various slanders against ourselves have emanated to some +extent from the Dutch papers in Cape Colony and the Transvaal, but in a +much fuller and more substantial form from the Continental papers, +notably the Parisian Press. On the other hand, our own journalists have +not been altogether free from this taint. Let us take one or two +concrete instances, <i>e.g.</i>, violation of the white flag, firing on +ambulances, the use of "explosive" bullets, looting. Just after the +first reverse at the Tugela, a correspondent wired home that the Boers +were "shooting horses and violating all the usages of civilised +warfare". A man who would write such tomfoolery about horses ought to be +<a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>kept in Fleet Street, and not sent out as a war correspondent; and as +to his sweeping accusations in general, it is worth noticing that he was +publicly and severely rebuked by Sir Redvers Buller, who denied his +statements, and said that it was dishonourable to malign our brave +opponents in this fashion.</p> + +<p>As to the <i>vexata quaestio</i> of the white flag, it seems clear that in +some instances the Boers have used this symbol of surrender in an +absolutely unjustifiable way. Such a misusage of the flag occurred, for +example, at Belmont.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> But, as a Boer prisoner said to me, there are +blackguards in every army, and it is utterly unfair to represent the +whole Boer army as composed of these treacherous scoundrels—who, by the +way, in almost every instance have paid the penalty of their treachery +with their lives. Moreover, a white flag—which is sometimes merely a +handkerchief tied to a rifle—may, in a comparatively undisciplined +force like that of our opponents, be <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>easily raised by a combatant on +one side of a kopje, without being ordered or being noticed by his +officer or the bulk of his comrades. How easily this may happen can be +seen from what occurred amongst our own men at Nicholson's Nek. Here the +white flag was raised, according to the published letter of an officer +present, by a subaltern, without the knowledge and against the wishes of +the officer in command. The officer who raised the flag may quite +well—we do not know the circumstances accurately—have wished to save +the lives of the men immediately round him, or may have been unable to +see what was happening elsewhere on the kopje, and so have imagined that +he and his men alone were left.</p> + +<p>Something very similar to this appears to have happened at Dundee. A +body of Boers standing together raised a white flag when our men +approached and were duly taken prisoners, but the rest of their commando +were, according to Boer accounts, already engaged in retreating with +their guns, and, being either unaware of this unauthorised surrender or +completely ignoring it, continued their flight.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>I have already spoken of the risks incurred by stretcher-bearers and +ambulance waggons which approach close to the firing line. Wounded men +have told me again and again that the Boers at Magersfontein did not +fire wilfully on our ambulance waggons, except when our troops got +behind them in their retreat. Moreover, excitable people in England, who +greedily swallow any story about such alleged occurrences, have probably +the vaguest idea of what a modern battle-field looks like, and of the +enormous area now covered by military operations. It may be extremely +difficult to see a small white or Red Cross flag a long way off. At +Ladysmith, <i>e.g.</i>, one of our guns put a shell clean through a Boer +ambulance, and Sir George White, of course, at once sent an apology for +the mistake. If mistakes occur on one side they may occur on the other. +Reuter's agent at Frere Camp reports on 4th December:—</p> + +<p>"After the evacuation of Dundee the Boers shelled the hospital and the +ambulance until the white flag was hoisted, when their firing ceased. +Captain Milner rode with one orderly into the Boer camp with a flag of +truce, and was told <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>that the Boers could not see the Red Cross flag. +This statement he verified by personal observation."</p> + +<p>As to the use of "explosive" bullets, which makes the "man in the +street" so indignant, it is worth mentioning that, as far as I am aware, +not a single instance of the employment of such a missile came under the +notice of our medical staff with Lord Methuen's column. I do not for one +instant deny that occasionally such bullets may have been fired at our +troops, but it is clear that the utmost confusion prevails about the +nature of these projectiles. The Geneva Convention prohibits the use of +explosive bullets, <i>i.e.</i>, hollow bullets charged with an explosive +which is fired by a detonating cap on coming in contact with a resisting +surface. Now it is almost impossible to render a Mauser bullet +"explosive," owing to its extreme slenderness, so that any explosive +bullets which may have been used by the enemy must have come from +sporting rifles, which are—as all evidence goes to show—extremely rare +in their commandos. Expansive bullets are made by cutting off the +rounded tip <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>of the bullet, scooping out its point, constructing its +"nose" of some softer metal, or simply making transverse cuts across the +end. These missiles are not prohibited by the Geneva Convention: +nevertheless their employment against white men is altogether +unnecessary and reprehensible.</p> + +<p>As to looting, we must not forget that all commandeering of goods on the +part of the enemy has been so described. But, of course, it is perfectly +legitimate according to the usage of modern warfare to seize any +property necessary for an army provided receipts are duly handed over to +the persons from whom the goods are obtained. The Germans invariably +acted in this way during the Franco-Prussian war, and no historian has +ever described them as "savages" for this reason. Of course the wanton +destruction of property which appears to have been perpetrated by the +Boers in Natal is absolutely indefensible.</p> + +<p>If any one on reading the above thinks the writer "unpatriotic" he can +only say that many British soldiers serving their Queen and country are +"unpatriotic" in the same way. I hold no <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>brief for the Boers, and I +feel sure that here and there one may find an unmitigated scoundrel in +their ranks who would fire on white flags, loot houses and use explosive +bullets. On the other hand wounded and captured soldiers have repeatedly +testified to the great kindness shown them by the enemy. In short, I +have invariably found soldiers more generous and fair towards the enemy, +and less disposed to blackguard them recklessly and unjustly, than +newspaper writers and readers. Men who have faced the Boers have learnt +to respect their courage and devotion, and I feel sure that British +officers and soldiers deprecate much of the atrocity talk anent foemen +so worthy of their steel, and however little they may sympathise with +some portions of Dean Kitchin's sermon, they would at any rate desire to +support his wish that the "quarrel should be raised to the level of a +gentlemen's quarrel".<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> Quite recently Lord Methuen spoke like an +<a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>honourable and chivalrous British soldier when he declared that he +"never wished to meet a braver general than Cronje and had never served +in a war where less vindictive feelings existed between the two opposing +armies than in this."</p> + +<p>One more word on a kindred topic and we will leave criticism alone! The +tone adopted by some sections of the Colonial and even British Press +with respect to the religious feeling of the Boers is very painful. Some +correspondents have described with evident glee how Boer prayer-meetings +have been broken up by Lyddite shells. I feel sure that no British +General would think for a moment of deliberately shelling any body of +the enemy assembled for prayer, and the vulgarity and wickedness of such +paragraphs would certainly not commend itself to the best sentiment of +the British army. Again and again the Boers are described in the Press +as "canting hypocrites" or their thanksgivings to God as +"sanctimonious". What right have we as Chris<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>tians to bring such +wholesale charges against our Christian enemies? Several thousand +burghers advanced from Jacobsdal to reinforce Cronje, and as it marched +the entire force sang the Old Hundredth in unison. There is something +splendid and majestic in such a spectacle as this. Let us as Englishmen +fight our best against these men and defeat them thoroughly, but do not +let us sneer at their religious enthusiasm!</p> + +<p>On December 10th, as we were standing on a siding at De Aar, a telegram, +arrived ordering us to leave for Modder River in the morning. We were +delighted at the prospect of getting rid of our enforced inaction at De +Aar. The air was full of rumours about an impending attack on Cronje's +position, and we fully expected to be in time for the fight and probably +to be employed as stretcher-bearers during the battle. Alas! our hopes +were all in vain. Next day, some miles below Modder River, our engine +with its tender suddenly left the metals. The stoker jumped off, but the +engine fortunately kept on the top of the embankment and nobody was +hurt. We none of us knew how or why the <a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>accident had occurred, but one +of the officials suspected very strongly that the rails had been +tampered with.</p> + +<p>At any rate, there we were within a few miles of a big fight, off the +metals and quite helpless! We were all perfectly wild with vexation and +disappointment. But up flew a wire to Modder River for a gang of sappers +with screwjacks. Pending the arrival of their assistance I climbed up to +the top of a neighbouring kopje with a lot of Tasmanians. From this +point the flashes of the guns above Modder River were visible, and the +dull boom of Lyddite was borne to our ears. Methuen's artillery was +still doing its best to avenge or retrieve the disaster of the early +morning. The sappers at length arrived. We all helped—pushing and +digging and lifting—and at length after several hours' delay steamed +off to Modder River, too late for anything, except to wait for the +morning and the wounded. We knew by this time that at 3:30 that morning +the Highland Brigade had made a frontal attack on the Magersfontein +lines and had been repulsed with terrible loss. The accounts which were +<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>vaguely given of the disaster were frightful, but accurate details were +still lacking. Yes, here we were within four miles of the nearest point +of Cronje's lines and we did not know half as much about the fight as +people in Pall Mall 7000 miles away!</p> + +<p>On 12th of December I woke at four. The sun was just beginning to rise +and the raw chill of the night had not yet left the air. In the grey +light a long string of ambulance waggons was moving slowly towards the +camp from the battle-field. Parallel to the line of waggons a column of +infantry was marching northwards, perhaps to reinforce some of our +outlying trenches against a possible Boer attack. I shall long remember +the sight—the column of dead and wounded coming in, the living column +going out, and scarcely a sound to break the silence.</p> + +<p>The wards of the train were all ready for the wounded, so I went off +with a couple of buckets to replenish our water supply. Wounded men are +generally troubled with thirst, and the washing of their hands and faces +always refreshes them greatly. I found the station tap, however, +<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>guarded by a sentry; no water was to be drawn for the use of the +troops, as the pipes—so it was said—came from Modder River, which was +contaminated by the Boer corpses.</p> + +<p>We were soon busy with the wounded Highlanders and well within an hour +we had safely placed some 120 men in our bunks, and some on the floor. I +am afraid the poor soldiers often suffered agony when they were lifted +in or rolled from the stretchers on to the bunks. It was sometimes +impossible to avoid hurting a man with, say, a shattered thigh-bone and +a broken arm in thus changing his position. We however did our best and +lifted them with the utmost care and gentleness, but they often, poor +fellows, groaned and cried out in their cruel pain.</p> + +<p>At 6 P.M. we saw the funeral of sixty-three Highlanders—all buried in +one long trench close to the line. No shots were fired over the vast +grave, but tears rolled down many a bronzed cheek and the bagpipes +played a wild lament. Surely there is no music like this for the burial +of young and gallant men. The notes seem to <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>express an almost frenzied +access of human sorrow!</p> + +<p>Soon after this my old Sudan acquaintance, Frederick Villiers, passed +through the train. He did not recognise me in my uniform and I did not +make myself known to him as he was with an officer and I was only an +orderly. I wonder if he remembers that dreadful night, 31st August, +1898, when we lay side by side in the desert at Sururab, soaked to the +skin from a tropical downpour, and, to make his misery complete, he was +stung in the neck by a large scorpion.</p> + +<p>We ran down to Orange River with our first load of wounded men, and just +as we were crossing the sappers' pontoon bridge over the Modder a trolly +or small waggon broke loose and rushing down the incline in front met +our engine and was broken into matchwood. Most of our cases on this +first run were "severe" or "dangerous". Some of the men had no less than +three bullet wounds, and several were still living whose heads had been +pierced by bullets. During a former journey, after Belmont, poor —— of +the Guards lived for several days with a bullet <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>through his brain; he +was apparently unconscious or semi-conscious and struggled so +desperately to remove the bandages from his head that it took three +orderlies to hold him down. When he died the wounded soldier next him +burst into tears.</p> + +<p>Amongst some cases peculiarly interesting from a medical point of view +was that of a Highlander who had three of his fingers shot off with the +result that his arm and side were paralysed; in another case a bullet +tore its way through and across the crown of a soldier's head and caused +paralysis of the opposite side of the body. Another man had, so it was +said, been hit on the shoulder; the bullet passed right through his body +piercing his lungs and intestines and coming out at the thigh. Yet, +strange to say, the poor fellow was in excellent spirits and complained +only of slight pain in the abdomen.</p> + +<p>There was one death at Magersfontein which seemed especially painful to +ourselves. It was that of a young officer in the Argyll and Sutherland +Highlanders who, after the fight on the Modder, came into our train and +had a kindly <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>word for every one of his wounded men; he walked along the +wards shaking hands with them and giving them little money presents as +he passed. His voice was full of sympathy, and at length he broke down +utterly in his compassion for some of their terrible wounds. His tears +did him credit, and we heard with genuine sorrow that he had fallen at +Magersfontein. So good a man was indeed worthy of a longer life and a +kindlier fate.</p> + +<p>Almost all the wounds inflicted by the Mauser bullets seemed to be quite +clean and healthy, with no signs of suppuration. It has been suggested +that the satisfactory condition of such wounds is partly due to a +species of cauterisation produced by the heat of the bullet. But I +hardly think this can be so, for it is extremely doubtful if a bullet +ever gets hot enough to cauterise flesh. I once picked up a spent +Martini bullet which dropped within a yard or two of where I was +standing; it was quite warm but not nearly hot enough to hurt my bare +hand. A Mauser bullet fired at a fairly close range, say, 500 yards, +travels at such a tremendous velocity that it <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>generally splinters any +bone it meets; on the other hand at long ranges—1,000 yards and +upwards—the bullet frequently bores a clean little hole through the +opposing bone and thus saves the surgeon a great deal of trouble.</p> + +<p>The wounds from shell fire were not numerous in our wards. It seems +likely that if a one-pounder shell from the Maxim-Nordenfeldt hits a man +it is pretty sure to kill him. Some of the wounded men told me how +terrible it was to hear the cries of a comrade ripped to pieces by this +devilish missile.</p> + +<p>The condition of the Highlanders' legs was terrible. Many of the poor +fellows lay in the open for hours—some of them from 4 A.M. to 8 +P.M.—and the back of their legs was, almost without exception, covered +with blisters and large burns from the scorching sun. Very many of those +who had escaped bullet wounds could not, I should think, have marched +ten miles to save their lives. The Highland Light Infantry wore trousers +and their legs were all right. How much longer are we going to clothe +our Highland regiments in kilts on active service? Every man <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>I spoke to +was dead against their use in a subtropical campaign like the present +one. Besides, even as it is, our men have to put up with a compromise in +the matter of kilts which makes their retention almost ridiculous, +<i>i.e.</i>, in order to screen his gay attire from the keen eyes behind the +Mauser barrels every Highlander wears over the tartan a dingy apron of +khaki. The war pictures we occasionally see in illustrated papers of +Scotch regiments charging with flying sporrans are probably drawn in +England. Even when the apron is used, the khaki jacket, the tartan kilt +and the white legs offer a good mark when the wearer is lying on the +ground. At Omdurman I stood with the Seaforths and Camerons in the +firing line and I noticed that they appeared to lose more than any other +battalion.</p> + +<p>On arriving at Orange River we carried our load of wounded to the base +hospital. I wish some of those well-meaning enthusiasts in Trafalgar +Square who clamoured for war could have viewed the interior of these +hospital tents and seen the poor twisted forms lying on the ground in +every direction. What a stupid and brutal <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>thing war is! Certainly the +alleged "bringing out of our nobler qualities" is dearly purchased! If a +superior national type is the outcome of all this death and pain and +misery, War, like Nature, seems at any rate utterly "careless of the +single life"!</p> + +<p>The battle of Magersfontein has been frequently described in the Press +and the main outlines of the fight are already well known to the public. +The Highland Brigade, consisting of the Black Watch, Argyll and +Sutherland Highlanders, Seaforths and Highland Light Infantry, had +dinner on Sunday at 12. They then marched from 2 to 7.30 P.M., when they +bivouacked. They advanced again at 11 P.M. in quarter column through the +darkness, using ropes to keep the direction and formation intact. At +3.30 the order to extend had just been given when a murderous fire was +suddenly poured into the Brigade from the first line of Boer trenches at +the foot of a large kopje. Our men had already seen two red lanterns +burning at either extremity of this entrenched position. All at once the +lamp on the left of the line was ex<a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>tinguished, and this seemed to be +the signal for the Boer riflemen to commence fire. The light was so +bad—in fact there was scarcely any light at all—that it was impossible +to see the foresight of a rifle clearly. How were the Boers able to +discern our approaching columns? One very intelligent boy in the Black +Watch told me that he thought the "wild-fire"—the summer lightning +which plays over the veldt—showed up the approaching troops. Others who +were present stated that the Kimberley flash-light did the mischief, and +a sergeant who marched in the rear of the brigade told me that he could +see the whole line of helmets in front of him illumined by these +electric flashes. Apart from this, it is quite possible that some +treacherous signals from Dutchmen near Modder River camp may have +apprised the Boers of our approach.</p> + +<p>Be this as it may, the first volleys from the opposing trenches swept +through the crowded ranks of the Black Watch with deadly effect. Great +confusion ensued, our men could do little by way of retaliation, +contradictory orders were given, and the Brigade, unable to hold its +ground <a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>under the murderous fire, fell back. The fusilade was fearfully +severe and what added to its severity was its unexpectedness. It is +especially the case in war that the unexpected is terrible. This has +been exemplified again and again. On one occasion during the siege of +Paris a body of Zouaves had fought splendidly all day in a sortie under +a hot fire from the Prussians. They were at length ordered to withdraw +some distance into a hollow which would shield them effectually from the +Prussian shells and bullets. The Zouaves ensconced themselves in this +excellent bit of cover and after their exertions prepared to get a +little rest. Suddenly, to their astonishment, a Prussian shell fell +plump into the hollow, and although it hurt nobody the entire company +leapt to their feet and never stopped until they found themselves within +the ramparts of Paris. Yet these men had faced a deadly fire all day +when they expected it.</p> + +<p>No troops in the world could have done anything in face of the +Magersfontein fire: some of the Highlanders, however, lay down and +maintained their position actually within 200 <a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>yards of the Boer lines +throughout the day. They had scarcely any cover, and if they showed +themselves by any movement they were picked off by the enemy's +sharp-shooters. Several of our wounded told me that they had seen one +Boer, got up in the most sumptuous manner—polished jackboots, silk +neck-cloth and cigar—strolling leisurely about outside the trenches and +firing with extraordinary accuracy at the recumbent figures which dotted +the ground before him.</p> + +<p>As the Brigade fell back various units were, in the darkness +inextricably mixed up, and our losses became more severe as the accuracy +of the enemy's fire increased. The booming of our artillery and the rush +of our shells upon the Boer trenches put fresh heart into our +temporarily disheartened troops, and rallying lines were formed in +various directions. Occasional rushes were made towards the almost +invisible enemy over the slope already thickly dotted with the bodies of +our dead and wounded, and at the close of the disastrous day several +gallant Highlanders were found lying dead across the wire entanglements +within 150 yards of the Boers, riddled <a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>with bullets. The 12th Lancers +dismounted, and at one moment, advanced as infantry right up to the Boer +trenches. Every one I spoke to expressed the warmest admiration for +their coolness and pluck.</p> + +<p>A sergeant in the Black Watch, when all the officers had apparently been +struck down, cried out to the Highlanders near him: "Charge, men, and +prepare to meet your God!" He rushed forward at the head of a few +comrades and fell dead with a bullet through his brain within a yard or +two of the trenches. There is something truly sublime in this man's +devotion to his duty. Many and many an individual act of heroism was +displayed during those awful moments in the semi-darkness when the enemy +opened fire on our crowded battalions. British officers stood upright, +utterly regardless of self, doing their best to rally the shaken troops, +and then falling beneath the pitiless hail of bullets. Later on the +hillside was littered with field-glasses.</p> + +<p>Almost 1,000 yards from the line of kopjes three lines of wire had been +placed, which were cut during our advance, and other entanglements <a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>were +stretched just in front of the trenches. Several men in each company +carried wire-cutters with them, but to stand up and snip through lines +of barbed wire when the Mauser bullets and the deadly shells of the +Pom-Pom gun are tearing up the soil around is perilous work. Some of +these entanglements had already been removed after the bombardment on +Sunday night, for E Company of the Black Watch and a company of the +Seaforths went forward about 7 P.M. in skirmishing order and pulled up +the iron stakes and knocked over three parallel lines of barbed wire.</p> + +<p>Some of the Highland Brigade very sensibly withdrew towards the right of +the Boer position with the idea of outflanking and enfilading the enemy. +They succeeded for some time and actually captured some prisoners, but +were soon afterwards themselves enfiladed and compelled to retire. Eight +men of the Seaforths, however, when the frontal attack failed, retired +towards the left instead of the right and suddenly found themselves, to +their dismay, well inside the enemy's trenches! The Boers took away +their <a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>rifles but forgot their side-arms, whereupon one of the +Highlanders drew his bayonet, leapt to his feet and stabbed the sentry +who was guarding them in the neck. The whole eight then jumped over the +earthwork and decamped, escaping unhurt through the bullets which +followed them from the enraged burghers.</p> + +<p>Many of our wounded lay on the ground from early morning till seven or +eight in the evening, exposed all day to the scorching rays of an almost +tropical sun. Some of the men brought away in the ambulances were, in +fact, suffering from sunstroke, in addition to their wounds, and, as was +said above, the bare legs of the three kilted battalions were terribly +burnt. The Boers were very kind to our wounded. They came out of the +trenches and gave them water. They did not in any case shoot at our +wounded men, but frequently shot at any one who came forward during the +fight to bandage the wounded. The slightest movement, however, of the +<i>bonâ-fide</i> combatants in our ranks drew a hail of bullets from the +trenches. A Scotch sergeant, Gilham by name, a most kindly and +courageous <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>man, noticed that a comrade near him had been shot through +the abdomen. He raised himself up from his recumbent position and began +to bandage the wounded man. "Lie down you —— fool," said the friend; +"can't you see you are drawing the fire?" As he spoke a bullet passed +between Gilham's knees and struck the wounded man. Soon afterwards an +officer called out for a stretcher, so Gilham jumped up and put on his +best "hundred" pace in a slanting run towards the ambulance waggons. +Several other wounded men leapt up and joined him. One of them was +immediately shot through the shoulder, and the good sergeant again +stopped and bandaged him. The Boers had been watching him, and as he +recommenced his devious course they sent two bullets through a bush two +feet in front of him. These small bushes formed very inadequate cover, +and the enemy, taking for granted that men were lying concealed behind +them, fired repeatedly into the shrubs. In one case no less than eight +Highlanders were shot behind one bush.</p> + +<p>I have made no attempt to give a detailed <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>account of the day's +fighting. If I did I should naturally speak of the excellent work done +by the Guards on the right, where the Scandinavian contingent was almost +annihilated, and, later on in the day, by the Gordons, who left their +convoy work on the left and advanced gallantly towards the Boer +position. No praise can be too high for our artillery. It was their +excellent shooting that helped our men to rally after the first shock, +and which ultimately succeeded in driving the Boers from their first +line of trenches. These trenches were admirably constructed in long deep +parallel lines connected at the ends so that a force could advance or +withdraw from any point without being noticed by ourselves. Shell fire +could do little against troops so splendidly entrenched. The Boers, like +the Turks at Plevna, crept under their <i>épaulements</i> while the shells +screamed overhead or swept the parapets with shrapnel bullets, and then, +when this tyranny was overpast, crept out and poured in one of the most +terrific fusilades of the century's warfare.</p> + +<p>When we returned to Modder River with our carriages ready for a fresh +load we found all <a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>our troops and guns back again in camp. The trenches, +however, were manned, and every one on the alert. The armistice to bury +the dead expired on the 13th, and a Boer commando had been sighted to +the west. In a brief interval of leisure I took a short stroll, and I +noticed how much more plentiful tobacco was now than a month ago when a +Mauser rifle was offered for a sixpenny packet of cigarettes. One +soldier told me that he had actually paid three shillings for a single +cigarette.</p> + +<p>We loaded up with 120 fresh cases and steamed off for Capetown. The +armoured train was moving fitfully about as we left, but the poor +thing's energies were rather cramped as the line disappeared about 300 +yards north of the station.</p> + +<p>Just before we crossed the river we saw the two war-balloons floating +above the camp, and our cook informed us with a great show of expert +knowledge that these balloons were absolutely proof against bullets or +even shells, "for," said he, "if anything hits them it rebounds from +them like my fist does from this 'ere pillow". A rather <a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>similar story +was told me by a wounded Highlander. He declared that a pal of his had +been struck in the stomach by a shell at the Modder River fight. "Oh," +said I, "there wasn't much of your poor friend left, I suppose?" "He +wasn't much hurt," was the reply, "though he did spit blood for a few +hours." "Great Scot! what became of the shell?" "Oh," said my informant, +"I didn't notice, but it must have bounced off Bill's stomach." The +soldier quite believed that this marvellous incident had occurred. What +had happened was probably this: a shell had passed so close to the man +that the concussion of the air had "taken his wind" and ruptured some +small blood-vessels. I remember at the capture of Malaxa in Crete that +three insurgents were hurled to the ground by the air pressure of a +Turkish shell which passed within a yard or two of their heads.</p> + +<p>Several of our cases on this downward journey were interesting. Corporal +Anderson of the Black Watch lay in our ward, struck deaf and dumb from +the bursting of a Boer shell, though he was otherwise uninjured by the +explosion. <a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>Wounds through the intestines were to be found here and +there. Such injuries in the larger intestines, if left to themselves and +not operated on, have—when inflicted by the humane Mauser bullet—a +fairly good chance, and that is all that can be said. One man had been +shot through the elbow as he lay at the "present". The bullet had +shattered the bone, but there was every prospect of the arm being saved. +How different would have been the probable effects, in such a case, of +the big Martini bullet!</p> + +<p>One incident which seemed to amuse the men very much was this. During +the Modder River battle a bullet struck a corporal on the back; it +glanced superficially across his shoulder and then piercing his +canteen-tin remained inside. The corporal, imagining himself <i>in +extremis</i>, fell to the ground and called for the ambulance. Somebody ran +up to the prostrate man, and after a diligent but fruitless search for +the wound at length discovered the bullet in the canteen-tin. The +apparently moribund corporal, seeing this, instantly recovered, and +leaping briskly to his feet told them to countermand the +stretcher-<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>bearers and pressed forward to the attack with renewed +vigour.</p> + +<p>Just as we left De Aar a train full of Queensland Mounted Infantry was +entering the station <i>en route</i> for the front. The occupants were in the +highest spirits and cheered loudly. "Ah!" said some of our poor fellows, +"we were like that when we went up!" The contrast between the two +trains—there, life and vigour: here, weakness and death—was very +striking.</p> + +<p>So far from being "absent-minded" about their people at home, the +wounded soldiers were continually thinking about their sweethearts, +wives and families. Several soldiers in my ward, <i>e.g.</i>, had lined their +helmets with ostrich feathers. "My eye," said they, "won't the missus +look fine in these!" One of the reservists asked me: "Do you think I +shall lose my thigh? You see, I want to do the best I can for my family, +and if I do lose my leg I shall be useless, as I work in the pits in +Fife." Another Scotchman, a shoemaker, was full of anxiety about the +future support of his wife and children. "If only my wound," he said +deject<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>edly, "had been below my knee instead of above it! Because +this"—pointing to the wounded spot—"is just the place I use for my +work."</p> + +<p>Yes! to mix with the rank and file of an army as one of themselves is a +great privilege. One understands them in this way far better than +through the medium of books. Many little acts of unostentatious heroism +are casually spoken of—noble deeds done by humble soldiers who live +without a history and often perish without a memorial—as, for instance, +the devotion of a private at Modder River who applied digital pressure +to the severed artery of a comrade for hours under fire and so saved his +life. Again, the soldier's religion, where it exists, is often very +genuine indeed. Just after the Magersfontein reverse a wounded +Highlander entreated me to find his rosary for him which was hidden +under a pile of accoutrements. On another occasion we picked up on the +floor of the train a piece of paper which proved to be the will of a +poor private, a Roman Catholic, who left "all he possessed" to the +Church. I need not say that this will was forwarded to the proper +quarter. <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>The wounded men too were frequently very grateful for any +little services one could render them, and made us odd little presents +by way of return. One H.L.I. man gave me the badges from his ruined +khaki jacket, and an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander bestowed upon me a +pair of goggles he had taken from the face of a dead Boer.</p> + +<p>By the time we reached Richmond Road the usual influx of private +offerings for the wounded had, as usual, begun. We always left the front +with the ordinary comforts of an ambulance train; by the time we reached +Capetown we looked like a sort of cross between a green-grocer's stall +and a confectioner's shop. We simply didn't know what to do with the +masses of fruit and flowers, puddings and jellies, which the people +along the line forced upon us. These kindly folk—men, women and +children—thrust their various offerings through the windows; then they +peeped through themselves, and the women would say "poor dear" to some +six-foot guardsman, who smiled his thanks or told them how he got hit. +As I say, the train was, <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>by the time we reached Wynberg, simply choked +with luxuries—some of them quite unsuitable for wounded men—a +veritable <i>embarras de richesses</i>. We used to begin the journey with +moderation and end it with a species of debauch! But it was most kind +and thoughtful of these colonists all the same.</p> + +<p>By the time we reached Wynberg on 16th December it was quite dark. A row +of ambulance waggons stood ready beyond the platform, and in front of +them a line of St. John's Ambulance men, fresh from England, looking +very spruce and neat. The wounded were speedily conveyed to the waggons +and safely lodged in the hospital. On a former occasion one poor fellow +died at the moment he was being lifted out of the train. My comrades and +myself had had about six hours' sleep in three consecutive nights, and +after we had remade the beds and swept the train we slept soundly. Next +morning we were on duty till twelve, when we were allowed a few hours' +leave. A warm bath and a lunch at the Royal Hotel with a good bottle of +wine was very welcome, and we were all in <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>excellent spirits when the +whistle sounded and we steamed away once more to the north with 600 +miles before us.</p> + +<p>We halted again at De Aar, where we remained till Christmas. The weather +grew hotter and hotter. The whirling dust, the stony plains, the glaring +heat, the evening coolness, the glowing sunsets, the bare rocky hills, +how it all recalled the Sudan! Train after train lumbered by with stores +and guns and ammunition for the front, the whole of this enormous +traffic being run on a single line of rails. Amongst the most +troublesome items to deal with were the mules. Sometimes a mule would +suddenly produce a violent uproar in a waggon by beginning to kick, his +hoof against every mule and every mule's hoof against him. Even if these +beasties were taken out of the waggon to be watered their behaviour was +unseemly. A soldier would with infinite patience marshal the mules in +line with himself, their halters all tied together. The march would then +begin, but within half a dozen yards the mules in the centre would press +forward till the <a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>whole thing looked like a Pyrrhic phalanx. The wearied +soldier would then smite the aggressive animals, and, after a few more +strides, the centre mules would hang back while the wings would close +in, and then, as confusion became worse confounded, some of the restless +brutes would commence to roll, and the group finally resembled a sort of +mulish "scrum" with the soldier on his back as football.</p> + +<p>There were, of course, various camp services on Christmas Day: most of +my comrades on the train went to the little Episcopal Church in De Aar. +The Church of England community in this out-of-the-way village numbers +some fifty all told. Nevertheless these churchmen had contrived to build +a pretty little church and their services were very hearty. Officers, +men, and two Red Cross sisters formed the bulk of the congregation and +we listened to a delightful sermonette written and delivered in +excellent style by the good Vicar, an old Corpus man at Oxford. We sang +the old familiar hymns, "While shepherds watched" and "Hark, the Herald +Angels sing," which took our thoughts <a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>away to distant homes and +services in England, 7,000 miles away. At the close of the service came +that hymn of prayer, "O God of peace, give peace again;" and as we +walked back to the train a sergeant said to me: "If there is a God who +will listen to prayer, my prayer for peace went straight to Him". I +think he spoke for all of us. Most people who love war for war's sake +are not soldiers.</p> + +<p>Our Christmas dinner was a most gorgeous affair. We were determined to +do everything in the best possible style, and everybody helped. We first +rigged up a trestle table beside the train and stretched a tarpaulin +above it to shelter us from the fierce heat. Three of our number were +then despatched to secure all the green stuff they could for decorative +purposes, and as the good people of De Aar were quite ready to give us +some of their scanty flowers and allow us to dismember their shrubs, our +envoys returned with armfuls of material. The outside of the train and +the surface of the table were gaily decorated, and two photographs of +her Majesty which we had cut out of magazines were framed <a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>in leaves and +flowers and bits of coloured paper, the very best we could do! We had +secured an order for some beer and a couple of bottles of whisky, and +when these adjuncts had been duly fetched from the canteen we sat down +to our Christmas dinner. Towards the end of it our kind and deservedly +popular C.O. Captain Fleming, R.A.M.C., paid us a visit, with a civilian +doctor and the two nurses. The Captain made us a little speech and +informed us that the Queen had sent her best Christmas wishes to the +troops. We then cheered her Majesty, and Captain Fleming and Dr. Waters +and the nurses, and our visitors left us to enjoy the rest of the +evening as we liked.</p> + +<p>After various toasts—the Queen, our General, Absent Friends and so +on—several comrades from other corps dropped in and every one was +called upon for a song. It is curious to find the extraordinary +popularity amongst soldiers of lugubrious and doleful songs. The +majority of our songs at that Christmas dinner dealt with graves and the +flowers that grew upon them, on the death of soldiers and the grief of +parents. <a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>One song, I remember, was almost ludicrously sad. It told how +a young soldier on active service in the Sudan or some other distant +region hears, apparently by telepathic means, that his mother—the +conventional grey-haired mother—is in some distress. The soldier at +once, without any attempt to secure leave of absence, sets out for +"home" on foot. He is brought back, and, as the excuse about his mother +is very naturally discredited, the deserter is sentenced to be shot. +Just as his lifeless body falls back riddled with bullets the mother +arrives—how, it is not explained—so, as the refrain has it, "The +Pardon comes too late". There were also several pauses in the +conversation for "solos from the band," to wit, a flute and a fiddle.</p> + +<p>After dismantling the marquee and dinnertable we started through the +darkness for Modder River. We had thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas fare, +and K——, a Scotchman, attempted with some success to perform a +sword-dance on two crossed sticks, and when we pulled up at some station +with a Dutch name his fervid patriotism broke loose in an attempt to +address <a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>the people on the platform, whom he apostrophised as "rebels" +and threatened with dire vengeance. Our cook was equal to the occasion. +He dragged K—— back and apologised to the aggrieved colonists, +explaining—by a pious fraud—that he was K——'s father and so +responsible for bringing him out that evening. Our gleemen now stepped +into the breach with "Ye Banks and Braes," and we left the station amid +cheers.</p> + +<p>Another of my friends under the excitement of song and mirth frequently +clutched my arm and pointed to imaginary batches of Dutchmen standing +suspiciously near the line and presumably intent on wrecking the train. +These were usually prickly-pear bushes. When we approached Modder River +he exclaimed that we were now within range of the Boer guns, and +accordingly pulled up the windows as a sort of protection against shells +and bullets.</p> + +<p>As we steamed into Modder River station the 4.7 gun called "Joe +Chamberlain" loosed off a Lyddite shell at the Magersfontein trenches. +Some desultory shelling continued on both sides <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>at 7,000 yards, chiefly +in the early morning and evening—a kind of "good day" and "good night" +exchanged between "Joe Chamberlain" and "Long Tom,". During our stay on +this occasion some excellent practice was made on both sides. On the +26th a shell from our gun struck a Boer water-cask and smashed it to +bits; next day a Boer shell fell plump into a party of Lancers and +killed four horses. On another occasion more than fifty shells—so I +heard—fell round the 4.7 gun, and although the gunners were compelled +to seek cover the gun was absolutely uninjured.</p> + +<p>Apart from this interchange of artillery fire the camp was undisturbed. +The trenches were of course manned day and night, but spare time was +filled up to some extent by various games. Goal posts were visible here +and there, and Lord Methuen had offered a challenge cup for "soccer" +football, the ties of which were being keenly contested.</p> + +<p>We took on board a fresh load of sick and wounded men—chiefly the +former—bound for Wynberg hospital. Just before we left I walked <a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>a +hundred yards from the line and saw the graves of Colonel Downman, +Lieutenant Campbell, Lieutenant Fox, and a Swede called, I think, Olaf +Nilsen. The graves were marked by simple wooden crosses: those who were +enemies in life lay side by side in the gentle keeping of Death, the +Healer of Strife, for so the Greeks of old time loved to call him.</p> + +<p>Soon after leaving the Modder the sky grew black with clouds, the birds +hid themselves from view and the veldt-cricket ceased from his +monotonous chirrup. Then all at once the storm burst upon us. The +lightning played incessantly and sheets of rain blotted out the kopjes +and the veldt from view. It was in weather like this that our poor +fellows advanced through the darkness upon the Magersfontein trenches!</p> + +<p>At Orange River we halted for some time, and somebody suggested a snake +hunt in the scrub, but no one seemed very keen about this form of sport. +The "ringhals" in the veldt are very deadly. I remember speaking to a +Kaffir about them and asking him if he had known of any fatal bites. He +replied, pathetically enough: "<a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>Yes, sah, a brudder of me—two hours, he +was dead—mudder and sister and me was there".</p> + +<p>Near Enslin a most unhappy accident had occurred. A sentry of the +Shropshire had seen two figures advancing in the evening towards his +post, had challenged, and, failing to get the prescribed reply, had +fired off seven bullets into the two supposed Boers, who turned out to +be a sergeant and private of his own regiment. By a miracle both these +wounded men ultimately recovered, but while we were at Enslin we heard +that the poor sentry was absolutely prostrated by grief and horror over +the unfortunate affair.</p> + +<p>At a station lower down a lighter incident took place. A corporal from +our train, a Johannesburg man, in taking a short stroll came across +three Uitlander volunteer recruits. They did not for the moment +recognise their quondam acquaintance in his uniform, so he called +"Halt!" The recruits became rigid. "Medical inspection," cried the +corporal—"Tongues out!" Three tongues were instantly thrust out. +"Salute your general," was the next order. This was too much. In the +middle of a spasmodic attempt <a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>at a salute a dubious look began to +spread over the faces of the three victims, which broadened into +certainty as with a yell they leapt upon their oppressor and made him +stand them a drink.</p> + +<p>At Richmond Road we came across a detachment of Cape Volunteers who were +practising the capture of kopjes in the neighbourhood of the line. In +condoling with one of them on the dreariness of the place, he remarked +that they occasionally shot a hare with a Lee-Metford bullet. This is +pretty good shooting if the hare is moving. I remember hearing a Boer +say with apparent <i>bona fides</i> that he invariably shot birds on the wing +with Mauser bullets. Some of his birds must have looked ugly on the +table.</p> + +<p>As we passed through the Karroo somebody remarked that a Cape newspaper +had suggested that our yeomen should ultimately settle in the country +and continue their pastoral life in the veldt-farms of South Africa. +Evidently the journalist who wrote this article imagines that our +gallant yeomen were all tillers of the soil. Even if they were, few +Englishmen will care to exchange the green fields and leafy copses of +<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>England for the solitude of these dreary, sun-baked plains. Moreover, +where is the land to come from for any considerable number of such +settlers? Practically all the land which is worth cultivating in the +colonies of South Africa and the two Republics is already occupied. Even +if we confiscate the farms of those colonial rebels actually and legally +proved to be such, I doubt very much whether the land thus obtained +would provide for more than three or four hundred settlers. Enthusiasts +in England who write to the papers on this topic seem often to take for +granted that the farms of the burghers in the two Republics will at the +close of the war be presented to any reservist or yeoman who wishes to +settle in South Africa. But is there any precedent in modern times for +the confiscation of the private property of a conquered people? Are the +burghers who survive the struggle to be evicted from their farms and +left with their wives and children to starvation? This would be a bad +beginning towards that alleviation of race hatred after the war which +all good men of every political party earnestly desire. There <a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>is, it is +true, a certain amount of land owned by the State in the Transvaal, but +if we distribute this <i>gratis</i> to a few hundred individuals we shall be +depriving ourselves of one of the few sources from which a war-indemnity +could accrue to the nation as a whole.</p> + +<p>Nothing, of course, could be more desirable than the planting in South +Africa of a large body of honest, hard-working English settlers with +their wives and families. But there are many difficulties to be overcome +before the idyllic picture of the reservist surrounded by the orchards +and cornfields of his upland farm can be realised in actual fact. The +Dutch farmers of South Africa are as a rule very poor. They rise up +early and take late rest, and eat the bread of carefulness, but their +life is one of constant poverty. If we talk of "improvements" we must +remember that irrigation in such a country is sometimes difficult and +costly, and light railways demand considerable capital. Who is to +provide the money for these? I doubt very much if many Englishmen or +Australians or New Zealanders <i>who have seen South <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>Africa</i> will +exchange their present homes for the dreary and unproductive routine of +an African farm.</p> + +<p>During the latter part of our run the kindly enthusiasm of the colonists +was as much in evidence as ever. Offerings of flowers and delicacies +were again showered upon the wounded. It was amusing to notice how +truculent some of the ladies were. One of them, as she put her welcome +basket through the window, remarked <i>à propos</i> of Kruger, Steyn, etc., +"Yes, bury them all, bury them all!"</p> + +<p>After our sick men had been duly conveyed to the hospital we stayed in +Capetown till the close of the year. A plentiful supply of English +newspapers were lying about in the smoking-room of the hotel and it was +exceedingly painful to read of the violent criticisms passed upon our +Generals. If journalists in England wish to criticise the behaviour of +our Generals, let them do so over their own signature when the war is +over and these servants of the Government can defend themselves fairly. +During the progress of a campaign a General has practically no +op<a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>portunity of defending himself against newspaper attacks. Military +success amid the surroundings of a South African campaign is often so +difficult: criticism in Fleet Street is so easy! Very frequently the +same man who cheers wildly at Waterloo and labels the outgoing General's +luggage "To Pretoria" is the first to vituperate the same officer if +amid the vicissitudes of warfare some measure of defeat falls to his +lot. Military success does not depend entirely on the devotion or +capacity of a commander. How cruel were those of the paragraphs which we +read directed against our own General, Lord Methuen—the only British +commander who had, if we except Elandslaagte, won any successes up to +the present. Let the public wait before they so freely condemn a General +who drove back the enemy in three successive engagements. That +Magersfontein was a bad reverse is patent to everybody, but the causes +of that defeat are not nearly so apparent.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> It is disgraceful that +English newspapers <a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>should, during the progress of a campaign, print +letters from soldiers at the front which asperse the character and +conduct of their commanding officers. Publicity of this sort strikes at +the root of military discipline and common fairness too, for the public +can scarcely expect a British General to reply in the public Press to +the letter of a private serving under him!</p> + +<p>The bells of the Cathedral tolled mournfully as the old year died. Would +that its bitter memories could have perished with it! And then from +steeple and steamship, locomotive and factory, a babel of sound burst +forth as sirens and bells and whistles welcomed the birth of 1900. Yet, +as the shrill greetings died away, one heard the tramp of infantry +through the streets. The Capetown Highlanders—a volunteer +battalion—were under arms all that night, as a rising of the Dutch had +been anticipated on New Year's Day. May the new year see the end of this +cruel strife, and the sun of righteousness arise upon this unhappy land +with healing in his wings! As one sits in the dimly-lit wards while the +train tears through the darkness, and nothing breaks <a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>the silence save +the groan of a wounded man or the cries of some poor fellow racked with +rheumatic fever—at times like these one thinks of many things, past, +present and future. An ever-deepening gloom of military disaster seemed +to be spreading itself around us—Magersfontein, Stormberg and the +latest repulse on the Tugela, a veritable τρικυμία +κακων! Of +course, in the long run, we <i>shall</i> and <i>must</i> win. But what afterwards? +Will the vanquished Dutch submit and live in peace and amity with their +conquerors, or will they preserve the memory of their dead from +generation to generation, and cherish that unspeakable bitterness which +they at present feel for England and her people? Verily all these things +lie on the knees of the gods!</p> + + + + +<div class="center"><br /><br />ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS.<br /><br /></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Since these lines were written Lord Roberts has personally +testified to the misuse of the white flag in the Paardeberg fighting.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Cf. <i>The River War</i>, by Winston Spencer Churchill, vol. +ii., p. 394. "It is the habit of the boa-constrictor to besmear the body +of its victim with a foul slime before he devours it; and there are many +people in England, and perhaps elsewhere, who seem to be unable to +contemplate military operations for clear political objects, unless they +can cajole themselves into the belief that the enemy is utterly and +hopelessly vile."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> <i>Cf.</i> Tacitus, <i>Agricola</i>, xxvii.: Iniquissima haec +bellorum condicio est; prospera omnes sibi vindicant, adversa uni +imputantur.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of With Methuen's Column on an Ambulance +Train, by Ernest N. 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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 Methuen's Column on an Ambulance Train + +Author: Ernest N. Bennett + +Release Date: April 1, 2005 [EBook #15520] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN ON AN *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Louise Pryor and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +The Author's share of the profits arising from the sale of this book +will be given to Lady Lansdowne's Fund for the Widows and Families of +Officers. + + + + + WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN ON AN AMBULANCE TRAIN + + by + + ERNEST N. BENNETT + FELLOW OF HERTFORD COLLEGE, OXFORD + + + LONDON + SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIM. + PATERNOSTER SQUARE + 1900 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +When I returned from South Africa I had no intention of adding to the +war literature which was certain to be evoked by the present campaign. +But I now publish this simple narrative because it was suggested to me +by a friend that the sale of such a book might perhaps serve to augment +in some measure the Fund established by the patriotism and energy of +Lady Lansdowne and her Committee. Lady Lansdowne has cordially approved +of the suggestion; so I trust that the profits derived from this little +volume may be enough to justify its existence. + +ERNEST N. BENNETT. + + + + +WITH METHUEN'S COLUMN ON AN AMBULANCE TRAIN. + + +The first view of Capetown from the sea is not easily forgotten. We +sailed into the bay just as the sun was rising in splendour behind the +cliffs of Table Mountain. The houses of the town which fill the space +between the hills and the sea were still more or less in shadow, picked +out here and there by twinkling lights. On the summit rested a fleecy +cloud which concealed the pointed crags and hung from the edges of the +precipice like a border of fine drapery. On the right, groups of +buildings stretched onwards to Sea Point, where the surf was breaking on +the rocks within a few feet of the road; on the left were the more +picturesque suburbs of Rosebank, Newlands and Claremont nestling amid +their woods and orchards; and still further on lay Wynberg, with its +vast hospital, already become a household word in English homes. The +dreary flats of Simon's Bay, where British war-ships lay at anchor, shut +in the view. + +Pleasing as the picture is when seen from the deck of a Castle Liner, +disappointment generally overtakes the voyager who has landed. Capetown +itself has little to boast of in the way of architecture. Except +Adderley Street, which is adorned by the massive buildings of the Post +Office and Standard Bank, the thoroughfares of the town offer scarcely +any attractions. The Dutch are not an artistic race, and the fact that +natives here live not in "locations" but anywhere they choose has +covered some portions of the town's area with ugly and squalid houses. +Nor, as a matter of fact, does the general tone of thought and feeling +in Cape Colony naturally lend itself to aesthetic considerations. Even +the churches fail to escape the influence of a spirit which subordinates +everything else to practical and utilitarian considerations. Can two +uglier buildings of their kind be found in the civilised world than the +English and Dutch cathedrals at Capetown? + +Another unpleasant feature of life in Capetown is the misfortune, not +the fault, of the inhabitants in being frequently exposed to the full +fury of the south-east wind. Sometimes for whole days together the Cape +is swept by tremendous blasts, which tear up the sea into white foam and +raise clouds of blinding dust along the streets of the town. + +Nevertheless the kindness and generosity of the people are not in any +way lessened by these unpleasant features in their surroundings. The +warmth of colonial hospitality is acknowledged by all travellers, and +may be partly due to that love of the mother country which survives in +the hearts of Englishmen who have never left South Africa, and yet +recognise in the visitor a kind of tie, as it were, between themselves +and old England. Such hospitality blesses him that gives as well as him +that takes, and the host listens with deepest interest to his guest's +chatter about London, or perhaps the country town or village where he or +his forefathers lived in days gone by. Any one who is accustomed in +England to the conventional "Saturday to Monday" or the "shooting week" +in a country house opens his eyes with wonder when he receives a warm +invitation from a colonial to spend a month with him at his house on the +Karroo. And such invitations, unlike those which the Oriental traveller +receives, are uttered in earnest and meant to be accepted. + +Capetown is by far the most cosmopolitan of all our colonial capitals. +Englishmen, Dutchmen, Jews, Kaffirs, "Cape boys" and Malays bustle about +the streets conversing in five or six different languages. There is a +delightful freedom from conventionalism in the matter of dress. At one +moment you meet a man in a black or white silk hat, at another a +grinning Kaffir bears down upon you with the costume of a scarecrow; you +next pass a couple of dignified Malays with long silken robes and the +inevitable _tarbush_, volubly chattering in Dutch or even Arabic. These +Malays form a particularly interesting section of the population. They +are largely the descendants of Oriental slaves owned by the Dutch, and, +of course, preserve their Moslem faith, though some of its external +observances, _e.g._, the veiling of women, have ceased to be observed. I +did my best during a few days' stay at Somerset West to witness one of +their great festivals called "El Khalifa". At this feast some devotees +cut themselves with knives until the blood pours from the wounds, and a +friend of mine who had witnessed the performance on one occasion seemed +to think that in some cases the wounding and bleeding were not really +objective facts, but represented to the audience by a species of +hypnotic suggestion. As, however, my visit to Somerset West took place +during the month of Ramazan there was no opportunity of witnessing the +"Khalifa," which would be celebrated during Bairam, the month of +rejoicing which amongst Moslems all the world over succeeds the +self-mortifications of Ramazan. Even if their external observances of +the usages of Islam seem somewhat lax, the Cape Moslems, I found, +faithfully observe the month of abstinence, and I remember talking to a +most intelligent Malay boy, who was working hard as a mason in the full +glare of the midday heat, and was touching neither food nor drink from +sunrise to sunset. + +All around were signs and tokens of the war. Large transports lay gently +rolling upon the swell in every direction, and it was said that not less +than sixty ships were lying at anchor together in the bay. H.M.S. +_Niobe_ and _Doris_ faced the town, and further off was stationed the +_Penelope_, which had already received its earlier contingents of Boer +prisoners. It is very difficult, by the way, to understand how some of +these captives contrived later on to escape by swimming to the shore, +for, apart from the question of sharks, the distance to the beach was +considerable. + +On land the whole aspect of the streets was changed. Every few yards one +met men in khaki and putties. This cloth looks fairly smart when it is +new and the buttons and badges are burnished; but, after a very few +weeks at the front, khaki uniforms become as shabby as possible. No one +who is going into the firing line has any wish to draw the enemy's fire +by the glint of his buttons or his shoulder-badges, and so these are +either removed or left to tarnish. Nor does khaki--at any rate the +"drill" variety--improve its beauty by being washed. When one has +bargained with a Kaffir lady to wash one's suit for ninepence it comes +back with all the glory of its russet brown departed and a sort of limp, +anaemic look about it. And when the wearer has lain upon the veldt at +full length for long hours together in rain and sun and dust-storm his +kit assumes an inexpressible dowdiness, and preserves only its one +superlative merit of so far resembling mother earth that even the keen +eyes behind the Mauser barrels fail to spot Mr. Atkins as he lies prone +behind his stone or anthill. + +As our lumbering cab drove up Adderley Street to the hotel a squadron of +the newly raised South African Light Horse rode past. The men looked +very jaunty and well set up with their neat uniforms, bandoliers and +"smasher" hats with black cocks' feathers. There has never been the +slightest difficulty in raising these irregular bodies of mounted +infantry. The doors of their office in Atkinson's Buildings were +besieged by a crowd of applicants--very many of them young men who had +arrived from England for the purpose of joining. A certain amount of +perfectly good-humoured banter was levelled against these brand-new +soldiers by their friends, and some fun poked at them about their +riding. Occasionally, for instance, a few troopers were unhorsed during +parade and the riderless steeds trotted along the public road at +Rosebank. But certainly the tests of horsemanship were severe. Many of +the horses supplied by Government were very wild and sometimes behaved +like professional buckjumpers; and it is no easy task to control the +eccentric and unexpected gyrations of such a beast when the rider is +encumbered with the management of a heavy Lee-Metford rifle. Since the +day on which I first saw the squadron in question it has passed through +its baptism of fire at Colenso. The Light Horse advanced on the right of +Colonel Long's ill-fated batteries, and was cruelly cut up by a +murderous fire from Hlangwane Hill. + +Capetown is not well furnished with places of amusement. There is, it is +true, a roomy theatre, whose manager, Mr. de Jong, sent an invitation +to the staff of the "Pink 'Un" to dine with him and his friends at +Pretoria on New Year's Day! How the Boers must have laughed when they +read of this cordial invitation! During the few days which elapsed +before our ambulance train started for the front we paid a visit to the +theatre, but we found the stage tenanted by a "Lilliputian Company," and +it is always tiresome and distressing to watch precocious children of +twelve aping their elders. One feels all the time that the whole +performance scarcely rises above an exhibition of highly-trained cats or +monkeys, and that the poor mites ought all to be in bed long ago. +Nevertheless, this dreary theatre was, in default of anything better, +visited again and again by British officers and others. A friend of mine +in the Guards told me with a sigh that he had actually watched the +performances of these accomplished infants for no less than seven +nights. + +There are several music halls in Capetown. I have visited similar +entertainments in Constantinople, Cairo, Beyrout and other towns of the +East, but I never saw anything to match some of these Capetown haunts +for out-and-out vulgarity. There was, it is true, a general air of +"patriotism" pervading them--but it was frequently the sort of +patriotism which consists in getting drunk and singing "Soldiers of the +Queen". On one occasion I remember a curious and typical incident at one +of these music halls. Standing among a crowd of drunken and half-drunken +men was a quiet and respectable-looking man drinking his glass of beer +from the counter. One of the _habitues_ of the place suddenly addressed +him, and demanded with an oath whether he had ever heard so good a song +as the low ditty which had just been screamed out by a painted woman on +the stage. The stranger remarked quietly that it "wasn't a bad song, but +he had certainly heard better ones," when the bully in front without any +warning struck him a violent blow in the face, felling him to the +ground. A comrade of mine, a Welshman, who was standing near the victim, +protested against such cowardly behaviour, and was immediately set upon +by some dozen of the audience, who savagely knocked him down and then +drove him into the street with kicks and blows. These valiant +individuals then returned and were soon busy with a hiccuping chorus of +"Rule, Britannia". How forcibly the whole scene recalled Dr. Johnson's +words: "Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of a scoundrel". + +The Uitlander refugees were numerous in Capetown, and the principal +hotels were full of them. Those whom I happened to meet did not seem at +all overwhelmed by their recent oppression, and some of them contrived +out of their shattered fortunes to drink champagne for dinner at a +guinea a bottle. I do not think that the average Johannesburg Uitlander +impresses the Englishman very favourably. Mining camps are not the best +nurseries for good breeding or nobility of character, and one could not +help feeling sorry that gallant Englishmen were dying by hundreds while +some of these German Jews wallowed in security and luxury. Quite +recently an officer overheard a "Jew-boy" loudly declaring in a shop +that "after all, British soldiers were paid to go out and get shot," +etc., and in a fit of righteous indignation the Englishman seized the +Semite and threw him out of the door. + +English visitors to the Cape who, like myself, wished to contribute our +humble share towards the work of the campaign had several directions in +which to utilise their energies. The Prince Alfred's Field Artillery was +raising recruits, and on the point of leaving for the front for the +defence of De Aar. The Duke of Edinburgh's Rifle Volunteers enlisted men +on Thursday, drilled them day and night, and sent them off on the +Tuesday. This fine corps has, much to its vexation, been almost +continuously employed in guarding lines of communication and protecting +bridges and culverts from any violence at the hands of colonial rebels. +The South African Light Horse has already been mentioned. For those of +us who found it impossible to pledge ourselves for the whole period of +the war, owing to duties at home which could not be left indefinitely, +and who possessed some knowledge of ambulance work, an excellent opening +was found in one of the ambulance corps originated by the Red Cross +Society under Colonel Young's able and energetic management. + +Having volunteered for service on one of the ambulance trains and been +accepted, I set off with a corporal to Woodstock Hospital to secure my +uniform and kit. The quartermaster who supplied me was justly annoyed +because some mistake had been made about the hour for my appearance, and +when he rather savagely demanded what sized boots I wore, I couldn't for +the life of me remember and blurted out "nines," whereas my normal +"wear" is "sevens". Instantly a pair of enormous boots and a +correspondingly colossal pair of shoes were hurled at me, while, from +various large pigeon-holes in a rack, bootlaces, socks, putties and +other things were rained upon me. I couldn't help laughing as I picked +them up. Here I was equipped from head to foot with two uniform suits of +khaki--which mercifully fitted well--shirts, boots, shoes, helmet, +field-service cap and other minutiae, and the entire equipment occupied +some four minutes all told. What a contrast to the considerable periods +of time often consumed at home over the colour of a tie or the shape of +a collar! + +Shouldering the waterproof kit-bag containing my brand-new garments, and +saluting the irritated officer, I marched off to ambulance train No. 2, +where I speedily exchanged my civilian habiliments for her Majesty's +uniform. The "fall" of my nether garments was not perfect, but on the +whole I was rather pleased with the fit of the khaki, relieved on the +arm with a red Geneva Cross. + +One of the two ambulance trains on the western side is manned entirely +by regulars, the other (No. 2) is in charge of an R.A.M.C. officer, but +the staff under him is composed almost wholly of volunteers. This staff +consists of a civilian doctor from a London hospital attached to the +South African Field Force, two Red Cross nurses from England, a staff +sergeant, two corporals, a couple of cooks and ten "orderlies" in charge +of the five wards. + +Introductions to my comrades followed. We were certainly one of the +oddest collection of human beings I have ever come across. Our pursuits +when not in active service were extremely varied--one of our number was +an accountant, another a chemist, a third brewed beer in Johannesburg, a +fourth was an ex-baker, and so on. We were, on the whole, a very +harmonious little society, and it was with real regret that I left my +comrades when I returned to England. At least four of our number were +refugees from Johannesburg, and very anxious to return. These +unfortunates retailed at intervals doleful news about well-furnished +houses being rifled, Boer children smashing up porcelain ornaments and +playfully cutting out the figures from costly paintings with a pair of +scissors, and grand pianos being annexed to adorn the cottages of Kaffir +labourers. Another member of our little society had a very fair voice +and good knowledge of music, for in the days of his boyhood he had sung +in the choir of a Welsh cathedral; since that time he had practised as a +medical man and driven a tramcar. The weather was very trying sometimes +and J----, our Welsh singer, had acquired an almost supernatural skill +in leaping from the train when it stopped for a couple of minutes, +securing a bottle of Bass and then boarding the guard's van when the +train was moving off. On one of these successful forays I saw J---- send +three respectable people sprawling on their backs as he violently +collided with them in his desperate efforts to overtake the receding +train. The victims slowly got up and some nasty remarks about J---- were +wafted to us over the veldt. We had a couple of cooks. One of them was +an American who had served in the Cuban war, the other a big Irishman +called Ben. The American _chef_, being the only man out of uniform on +the train, had access to alcoholic refreshments at the stations, which +were very properly denied to the troops, and he rejoiced exceedingly to +exercise his privilege. He could sleep in almost any position, and +generally lay down on the kitchen dresser without any form of pillow, or +slept serenely in a sitting posture with his feet elevated far above his +head. + +We steamed away from the Capetown station in the afternoon. The regular +service had to a large extent been suspended, and here and there +sentries with fixed bayonets kept watch over the government trains as +they lay on the sidings. If it was thought prudent to guard trains from +any injury in Capetown itself, one can realise the absolute necessity of +employing the colonial volunteers in patrolling the long line of some +600 miles from the sea to Modder River. + +"Queen Victoria's afternoon tea"--as we called it--was served about +five. The two orderlies for the day brought from the kitchen a huge +tea-urn, some dozen bowls, and two large loaves. We supplemented this +rudimentary fare with a pot of "Cape gooseberry" jam, the gift of a +generous donor, and improved the quality of the tea with a little +condensed milk. Fresh from the usages of a more effete civilisation I +did not feel after two cups of tea and some butterless bread that +"satisfaction of a felt want"--to quote Aristotle--which comes, say, +after a dinner with the Drapers' Company in London, and for two nights I +tore open and devoured with my ward-companion a tin of salmon which I +bought from a Jew along the line. But, strange to say, after a few days +of this _regime_, which in its chronological sequence of meals and its +strange simplicity recalled the memories of early childhood, my +internal economy seemed to have adapted itself to the changed +environment, and after five o'clock with its tea and bread I no longer +wished for more food. Exactly the same experience befalls those +inexperienced travellers in tropical countries who, at first, are +continually imbibing draughts of water, but soon learn the useful lesson +of drinking at meal-time only, and before long do not even take the +trouble to carry water-bottles with them at all. + +Our destination was supposed to be De Aar, but nobody ever knew exactly +where we were going or what we were going to do when we got there. +During a campaign orders filter through various official channels, and +frequently by the time they have reached the officer in charge of a +train others of a contradictory purport are racing after them over the +wires. This sort of thing is absolutely unavoidable. Between the army at +the front and the great base at Capetown stretched some 700 miles of +railway, and over this single line of rails ran an unending succession +of trains carrying troops, food, guns, and last, but by no means least, +tons upon tons of ammunition. The work of supplying a modern army in the +field is stupendous, and the best thanks of the nation are due to the +devoted labours of the Army Service Corps. The officers and men of the +A.S.C. work night and day, they rarely see any fighting, and are seldom +mentioned in the public press or in despatches; yet how much depends +upon their zeal and devotion! Amateur critics at home have frequently +asked why such and such a general has not left strong positions on the +flank and advanced into the enemy's country further afield. Quite apart +from the fearful danger of exposing our lines of communication to attack +from a strong force of the enemy, these critics do not seem to possess +the most elementary idea of what is involved in the advance of an army. +How do they suppose hundreds of heavily laden transport waggons are to +be dragged across the uneven veldt, intersected every now and then by +rugged "kopjes" and "spruits" and "dongas"? Ammunition alone is a +serious item to be considered. Lyddite shells, _e.g._, are packed two in +a case: each case weighs 100 lb., and I have frequently seen a waggon +loaded with, say, a ton of these shells, and drawn by eight mules, stuck +fast for a time in the open veldt; the passers-by have run up and shoved +at the wheels and so at last the lumbering cart has jogged slowly on. +This load would probably in action disappear in half an hour; and when +one reflects that in one of our recent engagements each battery fired +off 200 shells, it is easy to understand the enormous weight of metal +which has to follow an army in order to make the artillery efficient, +and to realise how unwilling a general is to leave a railway behind him, +and attempt to move his transport across the uncertain and devious +tracks of an unmapped African veldt. Lord Kitchener's successful march +upon Omdurman was only rendered possible by the fact that the army kept +continuously to the railway and the Nile. + +The railway journey northwards is full of interest. Between Capetown and +Worcester the country is well watered and fields of yellow corn +continually meet the eye, interspersed with vines and mealies. Yet here +and there that lack of enterprise which seems to characterise the Dutch +farmer is easily noticeable. Irrigation is sadly neglected and hundreds +of acres which with a little care and outlay would grow excellent crops +are still unproductive. + +Soon after leaving Worcester the line rises by steep gradients nearly +2,500 feet. Right in front the Hex River Mountains extend like a vast +barrier across the line and seem to defy the approaching train. But +engineering skill has here contrived to surmount all the obstacles set +up by Nature. The train goes waltzing round the most striking curves, +some of them almost elliptical. Tremendous gradients lead through +tunnels and over bridges, and the swerving carriages run often in +alarming proximity to the edge of precipitous ravines. What a splendid +position for defensive purposes! Had the present war been declared three +weeks earlier De Aar would have been quite unable to stand against the +Boers, and thus the enemy might with his amazing mobility have made a +swift descent along the railway and occupied the Hex River pass. Out of +this position not all the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men would +have dislodged him without enormous loss. With the armed support of all +the Dutch farmers from Worcester to the Orange River, a Boer occupation +of this strong position would have been a terrible menace to Capetown +itself. As it is, shots are occasionally fired at trains as they run +northward from Worcester, and as a few pounds of dynamite would wreck +portions of the Hex River line for weeks the government patrols in this +locality cannot be too careful. + +Our first passage through the Karroo was by night, but during the busy +days of service which followed we frequently saw this dreary expanse of +desert in daylight. Some mysterious charm, hidden from the eyes of the +unsympathetic tourist, dwells in the Karroo. The country folk who +inhabit these vast plains all agree that to live in them is to love +them. Children speak of the kopjes as if they were living playmates, and +farmers grow so deeply attached to their waggons and ox teams that Sir +Owen Lanyon's forcible seizure of one in distraint for taxes appeared a +kind of sacrilege in the eyes of the Boers. + +At times nothing can be more unlovely than the stony, barren wilderness +of the Karroo. The Sudan desert with its rocky hills and the broad Nile +between the yellow banks is infinitely more picturesque than this vast +South African plain. Still, at certain periods of the day and year the +Karroo becomes less forbidding to the view. Sometimes after heavy rain +the whole country is covered with a bright green carpet, but in summer, +and, indeed, most of the year, the short scrub which here takes the +place of grass is sombre in tint. Nevertheless cattle devour these +apparently withered shrubs with avidity and thrive upon them. Again, +when the warm tints of the setting sun flood the whole expanse of +desert, there is a short-lived beauty in the rugged kopjes with all +their fantastic outlines sharply silhouetted against the glowing sky. +The farms on the Karroo, and, in fact, generally throughout the more +northern parts of the colony, are of surprising size. It is quite common +to find a Dutchman farming some 10,000 acres. Arable land in the Karroo +is of course very rare, and one would think that the "Ooms" and the +"Tantas" and their young hopefuls would have their time fully occupied +even in keeping their large herds and flocks within bounds. One +continually sees half a dozen ostriches stalking solemnly about a huge +piece of the veldt, with no farm-house anywhere in sight, and it is +difficult to understand how these people contrive to catch their +animals. + +At the lower extremity of the vast Nieuweveld range which shuts in the +Karroo on the west lies the little township of Matjesfontein, a +veritable oasis in the desert. Here lies the body of the gallant +Wauchope who perished in the disastrous attack on the Magersfontein +trenches. The whole line north of this point was patrolled by colonial +volunteers, amongst whom I noticed especially the Duke of Edinburgh's +Rifles, with gay ribbons round their "smasher" hats. Nothing could be +less exciting or interesting than their monotonous routine of work. We +continually came across a little band of, say, twenty or thirty men and +a couple of officers stationed near some culvert or bridge. Their tents +were pitched on a bit of stony ground, with not a trace of vegetation +near it, and here they stayed for months together, half dead from the +boredom of their existence. Nevertheless such work was quite essential +to the success of the campaign, for the attitude of the Dutch colonists +up-country has been throughout the war an uncertain factor, and if these +long lines of communication had been left unprotected it is more than +likely that our "Tommies'" supplies would not have arrived at the front +with unfailing regularity. As it was, shots were occasionally fired at +the trains, and at one spot we passed a curious incident occurred in +this connection. A patrol suddenly came across a colonist who had +climbed up a telegraph post and was busily engaged in cutting the wires. +"Crack" went a Lee-Metford and the rebel, shot like a sitting bird, +dropped from his perch to the ground. On another occasion we heard a +dull explosion not unlike the boom of a heavy gun, and found a little +later that a culvert had been blown up a few miles ahead of us not far +from Graspan. In short, I do not think that the British public fully +realised the danger threatened by any serious and extensive revolt of +the Dutch colonists. Had the farmers in that vast triangle bounded by +the railway, the coast and the Orange River thrown off their allegiance, +it would have taken many more than 15,000 colonial volunteers to prevent +their mobile commandos from swooping down here and there along this long +line of railway, and utterly destroying our western line of +communication as well as menacing Lord Methuen's forces in the rear. +Whatever may be said or thought of some of Mr. Schreiner's actions, it +is held, and justly held, by level-headed people of both parties at the +Cape, that the continuance in office of the Dutch ministry has +contributed more than anything else to preserve the colony from the +peril of an internal rebellion. For this we cannot be too thankful! + +Signs of animal life in the Karroo are few and far between. There are +scarcely any flowers to attract butterflies, and I never saw more than +four or five species of birds. There was one handsome bird, however, as +big as a crow, with black and white plumage--probably the small bustard +(_Eupodotis afroides_)--which occasionally rose from among the scrub and +after a brief flight sank vertically to the ground in a curious +fashion. Sometimes too, at nightfall, a large bird would fly with a +strong harsh note across the stony veldt to the kopjes in the distance. +Of the larger fauna I saw only the springbok. A small herd of these +graceful little creatures were one evening running about the veldt +within 500 yards of the train. On another occasion too, very early in +the morning, one of our two Red Cross nurses was startled by the sudden +appearance of a large baboon which crept down a gully near +Matjesfontein--the only one we ever saw. + +Between Matjesfontein and the great camp of De Aar there is little to +interest or amuse the traveller. The only town which is at all worthy of +the name is Beaufort West, nestling amid its trees, a bright patch of +colour amid the neutral tints of the hills and surrounding country. Here +reside many patients suffering from phthisis, for the air is dry and +warm and the rainfall phenomenally small. But after all what a place to +die in! Rather a shorter and sweeter life in dear England than a cycle +of Beaufort West! + +As we steamed into De Aar the sun had set, and all the ways were +darkened, so, after a vain attempt to take a walk about the camp after +the regulation hour, 9 P.M.--an effort which was checked by the +praiseworthy zeal of the Australian military police--we returned to the +train. Here I was greeted to my amazement by the notes of an anthem, "I +will lay me down in peace," sung very well by our Welsh ex-choir-boy and +two other members of the corps, who nevertheless did not lay them down +in peace or otherwise till the small hours of the morning. + +Next day we rose early, but found that we should have to spend five or +six days at De Aar. This news was not at all pleasant. I have been in +many dreary and uninteresting spots in the world, _e.g._, Aden or Atbara +Camp, but I have never disliked a place as much as I did De Aar. The +whole plain has been cut up by the incessant movement of guns, transport +waggons and troops, and the result is that one is nearly choked and +blinded by the dense clouds of dust. Huge spiral columns of sand tear +across the plain over the tops of the kopjes, carrying with them scraps +of paper and rubbish of all sorts. The irritation produced by the +absorption of this permeating dust into the system militates to some +extent against the rapid recovery of men who suffer from diseases like +dysentery or enteric fever. It travels under doors and through window +sashes, and a patient is obliged, whether he will or no, to swallow a +certain amount of it daily. Nevertheless the South African dust does not +appear to be so bacillus-laden as, _e.g._, that of Atbara Camp, which, +amongst other evil effects, continually produced ulceration in the mouth +and throat. + +De Aar lies in the centre of a large plain, shut in on every side by +kopjes. In fact its position is very similar indeed to that of +Ladysmith. The hills on the east and west were always held by pickets +with some field guns belonging to the Royal Artillery and the Prince +Alfred's Artillery Volunteers. A much loftier line of kopjes to the +north was untenanted by the British, but any approach over the veldt +from the north-east was blocked by several rows of shelter trenches and +a strongly-constructed redoubt with wire entanglements, ditch, and +parapet topped with iron rails. Signallers were continually at work, and +at night it was quite a pretty sight to watch the twinkling points of +the signal lights as they flashed between the tents on the plain and the +distant pickets on the tops of the kopjes. Boers had been seen to the +east and on the west; some at least of the Dutch colonists were in open +revolt; so officers and men were always prepared at a moment's notice to +line the trenches for defence, while the redoubts and the batteries on +the hills were permanently garrisoned. + +Everybody loathed De Aar. With the exception of some feeble cricket +played on some unoccupied patches of dusty ground, and a couple of +shabby tennis courts, usually reserved for the "patball" of the local +athletes of either sex, there was absolutely nothing to do, and we were +too far off Modder River to feel that we were at all in the swim of +things. The heat was sometimes appalling. On Christmas day the +temperature was 105 deg. in the shade, and most people took a long siesta +after the midday dinner and read such odds and ends of literature as +fell into their hands. + +We train people, of course, read and slumbered in one of the wards, +while our comrades under canvas lay with eight heads meeting in the +centre of a tent and sixteen legs projecting from it like the spokes of +a wheel. Mercifully enough scorpions were few and far between at De Aar, +so one could feel fairly secure from these pests. How different it was +in the Sudan campaign, especially at some camps like Um Teref, where +batches of soldiers black and white came to be treated for scorpion +stings, which in one case were fatal. _A propos_ of reading we were +wonderfully well provided with all manner of literature by the kindly +forethought of good people in England. The assortment was very curious +indeed. One would see lying side by side _The Nineteenth Century_, _Ally +Sloper's Half Holiday_, and the _Christian World_. This literary +syncretism was especially marked in the mission tent at De Aar, where +the forms were besprinkled with an infinite variety of magazines and +pamphlets--to such an extent indeed that in some cases the more vivid +pages of a _Family Herald_ would temporarily seduce the soldier's mind +from the calmer pleasures of Mr. Moody's hymn book, and those who came +to pray remained to read. + +In the evening about 5 o'clock, when the rays of the setting sun were +less vertical and the cool of the evening was not yet merged in the +chill of the night, we sallied out for a stroll. Everybody walked to and +fro and interchanged war news--such as we had!--and mutual condolences +about the miseries of our forced inaction at De Aar. Canteens were +opened in the various sections of the camp, and long columns of +"Tommies" stood with mess-tins, three abreast, waiting their turn to be +served, for all the world like the crowd at the early door of a London +theatre. The natural irritability arising from residence in De Aar, +added to the sultry heat and one's comparative distance from the canteen +counter, frequently caused quarrels and personal assaults in the swaying +column. But those who lost their temper generally lost their places too, +and the less excitable candidates for liquor closed up their ranks and +left the combatants to settle their differences outside. +Non-commissioned officers enjoyed the privilege of entering a side door +in the canteen for their beer, and thus avoided the crush: and one of my +comrades cleverly but unscrupulously secured a couple of stripes somehow +or other and, masquerading as a corporal, entered the coveted side door, +and brought away his liquor in triumph. + +Apart from these liquid comforts, which were, very properly, restricted +in quantity, those of us who possessed any ready money could purchase +sundry provisions at two stores in De Aar. The volunteers were paid at +the rate of 5s. a day, which seems a very high rate of pay when one +remembers that the British soldier, who ran much greater risk and did +more actual fighting, received less than 1s. Of course there were +volunteers here and there like myself who possessed some means of our +own and so thought it right and proper to return our pay to the Widows' +and Orphans' Fund, but nevertheless I fail to see why we should be paid +at this exorbitant rate. The most glaring instances of over-paid troops +were the Rimington Scouts, who actually received 10s. a day and their +rations. One trembles to think of the bill we shall all have to pay at +the close of the campaign! + +The articles most in request at De Aar were things like "Rose's lime +juice cordial," Transvaal tobacco, cigarettes, jam, tinned salmon, +sardines, etc. Now it happened that the entire retail trade of the place +was in the hands of two Jewish merchants. The more fashionable of the +two shops took advantage of our necessities and demanded most exorbitant +prices for its goods. "Lime juice cordial," _e.g._, which could be got +for 1s. 6d. or 1s. 3d. in Capetown, was sold for 2s. 6d. and 3s. at De +Aar, and the other charges were correspondingly high. Nemesis, however, +overtook the shopman, for the camp commandant hearing of his evil deeds +placed a sentry in front of the store and so put it out of bounds. He +held out for a couple of days, while his more reasonable if less +pretentious rival flourished exceedingly, but a daily loss of L200 is +too severe a tax on the pertinacity of a Jew, or indeed of anybody, so +the rival tariffs were arranged on similar lines, and the sentry sloped +rifle and walked off. The mission workers at De Aar--some excellent +people--dwelt in two railway carriages on a siding. There were, I think, +two ladies and a gentleman. They worked exceedingly hard and their +mission tent was generally well filled. It is astonishing what keenness +is evoked by evangelical services with "gospel hymns". We all sang a +hymn like "I _do_ believe, I _will_ believe," with an emphasis which +seemed to imply that the effort was considerable, but that nobody, not +even a Boer commando, could alter our conviction. Many of the +hymns--poor doggerel from a literary point of view--were sung to +pleasing tunes wonderfully well harmonised by the men's voices. Then +there was a brief address by a young man with a serious and kindly face, +and this was succeeded by a series of ejaculatory prayers taken up here +and there by the men. It was a strange and impressive spectacle to see a +soldier rise to his feet, his beard rough and unkempt, his khaki uniform +all soiled and bedraggled, and forthwith proceed to utter a long prayer. +Such prayers were largely composed of supplications on behalf of wives +and families at home, and one forgot the bad grammar, the rough accent +and the monotonous repetition in one's sympathy for these honest fellows +who were not ashamed to pray. + +Would we Churchmen had more enthusiasm and courage in our teaching and +our methods! This was the quality that enabled the infant church to +emerge from its obscure dwelling in a Syrian town and spread all the +world over. It is this warmth of conviction which lent fortitude to the +martyrs of old time, and at this moment breathes valour into our brave +enemies. But where is such vital enthusiasm to be found in the Church of +England? In one of our cathedrals we read the epitaph of a certain +ecclesiastic: "He was noticeable for many virtues, and sternly repressed +all forms of religious enthusiasm". History repeats itself, and for +manly outspeaking on great questions of social and political importance +the laity are learning to look elsewhere than to the pulpit. Oh! for one +day in our National Church of Paul and Athanasius and Luther, men who +spoke what they felt, unchecked by thoughts about promotion and +popularity and respectability. Enthusiastic independence is as unpopular +in religion as it is in politics; and the fight against prejudice and +unfairness is often exceeding bitter to the man who dares to run his +tilt against the opinion of the many. The struggle sometimes robs life +of much that renders it sweet; nevertheless it may help to make history +and will bring a man peace at the last, for he will have done what he +could to leave the world a little better than he found it. These good +mission-folk looked after our physical as well as our spiritual +necessities. They had annexed a small house and garden just opposite +their tent, and here we could buy an excellent cup of tea or lemonade +for one penny, as well as a variety of delectable buns, much in request. +So pressing was the demand for these light and cheap refreshments that +the supply of cups and glasses gave out, and the lemonade was usually +served out in old salmon or jam tins. Very often, after a couple of +hymns and, perhaps, a prayer, we went across and finished up the evening +with a couple of buns and a cup of tea. One of my ambulance comrades, +an ex-baker from Johannesburg, was extremely good in helping on the +success of the refreshment bar, and frequently stood for hours together +at the receipt of custom. The returns were very large. One day, I +remember, they amounted to L22 in pennies: this would mean, I think, on +a low estimate, that something like 1,500 soldiers used the temperance +canteen on that evening. Apart from this enterprising work, private +gifts in the way of fruit occasionally arrived on the scene, and I well +remember one day when almost every "Tommy" one met carried a pine apple +in his hands. In addition to such pleasures of realised satisfaction we +enjoyed the pleasures of anticipation; for was not her Gracious +Majesty's chocolate _en route_ for South Africa? The amount of interest +exhibited in the arrival of these chocolate boxes was amazing. Men +continually discussed them, and a stranger would have thought that +chocolate was some essential factor in a soldier's life, from which we +had, by the exigencies of camp life, been long deprived! As a matter of +fact, portable forms of cocoa are extremely valuable in cases where +normal supplies of food are cut off. Every soldier on a campaign carries +in his haversack a small tin labelled "emergency rations". This cannot +be opened unless by order from a commanding officer and any infraction +of the rule is severely punished. At one end of the oblong tin are "beef +rations," at the other "chocolate rations," enough to sustain a man amid +hard and exhausting work for thirty-six hours. The chocolate rations +consist of three cubes and can be eaten in the dry state; once, however, +I came across a spare emergency tin, and found that with boiling water a +single cube made enough liquid chocolate for ten men, a cup each. People +make a great fuss in England if they don't get three or four meals a +day, but a healthy man can easily fight with much less nourishment than +this. I have seen Turkish troops during the Cretan insurrection live on +practically nothing else than a few beans and a little bread, and on +this meagre and precarious diet they fought like heroes. In the Sudan a +few bunches of raisins will keep one going all day. At the same time, +these things are to some extent relative to the individual. I have known +huge athletic men curl up in no time because they couldn't get three +meals a day on a campaign, whereas others, of half their build and +muscle, may bear privations infinitely better. It is annoying to find +here and there in the newspapers querulous letters from men at the front +complaining that plum puddings and sweetmeats haven't reached them, and +that their Christmas fare was only a bit of bully beef and a pint of +beer. These men don't represent the rank and file of the army a bit. The +English soldier is better fed and clothed and looked after than any +other fighting man in the world, except possibly the American, and the +manly soldier is not in the habit of whining after the fashion of these +letters because he doesn't get quite as good a dinner on the veldt as he +does in the depot at home. + +The military authorities at De Aar exercised the utmost stringency in +refusing permission to unauthorised civilians to stay in the camp or +pass through it. These regulations were absolutely necessary. The +country round De Aar was full of Dutchmen, who were, with scarcely an +exception, thoroughly in sympathy with the enemy, and throughout the +campaign, at Modder River, Stormberg, the Tugela, and even inside +Ladysmith and Mafeking spies have been repeatedly captured and shot. +Some of the attempts by civilians to get through De Aar without adequate +authorisation were quite amusing. I remember a particularly nice Swedish +officer arriving one night, equipped after the most approved fashion of +military accoutrements--Stohwasser leggings, spurs, gloves, etc., but +his papers were not sufficient for his purpose, and charm he never so +wisely, the camp commandant politely but firmly compelled him to return +to Richmond Road, which lay just outside the pale of military law. +Another gentleman, well known in England, failed in his first effort to +penetrate the camp on his way northwards, but succeeded finally in +reaching De Aar by going up as an officer's servant! + +The run from De Aar to Belmont is about 100 miles. The ambulance train +arrived there on the evening of the battle, and the staff on board +found plenty of work ready for them. The wounded men were all placed +together in a large goods' shed at the station. They lay as they were +taken from the field by the stretcher-bearers. Lint and bandages had +been applied, but, of course, uniforms, bodies and even the floor were +saturated with blood. Such spectacles are not pleasing, but nobody ever +thinks about the unaesthetic side of the picture when busily engaged in +helping the wounded. "The gentleman in khaki," poor fellow, has often +precious little khaki left on him by the time he reaches the base +hospital. When the femoral artery is shot through one does not waste +time by thinking of the integrity of a pair of trousers--a few rips of +the knife and away goes a yard or two of khaki. If the cases had not +been so sad we should often have laughed at the extraordinary appearance +of some of the men. One soldier, for example, was brought into our train +with absolutely nothing on him except one sleeve, which he seemed to +treasure for the sake of comparative respectability! Wounded men +frequently lose so much blood before they are found that their clothes +become quite stiff, and the best thing to do is to cut the whole uniform +off them and wrap them in blankets. + +Perhaps it is worth while writing a few words about the general method +pursued in the collection and treatment of our wounded men. In a frontal +attack upon a position held in force by the enemy, our men advance in +"quarter column," or other close formation, till they get within range +of the enemy's fire. They then "extend," _i.e._, every man takes up his +position a few paces away from his neighbour, and in all probability +lies or stoops down behind whatever he can find, at the same time +keeping up an incessant riflefire on the enemy. Far behind him, and +usually on his right or left, the artillerymen are hard at work sending +shell after shell upon the trenches in front. Every now and then the +infantrymen run or crawl forward fifty or sixty yards, and thus +gradually forge ahead till within two hundred yards of the enemy, when +with loud cheers and fixed bayonets they leap up and rush forward to +finish off the fight with cold steel. + +Even from this skeleton outline it is easy to see that the wounded in a +battle like Belmont and Graspan are all over the place, though the +motionless forms grow more numerous the nearer we get to the enemy's +lines. Now, strictly speaking, stretcher-bearers ought not to move +forward to the aid of the wounded _during the battle_. The proper period +for this work is two hours after the cessation of hostilities. But +in almost every engagement of the present campaign our stretcher-bearers +with their officers have gallantly advanced during the progress of the +fighting and attended to the wounded under fire. Such plucky conduct as +this merits the warmest praise. In the non-combatant, who has none of +the excitement bred of actual fighting to sustain him, it requires a +high decree of courage to kneel or stoop when every one else is lying +down, and in this exposed position first to find the tiny bullet +puncture, and then bandage the wound satisfactorily. Many and many a +life has been saved by this conduct on the part of our medical staff, +for if an important artery is severed by a bullet or shell-splinter a +man may easily bleed to death in ten minutes. I have myself on one +occasion in Crete seen jets of blood escaping from the femoral artery of +a Turkish soldier, without being able to render him any assistance. In +short, it is believed that quite three-fifths of those who perish on a +battle-field die from loss of blood. In some cases a soldier may, by +digital pressure or by improvising a rough tourniquet, check the flow of +blood from a wound, but the nervous prostration which accompanies a +wound inflicted by a bullet travelling nearly 2,000 feet a second is so +great, that most men seriously wounded are physically incapable of +rendering such assistance to themselves, even if they understand the +elementary amount of anatomy requisite for the treatment. + +At the same time it is only fair to point out that stretcher-bearers who +advance during an engagement and render this gallant assistance to the +wounded do so entirely at their own risk and must take their chance of +getting hit. Complaints have been from time to time made, by persons who +did not know the circumstances, that our stretcher-bearers have been +shot by the Boers. If this took place during an action no blame can +fairly attach to the enemy, for in repelling an attack they cannot of +course be expected to cease fire because stretcher-bearers show +themselves in front. The hail of bullets comes whistling along--ispt, +ispt, ispt--and everywhere little jets of sand are spurting up. Can we +wonder if now and then a stretcher-bearer is struck down? To put the +case frankly--he is doing a brave work, but he has no business to be +where he is. It is easy to see why the usages of war do not permit the +presence of ambulance men in the firing line. Quite apart from the +serious losses incurred by so valuable a corps, advantage might be taken +by an unscrupulous enemy to bring up ammunition under cover of the Red +Cross. + +It is no easy task in the dark or in a fading light to find the +khaki-clad figures lying prone upon the brown sand. But when the wounded +are discovered the ambulance man finds out as quickly as he can the +position and nature of the wound, and a "first aid" bandage or a rough +splint is applied. The sufferer is raised carefully upon a stretcher or +carried off in an ambulance waggon to a "dressing-station" somewhere in +the rear. If there are not enough stretchers, or the wound is merely a +slight one, the disabled soldier is borne away on a seat made of the +joined hands of two bearers. A second row of ambulance waggons is loaded +from the dressing-station--each waggon holds nine--and goes lumbering +off to the field hospital. Here the men are laid on the ground with +perhaps a waterproof sheet under them and a blanket over them. The +R.A.M.C. officers come round, select certain cases for operation, and +see to the bandaging and dressing of the others. Finally one of the +ambulance trains arrives, about 120 men are packed in it and it steams +off rapidly to some base hospital at Orange River, De Aar, Wynberg or +Rondebosch. + +Any detailed account of Lord Methuen's battles lies outside the scope of +this little volume, and the British public know already practically all +that can be known about the general plan of such engagements as Belmont, +Graspan and Modder River. + +Belmont is an insignificant railway station lying in the middle of as +dreary a bit of veldt as can well be imagined. A clump of low kopjes run +almost parallel to the railway on the right, and to ascend these hills +our men had to advance over an absolutely level plain devoid of any +cover save an occasional big stone or an anthill (precarious rampart!) +or the still feebler shelter of a bush two feet high. In their +transverse march our men had to cross the railway, and lost considerably +during the delay occasioned by cutting the wire fences on either side to +clear a way for themselves and the guns. + +The Boers did not apparently intend to make any serious stand against +Lord Methuen's column at Belmont. The fight was little else than an +"affair of outposts" on their side and it seems very doubtful if more +than 800 of the enemy had been left for the defence of the position. +Their horses were all ready, as usual, behind the kopjes, and when our +gallant men jumped up with a cheer and for the last 100 yards dashed up +the rough stony slope in front, very few Boers remained. Most of them +were already in the saddle, galloping off to Graspan, their next +position. The unwounded Boers who did remain remained--nearly all of +them--for good; rifle bullets and shrapnel and shell splinters are +deadly enough, but deadliest of all is the bayonet thrust. So much +tissue is severed by the broad blade of the Lee-Metford bayonet that the +chances of recovery are often very slight. As volunteer recruits know +sometimes to their cost, the mere mishandling of a bayonet at the end of +a heavy rifle may, even amid the peaceful evolutions of squad drill, +inflict a painful wound. When the weapon is used scientifically with the +momentum of a heavy man behind it, its effects are terrible. Private St. +John of the Grenadiers thrust at a Boer in front of him with such force +that he drove not only the bayonet, but the muzzle of the rifle clean +through the Dutchman. St. John was immediately afterwards shot through +the head and lay dead on the top of the kopje, side by side with the man +he had killed. + +When our train, after its journey to Capetown, next returned to Belmont, +few signs of the recent engagement were visible. The strands of wire +fencing on either side the line were cut through here and there, and +twisted back several yards where our fifteen-pounders had been galloped +through to shell the retreating Boers. Now and again the eye was caught +by little heaps of cartridge cases marking the spot where some soldier +had lain down. + +Less pleasant reminiscences were furnished by the decomposing bodies of +several mules, and four or five vultures wheeling over the plain. Some +enthusiasts on our train had on the previous journey cut off several +hoofs from the dead mules as relics of the fight. Our under-cook had +secured a more agreeable souvenir of Belmont in the shape of a small +goat found wandering beside the railway. This animal now struts about a +garden in Capetown with a collar suitably inscribed around its neck, and +the proud owner has refused a L10 note for it. Before their abandonment +of the position the enemy had hurriedly buried a few of their dead, but +it is very difficult to dig amongst the stones and boulders, and the +interment was so inadequate that hands and feet were protruding from the +soil. In fact several of our men whose patrol-beat covered this ground +told me it was terribly trying to walk among these rough and ready +graves in the heat of the day. + +Along the whole line from Belmont northwards and to some distance +southwards the telegraph lines had been cut by the Boers. Not content +with severing the wires here and there, they had cut down every post for +miles along the railway. I wondered what the grinning Kaffirs thought of +such a spectacle; here were the white men, the pioneers of +enlightenment, engaged in cutting each other's throats and destroying +the outward signs of their civilisation! Perhaps it is worth mentioning +that native opinion in Cape Colony has, as far as can be judged from the +native journal _Imvo_, been decidedly against us in the present war. +This is a factor which must be reckoned with as regards the question +whether or no blacks shall be armed and permitted to share in the +fighting. Of course it seems at first sight perfectly fair to give the +Zulus or Basutos the means of defending themselves from cattle-raiding +Boers, but if you once arm a savage there is a very real danger of his +getting out of control, and Zulus might make incursions into the Free +State or Basutos into Cape Colony. From such things may we be preserved! +There is an intensely strong feeling amongst colonial Englishmen as well +as Dutchmen--much more intense than anything we feel at home--against +the bringing of natives into a quarrel between white men. + +The train soon traverses the distance between Belmont and Graspan. None +can wish to linger on this journey, for the surrounding region is dreary +and forbidding. The everlasting kopje crops up here and there, looking +like--what in fact it is--a mere vast heap of boulders and stones from +which the earth has been dislodged by the constant attrition of wind and +rain. The hillocks in the Graspan district are by no means lofty--none +of them seemed to get beyond a few hundred feet--but beyond Modder River +the big kopje on the right which was seamed with Boer trenches must be, +I should guess, well over six hundred feet from the plain. A large +proportion of the kopjes in this part of the country have absolutely +flat tops--why, I cannot imagine--and the whole appearance of the +country suggests at once the former bed of an ocean. _A propos_ of +geology, I once in camp came across a sergeant who was surrounded by a +little band of privates, deeply interested in his scientific remarks, +which began as follows: "Now, some considerable time before the Flood, +Table Mountain was at the bottom of the sea, for sea shells are found +there at the present day, etc." It is quite a mistake to suppose that +the soldier cares for none of these things. As a "Tommy" myself I had +some unique opportunities of learning what they talked about and how +they talked, and certainly the subjects discussed sometimes covered a +very big field. I have heard a heated discussion as to the position of +the port of Hamburg, and was finally called on to decide as arbitrator +whether this was a Dutch or German town. Theological discussions were +also by no means infrequent. One of my comrades insisted with a fervour +almost amounting to ferocity upon the reality of "conversion," and was +opposed by another whose tendencies were more Pelagian, and who went so +far as to maintain that no one would employ the services of a +"converted" man if he could secure one who was "unconverted". The amount +of bad language evoked in the course of this theological argument was +extraordinary. Such acrimonious discussions as these acted, however, as +a mere foil to our general harmony, and a common practice on an evening +when we had no wounded on our hands was to start a "sing-song". The +general tone of these concerts was decidedly patriotic. "God save the +Queen" and "Rule Britannia" were thrown in every now and then, but +seldom, if ever, I am glad to say, that wearisome doggerel "The +Absent-Minded Beggar". It is quite a mistake, by the way, to suppose +that Mr. Kipling's poetry is widely appreciated by the rank and file of +the army. From what I have noticed, the less intelligent soldiers know +nothing at all about Mr. Kipling's verses, while the more intelligent of +them heartily dislike the manner in which they are represented in his +poems--as foul-mouthed, godless and utterly careless of their duties to +wives and children. I remember a sergeant exclaiming: "Kipling's works, +sir! why, we wouldn't have 'em in our depot library at any price!" Of +course it would be ridiculous to maintain that many soldiers do not use +offensive language, but the habit is largely the outcome of their social +surroundings in earlier life and is also very infectious; it requires +quite an effort to refrain from swearing when other people about one are +continually doing this, and when such behaviour is no longer viewed as a +serious social offence. As to Mr. Atkins' absent-mindedness I shall have +a word to say later on. + +In addition to the National Anthem and "Rule Britannia," we had, of +course, "Soldiers of the Queen," and a variety of other less known +ballads which described the superhuman valour of our race, and deplored +the folly of any opposition on the part of our enemies even if they +outnumbered us by "ten to one". One of our cook's greatest hits was a +song entitled "Underneath the Dear Old Flag". In order to furnish a +touch of realism the singer had secured a small _white_ flag which +floated on the top of our train; but he never seemed to realise the +incongruity of waving this peaceful emblem over his head as he thundered +out his resolve "to conquer or to die". + +Just below Graspan Station the Boers had made one of their many attempts +to wreck the line. They had torn up the metals and the sleepers, and a +good many bent and twisted rails lay beside the permanent way. But this +sort of injury to a railway is very speedily set right. In an hour or +two a party of sappers can relay a long stretch of line if no culverts +or bridges are destroyed. Mishaps to the telegraph are still more easily +repaired, and already, side by side with the wreckage of the original +wires, the piebald posts of the field telegraph service ran all along +the lines of communication. + +Here and there Kaffir families sat squatting about their primitive huts, +or kept watch over flocks of goats and sheep. Ostriches stalked solemnly +up to the railway and gazed at the train, and sometimes their curiosity +cost them the loss of a few tail feathers if we could get a snatch at +them through the wire railings. On one occasion a soldier attempting to +take this liberty with an ostrich was turned upon by the indignant bird, +and a struggle ensued which might have proved serious to the man; he +was, however, lucky enough to get a grip on the creature's neck and +succeeded by a great effort in killing it. Ordinarily, however, the +ostriches, despite an occasional surrender of tail feathers, lived on +terms of amity with our men, and at Belmont they were to be seen walking +about the camp and concealing their curiosity under a great show of +dignity. During the fight one of these birds took up its quarters with a +battery, and watched the whole battle without taking any food, except +that on one occasion when a man lit his pipe the bird suddenly reached +out for the box of lucifers and swallowed it with great gusto. + +It was curious to notice a variety of chalk marks upon some of the ant +hills on the battle-field. The Boers had carefully measured their ground +beforehand, as we did at Omdurman, and knew exactly how to adjust their +sights as we advanced against their position. The battle of Graspan +consisted, as at Belmont, in a frontal attack upon a line of kopjes held +by a much larger force of the enemy than was present at the earlier +engagement. Lord Methuen succeeded in working his way to the foot of the +kopjes, and a final rush swept the Boers away in headlong flight. His +victory would have been much more complete had the cavalry succeeded in +cutting off the enemy's retreat, but this was not done. + +We brought back a load of wounded men from this fight. The corps which +suffered most heavily was the naval brigade, composed of 200 marines and +50 bluejackets. It is worth mentioning the numbers here, because I have +seen several accounts of this fight in which the gallantry of the +"bluejackets" is spoken of in the warmest terms with absolutely no +mention of the marines. Correspondents, some of them without any +previous knowledge of military matters, repeatedly single out certain +regiments and corps for special mention, even when these favoured +battalions have not taken any leading part in the battle. We have, of +course, had the case of the Gordons at Dargai--who ever hears of any +other regiment popularly mentioned in this connection? Again, at the +battle of Magersfontein the Gordons were not amongst the Highland +battalions which bore the full brunt of that awful fusilade, yet various +English newspapers singled them out for special mention. I speak in this +way not because I am at all lacking in appreciation for the valour and +dash of both Gordons and "bluejackets," but simply because other +regiments who have often done as good or even better work--in special +cases--bitterly resent the unfair manner in which their own achievements +are sometimes slurred over in the press. Needless to say these +thoughtless reports are due almost entirely to journalists and would be +repudiated by none more keenly than the gallant men of the Gordon +Highlanders and the Royal Navy. + +At the battle of Graspan the marine brigade left their big 47 guns in +the rear and advanced as infantry to the frontal attack. At 600 yards +from the Boer lines the order was given to fix bayonets: the brigade +then pushed forward for fifty yards further, when it was met by a storm +of Mauser bullets, which had killed and wounded no less than 120 out of +the 250 before the survivors reached the foot of the kopjes. It is +extremely difficult to clamber up the rough sides of an African kopje. +To do it properly one needs india-rubber soles or bare feet, for boots +cause one to slip wildly about on the smooth, rough stones. By the time +our men had got to the summit of the low ridge the Boers had leapt upon +their horses and were already nearly 1,000 yards away. Our gallant +fellows were out of breath with the arduous climb, and as it is almost +impossible to do much effective shooting when one is "blown," and the +cavalry had not appeared on the scene, the enemy got off nearly scot +free. + +Amongst a number of wounded men brought down by our train from Modder +River was a private of that fine corps, the R.M.L.I., who had, after +passing through the perils of Graspan, suffered an extraordinary +casualty at the Modder River fight. He was standing near one of the 47 +guns which was firing Lyddite shells at the enemy's trenches. Suddenly +the force of the explosion burst the drum of his right ear and, of +course, rendered him stone deaf on that side. He was an excellent +fellow, very intelligent and well informed, and I hope by this time the +surgeons at Simon's Bay naval hospital have provided him with an +artificial ear-drum. This marine had, as said above, come out of the +awful fire at Graspan unscathed, but I counted no less than _five_ +bullet holes in his uniform; two of them were through his trousers, two +had pierced his sleeves, and the other had passed through his coat just +to the left of his heart! + +The kopjes which were ultimately carried by the gallantry of our troops +at Graspan had been subjected to an awful shell fire before the infantry +attack. Nevertheless, the enemy was able to meet the advance with a +rifle fire which swept our men down by scores. On the right of the naval +brigade there was a little group of nineteen men, of these one only +remained! The Boers exhibited here, as elsewhere, the most marvellous +skill in taking advantage of cover. These farmers lay curled up behind +their stones and boulders while shrapnel bullets by thousands rained +over their position, and common shell threw masses of earth and rock +into the air. Then at the moment when the artillery fire was compelled +to cease, owing to the near approach of our infantry, the crafty +sharp-shooters crawled out of their nooks and crannies and used their +rifles with deadly precision and rapidity. + +On this point--the general ineffectiveness of artillery fire when the +enemy possesses good cover--the history of modern warfare repeats +itself. The Russian bombardments of Plevna were quite futile, and +General Todleben acknowledged that it sometimes required a whole day's +shell fire to kill a single Turkish soldier. At the fight round the +Malaxa blockhouse in Crete, at which I was present, the united squadrons +of the European powers in Suda Bay suddenly opened fire on the hill and +the village at its foot. In ten minutes from eighty to one hundred +shells came screaming up from the bay and burst amongst the insurgents +and their Turkish opponents. We all of us--on the hill and in the +village--bolted like rabbits and took what cover we could. The total net +casualties from these missiles--some of them 6-inch shells--were, I +believe, three, all told. + +Some of those amateur critics at home who write indignant letters about +the War Office labour under a twofold delusion. They frequently ask +indignantly how it is that our guns have been outclassed by those of the +Boers? As a matter of fact in almost every engagement of the present +campaign our artillery has been superior to that of the enemy; but, of +course, the artillery of a defending force, well posted on rising +ground, possesses enormous advantages over that of the assailants, who +have frequently to open fire in open and exposed positions easily swept +by shrapnel fire from guns, which, hidden amid trenches and rocks, are +often well-nigh invisible. + +Another fundamental error in many of the indignant letters about the +alleged defects of our artillery arises from a misunderstanding of the +real value of guns in attacking a fortified position. The most sanguine +officer never expects his shells actually to kill or disable any very +large number of the enemy if they are protected by deep and +well-constructed earthworks. Of course, if a shell falls plump into a +trench it is pretty certain to play havoc with the defenders, but, when +one considers that the mouth of a trench is some five or six feet wide, +it is easy to realise the difficulty of dropping a shell into the narrow +opening at a range, say, of 4,000 yards. Moreover, some of the more +elaborate Boer trenches are so cleverly constructed in a waving line +like a succession of S's, that even if a shell does succeed in pitching +into one bit of the curve it makes things uncomfortable only for the two +or three men who occupy that portion of the earthwork. No, the real +value of artillery in attack is to shake the enemy and keep down his +rifle fire. If shells are accurately fired the tops of trenches may be +swept by a constant rain of shrapnel bullets, under which the enemy's +riflemen will of necessity suffer when they expose their heads and +shoulders to take aim over the parapet. But even in this case the shell +fire must be extremely accurate if it is to be of any great use. If +shrapnel shells burst well, some thirty yards in front of the enemy, the +force of the bullets released by the explosion is terrific; if, on the +other hand, the shells burst high up in the air, 150 yards in front, you +might almost keep off the bullets with an umbrella; and one sometimes +hears of these missiles being actually found in the pockets of +combatants. At Omdurman our shells played tremendous havoc with the +dense masses of the enemy; but here the Dervishes advanced to the attack +in broad daylight and over a flat plain absolutely devoid of cover, and +with its "ranges" well known and marked out beforehand. + +In one of our southward journeys with a load of wounded men we passed, a +little below Graspan, through the midst of a swarm of locusts. We pulled +up the windows and so kept the wards free from these clumsy insects. At +one period they seemed to almost shut out the daylight, and it was easy +to realise how unpleasant it would be to meet a flight of locusts when +walking or even riding on horseback. Some odd stories are told about +these creatures. I have heard it gravely stated that occasionally a +train is stopped by the accumulated masses which fall on the metals. My +informant evidently believed that the engine in these cases was +absolutely unable to force its way through the piled up insects, in the +same way as trains are sometimes blocked by gigantic snowdrifts! This, +of course, is ridiculous; what really happens is that the rails become +so greasy from the crushed bodies of the locusts that the wheels can +secure no grip on the metals and spin round to no purpose. + +The attitude of the Boers towards the locust is very quaint. If a swarm +of these insects settles on a Dutchman's land, the owner will not +attempt to destroy them because he regards them as a visitation of +Providence. But I have heard that he does not scruple to modify slightly +the schemes of Providence by shovelling the unwelcome locusts upon any +of his neighbours' fields which may adjoin his own estate! + +On this same journey we pulled up, as usual, for a brief interval at De +Aar, and just opposite our train was a carriage containing seventeen +Boer prisoners, returning to the front. At the battle of Graspan a +number of Boer artillerymen were found with the Geneva Red Cross on +their arms, and it seems pretty clear that these men had deliberately +slipped the badge on the sleeves in order to avoid capture. They were, +of course, at once secured and treated as ordinary prisoners of war. But +in the hurry of the moment, and very naturally under the circumstances, +some seventeen of the Boers who were _bona-fide_ ambulance men were +arrested on suspicion and despatched with the crafty gunners to +Capetown. Here they were examined, and when the authorities realised +that they were genuinely entitled to the protection of the Red Cross, +and were not combatants fraudulently equipped with this protective +badge, the seventeen were forthwith sent back to General Cronje. As they +were returning we met them and had a chat with them. Five at least of +the number were Scotchmen or Irishmen; two more of them did not speak, +and I rather think from their appearance that they too were of English +race, and preferred to remain silent. Several of them complained of +ill-treatment at our hands, but I must say their complaints appeared to +resolve themselves into the fact that on their journeys to and from +Capetown their meals had not been quite regular. Three of us gave them +some bread, jam and cigarettes, for which they were extremely grateful. +They wore ordinary clothes much the worse for wear, and told me that +they left their "Sunday" suits at home. On the whole I was most +favourably impressed by these fellows, with one exception. The exception +was a Free-Stater who spoke English volubly. He loudly declared that he +was sick of the war and intended the moment he secured an opportunity to +desert and go home to his farm. I felt rather indignant at this person's +remarks, and with an air of moral superiority I said: "We don't think +any the better of you for saying that; although you are an enemy you +ought to stick to your General, and not sneak away from the front". But +the Free-Stater was not a bit impressed by my rhetoric, and simply said, +"Oh, skittles!" + +Some of the prisoners were from the Transvaal and they seemed to me much +more keen and enthusiastic than their Free State companions, and evinced +no signs whatever of despondency or depression. There was a very +pathetic note in the conversation of one of the Transvaalers, a mere +boy of seventeen. He said to me in broken English, "It is such a +causeless war. What are we fighting for, sir?" and I referred him for +his answer to three Johannesburg Uitlanders who were standing by. +Accursed as war always is, it is thrice accursed when young boys and old +men are called upon to fight. At present every man in the Republic from +sixteen to sixty years of age is at the front. The authorities intend as +their losses increase to call out children from twelve to sixteen, and +every old man from sixty onwards who can still see to sight a rifle. +Last and most terrible thought of all, it is an undoubted fact that +wives and daughters are everywhere throughout the Republic engaged in +rifle practice! May God preserve us from having to fight against women! +At present entire families are fighting together. I know one Dutch lady +who has no less than six brothers amongst the burghers who have been +fighting round Ladysmith, and another who has already lost four sons in +the war. In one of our engagements a Boer boy of seventeen was struck +down by a bullet; the father, a man of sixty, left his cover and went +to the succour of his son, when he himself was shot, and the two lay +dead, one beside the other. + +A little to the north of the kopjes which formed the scene of the +Graspan engagement lies the station of Enslin. Here one of the pluckiest +fights of the campaign took place. Two companies of the Northamptons +occupied a small house and orchard beside the line. They had thrown up a +hurried earthwork and placed rails along the top of the parapet. In this +position they were suddenly attacked by a force of apparently 500 +Boers--so it was supposed--with one or two field guns. The small +garrison lined their diminutive trenches and succeeded in keeping the +enemy off for several hours; but had not some artillery reinforcements +come up the line most opportunely to their assistance it might have +fared badly with the plucky Northamptons. As it was, the Boers finally +withdrew with some loss. On December 10th we were delayed for some time +at Enslin by an accident and I had a careful look at the position held +by our men in this minor engagement. There was scarcely a twig or leaf +in the orchard which was not torn by shrapnel and Mauser bullets. The +walls of the house were chipped and pierced in every direction, and one +corner of the earthwork had been carried off by a shell. Yet in the two +companies there were only eight casualties! An almost parallel case was +furnished by Rostall's orchard at Modder River, which was held by the +Boers, and swept for hours by so fearful a fire of shrapnel that the +peach-trees were cut down in every direction and scarcely a square foot +behind the trenches unmarked by the leaden hail. Nevertheless, when the +guns had perforce to cease fire on the advance of our infantry, the +Boers who held the orchard leapt up from behind the earthwork and poured +such a murderous fire upon our men that they were forced to withdraw. It +was the old story over again--that shell fire, unless it enfilades, does +not kill men in trenches. + +As everybody called the river crossed by the railway the Modder, Modder +let it be. Its real name, however, is the Riet, of which the Modder is a +tributary flowing from the north-west and joining the main stream well +to the east of the line. As a stream the river does not impress the +visitor favourably: its waters were yellow and muddy, and the vegetation +on its banks was thin and scrappy. There are no respectable fish in +either the Modder or the Orange River; even if the fish could see a fly +on the top of the liquid mud, they haven't the spirit to rise at it. +Some of our officers, it was said, had managed to land a few specimens +of a coarse fish like a barbel which haunts these streams, but I should +not think any one, even amid the monotony of camp rations, was very keen +about eating his catch, for a good many dead Boers had been dragged out +of the river. It was, in fact, a rather grisly joke in camp to remark, +_a propos_ of our water supply, on the character of "Chateau Modder, an +excellent vintage with a good deal of body in it"! There was a tap at +the station, which by the way is some distance north of the river, but +on attempting to fill a bucket I found the tap guarded by a sentry, +because, apparently, the water came from the river and was thought to be +dangerous. + +The water question is always a difficult one in exploring or +campaigning. One can do a certain amount with alum towards rendering the +water less foul. Rub the inside of a bucket with a lump of alum, and in +ten minutes most of the mud sinks to the bottom, and the water is +comparatively clear. But besides producing a nasty flavour in the water, +if used in any quantity, the astringent alum tends to produce +disagreeable effects internally. Of course the only absolute guarantee +against the bacilli of enteric fever or other diseases which may be +admitted into one's system by drinking, is to boil the waters for five +minutes; but it is very provoking, when the thermometer stands at 90 deg. in +the shade, to wait until the boiled water cools, and as it is impossible +to boil a whole river a few thousand bacilli may quite well get into our +food through "washing up". + +The Boers have almost raised trench digging to the level of a fine art, +and on every occasion when their commandants have found it necessary to +withdraw they have had an entrenched position ready for them at some +distance in the rear. At Modder River the trenches on either side of +the stream were, as far as I saw them, a series of short ditches holding +about six riflemen. These small trenches were separated from each other +in order possibly to avoid that appearance of continuity which would +have rendered their detection more easy to our scouts. In the Modder +River fight a new factor is noticeable. For the first time in the +campaign the Boers fought on level ground. Hitherto their bullets had +come from the summits of the hills, and for this reason had not proved +nearly so effective as a sustained fire from rifles raised, say, about +four and a half feet from the ground. It is of course very much harder +to hit a moving enemy when you aim from above at a considerable angle +than when you merely hold your rifle steadily at the level of his chest +and fire off Mauser cartridges at the rate of twenty a minute. The +enemy's fire was very deadly at the Modder. As Lord Methuen said in his +despatch, it was quite unsafe to remain on horseback at 2,000 yards' +range. The result was that our infantry were compelled to lie prone on +the ground, and, without being able to do much by way of retaliation, +were exposed for hours to a scathing fusilade from the trenches beside +the river. One poor fellow, of whom I saw a good deal, had been through +the battle despite the fact that he was suffering great pain from +dysentery. He, together with two friends, lay on the veldt for no less +than fourteen hours. They had fortunately descried a slight hollow in +the ground some 500 yards from the Boer trenches, and between them they +"loosed off" quite 1,000 rounds of ammunition. "Well," I asked him, "did +you hit anything?" "I don't think we did," was his reply, "because we +never saw a Boer the whole day." When the enemy are firing smokeless +powder behind their splendidly constructed earthworks they are +practically invisible, a fact born witness to by Captain Congreve, V.C., +in his account of the first reverse at the Tugela. Now of course when +you can't see your enemy you can't very well hit him, so when we clear +our minds of fairy-stories about Lyddite and the universal destruction +wrought by concussion, it seems highly probable that there is much more +truth in the Boers' returns of their casualties than has been believed +at home. Take, _e.g._, the lurid account sent by one of our +correspondents about the awful effects of our shell fire upon General +Cronje's laager. We were told in graphic language of every space in the +laager being torn and rent by the deadly fire of more than fifty field +guns, of the trenches being enfiladed and the green fumes of Lyddite +rising up from the doomed camp. Cronje emerges with a casualty roll of +170 men, and the only inconvenience from our bombardment experienced by +the ladies was the slight abrasion of a young woman's forefinger! + +The fact that so many of our Generals have been struck by bullets during +the campaign would seem to corroborate what I have heard on good +authority, _viz._, that some of the best shots in the Transvaal forces +have been told off for long range shooting, and the picking off of our +leaders. One of these fancy shots--a German--was captured in Natal and +told an officer that he was glad to be a prisoner, as he heartily +disliked the task imposed upon him. Some little distance north of the +Modder bridge is a small white house. Within this was found a Boer lying +on a table stone-dead, with a shrapnel bullet in his skull. His Mauser, +still clutched in his stiffened hands, lay on a tripod rest in front of +him and the muzzle pointed through a vertical slit made in the masonry +of the cottage. Every house in the neighbourhood was more or less +injured by shrapnel, and one of them was the scene of a sanguinary +conflict which was utterly misrepresented by one of the Cape papers. The +misrepresentation was to the effect that at the battle of Modder River +the house in question was occupied by a number of Boer wounded from +Belmont and Graspan in charge of several attendants. It was alleged that +two of the attendants deliberately fired upon our troops, who forthwith +entered the house and bayoneted every occupant, wounded and unwounded +alike, the bodies being afterwards weighted, with stones and thrown into +the river. This terrible story spread like wildfire through the Colony, +and Lord Methuen despatched an official denial of the alleged +circumstances to Capetown. The Boer General never, as far as I am +aware, brought any such charge against our troops, but as it undoubtedly +gained considerable credence in the Colony it is perhaps worth while to +mention the real facts of the case. The house in question was occupied +as an outpost by thirty-six Boers, who fired upon some companies of +British troops. About a dozen of our men, chiefly Argyll and Sutherland +Highlanders with a lieutenant of the Fifth Fusiliers--for an +extraordinary intermingling of various units took place in this +engagement--rushed the house. Two of the Highlanders were shot down but +the rest took a speedy revenge. The thirty-six Boers clubbed their +rifles and fought pluckily, but they were crowded together and could do +little against our bayonets. Every man of the thirty-six perished. "I +didn't like to see it, sir," said one of the Highlanders to me. This is, +of course, a very different story from the disgraceful tale alluded to +above. None of the Boers in the house were wounded before our men +appeared on the scene, and it is clear that the Boer corpses in the +river, with stones tied to their ankles, were put there by their own +comrades. + +Fair-minded and thoughtful men who have followed the events of the +present campaign must long ago have come to the conclusion that +non-official news must frequently be received with great caution. Before +the war began misrepresentation was rife on both sides, and it has +continued ever since. Mr. Winston Churchill may well call South Africa a +"land of lies". Various slanders against ourselves have emanated to some +extent from the Dutch papers in Cape Colony and the Transvaal, but in a +much fuller and more substantial form from the Continental papers, +notably the Parisian Press. On the other hand, our own journalists have +not been altogether free from this taint. Let us take one or two +concrete instances, _e.g._, violation of the white flag, firing on +ambulances, the use of "explosive" bullets, looting. Just after the +first reverse at the Tugela, a correspondent wired home that the Boers +were "shooting horses and violating all the usages of civilised +warfare". A man who would write such tomfoolery about horses ought to be +kept in Fleet Street, and not sent out as a war correspondent; and as +to his sweeping accusations in general, it is worth noticing that he was +publicly and severely rebuked by Sir Redvers Buller, who denied his +statements, and said that it was dishonourable to malign our brave +opponents in this fashion. + +As to the _vexata quaestio_ of the white flag, it seems clear that in +some instances the Boers have used this symbol of surrender in an +absolutely unjustifiable way. Such a misusage of the flag occurred, for +example, at Belmont.[A] But, as a Boer prisoner said to me, there are +blackguards in every army, and it is utterly unfair to represent the +whole Boer army as composed of these treacherous scoundrels--who, by the +way, in almost every instance have paid the penalty of their treachery +with their lives. Moreover, a white flag--which is sometimes merely a +handkerchief tied to a rifle--may, in a comparatively undisciplined +force like that of our opponents, be easily raised by a combatant on +one side of a kopje, without being ordered or being noticed by his +officer or the bulk of his comrades. How easily this may happen can be +seen from what occurred amongst our own men at Nicholson's Nek. Here the +white flag was raised, according to the published letter of an officer +present, by a subaltern, without the knowledge and against the wishes of +the officer in command. The officer who raised the flag may quite +well--we do not know the circumstances accurately--have wished to save +the lives of the men immediately round him, or may have been unable to +see what was happening elsewhere on the kopje, and so have imagined that +he and his men alone were left. + +Something very similar to this appears to have happened at Dundee. A +body of Boers standing together raised a white flag when our men +approached and were duly taken prisoners, but the rest of their commando +were, according to Boer accounts, already engaged in retreating with +their guns, and, being either unaware of this unauthorised surrender or +completely ignoring it, continued their flight. + +I have already spoken of the risks incurred by stretcher-bearers and +ambulance waggons which approach close to the firing line. Wounded men +have told me again and again that the Boers at Magersfontein did not +fire wilfully on our ambulance waggons, except when our troops got +behind them in their retreat. Moreover, excitable people in England, who +greedily swallow any story about such alleged occurrences, have probably +the vaguest idea of what a modern battle-field looks like, and of the +enormous area now covered by military operations. It may be extremely +difficult to see a small white or Red Cross flag a long way off. At +Ladysmith, _e.g._, one of our guns put a shell clean through a Boer +ambulance, and Sir George White, of course, at once sent an apology for +the mistake. If mistakes occur on one side they may occur on the other. +Reuter's agent at Frere Camp reports on 4th December:-- + +"After the evacuation of Dundee the Boers shelled the hospital and the +ambulance until the white flag was hoisted, when their firing ceased. +Captain Milner rode with one orderly into the Boer camp with a flag of +truce, and was told that the Boers could not see the Red Cross flag. +This statement he verified by personal observation." + +As to the use of "explosive" bullets, which makes the "man in the +street" so indignant, it is worth mentioning that, as far as I am aware, +not a single instance of the employment of such a missile came under the +notice of our medical staff with Lord Methuen's column. I do not for one +instant deny that occasionally such bullets may have been fired at our +troops, but it is clear that the utmost confusion prevails about the +nature of these projectiles. The Geneva Convention prohibits the use of +explosive bullets, _i.e._, hollow bullets charged with an explosive +which is fired by a detonating cap on coming in contact with a resisting +surface. Now it is almost impossible to render a Mauser bullet +"explosive," owing to its extreme slenderness, so that any explosive +bullets which may have been used by the enemy must have come from +sporting rifles, which are--as all evidence goes to show--extremely rare +in their commandos. Expansive bullets are made by cutting off the +rounded tip of the bullet, scooping out its point, constructing its +"nose" of some softer metal, or simply making transverse cuts across the +end. These missiles are not prohibited by the Geneva Convention: +nevertheless their employment against white men is altogether +unnecessary and reprehensible. + +As to looting, we must not forget that all commandeering of goods on the +part of the enemy has been so described. But, of course, it is perfectly +legitimate according to the usage of modern warfare to seize any +property necessary for an army provided receipts are duly handed over to +the persons from whom the goods are obtained. The Germans invariably +acted in this way during the Franco-Prussian war, and no historian has +ever described them as "savages" for this reason. Of course the wanton +destruction of property which appears to have been perpetrated by the +Boers in Natal is absolutely indefensible. + +If any one on reading the above thinks the writer "unpatriotic" he can +only say that many British soldiers serving their Queen and country are +"unpatriotic" in the same way. I hold no brief for the Boers, and I +feel sure that here and there one may find an unmitigated scoundrel in +their ranks who would fire on white flags, loot houses and use explosive +bullets. On the other hand wounded and captured soldiers have repeatedly +testified to the great kindness shown them by the enemy. In short, I +have invariably found soldiers more generous and fair towards the enemy, +and less disposed to blackguard them recklessly and unjustly, than +newspaper writers and readers. Men who have faced the Boers have learnt +to respect their courage and devotion, and I feel sure that British +officers and soldiers deprecate much of the atrocity talk anent foemen +so worthy of their steel, and however little they may sympathise with +some portions of Dean Kitchin's sermon, they would at any rate desire to +support his wish that the "quarrel should be raised to the level of a +gentlemen's quarrel".[B] Quite recently Lord Methuen spoke like an +honourable and chivalrous British soldier when he declared that he +"never wished to meet a braver general than Cronje and had never served +in a war where less vindictive feelings existed between the two opposing +armies than in this." + +One more word on a kindred topic and we will leave criticism alone! The +tone adopted by some sections of the Colonial and even British Press +with respect to the religious feeling of the Boers is very painful. Some +correspondents have described with evident glee how Boer prayer-meetings +have been broken up by Lyddite shells. I feel sure that no British +General would think for a moment of deliberately shelling any body of +the enemy assembled for prayer, and the vulgarity and wickedness of such +paragraphs would certainly not commend itself to the best sentiment of +the British army. Again and again the Boers are described in the Press +as "canting hypocrites" or their thanksgivings to God as +"sanctimonious". What right have we as Christians to bring such +wholesale charges against our Christian enemies? Several thousand +burghers advanced from Jacobsdal to reinforce Cronje, and as it marched +the entire force sang the Old Hundredth in unison. There is something +splendid and majestic in such a spectacle as this. Let us as Englishmen +fight our best against these men and defeat them thoroughly, but do not +let us sneer at their religious enthusiasm! + +On December 10th, as we were standing on a siding at De Aar, a telegram, +arrived ordering us to leave for Modder River in the morning. We were +delighted at the prospect of getting rid of our enforced inaction at De +Aar. The air was full of rumours about an impending attack on Cronje's +position, and we fully expected to be in time for the fight and probably +to be employed as stretcher-bearers during the battle. Alas! our hopes +were all in vain. Next day, some miles below Modder River, our engine +with its tender suddenly left the metals. The stoker jumped off, but the +engine fortunately kept on the top of the embankment and nobody was +hurt. We none of us knew how or why the accident had occurred, but one +of the officials suspected very strongly that the rails had been +tampered with. + +At any rate, there we were within a few miles of a big fight, off the +metals and quite helpless! We were all perfectly wild with vexation and +disappointment. But up flew a wire to Modder River for a gang of sappers +with screwjacks. Pending the arrival of their assistance I climbed up to +the top of a neighbouring kopje with a lot of Tasmanians. From this +point the flashes of the guns above Modder River were visible, and the +dull boom of Lyddite was borne to our ears. Methuen's artillery was +still doing its best to avenge or retrieve the disaster of the early +morning. The sappers at length arrived. We all helped--pushing and +digging and lifting--and at length after several hours' delay steamed +off to Modder River, too late for anything, except to wait for the +morning and the wounded. We knew by this time that at 3:30 that morning +the Highland Brigade had made a frontal attack on the Magersfontein +lines and had been repulsed with terrible loss. The accounts which were +vaguely given of the disaster were frightful, but accurate details were +still lacking. Yes, here we were within four miles of the nearest point +of Cronje's lines and we did not know half as much about the fight as +people in Pall Mall 7000 miles away! + +On 12th of December I woke at four. The sun was just beginning to rise +and the raw chill of the night had not yet left the air. In the grey +light a long string of ambulance waggons was moving slowly towards the +camp from the battle-field. Parallel to the line of waggons a column of +infantry was marching northwards, perhaps to reinforce some of our +outlying trenches against a possible Boer attack. I shall long remember +the sight--the column of dead and wounded coming in, the living column +going out, and scarcely a sound to break the silence. + +The wards of the train were all ready for the wounded, so I went off +with a couple of buckets to replenish our water supply. Wounded men are +generally troubled with thirst, and the washing of their hands and faces +always refreshes them greatly. I found the station tap, however, +guarded by a sentry; no water was to be drawn for the use of the +troops, as the pipes--so it was said--came from Modder River, which was +contaminated by the Boer corpses. + +We were soon busy with the wounded Highlanders and well within an hour +we had safely placed some 120 men in our bunks, and some on the floor. I +am afraid the poor soldiers often suffered agony when they were lifted +in or rolled from the stretchers on to the bunks. It was sometimes +impossible to avoid hurting a man with, say, a shattered thigh-bone and +a broken arm in thus changing his position. We however did our best and +lifted them with the utmost care and gentleness, but they often, poor +fellows, groaned and cried out in their cruel pain. + +At 6 P.M. we saw the funeral of sixty-three Highlanders--all buried in +one long trench close to the line. No shots were fired over the vast +grave, but tears rolled down many a bronzed cheek and the bagpipes +played a wild lament. Surely there is no music like this for the burial +of young and gallant men. The notes seem to express an almost frenzied +access of human sorrow! + +Soon after this my old Sudan acquaintance, Frederick Villiers, passed +through the train. He did not recognise me in my uniform and I did not +make myself known to him as he was with an officer and I was only an +orderly. I wonder if he remembers that dreadful night, 31st August, +1898, when we lay side by side in the desert at Sururab, soaked to the +skin from a tropical downpour, and, to make his misery complete, he was +stung in the neck by a large scorpion. + +We ran down to Orange River with our first load of wounded men, and just +as we were crossing the sappers' pontoon bridge over the Modder a trolly +or small waggon broke loose and rushing down the incline in front met +our engine and was broken into matchwood. Most of our cases on this +first run were "severe" or "dangerous". Some of the men had no less than +three bullet wounds, and several were still living whose heads had been +pierced by bullets. During a former journey, after Belmont, poor ---- of +the Guards lived for several days with a bullet through his brain; he +was apparently unconscious or semi-conscious and struggled so +desperately to remove the bandages from his head that it took three +orderlies to hold him down. When he died the wounded soldier next him +burst into tears. + +Amongst some cases peculiarly interesting from a medical point of view +was that of a Highlander who had three of his fingers shot off with the +result that his arm and side were paralysed; in another case a bullet +tore its way through and across the crown of a soldier's head and caused +paralysis of the opposite side of the body. Another man had, so it was +said, been hit on the shoulder; the bullet passed right through his body +piercing his lungs and intestines and coming out at the thigh. Yet, +strange to say, the poor fellow was in excellent spirits and complained +only of slight pain in the abdomen. + +There was one death at Magersfontein which seemed especially painful to +ourselves. It was that of a young officer in the Argyll and Sutherland +Highlanders who, after the fight on the Modder, came into our train and +had a kindly word for every one of his wounded men; he walked along the +wards shaking hands with them and giving them little money presents as +he passed. His voice was full of sympathy, and at length he broke down +utterly in his compassion for some of their terrible wounds. His tears +did him credit, and we heard with genuine sorrow that he had fallen at +Magersfontein. So good a man was indeed worthy of a longer life and a +kindlier fate. + +Almost all the wounds inflicted by the Mauser bullets seemed to be quite +clean and healthy, with no signs of suppuration. It has been suggested +that the satisfactory condition of such wounds is partly due to a +species of cauterisation produced by the heat of the bullet. But I +hardly think this can be so, for it is extremely doubtful if a bullet +ever gets hot enough to cauterise flesh. I once picked up a spent +Martini bullet which dropped within a yard or two of where I was +standing; it was quite warm but not nearly hot enough to hurt my bare +hand. A Mauser bullet fired at a fairly close range, say, 500 yards, +travels at such a tremendous velocity that it generally splinters any +bone it meets; on the other hand at long ranges--1,000 yards and +upwards--the bullet frequently bores a clean little hole through the +opposing bone and thus saves the surgeon a great deal of trouble. + +The wounds from shell fire were not numerous in our wards. It seems +likely that if a one-pounder shell from the Maxim-Nordenfeldt hits a man +it is pretty sure to kill him. Some of the wounded men told me how +terrible it was to hear the cries of a comrade ripped to pieces by this +devilish missile. + +The condition of the Highlanders' legs was terrible. Many of the poor +fellows lay in the open for hours--some of them from 4 A.M. to 8 +P.M.--and the back of their legs was, almost without exception, covered +with blisters and large burns from the scorching sun. Very many of those +who had escaped bullet wounds could not, I should think, have marched +ten miles to save their lives. The Highland Light Infantry wore trousers +and their legs were all right. How much longer are we going to clothe +our Highland regiments in kilts on active service? Every man I spoke to +was dead against their use in a subtropical campaign like the present +one. Besides, even as it is, our men have to put up with a compromise in +the matter of kilts which makes their retention almost ridiculous, +_i.e._, in order to screen his gay attire from the keen eyes behind the +Mauser barrels every Highlander wears over the tartan a dingy apron of +khaki. The war pictures we occasionally see in illustrated papers of +Scotch regiments charging with flying sporrans are probably drawn in +England. Even when the apron is used, the khaki jacket, the tartan kilt +and the white legs offer a good mark when the wearer is lying on the +ground. At Omdurman I stood with the Seaforths and Camerons in the +firing line and I noticed that they appeared to lose more than any other +battalion. + +On arriving at Orange River we carried our load of wounded to the base +hospital. I wish some of those well-meaning enthusiasts in Trafalgar +Square who clamoured for war could have viewed the interior of these +hospital tents and seen the poor twisted forms lying on the ground in +every direction. What a stupid and brutal thing war is! Certainly the +alleged "bringing out of our nobler qualities" is dearly purchased! If a +superior national type is the outcome of all this death and pain and +misery, War, like Nature, seems at any rate utterly "careless of the +single life"! + +The battle of Magersfontein has been frequently described in the Press +and the main outlines of the fight are already well known to the public. +The Highland Brigade, consisting of the Black Watch, Argyll and +Sutherland Highlanders, Seaforths and Highland Light Infantry, had +dinner on Sunday at 12. They then marched from 2 to 7.30 P.M., when they +bivouacked. They advanced again at 11 P.M. in quarter column through the +darkness, using ropes to keep the direction and formation intact. At +3.30 the order to extend had just been given when a murderous fire was +suddenly poured into the Brigade from the first line of Boer trenches at +the foot of a large kopje. Our men had already seen two red lanterns +burning at either extremity of this entrenched position. All at once the +lamp on the left of the line was extinguished, and this seemed to be +the signal for the Boer riflemen to commence fire. The light was so +bad--in fact there was scarcely any light at all--that it was impossible +to see the foresight of a rifle clearly. How were the Boers able to +discern our approaching columns? One very intelligent boy in the Black +Watch told me that he thought the "wild-fire"--the summer lightning +which plays over the veldt--showed up the approaching troops. Others who +were present stated that the Kimberley flash-light did the mischief, and +a sergeant who marched in the rear of the brigade told me that he could +see the whole line of helmets in front of him illumined by these +electric flashes. Apart from this, it is quite possible that some +treacherous signals from Dutchmen near Modder River camp may have +apprised the Boers of our approach. + +Be this as it may, the first volleys from the opposing trenches swept +through the crowded ranks of the Black Watch with deadly effect. Great +confusion ensued, our men could do little by way of retaliation, +contradictory orders were given, and the Brigade, unable to hold its +ground under the murderous fire, fell back. The fusilade was fearfully +severe and what added to its severity was its unexpectedness. It is +especially the case in war that the unexpected is terrible. This has +been exemplified again and again. On one occasion during the siege of +Paris a body of Zouaves had fought splendidly all day in a sortie under +a hot fire from the Prussians. They were at length ordered to withdraw +some distance into a hollow which would shield them effectually from the +Prussian shells and bullets. The Zouaves ensconced themselves in this +excellent bit of cover and after their exertions prepared to get a +little rest. Suddenly, to their astonishment, a Prussian shell fell +plump into the hollow, and although it hurt nobody the entire company +leapt to their feet and never stopped until they found themselves within +the ramparts of Paris. Yet these men had faced a deadly fire all day +when they expected it. + +No troops in the world could have done anything in face of the +Magersfontein fire: some of the Highlanders, however, lay down and +maintained their position actually within 200 yards of the Boer lines +throughout the day. They had scarcely any cover, and if they showed +themselves by any movement they were picked off by the enemy's +sharp-shooters. Several of our wounded told me that they had seen one +Boer, got up in the most sumptuous manner--polished jackboots, silk +neck-cloth and cigar--strolling leisurely about outside the trenches and +firing with extraordinary accuracy at the recumbent figures which dotted +the ground before him. + +As the Brigade fell back various units were, in the darkness +inextricably mixed up, and our losses became more severe as the accuracy +of the enemy's fire increased. The booming of our artillery and the rush +of our shells upon the Boer trenches put fresh heart into our +temporarily disheartened troops, and rallying lines were formed in +various directions. Occasional rushes were made towards the almost +invisible enemy over the slope already thickly dotted with the bodies of +our dead and wounded, and at the close of the disastrous day several +gallant Highlanders were found lying dead across the wire entanglements +within 150 yards of the Boers, riddled with bullets. The 12th Lancers +dismounted, and at one moment, advanced as infantry right up to the Boer +trenches. Every one I spoke to expressed the warmest admiration for +their coolness and pluck. + +A sergeant in the Black Watch, when all the officers had apparently been +struck down, cried out to the Highlanders near him: "Charge, men, and +prepare to meet your God!" He rushed forward at the head of a few +comrades and fell dead with a bullet through his brain within a yard or +two of the trenches. There is something truly sublime in this man's +devotion to his duty. Many and many an individual act of heroism was +displayed during those awful moments in the semi-darkness when the enemy +opened fire on our crowded battalions. British officers stood upright, +utterly regardless of self, doing their best to rally the shaken troops, +and then falling beneath the pitiless hail of bullets. Later on the +hillside was littered with field-glasses. + +Almost 1,000 yards from the line of kopjes three lines of wire had been +placed, which were cut during our advance, and other entanglements were +stretched just in front of the trenches. Several men in each company +carried wire-cutters with them, but to stand up and snip through lines +of barbed wire when the Mauser bullets and the deadly shells of the +Pom-Pom gun are tearing up the soil around is perilous work. Some of +these entanglements had already been removed after the bombardment on +Sunday night, for E Company of the Black Watch and a company of the +Seaforths went forward about 7 P.M. in skirmishing order and pulled up +the iron stakes and knocked over three parallel lines of barbed wire. + +Some of the Highland Brigade very sensibly withdrew towards the right of +the Boer position with the idea of outflanking and enfilading the enemy. +They succeeded for some time and actually captured some prisoners, but +were soon afterwards themselves enfiladed and compelled to retire. Eight +men of the Seaforths, however, when the frontal attack failed, retired +towards the left instead of the right and suddenly found themselves, to +their dismay, well inside the enemy's trenches! The Boers took away +their rifles but forgot their side-arms, whereupon one of the +Highlanders drew his bayonet, leapt to his feet and stabbed the sentry +who was guarding them in the neck. The whole eight then jumped over the +earthwork and decamped, escaping unhurt through the bullets which +followed them from the enraged burghers. + +Many of our wounded lay on the ground from early morning till seven or +eight in the evening, exposed all day to the scorching rays of an almost +tropical sun. Some of the men brought away in the ambulances were, in +fact, suffering from sunstroke, in addition to their wounds, and, as was +said above, the bare legs of the three kilted battalions were terribly +burnt. The Boers were very kind to our wounded. They came out of the +trenches and gave them water. They did not in any case shoot at our +wounded men, but frequently shot at any one who came forward during the +fight to bandage the wounded. The slightest movement, however, of the +_bona-fide_ combatants in our ranks drew a hail of bullets from the +trenches. A Scotch sergeant, Gilham by name, a most kindly and +courageous man, noticed that a comrade near him had been shot through +the abdomen. He raised himself up from his recumbent position and began +to bandage the wounded man. "Lie down you ---- fool," said the friend; +"can't you see you are drawing the fire?" As he spoke a bullet passed +between Gilham's knees and struck the wounded man. Soon afterwards an +officer called out for a stretcher, so Gilham jumped up and put on his +best "hundred" pace in a slanting run towards the ambulance waggons. +Several other wounded men leapt up and joined him. One of them was +immediately shot through the shoulder, and the good sergeant again +stopped and bandaged him. The Boers had been watching him, and as he +recommenced his devious course they sent two bullets through a bush two +feet in front of him. These small bushes formed very inadequate cover, +and the enemy, taking for granted that men were lying concealed behind +them, fired repeatedly into the shrubs. In one case no less than eight +Highlanders were shot behind one bush. + +I have made no attempt to give a detailed account of the day's +fighting. If I did I should naturally speak of the excellent work done +by the Guards on the right, where the Scandinavian contingent was almost +annihilated, and, later on in the day, by the Gordons, who left their +convoy work on the left and advanced gallantly towards the Boer +position. No praise can be too high for our artillery. It was their +excellent shooting that helped our men to rally after the first shock, +and which ultimately succeeded in driving the Boers from their first +line of trenches. These trenches were admirably constructed in long deep +parallel lines connected at the ends so that a force could advance or +withdraw from any point without being noticed by ourselves. Shell fire +could do little against troops so splendidly entrenched. The Boers, like +the Turks at Plevna, crept under their _epaulements_ while the shells +screamed overhead or swept the parapets with shrapnel bullets, and then, +when this tyranny was overpast, crept out and poured in one of the most +terrific fusilades of the century's warfare. + +When we returned to Modder River with our carriages ready for a fresh +load we found all our troops and guns back again in camp. The trenches, +however, were manned, and every one on the alert. The armistice to bury +the dead expired on the 13th, and a Boer commando had been sighted to +the west. In a brief interval of leisure I took a short stroll, and I +noticed how much more plentiful tobacco was now than a month ago when a +Mauser rifle was offered for a sixpenny packet of cigarettes. One +soldier told me that he had actually paid three shillings for a single +cigarette. + +We loaded up with 120 fresh cases and steamed off for Capetown. The +armoured train was moving fitfully about as we left, but the poor +thing's energies were rather cramped as the line disappeared about 300 +yards north of the station. + +Just before we crossed the river we saw the two war-balloons floating +above the camp, and our cook informed us with a great show of expert +knowledge that these balloons were absolutely proof against bullets or +even shells, "for," said he, "if anything hits them it rebounds from +them like my fist does from this 'ere pillow". A rather similar story +was told me by a wounded Highlander. He declared that a pal of his had +been struck in the stomach by a shell at the Modder River fight. "Oh," +said I, "there wasn't much of your poor friend left, I suppose?" "He +wasn't much hurt," was the reply, "though he did spit blood for a few +hours." "Great Scot! what became of the shell?" "Oh," said my informant, +"I didn't notice, but it must have bounced off Bill's stomach." The +soldier quite believed that this marvellous incident had occurred. What +had happened was probably this: a shell had passed so close to the man +that the concussion of the air had "taken his wind" and ruptured some +small blood-vessels. I remember at the capture of Malaxa in Crete that +three insurgents were hurled to the ground by the air pressure of a +Turkish shell which passed within a yard or two of their heads. + +Several of our cases on this downward journey were interesting. Corporal +Anderson of the Black Watch lay in our ward, struck deaf and dumb from +the bursting of a Boer shell, though he was otherwise uninjured by the +explosion. Wounds through the intestines were to be found here and +there. Such injuries in the larger intestines, if left to themselves and +not operated on, have--when inflicted by the humane Mauser bullet--a +fairly good chance, and that is all that can be said. One man had been +shot through the elbow as he lay at the "present". The bullet had +shattered the bone, but there was every prospect of the arm being saved. +How different would have been the probable effects, in such a case, of +the big Martini bullet! + +One incident which seemed to amuse the men very much was this. During +the Modder River battle a bullet struck a corporal on the back; it +glanced superficially across his shoulder and then piercing his +canteen-tin remained inside. The corporal, imagining himself _in +extremis_, fell to the ground and called for the ambulance. Somebody ran +up to the prostrate man, and after a diligent but fruitless search for +the wound at length discovered the bullet in the canteen-tin. The +apparently moribund corporal, seeing this, instantly recovered, and +leaping briskly to his feet told them to countermand the +stretcher-bearers and pressed forward to the attack with renewed +vigour. + +Just as we left De Aar a train full of Queensland Mounted Infantry was +entering the station _en route_ for the front. The occupants were in the +highest spirits and cheered loudly. "Ah!" said some of our poor fellows, +"we were like that when we went up!" The contrast between the two +trains--there, life and vigour: here, weakness and death--was very +striking. + +So far from being "absent-minded" about their people at home, the +wounded soldiers were continually thinking about their sweethearts, +wives and families. Several soldiers in my ward, _e.g._, had lined their +helmets with ostrich feathers. "My eye," said they, "won't the missus +look fine in these!" One of the reservists asked me: "Do you think I +shall lose my thigh? You see, I want to do the best I can for my family, +and if I do lose my leg I shall be useless, as I work in the pits in +Fife." Another Scotchman, a shoemaker, was full of anxiety about the +future support of his wife and children. "If only my wound," he said +dejectedly, "had been below my knee instead of above it! Because +this"--pointing to the wounded spot--"is just the place I use for my +work." + +Yes! to mix with the rank and file of an army as one of themselves is a +great privilege. One understands them in this way far better than +through the medium of books. Many little acts of unostentatious heroism +are casually spoken of--noble deeds done by humble soldiers who live +without a history and often perish without a memorial--as, for instance, +the devotion of a private at Modder River who applied digital pressure +to the severed artery of a comrade for hours under fire and so saved his +life. Again, the soldier's religion, where it exists, is often very +genuine indeed. Just after the Magersfontein reverse a wounded +Highlander entreated me to find his rosary for him which was hidden +under a pile of accoutrements. On another occasion we picked up on the +floor of the train a piece of paper which proved to be the will of a +poor private, a Roman Catholic, who left "all he possessed" to the +Church. I need not say that this will was forwarded to the proper +quarter. The wounded men too were frequently very grateful for any +little services one could render them, and made us odd little presents +by way of return. One H.L.I. man gave me the badges from his ruined +khaki jacket, and an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander bestowed upon me a +pair of goggles he had taken from the face of a dead Boer. + +By the time we reached Richmond Road the usual influx of private +offerings for the wounded had, as usual, begun. We always left the front +with the ordinary comforts of an ambulance train; by the time we reached +Capetown we looked like a sort of cross between a green-grocer's stall +and a confectioner's shop. We simply didn't know what to do with the +masses of fruit and flowers, puddings and jellies, which the people +along the line forced upon us. These kindly folk--men, women and +children--thrust their various offerings through the windows; then they +peeped through themselves, and the women would say "poor dear" to some +six-foot guardsman, who smiled his thanks or told them how he got hit. +As I say, the train was, by the time we reached Wynberg, simply choked +with luxuries--some of them quite unsuitable for wounded men--a +veritable _embarras de richesses_. We used to begin the journey with +moderation and end it with a species of debauch! But it was most kind +and thoughtful of these colonists all the same. + +By the time we reached Wynberg on 16th December it was quite dark. A row +of ambulance waggons stood ready beyond the platform, and in front of +them a line of St. John's Ambulance men, fresh from England, looking +very spruce and neat. The wounded were speedily conveyed to the waggons +and safely lodged in the hospital. On a former occasion one poor fellow +died at the moment he was being lifted out of the train. My comrades and +myself had had about six hours' sleep in three consecutive nights, and +after we had remade the beds and swept the train we slept soundly. Next +morning we were on duty till twelve, when we were allowed a few hours' +leave. A warm bath and a lunch at the Royal Hotel with a good bottle of +wine was very welcome, and we were all in excellent spirits when the +whistle sounded and we steamed away once more to the north with 600 +miles before us. + +We halted again at De Aar, where we remained till Christmas. The weather +grew hotter and hotter. The whirling dust, the stony plains, the glaring +heat, the evening coolness, the glowing sunsets, the bare rocky hills, +how it all recalled the Sudan! Train after train lumbered by with stores +and guns and ammunition for the front, the whole of this enormous +traffic being run on a single line of rails. Amongst the most +troublesome items to deal with were the mules. Sometimes a mule would +suddenly produce a violent uproar in a waggon by beginning to kick, his +hoof against every mule and every mule's hoof against him. Even if these +beasties were taken out of the waggon to be watered their behaviour was +unseemly. A soldier would with infinite patience marshal the mules in +line with himself, their halters all tied together. The march would then +begin, but within half a dozen yards the mules in the centre would press +forward till the whole thing looked like a Pyrrhic phalanx. The wearied +soldier would then smite the aggressive animals, and, after a few more +strides, the centre mules would hang back while the wings would close +in, and then, as confusion became worse confounded, some of the restless +brutes would commence to roll, and the group finally resembled a sort of +mulish "scrum" with the soldier on his back as football. + +There were, of course, various camp services on Christmas Day: most of +my comrades on the train went to the little Episcopal Church in De Aar. +The Church of England community in this out-of-the-way village numbers +some fifty all told. Nevertheless these churchmen had contrived to build +a pretty little church and their services were very hearty. Officers, +men, and two Red Cross sisters formed the bulk of the congregation and +we listened to a delightful sermonette written and delivered in +excellent style by the good Vicar, an old Corpus man at Oxford. We sang +the old familiar hymns, "While shepherds watched" and "Hark, the Herald +Angels sing," which took our thoughts away to distant homes and +services in England, 7,000 miles away. At the close of the service came +that hymn of prayer, "O God of peace, give peace again;" and as we +walked back to the train a sergeant said to me: "If there is a God who +will listen to prayer, my prayer for peace went straight to Him". I +think he spoke for all of us. Most people who love war for war's sake +are not soldiers. + +Our Christmas dinner was a most gorgeous affair. We were determined to +do everything in the best possible style, and everybody helped. We first +rigged up a trestle table beside the train and stretched a tarpaulin +above it to shelter us from the fierce heat. Three of our number were +then despatched to secure all the green stuff they could for decorative +purposes, and as the good people of De Aar were quite ready to give us +some of their scanty flowers and allow us to dismember their shrubs, our +envoys returned with armfuls of material. The outside of the train and +the surface of the table were gaily decorated, and two photographs of +her Majesty which we had cut out of magazines were framed in leaves and +flowers and bits of coloured paper, the very best we could do! We had +secured an order for some beer and a couple of bottles of whisky, and +when these adjuncts had been duly fetched from the canteen we sat down +to our Christmas dinner. Towards the end of it our kind and deservedly +popular C.O. Captain Fleming, R.A.M.C., paid us a visit, with a civilian +doctor and the two nurses. The Captain made us a little speech and +informed us that the Queen had sent her best Christmas wishes to the +troops. We then cheered her Majesty, and Captain Fleming and Dr. Waters +and the nurses, and our visitors left us to enjoy the rest of the +evening as we liked. + +After various toasts--the Queen, our General, Absent Friends and so +on--several comrades from other corps dropped in and every one was +called upon for a song. It is curious to find the extraordinary +popularity amongst soldiers of lugubrious and doleful songs. The +majority of our songs at that Christmas dinner dealt with graves and the +flowers that grew upon them, on the death of soldiers and the grief of +parents. One song, I remember, was almost ludicrously sad. It told how +a young soldier on active service in the Sudan or some other distant +region hears, apparently by telepathic means, that his mother--the +conventional grey-haired mother--is in some distress. The soldier at +once, without any attempt to secure leave of absence, sets out for +"home" on foot. He is brought back, and, as the excuse about his mother +is very naturally discredited, the deserter is sentenced to be shot. +Just as his lifeless body falls back riddled with bullets the mother +arrives--how, it is not explained--so, as the refrain has it, "The +Pardon comes too late". There were also several pauses in the +conversation for "solos from the band," to wit, a flute and a fiddle. + +After dismantling the marquee and dinnertable we started through the +darkness for Modder River. We had thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas fare, +and K----, a Scotchman, attempted with some success to perform a +sword-dance on two crossed sticks, and when we pulled up at some station +with a Dutch name his fervid patriotism broke loose in an attempt to +address the people on the platform, whom he apostrophised as "rebels" +and threatened with dire vengeance. Our cook was equal to the occasion. +He dragged K---- back and apologised to the aggrieved colonists, +explaining--by a pious fraud--that he was K----'s father and so +responsible for bringing him out that evening. Our gleemen now stepped +into the breach with "Ye Banks and Braes," and we left the station amid +cheers. + +Another of my friends under the excitement of song and mirth frequently +clutched my arm and pointed to imaginary batches of Dutchmen standing +suspiciously near the line and presumably intent on wrecking the train. +These were usually prickly-pear bushes. When we approached Modder River +he exclaimed that we were now within range of the Boer guns, and +accordingly pulled up the windows as a sort of protection against shells +and bullets. + +As we steamed into Modder River station the 4.7 gun called "Joe +Chamberlain" loosed off a Lyddite shell at the Magersfontein trenches. +Some desultory shelling continued on both sides at 7,000 yards, chiefly +in the early morning and evening--a kind of "good day" and "good night" +exchanged between "Joe Chamberlain" and "Long Tom,". During our stay on +this occasion some excellent practice was made on both sides. On the +26th a shell from our gun struck a Boer water-cask and smashed it to +bits; next day a Boer shell fell plump into a party of Lancers and +killed four horses. On another occasion more than fifty shells--so I +heard--fell round the 4.7 gun, and although the gunners were compelled +to seek cover the gun was absolutely uninjured. + +Apart from this interchange of artillery fire the camp was undisturbed. +The trenches were of course manned day and night, but spare time was +filled up to some extent by various games. Goal posts were visible here +and there, and Lord Methuen had offered a challenge cup for "soccer" +football, the ties of which were being keenly contested. + +We took on board a fresh load of sick and wounded men--chiefly the +former--bound for Wynberg hospital. Just before we left I walked a +hundred yards from the line and saw the graves of Colonel Downman, +Lieutenant Campbell, Lieutenant Fox, and a Swede called, I think, Olaf +Nilsen. The graves were marked by simple wooden crosses: those who were +enemies in life lay side by side in the gentle keeping of Death, the +Healer of Strife, for so the Greeks of old time loved to call him. + +Soon after leaving the Modder the sky grew black with clouds, the birds +hid themselves from view and the veldt-cricket ceased from his +monotonous chirrup. Then all at once the storm burst upon us. The +lightning played incessantly and sheets of rain blotted out the kopjes +and the veldt from view. It was in weather like this that our poor +fellows advanced through the darkness upon the Magersfontein trenches! + +At Orange River we halted for some time, and somebody suggested a snake +hunt in the scrub, but no one seemed very keen about this form of sport. +The "ringhals" in the veldt are very deadly. I remember speaking to a +Kaffir about them and asking him if he had known of any fatal bites. He +replied, pathetically enough: "Yes, sah, a brudder of me--two hours, he +was dead--mudder and sister and me was there". + +Near Enslin a most unhappy accident had occurred. A sentry of the +Shropshire had seen two figures advancing in the evening towards his +post, had challenged, and, failing to get the prescribed reply, had +fired off seven bullets into the two supposed Boers, who turned out to +be a sergeant and private of his own regiment. By a miracle both these +wounded men ultimately recovered, but while we were at Enslin we heard +that the poor sentry was absolutely prostrated by grief and horror over +the unfortunate affair. + +At a station lower down a lighter incident took place. A corporal from +our train, a Johannesburg man, in taking a short stroll came across +three Uitlander volunteer recruits. They did not for the moment +recognise their quondam acquaintance in his uniform, so he called +"Halt!" The recruits became rigid. "Medical inspection," cried the +corporal--"Tongues out!" Three tongues were instantly thrust out. +"Salute your general," was the next order. This was too much. In the +middle of a spasmodic attempt at a salute a dubious look began to +spread over the faces of the three victims, which broadened into +certainty as with a yell they leapt upon their oppressor and made him +stand them a drink. + +At Richmond Road we came across a detachment of Cape Volunteers who were +practising the capture of kopjes in the neighbourhood of the line. In +condoling with one of them on the dreariness of the place, he remarked +that they occasionally shot a hare with a Lee-Metford bullet. This is +pretty good shooting if the hare is moving. I remember hearing a Boer +say with apparent _bona fides_ that he invariably shot birds on the wing +with Mauser bullets. Some of his birds must have looked ugly on the +table. + +As we passed through the Karroo somebody remarked that a Cape newspaper +had suggested that our yeomen should ultimately settle in the country +and continue their pastoral life in the veldt-farms of South Africa. +Evidently the journalist who wrote this article imagines that our +gallant yeomen were all tillers of the soil. Even if they were, few +Englishmen will care to exchange the green fields and leafy copses of +England for the solitude of these dreary, sun-baked plains. Moreover, +where is the land to come from for any considerable number of such +settlers? Practically all the land which is worth cultivating in the +colonies of South Africa and the two Republics is already occupied. Even +if we confiscate the farms of those colonial rebels actually and legally +proved to be such, I doubt very much whether the land thus obtained +would provide for more than three or four hundred settlers. Enthusiasts +in England who write to the papers on this topic seem often to take for +granted that the farms of the burghers in the two Republics will at the +close of the war be presented to any reservist or yeoman who wishes to +settle in South Africa. But is there any precedent in modern times for +the confiscation of the private property of a conquered people? Are the +burghers who survive the struggle to be evicted from their farms and +left with their wives and children to starvation? This would be a bad +beginning towards that alleviation of race hatred after the war which +all good men of every political party earnestly desire. There is, it is +true, a certain amount of land owned by the State in the Transvaal, but +if we distribute this _gratis_ to a few hundred individuals we shall be +depriving ourselves of one of the few sources from which a war-indemnity +could accrue to the nation as a whole. + +Nothing, of course, could be more desirable than the planting in South +Africa of a large body of honest, hard-working English settlers with +their wives and families. But there are many difficulties to be overcome +before the idyllic picture of the reservist surrounded by the orchards +and cornfields of his upland farm can be realised in actual fact. The +Dutch farmers of South Africa are as a rule very poor. They rise up +early and take late rest, and eat the bread of carefulness, but their +life is one of constant poverty. If we talk of "improvements" we must +remember that irrigation in such a country is sometimes difficult and +costly, and light railways demand considerable capital. Who is to +provide the money for these? I doubt very much if many Englishmen or +Australians or New Zealanders _who have seen South Africa_ will +exchange their present homes for the dreary and unproductive routine of +an African farm. + +During the latter part of our run the kindly enthusiasm of the colonists +was as much in evidence as ever. Offerings of flowers and delicacies +were again showered upon the wounded. It was amusing to notice how +truculent some of the ladies were. One of them, as she put her welcome +basket through the window, remarked _a propos_ of Kruger, Steyn, etc., +"Yes, bury them all, bury them all!" + +After our sick men had been duly conveyed to the hospital we stayed in +Capetown till the close of the year. A plentiful supply of English +newspapers were lying about in the smoking-room of the hotel and it was +exceedingly painful to read of the violent criticisms passed upon our +Generals. If journalists in England wish to criticise the behaviour of +our Generals, let them do so over their own signature when the war is +over and these servants of the Government can defend themselves fairly. +During the progress of a campaign a General has practically no +opportunity of defending himself against newspaper attacks. Military +success amid the surroundings of a South African campaign is often so +difficult: criticism in Fleet Street is so easy! Very frequently the +same man who cheers wildly at Waterloo and labels the outgoing General's +luggage "To Pretoria" is the first to vituperate the same officer if +amid the vicissitudes of warfare some measure of defeat falls to his +lot. Military success does not depend entirely on the devotion or +capacity of a commander. How cruel were those of the paragraphs which we +read directed against our own General, Lord Methuen--the only British +commander who had, if we except Elandslaagte, won any successes up to +the present. Let the public wait before they so freely condemn a General +who drove back the enemy in three successive engagements. That +Magersfontein was a bad reverse is patent to everybody, but the causes +of that defeat are not nearly so apparent.[C] It is disgraceful that +English newspapers should, during the progress of a campaign, print +letters from soldiers at the front which asperse the character and +conduct of their commanding officers. Publicity of this sort strikes at +the root of military discipline and common fairness too, for the public +can scarcely expect a British General to reply in the public Press to +the letter of a private serving under him! + +The bells of the Cathedral tolled mournfully as the old year died. Would +that its bitter memories could have perished with it! And then from +steeple and steamship, locomotive and factory, a babel of sound burst +forth as sirens and bells and whistles welcomed the birth of 1900. Yet, +as the shrill greetings died away, one heard the tramp of infantry +through the streets. The Capetown Highlanders--a volunteer +battalion--were under arms all that night, as a rising of the Dutch had +been anticipated on New Year's Day. May the new year see the end of this +cruel strife, and the sun of righteousness arise upon this unhappy land +with healing in his wings! As one sits in the dimly-lit wards while the +train tears through the darkness, and nothing breaks the silence save +the groan of a wounded man or the cries of some poor fellow racked with +rheumatic fever--at times like these one thinks of many things, past, +present and future. An ever-deepening gloom of military disaster seemed +to be spreading itself around us--Magersfontein, Stormberg and the +latest repulse on the Tugela, a veritable [Greek: trikumia kakon]! Of +course, in the long run, we _shall_ and _must_ win. But what afterwards? +Will the vanquished Dutch submit and live in peace and amity with their +conquerors, or will they preserve the memory of their dead from +generation to generation, and cherish that unspeakable bitterness which +they at present feel for England and her people? Verily all these things +lie on the knees of the gods! + + + +ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] Since these lines were written Lord Roberts has personally testified +to the misuse of the white flag in the Paardeberg fighting. + +[B] Cf. _The River War_, by Winston Spencer Churchill, vol. ii., p. 394. +"It is the habit of the boa-constrictor to besmear the body of its +victim with a foul slime before he devours it; and there are many people +in England, and perhaps elsewhere, who seem to be unable to contemplate +military operations for clear political objects, unless they can cajole +themselves into the belief that the enemy is utterly and hopelessly +vile." + +[C] _Cf._ Tacitus, _Agricola_, xxvii.: Iniquissima haec bellorum +condicio est; prospera omnes sibi vindicant, adversa uni imputantur. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of With Methuen's Column on an Ambulance +Train, by Ernest N. 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