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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/16131-8.txt b/16131-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e2cf46 --- /dev/null +++ b/16131-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6596 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa +(1899-1900), by A. G. Hales + + +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: Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900) + Letters from the Front + + +Author: A. G. Hales + + + +Release Date: June 25, 2005 [eBook #16131] +[Date last updated: June 9, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGN PICTURES OF THE WAR IN +SOUTH AFRICA (1899-1900)*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Rudy Ketterer, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +CAMPAIGN PICTURES OF THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA (1899-1900) + +Letters from the Front + +by + +A. G. HALES + +Special Correspondent of the "Daily News" + +Cassell and Company, Limited +London, Paris, New York & Melbourne + +1901 + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + +Dedication. + + +This book, such as it is, is dedicated to the man whose kindliness of heart +and generous journalistic instincts lifted me from the unknown, and placed +me where I had a chance to battle with the best men in my profession. He +was the man who found Archibald Forbes, the most brilliant, accurate, and +entertaining of all war correspondents. What he did for that splendid +genius let Forbes' memoirs tell; what he did for me I will tell myself. He +gave me the chance I had looked for for twenty years, and the dearest name +in my memory to-day is the name of + + + SIR JOHN ROBINSON, + + Manager of the _Daily News_, London. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +WITH THE AUSTRALIANS. + AUSTRALIA ON THE MARCH 1 + WITH THE AUSTRALIANS 6 + A PRISONER OF WAR 15 + "STOPPING A FEW" 29 + AUSTRALIA AT THE WAR 38 + AUSTRALIA ON THE MOVE 48 + SLINGERSFONTEIN 60 + THE WEST AUSTRALIANS 69 + +AMONG THE BOERS. + IN A BOER TOWN 75 + BEHIND THE SCENES 83 + A BOER FIGHTING LAAGER 90 + THROUGH BOER GLASSES 104 + LIFE IN THE BOER CAMPS 116 + +WITH GENERAL RUNDLE. + BATTLE OF CONSTANTIA FARM 127 + WITH RUNDLE IN THE FREE STATE 149 + RED WAR WITH RUNDLE 159 + THE FREE STATERS' LAST STAND 174 + +CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP. + THE CAMP LIAR 194 + THE NIGGER SERVANT 199 + THE SOLDIER PREACHER 207 + + * * * * * + +PRESIDENT STEYN 212 +LOUIS BOTHA, COMMANDANT-GENERAL OF THE BOER ARMY 218 +WHITE FLAG TREACHERY 224 +THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN 229 +SCOUTS AND SCOUTING: DRISCOLL, KING OF SCOUTS 242 +HUNTING AND HUNTED 253 +WITH THE BASUTOS 264 +MAGERSFONTEIN AVENGED 280 +THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 289 +HOME AGAIN 299 + + + + + + + Australia's Appeal to England. + + + + We grow weary waiting, England, + For the summons that never comes-- + For the blast of the British bugles + And the throb of the British drums. + Our hearts grow sore and sullen + As year by year rolls by, + And your cold, contemptuous actions + Give your fervent words the lie. + + Are we only an English market, + Held dear for the sake of trade? + Or are we a part of the Empire, + Close welded as hilt and blade? + If we are to cleave together + As mother and son through life, + Give us our share of the burden, + Let us stand with you in the strife. + + If we are to share your glory, + Let the sons whom the South has bred + Lie side by side on your battlefields + With England's heroes dead. + A nation is never a nation + Worthy of pride or place + Till the mothers have sent their firstborn + To look death on the field in the face. + + Are we only an English market, + Held dear for the sake of trade? + Or are we a part of the Empire + Close welded as hilt and blade? + If so, let us share your dangers, + Let the glory we boast be real, + Let the boys of the South fight with you, + Let our children taste cold steel. + + Do you think we are chicken-hearted? + Do you count us devoid of pride? + Just try us in deadly earnest, + And see how our boys can ride. + We are sick of your empty praises! + If the mother is proud of her son, + Let him do some deed on a hard-fought field, + Then boast what he has done. + + A nation is never a nation + Worthy of pride or place + Till the mothers have sent their firstborn + To look death on the field in the face. + Australia is calling to England, + Let England answer the call; + There are smiles for those who come back to us, + And tears for those who may fall. + + Bridle to bridle our sons will ride + With the best that Britain has bred, + And all we ask is an open field + And a soldier's grave for our dead. + + + +I have decided to enclose these verses in my book because some critics + have pronounced me anti-English in my sentiments. Heaven alone + knows why; yet the above poem was written and published by me in + Australia just before war was declared between England and the + Republics, at a time when all Australia considered it very + probable that we should have to fight one of the big European + Powers as well as the Boers. + + A. G. HALES. + + + + + + + + AUSTRALIA ON THE MARCH. + + BELMONT BATTLEFIELD. + + +At two o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, the 6th of the month, the +reveille sounded, and the Australians commenced their preparations for the +march to join Methuen's army. By 4 a.m. the mounted rifles led the way out +of camp, and the toilsome march over rough and rocky ground commenced. The +country was terribly rough as we drove the transports up and over the +Orange River, and rougher still in the low kopjes on the other side. The +heat was simply blistering, but the Australians did not seem to mind it to +any great extent; they were simply feverish to get on to the front, but +they had to hang back and guard the transports. + +At last the hilly country faded behind us. We counted upon pushing on +rapidly, but the African mules were a sorry lot, and could make but little +headway in the sandy tracks. Still, there was no rest for the men, because +at intervals one of Remington's scouts would turn up at a flying gallop, +springing apparently from nowhere, out of the womb of the wilderness, to +inform us that flying squads of Boers were hanging round us. But so +carefully watchful were the Remingtons that the Boers had no chance of +surprising us. No sooner did the scouts inform us of their approach in any +direction than our rifles swung forward ready to give them a hearty +Australian reception. This made the march long and toilsome, though we +never had a chance to fire a shot. At 5.30 we marched with all our +transports into Witteput, the wretched little mules being the only +distressed portion of the contingent. + +At Witteput the news reached us that a large party of the enemy had managed +to pass between General Methuen's men and ourselves, and had invested +Belmont, out of which place the British troops had driven them a few weeks +previously. We had no authentic news concerning this movement. Our +contingent spread out on the hot sand at Witteput, panting for a drop of +rain from the lowering clouds that hung heavily overhead. Yet hot, tired, +and thirsty as we were, we yet found time to look with wonder at the sky +above us. The men from the land of the Southern Cross are used to gorgeous +sunsets, but never had we looked upon anything like this. Great masses of +coal-black clouds frowned down upon us, flanked by fiery crimson cloud +banks, that looked as if they would rain blood, whilst the atmosphere was +dense enough to half-stifle one. Now and again the thunder rolled out +majestically, and the lightning flashed from the black clouds into the red, +like bayonets through smoke banks. + +Yet we had not long to wait and watch, for within half an hour after our +arrival the Colonel galloped down into our midst just as the evening ration +was being given out. He held a telegram aloft, and the stillness that fell +over the camp was so deep that each man could hear his neighbour's heart +beat. Then the Colonel's voice cut the stillness like a bugle call. "Men, +we are needed at Belmont; the Boers are there in force, and we have been +sent for to relieve the place. I'll want you in less than two hours." It +was then the men showed their mettle. Up to their feet they leapt like one +man, and they gave the Colonel a cheer that made the sullen, halting mules +kick in their harness. "We are ready now, Colonel, we'll eat as we march," +and the "old man" smiled, and gave the order to fall in, and they fell in, +and as darkness closed upon the land they marched out of Witteput to the +music of the falling rain and the thunder of heaven's artillery. + +All night long it was march, halt, and "Bear a hand, men," for those thrice +accursed mules failed us at every pinch. In vain the niggers plied the +whips of green hide, vain their shouts of encouragement, or painfully +shrill anathemas; the mules had the whip hand of us, and they kept it. But, +in spite of it all, in the chilly dawn of the African morning, our fellows, +with their shoulders well back, and heads held high, marched into Belmont, +with every man safe and sound, and every waggon complete. + +Then the Gordons turned out and gave us a cheer, for they had passed us in +the train as we crossed the line above Witteput, and they knew, those +veterans from Indian wars, what our raw Volunteers had done; they had been +on their feet from two o'clock on Wednesday morning until five o'clock of +the following day, with the heat at 122 in the shade, and bitter was their +wrath when they learnt that the Boer spies, who swarm all over the country, +had heralded their coming, so that the enemy had only waited to plant a few +shells into Belmont before disappearing into the hills beyond. That was the +cruel part of it. They did not mind the fatigue, they did not worry about +the thirst or the hunger, but to be robbed of a chance to show the world +what they could do in the teeth of the enemy was gall and wormwood to them, +and the curses they sent after the discreet Boer were weird, quaint, +picturesque, and painfully prolific. + +We are lying with the Gordons now, waiting for the Boers to come along and +try to take Belmont, and our fellows and the "Scotties" are particularly +good chums, and it is the cordial wish of both that they may some day give +the enemy a taste of the bayonet together. + + + + + + WITH THE AUSTRALIANS. + + BELMONT. + + +Australia has had her first taste of war, not a very great or very +important performance, but we have buried our dead, and that at least binds +us more closely to the Motherland than ever before. The Queenslanders, the +wild riders, and the bushmen of the north-eastern portion of the continent +have been the first to pay their tribute to nationhood with the life blood +of her sons, two of whom--Victor James and McLeod--were buried by their +comrades on the scene of action a couple of days ago, whilst half a dozen +others, including Lieutenant Aide, fell more or less seriously wounded. The +story of the fight is simply told; there is no necessity for any wild +vapouring in regard to Australian courage, no need for hysterical praise. +Our fellows simply did what they were told to do in a quiet and workmanlike +manner, just as we who know them expected that they would; we are all proud +of them, and doubly proud that the men in the fight with them were our +cousins from Canada. + +The most noteworthy fact about the engagement is to be gleaned by noting +that the Australians adopted Boer tactics, and so escaped the slaughter +that has so often fallen to the lot of the British troops when attacking +similar positions. Before describing the fight it may be as well to give +some slight idea of the disposition of the opposing forces. Our troops held +the railway line all the way from Cape Town to Modder River. At given +distances, or at points of strategic importance, strong bodies of men are +posted to keep the Boers from raiding, or from interfering with the railway +or telegraph lines. Such a force, consisting of Munster Fusiliers, two guns +of R.H. Artillery, the Canadians, and the Queenslanders, were posted at +Belmont under Colonel Pilcher. The enemy had no fixed camping ground. +Mounted on hardy Basuto ponies, carrying no provisions but a few mealies +and a little biltong, armed only with rifles, they sweep incessantly from +place to place, and are an everlasting source of annoyance to us. At one +moment they may be hovering in the kopjes around us at Enslin, waiting to +get a chance to sneak into the kopjes that immediately overlook our camp, +but thanks to the magnificent scouting qualities of the Victorian Mounted +Rifles, they have never been able to do so. During the night they disperse, +and take up their abode on surrounding farms as peaceful tillers of the +soil. In a day or so they organise again, and swoop down on some other +place, such as Belmont. Their armies, under men like Cronje or Joubert, +seldom move from strongly-entrenched positions. + +The people I am referring to as reivers are farmers recruited by local +leaders, and are a particularly dangerous class of people to deal with, as +they know every inch of this most deceptive country. As soon as they are +whipped they make off to wives and home, and meet the scouts with a bland +smile and outstretched hand. It is no use trying to get any information out +of them, for no man living can look so much like an unmitigated fool when +he wants to as the ordinary, every-day farmer of the veldt. I know Chinamen +exceptionally well, I have had an education in the ways of the children of +Confucius; but no Chinaman that I have come in contact with could ever +imitate the half-idiotic smile, the patient, ox-like placidity of +countenance, the meek, religious look of holy resignation to the will of +Providence which comes naturally to the ordinary Boer farmer. It is this +faculty which made our very clever Army Intelligence people rank the farmer +of the veldt as a fool. Yet, if I am any judge, and I have known men in +many lands, our friend of the veldt is as clever and as crafty as any +Oriental I have yet mixed with. + +Now for the Australian fight. On the day before Christmas, Colonel Pilcher, +at Belmont, got wind of the assemblage of a considerable Boer force at a +place 30 miles away, called Sunnyside Farm, and he determined to try to +attack it before the enemy could get wind of his intention. To this end he +secured every nigger for some miles around--which proved his good sense, as +the niggers are all in the pay of the Boers, no matter how loyal they may +pretend to be to the British, a fact which the British would do well to +take heed of, for it has cost them pretty dearly already. On Christmas Eve +he started out, taking two guns of the Royal Navy Artillery, a couple of +Maxims, all the Queenslanders, and a few hundred Canadians. Colonel +Pilcher's force numbered in all about 600 men. He marched swiftly all +night, and got to Sunnyside Farm in good time Christmas Day. The Boers had +not a ghost of an idea that our men were near them, and were completely +beaten at their own game, the surprise party being complete. The enemy were +found in a laager in a strong position in some rather steep kopjes, and it +was at once evident that they were expecting strong reinforcements from +surrounding farms. Colonel Pilcher at once extended his forces so as to try +to surround the kopjes. Whilst this was going on, Lieutenant Aide, with +four Queensland troopers, was sent to the far left of what was supposed to +be the Boer position. His orders were to give notice of any attempt at +retreat on the part of the enemy. He did his work well. Getting close to +the kopje, he saw a number of the enemy slinking off, and at once +challenged them. As he did so a dozen Boers dashed out of the kopje, and +Aide opened fire on them, which caused the Boers to fire a volley at him. +Lieutenant Aide fell from his horse with two bullets in his body; one went +through the fleshy part of his stomach, entering his body sideways, the +other went into his thigh. A trooper named McLeod was shot through the +heart, and fell dead. Both the other troopers were wounded. Trooper Rose +caught a horse, and hoisted his lieutenant into the saddle, and sent him +out of danger. + +Meantime the R.H. Battery, taking range from Lieutenant Aide's fire, opened +out on the enemy. Their guns put a great fear into the Boers, and a general +bolt set in. The Boers fired as they cleared, and if our fellows had been +formed up in the style usual to the British army in action, we should have +suffered heavily; but the Queensland bushmen had dropped behind cover, and +soon had complete possession of the kopjes; another trooper named Victor +Jones was shot through the brain, and fourteen others were more or less +badly wounded. The Boers then surrendered. We took 40 prisoners, and found +about 14 dead Boers on the ground, besides a dozen wounded. They were all +Cape Dutch, no Transvaalers being found in their ranks. We secured 40,000 +rounds of their ammunition, 300 Martini rifles, and only one Mauser rifle, +which was in the possession of the Boer commander. After destroying all +that we took, we moved on, and had a look at some of the farms near by, as +from some of the documents found in camp it was certain that the whole +district was a perfect nest of rebellion. Quite a little store of arms and +ammunition was discovered by this means, and the occupants of the farms +were therefore transported to Belmont. Our fellows carried the little +children and babies in their arms all the way, and marched into Belmont +singing, with the little ones on their shoulders. Every respect was shown +to the women, old and young, and to the old men, but the young fellows were +closely guarded all the time. The Canadians did not lose a single man, +neither did any of the others except the Queenslanders. + +Another Boer commando, about 1,000 strong, with two batteries of artillery, +is now hovering in the ranges away to the north-west of Enslin, but Colonel +Hoad is not likely to be tempted out to meet them, since his orders are to +hold Enslin against attack. However, should they venture to make a dash for +Enslin, they will get a pretty bad time, as the Australians there are keen +for a fight. + +Concerning farming, it is an unknown quantity here, as we in Australia +understand it. These people simply squat down wherever they can find a +natural catchment for water. There is no clearing to be done, as the land +is quite devoid of timber. They put nigger labour on, and build a +farmhouse. These farmhouses are much better built than those which the +average pioneer farmer in Australia owns. They make no attempt at +adornment, but build plain, substantial houses, containing mostly about six +rooms. The roofs are mostly flat, and the frontages plain to ugliness. They +do no fencing, except where they go in for ostrich breeding. When they farm +for feathers they fence with wire about six feet in height. This kind of +farming is very popular with the better class of Boers, as it entails very +little labour, and no outlay beyond the initial expense. They raise just +enough meal to keep themselves, but do not farm for the market. They breed +horses and cattle; the horses are a poor-looking lot, as the Boers do not +believe much in blood. They never ride or work mares, but use them as brood +stock. This is a bad plan, as young and immature mares breed early on the +veldt, and throw weedy stock. Their cattle, however, are attended to on +much better lines, and most of the beef that I have seen would do credit to +any station in Australia, or any American ranch. They mostly raise a few +sheep and goats; the sheep are a poor lot, the wool is of a very inferior +class, and the mutton poor. I don't know much about goats, so will pass +them, though I very much doubt if any Australian squatter would give them +grass room. + +On most of the farms a small orchard is found enclosed in stone walls. Here +again the ignorance of the Boers is very marked; the fruit is of poor +quality, though the variety is large. Thus, one finds in these orchards +pears, apples, grapes, plums, pomegranates, peaches, quinces, apricots, and +almonds. The fruit is harsh, small, and flavourless, owing to bad pruning, +want of proper manure, and good husbandry generally. The Boer seems to +think that he has done all that is required of him when he has planted a +tree; all that follows he leaves to nature, and he would much rather sit +down and pray for a beautiful harvest than get up and work for it. He is a +great believer in the power of prayer. He prays for a good crop of fruit; +if it comes he exalts himself and takes all the credit; if the crop fails +he folds his hands and remarks that it was God's will that things should so +come to pass. He knocks all the work he can out of his niggers, but does +precious little himself. In stature he is mostly tall, thin, and active. He +moves with a quick, shuffling gait, which is almost noiseless. Some of his +women folk are beautiful, while others are fat and clumsy, and are never +likely to have their portraits hung on the walls of the Royal Academy. + + + + + + A PRISONER OF WAR. + + BLOEMFONTEIN HOSPITAL. + + +I little fancied when I sat at my ease in my tent in the British camp that +my next epistle would be written from a hospital as a prisoner, but such is +the case, and, after all, I am far more inclined to be thankful than to +growl at my luck. Let me tell the story, for it is typical of this peculiar +country, and still more peculiar war. I had been writing far into the +night, and had left the letter ready for post next day. Then, with a clear +conscience, I threw myself on my blankets, satisfied that I was ready for +what might happen next. Things were going to happen, but though the night +was big with fate there was no warning to me in the whispering wind. Some +men would have heard all sorts of sounds on such a night, but I am not +built that way I suppose. Anyway, I heard nothing until, half an hour +before dawn, a voice jarred my ear with the news that "there was something +on, and I'd better fly round pretty sharp if I did not mean to miss it." + +By the light of my lantern I saddled my horse, and snatched a hasty cup of +coffee and a mouthful of biscuit, and as the little band of Tasmanians +moved from Rensburg I rode with them. Where they were going, or what their +mission, I did not know, but I guessed it was to be no picnic. The quiet, +resolute manner of the officers, the hushed voices, the set, stern faces of +the young soldiers, none of whom had ever been under fire before, all told +me that there was blood in the air, so I asked no questions, and sat tight +in my saddle. As the daylight broke over the far-stretching veldt, I saw +that two other correspondents were with the party, viz., Reay, of the +Melbourne _Herald_, and Lambie, poor, ill-fated Lambie, of the +_Melbourne Age_. For a couple of hours we trotted along without +incident of any kind, then we halted at a farmhouse, the name of which I +have forgotten. There we found Captain Cameron encamped with the rest of +the Tasmanians, and after a short respite the troops moved outward again, +Captain Cameron in command; we had about eighty men, all of whom were +mounted. + +As we rode off I heard the order given for every man to "sit tight and keep +his eyes open." Then our scouts put spurs to their horses and dashed away +on either wing, skirting the kopjes and screening the main body, and so for +another hour we moved without seeing or hearing anything to cause us +trouble. By this time we had got into a kind of huge basin, the kopjes were +all round us, but the veldt was some miles in extent. I knew at a glance +that if the Boers were in force our little band was in for a bad time, as +an enemy hidden in those hills could watch our every movement on the plain, +note just where we intended to try and pass through the chain of hills, and +attack us with unerring certainty and suddenness. All at once one of our +scouts, who had been riding far out on our left flank, came flying in with +the news that the enemy was in the kopjes in front of us, and he further +added that he thought they intended to surround our party if possible. +Captain Cameron ordered the men to split into two parties, one to move +towards the kopjes on our right; the other to fall back and protect our +retreat, if such a move became necessary. Mr. Lambie and I decided to move +on with the advance party, and at a hard gallop we moved away towards a +line of kopjes that seemed higher than any of the others in the belt. As we +neared those hills it seemed to us that there were no Boers in possession, +and that nothing would come of the ride after all, and we drew bridle and +started to discuss the situation. At that time we were not far from the +edge of some kopjes, which, though lying low, were covered with rocky +boulders and low scrub. + +We had drifted a few hundred yards behind the advance party, but were a +good distance in front of the rearguard, when a number of horsemen made a +dash from the kopjes which we were skirting, and the rifles began to speak. +There was no time for poetry; it was a case of "sit tight and ride hard," +or surrender and be made prisoners. Lambie shouted to me: "Let's make a +dash, Hales," and we made it. The Boers were very close to us before we +knew anything concerning their presence. Some of them were behind us, and +some extended along the edge of the kopjes by which we had to pass to get +to the British line in front, all of them were galloping in on us, shooting +as they rode, and shouting to us to surrender, and, had we been wise men, +we would have thrown up our hands, for it was almost hopeless to try and +ride through the rain of lead that whistled around us. It was no wonder we +were hit; the wonder to me is that we were not filled with lead, for some +of the bullets came so close to me that I think I should know them again if +I met them in a shop-window. We were racing by this time, Lambie's big +chestnut mare had gained a length on my little veldt pony, and we were not +more than a hundred yards away from the Mauser rifles that had closed in on +us from the kopjes. A voice called in good English: "Throw up your hands, +you d---- fools." But the galloping fever was on us both, and we only +crouched lower on our horses' backs, and rode all the harder, for even a +barn-yard fowl loves liberty. + +All at once I saw my comrade throw his hands up with a spasmodic gesture. +He rose in his stirrups, and fairly bounded high out of his saddle, and as +he spun round in the air I saw the red blood on the white face, and I knew +that death had come to him sudden and sharp. Again the rifles spoke, and +the lead was closer to me than ever a friend sticks in time of trouble, and +I knew in my heart that the next few strides would settle things. The black +pony was galloping gamely under my weight. Would he carry me safely out of +that line of fire, or would he fail me? Suddenly something touched me on +the right temple; it was not like a blow; it was not a shock; for half a +second I was conscious. I knew I was hit; knew that the reins had fallen +from my nerveless hands, knew that I was lying down upon my horse's back, +with my head hanging below his throat. Then all the world went out in one +mad whirl. Earth and heaven seemed to meet as if by magic. My horse seemed +to rise with me, not to fall, and then--chaos. + +When next I knew I was still on this planet I found myself in the saddle +again, riding between two Boers, who were supporting me in the saddle as I +swayed from side to side. There was a halt; a man with a kindly face took +my head in the hollow of his arm, whilst another poured water down my +throat. Then they carried me to a shady spot beneath some shrubbery, and +laid me gently down. One man bent over me and washed the blood that had +dried on my face, and then carefully bound up my wounded temple. I began to +see things more plainly--a blue sky above me; a group of rough, hardy men, +all armed with rifles, around me. I saw that I was a prisoner, and when I +tried to move I soon knew I was damaged. + +The same good-looking young fellow with the curly beard bent over me again. +"Feel any better now, old fellow?" I stared hard at the speaker, for he +spoke like an Englishman, and a well-educated one, too. "Yes, I'm better. +I'm a prisoner, ain't I?" "Yes." "Are you an Englishman?" I asked. He +laughed. "Not I," he said, "I'm a Boer born and bred, and I am the man who +bowled you over. What on earth made you do such a fool's trick as to try +and ride from our rifles at that distance?" "Didn't think I was welcome in +these parts." "Don't make a jest of it, man," the Boer said gravely; +"rather thank God you are a living man this moment. It was His hand that +saved you; nothing else could have done so." He spoke reverently; there was +no cant in the sentiment he uttered--his face was too open, too manly, too +fearless for hypocrisy. "How long is it since I was knocked over?" "About +three hours." "Is my comrade dead?" "Quite dead," the Boer replied; "death +came instantly to him. He was shot through the brain." "Poor beggar!" I +muttered, "and he'll have to rot on the open veldt, I suppose?" + +The Boer leader's face flushed angrily. "Do you take us for savages?" he +said. "Rest easy. Your friend will get decent burial. What was his rank?" +"War correspondent." "And your own?" "War correspondent also. My papers are +in my pocket somewhere." "Sir," said the Boer leader, "you dress exactly +like two British officers; you ride out with a fighting party, you try to +ride off at a gallop under the very muzzles of our rifles when we tell you +to surrender. You can blame no one but yourselves for this day's work." "I +blame no man; I played the game, and am paying the penalty." Then they told +me how poor Lambie's horse had swerved between myself and them after Lambie +had fallen, then they saw me fall forward in the saddle, and they knew I +was hit. A few strides later one of them had sent a bullet through my +horse's head, and he had rolled on top of me. Yet, with it all, I had +escaped with a graze over the right temple and a badly knocked-up shoulder. +Truly, as the Boer said, the hand of God must have shielded me. + +For a day and a half I lay at that laager whilst our wounded men were +brought in, and here I should like to say a word to the people of England. +Our men, when wounded, are treated by the Boers with manly gentleness and +kind consideration. When we left the laager in an open trolly, we, some +half-dozen Australians, and about as many Boers, all wounded, were driven +for some hours to a small hospital, the name of which I do not know. It was +simply a farmhouse turned into a place for the wounded. On the road thither +we called at many farms, and at every one men, women, and children came out +to see us. Not one taunting word was uttered in our hearing, not one +braggart sentence passed their lips. Men brought us cooling drinks, or +moved us into more comfortable positions on the trolly. Women, with gentle +fingers, shifted bandages, or washed wounds, or gave us little dainties +that come so pleasant in such a time; whilst the little children crowded +round us with tears running down their cheeks as they looked upon the +bloodstained khaki clothing of the wounded British. Let no man or woman in +all the British Empire whose son or husband lies wounded in the hands of +the Boers fear for his welfare, for it is a foul slander to say that the +Boers do not treat their wounded well. England does not treat her own men +better than the Boers treat the wounded British, and I am writing of that +which I have seen and know beyond the shadow of a doubt. + +From the little farmhouse hospital I was sent on in an ambulance train to +the hospital at Springfontein, where all the nurses and medical staff are +foreigners, all of them trained and skilful. Even the nurses had a +soldierly air about them. Here everything was as clean as human industry +could make it, and the hospital was worked like a piece of military +mechanism. I only had a day or two here, and then I was sent by train in an +ambulance carriage to the capital of the Orange Free State, and here I am +in Bloemfontein Hospital. There are a lot of our wounded here, both +officers and men, some of whom have been here for months. + +I have made it my business to get about amongst the private soldiers, to +question them concerning the treatment they have received since the moment +the Mauser rifles tumbled them over, and I say emphatically that in every +solitary instance, without one single exception, our countrymen declare +that they have been grandly treated. Not by the hospital nurses only, not +by the officials alone, but by the very men whom they were fighting. Our +"Tommies" are not the men to waste praise on any men unless it is well +deserved, but this is just about how "Tommy" sums up the situation: + +"The Boer is a rough-looking beggar in the field, 'e don't wear no uniform, +'nd 'e don't know enough about soldiers' drill to keep himself warm, but 'e +can fight in 'is own bloomin' style, which ain't our style. If 'e'd come +out on the veldt, 'nd fight us our way, we'd lick 'im every time, but when +it comes to fightin' in the kopjes, why, the Boer is a dandy, 'nd if the +rest of Europe don't think so, only let 'em have a try at 'im 'nd see. But +when 'e has shot you he acts like a blessed Christian, 'nd bears no malice. +'E's like a bloomin' South Sea cocoanut, not much to look at outside, but +white 'nd sweet inside when yer know 'im, 'nd it's when you're wounded 'nd +a prisoner that you get a chance to know 'im, see." And "Tommy" is about +correct in his judgment. + +The Boers have made most excellent provision for the treatment of wounded +after battle. All that science can do is done. Their medical men fight as +hard to save a British life or a British limb as medical men in England +would battle to save life or limb of a private person. At the Bloemfontein +Hospital everything is as near perfection, from a medical and surgical +point, as any sane man can hope to see. It is an extensive institution. One +end is set apart for the Boer wounded, the other for the British. No +difference is made between the two in regard to accommodation--food, +medical attendance, nursing, or visiting. Ministers of religion come and go +daily--almost hourly--at both ends. Our men, when able to walk, are allowed +to roam around the grounds, but, of course, are not allowed to go beyond +the gates, being prisoners of war. Concerning our matron (Miss M.M. Young) +and nurses, all I can say is that they are gentlewomen of the highest type, +of whom any nation in the world might well be proud. + +I have met one or two old friends since I came here, notably Lieutenant +Bowling, of the Australian Horse, who is now able to get about, and is +cheerful and jolly. Lieutenant Bowling has his right thumb shot off, and +had a terribly close call for his life, a Mauser bullet going into his head +alongside his right eye, and coming out just in front of the right ear. His +friends need not be anxious concerning him; he is quite out of danger, and +he and I have killed a few tedious hours blowing tobacco smoke skywards, +and chatting about life in far off Australia. Another familiar face was +that of an English private, named Charles Laxen, of the Northumberlands, +who was wounded at Stormberg. I am told that he displayed excellent pluck +before he was laid out, firstly by a piece of shell on the side of the +head, and, later, by a Mauser bullet through the left knee. He is getting +along O.K., but will never see service as a soldier again on account of the +wounded leg. + +I had written to the President of the Orange Free State, asking him to +grant me my liberty on the ground that I was a non-combatant. Yesterday Mr. +Steyn courteously sent his private secretary and carriage to the hospital +with an intimation that I should be granted an interview. I was accordingly +driven down to what I believe was the Stadt House. In Australia we should +term it the Town Hall. The President met me, and treated me very +courteously, and, after chatting over my capture and the death of my +friend, he informed me that I might have my liberty as soon as I considered +myself sufficiently recovered to travel. He offered me a pass _viâ_ +Lourenço Marques, but I pointed out that if I were sent that way I should +be so far away from my work as to be practically useless to my paper. The +President explained to me that it was not his wish nor the desire of his +colleagues to hamper me in any way in regard to my work. "What we want more +than anything else," remarked the President, "is that the world shall know +the truth, and nothing but the truth, in reference to this most unhappy +war, and we will not needlessly place obstruction in your way in your +search for facts; if we can by any means place you in the British lines we +will do so. If we find it impossible to do that you must understand that +there is some potent reason for it." So I let that question drop, feeling +satisfied that everything that a sensible man has a right to ask would be +done on my behalf. + +President Steyn is a man of a notable type. He is a big man physically, +tall and broad, a man of immense strength, but very gentle in his manner, +as so many exceptionally strong men are. He has a typical Dutch face, calm, +strong, and passionless. A man not easily swayed by outside agencies; one +of those persons who think long and earnestly before embarking upon a +venture, but, when once started, no human agency would turn him back from +the line of conduct he had mapped out for himself. He is no ignorant +back-block politician, but a refined, cultured gentleman, who knows the +full strength of the British Empire; and, knowing it, he has defied it in +all its might, and will follow his convictions to the bitter end, no matter +what that end may be. He introduced me to a couple of gentlemen whose names +are very dear to the Free Staters, viz., Messrs. Fraser and Fischer, and +whilst the interview lasted nothing was talked of but the war, and it +struck me very forcibly that not one of those men had any hatred in their +hearts towards the British people. "This," said the President, "is not a +war between us and the British people on any question of principle; it is a +war forced upon us by a band of capitalistic adventurers, who have +hoodwinked the British public and dragged them into an unholy, an unjust +struggle with a people whose only desire was to live at peace with all men. +We do not hate your nation; we do not hate your soldiers, though they fight +against us; but we do hate and despise the men who have brought a cruel war +upon us for their own evil ends, whilst they try to cloak their designs in +a mantle of righteousness and liberty." I may not have given the exact +words of the President, as I am writing from memory, but I think I have +given his exact sentiments; and, if I am any judge of human nature, the +love of his country is the love of his life. + + + + + + "STOPPING A FEW." + + +I saw him first, years ago upon a station in New South Wales; a neat, smart +figure less than nine stone in weight, but it was nine stone of fencing +wire full of the electricity of life. He was in the stockyard when I first +saw him, working like any ordinary station hand, for it was the busy +portion of the year, and at such times the squatters' sons work like any +hired hand, only a lot harder, if they are worth their salt, and have not +been bitten by the mania for dudeism during their college course in the +cities. There was nothing of the dandy about this fellow. From head to heel +he was a man's son, full of the vim of living, strong with the lust of +life. The sweat ran down his face, dirty with the dust kicked up by the +cattle in the stockyard. His clothes were not guiltless of mire, for he had +been knocked over more than once that morning, and there was an edge upon +his voice as he rapped out his orders to the stockmen who were working with +him. He did not look in the least degree pretty, and there was not enough +poetry about him just then to make an obituary jingle on a tombstone. I +little thought that day that a time would come when he would prove the +glory of his Australian breeding in the teeth of an enemy's guns on African +soil. + +I saw him again--under silk this time--as a gentleman rider. He was the +same quiet, cool little fellow, grey-eyed, steel-lipped, stout-hearted, +with "hands" that Archer might have envied. He rode at his fences that day +as the Australian amateurs can ride, with a rip and a rattle, with the +long, loose leg, the hands well down, and head up and back, and "Over or +Through" was his motto. I did not know him to speak to in those old days. +We were to shake hands under peculiar circumstances away in a foreign land, +in a foreign hospital, both of us prisoners of war, both of us wounded. +That was where and how I spoke to little Dowling, lieutenant in the First +Australian Horse, as game a sample of humanity as ever threw leg over +saddle or loosed a rifle at a foe. He came to my bedside the morning after +I entered the hospital, and standing over me with a green shade over one +eye, and one hand in a sling, said laconically: + +"Australian ain't you?" + +"Yes, by gad, and I know you." He reached out his left hand, and placed it +in mine. + +"Been 'stopping one'?" he remarked. + +"Only a graze, thank God," I replied. + +Then the matron and the German doctor, as fine a gentleman as ever drew +breath, came along to have a look at me, and he was turned out; but we +chummed, as Australians have a knack of doing in time of trouble, and I +tried hard to get him to talk of his adventures, but he was a mummy on that +subject. He would not yarn about his own doings on the fateful day when he +was laid out, though he was eloquent enough concerning the doings of his +comrades. All I could get out of him in regard to his own part in the fray +was that his men and he had been ambushed, and that he had "stopped one" +with his head, and one with his hand, and another with his leg, his horse +had been killed, and he knew mighty little more about it until he found +himself in the hands of the Boers, who had treated him well and kindly. I +asked the matron about his wounds, and she told me that a bullet had +entered the corner of his right eye, coming out by the right ear, ruining +the sight for ever. Another had carried away his right thumb, and a couple +had passed through his right leg, one just below the groin, another 'just +above the knee. That was what he modestly termed "stopping a few." + +After I had been in hospital a little while, the matron gave me leave to +prowl about to pick up "copy," and my feet soon led me into the ward where +the wounded Dutchmen were lying, and there I met a couple of burghers who +had been in the _mêlée_ when Dowling was gathered in. One of them was +a handsome Swede, with a long blonde moustache, that fell with a glorious +sweep on to his chest, as the Viking's did of old. He was an adventurer, +who knew how to take his gruel like a man. He had joined the Boers because +he thought they were the weaker side, and had done his best for them. He +saw Dowling talking to me one day, and asked me if I knew the "little +devil." "Yes," I replied, "we are countrymen." "Americans?" he asked. "No, +Australians." He raised himself on his elbow, whilst I propped his +shoulders up with pillows, and as he remained thus he gazed admiringly at +the slight, boyish figure which limped lazily through the ward. "What a +little tiger cat he is," muttered the recumbent giant. "I thought we'd have +to kill him before we got him, and that would have been a shame, for I hate +to kill brave men when they have no chance." "Tell me about it," I said. +"He won't give me any information himself, only tells me he 'stopped a +few.'" The big, handsome Swede laughed a mighty laugh under his great +blonde moustache. + +"Stopped a few, did he? If all your fellows fought it out to the bitter end +as he did, we should run short of ammunition before the war was very old." + +A Boer nurse came over and asked us "what nonsense we made one with the +other, that we did laugh to ourselves like two hens clucking over one egg." +The blonde giant turned his joyous blue eyes upon her, and paid her a +compliment which caused her to bridle, whilst the blood swept like a +race-horse in its stride over neck, and cheek, and brow, causing her +dainty, girlish face to look prettier than ever. "Ah, little Eckhardt," he +whispered, and then murmured something in Dutch. I did not understand the +words, but there was something in the sound of the adventurer's voice which +conjured up a moonlit garden, a rose-crowned gate swinging on one hinge, a +girl on one side and a fool on the other. The nurse tossed her pretty head +with its wealth of jet black hair, and as she smoothed his pillows with +infinite care she murmured: "Fighting and making love, making love and +fighting--it is all one to you, Karl. I know you, you big pirate; you are +as a hen that lays away from home." And with that round of shrapnel she +left us. + +Karl got rid of a fourteen-pound sigh, which sounded like the bursting of a +lyddite shell. Then he slipped his hand under his pillow and drew forth a +flask of "Dop." "Drink to her," he said. "To whom?" I asked, falling in +with the humour of the man. "To the girl I love," he muttered like a +schoolboy. "Which one, Karl?" I asked, and I laughed as I spoke. He +snatched the brandy from my hand, lifted the flask to his lips, and drank +deeply. Then again his mighty laugh ran through the hospital ward. "Which +one?" he said; "why, all of them, God bless them. But the maid that is +nearest is always the dearest." "Shut up, you Goth," I said, "and tell me +about Dowling, for some day I shall write the story, and I would like to +hear it from the lips of one of his enemies." The Swede lay back upon his +pillow, stroking the golden horns of hair that fell each side of his mouth, +and I noticed that the lips which a little time before had been smiling +into the face of the nurse were now hard set and stern. So I could have +imagined him standing by the side of his gun, or rushing headlong on to our +ranks. A man with a mouth like that could not flinch in the hour of peril +if he tried, for his jaw had the Kitchener grip, the antithesis of the +parrot pout of the dandy, or the flabby fulness of the fool. + +"It was in the fore part of the day," he said at length. "We had been +posted snugly overnight on both sides of two ranges of kopjes, for we knew +that your fellows were going to attempt a reconnaissance next day. How did +we know? you ask. Well, comrade, ask no questions of that kind, and I'll +tell you no lies. The truth I won't tell you." + +But we knew, and we were ready. We were disappointed when we saw the force, +for we had expected something much bigger, and had made arrangements for a +larger capture. It was only a troop of Australian Horse that came our way, +and 'the little devil' was riding at their head. We bided our time, hoping +that he might be followed by more men, and, above all, we expected and +wanted some guns; but they did not put in an appearance, so we loosed upon +the little troop. They were fairly ambushed; they did not know that a rifle +was within miles of them until the bullets were singing through their +ranks. Horses plunged suddenly forward, reared, lurched now to the near +side, now to the off, then blundered forward on their heads, for many of +our men fired at the chargers instead of at the riders. Dowling's horse +went down with a bullet between the flap of the saddle and the crease of +the shoulder, and the little chap went spinning over his head amongst the +rocks. But a good many saddles were empty. He was up in a moment, yelling +to his men to ride for their lives, and they rode. We charged from cover, +and rode down on the men who had fallen, and as we closed in on them your +countryman lifted his rifle and loosed on us. + +"One of our fellows took a flying shot at him at close quarters, for his +rifle was talking the language of death, and that is a tongue no man likes +to listen to. The bit of lead took him in the eye and came out by his ear, +and down he went. But he climbed up in a moment, and his rifle was going to +his shoulder again, when I fired to break his arm, and carried his thumb +away--the thumb of the right hand, I think. The rifle clattered on to the +rocks, but as we drew round him he pulled his revolver with his one good +hand, and started to pot us. He looked a gamecock as he stood there in the +sunlight, his face all bathed in blood, and his shattered hand hanging +numbed beside him. So we gave him a couple in the legs to steady him, and +down by his dead horse he went; but even then he was as eager for fight as +a grass widow is for compliments, and it was not until Jan Viljoens jammed +the butt of his rifle on the crown of his head that he stretched himself +out and took no further part in that circus. We carried him into our lines, +and handed him over to our medical man, though even as we gathered him up +our scouts came galloping in to tell us that a big body of British troops +were advancing to cut us off from our main body. But we knew that if we +left him until your ambulance people found him, it was a million to one +that he would bleed to death amongst the rocks, and he was too good a +fighter and too brave a fellow to be left to a fate like that. Had he shown +the white feather we might have left him to the asvogels." + +"And so," said I, "that is how little Dowling, son of Australia, came, as +he said, 'to stop a few' for the sake of his breeding. If I live, the men +out in the sunny Southland shall hear how he did it, and his name shall be +known round the gold-hunters' camp fires, and be mentioned with pride where +the cattle drovers foregather to talk of the African war and the men who +fought and fell there." + + + + + + AUSTRALIA AT THE WAR. + + ENSLIN CAMP. + + +Lately I have been over a very considerable tract of country in the saddle. +I might remain at one spot and glean the information from various sources, +but do not care to do my business in that manner, simply because one is +then at the mercy of one's informants. I find it quite hard enough to get +at the truth even when it is personally sought for. It is really astounding +how lies increase and multiply as they spread from camp to camp. At one +spot a fellow ventilates an opinion that a big battle will be fought next +day at a certain spot; some other person catches a portion of the +conversation, and promptly tells his neighbour that a big battle has taken +place at the spot mentioned. A little later a passing train pulls up at +that camp, and a party possessing a picturesque and vivid imagination at +once informs the guard that a fearful fight has occurred, in which a +General, a Colonel, twelve subs., and six hundred men have been killed on +our side, with fourteen hundred wounded and nine hundred prisoners. The +Boer losses are generally estimated at something like five times that +number. + +The guard tells the tale later on to some traveller, who embellishes it, +and passes it along as a fact. He goes into details, tells harrowing +stories concerning hair-raising escapes from shot and shell. He splashes +the surrounding rocks with gouts of blood, and then shudders dismally at +the sight his fancy has conjured up. When the thrilled listener has +refreshed the tale-teller from his whisky flask, the romancist takes up the +thread of his narrative once more, and tells how the Lancers thundered over +the shivering veldts in pursuit of flying hordes of foemen, and for awhile, +like some graveyard ghoul, he revels in the moans of the dying and the +blood of the slain. Another pull at the flask sets him going again like +clockwork, and he makes a vivid picture out of the thunder of the guns as +our gallant (they are always gallant) fellows bombarded the enemy from the +heights. + +Then he switches off from the artillery, and tells a blood-curdling tale of +Boer treachery and cowardice. He tells how the enemy held out the white +flag to coax our men to stop firing. Then, in awe-inspiring tones, he sobs +forth a tale of dark and dismal war, how our soldiers respected the white +flag and rested on their arms, only to be mowed down by a withering rifle +fire from the canaille who represent the enemy in the field. Having got so +far, he does not feel justified in stopping until he has thrown in some +flowery language concerning a Boer cannonade upon British ambulance +waggons, full of wounded; from that he drifts by easy and natural stages to +Dum-Dum bullets, and the robbing of the wounded, and insults to the slain. +And that is very often the person who is quoted in newspaper interviews--as +a gentleman who was an eye-witness, and etc., etc., etc. + +And yet, for some reason which I have been unable to gauge, the military +authorities talk of sending all correspondents away from the front. It +seems to me that it would be far better to give _bonâ fide_ newspaper +men every reasonable opportunity of discovering the truth instead of +hampering them in any way. I fail to see why Great Britain and her Colonies +should be kept in the dark concerning the progress of the war, for all the +foreign Powers will be well supplied with information from the Boer lines; +and, if we are blocked, some at least of the British newspapers will most +assuredly go to foreign sources for news, if they are not allowed to obtain +it for themselves. Others will content themselves with news gathered +haphazard, and the last state of the Army, as far as the public mind is +concerned, will be far worse than the first. + +Colonel Hoad, who commands the Australians at Enslin, has offered the seven +hundred and sixteen men, who up to date have acted as infantry, to the +authorities as mounted infantry, and the offer has been accepted, much to +the delight of the men, all of whom are very eager to get into the saddle, +as they imagine that when their mounts arrive they will get a chance to go +into action. They have been practising horsemanship during the day, and did +fairly well, as many of them are expert riders, many more are fair; but a +few of them are more at home on a sand-heap than in a saddle. There are not +many of the latter kind, however. They will soon knock into shape, for +Colonel Hoad hates the sight of a slovenly horseman as badly as a duck +hates a dust storm. He is an untiring rider himself, and will work the +beggars who cannot ride until they can. + +After the arrival in Capetown of the two celebrated soldiers, Lords Roberts +and Kitchener, I made it my business to converse with as many Boers as +possible in regard to the two Generals, and was astonished to find how much +they knew concerning them. How, and from whom, they get information passes +my comprehension, but the fact remains that they knew all over the country +as soon, if not sooner, than we did that our great leaders had arrived. +They do not seem to fear them, though they invariably speak of them as +wonderful soldiers. "God and Oom Paul Kruger will look after us," is their +creed. Their faith in President Kruger is simply boundless. Not only do +they fancy that he is a man of dauntless courage, great sagacity, and +indomitable will, but they really seem to think that he has God's special +blessing concerning this war. + +He is to the Boers what Mahomet was to the wild tribesmen of Arabia, and it +is as impossible to shake their faith in him as it would be to shake their +faith in the story of Mount Calvary. It is all very well for a certain +class of writers to attempt to cast unbounded ridicule upon these men and +their leader, but it is not by ridicule that they can be conquered. It is +not by contemptuous utterances or by untrue reports that they can be +overcome. It is not by belittling them that we can raise ourselves in the +eyes of the men of to-day or ennoble ourselves upon the pages of history. +It would be conduct more in accordance with the traditions of a great +nation if we gave them credit for the virtues they possess and the courage +they display. + +It is hard to drag any sort of information from a Boer, whether bond or +free, but from what I can pick up they are perfectly satisfied with what +they have done up to date. They think that President Kruger has astonished +the world, and they wag their heads, and give one to understand that the +same old gentleman has a good many more surprises in store for us. It is +impossible to get a direct statement of any kind from them, but by patching +fragments together I incline to the opinion that they really count on Cape +Colony rising when Kruger wants a rising. Personally, from my own limited +observations, I would not give a fig of tobacco for the alleged loyalty of +the Cape Colony. If I am correct, this "surprise" will give the enemy an +additional force of 45,000 men, most of whom will be found able to ride +well and shoot straight. + +It is nonsense to say that they will only form a mob destitute of +discipline and unprovided with officers. They will not be a mob, they will +be guerilla soldiers of the same type that the North and South in America +provided, and they will take a lot of whipping at their own peculiar +tactics. As for officers--well, up to date, they have not gone short of +them. It is true they do not bear the hallmark of any modern university, +but they know how to lead men into battle, all the same. They wear no +uniforms, neither do they adorn themselves with any of the stylish +trappings of war, but they are brainy, resourceful men, highly useful if +not ornamental. Like Oliver Cromwell's hard-faced "Roundheads," they are +the children of a great emergency, not much to look at, but full of a "get +there" quality, which many school-bred soldiers lack entirely. + +I rode down to Belmont a couple of days ago, and had a look at the +Canadians and Queenslanders, who are quartered there. They are all in +excellent health and spirits, and seem to be just about hungry for a fight. +The Munsters, who are quartered there, are simply spoiling for a brush with +the enemy, and seem to be as full of ginger as any men I have ever seen. + +And every one of them with whom I conversed--and I chatted with a good many +of the burly young Irishmen--expressed a keen desire to meet in open fight +the Irish brigade now fighting on the side of the Boers. Should it ever +come to pass during the progress of the war, I devoutly hope that I may be +handy to witness the struggle. It will not be a long-range fight if I am +any judge of men and things; it will be settled at close quarters, and the +"baynit and the butt" will play a prominent part in the _mêlée_. + +A few of our New Zealand fellows got to close quarters with the enemy +recently up Colesberg way, and they did just as we knew they would when it +came to the crossing of steel. The Boers stormed the position, and the New +Zealanders joined in the bayonet charge which drove them back. Our men had +a couple killed and one or two wounded. The enemy left a goodish number of +dead on the field when they retired, about thirty of whom met their fate at +the bayonet's point. The British losses were small. There was nothing +remarkable about the behaviour of the New Zealanders in action; they simply +did coolly and well what they were ordered to do, and proved that they are +quite as good fighting material as anything the Old Country can produce. +The gravest misfortune which has yet befallen any of the Australians +happened at the same locality, when eighteen New South Welshmen allowed +themselves to be pinned in a tight place. Eight escaped, but the others are +either prisoners or killed. We do not like the surrender business, and +would rather see our men do as their fathers and grandfathers used to +do--bite the motto, "No surrender," into the butts of their rifles with +their teeth, and fight their way out of a hot corner. There has been a good +deal too much of this throwing up of arms during the present campaign, and +I hope that we shall hear less of it in the future. + +We had a nasty night here at Enslin. Word reached our headquarters that +three thousand mounted Boers were on the move towards our camp, which, for +strategic purposes, is the most important between Methuen's column and De +Aar. If the enemy could take Enslin they could make things very awkward for +General Methuen, because they would then have him between two fires. As +soon as the news came our fellows, with the Gordons, were ordered to occupy +the surrounding heights. All night long, and well on into the day, we held +them until we learned that the enemy had decided not to attack us. Had they +done so they would have paid bitterly for their rashness, for the place is +practically impregnable. A thousand resolute and skilful men, who knew how +to use both rifle and bayonet, could hold the place against 20,000 of the +finest troops in the world, providing the defenders were not hopelessly +crushed by an immense artillery force. + +General Hector Macdonald went through here the other day to take the +command of the Highland Brigade, in the place of the late General Wauchope. +The "Scots" who were with us lined up and gave the General a thrilling +welcome, whilst our fellows, who are not usually demonstrative, crowded +around the railway line to get a look at the brilliant soldier who, by +sheer merit, dauntless pluck, and iron resolution, forced his way from the +ranks to the high place he holds. The Australians had expected to see a +gaunt, prematurely aged man, war-worn and battle-broken, and were surprised +to see a dashing, gallant-looking man, who might in appearance comfortably +have passed for five-and-thirty. The grey-clad men, in soft slouch hats, +from the land of the Southern Cross, lounging about with pipes in their +teeth, did not break into hysterical cheering--they are not built that way; +they simply looked at the man whose full history every one of them knew as +well as he knew the way into the front door of a "pub." But their flashing +eyes and clenched hands told in language more eloquent than a salvo of +cheers that this was their ideal man, the man they would follow rifle in +hand up the brimstone heights of hell itself, if need be; aye, and stand +sentry there until the day of judgment, if Hector Macdonald gave the order. + + + + + + AUSTRALIA ON THE MOVE. + + RENSBURG. + + +A complete change has come to the Australians who are in Africa under +Colonel Hoad. We have left General Methuen's column, and joined that of +General French. Formerly we were at Enslin, within sound of the guns that +were fired daily at Magersfontein; now we are two hundred and twenty miles +away, and are within easy patrolling distance of Colesberg. + +Before we left Methuen's column we had one small night affair, which, +however, did not amount to a great deal, though it has been very much +exaggerated in local newspaper circles, and will, I fear, be unduly boomed +in some of the Australian journals. The whole affair simply amounted to +this. One hundred of the Victorian Mounted Rifles went out to make a +demonstration towards Sunnyside, in Cape Colony, where a number of rebels +were known to congregate. A hundred Queenslanders and Canadians were with +them, when a corporal and a trooper of the Victorians saw an unarmed Boer +and a nigger riding towards them in the twilight. The Boer, as soon as he +was challenged, wheeled his horse and rode off at a gallop; our men rode +after the runaway, but would not fire upon the white man because they +thought he was simply a farmer who had got rather a bad scare at meeting +armed men. + +The Boer, however, played a deep game; he rode for a bit of a rise composed +of broken ground, where, unknown to our scouts, a party of rebels lay +concealed. As soon as the flying rebel was in safety the Boers opened fire, +shooting Peter Falla, the trooper, twice through the arm, one bullet +entering a few inches below the shoulder, the other shattering the bone a +little way above the elbow. The corporal got away safely, taking his +wounded comrade with him. Our fellows rode out and swept the veldt for +miles, but saw no more of the enemy. So ended what has grandiloquently been +termed "an Australian engagement," which, I may add, is just the kind of +flapdoodle our troopers do not want. What they most desire on earth at +present is an opportunity to show what they are made of. They don't want +cheap newspaper puffs, nor laudatory speeches from generals. They want to +get into grip with the enemy, and, as an Australian, let me say now that +Imperial federation will get a greater shock by keeping these fine fellows +out of action than by anything else that could happen under heaven. They +did not come here on a picnic party, they did not come for a circus; they +don't want a lot of maudlin sentiment wasted on them whilst they stay out +of the firing line to mind the jam, or give the African girls a treat. + +Mr. Chamberlain has made a good many mistakes in regard to the war, +mistakes that will live in history when his very name is forgotten, but he +need not add to them by alienating Australian sentiment by coddling men who +came across the Indian Ocean to prove to the whole world that on the field +of battle they are as good as their sires. Our fellows have got hold of a +rumour (the prophets only could tell whence camp rumours originate) that +instructions have been received from England that they are to be kept out +of danger, and a madder lot of men you could not find anywhere between here +and Tophet. They wanted to send a petition to Lord Roberts asking to be +allowed to face the enemy, but though the officers are quite as sore as the +men, they could not permit such a breach of discipline. So now the men ease +their feelings by jeering at each other. + +"What are we here fer, Bill?" + +"Oh, get yer head felt; any fool knows why we are here. There's a blessed +marmalade factory somewhere about, and we are going to mind it whilst the +British Tommy does the fighting." + +"Marmalade be d----!" chirruped a voice down the lines. "Think they'd trust +us to look after anything so important?" + +"Oh, you're a blessed prophet, you are," snarls the little bugler. "P'raps +you'll tell us what our game is." + +"Easy enough, little 'un. Our officers 've got to practise making mud maps +in the dust with a stick, and we've got to fool around and keep the flies +away." + +"I suppose they'll keep us at this till the war's over, and then send us to +England, 'nd give us a bloomin' medal, 'nd tell us then we are gory, +crimson heroes. Ugh!" grunts a big West Australian with a face like a +nightmare, and a voice that comes out of his chest with a sound like a +steam saw coming through a wet log. + +"Don't know about England 'nd the medal, 'Beauty,'" chirrups a Sydney +gunner, "but I know what they'll give us in Australia if we go back without +a fight." + +"P'raps it'll be a mansion, or a sheep station, or a stud of racehorses," +meekly suggests a tired-looking South Australian, with a derisive twist of +his under lip. + +"No, they won't present us with a racing stud," lisps the gunner, "but, by +G----, they'll shy chaff enough at us to keep all the bloomin' horses +between 'ere and 'ell, and the girls will send us a kid's feedin' bottle, +as a mark of feelin' and esteem, every Valentine's Day for ten years to +come, because of the glorious name we made for Australia on the bloody +fields of war in Africa." + +"Fields o' war--fields o' whisky 'nd watermelons! Oh, d---- it! I'm going +ter stop writing ter my girl before she writes ter tell me that a white +feather don't suit a girl's complexion in Australia." + +He lifts his bugle, and sounds "Feed up" so savagely that the horses strain +on their leg ropes and kick themselves into a lather as hot as their +riders' tempers, the long, loose-limbed troopers move off, cursing +artistically in their beards at the very thought of the roasting they will +get from the witty-tongued, red-lipped girls of Australia, when-- + + + They cross the rolling ocean, + Back from the fields of war, + To show the British medal + They got for guarding a store. + + To show the British medal + On stations, towns, and farms, + They got for guarding the marmalade, + Far away from war's alarms. + + To show the British medal, + With a blush of angry shame, + For which they went to risk their lives + In young Australia's name. + + To show the British medal, + With a sneer that's half a sob, + Ere they pawn it to their uncle, + And go and drink the "bob." + + +When we received notice to move away from Enslin down the line through +Graspan, Belmont, Orange River, to De Aar, our fellows were naturally very +wrathful; they had done splendid work for many weeks up that way; they had +dug trenches, sunk wells, drilled unceasingly; they had watched the kopjes +and scoured the veldt, and all that they were told to do they did like +soldiers--readily and uncomplainingly. The cold nights and the scorching +days, the monotonous drudgery, found them always ready and willing, because +they believed that when the order came for a great battle at Magersfontein, +or an onward march to Kimberley, they would be in the thick of it. But for +some reason, known only to those who gave the order, they were sent away +from the front, and they felt it keenly. From De Aar they were sent on to +Naauwpoort, and from this latter place they were forwarded on to Rensburg. + +At Naauwpoort nearly all the Australians were mounted, and now acted as +mounted infantry. The horses supplied are Indian ponies, formerly used by +the Madras Cavalry. They are a first-class lot of cattle, well suited to +the work that lies before them, and have evidently been selected by someone +who knows his business a good deal better than a great number of his +colleagues. General French inspected the men at Rensburg during the first +day or two, and seemed fairly well satisfied with them, though, of course, +they did not make a first-class show in their initial efforts on horseback. +A great number of them rode well, but very few of them had ever gone +through a course of mounted drill, and it will take a week or two to knock +them into shape for this work; though, when once out of the saddle, they +are not in any way inferior to the best British regiments I have seen. But +they are keen to learn, and very willing, so that I expect to see them make +wonderfully rapid strides towards efficiency as mounted men. They seem to +feel that their only chance to get a fight is to become high grade +soldiers, and to that end they will stand all the work that can be crowded +into them. I have no idea what their future movements will be, nor do I +think anyone else connected with the regiment has; but one thing seems +certain, that sooner or later they will fall foul of the enemy in small +skirmishing parties, as the kopjes for a length of twenty miles are +infested by little bands of Boers, who have a knack of disappearing as soon +as a British force draws near them, only, however, to crop up again in a +fresh place, a short distance away. + +For the Boer is a past master in this kind of warfare, and knows how to +play his own game to perfection. What the Goorkha is in Indian warfare, so +the Boer is in Africa. He does not fight in our style, but that does not +say that he cannot fight, neither does it argue that he is devoid of +courage. As a matter of fact, the more I have seen of this country, and +note what the Boers have done in opposition to all the might of Great +Britain, the more I am impressed with the idea that our alleged +Intelligence Department wants cutting down and burning root and branch, for +it must have been absolutely rotten, or unquestionably corrupt. We were led +by members of this Department to believe that the Boer was a cowardly kind +of veldt pariah, a degenerate offshoot of a fine old parent stock. Well, +the Boer is nothing of the kind. He is not in any way degenerate. He is a +good fighting man, according to his lights. He does not wear a stand-up +collar, nor an eyeglass, nor spats to his veldtschoon. He does not talk +with a silly lisp or an inane drawl. Therefore, the useless fellows whom +Britain trusted with the important task of watching him and sizing him up +counted him as a boor as well as a Boer--a mere country clod. But now, from +the rocky hills, these clods, these sons of semi-white savages, laugh at us +derisively, and answer our jeers with rifles that know how to speak in a +language that even the bravest of our troops have learnt to understand--and +respect. + +I have a keen recollection of the last Franco-Prussian War. I remember how +the English newspapers ridiculed the French military authorities because, +whilst the Germans had accurate maps of every province within the French +borders, the French themselves were grossly ignorant of their own +territory. Now we can eat our own sarcasms and enjoy the bitter fruit of +our own irony, for, thanks to the Intelligence Department connected with +the War Office in Great Britain, we to-day stand precisely in the same +position towards our African enemy as France did towards Prussia. A glance +at the country through which I have recently passed shows only too clearly +that, whilst Paul Kruger and his advisers knew our full strength to a man, +we, on our part, knew nothing about him or the men, money, or ordnance at +his command. We knew nothing of the country which had been patiently +fortified by the best skilled military engineers in Europe. We know nothing +of his rocky, well-fortified country, which lies behind that which we have +already attacked. Our generals, instead of being supplied with maps +covering every inch of country within the enemy's borders, have to gather +information at the bayonet's point at a loss to the Empire in men, money, +and in prestige. If our commanders blunder, who is to blame but the +criminally negligent officials who have supplied them with false or foolish +data to work upon? The Empire has been betrayed, either wilfully or through +crass idleness upon the part of men who have dipped deeply into the +Empire's coffers, and the nation should demand their impeachment, apart +from their position, place, or power, and punishment of the most drastic +kind should follow speedily in the footsteps of impeachment. + +The failure of General Buller to relieve Ladysmith was not due to any want +of sagacity on the part of that General. It was not due to any want of +bravery on the part of his troops. The General is worthy of his rank, and +worthy of the confidence of the nation, and his troops are as good as the +men who, under the same flag, taught the Russians to respect the power of +Britain. The cause of the failure lay mainly in the want of knowledge on +our part concerning the strength of the country the Boers held, and the +strength of the country they had to fall back upon when hard pressed. + +That information the "Intelligence" Department ought to have been able to +place in the hands of General Buller before he moved forward to the relief +of the beleaguered garrison in Ladysmith. But they could not give what they +had never possessed. + +Right up to the present moment, when the Boers have been forced to meet our +troops at close quarters, they have been found to possess no other arms +than the rifle. This has given truth to the belief that the enemy as an +attacking force is next door to useless, as no men, no matter how brave and +determined, could do very much damage to first-class troops armed with the +bayonet. + +However, there is a whisper in the air that the Boers are not deficient in +side-arms; it is rumoured that the President of the Boer Republic has +immense supplies of offensive as well as defensive weapons safely placed +away until they may be required Right up to date his war policy has been to +remain passive, excepting in a few isolated positions, allowing the British +to attack his generals in almost impregnable positions, and by so doing put +heart into the burghers, and dishearten our forces. But should the tide of +war continue to roll onward in his favour he may attempt to put in force +the oft-told Boer threat, and try to sweep the British into the sea. Should +that day dawn, it is rumoured that the enemy will be found well supplied +with side-arms and with mercenaries trained to their use in one of the best +schools that modern times have known. Where do these rumours come from? +Well, a Boer prisoner, taunted perhaps by a guard, loses his temper and +drops a hint, or a Boer farmer, exultant over the latest news of his +countrymen's success, lifts the veil a little, and a jealously-guarded +secret drops out; or, again, a Boer's wife or daughter, flinging a taunt at +a cursed "Rooinek," allows her temper to run away with her discretion. +There are a hundred ways in which such things get about; only straws, +perhaps, but a straw can point the way windward. A talkative Kaffir who has +been reared on a Dutch farm will at times give things away that would cost +him his life if the length of his tongue was known to his master; +especially will the nigger talk if his mouth be judiciously moistened with +Cape smoke brandy. + +Information that comes to a war correspondent's hand is of many colours, +shapes, and sizes, but if he is born to the business he pieces the whole +together and picks out what seemeth good to his own soul at the finish. +Sometimes, at the end of a week's hard work, he finds himself possessed of +a patchwork of information like unto Joseph's coat of many colours, but it +is hard fortune indeed if he cannot find something in the lot to repay him +for his earnest endeavours. + + + + + + SLINGERSFONTEIN. + + RENSBURG. + + +Scarcely had I returned from posting my last letter when the camp was in a +commotion, caused by the news that the West Australians were in action at +Slingersfontein, distant about twelve miles from Rensburg. To saddle up and +get out as fast as horseflesh would carry a man was but the work of a very +short period of time, for the gallop across the open veldt was not a very +laborious undertaking. I soon found that the stalwart sons of the great +gold colony were in it, and enjoying it. + +Slingersfontein is an important position on the right flank of French's +column. It is not only an important but a very hard position to hold on +account of the nature of the country. Here there is but very little open +veldt; mile after mile is covered by small kopjes that rise in countless +numbers, until the whole country looks as if it were covered with a +veritable forest of hills. Once inside that labyrinth of rocky +excrescences, an army might easily be lost, unless every individual man and +officer knew the place thoroughly. The Boers know the lay of the land, and, +consequently, shift from post to post by paths that are unknown to anyone +else with marvellous dexterity and incredible swiftness. Our forces hold a +small plain, which is like the palm of a giant's hand, with the surrounding +kopjes representing the digits. We hold those kopjes also. The shape of the +camp is in the form of a horseshoe, all around the little basin great hills +rise, and from those hills England's watch-dogs keep a sharp look-out on +the movements of the foe; and well they need to, for, in ground which suits +him, the African farmer is as 'cute and cunning as a Red Indian. Behind our +position, or, rather, outside of it, there is another small tract of open +country, but beyond that, lapping around our stronghold like a crescent, is +rough, hilly ground. None of those hills is worth dignifying with the title +of mountain, but all of them are big enough to shelter a hundred or two of +the enemy, and it is there that they play their game of hide and seek, +which is so trying to the nerves of young troops. The Boers hold that rough +country entirely, and the outer edge of their semi-circle is not, at any +given point, more than four miles from our centre at Slingersfontein. + +The outer line of kopjes which skirt their stalking ground are bigger than +the hills on the inner side, so that they have an excellent opportunity to +conceal their movements from the observation of our most astute pickets, +and the only way in which our commanding officer can locate the enemy with +any degree of certainty is by making a reconnaissance in force, and, if +possible, drawing their fire. If the Boers fall into this trap they +invariably pay dearly for the slight advantage they gain over the +investigating force, for our guns soon make any known position untenable. +The Boer leaders know this, however, and are very loth to allow temptation +to overcome discretion; but at times, either through the impetuosity of +their troops or through errors in generalship, they give themselves away +entirely, and that is precisely what they did upon this occasion. + +By means only known to those high up in authority, our people had become +acquainted with the fact that the enemy intended to try to extend their +line on our right flank, and so threaten us not only upon the left flank, +the direct front, and right flank, but also in the rear. Could they succeed +in doing this they would have us in a peculiarly tight place, as, once +posted in force well down on our right flank, they would then at least be +able to harass us badly in our communications with Rensburg, which is our +main base of operations. It is there that the General has his headquarters; +it is from there that we keep in touch, per medium of the railway and +telegraph lines, with the rest of the British Army in South Africa. It is +from there that we draw all our supplies of fodder and ammunition. It is +from there we should draw all our additional force if we needed +reinforcements in case of a general assault by the enemy upon our position +at Slingersfontein, and it is from there that we should be strengthened +should we decide to make a forward move on the Boers' position. Therefore +it behoved us to keep that line of communication intact, no matter what the +cost. All these things were as well known to the Boer leader as to us, and +that is why they were as keen to get the position as we were, and why we +are keen to stop them from accomplishing their object. + +It was for the purpose of ascertaining just what the enemy intended to do, +and how many men they had to do it with, that Major Ethoran ordered out the +West Australian Mounted Infantry, consisting of about 75 men, under Captain +Moor, an Imperial soldier in the pay of the West Australian Government, and +a small body of Inniskilling Dragoons and Lancers, with a section of the +Royal Horse Artillery and two guns. The men moved out of Slingersfontein on +Tuesday about midday, and at once proceeded towards a farmhouse located +right under the very jowl of an ugly-looking kopje. + +This farm was known as Pottsberg, and was well known as a regular haunt of +the most daring and dangerous rebels in the whole district. The farm +consisted of the usual white stone farmhouse of five or six rooms, a small +orchard, surrounded by rough stone walls from three feet six to four feet +in height, and about two feet thick, a small cluster of native huts, and a +kraal for cattle, made of rough, heavy stones, topped by cakes of sun-baked +manure, stored by the farmers for fuel. Some little distance from the back +of the farmhouse a stout stone wall ran down from the kopjes on to the +plain. This wall was between four and five feet in height and half a yard +across in its weakest place--an ugly barricade in itself--behind which a +few resolute men with quick-firing rifles, which they know how to use, +could make a good stand against vastly superior numbers advancing upon them +from the open veldt. + +When our fellows trotted out from camp, Captain Moor received orders to +distribute his men in small bodies all along the edge of the kopjes between +Pottsberg farmhouse and Kruger's Hill, a small kopje lying almost in a line +with our camp, on the right. The men were ordered to go as close as +possible to the enemy's position, to see as much as they could possibly see +in regard to the numbers of troops in the hills held by the enemy. If they +succeeded in discovering the rebels in large bodies they were to draw their +fire and immediately retreat at full speed. In the meantime the two guns +belonging to the Royal Horse Artillery were beautifully placed in a dip in +the veldt, where they could play upon the Boers should they attempt to rush +the West Australians at any given point. The Lancers and Dragoons were +placed in charge of some kopjes behind the guns, in order to protect them +should a concerted onslaught be made upon them by the mounted Boers, who +were shrewdly suspected to be in hiding in strong force behind the first +row of hills, which screened the enemy's position. + +The Australians rode out steadily, and took up their positions with an +amount of coolness that startled older soldiers. This was absolutely their +first trial on real fighting service, and everybody connected with them was +anxious to see how they would comport themselves in the face of the enemy. +Not only was it their first fighting effort, but it was their début in the +saddle, as until a week previous they had been simply infantrymen, and not +a dozen of them had ever been in the hands of a mounted drill instructor. +It was a big task to set such green men, but they proved before the day was +out that they were worthy of the confidence reposed in them. Captain Moor, +Lieutenant Darling, and Lieutenant Parker each took a small section into +action; the others were under the immediate control of their sergeants. +They split up into small parties, and swept the very edge of the kopjes, +peering into gullies, climbing the outer hills, working along the ravines +with a courage and thoroughness that would have done credit to the oldest +scouts in all the Empire. Yet nothing came of their investigations for +quite a long time. The enemy did not mean to be drawn, and remained +passive, so that the West Australians at last became a little bit reckless, +and were consequently not so guarded as they might have been. All at once a +body of scouts ran upon a large body of the enemy near Pottsberg Farm, in a +deep and shady ravine. The enemy were trying to evade notice, but that was +now impossible. In a moment rifles were ringing on the air, and after that +first volley the little band of Australians wheeled and galloped for the +open country. To have remained there would have meant certain death to +every one of the half-dozen who comprised the picket, so they did their +duty--they fired and rode for the veldt. In a few seconds Boers were +dashing out of the kopjes on all sides, trying to cut the small band of +Australians off or shoot them down. But the Australians knew their game; +they opened out, so that each man was practically riding alone. + +The Boers could do little with them. Those who stood by the guns noticed +that very large numbers of men in the Boer ranks were either niggers or +half-castes, and it was also very noticeable that they knew but little +about the use of the rifle. They fired high and wide, and notwithstanding +the fact that they poured their ammunition away in wholesale fashion, they +did little harm worth mentioning, although many of them fired at little +more than pistol range. They were simply crazed with excitement, and did +not succeed in cutting off a single member of that adventurous band. +Whenever an Australian found himself in a tight place he simply dug his +spurs into his horse's flanks, lifted his rifle, and blazed into the ranks +of the foe. If his horse was shot dead under him he coo-eed to his mates, +and kept his rifle busy, and every time the coo-ee rang out over the +whispering veldt the Australians turned in their saddles, and riding as the +men from the South-land can ride, they dashed to the rescue, and did not +leave a single man in the hands of the enemy. Many a gallant deed was done +that day by officers and men. Captain Moor gave one fellow his horse, and +made a dash for liberty on foot, but he would have failed in his effort had +not Lieutenant Darling, a West Australian boy, ridden to his aid, and +together the two officers on the one horse got back to the shelter of the +guns. The enemy still blazed away in the wildest and most farcical fashion. +Had they been Boer hunters or marksmen very few of the West Australians +would ever have got across that strip of veldt alive. As it was, only two +of them got wounded, none were killed, one or two horses were shot dead, +and then the big guns got to work in grim earnest. + +A party of Boers, however, got round one of the kopjes, where some of the +Lancers were posted, and now half a dozen of those brave fellows are +missing, and I fear they are to be counted amongst those who will never +return again. Sergeant Watson, of the R.H., was killed, and several of his +men and a few of the Lancers were wounded, but the R.H. guns soon swept the +plain clear of the enemy, and they retired, carrying their dead and wounded +with them. The work for the day was done, and well done, for the enemy had +shown his hand. We knew his position and his strength, and next day we went +out in force to have a word with him, but the wily Boers kept strictly +under cover, and refused on any terms to be drawn again. + + + + + + THE WEST AUSTRALIANS. + + BETHANY. + + +I was feeling miserable as I sat in the hospital garden, and I rather fancy +I looked pretty much as I felt, for a cheery-faced Boer nurse, with her +black hair, blacker eyes, and rose-blossom lips, came up to where I sat, +bringing with her two or three slightly wounded Boers. "I have brought some +Boers who know something of your countrymen, Mr. Australian," she said. "I +thought you would be glad to hear all about them." "By Jove! yes, nurse. If +I were not a married man, I should try to thank you gracefully." "Oh, yees; +oh, yees," she answered, tossing back her head; "that is all right. You say +those pretty things; then, when you go away from here, you tell your wife, +and you write in your papers we Boer girls are fat old things, who never +use soap and water. All the Rooibaatjes do that." And off she went, +laughing merrily, whilst my friends the enemy grinned and enjoyed the +little comedy. So we fell to talking, and-half a dozen wounded "Tommies" +gathered round and chipped into the conversation, which by degrees worked +round to a deed which the West Australians did; and as I listened to the +tale so simply told by those rough farmer men, I felt my face flush with +pride, and my shoulders fell back square and solid once more, whilst every +drop of blood in my veins seemed to run warm and strong, like the red wine +they grow on the hillside in my own sunny land; for the story concerned men +whom I knew well, men who were bred with the scent of the wattle in the +first breath they drew, men who grew from childhood to manhood where the +silver sentinel stars form the cross in the rich blue midnight sky. My +countrymen--Australians--men with whom I had hunted for silver in the +desolate backblocks of New South Wales; men with whom I had scoured the +interior of West Australia seeking for gold; men who had been with me on +the tin fields and opal fields. I had never doubted that they would keep +their country's name unsullied when they met the foe on the field of war, +yet when I heard the tale the enemy told I felt my eyes fill as they have +seldom filled since childhood, for I was proud of the western diggers, +proud of my blood; and at that moment, with British "Tommies" sprawling on +the grass at my feet, and the Boer farmers grouped amongst them, I would +sooner have called myself an Australian commoner than the son of any peer +in any other land under high heaven. + +I will take the story from the Boer's mouth and tell it to you, as I hope +to tell it round a hundred camp fires when the war is over, and I go back +to the Australian bush once more. "It happened round Colesberg way," he +said; "we thought we had the British beaten, and our commandant gave us the +word to press on and cut them to pieces. Our big guns had been grandly +handled, and our rifle fire had told its tale. We saw the British falling +back from the kopjes they had held, and we thought that there was nothing +between us and victory; but there was, and we found it out before we were +many minutes older. There was one big kopje that was the very key of the +position. Our spies had told us that this was held by an Australian force. +We looked at it very anxiously, for it was a hard position to take, but +even as we watched we saw that nearly all the Australians were leaving it. +They, too, were falling back with the British troops. If we once got that +kopje there was nothing on earth could stop us. We could pass on and sweep +around the retiring foe, and wipe them off the earth, as a child wipes dirt +from its hands, and we laughed when we saw that only about twenty +Australians had been left to guard the kopje. + +"There were about four hundred of us, all picked men, and when the +commandant called to us to go and take the kopje, we sprang up eagerly, and +dashed down over some hills, meaning to cross the gully and charge up the +kopje where those twenty men were waiting for us. But we did not know the +Australians--then. We know them now. Scarcely had we risen to our feet when +they loosed their rifles on us, and not a shot was wasted. They did not +fire, as regular soldiers nearly always do, volley after volley, straight +in front of them, but every one picked his man, and shot to kill. They +fired like lightning, too, never dwelling on the trigger, yet never wildly +wasting lead, and all around us our best and boldest dropped, until we +dared not face them. We dropped to cover, and tried to pick them off, but +they were cool and watchful, throwing no chance away. We tried to crawl +from rock to rock to hem them in, but they, holding their fire until our +burghers moved, plugged us with lead, until we dared not stir a step ahead; +and all the time the British troops, with all their convoy, were slowly, +but safely, falling back through the kopjes, where we had hoped to hem them +in. We gnawed our beards and cursed those fellows who played our game as we +had thought no living men could play it Then, once again, we tried to rush +the hill, and once again they drove us back, though our guns were playing +on the heights they held. We could not face their fire. To move upright to +cross a dozen yards meant certain death, and many a Boer wife was widowed +and many a child left fatherless by those silent men who held the heights +above us. They did not cheer as we came onward. They did not play wild +music, they only clung close as climbing weeds to the rocks, and shot as we +never saw men shoot before, and never hope to see men shoot again. + +"Then we got ready to sweep the hill with guns, but our commandant, +admiring those brave few who would not budge before us in spite of our +numbers, sent an officer to them to ask them to surrender, promising them +all the honours of war. But they sent us word to come and take them if we +could. And then our officer asked them three times if they would hold up +their hands, and at the third time a grim sergeant rose and answered him: +'Aye, we will hold up our hands, but when we do, by God, you'll find a +bayonet in 'em. Go back and tell your commandant that Australia's here to +stay.' And there they stayed, and fought us hour by hour, holding us back, +when but for them victory would have been with us. We shelled them all +along their scattered line, and tried to rush them under cover of the +artillery fire; but they only held their posts with stouter hearts, and +shot the straighter when the fire was hottest, and we could do nothing but +lie there and swear at them, though we admired them for their stubborn +pluck. They held the hill till all their men were safe, and then, dashing +down the other side, they jumped into their saddles and made off, carrying +their wounded with them. They were but twenty men, and we four hundred" + +A "Tommy" sitting at the speaker's feet looked up and said: "What are yer +makin' sich a song abart it far? Lumme, them Horstraliars are as Hinglish +has hi ham!" + + + + + + IN A BOER TOWN. + + BETHANY. + + +A Boer town is not laid out on systematic lines, as one sees towns in +America, or Canada, or Australia. The streets seem to run much as they +please, or as the exigencies of traffic have caused them to run. I doubt if +the plan of a town is ever drawn in this country. People arrive and settle +down in a happy-go-lucky manner, and straightway build themselves a home. +Their homes are places to live in; not to look at. There is an almost utter +absence of architectural adornment everywhere. My eyes range over a large +number of dwellings. They are nearly all alike--plain, square structures, +plastered snow white. There is a double door in the centre of the front, +and a window at each side of the door. A stoep, about six feet wide, rises +a foot from the pathway, and there is nothing else to be seen from the +outside front. These houses look bare and bald, and are as expressionless +as a blind baby. To me most houses have an expression of their own. In an +English town a quiet walk in the dawning, making a survey of the +dwelling-places, always leaves the impression that I have gleaned an +insight into the character of the dwellers therein. The cheeky-looking +villa, with its superabundance of ornament, is a monument in masonry to the +successful mining jobber on a small scale. The solemn-looking, solid +dwelling, standing in its own grounds, where every flower bush has its +individual prop, where the lawn is trimmed with mathematical exactitude, +and not one vagrant leaf is allowed to stray, speaks with a kind of +brick-and-mortar eloquence of virtue that has never grasped the sublime +fulness of the Scriptural text which saith: "The way of transgressors is +hard!" That is the home of the middle-aged Churchman, whose feet from +infancy have fallen amidst roses. He has never erred, because he has never +known enough of human sympathy and human toil and struggle to feel +temptation. The coy little cottage further on, surrounded by climbing roses +and sweet-smelling herbs, where the gate is left just a little bit open, as +if inviting a welcome, seems to advertise itself as the home of two maiden +sisters, who, though past the giddy girlhood stage, still have hopes of +being somebody's darling by-and-by. + +But in a Boer town most of the piety is knocked out of a man. You stare at +the houses, and they stare back at you dumbly. There is nothing pretentious +or rakish about any of them; no matter how riotous a man's imagination +might be, he could never conjure up a "wink" from a Boer house, though I +have seen houses in other parts of the world that seemed to "cock an eye" +at a passing traveller and invite him to try the door. + +They have only two styles of roofing their dwellings--either the +old-fashioned gable roof, or the still older kind of "lean-to," the latter +being nothing but a flat top, high at the front and running lower towards +the back, in order that the rain water may carry off rapidly. They paint +their doors and windows a sober reddish brown, for your true Boer has an +utter contempt for anything gaudy or gay. He leaves that sort of thing to +his nigger servants, who make up for their master's lack of appreciation in +the matter of colour by rigging themselves out in anything that is +startling in the way of contrasts, for if the white master is a Puritan in +such things, the nigger servant, male and female, is a perfect sybarite. + +Right opposite where I am sitting a family group, or all that is left of +the family, is sitting, as the custom is at evening, out on the stoep. On +the side nearest me is a young widow. I have made inquiries concerning her. +Her husband was killed fighting against our troops at Graspan. She, poor +thing, is dressed in deepest mourning. Her dress is made of some heavy +black material, and has no touch of white or any colour anywhere to relieve +its sombre shades. On her head she wears a jet black cap, which rises high +and wide, and falls around her neck and shoulders. The cap is fashioned +much after the style of the sun bonnets worn by the peasant women of +Normandy, but hers is black, black as the grave. She has rather a nice +face, a good woman's face, pale and refined by suffering. No one looking at +her can doubt that she has suffered, and suffered as only such women can, +through this brutal, bloody war. I thought of the widows away in our own +land as I looked at her sitting there, so silently and sadly, with her thin +white hands clasped on the black folds of her lap. On one hand I plainly +saw the gold circle shining, which a few months ago had meant so much to +her; now, alas! only the outward and visible sign of all she had been and +of all that she had lost. Behind her the snow-white wall of the house, +sparkling in the red rays of the setting sun; at her feet only the white +slate of the stoep. And well enough I knew that under the proud Empire flag +many a widow as young and as heart-broken as this Dutch girl would watch +the sun go down as hopelessly as she, and I could not help the thought +which sprang to my soul--God's bitter curse rest on the head of the man, be +he Boer or Briton, who brought about this cruel war. + +On the street in front of the house where the widow sat I noticed a group +of niggers. Some of them were merely local "boys," who worked for the +townspeople. They were dressed in the usual nigger fashion, in old store +clothing, patched or ventilated according to the wearer's taste. One fellow +had on a pair of pants that had at some former stage belonged to a man +about four times his size. The portion of those pants which is usually +hidden when a man is sitting in the saddle had been worn into a huge hole, +which the nigger had picturesquely filled by tacking on a scarlet shawl. As +the pants were made of navy blue serge the effect was unquestionably +artistic, especially as the amateur tailor had done his sewing with string, +most of the stitches running from an inch to an inch and a half in length. +Still, he was only one of many in similar case, so that he did not feel in +the least degree lonely. There were other niggers there--"boys" belonging +to the mule-drivers of the army. These "boys" nearly all sported a military +jacket and some sort of field service cap, which they had picked up somehow +in camp. The "side" these niggers put on when they get inside odds and ends +of military wearing apparel is something appalling. They swagger around +amongst the civilian niggers, and treat them as beings of a very inferior +mould, whilst the lies they tell concerning their individual acts of +heroism would set the author of "Deadwood Dick" blushing out of simple +envy. + +The nigger girls cluster round these black veterans like flies around a +western water hole in midsummer, and their shrill laughter makes the air +fairly vibrate as they bandy jests with the cheeky herds. The girls are +rather pleasing in appearance, though far from being pretty. As a rule, +they wear clean print dresses and white aprons; they never wear hats of any +kind, but coil a showy kerchief around their heads in coquettish fashion. +They are not particular as to colour, red, blue, yellow, or pink, anything +will do as long as it is brilliant. The skins of the girls are almost as +varied as the headgear. The Kaffir girl is very dark, almost black. The +bushman's daughter is dirty yellow, like river water in flood time. Some of +the other tribes are as black as the record of a first-class burglar, but +they have bright black eyes, which they roll about as a kitten rolls a ball +of wool in playtime. + +But whether they are black, brown, or coffee-coloured, they are all alike +in one respect--every daughter of them has a mouth that is as boundless as +a mother's blessing, and as limitless as the imagination of a spring poet +in love. When they are vexed they purse that mouth up into a bunch until it +looks like a crumpled saddle-flap hanging on a hedge. When they are pleased +the mouth opens and expands like an indiarubber portmanteau ready for +packing; that is when they smile, but when they laugh their ears have to +shift to give the mouth a chance to get comfortably to its destination. +They have beautiful teeth, the white ivory showing against the black +foreground like fresh tombstones in an old cemetery on a dark night. It is +amusing to watch them flirting with the soldier niggers. They try to look +coy, but soon fall victims to the skilful blandishments of the +vain-glorious warriors, and after a little manoeuvring they put out their +lips to be kissed, a sight which might well make even a Scotch Covenanter +grin. They suck their lips in with a sharp hissing breath; then push them +out suddenly, ready for the osculatory seance, the lips moving as if they +were pushed from the inside by a pole. The "boys" enjoy the picnic +immensely. As a matter of fact, these "boys" always seem to me to be doing +one of four things. They are either eating, smoking, sleeping, or making +love; and they do enough love-making in twenty-four hours to last an +ordinary everyday sort of white man four months, even if he puts in a +little overtime. One of the most charming things noticeable about a Boer +town is the plenitude of trees in the streets. They are often ornamental, +always useful for purposes of shade. There is no regularity about their +distribution; they seem to have been planted spasmodically at odd times and +at odd positions. There is little about them to lead one to the belief that +they receive over much care after they have been put into the soil. I have +found a very creditable library in pretty nearly every Boer town that I +have visited, and it is a noteworthy fact that all of our most cherished +authors find a place on their book-shelves. One other thing I have also +noticed, which, though a small thing in itself, is yet very significant. In +nearly every hotel, and in many of the public places, portraits of our +Queen and members of the Royal Family have been hanging side by side with +portraits of notable men, such as Mr. Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, Mr. +Chamberlain, and Mr. Rhodes. During the course of the war all kinds and +conditions of Boers have had free access to the rooms where those portraits +were to be seen, but now I find that no damage has been done to any of +those pictures, excepting those of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Chamberlain. This has +not been an oversight on the part of the Boers, for I defy any person to +find a solitary picture of the two last-named gentlemen that has not been +hacked with knives. But the Queen and Royal Family photos have in every +case been treated with respect. + + + + + + BEHIND THE SCENES. + + STORMBERG. + + +I am writing this from Stormberg, a tremendously important military +position, which was taken on Monday, the 5th, by General Gatacre, without a +blow, the enemy falling back cowed by the British general's tactics. Had +they remained here another twenty-four hours Gatacre would have had them in +a ring of iron, but the Boer general is no fool. He saw his danger, and, +like a wise man, he dodged it. Gatacre's generalship was simply superb. Let +the idiotic band of critics who sit in safety in England howl to their +heart's content; Gatacre deserves well of his country. Had he dashed +recklessly into this hornet's nest he would have sacrificed four-fifths of +his gallant officers and a host of his men. Had I to write his military +epitaph to-day I should say that "he won with brains what most generals +would have won with blood." + +Strangely enough, I was a prisoner in the very room where I am penning this +epistle only last Saturday night. I left here in the centre of a Boer +commando, with a bandage over my eyes, on Sunday morning, and returned to +the spot surrounded by British "Tommies" a few days later. + +All the glory of this bloodless victory does not rest with the general who +commands the column. To Captain Tennant no small meed of praise is due. +This officer was here on secret service before hostilities commenced, and +he did his work so thoroughly that the country is as familiar to him as +paint to a barmaid. He is one of those men, unfortunately so rare in the +British Army, combining dash and dauntless pluck with a cool, level head. +If he gets his opportunity, England will hear more of this officer. I have +been intensely struck by the class of officers by whom General Gatacre is +surrounded. They all look like soldiers. I have not seen a single dude, not +one of those wretched fops of whom I have seen only too many in South +Africa. They speak like soldiers too. No idiotic drawl, no effeminate lisp, +no bullying, ill-bred, coarseness of tongue; they are neither drawing-room +dandies nor camp swashbucklers, but officers and gentlemen--and, I can +assure you, the terms are not always synonymous, even under the Queen's +cloth. I have seen mere lads in this country leading men into action who in +point of brains were not fit to lead a mule to water, and others who, in +regard to manners, were scarcely fit to follow the mule. But, thank God, +the Boers have taught our nation this, if they have taught us nought +else--that it needs something more than an eye-glass, a lisp, a pair of kid +gloves, and an insolent, overbearing manner to make a successful soldier. + +But let me get amongst the Boers. I was only a prisoner in their hands for +about a month, yet every moment of that time was so fraught with interest +that I fancy I picked up more of the real nature of the Boers than I should +have done under ordinary circumstances in a couple of years. I was moved +from laager to laager along their fighting line, saw them at work with +their rifles, saw them come in from more than one tough skirmish, bringing +their dead and wounded with them, saw them when they had triumphed, and saw +them when they had been whipped; saw them going to their farms, to be +welcomed by wife and children; saw them leaving home with a wife's sobs in +their ears, and children's loving kisses on their lips. I saw some of these +old greyheads shattered by our shells, dying grimly, with knitted brows and +fiercely clenched jaws; saw some of their beardless boys sobbing their +souls out as the life blood dyed the African heath. I saw some passing over +the border line which divides life and death, with a ring of stern-browed +comrades round them, leaning upon their rifles, whilst a brother or a +father knelt and pressed the hand of him whose feet were on the very +threshold of the land beyond the shadows. I saw others smiling up into the +faces of women--the poor, pain-drawn faces of the dying looking less +haggard and worn than the anguish-stricken features of their womanhood who +knelt to comfort them in that last awful hour--in the hour which divides +time from eternity, the sunlight of lusty life from the shadows of +unsearchable death. Those things I have seen, and in the ears of English +men and English women, let me say, as one who knows, and fain would speak +the plain, ungilded truth concerning friend and foe, that, not alone +beneath the British flag are heroes found. Not alone at the breasts of +British matrons are brave men suckled; for, as my soul liveth--whether +their cause be just or unjust, whether the right or the wrong of this war +be with them, whether the blood of the hundreds who have fallen since the +first rifle spoke defiance shall speak for or against them at the day of +judgment--they at least know how to die; and when a man has given his life +for the cause he believes in he is proven worthy even of his worst enemy's +respect. And it seems to me that the British nation, with its long roll of +heroic deeds, wrought the whole world over, from Africa to Iceland, can +well afford to honour the splendid bravery and self-sacrifice of these +rude, untutored tillers of the soil. I have seen them die. + +Once, as I lay a prisoner in a rocky ravine all through the hot afternoon, +I heard the rifles snapping like hounds around a cornered beast. I watched +the Boers as they moved from cover to cover, one here, one there, a little +farther on a couple in a place of vantage, again, in a natural fortress, a +group of eight; so they were placed as far as my eye could reach. The +British force I could not see at all; they were out on the veldt, and the +kopjes hid them from me; but I could hear the regular roll and ripple of +their disciplined volleys, and in course of time, by watching the actions +of the Boers, I could anticipate the sound. They watched our officers, and +when the signal to fire was given they dropped behind cover with such speed +and certainty that seldom a man was hit. Then, when the leaden hail had +ceased to fall upon the rocks, they sprang out again, and gave our fellows +lead for lead. After a while our gunners seemed to locate them, and the +shells came through the air, snarling savagely, as leopards snarl before +they spring, and the flying shrapnel reached many of the Boers, wounding, +maiming, or killing them; yet they held their position with indomitable +pluck, those who were not hit leaping out, regardless of personal danger, +to pick up those who were wounded. They were a strange, motley-looking +crowd, dressed in all kinds of common farming apparel, just such a crowd as +one is apt to see in a far inland shearing shed in Australia, but no man +with a man's heart in his body could help admiring their devotion to one +another or their loyalty to the cause they were risking their lives for. + +One sight I saw which will stay with me whilst memory lasts. They had +placed me under a waggon under a mass of overhanging rock for safety, and +there they brought two wounded men. One was a man of fifty, a hard old +veteran, with a complexion as dark as a New Zealand Maori; the beard that +framed the rugged face was three-fourths grey, his hands were as rough and +knotted by open air toil as the hoofs of a working steer. + +He looked what he was--a Boer of mixed Dutch and French lineage. Later on I +got into conversation with him, and he told me a good deal of his life. His +father was descended from one of the old Dutch families who had emigrated +to South Africa in search of religious liberty in the old days, when the +country was a wilderness. His mother had come in an unbroken line from one +of the noble families of France who fled from home in the days of the +terrible persecution of the Huguenots. He himself had been many +things--hunter, trader, farmer, fighting man. He had fought against the +natives, and he had fought against our people. The younger man was his son, +a tall, fair fellow, scarcely more than a stripling, and I had no need to +be a prophet or a prophet's son to tell that his very hours were numbered. +Both the father and the lad had been wounded by one of our shells, and it +was pitiful to watch them as they lay side by side, the elder man holding +the hand of the younger in a loving clasp, whilst with his other hand he +stroked the boyish face with gestures that were infinitely pathetic. Just +as the stars were coming out that night between the clouds that floated +over us the Boer boy sobbed his young life out, and all through the long +watches of that mournful darkness the father lay with his dead laddie's +hand in his. The pain of his own wounds must have been dreadful, but I +heard no moan of anguish from his lips. When, at the dawning, they came to +take the dead boy from the living man, the stern old warrior simply pressed +his grizzled lips to the cold face, and then turned his grey beard to the +hard earth and made no further sign; but I knew well that, had the +sacrifice been possible, he would gladly have given his life to save the +young one's. + + + + + + A BOER FIGHTING LAAGER. + + BURGHERSDORP. + + +Many and wonderful are the stories written and published concerning the +Boer and his habits when on the war-path. Most of these stories are written +by men who take good care never to get within a hundred miles of the +fighting line, but content themselves with an easy chair, a cigar, a bottle +of whisky, and carpet slippers on the stoep of some good hotel in a pretty +little Boer town. To scribes of this calibre flock a certain class of +British resident, who is always full to the very ears of his own dauntless +courage, his deathless loyalty to the Queen and Empire, his love for the +soldier, and his hatred of the Boer. This gallant class of British resident +has half a million excuses ready to his hand to explain why he did not take +a rifle and fight when the war summons rang clarion-like through the land. +Then he grits his teeth, knits his eyebrows, clenches his hands in +spasmodic wrath, throws out his chest, and tells his auditors, in a voice +husky with concentrated wrath and whisky, what he intends to do the next +time the damnable Boer rises to fight. The old British pioneer may have +whelped a few million good fighting stock in his time, but this class of +animal is no lion's whelp; it is a thing all mouth and no manners, a +shallow-brained, cowardly creature, always howling about the Boer, but too +discreet to go out and fight him, though ready at all times to malign him, +to ridicule him as a farmer or a fighter, and it is a perfect bear's feast +to this hybrid animal to get hold of a gullible newspaper correspondent to +tell him gruesome tales relative to Boer fighting laagers. + +I had one of this peculiar species at me the other day in Burghersdorp, and +he painted a Boer laager so vividly, between nips at my flask, that if I +had not seen a few laagers myself I should have felt bad over the matter. +He pictured the smell of that laager in language so intense, with gestures +so graphic, that some of his auditors had to hold their nostrils with +handkerchiefs, whilst they stirred the circumambient atmosphere with +cardboard fans, and I could not help wondering, if the portrait of the +smell was so awful, what the thing itself must be like. Flushed with +success, the narrator pursued his subject to the bitter extremity. He +conjured up scenes of half-buried men lying amongst the rocks surrounding +the laager: here a leg, there an arm, further on a ghastly human head +protruding from amidst the scattered boulders, until I had only to close my +eyes to fancy I was in a charnel-house, where Goths and Huns were holding +devilish revelry. The B.R. paused, and dropped his voice two octaves lower, +and the crowd on the balcony craned their heads further forward, so that +they might not miss a single word. He told of the women in the laagers, the +wild, unholy mirth of women, who moved from camp fire to camp fire, with +dishevelled hair streaming down their backs, with tossing arms, bare to the +shoulders, and blood besmeared, not the blood of goats or kine, but the +blood of soldiers--our soldiers. Thomas Atkins defunct, and done for by the +she-furies. + +He waded in again when the shudder which shook the crowd had died away, and +hinted, as that class of shallow-souled creature loves to hint, of orgies +under the dim light of the stars, or between the flickering light of +smoking camp fires, until the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah seemed to be +crowding all around us in a peculiarly beastly and uncomfortable fashion. +Then he lay back in his chair and sighed; but anon he sprang upright, and, +with flashing eyes and extended arms, wanted to know what the ---- Roberts +meant by offering peace with honour to such a people. "Mow them down!" he +yelled. "Shoot them on sight--no quarter for such devils! Kill 'em off! +kill 'em off! kill 'em off!" and he half sobbed, half sighed himself into +silence, whilst the audience gazed on him as on one who knew what war, +wild, red, carmine war, was. I broke in on his stillness, as newspaper men +who know the game are apt to do, for I wanted data, I wanted facts, and I +had not swallowed his yarn as freely as he had swallowed my whisky. + +"Born in this country?" I asked. + +"Yorkshire," he answered laconically. + +"Been in Africa long?" + +"'Bout five years." + +"Where did you put in most of your time before +the war?" + +"Johannesburg." + +"Mines?" + +"No." + +"Merchant?" + +"No." + +"Hotel-keeper, perhaps?" + +"No." + +"Shopkeeper?" + +"No." + +"What was your calling, or profession, or business, or means of +livelihood?" + +"General agent, sharebroker, correspondent for some local papers." + +H'm; I knew the class of animal well--general jackal; do the dirty work of +any trade, and master of none. + +"Where were you when the war broke out?" + +He scowled savagely: "Johannesburg." + +"Have the same hatred for the Boers before the war as you have now?" + +"Yes." + +"Why didn't you pick up a rifle and have a hand in the fighting?" + +"I'm not a blessed 'Tommy,' sir! Do you take me for a d---- 'Tommy,' sir?" + +"No; oh, no, I assure you I did nothing of the kind. But--er, have you been +in the hands of the Boers since the war started?" + +"Yes, until our troops marched in here a day or two ago." + +"H'm. Did they rob you?" + +"No." + +"Did they ill-treat you--knock you about, and that sort of thing?" + +"No." + +"Why do you hate them so bitterly, then?" + +"Oh, I can't stand a cursed Boer at any price. Thinks he's as good as a +Britisher all the time, and puts on side; and he's a cursed tyrant in his +heart, and would rub us out if he could." + +"Yes, the Boer thought himself as good a man as the Britishers he met out +this way," I replied, "and he backed his opinion with his life and his +rifle. Why didn't you do the same if you reckoned yourself a better man?" + +"Why should I; don't we pay 'Tommy' to do that for us?" + +"Perhaps we do; but, concerning those Boer laagers you have been telling us +about: where, when, and how did you see them; what was the name of the +place; who was the Boer general in command, or the field cornet, or +landdrost? I did not know the Boers gave British refugees the free run of +their war laagers, and I'm interested in the matter, being a scribe myself +and a man of peace. Just give me a few names and dates and facts, will +you?" + +"No, I won't," he snarled. "You seem to doubt my word, you do, and I'm as +good a Britisher as you are any day, and you think you can come along and +pump information out of me for nothing; but I'm too fly for that--they +don't breed fools in Yorkshire." + +"Well, sir, as it seems to suit your temper," I said as sweetly as I could, +"I'll make it a business proposition. I'll bet you fifty pounds to five you +have never put your head inside a Boer laager in war time in your life. If +you have, just name it and give me a few facts." + +The B.R. rose wrathfully and muttered something about it being a d---- good +job for me that I was a wounded man and had one arm in a sling, or he'd +show me a heap of things in the fistic line which I should remember for the +rest of my life; but as I only laughed he slouched off, and now, when we +meet in the street, we pass without speaking. But I got his history, all +the same, from one of the Cape Police, who told me the beggar had refused +to join a volunteer regiment when the war broke out, and had remained the +whole time in a quiet little Boer village as a British refugee, and had not +seen the outside, let alone the inside, of a Boer fighting laager in all +his lying life. Yet such cravens at times help to make history--of a kind. + +Possibly it may interest Englishmen--and women, too, for that matter--to +know what a fighting laager is like, and as I have seen half a dozen of +them from the enemies' side of the wall, a rough pen and ink sketch may not +be amiss. In war time the Boer never, under any circumstances, makes his +laager in the open country if there are any kopjes about. No matter how +secure he may fancy himself from attack, no matter if there is not a foe +within fifty miles of him, the Boer commander always pitches his laager in +a place of safety between two parallel lines of hills, so that no attack +can be made upon him, either front or rear, without giving him an immense +advantage over the attacking force, even if the enemy is ten times as +strong in numbers. By this means the Boers make their laagers almost +impregnable. If they have a choice of ground, they pick a narrow ravine, or +gully, with a line of hills front and rear, covered with small rocky +boulders and bushes. They drive their waggons along the ravine, and make a +sort of rude breastwork across the gully with the waggons. In between these +waggons the women are placed for safety, for it is a noticeable fact that +very large numbers of women have followed their husbands and fathers to the +war, not to act as viragoes, not to play the wanton, not to unsex +themselves, not to handle the rifle, but to nurse the wounded, to comfort +the dying, and to lay out the dead. I have heard them singing round the +camp fires in the starlight, but it was hymns that they sang, not ribald +songs. I have seen them kneeling by the side of men in the moonlight, not +in wantonness, but in mercy, and many a man who wears the British uniform +to-day can bear me witness that I speak the truth. + +The Boer never, if he can help it, allows himself to be separated from his +horse; and these hardy little animals, mostly about fifteen hands high, and +very lightly framed, are picketed close to the spot where the rider +deposits his rifle and blankets. If they allow them to graze on the +hillsides during the day, they run a rope through the halter near the +horse's muzzle, and tie it close above the knee-joint of the near fore-leg. +By this means the horse can graze in comfort, but cannot move away at any +pace beyond a slow walk, and so are easily caught and saddled if required +in a hurry. The oxen and sheep to be used for slaughtering purposes are +driven up close to the camp; a waggon or two is drawn across the ravine +above and below them, and they cannot then stampede if frightened by +anything, unless they climb the rocky heights on either side of them, which +they have small chance of doing, as the Kaffir herdsmen sleep on the hills +above them. Having pitched his laager, the commander sends out his scouts; +some amble off on horseback at a pace they call a "tripple"--a gait which +all the Boers educate their nags to adopt. It is not exactly an amble, but +a cousin to it, marvellously easy to the rider, whilst it enables the nag +to get over a wonderful lot of ground without knocking up. It also allows +the horse to pick his way amongst rocky ground, and so save his legs, where +an English, Indian, or Australian horse would be apt to cripple himself in +very short order. As soon as the mounted scouts set off on their journey, +holding the reins carelessly in the left hand, their handy little Mauser +rifles in their right, swaying carelessly in the saddle after the fashion +of all bush-riders the world over, the foot scouts take up their positions +amongst the rocks and shrubs on the hills in front and rear of the laager. +Each scout has his rifle in his hand, his pipe in his teeth, his bandolier +full of cartridges over his shoulder, and his scanty blanket under his left +arm. No fear of his sleeping at his post. He is fighting for honour, not +for pay; for home, not for glory; and he knows that on his acuteness the +lives of all may depend. He knows that his comrades and the women trust +him, and he values the trust as dearly as British soldier ever did. No +matter how tired he may be, no matter how famished, the Boer sentinel is +never faithless to his orders. + +When the scouts are out the laager is fixed for the night--not a very +exhaustive proceeding, as the Boers do not go in for luxuries of any kind. +Here a tarpaulin is stretched over a kind of temporary ridge pole, blankets +are tossed down on the hard earth, saddles are used for pillows, and the +couch is complete. A little way farther down the line a rude canvas screen +is thrown over the wheels of a waggon, and a family, or rather husband and +wife, make themselves at home under the waggon; whilst the single men +simply throw themselves at full length on the ground, wrap their one thin, +small blanket round them, and smoke and jest merrily enough, whilst the +Kaffirs light the fires and make the coffee. There is scarcely any timber +in this part of Africa, and the fuel used is the dried manure of cattle +pressed into slabs about fifteen inches long, eight inches wide, and three +inches thick. The smoke from the fires is very dense, and soon fills the +air with a pungent odour, which is not unpleasant in the open, but would be +simply intolerable in a building. The coffee is soon made, and the simple +meal begins; it consists of "rusks," a kind of bread baked until it becomes +crisp and hard, and plenty of steaming hot coffee. I never saw any people +so fond of this beverage as the Boers are. The Australian bushman and +digger loves tea, and can almost exist upon it; but these Boers cling to +coffee. They live, when out in laager, like Spartans, they dress anyhow, +sleep anyhow, and eat just rusks and precious little else. Talk about +"Tommy" and his hard times, why a private soldier at the front sleeps +better, dresses better, and eats better than a Boer general; yet never once +did I hear a Boer complain of hardships. After tea the Boers sit about and +clean their rifles; the women move from one little group to another, +chatting cheerfully, but I saw nothing in their conduct, or in the conduct +of any man towards one of them, that would cause the most chaste matron in +Great Britain to blush or droop her eyes. There is in the laager an utter +absence of what we term soldierly discipline; men moved about, went and +came in a free and easy fashion, just as I have seen them do a thousand +times in diggers' camps. There was no saluting of officers, no stiffness, +no starch anywhere. The general lounges about with hands in pockets and +pipe in mouth; no one pays him any special deference. He talks to the men, +the striplings, and the women, and they talk back to him in a manner which +seems strange to a Britisher familiar to the ways of military camps. After +the chatting, the pridikant, or parson, if there is one in the laager, +raises his hands, and all listen with reverent faces whilst the man of God +utters a few words in a solemn, earnest tone; then all kneel, and a prayer +floats up towards the skies, and a few moments later the whole camp is +wrapped in sleep, nothing is heard but the neighing of horses, the lowing +of cattle, the bleating of sheep, and the occasional barking of a dog. +There is no clatter of arms, no ringing of bugles, no deep-toned challenge +of sentries, no footfall of changing pickets. + +At regular intervals men rise silently from the ranks of the sleepers, pick +up their rifles noiselessly, and silently, like ghosts, slip out into the +deep shadows of the kopjes, and other men, equally silent, glide in from +posts they have been guarding, and stretch themselves out to snatch slumber +whilst they may. At dawn the men toss their blankets aside, and spring up +ready dressed, and move amongst their horses; the Kaffirs attend to the +morning meal, the everlasting rusks and coffee are served up, horses are +saddled, cattle are yoked to waggons, and in the twinkling of an eye the +camp is broken up, and the irregular army is on the march again, with +scouts guarding every pass in front, scouts watching (themselves unseen) on +every height. They travel fast, because they travel light; they use very +little water, because they find it impossible to move it from place to +place. Many critics charge them with habits of personal uncleanliness. It +is true that in their laagers one does not see as much soap and water used +as in our camps, but this is possibly due to want of opportunity as much as +to want of inclination. In sanitary matters they are neglectful. I did not +see a single latrine in any of their laagers, nor do I think they are in +the habit of making them, and to this cause and to no other I attribute the +large amount of fever in their ranks. They do not seem to understand the +first principles of the laws of sanitation, and had this season been a wet, +instead of a peculiarly dry one, I venture to assert that typhoid fever +would have wrought far more havoc amongst them than our rifles. + +I saw no literature in laager except Bibles. I witnessed no sports of any +kind, and the only sport I heard them talk about was horse-racing. I saw no +gambling, heard no blasphemy, noticed no quarrelling or bickering, and can +only say, from my slight acquaintance with life in Boer laager in war time, +that it may be rough, it may be irksome, it may not be so fastidiously +clean as a feather-bed soldier might like it, but I have been in many +tougher, rougher places, and never heard anyone cry about it. + + + + + + THROUGH BOER GLASSES. + + BURGHERSDORP. + + +I had a good many opportunities of chatting with Boers during the time +which elapsed between my capture and liberation, and had a long talk with +the President of the Orange Free State, Mr. Steyn; also with several of his +ministerial colleagues. Their ministers of religion, whom they call +pridikants, also chatted to me freely, as occasion offered. I had more than +one interview with their fighting generals. Medical men in their service I +found very much akin to medical men the world over. They patched up the +wounded and asked no questions concerning nationality, just as our own +medicos do. Personally, I must say that I found the Boers first-class +subjects for Press interviews. They did not know much about journalists and +the ways of journalism. Possibly had they had more experience in regard to +"interviews," I should not have found them quite so easy to manage, but it +never seemed to enter their heads that a man might make good "copy" out of +a quiet chat over pipes and tobacco. One of their stock subjects of +conversation was their great General, the man of Magersfontein--General +Cronje. + +"What do you Britishers and Australians think of Cronje?" was a stock +question with them. "Do you think him a good fighter?" + +"Well, yes, unquestionably he is a good fighting man." + +"Do you think him as good as Lord Roberts?" + +"No. We men of British blood don't think there are many men on earth as +good as the hero of Candahar." + +"Do you think him as good a man as Lord Kitchener?" + +"No. Very many of us consider the conqueror of the Soudan to be one who, if +he lives, will make as great a mark in history as Wellington." + +At this a joyous smile would illuminate the face of the Boer. He would +reply, "Yes, yes; Roberts is a great man, a very great man indeed. So is +Kitchener, so is General French, so is General Macdonald, so is General +Methuen. Yet all those five men are attempting to get Cronje into a corner +where they can capture him. They have ten times as many soldiers as Cronje +has, ten times as many guns; therefore, what a really great man Cronje must +be on your own showing." + +That was before the fatal 27th of February on which Cronje surrendered. + +I often asked them how they, representing a couple of small States, came to +get hold of the idea that they could whip a colossal Power like Great +Britain in a life or death struggle; and almost invariably they informed me +that they had expected that one of the great European Powers would take an +active part in the struggle on their behalf, and, furthermore, they had +been taught to think that Britain's Empire was rotten to the core, so much +so that as soon as war commenced in earnest all her colonies would fall +away from her and hoist the flag of independence, and that India would leap +once again into open and bloody mutiny. They expressed themselves as being +dumbfounded when they heard that Australian troops were rallying under the +Union Jack, and seemed to feel most bitterly that the men from the land of +the Southern Cross were in arms against them. "We fell out with England, +and we thought we had to fight England. Instead we find we have to fight +people from all parts of the world, Colonials like ourselves. Surely +Australia and Canada might have kept out of this fight, and allowed us to +battle it out with the country we had a quarrel with." + +"The Canadians and Australians are of British blood." + +"Well, what if they are? Ain't plenty of the Cape Volunteers who are +fighting under President Kruger's banner born of Dutch parents? Yet, +because they fight against Englishmen, you call them all rebels, and talk +of punishing them when the war is over, if you win, just because they lived +on your side of the border and not on ours. Would you ask one Boer to fight +against another Boer simply because he lived on one side of a river and his +blood relation lived on the other? You Britishers brag of your pride of +blood, and draw your fighting stock from all parts of the world in war +time, but you have no generosity; you won't allow other people to be proud +of their blood too." + +I tried to persuade them that I did not for one moment think that Britain +would be vindictive towards so-called rebels in the hour of victory, and +pointed out that, in my small opinion, such a course would be foreign to +the traditions of the Motherland; and was often met with the retort that if +England did so the shame would be hers, not theirs. Many a time I was told +to remember the Jameson raid and the manner in which the Boers treated not +only the leaders of that band of adventurers, but the men also. "Look +here," said one old fighting man to me, as he leant with negligent grace on +his rifle, "I was one of those who helped to corner Jameson and his men, +and I can tell you that we Boers knew very well that we would have been +acting within our rights if we had shot Jameson and every man he had with +him, because his was not an act of war--it was an act of piracy; and had we +done so, and England had attempted to avenge the deed, half the civilised +world would have ranged themselves on our side; but we did not seek those +men's blood; we gave them quarter as soon as they asked for it, and after +that, though we knew very well they had done all that men could do to +involve us in a war of extermination with a great nation, we sent their +leader home to his own country to be tried by his own countrymen, and the +rank and file we forgave freely. We may be a nation of white savages, but +our past does not prove it, and if Britain wins in the war now going on she +will have to be very generous indeed before we will need to blush for our +conduct." + +"Why should not the white population of South Africa be ready to live under +the protection of Britain? The yoke cannot be so heavy when men of all +creeds, colours, and nationalities who have lived under that rule for years +are now ready to volunteer to fight for her, even against you, who have +admittedly done them no direct wrong?" + +"Why should we live under any flag but our own?" replied the old fighting +man passionately. "We came here and found the country a wilderness in the +hands of savages; we fought our way into the land step by step, holding our +own with our rifles; we had to live lives of fearful hardships, facing wild +beasts and wilder men; we won with the strong hand the land we live in. Why +should we bow our necks to Britain's yoke, even if it be a yoke of silk?" +And as he spoke a murmur of deep and earnest sympathy ran through the ranks +of the Boers who were standing around him. + +"You, of course, blame all the Colonials, Australians and others, for +coming to fight against you?" I asked. "I don't know that I do, or that my +people do, in a sense," the veteran replied. "It all depends upon the +spirit which animated them. If your Australians, who are of British blood, +came here to fight for your Motherland, believing that her cause was a just +and a holy one, and that she needed your aid, you did right, for a son will +help his mother, if he be a son worth having; but if the Australians came +here merely for the sake of adventure, merely for sport, as men come in +time of peace to shoot buck on the veldt, then woe to that land, for though +God may make no sign to-day nor to-morrow, yet, in His own time, He will +surely wring from Australia a full recompense in sweat and blood and tears; +for whether we be right or wrong, our God knows that we are giving our +lives freely for what we in our hearts believe to be a holy cause." + +"What do you fellows think of Australians as fighters?" + +I asked the question carelessly, but the answer that I got brought me to my +bearings quickly, for then I learnt that more than one gallant Australian +officer dear to me had fallen, never to rise again, since I had been taken +prisoner. The man who spoke was little more than a lad, a pale-faced, +slenderly built son of the veldt. He had tangled curly hair, and big, +pathetic blue eyes, soft as a girl's, and limbs that lacked the rugged +strength of the old Boer stock; but there was that nameless "something," +that indefinable expression in his face which warranted him a brave man. He +carried one arm in a sling, and the bandage round his neck hid a bullet +wound. "The Australians can fight," he said simply. "They wounded me, +and--they killed my father." Perhaps it was the wind sighing through the +hospital trees that made the Boer lad's voice grow strangely husky; +possibly the same cause filled the blue eyes with unshed tears. + +"It was in fair fight, lad," I said gently; "it was the fortune of war." + +"Yes," he murmured, "it was in fair fight, an awful fight--I hope I'll +never look upon another like it. Damn the fighting," he broke out fiercely. +"Damn the fighting. I didn't hate your Australians. I didn't want to kill +any of them. My father had no ill-will to them, nor they to him, yet he is +out there--out there between two great kopjes--where the wind always blows +cold and dreary at night-time." The laddie shuddered. "It makes a man doubt +the love of the Christ," he said. "My father was a good man, a kind man, +who never turned the stranger empty-handed from his door, even the Kaffirs +on the farm loved him; and now he is lying where no one can weep over his +grave. We piled great rocks on his grave. My cousin and I buried him. We +had no shovels; we scooped a hole in the hard earth as well as we could, a +long, shallow hole, and we laid him in it. I took his head and Cousin +Gustave carried his feet. We folded his hands on his breast, laid his old +rifle by his side, because he had always loved that gun, and never used any +other when out hunting. Then we pushed the earth in on him gently with our +hands, breaking the hard lumps up and crumbling them in our palms, so that +they should not bruise his poor flesh. He had always been so kind, we could +not hurt him, even though we knew he was dead, for he had been gentle to +all of us in life; even the cows and the oxen at home loved him--and now +who will go back and tell mother and little Yacoba that he is dead, that he +will come to them no more? Oh, damn the war," the lad called again in his +pain. "I don't know--only God knows--which side is right or wrong, but I do +know that the curse of the Christ will rest on the heads of those who have +made this war for ambition's sake or the greed of gold, and the good God +will not let the widow and the orphan child go unavenged; blood will yet +speak for blood, and it must rest either on the heads of Kruger and Steyn, +or Chamberlain and Rhodes." + +"Tell me, comrade, of the Australians who fell. They were my countrymen." + +"It was a cruel fight," he said. "We had ambushed a lot of the British +troops--the Worcesters, I think, they called them. They could neither +advance nor retire; we had penned them in like sheep, and our field cornet, +Van Leyden, was beseeching them to throw down their rifles to save being +slaughtered, for they had no chance. Just then we saw about a hundred +Australians come bounding over the rocks in the gully behind us. There were +two great big men in front cheering them on. We turned and gave them a +volley, but it did not stop them. They rushed over everything, firing as +they came, not wildly, but as men who know the use of a rifle, with the +quick, sharp, upward jerk to the shoulder, the rapid sight, and then the +shot. They knocked over a lot of our men, but we had a splendid position. +They had to expose themselves to get to us, and we shot them as they came +at us. They were rushing to the rescue of the English. It was splendid, but +it was madness. On they came, and we lay behind the boulders, and our +rifles snapped and snapped again at pistol range, but we did not stop those +wild men until they charged right into a little basin which was fringed +around all its edges by rocks covered with bushes. Our men lay there as +thick as locusts, and the Australians were fairly trapped. They were far +worse off than the Worcesters, up high in the ravine. + +"Our field cornet gave the order to cease firing, and called on them to +throw down their rifles or die. Then one of the big officers--a, great, +rough-looking man, with a voice like a bull--roared out, 'Forward +Australia!--no surrender!' Those were the last words he ever uttered, for a +man on my right put a bullet clean between his eyes, and he fell forward +dead. We found later that his name was Major Eddy, of the Victorian Rifles. +He was as brave as a lion, but a Mauser bullet will stop the bravest. His +men dashed at the rocks like wolves; it was awful to see them. They smashed +at our heads with clubbed rifles, or thrust their rifles up against us +through the rocks and fired. One after another their leaders fell. The +second big man went down early, but he was not killed. He was shot through +the groin, but not dangerously. His name was Captain McInnerny. There was +another one, a little man named Lieutenant Roberts; he was shot through the +heart. Some of the others I forget. The men would not throw down their +rifles; they fought like furies. One man I saw climb right on to the rocky +ledge where Big Jan Albrecht was stationed. Just as he got there a bullet +took him, and he staggered and dropped his rifle. Big Jan jumped forward to +catch him before he toppled over the ledge, but the Australian struck Jan +in the mouth with his clenched fist, and fell over into the ravine below +and was killed. + +"We killed and wounded an awful lot of them, but some got away; they fought +their way out. I saw a long row of their dead and wounded laid out on the +slope of a farmhouse that evening--they were all young men, fine big +fellows. I could have cried to look at them lying so cold and still. They +had been so brave in the morning, so strong; but in the evening, a few +little hours, they were dead, and we had not hated them, nor they us. Yes, +I could have cried as I thought of the women who would wait for them in +Australia. Yes, I could have shed tears, though they had wounded me, but +then I thought of my father, and of the mother, and little Yacoba on the +farm, who would wait in vain for _him_, and then I could feel sorry +for those, the wives and children of the dead men, no longer." + + + + + + LIFE IN THE BOER CAMPS. + + HEADQUARTERS, ORANGE RIVER COLONY. + + +It is an article of faith with many people that a Boer commando is a mere +mob, that its leaders exercise no control over men in laager or on the +field, and that punishment for crimes is a thing unknown. But this is far +from being the case. It is quite true that a Boer soldier does not know how +to click his heels together, turn his toes to an acute angle, stiffen his +back, and salute every time an officer runs against him. He could not +properly perform any of the very simplest military evolutions common to all +European soldiers if his immortal welfare depended upon it. That is why he +is such a failure as an attacking agent. Still, in spite of these things, +the Boer on commando has to submit to very rigid laws. The penalty for +outrage, or attempted outrage, on a woman is instant death on conviction, +no matter what the woman's nationality may be. For sleeping on sentry duty +the punishment is unique; it is a punishment born of long dwelling in the +wilderness. It is of such a nature that no man who has once undergone it is +calculated ever to forget. When a clear case is made out against a burgher +by trial before his commandant the whole commando in laager is summoned to +witness the criminal's reward. He is taken out beyond the lines to a spot +where the sun shines in all its unprotected fierceness. He is led to an +ant-hill full of busy, wicked, little crawlers; the top of the ant-hill is +cut off with a spade, leaving a honeycombed surface for the sleepy one to +stand upon (not much fear of him sleeping whilst he is there). He is +ordered to mount the hill and stand with feet close together. His rifle is +placed in his hands, the butt resting between his toes, the muzzle clasped +in both hands. Two men are then told off to watch him. They are picked men, +noted for their stern, unyielding sense of duty and love for the cause they +fight for. + +These guards lie down in the veldt twenty-five yards away from the victim. +They have their loaded Mausers with them, and their orders are, if the +prisoner lifts a leg, to put a bullet into it; if he lifts an arm, a bullet +goes into that defaulting member; if he jumps down from his perch +altogether, the leaden messengers sent from both rifles will cancel all his +earthly obligations. The sun shines down in savage mockery; it strikes upon +the bare neck of the quivering wretch, who dare not lift a hand to shift +his hat to cover the blistering skin. It strikes in his eyes and burns his +lips until they swell and feel like bursting. The barrel of his rifle grows +hotter and hotter, until his fingers feel as if glued to a gridiron. The +very clothes upon his body burn the skin beneath. He feels desperate; he +must shift one arm, for the anguish is intolerable. He makes an almost +imperceptible movement of his shoulder, and glances towards his guards. The +man on his right front lays his pipe quickly in the grass, and swiftly +lifts his Mauser to his shoulder. The wretch on the ant-heap closes his +eyes with a groan, and stands as still as a Japanese god carved out of +jute-wood. The guard lays down his rifle and picks up his pipe. + +The sun climbs higher and higher, until it gleams down straight into the +ant-heap; the scorching heat penetrates into the unprotected cells, and +enrages the dwellers inside. They swarm out full of fight, like an army +lusting for battle. Their home has been ravished of the protection they had +raised with half a lifetime of labour, and in their puny way they want +vengeance. They find a foe on top, a man ready to their wrath. They crawl +into his scorched boots, over his baked feet, guiltless of stockings; they +charge up the legs, on which the trousers hang loosely, and as they charge +they bite, because they are out for business, not for a picnic. The very +stillness of their victim seems to enrage them. The first legion retires at +full speed down into the ant-heap again. They have gone for recruits. In a +few seconds up they come again, until the very top of the heap is alive +with them. They climb one over another in their eagerness to get in their +individual moiety of revenge. Down into the veldtschoon, up the bare, hairy +legs, over the hips, round the waist, over the lean ribs, along the spine, +under the arms, round the neck, over the whole man they go, as the +Mongolian hordes will some day go over the Western world. And each one digs +his tiny prongs into the smarting, burning, itching poor devil on top of +their homestead. He shifts a leg the hundredth part of an inch. The guard +on the left gives his bandolier a warning twist, and glances along the long +brown barrel that nestles in the hollow of his left hand. + +The commandant comes out of the circle of burghers, looks at the victim, +sees that the eyes are bloodshot and protruding far beyond the normal +position. He is not a hard man, but he knows that the culprit has +endangered the lives and liberties of all. "You will remember this," he +says sternly; "you will not again sleep when it is your turn to watch." +"Never, so help me God!" gasps the prisoner. "Stand down, then; you are +free." Quicker than a swallow's flight is the movement of the liberated +man. He drops his rifle with a gasp of relief, tears every stitch of +clothing from his body, throws the garments from him, and pelts his +veldtschoon after them. Some sympathetic veteran, who has possibly, in +earlier wars, been through the ordeal himself, runs up with a drink of +blessed water. He does not drink it; he pours it down his burning throat, +then sits on the grass, drawing his breath in long, sobbing sighs, all the +more terrible because they are tearless. From head to heel he is covered +with tiny red marks, just like a schoolboy who has had the measles; in +three days there will not be a mark on him, but he won't forget them, all +the same, not in thirty-three years, or three hundred and thirty-three, if +he happens to have a memory of any kind at that period. + +This mode of punishing recalcitrant persons was picked up, I am told, from +one of the savage tribes. I do not know if this is so or not, but there is +no doubt that the niggers know all about it, because one day, when I found +that one of my niggers had been helping himself lavishly to my tobacco, I +promised to stand him on an ant-heap as soon as I had finished shaving. +Five minutes later my other nigger, Lazarus, came into my tent and informed +me that Johnnie had bolted. I went out, and by the aid of my glasses I +could just espy a black dot away out on the veldt, making a rapid and +direct line for the land of the Basutos; and that was the last I ever saw +or heard of tobacco-loving, work-dodging, truth-twisting Johnnie. + +There is a distinctly humorous side to the Boer character, which crops out +sometimes in his methods of dealing out justice to those who have done the +thing that seems evil in his sight. If there is a fellow in laager who is +not amenable to orders, one of those malcontents who desires to have +everything his own way--and there generally is one of these cherubs in +every large gathering of men all the world over--the commandant first calls +him up and warns him that he is making himself a pest to the whole +commando, and exhorts him to mend his manners. As a general thing the +commandant throws a few slabs of Scripture appropriate to the occasion at +the disturber's ears, and mixes it judiciously with a good deal of worldly +wisdom, all of which tending to teach the fellow that he is about as +desirable as a comrade as a sore eye in a sand-storm. Should the +exhortation not have the desired effect, and the offender continue to stir +up strife in laager, as a lame mule stirs up mud in midstream, then the +commandant sends a guard of young men to gather in the unruly one. He is +captured with as little ceremony as a nigger captures a hog in the midst of +his mealy patch. They strip him bare to the waist, and put a bridle on his +head; the bit is jammed into his mouth, and firmly buckled there, and then +the circus begins. One of the guards takes the reins, usually a couple of +long lengths of raw hide; another flicks the human steed on the bare ribs +with a sjambok, and he is ordered to show his paces. He has to walk, trot, +canter, gallop, and "tripple" all around the laager several times, amidst +the badinage and laughter of the burghers, and he gets enough "chaff" +during the journey to last the biggest horse in England a lifetime. + +It is bad enough when there are only men there, but when there are, as is +often the case, a dozen or two of women and girls present his woe is served +up to him full measure and brimming over. The men roar with laughter, and +pelt him with crusts of rusks, but the women and girls make his life an +agony for the time being. They smile at him sweetly, and ask him if he +feels lonely without a cart, or they pull up a handful of grass and offer +it to him on the end of a stick, making a lot of "stage aside" remarks +concerning the length of his ears the while, until the fellow's face +crimsons with shame. + +They are wonderfully patriotic, these Boer girls and women, and are +merciless in their contempt for a man who will not do his share of +fighting, marching, and watching cheerfully and uncomplainingly. The +hardships and privations they themselves undergo without murmuring, in +order to assist their husbands, brothers, and lovers, is worthy of being +chronicled in the pages of history, for they are the Spartans of the +nineteenth century. They are swift to help those who need help, but +unsparing with their scorn for those who are unworthy. The treatment meted +out to the grumbler and mischief-maker usually presents more of the +elements of comedy than anything else, and it is his own fault if he does +not get off lightly. But if he cuts up rough, tries to strike or kick his +drivers or tormentors, or if he goes in for a course of sulks, and flops +himself down, refusing to be driven, then the comic element disappears from +the scene. Out come the sjamboks, and he is treated precisely as a vicious +or sulky horse would be treated under similar circumstances. As a rule, it +does not take long to bring a man of that kind to his proper senses. Should +he talk of deserting or of avenging himself later on, he is watched, and a +deserter soon learns that a rifle bullet can travel faster than he can. As +for revenge, the sooner he forgets desires or designs of that kind the +better for his own health. + +For minor offences, such as laziness, neglecting to keep the rifle clean +and in good shooting order, attempting to strike up a flirtation with a +married woman, to the annoyance of the lady, or any other little matter of +the kind, the wayward one is "tossed." Tossing is not the sort of pastime +any fellow would choose for fun, not if he were the party to be tossed, +though it is a beanfeast for the onlookers. They manage it this way. A +hide, freshly stripped from a bullock, smoking, bloody, and limber as a +bowstring, is requisitioned; the hairy side is turned downwards, two strong +men get hold of each corner, cutting holes in the green hide for their +hands to have a good grip; they allow the hide to sag until it forms a sort +of cradle, into which the unlucky one is dumped neck and crop. Then the +signal is given, the hide sways to and fro for a few seconds, and then, +with a skilful jerk, it is drawn as taut as eight pairs of strong arms can +draw it. If the executioners are skilful at the business the victim shoots +upwards from the blood-smeared surface like a dude's hat in a gale of wind. +Sometimes he comes down on his feet, sometimes on his head, or he may +sprawl face downwards, clutching at the slimy surface as eagerly as a +politician clutches at a place in power. But his efforts are vain; a couple +more swings and another jerk, and up he goes, turning and twisting like a +soiled shirt on a wire fence. This time he comes down on his hands and +knees, and promptly commences to plead for pity, but before he can open his +heart a neat little jerk sends him out on his back, where he claws and +kicks like a jackal in a gin case, whilst the more ribald amongst the +onlookers sing songs appropriate to the occasion, but the more devout chant +some such hymn as this: + + Lord, let me linger here, + For this is bliss. + +A man is very seldom hurt at this game, though how he escapes without a +broken neck is one of the wonders of gravitation to me. One second you see +the poor beggar in mid air, going like a circular saw through soft pine. +Just when you are beginning to wonder if he has converted himself into a +catherine-wheel or a corkscrew, he straightens himself out horizontally, +remains poised for the millionth part of a second like a he-angel that has +moulted his wings; then down he dives perpendicularly like a tornado in +trousers, skinning forehead, nose, and chin as he kisses the drum-like +surface of the hide. No, on the whole, I do not consider it healthy to try +to fool with a married woman in a Boer fighting laager, apart altogether +from the moral aspect of the affair. If some of the amorous dandies I wot +of, who claim kindred with us, got the same sort of treatment in Old +England, many a merry matron would be saved much annoyance. + +For rank disobedience of orders, brutality of conduct, cowardice in the +face of the enemy, flagrant neglect of the wounded, or any other very +serious military crime, the punishment is sjamboking, which is simply +flogging, as it existed in our Army and Navy not so many years ago. On +board ship they used to use the "cat," a genteel instrument with a handle +attached. The Boer sjambok is a different article altogether; it has not +nine tails, but it gets there just the same. The sjambok dear to the Boer +soul is that made out of rhinoceros hide. It is a plain piece of hide, not +twisted in any way; just clean cut out and trimmed round all the way down. +It is about three feet long, and at the end which the flogger holds it is +about two and a half inches in circumference, tapering down gradually to a +rat-tail point. It is a terrible weapon when the person who wields it is +bent on business, and is not manufacturing poetry or mingling thoughts of +home and mother with the flogging. Truth to tell, I don't think they do +much flogging--not half as much as they are credited with--but when they do +flog, the party who gets it wants a soft shirt for a month after, and it's +quite a while before he will lie on his back for the mere pleasure of +seeing the moon rise. + + + + + + BATTLE OF CONSTANTIA FARM. + + THABA NCHU. + + +The Battle of Constantia Farm will not rank as one of the big events of +this war, but it is worthy of a full description, because in this battle +the Briton for the first time laid himself out from start to finish to +fight the Boer pretty much on his own lines, instead of following +time-honoured British rules of war. Before attempting to portray the actual +fighting, I think a brief sketch of our movements from the time we left the +railway line to cross the country will be of interest to those readers of +_The Daily News_ who desire to follow the progress of the war with due +care. + +The Third Division, which had been at Stormberg, and had done such +excellent, though almost bloodless, work by sweeping the country between +the last-named place and Bethany, rested at the latter place, and built up +its full strength by incorporating a large number of men and guns. General +Gatacre, who had retrieved his reverse at Stormberg by forcing Commandant +Olivier to vacate his almost impregnable position without striking a blow, +and later by his masterly move in swooping down on Bethulie Bridge and +preventing the Boers from wrecking the line of communication between Lord +Roberts and his supplies from Capetown, only remained long enough with his +old command to see them equipped in a manner fit to take the field, and +then retired in favour of General Chermside. It was under this officer that +we marched away from the railway line across country known to be hostile to +us. Almost due east we moved to Reddersburg, about twelve and a half miles. +We had to move slowly and cautiously, because no living man can tell when, +where, or how a Boer force will attack. They follow rules of their own, and +laugh at all accepted theories of war, ancient or modern, and no general +can afford to hold them cheap. A day and a half was spent at Reddersburg, +and then the Third Division continued its eastward course in wretched +weather, until Rosendal was arrived at. This is the spot where the Royal +Irish Rifles and Northumberland Fusiliers had to surrender to the Boers. We +had to camp there for the best part of three days on account of the +continuous downpour of rain, which rendered the veldt tracks impassable for +our transport. To push onward meant the absolute destruction of mules and +oxen, and the consequent loss of food supplies, without which we were +helpless, for in that country every man's hand was against us, not only in +regard to actual warfare, but in regard to forage for man and beast. + +Here we were joined by General Rundle with the Eighth Division, which +brought our force up to about thirteen thousand men, thirty big guns, and a +number of Maxims. When the weather cleared slightly we moved onward slowly, +the ground simply clinging to the wheels of the heavily laden waggons, +until it seemed as if the very earth, as well as all that was on top of it, +was opposed to our march. Our scouts constantly saw the enemy hovering on +our front and flanks, and more than once exchanged shots with them. General +Rundle, who was in supreme command, thus knew that he could not hope to +surprise the wily foe, for it was evident to the merest tyro that the Boer +leader was keeping a sharp eye upon our movements, and would not be taken +at a disadvantage. We expected to measure the enemy's fighting force at any +hour, but it was not until about half-past ten on the morning of Friday, +the 20th of April, that we were certain that he meant to measure his arms +with ours, though early on that morning our scouts had brought in news that +a commando, believed to be about two thousand five hundred strong, with +half a dozen guns, commanded by General De Wet, was strongly posted right +on our line of march. Slowly we crept across the open veldt, our men +stretching from east to west for fully six miles. There was no moving of +solid masses of men, no solid grouping of troops; no two men marched +shoulder to shoulder, a gap showed plainly between each of the khaki-clad +figures as we moved on to the rugged, broken line of kopjes. There was no +hurry, no bustle, the men behaved admirably, each individual soldier +seeming to have his wits about him, and proving it by taking advantage of +every bit of cover that came in his way. If they halted near an ant-hill, +they at once put it between themselves and the enemy. + +Slowly but steadily they rolled onward, like a great sluggish, but +irresistible, yellow wave, until we saw the scouts slipping from rock to +rock up the stony heights of the first line of hills. Breathlessly we +watched the intrepid "eyes of the army" advance until they stood +silhouetted against the sky-line on the top of the black bulwarks of the +veldt. Then we strained our ears to catch the rattle of the enemy's rifles, +but we listened in vain; and we were completely staggered. What did it +mean? Was it a trap? Was there some devilish craft behind that apparent +peacefulness? Trap or no trap, we had not long to wait. The long, yellow +wave curled inwards from both flanks, the men going forward with quick, +lithesome steps. The mounted infantry shot forward as if moved by magic, +and, before the eye could scarcely grasp the details, our fellows held the +heights, and men marvelled and wondered whether the Boers had bolted for +good. But they soon undeceived us, for the hills shook with the +far-reaching roar of their guns, and shells began to make melody which +devils love; but they did no harm. Not a man was touched. Then came the +short, sharp word of command from our lines. Officers bit their words +across the centre, and threw them at the men. The Horse Artillery moved +into position, some going at a steady trot, others sweeping along the +valleys as if they were the children of the storm. The left flank swung +forward and encircled the base of an imposing kopje. The men swarmed up +with tiger-like activity, quickly, and in broken and irregular lines; but +there was no confusion, no wretched tangle, no helpless muddle. They did +not rush madly to the top and stand on the sky-line to be a mark for their +foes. When they almost touched the summit they paused, formed their broken +lines, and carefully and wisely topped the black brow; and as they did so +the Boer rifles spoke from a line of kopjes that lay behind the first. Then +our fellows dropped to cover, and sent an answer back that a duller foe +than the Boers would not have failed to understand. The Mauser bullets +splashed on the rocks, and spat little fragments of lead in all directions; +but few of them found a resting-place under those thin yellow jackets. +By-and-by the shells began to follow the Mauser's spiteful pellets, but the +shells were less harmful even than the little hostile messengers; for, +though well directed, the shells never burst--they simply shrieked, yelled, +and buried themselves. Our gunners got the ground they wanted, and soon gun +spoke to gun in their deep-throated tones of defiance. The Boers were not +hurting us; whether we were injuring them we could not tell. + +In the meantime our whole transport came safely inside a little +semi-circular valley, and arranged itself with almost ludicrous precision. +The nigger drivers chaffed one another as the shells made melody above +their heads, and made the air fairly dance with the picturesque terms of +endearment they bestowed upon their mules, between the welts they bestowed +with their long two-handed whips. When two of their leaders jibbed and +refused to budge, they howled and called them Mr. Steyn and Ole Oom Paul; +but when they got down solid to their work they laughed until even their +back teeth were showing beyond the dusky horizon of their lips, and endowed +them with the names of Cecil Rhodes and Mistah Chamberlain, which may or +may not appear complimentary to the owners of those titles--anyway, the +mules did not seem to be offended. One thing was made manifest to me then, +and confirmed later on, viz., the nigger is a game fellow; give him a +little excitement, and he is full of "devil"--it's the doing of deeds in +cold blood that finds him out. After seeing the way the transport was +handled, I moved along to look at the ambulance arrangements, and found +them practically perfect. The medical staff was cool and collected, the +helpers were alert and attentive to business; the waggons, with their +conspicuous red crosses, were all well and carefully placed--though in such +a fight it was a sheer impossibility to dispose them so as to render them +absolutely immune from danger, for shells have a knack of falling where +least expected, and when they burst he is a wise man who falls flat on his +face and leaves the rest to his Creator and the fortune of war. My next +move was to secure a position on the top of a kopje, to try to gather some +idea concerning the actual strength of the Boer position. It needed no +soldier's training to tell a man who knew the rugged Australian ranges +thoroughly that the enemy had chosen his ground with consummate skill. To +get at the Boers our men had either to go down the sides of the kopjes in +full view of the clever enemy, or else make their way between narrow +gullies, where shells would work havoc in their packed ranks. After they +had reached the open, level ground, they had to cross open spaces of veldt +commanded by the Boer guns and rifles, whilst the Boers themselves sat +tight in a row of ranges that ran from east to west, mile after mile, in +almost unbroken ruggedness. If we turned either flank, they could promptly +fall back upon another line of kopjes as strong as those they held. Away +behind their position the grim heights of Thaba Nchu rose towards the blue +sky, solemn and stately. Far away to the eastward, a little south of east +perhaps, I could see the hills that hid Wepener, distant about eighteen +miles from the Boer centre. There we knew, and the enemy knew, that the +Boers held a British force pinned in. They knew, and we knew, that +Commandant Olivier, with eight or nine thousand men and a lot of guns, held +the reins in his hands; and the men our force were engaging knew that +unless they could keep us in check Olivier would soon be the hunted instead +of the hunter. + +By-and-by the rifle fire on our left flank grew weaker and weaker--our guns +were searching the kopjes with merciless accuracy--and before sundown it +died away altogether, and we had time to collect our wounded and ascertain +our losses, though we could not even guess how the Boers had fared Our +wounded amounted to eight men all told, none of them dangerously hurt; of +dead we had none, not one. When their fire slackened the enemy doubtless +expected to see an onward dash of troops from our position, but it was not +to be. General Rundle had decided to play "patience" and save his men; +there was no necessity for him to rush on and force the Boer position, and +he chose the better part. Steadily our fellows were worked into position, +until every bit of ground that could bear upon the foe was lined with +British troops. Every available point, front or flank, where a gun could be +placed to harass the foe was taken advantage of; nothing was left to +chance, nothing was rashly hurried. Carefully, methodically the work was +done. There was to be no carnival of death on our side, no trusting to the +"luck of the British Army," no headlong rush into the arms of destruction, +no waving line of bayonets. The Boer was to play a hand with the cards he +loves to deal. He was to be shelled and sniped. If he wanted straight-out +fighting, he had to come out into the open and get it. He was to have no +chance to sit in safety and slaughter the British soldiers like shambled +deer, as he had so often done before. As the sun went down our men +bivouacked where they stood, and nothing was heard through the long, cold +night except at intervals the grim growling of a gun, the sentinels' swift, +curt challenge, or the neighing of horses as steed spoke to steed across +the grass-grown veldt. + +At the breaking of the dawn I was aroused from sleep by the simultaneous +crashing of several of our batteries. It was Britain's morning salutation +to the Boer. I hurried up to a spot on the kopje where a regiment of +Worcesters lay amongst the broken ground, and saw that the battle was just +about to commence in deadly earnest. It was a huge, flat-topped kopje where +I located myself. The outer edges of the hill rose higher than the centre, +a little rivulet ran across tiny indentations on the crown of that rampart, +and there was ample space for an army to lie concealed from the eyes of +enemies. If the Boers were strongly posted, so were the British. Away past +our right flank Wepener range was plainly visible in the clear morning +light, and just behind Wepener lay the Basuto border, with its fringe of +mountains. About two thousand yards away, directly facing our centre, a +white farmhouse stood in a cluster of trees. This farmhouse gave the +battlefield its name, Constantia Farm. The enemy could be seen by the aid +of glasses slipping from the kopjes down towards this farm and back again +at intervals. Cattle, horses, goats, and sheep went on grazing calmly, the +roaring of the guns doubtless seeming to them but as the tumult of a storm. + +Turning my eyes towards the valley behind our position, I saw that we +intended to try to turn the enemy's left flank. Little squads of mounted +men, 95 in each group, swept along the valley at a gallop. They were the +Yeomanry and mounted infantry, and numbered about 600. A more workmanlike +body of fellows it would be hard to find anywhere. They sat their horses +with easy confidence, and looked full of fight. Some of them carried their +rifles in their hands, muzzle upwards, the butt resting on the right thigh; +others had their guns slung across their shoulders. Group after group went +eastward, and the Boers knew nothing of the movement, because we were for +once employing their own tactics. I watched them out of sight, and then +turned my attention to the guns. There was very little time wasted by our +people. The gunners on our left flank poured in a heavy fire, the centre +took up the chorus, and the guns on the right repeated it. For miles along +their front the Boers must have been in deadly peril. We seldom saw them. +Now and again a group of roughly clad horsemen would flash into view and +disappear again as if by magic, with shells hurtling in their wake. Our +artillery could not locate their main force with any degree of certainty, +nor could they place us properly. They were not idle; their guns, of which +they had a decent number, sought for our position with dauntless +perseverance. Their shells soon began to drop amongst us, but they did no +harm at all. They fell close enough to our troops in many instances, but +they were so badly made that they would not explode, or if they did they +simply fizzed, and were almost as harmless as seidlitz powders. + +The spiteful little pom-poms cracked away and kept us on the alert, until +one grew weary of the everlasting noise of cannon. At mid-day, tired of the +monotony of the game, I turned my horse's head towards camp, and, in +company with three other correspondents, soon sat down to a lunch of +mealies and boiled fowl; but we were destined not to enjoy that meal, for +before the first mouthful had left my plate there came a wailing howl +through the air, then a strange jarring noise, and a shell plunged into the +earth forty yards away from the tent. A few minutes later another visitor +from the same direction crashed on top of one of the transport waggons +within a stone's throw of our tent. That decided me; in a few seconds I had +scrambled up the side of a kopje, with the leg of a fowl in one hand and a +soldier's biscuit in the other. The shells had not burst, but no man could +say when one would, and I had no particular interest in regard to the +inside of any shell myself. I was not the only one who made a hasty exit +from the camp; in ten seconds the side of the kopje was alive with men. The +shells continued to fall right amongst the waggons every few minutes for +over two hours; yet only one man was killed, a negro driver being the +victim, a shell dropping right against his thigh. The range of the Boer gun +was absolutely perfect, but the shells were mere rubbish. Had they been as +good as ours, half our transport would have been in ruins. The British +gunners manoeuvred in all directions in order to locate that particularly +dangerous piece of ordnance. They blazed at it in batteries; they tried to +find it by means of cross-firing; they lined men up on the sky-line of +kopjes to draw the fire; they limbered up and galloped far out on the +veldt, until the enemy's rifle fire drove them in again; but all in vain. +The Boer leader had placed his gun with such skill that the British could +not locate it, and it kept up its devilish jubilee until the night set in. + +That day our scouts captured one Free State flag from the enemy; the +Yeomanry and mounted infantry did not succeed in their efforts to turn the +Boers' left flank, but they checked the enemy from advancing in that +direction, which was an important item in the day's work. We did not want +the Boer left to overlap our right; had they done so they could then get +behind us and harass our convoys coming from the direction of Bethany +railway station. We had very little dread of them turning our left flank, +because we knew that General French was moving towards us on that side from +Bloemfontein, with the object of getting the Boers on the inside of two +forces, and so giving them no chance of escape. We had only a few men +wounded, one petty officer of the Scouts killed, and a negro driver killed, +which was simply marvellous when one considers the terrible amount of +ammunition used during the day. That night all the correspondents had to +sleep, or try to sleep, with the transport. It was a wretched night; we +knew the Boers had the range, and we fully expected to get a hot shelling +between darkness and dawn, but, curiously enough, the foe kept their guns +still all the night But the suspense made the night a weary one. + +The following day was Sunday, and at a very early hour our scouts informed +us that the Boers had made a wide detour towards Wepener, and had +overlapped our right flank. They slipped up into a kopje, which would have +enabled them to enfilade our position in a most masterly manner; but before +they could get their guns there our artillery was at them, and the kopje +was literally ploughed up with shells. It was too warm a corner for any man +on earth to attempt to hold, and they soon took their departure, falling +back in good order, and leaving no dead or wounded behind them. The +Yeomanry had advanced on the kopje, under the protection of the shell +firing, and when close to the position they fixed bayonets and dashed up +the hill; but when they topped it they found that the Boers had retired. It +was a quick bit of work, neatly and expeditiously done. Had the Boers held +the hill long enough to get their guns in position they would have played +havoc with us, for they could then have swept our whole line. From morning +until night-fall we kept at them with our big guns; whenever a cloud of +dust arose from behind a range of kopjes we dropped shells in the middle of +it; wherever a cluster of Boers showed themselves for a second a shell +sought them out. No matter how well they were placed, they must have had a +lively time of it. During the Sabbath they scarcely used their guns at all, +but they opened on our troops with rifle fire as soon as they made a +forward move at any part of the line, showing clearly that they were +watching as well as praying. The day closed without incident of any +particular character; we had a few wounded, but no deaths, and could form +no idea how the Boers were faring. Now and again during the night one or +another of our guns would bark like sullen watchdogs on the chain, but the +Boer guns were still. + +Monday morning broke crisp and clear, and once more the big-gun duel began, +only on this occasion the Boers made great use of a pom-pom gun This +spiteful little demon tossed its diminutive shells into camp with painful +freeness. They knocked three of the Worcesters over early in the day, +killing two and badly damaging the other. As on all other occasions in this +peculiar engagement, the Boer gunnery was simply superb; but their shells +were worthless. Shells grew so common that the "Tommies" scarcely ducked +when they heard the report of a gun they knew was trying to reach them, but +smoked their pipes and made irreverent remarks concerning things made in +Germany. About midday a party of Boers, who had somehow dodged round to our +rear, made a dashing attempt to raid some cattle that were grazing close +under our eyes; but they had to vanish in a hurry, and were particularly +lucky in being able to escape with their lives, for a party of scouts +darted out after them at full gallop on one side, whilst another party of +mounted infantry rode as hard as hoofs could carry them on the other side +of the bold raiders. They unslung their rifles as they dashed across the +veldt, and the Boers soon knew that the fellows behind them were as much at +home as they were themselves at that kind of business. + +Late on Monday evening the Boers located a little to the left of our centre +moved forward a bit. Though with infinite caution, and commenced sniping +with the rifle. It was an evidence that they were growing weary of our +tactics, and would greatly have liked us to attempt to rush their position +with the bayonet, so that they could have mowed our fellows down in +hundreds. But this General Rundle wisely declined to do; it was victory, +not glory, he was seeking, and he was wise enough to know that a victory +can be bought at far too high a price in country of this kind against a foe +like the wily Boer. On Sunday night our strength was augmented by the +arrival of three regiments of the Guards, and on Monday night we, knew for +a certainty that General French was close at hand. The Boer was between two +fires, and he would need all his "slimness" to pull him out of trouble. +During a greater part of the night our guns continued to rob sleep of its +sweetness, and the enemy's pom-pom mingled with our dreams. On Tuesday +morning news came to us that Wepener had been relieved by Brabant and Hart, +and that the Boers who had invested that place were drawing off in our +direction, so that our right flank needed strengthening. The Boers +displayed no sign of quitting their position, though they must have known +that Brabant and Hart would be on their track from the south-east, and +General French from the north-west. They held their ground with a grim +stubbornness against overwhelming odds of men and guns, and dropped shells +amongst us in a way that made one feel that no spot could be labelled +"absolutely safe." + +At about 7 p.m. we sent a force out south, consisting of about 4,000 men, +under General Boyes. Amongst that force were the West Kents, Staffords, +Worcesters, Manchesters, all infantry. The Imperial Yeomanry and mounted +infantry also accompanied the expedition. But there was little for them to +do except hold the enemy in check, which they did. There were some +phenomenally close shaves during the day. On one occasion the enemy got the +range of one of our guns with their pom-pom, and the way they dropped the +devilish little one-pound shells amongst those gunners was a sight to make +a man's blood run chill. The little iron imps fell between the men, grazed +the wheels, the carriage, and the truck of the gun; but + + He, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps. + +Nothing short of angel-wings could have kept our fellows safe. The men knew +their deadly peril, knew that the tip of the wand in the Death Angel's hand +was brushing their cheeks. One could see that they knew their peril. The +hard, firm grip of the jaw, the steady light in the hard-set eyes, the +manly pallor on the cheeks, all told of knowledge; yet not once did they +lose their heads. Each fellow stood there as bravely as human flesh and +blood could stand, and faced the iron hail with unblenching courage and +intrepid coolness. Had those khaki-clothed warriors been carved out of +bronze and moved by machinery, they could not have shown less fear or more +perfect discipline. The pom-pom is a gun which I have been told the British +War Office refused as a toy some two years back. I have had the doubtful +pleasure of being under its fire to-day, and all I can say is that I would +gladly have given my place to any gentleman in the War Office who happens +to hold the notion that the pom-pom is a toy. + +Somehow the enemy got hold of the position where General Rundle and staff +were located, and all the afternoon they swept the plain in front of the +tents, the hills above, and the hill opposite with shells; but they could +not quite drop one in the little ravine itself. Half an hour before sundown +I had to ride with two other correspondents to headquarters to get a +dispatch away. We got across safely, but had not been there five minutes +before a grandly directed shell sent the General and his staff off the brow +of the hill in double quick time. We delivered our dispatches, and were +getting ready for a gallop over the quarter mile of veldt, when, _pom, +pom, pom, pom_, came a dozen one-pounders a few yards away right across +our track. It made our hearts sit very close to our ribs, but there was +nothing for it but to take our horses by the head, drive the spurs home, +and ride as if we were rounding up wild cattle. I want it to stand on +record that I was not the last man across that strip of veldt. There was +not much incident in the day's fighting; there seldom is in an artillery +duel, carried on by men who know the game, in hilly country. Once during +the afternoon the big gun belonging to the Boers became so troublesome that +half a dozen of ours were trained upon it, and for best part of an hour it +sounded as if a section of Sheol had visited the earth, so deadly was the +fire, so fierce the bursting missiles, that not a rock wallaby, crouching +in its hole, could have lived twenty minutes in the location. We heard no +more from that gun. + +As I rode from position to position our fellows greeted me with the cry: +"Any news, sir? Heard if we are going to have a go at 'em with the spoons +(bayonets)?" One midget, a bugler kiddie, so small that an ordinary +maid-of-all-work could comfortably lay him across her knee and spank him, +yawned as he knelt in the grass, and desired to know when "we was goin' ter +'ave some real bloomin' fightin'. 'E was tired of them bloomin' guns, 'e +was; they made his carmine 'ead ache with their blanky noise. 'E didn't +call that fightin'; 'e called it an adjective waste of good hammunition. 'E +liked gettin' up to 'is man, fair 'nd square, 'nd knockin' 'ell out of +'im." He meant it, too, the little beggar, and I could not help laughing at +him when I considered that lots of the old fighting Boers I had seen could +have dropped the midget into their lunch bags, and not have noticed his +weight. + +The Yeomanry did a lot of useful work, and are as eager for fight as a bull +ant on a hot plate. They are as good as any men I have seen in Africa, full +of ginger, good horsemen, wear-and-tear, cut-and-come-again sort of men. +They adapt themselves to circumstances readily, are jolly and good-humoured +under trying circumstances. Their officers are, as a rule, first-class +soldiers, equal to any emergency. On Tuesday the Boers kept their guns +going at a great rate, and we really thought that they had made up their +minds to see the thing right out at all costs. Personally I did not for a +moment think that they were ignorant of General French's rapid advance. I +do not believe it possible for any large body of hostile troops to move in +South Africa without the Boers being thoroughly cognisant of every detail +connected with the move, partly because they are the most perfect scouts in +the world, and partly because the scattered population on every hand is +positively favourable to them. Our artillery dropped a storm of shells +during the day, and that night it was whispered in camp that there was to +be a general attack next morning. On Tuesday evening General French +advanced right on to the Boer rear, and some smart fighting took place, the +enemy suffering considerably, though our losses were small. + +At dawn on Wednesday we moved forward rapidly, and in a few hours' time our +infantry were standing in the trenches and upon the hills that the Boers +had occupied the day before. Our mounted men rode at a gallop through the +gullies, but nothing was to be seen of the foe except a few newly dug +graves. The Boers had vanished like a dream, taking all their guns with +them. Louis Botha, the commander-in-chief, had come in person to them, and +the retreat was carried out under his eyes. We followed to Dewetsdorp, and +from there on to Thaba Nchu (pronounced Tabancha). + +On Friday night the enemy exchanged a few shots with us from the heights +beyond, but no harm was done on either side. The Third Division, to which I +had attached myself, under General Chermside, has been ordered towards +Bloemfontein. French is in command, and, judging by his past performances, +I fully expect we shall have some busy times, though French may go away and +leave the Eighth Division under General Rundle. + + + + + + WITH RUNDLE IN THE FREE STATE. + + ORANGE FREE STATE. + + +Since the Boers bolted from Constantia Farm we have done but little beyond +following them from spot to spot through the Free State, in the conquered +territory along the Basuto border. At Constantia Farm they gave us a +gunnery duel, which, though incessant and continuous, did little real +damage to either side. After that, when General French joined issue with +us, the Boers shifted their ground with consummate skill. We moved on to +Dewetsdorp, and there the Third Division, under Chermside, parted company +with us. We moved onward to Thaba Nchu, Brabant keeping well away towards +the Basuto border with his flying column. At Thaba Nchu it looked day by +day as if we were in for something hot and hard, the Boers having, as +usual, taken up a position of vast natural strength. But Hamilton was the +only one to get to close quarters with the veldt warriors, when executing a +flanking movement. I have since learned that the enemy suffered very +severely on that occasion. + +They can give some of the British journalists a wholesome lesson in regard +to manliness of spirit, these same rough fellows, bred in the African +wilds. Speaking to me of the charge the Gordons made, when led by Captain +Towse, they were unstinted in their praises. "It was grand, it was +terrible," they said, "to see that little handful of men rush on fearless +of death, fearless of everything." It was bravery of the highest kind, and +they admired it, as only brave men do admire courage in a foeman. The +people of Britain who read extracts taken from Boer newspapers, extracts +which ridicule British pluck and all things British, must not blame the +Boers for those statements. In nearly every case the papers published +inside Burgher territory are edited by renegade Britons, and it is these +renegades, not the fighting Boers, who defame our nation, and take every +possible opportunity of hitting below the belt. + +When we left Thaba Nchu, General French left us, as did also Hamilton and +Smith-Dorien. Brabant hugged the Basuto border, and swept the land clean of +everything hostile. General Rundle (the flower of courtesy and chivalry) +kept the centre; General Boyes looked after our left wing; General Campbell +picked up the intermediate spaces as occasion demanded; and so we moved on, +trying, but trying in vain, to draw a cordon round the ever-shifting foe. +There was no chance for a dashing forward move; the country through which +we passed was lined by kopjes, which were simply appalling in their native +strength. What prompted the Boer leaders to fall back from them, step by +step, will for ever remain a mystery to me. It was not want of provisions, +for we knew that they had huge supplies of beef and mutton, whilst there +were in their possession almost inexhaustible stores of grain. It was not +want of fodder for their horses, for the valleys and veldt were covered +with beautiful grass, almost knee-deep. Water was plentiful in all +directions, and they apparently possessed plenty of ammunition. Prisoners +assert that Commandant Olivier was absolutely furious when compelled to +fall back, by order of his superiors. It is also asserted that he is now in +dire disgrace on account of his refusal to obey promptly some of his +superior's commands. It is further stated that he is to be deposed from his +command, and will cease to be a factor of any importance in the war. It is +hard to fathom Boer tactics. It does not follow because a line of kopjes +are abandoned to-day that the burghers have retreated; they fall back +before scouting parties; their pickets watch our scouts return to camp, +knowing that they will convey the news to headquarters that the kopjes are +empty of armed men. Then, with almost incredible swiftness, the light-armed +Boers swarm back by passes known only to themselves, and secretly and +silently take up positions where they can butcher an advancing army. If +General Rundle had been a rash, impetuous, or a headstrong man, he could +comfortably have lost his whole force on half a dozen occasions; but he is +not. He is essentially a cautious leader, and pits his brain against that +of the Boer leaders as a good chess player pits his against an opponent. He +may believe in the luck of the British Army, but he trusts mighty little to +it. Better lose a couple of days than a couple of regiments is his motto, +and a wise motto it is. Had he flung his men haphazard at any of the +positions where the Boers have made a stand, he would have been cut to +pieces. + +Rundle plays a wise game. When the enemy looks like sitting tight, Rundle +at once commences a series of manoeuvres directed from his centre. This +keeps the enemy busy, and gives them a lot of solid thinking to do, and +whilst they are thinking he moves his flanks forward, overlapping them in +the hope of surrounding them. The Boer hates to have his rear threatened, +and invariably falls away. His method of falling back is unique. As soon as +he smells danger, all the live stock is sent off and all the waggons. Cape +carts are kept handy for baggage that cannot be sent with the heavy convoy. +Most of the big guns go with the first flight; one or two, which can easily +be shifted, are kept to hold back our advance, and the deadly little +pom-poms are dodged about from kopje to kopje. The pom-pom is not much to +look at, but it is a weapon to be reckoned with in mountain warfare. It +throws only a one-pound shell, and throws it from the most impossible +places imaginable. The beauty of the pom-pom is that it drops its work in +from spots from which no sane man ever expects a shell to come. + +When the Boer finds that his position is untenable on account of a flanking +move, the horses are hitched up to the light Cape carts, the loading is +packed, and off they fly at a gallop, and the guns follow suit; whilst the +rifles hold the heights. That is why we so seldom get hold of anything +worth having when we do take a position. Our losses have been paltry, +because the Boer is a defensive, not an offensive, fighter. He waits to be +attacked, he does not often attack; and our general is a man who does not +throw men's lives away. He believes in brains before bayonets, and England +may be thankful for the possession of General Rundle. Had he been a madcap +general, there would have been a few thousand more widows in the old +country to-day than there are. At the same time, he is a man of immense +personality. Should he ever get a chance to engage the enemy in a pitched +battle, he will prove to the world that he is capable of great things. +There will be no half-hearted work in such an hour. If he has to sacrifice +men on the altar of war, he will surely sacrifice them, but not until he is +compelled to do so. Brabant is a wild daredevil, who rushes on like a +mountain torrent Boyes is brainy; careful, and yet dashing. + +I want to state here that I have never lost a single opportunity, whilst +travelling through the enemy's country, of looking at the "home" life of +the people--and I may say that I have been in a few back-country homes in +America, in Australia, and in other parts of the world--and I want to place +it on record that in my opinion the Boer farmer is as clean in his home +life, as loving in his domestic arrangements, as pure in his morals, as any +class of people I have ever met. Filth may abound, but I have seen nothing +of it. Immorality may be the common everyday occurrence I have seen it +depicted in some British journals, but I have failed to find trace of it. +Ignorance as black as the inside of a dog may be the prevailing state of +affairs; if so, I have been one of the lucky few who have found just the +reverse in whichsoever direction I have turned. After six months', or +nearly six months', close and careful observation of their habits, I have +arrived at the conclusion that the Boer farmer, and his son and daughter, +will compare very favourably with the farming folk of Australia, America, +and Great Britain. What he may be in the Transvaal I know not, because I +have not yet been there; but in Cape Colony and in the Free State he is +much as I have depicted him, no better, no worse, than Americans and +Australians, and as good a fighting man as either--which is tantamount to +saying that he is as good as anything on God's green earth, if he only had +military training. + +Ask "Tommy" privately, when he comes home, if this is not so--not "Thomas," +who has been on lines of communication all the time--but "Tommy," who has +fought him, and measured heart and hand with him. I think he will tell you +much as I have told you. For "Tommy" is no fool; he is not half such a +braggart, either, as some of the Jingoes, who shout and yell, but never +take a hand in the real fighting; those wastrels of England, who are at +home with a pewter of beer in their hands--hands that never did, and never +will, grip a rifle. + +Whilst at Trummel I took advantage of a couple of days' camping to go out +three miles from camp to have a look at a diamond mine. I found a +red-whiskered Dutchman in charge, who knew less English than I knew Dutch, +and as my Dutch consists of about twelve words we did not do much in the +conversational line; but I made him understand by pantomimic telegraphy +that I wanted to have a look round, to size up things. He took me to a +"dump," where the ore at grass was stored, and converted himself into a +human stone-cracking machine for my benefit, until I had seen all that I +wanted to see in regard to the "ore at grass." He was very much like mine +managers the world over--very ready to play tricks on anyone he considered +"green" at the business. It was not his fault that he did not know that I +had been a reporter on gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, and coal mines for +about twenty years. + +Thinking, doubtless, that I was like unto the ordinary city fellow who +comes at rare intervals to look at a mine, he made me a present of a piece +of rock with some worthless garnets in it, also a sample of country rock +pregnant with mundic; the garnets and the mundic glittered in the sunshine. +I rose to the bait, as I was expected to do, and intimated that I would +like a lot of it. This delighted the Dutchman, and he beamed all over his +expansive face, all the time cursing me for the second son of an idiot, as +is the way with mine managers. But he stopped grinning before the afternoon +wore out, for I set him climbing and clambering for little pieces of mundic +and tiny patches of garnets in all the toughest places I could find in that +mine, and went into ecstasies over each individual piece, until I had quite +a load of the rubbish. Then I intimated gently that I would be back that +way when the war was over, and would surely send my Cape cart for them if +he would be good enough to mind them for me. I fancy an inkling of the +truth dawned in that Dutchman's soul at last, for he made no further +reference to either garnets or mundic. I satisfied myself with a sample of +the matrix in which diamonds are found, and also with a specimen of the +country rock for geological reference, but the garnets are on the heap +still. + +The mine, which is named the "Monastery," is very crudely worked; +everything connected with it is primitive. A huge quarry, about 600 feet in +circumference, and about 40 feet deep, had been opened up. There was +nothing in it in the shape of lode or reef, but a large number of +disconnected "stringers," or leaders of rocky matter, in which diamonds are +often found. At the bottom of the quarry the water lay fully eight feet +deep, owing to the fact that the mine had lain unworked during the war. A +vertical shaft had been sunk a little distance from the quarry to a depth +of 150 feet, but there was a hundred feet of water in it, so that I am +unable to say anything concerning the Monastery diamond mine at its lower +levels. One or two tunnels had been drawn from the quarry into the +adjoining country on small leaders, and from what I could gather from my +guide diamonds had been discovered. Whilst I went below, I left my Kaffir +boy on top to pick up what he could in the shape of rumour or gossip from +the natives, and he informed me that the niggers had been the cause of the +opening of the mine, they having found diamonds near the surface in some of +the leaders, which consisted of a rock known in Australian mining circles +as illegitimate granite. The white folk, fearing that the poor heathen +might become debauched if they possessed too much wealth, had gathered +those diamonds in--when they could--and later had started mining for the +precious gems, with what success the heathen did not know. I tried the +Dutchman on the same point, but I might as well have interviewed an oyster +in regard to the science of gastronomy. He dodged around my question like a +fox terrier round a fence, until I gave him up in despair. But, for all +that, I rather fancy they have found diamonds round that way, only they +don't want the British to know anything about it. + + + + + + RED WAR WITH RUNDLE. + + NEAR SENEKAL. + + +In our rear lies the little village of Senekal, a shy little place, +seemingly too modest to lift itself out of the miniature basin caused by +the circumambient hills. Khaki-clad figures, gaunt, hungry, and dirty, +patrol the streets; the few stores are almost denuded of things saleable, +for friend and foe have swept through the place again and again, and both +Boer and Briton have paid the shops a visit. At the hotel I managed to get +a dinner of bread and dripping, washed down with a cup of coffee, guiltless +of both milk and sugar. But, if the bill of fare was meagre, the bill of +costs made up for it in its wealth of luxuriousness. If I rose from the +table almost as hollow as when I sat down, I only had to look at the +landlord's charges to fancy I had dined like one of the blood royal. +Opposite the hotel stands the church, a dainty piece of architecture, fit +for a more pretentious town than Senekal. It is fashioned out of white +stone, and stands in its own grounds, looking calm and peaceful amidst all +the bustle and blaze of war. Someone has turned all the seats out of the +sacred edifice, preparatory to converting it into a hospital. The seats are +not destroyed; they are not damaged; they are stacked away under a +neighbouring verandah. + +I do not think it wrong so to utilise a church. It is the only place fit to +put the wounded men in in all the town. The great Nazarene in whose name +the church was erected would not have allowed the sick to wither by the +wayside in the days when the Judean hills rang to the echo of His magnetic +voice, nor do I think it wrongful to His memory to convert His shrine into +an abiding place for the sick and suffering. + +Far away on our left flank the enemy hold the heights, and watch us moving +outward, whilst between them and us, stretching mile after mile in a line +with our column, ripples a line of scarlet flame, for the foe has fired the +veldt to starve the transit mules, horses, and oxen. Like a sword +unsheathed in the sunlight, the flames sparkle amidst the grass, which +grows knee-deep right to the kopje's very lips. Birds rise on the wing with +harsh, resonant cries, flutter awhile above their ravished homes, then +wheel in mid-air and seek more peaceful pastures. Hares spring up before +the crackling flames quite reach their forms, and, like grey streaks in a +sailor's beard on a stormy day, flash suddenly into view, and as suddenly +disappear again. Here and there a graceful springbok dashes through the +smoke, with head thrown back and graceful limbs extended, his glossy, +mottled hide looking doubly beautiful backed by that red streak of fire. +The wind catches the quivering crimson streak, and for awhile the flames +race, as I have seen wild horses, neck to neck, rush through the saltbush +plains at the sound of the stockman's whip. Then, as the wind drops, the +flames curl caressingly around the wealth of growing fodder, biting the +grass low down, and wrapping it in a mantle of black and red, as flame and +smoke commingle. + +Here and there a pool of water, hidden from view until the fire fiend +stripped the veldt land bare, leaps to life like a silver shield in the +grim setting of the bare and blackened plain. Small mobs of cattle stand +stupidly snuffing the smoke-laden air, until the breath of the blaze +awakens them to a sense of peril; then, with horns lowered like bayonets at +the charge, with tails stiff and straight behind them as levelled lances, +they leap onward, over or through everything in front of them, bellowing +frantically their brute beast protest against the red ruin of war. The +flames roll on; they reach the stone walls of a cattle pen, and leap it as +a hunter takes a brush fence in his stride; onward still, until a Kaffir +kraal is reached. The soft-lipped billows kiss the uncouth mud wall, and +for a moment transfigure them with a nameless beauty, the beauty that +precedes ruin. Only a moment or two, and then the resistless destroyer +flaunts its pennons amidst the reed-thatched roofs; the sparks leap up, the +black smoke curls towards the sky, whilst on the neighbouring hills the +negro women, with their babes in their arms, wail woefully, for those rude +huts, with all their barbarous trappings, meant home--aye, home and +happiness--to them. The flames roll onward now in two long lines, for the +Kaffir encampment had sundered them, and now they look, with their +beautifully rounded curves sweeping so gracefully out into the unknown, +like the rich, ripe lips of a wanton woman in the pride of her shameless +beauty. All that they leave behind is desolation, darkness, despair, ruin +unutterable, only blackened walls, simmering carcases, weeping women, and +wailing children. + +Away on our right flank we can just make out the skeletons of what a few +hours before had been a cluster of smiling farmhouses. They do not smile +now; they grin horribly in the sunlight, grin as the fleshless skulls of +dead men grin on a battlefield after those sextons of the veldt the +grey-hooded, curved-beaked vultures have screamed their final farewell to +the charnel-houses of war--noble war, splendid war, pastime of potentates +and princes, invented in hell and patented in all the temples of sorrow. + +As we look on those grim relics of this dreary time we catch the maddening +sound of distant guns. The chargers prick their ears, and quiver from +muzzle to coronet. The khaki-clad figures on the plain throw up their heads +and turn their eyes towards the sound; the tired shoulders square +themselves, each foot seems to tread the blackened plain with firmer, +prouder tread. The sound of guns is like the rush of wine through sluggish +veins, and men forget that they are faint with hunger, weary to the verge +of wretchedness with ceaseless marching. The sound of guns bespeaks the +presence of the foe, and those gaunt soldiers of the Queen are galvanised +to life and lust of battle by the very breath of war. A ripple runs along +the line, the farthest flanks catch the gleam of the sun on distant rifle +barrels. An order rings out sharp and crisp; the column stands as if each +man and horse were carved in rock. + +The infantry lean lightly on their guns, the cavalry crane forward in their +saddles. We pause and wait until we see the green badge of O'Driscoll's +scouts on the hats of the advancing riders. O'Driscoll rides towards the +staff with loosened rein, and every spur in all his gallant little troop +shows how the scouts had ridden. We strain our ears to catch the news the +Irish scout has brought. It comes at last Clements has met the foe, and +death is busy in those distant hills. + +Rundle sits silently, hard pressed in his saddle--a gallant figure, with +soldier and leader written all over him. We wait his verdict anxiously, for +on his word our fate may hinge. We have not long to wait--Clements can hold +his own; Brabant will outflank the Boers. Forward, march! The men droop as +wheat fields droop in the sultry air of a seething day. They are tired, +deadly tired; not too tired to fight, but weary of the endless marching +from point to point to keep the enemy from breaking through their lines and +striking southward. + +Away in front of us we note the snow-crowned hills which girdle Basutoland, +snow crowned and sun kissed; every hilltop sparkling like a giant gem, and +over all a pale blue sky, curtained by flimsy clouds of gauzy whiteness, +through which the sun laughs rosily, the handiwork of the Eternal. And +underfoot only the deep dead blackness of the blistered veldt, ravished of +its wondrous wealth of living green, the rude, rough footprint of the god +of war--sweet war; kind, Christian war! + +Now, overhead, betwixt the smoking earth and smiling sky, flocks of +vultures come and go, fluttering their great pinions noiselessly. To them +the sound of guns is merriest music; it is their summons to the banquet +board. Foul things they look as the float over us, silent as souls that +have slipped from some ash heap in Hades, grey with the greyness that grows +on the wolf's hide; their feathers hang upon them in ridges, unkempt, +unlovely, soiled with blood and offal. They float above our heads, they +wheel upon our flanks. + +A horse drops wearily upon its knees, looks round dumbly on the wilderness +of blackness, then turns its piteous eyes upward towards the skies that +seem so full of laughing loveliness; then, with a sob which is almost human +in the intensity of its pathos, the tired head falls downwards, the limbs +contract with spasmodic pain, then stiffen into rigidity; and one wonders, +if the Eternal mocked that silent appeal from those great sad eyes, eyes +that had neither part nor lot in the sin and sorrow of war, how shall a man +dare look upwards for help when the bitterness of death draws nigh unto +him? The grey lines above, on flank, and front, and rear, were with greedy +speed converging to one point, until they flock in a horrid, struggling, +fighting, revolting mass of beaks and feathers above the fallen steed, as +devils flock around the deathbed of a defaulting deacon. A soldier on the +outer edge of the extended line swings his rifle with swift, backhanded +motion over his shoulder, and brings the butt amidst the crowd of carrion. +The vultures hop with grotesque, ungainly motions from their prey, and +stand with wings extended and clawed feet apart, their necks outstretched +and curved heads dripping slime and blood, a fitting setting amidst the +black ruin of war. The charger now looks upward from eyeless sockets; his +gutted carcass, flattened into a shapeless streak, shrinks towards the +earth, as if asking to be veiled from the laughter of the skies. But there +is neither pity from above nor shelter from below as the red wave of war, +like the curse of the white Christ, sweeps over the land. God grant that +merry England may never witness, on her own green meadow lands, these +sights and sounds which meet the eye and ear on African soil. + +Oh, England, England, if I had a voice whose clarion tones could reach your +ears and stir your hearts in every city and town, village and hamlet, +wayside cot and stately castle, in all your sea-encircled isle, I would cry +to you to guard your coasts! Better, it seems to me, writing here, with all +the evidences of war beneath my eyes, that every man born of woman's love +on British soil should die between the decks, or find a grave in foundering +ships of war, than that the foot of a foreign foe should touch the +Motherland. Better that your ships be shambles, where men could die like +men, sending Nelson's royal message all along the armoured line; better +that our best and bravest found a grave where grey waves curl towards our +coastline, than that our womanhood should look with woe-encircled eyes into +the wolfish mouth of war. Better that our strong men perished, with the +brine and ocean breezes playing freshly on the gaping wounds through which +their souls passed outward, than that our little maids and tiny, tender +babes should face the unutterable shame, the anguish, and the suffering of +a war within our borders. + +Do not laugh the very thought to scorn and brand the thing impossible, for +fools have laughed before to-day whilst kingdoms tottered to their fall You +who stay at home miss much that others know--and, knowing, dread. If +England at this hour could only realise what manner of men control her +destinies, then all the lion in the breed would spring to life again. I do +not know if lack-brains of a similar strain control the supplies for +England's Navy; but if, in time of war, it proves to be the case, then God +help us, God help the old flag and the stout hearts who fight for it. + +Lend me your ears, and let me tell you how our army in Africa is treated by +the incompetent people in the good city of London. I pledge my word, as a +man and a journalist, that every written word is true. I will add nothing, +nor detract from, nor set down aught in malice. If my statements are proven +false, then let me be scourged with the tongue and pen of scorn from every +decent Briton's home and hearth for ever after, for he who lies about his +country at such an hour as this is of all traitors the vilest. I will deal +now particularly with the men who are acting under the command of +Lieutenant-General Sir Leslie Rundle. This good soldier and courteous +gentleman has to hold a frontage line from Winburg, _viâ_ Senekal, +almost to the borders of Basutoland. His whole front, extending nearly a +hundred miles, is constantly threatened by an active, dashing, determined +enemy, an enemy who knows the country far better than an English +fox-hunting squire knows the ground he hunts over season after season. To +hold this vast line intact General Rundle has to march from point to point +as his scouts warn him of the movements of the tireless foe. He has +stationed portions of his forces at given points along this line, and his +personal work is to march rapidly with small bodies of infantry, yeomanry, +scouts, and artillery towards places immediately threatened. He has to keep +the Boers from penetrating that long and flexible line, for if once they +forced a passage in large numbers they would sweep like a torrent +southwards, envelop his rear, cut the railway and telegraph to pieces, stop +all convoys, paralyse the movements of all troops up beyond Kroonstad, and +once more raise the whole of the Free State, and very possibly a great +portion of the Cape Colony as well. + +General Rundle's task is a colossal one, and any sane man would think that +gigantic efforts would be made to keep him amply supplied with food for his +soldiers. But such is not the case. The men are absolutely starving. Many +of the infantrymen are so weak that they can barely stagger along under the +weight of their soldierly equipment. They are worn to shadows, and move +with weary, listless footsteps on the march. People high up in authority +may deny this, but he who denies it sullies the truth. This is what the +soldiers get to eat, what they have been getting to eat for a long time +past, and what they are likely to get for a long time to come, unless +England rouses herself, and bites to the bone in regard to the people who +are responsible for it. + +One pound of raw flour, which the soldiers have to cook after a hard day's +march, is served out to each man every alternate day. The following day he +gets one pound of biscuits. In this country there is no fuel excepting a +little ox-dung, dried by the sun. If a soldier is lucky enough to pick up a +little, he can go to the nearest water, of which there is plenty, mix his +cake without yeast or baking-powder, and make some sort of a wretched +mouthful. He gets one pound of raw fresh meat daily, which nine times out +of ten he cannot cook, and there his supplies end. + +What has become of the rations of rum, of sugar, of tea, of cocoa, of +groceries generally? Ask at the snug little railway sidings where the goods +are stacked--and forgotten. Ask in the big stores in Capetown and other +seaport towns. Ask in your own country, where countless thousands of +pounds' worth of foodstuffs lie rotting in the warehouses, bound up and +tied down with red tape bandages. Ask--yes, ask; but don't stop at +asking--damn somebody high up in power. Don't let some wretched underling +be made the scapegoat of this criminal state of affairs, for the taint of +this shameful thing rests upon you, upon every Briton whose homes, +privileges, and prosperity are being safeguarded by these famishing men. +The folk in authority will probably tell you that General Rundle and his +splendid fellows are so isolated that food cannot be obtained for them. I +say that is false, for recently I, in company with another correspondent, +left General Rundle's camp without an escort. We made our way in the +saddle, taking our two Cape carts with us, to Winburg railway station; +leaving our horseflesh there, we took train for East London. Then back to +the junction, and trained it down to Capetown, where we remained for +forty-eight hours, and then made our way back to Winburg, and from Winburg +we came without escort to rejoin General Rundle at Hammonia. If two +innocent, incompetent (?) war correspondents could traverse that country +and get through with winter supplies for themselves, why cannot the +transport people manage to do the same? These transport people affect to +look with contempt upon a war correspondent and his opinions on things +military; but if we could not manage transport business better than they +do, most of us would willingly stand up and allow ourselves to be shot. We +are no burden upon the Army; we carry for ourselves, we buy for ourselves, +and we look for news for ourselves; and we take our fair share of risks in +the doing of our duty, as the long list of dead and disabled journalists +will amply prove. + +It is not, in my estimation, the whole duty of a war correspondent to go +around the earth making friends for himself, or looking after his personal +comfort, or booming himself for a seat in Parliament on a cheap patriotic +ticket. It is rather his duty to give praise where praise is due, censure +where censure has been earned, regardless of consequences to himself. Such +was the motto of England's two greatest correspondents--Forbes and +Steevens--both of whom have passed into the shadowland, and I would to God +that either of them were here to-day, for England knew them well, and they +would have roused your indignation as I, an unknown man, dare not hope to +do. But though what I have written does not bear the magical name of +Steevens or of Forbes, it bears the hallmark of the eternal truth. Our men +on the fields of war are famishing whilst millions worth of food lies +rotting on our wharves and in our cities, food that ought with ordinary +management to be within easy reach of our fighting generals. Britain asks +of Rundle the fulfilment of a task that would tax the energies and +abilities of the first general in Europe; and with a stout heart he faces +the work in front of him, faces it with men whose knees knock under them +when they march, with hands that shake when they shoulder their +rifles--shake, but not with fear; tremble, but not from wounds, but from +weakness, from poverty of blood and muscle, brought about by continual +hunger. Are those men fit to storm a kopje? Are they fit to tramp the whole +night through to make a forced march to turn a position, and then fight as +their fathers fought next day? + +I tell you no. And yours be the shame if the Empire's flag be lowered--not +theirs, but yours; for you--what do you do? You stand in your music-halls +and shout the chorus of songs full of pride for your soldier, full of +praise for his patience, his pluck, and his devotion to duty; and you let +him go hungry, so hungry that I have often seen him quarrel with a nigger +for a handful of raw mealies on the march. It is so cheap to sing, +especially when your bellies are full of good eating; it costs nothing to +open your mouths and bawl praises. It is pleasant to swagger and brag of +"your fellows at the front;" but why don't you see that they are fed, if +you want them to fight? Give "Tommy" a lot less music and flapdoodle, and a +lot more food of good quality, and he'll think a heap more of you. It is +nice of you to stay in Britain and drink "Tommy's" health, but there would +be far more sense in the whole outfit if you would allow him to "eat his +own" out here. + + + + + + THE FREE STATERS' LAST STAND. + + SLAP KRANZ. + + +At last the blow has fallen which has shattered the Boer cause in the Free +State. There will be skirmishes with scattered bands in the mountain gorges +beyond Harrismith, but the backbone of the Republic has been broken beyond +redemption. Sunday, the 30th of July, was big with fate, though we who sat +almost within the shadow of the snow enshrouded hills of savage Basutoland +at the dawning of that day knew it not. It was a joyful day for us, though +pregnant with sorrow for the veldtsmen who had fought so long and well for +their doomed cause, for on that day our generals reaped the harvest which +they had sown with infinite patience and undaunted courage. General Hunter, +to whom the chief command had just been given, was there, surrounded by his +staff, a soldierly figure worthy of a nation's trust; Clements, keen faced, +sharp voiced, with alertness written in each lineament; Paget, whose fiery +spirit spoke from his mobile face, his blood, hot as an Afghan sun, +flashing the workings of his mind into his face as sunlight flashes from +steel; and Rundle, hawk-eyed and stern, no friend to Pressmen, but a +soldier every inch, one of those men whose hands build empires. Had he been +stripped of modern gear that day, and placed in Roman trappings, one would +have looked behind him to see if Cĉsar meant to grace the show; but Cĉsar +was not there. + +One of the greatest soldiers since the world began was missing from our +ranks, the hero Roberts, whose great intellect had planned the _coup_ +which his generals had carried to maturity. Yet, though Lord Roberts +planned each general move, an immense amount of actual work was left to the +generals. The country they had to pass through was rugged and inhospitable. +The foe they had to fight was brave, resourceful, and well supplied with +all munitions of war; a single mistake on the part of any one of them would +have wrecked the magnificent plan of the Commander-in-Chief. But no +mistakes were made; each general worked as if his soul's salvation depended +upon his individual efforts. Where all are good, as a rule it is hard to +make a distinction; but in this instance one man stands out above his +fellows, and that man is General Sir Leslie Rundle, the commander of the +Eighth Division. His task from the first was herculean. He had to hold a +line fully one hundred miles in length; day after day, week after week, the +enemy tried to break that line and pour their forces into the territory we +had conquered. Had they succeeded, they would have shaken the whole of +South Africa to its very centre. This task kept Sir Leslie Rundle busy +night and day. Wherever he camped, spies dogged his footsteps; black men +and white men constantly upon his track. His every move was rapidly +reported to our ever-watchful enemies. But, quick as the enemy undoubtedly +were in all their movements, General Rundle nullified their efforts by his +rapidity. So terribly hard did he work his men that they nicknamed him +"Rundle, the Tramp." How the men stood it I cannot understand. I know of no +other men in all the world who would have gone on as they did, obeying +orders without a murmur or a whimper. They were savage at times over the +food they got, and small blame to them, but they never blamed their +general. They knew that he gave them plenty of the class of food that he +could lay hands upon. Had the general's supplies been in this part of the +country, instead of being tied up in red-tape packages on the railway line, +General Rundle would have kept his Division fully supplied. The only food +which he could command, beef and mutton, he gave without stint. Had the War +Office authorities attended to their end of the work with the same +commendable zeal, half the hardships of the campaign would have been +averted. + +If ever war was reduced to an absolute science, it was upon this occasion. +On the one hand, some six thousand Boers on the defensive, armed with the +handiest quick-firing rifle known to modern times, with from eight to ten +guns, well supplied with food and ammunition, and backed by some of the +most awful country the eye of man ever rested upon--a country which they +knew as a child knows its mother's face. On the other hand, an attacking +force of 30,000 men and guns. To read the number of the opposing forces one +would think the Boer task the effort of madmen, bent upon national +extinction; but one glance at the country would upset those calculations +entirely. Every kopje was a natural fortress, every sluit a perfect line of +trenches, and every donga a nursery for death. + +To attempt to go into every move made by our troops during the months of +May, June, and the early parts of July would only prove wearisome to the +average reader; suffice it to say that finally we got the burgher forces +into the Caledon Valley. This valley is about twenty-eight miles in length, +and from fourteen to fifteen miles across its widest part. Properly +speaking, it was not a valley at all, but a series of valleys interspersed +by great kopjes, nearly all of which presented an almost impregnable +appearance. The valley had a number of outlets, which the Boers fondly +believed our people to be unacquainted with. These outlets were known as +"neks," and were, without exception, terribly rough places for a hostile +force to attack. Commando Nek was upon the south-east, facing towards +Basutoland. This was merely a narrow pass, running up over a jagged kopje, +with two greater kopjes on each side of it. The hills all round it were so +placed that a number of good marksmen, hidden in the rocks, could easily +sweep off thousands of an enemy who attempted to take it by storm. But that +pass had to be taken before we could claim to hold the Free State in the +hollow of our hand. Slabbert's Nek was merely a huge gash in the face of a +cliff. It was the Boers' causeway towards the north, their highway to +safety. Retief's Nek lay to the westward, and formed a grinning death trap +for any general who might try the foolish hazard of a single-handed attack +Naauwpoort Nek, ugly and uninviting, faced south-east towards Harrismith. +Golden Gate, named by a satirist--or a satyr--was merely a narrow chasm +worn by wind and weather through the girdle of mountains. It looked towards +the east, and was a mere pathway, which none but desperate soldiers, driven +to their last extremity, would think of using. + +The Boers never dreamed that it was possible for our troops to move with +such machine-like precision as to hold every nek at our mercy. But whilst +Rundle held the ground to the south, and kept the Boers for ever on the +move by his restless activity, Clements and Paget moved on Slabbert's Nek, +Hunter swept down on Retief's Nek, Naauwpoort Nek was invested by Hector +Macdonald, Bruce Hamilton closed in upon Golden Gate, and the great net was +almost perfect in its meshes. The enemy did not realise their danger until +it was too late for the great bulk of their force to escape. Commandant De +Wet saw the impending peril at the eleventh hour, and tried hard to get his +countrymen to follow him in a dash through Slabbert's Nek; but very few of +the burghers would believe that the sword of fate was hanging by so slim a +thread over their heads. In vain this able soldier of the Republic +harangued them. Vain all his threats and protestations. They could not and +would not believe him. Sullenly they sat in their strongholds and watched +Rundle--they could see him, and that danger which was present to their eyes +was the only danger they would believe in; and day by day, hour by hour, +the cordon of Britain's might drew closer and closer, until every link in +the vast chain was practically flawless. Then Commandant De Wet gathered +around him about 1,800 of his most devoted followers, and with Ex-President +Steyn in their ranks they passed like ghosts of a fallen people through +Slabbert's Nek on towards the Transvaal. How they managed to elude the +incoming khaki wave some other pen must tell. It was a splendid piece of +work on the Republican Commandant's part, and history will not begrudge him +the full measure of praise due to him. Had General Prinsloo and his +burghers been guided by him, these pages had never been written, for where +De Wet took his 1,800 burghers he could as easily have taken 6,000. + +Scarcely had De Wet made his escape ere the truth was borne in upon the +burghers with an iron hand that their doom was sealed. General Rundle's +force, which all along had been essentially a blocking force, and not a +striking force, made a move on the 23rd of July. All day the cannons spoke +to the burghers from Willow Grange, all day long the rifles rippled their +leaden waves of death. We could see but little of the enemy; they lay +concealed behind the loose rocks, and our men had little else to do but +lift their rifles and pull the trigger, trusting to the powers that rule +the destinies of war to speed the bullets to some foeman's resting place. +But we knew they were there if we could not see them, for the snap and +snarl of the Mauser rifles came readily to our ears, and the booming of +their guns answered ours, as hound answers hound when the scent grows +hottest. We pounded them with shrapnel and pelted them with common shell +until the air around them rained iron. Our guns were six to one, yet those +brave veldtsmen held their own with a stubborn courage worthy of the +noblest traditions in all the red pages of war. They gave us a parting shot +at sundown, and at night, when the thick mists from the snow-draped +mountains behind us came down upon the land and added to the darkness of +the winter's night, they moved their gun and fell back with it to a place +where they could renew the battle on the morrow. And at the dawning they +testified their vitality by dropping a couple of shells right into the +midst of the Imperial Yeomanry camp. + +Whilst we were busy at Julies Kraal, drawing the Boers' attention from +other points, feinting as if we intended to push right on into Commando +Nek, General Sir Archibald Hunter made a dash at Relief's Nek with his +force, and our cannon were busy at almost every point around the valley +where the Boers were stationed. General Prinsloo, who was in supreme +command of the enemy's forces, had no means of knowing where the British +really meant to strike. In vain he pushed men to anticipate Rundle's +threatened move, vainly he turned like a trapped tiger towards Hunter's +marching men. Turn where he would, the khaki wave met him, rolling +resistlessly inward and onward. Hunter broke through with small loss, for +the force which should have checked him at Retief's Nek was waiting at +Commando Nek for Rundle and the Eighth Division. It was a master stroke, +for when once Hunter was upon the inside of the valley he was in a position +to threaten the rear of the Boer forces at Commando Nek, and that was a +state of affairs which the enemy could not stand upon any terms. A number +of them, under clever Commandant Olivier, slipped away through Golden Gate. +They did not face the more open country even inside the big valley, but +made their way through a piece of ground known as Witzies Hoek, and thence +through a ravine which almost beggars description. Later on I went with +Driscoll's Scouts in search of the tracks of these men, and followed along +the same road they had taken. The ravine was a long, narrow gap between +mountain ranges of immense height. The sides of the mountains were covered +with loose boulders, sufficient to protect the whole Boer army from our +artillery fire. The only track which a horseman could possibly follow wound +in and out alongside the face of the cliffs, so narrow that even the horses +bred in the country found it difficult to keep their feet upon it, and +could only proceed, at funeral pace, in single file. A handful of men could +have held that place against an army. With De Wet and Olivier gone, half +our task was over. The Boers made a blind rush, first to one nek, then to +the next, only to find that Britain's sons guarded them all. Small bodies +of men might escape, but the vast supplies of mealies, waggons, guns, and +all the cumbrous appliances of war, without which an army is useless, were +penned in. The hand of the Field-Marshal was on them. The blocking forces +held the neks, and now those forces which had to strike were ordered to +move. No sooner did General Rundle receive his orders to advance than he +rolled forward with the impetuosity of a storm breaking upon a southern +coast. They on the spot knew that all the enemy's hopes lay centred round a +town in the middle of the valley. This town was Fouriesburg. The general +who could strike that town first would deal the death blow to the Boer +forces in the Free State. Rundle was furthest from the town; the pathway +his troops would have to pursue was rougher and more rugged than that which +lay open to the rest of the forces. + +But Rundle knew his men; he knew their mettle; he had tried them with long, +weary marching, and he knew that they were worthy of his trust. He gave his +orders. The Leinsters and the Scots Guards, tall, gaunt, hunger-stricken +warriors, whose ribs could be counted through their ragged khaki coats, +swung out as cheerily as if they had never known the absence of a meal or +the fatigue of a dreary march. The Irishmen chaffed the Scots, and the +Scots yelled badinage back to the sons of Erin, and onward they went, +onward and upward, over the rock-strewn ground, through the narrow passes, +fixing their bayonets where the ground looked likely to hold a hidden foe, +ready at a moment's notice to charge into the blackness that lay engulfed +in those dreary passes. But the enemy did not wait for them. As the Eighth +Division advanced, making the rocky headlands ring with the rhythm of their +martial tread, the Boers fell back like driven deer, and the bugle spoke to +the Scottish bagpipe until the silent hills gave tongue, and echo answered +echo until the wearied ear sickened for silence. Onward we swept, until +Commando Nek lay like a grinning gash in the face of nature far in our +rear. When we did halt the men threw themselves down on the freezing earth, +and wolfed a biscuit; then, stretching themselves face downwards on the +grass, they slept with their rifles ready to their hands, their greatcoats +around them, and above only the stars, that seemed to freeze in the +boundless billows of eternal blue. Onward again, before the silver +sentinels above us had faded before the blushing face of the dawning. With +faces begrimed with dirt, with feet blistered by contact with flinty +boulders, with tattered garments flapping around them like feathers on +wounded waterfowl, officers and men faced the unknown, as their fathers +faced it before them. Meanwhile Hunter was pressing towards Fouriesburg +from Relief's Nek, his scouts--the well-known "Tigers," under Major +Remington--well in advance of his main column. + +Rundle gave an order to Driscoll, Captain of the Scouts, who had done such +good service to the Eighth Division. What passed between the general and +the Irish captain no man knows, probably no man will ever know. But when +Driscoll rode up at the mad gallop so characteristic of the man there was +that in his hard, ugly, wind-tanned face which spoke of stern deeds to be +done. He did not ride alone, this Irish-Indian Volunteer captain--Rundle's +own _aide_, Lord Kensington, of the 15th Hussars, was on his right +hand, and on his left Lieutenant Roger Tempest, of the Scots Guards, for a +squad of the Scots Guards who had been learning scouting under Driscoll +were to accompany Driscoll's Scouts. That little group was characteristic +of the future of the British Empire. Two aristocrats riding shoulder to +shoulder with a wild dare-devil, whose rifle had cracked over half the +earth. England, Ireland, and Scotland rode alone in front of the +adventurous band that day. It was a reckless ride; the captain, on his grey +stallion, half a length in front. They darted through gullies, drew rein +and unslung rifles up hill, now standing in the stirrups to ease their +cattle, now sitting tight in the saddle to drive them over the open veldt, +taking every chance that a dare-devil crew could take, pausing for nothing, +staying for nothing. Right into the town of Fouriesburg they galloped, down +from their saddles they leaped, up went the rifles; the foe poured in a few +shots, and, appalled by the devilish audacity of the deed, fled before a +handful. It was a proud moment then, when, in the last stronghold of the +foe in all the Free State, Kensington, the _aide_ of the General of +the Eighth Division, with a little band of officers grouped around him, +with the Scouts and Scots Guards lying behind cover, rifle in hand, pulled +down the Orange Free State flag in the very teeth of the foe. Only a little +band of officers--Kensington, Driscoll, Davies, and Tempest. May their +names be remembered when the wine cups flow! + +On the night of the 28th of July Colonel Harley, Chief Staff Officer Eighth +Division, led two companies of the Leinsters and the full strength of the +Scots Guards in a night attack on De Villier's Drift, which was to clear +the way for the whole of the Eighth Division towards Fouriesburg. The +movement had been well and carefully planned, and was neatly and +expeditiously carried out. The following day we advanced in open order over +the rolling veldt; now and again a man paused, lurched a little to one +side, staggered and fell, as shot and shell dropped amongst us, but the +march forward never ceased, never paused Paget and Hunter were with us now, +and the lyddite guns seemed to drive all the fight out of the foe. They +would not stand. Paget's artillerymen dashed forward, unlimbered, and +loosed on the enemy with a recklessness of personal safety that was almost +wanton. + +Every branch of the Service was vying with its neighbour to see who could +take the most chances in the game of war, and the very recklessness of the +men was their safeguard, for their dash whipped the foe, who now seemed to +realise that their evil hour had at last dawned. They sent in a flag of +truce, asking for the terms on which they might surrender. + +On the evening of the 29th July we knew that the enemy were negotiating for +terms of peace, though things were kept as secret as possible until the +following day. Then we saw General Prinsloo ride in with his _aide_ +and surrender. He met General Rundle first, and a few minutes later General +Hunter, and the three leaders rode through the lines together. They were +closeted closely for some hours before the final agreement could be arrived +at. Prinsloo wanted terms for his men which the British generals would not +concede, the final agreement being that the burghers were to ride in and +throw down their arms under our flag. They were to be allowed a riding hack +to convey them to the railway station, and each man was to remain in +possession of his private effects. More than this General Hunter would not +concede upon any terms. At one period of the negotiations things became so +strained that hostilities were almost renewed, but the Hoof Commandant was +wise enough to realise that destiny had decided against him and his burgher +band. He came from the conclave at last, and gave an order in Dutch to his +_aide_, and in a moment the horseman was flying towards the Boer +laager with the news that, so far as they were concerned, the great war of +1899 and 1900 was at an end. + +Our troops had been drawn up in long parallel lines, up over the slopes, +over the crest, and along the edge of "Victory Hill." They formed a lane of +blood and steel, down which the conquered veldtsmen had to march. Their +guns were on their flanks, the generals grouped in the centre. Everything +was hushed and still; there was no sign of braggart triumph, no unseemly +mirth, no swagger in the demeanour of the troops. They had worked like men; +they carried their laurels with conscious power and pride, but with no +offensive show. It was a sight which few men ever behold, and none ever +forget. The glory of the skies, where everything that met the eye was +brightest blue, edged with stainless whiteness, was above us; and beneath +our feet, and to right and left, were great valleys--not smiling like our +English vales, where sunlight runs through shadows like laughter through +tears, but vast uncultivated gaps that grinned in sardonic silence at +conqueror and conquered, as though to remind us that we were but puppets in +a passing show. Kopjes and valleys may have looked upon many a grim page in +war's history. Savage chiefs, backed by savage hordes, have swept across +them many a time and oft. Possibly, if the rocks had tongues, they could +tell us much of ancient armies, for this land of Africa is old in blood and +warlike doings. But few more remarkable sights than this upon which my eyes +rested upon the 30th July, 1900, have ever graced even this land of many +wonders. + +I looked along our lines, and saw our soldiers standing patiently waiting +for the curtain to fall. I was proud of them, and of the men who led them, +for they had won without one cruel stroke. No single human life had +wantonly been wasted, no dishonourable deed had smirched their arms, no +smoking ruins cried aloud to God for retribution, no outraged women sobbed +dry-eyed behind us, no starving children fled before the khaki wave; and in +this last hour, an hour pregnant with humiliation and pain to our enemies, +there was the steady manliness which spoke of the great dignity of a great +nation. Out from the stillness a bugle spoke from the lines of the +Leinsters; the Scottish bagpipes, far away down the hillside, took up the +note with a shrill scream of triumph, like the challenge of an eagle in its +eyrie. A rustle ran along the lines. We caught the hum of many voices, then +the tramp of horses' hoofs. A soldier slipped towards the spot where our +country's flag was furled and ready; a moment later the Union Jack spread +out and hugged the breezes. Our foemen rode towards the flag between the +lines of those whose hands had placed it there, and when they came abreast +of it they dropped their rifles and their bandoliers, and with bent heads +passed onwards. + +Some were boys, so young that rifles looked unholy things in hands so +childlike; others were old men, grey and grizzled, grim old tillers of the +soil, who looked as hard as the rocky boulders against which they leant, +many were in the pride of manhood; but old or young, grey beard or no +beard, all of them seemed to realise that they were a beaten people. All +day, and for many days, they came to us and laid their arms aside, until +fully 4,000 men had owned themselves our prisoners. We gathered in the +flocks and herds which had been held by them as army stores, and then we +set to work to give the Free State peace and peaceful laws. Our next step +was to march upon Harrismith, which was merely an armed promenade, for the +real work of the campaign had been completed when, on Victory Hill, near +Slap Kranz, Commandant Prinsloo surrendered with all his forces, excepting +the few who fled with De Wet and Olivier. Our flag is the symbol of victory +in every village and town. May it always be the symbol of even-handed +justice, for no power in all the world, unless backed by wise and pure +laws, will hold Africa for twenty years. + +I have never before attempted to express an opinion upon the future of +Africa, yet now, when I have been nine months at the front, when I have +marched through the Free State from border to border, noting carefully the +demeanour of the people we have conquered, and the conduct of our troops +towards those people, I may be allowed by the more tolerant of the British +public to express an opinion. I do not see "white winged peace" brooding +over this country. I see a people beaten, broken, out-generalled, and +out-fought. I see a people who, even when whipped, maintain that the war +has been an unholy war, brewed and bred by a few adventurers for sordid +motives; and in my poor opinion there is little in front of us in South +Africa but trouble and storm, unless someone with a cleaner soul than the +ordinary politician remains in Africa to represent our nation. Only one man +seems to me to stand out as fitted by God and nature with the high +qualities which the ruler of Africa should possess. He is a man who has the +gift of leadership as few men--ancient or modern--ever possessed it, a man +whose word is known to be unbreakable, whose hands are clean, whose record +is stainless--the Field-Marshal, Lord Roberts. The man who is to rule South +Africa must be a great soldier, not a tyrant, not a martinet, not a bundle +of red tape tied up with a Downing Street bow and adorned with frills. The +negro trouble is looming large on the African borders, and the negro chiefs +know that in Lord Roberts they have their master. We must not pander to +them to the injury of the Dutch, or how are we to weld Dutch and British +into a national whole? Our generals have so conducted this campaign, +especially this latter part of it, that not only does the Dutchman know +that we can fight, but he knows that we can be generous with the splendid +generosity of a truly great people. Our generals, with few exceptions, have +left that record behind them, for which a nation's thanks are due; and few +have done more than the commander of the Eighth Division, Sir Leslie +Rundle, who can say that not only did he never lose an English gun, but +that never did the enemy of his country succeed in breaking through his +lines. Few men, placed as he was, week after week, month after month, would +have been able to make so proud a boast. + +These are possibly the last lines I shall ever write in connection with the +Eighth Division. Their work is practically over here. My own is done, for +my health is badly broken, and I shall follow this to England. But if I +cannot march home with them, when they come back in triumph to receive from +a grateful country the praise they have won, I can at least have the +satisfaction of knowing that for many months I shared their vicissitudes, +if not their glory. + + + + + + CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP. + + THE CAMP LIAR. + + +In the days of my almost forgotten boyhood I remember reading in the Book +of all books that the Wise Man, in a fit of blank despair, declared that +there were several things under heaven which he could neither gauge nor +understand, viz., "The way of a serpent upon a rock, and the way of a man +with a maid," and I beg leave to doubt if Solomon, in all his wisdom, could +understand the little ways of a camp liar in his frisky glory. Whence he +cometh, whither he goeth, and why he was born, are conundrums which might +tax the ingenuity of all the prophets, from Daniel downwards, to solve. I +have sought him with peace offerings in each hand, hoping to beguile him +from his sinful ways, and have located him not. I have risen in the chilly +dawn, and laid wait for him with a gun, but have not feasted mine eyes upon +him. I have lain awake through the still watches of the night planning +divers surprises for him, but success has not come nigh unto me. I have +cursed the camp liar with a fervour born of long suffering, and I have +hired a Zulu mule-driver to curse him for me; but my efforts have come to +nought, and now I am sore in my very bones when I think of him. All men +whose fate it is to dwell under canvas know of his work, but no man hath +yet laid hand or eye upon him. A man goeth to his blankets at night time +feeling good towards all mankind, satisfied in his own soul that he has +garnered in all the legitimate news that he is in any way entitled to +handle for the public benefit; and lo! when he ariseth in the dawning he +finds that the camp liar has neither slept nor slumbered, for the very air +is full of stories concerning battles which have not been fought and +victories which have not been won. From mouth to mouth, all along the +lines, the stories run as fire runs along fuse, and no man born of woman +can tell whence they came or where they will stop. Each soldier questioned +swears the tale is true, because "'twas told to him by one who never lied." +Yet, at evening, when the weary wretch who works for newspapers returns to +his tent, with his boots worn through with fruitless search for the author +of the "news," he learns that once again he has been the dupe of the "camp +liar"; and he may well be forgiven if he then heaps a whole continent of +curses on the invisible shape which, forming itself into a lie, is small +enough to enter a man's mouth, and yet big enough to permeate a whole camp. +What is a camp liar? It is not a man, neither is it a maid, neither is it +dog nor devil. It is a nameless shadow, which flits through the minds of +men, fashioned by the Father of Evil to be a curse and a scourge to war +correspondents. A mining liar is an awful liar, but he takes tangible form, +and one can grapple with him when he appears upon a prospectus. A political +liar is a pitiful liar, and vengeance finds him out upon the hustings, and +eggs and the produce of the kitchen garden are his reward. A legal liar is +a loquacious liar, but he is bounded by his brief and the extent of his +fees. But the camp liar has no bounds, and is equally at home in all +languages, at one moment dealing with an army in full marching order, and +the next battening festively upon one man in a mudhole. There is no height +to which the camp liar dare not ascend, there is nothing too trivial for it +to touch. It has neither sex nor shape; but, like a fallen angel ousted +from Heaven, and not wanted in Hades, it flits through camp a mental +microbe, spawning falsehoods in the souls of soldiers. + +The camp liar concocts a story of a fearful fight, and fills the air with +the groans of the dying, and makes a weird picture out of the grisly, +grinning silence of the ghastly dead. Kopjes are stained a rich ripe red +with the blood of heroes, and arms, and legs, and skulls, and shattered jaw +bones hurtle through the air midst the sound of bursting shells, like +straws in a stable-yard when the wind blows high. The very poetry of lying +is touched with a master hand when charging squadrons sweep across the +veldt and the sunlight kisses the soldier's steel. Then comes the pathos +dear to the liar's soul--the farewells of the dying, sobbed just seven +seconds before sunset into comrades' ears; the faltering voice, the +tear-dimmed eyes, the death rattle in the throat, the last hand clasps, the +last deep-drawn breath, in which--mother--Mary--and Heaven are always +mingled; and then the moonlight and the moaning of the midnight +wind!----The war correspondent leaps from the tent, springs into his saddle +with his note-book in his mouth and an indelible lead pencil in each hand, +and rides over kopje and veldt ten dreary miles to gaze upon the scene of +that awful battle, and finds--one dead mule, and a nigger driver, dead +drunk. Then, if he has had a religious education, he climbs out of the +saddle, sinks on his knees, and prays for the peace of the camp liar's +immortal soul. But if, as is often the case, he has had a secular +upbringing, he spits on the dead mule, kicks the nigger, slinks back to +camp by a roundabout route, and swears to everyone that he has been forty +miles in another direction in a railway truck. + +Four or five days later, just at that hour in the morning when a man clings +most fondly to his blankets, another rumour breaks the early morning's +limpid silence, a rumour of a battle of great import raging eighteen miles +away, just within easy riding distance for a smart correspondent. But the +man of ink and hardships chuckles this time. He has been fooled so often by +the imp of camp rumours; so murmurs just loud enough to be heard in heaven, +"That infernal camp liar again," and rustles his blankets round his ears +and drops cosily back into dreamland; but when, later on, he learns that an +important battle has been fought, and he has missed it all because he did +not want to be fooled by the camp liar, then what he mutters is muttered +loud enough to be heard in a different place, and the folk there don't need +ear trumpets to catch what he says either. + + + + + + CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP. + + THE NIGGER SERVANT. + + +It is raining outside my tent. It has rained for three days and nights, and +looks quite capable of raining for three days more; everything is simply +sodden. You try to look around you at the men's camps. At every step your +boots go up to the ankle, squelch, in the black mud. You slip as you walk, +and go down on your hands and knees in the slimy filth; that brings out all +the poetry in your nature. If you have had a Christian training in your +youth, you think of David dodging Saul, and your sympathies go out towards +the stupid king. The mud is everywhere; the horses have trodden it to slime +in many places, in others the feet of the soldiers have transformed it to +batter. Everything is cold, dreary, dismal; even the tobacco is damp, and +leaves a taste in a man's mouth like the receipt of bad news from home. I +look at the soldiers hanging around like sheep round a blocked-up shed in a +snow-storm, and I feel sympathetic. Their puttees are wet, and there is a +suggestion of future rheumatism in every fold that encircles their calves; +I can't see much more of them except their weather-beaten faces. They wear +their helmets and their blue-black overcoats, but both are wet. They don't +look happy, and the cause is not hard to find: they have slept out for +three nights without tents. Their blankets are like sponges that have been +left in a tub. Each blanket seems to hold about three gallons of water. + +I arrived at this computation by watching the men wringing their bedding. +Two men got hold of a blanket, one at each end; they twist it different +ways, and the water runs out in a stream. The soldiers relapse into +language. Most of their adjectives have a decidedly pink tinge, and I +shouldn't wonder if they became scarlet if this sort of weather continued. + +My nigger slops along through the slush and tells me that my lunch is +ready. He is not a happy-looking nigger by any means. A white man looks bad +enough in the mud and cold, but a nigger presents a pitiful spectacle. His +face goes whitish green, with an undercurrent of slatey grey running +through it. The brilliancy leaves the coal-black eyes, and they become as +lifeless and limp as a professional politician at a prayer meeting. The +mouth goes agape, the thick lips become flabby, and fall away from the +teeth. The mouth does not seem to fit the face, but hangs on to it like a +second-hand suit on a backyard fence. My nigger is no better, and no worse, +than the rest of them. He looks like a chapter in Lamentations, and is +about as much at home in the sodden camp as a bar of wet soap in a sand +heap. Just now he is good for nothing except to sing doleful hymns in a key +sad enough to frighten a transit mule away from a bag of mealies. When he +is not singing sadly he is quoting Scripture and thinking about his +immortal soul. When the sun comes out to-morrow and the day after, he will +be dancing a most unholy dance or be making love to "Dinah," filling in the +intervals by cursing in three different languages stray horses that steal +our fodder. + +It is really astonishing what a difference the weather makes to the morals +of the South African nigger. Give him plenty of sunshine, and he forgets he +ever had a soul, and throws slabs of blasphemy, picked up from the Tommies +around him, with painful liberality. When he gets tired of English oaths, +he drops into Cape Dutch, and some of the curses contained in that language +are solid enough to hurt anything they hit. Later on he drifts into his +native tongue, raises his voice a couple of octaves, and streaks the +atmosphere with multi-coloured oaths, until you imagine you are listening +to a vocal rainbow. But take away the sunshine, give him a wet hide and a +wet floor to camp on, and he straightway becomes all penitence and prayer. +His face, peering out dismally between the upturned collar of his +weather-stained coat and the down-drawn brim of his battered hat, looks +like a soiled sermon, and he is altogether woeful. + +When the weather is warm he decks himself out in any piece of gaudy finery +he can lay hands upon. He loves to wear a glaring yellow roll of silk or +cloth around his hat, a blue or green 'kerchief about his throat, and a +crimson girdle encircled about his loins. Then he thinks he is a midsummer +sunset, and swaggers round like a peacock in full plumage, looking for +something to "mash." He has no sense of the eternal law of averages. It +does not trouble him if the whole seat of his most important garment is +represented by a hole big enough to put a baby in, if he only has the +artistic decorations I have mentioned above. Nor does he see anything out +of the way in the fact that one of his feet is encased in an officer's top +boot and the other in a remnant of a Boer farmer's cast-off veldtschoon. +His soul yearns towards feathers. He will pluck a grand white plume from +the tail of an ostrich if he gets a favourable opportunity, and place it +triumphantly in his torn and soiled slouch hat, or he will pick up a +discarded bonnet from a dust pile and rob it of feathers placed there by +feminine hands, in order that he may look a black Beau Brummell. + +His manners, like his morals, change with the weather. When the barometer +registers "fine and clear," you may expect a saucy answer if you rate him +for a late breakast; when it registers "warm, and likely to be warmer," you +may consider yourself lucky if you get a morning meal at all. But when it +indicates "hot," and the mercury still rising, you know that the time has +arrived for you to climb out of your coat and commence cooking for +yourself, unless you feel equal to the task of spreading a saucy nigger in +sections around the adjacent allotments. It is not always healthy to adopt +the latter plan, especially if your "boy" happens to be a Basuto or a Zulu. +Should he belong to either of those tribes, threaten him as much as you +like, but don't hurry to put your threats into practice; or the nigger may +do the scattering, and you may do the penitent part of the business. You +may bully him as much as you like when the barometer is falling, for then +the life is all out of him, and he has not sufficient spirit left in him to +resent any sort of insult. + +Even "Tommy" knows this, and on a cold day will call a big Zulu servant by +a name which implies that the Zulu's father and mother were never legally +married. The Zulu will only smile dismally, and tell "Tommy" that he will +pray for the salvation of his soul. Three days later, when the air is +dancing in the heat-rays, if Mr. Atkins, emboldened by former success, +repeats the speech, the Zulu will rise and confront him with blazing eyes, +showing at the same time a wide range of beautiful white teeth, set in a +savage snarl, and give Mr. Atkins a choice of titles which it would be hard +to improve upon even in a Dublin dockyard, and he will not be slow to back +his mouth with his hands should the argument become pressing, as more than +one of her Majesty's lieges have found out to their deep and lasting +humiliation. + +When a combination of rain and religion has depressed him the nigger +servant is one of the most abject-looking mortals that ever wore clothes, +and makes as sad a spectacle as a farmyard fowl on a front fence in a +thunderstorm. But he must not be judged altogether by his appearance on +such occasions. He can be loyal to his "boss," and when fit and well he +will fight when roused as a devil might fight for the soul of a deacon. He +loves to ride or drive a horse, but he is not fond of horses, as I +understand the term. He has no idea of making a pet of his charge. A horse +is to him merely something to get about upon, and he cannot understand our +fondness for our equine friends. I have noticed the same trait in the Boer +character. To a Boer a horse is usually merely a means of transit from spot +to spot; not a comrade, not a companion. I was not astonished to find this +feeling amongst the niggers, because I have noticed it among the natives in +every colony in Australia, and even amongst such inveterate horsemen as the +Sioux Indians of America and the Maories of New Zealand; but I was +surprised to note how little sympathy existed between the Boer and his +equine helper. + +The nigger servant is a sporting sort of party, and never loses an +opportunity to indulge his tastes in this direction. I had an excellent +chance the other day to note how fond he is of a bit of hunting. We had +camped before sundown in a rather picturesque position, and I was watching +the effect of the declining sun on the gloomy kopjes, when I noticed a +commotion in all the camps, in front, at the rear, and on both flanks. In +ten seconds every nigger in the whole camp had deserted his work and was +frantically dashing out on to the veldt. They uttered shrill cries as they +ran, and every man had some sort of weapon in his hand, either a tomahawk, +a billet of wood, or a rock. With marvellous celerity they formed a huge +circle, though what they were after was a puzzle to me. I fancied for +awhile that one of their number must have run "amuck," and the rest meant +to send him to slumber. Quickly they narrowed the circle, the whole body of +them moving as if linked together and propelled by unseen mechanism. When +the circle got about the third the size of an ordinary cricket ground I saw +what they were after. A brace of hares had caught their eyes, and this was +their method of capturing the fleet-footed, but stupid, "racers of the +veldt." First one nigger and then another detached himself from the circle, +and, darting in, had a shy at the quarry with whatever missile he had with +him. If he missed--and a good many of them missed--the speedy little bit of +fur, he returned crestfallen to the circle again, amidst jeers and laughter +from the rest. The hares darted hither and thither in that ever narrowing +circle of foes, until a couple of well-aimed shots, one with a rock as big +as a cricket ball, and one with a tomahawk, laid them out, and they became +the prize of the successful marksmen. The nigger "boy" has to be paid one +pound a week and his "scoff," and, taking him all in all, in spite of his +faults, which are many, I verily think he earns it. + + + + + + CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP. + + THE SOLDIER PREACHER. + + (Written at Enslin Battlefield.) + + +He was standing at eventide facing the rough and rugged heights of Enslin. +The crimson-tinted clouds that emblazoned the sky cast a ruddy radiance +round his head and face, making him appear like one of those ancient +martyrs one is apt to see on stained-glass windows in old-world churches in +Rome or Venice. His feet were firmly planted close to the graves of the +British soldiers and sailors who had fallen when we beat the Boers and +drove them back upon Modder River. + +In one hand he held a little, well-worn Bible; his other hand was raised +high above his close-cropped head, whilst his voice rang out on the sultry, +storm-laden air like the clang of steel on steel: + +"Prepare ter meet yer God!" + +No one who looked at the neat, strong figure arrayed in the plain khaki +uniform of a private soldier, at the clean-shaven, square-jawed face, at +the fearless grey-blue eyes, could doubt either his honesty or earnestness. +Courage was imprinted by Nature's never-erring hand on every lineament of +his Saxon features. So might one of Cromwell's stern-browed warriors have +stood on the eve of Marston Moor. + +"Prepare ter meet yer God!" + +To the right of him the long lines of the tents spread upwards towards the +kopje; to the left the veldt, with its wealth of grey-green grass, sown by +the bounteous hand of the Great Harvester; all around him, excepting where +the graves raised their red-brown furrows, rows of soldiers lounged, +listing to the old, old story of man's weakness and eternal shame, and +Christ's love and everlasting pity. On the soldier preacher's breast a long +row of decorations gleamed, telling of honourable service to Queen and +country. Before a man could wear those ribbons he must have faced death as +brave men face it on many a battlefield. He must have known the agonies of +thirst, the dull dead pain of sleepless nights and midnight marches, the +tireless watching at the sentry's post, and the onward rush of armed men up +heights almost unscalable. On Egypt's sun-scorched plains he must have +faced the mad onslaughts of the Dervish hosts, and rallied with the men who +held the lines at Abu Klea Wells, where gallant Burnaby was slain. The +hills of Afghanistan must have re-echoed to his tread, else why the green +and crimson ribbon that mingled with the rest? His eyes had flashed along +the advancing lines of charging impi, led by Zulu chiefs. Yet never had +they flashed with braver light than now, when, facing that half-mocking, +half-reckless crowd, he cried: + +"Prepare ter meet yer God!" + +Rough as the thrust of a broken bayonet was his speech, unskilled in +rhetoric his tongue, his periods unrounded as flying fragments of shrapnel +shell; yet all who listened knew that every word came from the speaker's +soul, from the magazine of truth. Some London slum had been his cradle, the +gutters of the great city the only University his feet had known, the +costers' dialect was native to his tongue; yet no smug Churchman crowned +with the laurels of the schools could so have stirred the blood of those +wild lads, fresh from the boundless bush and lawless mining camps beneath +Australian suns. + +"Prepare ter meet yer God!" + +And even as he spoke we, who listened, plainly heard the rolling thunder of +our guns as they spoke in sterner tones to the nation's foes from Modder +River. It was no new figure that the soldier preacher placed before us. It +was the same indignant Christ that swept the rabble from the Temple; the +same great Christ who calmly faced the seething mob in Pilate's judgment +hall; the same sweet Christ who took the babes upon His knee; the same +Divine Christ who, with hyssop and gall, and mingled blood and tears, +passed death's dread portals on the dark brow of Calvary. The same grand +figure, but quaintly dressed in words that savoured of the London slums and +of the soldier's camp, and yet so hedged around with earnest love and +childlike faith that all its grossest trappings fell away and left us +nothing but the ideal Christ. + +Once more we heard the distant batteries speak to those whose hands had +rudely grasped the Empire's flag, and every rock, and hill, and crag, and +stony height took up the echo, like a lion's roar, until the whispering +wind was tremulous with sound. Then all was hushed except the preacher's +voice. + +"Prepare ter meet yer God! I've come ter tell yer all abart a General whose +armies hold ther City of Eternal Life. If you are wounded, throw yer rifles +down, 'nd 'e will send the ambulance of 'is love, with Red Cross angels, +and 'is adjutant, whose name is Mercy, to dress yer wounds. Throw down yer +rifles 'nd surrender. No rebels can enter the City of Eternal Life. You +can't storm ther walls, Or take ther gates at ther point of ther baynit, +for ther ramparts are guarded 'nd ther sentries never sleep. When ther +bugles sound ther larst reville you will ever 'ear, 'nd ther colonel, whose +name is Death, gives the order ter march, you'll have nothink to fear +abart, if yer bandoliers are full o' faith 'nd yer rifles are sighted with +good works. Yer uniforms may be ragged, and you may not even have a +corporal's stripe to show; but if yer can pass ther sentries fearlessly, +you'll find a general's commission waitin' for yer just inside ther gate. +But yer earn't fool with my General. Remember this: ther password is, +'Repentance,' 'nd nothink else will do. The sentry on duty will see you +comin' and will challenge you. 'Who goes there?' 'Friend!' 'Advance, +friend, 'nd give ther counter-sign!' If you say, 'Good works,' you'll find +'is baynit up against yer chest. If yer say you forgot to get it, you'll be +in ther clink in 'ell in ther twinklin' of an eye; but if yer say, loud 'nd +clear, 'Repentance,' 'e will lower 'is baynit 'nd say, 'Pass, friend. All's +well!'" + + + + + + PRESIDENT STEYN. + + +Out on the veldt, far from the wife and home he loves so well, he stands, +our country's bold, unyielding foe. And even as he stands he knows that the +finger of Fate has written his own and his country's doom in letters large +and deep on the walls of time. Yet, with unblenching brow, he waits the +falling of the thunderbolt, a calm, grand figure, fit to live in history's +pages when every memory of meaner men has passed into oblivion, M.T. Steyn, +President of the shattered Free State of South Africa. Around this man the +human jackals howl to try with lying lips to foul his memory. Yet, as a +rock, age after age, throws back with contemptuous strength the waves that +break against its base, so every action of his manly life gives the lie to +tales which cowards tell. + +He is our foe, no stabber in the dark, moving with stealthy steps amidst +professions of pretended peace, but in the open, where the gaze of God and +man can rest upon him, he stands, defiant, though undone. He staked his +country's freedom, his earthly happiness, and his high position in the +great game of war; staked all that mortal man holds dear; staked it for +what? For love of gain! May he who spawned that lie to stir our people's +hearts to boundless wrath against this falling man live to repent in +sackcloth and in tears the evil deed so done. . . . Staked it for what? To +feed his own ambition! I tell you no; the undercurrent which brought forth +the deed sprang from a nobler and a higher source. His country stood +pledged in time of peace to help in time of war a sister State, and when +the bond fell due he honoured it, though none knew better than this noble +man that when he loosed the dogs of war he crossed a lion's path. + +Now he is tottering to his fall, amidst the ruins of a crumbling State, +forsaken by the Powers that egged him on with covert promises of armed +support, abandoned to the tender mercies of his foes by those on whose +behalf he drew the sword. Yet, even now, the dauntless spirit of the man +rises above the wreckage of disaster. A little band of heroes ring him +round. Though every man in all that fearless few is England's foe, yet we, +who boast the Vikings' blood in every vein, can we not honour them? So did +our forefathers stand round Harold when Norman William trod with armed heel +on English soil. So stood our fathers when Blucher's laggard step hung back +from Waterloo. Are we not great enough to look with pride upon a gallant +foe? Or has our nation fallen from its high estate, has chivalry departed +from our blood, and left us nothing but the dregs which go to make a nation +of hucksters? If so, then let us leave the battlefields to better men, and +train our children solely for the market-place. But these are idle words, +born of the spleen which such a thought engenders. Full well I know the +temper of our people, terrible in their wrath, but swift to see the +nobleness in those who face them boldly. + +And these be noble men, my masters. They rally round their chief, as you +and yours would rally round a British leader if foreign hordes swept with +resistless might over England's historic soil. All that they loved they've +lost, and nothing now remains to them but honour and a patriot's grave; and +in the grim game of war it is our stern task to give them what they seek--a +soldier's death beneath the doomed flag which, in their stubborn pride, +they will never forsake. But even whilst we hem them round with bristling +bayonets, ready for the last dread act in this red drama, let us pay them +the tribute due to all brave men; for he who gives his life to guard a +cause he holds most dear is worthy of our admiration, though he be ten +thousand times our foe. What should we think of men who, left to guard the +Kentish fields, threw down their arms and sued for peace to any leader of +an invading host because our cause seemed lost? Should we not curse them as +a craven crowd, and teach our lisping babes to mock their memory? Would any +fair-faced girl in all the British Isles wed any man who would not fight +until the sinews slackened with slaying in defence of the homeland? If so, +they are not fashioned of the metal of which their granddames were made. + +And what we honour as the prince of virtues in a Briton shall we condemn as +vice in this little band of Free State Boers and their leader, loyal to a +lost cause? No, England, no! It is not you that shriek anathemas to the +weeping skies because the foe dies hard. The gutter gamin and the brutal +lout who never owned a soul fit to rise above the level of the kettle +singing on the hearth may brand the name of Steyn and his stout burghers +with infamy; but the clean-souled people of the Motherland, the people from +whose ranks our greatest fighters and thinkers spring, will not endorse +that cry. No, not though every slanderous throat shall shriek until they +cannot wail an octave higher. + +It is not from such great men as Roberts that we hear these pitiful tales +concerning those who give us battle. He who has been a man of war from +childhood to old age would never stoop to soil his manly lips to woo the +fleeting favours of a mob, and he has proved himself as wise in council as +upon the death-strewn fields of war. So wise, so brave, so loyal to his +word, that even those whom he, at his country's call, has had to crush, +lift their hats reverently at the mention of his name, because he wears +upon his hero soul the white flower of a blameless life. Would Kitchener, +whose dread name strikes terror to the heart of every burgher, would he +befoul his foeman's fame? I tell you no, though whilst a foe remains in +arms he strikes with all a giant's force and spares not; but when the blow +has fallen, he of all men would preserve his enemies' fair fame intact. So +it should be whilst those who stand in arms against our country and our +country's flag refuse the terms we offer. We should make war so terrible +that every enemy should dread the sound of British bugles as they would +dread the trump of doom. When once the country's voice has called for war, +then war should sweep with resistless might over land and sea, until sweet +peace should seem a boon to be desired above all earthly things by those +who stand in arms against us. If Steyn and those who with heroic hearts +hedge him round refuse to bow to destiny and the God of Battles, then he +and they must fall before the bayonets of our soldiery as growing corn +falls before the sickle of the reaper. But even in their fall they can +claim as their heaven-born heritage our nation's deepest admiration for +their dauntless devotion to their love of country, home, and kindred. And +we will but add laurels to the renown our soldiers have won if we, with +unsparing hand, mete out to them the praises due to manly foes. Ours be the +task to slay them where they stand; not ours the task to rob them of the +glory they have won. + + + + + + LOUIS BOTHA, + COMMANDANT-GENERAL OF THE + BOER ARMY. + + +Louis Botha, who has cut so deep a mark in the pages of history, is only a +young man yet, being about seven-and-thirty years of age. He is a "fine +figure of a man," standing in the neighbourhood of six feet in his boots. +His face is handsome, intellectual, and determined; his expression kindly +and compassionate. The razor never touches his face, but his brown beard is +always neatly trimmed, for the young Commandant-General is particular in +regard to his personal appearance in a manly way, though in no respect +foppish. He is now, and always has been, an excellent athlete, a good rifle +shot, and a first-class horseman; not given at any time to indoor pastimes +over much, though fond of a quiet game of whist. He was born in Natal, of +Dutch parents, and married to Miss Emmett, a relative of Robert Emmett, the +Irish Revolutionist. Young Botha was educated at Greytown, and though a +good, sound commercial scholar, he gave no evidence in his schoolboy days +of what was in him. No one who knew him then would have dreamed that before +he was forty years of age he would be the foremost soldier of his country. +His folk were moderately well off, but the adventurous spirit of the future +general sent him inland from Natal when a large number of Natal and Free +State Boers enlisted under the flag of General Lucas Meyer, who was bent +upon making war upon a powerful negro tribe in the neighbourhood of +Vryheid. During the fighting young Botha was his general's right-hand man, +displaying even at that early age a cool, level head and a stout heart. +When the Boers were firmly settled upon the land Vryheid was declared a +Republic, and Lucas Meyer was elected first President. But the new Republic +lasted only about three years, and was then, by mutual consent, merged into +Transvaal territory, and both Lucas Meyer and Louis Botha were elected +members of the Volksraad. Louis Botha retained his seat right up to the +time hostilities broke out between Great Britain and the Republics under +Mr. Kruger and Mr. Steyn. + +During the many stormy scenes which preceded the actual declaration of war +Louis Botha proved that he possessed the coolest and most level head in the +Volksraad. He opposed the war, and, with prophetic eye, foresaw the awful +devastation of his country which would follow in the footsteps of the +British army. But when the time came, and his country was irretrievably +pledged to war, he was not the man to hang back. He was one of those who +had much to lose and little indeed to gain by taking up arms against us, +for, by honest industry, he had become a wealthy farmer and stockbreeder. +At the first call to arms he threw aside his senatorial duties, and took up +his rifle, rejoining his old commando at Vryheid as commandant under +General Lucas Meyer. It is said that at the battle of Dundee General Meyer, +feeling convinced that the God of Battles had decided against him and his +forces, decided to surrender to the British, but Louis Botha fiercely +combated his general's decision, and point-blank refused to throw down his +arms or counsel his men to do so. What followed all the world knows, and +Botha went up very high in the estimation of the better class of fighting +burghers. At the Tugela, before the first big battle took place, General +Meyer was taken ill, and had to retire to Pretoria, and Louis Botha was +then elected assistant-general, and the planning of the battle was left +entirely to him. + +It was a terribly responsible position to place so young a man in, for he +was face to face with the then Commander-in-Chief of the British army, Sir +Redvers Buller, a general of dauntless determination and undoubted ability. +Experience, men, and all the munitions of war were in favour of the British +general; but the awful nature of the country was upon the side of the newly +fledged Boer leader, and he made terrible use of it. The day of Colenso, +when Sir Redvers Buller received his first decisive check, will not soon be +forgotten in the annals of our Army. A man of weaker fibre than the British +leader would have been daunted by the disasters of that day, for there he +lost ten guns and a large number of men. But Buller carried in his blood +all the old grit of our race, and the heavier the check the more his soul +was set upon ultimate victory. I have been over that battle ground, and +have looked at the positions taken up by Louis Botha. They were chosen with +consummate skill, born of a thorough knowledge of the nature of the country +and inherent generalship. + +I have looked at the country Sir Redvers Buller had to pass through to get +at his wise and skilful adversary. The man who dared make the attempt that +Buller made must have had nerves of steel, and a soul that would not blench +if ordered to storm the very gates of Hades. The worst fighting ground that +I saw in all the Free State was but a mockery of war compared to the ground +around Colenso, and I have seen some terrible places in the Free State. But +a man has to see the ground Buller fought in to realise the magnitude of +the task the Empire set him at the beginning of the war. Great as Lord +Roberts is, I doubt if he would have done more than Buller did under the +same circumstances. + +That battle of Colenso made young Louis Botha famous, and from that hour +the eyes of the burghers were turned towards him as the one man fit to lead +them. At Spion Kop, when the Boer leader, Schalk Burger, vacated the +splendid position he had been ordered to take up, Louis Botha's genius +grasped the mighty import of the situation, and he at once realised that +Schalk Burger had blundered terribly, and it was he who retook those +positions with such disastrous consequences to our forces. His fame spread +far and near, and his name became a thing to conjure with. When the +Commandant-General of the Boer Army, General Joubert, lay dying, he was +asked who was the best man to fill his place. And he, the grey veteran, did +not hesitate for a second, but with his dying breath gasped out the name of +Louis Botha. The Boer Government promptly appointed him to the position, +and from that day to this he has been the paramount military power in the +Boer lines. He is not the only one of his line fighting under the Transvaal +flag. There are four other brothers in the field, one of whom, Christian +Botha, is now a general, and a good fighter. As a soldier Louis Botha has +proved himself a foeman worthy the steel of any of our generals; as a man +his worst enemy can say nothing derogatory concerning him, for in all his +actions he has borne himself like a gentleman. He is generous and courteous +in the hour of victory, stout-hearted and self-reliant in the time of +disaster--just the type of soldier that a great nation like ours knows how +to esteem, even though he is an enemy in arms against us. + + + + + + WHITE FLAG TREACHERY. + + +Few things have astonished me more during the progress of this war than the +number of charges levelled against our foes in reference to the treacherous +use of the white flag. Almost every newspaper that came my way contained +some such account; yet, though constantly at the front for nine months, I +cannot recall one solitary instance of such treachery which I could vouch +for. I have heard of dozens of cases, and have taken the trouble to +investigate a good many, but never once managed to obtain sufficient proof +to satisfy me that the charge was genuine. On one occasion I was following +close on the heels of our advancing troops, and had for a comrade a rather +excitable correspondent. When within about fourteen hundred yards of the +kopjes we were advancing to attack, the Boers opened a heavy rifle fire; +and, though we could not see a solitary enemy, our fellows began to drop. +It was very evident that the enemy were secreted in the rocks not far from +a substantial farmhouse, from the roof of which floated a large white flag +(it turned out later to be a tablecloth braced to a broom handle). + +"There's another case of d---- white flag treachery," shouted my companion. +"I wonder the general don't turn the guns on that farm and blow it to +Hades." + +"What for?" I asked. + +"What for! Why, they are flying the white flag, and shooting from the +farmhouse. Isn't that enough?" + +"Quite enough, if true," I replied. "But how the devil do you know they are +shooting from the farmhouse?" + +"They must be shooting from the farmhouse," he yelled. "Why, I've been +scouring all the rocks around with my glasses, and can't see a blessed Boer +in any of 'em. No, sir, you can bet your soul they are skulking in that +farm. They know we won't loose a shell on the white flag---the cowards!" + +I did not think it worth while to argue with a man of that stamp, but kept +my glasses on that farm very closely during the fight that followed. Right +up to the time when our men rushed the kopjes and surrounded the farmhouse +I did not see a man enter or leave the house, and when I rode up I found +that two women and three children were in possession. Furthermore, on +examination, I soon discovered that, as the doors and windows faced the +wrong way, it would have been impossible for a Boer to do much shooting at +our men, unless the walls at the gable end were loopholed, which they were +not, I know, for I examined them minutely. Fortunately for the credit of +the British Army, most of our generals are coolheaded men who do not allow +the irresponsible chatter of the army to influence them. Otherwise our guns +would have been trained upon many a homestead on charges quite as flimsy +and groundless as the one quoted above. + +I suppose that cases of treachery have really occurred during the war. In a +mixed crowd like that which composes the burgher army, there are sure to be +some mortals fit to do any mean trick, just as sure as there are men fit to +do or say anything in the British Army, But I cannot, and I will not, +believe that the great bulk of these men are such paltry cowards as to make +the "white flag" act a common one. It may be news to British readers to +know that the burghers complain of the behaviour of our troops as bitterly +as we complain of theirs; and I think, from personal observation, that +their charges are as groundless as are some charges made by the same class +of hysterical individuals, though of different nationality. Their pet +hatred, when I was a prisoner in their hands, was the Lancers. They used to +swear that the Lancers never spared a wounded man, but ran him through as +they galloped past him. I was told this fifty times, and each time told my +informant flatly that I declined to believe the assertion, and should +continue to disbelieve it until I had undeniable proof, for it would take a +good deal to convince me that a British soldier would strike a fallen foe +even in the heat and stress of battle. One day they asked me to come and +look at the dead body of one of their field cornets, whom they alleged to +have been done to death whilst wounded by our Lancers. I went and saw the +man, and at a glance saw that the wounds were not lance wounds at all, but +ripping bullet wounds. He had been sniped by some Australian riflemen from +a high kopje whilst in a valley. I tried to explain this to the excited +burghers, but they only sneered at me for my trouble, until one of their +own doctors coming along had a look at the corpse, and promptly verified my +statements. That calmed them considerably, and they looked at the thing in +cooler blood, and soon saw that it was really absurd to put the blame of +the man's death on the shoulders of the Lancers, though they stoutly +maintained that our cavalry were at times guilty of such monstrous conduct. +I have often heard them solemnly swear never to give a Lancer a chance to +surrender if they once got him within rifle range. + +Personally, I could never see just what the Boers would gain by the white +flag business. As a rule, our troops did not want coaxing into rifle range; +they marched within hitting distance readily enough, and did not require a +white flag to lure them into a tight place, so that the object to be gained +by the enemy by such disgraceful tactics never seemed to me to be too +apparent. If they had ever by such means been able to entrap an army, or to +bring about the wholesale slaughter of our men, I could understand things a +bit better; but they had little to gain and an awful lot to lose by such +tactics. There is no slight risk attached to the act of firing on an +advancing army treacherously under cover of the white flag. Such a deed +rouses all the slumbering devil in the men, and the foe found guilty of +such a deed would get more bayonet than he would find conducive to his +health when it came to his turn to be beaten. + + + + + + THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN. + + MAGERSFONTEIN. + + +The Australians, after relieving Belmont from the Boer commando, suddenly +received orders to march upon Enslin, as the Boers had attacked that place, +which was held by two companies of the Northamptonshires under Captain +Godley; the latter had no artillery, whilst the enemy, who were over 1,000 +strong, had one 12-pounder gun with them, but the sequel proved that the +Boer is a poor fighter in the open country. He is hard to beat in hilly and +rocky ground when acting on the defensive, but he is not over dangerous as +an attacking power. Let him choose his ground, and fight according to his +own traditions, and the best soldiers in the world will find it no sinecure +to oust him. As soon as the Boers put in an appearance at Enslin, +Lieutenant Brierly, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, who is attached to the +Northamptons, made his way to a kopje, which had formerly been held by Boer +forces, and a mere handful of men fairly held the enemy in check at that +point for over seven hours. The enemy made frantic efforts to dislodge this +gallant little band, but failed dismally, and they had not the heart to try +to take the kopje by storm, though there were enough of them around the +hill to have eaten the little band of Britishers. In the meantime Captain +Godley and his men held the township. Again and again the enemy threatened +to rush the place, but their valour melted before the determined front of +the besieged, and they drew off, taking their gun with them, their scouts +having warned them that the Australians, with a section of the Royal Horse +Artillery and two guns, were coming upon them from the direction of +Belmont, whilst a body of the 12th Lancers and a battery of artillery were +dashing down from Modder River. The Australians, who are now 720 strong, +the New South Wales Company of 125 men having joined Colonel Head's forces, +remained at Enslin, and entrenched there in order to keep open the line of +communication between General Methuen's army and Orange River; a section of +Royal Horse Artillery and two guns is with them. On half a dozen occasions +the Boers have threatened to sweep down upon them from the hilly country +adjacent, but up to the time of writing nothing serious has occurred. + +On Sunday last we heard the sound of heavy firing coming from the direction +of Modder River; scouts coming in informed us that an engagement between +General Methuen's force and the enemy, under the astute General Cronje, had +commenced. Seeing that Australia was liable to remain idle for the time +being, I determined to push on with my assistant, Mr. E. Monger, of +Coolgardie, West Australia. When we arrived at Modder River we found the +fight raging at a spot about four and a half miles beyond Modder River +bridge. Our forces were in possession of the river and the plain beyond; +but General Cronje had entrenched himself in a line of ranges stretching +for several miles across the veldt. So well had the Boer general chosen his +ground, and such good use had he made of the natural advantages of his +position, that the British found themselves face to face with an African +Gibraltar. The frowning rocks were bristling with rifles, which commanded +the plain below, trenches seamed the hillsides in all directions, and in +those trenches lay concealed the picked marksmen of the veldt--men who, +though they know but little of soldiering from a European point of view, +yet had been familiar with the rifle from earliest boyhood; rough and +uncouth in appearance, dressed in farmers' garb, still under those +conditions, fighting under a general they knew and trusted, amidst +surroundings familiar to them from infancy, they were foemen worthy of the +respect of the veteran troops of any nation under heaven. + +At every post of vantage Cronje, with consummate generalship, had posted +his artillery so that it would be almost impossible for our guns to silence +them, whilst at the same time he could sweep the plains below should our +infantry attempt to storm the heights at the point of the bayonet. At the +bottom of the kopjes, right under the muzzle of his guns, he had excavated +trenches deep enough to hide his riflemen, but he had thrown up no +earthworks, so that our guns could not locate the exact spot where his +rifle trenches lay. All the earth from the trenches had been very carefully +removed, and the low blue bush which covers these plains completely +screened his trenches from view. In front of the trenches, and extending +some considerable distance out in front of the veldt, the clever Boer +leader had placed an immense amount of barbed wire entanglement, so +fashioned that no cavalry could live amongst it, whilst even the very +flower of our infantry would find it hard work to charge over it, even in +daylight. The Boer forces are variously estimated at from 12,000 to 15,000 +men. The number and nature of their guns can only be guessed at, but that +the enemy's men are well supplied in that respect there can be no question. +Our forces I estimate at about 11,000 men of all arms, including the +never-to-be-forgotten section of the Naval Brigade, to whom England owes a +debt of gratitude too deep for words to portray; for their steadiness, +valour, and accuracy of shooting saved England from disaster on this the +blackest day that Scotland has known since the Crimea. + +Our troops extended over many miles of country. Every move had to be made +in full view of the enemy upon a level plain where a collie dog could not +have moved unperceived by those foemen hidden so securely behind +impregnable ramparts. During the whole of Sunday our gunners played havoc +with the enemy, the shooting of the Naval Brigade being of such a nature +that even thus early in the fight the big gun of the bluejackets, with its +42-pound lyddite shell, struck terror into the hearts of the enemy. But the +Boers were not idle. Whenever our infantry, in manoeuvring, came within +range'of their rifles, our ranks began to thin out, and the blood of our +gallant fellows dyed the sun-baked veldt in richest crimson. + +During the night that followed it was considered expedient that the +Highland Brigade, about 4,000 strong, under General Wauchope, should get +close enough to the lines of the foe to make it possible to charge the +heights. At midnight the gallant, but ill-fated, general moved cautiously +through the darkness towards the kopje where the Boers were most strongly +entrenched. They were led by a guide, who was supposed to know every inch +of the country, out into the darkness of an African night. The brigade +marched in line of quarter-column, each man stepping cautiously and slowly, +for they knew that any sound meant death. Every order was given in a hoarse +whisper, and in whispers it was passed along the ranks from man to man; +nothing was heard as they moved towards the gloomy, steel-fronted heights +but the brushing of their feet in the veldt grass and the deep-drawn +breaths of the marching men. + +So, onward, until three of the clock on the morning of Monday. Then out of +the darkness a rifle rang, sharp and clear, a herald of disaster--a soldier +had tripped in the dark over the hidden wires laid down by the enemy. In a +second, in the twinkling of an eye, the searchlights of the Boers fell +broad and clear as the noonday sun on the ranks of the doomed Highlanders, +though it left the enemy concealed in the shadows of the frowning mass of +hills behind them. For one brief moment the Scots seemed paralysed by the +suddenness of their discovery, for they knew that they were huddled +together like sheep within fifty yards of the trenches of the foe. Then, +clear above the confusion, rolled the voice of the general--"Steady, men, +steady!"--and, like an echo to the veterans, out came the crash of nearly +a thousand rifles not fifty paces from them. The Highlanders reeled before +the shock like trees before the tempest. Their best, their bravest, fell in +that wild hail of lead. General Wauchope was down, riddled with bullets; +yet, gasping, dying, bleeding from every vein, the Highland chieftain +raised himself on his hands and knees, and cheered his men forward. Men and +officers fell in heaps together. + +The Black Watch charged, and the Gordons and the Seaforths, with a yell +that stirred the British camp below, rushed onward--onward to death or +disaster. The accursed wires caught them round the legs until they +floundered, like trapped wolves, and all the time the rifles of the foe +sang the song of death in their ears. Then they fell back, broken and +beaten, leaving nearly 1,300 dead and wounded just where the broad breast +of the grassy veldt melts into the embrace of the rugged African hills, and +an hour later the dawning came of the dreariest day that Scotland has known +for a generation-past. Of her officers, the flower of her chivalry, the +pride of her breeding, but few remained to tell the tale--a sad tale truly, +but one untainted with dishonour or smirched with disgrace, for up those +heights under similar circumstances even a brigade of devils could scarce +have hoped to pass. All that mortal men could do the Scots did; they tried, +they failed, they fell. And there is nothing left us now but to mourn for +them, and avenge them; and I am no prophet if the day is distant when the +Highland bayonet will write the name of Wauchope large and deep in the best +blood of the Boers. + +All that fateful day our wounded men lay close to the Boer lines under a +blazing sun; over their heads the shots of friends and foes passed without +ceasing. Many a gallant deed was done by comrades helping comrades; men who +were shot through the body lay without water, enduring all the agony of +thirst engendered by their wounds and the blistering heat of the day; to +them crawled Scots with shattered limbs, sharing the last drop of water in +their bottles, and taking messages to be delivered to mourning women in the +cottage home of far-off Scotland. Many a last farewell was whispered by +pain-drawn lips in between the ringing of the rifles, many a rough soldier +with tenderest care closed the eyes of a brother in arms amidst the tempest +and the stir of battle; and above it all, Cronje, the Boer general, must +have smiled grimly, for well he knew that where the Highland Brigade had +failed all the world might falter. All day long the battle raged; scarcely +could we see the foe--all that met our eyes was the rocky heights that +spoke with tongues of flame whenever our troops drew near. We could not +reach their lines; it was murder, grim and ghastly, to send the infantry +forward to fight a foe they could not see and could not reach. Once our +Guards made a brilliant dash at the trenches, and, like a torrent, their +resistless valour bore all before them, and for a few brief moments they +got within hitting distance of the foe. Well did they avenge the slaughter +of the Scots; the bayonets, like tongues of flame, passed above or below +the rifles' guard, and swept through brisket and breastbone. Out of their +trenches the Guardsmen tossed the Boers, as men in English harvest fields +toss the hay when the reapers' scythes have whitened the cornfields; and +the human sheaves were plentiful where the British Guardsmen stood. Then +they fell back, for the fire from the heights above them fell thick as the +spume of the surf on an Australian rock-ribbed coast. But the Guards had +proved to the Boers that, man to man, the Briton was his master. + +In vain all that day Methuen tried by every rule he knew to draw the enemy; +vainly, the Lancers rode recklessly to induce those human rock limpets to +come out and cut them off. Cronje knew the mettle of our men, and an ironic +laugh played round his iron mouth, and still he stayed within his native +fastness; but Death sat ever at his elbow, for our gunners dropped the +lyddite shells and the howling shrapnel all along his lines, until the +trenches ran blood, and many of his guns were silenced. In the valley +behind his outer line of hills his dead lay piled in hundreds, and the +slope of the hill was a charnel-house where the wounded all writhed amidst +the masses of the dead; a ghastly tribute to British gunnery. For hours I +stood within speaking distance of the great naval gun as it spoke to the +enemy, and such a sight as their shooting the world has possibly never +witnessed. Not a shell was wasted; cool as if on the decks of a pleasure +yacht our tars moved through the fight, obeying orders with smiling +alacrity. Whenever the signal came from the balloon above us that the enemy +were moving behind their lines, the sailors sent a message from England +into their midst, and the name of the messenger was Destruction; and when, +at 1.30 p.m. of Tuesday, we drew off to Modder River to recuperate we left +a ghastly pile of dead and wounded of grim old Cronje's men as a token that +the lion of England had bared his teeth in earnest. + +Three hundred yards to the rear of the little township of Modder River, +just as the sun was sinking in a blaze of African splendour on the evening +of Tuesday, the 13th of December, a long, shallow grave lay exposed in the +breast of the veldt. To the westward, the broad river, fringed with trees, +ran murmuringly, to the eastward, the heights still held by the enemy +scowled menacingly, north and south, the veldt undulated peacefully; a few +paces to the northward of that grave fifty dead Highlanders lay, dressed as +they had fallen on the field of battle; they had followed their chief to +the field, and they were to follow him to the grave. How grim and stern +those dead men looked as they lay face upward to the sky, with great hands +clenched in the last death agony, and brows still knitted with the stern +lust of the strife in which they had fallen. The plaids dear to every +Highland clan were represented there, and, as I looked, out of the distance +came the sound of the pipes; it was the General coming to join his men. +There, right under the eyes of the enemy, moved with slow and solemn tread +all that remained of the Highland Brigade. In front of them walked-the +chaplain, with bared head, dressed in his robes of office, then came the +pipers, with their pipes, sixteen in all, and behind them, with arms +reversed, moved the Highlanders, dressed in all the regalia of their +regiments, and in the midst the dead General, borne by four of his +comrades. Out swelled the pipes to the strains of "The Flowers of the +Forest," now ringing proud and high until the soldier's head went back in +haughty defiance, and eyes flashed through tears like sunlight on steel; +now sinking to a moaning wail, like a woman mourning for her first-born, +until the proud heads dropped forward till they rested on heaving chests, +and tears rolled down the wan and scarred faces, and the choking sobs broke +through the solemn rhythm of the march of death. Right up to the grave they +marched, then broke away in companies, until the General lay in the shallow +grave with a Scottish square of armed men around him, only the dead man's +son and a small remnant of his officers stood with the chaplain and the +pipers whilst the solemn service of the Church was spoken. + +Then once again the pipes pealed out, and "Lochaber No More" cut through +the stillness like a cry of pain, until one could almost hear the widow in +her Highland home moaning for the soldier she would welcome back no more. +Then, as if touched by the magic of one thought, the soldiers turned their +tear-damp eyes from the still form in the shallow grave towards the heights +where Cronje, the "lion of Africa," and his soldiers stood. Then every +cheek flushed crimson, and the strong jaws set like steel, and the veins on +the hands that clasped the rifle barrels swelled almost to bursting with +the fervour of the grip, and that look from those silent, armed men spoke +more eloquently than ever spoke the tongues of orators. For on each +frowning face the spirit of vengeance sat, and each sparkling eye asked +silently for blood. God help the Boers when next the Highland pibroch +sounds! God rest the Boers' souls when the Highland bayonets charge, for +neither death, nor hell, nor things above, nor things below, will hold the +Scots back from their blood feud. At the head of the grave, at the point +nearest the enemy, the General was laid to sleep, his officers grouped +around him, whilst in line behind him his soldiers were laid in a double +row, wrapped in their blankets. No shots were fired over the dead men +resting so peacefully, only the salute was given, and then the men marched +campwards as the darkness of an African night rolled over the +far-stretching breadth of the veldt. To the gentlewoman who bears their +General's name the Highland Brigade sends its deepest sympathy. To the +mothers and the wives, the sisters and the sweethearts, in cottage home by +hillside and glen they send their love and good wishes--sad will their +Christmas be, sadder the new year. Yet, enshrined in every womanly heart, +from Queen Empress to cottage girl, let their memory lie, the memory of the +men of the Highland Brigade who died at Magersfontein. + + + + + + SCOUTS AND SCOUTING. + + DRISCOLL, KING OF SCOUTS. + + ORANGE RIVER COLONY. + + +I have a weakness for scouts. Good scouts seem to me to be of more +importance to an army in the field than all the tape-tied intelligence +officers out of Hades. They don't get on well with the regular officers as +a rule, because scouts are like poets--they are born, not manufactured. +They are people who do not feel as if God had forsaken them for ever if +they don't get a shave and a clean shirt every morning, they are just a +trifle rough in their appearance and manners; but they ride as straight as +they talk, and shoot straighter than they ride. They have to be built for +the business. All the training in the world won't make a scout unless +nature has commenced the job; mere pluck is not worth a dog's bark in this +line of life, though without pluck no scout is worth a wanton woman's +smile. A good scout wants any amount of courage; he wants a level head--a +head of ice, and a heart of fire. He wants to know by instinct when to rush +onward and chance his life to the heels of his horse and the goodness of +God, and he wants to know with unfailing certainty when to crawl into cover +and hide. He must understand how to ride with no other guide than the lay +of the country, the course of the sun, or the position of the stars. He +must have eyes that note every broken hill, every little hollow, every +footprint of man or horse on the veldt. + +He must be an excellent judge of distance, of time, of numbers. He must be +able to tell at a glance whether a cloud of dust is caused by moving troops +or by the action of the elements. Above all, he must be truthful, not given +to exaggeration of his friends' strength or his enemy's weakness. When he +makes his report it should need no corroboration. If a scout is worth his +salt, his advice should be accepted and acted upon promptly. + +I often go out with the scouts; they are the eyes of the army. A man who +knocks around with scouting parties knows more, sees more, hears more of +the real state of affairs than nine-tenths of the staff officers ever know, +hear, or see. Men fresh from the Old Country seldom make good scouts. Take +the Yeomanry, for instance. They are plucky enough, but not one in a +hundred of them has the making of a scout in him. All his fathers and his +grandfather's and his great-grandfather's breeding trends in other +directions, and there is an awful lot more in the breeding of men than most +folk imagine. The American makes a good scout. If he knows nothing of the +life, he soon picks it up. So does the Australian, and the Canadian, and +the Colonial-born South African. Something in the life appeals to them. +They get the "hang" of it with very little trouble. There are some +English-born men, however, who develop into rattling great scouts. These +men are mostly adventurous fellows, who have roamed about the world, and +had the corners knocked off them. I have two of them in my mind's eye just +at present. One of them is an Irishman named Driscoll, Captain of the +Scouts who are the eyes and ears of Rundle's army. The other is an +Englishman named Davies, a captain in the same gallant little band. The +first lieutenant is a Cape colonial of English extraction, named Brabant, a +gallant son of a gallant general. Captain Driscoll is a typical Irishman, +just such a man as the soul of Charles Lever would have revelled in, a man +of dauntless daring, with a heart of iron, and a face to match. Strangely +enough, the captain does not pride himself a bit on his pluck, but he +thinks a deuce of a lot of his beauty. As a matter of fact, he has the +courage of ten ordinary men, but he would not take a prize in a first-class +beauty show. (Lord send I may be far from the reach of his revolver when +this reaches his eye.) He has that dash of vanity in his composition which +I have found in all good Irishmen, and he prides himself far more on the +execution his eyes have done amidst the Dutch girls than of the work his +deadly rifle has wrought in the ranks of the Dutch mea Yet, if you want to +know if Driscoll can shoot, just go to Burmah, where for ten years he held +the position of captain in the Upper Burmah Volunteer Rifles. That was +where I heard of him first, as the most deadly rifle and revolver shot in +all the East. + +The Boers know him now as the prince of rifle shots and the king of scouts. +He is standing in the wintry sunlight just in front of my tent as I am +writing, one hand on the bridle of his horse, rapping out Dutch oaths with +a strong Cork accent to a nigger who has not groomed his pet animal +properly. The nigger is very meek, for past experience has told him that +Irish blood is hot, and an Irishman's boot quick and heavy. He is a +picturesque figure, this Celtic scout leader, just such a picture as Phil +May could bring to life on a sheet of paper with a few strokes of his +master hand. He is about eleven stone in weight, and, roughly, five feet +eight, clean cut and strong, with a face which tells you he was born in +Cork, and had knocked about a lot in tropic lands; eight-and-thirty if he +is a day, though he swears at night around the camp fire that the pretty +Dutch girls have guessed his age as twenty-seven. He wears a slouch hat, +around which a green puggaree coils lovingly. In his right hand his rifle +rests as if it felt at home there. His coat is worn and shabby, khaki in +colour; riding pants of roughest yellow cords, patched in places +unspeakable, leggings around his sinewy calves, and feet planted in neat +boots make up the whole man. He is clean shaven except for a moustache, +dark brown in colour, which sprouts from his upper lip. + +In his softer moments Driscoll tells us that it used to "cur-r-r-l" before +he had the "faver" in Burmah, and on such occasions we assure him that it +"cur-r-rls" even yet. It is more polite to agree with him than to cross +him--and a lot safer. He is as full of anecdote as heaven is of angels, and +I mean to use him in the sweet days of peace, unless some stay-at-home +journalist niches him from me in the meantime. Driscoll and Davies are fast +friends. The Englishman is not such a picturesque figure as the Irishman. +Englishmen seldom are, somehow; but he is a man, a real white man, all +over. He is rather a good-looking, well set-up young fellow, who always +looks as if he had just had a bath; not a dude by any manner of means, but +a fellow with a soft eye for a pretty ankle, and a hard fist for a foe--one +of those quiet chaps a man always likes to find close beside him in a row. +Driscoll almost weeps over him to me sometimes. "He's the devil's own at +close quarters," says the Irishman. "Never want a better chum when it comes +to bashing the enemy. If he could only shoot a bit 'straighther and talk a +bit sweether to the colleens he'd be perfect." All the same, I have, and +hold, my own opinion concerning the "talking." Many a smile which the +gallant Celt appropriated to himself as we rode out of a conquered town +seemed to me to belong of right to the rosy-faced Welsh lad on the +off-side. To hear these two men chatter over a glass of hot rum in my tent +at night one would think they had never faced danger. Yet never a day goes +by but one or the other of them has to run the gauntlet of Boer rifles; +whilst Jack Brabant, who is death on cigars or anything else that will emit +smoke, and who curls up and says little, has been near death so often that +it will be no stranger to him when it comes in all its finality. + +Driscoll was in Burmah when the news came of the first disaster to the +Irish troops in South Africa. He threw up his business as lightly as a +coquette throws up a midsummer lover, and started for the war. At Bombay he +was stopped by a yard or two of red tape, and had to go back to Calcutta, +where he used his Irish tongue to such purpose that he got a permit to +leave India, and made his way to the scene of trouble. He first joined +General Gatacre as orderly officer. Later he was attached to the Border +Mounted Rifles as captain, and did splendid service at the battles of +Dordrecht and Labuschagne's Nek In the latter place he was the first man to +gallop into the Boer laager before the fight had ceased. Captain, then +Lieutenant, Davies was as close to his side as a shadow to a serpent, and +they only had fourteen men with them at the time. After this Driscoll, +whose skill as a scout had been remarked on all sides, was ordered to form +a body of fifty scouts to act as the very eyes of the rapidly moving +Colonial Division under General Brabant. This was promptly done, most of +the men picked being Colonial-born Britishers. Soon after the formation of +his band, Driscoll, with fifty men, attacked Rouxville from four sides at +once. Dashing in, he demanded surrender of the place, as if he had an army +at his back to enforce his demands, a piece of Irish impudent valour that +would have cost every man amongst the little band his life had the Boers +known that he was unbacked. But they did not know it, and consequently +surrendered, and he hoisted the British flag and disarmed the residents--a +really brilliant piece of work, for which Driscoll's Scouts have up to date +received no public credit. + +The Scout and his men took a warm part in the, very warm fight at Wepener, +where many a good Briton fell. He had lost a good few fellows in the many +fights, but Driscoll's name soon charmed others to his little band. At +Jammersberg Drift the Scouts were so badly mauled that over a fourth of +their number were counted out, but the places of the fallen men were soon +filled, and to-day the number is almost complete. Driscoll has one +especially good quality. He never speaks slightingly of his enemy unless he +well deserves it. Few men have had so many hand-to-hand encounters with the +burghers as he has; few men have held their lives by virtue of their steady +hand on a rifle as frequently as this wild, good-natured, merry Irishman +has done. Yet of the Boer as a fighter he speaks most highly. "He don't +like cold steel, and shmall blame to'm," says Driscoll, "but for the clever +tactics he's a devil of a chap, 'nd the men who run him down are mostly the +men who run away from him. They're not all heroes, any more than all women +are angels. Some of 'em are fit only for a dog's death, but most of 'em are +good men; and if I wasn't an Irishman I wouldn't mind being a Boer, for +they've no call to hang their heads and blush when this war is over." + +I asked him if he had ever of his own knowledge come into contact with +anything savouring of white flag treachery. "Once I did," said the great +scout, and for a while his eyes were filled with a sombre fire which spoke +of the volcano under the genial human crust. "Onct," and he lapsed into the +brogue as he spoke; "only onct, and there's a debt owin' on it yet which +has got to be paid. It was at Karronna Ridge. I was out wid me scouts, 'nd +I saw a farmhouse flying the white flag--a great flag it was, too, as big +as a bed sheet. I'm not sure that it was not wan, too. I rode towards it, +thinking the people wanted to surrender, and sent two of me men, two young +lads they were--good boys, eager for duty. I sent 'em forward to ask what +was the matther inside; and when they got within fifteen paces of the house +the Boers inside opened fire from twenty rifles, and blew 'em out of the +saddle. I had to ride with me little troop for dear life then, for the +rocks all around us were alive with rifles. That house still stands; but if +Driscoll's name is Driscoll it's going to burn, and the cur who flew the +white flag in it, if I can get him, for the sake of the dead boys out on +the veldt there. That's the only dirty trick I knew them play, and they +must have been a lot of wasters, not like the general run of their +fighters." + +Three nights ago Driscoll, Davies, Brabant, and twenty men camped in a +farmhouse a long way from the British lines, for these men scour the +country for many miles in all directions. The night was cold and rough, a +bleak wind whistling amidst the kopjes half a mile away. Just as the scouts +were sitting down to supper, the farmer's wife rushed in, and said to +Driscoll, in a voice between a sob and a scream, "Do you know, sir, that +our burghers are in the kopjes, and are watching the farm?" and as she +spoke she wrung her hands wildly. The Irish scout rose from the table and +bowed, as only an Irish scout can bow, for the "vrow" was about thirty +years of age, and pleasing to the eye beyond the lot of most women. "I am +awfully glad to hear it, madam," he said in his execrable Dutch. "I've been +looking for that commando for a week past. As they have doubtless sent a +message by you, please send this back for me. Tell their officers, if they +will accept an offer to come and dine with Driscoll's Scouts here to-night, +they shall be made welcome to the best we have in the way of kindness. For +it must be cold waiting outside in the wind. Tell them they shall go as +they come, unmolested and unwatched, and in the morning we'll come out and +give 'em all the fight they want in this world." Then, sweeping the floor +with a graceful wave of his green puggareed soft slouch hat, Driscoll bowed +the astonished dame out of the dining-room, whilst his officers and men +nearly choked themselves with their hot soup, as they noticed him +surreptitiously drawing a pocket mirror from his breeches pocket. For well +they knew that the dare-devil leader was thinking far more of the effect +his looks had had on the Dutch housewife than of the effect of his message +on the enemy. Yet, at the first promise of dawn, he unrolled himself from +his blanket on the hard floor, and was the foremost man to show in the +open, where the enemy's rifles might reach him. But no rifles sounded, for +the Boers had declined the invitation both to supper and breakfast. + + + + + + HUNTING AND HUNTED. + + ORANGE RIVER COLONY. + + +There is a funny side to pretty nearly every kind of tragedy if one only +has the humorous edge of his nature sufficiently well developed to see it. +Not that the humour is always apparent at the time--that comes later. I am +led to these reflections as I watch Lieutenant "Jack" Brabant, of the +Scouts, dancing a wild war dance round our little camp fire. He is a +picturesque figure in the firelight, this thirty-year-old son of the +renowned General Brabant, ten stone weight I should say, all whipcord and +fencing wire, rather a hard-faced man; no feather-bed frontiersman this, +but a tough, hard-grained bit of humanity, who has fought niggers and +hunted for big game at an age when most young fellows are thinking more of +poetry and pretty faces than of hard knocks and harder sport. I know him +for a rattling good shot at either man or beast, a fine bushman, and a +dandy horseman. He is a rather quiet fellow, as a rule, but all the +quietness is out of him to-night, and he only wants to be stripped of his +tight yellow jacket, cord breeches, leather gaiters, soft slouch hat with +green puggaree, and then, given a coat of black paint, he would pass well +for some warrior chief doing a death dance in the smoke. He is boiling with +passion, his left fist, clenched hard as the head of an axe, moves up and +down, in and out, like the legs of a kicking mule midst a crowd of +cart-horses. In his right he swings his Mauser carbine, and a man don't +need to be a descendant of a race of prophets to know that something has +gone gravely wrong with the lieutenant, otherwise he would not be making a +circus of himself in this fantastic fashion. + +I lay my pencil aside for a minute or two to catch what he is saying, and +when I have got the hang of the story I don't wonder he feels as mad as a +wooden-legged man on a wet mud-bank. He had been out all day since the very +break of dawn with a couple of scouts, searching the kopjes for a notorious +Boer spy, whose cleverness and audacity had made him a thorn in our side. +If there was a man in the British lines capable of running the "slim" Boer +to earth, that man was Lieutenant Jack Brabant. It had been a grim hunt, +for the spy was worthy of his reputation, and the pursuers had to move with +their fingers on their triggers, and a rash move would have meant death. +All the forenoon he dodged them, in and out of the kopjes, along the +sluits, up and down the dongas; sometimes they pelted him at long range +with flying bullets, sometimes he sent them a reminder of the same sort. +And so the day wore on; but at last, towards evening, they fixed him so +that he had to make a dash out across the veldt. He was splendidly mounted, +and when the time came for a dash he did not waste any time making poetry. +Neither did Brabant and his two men; they galloped at full speed after the +fleetly flying figure, and when they saw that a broad and deep donga ran +right across his track, cutting him off from the long line of kopjes for +which he was making, they counted him as theirs. He only had one chance, to +gallop into the donga, jump out of the saddle and fire at them as they +closed in on him; and, as they rode far apart, it was a million to one on +missing in his hurry in the fading light. But the gods had decided +otherwise, for the whiplike crack of rifles suddenly cut the air, and the +bullets fell so thick around the pursuers that the three men could almost +breathe lead. Half a mile away, on the far side of the donga, appeared a +squad of Yeomanry, blazing away like veritable seraphs at Brabant and his +men, whilst they let the flying Boer go free. Brabant whipped out his +handkerchief, and waved it frantically; but the lead only whistled the +faster, and he had only one chance for his life, and that was to wheel and +ride at full speed for the nearest cover, where he and his men hid until +the Yeomen rode up. Then Brabant hailed them, and asked them what the devil +they meant by trying to blow him and his men out of the saddle. + +There was a pause in the ranks of the Yeomen, then a voice lisped through +the gathering gloom, "Are you fellahs British?" + +"Yes, d--n you; did you think we were springbok?" + +"No, by Jove, but we thought you were beastly Booahs. Awfully sorry if +we've caused you any inconvenience. What were you chasing the other fellah +foah, eh?" + +"Oh!" howled the disgusted backwoodsman with a snort of wrath, "we only +wanted to know if he'd cut his eye tooth yet." + +"Bah Jove," quoth the Yeoman, "you fellahs are awfully sporting, don't yer +know." + +"Yes," snarled the angry South African, "and the next time you Johnnies +mistake me for a Booah and plug at me, I'll just take cover and send you +back a bit of lead to teach you to look before you tighten your finger on a +trigger." + +Talking of the Yeomen brings back a good yarn that is going round the camps +at their expense. They are notorious for two things--their pluck and their +awful bad bushcraft. They would ride up to the mouth of a foeman's guns +coolly and gamely enough, but they can't find their way home on the veldt +after dark to save their souls, and so fall into Boer traps with a +regularity that is becoming monotonous. Recently a British officer who had +business in a Boer laager asked a commander why they set the Yeomen free +when they made them prisoners. "Oh!" quoth the Boer, with a merry twinkle +in his eye, "those poor Yeomen of yours, we can always capture them when we +want them." This is not a good story to tell if you want an _encore_, +if you happen to be sitting round a Yeoman table or camp fire. + +But it is time I got back to the subject which lay in my mind when I sat +down to write this epistle. The lieutenant's war dance took me off the +track for a while, but I thought his story would come in nicely under the +heading of "Hunting and Hunted." Camp life gets dull at times, so does camp +food, the eternal round of fried flour cakes and mutton makes a man long +for something which will remind him that he has still a palate, so when one +of the scouts came in and told me that he had seen three herds of +vildebeestes, numbering over a hundred each, and dozens of little mobs of +springbok and blesbok, within ten miles of camp, away towards Doornberg, I +made up my mind to ride out next day, and have a shot for luck. My friend +Driscoll, captain of the Scouts, rammed a lot of sage advice into me +concerning Boers known to be in force at Doornberg. I assured him that I +had no intention of allowing myself to drift within range of any of the +veldtsmen, so taking a sporting Martini I mounted my horse and set forth, +intending to have a real good time among the "buck." At a Kaffir kraal I +picked up a half-caste "boy," who assured me that he knew just where to +pick up the "spoor" of the vildebeeste, and he was as good as his boast, +for within a couple of hours he brought me within sight of a mob of about +fifty of the animals, calmly grazing. I worked my way towards them as well +as I could, leaving the "boy" to hold my horse; but, though I was careful +according to my lights, I was not sufficiently good as a veldtsman to get +within shooting distance before they saw me or scented me. Suddenly I saw a +fine-looking fellow, about as big as a year-and-a-half-old steer, trot out +from the herd. He came about twenty yards in my direction, and I had a +grand chance to watch him through my strong military glasses. He looked for +all the world like a miniature buffalo bull, the same ungainly head and +fore-quarters, big, heavy shoulders, neat legs, shapely barrel, light loin, +and hindquarters, the same proppy, ungainly gait. I unslung my rifle to +have a shot at him, when he wheeled and blundered back to the herd, and the +lot streamed off at a pace which the best hunter in England would have +found trying, in spite of the clumsiness of their movements. The half-caste +grinned as he came towards me with the horses, grinned with such a glorious +breadth of mouth that I could see far enough down his black and tan throat +to tell pretty well what he had for breakfast. This annoyed me. I like an +open countenance in a servant, but I detest a mouth that looks like a mere +burial ground for cold chicken. We rode on for a mile or two, and then saw +a pretty little herd of springbok about eighteen hundred yards away on the +left. Slipping down into a donga, I left the horse and crawled forward, +getting within nice, easy range. I dropped one of the pretty little +beauties. I tried a flying shot at the others as they raced away like magic +things through the grass, which climbed half-way up their flanks, but it +was lead wasted that time. + +My coffee-coloured retainer gathered up the spoil, and paid me a compliment +concerning my shooting, though well I knew he had sized me up as a +"wastrel" with a rifle, for his shy eyes gave the lie to his oily tongue. +We hunted round for awhile, and then from the top of a little kopje I saw a +beautiful herd of vildebeestes one hundred and sixteen in number, lumbering +slowly towards where we stood. The wind blew straight from them towards us, +so that I had no fear on the score of scent. Climbing swiftly down until +almost level with the veldt, I lay cosily coiled up behind a rock, and +waited for the quarry. They came at last, Indian file, about a yard and a +half separating one from the other, not a hundred and twenty yards from +where I lay. I had plenty of time to pick and choose, and plenty of time to +take aim, so did not hurry myself. Sighting for a spot just behind the +shoulder, I sent a bit of lead fair through a fine beast, and expected to +see him drop, but he did nothing of the kind. For one brief second the +animal stood as if paralysed; then, with a leap and a lurch, he dashed on +with his fellows. I fired again, straight into the shoulder this time, and +brought him down; but he took a third bullet before he cried +_peccavi_. I had a good time for pretty near the whole of that day, +and was lamenting that I had not brought a Cape cart and pair of horses +with me to bring home the spoil, when, happening to look into the face of +my brown guide, I saw that his complexion had turned the colour of blighted +sandalwood. He did not speak, but swift as thought ripped out his knife, +and cut the thongs which bound the springbok and other trophies of the +day's sport to his saddle, letting everything fall in an undignified heap +on to the veldt. Then, without a word of farewell, or any other kind of +word for that matter, he drove his one spur into the flank of his wretched +nag, and fled round the bend of a kopje, which, thank Providence, was close +handy, and as he went I saw something splash against a rock a dozen yards +behind him. I had glanced hurriedly over the veldt the moment I caught that +queer expression on the saffron face of my assistant, but as far as the eye +could reach I could see nothing. Now, however, looking backwards, I saw +three or four men riding out of a donga two thousand five hundred yards +away. + +Twenty-five seconds later I had caught and passed my fleeing servant, who +was heading for some kopjes, which lay right in front, about a mile and a +half away. As I passed him he yelled, "Booers, baas, Booers! Ride hard, +baas, ride hard; there are three hundred in the donga." When I heard that +item of news I just sat down and attended strictly to business, and I am +free to wager that never since the day he was foaled had that horse covered +so much ground in so short a space of time as he did by the time he reached +the kopjes. My servant had adroitly dodged into a sluit which hid him from +view, and I knew that he could work his way out far better than I could. +Besides, if they captured him, the worst he would get would be a cut across +the neck with a sjambok for acting as hunting-guide to a detested +Rooitbaaitje; whilst as for me, they would in all probability discredit my +tale concerning the hunting trip, and give me a free, but rapid, pass to +that land which we all hope to see eventually, but none of us are anxious +to start for; because a correspondent has no right to carry a rifle during +war time, a thing I never do unless I am out hunting. I gave my tired horse +a spell, whilst I searched the veldt with my glasses, then slipping through +a gully I made my way out on to the veldt, got in touch with a donga that +ran the way I wanted to travel, got into its bed, gave my horse a drink, +and rode on until dark; then I made my way into camp, and religiously held +my peace concerning the doings of that day, because I did not want the life +chaffed out of me. A few days later I happened to call at the Colonial +camp, and was asked to dine by one of the officers. + +"Like venison?" he asked cheerily. + +"Yes, when it comes my way," I replied. + +"Got some to-day," he said. "It's nicely hung, too; not fresh from the +gun." + +"Shoot it yourself, eh?" + +"Well, no, not exactly; was out on patrol on Monday, and saw a couple of +lousy Dutchmen. They didn't think we were round, so were enjoying +themselves shooting buck. We nearly got one of 'em with a long shot." + +"Didn't they show fight?" I asked innocently. + +"Fight?" he said, with scorn unutterable in his accent. "Not a bit of it. +They dropped their game, and cleared as if a thousand devils were after +them. I never saw men ride so fast." + +"Positive they were Dutchmen?" I ventured. + +"Yes," he laughed; "why, I'd know one of those ugly devils five miles off." + +That settled me, and I said no more. + + + + + + WITH THE BASUTOS. + + +When the Eighth Division was skirting the borders of Basutoland I thought +it would not be a waste of time to cross the border, and if possible +interview one of the chiefs. My opportunity came at last. Our general +decided to give his weary men a few days' rest, so getting into the saddle +at Willow Grange I rode to Ficksburg, and there crossed the River Caledon, +whose yellow waters, like an orange ribbon, divide Basutoland from the Free +State. At this point the river runs between steep banks, and when I crossed +it was about deep enough to kiss my horse's girths, though I could well +believe that in the flood season it becomes a most formidable torrent. An +artificial cutting has been made on both sides to facilitate the passage of +traders, black and white, but even there the ford is so constituted that +the Boers on the one side and the blacks on the other could successfully +dispute the passage of an invading army with a mere handful of men. + +Once across the river one soon felt the influence of Jonathan, the "black +prince." The niggers, naked except for the loin cloth, swaggered along with +arms in their hands, and grinned with insolent familiarity into our faces. +They may have an intense respect and an unbounded love for the British--I +have read scores of times that they have--but I beg leave to doubt it. +Physically speaking they are a superb race of men, these sable subjects of +our Queen. Their heads sit upon their necks with a bold, defiant poise, +their throats are full, round, and muscular, their chests magnificent, +broad and deep, tapering swiftly towards the waist. Their arms and legs are +beautifully fashioned for strong, swift deeds. Strip an ordinary white man +and put him amongst those black warriors, and he would look like a human +clothes rack. They walk with a quick, springy step, and gave me the +impression that they could march at the double for a week without tiring. +But they are at their best on horseback. To see them barebacked dash down +the side of a sheer cliff, plunge into the river, swim their horses over, +and then climb the opposite bank when the face of the bank is like the face +of a wall is a sight worth travelling far to see. + +There are many things in this world that I know nothing at all about, but I +do know a horseman when I see him, for I was bred in a land where +nine-tenths of the boys can ride. But nowhere have I seen a whole male +population ride as these Basuto warriors ride, and the best use England can +make of them is to turn them into mounted infantry. Give them six months' +drill, and they will be fit to face any troops in Europe. I never saw them +do any fighting, but they carry the fighting brand on every lineament--the +bold, keen eye, the prominent cheek-bone, the hard-set mouth, the massive +jaw, the quivering nostril, the swing and spring of every movement, all +speak the fighting race. + +And their women; what of them? From the back of the head to the back of the +heel you could place a lance shaft, so straight are they in their carriage. +Their dress is a bunch of feathers and the third of a silk pocket +handkerchief, with a copper ring around the ankle and another around the +wrist. They do most of the daily toil, such as it is, though I know of no +peasant population in any other part of the world who get a living as +easily as these folk. The men allow the women to do most of the field +labour, but when the grain is bagged the males place it in single bags +across the back of a pony, and so take it to market. They walk beside the +tiny little ponies and balance the grain slung crosswise on the animal's +back, and when the grain has been sold or bartered they bound on to their +ponies and career madly homewards, each one trying to outdo his neighbour +in deeds of recklessness in the hope of winning favour in the eyes of the +dusky maidens. They are mean in regard to money or gifts, and know the +intrinsic value of things just as well as any pedlar in all England. +Judging the "nigger" merely as a human being, irrespective of sentiment, +colour, and so forth, I can only say that in my estimation he and his are +far better off in every respect than the average white labourer and his +family in England. These folk have plenty to eat, little to do, and are +very jolly. They would be perfectly happy if they only had a sufficient +number of rifles and a large enough supply of ammunition to enable them to +drive every white man clean away from their borders. + +When I arrived at Jonathan's village that warrior was away with a band of +his young men, so that I could not see him, though I saw his son at a +wedding which was being held when I reached the scene. I was taken through +rows of naked, grinning savages, of both sexes, to be introduced to the +bride and bridegroom, whom I found to be a pair of mission converts. When I +saw the pair the shock nearly shook my boots off. The bride, a full-blooded +young negress, was dressed in a beautiful white satin dress, which fitted +her as if it had been fired at her out of a gun. It would not meet in front +by about three inches, and the bodice was laced up by narrow bands of red +silk, like a foot-baller's jersey. In her short, woolly hair she had pinned +a wreath of artificial orange blossoms, which looked like a diadem of snow +on a mid-winter mudheap. Down her broad back there hung a great gauzy lace +veil, big enough to make a fly-net for a cow camel in summer. It was not +fixed on to her dress, nor to her wreath, but was tied on to two little +kinky curls at each side of her head by bright green ribbons, after the +fashion of a prize filly of the draught order at a country fair. Her hands +were encased in a pair of white kid gloves, man's size, and a pretty big +man at that, for she had a gentle little fist that would have scared John +L. Sullivan in his palmiest days. + +When I was introduced to the newly shackled matron she put one of those +gloved hands into mine with a simpering air of coyness that made me feel +cold all over, for that hand in the kid glove reminded me of the day I took +my first lesson from Laurence Foley, Australia's champion boxer, and he had +an eight-ounce glove on (thank Heaven!) on that occasion. In her right hand +the bride carried a fan of splendid ostrich feathers, with which she +brushed the flies off the groom. It was vast enough to have brushed away a +toy terrier, to say nothing of flies, but it looked a toy in that giant +fist. + +The groom hung on to his bride's arm like a fly to a sugar-stick. He was a +tall young man, dressed in a black frock coat, light trousers, braced up to +show that he wore socks, shoes, white gloves, and a high-crowned hat. He +carried his bride's white silk gingham in one hand, and an enormous bunch +of flowers in the other. He tried to look meek, but only succeeded in +looking sly, hypocritical, and awfully uncomfortable. At times he would +look at his new spouse, and then a most unsaintly expression would cross +his foxy face; he would push out his great thick lips until they threw a +shadow all round him; open his dazzling white teeth and let his great +blood-red tongue loll out until the chasm in his face looked like a rent in +a black velvet gown with a Cardinal's red hat stuffed in the centre. He may +have been full of saving grace--full up, and running over--but it was not +the brand of Christianity that I should care to invest my money in. When he +caught my gaze riveted upon him, he tried to look like a brand plucked from +the burning; he rolled his great velvet-black eyes skyward, screwed up the +sluit which ran across his face, and which he called a mouth, until it +looked like a crumpled doormat, folded his hands meekly over his breast, +and comported himself generally like a fraudulent advertisement for a +London mission society. + +From him I glanced to his "Pa," who had given him away, and seemed mighty +glad to get rid of him. "Pa" was dressed in pure black from head to +heel--just the same old suit that he had worn when he struck this planet, +only more of it. He was guiltless of anything and everything in the shape +of dress except for a large ring of horn which he wore on top of his head. +He did not carry any parasols, or fans, or geegaws of any kind in his great +muscular fists. One hand grasped an iron-shod assegai, and the other +lovingly fondled a battle-axe, and both weapons looked at home where they +rested. He was not just the sort of father-in-law I should have hankered +for if I had been out on a matrimonial venture; but I would rather have had +one limb of that old heathen than the whole body of his "civilised" son, +for with all his faults he looked a man. A chum of mine who knew the ways +of these people had advised me to purchase a horn of snuff before being +presented to the bride and groom, and I had acted accordingly. + +When the ceremony of introduction was over, and I had managed to turn my +blushing face away from "Ma" and the bevy of damsels, as airily clothed as +herself, I offered the snuff box to the happy pair. The groom took a tiny +pinch and smiled sadly, as though committing some deadly sin. The bride, +however, poured a little heap in the palm of her hand about as big as a +hen's egg, regardless of her nice white kid gloves. This she proceeded to +snuff up her capacious nostrils with savage delight, until the tears +streamed down her cheeks like rain down a coal heap. Then she threw back +her head, spread her hands out palm downwards, like a mammoth duck treading +water, and sneezed. I never heard a human sneeze like that before; it was +like the effort of a horse after a two-mile gallop through a dust storm. +And each time she sneezed something connected with her wedding gear ripped +or gave way, until I began to be afraid for her. But the wreck was not +quite so awful as I had anticipated, and when she had done sneezing she +laughed. All the crowd except the groom laughed, and the sound of their +laughter was like the sound of the sea on a cliff-crowned coast. + +A little later one of the bridesmaids, whose toilet consisted of a dainty +necklace of beads and a copper ring around one ankle, invited me to drink a +draught of native beer. The beer was in a large calabash, and I felt +constrained to drink some of it. These natives know how to make love, and +they know how to make war, but, as my soul liveth, they don't know how to +make beer. The stuff they gave me to drink was about as thick as +boardinghouse cocoa; in colour it was like unto milk that a very dirty maid +of all work had been stirring round in a soiled soup dish with an unwashed +forefinger. It had neither body nor soul in it, and was as insipid as a +policeman at a prayer meeting. Some of the niggers got gloriously merry on +it, and sang songs and danced weird, unholy dances under its influence. But +it did not appeal to me in that way, possibly I was not educated up to its +niceties. All I know is that I became possessed of a strange yearning to +get rid of what had been given me--and get rid of it early. + +The wedding joys were of a peculiar nature. Bride and bridegroom, linked +arm in arm, marched up and down on a pad about twenty yards in length, a +nude minstrel marched in front, and drew unearthly music from a kind of +mouth organ. Girls squatting in the dust _en route_ clapped their +hands and chanted a chorus. The groom hopped first on one leg and then on +the other, and tried to look gorgeously happy; the bride kicked her satin +skirts out behind, pranced along the track as gracefully as a lady camel in +the mating season; behind the principal actors in the drama came a regiment +of youths and girls, and the antics they cut were worthy of the occasion. +Now and again some dusky Don Juan would dig his thumb into the ribs of a +daughter of Ham. The lady would promptly squeal, and try to look coy. It is +not easy to look coy when you have not got enough clothes on your whole +body to make a patch to cover a black eye; but still they tried it, for the +sex seem to me to be much alike on the inside, whether they dress in a coat +of paint or a coat of sealskin. + +By-and-by the groom took his bride by the arm, and made an effort to induce +her to leave her maids of honour and "trek" towards the cabin which +henceforth was to be her home. The lady pouted, and shook his hand off her +arm; whilst the maidens laughed and clapped their hands, dancing in the +dust-strewn sunlight with such high kicking action as would win fame for +any ballet dancer in Europe. The young men jeered the groom, and incited +him to take charge of his own. He hung down his ebony head and looked +sillily sullen, and the bride continued to "pout." Have you ever seen a +savage nigger wench pout, my masters? Verily it is a sight worth travelling +far to see. First of all she wraps her mouth in a simper, and her lips look +like a fold in a badly doubled blanket. Then slowly, she draws the corners +towards, the centre, just as the universe will be crumpled up on the Day of +Judgment. It is a beautiful sight. The mouth, which, when she smiled, +looked like a sword wound on the flank of a horse, now, when the "pout" is +complete, looks like a crumpled concertina. The groom again timidly +advanced his hand towards the satin-covered arm of his spouse, and the +"pout" became more pronounced than ever. The white of one eye was slyly +turned towards the bridesmaids, the other rolled with infinite subtlety in +the direction of him who was to be her lord and master; and the "pout" grew +larger and larger, until I was constrained to push my way amidst the maids +to get a look behind the bride, for I fancied the back of her neck must +surely have got somehow into the front of her face. When I got to the front +again the "pout" was still growing, the rich red lips in their midnight +setting looking like some giant rose in full bloom that an elephant's hoof +had trodden upon. So the show proceeded. At last one of the bridesmaids +stepped from amidst her sisters, and playfully pushed the bride in the +direction of her home. Then the "pout" gave way to a smile, the white teeth +gleaming in the gap like tombstones in a Highland churchyard. I had been a +bit scared of her "pout," but when she smiled I looked round anxiously for +my horse. After a little manoeuvring, the blissful pair marched cabinwards, +with the whole group of naked men and maids circling round them, stamping +their bare feet, kicking up clouds of dust like a mob of travelling cattle. +The men yelled some barbarous melody, flourished their arms, smote upon +their breasts, and anon gripping a damsel by the waist circled afar like +goats on a green grass hill slope. The maids twisted and turned in +fantastic figures, swaying their nobly fashioned bodies hither and thither, +whilst they kept up a continuous wailing, sing-song cry. So they passed +from my sight into the regions of the honeymoon, and the clubbings and +general hidings which follow it. + +I only stayed a few days amongst these savages, but, short as my stay was, +I arrived at the conclusion that the sooner they are disarmed the better. +There are hundreds of white women living upon isolated farms within easy +riding distance of the Basuto villages, and as we are disarming the +husbands and brothers of these women it is our solemn duty to see that the +savage warriors have not the means within their reach to injure or outrage +those whom we have left practically defenceless. It is true that these +women are the wives, daughters, and sisters of our enemy, but surely in all +England there does not breathe a man so poor in spirit as to wish to place +them at the mercy of a horde of barbarians. Ours is a grave responsibility +in regard to this matter. Just at present the native warriors are quiet in +their kraals, but a day will surely dawn when the younger and more +turbulent fighting men will lust for the excitement of war. They look upon +the Boer farmers who dwell near their borders as so many interlopers, whose +title deeds were signed by the rifle, and they long for the time to come +when they can sweep them backwards with the strong arm. They never speak of +the land close to their border as the Free State. They call it with deadly +significance the "conquered territory," and the idea of reconquest is +strong in their minds. Of old time the Boer farmers stood ever ready to +defend what they had conquered with the rifle, and the nigger had learned +to dread the Dutch rifle as he dreads few things in this world. To-day he +knows that the Boer is helpless, and is unsparing in his insolence to his +old-time foe. Later on friction between the white man and the black is +certain to ensue, and if he has the upper hand the black man will not stop +at mere insolence. + +I don't know how the Imperial Parliament may feel about it, but I do know +that if there is wrong done the Boers by the blacks, the South African +farmers of British blood will rise like one man to defend the men and women +of their own colour. They will never permit the black man to dominate the +white, and that will cause friction between the Colonists and the Imperial +Government. There is more in this than may meet the eye at the first +glance, for if the Colonists rise to battle with the blacks the Imperial +troops will have to assist them whether the Government of the day likes or +dislikes it, or else we shall see the Colonists of our own blood clamouring +for the withdrawal of British rule in South Africa, and we shall hear again +the cry for a South African Republic. Not a "Dutch" South African Republic +next time, but a blended nationality, and Colonial Britons and Colonial +Dutchmen will be found fighting side by side under one flag, for one common +cause. + +Surely, if it is not wise to allow the whites to carry arms, it is not wise +or right to allow sixty thousand fierce fighting men to remain fully +equipped and mounted. To me it seems that now, whilst we have two hundred +and fifty thousand fighting men in Africa to overawe and intimidate the +warriors, we should take from them, by force if necessary, everything in +the shape of warlike weapons. White men are not permitted in any of our +Colonies to ride or strut about the country armed to the teeth. Therefore, +I ask, why should these negroes be privileged to do what Australians or +Canadians are forbidden to do? They have no valid excuse for being in +possession of weapons of war. They have now no enemies capable of attacking +them upon their borders. There is no animal life of a savage or dangerous +character near them, and their armament is a menace to the public safety. +If their young men will not settle down to the peaceful calling of +husbandmen, tillers of the soil, and breeders of stock, let them be drafted +into our Army for service abroad. If there is not enough for the more +elderly men to do in the farming line, let them turn their energies towards +the development of the diamond mines and gold mines that lie within their +borders--mines which at present they will not work themselves nor allow any +white man to work. + +I have spent a good many years of my life exploring new mineral territory, +and have seen much of the best auriferous country known to modern times; +but that Basuto country, presided over and held by a mere gang of black +barbarians, ought, in my estimation, to be one of the richest gems in the +British diadem. That good payable gold-bearing rock exists there I know +beyond question. I also know beyond all doubt that diamonds are to be +easily won from the soil, and I am thoroughly cognisant of the fact that at +least one, and I believe many, quicksilver mines can be located there. +Others who know the country well have told me of coal and tin and silver +mines, and samples have been shown to me which made my mouth water. Yet, +all this wealth, which nature's generous hand has scattered so liberally +for the use of mankind, is jealously locked away year by year by men who, +in their savage state, have no use for it themselves, yet will not, upon +any consideration whatever, grant a mining concession to a white man, no +matter what that white man's nationality may be. Verily, the heathen badly +want educating, and we have now 250,000 of the right kind of schoolmasters +within handy reach of them. + + + + + + MAGERSFONTEIN AVENGED. + + THABA NCHU. + + +When, a few months ago, I stood upon the veldt almost within the shadow of +the frowning brow of Magersfontein's surly heights, and looked upon the +cold, stern faces of Scotland's dead, and listened to the weird wailing of +the bagpipes, whilst Cronje gazed triumphantly down from his inaccessible +mountain stronghold upon his handiwork, I knew in my soul that a day would +dawn when Scotland would demand an eye for an eye, blood for blood. I read +it written on the faces of the men who strode with martial tread around the +last sad resting-place Of him they loved--their chief, the dauntless +General Wauchope. Vengeance spoke in the sombre fire that blazed in every +Scotsman's eye. Retribution was carved large and deep on every hard-set +Scottish face; it spoke in silent eloquence in the grip of each hard, +browned hand on rifle barrels; it found a mute echo in each knitted brow, +and leapt to life in every deep-drawn breath; it sparkled in each tear that +rolled unheeded and unchecked down war-scarred cheeks, and thundered in the +echo of the men's tread across the veldt, right up to Cronje's lines, as +they marched campwards. The Highland Brigade had gazed upon its dead; and +neither time, nor change, nor thought of home, or wife, or lisping babe, +would wipe the memory of that sight away until the bayonet's ruthless +thrust gave Scotland quittance in the rich, red blood of those who did that +deed. + +That hour has come. The men who sleep in soldiers' graves beside the +willow-clad banks of the Modder River have been avenged. Or, if the debt +has not been paid in full, the interest owing on that bond of blood has at +least now been handed in. It was not paid by our Colonial sons; not from +Australian or Canadian hands did the stubborn Boers receive the debt we +owed. They were not Irish hearts that cleared old Scotland's legacy of hate +on that May Day amidst the African hills; it was not England's yeoman sons +who did that deed. But men whose feet were native to the heather, men on +whose tongues the Scottish burr clung lovingly--the bare-legged kilted +"boys" whom the lasses in the Highlands love, the gallant Gordons. + +Let the tale be told in Edinburgh Town; let it ring along the Border; let +the lass, as she braids the widow's hair, whisper the story with +love-kissed breath; let the lads, as they come from their daily toil, throw +out their chests for the sake of their breeding; let the pessimist turn up +the faded page of history, written when the world was young, and find, if +he can, a grander deed done by the sons of men since the morning stars sang +together. + +So to my tale. It was the 1st of May. We had the Boers hard pressed in +Thaba Nchu in a run of kopjes that reached in almost unbroken sequence +farther than a man's eye might reach. The flying French was with us, +chafing like a leashed greyhound because he could not sweep all before him +with one impetuous rush. Rundle, too, was here, with his haughty, handsome +face, as keen as French, but with a better grip on his feelings. Six +thousand of the foe, under Louis Botha, cool, crafty, long-headed, +resourceful, have held the kopjes. Again and again we manoeuvred to trap +them, but no wolf in winter is more wary than Botha, no weasels more +watchful than the men he commanded. When we advanced they fell back, when +we fell back they advanced, until the merest tyro in the art of war could +see that a frontal attack, unless made in almost hopeless positions, was +impossible. So Hamilton swept round their right flank, ten miles north of +Thaba Nchu, and gave them a taste of his skill and daring, whilst Rundle +held their main body here at Thaba Nchu. Rundle made a feint on their +centre in strong force, and they closed in from both flanks to resist him. +Then he drew off, as if fearing the issue. This drew the Boers in, and they +pounded our camp with shells until one wondered whether the German-made +rubbish they used would last them much longer. Then we threatened their +left flank quickly and sharply, giving Hamilton time to strike on their +right; and he struck without erring, whipping the enemy at every point he +touched, driving them out of their positions, and holding them firmly +himself, so threatening their rear and the immense herds of sheep and oxen +they have with them, making a footing for the British to move on and cut +Botha off from his base at Kroonstad. + +Whether he will now stand his ground and fight or make a break for the main +army of the Boers is hard to calculate, for the Boer generally does just +what no one expects he will attempt to do. It was during Hamilton's +flanking effort that the Gordons vindicated their character for courage. +Captain Towse, a brave, courteous soldier and gentleman, whom I had had the +pleasure of meeting at Graspan, and whose guest I had been on several +occasions, was the hero of the hour. He is a fine figure of a man, well set +up, good-looking, strong, active. He was, I think, about the only soldier I +have seen who could wear an eye-glass and not lose by it. In age he looked +about forty. I remember snapping a "photo" of him as he was "tidying up" +the grave of gallant young Huddart, an Australian "middy," who lay buried +on the veldt; but the Boers collected that portrait from me later on, worse +luck. On this fateful day Captain Towse, with about fifty of the Gordons, +got isolated from the main body of British troops, and the Boers, with that +marvellous dexterity for which they are fast becoming famous, sized up the +position, and determined upon a capture. They little dreamt of the nature +of the lion they had snared in their toils. With fully two hundred and +fifty men they closed in on the little band of kilted men, and in +triumphant tones called upon them to throw down their arms and surrender. +It was a picture to warm an artist's heart. On all sides rose the bleak, +black kopjes, ridge on ridge, as inhospitable as a watch-dog's growl. On +one hand the little band of Highlanders, the picturesque colours of their +clan showing in kilt and stocking, perfect in all their appointments, but +nowhere so absolutely flawless as in their leadership. Under such leaders +as he who held them there so calm and steady their forbears had hurled back +the chivalry of France, and had tamed the Muscovite pride, and they were +soon to prove themselves men worthy of their captain. + +On the other side rose the superior numbers of the Boers. A wild and motley +crew they looked compared with the gem of Britain's army. Boys stood side +by side with old men, lads braced themselves shoulder to shoulder with men +in their manhood's prime, ragged beards fell on still more ragged shirt +fronts. But there were manly hearts behind those ragged garments, hearts +that beat high with love of home and country, hearts that seldom quailed in +the hour of peril. Their rifles lay in hands steady and strong. The Boer +was face to face with the Briton; the numbers lay on the side of the Boer, +but the bayonet was with the Briton. + +"Throw up your hands and surrender." The language was English, but the +accent was Dutch; a moment, an awful second of time, the rifle barrels +gleamed coldly towards that little group of men, who stood their ground as +pine trees stand on their mountain sides in bonny Scotland. Then out on the +African air there rang a voice, proud, clear, and high as clarion note: +"Fix bayonets, Gordons!" Like lightning the strong hands gripped the ready +steel; the bayonets went home to the barrel as the lips of lover to lover. +Rifles spoke from the Boer lines, and men reeled a pace from the British +and fell, and lay where they fell. Again that voice with the Scottish burr +on every note: "Charge, Gordons! Charge!" and the dauntless Scotchman +rushed on at the head of his fiery few. The Boer's heart is a brave heart, +and he who calls them cowards lies; but never before had they faced so grim +a charge, never before had they seen a torrent of steel advancing on their +lines in front of a tornado of flesh and blood. On rushed the Scots, on +over fallen comrades, on over rocks and clefts, on to the ranks of the foe, +and onward through them, sweeping them down as I have seen wild horses +sweep through a field of ripening corn. The bayonets hissed as they crashed +through breastbone and backbone. Vainly the Boer clubbed his rifle and +smote back. As well might the wild goat strike with puny hoofs when the +tiger springs. Nothing could stay the fury of that desperate rush. Do you +sneer at the Boers? Then sneer at half the armies of Europe, for never yet +have Scotland's sons been driven back when once they reached a foe to +smite. + +How do they charge, these bare-legged sons of Scotia? Go ask the hills of +Afghanistan, and if there be tongues within them they will tell you that +they sweep like hosts from hell. Ask in sneering Paris, and the red records +of Waterloo will give you answer. Ask in St. Petersburg, and from +Sebastopol your answer will come. They thought of the dreary morning hours +of Magersfontein, and they smote the steel downwards through the neck into +the liver. They thought of the row of comrades in the graves beside the +Modder, and they gave the Boers the "haymaker's lift," and tossed the dead +body behind them. They thought of gallant Wauchope riddled with lead, and +they sent the cold steel, with a horrible crash, through skull and brain, +leaving the face a thing to make fiends shudder. They thought of Scotland, +and they sent the wild slogan of their clan ringing along the line until +the British troops, far off along the veldt, hearing it, turned to one +another, saying: "God help the Boers this hour; our Jocks are into 'em with +the bay'nit!" + +But when they turned to gather up those who had fallen, then they found +that he whose lion soul had pointed them the crimson path to duty was to +lead them no more. The noble heart that beat so true to honour's highest +notes was not stilled, but a bullet missing the brain had closed his eyes +for ever to God's sunlight, leaving him to go through life in darkness; and +they mourned for him as they had mourned for noble, white-souled Wauchope, +whose prototype he was. They knew that many a long, long year would roll +away before their eyes would rest upon his like again in camp or bloody +field. But it gladdened their stern warrior hearts to know that the last +sight he ever gazed upon was Scotland sweeping on her foes. + +And when our noble Queen shall place upon his breast the cross which is the +soldier's diadem, their hearts will throb in unison with his, for their +strong hands on that May Day helped him to win what he is so fat to wear; +and when our Sovereign honours him she honours them, and well they know it. +And when the years have rolled away, and they are old and grey, and spent +with wounds and toil, fit for nothing but to dandle little grand-babes on +their knees, young men and maids will flock around, and pointing out the +veteran to the curious stranger say, with honest pride, "He was with Towse +the day he won the cross." + + + + + + THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR. + + ORANGE RIVER COLONY. + + +There are hundreds of men lying in unmarked graves in African soil to-day +who ought to be alive and well, others who have been done to death by the +crass ignorance, the appalling stupidity, the damnable conceit which will +brook no teaching. I have seen men die like dogs, men who left comfortable +homes in the old land to go forth to uphold the power and prestige of our +nation's flag. I have seen them gasping out their lives like stricken +sheep, just in the springtide of their manhood, when the glory and the lust +of life should have been strong upon them I have watched the Irish lad with +the down upon his brave boyish face pass with the last deep-drawn quivering +sob over the border line of life, into the shadows of the unsearchable +beyond, a wasted sacrifice upon the grim altar of incapacity. I have seen +the kilted Scottish laddie lie, with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, waiting +for the whisper of the wings of the Angel of Death. I have seen the death +damp gather on his unlined brow, and watched the grey pallor creep upwards +from throat to temple; until my very soul, wrung with anguish unutterable, +has risen in hot revolt against the crimes of the incapable. + +I have knelt by England's fair-faced sons, the child of the cities, the boy +from the fens, the youth from the farm, and watched the shadows creeping +over eyes that mothers loved to look upon. I have seen the wasted fingers, +grown clawlike, plucking aimlessly at the rude blankets as if weaving the +woof of the winding-sheet, and have listened with aching heart to the +aimless babbling of the dying, in which home and friends were blended, +until the tired voice, grown aweary with the weight of utterance, died out +like the crooning of a lisping child, as the soul slipped through the +golden gateway that leads to the glory beyond the grave. I have watched +them pile the earth above the last home of Cambria's sons, the gallant +children of the old Welsh hills. I have seen them laid to sleep, as harvest +hands will lay the sheaves in undulating rows when the summer shower has +passed; and over every shallow grave I have sent a curse for those whose +brutish folly caused the flower of Britain's army to wither in the pride of +their peerless boyhood. + +For the men who fall in battle we can flush our tears with pride, and +though our hearts may ache for those we love, yet is there an undercurrent +of hot joy to know they fell as soldiers love to fall, face forward to the +foe. But for those who die, as more than half of Britain's dead have died +in this last war, stricken by pestilence brought about by ignorance and +indolence, we have only sorrow and tears and prayers, blended with hate and +contempt for the triple-dyed dandies and dunces who robbed us of those who +should have been alive to-day to be the bulwark of the Empire, the pride of +the nation, and the joy of many homes. + +Why did they die, these strong young soldiers of our Queen? Was it because +their hearts failed them in the presence of hardship and danger? I tell +you, No. The hardships of the campaign only roused them to greater +exertions. Bravely and uncomplainingly they answered every call of duty, +ready by night or day to go anywhere, or do anything, if only they were led +by men worthy of our Queen's commission, worthy of the cloth they wore. Why +did they die? Was it because of poisoned or polluted water, left in their +path by the enemy whom they were fighting? Not so. No, not so. The Boers +left no death-traps in our path. Why did they die? Was it because the +country through which we marched lent itself climatically to the +propagation and dissemination of fever germs? No, England, no! In all the +world there is no finer climate than that in which our gallant soldiers +died like rotting sheep. Wherever else the blame may lie, no truthful man +can lay the blame of those untimely graves upon the climate or the country +of our enemies. + +I will tell you why they died, and tell you in language so plain that a +wayfaring man, even though a fool, cannot misunderstand me, for the time +has arrived when the whole Empire should know the truth in all its native +hideousness. Those men were done to death by wanton carelessness upon the +part of men sent out by the British War Office. They were done to death +through criminal neglect of the most simple laws of sanitation. Men were +huddled together in camp after camp; they were allowed to turn the +surrounding veldt and adjacent kopjes into cesspools and excreta camps. In +some camps no latrines were dug, no supervision was exercised. The +so-called Medical Staff looked on, and puffed their cigarettes and talked +under their eye-glasses--the fools, the idle, empty-headed noodles. And +whilst they smoked and talked twaddle, the grim, gaunt Shadow of Death +chuckled in the watches of the night, thinking of the harvest that was to +follow. + +Then the careless soldiers passed onward, leaving their camp vacant, and +later came another batch of soldiers. Perhaps the men in charge would be +men of higher mental calibre; they would order latrines to be dug, and all +garbage to be burnt or buried. But by this time the germs of fever were in +the air, the men would sicken and die, just as I have seen them sicken and +die upon a score of mining fields away in the Australian bush; and all for +the want of a little honest care and attention, all for the want of a few +grains of good, wholesome, everyday common sense. Had proper care been +taken in regard to these matters, four-fifths of those who now fill fever +graves in South Africa would be with us, hale and hearty men, to-day. + +But, England, you must not complain. "Tommy" is a cheap article; he only +costs a few pence per day, and if he dies there are plenty more ready and +willing to take his place. Don't think of him as a human being. Don't think +of him as some woman's husband and breadwinner. Don't think of him as some +grey-haired widow's son, whose support he has been. Don't think of him as +some foolish girl's heart's idol. But think of him as a part of the +country's revenue. Think of him as "One-and-fourpence a day." + +What excuse can or will be made by the authorities for the wholesale murder +of our men I know not. Possibly those high and haughty personages will +sniff contemptuously and decline to give any explanation at all. And you, +who hold the remedy in your own hands, what will you do? Will you at +election times put a stern question to every candidate for the Commons, and +demand a straight and unqualified answer to your questions. Remember this: +You supply the men who do the fighting; the nation at a pinch can do +without a Roberts, a Duller, or a Kitchener, but, as my soul liveth, it +cannot do without "Tommy." + +If you want Army reform, you must commence with the "Press gang"; you must +stand in one solid mass firmly behind those war correspondents who have not +feared to speak out plainly. You must send men to the Commons pledged to +stand behind them also, men who will not flinch and allow themselves to be +flouted by every scion of some ancient house; for if you do not support the +war correspondents of the great newspapers, how are you ever to know the +real truth concerning the doings of our armies in the field? I tell you +that you have not heard one-millionth part of the truth concerning this +South African enterprise, and now you never will know the truth. Had the +abominable practice of censorship been abolished prior to this war, most of +the abuses which have made our Army the laughing stock of Europe would have +been set right by the correspondents, for they would have pointed out the +evils to the public through the medium of their journals, and an indignant +people would have clamoured for reform in a voice which would brook no +denial. As things are at present, the military people during the progress +of the war have their heel upon the necks of the journalists, and the +public are robbed of what is their just right, the right of knowledge of +passing events; only that which suits the censor being allowed to filter +over the wires. Had it been otherwise, hundreds of young widows in Ireland, +Scotland, England, and Wales would be proud and happy wives to-day. + +But do not let me rouse your phlegmatic blood, my Britons; sit down, with +your thumbs in your mouths, my masters, and allow a coterie to flout you at +will, whilst the Frenchmen, the Germans, the Russians alternately laugh at +and pity you. Pity you, the sons of the men who chased their fathers half +over Europe at the point of the blood-red bayonet! Have you grown tame, +have you waxed fat and foolish during these long years of peace? Is the +spirit that swept the legions of France through the Pyrenees and carried +the old flag up the heights of Inkerman in the teeth of Russian +chivalry--is it dead, or only sleeping? If it but slumbers, let me cry, +Sleeper, awake, for danger is at the gates! Not the danger due from foreign +foes, but a greater danger--the danger of unjust government, for where evil +is hidden injustice reigns. + +Our military friends tell us that censorship of Press work is necessary for +the welfare of the Army. They urge that if we correspondents had a free +hand the enemy might gain valuable information regarding the movements of +our troops. To us who for the greater portion of a year have been at the +front there is grim irony in that assertion. Fancy the Boer scouts wanting +information from us which might filter through London newspapers! That +flimsy, paltry excuse can be dismissed with a contemptuous laugh. That is +not why the military people want our work censored. The real reason is that +their awful blunders, their farcical mistakes, and their criminal +negligence may not reach the British public. Just try for one brief moment +to remember some of the "censored" cables that have been sent home to you +during the war, and then compare it with such a cable as this, which would +have come if the Press men had a free hand: + + "Kruger's Valley, Jan. 12. + + "The ---- Division, under General ----, arrived at + Kruger's Valley four days ago. No latrines have been + dug ... weather terribly hot, with rain threatening. + This Division moves out in about a week. Its place will + be taken by troops just arrived at Durban from England. + Should we have rain in the meantime half the new draft + will be down with enteric fever before they are here a + week, and the death rate will be simply awful. General ---- + and staff will be responsible for those deaths." + +The military folk would, doubtless, designate such a telegram "a piece of +d----d impudence." + +But the latrines would be dug, the camp would be kept free from foulness, +and the new draft would not die untimely deaths, but would live to fight +the enemies of their country. + +Why the camps in South Africa were not models of cleanliness passes my +comprehension. There was no need to harass "Tommy" by setting him to do the +work. Every Division was accompanied by swarms of niggers, who drew from +Government £4 10s. per month and their food. These niggers had a +gentleman's life. They waxed fat, lazy, and cheeky. Four-fifths of them +rode all day on transport wagons, and never earned a fourth of the wages +they drew from a sweetly paternal Government. Why could not those men have +been used in every camp to make things safe and comparatively comfortable +for "Tommy," who had to march all day, with his fighting kit upon his back +march and fight, and not only march and fight, but go on picket and sentry +duty as well? Those niggers ought to have, been turned out to dig and fill +in latrines for our soldiers, they ought to have been compelled to do all +the menial work of the camps; but they never did anything of the sort +"Tommy" was treated for the most part like a Kaffir dog, whilst the saucy +niggers led the lives of fightingcocks, and to-day any ordinary Army +Service nigger thinks himself a better man than "Tommy," and doesn't +hesitate to tell you so. It would be instructive to know the name of the +genius who fixed the scale of nigger wage at £ 4 10s. per month, with +rations. Fully half that sum could with ease have been saved the British +taxpayer, and the nigger would have taken it with delight, and jumped at +the chance of getting it. As a matter of fact, the nigger has had a huge +picnic, and has been well paid for attending it. He has never been kept +short of food. He has never had to march until his feet were almost falling +off him. He has not had to fight for the country that fed and clothed him. +Poor "Tommy!" + + + + + + HOME AGAIN. + + +I stood where Nelson's Column stands--a stranger, and alone. Alone amidst a +mighty multitude of men and maids. I saw a people drunk with joy. I looked +from face to face, and in each flashing eye, and on each quivering lip, a +nation's heart lay bared to all the world, for England's capital was but +the throbbing pulse of England's Empire. Our nation spoke to the nations +that dwell where the sea foam flies, and woe to them who do not heed the +tale that the city told. There was no sun, the city lay enveloped in +silvery shadows, like some grey lioness that knows her might and is not +quickly stirred to wrath or joy, like meaner things. I looked above, and +saw the monument of him whose peerless genius gave us empire on the seas. I +looked below, and saw, far as my eyes could range, a seething mass of men, +as good, as gallant, and as great of heart as those who fought and fell +beneath his flag, and in my blood I felt the pride of empire stirring, and +knew how great a thing it is to call one's self a Briton. + +I looked along that swaying mass of human flesh and blood, and saw the best +that England owns waiting to welcome, with heart-stirring cheers, the +gallant lads whose lion hearts had carried London's name and fame along the +rough-hewn tracks of war. I saw the cream of Britain's chivalry and +Britain's beauty there. Men and women from the countryside, from Ireland +and from Scotland, all eager to pay tribute to the London lads who had so +proudly proved to all the world that it was not for a soldier's pay, not +for the love of gain, but for a nation's glory that they had risked limb +and life beneath an African sun. Then, as I looked, I caught a distant hum +of voices--a far-off sound, such as I have heard amid Pacific isles when +wind and waves were beating upon coral crags, and foam-topped rollers +thrashed the surf into the magic music of the storm-tossed sea. It was the +roar of London's multitudes welcoming home her own; and what a sound it +was! I have heard the music of the guns when our nation spoke in the stern +tones of battle to a nation in arms; I have heard the crash of tempests on +Southern coasts when ships were reeling in the breath of the blast, and +souls to their God were going; I have crouched low in my saddle when the +tornado has swept trees from the forest as a boy brushes flowers with his +footsteps. But never had I heard a sound like that. It was the voice of +millions, it was the great heart-beats of a mighty nation, it was a welcome +and a warning--a welcome to the descendants of the 'prentice lads of Old +London, a warning to the world. I caught the echoes in my hands, I hugged +them to my heart, I let them pour into my brain, and this is the tale they +told: "Sluggish we are, ye people, slow to wake, strong in the strength of +conscious might. Jibe at us, jeer at us, flout us and threaten us; but +beware the day we turn in our strength. We have sent forth a few of our +children, but they were but as a drop in the ocean. All Britain sent two +hundred and fifty thousand strong men to Africa; London, if need be, can +send five hundred thousand more to the uttermost parts of the earth. Aye, +and when they have died, as these would have died if need be, we can open +our hearts and send five hundred thousand more, and yet be strong for our +home fighting." It was a nation speaking to the nations, and that is the +tale it told. Let the nations take heed and beware, for the language was +the language of truth. + +I listened; and lo! through the storm of cheering, through the cries of +women and the strong shouting of men in their prime, I caught another +sound, a sound I knew and loved--the sound of marching men. Music hath +charms to stir the blood and make men mad, but there is no music in all the +earth like the trained tread of men who have marched to battle. I knew the +rhythm of that tread; I knew that the "boys" of Old London were coming, and +my nostrils seemed filled with the fumes of fighting. I looked again, and, +saw them, hard faced, clean limbed, close set, as soldiers should be who +have faced the storm and stress of war, as proud a band as Britain ever +had, soldier and citizen both in one, fit to be a nation's bulwark and a +nation's trust; and in the crowd around them there were a thousand thousand +men as good, as game, as gritty, as they, for they were the children of the +people, the men of the shop-counter, the men of the city office, the men of +every artisan craft, the very vitals of London. They had sprung from the +womb of the city, and the city could give birth to a million more if need +be. + +I saw them pass amidst a storm of cheers, and I, who had seen them out on +the African veldt under the foeman's guns, lifted up my voice to cheer them +onward, for well I knew that there was nothing in the gift of England that +they were not worthy of, those children of the "flat caps," those offspring +of the 'prentice lads of London. I knew how they had starved; I knew how +they had suffered through the freezing cold of the African winter; I knew +how gallantly, how uncomplainingly, they had marched with empty bellies and +aching limbs, ready to go anywhere, to do anything, ready to fight, and, if +it were the will of the great God of Battles, ready to lay down their young +lives and die. I knew those things, and, knowing them, gave them a cheer +for the sake of Australia, for the sake of the kinship which binds us as no +bonds of steel could bind us and them. I heard a voice at my knee +whimpering, the voice of a gutter kid, who had dodged in there out of the +way of the police. I looked at his ragged clothes, looked at his grimy +face, looked at his hands, which looked as if they had never looked at +soap, and I said: "What are you yelping for, kiddie?" And he, looking up at +me through his tears, fired a voice at me through his sobs, and said: "I'm +yelping, mister, because I'm only a little 'un, and can't see me mates come +home from the war." Then I laughed, and tossing him up on my shoulder let +him jamb his dirty fist on the only silk hat I possess, whilst he looked at +his "mates" march home; for they were his mates--he was a child of London, +and some day--who knows?--he may be a general. + + * * * * * + +Printed by +Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, +London, E.C. +10.101. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGN PICTURES OF THE WAR IN +SOUTH AFRICA (1899-1900)*** + + +******* This file should be named 16131-8.txt or 16131-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/1/3/16131 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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G. Hales</title> +<style type="text/css"> + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size:8pt;} + h1.pg {text-align: center; } + h4.pg {text-align: center; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa +(1899-1900), by A. G. Hales</h1> +<pre> +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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900)</p> +<p> Letters from the Front</p> +<p>Author: A. G. Hales</p> +<p>Release Date: June 25, 2005 [eBook #16131]</p> +<p>[Date last updated: June 9, 2006]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGN PICTURES OF THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA (1899-1900)***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4 class="pg">E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Rudy Ketterer,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net)</h4> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + <div align="center"> + <a href="images/image01.jpg"><img src="images/image01t.jpg" + alt="[Illustration: Author]" width="150" height="250" + border="0" /></a> + </div> + + <div align="center"> + <h1>CAMPAIGN PICTURES<br /> + <br /> + OF THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA<br /> + <br /> + (1899—1900)</h1> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + + + <h2>Letters from the Front</h2> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + BY<br /> + + + <h2>A. G. HALES</h2> + <br /> + <br /> + <i>Special Correspondent of the "Daily News"</i><br /> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> + + + <h3>CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED<br /> + <br /> + <i>LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK & MELBOURNE</i></h3> + <br /> + 1901<br /> + </div> +<p> </p> + <hr align="center" width="33%" /> + + <div align="center"> + <b>Dedication.</b> + </div> + + <blockquote> + <blockquote> + This book, such as it is, is dedicated to the man whose + kindliness of heart and generous journalistic instincts + lifted me from the unknown, and placed me where I had a + chance to battle with the best men in my profession. He was + the man who found Archibald Forbes, the most brilliant, + accurate, and entertaining of all war correspondents. What + he did for that splendid genius let Forbes' memoirs tell; + what he did for me I will tell myself. He gave me the + chance I had looked for for twenty years, and the dearest + name in my memory to-day is the name of + </blockquote> + </blockquote> + + <div align="center"> + <b>SIR JOHN ROBINSON</b>, + </div> + + <div align="right"> + Manager of the <i>Daily News</i>, London. + </div> + <hr align="center" width="33%" /> + + <table border="0" width="600" align="center" + summary="table of contents"> + <caption> + <strong>CONTENTS</strong> + </caption> + + <tr> + <td> </td> + + <th>PAGE</th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <th align="left">WITH THE AUSTRALIANS.</th> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page001">AUSTRALIA + ON THE MARCH</a></td> + + <td align="right">1</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page006">WITH THE + AUSTRALIANS</a></td> + + <td align="right">6</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page015">A PRISONER + OF WAR</a></td> + + <td align="right">15</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page029">"STOPPING A + FEW"</a></td> + + <td align="right">29</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page038">AUSTRALIA + AT THE WAR</a></td> + + <td align="right">38</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page048">AUSTRALIA + ON THE MOVE</a></td> + + <td align="right">48</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a + href="#page060">SLINGERSFONTEIN</a></td> + + <td align="right">60</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page069">THE WEST + AUSTRALIANS</a></td> + + <td align="right">69</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> </td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <th align="left">AMONG THE BOERS.</th> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page075">IN A BOER + TOWN</a></td> + + <td align="right">75</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page083">BEHIND THE + SCENES</a></td> + + <td align="right">83</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page090">A BOER + FIGHTING LAAGER</a></td> + + <td align="right">90</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page104">THROUGH + BOER GLASSES</a></td> + + <td align="right">104</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page116">LIFE IN THE + BOER CAMPS</a></td> + + <td align="right">116</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> </td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <th align="left">WITH GENERAL RUNDLE.</th> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page127">BATTLE OF + CONSTANTIA FARM</a></td> + + <td align="right">127</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page149">WITH RUNDLE + IN THE FREE STATE</a></td> + + <td align="right">149</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page159">RED WAR + WITH RUNDLE</a></td> + + <td align="right">159</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page174">THE FREE + STATERS' LAST STAND</a></td> + + <td align="right">174</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> </td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <th align="left">CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP.</th> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page194">THE CAMP + LIAR</a></td> + + <td align="right">194</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page199">THE NIGGER + SERVANT</a></td> + + <td align="right">199</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"> <a href="#page207">THE SOLDIER + PREACHER</a></td> + + <td align="right">207</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> </td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr align="center" width="33%" /> + + <table border="0" width="600" align="center" + summary="Table of contents 2nd part"> + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page212">PRESIDENT + STEYN</a></td> + + <td align="right">212</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page218">LOUIS BOTHA, + COMMANDANT-GENERAL OF THE BOER ARMY</a></td> + + <td align="right">218</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page224">WHITE FLAG + TREACHERY</a></td> + + <td align="right">224</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page229">THE BATTLE OF + MAGERSFONTEIN</a></td> + + <td align="right">229</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page242">SCOUTS AND SCOUTING: + DRISCOLL, KING OF SCOUTS</a></td> + + <td align="right">242</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page253">HUNTING AND + HUNTED</a></td> + + <td align="right">253</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page264">WITH THE + BASUTOS</a></td> + + <td align="right">264</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page280">MAGERSFONTEIN + AVENGED</a></td> + + <td align="right">280</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page289">THE CONDUCT OF THE + WAR</a></td> + + <td align="right">289</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="#page299">HOME AGAIN</a></td> + + <td align="right">299</td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr align="center" width="33%" /> + + <table border="0" align="center" cellspacing="5" + cellpadding="5" summary="Poem: Australia's Appeal to England."> + <caption> + <strong>Australia's Appeal to England.</strong> + </caption> + + <tr> + <td>We grow weary waiting, England,<br /> + For the summons that never comes--<br /> + For the blast of the British bugles<br /> + And the throb of the British drums.<br /> + Our hearts grow sore and sullen<br /> + As year by year rolls by,<br /> + And your cold, contemptuous actions<br /> + Give your fervent words the lie.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Are we only an English market,<br /> + Held dear for the sake of trade?<br /> + Or are we a part of the Empire,<br /> + Close welded as hilt and blade?<br /> + If we are to cleave together<br /> + As mother and son through life,<br /> + Give us our share of the burden,<br /> + Let us stand with you in the strife.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>If we are to share your glory,<br /> + Let the sons whom the South has bred<br /> + Lie side by side on your battlefields<br /> + With England's heroes dead.<br /> + A nation is never a nation<br /> + Worthy of pride or place<br /> + Till the mothers have sent their firstborn<br /> + To look death on the field in the face.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Are we only an English market,<br /> + Held dear for the sake of trade?<br /> + Or are we a part of the Empire<br /> + Close welded as hilt and blade?<br /> + If so, let us share your dangers,<br /> + Let the glory we boast be real,<br /> + Let the boys of the South fight with you,<br /> + Let our children taste cold steel.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Do you think we are chicken-hearted?<br /> + Do you count us devoid of pride?<br /> + Just try us in deadly earnest,<br /> + And see how our boys can ride.<br /> + We are sick of your empty praises!<br /> + If the mother is proud of her son,<br /> + Let him do some deed on a hard-fought field,<br /> + Then boast what he has done.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>A nation is never a nation<br /> + Worthy of pride or place<br /> + Till the mothers have sent their firstborn<br /> + To look death on the field in the face.<br /> + Australia is calling to England,<br /> + Let England answer the call;<br /> + There are smiles for those who come back to us,<br /> + And tears for those who may fall.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Bridle to bridle our sons will ride<br /> + With the best that Britain has bred,<br /> + And all we ask is an open field<br /> + And a soldier's grave for our dead.</td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr align="center" width="33%" /> + + <table align="center" summary="Explanation for the above poem"> + <tr> + <td> + <blockquote> + <em>I have decided to enclose these verses in my book + because some critics<br /> + + have + pronounced me anti-English in my sentiments. Heaven + alone<br /> + + knows + why; yet the above poem was written and published by me + in<br /> + + Australia + just before war was declared between England and + the<br /> + + Republics, + at a time when all Australia considered it very<br /> + + probable + that we should have to fight one of the big + European<br /> + + Powers + as well as the Boers.</em> + </blockquote> + + <div align="right"> + A. G. HALES. + </div> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <hr align="center" width="33%" /> + + <div align="center"> + <h1>CAMPAIGN PICTURES.</h1> + </div> + <hr align="center" width="33%" /> + <a id="page001" name="page001"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>AUSTRALIA ON THE MARCH.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>BELMONT BATTLEFIELD.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>At two o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, the 6th of the + month, the reveille sounded, and the Australians commenced + their preparations for the march to join Methuen's army. By 4 + a.m. the mounted rifles led the way out of camp, and the + toilsome march over rough and rocky ground commenced. The + country was terribly rough as we drove the transports up and + over the Orange River, and rougher still in the low kopjes on + the other side. The heat was simply blistering, but the + Australians did not seem to mind it to any great extent; they + were simply feverish to get on to the front, but they had to + hang back and guard the transports.</p> + + <p>At last the hilly country faded behind us. We counted upon + pushing on rapidly, but the African mules were a sorry lot, + and could make but little headway in the sandy tracks. Still, + there was no rest for the men, because at intervals one of + Remington's scouts would turn up at a flying gallop, + springing apparently from nowhere, out of the womb of the + wilderness, to inform us that flying squads of Boers were + hanging round us. But so carefully watchful were the + Remingtons that the Boers had no chance of surprising us. No + sooner did the scouts inform us of their approach in any + direction than our rifles swung forward ready to give them a + hearty Australian reception. This made the march long and + toilsome, though we never had a chance to fire a shot. At + 5.30 we marched with all our transports into Witteput, the + wretched little mules being the only distressed portion of + the contingent.</p> + + <p>At Witteput the news reached us that a large party of the + enemy had managed to pass between General Methuen's men and + ourselves, and had invested Belmont, out of which place the + British troops had driven them a few weeks previously. We had + no authentic news concerning this movement. Our contingent + spread out on the hot sand at Witteput, panting for a drop of + rain from the lowering clouds that hung heavily overhead. Yet + hot, tired, and thirsty as we were, we yet found time to look + with wonder at the sky above us. The men from the land of the + Southern Cross are used to gorgeous sunsets, but never had we + looked upon anything like this. Great masses of coal-black + clouds frowned down upon us, flanked by fiery crimson cloud + banks, that looked as if they would rain blood, whilst the + atmosphere was dense enough to half-stifle one. Now and again + the thunder rolled out majestically, and the lightning + flashed from the black clouds into the red, like bayonets + through smoke banks.</p> + + <p>Yet we had not long to wait and watch, for within half an + hour after our arrival the Colonel galloped down into our + midst just as the evening ration was being given out. He held + a telegram aloft, and the stillness that fell over the camp + was so deep that each man could hear his neighbour's heart + beat. Then the Colonel's voice cut the stillness like a bugle + call. "Men, we are needed at Belmont; the Boers are there in + force, and we have been sent for to relieve the place. I'll + want you in less than two hours." It was then the men showed + their mettle. Up to their feet they leapt like one man, and + they gave the Colonel a cheer that made the sullen, halting + mules kick in their harness. "We are ready now, Colonel, + we'll eat as we march," and the "old man" smiled, and gave + the order to fall in, and they fell in, and as darkness + closed upon the land they marched out of Witteput to the + music of the falling rain and the thunder of heaven's + artillery.</p> + + <p>All night long it was march, halt, and "Bear a hand, men," + for those thrice accursed mules failed us at every pinch. In + vain the niggers plied the whips of green hide, vain their + shouts of encouragement, or painfully shrill anathemas; the + mules had the whip hand of us, and they kept it. But, in + spite of it all, in the chilly dawn of the African morning, + our fellows, with their shoulders well back, and heads held + high, marched into Belmont, with every man safe and sound, + and every waggon complete.</p> + + <p>Then the Gordons turned out and gave us a cheer, for they + had passed us in the train as we crossed the line above + Witteput, and they knew, those veterans from Indian wars, + what our raw Volunteers had done; they had been on their feet + from two o'clock on Wednesday morning until five o'clock of + the following day, with the heat at 122 in the shade, and + bitter was their wrath when they learnt that the Boer spies, + who swarm all over the country, had heralded their coming, so + that the enemy had only waited to plant a few shells into + Belmont before disappearing into the hills beyond. That was + the cruel part of it. They did not mind the fatigue, they did + not worry about the thirst or the hunger, but to be robbed of + a chance to show the world what they could do in the teeth of + the enemy was gall and wormwood to them, and the curses they + sent after the discreet Boer were weird, quaint, picturesque, + and painfully prolific.</p> + + <p>We are lying with the Gordons now, waiting for the Boers + to come along and try to take Belmont, and our fellows and + the "Scotties" are particularly good chums, and it is the + cordial wish of both that they may some day give the enemy a + taste of the bayonet together.</p> + </div> + <a id="page006" name="page006"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>WITH THE AUSTRALIANS.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>BELMONT.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Australia has had her first taste of war, not a very great + or very important performance, but we have buried our dead, + and that at least binds us more closely to the Motherland + than ever before. The Queenslanders, the wild riders, and the + bushmen of the north-eastern portion of the continent have + been the first to pay their tribute to nationhood with the + life blood of her sons, two of whom—Victor James and + McLeod—were buried by their comrades on the scene of action + a couple of days ago, whilst half a dozen others, including + Lieutenant Aide, fell more or less seriously wounded. The + story of the fight is simply told; there is no necessity for + any wild vapouring in regard to Australian courage, no need + for hysterical praise. Our fellows simply did what they were + told to do in a quiet and workmanlike manner, just as we who + know them expected that they would; we are all proud of them, + and doubly proud that the men in the fight with them were our + cousins from Canada.</p> + + <p>The most noteworthy fact about the engagement is to be + gleaned by noting that the Australians adopted Boer tactics, + and so escaped the slaughter that has so often fallen to the + lot of the British troops when attacking similar positions. + Before describing the fight it may be as well to give some + slight idea of the disposition of the opposing forces. Our + troops held the railway line all the way from Cape Town to + Modder River. At given distances, or at points of strategic + importance, strong bodies of men are posted to keep the Boers + from raiding, or from interfering with the railway or + telegraph lines. Such a force, consisting of Munster + Fusiliers, two guns of R.H. Artillery, the Canadians, and the + Queenslanders, were posted at Belmont under Colonel Pilcher. + The enemy had no fixed camping ground. Mounted on hardy + Basuto ponies, carrying no provisions but a few mealies and a + little biltong, armed only with rifles, they sweep + incessantly from place to place, and are an everlasting + source of annoyance to us. At one moment they may be hovering + in the kopjes around us at Enslin, waiting to get a chance to + sneak into the kopjes that immediately overlook our camp, but + thanks to the magnificent scouting qualities of the Victorian + Mounted Rifles, they have never been able to do so. During + the night they disperse, and take up their abode on + surrounding farms as peaceful tillers of the soil. In a day + or so they organise again, and swoop down on some other + place, such as Belmont. Their armies, under men like Cronje + or Joubert, seldom move from strongly-entrenched + positions.</p> + + <p>The people I am referring to as reivers are farmers + recruited by local leaders, and are a particularly dangerous + class of people to deal with, as they know every inch of this + most deceptive country. As soon as they are whipped they make + off to wives and home, and meet the scouts with a bland smile + and outstretched hand. It is no use trying to get any + information out of them, for no man living can look so much + like an unmitigated fool when he wants to as the ordinary, + every-day farmer of the veldt. I know Chinamen exceptionally + well, I have had an education in the ways of the children of + Confucius; but no Chinaman that I have come in contact with + could ever imitate the half-idiotic smile, the patient, + ox-like placidity of countenance, the meek, religious look of + holy resignation to the will of Providence which comes + naturally to the ordinary Boer farmer. It is this faculty + which made our very clever Army Intelligence people rank the + farmer of the veldt as a fool. Yet, if I am any judge, and I + have known men in many lands, our friend of the veldt is as + clever and as crafty as any Oriental I have yet mixed + with.</p> + + <p>Now for the Australian fight. On the day before Christmas, + Colonel Pilcher, at Belmont, got wind of the assemblage of a + considerable Boer force at a place 30 miles away, called + Sunnyside Farm, and he determined to try to attack it before + the enemy could get wind of his intention. To this end he + secured every nigger for some miles around—which proved his + good sense, as the niggers are all in the pay of the Boers, + no matter how loyal they may pretend to be to the British, a + fact which the British would do well to take heed of, for it + has cost them pretty dearly already. On Christmas Eve he + started out, taking two guns of the Royal Navy Artillery, a + couple of Maxims, all the Queenslanders, and a few hundred + Canadians. Colonel Pilcher's force numbered in all about 600 + men. He marched swiftly all night, and got to Sunnyside Farm + in good time Christmas Day. The Boers had not a ghost of an + idea that our men were near them, and were completely beaten + at their own game, the surprise party being complete. The + enemy were found in a laager in a strong position in some + rather steep kopjes, and it was at once evident that they + were expecting strong reinforcements from surrounding farms. + Colonel Pilcher at once extended his forces so as to try to + surround the kopjes. Whilst this was going on, Lieutenant + Aide, with four Queensland troopers, was sent to the far left + of what was supposed to be the Boer position. His orders were + to give notice of any attempt at retreat on the part of the + enemy. He did his work well. Getting close to the kopje, he + saw a number of the enemy slinking off, and at once + challenged them. As he did so a dozen Boers dashed out of the + kopje, and Aide opened fire on them, which caused the Boers + to fire a volley at him. Lieutenant Aide fell from his horse + with two bullets in his body; one went through the fleshy + part of his stomach, entering his body sideways, the other + went into his thigh. A trooper named McLeod was shot through + the heart, and fell dead. Both the other troopers were + wounded. Trooper Rose caught a horse, and hoisted his + lieutenant into the saddle, and sent him out of danger.</p> + + <p>Meantime the R.H. Battery, taking range from Lieutenant + Aide's fire, opened out on the enemy. Their guns put a great + fear into the Boers, and a general bolt set in. The Boers + fired as they cleared, and if our fellows had been formed up + in the style usual to the British army in action, we should + have suffered heavily; but the Queensland bushmen had dropped + behind cover, and soon had complete possession of the kopjes; + another trooper named Victor Jones was shot through the + brain, and fourteen others were more or less badly wounded. + The Boers then surrendered. We took 40 prisoners, and found + about 14 dead Boers on the ground, besides a dozen wounded. + They were all Cape Dutch, no Transvaalers being found in + their ranks. We secured 40,000 rounds of their ammunition, + 300 Martini rifles, and only one Mauser rifle, which was in + the possession of the Boer commander. After destroying all + that we took, we moved on, and had a look at some of the + farms near by, as from some of the documents found in camp it + was certain that the whole district was a perfect nest of + rebellion. Quite a little store of arms and ammunition was + discovered by this means, and the occupants of the farms were + therefore transported to Belmont. Our fellows carried the + little children and babies in their arms all the way, and + marched into Belmont singing, with the little ones on their + shoulders. Every respect was shown to the women, old and + young, and to the old men, but the young fellows were closely + guarded all the time. The Canadians did not lose a single + man, neither did any of the others except the + Queenslanders.</p> + + <p>Another Boer commando, about 1,000 strong, with two + batteries of artillery, is now hovering in the ranges away to + the north-west of Enslin, but Colonel Hoad is not likely to + be tempted out to meet them, since his orders are to hold + Enslin against attack. However, should they venture to make a + dash for Enslin, they will get a pretty bad time, as the + Australians there are keen for a fight.</p> + + <p>Concerning farming, it is an unknown quantity here, as we + in Australia understand it. These people simply squat down + wherever they can find a natural catchment for water. There + is no clearing to be done, as the land is quite devoid of + timber. They put nigger labour on, and build a farmhouse. + These farmhouses are much better built than those which the + average pioneer farmer in Australia owns. They make no + attempt at adornment, but build plain, substantial houses, + containing mostly about six rooms. The roofs are mostly flat, + and the frontages plain to ugliness. They do no fencing, + except where they go in for ostrich breeding. When they farm + for feathers they fence with wire about six feet in height. + This kind of farming is very popular with the better class of + Boers, as it entails very little labour, and no outlay beyond + the initial expense. They raise just enough meal to keep + themselves, but do not farm for the market. They breed horses + and cattle; the horses are a poor-looking lot, as the Boers + do not believe much in blood. They never ride or work mares, + but use them as brood stock. This is a bad plan, as young and + immature mares breed early on the veldt, and throw weedy + stock. Their cattle, however, are attended to on much better + lines, and most of the beef that I have seen would do credit + to any station in Australia, or any American ranch. They + mostly raise a few sheep and goats; the sheep are a poor lot, + the wool is of a very inferior class, and the mutton poor. I + don't know much about goats, so will pass them, though I very + much doubt if any Australian squatter would give them grass + room.</p> + + <p>On most of the farms a small orchard is found enclosed in + stone walls. Here again the ignorance of the Boers is very + marked; the fruit is of poor quality, though the variety is + large. Thus, one finds in these orchards pears, apples, + grapes, plums, pomegranates, peaches, quinces, apricots, and + almonds. The fruit is harsh, small, and flavourless, owing to + bad pruning, want of proper manure, and good husbandry + generally. The Boer seems to think that he has done all that + is required of him when he has planted a tree; all that + follows he leaves to nature, and he would much rather sit + down and pray for a beautiful harvest than get up and work + for it. He is a great believer in the power of prayer. He + prays for a good crop of fruit; if it comes he exalts himself + and takes all the credit; if the crop fails he folds his + hands and remarks that it was God's will that things should + so come to pass. He knocks all the work he can out of his + niggers, but does precious little himself. In stature he is + mostly tall, thin, and active. He moves with a quick, + shuffling gait, which is almost noiseless. Some of his women + folk are beautiful, while others are fat and clumsy, and are + never likely to have their portraits hung on the walls of the + Royal Academy.</p> + </div> + <a id="page015" name="page015"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>A PRISONER OF WAR.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>BLOEMFONTEIN HOSPITAL.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>I little fancied when I sat at my ease in my tent in the + British camp that my next epistle would be written from a + hospital as a prisoner, but such is the case, and, after all, + I am far more inclined to be thankful than to growl at my + luck. Let me tell the story, for it is typical of this + peculiar country, and still more peculiar war. I had been + writing far into the night, and had left the letter ready for + post next day. Then, with a clear conscience, I threw myself + on my blankets, satisfied that I was ready for what might + happen next. Things were going to happen, but though the + night was big with fate there was no warning to me in the + whispering wind. Some men would have heard all sorts of + sounds on such a night, but I am not built that way I + suppose. Anyway, I heard nothing until, half an hour before + dawn, a voice jarred my ear with the news that "there was + something on, and I'd better fly round pretty sharp if I did + not mean to miss it."</p> + + <p>By the light of my lantern I saddled my horse, and + snatched a hasty cup of coffee and a mouthful of biscuit, and + as the little band of Tasmanians moved from Rensburg I rode + with them. Where they were going, or what their mission, I + did not know, but I guessed it was to be no picnic. The + quiet, resolute manner of the officers, the hushed voices, + the set, stern faces of the young soldiers, none of whom had + ever been under fire before, all told me that there was blood + in the air, so I asked no questions, and sat tight in my + saddle. As the daylight broke over the far-stretching veldt, + I saw that two other correspondents were with the party, + viz., Reay, of the Melbourne <i>Herald</i>, and Lambie, poor, + ill-fated Lambie, of the <i>Melbourne Age</i>. For a couple + of hours we trotted along without incident of any kind, then + we halted at a farmhouse, the name of which I have forgotten. + There we found Captain Cameron encamped with the rest of the + Tasmanians, and after a short respite the troops moved + outward again, Captain Cameron in command; we had about + eighty men, all of whom were mounted.</p> + + <p>As we rode off I heard the order given for every man to + "sit tight and keep his eyes open." Then our scouts put spurs + to their horses and dashed away on either wing, skirting the + kopjes and screening the main body, and so for another hour + we moved without seeing or hearing anything to cause us + trouble. By this time we had got into a kind of huge basin, + the kopjes were all round us, but the veldt was some miles in + extent. I knew at a glance that if the Boers were in force + our little band was in for a bad time, as an enemy hidden in + those hills could watch our every movement on the plain, note + just where we intended to try and pass through the chain of + hills, and attack us with unerring certainty and suddenness. + All at once one of our scouts, who had been riding far out on + our left flank, came flying in with the news that the enemy + was in the kopjes in front of us, and he further added that + he thought they intended to surround our party if possible. + Captain Cameron ordered the men to split into two parties, + one to move towards the kopjes on our right; the other to + fall back and protect our retreat, if such a move became + necessary. Mr. Lambie and I decided to move on with the + advance party, and at a hard gallop we moved away towards a + line of kopjes that seemed higher than any of the others in + the belt. As we neared those hills it seemed to us that there + were no Boers in possession, and that nothing would come of + the ride after all, and we drew bridle and started to discuss + the situation. At that time we were not far from the edge of + some kopjes, which, though lying low, were covered with rocky + boulders and low scrub.</p> + + <p>We had drifted a few hundred yards behind the advance + party, but were a good distance in front of the rearguard, + when a number of horsemen made a dash from the kopjes which + we were skirting, and the rifles began to speak. There was no + time for poetry; it was a case of "sit tight and ride hard," + or surrender and be made prisoners. Lambie shouted to me: + "Let's make a dash, Hales," and we made it. The Boers were + very close to us before we knew anything concerning their + presence. Some of them were behind us, and some extended + along the edge of the kopjes by which we had to pass to get + to the British line in front, all of them were galloping in + on us, shooting as they rode, and shouting to us to + surrender, and, had we been wise men, we would have thrown up + our hands, for it was almost hopeless to try and ride through + the rain of lead that whistled around us. It was no wonder we + were hit; the wonder to me is that we were not filled with + lead, for some of the bullets came so close to me that I + think I should know them again if I met them in a + shop-window. We were racing by this time, Lambie's big + chestnut mare had gained a length on my little veldt pony, + and we were not more than a hundred yards away from the + Mauser rifles that had closed in on us from the kopjes. A + voice called in good English: "Throw up your hands, you d—— + fools." But the galloping fever was on us both, and we only + crouched lower on our horses' backs, and rode all the harder, + for even a barn-yard fowl loves liberty.</p> + + <p>All at once I saw my comrade throw his hands up with a + spasmodic gesture. He rose in his stirrups, and fairly + bounded high out of his saddle, and as he spun round in the + air I saw the red blood on the white face, and I knew that + death had come to him sudden and sharp. Again the rifles + spoke, and the lead was closer to me than ever a friend + sticks in time of trouble, and I knew in my heart that the + next few strides would settle things. The black pony was + galloping gamely under my weight. Would he carry me safely + out of that line of fire, or would he fail me? Suddenly + something touched me on the right temple; it was not like a + blow; it was not a shock; for half a second I was conscious. + I knew I was hit; knew that the reins had fallen from my + nerveless hands, knew that I was lying down upon my horse's + back, with my head hanging below his throat. Then all the + world went out in one mad whirl. Earth and heaven seemed to + meet as if by magic. My horse seemed to rise with me, not to + fall, and then—chaos.</p> + + <p>When next I knew I was still on this planet I found myself + in the saddle again, riding between two Boers, who were + supporting me in the saddle as I swayed from side to side. + There was a halt; a man with a kindly face took my head in + the hollow of his arm, whilst another poured water down my + throat. Then they carried me to a shady spot beneath some + shrubbery, and laid me gently down. One man bent over me and + washed the blood that had dried on my face, and then + carefully bound up my wounded temple. I began to see things + more plainly—a blue sky above me; a group of rough, hardy + men, all armed with rifles, around me. I saw that I was a + prisoner, and when I tried to move I soon knew I was + damaged.</p> + + <p>The same good-looking young fellow with the curly beard + bent over me again. "Feel any better now, old fellow?" I + stared hard at the speaker, for he spoke like an Englishman, + and a well-educated one, too. "Yes, I'm better. I'm a + prisoner, ain't I?" "Yes." "Are you an Englishman?" I asked. + He laughed. "Not I," he said, "I'm a Boer born and bred, and + I am the man who bowled you over. What on earth made you do + such a fool's trick as to try and ride from our rifles at + that distance?" "Didn't think I was welcome in these parts." + "Don't make a jest of it, man," the Boer said gravely; + "rather thank God you are a living man this moment. It was + His hand that saved you; nothing else could have done so." He + spoke reverently; there was no cant in the sentiment he + uttered—his face was too open, too manly, too fearless for + hypocrisy. "How long is it since I was knocked over?" "About + three hours." "Is my comrade dead?" "Quite dead," the Boer + replied; "death came instantly to him. He was shot through + the brain." "Poor beggar!" I muttered, "and he'll have to rot + on the open veldt, I suppose?"</p> + + <p>The Boer leader's face flushed angrily. "Do you take us + for savages?" he said. "Rest easy. Your friend will get + decent burial. What was his rank?" "War correspondent." "And + your own?" "War correspondent also. My papers are in my + pocket somewhere." "Sir," said the Boer leader, "you dress + exactly like two British officers; you ride out with a + fighting party, you try to ride off at a gallop under the + very muzzles of our rifles when we tell you to surrender. You + can blame no one but yourselves for this day's work." "I + blame no man; I played the game, and am paying the penalty." + Then they told me how poor Lambie's horse had swerved between + myself and them after Lambie had fallen, then they saw me + fall forward in the saddle, and they knew I was hit. A few + strides later one of them had sent a bullet through my + horse's head, and he had rolled on top of me. Yet, with it + all, I had escaped with a graze over the right temple and a + badly knocked-up shoulder. Truly, as the Boer said, the hand + of God must have shielded me.</p> + + <p>For a day and a half I lay at that laager whilst our + wounded men were brought in, and here I should like to say a + word to the people of England. Our men, when wounded, are + treated by the Boers with manly gentleness and kind + consideration. When we left the laager in an open trolly, we, + some half-dozen Australians, and about as many Boers, all + wounded, were driven for some hours to a small hospital, the + name of which I do not know. It was simply a farmhouse turned + into a place for the wounded. On the road thither we called + at many farms, and at every one men, women, and children came + out to see us. Not one taunting word was uttered in our + hearing, not one braggart sentence passed their lips. Men + brought us cooling drinks, or moved us into more comfortable + positions on the trolly. Women, with gentle fingers, shifted + bandages, or washed wounds, or gave us little dainties that + come so pleasant in such a time; whilst the little children + crowded round us with tears running down their cheeks as they + looked upon the bloodstained khaki clothing of the wounded + British. Let no man or woman in all the British Empire whose + son or husband lies wounded in the hands of the Boers fear + for his welfare, for it is a foul slander to say that the + Boers do not treat their wounded well. England does not treat + her own men better than the Boers treat the wounded British, + and I am writing of that which I have seen and know beyond + the shadow of a doubt.</p> + + <p>From the little farmhouse hospital I was sent on in an + ambulance train to the hospital at Springfontein, where all + the nurses and medical staff are foreigners, all of them + trained and skilful. Even the nurses had a soldierly air + about them. Here everything was as clean as human industry + could make it, and the hospital was worked like a piece of + military mechanism. I only had a day or two here, and then I + was sent by train in an ambulance carriage to the capital of + the Orange Free State, and here I am in Bloemfontein + Hospital. There are a lot of our wounded here, both officers + and men, some of whom have been here for months.</p> + + <p>I have made it my business to get about amongst the + private soldiers, to question them concerning the treatment + they have received since the moment the Mauser rifles tumbled + them over, and I say emphatically that in every solitary + instance, without one single exception, our countrymen + declare that they have been grandly treated. Not by the + hospital nurses only, not by the officials alone, but by the + very men whom they were fighting. Our "Tommies" are not the + men to waste praise on any men unless it is well deserved, + but this is just about how "Tommy" sums up the situation:</p> + + <p>"The Boer is a rough-looking beggar in the field, 'e don'tt + wear no uniform, 'nd 'e don't know enough about soldiers' + drill to keep himself warm, but 'e can fight in 'is own + bloomin' style, which ain't our style. If 'e'd come out on + the veldt, 'nd fight us our way, we'd lick 'im every time, + but when it comes to fightin' in the kopjes, why, the Boer is + a dandy, 'nd if the rest of Europe don't think so, only let + 'em have a try at 'im 'nd see. But when 'e has shot you he + acts like a blessed Christian, 'nd bears no malice. 'E's like + a bloomin' South Sea cocoanut, not much to look at outside, + but white 'nd sweet inside when yer know 'im, 'nd it's when + you're wounded 'nd a prisoner that you get a chance to know + 'im, see." And "Tommy" is about correct in his judgment.</p> + + <p>The Boers have made most excellent provision for the + treatment of wounded after battle. All that science can do is + done. Their medical men fight as hard to save a British life + or a British limb as medical men in England would battle to + save life or limb of a private person. At the Bloemfontein + Hospital everything is as near perfection, from a medical and + surgical point, as any sane man can hope to see. It is an + extensive institution. One end is set apart for the Boer + wounded, the other for the British. No difference is made + between the two in regard to accommodation—food, medical + attendance, nursing, or visiting. Ministers of religion come + and go daily—almost hourly—at both ends. Our men, when able + to walk, are allowed to roam around the grounds, but, of + course, are not allowed to go beyond the gates, being + prisoners of war. Concerning our matron (Miss M.M. Young) and + nurses, all I can say is that they are gentlewomen of the + highest type, of whom any nation in the world might well be + proud.</p> + + <p>I have met one or two old friends since I came here, + notably Lieutenant Bowling, of the Australian Horse, who is + now able to get about, and is cheerful and jolly. Lieutenant + Bowling has his right thumb shot off, and had a terribly + close call for his life, a Mauser bullet going into his head + alongside his right eye, and coming out just in front of the + right ear. His friends need not be anxious concerning him; he + is quite out of danger, and he and I have killed a few + tedious hours blowing tobacco smoke skywards, and chatting + about life in far off Australia. Another familiar face was + that of an English private, named Charles Laxen, of the + Northumberlands, who was wounded at Stormberg. I am told that + he displayed excellent pluck before he was laid out, firstly + by a piece of shell on the side of the head, and, later, by a + Mauser bullet through the left knee. He is getting along + O.K., but will never see service as a soldier again on + account of the wounded leg.</p> + + <p>I had written to the President of the Orange Free State, + asking him to grant me my liberty on the ground that I was a + non-combatant. Yesterday Mr. Steyn courteously sent his + private secretary and carriage to the hospital with an + intimation that I should be granted an interview. I was + accordingly driven down to what I believe was the Stadt + House. In Australia we should term it the Town Hall. The + President met me, and treated me very courteously, and, after + chatting over my capture and the death of my friend, he + informed me that I might have my liberty as soon as I + considered myself sufficiently recovered to travel. He + offered me a pass <i>viâ</i> Lourenço Marques, + but I pointed out that if I were sent that way I should be so + far away from my work as to be practically useless to my + paper. The President explained to me that it was not his wish + nor the desire of his colleagues to hamper me in any way in + regard to my work. "What we want more than anything else," + remarked the President, "is that the world shall know the + truth, and nothing but the truth, in reference to this most + unhappy war, and we will not needlessly place obstruction in + your way in your search for facts; if we can by any means + place you in the British lines we will do so. If we find it + impossible to do that you must understand that there is some + potent reason for it." So I let that question drop, feeling + satisfied that everything that a sensible man has a right to + ask would be done on my behalf.</p> + + <p>President Steyn is a man of a notable type. He is a big + man physically, tall and broad, a man of immense strength, + but very gentle in his manner, as so many exceptionally + strong men are. He has a typical Dutch face, calm, strong, + and passionless. A man not easily swayed by outside agencies; + one of those persons who think long and earnestly before + embarking upon a venture, but, when once started, no human + agency would turn him back from the line of conduct he had + mapped out for himself. He is no ignorant back-block + politician, but a refined, cultured gentleman, who knows the + full strength of the British Empire; and, knowing it, he has + defied it in all its might, and will follow his convictions + to the bitter end, no matter what that end may be. He + introduced me to a couple of gentlemen whose names are very + dear to the Free Staters, viz., Messrs. Fraser and Fischer, + and whilst the interview lasted nothing was talked of but the + war, and it struck me very forcibly that not one of those men + had any hatred in their hearts towards the British people. + "This," said the President, "is not a war between us and the + British people on any question of principle; it is a war + forced upon us by a band of capitalistic adventurers, who + have hoodwinked the British public and dragged them into an + unholy, an unjust struggle with a people whose only desire + was to live at peace with all men. We do not hate your + nation; we do not hate your soldiers, though they fight + against us; but we do hate and despise the men who have + brought a cruel war upon us for their own evil ends, whilst + they try to cloak their designs in a mantle of righteousness + and liberty." I may not have given the exact words of the + President, as I am writing from memory, but I think I have + given his exact sentiments; and, if I am any judge of human + nature, the love of his country is the love of his life.</p> + </div> + <a id="page029" name="page029"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>"STOPPING A FEW."</h2> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>I saw him first, years ago upon a station in New South + Wales; a neat, smart figure less than nine stone in weight, + but it was nine stone of fencing wire full of the electricity + of life. He was in the stockyard when I first saw him, + working like any ordinary station hand, for it was the busy + portion of the year, and at such times the squatters' sons + work like any hired hand, only a lot harder, if they are + worth their salt, and have not been bitten by the mania for + dudeism during their college course in the cities. There was + nothing of the dandy about this fellow. From head to heel he + was a man's son, full of the vim of living, strong with the + lust of life. The sweat ran down his face, dirty with thet + dust kicked up by the cattle in the stockyard. His clothes + were not guiltless of mire, for he had been knocked over more + than once that morning, and there was an edge upon his voice + as he rapped out his orders to the stockmen who were working + with him. He did not look in the least degree pretty, and + there was not enough poetry about him just then to make an + obituary jingle on a tombstone. I little thought that day + that a time would come when he would prove the glory of his + Australian breeding in the teeth of an enemy's guns on + African soil.</p> + + <p>I saw him again—under silk this time—as a gentleman + rider. He was the same quiet, cool little fellow, grey-eyed, + steel-lipped, stout-hearted, with "hands" that Archer might + have envied. He rode at his fences that day as the Australian + amateurs can ride, with a rip and a rattle, with the long, + loose leg, the hands well down, and head up and back, and + "Over or Through" was his motto. I did not know him to speak + to in those old days. We were to shake hands under peculiar + circumstances away in a foreign land, in a foreign hospital, + both of us prisoners of war, both of us wounded. That was + where and how I spoke to little Dowling, lieutenant in the + First Australian Horse, as game a sample of humanity as ever + threw leg over saddle or loosed a rifle at a foe. He came to + my bedside the morning after I entered the hospital, and + standing over me with a green shade over one eye, and one + hand in a sling, said laconically:</p> + + <p>"Australian ain't you?"</p> + + <p>"Yes, by gad, and I know you." He reached out his left + hand, and placed it in mine.</p> + + <p>"Been 'stopping one'?" he remarked.</p> + + <p>"Only a graze, thank God," I replied.</p> + + <p>Then the matron and the German doctor, as fine a gentleman + as ever drew breath, came along to have a look at me, and he + was turned out; but we chummed, as Australians have a knack + of doing in time of trouble, and I tried hard to get him to + talk of his adventures, but he was a mummy on that subject. + He would not yarn about his own doings on the fateful day + when he was laid out, though he was eloquent enough + concerning the doings of his comrades. All I could get out of + him in regard to his own part in the fray was that his men + and he had been ambushed, and that he had "stopped one" with + his head, and one with his hand, and another with his leg, + his horse had been killed, and he knew mighty little more + about it until he found himself in the hands of the Boers, + who had treated him well and kindly. I asked the matron about + his wounds, and she told me that a bullet had entered the + corner of his right eye, coming out by the right ear, ruining + the sight for ever. Another had carried away his right thumb, + and a couple had passed through his right leg, one just below + the groin, another 'just above the knee. That was what he + modestly termed "stopping a few."</p> + + <p>After I had been in hospital a little while, the matron + gave me leave to prowl about to pick up "copy," and my feet + soon led me into the ward where the wounded Dutchmen were + lying, and there I met a couple of burghers who had been in + the <i>mêlée</i> when Dowling was gathered in. + One of them was a handsome Swede, with a long blonde + moustache, that fell with a glorious sweep on to his chest, + as the Viking's did of old. He was an adventurer, who knew + how to take his gruel like a man. He had joined the Boers + because he thought they were the weaker side, and had done + his best for them. He saw Dowling talking to me one day, and + asked me if I knew the "little devil." "Yes," I replied, "we + are countrymen." "Americans?" he asked. "No, Australians." He + raised himself on his elbow, whilst I propped his shoulders + up with pillows, and as he remained thus he gazed admiringly + at the slight, boyish figure which limped lazily through the + ward. "What a little tiger cat he is," muttered the recumbent + giant. "I thought we'd have to kill him before we got him, + and that would have been a shame, for I hate to kill brave + men when they have no chance." "Tell me about it," I said. + "He won't give me any information himself, only tells me he + 'stopped a few.'" The big, handsome Swede laughed a mighty + laugh under his great blonde moustache.</p> + + <p>"Stopped a few, did he? If all your fellows fought it out + to the bitter end as he did, we should run short of + ammunition before the war was very old."</p> + + <p>A Boer nurse came over and asked us "what nonsense we made + one with the other, that we did laugh to ourselves like two + hens clucking over one egg." The blonde giant turned his + joyous blue eyes upon her, and paid her a compliment which + caused her to bridle, whilst the blood swept like a + race-horse in its stride over neck, and cheek, and brow, + causing her dainty, girlish face to look prettier than ever. + "Ah, little Eckhardt," he whispered, and then murmured + something in Dutch. I did not understand the words, but there + was something in the sound of the adventurer's voice which + conjured up a moonlit garden, a rose-crowned gate swinging on + one hinge, a girl on one side and a fool on the other. The + nurse tossed her pretty head with its wealth of jet black + hair, and as she smoothed his pillows with infinite care she + murmured: "Fighting and making love, making love and + fighting—it is all one to you, Karl. I know you, you big + pirate; you are as a hen that lays away from home." And with + that round of shrapnel she left us.</p> + + <p>Karl got rid of a fourteen-pound sigh, which sounded like + the bursting of a lyddite shell. Then he slipped his hand + under his pillow and drew forth a flask of "Dop." "Drink to + her," he said. "To whom?" I asked, falling in with the humour + of the man. "To the girl I love," he muttered like a + schoolboy. "Which one, Karl?" I asked, and I laughed as I + spoke. He snatched the brandy from my hand, lifted the flask + to his lips, and drank deeply. Then again his mighty laugh + ran through the hospital ward. "Which one? " he said; "why, + all of them, God bless them. But the maid that is nearest is + always the dearest." "Shut up, you Goth," I said, "and tell + me about Dowling, for some day I shall write the story, and I + would like to hear it from the lips of one of his enemies." + The Swede lay back upon his pillow, stroking the golden horns + of hair that fell each side of his mouth, and I noticed that + the lips which a little time before had been smiling into the + face of the nurse were now hard set and stern. So I could + have imagined him standing by the side of his gun, or rushing + headlong on to our ranks. A man with a mouth like that could + not flinch in the hour of peril if he tried, for his jaw had + the Kitchener grip, the antithesis of the parrot pout of the + dandy, or the flabby fulness of the fool.</p> + + <p>"It was in the fore part of the day," he said at length. + "We had been posted snugly overnight on both sides of two + ranges of kopjes, for we knew that your fellows were going to + attempt a reconnaissance next day. How did we know? you ask. + Well, comrade, ask no questions of that kind, and I'll tell + you no lies. The truth I won't tell you.</p> + + <p>But we knew, and we were ready. We were disappointed when + we saw the force, for we had expected something much bigger, + and had made arrangements for a larger capture. It was only a + troop of Australian Horse that came our way, and 'the little + devil' was riding at their head. We bided our time, hoping + that he might be followed by more men, and, above all, we + expected and wanted some guns; but they did not put in an + appearance, so we loosed upon the little troop. They were + fairly ambushed; they did not know that a rifle was within + miles of them until the bullets were singing through their + ranks. Horses plunged suddenly forward, reared, lurched now + to the near side, now to the off, then blundered forward on + their heads, for many of our men fired at the chargers + instead of at the riders. Dowling's horse went down with a + bullet between the flap of the saddle and the crease of the + shoulder, and the little chap went spinning over his head + amongst the rocks. But a good many saddles were empty. He was + up in a moment, yelling to his men to ride for their lives, + and they rode. We charged from cover, and rode down on the + men who had fallen, and as we closed in on them your + countryman lifted his rifle and loosed on us.</p> + + <p>"One of our fellows took a flying shot at him at close + quarters, for his rifle was talking the language of death, + and that is a tongue no man likes to listen to. The bit of + lead took him in the eye and came out by his ear, and down he + went. But he climbed up in a moment, and his rifle was going + to his shoulder again, when I fired to break his arm, and + carried his thumb away—the thumb of the right hand, I think. + The rifle clattered on to the rocks, but as we drew round him + he pulled his revolver with his one good hand, and started to + pot us. He looked a gamecock as he stood there in the + sunlight, his face all bathed in blood, and his shattered + hand hanging numbed beside him. So we gave him a couple in + the legs to steady him, and down by his dead horse he went; + but even then he was as eager for fight as a grass widow is + for compliments, and it was not until Jan Viljoens jammed the + butt of his rifle on the crown of his head that he stretched + himself out and took no further part in that circus. We + carried him into our lines, and handed him over to our + medical man, though even as we gathered him up our scouts + came galloping in to tell us that a big body of British + troops were advancing to cut us off from our main body. But + we knew that if we left him until your ambulance people found + him, it was a million to one that he would bleed to death + amongst the rocks, and he was too good a fighter and too + brave a fellow to be left to a fate like that. Had he shown + the white feather we might have left him to the + asvogels."</p> + + <p>"And so," said I, "that is how little Dowling, son of + Australia, came, as he said, 'to stop a few' for the sake of + his breeding. If I live, the men out in the sunny Southland + shall hear how he did it, and his name shall be known round + the gold-hunters' camp fires, and be mentioned with pride + where the cattle drovers foregather to talk of the African + war and the men who fought and fell there."</p> + </div> + <a id="page038" name="page038"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>AUSTRALIA AT THE WAR.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>ENSLIN CAMP.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Lately I have been over a very considerable tract of + country in the saddle. I might remain at one spot and glean + the information from various sources, but do not care to do + my business in that manner, simply because one is then at the + mercy of one's informants. I find it quite hard enough to get + at the truth even when it is personally sought for. It is + really astounding how lies increase and multiply as they + spread from camp to camp. At one spot a fellow ventilates an + opinion that a big battle will be fought next day at a + certain spot; some other person catches a portion of the + conversation, and promptly tells his neighbour that a big + battle has taken place at the spot mentioned. A little later + a passing train pulls up at that camp, and a party possessing + a picturesque and vivid imagination at once informs the guard + that a fearful fight has occurred, in which a General, a + Colonel, twelve subs., and six hundred men have been killed + on our side, with fourteen hundred wounded and nine hundred + prisoners. The Boer losses are generally estimated at + something like five times that number.</p> + + <p>The guard tells the tale later on to some traveller, who + embellishes it, and passes it along as a fact. He goes into + details, tells harrowing stories concerning hair-raising + escapes from shot and shell. He splashes the surrounding + rocks with gouts of blood, and then shudders dismally at the + sight his fancy has conjured up. When the thrilled listener + has refreshed the tale-teller from his whisky flask, the + romancist takes up the thread of his narrative once more, and + tells how the Lancers thundered over the shivering veldts in + pursuit of flying hordes of foemen, and for awhile, like some + graveyard ghoul, he revels in the moans of the dying and the + blood of the slain. Another pull at the flask sets him going + again like clockwork, and he makes a vivid picture out of the + thunder of the guns as our gallant (they are always gallant) + fellows bombarded the enemy from the heights.</p> + + <p>Then he switches off from the artillery, and tells a + blood-curdling tale of Boer treachery and cowardice. He tells + how the enemy held out the white flag to coax our men to stop + firing. Then, in awe-inspiring tones, he sobs forth a tale of + dark and dismal war, how our soldiers respected the white + flag and rested on their arms, only to be mowed down by a + withering rifle fire from the canaille who represent the + enemy in the field. Having got so far, he does not feel + justified in stopping until he has thrown in some flowery + language concerning a Boer cannonade upon British ambulance + waggons, full of wounded; from that he drifts by easy and + natural stages to Dum-Dum bullets, and the robbing of the + wounded, and insults to the slain. And that is very often the + person who is quoted in newspaper interviews—as a gentleman + who was an eye-witness, and etc., etc., etc.</p> + + <p>And yet, for some reason which I have been unable to + gauge, the military authorities talk of sending all + correspondents away from the front. It seems to me that it + would be far better to give <i>bonâ fide</i> newspaper + men every reasonable opportunity of discovering the truth + instead of hampering them in any way. I fail to see why Great + Britain and her Colonies should be kept in the dark + concerning the progress of the war, for all the foreign + Powers will be well supplied with information from the Boer + lines; and, if we are blocked, some at least of the British + newspapers will most assuredly go to foreign sources for + news, if they are not allowed to obtain it for themselves. + Others will content themselves with news gathered haphazard, + and the last state of the Army, as far as the public mind is + concerned, will be far worse than the first.</p> + + <p>Colonel Hoad, who commands the Australians at Enslin, has + offered the seven hundred and sixteen men, who up to date + have acted as infantry, to the authorities as mounted + infantry, and the offer has been accepted, much to the + delight of the men, all of whom are very eager to get into + the saddle, as they imagine that when their mounts arrive + they will get a chance to go into action. They have been + practising horsemanship during the day, and did fairly well, + as many of them are expert riders, many more are fair; but a + few of them are more at home on a sand-heap than in a saddle. + There are not many of the latter kind, however. They will + soon knock into shape, for Colonel Hoad hates the sight of a + slovenly horseman as badly as a duck hates a dust storm. He + is an untiring rider himself, and will work the beggars who + cannot ride until they can.</p> + + <p>After the arrival in Capetown of the two celebrated + soldiers, Lords Roberts and Kitchener, I made it my business + to converse with as many Boers as possible in regard to the + two Generals, and was astonished to find how much they knew + concerning them. How, and from whom, they get information + passes my comprehension, but the fact remains that they knew + all over the country as soon, if not sooner, than we did that + our great leaders had arrived. They do not seem to fear them, + though they invariably speak of them as wonderful soldiers. + "God and Oom Paul Kruger will look after us," is their creed. + Their faith in President Kruger is simply boundless. Not only + do they fancy that he is a man of dauntless courage, great + sagacity, and indomitable will, but they really seem to think + that he has God's special blessing concerning this war.</p> + + <p>He is to the Boers what Mahomet was to the wild tribesmen + of Arabia, and it is as impossible to shake their faith in + him as it would be to shake their faith in the story of Mount + Calvary. It is all very well for a certain class of writers + to attempt to cast unbounded ridicule upon these men and + their leader, but it is not by ridicule that they can be + conquered. It is not by contemptuous utterances or by untrue + reports that they can be overcome. It is not by belittling + them that we can raise ourselves in the eyes of the men of + to-day or ennoble ourselves upon the pages of history. It + would be conduct more in accordance with the traditions of a + great nation if we gave them credit for the virtues they + possess and the courage they display.</p> + + <p>It is hard to drag any sort of information from a Boer, + whether bond or free, but from what I can pick up they are + perfectly satisfied with what they have done up to date. They + think that President Kruger has astonished the world, and + they wag their heads, and give one to understand that the + same old gentleman has a good many more surprises in store + for us. It is impossible to get a direct statement of any + kind from them, but by patching fragments together I incline + to the opinion that they really count on Cape Colony rising + when Kruger wants a rising. Personally, from my own limited + observations, I would not give a fig of tobacco for the + alleged loyalty of the Cape Colony. If I am correct, this + "surprise" will give the enemy an additional force of 45,000 + men, most of whom will be found able to ride well and shoot + straight.</p> + + <p>It is nonsense to say that they will only form a mob + destitute of discipline and unprovided with officers. They + will not be a mob, they will be guerilla soldiers of the same + type that the North and South in America provided, and they + will take a lot of whipping at their own peculiar tactics. As + for officers—well, up to date, they have not gone short of + them. It is true they do not bear the hallmark of any modern + university, but they know how to lead men into battle, all + the same. They wear no uniforms, neither do they adorn + themselves with any of the stylish trappings of war, but they + are brainy, resourceful men, highly useful if not ornamental. + Like Oliver Cromwell's hard-faced "Roundheads," they are the + children of a great emergency, not much to look at, but full + of a "get there" quality, which many school-bred soldiers + lack entirely.</p> + + <p>I rode down to Belmont a couple of days ago, and had a + look at the Canadians and Queenslanders, who are quartered + there. They are all in excellent health and spirits, and seem + to be just about hungry for a fight. The Munsters, who are + quartered there, are simply spoiling for a brush with the + enemy, and seem to be as full of ginger as any men I have + ever seen.</p> + + <p>And every one of them with whom I conversed—and I chatted + with a good many of the burly young Irishmen—expressed a + keen desire to meet in open fight the Irish brigade now + fighting on the side of the Boers. Should it ever come to + pass during the progress of the war, I devoutly hope that I + may be handy to witness the struggle. It will not be a + long-range fight if I am any judge of men and things; it will + be settled at close quarters, and the "baynit and the butt" + will play a prominent part in the + <i>mêlée</i>.</p> + + <p>A few of our New Zealand fellows got to close quarters + with the enemy recently up Colesberg way, and they did just + as we knew they would when it came to the crossing of steel. + The Boers stormed the position, and the New Zealanders joined + in the bayonet charge which drove them back. Our men had a + couple killed and one or two wounded. The enemy left a + goodish number of dead on the field when they retired, about + thirty of whom met their fate at the bayonet's point. The + British losses were small. There was nothing remarkable about + the behaviour of the New Zealanders in action; they simply + did coolly and well what they were ordered to do, and proved + that they are quite as good fighting material as anything the + Old Country can produce. The gravest misfortune which has yet + befallen any of the Australians happened at the same + locality, when eighteen New South Welshmen allowed themselves + to be pinned in a tight place. Eight escaped, but the others + are either prisoners or killed. We do not like the surrender + business, and would rather see our men do as their fathers + and grandfathers used to do—bite the motto, "No surrender," + into the butts of their rifles with their teeth, and fight + their way out of a hot corner. There has been a good deal too + much of this throwing up of arms during the present campaign, + and I hope that we shall hear less of it in the future.</p> + + <p>We had a nasty night here at Enslin. Word reached our + headquarters that three thousand mounted Boers were on the + move towards our camp, which, for strategic purposes, is the + most important between Methuen's column and De Aar. If the + enemy could take Enslin they could make things very awkward + for General Methuen, because they would then have him between + two fires. As soon as the news came our fellows, with the + Gordons, were ordered to occupy the surrounding heights. All + night long, and well on into the day, we held them until we + learned that the enemy had decided not to attack us. Had they + done so they would have paid bitterly for their rashness, for + the place is practically impregnable. A thousand resolute and + skilful men, who knew how to use both rifle and bayonet, + could hold the place against 20,000 of the finest troops in + the world, providing the defenders were not hopelessly + crushed by an immense artillery force.</p> + + <p>General Hector Macdonald went through here the other day + to take the command of the Highland Brigade, in the place of + the late General Wauchope. The "Scots" who were with us lined + up and gave the General a thrilling welcome, whilst our + fellows, who are not usually demonstrative, crowded around + the railway line to get a look at the brilliant soldier who, + by sheer merit, dauntless pluck, and iron resolution, forced + his way from the ranks to the high place he holds. The + Australians had expected to see a gaunt, prematurely aged + man, war-worn and battle-broken, and were surprised to see a + dashing, gallant-looking man, who might in appearance + comfortably have passed for five-and-thirty. The grey-clad + men, in soft slouch hats, from the land of the Southern + Cross, lounging about with pipes in their teeth, did not + break into hysterical cheering—they are not built that way; + they simply looked at the man whose full history every one of + them knew as well as he knew the way into the front door of a + "pub." But their flashing eyes and clenched hands told in + language more eloquent than a salvo of cheers that this was + their ideal man, the man they would follow rifle in hand up + the brimstone heights of hell itself, if need be; aye, and + stand sentry there until the day of judgment, if Hector + Macdonald gave the order.</p> + </div> + <a id="page048" name="page048"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>AUSTRALIA ON THE MOVE.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>RENSBURG.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>A complete change has come to the Australians who are in + Africa under Colonel Hoad. We have left General Methuen's + column, and joined that of General French. Formerly we were + at Enslin, within sound of the guns that were fired daily at + Magersfontein; now we are two hundred and twenty miles away, + and are within easy patrolling distance of Colesberg.</p> + + <p>Before we left Methuen's column we had one small night + affair, which, however, did not amount to a great deal, + though it has been very much exaggerated in local newspaper + circles, and will, I fear, be unduly boomed in some of the + Australian journals. The whole affair simply amounted to + this. One hundred of the Victorian Mounted Rifles went out to + make a demonstration towards Sunnyside, in Cape Colony, where + a number of rebels were known to congregate. A hundred + Queenslanders and Canadians were with them, when a corporal + and a trooper of the Victorians saw an unarmed Boer and a + nigger riding towards them in the twilight. The Boer, as soon + as he was challenged, wheeled his horse and rode off at a + gallop; our men rode after the runaway, but would not fire + upon the white man because they thought he was simply a + farmer who had got rather a bad scare at meeting armed + men.</p> + + <p>The Boer, however, played a deep game; he rode for a bit + of a rise composed of broken ground, where, unknown to our + scouts, a party of rebels lay concealed. As soon as the + flying rebel was in safety the Boers opened fire, shooting + Peter Falla, the trooper, twice through the arm, one bullet + entering a few inches below the shoulder, the other + shattering the bone a little way above the elbow. The + corporal got away safely, taking his wounded comrade with + him. Our fellows rode out and swept the veldt for miles, but + saw no more of the enemy. So ended what has grandiloquently + been termed "an Australian engagement," which, I may add, is + just the kind of flapdoodle our troopers do not want. What + they most desire on earth at present is an opportunity to + show what they are made of. They don't want cheap newspaper + puffs, nor laudatory speeches from generals. They want to get + into grip with the enemy, and, as an Australian, let me say + now that Imperial federation will get a greater shock by + keeping these fine fellows out of action than by anything + else that could happen under heaven. They did not come here + on a picnic party, they did not come for a circus; they don't + want a lot of maudlin sentiment wasted on them whilst they + stay out of the firing line to mind the jam, or give the + African girls a treat.</p> + + <p>Mr. Chamberlain has made a good many mistakes in regard to + the war, mistakes that will live in history when his very + name is forgotten, but he need not add to them by alienating + Australian sentiment by coddling men who came across the + Indian Ocean to prove to the whole world that on the field of + battle they are as good as their sires. Our fellows have got + hold of a rumour (the prophets only could tell whence camp + rumours originate) that instructions have been received from + England that they are to be kept out of danger, and a madder + lot of men you could not find anywhere between here and + Tophet. They wanted to send a petition to Lord Roberts asking + to be allowed to face the enemy, but though the officers are + quite as sore as the men, they could not permit such a breach + of discipline. So now the men ease their feelings by jeering + at each other.</p> + + <p>"What are we here fer, Bill?"</p> + + <p>"Oh, get yer head felt; any fool knows why we are here. + There's a blessed marmalade factory somewhere about, and we + are going to mind it whilst the British Tommy does the + fighting."</p> + + <p>"Marmalade be d——!" chirruped a voice down the lines. + "Think they'd trust us to look after anything so + important?"</p> + + <p>"Oh, you're a blessed prophet, you are," snarls the little + bugler. "P'raps you'll tell us what our game is."</p> + + <p>"Easy enough, little 'un. Our officers 've got to practise + making mud maps in the dust with a stick, and we've got to + fool around and keep the flies away."</p> + + <p>"I suppose they'll keep us at this till the war's over, + and then send us to England, 'nd give us a bloomin' medal, + 'nd tell us then we are gory, crimson heroes. Ugh!" grunts a + big West Australian with a face like a nightmare, and a voice + that comes out of his chest with a sound like a steam saw + coming through a wet log.</p> + + <p>"Don't know about England 'nd the medal, 'Beauty,'" + chirrups a Sydney gunner, "but I know what they'll give us in + Australia if we go back without a fight."</p> + + <p>"P'raps it'll be a mansion, or a sheep station, or a stud + of racehorses," meekly suggests a tired-looking South + Australian, with a derisive twist of his under lip.</p> + + <p>"No, they won't present us with a racing stud," lisps the + gunner, "but, by G——, they'll shy chaff enough at us to + keep all the bloomin' horses between 'ere and 'ell, and the + girls will send us a kid's feedin' bottle, as a mark of + feelin' and esteem, every Valentine's Day for ten years to + come, because of the glorious name we made for Australia on + the bloody fields of war in Africa."</p> + + <p>"Fields o' war—fields o' whisky 'nd watermelons! Oh, + d—— it! I'm going ter stop writing ter my girl before she + writes ter tell me that a white feather don't suit a girl's + complexion in Australia."</p> + + <p>He lifts his bugle, and sounds "Feed up" so savagely that + the horses strain on their leg ropes and kick themselves into + a lather as hot as their riders' tempers, the long, + loose-limbed troopers move off, cursing artistically in their + beards at the very thought of the roasting they will get from + the witty-tongued, red-lipped girls of Australia, when—</p> + </div> + + <table border="0" align="center" cellspacing="5" + cellpadding="5" summary="A poem"> + <tr> + <td>They cross the rolling ocean,<br /> + Back from the fields of war,<br /> + To show the British medal<br /> + They got for guarding a store.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>To show the British medal<br /> + On stations, towns, and farms,<br /> + They got for guarding the marmalade,<br /> + Far away from war's alarms.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>To show the British medal,<br /> + With a blush of angry shame,<br /> + For which they went to risk their lives<br /> + In young Australia's name.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>To show the British medal,<br /> + With a sneer that's half a sob,<br /> + Ere they pawn it to their uncle,<br /> + And go and drink the "bob."</td> + </tr> + </table> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>When we received notice to move away from Enslin down the + line through Graspan, Belmont, Orange River, to De Aar, our + fellows were naturally very wrathful; they had done splendid + work for many weeks up that way; they had dug trenches, sunk + wells, drilled unceasingly; they had watched the kopjes and + scoured the veldt, and all that they were told to do they did + like soldiers—readily and uncomplainingly. The cold nights + and the scorching days, the monotonous drudgery, found them + always ready and willing, because they believed that when the + order came for a great battle at Magersfontein, or an onward + march to Kimberley, they would be in the thick of it. But for + some reason, known only to those who gave the order, they + were sent away from the front, and they felt it keenly. From + De Aar they were sent on to Naauwpoort, and from this latter + place they were forwarded on to Rensburg.</p> + + <p>At Naauwpoort nearly all the Australians were mounted, and + now acted as mounted infantry. The horses supplied are Indian + ponies, formerly used by the Madras Cavalry. They are a + first-class lot of cattle, well suited to the work that lies + before them, and have evidently been selected by someone who + knows his business a good deal better than a great number of + his colleagues. General French inspected the men at Rensburg + during the first day or two, and seemed fairly well satisfied + with them, though, of course, they did not make a first-class + show in their initial efforts on horseback. A great number of + them rode well, but very few of them had ever gone through a + course of mounted drill, and it will take a week or two to + knock them into shape for this work; though, when once out of + the saddle, they are not in any way inferior to the best + British regiments I have seen. But they are keen to learn, + and very willing, so that I expect to see them make + wonderfully rapid strides towards efficiency as mounted men. + They seem to feel that their only chance to get a fight is to + become high grade soldiers, and to that end they will stand + all the work that can be crowded into them. I have no idea + what their future movements will be, nor do I think anyone + else connected with the regiment has; but one thing seems + certain, that sooner or later they will fall foul of the + enemy in small skirmishing parties, as the kopjes for a + length of twenty miles are infested by little bands of Boers, + who have a knack of disappearing as soon as a British force + draws near them, only, however, to crop up again in a fresh + place, a short distance away.</p> + + <p>For the Boer is a past master in this kind of warfare, and + knows how to play his own game to perfection. What the + Goorkha is in Indian warfare, so the Boer is in Africa. He + does not fight in our style, but that does not say that he + cannot fight, neither does it argue that he is devoid of + courage. As a matter of fact, the more I have seen of this + country, and note what the Boers have done in opposition to + all the might of Great Britain, the more I am impressed with + the idea that our alleged Intelligence Department wants + cutting down and burning root and branch, for it must have + been absolutely rotten, or unquestionably corrupt. We were + led by members of this Department to believe that the Boer + was a cowardly kind of veldt pariah, a degenerate offshoot of + a fine old parent stock. Well, the Boer is nothing of the + kind. He is not in any way degenerate. He is a good fighting + man, according to his lights. He does not wear a stand-up + collar, nor an eyeglass, nor spats to his veldtschoon. He + does not talk with a silly lisp or an inane drawl. Therefore, + the useless fellows whom Britain trusted with the important + task of watching him and sizing him up counted him as a boor + as well as a Boer—a mere country clod. But now, from the + rocky hills, these clods, these sons of semi-white savages, + laugh at us derisively, and answer our jeers with rifles that + know how to speak in a language that even the bravest of our + troops have learnt to understand—and respect.</p> + + <p>I have a keen recollection of the last Franco-Prussian + War. I remember how the English newspapers ridiculed the + French military authorities because, whilst the Germans had + accurate maps of every province within the French borders, + the French themselves were grossly ignorant of their own + territory. Now we can eat our own sarcasms and enjoy the + bitter fruit of our own irony, for, thanks to the + Intelligence Department connected with the War Office in + Great Britain, we to-day stand precisely in the same position + towards our African enemy as France did towards Prussia. A + glance at the country through which I have recently passed + shows only too clearly that, whilst Paul Kruger and his + advisers knew our full strength to a man, we, on our part, + knew nothing about him or the men, money, or ordnance at his + command. We knew nothing of the country which had been + patiently fortified by the best skilled military engineers in + Europe. We know nothing of his rocky, well-fortified country, + which lies behind that which we have already attacked. Our + generals, instead of being supplied with maps covering every + inch of country within the enemy's borders, have to gather + information at the bayonet's point at a loss to the Empire in + men, money, and in prestige. If our commanders blunder, who + is to blame but the criminally negligent officials who have + supplied them with false or foolish data to work upon? The + Empire has been betrayed, either wilfully or through crass + idleness upon the part of men who have dipped deeply into the + Empire's coffers, and the nation should demand their + impeachment, apart from their position, place, or power, and + punishment of the most drastic kind should follow speedily in + the footsteps of impeachment.</p> + + <p>The failure of General Buller to relieve Ladysmith was not + due to any want of sagacity on the part of that General. It + was not due to any want of bravery on the part of his troops. + The General is worthy of his rank, and worthy of the + confidence of the nation, and his troops are as good as the + men who, under the same flag, taught the Russians to respect + the power of Britain. The cause of the failure lay mainly in + the want of knowledge on our part concerning the strength of + the country the Boers held, and the strength of the country + they had to fall back upon when hard pressed.</p> + + <p>That information the "Intelligence" Department ought to + have been able to place in the hands of General Buller before + he moved forward to the relief of the beleaguered garrison in + Ladysmith. But they could not give what they had never + possessed.</p> + + <p>Right up to the present moment, when the Boers have been + forced to meet our troops at close quarters, they have been + found to possess no other arms than the rifle. This has given + truth to the belief that the enemy as an attacking force is + next door to useless, as no men, no matter how brave and + determined, could do very much damage to first-class troops + armed with the bayonet.</p> + + <p>However, there is a whisper in the air that the Boers are + not deficient in side-arms; it is rumoured that the President + of the Boer Republic has immense supplies of offensive as + well as defensive weapons safely placed away until they may + be required Right up to date his war policy has been to + remain passive, excepting in a few isolated positions, + allowing the British to attack his generals in almost + impregnable positions, and by so doing put heart into the + burghers, and dishearten our forces. But should the tide of + war continue to roll onward in his favour he may attempt to + put in force the oft-told Boer threat, and try to sweep the + British into the sea. Should that day dawn, it is rumoured + that the enemy will be found well supplied with side-arms and + with mercenaries trained to their use in one of the best + schools that modern times have known. Where do these rumours + come from? Well, a Boer prisoner, taunted perhaps by a guard, + loses his temper and drops a hint, or a Boer farmer, exultant + over the latest news of his countrymen's success, lifts the + veil a little, and a jealously-guarded secret drops out; or, + again, a Boer's wife or daughter, flinging a taunt at a + cursed "Rooinek," allows her temper to run away with her + discretion. There are a hundred ways in which such things get + about; only straws, perhaps, but a straw can point the way + windward. A talkative Kaffir who has been reared on a Dutch + farm will at times give things away that would cost him his + life if the length of his tongue was known to his master; + especially will the nigger talk if his mouth be judiciously + moistened with Cape smoke brandy.</p> + + <p>Information that comes to a war correspondent's hand is of + many colours, shapes, and sizes, but if he is born to the + business he pieces the whole together and picks out what + seemeth good to his own soul at the finish. Sometimes, at the + end of a week's hard work, he finds himself possessed of a + patchwork of information like unto Joseph's coat of many + colours, but it is hard fortune indeed if he cannot find + something in the lot to repay him for his earnest + endeavours.</p> + </div> + <a id="page060" name="page060"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>SLINGERSFONTEIN.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>RENSBURG.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Scarcely had I returned from posting my last letter when + the camp was in a commotion, caused by the news that the West + Australians were in action at Slingersfontein, distant about + twelve miles from Rensburg. To saddle up and get out as fast + as horseflesh would carry a man was but the work of a very + short period of time, for the gallop across the open veldt + was not a very laborious undertaking. I soon found that the + stalwart sons of the great gold colony were in it, and + enjoying it.</p> + + <p>Slingersfontein is an important position on the right + flank of French's column. It is not only an important but a + very hard position to hold on account of the nature of the + country. Here there is but very little open veldt; mile after + mile is covered by small kopjes that rise in countless + numbers, until the whole country looks as if it were covered + with a veritable forest of hills. Once inside that labyrinth + of rocky excrescences, an army might easily be lost, unless + every individual man and officer knew the place thoroughly. + The Boers know the lay of the land, and, consequently, shift + from post to post by paths that are unknown to anyone else + with marvellous dexterity and incredible swiftness. Our + forces hold a small plain, which is like the palm of a + giant's hand, with the surrounding kopjes representing the + digits. We hold those kopjes also. The shape of the camp is + in the form of a horseshoe, all around the little basin great + hills rise, and from those hills England's watch-dogs keep a + sharp look-out on the movements of the foe; and well they + need to, for, in ground which suits him, the African farmer + is as 'cute and cunning as a Red Indian. Behind our position, + or, rather, outside of it, there is another small tract of + open country, but beyond that, lapping around our stronghold + like a crescent, is rough, hilly ground. None of those hills + is worth dignifying with the title of mountain, but all of + them are big enough to shelter a hundred or two of the enemy, + and it is there that they play their game of hide and seek, + which is so trying to the nerves of young troops. The Boers + hold that rough country entirely, and the outer edge of their + semi-circle is not, at any given point, more than four miles + from our centre at Slingersfontein.</p> + + <p>The outer line of kopjes which skirt their stalking ground + are bigger than the hills on the inner side, so that they + have an excellent opportunity to conceal their movements from + the observation of our most astute pickets, and the only way + in which our commanding officer can locate the enemy with any + degree of certainty is by making a reconnaissance in force, + and, if possible, drawing their fire. If the Boers fall into + this trap they invariably pay dearly for the slight advantage + they gain over the investigating force, for our guns soon + make any known position untenable. The Boer leaders know + this, however, and are very loth to allow temptation to + overcome discretion; but at times, either through the + impetuosity of their troops or through errors in generalship, + they give themselves away entirely, and that is precisely + what they did upon this occasion.</p> + + <p>By means only known to those high up in authority, our + people had become acquainted with the fact that the enemy + intended to try to extend their line on our right flank, and + so threaten us not only upon the left flank, the direct + front, and right flank, but also in the rear. Could they + succeed in doing this they would have us in a peculiarly + tight place, as, once posted in force well down on our right + flank, they would then at least be able to harass us badly in + our communications with Rensburg, which is our main base of + operations. It is there that the General has his + headquarters; it is from there that we keep in touch, per + medium of the railway and telegraph lines, with the rest of + the British Army in South Africa. It is from there that we + draw all our supplies of fodder and ammunition. It is from + there we should draw all our additional force if we needed + reinforcements in case of a general assault by the enemy upon + our position at Slingersfontein, and it is from there that we + should be strengthened should we decide to make a forward + move on the Boers' position. Therefore it behoved us to keep + that line of communication intact, no matter what the cost. + All these things were as well known to the Boer leader as to + us, and that is why they were as keen to get the position as + we were, and why we are keen to stop them from accomplishing + their object.</p> + + <p>It was for the purpose of ascertaining just what the enemy + intended to do, and how many men they had to do it with, that + Major Ethoran ordered out the West Australian Mounted + Infantry, consisting of about 75 men, under Captain Moor, an + Imperial soldier in the pay of the West Australian + Government, and a small body of Inniskilling Dragoons and + Lancers, with a section of the Royal Horse Artillery and two + guns. The men moved out of Slingersfontein on Tuesday about + midday, and at once proceeded towards a farmhouse located + right under the very jowl of an ugly-looking kopje.</p> + + <p>This farm was known as Pottsberg, and was well known as a + regular haunt of the most daring and dangerous rebels in the + whole district. The farm consisted of the usual white stone + farmhouse of five or six rooms, a small orchard, surrounded + by rough stone walls from three feet six to four feet in + height, and about two feet thick, a small cluster of native + huts, and a kraal for cattle, made of rough, heavy stones, + topped by cakes of sun-baked manure, stored by the farmers + for fuel. Some little distance from the back of the farmhouse + a stout stone wall ran down from the kopjes on to the plain. + This wall was between four and five feet in height and half a + yard across in its weakest place—an ugly barricade in + itself—behind which a few resolute men with quick-firing + rifles, which they know how to use, could make a good stand + against vastly superior numbers advancing upon them from the + open veldt.</p> + + <p>When our fellows trotted out from camp, Captain Moor + received orders to distribute his men in small bodies all + along the edge of the kopjes between Pottsberg farmhouse and + Kruger's Hill, a small kopje lying almost in a line with our + camp, on the right. The men were ordered to go as close as + possible to the enemy's position, to see as much as they + could possibly see in regard to the numbers of troops in the + hills held by the enemy. If they succeeded in discovering the + rebels in large bodies they were to draw their fire and + immediately retreat at full speed. In the meantime the two + guns belonging to the Royal Horse Artillery were beautifully + placed in a dip in the veldt, where they could play upon the + Boers should they attempt to rush the West Australians at any + given point. The Lancers and Dragoons were placed in charge + of some kopjes behind the guns, in order to protect them + should a concerted onslaught be made upon them by the mounted + Boers, who were shrewdly suspected to be in hiding in strong + force behind the first row of hills, which screened the + enemy's position.</p> + + <p>The Australians rode out steadily, and took up their + positions with an amount of coolness that startled older + soldiers. This was absolutely their first trial on real + fighting service, and everybody connected with them was + anxious to see how they would comport themselves in the face + of the enemy. Not only was it their first fighting effort, + but it was their début in the saddle, as until a week + previous they had been simply infantrymen, and not a dozen of + them had ever been in the hands of a mounted drill + instructor. It was a big task to set such green men, but they + proved before the day was out that they were worthy of the + confidence reposed in them. Captain Moor, Lieutenant Darling, + and Lieutenant Parker each took a small section into action; + the others were under the immediate control of their + sergeants. They split up into small parties, and swept the + very edge of the kopjes, peering into gullies, climbing the + outer hills, working along the ravines with a courage and + thoroughness that would have done credit to the oldest scouts + in all the Empire. Yet nothing came of their investigations + for quite a long time. The enemy did not mean to be drawn, + and remained passive, so that the West Australians at last + became a little bit reckless, and were consequently not so + guarded as they might have been. All at once a body of scouts + ran upon a large body of the enemy near Pottsberg Farm, in a + deep and shady ravine. The enemy were trying to evade notice, + but that was now impossible. In a moment rifles were ringing + on the air, and after that first volley the little band of + Australians wheeled and galloped for the open country. To + have remained there would have meant certain death to every + one of the half-dozen who comprised the picket, so they did + their duty—they fired and rode for the veldt. In a few + seconds Boers were dashing out of the kopjes on all sides, + trying to cut the small band of Australians off or shoot them + down. But the Australians knew their game; they opened out, + so that each man was practically riding alone.</p> + + <p>The Boers could do little with them. Those who stood by + the guns noticed that very large numbers of men in the Boer + ranks were either niggers or half-castes, and it was also + very noticeable that they knew but little about the use of + the rifle. They fired high and wide, and notwithstanding the + fact that they poured their ammunition away in wholesale + fashion, they did little harm worth mentioning, although many + of them fired at little more than pistol range. They were + simply crazed with excitement, and did not succeed in cutting + off a single member of that adventurous band. Whenever an + Australian found himself in a tight place he simply dug his + spurs into his horse's flanks, lifted his rifle, and blazed + into the ranks of the foe. If his horse was shot dead under + him he coo-eed to his mates, and kept his rifle busy, and + every time the coo-ee rang out over the whispering veldt the + Australians turned in their saddles, and riding as the men + from the South-land can ride, they dashed to the rescue, and + did not leave a single man in the hands of the enemy. Many a + gallant deed was done that day by officers and men. Captain + Moor gave one fellow his horse, and made a dash for liberty + on foot, but he would have failed in his effort had not + Lieutenant Darling, a West Australian boy, ridden to his aid, + and together the two officers on the one horse got back to + the shelter of the guns. The enemy still blazed away in the + wildest and most farcical fashion. Had they been Boer hunters + or marksmen very few of the West Australians would ever have + got across that strip of veldt alive. As it was, only two of + them got wounded, none were killed, one or two horses were + shot dead, and then the big guns got to work in grim + earnest.</p> + + <p>A party of Boers, however, got round one of the kopjes, + where some of the Lancers were posted, and now half a dozen + of those brave fellows are missing, and I fear they are to be + counted amongst those who will never return again. Sergeant + Watson, of the R.H., was killed, and several of his men and a + few of the Lancers were wounded, but the R.H. guns soon swept + the plain clear of the enemy, and they retired, carrying + their dead and wounded with them. The work for the day was + done, and well done, for the enemy had shown his hand. We + knew his position and his strength, and next day we went out + in force to have a word with him, but the wily Boers kept + strictly under cover, and refused on any terms to be drawn + again.</p> + </div> + <a id="page069" name="page069"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>THE WEST AUSTRALIANS.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>BETHANY.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>I was feeling miserable as I sat in the hospital garden, + and I rather fancy I looked pretty much as I felt, for a + cheery-faced Boer nurse, with her black hair, blacker eyes, + and rose-blossom lips, came up to where I sat, bringing with + her two or three slightly wounded Boers. "I have brought some + Boers who know something of your countrymen, Mr. Australian," + she said. "I thought you would be glad to hear all about + them." "By Jove! yes, nurse. If I were not a married man, I + should try to thank you gracefully." "Oh, yees; oh, yees," + she answered, tossing back her head; "that is all right. You + say those pretty things; then, when you go away from here, + you tell your wife, and you write in your papers we Boer + girls are fat old things, who never use soap and water. All + the Rooibaatjes do that." And off she went, laughing merrily, + whilst my friends the enemy grinned and enjoyed the little + comedy. So we fell to talking, and-half a dozen wounded + "Tommies" gathered round and chipped into the conversation, + which by degrees worked round to a deed which the West + Australians did; and as I listened to the tale so simply told + by those rough farmer men, I felt my face flush with pride, + and my shoulders fell back square and solid once more, whilst + every drop of blood in my veins seemed to run warm and + strong, like the red wine they grow on the hillside in my own + sunny land; for the story concerned men whom I knew well, men + who were bred with the scent of the wattle in the first + breath they drew, men who grew from childhood to manhood + where the silver sentinel stars form the cross in the rich + blue midnight sky. My countrymen—Australians—men with whom + I had hunted for silver in the desolate backblocks of New + South Wales; men with whom I had scoured the interior of West + Australia seeking for gold; men who had been with me on the + tin fields and opal fields. I had never doubted that they + would keep their country's name unsullied when they met the + foe on the field of war, yet when I heard the tale the enemy + told I felt my eyes fill as they have seldom filled since + childhood, for I was proud of the western diggers, proud of + my blood; and at that moment, with British "Tommies" + sprawling on the grass at my feet, and the Boer farmers + grouped amongst them, I would sooner have called myself an + Australian commoner than the son of any peer in any other + land under high heaven.</p> + + <p>I will take the story from the Boer's mouth and tell it to + you, as I hope to tell it round a hundred camp fires when the + war is over, and I go back to the Australian bush once more. + "It happened round Colesberg way," he said; "we thought we + had the British beaten, and our commandant gave us the word + to press on and cut them to pieces. Our big guns had been + grandly handled, and our rifle fire had told its tale. We saw + the British falling back from the kopjes they had held, and + we thought that there was nothing between us and victory; but + there was, and we found it out before we were many minutes + older. There was one big kopje that was the very key of the + position. Our spies had told us that this was held by an + Australian force. We looked at it very anxiously, for it was + a hard position to take, but even as we watched we saw that + nearly all the Australians were leaving it. They, too, were + falling back with the British troops. If we once got that + kopje there was nothing on earth could stop us. We could pass + on and sweep around the retiring foe, and wipe them off the + earth, as a child wipes dirt from its hands, and we laughed + when we saw that only about twenty Australians had been left + to guard the kopje.</p> + + <p>"There were about four hundred of us, all picked men, and + when the commandant called to us to go and take the kopje, we + sprang up eagerly, and dashed down over some hills, meaning + to cross the gully and charge up the kopje where those twenty + men were waiting for us. But we did not know the + Australians—then. We know them now. Scarcely had we risen to + our feet when they loosed their rifles on us, and not a shot + was wasted. They did not fire, as regular soldiers nearly + always do, volley after volley, straight in front of them, + but every one picked his man, and shot to kill. They fired + like lightning, too, never dwelling on the trigger, yet never + wildly wasting lead, and all around us our best and boldest + dropped, until we dared not face them. We dropped to cover, + and tried to pick them off, but they were cool and watchful, + throwing no chance away. We tried to crawl from rock to rock + to hem them in, but they, holding their fire until our + burghers moved, plugged us with lead, until we dared not stir + a step ahead; and all the time the British troops, with all + their convoy, were slowly, but safely, falling back through + the kopjes, where we had hoped to hem them in. We gnawed our + beards and cursed those fellows who played our game as we had + thought no living men could play it Then, once again, we + tried to rush the hill, and once again they drove us back, + though our guns were playing on the heights they held. We + could not face their fire. To move upright to cross a dozen + yards meant certain death, and many a Boer wife was widowed + and many a child left fatherless by those silent men who held + the heights above us. They did not cheer as we came onward. + They did not play wild music, they only clung close as + climbing weeds to the rocks, and shot as we never saw men + shoot before, and never hope to see men shoot again.</p> + + <p>"Then we got ready to sweep the hill with guns, but our + commandant, admiring those brave few who would not budge + before us in spite of our numbers, sent an officer to them to + ask them to surrender, promising them all the honours of war. + But they sent us word to come and take them if we could. And + then our officer asked them three times if they would hold up + their hands, and at the third time a grim sergeant rose and + answered him: 'Aye, we will hold up our hands, but when we + do, by God, you'll find a bayonet in 'em. Go back and tell + your commandant that Australia's here to stay.' And there + they stayed, and fought us hour by hour, holding us back, + when but for them victory would have been with us. We shelled + them all along their scattered line, and tried to rush them + under cover of the artillery fire; but they only held their + posts with stouter hearts, and shot the straighter when the + fire was hottest, and we could do nothing but lie there and + swear at them, though we admired them for their stubborn + pluck. They held the hill till all their men were safe, and + then, dashing down the other side, they jumped into their + saddles and made off, carrying their wounded with them. They + were but twenty men, and we four hundred"</p> + + <p>A "Tommy" sitting at the speaker's feet looked up and + said: "What are yer makin' sich a song abart it far? Lumme, + them Horstraliars are as Hinglish has hi ham!"</p> + </div> + <a id="page075" name="page075"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>IN A BOER TOWN.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>BETHANY.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>A Boer town is not laid out on systematic lines, as one + sees towns in America, or Canada, or Australia. The streets + seem to run much as they please, or as the exigencies of + traffic have caused them to run. I doubt if the plan of a + town is ever drawn in this country. People arrive and settle + down in a happy-go-lucky manner, and straightway build + themselves a home. Their homes are places to live in; not to + look at. There is an almost utter absence of architectural + adornment everywhere. My eyes range over a large number of + dwellings. They are nearly all alike—plain, square + structures, plastered snow white. There is a double door in + the centre of the front, and a window at each side of the + door. A stoep, about six feet wide, rises a foot from the + pathway, and there is nothing else to be seen from the + outside front. These houses look bare and bald, and are as + expressionless as a blind baby. To me most houses have an + expression of their own. In an English town a quiet walk in + the dawning, making a survey of the dwelling-places, always + leaves the impression that I have gleaned an insight into the + character of the dwellers therein. The cheeky-looking villa, + with its superabundance of ornament, is a monument in masonry + to the successful mining jobber on a small scale. The + solemn-looking, solid dwelling, standing in its own grounds, + where every flower bush has its individual prop, where the + lawn is trimmed with mathematical exactitude, and not one + vagrant leaf is allowed to stray, speaks with a kind of + brick-and-mortar eloquence of virtue that has never grasped + the sublime fulness of the Scriptural text which saith: "The + way of transgressors is hard!" That is the home of the + middle-aged Churchman, whose feet from infancy have fallen + amidst roses. He has never erred, because he has never known + enough of human sympathy and human toil and struggle to feel + temptation. The coy little cottage further on, surrounded by + climbing roses and sweet-smelling herbs, where the gate is + left just a little bit open, as if inviting a welcome, seems + to advertise itself as the home of two maiden sisters, who, + though past the giddy girlhood stage, still have hopes of + being somebody's darling by-and-by.</p> + + <p>But in a Boer town most of the piety is knocked out of a + man. You stare at the houses, and they stare back at you + dumbly. There is nothing pretentious or rakish about any of + them; no matter how riotous a man's imagination might be, he + could never conjure up a "wink" from a Boer house, though I + have seen houses in other parts of the world that seemed to + "cock an eye" at a passing traveller and invite him to try + the door.</p> + + <p>They have only two styles of roofing their + dwellings—either the old-fashioned gable roof, or the still + older kind of "lean-to," the latter being nothing but a flat + top, high at the front and running lower towards the back, in + order that the rain water may carry off rapidly. They paint + their doors and windows a sober reddish brown, for your true + Boer has an utter contempt for anything gaudy or gay. He + leaves that sort of thing to his nigger servants, who make up + for their master's lack of appreciation in the matter of + colour by rigging themselves out in anything that is + startling in the way of contrasts, for if the white master is + a Puritan in such things, the nigger servant, male and + female, is a perfect sybarite.</p> + + <p>Right opposite where I am sitting a family group, or all + that is left of the family, is sitting, as the custom is at + evening, out on the stoep. On the side nearest me is a young + widow. I have made inquiries concerning her. Her husband was + killed fighting against our troops at Graspan. She, poor + thing, is dressed in deepest mourning. Her dress is made of + some heavy black material, and has no touch of white or any + colour anywhere to relieve its sombre shades. On her head she + wears a jet black cap, which rises high and wide, and falls + around her neck and shoulders. The cap is fashioned much + after the style of the sun bonnets worn by the peasant women + of Normandy, but hers is black, black as the grave. She has + rather a nice face, a good woman's face, pale and refined by + suffering. No one looking at her can doubt that she has + suffered, and suffered as only such women can, through this + brutal, bloody war. I thought of the widows away in our own + land as I looked at her sitting there, so silently and sadly, + with her thin white hands clasped on the black folds of her + lap. On one hand I plainly saw the gold circle shining, which + a few months ago had meant so much to her; now, alas! only + the outward and visible sign of all she had been and of all + that she had lost. Behind her the snow-white wall of the + house, sparkling in the red rays of the setting sun; at her + feet only the white slate of the stoep. And well enough I + knew that under the proud Empire flag many a widow as young + and as heart-broken as this Dutch girl would watch the sun go + down as hopelessly as she, and I could not help the thought + which sprang to my soul—God's bitter curse rest on the head + of the man, be he Boer or Briton, who brought about this + cruel war.</p> + + <p>On the street in front of the house where the widow sat I + noticed a group of niggers. Some of them were merely local + "boys," who worked for the townspeople. They were dressed in + the usual nigger fashion, in old store clothing, patched or + ventilated according to the wearer's taste. One fellow had on + a pair of pants that had at some former stage belonged to a + man about four times his size. The portion of those pants + which is usually hidden when a man is sitting in the saddle + had been worn into a huge hole, which the nigger had + picturesquely filled by tacking on a scarlet shawl. As the + pants were made of navy blue serge the effect was + unquestionably artistic, especially as the amateur tailor had + done his sewing with string, most of the stitches running + from an inch to an inch and a half in length. Still, he was + only one of many in similar case, so that he did not feel in + the least degree lonely. There were other niggers + there—"boys" belonging to the mule-drivers of the army. + These "boys" nearly all sported a military jacket and some + sort of field service cap, which they had picked up somehow + in camp. The "side" these niggers put on when they get inside + odds and ends of military wearing apparel is something + appalling. They swagger around amongst the civilian niggers, + and treat them as beings of a very inferior mould, whilst the + lies they tell concerning their individual acts of heroism + would set the author of "Deadwood Dick" blushing out of + simple envy.</p> + + <p>The nigger girls cluster round these black veterans like + flies around a western water hole in midsummer, and their + shrill laughter makes the air fairly vibrate as they bandy + jests with the cheeky herds. The girls are rather pleasing in + appearance, though far from being pretty. As a rule, they + wear clean print dresses and white aprons; they never wear + hats of any kind, but coil a showy kerchief around their + heads in coquettish fashion. They are not particular as to + colour, red, blue, yellow, or pink, anything will do as long + as it is brilliant. The skins of the girls are almost as + varied as the headgear. The Kaffir girl is very dark, almost + black. The bushman's daughter is dirty yellow, like river + water in flood time. Some of the other tribes are as black as + the record of a first-class burglar, but they have bright + black eyes, which they roll about as a kitten rolls a ball of + wool in playtime.</p> + + <p>But whether they are black, brown, or coffee-coloured, + they are all alike in one respect—every daughter of them has + a mouth that is as boundless as a mother's blessing, and as + limitless as the imagination of a spring poet in love. When + they are vexed they purse that mouth up into a bunch until it + looks like a crumpled saddle-flap hanging on a hedge. When + they are pleased the mouth opens and expands like an + indiarubber portmanteau ready for packing; that is when they + smile, but when they laugh their ears have to shift to give + the mouth a chance to get comfortably to its destination. + They have beautiful teeth, the white ivory showing against + the black foreground like fresh tombstones in an old cemetery + on a dark night. It is amusing to watch them flirting with + the soldier niggers. They try to look coy, but soon fall + victims to the skilful blandishments of the vain-glorious + warriors, and after a little manoeuvring they put out their + lips to be kissed, a sight which might well make even a + Scotch Covenanter grin. They suck their lips in with a sharp + hissing breath; then push them out suddenly, ready for the + osculatory seance, the lips moving as if they were pushed + from the inside by a pole. The "boys" enjoy the picnic + immensely. As a matter of fact, these "boys" always seem to + me to be doing one of four things. They are either eating, + smoking, sleeping, or making love; and they do enough + love-making in twenty-four hours to last an ordinary everyday + sort of white man four months, even if he puts in a little + overtime. One of the most charming things noticeable about a + Boer town is the plenitude of trees in the streets. They are + often ornamental, always useful for purposes of shade. There + is no regularity about their distribution; they seem to have + been planted spasmodically at odd times and at odd positions. + There is little about them to lead one to the belief that + they receive over much care after they have been put into the + soil. I have found a very creditable library in pretty nearly + every Boer town that I have visited, and it is a noteworthy + fact that all of our most cherished authors find a place on + their book-shelves. One other thing I have also noticed, + which, though a small thing in itself, is yet very + significant. In nearly every hotel, and in many of the public + places, portraits of our Queen and members of the Royal + Family have been hanging side by side with portraits of + notable men, such as Mr. Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, Mr. + Chamberlain, and Mr. Rhodes. During the course of the war all + kinds and conditions of Boers have had free access to the + rooms where those portraits were to be seen, but now I find + that no damage has been done to any of those pictures, + excepting those of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Chamberlain. This has + not been an oversight on the part of the Boers, for I defy + any person to find a solitary picture of the two last-named + gentlemen that has not been hacked with knives. But the Queen + and Royal Family photos have in every case been treated with + respect.</p> + </div> + <a id="page083" name="page083"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>BEHIND THE SCENES.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>STORMBERG.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>I am writing this from Stormberg, a tremendously important + military position, which was taken on Monday, the 5th, by + General Gatacre, without a blow, the enemy falling back cowed + by the British general's tactics. Had they remained here + another twenty-four hours Gatacre would have had them in a + ring of iron, but the Boer general is no fool. He saw his + danger, and, like a wise man, he dodged it. Gatacre's + generalship was simply superb. Let the idiotic band of + critics who sit in safety in England howl to their heart's + content; Gatacre deserves well of his country. Had he dashed + recklessly into this hornet's nest he would have sacrificed + four-fifths of his gallant officers and a host of his men. + Had I to write his military epitaph to-day I should say that + "he won with brains what most generals would have won with + blood."</p> + + <p>Strangely enough, I was a prisoner in the very room where + I am penning this epistle only last Saturday night. I left + here in the centre of a Boer commando, with a bandage over my + eyes, on Sunday morning, and returned to the spot surrounded + by British "Tommies" a few days later.</p> + + <p>All the glory of this bloodless victory does not rest with + the general who commands the column. To Captain Tennant no + small meed of praise is due. This officer was here on secret + service before hostilities commenced, and he did his work so + thoroughly that the country is as familiar to him as paint to + a barmaid. He is one of those men, unfortunately so rare in + the British Army, combining dash and dauntless pluck with a + cool, level head. If he gets his opportunity, England will + hear more of this officer. I have been intensely struck by + the class of officers by whom General Gatacre is surrounded. + They all look like soldiers. I have not seen a single dude, + not one of those wretched fops of whom I have seen only too + many in South Africa. They speak like soldiers too. No + idiotic drawl, no effeminate lisp, no bullying, ill-bred, + coarseness of tongue; they are neither drawing-room dandies + nor camp swashbucklers, but officers and gentlemen—and, I + can assure you, the terms are not always synonymous, even + under the Queen's cloth. I have seen mere lads in this + country leading men into action who in point of brains were + not fit to lead a mule to water, and others who, in regard to + manners, were scarcely fit to follow the mule. But, thank + God, the Boers have taught our nation this, if they have + taught us nought else—that it needs something more than an + eye-glass, a lisp, a pair of kid gloves, and an insolent, + overbearing manner to make a successful soldier.</p> + + <p>But let me get amongst the Boers. I was only a prisoner in + their hands for about a month, yet every moment of that time + was so fraught with interest that I fancy I picked up more of + the real nature of the Boers than I should have done under + ordinary circumstances in a couple of years. I was moved from + laager to laager along their fighting line, saw them at work + with their rifles, saw them come in from more than one tough + skirmish, bringing their dead and wounded with them, saw them + when they had triumphed, and saw them when they had been + whipped; saw them going to their farms, to be welcomed by + wife and children; saw them leaving home with a wife's sobs + in their ears, and children's loving kisses on their lips. I + saw some of these old greyheads shattered by our shells, + dying grimly, with knitted brows and fiercely clenched jaws; + saw some of their beardless boys sobbing their souls out as + the life blood dyed the African heath. I saw some passing + over the border line which divides life and death, with a + ring of stern-browed comrades round them, leaning upon their + rifles, whilst a brother or a father knelt and pressed the + hand of him whose feet were on the very threshold of the land + beyond the shadows. I saw others smiling up into the faces of + women—the poor, pain-drawn faces of the dying looking less + haggard and worn than the anguish-stricken features of their + womanhood who knelt to comfort them in that last awful + hour—in the hour which divides time from eternity, the + sunlight of lusty life from the shadows of unsearchable + death. Those things I have seen, and in the ears of English + men and English women, let me say, as one who knows, and fain + would speak the plain, ungilded truth concerning friend and + foe, that, not alone beneath the British flag are heroes + found. Not alone at the breasts of British matrons are brave + men suckled; for, as my soul liveth—whether their cause be + just or unjust, whether the right or the wrong of this war be + with them, whether the blood of the hundreds who have fallen + since the first rifle spoke defiance shall speak for or + against them at the day of judgment—they at least know how + to die; and when a man has given his life for the cause he + believes in he is proven worthy even of his worst enemy's + respect. And it seems to me that the British nation, with its + long roll of heroic deeds, wrought the whole world over, from + Africa to Iceland, can well afford to honour the splendid + bravery and self-sacrifice of these rude, untutored tillers + of the soil. I have seen them die.</p> + + <p>Once, as I lay a prisoner in a rocky ravine all through + the hot afternoon, I heard the rifles snapping like hounds + around a cornered beast. I watched the Boers as they moved + from cover to cover, one here, one there, a little farther on + a couple in a place of vantage, again, in a natural fortress, + a group of eight; so they were placed as far as my eye could + reach. The British force I could not see at all; they were + out on the veldt, and the kopjes hid them from me; but I + could hear the regular roll and ripple of their disciplined + volleys, and in course of time, by watching the actions of + the Boers, I could anticipate the sound. They watched our + officers, and when the signal to fire was given they dropped + behind cover with such speed and certainty that seldom a man + was hit. Then, when the leaden hail had ceased to fall upon + the rocks, they sprang out again, and gave our fellows lead + for lead. After a while our gunners seemed to locate them, + and the shells came through the air, snarling savagely, as + leopards snarl before they spring, and the flying shrapnel + reached many of the Boers, wounding, maiming, or killing + them; yet they held their position with indomitable pluck, + those who were not hit leaping out, regardless of personal + danger, to pick up those who were wounded. They were a + strange, motley-looking crowd, dressed in all kinds of common + farming apparel, just such a crowd as one is apt to see in a + far inland shearing shed in Australia, but no man with a + man's heart in his body could help admiring their devotion to + one another or their loyalty to the cause they were risking + their lives for.</p> + + <p>One sight I saw which will stay with me whilst memory + lasts. They had placed me under a waggon under a mass of + overhanging rock for safety, and there they brought two + wounded men. One was a man of fifty, a hard old veteran, with + a complexion as dark as a New Zealand Maori; the beard that + framed the rugged face was three-fourths grey, his hands were + as rough and knotted by open air toil as the hoofs of a + working steer.</p> + + <p>He looked what he was—a Boer of mixed Dutch and French + lineage. Later on I got into conversation with him, and he + told me a good deal of his life. His father was descended + from one of the old Dutch families who had emigrated to South + Africa in search of religious liberty in the old days, when + the country was a wilderness. His mother had come in an + unbroken line from one of the noble families of France who + fled from home in the days of the terrible persecution of the + Huguenots. He himself had been many things—hunter, trader, + farmer, fighting man. He had fought against the natives, and + he had fought against our people. The younger man was his + son, a tall, fair fellow, scarcely more than a stripling, and + I had no need to be a prophet or a prophet's son to tell that + his very hours were numbered. Both the father and the lad had + been wounded by one of our shells, and it was pitiful to + watch them as they lay side by side, the elder man holding + the hand of the younger in a loving clasp, whilst with his + other hand he stroked the boyish face with gestures that were + infinitely pathetic. Just as the stars were coming out that + night between the clouds that floated over us the Boer boy + sobbed his young life out, and all through the long watches + of that mournful darkness the father lay with his dead + laddie's hand in his. The pain of his own wounds must have + been dreadful, but I heard no moan of anguish from his lips. + When, at the dawning, they came to take the dead boy from the + living man, the stern old warrior simply pressed his grizzled + lips to the cold face, and then turned his grey beard to the + hard earth and made no further sign; but I knew well that, + had the sacrifice been possible, he would gladly have given + his life to save the young one's.</p> + </div> + <a id="page090" name="page090"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>A BOER FIGHTING LAAGER.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>BURGHERSDORP.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Many and wonderful are the stories written and published + concerning the Boer and his habits when on the war-path. Most + of these stories are written by men who take good care never + to get within a hundred miles of the fighting line, but + content themselves with an easy chair, a cigar, a bottle of + whisky, and carpet slippers on the stoep of some good hotel + in a pretty little Boer town. To scribes of this calibre + flock a certain class of British resident, who is always full + to the very ears of his own dauntless courage, his deathless + loyalty to the Queen and Empire, his love for the soldier, + and his hatred of the Boer. This gallant class of British + resident has half a million excuses ready to his hand to + explain why he did not take a rifle and fight when the war + summons rang clarion-like through the land. Then he grits his + teeth, knits his eyebrows, clenches his hands in spasmodic + wrath, throws out his chest, and tells his auditors, in a + voice husky with concentrated wrath and whisky, what he + intends to do the next time the damnable Boer rises to fight. + The old British pioneer may have whelped a few million good + fighting stock in his time, but this class of animal is no + lion's whelp; it is a thing all mouth and no manners, a + shallow-brained, cowardly creature, always howling about the + Boer, but too discreet to go out and fight him, though ready + at all times to malign him, to ridicule him as a farmer or a + fighter, and it is a perfect bear's feast to this hybrid + animal to get hold of a gullible newspaper correspondent to + tell him gruesome tales relative to Boer fighting + laagers.</p> + + <p>I had one of this peculiar species at me the other day in + Burghersdorp, and he painted a Boer laager so vividly, + between nips at my flask, that if I had not seen a few + laagers myself I should have felt bad over the matter. He + pictured the smell of that laager in language so intense, + with gestures so graphic, that some of his auditors had to + hold their nostrils with handkerchiefs, whilst they stirred + the circumambient atmosphere with cardboard fans, and I could + not help wondering, if the portrait of the smell was so + awful, what the thing itself must be like. Flushed with + success, the narrator pursued his subject to the bitter + extremity. He conjured up scenes of half-buried men lying + amongst the rocks surrounding the laager: here a leg, there + an arm, further on a ghastly human head protruding from + amidst the scattered boulders, until I had only to close my + eyes to fancy I was in a charnel-house, where Goths and Huns + were holding devilish revelry. The B.R. paused, and dropped + his voice two octaves lower, and the crowd on the balcony + craned their heads further forward, so that they might not + miss a single word. He told of the women in the laagers, the + wild, unholy mirth of women, who moved from camp fire to camp + fire, with dishevelled hair streaming down their backs, with + tossing arms, bare to the shoulders, and blood besmeared, not + the blood of goats or kine, but the blood of soldiers—our + soldiers. Thomas Atkins defunct, and done for by the + she-furies.</p> + + <p>He waded in again when the shudder which shook the crowd + had died away, and hinted, as that class of shallow-souled + creature loves to hint, of orgies under the dim light of the + stars, or between the flickering light of smoking camp fires, + until the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah seemed to be crowding + all around us in a peculiarly beastly and uncomfortable + fashion. Then he lay back in his chair and sighed; but anon + he sprang upright, and, with flashing eyes and extended arms, + wanted to know what the —— Roberts meant by offering peace + with honour to such a people. "Mow them down!" he yelled. + "Shoot them on sight—no quarter for such devils! Kill 'em + off! kill 'em off! kill 'em off!" and he half sobbed, half + sighed himself into silence, whilst the audience gazed on him + as on one who knew what war, wild, red, carmine war, was. I + broke in on his stillness, as newspaper men who know the game + are apt to do, for I wanted data, I wanted facts, and I had + not swallowed his yarn as freely as he had swallowed my + whisky.</p> + + <p>"Born in this country?" I asked.</p> + + <p>"Yorkshire," he answered laconically.</p> + + <p>"Been in Africa long?"</p> + + <p>"'Bout five years."</p> + + <p>"Where did you put in most of your time before the + war?"</p> + + <p>"Johannesburg."</p> + + <p>"Mines?"</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"Merchant?"</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"Hotel-keeper, perhaps?"</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"Shopkeeper?"</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"What was your calling, or profession, or business, or + means of livelihood?"</p> + + <p>"General agent, sharebroker, correspondent for some local + papers."</p> + + <p>H'm; I knew the class of animal well—general jackal; do + the dirty work of any trade, and master of none.</p> + + <p>"Where were you when the war broke out?"</p> + + <p>He scowled savagely: "Johannesburg."</p> + + <p>"Have the same hatred for the Boers before the war as you + have now?"</p> + + <p>"Yes."</p> + + <p>"Why didn't you pick up a rifle and have a hand in the + fighting?"</p> + + <p>"I'm not a blessed 'Tommy,' sir! Do you take me for a + d—— 'Tommy,' sir?"</p> + + <p>"No; oh, no, I assure you I did nothing of the kind. + But—er, have you been in the hands of the Boers since the + war started?"</p> + + <p>"Yes, until our troops marched in here a day or two + ago."</p> + + <p>"H'm. Did they rob you?"</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"Did they ill-treat you—knock you about, and that sort of + thing?"</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"Why do you hate them so bitterly, then?"</p> + + <p>"Oh, I can't stand a cursed Boer at any price. Thinks he's + as good as a Britisher all the time, and puts on side; and + he's a cursed tyrant in his heart, and would rub us out if he + could."</p> + + <p>"Yes, the Boer thought himself as good a man as the + Britishers he met out this way," I replied, "and he backed + his opinion with his life and his rifle. Why didn't you do + the same if you reckoned yourself a better man?"</p> + + <p>"Why should I; don't we pay 'Tommy' to do that for + us?"</p> + + <p>"Perhaps we do; but, concerning those Boer laagers you + have been telling us about: where, when, and how did you see + them; what was the name of the place; who was the Boer + general in command, or the field cornet, or landdrost? I did + not know the Boers gave British refugees the free run of + their war laagers, and I'm interested in the matter, being a + scribe myself and a man of peace. Just give me a few names + and dates and facts, will you?"</p> + + <p>"No, I won't," he snarled. "You seem to doubt my word, you + do, and I'm as good a Britisher as you are any day, and you + think you can come along and pump information out of me for + nothing; but I'm too fly for that—they don't breed fools in + Yorkshire."</p> + + <p>"Well, sir, as it seems to suit your temper," I said as + sweetly as I could, "I'll make it a business proposition. + I'll bet you fifty pounds to five you have never put your + head inside a Boer laager in war time in your life. If you + have, just name it and give me a few facts."</p> + + <p>The B.R. rose wrathfully and muttered something about it + being a d—— good job for me that I was a wounded man and + had one arm in a sling, or he'd show me a heap of things in + the fistic line which I should remember for the rest of my + life; but as I only laughed he slouched off, and now, when we + meet in the street, we pass without speaking. But I got his + history, all the same, from one of the Cape Police, who told + me the beggar had refused to join a volunteer regiment when + the war broke out, and had remained the whole time in a quiet + little Boer village as a British refugee, and had not seen + the outside, let alone the inside, of a Boer fighting laager + in all his lying life. Yet such cravens at times help to make + history—of a kind.</p> + + <p>Possibly it may interest Englishmen—and women, too, for + that matter—to know what a fighting laager is like, and as I + have seen half a dozen of them from the enemies' side of the + wall, a rough pen and ink sketch may not be amiss. In war + time the Boer never, under any circumstances, makes his + laager in the open country if there are any kopjes about. No + matter how secure he may fancy himself from attack, no matter + if there is not a foe within fifty miles of him, the Boer + commander always pitches his laager in a place of safety + between two parallel lines of hills, so that no attack can be + made upon him, either front or rear, without giving him an + immense advantage over the attacking force, even if the enemy + is ten times as strong in numbers. By this means the Boers + make their laagers almost impregnable. If they have a choice + of ground, they pick a narrow ravine, or gully, with a line + of hills front and rear, covered with small rocky boulders + and bushes. They drive their waggons along the ravine, and + make a sort of rude breastwork across the gully with the + waggons. In between these waggons the women are placed for + safety, for it is a noticeable fact that very large numbers + of women have followed their husbands and fathers to the war, + not to act as viragoes, not to play the wanton, not to unsex + themselves, not to handle the rifle, but to nurse the + wounded, to comfort the dying, and to lay out the dead. I + have heard them singing round the camp fires in the + starlight, but it was hymns that they sang, not ribald songs. + I have seen them kneeling by the side of men in the + moonlight, not in wantonness, but in mercy, and many a man + who wears the British uniform to-day can bear me witness that + I speak the truth.</p> + + <p>The Boer never, if he can help it, allows himself to be + separated from his horse; and these hardy little animals, + mostly about fifteen hands high, and very lightly framed, are + picketed close to the spot where the rider deposits his rifle + and blankets. If they allow them to graze on the hillsides + during the day, they run a rope through the halter near the + horse's muzzle, and tie it close above the knee-joint of the + near fore-leg. By this means the horse can graze in comfort, + but cannot move away at any pace beyond a slow walk, and so + are easily caught and saddled if required in a hurry. The + oxen and sheep to be used for slaughtering purposes are + driven up close to the camp; a waggon or two is drawn across + the ravine above and below them, and they cannot then + stampede if frightened by anything, unless they climb the + rocky heights on either side of them, which they have small + chance of doing, as the Kaffir herdsmen sleep on the hills + above them. Having pitched his laager, the commander sends + out his scouts; some amble off on horseback at a pace they + call a "tripple"—a gait which all the Boers educate their + nags to adopt. It is not exactly an amble, but a cousin to + it, marvellously easy to the rider, whilst it enables the nag + to get over a wonderful lot of ground without knocking up. It + also allows the horse to pick his way amongst rocky ground, + and so save his legs, where an English, Indian, or Australian + horse would be apt to cripple himself in very short order. As + soon as the mounted scouts set off on their journey, holding + the reins carelessly in the left hand, their handy little + Mauser rifles in their right, swaying carelessly in the + saddle after the fashion of all bush-riders the world over, + the foot scouts take up their positions amongst the rocks and + shrubs on the hills in front and rear of the laager. Each + scout has his rifle in his hand, his pipe in his teeth, his + bandolier full of cartridges over his shoulder, and his + scanty blanket under his left arm. No fear of his sleeping at + his post. He is fighting for honour, not for pay; for home, + not for glory; and he knows that on his acuteness the lives + of all may depend. He knows that his comrades and the women + trust him, and he values the trust as dearly as British + soldier ever did. No matter how tired he may be, no matter + how famished, the Boer sentinel is never faithless to his + orders.</p> + + <p>When the scouts are out the laager is fixed for the + night—not a very exhaustive proceeding, as the Boers do not + go in for luxuries of any kind. Here a tarpaulin is stretched + over a kind of temporary ridge pole, blankets are tossed down + on the hard earth, saddles are used for pillows, and the + couch is complete. A little way farther down the line a rude + canvas screen is thrown over the wheels of a waggon, and a + family, or rather husband and wife, make themselves at home + under the waggon; whilst the single men simply throw + themselves at full length on the ground, wrap their one thin, + small blanket round them, and smoke and jest merrily enough, + whilst the Kaffirs light the fires and make the coffee. There + is scarcely any timber in this part of Africa, and the fuel + used is the dried manure of cattle pressed into slabs about + fifteen inches long, eight inches wide, and three inches + thick. The smoke from the fires is very dense, and soon fills + the air with a pungent odour, which is not unpleasant in the + open, but would be simply intolerable in a building. The + coffee is soon made, and the simple meal begins; it consists + of "rusks," a kind of bread baked until it becomes crisp and + hard, and plenty of steaming hot coffee. I never saw any + people so fond of this beverage as the Boers are. The + Australian bushman and digger loves tea, and can almost exist + upon it; but these Boers cling to coffee. They live, when out + in laager, like Spartans, they dress anyhow, sleep anyhow, + and eat just rusks and precious little else. Talk about + "Tommy" and his hard times, why a private soldier at the + front sleeps better, dresses better, and eats better than a + Boer general; yet never once did I hear a Boer complain of + hardships. After tea the Boers sit about and clean their + rifles; the women move from one little group to another, + chatting cheerfully, but I saw nothing in their conduct, or + in the conduct of any man towards one of them, that would + cause the most chaste matron in Great Britain to blush or + droop her eyes. There is in the laager an utter absence of + what we term soldierly discipline; men moved about, went and + came in a free and easy fashion, just as I have seen them do + a thousand times in diggers' camps. There was no saluting of + officers, no stiffness, no starch anywhere. The general + lounges about with hands in pockets and pipe in mouth; no one + pays him any special deference. He talks to the men, the + striplings, and the women, and they talk back to him in a + manner which seems strange to a Britisher familiar to the + ways of military camps. After the chatting, the pridikant, or + parson, if there is one in the laager, raises his hands, and + all listen with reverent faces whilst the man of God utters a + few words in a solemn, earnest tone; then all kneel, and a + prayer floats up towards the skies, and a few moments later + the whole camp is wrapped in sleep, nothing is heard but the + neighing of horses, the lowing of cattle, the bleating of + sheep, and the occasional barking of a dog. There is no + clatter of arms, no ringing of bugles, no deep-toned + challenge of sentries, no footfall of changing pickets.</p> + + <p>At regular intervals men rise silently from the ranks of + the sleepers, pick up their rifles noiselessly, and silently, + like ghosts, slip out into the deep shadows of the kopjes, + and other men, equally silent, glide in from posts they have + been guarding, and stretch themselves out to snatch slumber + whilst they may. At dawn the men toss their blankets aside, + and spring up ready dressed, and move amongst their horses; + the Kaffirs attend to the morning meal, the everlasting rusks + and coffee are served up, horses are saddled, cattle are + yoked to waggons, and in the twinkling of an eye the camp is + broken up, and the irregular army is on the march again, with + scouts guarding every pass in front, scouts watching + (themselves unseen) on every height. They travel fast, + because they travel light; they use very little water, + because they find it impossible to move it from place to + place. Many critics charge them with habits of personal + uncleanliness. It is true that in their laagers one does not + see as much soap and water used as in our camps, but this is + possibly due to want of opportunity as much as to want of + inclination. In sanitary matters they are neglectful. I did + not see a single latrine in any of their laagers, nor do I + think they are in the habit of making them, and to this cause + and to no other I attribute the large amount of fever in + their ranks. They do not seem to understand the first + principles of the laws of sanitation, and had this season + been a wet, instead of a peculiarly dry one, I venture to + assert that typhoid fever would have wrought far more havoc + amongst them than our rifles.</p> + + <p>I saw no literature in laager except Bibles. I witnessed + no sports of any kind, and the only sport I heard them talk + about was horse-racing. I saw no gambling, heard no + blasphemy, noticed no quarrelling or bickering, and can only + say, from my slight acquaintance with life in Boer laager in + war time, that it may be rough, it may be irksome, it may not + be so fastidiously clean as a feather-bed soldier might like + it, but I have been in many tougher, rougher places, and + never heard anyone cry about it.</p> + </div> + <a id="page104" name="page104"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>THROUGH BOER GLASSES.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>BURGHERSDORP.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>I had a good many opportunities of chatting with Boers + during the time which elapsed between my capture and + liberation, and had a long talk with the President of the + Orange Free State, Mr. Steyn; also with several of his + ministerial colleagues. Their ministers of religion, whom + they call pridikants, also chatted to me freely, as occasion + offered. I had more than one interview with their fighting + generals. Medical men in their service I found very much akin + to medical men the world over. They patched up the wounded + and asked no questions concerning nationality, just as our + own medicos do. Personally, I must say that I found the Boers + first-class subjects for Press interviews. They did not know + much about journalists and the ways of journalism. Possibly + had they had more experience in regard to "interviews," I + should not have found them quite so easy to manage, but it + never seemed to enter their heads that a man might make good + "copy" out of a quiet chat over pipes and tobacco. One of + their stock subjects of conversation was their great General, + the man of Magersfontein—General Cronje.</p> + + <p>"What do you Britishers and Australians think of Cronje?" + was a stock question with them. "Do you think him a good + fighter?"</p> + + <p>"Well, yes, unquestionably he is a good fighting man."</p> + + <p>"Do you think him as good as Lord Roberts?"</p> + + <p>"No. We men of British blood don't think there are many + men on earth as good as the hero of Candahar."</p> + + <p>"Do you think him as good a man as Lord Kitchener?"</p> + + <p>"No. Very many of us consider the conqueror of the Soudan + to be one who, if he lives, will make as great a mark in + history as Wellington."</p> + + <p>At this a joyous smile would illuminate the face of the + Boer. He would reply, "Yes, yes; Roberts is a great man, a + very great man indeed. So is Kitchener, so is General French, + so is General Macdonald, so is General Methuen. Yet all those + five men are attempting to get Cronje into a corner where + they can capture him. They have ten times as many soldiers as + Cronje has, ten times as many guns; therefore, what a really + great man Cronje must be on your own showing."</p> + + <p>That was before the fatal 27th of February on which Cronje + surrendered.</p> + + <p>I often asked them how they, representing a couple of + small States, came to get hold of the idea that they could + whip a colossal Power like Great Britain in a life or death + struggle; and almost invariably they informed me that they + had expected that one of the great European Powers would take + an active part in the struggle on their behalf, and, + furthermore, they had been taught to think that Britain's + Empire was rotten to the core, so much so that as soon as war + commenced in earnest all her colonies would fall away from + her and hoist the flag of independence, and that India would + leap once again into open and bloody mutiny. They expressed + themselves as being dumbfounded when they heard that + Australian troops were rallying under the Union Jack, and + seemed to feel most bitterly that the men from the land of + the Southern Cross were in arms against them. "We fell out + with England, and we thought we had to fight England. Instead + we find we have to fight people from all parts of the world, + Colonials like ourselves. Surely Australia and Canada might + have kept out of this fight, and allowed us to battle it out + with the country we had a quarrel with."</p> + + <p>"The Canadians and Australians are of British blood."</p> + + <p>"Well, what if they are? Ain't plenty of the Cape + Volunteers who are fighting under President Kruger's banner + born of Dutch parents? Yet, because they fight against + Englishmen, you call them all rebels, and talk of punishing + them when the war is over, if you win, just because they + lived on your side of the border and not on ours. Would you + ask one Boer to fight against another Boer simply because he + lived on one side of a river and his blood relation lived on + the other? You Britishers brag of your pride of blood, and + draw your fighting stock from all parts of the world in war + time, but you have no generosity; you won't allow other + people to be proud of their blood too."</p> + + <p>I tried to persuade them that I did not for one moment + think that Britain would be vindictive towards so-called + rebels in the hour of victory, and pointed out that, in my + small opinion, such a course would be foreign to the + traditions of the Motherland; and was often met with the + retort that if England did so the shame would be hers, not + theirs. Many a time I was told to remember the Jameson raid + and the manner in which the Boers treated not only the + leaders of that band of adventurers, but the men also. "Look + here," said one old fighting man to me, as he leant with + negligent grace on his rifle, "I was one of those who helped + to corner Jameson and his men, and I can tell you that we + Boers knew very well that we would have been acting within + our rights if we had shot Jameson and every man he had with + him, because his was not an act of war—it was an act of + piracy; and had we done so, and England had attempted to + avenge the deed, half the civilised world would have ranged + themselves on our side; but we did not seek those men's + blood; we gave them quarter as soon as they asked for it, and + after that, though we knew very well they had done all that + men could do to involve us in a war of extermination with a + great nation, we sent their leader home to his own country to + be tried by his own countrymen, and the rank and file we + forgave freely. We may be a nation of white savages, but our + past does not prove it, and if Britain wins in the war now + going on she will have to be very generous indeed before we + will need to blush for our conduct."</p> + + <p>"Why should not the white population of South Africa be + ready to live under the protection of Britain? The yoke + cannot be so heavy when men of all creeds, colours, and + nationalities who have lived under that rule for years are + now ready to volunteer to fight for her, even against you, + who have admittedly done them no direct wrong?"</p> + + <p>"Why should we live under any flag but our own?" replied + the old fighting man passionately. "We came here and found + the country a wilderness in the hands of savages; we fought + our way into the land step by step, holding our own with our + rifles; we had to live lives of fearful hardships, facing + wild beasts and wilder men; we won with the strong hand the + land we live in. Why should we bow our necks to Britain's + yoke, even if it be a yoke of silk?" And as he spoke a murmur + of deep and earnest sympathy ran through the ranks of the + Boers who were standing around him.</p> + + <p>"You, of course, blame all the Colonials, Australians and + others, for coming to fight against you?" I asked. "I don't + know that I do, or that my people do, in a sense," the + veteran replied. "It all depends upon the spirit which + animated them. If your Australians, who are of British blood, + came here to fight for your Motherland, believing that her + cause was a just and a holy one, and that she needed your + aid, you did right, for a son will help his mother, if he be + a son worth having; but if the Australians came here merely + for the sake of adventure, merely for sport, as men come in + time of peace to shoot buck on the veldt, then woe to that + land, for though God may make no sign to-day nor to-morrow, + yet, in His own time, He will surely wring from Australia a + full recompense in sweat and blood and tears; for whether we + be right or wrong, our God knows that we are giving our lives + freely for what we in our hearts believe to be a holy + cause."</p> + + <p>"What do you fellows think of Australians as + fighters?"</p> + + <p>I asked the question carelessly, but the answer that I got + brought me to my bearings quickly, for then I learnt that + more than one gallant Australian officer dear to me had + fallen, never to rise again, since I had been taken prisoner. + The man who spoke was little more than a lad, a pale-faced, + slenderly built son of the veldt. He had tangled curly hair, + and big, pathetic blue eyes, soft as a girl's, and limbs that + lacked the rugged strength of the old Boer stock; but there + was that nameless "something," that indefinable expression in + his face which warranted him a brave man. He carried one arm + in a sling, and the bandage round his neck hid a bullet + wound. "The Australians can fight," he said simply. "They + wounded me, and—they killed my father." Perhaps it was the + wind sighing through the hospital trees that made the Boer + lad's voice grow strangely husky; possibly the same cause + filled the blue eyes with unshed tears.</p> + + <p>"It was in fair fight, lad," I said gently; "it was the + fortune of war."</p> + + <p>"Yes," he murmured, "it was in fair fight, an awful + fight—I hope I'll never look upon another like it. Damn the + fighting," he broke out fiercely. "Damn the fighting. I + didn't hate your Australians. I didn't want to kill any of + them. My father had no ill-will to them, nor they to him, yet + he is out there—out there between two great kopjes—where + the wind always blows cold and dreary at night-time." The + laddie shuddered. "It makes a man doubt the love of the + Christ," he said. "My father was a good man, a kind man, who + never turned the stranger empty-handed from his door, even + the Kaffirs on the farm loved him; and now he is lying where + no one can weep over his grave. We piled great rocks on his + grave. My cousin and I buried him. We had no shovels; we + scooped a hole in the hard earth as well as we could, a long, + shallow hole, and we laid him in it. I took his head and + Cousin Gustave carried his feet. We folded his hands on his + breast, laid his old rifle by his side, because he had always + loved that gun, and never used any other when out hunting. + Then we pushed the earth in on him gently with our hands, + breaking the hard lumps up and crumbling them in our palms, + so that they should not bruise his poor flesh. He had always + been so kind, we could not hurt him, even though we knew he + was dead, for he had been gentle to all of us in life; even + the cows and the oxen at home loved him—and now who will go + back and tell mother and little Yacoba that he is dead, that + he will come to them no more? Oh, damn the war," the lad + called again in his pain. "I don't know—only God + knows—which side is right or wrong, but I do know that the + curse of the Christ will rest on the heads of those who have + made this war for ambition's sake or the greed of gold, and + the good God will not let the widow and the orphan child go + unavenged; blood will yet speak for blood, and it must rest + either on the heads of Kruger and Steyn, or Chamberlain and + Rhodes."</p> + + <p>"Tell me, comrade, of the Australians who fell. They were + my countrymen."</p> + + <p>"It was a cruel fight," he said. "We had ambushed a lot of + the British troops—the Worcesters, I think, they called + them. They could neither advance nor retire; we had penned + them in like sheep, and our field cornet, Van Leyden, was + beseeching them to throw down their rifles to save being + slaughtered, for they had no chance. Just then we saw about a + hundred Australians come bounding over the rocks in the gully + behind us. There were two great big men in front cheering + them on. We turned and gave them a volley, but it did not + stop them. They rushed over everything, firing as they came, + not wildly, but as men who know the use of a rifle, with the + quick, sharp, upward jerk to the shoulder, the rapid sight, + and then the shot. They knocked over a lot of our men, but we + had a splendid position. They had to expose themselves to get + to us, and we shot them as they came at us. They were rushing + to the rescue of the English. It was splendid, but it was + madness. On they came, and we lay behind the boulders, and + our rifles snapped and snapped again at pistol range, but we + did not stop those wild men until they charged right into a + little basin which was fringed around all its edges by rocks + covered with bushes. Our men lay there as thick as locusts, + and the Australians were fairly trapped. They were far worse + off than the Worcesters, up high in the ravine.</p> + + <p>"Our field cornet gave the order to cease firing, and + called on them to throw down their rifles or die. Then one of + the big officers—a, great, rough-looking man, with a voice + like a bull—roared out, 'Forward Australia!—no surrender!' + Those were the last words he ever uttered, for a man on my + right put a bullet clean between his eyes, and he fell + forward dead. We found later that his name was Major Eddy, of + the Victorian Rifles. He was as brave as a lion, but a Mauser + bullet will stop the bravest. His men dashed at the rocks + like wolves; it was awful to see them. They smashed at our + heads with clubbed rifles, or thrust their rifles up against + us through the rocks and fired. One after another their + leaders fell. The second big man went down early, but he was + not killed. He was shot through the groin, but not + dangerously. His name was Captain McInnerny. There was + another one, a little man named Lieutenant Roberts; he was + shot through the heart. Some of the others I forget. The men + would not throw down their rifles; they fought like furies. + One man I saw climb right on to the rocky ledge where Big Jan + Albrecht was stationed. Just as he got there a bullet took + him, and he staggered and dropped his rifle. Big Jan jumped + forward to catch him before he toppled over the ledge, but + the Australian struck Jan in the mouth with his clenched + fist, and fell over into the ravine below and was killed.</p> + + <p>"We killed and wounded an awful lot of them, but some got + away; they fought their way out. I saw a long row of their + dead and wounded laid out on the slope of a farmhouse that + evening—they were all young men, fine big fellows. I could + have cried to look at them lying so cold and still. They had + been so brave in the morning, so strong; but in the evening, + a few little hours, they were dead, and we had not hated + them, nor they us. Yes, I could have cried as I thought of + the women who would wait for them in Australia. Yes, I could + have shed tears, though they had wounded me, but then I + thought of my father, and of the mother, and little Yacoba on + the farm, who would wait in vain for <i>him</i>, and then I + could feel sorry for those, the wives and children of the + dead men, no longer."</p> + </div> + <a id="page116" name="page116"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>LIFE IN THE BOER CAMPS.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>HEADQUARTERS, ORANGE RIVER COLONY.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>It is an article of faith with many people that a Boer + commando is a mere mob, that its leaders exercise no control + over men in laager or on the field, and that punishment for + crimes is a thing unknown. But this is far from being the + case. It is quite true that a Boer soldier does not know how + to click his heels together, turn his toes to an acute angle, + stiffen his back, and salute every time an officer runs + against him. He could not properly perform any of the very + simplest military evolutions common to all European soldiers + if his immortal welfare depended upon it. That is why he is + such a failure as an attacking agent. Still, in spite of + these things, the Boer on commando has to submit to very + rigid laws. The penalty for outrage, or attempted outrage, on + a woman is instant death on conviction, no matter what the + woman's nationality may be. For sleeping on sentry duty the + punishment is unique; it is a punishment born of long + dwelling in the wilderness. It is of such a nature that no + man who has once undergone it is calculated ever to forget. + When a clear case is made out against a burgher by trial + before his commandant the whole commando in laager is + summoned to witness the criminal's reward. He is taken out + beyond the lines to a spot where the sun shines in all its + unprotected fierceness. He is led to an ant-hill full of + busy, wicked, little crawlers; the top of the ant-hill is cut + off with a spade, leaving a honeycombed surface for the + sleepy one to stand upon (not much fear of him sleeping + whilst he is there). He is ordered to mount the hill and + stand with feet close together. His rifle is placed in his + hands, the butt resting between his toes, the muzzle clasped + in both hands. Two men are then told off to watch him. They + are picked men, noted for their stern, unyielding sense of + duty and love for the cause they fight for.</p> + + <p>These guards lie down in the veldt twenty-five yards away + from the victim. They have their loaded Mausers with them, + and their orders are, if the prisoner lifts a leg, to put a + bullet into it; if he lifts an arm, a bullet goes into that + defaulting member; if he jumps down from his perch + altogether, the leaden messengers sent from both rifles will + cancel all his earthly obligations. The sun shines down in + savage mockery; it strikes upon the bare neck of the + quivering wretch, who dare not lift a hand to shift his hat + to cover the blistering skin. It strikes in his eyes and + burns his lips until they swell and feel like bursting. The + barrel of his rifle grows hotter and hotter, until his + fingers feel as if glued to a gridiron. The very clothes upon + his body burn the skin beneath. He feels desperate; he must + shift one arm, for the anguish is intolerable. He makes an + almost imperceptible movement of his shoulder, and glances + towards his guards. The man on his right front lays his pipe + quickly in the grass, and swiftly lifts his Mauser to his + shoulder. The wretch on the ant-heap closes his eyes with a + groan, and stands as still as a Japanese god carved out of + jute-wood. The guard lays down his rifle and picks up his + pipe.</p> + + <p>The sun climbs higher and higher, until it gleams down + straight into the ant-heap; the scorching heat penetrates + into the unprotected cells, and enrages the dwellers inside. + They swarm out full of fight, like an army lusting for + battle. Their home has been ravished of the protection they + had raised with half a lifetime of labour, and in their puny + way they want vengeance. They find a foe on top, a man ready + to their wrath. They crawl into his scorched boots, over his + baked feet, guiltless of stockings; they charge up the legs, + on which the trousers hang loosely, and as they charge they + bite, because they are out for business, not for a picnic. + The very stillness of their victim seems to enrage them. The + first legion retires at full speed down into the ant-heap + again. They have gone for recruits. In a few seconds up they + come again, until the very top of the heap is alive with + them. They climb one over another in their eagerness to get + in their individual moiety of revenge. Down into the + veldtschoon, up the bare, hairy legs, over the hips, round + the waist, over the lean ribs, along the spine, under the + arms, round the neck, over the whole man they go, as the + Mongolian hordes will some day go over the Western world. And + each one digs his tiny prongs into the smarting, burning, + itching poor devil on top of their homestead. He shifts a leg + the hundredth part of an inch. The guard on the left gives + his bandolier a warning twist, and glances along the long + brown barrel that nestles in the hollow of his left hand.</p> + + <p>The commandant comes out of the circle of burghers, looks + at the victim, sees that the eyes are bloodshot and + protruding far beyond the normal position. He is not a hard + man, but he knows that the culprit has endangered the lives + and liberties of all. "You will remember this," he says + sternly; "you will not again sleep when it is your turn to + watch." "Never, so help me God!" gasps the prisoner. "Stand + down, then; you are free." Quicker than a swallow's flight is + the movement of the liberated man. He drops his rifle with a + gasp of relief, tears every stitch of clothing from his body, + throws the garments from him, and pelts his veldtschoon after + them. Some sympathetic veteran, who has possibly, in earlier + wars, been through the ordeal himself, runs up with a drink + of blessed water. He does not drink it; he pours it down his + burning throat, then sits on the grass, drawing his breath in + long, sobbing sighs, all the more terrible because they are + tearless. From head to heel he is covered with tiny red + marks, just like a schoolboy who has had the measles; in + three days there will not be a mark on him, but he won't + forget them, all the same, not in thirty-three years, or + three hundred and thirty-three, if he happens to have a + memory of any kind at that period.</p> + + <p>This mode of punishing recalcitrant persons was picked up, + I am told, from one of the savage tribes. I do not know if + this is so or not, but there is no doubt that the niggers + know all about it, because one day, when I found that one of + my niggers had been helping himself lavishly to my tobacco, I + promised to stand him on an ant-heap as soon as I had + finished shaving. Five minutes later my other nigger, + Lazarus, came into my tent and informed me that Johnnie had + bolted. I went out, and by the aid of my glasses I could just + espy a black dot away out on the veldt, making a rapid and + direct line for the land of the Basutos; and that was the + last I ever saw or heard of tobacco-loving, work-dodging, + truth-twisting Johnnie.</p> + + <p>There is a distinctly humorous side to the Boer character, + which crops out sometimes in his methods of dealing out + justice to those who have done the thing that seems evil in + his sight. If there is a fellow in laager who is not amenable + to orders, one of those malcontents who desires to have + everything his own way—and there generally is one of these + cherubs in every large gathering of men all the world + over—the commandant first calls him up and warns him that he + is making himself a pest to the whole commando, and exhorts + him to mend his manners. As a general thing the commandant + throws a few slabs of Scripture appropriate to the occasion + at the disturber's ears, and mixes it judiciously with a good + deal of worldly wisdom, all of which tending to teach the + fellow that he is about as desirable as a comrade as a sore + eye in a sand-storm. Should the exhortation not have the + desired effect, and the offender continue to stir up strife + in laager, as a lame mule stirs up mud in midstream, then the + commandant sends a guard of young men to gather in the unruly + one. He is captured with as little ceremony as a nigger + captures a hog in the midst of his mealy patch. They strip + him bare to the waist, and put a bridle on his head; the bit + is jammed into his mouth, and firmly buckled there, and then + the circus begins. One of the guards takes the reins, usually + a couple of long lengths of raw hide; another flicks the + human steed on the bare ribs with a sjambok, and he is + ordered to show his paces. He has to walk, trot, canter, + gallop, and "tripple" all around the laager several times, + amidst the badinage and laughter of the burghers, and he gets + enough "chaff" during the journey to last the biggest horse + in England a lifetime.</p> + + <p>It is bad enough when there are only men there, but when + there are, as is often the case, a dozen or two of women and + girls present his woe is served up to him full measure and + brimming over. The men roar with laughter, and pelt him with + crusts of rusks, but the women and girls make his life an + agony for the time being. They smile at him sweetly, and ask + him if he feels lonely without a cart, or they pull up a + handful of grass and offer it to him on the end of a stick, + making a lot of "stage aside" remarks concerning the length + of his ears the while, until the fellow's face crimsons with + shame.</p> + + <p>They are wonderfully patriotic, these Boer girls and + women, and are merciless in their contempt for a man who will + not do his share of fighting, marching, and watching + cheerfully and uncomplainingly. The hardships and privations + they themselves undergo without murmuring, in order to assist + their husbands, brothers, and lovers, is worthy of being + chronicled in the pages of history, for they are the Spartans + of the nineteenth century. They are swift to help those who + need help, but unsparing with their scorn for those who are + unworthy. The treatment meted out to the grumbler and + mischief-maker usually presents more of the elements of + comedy than anything else, and it is his own fault if he does + not get off lightly. But if he cuts up rough, tries to strike + or kick his drivers or tormentors, or if he goes in for a + course of sulks, and flops himself down, refusing to be + driven, then the comic element disappears from the scene. Out + come the sjamboks, and he is treated precisely as a vicious + or sulky horse would be treated under similar circumstances. + As a rule, it does not take long to bring a man of that kind + to his proper senses. Should he talk of deserting or of + avenging himself later on, he is watched, and a deserter soon + learns that a rifle bullet can travel faster than he can. As + for revenge, the sooner he forgets desires or designs of that + kind the better for his own health.</p> + + <p>For minor offences, such as laziness, neglecting to keep + the rifle clean and in good shooting order, attempting to + strike up a flirtation with a married woman, to the annoyance + of the lady, or any other little matter of the kind, the + wayward one is "tossed." Tossing is not the sort of pastime + any fellow would choose for fun, not if he were the party to + be tossed, though it is a beanfeast for the onlookers. They + manage it this way. A hide, freshly stripped from a bullock, + smoking, bloody, and limber as a bowstring, is requisitioned; + the hairy side is turned downwards, two strong men get hold + of each corner, cutting holes in the green hide for their + hands to have a good grip; they allow the hide to sag until + it forms a sort of cradle, into which the unlucky one is + dumped neck and crop. Then the signal is given, the hide + sways to and fro for a few seconds, and then, with a skilful + jerk, it is drawn as taut as eight pairs of strong arms can + draw it. If the executioners are skilful at the business the + victim shoots upwards from the blood-smeared surface like a + dude's hat in a gale of wind. Sometimes he comes down on his + feet, sometimes on his head, or he may sprawl face downwards, + clutching at the slimy surface as eagerly as a politician + clutches at a place in power. But his efforts are vain; a + couple more swings and another jerk, and up he goes, turning + and twisting like a soiled shirt on a wire fence. This time + he comes down on his hands and knees, and promptly commences + to plead for pity, but before he can open his heart a neat + little jerk sends him out on his back, where he claws and + kicks like a jackal in a gin case, whilst the more ribald + amongst the onlookers sing songs appropriate to the occasion, + but the more devout chant some such hymn as this:</p> + </div> + + <table border="0" align="center" summary="A poem"> + <tr> + <td>Lord, let me linger here,<br /> + For this is bliss.</td> + </tr> + </table> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>A man is very seldom hurt at this game, though how he + escapes without a broken neck is one of the wonders of + gravitation to me. One second you see the poor beggar in mid + air, going like a circular saw through soft pine. Just when + you are beginning to wonder if he has converted himself into + a catherine-wheel or a corkscrew, he straightens himself out + horizontally, remains poised for the millionth part of a + second like a he-angel that has moulted his wings; then down + he dives perpendicularly like a tornado in trousers, skinning + forehead, nose, and chin as he kisses the drum-like surface + of the hide. No, on the whole, I do not consider it healthy + to try to fool with a married woman in a Boer fighting + laager, apart altogether from the moral aspect of the affair. + If some of the amorous dandies I wot of, who claim kindred + with us, got the same sort of treatment in Old England, many + a merry matron would be saved much annoyance.</p> + + <p>For rank disobedience of orders, brutality of conduct, + cowardice in the face of the enemy, flagrant neglect of the + wounded, or any other very serious military crime, the + punishment is sjamboking, which is simply flogging, as it + existed in our Army and Navy not so many years ago. On board + ship they used to use the "cat," a genteel instrument with a + handle attached. The Boer sjambok is a different article + altogether; it has not nine tails, but it gets there just the + same. The sjambok dear to the Boer soul is that made out of + rhinoceros hide. It is a plain piece of hide, not twisted in + any way; just clean cut out and trimmed round all the way + down. It is about three feet long, and at the end which the + flogger holds it is about two and a half inches in + circumference, tapering down gradually to a rat-tail point. + It is a terrible weapon when the person who wields it is bent + on business, and is not manufacturing poetry or mingling + thoughts of home and mother with the flogging. Truth to tell, + I don't think they do much flogging—not half as much as they + are credited with—but when they do flog, the party who gets + it wants a soft shirt for a month after, and it's quite a + while before he will lie on his back for the mere pleasure of + seeing the moon rise.</p> + </div> + <a id="page127" name="page127"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>BATTLE OF CONSTANTIA FARM.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>THABA NCHU.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>The Battle of Constantia Farm will not rank as one of the + big events of this war, but it is worthy of a full + description, because in this battle the Briton for the first + time laid himself out from start to finish to fight the Boer + pretty much on his own lines, instead of following + time-honoured British rules of war. Before attempting to + portray the actual fighting, I think a brief sketch of our + movements from the time we left the railway line to cross the + country will be of interest to those readers of <i>The Daily + News</i> who desire to follow the progress of the war with + due care.</p> + + <p>The Third Division, which had been at Stormberg, and had + done such excellent, though almost bloodless, work by + sweeping the country between the last-named place and + Bethany, rested at the latter place, and built up its full + strength by incorporating a large number of men and guns. + General Gatacre, who had retrieved his reverse at Stormberg + by forcing Commandant Olivier to vacate his almost + impregnable position without striking a blow, and later by + his masterly move in swooping down on Bethulie Bridge and + preventing the Boers from wrecking the line of communication + between Lord Roberts and his supplies from Capetown, only + remained long enough with his old command to see them + equipped in a manner fit to take the field, and then retired + in favour of General Chermside. It was under this officer + that we marched away from the railway line across country + known to be hostile to us. Almost due east we moved to + Reddersburg, about twelve and a half miles. We had to move + slowly and cautiously, because no living man can tell when, + where, or how a Boer force will attack. They follow rules of + their own, and laugh at all accepted theories of war, ancient + or modern, and no general can afford to hold them cheap. A + day and a half was spent at Reddersburg, and then the Third + Division continued its eastward course in wretched weather, + until Rosendal was arrived at. This is the spot where the + Royal Irish Rifles and Northumberland Fusiliers had to + surrender to the Boers. We had to camp there for the best + part of three days on account of the continuous downpour of + rain, which rendered the veldt tracks impassable for our + transport. To push onward meant the absolute destruction of + mules and oxen, and the consequent loss of food supplies, + without which we were helpless, for in that country every + man's hand was against us, not only in regard to actual + warfare, but in regard to forage for man and beast.</p> + + <p>Here we were joined by General Rundle with the Eighth + Division, which brought our force up to about thirteen + thousand men, thirty big guns, and a number of Maxims. When + the weather cleared slightly we moved onward slowly, the + ground simply clinging to the wheels of the heavily laden + waggons, until it seemed as if the very earth, as well as all + that was on top of it, was opposed to our march. Our scouts + constantly saw the enemy hovering on our front and flanks, + and more than once exchanged shots with them. General Rundle, + who was in supreme command, thus knew that he could not hope + to surprise the wily foe, for it was evident to the merest + tyro that the Boer leader was keeping a sharp eye upon our + movements, and would not be taken at a disadvantage. We + expected to measure the enemy's fighting force at any hour, + but it was not until about half-past ten on the morning of + Friday, the 20th of April, that we were certain that he meant + to measure his arms with ours, though early on that morning + our scouts had brought in news that a commando, believed to + be about two thousand five hundred strong, with half a dozen + guns, commanded by General De Wet, was strongly posted right + on our line of march. Slowly we crept across the open veldt, + our men stretching from east to west for fully six miles. + There was no moving of solid masses of men, no solid grouping + of troops; no two men marched shoulder to shoulder, a gap + showed plainly between each of the khaki-clad figures as we + moved on to the rugged, broken line of kopjes. There was no + hurry, no bustle, the men behaved admirably, each individual + soldier seeming to have his wits about him, and proving it by + taking advantage of every bit of cover that came in his way. + If they halted near an ant-hill, they at once put it between + themselves and the enemy.</p> + + <p>Slowly but steadily they rolled onward, like a great + sluggish, but irresistible, yellow wave, until we saw the + scouts slipping from rock to rock up the stony heights of the + first line of hills. Breathlessly we watched the intrepid + "eyes of the army" advance until they stood silhouetted + against the sky-line on the top of the black bulwarks of the + veldt. Then we strained our ears to catch the rattle of the + enemy's rifles, but we listened in vain; and we were + completely staggered. What did it mean? Was it a trap? Was + there some devilish craft behind that apparent peacefulness? + Trap or no trap, we had not long to wait. The long, yellow + wave curled inwards from both flanks, the men going forward + with quick, lithesome steps. The mounted infantry shot + forward as if moved by magic, and, before the eye could + scarcely grasp the details, our fellows held the heights, and + men marvelled and wondered whether the Boers had bolted for + good. But they soon undeceived us, for the hills shook with + the far-reaching roar of their guns, and shells began to make + melody which devils love; but they did no harm. Not a man was + touched. Then came the short, sharp word of command from our + lines. Officers bit their words across the centre, and threw + them at the men. The Horse Artillery moved into position, + some going at a steady trot, others sweeping along the + valleys as if they were the children of the storm. The left + flank swung forward and encircled the base of an imposing + kopje. The men swarmed up with tiger-like activity, quickly, + and in broken and irregular lines; but there was no + confusion, no wretched tangle, no helpless muddle. They did + not rush madly to the top and stand on the sky-line to be a + mark for their foes. When they almost touched the summit they + paused, formed their broken lines, and carefully and wisely + topped the black brow; and as they did so the Boer rifles + spoke from a line of kopjes that lay behind the first. Then + our fellows dropped to cover, and sent an answer back that a + duller foe than the Boers would not have failed to + understand. The Mauser bullets splashed on the rocks, and + spat little fragments of lead in all directions; but few of + them found a resting-place under those thin yellow jackets. + By-and-by the shells began to follow the Mauser's spiteful + pellets, but the shells were less harmful even than the + little hostile messengers; for, though well directed, the + shells never burst—they simply shrieked, yelled, and buried + themselves. Our gunners got the ground they wanted, and soon + gun spoke to gun in their deep-throated tones of defiance. + The Boers were not hurting us; whether we were injuring them + we could not tell.</p> + + <p>In the meantime our whole transport came safely inside a + little semi-circular valley, and arranged itself with almost + ludicrous precision. The nigger drivers chaffed one another + as the shells made melody above their heads, and made the air + fairly dance with the picturesque terms of endearment they + bestowed upon their mules, between the welts they bestowed + with their long two-handed whips. When two of their leaders + jibbed and refused to budge, they howled and called them Mr. + Steyn and Ole Oom Paul; but when they got down solid to their + work they laughed until even their back teeth were showing + beyond the dusky horizon of their lips, and endowed them with + the names of Cecil Rhodes and Mistah Chamberlain, which may + or may not appear complimentary to the owners of those + titles—anyway, the mules did not seem to be offended. One + thing was made manifest to me then, and confirmed later on, + viz., the nigger is a game fellow; give him a little + excitement, and he is full of "devil"—it's the doing of + deeds in cold blood that finds him out. After seeing the way + the transport was handled, I moved along to look at the + ambulance arrangements, and found them practically perfect. + The medical staff was cool and collected, the helpers were + alert and attentive to business; the waggons, with their + conspicuous red crosses, were all well and carefully + placed—though in such a fight it was a sheer impossibility + to dispose them so as to render them absolutely immune from + danger, for shells have a knack of falling where least + expected, and when they burst he is a wise man who falls flat + on his face and leaves the rest to his Creator and the + fortune of war. My next move was to secure a position on the + top of a kopje, to try to gather some idea concerning the + actual strength of the Boer position. It needed no soldier's + training to tell a man who knew the rugged Australian ranges + thoroughly that the enemy had chosen his ground with + consummate skill. To get at the Boers our men had either to + go down the sides of the kopjes in full view of the clever + enemy, or else make their way between narrow gullies, where + shells would work havoc in their packed ranks. After they had + reached the open, level ground, they had to cross open spaces + of veldt commanded by the Boer guns and rifles, whilst the + Boers themselves sat tight in a row of ranges that ran from + east to west, mile after mile, in almost unbroken ruggedness. + If we turned either flank, they could promptly fall back upon + another line of kopjes as strong as those they held. Away + behind their position the grim heights of Thaba Nchu rose + towards the blue sky, solemn and stately. Far away to the + eastward, a little south of east perhaps, I could see the + hills that hid Wepener, distant about eighteen miles from the + Boer centre. There we knew, and the enemy knew, that the + Boers held a British force pinned in. They knew, and we knew, + that Commandant Olivier, with eight or nine thousand men and + a lot of guns, held the reins in his hands; and the men our + force were engaging knew that unless they could keep us in + check Olivier would soon be the hunted instead of the + hunter.</p> + + <p>By-and-by the rifle fire on our left flank grew weaker and + weaker—our guns were searching the kopjes with merciless + accuracy—and before sundown it died away altogether, and we + had time to collect our wounded and ascertain our losses, + though we could not even guess how the Boers had fared Our + wounded amounted to eight men all told, none of them + dangerously hurt; of dead we had none, not one. When their + fire slackened the enemy doubtless expected to see an onward + dash of troops from our position, but it was not to be. + General Rundle had decided to play "patience" and save his + men; there was no necessity for him to rush on and force the + Boer position, and he chose the better part. Steadily our + fellows were worked into position, until every bit of ground + that could bear upon the foe was lined with British troops. + Every available point, front or flank, where a gun could be + placed to harass the foe was taken advantage of; nothing was + left to chance, nothing was rashly hurried. Carefully, + methodically the work was done. There was to be no carnival + of death on our side, no trusting to the "luck of the British + Army," no headlong rush into the arms of destruction, no + waving line of bayonets. The Boer was to play a hand with the + cards he loves to deal. He was to be shelled and sniped. If he + wanted straight-out fighting, he had to come out into the + open and get it. He was to have no chance to sit in safety + and slaughter the British soldiers like shambled deer, as he + had so often done before. As the sun went down our men + bivouacked where they stood, and nothing was heard through + the long, cold night except at intervals the grim growling of + a gun, the sentinels' swift, curt challenge, or the neighing + of horses as steed spoke to steed across the grass-grown + veldt.</p> + + <p>At the breaking of the dawn I was aroused from sleep by + the simultaneous crashing of several of our batteries. It was + Britain's morning salutation to the Boer. I hurried up to a + spot on the kopje where a regiment of Worcesters lay amongst + the broken ground, and saw that the battle was just about to + commence in deadly earnest. It was a huge, flat-topped kopje + where I located myself. The outer edges of the hill rose + higher than the centre, a little rivulet ran across tiny + indentations on the crown of that rampart, and there was + ample space for an army to lie concealed from the eyes of + enemies. If the Boers were strongly posted, so were the + British. Away past our right flank Wepener range was plainly + visible in the clear morning light, and just behind Wepener + lay the Basuto border, with its fringe of mountains. About + two thousand yards away, directly facing our centre, a white + farmhouse stood in a cluster of trees. This farmhouse gave + the battlefield its name, Constantia Farm. The enemy could be + seen by the aid of glasses slipping from the kopjes down + towards this farm and back again at intervals. Cattle, + horses, goats, and sheep went on grazing calmly, the roaring + of the guns doubtless seeming to them but as the tumult of a + storm.</p> + + <p>Turning my eyes towards the valley behind our position, I + saw that we intended to try to turn the enemy's left flank. + Little squads of mounted men, 95 in each group, swept along + the valley at a gallop. They were the Yeomanry and mounted + infantry, and numbered about 600. A more workmanlike body of + fellows it would be hard to find anywhere. They sat their + horses with easy confidence, and looked full of fight. Some + of them carried their rifles in their hands, muzzle upwards, + the butt resting on the right thigh; others had their guns + slung across their shoulders. Group after group went + eastward, and the Boers knew nothing of the movement, because + we were for once employing their own tactics. I watched them + out of sight, and then turned my attention to the guns. There + was very little time wasted by our people. The gunners on our + left flank poured in a heavy fire, the centre took up the + chorus, and the guns on the right repeated it. For miles + along their front the Boers must have been in deadly peril. + We seldom saw them. Now and again a group of roughly clad + horsemen would flash into view and disappear again as if by + magic, with shells hurtling in their wake. Our artillery + could not locate their main force with any degree of + certainty, nor could they place us properly. They were not + idle; their guns, of which they had a decent number, sought + for our position with dauntless perseverance. Their shells + soon began to drop amongst us, but they did no harm at all. + They fell close enough to our troops in many instances, but + they were so badly made that they would not explode, or if + they did they simply fizzed, and were almost as harmless as + seidlitz powders.</p> + + <p>The spiteful little pom-poms cracked away and kept us on + the alert, until one grew weary of the everlasting noise of + cannon. At mid-day, tired of the monotony of the game, I + turned my horse's head towards camp, and, in company with + three other correspondents, soon sat down to a lunch of + mealies and boiled fowl; but we were destined not to enjoy + that meal, for before the first mouthful had left my plate + there came a wailing howl through the air, then a strange + jarring noise, and a shell plunged into the earth forty yards + away from the tent. A few minutes later another visitor from + the same direction crashed on top of one of the transport + waggons within a stone's throw of our tent. That decided me; + in a few seconds I had scrambled up the side of a kopje, with + the leg of a fowl in one hand and a soldier's biscuit in the + other. The shells had not burst, but no man could say when + one would, and I had no particular interest in regard to the + inside of any shell myself. I was not the only one who made a + hasty exit from the camp; in ten seconds the side of the + kopje was alive with men. The shells continued to fall right + amongst the waggons every few minutes for over two hours; yet + only one man was killed, a negro driver being the victim, a + shell dropping right against his thigh. The range of the Boer + gun was absolutely perfect, but the shells were mere rubbish. + Had they been as good as ours, half our transport would have + been in ruins. The British gunners manoeuvred in all + directions in order to locate that particularly dangerous + piece of ordnance. They blazed at it in batteries; they tried + to find it by means of cross-firing; they lined men up on the + sky-line of kopjes to draw the fire; they limbered up and + galloped far out on the veldt, until the enemy's rifle fire + drove them in again; but all in vain. The Boer leader had + placed his gun with such skill that the British could not + locate it, and it kept up its devilish jubilee until the + night set in.</p> + + <p>That day our scouts captured one Free State flag from the + enemy; the Yeomanry and mounted infantry did not succeed in + their efforts to turn the Boers' left flank, but they checked + the enemy from advancing in that direction, which was an + important item in the day's work. We did not want the Boer + left to overlap our right; had they done so they could then + get behind us and harass our convoys coming from the + direction of Bethany railway station. We had very little + dread of them turning our left flank, because we knew that + General French was moving towards us on that side from + Bloemfontein, with the object of getting the Boers on the + inside of two forces, and so giving them no chance of escape. + We had only a few men wounded, one petty officer of the + Scouts killed, and a negro driver killed, which was simply + marvellous when one considers the terrible amount of + ammunition used during the day. That night all the + correspondents had to sleep, or try to sleep, with the + transport. It was a wretched night; we knew the Boers had the + range, and we fully expected to get a hot shelling between + darkness and dawn, but, curiously enough, the foe kept their + guns still all the night But the suspense made the night a + weary one.</p> + + <p>The following day was Sunday, and at a very early hour our + scouts informed us that the Boers had made a wide detour + towards Wepener, and had overlapped our right flank. They + slipped up into a kopje, which would have enabled them to + enfilade our position in a most masterly manner; but before + they could get their guns there our artillery was at them, + and the kopje was literally ploughed up with shells. It was + too warm a corner for any man on earth to attempt to hold, + and they soon took their departure, falling back in good + order, and leaving no dead or wounded behind them. The + Yeomanry had advanced on the kopje, under the protection of + the shell firing, and when close to the position they fixed + bayonets and dashed up the hill; but when they topped it they + found that the Boers had retired. It was a quick bit of work, + neatly and expeditiously done. Had the Boers held the hill + long enough to get their guns in position they would have + played havoc with us, for they could then have swept our + whole line. From morning until night-fall we kept at them + with our big guns; whenever a cloud of dust arose from behind + a range of kopjes we dropped shells in the middle of it; + wherever a cluster of Boers showed themselves for a second a + shell sought them out. No matter how well they were placed, + they must have had a lively time of it. During the Sabbath + they scarcely used their guns at all, but they opened on our + troops with rifle fire as soon as they made a forward move at + any part of the line, showing clearly that they were watching + as well as praying. The day closed without incident of any + particular character; we had a few wounded, but no deaths, + and could form no idea how the Boers were faring. Now and + again during the night one or another of our guns would bark + like sullen watchdogs on the chain, but the Boer guns were + still.</p> + + <p>Monday morning broke crisp and clear, and once more the + big-gun duel began, only on this occasion the Boers made + great use of a pom-pom gun This spiteful little demon tossed + its diminutive shells into camp with painful freeness. They + knocked three of the Worcesters over early in the day, + killing two and badly damaging the other. As on all other + occasions in this peculiar engagement, the Boer gunnery was + simply superb; but their shells were worthless. Shells grew + so common that the "Tommies" scarcely ducked when they heard + the report of a gun they knew was trying to reach them, but + smoked their pipes and made irreverent remarks concerning + things made in Germany. About midday a party of Boers, who + had somehow dodged round to our rear, made a dashing attempt + to raid some cattle that were grazing close under our eyes; + but they had to vanish in a hurry, and were particularly + lucky in being able to escape with their lives, for a party + of scouts darted out after them at full gallop on one side, + whilst another party of mounted infantry rode as hard as + hoofs could carry them on the other side of the bold raiders. + They unslung their rifles as they dashed across the veldt, + and the Boers soon knew that the fellows behind them were as + much at home as they were themselves at that kind of + business.</p> + + <p>Late on Monday evening the Boers located a little to the + left of our centre moved forward a bit. Though with infinite + caution, and commenced sniping with the rifle. It was an + evidence that they were growing weary of our tactics, and + would greatly have liked us to attempt to rush their position + with the bayonet, so that they could have mowed our fellows + down in hundreds. But this General Rundle wisely declined to + do; it was victory, not glory, he was seeking, and he was + wise enough to know that a victory can be bought at far too + high a price in country of this kind against a foe like the + wily Boer. On Sunday night our strength was augmented by the + arrival of three regiments of the Guards, and on Monday night + we, knew for a certainty that General French was close at + hand. The Boer was between two fires, and he would need all + his "slimness" to pull him out of trouble. During a greater + part of the night our guns continued to rob sleep of its + sweetness, and the enemy's pom-pom mingled with our dreams. + On Tuesday morning news came to us that Wepener had been + relieved by Brabant and Hart, and that the Boers who had + invested that place were drawing off in our direction, so + that our right flank needed strengthening. The Boers + displayed no sign of quitting their position, though they + must have known that Brabant and Hart would be on their track + from the south-east, and General French from the north-west. + They held their ground with a grim stubbornness against + overwhelming odds of men and guns, and dropped shells amongst + us in a way that made one feel that no spot could be labelled + "absolutely safe."</p> + + <p>At about 7 p.m. we sent a force out south, consisting of + about 4,000 men, under General Boyes. Amongst that force were + the West Kents, Staffords, Worcesters, Manchesters, all + infantry. The Imperial Yeomanry and mounted infantry also + accompanied the expedition. But there was little for them to + do except hold the enemy in check, which they did. There were + some phenomenally close shaves during the day. On one + occasion the enemy got the range of one of our guns with + their pom-pom, and the way they dropped the devilish little + one-pound shells amongst those gunners was a sight to make a + man's blood run chill. The little iron imps fell between the + men, grazed the wheels, the carriage, and the truck of the + gun; but</p> + </div> + + <div align="center"> + He, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps. + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Nothing short of angel-wings could have kept our fellows + safe. The men knew their deadly peril, knew that the tip of + the wand in the Death Angel's hand was brushing their cheeks. + One could see that they knew their peril. The hard, firm grip + of the jaw, the steady light in the hard-set eyes, the manly + pallor on the cheeks, all told of knowledge; yet not once did + they lose their heads. Each fellow stood there as bravely as + human flesh and blood could stand, and faced the iron hail + with unblenching courage and intrepid coolness. Had those + khaki-clothed warriors been carved out of bronze and moved by + machinery, they could not have shown less fear or more + perfect discipline. The pom-pom is a gun which I have been + told the British War Office refused as a toy some two years + back. I have had the doubtful pleasure of being under its + fire to-day, and all I can say is that I would gladly have + given my place to any gentleman in the War Office who happens + to hold the notion that the pom-pom is a toy.</p> + + <p>Somehow the enemy got hold of the position where General + Rundle and staff were located, and all the afternoon they + swept the plain in front of the tents, the hills above, and + the hill opposite with shells; but they could not quite drop + one in the little ravine itself. Half an hour before sundown + I had to ride with two other correspondents to headquarters + to get a dispatch away. We got across safely, but had not + been there five minutes before a grandly directed shell sent + the General and his staff off the brow of the hill in double + quick time. We delivered our dispatches, and were getting + ready for a gallop over the quarter mile of veldt, when, + <i>pom, pom, pom, pom</i>, came a dozen one-pounders a few + yards away right across our track. It made our hearts sit + very close to our ribs, but there was nothing for it but to + take our horses by the head, drive the spurs home, and ride + as if we were rounding up wild cattle. I want it to stand on + record that I was not the last man across that strip of + veldt. There was not much incident in the day's fighting; + there seldom is in an artillery duel, carried on by men who + know the game, in hilly country. Once during the afternoon + the big gun belonging to the Boers became so troublesome that + half a dozen of ours were trained upon it, and for best part + of an hour it sounded as if a section of Sheol had visited + the earth, so deadly was the fire, so fierce the bursting + missiles, that not a rock wallaby, crouching in its hole, + could have lived twenty minutes in the location. We heard no + more from that gun.</p> + + <p>As I rode from position to position our fellows greeted me + with the cry: "Any news, sir? Heard if we are going to have a + go at 'em with the spoons (bayonets)?" One midget, a bugler + kiddie, so small that an ordinary maid-of-all-work could + comfortably lay him across her knee and spank him, yawned as + he knelt in the grass, and desired to know when "we was goin' + ter 'ave some real bloomin' fightin'. 'E was tired of them + bloomin' guns, 'e was; they made his carmine 'ead ache with + their blanky noise. 'E didn't call that fightin'; 'e called + it an adjective waste of good hammunition. 'E liked gettin' + up to 'is man, fair 'nd square, 'nd knockin' 'ell out of + 'im." He meant it, too, the little beggar, and I could not + help laughing at him when I considered that lots of the old + fighting Boers I had seen could have dropped the midget into + their lunch bags, and not have noticed his weight.</p> + + <p>The Yeomanry did a lot of useful work, and are as eager + for fight as a bull ant on a hot plate. They are as good as + any men I have seen in Africa, full of ginger, good horsemen, + wear-and-tear, cut-and-come-again sort of men. They adapt + themselves to circumstances readily, are jolly and + good-humoured under trying circumstances. Their officers are, + as a rule, first-class soldiers, equal to any emergency. On + Tuesday the Boers kept their guns going at a great rate, and + we really thought that they had made up their minds to see + the thing right out at all costs. Personally I did not for a + moment think that they were ignorant of General French's + rapid advance. I do not believe it possible for any large + body of hostile troops to move in South Africa without the + Boers being thoroughly cognisant of every detail connected + with the move, partly because they are the most perfect + scouts in the world, and partly because the scattered + population on every hand is positively favourable to them. + Our artillery dropped a storm of shells during the day, and + that night it was whispered in camp that there was to be a + general attack next morning. On Tuesday evening General + French advanced right on to the Boer rear, and some smart + fighting took place, the enemy suffering considerably, though + our losses were small.</p> + + <p>At dawn on Wednesday we moved forward rapidly, and in a + few hours' time our infantry were standing in the trenches + and upon the hills that the Boers had occupied the day + before. Our mounted men rode at a gallop through the gullies, + but nothing was to be seen of the foe except a few newly dug + graves. The Boers had vanished like a dream, taking all their + guns with them. Louis Botha, the commander-in-chief, had come + in person to them, and the retreat was carried out under his + eyes. We followed to Dewetsdorp, and from there on to Thaba + Nchu (pronounced Tabancha).</p> + + <p>On Friday night the enemy exchanged a few shots with us + from the heights beyond, but no harm was done on either side. + The Third Division, to which I had attached myself, under + General Chermside, has been ordered towards Bloemfontein. + French is in command, and, judging by his past performances, + I fully expect we shall have some busy times, though French + may go away and leave the Eighth Division under General + Rundle.</p> + </div> + <a id="page149" name="page149"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>WITH RUNDLE IN THE FREE STATE.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>ORANGE FREE STATE.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Since the Boers bolted from Constantia Farm we have done + but little beyond following them from spot to spot through + the Free State, in the conquered territory along the Basuto + border. At Constantia Farm they gave us a gunnery duel, + which, though incessant and continuous, did little real + damage to either side. After that, when General French joined + issue with us, the Boers shifted their ground with consummate + skill. We moved on to Dewetsdorp, and there the Third + Division, under Chermside, parted company with us. We moved + onward to Thaba Nchu, Brabant keeping well away towards the + Basuto border with his flying column. At Thaba Nchu it looked + day by day as if we were in for something hot and hard, the + Boers having, as usual, taken up a position of vast natural + strength. But Hamilton was the only one to get to close + quarters with the veldt warriors, when executing a flanking + movement. I have since learned that the enemy suffered very + severely on that occasion.</p> + + <p>They can give some of the British journalists a wholesome + lesson in regard to manliness of spirit, these same rough + fellows, bred in the African wilds. Speaking to me of the + charge the Gordons made, when led by Captain Towse, they were + unstinted in their praises. "It was grand, it was terrible," + they said, "to see that little handful of men rush on + fearless of death, fearless of everything." It was bravery of + the highest kind, and they admired it, as only brave men do + admire courage in a foeman. The people of Britain who read + extracts taken from Boer newspapers, extracts which ridicule + British pluck and all things British, must not blame the + Boers for those statements. In nearly every case the papers + published inside Burgher territory are edited by renegade + Britons, and it is these renegades, not the fighting Boers, + who defame our nation, and take every possible opportunity of + hitting below the belt.</p> + + <p>When we left Thaba Nchu, General French left us, as did + also Hamilton and Smith-Dorien. Brabant hugged the Basuto + border, and swept the land clean of everything hostile. + General Rundle (the flower of courtesy and chivalry) kept the + centre; General Boyes looked after our left wing; General + Campbell picked up the intermediate spaces as occasion + demanded; and so we moved on, trying, but trying in vain, to + draw a cordon round the ever-shifting foe. There was no + chance for a dashing forward move; the country through which + we passed was lined by kopjes, which were simply appalling in + their native strength. What prompted the Boer leaders to fall + back from them, step by step, will for ever remain a mystery + to me. It was not want of provisions, for we knew that they + had huge supplies of beef and mutton, whilst there were in + their possession almost inexhaustible stores of grain. It was + not want of fodder for their horses, for the valleys and + veldt were covered with beautiful grass, almost knee-deep. + Water was plentiful in all directions, and they apparently + possessed plenty of ammunition. Prisoners assert that + Commandant Olivier was absolutely furious when compelled to + fall back, by order of his superiors. It is also asserted + that he is now in dire disgrace on account of his refusal to + obey promptly some of his superior's commands. It is further + stated that he is to be deposed from his command, and will + cease to be a factor of any importance in the war. It is hard + to fathom Boer tactics. It does not follow because a line of + kopjes are abandoned to-day that the burghers have retreated; + they fall back before scouting parties; their pickets watch + our scouts return to camp, knowing that they will convey the + news to headquarters that the kopjes are empty of armed men. + Then, with almost incredible swiftness, the light-armed Boers + swarm back by passes known only to themselves, and secretly + and silently take up positions where they can butcher an + advancing army. If General Rundle had been a rash, impetuous, + or a headstrong man, he could comfortably have lost his whole + force on half a dozen occasions; but he is not. He is + essentially a cautious leader, and pits his brain against + that of the Boer leaders as a good chess player pits his + against an opponent. He may believe in the luck of the + British Army, but he trusts mighty little to it. Better lose + a couple of days than a couple of regiments is his motto, and + a wise motto it is. Had he flung his men haphazard at any of + the positions where the Boers have made a stand, he would + have been cut to pieces.</p> + + <p>Rundle plays a wise game. When the enemy looks like + sitting tight, Rundle at once commences a series of + manoeuvres directed from his centre. This keeps the enemy + busy, and gives them a lot of solid thinking to do, and + whilst they are thinking he moves his flanks forward, + overlapping them in the hope of surrounding them. The Boer + hates to have his rear threatened, and invariably falls away. + His method of falling back is unique. As soon as he smells + danger, all the live stock is sent off and all the waggons. + Cape carts are kept handy for baggage that cannot be sent + with the heavy convoy. Most of the big guns go with the first + flight; one or two, which can easily be shifted, are kept to + hold back our advance, and the deadly little pom-poms are + dodged about from kopje to kopje. The pom-pom is not much to + look at, but it is a weapon to be reckoned with in mountain + warfare. It throws only a one-pound shell, and throws it from + the most impossible places imaginable. The beauty of the + pom-pom is that it drops its work in from spots from which no + sane man ever expects a shell to come.</p> + + <p>When the Boer finds that his position is untenable on + account of a flanking move, the horses are hitched up to the + light Cape carts, the loading is packed, and off they fly at + a gallop, and the guns follow suit; whilst the rifles hold + the heights. That is why we so seldom get hold of anything + worth having when we do take a position. Our losses have been + paltry, because the Boer is a defensive, not an offensive, + fighter. He waits to be attacked, he does not often attack; + and our general is a man who does not throw men's lives away. + He believes in brains before bayonets, and England may be + thankful for the possession of General Rundle. Had he been a + madcap general, there would have been a few thousand more + widows in the old country to-day than there are. At the same + time, he is a man of immense personality. Should he ever get + a chance to engage the enemy in a pitched battle, he will + prove to the world that he is capable of great things. There + will be no half-hearted work in such an hour. If he has to + sacrifice men on the altar of war, he will surely sacrifice + them, but not until he is compelled to do so. Brabant is a + wild daredevil, who rushes on like a mountain torrent Boyes + is brainy; careful, and yet dashing.</p> + + <p>I want to state here that I have never lost a single + opportunity, whilst travelling through the enemy's country, + of looking at the "home" life of the people—and I may say + that I have been in a few back-country homes in America, in + Australia, and in other parts of the world—and I want to + place it on record that in my opinion the Boer farmer is as + clean in his home life, as loving in his domestic + arrangements, as pure in his morals, as any class of people I + have ever met. Filth may abound, but I have seen nothing of + it. Immorality may be the common everyday occurrence I have + seen it depicted in some British journals, but I have failed + to find trace of it. Ignorance as black as the inside of a + dog may be the prevailing state of affairs; if so, I have + been one of the lucky few who have found just the reverse in + whichsoever direction I have turned. After six months', or + nearly six months', close and careful observation of their + habits, I have arrived at the conclusion that the Boer + farmer, and his son and daughter, will compare very + favourably with the farming folk of Australia, America, and + Great Britain. What he may be in the Transvaal I know not, + because I have not yet been there; but in Cape Colony and in + the Free State he is much as I have depicted him, no better, + no worse, than Americans and Australians, and as good a + fighting man as either—which is tantamount to saying that he + is as good as anything on God's green earth, if he only had + military training.</p> + + <p>Ask "Tommy" privately, when he comes home, if this is not + so—not "Thomas," who has been on lines of communication all + the time—but "Tommy," who has fought him, and measured heart + and hand with him. I think he will tell you much as I have + told you. For "Tommy" is no fool; he is not half such a + braggart, either, as some of the Jingoes, who shout and yell, + but never take a hand in the real fighting; those wastrels of + England, who are at home with a pewter of beer in their + hands—hands that never did, and never will, grip a + rifle.</p> + + <p>Whilst at Trummel I took advantage of a couple of days' + camping to go out three miles from camp to have a look at a + diamond mine. I found a red-whiskered Dutchman in charge, who + knew less English than I knew Dutch, and as my Dutch consists + of about twelve words we did not do much in the + conversational line; but I made him understand by pantomimic + telegraphy that I wanted to have a look round, to size up + things. He took me to a "dump," where the ore at grass was + stored, and converted himself into a human stone-cracking + machine for my benefit, until I had seen all that I wanted to + see in regard to the "ore at grass." He was very much like + mine managers the world over—very ready to play tricks on + anyone he considered "green" at the business. It was not his + fault that he did not know that I had been a reporter on + gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, and coal mines for about + twenty years.</p> + + <p>Thinking, doubtless, that I was like unto the ordinary + city fellow who comes at rare intervals to look at a mine, he + made me a present of a piece of rock with some worthless + garnets in it, also a sample of country rock pregnant with + mundic; the garnets and the mundic glittered in the sunshine. + I rose to the bait, as I was expected to do, and intimated + that I would like a lot of it. This delighted the Dutchman, + and he beamed all over his expansive face, all the time + cursing me for the second son of an idiot, as is the way with + mine managers. But he stopped grinning before the afternoon + wore out, for I set him climbing and clambering for little + pieces of mundic and tiny patches of garnets in all the + toughest places I could find in that mine, and went into + ecstasies over each individual piece, until I had quite a + load of the rubbish. Then I intimated gently that I would be + back that way when the war was over, and would surely send my + Cape cart for them if he would be good enough to mind them + for me. I fancy an inkling of the truth dawned in that + Dutchman's soul at last, for he made no further reference to + either garnets or mundic. I satisfied myself with a sample of + the matrix in which diamonds are found, and also with a + specimen of the country rock for geological reference, but + the garnets are on the heap still.</p> + + <p>The mine, which is named the "Monastery," is very crudely + worked; everything connected with it is primitive. A huge + quarry, about 600 feet in circumference, and about 40 feet + deep, had been opened up. There was nothing in it in the + shape of lode or reef, but a large number of disconnected + "stringers," or leaders of rocky matter, in which diamonds + are often found. At the bottom of the quarry the water lay + fully eight feet deep, owing to the fact that the mine had + lain unworked during the war. A vertical shaft had been sunk + a little distance from the quarry to a depth of 150 feet, but + there was a hundred feet of water in it, so that I am unable + to say anything concerning the Monastery diamond mine at its + lower levels. One or two tunnels had been drawn from the + quarry into the adjoining country on small leaders, and from + what I could gather from my guide diamonds had been + discovered. Whilst I went below, I left my Kaffir boy on top + to pick up what he could in the shape of rumour or gossip + from the natives, and he informed me that the niggers had + been the cause of the opening of the mine, they having found + diamonds near the surface in some of the leaders, which + consisted of a rock known in Australian mining circles as + illegitimate granite. The white folk, fearing that the poor + heathen might become debauched if they possessed too much + wealth, had gathered those diamonds in—when they could—and + later had started mining for the precious gems, with what + success the heathen did not know. I tried the Dutchman on the + same point, but I might as well have interviewed an oyster in + regard to the science of gastronomy. He dodged around my + question like a fox terrier round a fence, until I gave him + up in despair. But, for all that, I rather fancy they have + found diamonds round that way, only they don't want the + British to know anything about it.</p> + </div> + <a id="page159" name="page159"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>RED WAR WITH RUNDLE.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>NEAR SENEKAL.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>In our rear lies the little village of Senekal, a shy + little place, seemingly too modest to lift itself out of the + miniature basin caused by the circumambient hills. Khaki-clad + figures, gaunt, hungry, and dirty, patrol the streets; the + few stores are almost denuded of things saleable, for friend + and foe have swept through the place again and again, and + both Boer and Briton have paid the shops a visit. At the + hotel I managed to get a dinner of bread and dripping, washed + down with a cup of coffee, guiltless of both milk and sugar. + But, if the bill of fare was meagre, the bill of costs made + up for it in its wealth of luxuriousness. If I rose from the + table almost as hollow as when I sat down, I only had to look + at the landlord's charges to fancy I had dined like one of + the blood royal. Opposite the hotel stands the church, a + dainty piece of architecture, fit for a more pretentious town + than Senekal. It is fashioned out of white stone, and stands + in its own grounds, looking calm and peaceful amidst all the + bustle and blaze of war. Someone has turned all the seats out + of the sacred edifice, preparatory to converting it into a + hospital. The seats are not destroyed; they are not damaged; + they are stacked away under a neighbouring verandah.</p> + + <p>I do not think it wrong so to utilise a church. It is the + only place fit to put the wounded men in in all the town. The + great Nazarene in whose name the church was erected would not + have allowed the sick to wither by the wayside in the days + when the Judean hills rang to the echo of His magnetic voice, + nor do I think it wrongful to His memory to convert His + shrine into an abiding place for the sick and suffering.</p> + + <p>Far away on our left flank the enemy hold the heights, and + watch us moving outward, whilst between them and us, + stretching mile after mile in a line with our column, ripples + a line of scarlet flame, for the foe has fired the veldt to + starve the transit mules, horses, and oxen. Like a sword + unsheathed in the sunlight, the flames sparkle amidst the + grass, which grows knee-deep right to the kopje's very lips. + Birds rise on the wing with harsh, resonant cries, flutter + awhile above their ravished homes, then wheel in mid-air and + seek more peaceful pastures. Hares spring up before the + crackling flames quite reach their forms, and, like grey + streaks in a sailor's beard on a stormy day, flash suddenly + into view, and as suddenly disappear again. Here and there a + graceful springbok dashes through the smoke, with head thrown + back and graceful limbs extended, his glossy, mottled hide + looking doubly beautiful backed by that red streak of fire. + The wind catches the quivering crimson streak, and for awhile + the flames race, as I have seen wild horses, neck to neck, + rush through the saltbush plains at the sound of the + stockman's whip. Then, as the wind drops, the flames curl + caressingly around the wealth of growing fodder, biting the + grass low down, and wrapping it in a mantle of black and red, + as flame and smoke commingle.</p> + + <p>Here and there a pool of water, hidden from view until the + fire fiend stripped the veldt land bare, leaps to life like a + silver shield in the grim setting of the bare and blackened + plain. Small mobs of cattle stand stupidly snuffing the + smoke-laden air, until the breath of the blaze awakens them + to a sense of peril; then, with horns lowered like bayonets + at the charge, with tails stiff and straight behind them as + levelled lances, they leap onward, over or through everything + in front of them, bellowing frantically their brute beast + protest against the red ruin of war. The flames roll on; they + reach the stone walls of a cattle pen, and leap it as a + hunter takes a brush fence in his stride; onward still, until + a Kaffir kraal is reached. The soft-lipped billows kiss the + uncouth mud wall, and for a moment transfigure them with a + nameless beauty, the beauty that precedes ruin. Only a moment + or two, and then the resistless destroyer flaunts its pennons + amidst the reed-thatched roofs; the sparks leap up, the black + smoke curls towards the sky, whilst on the neighbouring hills + the negro women, with their babes in their arms, wail + woefully, for those rude huts, with all their barbarous + trappings, meant home—aye, home and happiness—to them. The + flames roll onward now in two long lines, for the Kaffir + encampment had sundered them, and now they look, with their + beautifully rounded curves sweeping so gracefully out into + the unknown, like the rich, ripe lips of a wanton woman in + the pride of her shameless beauty. All that they leave behind + is desolation, darkness, despair, ruin unutterable, only + blackened walls, simmering carcases, weeping women, and + wailing children.</p> + + <p>Away on our right flank we can just make out the skeletons + of what a few hours before had been a cluster of smiling + farmhouses. They do not smile now; they grin horribly in the + sunlight, grin as the fleshless skulls of dead men grin on a + battlefield after those sextons of the veldt the grey-hooded, + curved-beaked vultures have screamed their final farewell to + the charnel-houses of war—noble war, splendid war, pastime + of potentates and princes, invented in hell and patented in + all the temples of sorrow.</p> + + <p>As we look on those grim relics of this dreary time we + catch the maddening sound of distant guns. The chargers prick + their ears, and quiver from muzzle to coronet. The khaki-clad + figures on the plain throw up their heads and turn their eyes + towards the sound; the tired shoulders square themselves, + each foot seems to tread the blackened plain with firmer, + prouder tread. The sound of guns is like the rush of wine + through sluggish veins, and men forget that they are faint + with hunger, weary to the verge of wretchedness with + ceaseless marching. The sound of guns bespeaks the presence + of the foe, and those gaunt soldiers of the Queen are + galvanised to life and lust of battle by the very breath of + war. A ripple runs along the line, the farthest flanks catch + the gleam of the sun on distant rifle barrels. An order rings + out sharp and crisp; the column stands as if each man and + horse were carved in rock.</p> + + <p>The infantry lean lightly on their guns, the cavalry crane + forward in their saddles. We pause and wait until we see the + green badge of O'Driscoll's scouts on the hats of the + advancing riders. O'Driscoll rides towards the staff with + loosened rein, and every spur in all his gallant little troop + shows how the scouts had ridden. We strain our ears to catch + the news the Irish scout has brought. It comes at last + Clements has met the foe, and death is busy in those distant + hills.</p> + + <p>Rundle sits silently, hard pressed in his saddle—a + gallant figure, with soldier and leader written all over him. + We wait his verdict anxiously, for on his word our fate may + hinge. We have not long to wait—Clements can hold his own; + Brabant will outflank the Boers. Forward, march! The men + droop as wheat fields droop in the sultry air of a seething + day. They are tired, deadly tired; not too tired to fight, + but weary of the endless marching from point to point to keep + the enemy from breaking through their lines and striking + southward.</p> + Away in front of us we note the snow-crowned hills which + girdle Basutoland, snow crowned and sun kissed; every hilltop + sparkling like a giant gem, and over all a pale blue sky, + curtained by flimsy clouds of gauzy whiteness, through which + the sun laughs rosily, the handiwork of the Eternal. And + underfoot only the deep dead blackness of the blistered + veldt, ravished of its wondrous wealth of living green, the + rude, rough footprint of the god of war—sweet war; kind, + Christian war! + + <p>Now, overhead, betwixt the smoking earth and smiling sky, + flocks of vultures come and go, fluttering their great + pinions noiselessly. To them the sound of guns is merriest + music; it is their summons to the banquet board. Foul things + they look as the float over us, silent as souls that have + slipped from some ash heap in Hades, grey with the greyness + that grows on the wolf's hide; their feathers hang upon them + in ridges, unkempt, unlovely, soiled with blood and offal. + They float above our heads, they wheel upon our flanks.</p> + + <p>A horse drops wearily upon its knees, looks round dumbly + on the wilderness of blackness, then turns its piteous eyes + upward towards the skies that seem so full of laughing + loveliness; then, with a sob which is almost human in the + intensity of its pathos, the tired head falls downwards, the + limbs contract with spasmodic pain, then stiffen into + rigidity; and one wonders, if the Eternal mocked that silent + appeal from those great sad eyes, eyes that had neither part + nor lot in the sin and sorrow of war, how shall a man dare + look upwards for help when the bitterness of death draws nigh + unto him? The grey lines above, on flank, and front, and + rear, were with greedy speed converging to one point, until + they flock in a horrid, struggling, fighting, revolting mass + of beaks and feathers above the fallen steed, as devils flock + around the deathbed of a defaulting deacon. A soldier on the + outer edge of the extended line swings his rifle with swift, + backhanded motion over his shoulder, and brings the butt + amidst the crowd of carrion. The vultures hop with grotesque, + ungainly motions from their prey, and stand with wings + extended and clawed feet apart, their necks outstretched and + curved heads dripping slime and blood, a fitting setting + amidst the black ruin of war. The charger now looks upward + from eyeless sockets; his gutted carcass, flattened into a + shapeless streak, shrinks towards the earth, as if asking to + be veiled from the laughter of the skies. But there is + neither pity from above nor shelter from below as the red + wave of war, like the curse of the white Christ, sweeps over + the land. God grant that merry England may never witness, on + her own green meadow lands, these sights and sounds which + meet the eye and ear on African soil.</p> + + <p>Oh, England, England, if I had a voice whose clarion tones + could reach your ears and stir your hearts in every city and + town, village and hamlet, wayside cot and stately castle, in + all your sea-encircled isle, I would cry to you to guard your + coasts! Better, it seems to me, writing here, with all the + evidences of war beneath my eyes, that every man born of + woman's love on British soil should die between the decks, or + find a grave in foundering ships of war, than that the foot + of a foreign foe should touch the Motherland. Better that + your ships be shambles, where men could die like men, sending + Nelson's royal message all along the armoured line; better + that our best and bravest found a grave where grey waves curl + towards our coastline, than that our womanhood should look + with woe-encircled eyes into the wolfish mouth of war. Better + that our strong men perished, with the brine and ocean + breezes playing freshly on the gaping wounds through which + their souls passed outward, than that our little maids and + tiny, tender babes should face the unutterable shame, the + anguish, and the suffering of a war within our borders.</p> + + <p>Do not laugh the very thought to scorn and brand the thing + impossible, for fools have laughed before to-day whilst + kingdoms tottered to their fall You who stay at home miss + much that others know—and, knowing, dread. If England at + this hour could only realise what manner of men control her + destinies, then all the lion in the breed would spring to + life again. I do not know if lack-brains of a similar strain + control the supplies for England's Navy; but if, in time of + war, it proves to be the case, then God help us, God help the + old flag and the stout hearts who fight for it.</p> + + <p>Lend me your ears, and let me tell you how our army in + Africa is treated by the incompetent people in the good city + of London. I pledge my word, as a man and a journalist, that + every written word is true. I will add nothing, nor detract + from, nor set down aught in malice. If my statements are + proven false, then let me be scourged with the tongue and pen + of scorn from every decent Briton's home and hearth for ever + after, for he who lies about his country at such an hour as + this is of all traitors the vilest. I will deal now + particularly with the men who are acting under the command of + Lieutenant-General Sir Leslie Rundle. This good soldier and + courteous gentleman has to hold a frontage line from Winburg, + <i>viâ</i> Senekal, almost to the borders of + Basutoland. His whole front, extending nearly a hundred + miles, is constantly threatened by an active, dashing, + determined enemy, an enemy who knows the country far better + than an English fox-hunting squire knows the ground he hunts + over season after season. To hold this vast line intact + General Rundle has to march from point to point as his scouts + warn him of the movements of the tireless foe. He has + stationed portions of his forces at given points along this + line, and his personal work is to march rapidly with small + bodies of infantry, yeomanry, scouts, and artillery towards + places immediately threatened. He has to keep the Boers from + penetrating that long and flexible line, for if once they + forced a passage in large numbers they would sweep like a + torrent southwards, envelop his rear, cut the railway and + telegraph to pieces, stop all convoys, paralyse the movements + of all troops up beyond Kroonstad, and once more raise the + whole of the Free State, and very possibly a great portion of + the Cape Colony as well.</p> + + <p>General Rundle's task is a colossal one, and any sane man + would think that gigantic efforts would be made to keep him + amply supplied with food for his soldiers. But such is not + the case. The men are absolutely starving. Many of the + infantrymen are so weak that they can barely stagger along + under the weight of their soldierly equipment. They are worn + to shadows, and move with weary, listless footsteps on the + march. People high up in authority may deny this, but he who + denies it sullies the truth. This is what the soldiers get to + eat, what they have been getting to eat for a long time past, + and what they are likely to get for a long time to come, + unless England rouses herself, and bites to the bone in + regard to the people who are responsible for it.</p> + + <p>One pound of raw flour, which the soldiers have to cook + after a hard day's march, is served out to each man every + alternate day. The following day he gets one pound of + biscuits. In this country there is no fuel excepting a little + ox-dung, dried by the sun. If a soldier is lucky enough to + pick up a little, he can go to the nearest water, of which + there is plenty, mix his cake without yeast or baking-powder, + and make some sort of a wretched mouthful. He gets one pound + of raw fresh meat daily, which nine times out of ten he + cannot cook, and there his supplies end.</p> + + <p>What has become of the rations of rum, of sugar, of tea, + of cocoa, of groceries generally? Ask at the snug little + railway sidings where the goods are stacked—and forgotten. + Ask in the big stores in Capetown and other seaport towns. + Ask in your own country, where countless thousands of pounds' + worth of foodstuffs lie rotting in the warehouses, bound up + and tied down with red tape bandages. Ask—yes, ask; but + don't stop at asking—damn somebody high up in power. Don't + let some wretched underling be made the scapegoat of this + criminal state of affairs, for the taint of this shameful + thing rests upon you, upon every Briton whose homes, + privileges, and prosperity are being safeguarded by these + famishing men. The folk in authority will probably tell you + that General Rundle and his splendid fellows are so isolated + that food cannot be obtained for them. I say that is false, + for recently I, in company with another correspondent, left + General Rundle's camp without an escort. We made our way in + the saddle, taking our two Cape carts with us, to Winburg + railway station; leaving our horseflesh there, we took train + for East London. Then back to the junction, and trained it + down to Capetown, where we remained for forty-eight hours, + and then made our way back to Winburg, and from Winburg we + came without escort to rejoin General Rundle at Hammonia. If + two innocent, incompetent (?) war correspondents could + traverse that country and get through with winter supplies + for themselves, why cannot the transport people manage to do + the same? These transport people affect to look with contempt + upon a war correspondent and his opinions on things military; + but if we could not manage transport business better than + they do, most of us would willingly stand up and allow + ourselves to be shot. We are no burden upon the Army; we + carry for ourselves, we buy for ourselves, and we look for + news for ourselves; and we take our fair share of risks in + the doing of our duty, as the long list of dead and disabled + journalists will amply prove.</p> + + <p>It is not, in my estimation, the whole duty of a war + correspondent to go around the earth making friends for + himself, or looking after his personal comfort, or booming + himself for a seat in Parliament on a cheap patriotic ticket. + It is rather his duty to give praise where praise is due, + censure where censure has been earned, regardless of + consequences to himself. Such was the motto of England's two + greatest correspondents—Forbes and Steevens—both of whom + have passed into the shadowland, and I would to God that + either of them were here to-day, for England knew them well, + and they would have roused your indignation as I, an unknown + man, dare not hope to do. But though what I have written does + not bear the magical name of Steevens or of Forbes, it bears + the hallmark of the eternal truth. Our men on the fields of + war are famishing whilst millions worth of food lies rotting + on our wharves and in our cities, food that ought with + ordinary management to be within easy reach of our fighting + generals. Britain asks of Rundle the fulfilment of a task + that would tax the energies and abilities of the first + general in Europe; and with a stout heart he faces the work + in front of him, faces it with men whose knees knock under + them when they march, with hands that shake when they + shoulder their rifles—shake, but not with fear; tremble, but + not from wounds, but from weakness, from poverty of blood and + muscle, brought about by continual hunger. Are those men fit + to storm a kopje? Are they fit to tramp the whole night + through to make a forced march to turn a position, and then + fight as their fathers fought next day?</p> + + <p>I tell you no. And yours be the shame if the Empire's flag + be lowered—not theirs, but yours; for you—what do you do? + You stand in your music-halls and shout the chorus of songs + full of pride for your soldier, full of praise for his + patience, his pluck, and his devotion to duty; and you let + him go hungry, so hungry that I have often seen him quarrel + with a nigger for a handful of raw mealies on the march. It + is so cheap to sing, especially when your bellies are full of + good eating; it costs nothing to open your mouths and bawl + praises. It is pleasant to swagger and brag of "your fellows + at the front;" but why don't you see that they are fed, if + you want them to fight? Give "Tommy" a lot less music and + flapdoodle, and a lot more food of good quality, and he'll + think a heap more of you. It is nice of you to stay in + Britain and drink "Tommy's" health, but there would be far + more sense in the whole outfit if you would allow him to "eat + his own" out here.</p> + </div> + <a id="page174" name="page174"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>THE FREE STATERS' LAST STAND.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>SLAP KRANZ.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>At last the blow has fallen which has shattered the Boer + cause in the Free State. There will be skirmishes with + scattered bands in the mountain gorges beyond Harrismith, but + the backbone of the Republic has been broken beyond + redemption. Sunday, the 30th of July, was big with fate, + though we who sat almost within the shadow of the snow + enshrouded hills of savage Basutoland at the dawning of that + day knew it not. It was a joyful day for us, though pregnant + with sorrow for the veldtsmen who had fought so long and well + for their doomed cause, for on that day our generals reaped + the harvest which they had sown with infinite patience and + undaunted courage. General Hunter, to whom the chief command + had just been given, was there, surrounded by his staff, a + soldierly figure worthy of a nation's trust; Clements, keen + faced, sharp voiced, with alertness written in each + lineament; Paget, whose fiery spirit spoke from his mobile + face, his blood, hot as an Afghan sun, flashing the workings + of his mind into his face as sunlight flashes from steel; and + Rundle, hawk-eyed and stern, no friend to Pressmen, but a + soldier every inch, one of those men whose hands build + empires. Had he been stripped of modern gear that day, and + placed in Roman trappings, one would have looked behind him + to see if Cæsar meant to grace the show; but + Cæsar was not there.</p> + + <p>One of the greatest soldiers since the world began was + missing from our ranks, the hero Roberts, whose great + intellect had planned the <i>coup</i> which his generals had + carried to maturity. Yet, though Lord Roberts planned each + general move, an immense amount of actual work was left to + the generals. The country they had to pass through was rugged + and inhospitable. The foe they had to fight was brave, + resourceful, and well supplied with all munitions of war; a + single mistake on the part of any one of them would have + wrecked the magnificent plan of the Commander-in-Chief. But + no mistakes were made; each general worked as if his soul's + salvation depended upon his individual efforts. Where all are + good, as a rule it is hard to make a distinction; but in this + instance one man stands out above his fellows, and that man + is General Sir Leslie Rundle, the commander of the Eighth + Division. His task from the first was herculean. He had to + hold a line fully one hundred miles in length; day after day, + week after week, the enemy tried to break that line and pour + their forces into the territory we had conquered. Had they + succeeded, they would have shaken the whole of South Africa + to its very centre. This task kept Sir Leslie Rundle busy + night and day. Wherever he camped, spies dogged his + footsteps; black men and white men constantly upon his track. + His every move was rapidly reported to our ever-watchful + enemies. But, quick as the enemy undoubtedly were in all + their movements, General Rundle nullified their efforts by + his rapidity. So terribly hard did he work his men that they + nicknamed him "Rundle, the Tramp." How the men stood it I + cannot understand. I know of no other men in all the world + who would have gone on as they did, obeying orders without a + murmur or a whimper. They were savage at times over the food + they got, and small blame to them, but they never blamed + their general. They knew that he gave them plenty of the + class of food that he could lay hands upon. Had the general's + supplies been in this part of the country, instead of being + tied up in red-tape packages on the railway line, General + Rundle would have kept his Division fully supplied. The only + food which he could command, beef and mutton, he gave without + stint. Had the War Office authorities attended to their end + of the work with the same commendable zeal, half the + hardships of the campaign would have been averted.</p> + + <p>If ever war was reduced to an absolute science, it was + upon this occasion. On the one hand, some six thousand Boers + on the defensive, armed with the handiest quick-firing rifle + known to modern times, with from eight to ten guns, well + supplied with food and ammunition, and backed by some of the + most awful country the eye of man ever rested upon—a country + which they knew as a child knows its mother's face. On the + other hand, an attacking force of 30,000 men and guns. To + read the number of the opposing forces one would think the + Boer task the effort of madmen, bent upon national + extinction; but one glance at the country would upset those + calculations entirely. Every kopje was a natural fortress, + every sluit a perfect line of trenches, and every donga a + nursery for death.</p> + + <p>To attempt to go into every move made by our troops during + the months of May, June, and the early parts of July would + only prove wearisome to the average reader; suffice it to say + that finally we got the burgher forces into the Caledon + Valley. This valley is about twenty-eight miles in length, + and from fourteen to fifteen miles across its widest part. + Properly speaking, it was not a valley at all, but a series + of valleys interspersed by great kopjes, nearly all of which + presented an almost impregnable appearance. The valley had a + number of outlets, which the Boers fondly believed our people + to be unacquainted with. These outlets were known as "neks," + and were, without exception, terribly rough places for a + hostile force to attack. Commando Nek was upon the + south-east, facing towards Basutoland. This was merely a + narrow pass, running up over a jagged kopje, with two greater + kopjes on each side of it. The hills all round it were so + placed that a number of good marksmen, hidden in the rocks, + could easily sweep off thousands of an enemy who attempted to + take it by storm. But that pass had to be taken before we + could claim to hold the Free State in the hollow of our hand. + Slabbert's Nek was merely a huge gash in the face of a cliff. + It was the Boers' causeway towards the north, their highway + to safety. Retief's Nek lay to the westward, and formed a + grinning death trap for any general who might try the foolish + hazard of a single-handed attack Naauwpoort Nek, ugly and + uninviting, faced south-east towards Harrismith. Golden Gate, + named by a satirist—or a satyr—was merely a narrow chasm + worn by wind and weather through the girdle of mountains. It + looked towards the east, and was a mere pathway, which none + but desperate soldiers, driven to their last extremity, would + think of using.</p> + + <p>The Boers never dreamed that it was possible for our + troops to move with such machine-like precision as to hold + every nek at our mercy. But whilst Rundle held the ground to + the south, and kept the Boers for ever on the move by his + restless activity, Clements and Paget moved on Slabbert's + Nek, Hunter swept down on Retief's Nek, Naauwpoort Nek was + invested by Hector Macdonald, Bruce Hamilton closed in upon + Golden Gate, and the great net was almost perfect in its + meshes. The enemy did not realise their danger until it was + too late for the great bulk of their force to escape. + Commandant De Wet saw the impending peril at the eleventh + hour, and tried hard to get his countrymen to follow him in a + dash through Slabbert's Nek; but very few of the burghers + would believe that the sword of fate was hanging by so slim a + thread over their heads. In vain this able soldier of the + Republic harangued them. Vain all his threats and + protestations. They could not and would not believe him. + Sullenly they sat in their strongholds and watched + Rundle—they could see him, and that danger which was present + to their eyes was the only danger they would believe in; and + day by day, hour by hour, the cordon of Britain's might drew + closer and closer, until every link in the vast chain was + practically flawless. Then Commandant De Wet gathered around + him about 1,800 of his most devoted followers, and with + Ex-President Steyn in their ranks they passed like ghosts of + a fallen people through Slabbert's Nek on towards the + Transvaal. How they managed to elude the incoming khaki wave + some other pen must tell. It was a splendid piece of work on + the Republican Commandant's part, and history will not + begrudge him the full measure of praise due to him. Had + General Prinsloo and his burghers been guided by him, these + pages had never been written, for where De Wet took his 1,800 + burghers he could as easily have taken 6,000.</p> + + <p>Scarcely had De Wet made his escape ere the truth was + borne in upon the burghers with an iron hand that their doom + was sealed. General Rundle's force, which all along had been + essentially a blocking force, and not a striking force, made + a move on the 23rd of July. All day the cannons spoke to the + burghers from Willow Grange, all day long the rifles rippled + their leaden waves of death. We could see but little of the + enemy; they lay concealed behind the loose rocks, and our men + had little else to do but lift their rifles and pull the + trigger, trusting to the powers that rule the destinies of + war to speed the bullets to some foeman's resting place. But + we knew they were there if we could not see them, for the + snap and snarl of the Mauser rifles came readily to our ears, + and the booming of their guns answered ours, as hound answers + hound when the scent grows hottest. We pounded them with + shrapnel and pelted them with common shell until the air + around them rained iron. Our guns were six to one, yet those + brave veldtsmen held their own with a stubborn courage worthy + of the noblest traditions in all the red pages of war. They + gave us a parting shot at sundown, and at night, when the + thick mists from the snow-draped mountains behind us came + down upon the land and added to the darkness of the winter's + night, they moved their gun and fell back with it to a place + where they could renew the battle on the morrow. And at the + dawning they testified their vitality by dropping a couple of + shells right into the midst of the Imperial Yeomanry + camp.</p> + + <p>Whilst we were busy at Julies Kraal, drawing the Boers' + attention from other points, feinting as if we intended to + push right on into Commando Nek, General Sir Archibald Hunter + made a dash at Relief's Nek with his force, and our cannon + were busy at almost every point around the valley where the + Boers were stationed. General Prinsloo, who was in supreme + command of the enemy's forces, had no means of knowing where + the British really meant to strike. In vain he pushed men to + anticipate Rundle's threatened move, vainly he turned like a + trapped tiger towards Hunter's marching men. Turn where he + would, the khaki wave met him, rolling resistlessly inward + and onward. Hunter broke through with small loss, for the + force which should have checked him at Retief's Nek was + waiting at Commando Nek for Rundle and the Eighth Division. + It was a master stroke, for when once Hunter was upon the + inside of the valley he was in a position to threaten the + rear of the Boer forces at Commando Nek, and that was a state + of affairs which the enemy could not stand upon any terms. A + number of them, under clever Commandant Olivier, slipped away + through Golden Gate. They did not face the more open country + even inside the big valley, but made their way through a + piece of ground known as Witzies Hoek, and thence through a + ravine which almost beggars description. Later on I went with + Driscoll's Scouts in search of the tracks of these men, and + followed along the same road they had taken. The ravine was a + long, narrow gap between mountain ranges of immense height. + The sides of the mountains were covered with loose boulders, + sufficient to protect the whole Boer army from our artillery + fire. The only track which a horseman could possibly follow + wound in and out alongside the face of the cliffs, so narrow + that even the horses bred in the country found it difficult + to keep their feet upon it, and could only proceed, at + funeral pace, in single file. A handful of men could have + held that place against an army. With De Wet and Olivier + gone, half our task was over. The Boers made a blind rush, + first to one nek, then to the next, only to find that + Britain's sons guarded them all. Small bodies of men might + escape, but the vast supplies of mealies, waggons, guns, and + all the cumbrous appliances of war, without which an army is + useless, were penned in. The hand of the Field-Marshal was on + them. The blocking forces held the neks, and now those forces + which had to strike were ordered to move. No sooner did + General Rundle receive his orders to advance than he rolled + forward with the impetuosity of a storm breaking upon a + southern coast. They on the spot knew that all the enemy's + hopes lay centred round a town in the middle of the valley. + This town was Fouriesburg. The general who could strike that + town first would deal the death blow to the Boer forces in + the Free State. Rundle was furthest from the town; the + pathway his troops would have to pursue was rougher and more + rugged than that which lay open to the rest of the + forces.</p> + + <p>But Rundle knew his men; he knew their mettle; he had + tried them with long, weary marching, and he knew that they + were worthy of his trust. He gave his orders. The Leinsters + and the Scots Guards, tall, gaunt, hunger-stricken warriors, + whose ribs could be counted through their ragged khaki coats, + swung out as cheerily as if they had never known the absence + of a meal or the fatigue of a dreary march. The Irishmen + chaffed the Scots, and the Scots yelled badinage back to the + sons of Erin, and onward they went, onward and upward, over + the rock-strewn ground, through the narrow passes, fixing + their bayonets where the ground looked likely to hold a + hidden foe, ready at a moment's notice to charge into the + blackness that lay engulfed in those dreary passes. But the + enemy did not wait for them. As the Eighth Division advanced, + making the rocky headlands ring with the rhythm of their + martial tread, the Boers fell back like driven deer, and the + bugle spoke to the Scottish bagpipe until the silent hills + gave tongue, and echo answered echo until the wearied ear + sickened for silence. Onward we swept, until Commando Nek lay + like a grinning gash in the face of nature far in our rear. + When we did halt the men threw themselves down on the + freezing earth, and wolfed a biscuit; then, stretching + themselves face downwards on the grass, they slept with their + rifles ready to their hands, their greatcoats around them, + and above only the stars, that seemed to freeze in the + boundless billows of eternal blue. Onward again, before the + silver sentinels above us had faded before the blushing face + of the dawning. With faces begrimed with dirt, with feet + blistered by contact with flinty boulders, with tattered + garments flapping around them like feathers on wounded + waterfowl, officers and men faced the unknown, as their + fathers faced it before them. Meanwhile Hunter was pressing + towards Fouriesburg from Relief's Nek, his scouts—the + well-known "Tigers," under Major Remington—well in advance + of his main column.</p> + + <p>Rundle gave an order to Driscoll, Captain of the Scouts, + who had done such good service to the Eighth Division. What + passed between the general and the Irish captain no man + knows, probably no man will ever know. But when Driscoll rode + up at the mad gallop so characteristic of the man there was + that in his hard, ugly, wind-tanned face which spoke of stern + deeds to be done. He did not ride alone, this Irish-Indian + Volunteer captain—Rundle's own <i>aide</i>, Lord Kensington, + of the 15th Hussars, was on his right hand, and on his left + Lieutenant Roger Tempest, of the Scots Guards, for a squad of + the Scots Guards who had been learning scouting under + Driscoll were to accompany Driscoll's Scouts. That little + group was characteristic of the future of the British Empire. + Two aristocrats riding shoulder to shoulder with a wild + dare-devil, whose rifle had cracked over half the earth. + England, Ireland, and Scotland rode alone in front of the + adventurous band that day. It was a reckless ride; the + captain, on his grey stallion, half a length in front. They + darted through gullies, drew rein and unslung rifles up hill, + now standing in the stirrups to ease their cattle, now + sitting tight in the saddle to drive them over the open + veldt, taking every chance that a dare-devil crew could take, + pausing for nothing, staying for nothing. Right into the town + of Fouriesburg they galloped, down from their saddles they + leaped, up went the rifles; the foe poured in a few shots, + and, appalled by the devilish audacity of the deed, fled + before a handful. It was a proud moment then, when, in the + last stronghold of the foe in all the Free State, Kensington, + the <i>aide</i> of the General of the Eighth Division, with a + little band of officers grouped around him, with the Scouts + and Scots Guards lying behind cover, rifle in hand, pulled + down the Orange Free State flag in the very teeth of the foe. + Only a little band of officers—Kensington, Driscoll, Davies, + and Tempest. May their names be remembered when the wine cups + flow!</p> + + <p>On the night of the 28th of July Colonel Harley, Chief + Staff Officer Eighth Division, led two companies of the + Leinsters and the full strength of the Scots Guards in a + night attack on De Villier's Drift, which was to clear the + way for the whole of the Eighth Division towards Fouriesburg. + The movement had been well and carefully planned, and was + neatly and expeditiously carried out. The following day we + advanced in open order over the rolling veldt; now and again + a man paused, lurched a little to one side, staggered and + fell, as shot and shell dropped amongst us, but the march + forward never ceased, never paused Paget and Hunter were with + us now, and the lyddite guns seemed to drive all the fight + out of the foe. They would not stand. Paget's artillerymen + dashed forward, unlimbered, and loosed on the enemy with a + recklessness of personal safety that was almost wanton.</p> + + <p>Every branch of the Service was vying with its neighbour + to see who could take the most chances in the game of war, + and the very recklessness of the men was their safeguard, for + their dash whipped the foe, who now seemed to realise that + their evil hour had at last dawned. They sent in a flag of + truce, asking for the terms on which they might + surrender.</p> + + <p>On the evening of the 29th July we knew that the enemy + were negotiating for terms of peace, though things were kept + as secret as possible until the following day. Then we saw + General Prinsloo ride in with his <i>aide</i> and surrender. + He met General Rundle first, and a few minutes later General + Hunter, and the three leaders rode through the lines + together. They were closeted closely for some hours before + the final agreement could be arrived at. Prinsloo wanted + terms for his men which the British generals would not + concede, the final agreement being that the burghers were to + ride in and throw down their arms under our flag. They were + to be allowed a riding hack to convey them to the railway + station, and each man was to remain in possession of his + private effects. More than this General Hunter would not + concede upon any terms. At one period of the negotiations + things became so strained that hostilities were almost + renewed, but the Hoof Commandant was wise enough to realise + that destiny had decided against him and his burgher band. He + came from the conclave at last, and gave an order in Dutch to + his <i>aide</i>, and in a moment the horseman was flying + towards the Boer laager with the news that, so far as they + were concerned, the great war of 1899 and 1900 was at an + end.</p> + + <p>Our troops had been drawn up in long parallel lines, up + over the slopes, over the crest, and along the edge of + "Victory Hill." They formed a lane of blood and steel, down + which the conquered veldtsmen had to march. Their guns were + on their flanks, the generals grouped in the centre. + Everything was hushed and still; there was no sign of + braggart triumph, no unseemly mirth, no swagger in the + demeanour of the troops. They had worked like men; they + carried their laurels with conscious power and pride, but + with no offensive show. It was a sight which few men ever + behold, and none ever forget. The glory of the skies, where + everything that met the eye was brightest blue, edged with + stainless whiteness, was above us; and beneath our feet, and + to right and left, were great valleys—not smiling like our + English vales, where sunlight runs through shadows like + laughter through tears, but vast uncultivated gaps that + grinned in sardonic silence at conqueror and conquered, as + though to remind us that we were but puppets in a passing + show. Kopjes and valleys may have looked upon many a grim + page in war's history. Savage chiefs, backed by savage + hordes, have swept across them many a time and oft. Possibly, + if the rocks had tongues, they could tell us much of ancient + armies, for this land of Africa is old in blood and warlike + doings. But few more remarkable sights than this upon which + my eyes rested upon the 30th July, 1900, have ever graced + even this land of many wonders.</p> + + <p>I looked along our lines, and saw our soldiers standing + patiently waiting for the curtain to fall. I was proud of + them, and of the men who led them, for they had won without + one cruel stroke. No single human life had wantonly been + wasted, no dishonourable deed had smirched their arms, no + smoking ruins cried aloud to God for retribution, no outraged + women sobbed dry-eyed behind us, no starving children fled + before the khaki wave; and in this last hour, an hour + pregnant with humiliation and pain to our enemies, there was + the steady manliness which spoke of the great dignity of a + great nation. Out from the stillness a bugle spoke from the + lines of the Leinsters; the Scottish bagpipes, far away down + the hillside, took up the note with a shrill scream of + triumph, like the challenge of an eagle in its eyrie. A + rustle ran along the lines. We caught the hum of many voices, + then the tramp of horses' hoofs. A soldier slipped towards + the spot where our country's flag was furled and ready; a + moment later the Union Jack spread out and hugged the + breezes. Our foemen rode towards the flag between the lines + of those whose hands had placed it there, and when they came + abreast of it they dropped their rifles and their bandoliers, + and with bent heads passed onwards.</p> + + <p>Some were boys, so young that rifles looked unholy things + in hands so childlike; others were old men, grey and + grizzled, grim old tillers of the soil, who looked as hard as + the rocky boulders against which they leant, many were in the + pride of manhood; but old or young, grey beard or no beard, + all of them seemed to realise that they were a beaten people. + All day, and for many days, they came to us and laid their + arms aside, until fully 4,000 men had owned themselves our + prisoners. We gathered in the flocks and herds which had been + held by them as army stores, and then we set to work to give + the Free State peace and peaceful laws. Our next step was to + march upon Harrismith, which was merely an armed promenade, + for the real work of the campaign had been completed when, on + Victory Hill, near Slap Kranz, Commandant Prinsloo + surrendered with all his forces, excepting the few who fled + with De Wet and Olivier. Our flag is the symbol of victory in + every village and town. May it always be the symbol of + even-handed justice, for no power in all the world, unless + backed by wise and pure laws, will hold Africa for twenty + years.</p> + + <p>I have never before attempted to express an opinion upon + the future of Africa, yet now, when I have been nine months + at the front, when I have marched through the Free State from + border to border, noting carefully the demeanour of the + people we have conquered, and the conduct of our troops + towards those people, I may be allowed by the more tolerant + of the British public to express an opinion. I do not see + "white winged peace" brooding over this country. I see a + people beaten, broken, out-generalled, and out-fought. I see + a people who, even when whipped, maintain that the war has + been an unholy war, brewed and bred by a few adventurers for + sordid motives; and in my poor opinion there is little in + front of us in South Africa but trouble and storm, unless + someone with a cleaner soul than the ordinary politician + remains in Africa to represent our nation. Only one man seems + to me to stand out as fitted by God and nature with the high + qualities which the ruler of Africa should possess. He is a + man who has the gift of leadership as few men—ancient or + modern—ever possessed it, a man whose word is known to be + unbreakable, whose hands are clean, whose record is + stainless—the Field-Marshal, Lord Roberts. The man who is to + rule South Africa must be a great soldier, not a tyrant, not + a martinet, not a bundle of red tape tied up with a Downing + Street bow and adorned with frills. The negro trouble is + looming large on the African borders, and the negro chiefs + know that in Lord Roberts they have their master. We must not + pander to them to the injury of the Dutch, or how are we to + weld Dutch and British into a national whole? Our generals + have so conducted this campaign, especially this latter part + of it, that not only does the Dutchman know that we can + fight, but he knows that we can be generous with the splendid + generosity of a truly great people. Our generals, with few + exceptions, have left that record behind them, for which a + nation's thanks are due; and few have done more than the + commander of the Eighth Division, Sir Leslie Rundle, who can + say that not only did he never lose an English gun, but that + never did the enemy of his country succeed in breaking + through his lines. Few men, placed as he was, week after + week, month after month, would have been able to make so + proud a boast.</p> + + <p>These are possibly the last lines I shall ever write in + connection with the Eighth Division. Their work is + practically over here. My own is done, for my health is badly + broken, and I shall follow this to England. But if I cannot + march home with them, when they come back in triumph to + receive from a grateful country the praise they have won, I + can at least have the satisfaction of knowing that for many + months I shared their vicissitudes, if not their glory.</p> + </div> + <a id="page194" name="page194"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP.<br /> + <br /> + THE CAMP LIAR.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>In the days of my almost forgotten boyhood I remember + reading in the Book of all books that the Wise Man, in a fit + of blank despair, declared that there were several things + under heaven which he could neither gauge nor understand, + viz., "The way of a serpent upon a rock, and the way of a man + with a maid," and I beg leave to doubt if Solomon, in all his + wisdom, could understand the little ways of a camp liar in + his frisky glory. Whence he cometh, whither he goeth, and why + he was born, are conundrums which might tax the ingenuity of + all the prophets, from Daniel downwards, to solve. I have + sought him with peace offerings in each hand, hoping to + beguile him from his sinful ways, and have located him not. I + have risen in the chilly dawn, and laid wait for him with a + gun, but have not feasted mine eyes upon him. I have lain + awake through the still watches of the night planning divers + surprises for him, but success has not come nigh unto me. I + have cursed the camp liar with a fervour born of long + suffering, and I have hired a Zulu mule-driver to curse him + for me; but my efforts have come to nought, and now I am sore + in my very bones when I think of him. All men whose fate it + is to dwell under canvas know of his work, but no man hath + yet laid hand or eye upon him. A man goeth to his blankets at + night time feeling good towards all mankind, satisfied in his + own soul that he has garnered in all the legitimate news that + he is in any way entitled to handle for the public benefit; + and lo! when he ariseth in the dawning he finds that the camp + liar has neither slept nor slumbered, for the very air is + full of stories concerning battles which have not been fought + and victories which have not been won. From mouth to mouth, + all along the lines, the stories run as fire runs along fuse, + and no man born of woman can tell whence they came or where + they will stop. Each soldier questioned swears the tale is + true, because "'twas told to him by one who never lied." Yet, + at evening, when the weary wretch who works for newspapers + returns to his tent, with his boots worn through with + fruitless search for the author of the "news," he learns that + once again he has been the dupe of the "camp liar"; and he + may well be forgiven if he then heaps a whole continent of + curses on the invisible shape which, forming itself into a + lie, is small enough to enter a man's mouth, and yet big + enough to permeate a whole camp. What is a camp liar? It is + not a man, neither is it a maid, neither is it dog nor devil. + It is a nameless shadow, which flits through the minds of + men, fashioned by the Father of Evil to be a curse and a + scourge to war correspondents. A mining liar is an awful + liar, but he takes tangible form, and one can grapple with + him when he appears upon a prospectus. A political liar is a + pitiful liar, and vengeance finds him out upon the hustings, + and eggs and the produce of the kitchen garden are his + reward. A legal liar is a loquacious liar, but he is bounded + by his brief and the extent of his fees. But the camp liar + has no bounds, and is equally at home in all languages, at + one moment dealing with an army in full marching order, and + the next battening festively upon one man in a mudhole. There + is no height to which the camp liar dare not ascend, there is + nothing too trivial for it to touch. It has neither sex nor + shape; but, like a fallen angel ousted from Heaven, and not + wanted in Hades, it flits through camp a mental microbe, + spawning falsehoods in the souls of soldiers.</p> + + <p>The camp liar concocts a story of a fearful fight, and + fills the air with the groans of the dying, and makes a weird + picture out of the grisly, grinning silence of the ghastly + dead. Kopjes are stained a rich ripe red with the blood of + heroes, and arms, and legs, and skulls, and shattered jaw + bones hurtle through the air midst the sound of bursting + shells, like straws in a stable-yard when the wind blows + high. The very poetry of lying is touched with a master hand + when charging squadrons sweep across the veldt and the + sunlight kisses the soldier's steel. Then comes the pathos + dear to the liar's soul—the farewells of the dying, sobbed + just seven seconds before sunset into comrades' ears; the + faltering voice, the tear-dimmed eyes, the death rattle in + the throat, the last hand clasps, the last deep-drawn breath, + in which—mother—Mary—and Heaven are always mingled; and + then the moonlight and the moaning of the midnight + wind!——The war correspondent leaps from the tent, springs + into his saddle with his note-book in his mouth and an + indelible lead pencil in each hand, and rides over kopje and + veldt ten dreary miles to gaze upon the scene of that awful + battle, and finds—one dead mule, and a nigger driver, dead + drunk. Then, if he has had a religious education, he climbs + out of the saddle, sinks on his knees, and prays for the + peace of the camp liar's immortal soul. But if, as is often + the case, he has had a secular upbringing, he spits on the + dead mule, kicks the nigger, slinks back to camp by a + roundabout route, and swears to everyone that he has been + forty miles in another direction in a railway truck.</p> + + <p>Four or five days later, just at that hour in the morning + when a man clings most fondly to his blankets, another rumour + breaks the early morning's limpid silence, a rumour of a + battle of great import raging eighteen miles away, just + within easy riding distance for a smart correspondent. But + the man of ink and hardships chuckles this time. He has been + fooled so often by the imp of camp rumours; so murmurs just + loud enough to be heard in heaven, "That infernal camp liar + again," and rustles his blankets round his ears and drops + cosily back into dreamland; but when, later on, he learns + that an important battle has been fought, and he has missed + it all because he did not want to be fooled by the camp liar, + then what he mutters is muttered loud enough to be heard in a + different place, and the folk there don't need ear trumpets + to catch what he says either.</p> + </div> + <a id="page199" name="page199"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP.<br /> + <br /> + THE NIGGER SERVANT.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>It is raining outside my tent. It has rained for three + days and nights, and looks quite capable of raining for three + days more; everything is simply sodden. You try to look + around you at the men's camps. At every step your boots go up + to the ankle, squelch, in the black mud. You slip as you + walk, and go down on your hands and knees in the slimy filth; + that brings out all the poetry in your nature. If you have + had a Christian training in your youth, you think of David + dodging Saul, and your sympathies go out towards the stupid + king. The mud is everywhere; the horses have trodden it to + slime in many places, in others the feet of the soldiers have + transformed it to batter. Everything is cold, dreary, dismal; + even the tobacco is damp, and leaves a taste in a man's mouth + like the receipt of bad news from home. I look at the + soldiers hanging around like sheep round a blocked-up shed in + a snow-storm, and I feel sympathetic. Their puttees are wet, + and there is a suggestion of future rheumatism in every fold + that encircles their calves; I can't see much more of them + except their weather-beaten faces. They wear their helmets + and their blue-black overcoats, but both are wet. They don't + look happy, and the cause is not hard to find: they have + slept out for three nights without tents. Their blankets are + like sponges that have been left in a tub. Each blanket seems + to hold about three gallons of water.</p> + + <p>I arrived at this computation by watching the men wringing + their bedding. Two men got hold of a blanket, one at each + end; they twist it different ways, and the water runs out in + a stream. The soldiers relapse into language. Most of their + adjectives have a decidedly pink tinge, and I shouldn't + wonder if they became scarlet if this sort of weather + continued.</p> + + <p>My nigger slops along through the slush and tells me that + my lunch is ready. He is not a happy-looking nigger by any + means. A white man looks bad enough in the mud and cold, but + a nigger presents a pitiful spectacle. His face goes whitish + green, with an undercurrent of slatey grey running through + it. The brilliancy leaves the coal-black eyes, and they + become as lifeless and limp as a professional politician at a + prayer meeting. The mouth goes agape, the thick lips become + flabby, and fall away from the teeth. The mouth does not seem + to fit the face, but hangs on to it like a second-hand suit + on a backyard fence. My nigger is no better, and no worse, + than the rest of them. He looks like a chapter in + Lamentations, and is about as much at home in the sodden camp + as a bar of wet soap in a sand heap. Just now he is good for + nothing except to sing doleful hymns in a key sad enough to + frighten a transit mule away from a bag of mealies. When he + is not singing sadly he is quoting Scripture and thinking + about his immortal soul. When the sun comes out to-morrow and + the day after, he will be dancing a most unholy dance or be + making love to "Dinah," filling in the intervals by cursing + in three different languages stray horses that steal our + fodder.</p> + + <p>It is really astonishing what a difference the weather + makes to the morals of the South African nigger. Give him + plenty of sunshine, and he forgets he ever had a soul, and + throws slabs of blasphemy, picked up from the Tommies around + him, with painful liberality. When he gets tired of English + oaths, he drops into Cape Dutch, and some of the curses + contained in that language are solid enough to hurt anything + they hit. Later on he drifts into his native tongue, raises + his voice a couple of octaves, and streaks the atmosphere + with multi-coloured oaths, until you imagine you are + listening to a vocal rainbow. But take away the sunshine, + give him a wet hide and a wet floor to camp on, and he + straightway becomes all penitence and prayer. His face, + peering out dismally between the upturned collar of his + weather-stained coat and the down-drawn brim of his battered + hat, looks like a soiled sermon, and he is altogether + woeful.</p> + + <p>When the weather is warm he decks himself out in any piece + of gaudy finery he can lay hands upon. He loves to wear a + glaring yellow roll of silk or cloth around his hat, a blue + or green 'kerchief about his throat, and a crimson girdle + encircled about his loins. Then he thinks he is a midsummer + sunset, and swaggers round like a peacock in full plumage, + looking for something to "mash." He has no sense of the + eternal law of averages. It does not trouble him if the whole + seat of his most important garment is represented by a hole + big enough to put a baby in, if he only has the artistic + decorations I have mentioned above. Nor does he see anything + out of the way in the fact that one of his feet is encased in + an officer's top boot and the other in a remnant of a Boer + farmer's cast-off veldtschoon. His soul yearns towards + feathers. He will pluck a grand white plume from the tail of + an ostrich if he gets a favourable opportunity, and place it + triumphantly in his torn and soiled slouch hat, or he will + pick up a discarded bonnet from a dust pile and rob it of + feathers placed there by feminine hands, in order that he may + look a black Beau Brummell.</p> + + <p>His manners, like his morals, change with the weather. + When the barometer registers "fine and clear," you may expect + a saucy answer if you rate him for a late breakast; when it + registers "warm, and likely to be warmer," you may consider + yourself lucky if you get a morning meal at all. But when it + indicates "hot," and the mercury still rising, you know that + the time has arrived for you to climb out of your coat and + commence cooking for yourself, unless you feel equal to the + task of spreading a saucy nigger in sections around the + adjacent allotments. It is not always healthy to adopt the + latter plan, especially if your "boy" happens to be a Basuto + or a Zulu. Should he belong to either of those tribes, + threaten him as much as you like, but don't hurry to put your + threats into practice; or the nigger may do the scattering, + and you may do the penitent part of the business. You may + bully him as much as you like when the barometer is falling, + for then the life is all out of him, and he has not + sufficient spirit left in him to resent any sort of + insult.</p> + + <p>Even "Tommy" knows this, and on a cold day will call a big + Zulu servant by a name which implies that the Zulu's father + and mother were never legally married. The Zulu will only + smile dismally, and tell "Tommy" that he will pray for the + salvation of his soul. Three days later, when the air is + dancing in the heat-rays, if Mr. Atkins, emboldened by former + success, repeats the speech, the Zulu will rise and confront + him with blazing eyes, showing at the same time a wide range + of beautiful white teeth, set in a savage snarl, and give Mr. + Atkins a choice of titles which it would be hard to improve + upon even in a Dublin dockyard, and he will not be slow to + back his mouth with his hands should the argument become + pressing, as more than one of her Majesty's lieges have found + out to their deep and lasting humiliation.</p> + + <p>When a combination of rain and religion has depressed him + the nigger servant is one of the most abject-looking mortals + that ever wore clothes, and makes as sad a spectacle as a + farmyard fowl on a front fence in a thunderstorm. But he must + not be judged altogether by his appearance on such occasions. + He can be loyal to his "boss," and when fit and well he will + fight when roused as a devil might fight for the soul of a + deacon. He loves to ride or drive a horse, but he is not fond + of horses, as I understand the term. He has no idea of making + a pet of his charge. A horse is to him merely something to + get about upon, and he cannot understand our fondness for our + equine friends. I have noticed the same trait in the Boer + character. To a Boer a horse is usually merely a means of + transit from spot to spot; not a comrade, not a companion. I + was not astonished to find this feeling amongst the niggers, + because I have noticed it among the natives in every colony + in Australia, and even amongst such inveterate horsemen as + the Sioux Indians of America and the Maories of New Zealand; + but I was surprised to note how little sympathy existed + between the Boer and his equine helper.</p> + + <p>The nigger servant is a sporting sort of party, and never + loses an opportunity to indulge his tastes in this direction. + I had an excellent chance the other day to note how fond he + is of a bit of hunting. We had camped before sundown in a + rather picturesque position, and I was watching the effect of + the declining sun on the gloomy kopjes, when I noticed a + commotion in all the camps, in front, at the rear, and on + both flanks. In ten seconds every nigger in the whole camp + had deserted his work and was frantically dashing out on to + the veldt. They uttered shrill cries as they ran, and every + man had some sort of weapon in his hand, either a tomahawk, a + billet of wood, or a rock. With marvellous celerity they + formed a huge circle, though what they were after was a + puzzle to me. I fancied for awhile that one of their number + must have run "amuck," and the rest meant to send him to + slumber. Quickly they narrowed the circle, the whole body of + them moving as if linked together and propelled by unseen + mechanism. When the circle got about the third the size of an + ordinary cricket ground I saw what they were after. A brace + of hares had caught their eyes, and this was their method of + capturing the fleet-footed, but stupid, "racers of the + veldt." First one nigger and then another detached himself + from the circle, and, darting in, had a shy at the quarry + with whatever missile he had with him. If he missed—and a + good many of them missed—the speedy little bit of fur, he + returned crestfallen to the circle again, amidst jeers and + laughter from the rest. The hares darted hither and thither + in that ever narrowing circle of foes, until a couple of + well-aimed shots, one with a rock as big as a cricket ball, + and one with a tomahawk, laid them out, and they became the + prize of the successful marksmen. The nigger "boy" has to be + paid one pound a week and his "scoff," and, taking him all in + all, in spite of his faults, which are many, I verily think + he earns it.</p> + </div> + <a id="page207" name="page207"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP.<br /> + <br /> + THE SOLDIER PREACHER.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>(Written at Enslin Battlefield.)</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>He was standing at eventide facing the rough and rugged + heights of Enslin. The crimson-tinted clouds that emblazoned + the sky cast a ruddy radiance round his head and face, making + him appear like one of those ancient martyrs one is apt to + see on stained-glass windows in old-world churches in Rome or + Venice. His feet were firmly planted close to the graves of + the British soldiers and sailors who had fallen when we beat + the Boers and drove them back upon Modder River.</p> + + <p>In one hand he held a little, well-worn Bible; his other + hand was raised high above his close-cropped head, whilst his + voice rang out on the sultry, storm-laden air like the clang + of steel on steel:</p> + + <p>"Prepare ter meet yer God!"</p> + + <p>No one who looked at the neat, strong figure arrayed in + the plain khaki uniform of a private soldier, at the + clean-shaven, square-jawed face, at the fearless grey-blue + eyes, could doubt either his honesty or earnestness. Courage + was imprinted by Nature's never-erring hand on every + lineament of his Saxon features. So might one of Cromwell's + stern-browed warriors have stood on the eve of Marston + Moor.</p> + + <p>"Prepare ter meet yer God!"</p> + + <p>To the right of him the long lines of the tents spread + upwards towards the kopje; to the left the veldt, with its + wealth of grey-green grass, sown by the bounteous hand of the + Great Harvester; all around him, excepting where the graves + raised their red-brown furrows, rows of soldiers lounged, + listing to the old, old story of man's weakness and eternal + shame, and Christ's love and everlasting pity. On the soldier + preacher's breast a long row of decorations gleamed, telling + of honourable service to Queen and country. Before a man + could wear those ribbons he must have faced death as brave + men face it on many a battlefield. He must have known the + agonies of thirst, the dull dead pain of sleepless nights and + midnight marches, the tireless watching at the sentry's post, + and the onward rush of armed men up heights almost + unscalable. On Egypt's sun-scorched plains he must have faced + the mad onslaughts of the Dervish hosts, and rallied with the + men who held the lines at Abu Klea Wells, where gallant + Burnaby was slain. The hills of Afghanistan must have + re-echoed to his tread, else why the green and crimson ribbon + that mingled with the rest? His eyes had flashed along the + advancing lines of charging impi, led by Zulu chiefs. Yet + never had they flashed with braver light than now, when, + facing that half-mocking, half-reckless crowd, he cried:</p> + + <p>"Prepare ter meet yer God!"</p> + + <p>Rough as the thrust of a broken bayonet was his speech, + unskilled in rhetoric his tongue, his periods unrounded as + flying fragments of shrapnel shell; yet all who listened knew + that every word came from the speaker's soul, from the + magazine of truth. Some London slum had been his cradle, the + gutters of the great city the only University his feet had + known, the costers' dialect was native to his tongue; yet no + smug Churchman crowned with the laurels of the schools could + so have stirred the blood of those wild lads, fresh from the + boundless bush and lawless mining camps beneath Australian + suns.</p> + + <p>"Prepare ter meet yer God!"</p> + + <p>And even as he spoke we, who listened, plainly heard the + rolling thunder of our guns as they spoke in sterner tones to + the nation's foes from Modder River. It was no new figure + that the soldier preacher placed before us. It was the same + indignant Christ that swept the rabble from the Temple; the + same great Christ who calmly faced the seething mob in + Pilate's judgment hall; the same sweet Christ who took the + babes upon His knee; the same Divine Christ who, with hyssop + and gall, and mingled blood and tears, passed death's dread + portals on the dark brow of Calvary. The same grand figure, + but quaintly dressed in words that savoured of the London + slums and of the soldier's camp, and yet so hedged around + with earnest love and childlike faith that all its grossest + trappings fell away and left us nothing but the ideal + Christ.</p> + + <p>Once more we heard the distant batteries speak to those + whose hands had rudely grasped the Empire's flag, and every + rock, and hill, and crag, and stony height took up the echo, + like a lion's roar, until the whispering wind was tremulous + with sound. Then all was hushed except the preacher's + voice.</p> + + <p>"Prepare ter meet yer God! I've come ter tell yer all + abart a General whose armies hold ther City of Eternal Life. + If you are wounded, throw yer rifles down, 'nd 'e will send + the ambulance of 'is love, with Red Cross angels, and 'is + adjutant, whose name is Mercy, to dress yer wounds. Throw + down yer rifles 'nd surrender. No rebels can enter the City + of Eternal Life. You can't storm ther walls, Or take ther + gates at ther point of ther baynit, for ther ramparts are + guarded 'nd ther sentries never sleep. When ther bugles sound + ther larst reville you will ever 'ear, 'nd ther colonel, + whose name is Death, gives the order ter march, you'll have + nothink to fear abart, if yer bandoliers are full o' faith + 'nd yer rifles are sighted with good works. Yer uniforms may + be ragged, and you may not even have a corporal's stripe to + show; but if yer can pass ther sentries fearlessly, you'll + find a general's commission waitin' for yer just inside ther + gate. But yer earn't fool with my General. Remember this: + ther password is, 'Repentance,' 'nd nothink else will do. The + sentry on duty will see you comin' and will challenge you. + 'Who goes there?' 'Friend!' 'Advance, friend, 'nd give ther + counter-sign!' If you say, 'Good works,' you'll find 'is + baynit up against yer chest. If yer say you forgot to get it, + you'll be in ther clink in 'ell in ther twinklin' of an eye; + but if yer say, loud 'nd clear, 'Repentance,' 'e will lower + 'is baynit 'nd say, 'Pass, friend. All's well!'"</p> + </div> + <a id="page212" name="page212"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>PRESIDENT STEYN.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Out on the veldt, far from the wife and home he loves so + well, he stands, our country's bold, unyielding foe. And even + as he stands he knows that the finger of Fate has written his + own and his country's doom in letters large and deep on the + walls of time. Yet, with unblenching brow, he waits the + falling of the thunderbolt, a calm, grand figure, fit to live + in history's pages when every memory of meaner men has passed + into oblivion, M.T. Steyn, President of the shattered Free + State of South Africa. Around this man the human jackals howl + to try with lying lips to foul his memory. Yet, as a rock, + age after age, throws back with contemptuous strength the + waves that break against its base, so every action of his + manly life gives the lie to tales which cowards tell.</p> + + <p>He is our foe, no stabber in the dark, moving with + stealthy steps amidst professions of pretended peace, but in + the open, where the gaze of God and man can rest upon him, he + stands, defiant, though undone. He staked his country's + freedom, his earthly happiness, and his high position in the + great game of war; staked all that mortal man holds dear; + staked it for what? For love of gain! May he who spawned that + lie to stir our people's hearts to boundless wrath against + this falling man live to repent in sackcloth and in tears the + evil deed so done… Staked it for what? To feed his own + ambition! I tell you no; the undercurrent which brought forth + the deed sprang from a nobler and a higher source. His + country stood pledged in time of peace to help in time of war + a sister State, and when the bond fell due he honoured it, + though none knew better than this noble man that when he + loosed the dogs of war he crossed a lion's path.</p> + + <p>Now he is tottering to his fall, amidst the ruins of a + crumbling State, forsaken by the Powers that egged him on + with covert promises of armed support, abandoned to the + tender mercies of his foes by those on whose behalf he drew + the sword. Yet, even now, the dauntless spirit of the man + rises above the wreckage of disaster. A little band of heroes + ring him round. Though every man in all that fearless few is + England's foe, yet we, who boast the Vikings' blood in every + vein, can we not honour them? So did our forefathers stand + round Harold when Norman William trod with armed heel on + English soil. So stood our fathers when Blucher's laggard + step hung back from Waterloo. Are we not great enough to look + with pride upon a gallant foe? Or has our nation fallen from + its high estate, has chivalry departed from our blood, and + left us nothing but the dregs which go to make a nation of + hucksters? If so, then let us leave the battlefields to + better men, and train our children solely for the + market-place. But these are idle words, born of the spleen + which such a thought engenders. Full well I know the temper + of our people, terrible in their wrath, but swift to see the + nobleness in those who face them boldly.</p> + + <p>And these be noble men, my masters. They rally round their + chief, as you and yours would rally round a British leader if + foreign hordes swept with resistless might over England's + historic soil. All that they loved they've lost, and nothing + now remains to them but honour and a patriot's grave; and in + the grim game of war it is our stern task to give them what + they seek—a soldier's death beneath the doomed flag which, + in their stubborn pride, they will never forsake. But even + whilst we hem them round with bristling bayonets, ready for + the last dread act in this red drama, let us pay them the + tribute due to all brave men; for he who gives his life to + guard a cause he holds most dear is worthy of our admiration, + though he be ten thousand times our foe. What should we think + of men who, left to guard the Kentish fields, threw down + their arms and sued for peace to any leader of an invading + host because our cause seemed lost? Should we not curse them + as a craven crowd, and teach our lisping babes to mock their + memory? Would any fair-faced girl in all the British Isles + wed any man who would not fight until the sinews slackened + with slaying in defence of the homeland? If so, they are not + fashioned of the metal of which their granddames were + made.</p> + + <p>And what we honour as the prince of virtues in a Briton + shall we condemn as vice in this little band of Free State + Boers and their leader, loyal to a lost cause? No, England, + no! It is not you that shriek anathemas to the weeping skies + because the foe dies hard. The gutter gamin and the brutal + lout who never owned a soul fit to rise above the level of + the kettle singing on the hearth may brand the name of Steyn + and his stout burghers with infamy; but the clean-souled + people of the Motherland, the people from whose ranks our + greatest fighters and thinkers spring, will not endorse that + cry. No, not though every slanderous throat shall shriek + until they cannot wail an octave higher.</p> + + <p>It is not from such great men as Roberts that we hear + these pitiful tales concerning those who give us battle. He + who has been a man of war from childhood to old age would + never stoop to soil his manly lips to woo the fleeting + favours of a mob, and he has proved himself as wise in + council as upon the death-strewn fields of war. So wise, so + brave, so loyal to his word, that even those whom he, at his + country's call, has had to crush, lift their hats reverently + at the mention of his name, because he wears upon his hero + soul the white flower of a blameless life. Would Kitchener, + whose dread name strikes terror to the heart of every + burgher, would he befoul his foeman's fame? I tell you no, + though whilst a foe remains in arms he strikes with all a + giant's force and spares not; but when the blow has fallen, + he of all men would preserve his enemies' fair fame intact. + So it should be whilst those who stand in arms against our + country and our country's flag refuse the terms we offer. We + should make war so terrible that every enemy should dread the + sound of British bugles as they would dread the trump of + doom. When once the country's voice has called for war, then + war should sweep with resistless might over land and sea, + until sweet peace should seem a boon to be desired above all + earthly things by those who stand in arms against us. If + Steyn and those who with heroic hearts hedge him round refuse + to bow to destiny and the God of Battles, then he and they + must fall before the bayonets of our soldiery as growing corn + falls before the sickle of the reaper. But even in their fall + they can claim as their heaven-born heritage our nation's + deepest admiration for their dauntless devotion to their love + of country, home, and kindred. And we will but add laurels to + the renown our soldiers have won if we, with unsparing hand, + mete out to them the praises due to manly foes. Ours be the + task to slay them where they stand; not ours the task to rob + them of the glory they have won.</p> + </div> + <a id="page218" name="page218"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>LOUIS BOTHA,<br /> + COMMANDANT-GENERAL OF THE<br /> + BOER ARMY.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Louis Botha, who has cut so deep a mark in the pages of + history, is only a young man yet, being about + seven-and-thirty years of age. He is a "fine figure of a + man," standing in the neighbourhood of six feet in his boots. + His face is handsome, intellectual, and determined; his + expression kindly and compassionate. The razor never touches + his face, but his brown beard is always neatly trimmed, for + the young Commandant-General is particular in regard to his + personal appearance in a manly way, though in no respect + foppish. He is now, and always has been, an excellent + athlete, a good rifle shot, and a first-class horseman; not + given at any time to indoor pastimes over much, though fond + of a quiet game of whist. He was born in Natal, of Dutch + parents, and married to Miss Emmett, a relative of Robert + Emmett, the Irish Revolutionist. Young Botha was educated at + Greytown, and though a good, sound commercial scholar, he + gave no evidence in his schoolboy days of what was in him. No + one who knew him then would have dreamed that before he was + forty years of age he would be the foremost soldier of his + country. His folk were moderately well off, but the + adventurous spirit of the future general sent him inland from + Natal when a large number of Natal and Free State Boers + enlisted under the flag of General Lucas Meyer, who was bent + upon making war upon a powerful negro tribe in the + neighbourhood of Vryheid. During the fighting young Botha was + his general's right-hand man, displaying even at that early + age a cool, level head and a stout heart. When the Boers were + firmly settled upon the land Vryheid was declared a Republic, + and Lucas Meyer was elected first President. But the new + Republic lasted only about three years, and was then, by + mutual consent, merged into Transvaal territory, and both + Lucas Meyer and Louis Botha were elected members of the + Volksraad. Louis Botha retained his seat right up to the time + hostilities broke out between Great Britain and the Republics + under Mr. Kruger and Mr. Steyn.</p> + + <p>During the many stormy scenes which preceded the actual + declaration of war Louis Botha proved that he possessed the + coolest and most level head in the Volksraad. He opposed the + war, and, with prophetic eye, foresaw the awful devastation + of his country which would follow in the footsteps of the + British army. But when the time came, and his country was + irretrievably pledged to war, he was not the man to hang + back. He was one of those who had much to lose and little + indeed to gain by taking up arms against us, for, by honest + industry, he had become a wealthy farmer and stockbreeder. At + the first call to arms he threw aside his senatorial duties, + and took up his rifle, rejoining his old commando at Vryheid + as commandant under General Lucas Meyer. It is said that at + the battle of Dundee General Meyer, feeling convinced that + the God of Battles had decided against him and his forces, + decided to surrender to the British, but Louis Botha fiercely + combated his general's decision, and point-blank refused to + throw down his arms or counsel his men to do so. What + followed all the world knows, and Botha went up very high in + the estimation of the better class of fighting burghers. At + the Tugela, before the first big battle took place, General + Meyer was taken ill, and had to retire to Pretoria, and Louis + Botha was then elected assistant-general, and the planning of + the battle was left entirely to him.</p> + + <p>It was a terribly responsible position to place so young a + man in, for he was face to face with the then + Commander-in-Chief of the British army, Sir Redvers Buller, a + general of dauntless determination and undoubted ability. + Experience, men, and all the munitions of war were in favour + of the British general; but the awful nature of the country + was upon the side of the newly fledged Boer leader, and he + made terrible use of it. The day of Colenso, when Sir Redvers + Buller received his first decisive check, will not soon be + forgotten in the annals of our Army. A man of weaker fibre + than the British leader would have been daunted by the + disasters of that day, for there he lost ten guns and a large + number of men. But Buller carried in his blood all the old + grit of our race, and the heavier the check the more his soul + was set upon ultimate victory. I have been over that battle + ground, and have looked at the positions taken up by Louis + Botha. They were chosen with consummate skill, born of a + thorough knowledge of the nature of the country and inherent + generalship.</p> + + <p>I have looked at the country Sir Redvers Buller had to + pass through to get at his wise and skilful adversary. The + man who dared make the attempt that Buller made must have had + nerves of steel, and a soul that would not blench if ordered + to storm the very gates of Hades. The worst fighting ground + that I saw in all the Free State was but a mockery of war + compared to the ground around Colenso, and I have seen some + terrible places in the Free State. But a man has to see the + ground Buller fought in to realise the magnitude of the task + the Empire set him at the beginning of the war. Great as Lord + Roberts is, I doubt if he would have done more than Buller + did under the same circumstances.</p> + + <p>That battle of Colenso made young Louis Botha famous, and + from that hour the eyes of the burghers were turned towards + him as the one man fit to lead them. At Spion Kop, when the + Boer leader, Schalk Burger, vacated the splendid position he + had been ordered to take up, Louis Botha's genius grasped the + mighty import of the situation, and he at once realised that + Schalk Burger had blundered terribly, and it was he who + retook those positions with such disastrous consequences to + our forces. His fame spread far and near, and his name became + a thing to conjure with. When the Commandant-General of the + Boer Army, General Joubert, lay dying, he was asked who was + the best man to fill his place. And he, the grey veteran, did + not hesitate for a second, but with his dying breath gasped + out the name of Louis Botha. The Boer Government promptly + appointed him to the position, and from that day to this he + has been the paramount military power in the Boer lines. He + is not the only one of his line fighting under the Transvaal + flag. There are four other brothers in the field, one of + whom, Christian Botha, is now a general, and a good fighter. + As a soldier Louis Botha has proved himself a foeman worthy + the steel of any of our generals; as a man his worst enemy + can say nothing derogatory concerning him, for in all his + actions he has borne himself like a gentleman. He is generous + and courteous in the hour of victory, stout-hearted and + self-reliant in the time of disaster—just the type of + soldier that a great nation like ours knows how to esteem, + even though he is an enemy in arms against us.</p> + </div> + <a id="page224" name="page224"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>WHITE FLAG TREACHERY.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>Few things have astonished me more during the progress of + this war than the number of charges levelled against our foes + in reference to the treacherous use of the white flag. Almost + every newspaper that came my way contained some such account; + yet, though constantly at the front for nine months, I cannot + recall one solitary instance of such treachery which I could + vouch for. I have heard of dozens of cases, and have taken + the trouble to investigate a good many, but never once + managed to obtain sufficient proof to satisfy me that the + charge was genuine. On one occasion I was following close on + the heels of our advancing troops, and had for a comrade a + rather excitable correspondent. When within about fourteen + hundred yards of the kopjes we were advancing to attack, the + Boers opened a heavy rifle fire; and, though we could not see + a solitary enemy, our fellows began to drop. It was very + evident that the enemy were secreted in the rocks not far + from a substantial farmhouse, from the roof of which floated + a large white flag (it turned out later to be a tablecloth + braced to a broom handle).</p> + + <p>"There's another case of d—— white flag treachery," + shouted my companion. "I wonder the general don't turn the + guns on that farm and blow it to Hades."</p> + + <p>"What for?" I asked.</p> + + <p>"What for! Why, they are flying the white flag, and + shooting from the farmhouse. Isn't that enough?"</p> + + <p>"Quite enough, if true," I replied. "But how the devil do + you know they are shooting from the farmhouse?"</p> + + <p>"They must be shooting from the farmhouse," he yelled. + "Why, I've been scouring all the rocks around with my + glasses, and can't see a blessed Boer in any of 'em. No, sir, + you can bet your soul they are skulking in that farm. They + know we won't loose a shell on the white flag—-the + cowards!"</p> + + <p>I did not think it worth while to argue with a man of that + stamp, but kept my glasses on that farm very closely during + the fight that followed. Right up to the time when our men + rushed the kopjes and surrounded the farmhouse I did not see + a man enter or leave the house, and when I rode up I found + that two women and three children were in possession. + Furthermore, on examination, I soon discovered that, as the + doors and windows faced the wrong way, it would have been + impossible for a Boer to do much shooting at our men, unless + the walls at the gable end were loopholed, which they were + not, I know, for I examined them minutely. Fortunately for + the credit of the British Army, most of our generals are + coolheaded men who do not allow the irresponsible chatter of + the army to influence them. Otherwise our guns would have + been trained upon many a homestead on charges quite as flimsy + and groundless as the one quoted above.</p> + + <p>I suppose that cases of treachery have really occurred + during the war. In a mixed crowd like that which composes the + burgher army, there are sure to be some mortals fit to do any + mean trick, just as sure as there are men fit to do or say + anything in the British Army, But I cannot, and I will not, + believe that the great bulk of these men are such paltry + cowards as to make the "white flag" act a common one. It may + be news to British readers to know that the burghers complain + of the behaviour of our troops as bitterly as we complain of + theirs; and I think, from personal observation, that their + charges are as groundless as are some charges made by the + same class of hysterical individuals, though of different + nationality. Their pet hatred, when I was a prisoner in their + hands, was the Lancers. They used to swear that the Lancers + never spared a wounded man, but ran him through as they + galloped past him. I was told this fifty times, and each time + told my informant flatly that I declined to believe the + assertion, and should continue to disbelieve it until I had + undeniable proof, for it would take a good deal to convince + me that a British soldier would strike a fallen foe even in + the heat and stress of battle. One day they asked me to come + and look at the dead body of one of their field cornets, whom + they alleged to have been done to death whilst wounded by our + Lancers. I went and saw the man, and at a glance saw that the + wounds were not lance wounds at all, but ripping bullet + wounds. He had been sniped by some Australian riflemen from a + high kopje whilst in a valley. I tried to explain this to the + excited burghers, but they only sneered at me for my trouble, + until one of their own doctors coming along had a look at the + corpse, and promptly verified my statements. That calmed them + considerably, and they looked at the thing in cooler blood, + and soon saw that it was really absurd to put the blame of + the man's death on the shoulders of the Lancers, though they + stoutly maintained that our cavalry were at times guilty of + such monstrous conduct. I have often heard them solemnly + swear never to give a Lancer a chance to surrender if they + once got him within rifle range.</p> + + <p>Personally, I could never see just what the Boers would + gain by the white flag business. As a rule, our troops did + not want coaxing into rifle range; they marched within + hitting distance readily enough, and did not require a white + flag to lure them into a tight place, so that the object to + be gained by the enemy by such disgraceful tactics never + seemed to me to be too apparent. If they had ever by such + means been able to entrap an army, or to bring about the + wholesale slaughter of our men, I could understand things a + bit better; but they had little to gain and an awful lot to + lose by such tactics. There is no slight risk attached to the + act of firing on an advancing army treacherously under cover + of the white flag. Such a deed rouses all the slumbering + devil in the men, and the foe found guilty of such a deed + would get more bayonet than he would find conducive to his + health when it came to his turn to be beaten.</p> + </div> + <a id="page229" name="page229"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>MAGERSFONTEIN.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>The Australians, after relieving Belmont from the Boer + commando, suddenly received orders to march upon Enslin, as + the Boers had attacked that place, which was held by two + companies of the Northamptonshires under Captain Godley; the + latter had no artillery, whilst the enemy, who were over + 1,000 strong, had one 12-pounder gun with them, but the + sequel proved that the Boer is a poor fighter in the open + country. He is hard to beat in hilly and rocky ground when + acting on the defensive, but he is not over dangerous as an + attacking power. Let him choose his ground, and fight + according to his own traditions, and the best soldiers in the + world will find it no sinecure to oust him. As soon as the + Boers put in an appearance at Enslin, Lieutenant Brierly, of + the Northumberland Fusiliers, who is attached to the + Northamptons, made his way to a kopje, which had formerly + been held by Boer forces, and a mere handful of men fairly + held the enemy in check at that point for over seven hours. + The enemy made frantic efforts to dislodge this gallant + little band, but failed dismally, and they had not the heart + to try to take the kopje by storm, though there were enough + of them around the hill to have eaten the little band of + Britishers. In the meantime Captain Godley and his men held + the township. Again and again the enemy threatened to rush + the place, but their valour melted before the determined + front of the besieged, and they drew off, taking their gun + with them, their scouts having warned them that the + Australians, with a section of the Royal Horse Artillery and + two guns, were coming upon them from the direction of + Belmont, whilst a body of the 12th Lancers and a battery of + artillery were dashing down from Modder River. The + Australians, who are now 720 strong, the New South Wales + Company of 125 men having joined Colonel Head's forces, + remained at Enslin, and entrenched there in order to keep + open the line of communication between General Methuen's army + and Orange River; a section of Royal Horse Artillery and two + guns is with them. On half a dozen occasions the Boers have + threatened to sweep down upon them from the hilly country + adjacent, but up to the time of writing nothing serious has + occurred.</p> + + <p>On Sunday last we heard the sound of heavy firing coming + from the direction of Modder River; scouts coming in informed + us that an engagement between General Methuen's force and the + enemy, under the astute General Cronje, had commenced. Seeing + that Australia was liable to remain idle for the time being, + I determined to push on with my assistant, Mr. E. Monger, of + Coolgardie, West Australia. When we arrived at Modder River + we found the fight raging at a spot about four and a half + miles beyond Modder River bridge. Our forces were in + possession of the river and the plain beyond; but General + Cronje had entrenched himself in a line of ranges stretching + for several miles across the veldt. So well had the Boer + general chosen his ground, and such good use had he made of + the natural advantages of his position, that the British + found themselves face to face with an African Gibraltar. The + frowning rocks were bristling with rifles, which commanded + the plain below, trenches seamed the hillsides in all + directions, and in those trenches lay concealed the picked + marksmen of the veldt—men who, though they know but little + of soldiering from a European point of view, yet had been + familiar with the rifle from earliest boyhood; rough and + uncouth in appearance, dressed in farmers' garb, still under + those conditions, fighting under a general they knew and + trusted, amidst surroundings familiar to them from infancy, + they were foemen worthy of the respect of the veteran troops + of any nation under heaven.</p> + + <p>At every post of vantage Cronje, with consummate + generalship, had posted his artillery so that it would be + almost impossible for our guns to silence them, whilst at the + same time he could sweep the plains below should our infantry + attempt to storm the heights at the point of the bayonet. At + the bottom of the kopjes, right under the muzzle of his guns, + he had excavated trenches deep enough to hide his riflemen, + but he had thrown up no earthworks, so that our guns could + not locate the exact spot where his rifle trenches lay. All + the earth from the trenches had been very carefully removed, + and the low blue bush which covers these plains completely + screened his trenches from view. In front of the trenches, + and extending some considerable distance out in front of the + veldt, the clever Boer leader had placed an immense amount of + barbed wire entanglement, so fashioned that no cavalry could + live amongst it, whilst even the very flower of our infantry + would find it hard work to charge over it, even in daylight. + The Boer forces are variously estimated at from 12,000 to + 15,000 men. The number and nature of their guns can only be + guessed at, but that the enemy's men are well supplied in + that respect there can be no question. Our forces I estimate + at about 11,000 men of all arms, including the + never-to-be-forgotten section of the Naval Brigade, to whom + England owes a debt of gratitude too deep for words to + portray; for their steadiness, valour, and accuracy of + shooting saved England from disaster on this the blackest day + that Scotland has known since the Crimea.</p> + + <p>Our troops extended over many miles of country. Every move + had to be made in full view of the enemy upon a level plain + where a collie dog could not have moved unperceived by those + foemen hidden so securely behind impregnable ramparts. During + the whole of Sunday our gunners played havoc with the enemy, + the shooting of the Naval Brigade being of such a nature that + even thus early in the fight the big gun of the bluejackets, + with its 42-pound lyddite shell, struck terror into the + hearts of the enemy. But the Boers were not idle. Whenever + our infantry, in manoeuvring, came within range'of their + rifles, our ranks began to thin out, and the blood of our + gallant fellows dyed the sun-baked veldt in richest + crimson.</p> + + <p>During the night that followed it was considered expedient + that the Highland Brigade, about 4,000 strong, under General + Wauchope, should get close enough to the lines of the foe to + make it possible to charge the heights. At midnight the + gallant, but ill-fated, general moved cautiously through the + darkness towards the kopje where the Boers were most strongly + entrenched. They were led by a guide, who was supposed to + know every inch of the country, out into the darkness of an + African night. The brigade marched in line of quarter-column, + each man stepping cautiously and slowly, for they knew that + any sound meant death. Every order was given in a hoarse + whisper, and in whispers it was passed along the ranks from + man to man; nothing was heard as they moved towards the + gloomy, steel-fronted heights but the brushing of their feet + in the veldt grass and the deep-drawn breaths of the marching + men.</p> + + <p>So, onward, until three of the clock on the morning of + Monday. Then out of the darkness a rifle rang, sharp and + clear, a herald of disaster—a soldier had tripped in the + dark over the hidden wires laid down by the enemy. In a + second, in the twinkling of an eye, the searchlights of the + Boers fell broad and clear as the noonday sun on the ranks of + the doomed Highlanders, though it left the enemy concealed in + the shadows of the frowning mass of hills behind them. For + one brief moment the Scots seemed paralysed by the suddenness + of their discovery, for they knew that they were huddled + together like sheep within fifty yards of the trenches of the + foe. Then, clear above the confusion, rolled the voice of the + general—"Steady, men, steady!"—and, like an echo to the + veterans, out came the crash of nearly a thousand rifles not + fifty paces from them. The Highlanders reeled before the + shock like trees before the tempest. Their best, their + bravest, fell in that wild hail of lead. General Wauchope was + down, riddled with bullets; yet, gasping, dying, bleeding + from every vein, the Highland chieftain raised himself on his + hands and knees, and cheered his men forward. Men and + officers fell in heaps together.</p> + + <p>The Black Watch charged, and the Gordons and the + Seaforths, with a yell that stirred the British camp below, + rushed onward—onward to death or disaster. The accursed + wires caught them round the legs until they floundered, like + trapped wolves, and all the time the rifles of the foe sang + the song of death in their ears. Then they fell back, broken + and beaten, leaving nearly 1,300 dead and wounded just where + the broad breast of the grassy veldt melts into the embrace + of the rugged African hills, and an hour later the dawning + came of the dreariest day that Scotland has known for a + generation-past. Of her officers, the flower of her chivalry, + the pride of her breeding, but few remained to tell the + tale—a sad tale truly, but one untainted with dishonour or + smirched with disgrace, for up those heights under similar + circumstances even a brigade of devils could scarce have + hoped to pass. All that mortal men could do the Scots did; + they tried, they failed, they fell. And there is nothing left + us now but to mourn for them, and avenge them; and I am no + prophet if the day is distant when the Highland bayonet will + write the name of Wauchope large and deep in the best blood + of the Boers.</p> + + <p>All that fateful day our wounded men lay close to the Boer + lines under a blazing sun; over their heads the shots of + friends and foes passed without ceasing. Many a gallant deed + was done by comrades helping comrades; men who were shot + through the body lay without water, enduring all the agony of + thirst engendered by their wounds and the blistering heat of + the day; to them crawled Scots with shattered limbs, sharing + the last drop of water in their bottles, and taking messages + to be delivered to mourning women in the cottage home of + far-off Scotland. Many a last farewell was whispered by + pain-drawn lips in between the ringing of the rifles, many a + rough soldier with tenderest care closed the eyes of a + brother in arms amidst the tempest and the stir of battle; + and above it all, Cronje, the Boer general, must have smiled + grimly, for well he knew that where the Highland Brigade had + failed all the world might falter. All day long the battle + raged; scarcely could we see the foe—all that met our eyes + was the rocky heights that spoke with tongues of flame + whenever our troops drew near. We could not reach their + lines; it was murder, grim and ghastly, to send the infantry + forward to fight a foe they could not see and could not + reach. Once our Guards made a brilliant dash at the trenches, + and, like a torrent, their resistless valour bore all before + them, and for a few brief moments they got within hitting + distance of the foe. Well did they avenge the slaughter of + the Scots; the bayonets, like tongues of flame, passed above + or below the rifles' guard, and swept through brisket and + breastbone. Out of their trenches the Guardsmen tossed the + Boers, as men in English harvest fields toss the hay when the + reapers' scythes have whitened the cornfields; and the human + sheaves were plentiful where the British Guardsmen stood. + Then they fell back, for the fire from the heights above them + fell thick as the spume of the surf on an Australian + rock-ribbed coast. But the Guards had proved to the Boers + that, man to man, the Briton was his master.</p> + + <p>In vain all that day Methuen tried by every rule he knew + to draw the enemy; vainly, the Lancers rode recklessly to + induce those human rock limpets to come out and cut them off. + Cronje knew the mettle of our men, and an ironic laugh played + round his iron mouth, and still he stayed within his native + fastness; but Death sat ever at his elbow, for our gunners + dropped the lyddite shells and the howling shrapnel all along + his lines, until the trenches ran blood, and many of his guns + were silenced. In the valley behind his outer line of hills + his dead lay piled in hundreds, and the slope of the hill was + a charnel-house where the wounded all writhed amidst the + masses of the dead; a ghastly tribute to British gunnery. For + hours I stood within speaking distance of the great naval gun + as it spoke to the enemy, and such a sight as their shooting + the world has possibly never witnessed. Not a shell was + wasted; cool as if on the decks of a pleasure yacht our tars + moved through the fight, obeying orders with smiling + alacrity. Whenever the signal came from the balloon above us + that the enemy were moving behind their lines, the sailors + sent a message from England into their midst, and the name of + the messenger was Destruction; and when, at 1.30 p.m. of + Tuesday, we drew off to Modder River to recuperate we left a + ghastly pile of dead and wounded of grim old Cronje's men as + a token that the lion of England had bared his teeth in + earnest.</p> + + <p>Three hundred yards to the rear of the little township of + Modder River, just as the sun was sinking in a blaze of + African splendour on the evening of Tuesday, the 13th of + December, a long, shallow grave lay exposed in the breast of + the veldt. To the westward, the broad river, fringed with + trees, ran murmuringly, to the eastward, the heights still + held by the enemy scowled menacingly, north and south, the + veldt undulated peacefully; a few paces to the northward of + that grave fifty dead Highlanders lay, dressed as they had + fallen on the field of battle; they had followed their chief + to the field, and they were to follow him to the grave. How + grim and stern those dead men looked as they lay face upward + to the sky, with great hands clenched in the last death + agony, and brows still knitted with the stern lust of the + strife in which they had fallen. The plaids dear to every + Highland clan were represented there, and, as I looked, out + of the distance came the sound of the pipes; it was the + General coming to join his men. There, right under the eyes + of the enemy, moved with slow and solemn tread all that + remained of the Highland Brigade. In front of them walked-the + chaplain, with bared head, dressed in his robes of office, + then came the pipers, with their pipes, sixteen in all, and + behind them, with arms reversed, moved the Highlanders, + dressed in all the regalia of their regiments, and in the + midst the dead General, borne by four of his comrades. Out + swelled the pipes to the strains of "The Flowers of the + Forest," now ringing proud and high until the soldier's head + went back in haughty defiance, and eyes flashed through tears + like sunlight on steel; now sinking to a moaning wail, like a + woman mourning for her first-born, until the proud heads + dropped forward till they rested on heaving chests, and tears + rolled down the wan and scarred faces, and the choking sobs + broke through the solemn rhythm of the march of death. Right + up to the grave they marched, then broke away in companies, + until the General lay in the shallow grave with a Scottish + square of armed men around him, only the dead man's son and a + small remnant of his officers stood with the chaplain and the + pipers whilst the solemn service of the Church was + spoken.</p> + + <p>Then once again the pipes pealed out, and "Lochaber No + More" cut through the stillness like a cry of pain, until one + could almost hear the widow in her Highland home moaning for + the soldier she would welcome back no more. Then, as if + touched by the magic of one thought, the soldiers turned + their tear-damp eyes from the still form in the shallow grave + towards the heights where Cronje, the "lion of Africa," and + his soldiers stood. Then every cheek flushed crimson, and the + strong jaws set like steel, and the veins on the hands that + clasped the rifle barrels swelled almost to bursting with the + fervour of the grip, and that look from those silent, armed + men spoke more eloquently than ever spoke the tongues of + orators. For on each frowning face the spirit of vengeance + sat, and each sparkling eye asked silently for blood. God + help the Boers when next the Highland pibroch sounds! God + rest the Boers' souls when the Highland bayonets charge, for + neither death, nor hell, nor things above, nor things below, + will hold the Scots back from their blood feud. At the head + of the grave, at the point nearest the enemy, the General was + laid to sleep, his officers grouped around him, whilst in + line behind him his soldiers were laid in a double row, + wrapped in their blankets. No shots were fired over the dead + men resting so peacefully, only the salute was given, and + then the men marched campwards as the darkness of an African + night rolled over the far-stretching breadth of the veldt. To + the gentlewoman who bears their General's name the Highland + Brigade sends its deepest sympathy. To the mothers and the + wives, the sisters and the sweethearts, in cottage home by + hillside and glen they send their love and good wishes—sad + will their Christmas be, sadder the new year. Yet, enshrined + in every womanly heart, from Queen Empress to cottage girl, + let their memory lie, the memory of the men of the Highland + Brigade who died at Magersfontein.</p> + </div> + <a id="page242" name="page242"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>SCOUTS AND SCOUTING.<br /> + DRISCOLL, KING OF SCOUTS.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>ORANGE RIVER COLONY.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>I have a weakness for scouts. Good scouts seem to me to be + of more importance to an army in the field than all the + tape-tied intelligence officers out of Hades. They don't get + on well with the regular officers as a rule, because scouts + are like poets—they are born, not manufactured. They are + people who do not feel as if God had forsaken them for ever + if they don't get a shave and a clean shirt every morning, + they are just a trifle rough in their appearance and manners; + but they ride as straight as they talk, and shoot straighter + than they ride. They have to be built for the business. All + the training in the world won't make a scout unless nature + has commenced the job; mere pluck is not worth a dog's bark + in this line of life, though without pluck no scout is worth + a wanton woman's smile. A good scout wants any amount of + courage; he wants a level head—a head of ice, and a heart of + fire. He wants to know by instinct when to rush onward and + chance his life to the heels of his horse and the goodness of + God, and he wants to know with unfailing certainty when to + crawl into cover and hide. He must understand how to ride + with no other guide than the lay of the country, the course + of the sun, or the position of the stars. He must have eyes + that note every broken hill, every little hollow, every + footprint of man or horse on the veldt.</p> + + <p>He must be an excellent judge of distance, of time, of + numbers. He must be able to tell at a glance whether a cloud + of dust is caused by moving troops or by the action of the + elements. Above all, he must be truthful, not given to + exaggeration of his friends' strength or his enemy's + weakness. When he makes his report it should need no + corroboration. If a scout is worth his salt, his advice + should be accepted and acted upon promptly.</p> + + <p>I often go out with the scouts; they are the eyes of the + army. A man who knocks around with scouting parties knows + more, sees more, hears more of the real state of affairs than + nine-tenths of the staff officers ever know, hear, or see. + Men fresh from the Old Country seldom make good scouts. Take + the Yeomanry, for instance. They are plucky enough, but not + one in a hundred of them has the making of a scout in him. + All his fathers and his grandfather's and his + great-grandfather's breeding trends in other directions, and + there is an awful lot more in the breeding of men than most + folk imagine. The American makes a good scout. If he knows + nothing of the life, he soon picks it up. So does the + Australian, and the Canadian, and the Colonial-born South + African. Something in the life appeals to them. They get the + "hang" of it with very little trouble. There are some + English-born men, however, who develop into rattling great + scouts. These men are mostly adventurous fellows, who have + roamed about the world, and had the corners knocked off them. + I have two of them in my mind's eye just at present. One of + them is an Irishman named Driscoll, Captain of the Scouts who + are the eyes and ears of Rundle's army. The other is an + Englishman named Davies, a captain in the same gallant little + band. The first lieutenant is a Cape colonial of English + extraction, named Brabant, a gallant son of a gallant + general. Captain Driscoll is a typical Irishman, just such a + man as the soul of Charles Lever would have revelled in, a + man of dauntless daring, with a heart of iron, and a face to + match. Strangely enough, the captain does not pride himself a + bit on his pluck, but he thinks a deuce of a lot of his + beauty. As a matter of fact, he has the courage of ten + ordinary men, but he would not take a prize in a first-class + beauty show. (Lord send I may be far from the reach of his + revolver when this reaches his eye.) He has that dash of + vanity in his composition which I have found in all good + Irishmen, and he prides himself far more on the execution his + eyes have done amidst the Dutch girls than of the work his + deadly rifle has wrought in the ranks of the Dutch mea Yet, + if you want to know if Driscoll can shoot, just go to Burmah, + where for ten years he held the position of captain in the + Upper Burmah Volunteer Rifles. That was where I heard of him + first, as the most deadly rifle and revolver shot in all the + East.</p> + + <p>The Boers know him now as the prince of rifle shots and + the king of scouts. He is standing in the wintry sunlight + just in front of my tent as I am writing, one hand on the + bridle of his horse, rapping out Dutch oaths with a strong + Cork accent to a nigger who has not groomed his pet animal + properly. The nigger is very meek, for past experience has + told him that Irish blood is hot, and an Irishman's boot + quick and heavy. He is a picturesque figure, this Celtic + scout leader, just such a picture as Phil May could bring to + life on a sheet of paper with a few strokes of his master + hand. He is about eleven stone in weight, and, roughly, five + feet eight, clean cut and strong, with a face which tells you + he was born in Cork, and had knocked about a lot in tropic + lands; eight-and-thirty if he is a day, though he swears at + night around the camp fire that the pretty Dutch girls have + guessed his age as twenty-seven. He wears a slouch hat, + around which a green puggaree coils lovingly. In his right + hand his rifle rests as if it felt at home there. His coat is + worn and shabby, khaki in colour; riding pants of roughest + yellow cords, patched in places unspeakable, leggings around + his sinewy calves, and feet planted in neat boots make up the + whole man. He is clean shaven except for a moustache, dark + brown in colour, which sprouts from his upper lip.</p> + + <p>In his softer moments Driscoll tells us that it used to + "cur-r-r-l" before he had the "faver" in Burmah, and on such + occasions we assure him that it "cur-r-rls" even yet. It is + more polite to agree with him than to cross him—and a lot + safer. He is as full of anecdote as heaven is of angels, and + I mean to use him in the sweet days of peace, unless some + stay-at-home journalist niches him from me in the meantime. + Driscoll and Davies are fast friends. The Englishman is not + such a picturesque figure as the Irishman. Englishmen seldom + are, somehow; but he is a man, a real white man, all over. He + is rather a good-looking, well set-up young fellow, who + always looks as if he had just had a bath; not a dude by any + manner of means, but a fellow with a soft eye for a pretty + ankle, and a hard fist for a foe—one of those quiet chaps a + man always likes to find close beside him in a row. Driscoll + almost weeps over him to me sometimes. "He's the devil's own + at close quarters," says the Irishman. "Never want a better + chum when it comes to bashing the enemy. If he could only + shoot a bit 'straighther and talk a bit sweether to the + colleens he'd be perfect." All the same, I have, and hold, my + own opinion concerning the "talking." Many a smile which the + gallant Celt appropriated to himself as we rode out of a + conquered town seemed to me to belong of right to the + rosy-faced Welsh lad on the off-side. To hear these two men + chatter over a glass of hot rum in my tent at night one would + think they had never faced danger. Yet never a day goes by + but one or the other of them has to run the gauntlet of Boer + rifles; whilst Jack Brabant, who is death on cigars or + anything else that will emit smoke, and who curls up and says + little, has been near death so often that it will be no + stranger to him when it comes in all its finality.</p> + + <p>Driscoll was in Burmah when the news came of the first + disaster to the Irish troops in South Africa. He threw up his + business as lightly as a coquette throws up a midsummer + lover, and started for the war. At Bombay he was stopped by a + yard or two of red tape, and had to go back to Calcutta, + where he used his Irish tongue to such purpose that he got a + permit to leave India, and made his way to the scene of + trouble. He first joined General Gatacre as orderly officer. + Later he was attached to the Border Mounted Rifles as + captain, and did splendid service at the battles of Dordrecht + and Labuschagne's Nek In the latter place he was the first + man to gallop into the Boer laager before the fight had + ceased. Captain, then Lieutenant, Davies was as close to his + side as a shadow to a serpent, and they only had fourteen men + with them at the time. After this Driscoll, whose skill as a + scout had been remarked on all sides, was ordered to form a + body of fifty scouts to act as the very eyes of the rapidly + moving Colonial Division under General Brabant. This was + promptly done, most of the men picked being Colonial-born + Britishers. Soon after the formation of his band, Driscoll, + with fifty men, attacked Rouxville from four sides at once. + Dashing in, he demanded surrender of the place, as if he had + an army at his back to enforce his demands, a piece of Irish + impudent valour that would have cost every man amongst the + little band his life had the Boers known that he was + unbacked. But they did not know it, and consequently + surrendered, and he hoisted the British flag and disarmed the + residents—a really brilliant piece of work, for which + Driscoll's Scouts have up to date received no public + credit.</p> + + <p>The Scout and his men took a warm part in the, very warm + fight at Wepener, where many a good Briton fell. He had lost + a good few fellows in the many fights, but Driscoll's name + soon charmed others to his little band. At Jammersberg Drift + the Scouts were so badly mauled that over a fourth of their + number were counted out, but the places of the fallen men + were soon filled, and to-day the number is almost complete. + Driscoll has one especially good quality. He never speaks + slightingly of his enemy unless he well deserves it. Few men + have had so many hand-to-hand encounters with the burghers as + he has; few men have held their lives by virtue of their + steady hand on a rifle as frequently as this wild, + good-natured, merry Irishman has done. Yet of the Boer as a + fighter he speaks most highly. "He don't like cold steel, and + shmall blame to'm," says Driscoll, "but for the clever + tactics he's a devil of a chap, 'nd the men who run him down + are mostly the men who run away from him. They're not all + heroes, any more than all women are angels. Some of 'em are + fit only for a dog's death, but most of 'em are good men; and + if I wasn't an Irishman I wouldn't mind being a Boer, for + they've no call to hang their heads and blush when this war + is over."</p> + + <p>I asked him if he had ever of his own knowledge come into + contact with anything savouring of white flag treachery. + "Once I did," said the great scout, and for a while his eyes + were filled with a sombre fire which spoke of the volcano + under the genial human crust. "Onct," and he lapsed into the + brogue as he spoke; "only onct, and there's a debt owin' on + it yet which has got to be paid. It was at Karronna Ridge. I + was out wid me scouts, 'nd I saw a farmhouse flying the white + flag—a great flag it was, too, as big as a bed sheet. I'm + not sure that it was not wan, too. I rode towards it, + thinking the people wanted to surrender, and sent two of me + men, two young lads they were—good boys, eager for duty. I + sent 'em forward to ask what was the matther inside; and when + they got within fifteen paces of the house the Boers inside + opened fire from twenty rifles, and blew 'em out of the + saddle. I had to ride with me little troop for dear life + then, for the rocks all around us were alive with rifles. + That house still stands; but if Driscoll's name is Driscoll + it's going to burn, and the cur who flew the white flag in + it, if I can get him, for the sake of the dead boys out on + the veldt there. That's the only dirty trick I knew them + play, and they must have been a lot of wasters, not like the + general run of their fighters."</p> + + <p>Three nights ago Driscoll, Davies, Brabant, and twenty men + camped in a farmhouse a long way from the British lines, for + these men scour the country for many miles in all directions. + The night was cold and rough, a bleak wind whistling amidst + the kopjes half a mile away. Just as the scouts were sitting + down to supper, the farmer's wife rushed in, and said to + Driscoll, in a voice between a sob and a scream, "Do you + know, sir, that our burghers are in the kopjes, and are + watching the farm?" and as she spoke she wrung her hands + wildly. The Irish scout rose from the table and bowed, as + only an Irish scout can bow, for the "vrow" was about thirty + years of age, and pleasing to the eye beyond the lot of most + women. "I am awfully glad to hear it, madam," he said in his + execrable Dutch. "I've been looking for that commando for a + week past. As they have doubtless sent a message by you, + please send this back for me. Tell their officers, if they + will accept an offer to come and dine with Driscoll's Scouts + here to-night, they shall be made welcome to the best we have + in the way of kindness. For it must be cold waiting outside + in the wind. Tell them they shall go as they come, unmolested + and unwatched, and in the morning we'll come out and give 'em + all the fight they want in this world." Then, sweeping the + floor with a graceful wave of his green puggareed soft slouch + hat, Driscoll bowed the astonished dame out of the + dining-room, whilst his officers and men nearly choked + themselves with their hot soup, as they noticed him + surreptitiously drawing a pocket mirror from his breeches + pocket. For well they knew that the dare-devil leader was + thinking far more of the effect his looks had had on the + Dutch housewife than of the effect of his message on the + enemy. Yet, at the first promise of dawn, he unrolled himself + from his blanket on the hard floor, and was the foremost man + to show in the open, where the enemy's rifles might reach + him. But no rifles sounded, for the Boers had declined the + invitation both to supper and breakfast.</p> + </div> + <a id="page253" name="page253"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>HUNTING AND HUNTED.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>ORANGE RIVER COLONY.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>There is a funny side to pretty nearly every kind of + tragedy if one only has the humorous edge of his nature + sufficiently well developed to see it. Not that the humour is + always apparent at the time—that comes later. I am led to + these reflections as I watch Lieutenant "Jack" Brabant, of + the Scouts, dancing a wild war dance round our little camp + fire. He is a picturesque figure in the firelight, this + thirty-year-old son of the renowned General Brabant, ten + stone weight I should say, all whipcord and fencing wire, + rather a hard-faced man; no feather-bed frontiersman this, + but a tough, hard-grained bit of humanity, who has fought + niggers and hunted for big game at an age when most young + fellows are thinking more of poetry and pretty faces than of + hard knocks and harder sport. I know him for a rattling good + shot at either man or beast, a fine bushman, and a dandy + horseman. He is a rather quiet fellow, as a rule, but all the + quietness is out of him to-night, and he only wants to be + stripped of his tight yellow jacket, cord breeches, leather + gaiters, soft slouch hat with green puggaree, and then, given + a coat of black paint, he would pass well for some warrior + chief doing a death dance in the smoke. He is boiling with + passion, his left fist, clenched hard as the head of an axe, + moves up and down, in and out, like the legs of a kicking + mule midst a crowd of cart-horses. In his right he swings his + Mauser carbine, and a man don't need to be a descendant of a + race of prophets to know that something has gone gravely + wrong with the lieutenant, otherwise he would not be making a + circus of himself in this fantastic fashion.</p> + + <p>I lay my pencil aside for a minute or two to catch what he + is saying, and when I have got the hang of the story I don't + wonder he feels as mad as a wooden-legged man on a wet + mud-bank. He had been out all day since the very break of + dawn with a couple of scouts, searching the kopjes for a + notorious Boer spy, whose cleverness and audacity had made + him a thorn in our side. If there was a man in the British + lines capable of running the "slim" Boer to earth, that man + was Lieutenant Jack Brabant. It had been a grim hunt, for the + spy was worthy of his reputation, and the pursuers had to + move with their fingers on their triggers, and a rash move + would have meant death. All the forenoon he dodged them, in + and out of the kopjes, along the sluits, up and down the + dongas; sometimes they pelted him at long range with flying + bullets, sometimes he sent them a reminder of the same sort. + And so the day wore on; but at last, towards evening, they + fixed him so that he had to make a dash out across the veldt. + He was splendidly mounted, and when the time came for a dash + he did not waste any time making poetry. Neither did Brabant + and his two men; they galloped at full speed after the + fleetly flying figure, and when they saw that a broad and + deep donga ran right across his track, cutting him off from + the long line of kopjes for which he was making, they counted + him as theirs. He only had one chance, to gallop into the + donga, jump out of the saddle and fire at them as they closed + in on him; and, as they rode far apart, it was a million to + one on missing in his hurry in the fading light. But the gods + had decided otherwise, for the whiplike crack of rifles + suddenly cut the air, and the bullets fell so thick around + the pursuers that the three men could almost breathe lead. + Half a mile away, on the far side of the donga, appeared a + squad of Yeomanry, blazing away like veritable seraphs at + Brabant and his men, whilst they let the flying Boer go free. + Brabant whipped out his handkerchief, and waved it + frantically; but the lead only whistled the faster, and he + had only one chance for his life, and that was to wheel and + ride at full speed for the nearest cover, where he and his + men hid until the Yeomen rode up. Then Brabant hailed them, + and asked them what the devil they meant by trying to blow + him and his men out of the saddle.</p> + + <p>There was a pause in the ranks of the Yeomen, then a voice + lisped through the gathering gloom, "Are you fellahs + British?"</p> + + <p>"Yes, d—n you; did you think we were springbok?"</p> + + <p>"No, by Jove, but we thought you were beastly Booahs. + Awfully sorry if we've caused you any inconvenience. What + were you chasing the other fellah foah, eh?"</p> + + <p>"Oh!" howled the disgusted backwoodsman with a snort of + wrath, "we only wanted to know if he'd cut his eye tooth + yet."</p> + + <p>"Bah Jove," quoth the Yeoman, "you fellahs are awfully + sporting, don't yer know."</p> + + <p>"Yes," snarled the angry South African, "and the next time + you Johnnies mistake me for a Booah and plug at me, I'll just + take cover and send you back a bit of lead to teach you to + look before you tighten your finger on a trigger."</p> + + <p>Talking of the Yeomen brings back a good yarn that is + going round the camps at their expense. They are notorious + for two things—their pluck and their awful bad bushcraft. + They would ride up to the mouth of a foeman's guns coolly and + gamely enough, but they can't find their way home on the + veldt after dark to save their souls, and so fall into Boer + traps with a regularity that is becoming monotonous. Recently + a British officer who had business in a Boer laager asked a + commander why they set the Yeomen free when they made them + prisoners. "Oh!" quoth the Boer, with a merry twinkle in his + eye, "those poor Yeomen of yours, we can always capture them + when we want them." This is not a good story to tell if you + want an <i>encore</i>, if you happen to be sitting round a + Yeoman table or camp fire.</p> + + <p>But it is time I got back to the subject which lay in my + mind when I sat down to write this epistle. The lieutenant's + war dance took me off the track for a while, but I thought + his story would come in nicely under the heading of "Hunting + and Hunted." Camp life gets dull at times, so does camp food, + the eternal round of fried flour cakes and mutton makes a man + long for something which will remind him that he has still a + palate, so when one of the scouts came in and told me that he + had seen three herds of vildebeestes, numbering over a + hundred each, and dozens of little mobs of springbok and + blesbok, within ten miles of camp, away towards Doornberg, I + made up my mind to ride out next day, and have a shot for + luck. My friend Driscoll, captain of the Scouts, rammed a lot + of sage advice into me concerning Boers known to be in force + at Doornberg. I assured him that I had no intention of + allowing myself to drift within range of any of the + veldtsmen, so taking a sporting Martini I mounted my horse + and set forth, intending to have a real good time among the + "buck." At a Kaffir kraal I picked up a half-caste "boy," who + assured me that he knew just where to pick up the "spoor" of + the vildebeeste, and he was as good as his boast, for within + a couple of hours he brought me within sight of a mob of + about fifty of the animals, calmly grazing. I worked my way + towards them as well as I could, leaving the "boy" to hold my + horse; but, though I was careful according to my lights, I + was not sufficiently good as a veldtsman to get within + shooting distance before they saw me or scented me. Suddenly + I saw a fine-looking fellow, about as big as a + year-and-a-half-old steer, trot out from the herd. He came + about twenty yards in my direction, and I had a grand chance + to watch him through my strong military glasses. He looked + for all the world like a miniature buffalo bull, the same + ungainly head and fore-quarters, big, heavy shoulders, neat + legs, shapely barrel, light loin, and hindquarters, the same + proppy, ungainly gait. I unslung my rifle to have a shot at + him, when he wheeled and blundered back to the herd, and the + lot streamed off at a pace which the best hunter in England + would have found trying, in spite of the clumsiness of their + movements. The half-caste grinned as he came towards me with + the horses, grinned with such a glorious breadth of mouth + that I could see far enough down his black and tan throat to + tell pretty well what he had for breakfast. This annoyed me. + I like an open countenance in a servant, but I detest a mouth + that looks like a mere burial ground for cold chicken. We + rode on for a mile or two, and then saw a pretty little herd + of springbok about eighteen hundred yards away on the left. + Slipping down into a donga, I left the horse and crawled + forward, getting within nice, easy range. I dropped one of + the pretty little beauties. I tried a flying shot at the + others as they raced away like magic things through the + grass, which climbed half-way up their flanks, but it was + lead wasted that time.</p> + + <p>My coffee-coloured retainer gathered up the spoil, and + paid me a compliment concerning my shooting, though well I + knew he had sized me up as a "wastrel" with a rifle, for his + shy eyes gave the lie to his oily tongue. We hunted round for + awhile, and then from the top of a little kopje I saw a + beautiful herd of vildebeestes one hundred and sixteen in + number, lumbering slowly towards where we stood. The wind + blew straight from them towards us, so that I had no fear on + the score of scent. Climbing swiftly down until almost level + with the veldt, I lay cosily coiled up behind a rock, and + waited for the quarry. They came at last, Indian file, about + a yard and a half separating one from the other, not a + hundred and twenty yards from where I lay. I had plenty of + time to pick and choose, and plenty of time to take aim, so + did not hurry myself. Sighting for a spot just behind the + shoulder, I sent a bit of lead fair through a fine beast, and + expected to see him drop, but he did nothing of the kind. For + one brief second the animal stood as if paralysed; then, with + a leap and a lurch, he dashed on with his fellows. I fired + again, straight into the shoulder this time, and brought him + down; but he took a third bullet before he cried + <i>peccavi</i>. I had a good time for pretty near the whole + of that day, and was lamenting that I had not brought a Cape + cart and pair of horses with me to bring home the spoil, + when, happening to look into the face of my brown guide, I + saw that his complexion had turned the colour of blighted + sandalwood. He did not speak, but swift as thought ripped out + his knife, and cut the thongs which bound the springbok and + other trophies of the day's sport to his saddle, letting + everything fall in an undignified heap on to the veldt. Then, + without a word of farewell, or any other kind of word for + that matter, he drove his one spur into the flank of his + wretched nag, and fled round the bend of a kopje, which, + thank Providence, was close handy, and as he went I saw + something splash against a rock a dozen yards behind him. I + had glanced hurriedly over the veldt the moment I caught that + queer expression on the saffron face of my assistant, but as + far as the eye could reach I could see nothing. Now, however, + looking backwards, I saw three or four men riding out of a + donga two thousand five hundred yards away.</p> + + <p>Twenty-five seconds later I had caught and passed my + fleeing servant, who was heading for some kopjes, which lay + right in front, about a mile and a half away. As I passed him + he yelled, "Booers, baas, Booers! Ride hard, baas, ride hard; + there are three hundred in the donga." When I heard that item + of news I just sat down and attended strictly to business, + and I am free to wager that never since the day he was foaled + had that horse covered so much ground in so short a space of + time as he did by the time he reached the kopjes. My servant + had adroitly dodged into a sluit which hid him from view, and + I knew that he could work his way out far better than I + could. Besides, if they captured him, the worst he would get + would be a cut across the neck with a sjambok for acting as + hunting-guide to a detested Rooitbaaitje; whilst as for me, + they would in all probability discredit my tale concerning + the hunting trip, and give me a free, but rapid, pass to that + land which we all hope to see eventually, but none of us are + anxious to start for; because a correspondent has no right to + carry a rifle during war time, a thing I never do unless I am + out hunting. I gave my tired horse a spell, whilst I searched + the veldt with my glasses, then slipping through a gully I + made my way out on to the veldt, got in touch with a donga + that ran the way I wanted to travel, got into its bed, gave + my horse a drink, and rode on until dark; then I made my way + into camp, and religiously held my peace concerning the + doings of that day, because I did not want the life chaffed + out of me. A few days later I happened to call at the + Colonial camp, and was asked to dine by one of the + officers.</p> + + <p>"Like venison?" he asked cheerily.</p> + + <p>"Yes, when it comes my way," I replied.</p> + + <p>"Got some to-day," he said. "It's nicely hung, too; not + fresh from the gun."</p> + + <p>"Shoot it yourself, eh?"</p> + + <p>"Well, no, not exactly; was out on patrol on Monday, and + saw a couple of lousy Dutchmen. They didn't think we were + round, so were enjoying themselves shooting buck. We nearly + got one of 'em with a long shot."</p> + + <p>"Didn't they show fight?" I asked innocently.</p> + + <p>"Fight?" he said, with scorn unutterable in his accent. + "Not a bit of it. They dropped their game, and cleared as if + a thousand devils were after them. I never saw men ride so + fast."</p> + + <p>"Positive they were Dutchmen?" I ventured.</p> + + <p>"Yes," he laughed; "why, I'd know one of those ugly devils + five miles off."</p> + + <p>That settled me, and I said no more.</p> + </div> + <a id="page264" name="page264"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>WITH THE BASUTOS.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>When the Eighth Division was skirting the borders of + Basutoland I thought it would not be a waste of time to cross + the border, and if possible interview one of the chiefs. My + opportunity came at last. Our general decided to give his + weary men a few days' rest, so getting into the saddle at + Willow Grange I rode to Ficksburg, and there crossed the + River Caledon, whose yellow waters, like an orange ribbon, + divide Basutoland from the Free State. At this point the + river runs between steep banks, and when I crossed it was + about deep enough to kiss my horse's girths, though I could + well believe that in the flood season it becomes a most + formidable torrent. An artificial cutting has been made on + both sides to facilitate the passage of traders, black and + white, but even there the ford is so constituted that the + Boers on the one side and the blacks on the other could + successfully dispute the passage of an invading army with a + mere handful of men.</p> + + <p>Once across the river one soon felt the influence of + Jonathan, the "black prince." The niggers, naked except for + the loin cloth, swaggered along with arms in their hands, and + grinned with insolent familiarity into our faces. They may + have an intense respect and an unbounded love for the + British—I have read scores of times that they have—but I + beg leave to doubt it. Physically speaking they are a superb + race of men, these sable subjects of our Queen. Their heads + sit upon their necks with a bold, defiant poise, their + throats are full, round, and muscular, their chests + magnificent, broad and deep, tapering swiftly towards the + waist. Their arms and legs are beautifully fashioned for + strong, swift deeds. Strip an ordinary white man and put him + amongst those black warriors, and he would look like a human + clothes rack. They walk with a quick, springy step, and gave + me the impression that they could march at the double for a + week without tiring. But they are at their best on horseback. + To see them barebacked dash down the side of a sheer cliff, + plunge into the river, swim their horses over, and then climb + the opposite bank when the face of the bank is like the face + of a wall is a sight worth travelling far to see.</p> + + <p>There are many things in this world that I know nothing at + all about, but I do know a horseman when I see him, for I was + bred in a land where nine-tenths of the boys can ride. But + nowhere have I seen a whole male population ride as these + Basuto warriors ride, and the best use England can make of + them is to turn them into mounted infantry. Give them six + months' drill, and they will be fit to face any troops in + Europe. I never saw them do any fighting, but they carry the + fighting brand on every lineament—the bold, keen eye, the + prominent cheek-bone, the hard-set mouth, the massive jaw, + the quivering nostril, the swing and spring of every + movement, all speak the fighting race.</p> + + <p>And their women; what of them? From the back of the head + to the back of the heel you could place a lance shaft, so + straight are they in their carriage. Their dress is a bunch + of feathers and the third of a silk pocket handkerchief, with + a copper ring around the ankle and another around the wrist. + They do most of the daily toil, such as it is, though I know + of no peasant population in any other part of the world who + get a living as easily as these folk. The men allow the women + to do most of the field labour, but when the grain is bagged + the males place it in single bags across the back of a pony, + and so take it to market. They walk beside the tiny little + ponies and balance the grain slung crosswise on the animal's + back, and when the grain has been sold or bartered they bound + on to their ponies and career madly homewards, each one + trying to outdo his neighbour in deeds of recklessness in the + hope of winning favour in the eyes of the dusky maidens. They + are mean in regard to money or gifts, and know the intrinsic + value of things just as well as any pedlar in all England. + Judging the "nigger" merely as a human being, irrespective of + sentiment, colour, and so forth, I can only say that in my + estimation he and his are far better off in every respect + than the average white labourer and his family in England. + These folk have plenty to eat, little to do, and are very + jolly. They would be perfectly happy if they only had a + sufficient number of rifles and a large enough supply of + ammunition to enable them to drive every white man clean away + from their borders.</p> + + <p>When I arrived at Jonathan's village that warrior was away + with a band of his young men, so that I could not see him, + though I saw his son at a wedding which was being held when I + reached the scene. I was taken through rows of naked, + grinning savages, of both sexes, to be introduced to the bride + and bridegroom, whom I found to be a pair of mission + converts. When I saw the pair the shock nearly shook my boots + off. The bride, a full-blooded young negress, was dressed in + a beautiful white satin dress, which fitted her as if it had + been fired at her out of a gun. It would not meet in front by + about three inches, and the bodice was laced up by narrow + bands of red silk, like a foot-baller's jersey. In her short, + woolly hair she had pinned a wreath of artificial orange + blossoms, which looked like a diadem of snow on a mid-winter + mudheap. Down her broad back there hung a great gauzy lace + veil, big enough to make a fly-net for a cow camel in summer. + It was not fixed on to her dress, nor to her wreath, but was + tied on to two little kinky curls at each side of her head by + bright green ribbons, after the fashion of a prize filly of + the draught order at a country fair. Her hands were encased + in a pair of white kid gloves, man's size, and a pretty big + man at that, for she had a gentle little fist that would have + scared John L. Sullivan in his palmiest days.</p> + + <p>When I was introduced to the newly shackled matron she put + one of those gloved hands into mine with a simpering air of + coyness that made me feel cold all over, for that hand in the + kid glove reminded me of the day I took my first lesson from + Laurence Foley, Australia's champion boxer, and he had an + eight-ounce glove on (thank Heaven!) on that occasion. In her + right hand the bride carried a fan of splendid ostrich + feathers, with which she brushed the flies off the groom. It + was vast enough to have brushed away a toy terrier, to say + nothing of flies, but it looked a toy in that giant fist.</p> + + <p>The groom hung on to his bride's arm like a fly to a + sugar-stick. He was a tall young man, dressed in a black + frock coat, light trousers, braced up to show that he wore + socks, shoes, white gloves, and a high-crowned hat. He + carried his bride's white silk gingham in one hand, and an + enormous bunch of flowers in the other. He tried to look + meek, but only succeeded in looking sly, hypocritical, and + awfully uncomfortable. At times he would look at his new + spouse, and then a most unsaintly expression would cross his + foxy face; he would push out his great thick lips until they + threw a shadow all round him; open his dazzling white teeth + and let his great blood-red tongue loll out until the chasm + in his face looked like a rent in a black velvet gown with a + Cardinal's red hat stuffed in the centre. He may have been + full of saving grace—full up, and running over—but it was + not the brand of Christianity that I should care to invest my + money in. When he caught my gaze riveted upon him, he tried + to look like a brand plucked from the burning; he rolled his + great velvet-black eyes skyward, screwed up the sluit which + ran across his face, and which he called a mouth, until it + looked like a crumpled doormat, folded his hands meekly over + his breast, and comported himself generally like a fraudulent + advertisement for a London mission society.</p> + + <p>From him I glanced to his "Pa," who had given him away, + and seemed mighty glad to get rid of him. "Pa" was dressed in + pure black from head to heel—just the same old suit that he + had worn when he struck this planet, only more of it. He was + guiltless of anything and everything in the shape of dress + except for a large ring of horn which he wore on top of his + head. He did not carry any parasols, or fans, or geegaws of + any kind in his great muscular fists. One hand grasped an + iron-shod assegai, and the other lovingly fondled a + battle-axe, and both weapons looked at home where they + rested. He was not just the sort of father-in-law I should + have hankered for if I had been out on a matrimonial venture; + but I would rather have had one limb of that old heathen than + the whole body of his "civilised" son, for with all his + faults he looked a man. A chum of mine who knew the ways of + these people had advised me to purchase a horn of snuff + before being presented to the bride and groom, and I had + acted accordingly.</p> + + <p>When the ceremony of introduction was over, and I had + managed to turn my blushing face away from "Ma" and the bevy + of damsels, as airily clothed as herself, I offered the snuff + box to the happy pair. The groom took a tiny pinch and smiled + sadly, as though committing some deadly sin. The bride, + however, poured a little heap in the palm of her hand about + as big as a hen's egg, regardless of her nice white kid + gloves. This she proceeded to snuff up her capacious nostrils + with savage delight, until the tears streamed down her cheeks + like rain down a coal heap. Then she threw back her head, + spread her hands out palm downwards, like a mammoth duck + treading water, and sneezed. I never heard a human sneeze + like that before; it was like the effort of a horse after a + two-mile gallop through a dust storm. And each time she + sneezed something connected with her wedding gear ripped or + gave way, until I began to be afraid for her. But the wreck + was not quite so awful as I had anticipated, and when she had + done sneezing she laughed. All the crowd except the groom + laughed, and the sound of their laughter was like the sound + of the sea on a cliff-crowned coast.</p> + + <p>A little later one of the bridesmaids, whose toilet + consisted of a dainty necklace of beads and a copper ring + around one ankle, invited me to drink a draught of native + beer. The beer was in a large calabash, and I felt + constrained to drink some of it. These natives know how to + make love, and they know how to make war, but, as my soul + liveth, they don't know how to make beer. The stuff they gave + me to drink was about as thick as boardinghouse cocoa; in + colour it was like unto milk that a very dirty maid of all + work had been stirring round in a soiled soup dish with an + unwashed forefinger. It had neither body nor soul in it, and + was as insipid as a policeman at a prayer meeting. Some of + the niggers got gloriously merry on it, and sang songs and + danced weird, unholy dances under its influence. But it did + not appeal to me in that way, possibly I was not educated up + to its niceties. All I know is that I became possessed of a + strange yearning to get rid of what had been given me—and + get rid of it early.</p> + + <p>The wedding joys were of a peculiar nature. Bride and + bridegroom, linked arm in arm, marched up and down on a pad + about twenty yards in length, a nude minstrel marched in + front, and drew unearthly music from a kind of mouth organ. + Girls squatting in the dust <i>en route</i> clapped their + hands and chanted a chorus. The groom hopped first on one leg + and then on the other, and tried to look gorgeously happy; + the bride kicked her satin skirts out behind, pranced along + the track as gracefully as a lady camel in the mating season; + behind the principal actors in the drama came a regiment of + youths and girls, and the antics they cut were worthy of the + occasion. Now and again some dusky Don Juan would dig his + thumb into the ribs of a daughter of Ham. The lady would + promptly squeal, and try to look coy. It is not easy to look + coy when you have not got enough clothes on your whole body + to make a patch to cover a black eye; but still they tried + it, for the sex seem to me to be much alike on the inside, + whether they dress in a coat of paint or a coat of + sealskin.</p> + + <p>By-and-by the groom took his bride by the arm, and made an + effort to induce her to leave her maids of honour and "trek" + towards the cabin which henceforth was to be her home. The + lady pouted, and shook his hand off her arm; whilst the + maidens laughed and clapped their hands, dancing in the + dust-strewn sunlight with such high kicking action as would + win fame for any ballet dancer in Europe. The young men + jeered the groom, and incited him to take charge of his own. + He hung down his ebony head and looked sillily sullen, and + the bride continued to "pout." Have you ever seen a savage + nigger wench pout, my masters? Verily it is a sight worth + travelling far to see. First of all she wraps her mouth in a + simper, and her lips look like a fold in a badly doubled + blanket. Then slowly, she draws the corners towards, the + centre, just as the universe will be crumpled up on the Day + of Judgment. It is a beautiful sight. The mouth, which, when + she smiled, looked like a sword wound on the flank of a + horse, now, when the "pout" is complete, looks like a + crumpled concertina. The groom again timidly advanced his + hand towards the satin-covered arm of his spouse, and the + "pout" became more pronounced than ever. The white of one eye + was slyly turned towards the bridesmaids, the other rolled + with infinite subtlety in the direction of him who was to be + her lord and master; and the "pout" grew larger and larger, + until I was constrained to push my way amidst the maids to + get a look behind the bride, for I fancied the back of her + neck must surely have got somehow into the front of her face. + When I got to the front again the "pout" was still growing, + the rich red lips in their midnight setting looking like some + giant rose in full bloom that an elephant's hoof had trodden + upon. So the show proceeded. At last one of the bridesmaids + stepped from amidst her sisters, and playfully pushed the + bride in the direction of her home. Then the "pout" gave way + to a smile, the white teeth gleaming in the gap like + tombstones in a Highland churchyard. I had been a bit scared + of her "pout," but when she smiled I looked round anxiously + for my horse. After a little manoeuvring, the blissful pair + marched cabinwards, with the whole group of naked men and + maids circling round them, stamping their bare feet, kicking + up clouds of dust like a mob of travelling cattle. The men + yelled some barbarous melody, flourished their arms, smote + upon their breasts, and anon gripping a damsel by the waist + circled afar like goats on a green grass hill slope. The + maids twisted and turned in fantastic figures, swaying their + nobly fashioned bodies hither and thither, whilst they kept + up a continuous wailing, sing-song cry. So they passed from + my sight into the regions of the honeymoon, and the clubbings + and general hidings which follow it.</p> + + <p>I only stayed a few days amongst these savages, but, short + as my stay was, I arrived at the conclusion that the sooner + they are disarmed the better. There are hundreds of white + women living upon isolated farms within easy riding distance + of the Basuto villages, and as we are disarming the husbands + and brothers of these women it is our solemn duty to see that + the savage warriors have not the means within their reach to + injure or outrage those whom we have left practically + defenceless. It is true that these women are the wives, + daughters, and sisters of our enemy, but surely in all + England there does not breathe a man so poor in spirit as to + wish to place them at the mercy of a horde of barbarians. + Ours is a grave responsibility in regard to this matter. Just + at present the native warriors are quiet in their kraals, but + a day will surely dawn when the younger and more turbulent + fighting men will lust for the excitement of war. They look + upon the Boer farmers who dwell near their borders as so many + interlopers, whose title deeds were signed by the rifle, and + they long for the time to come when they can sweep them + backwards with the strong arm. They never speak of the land + close to their border as the Free State. They call it with + deadly significance the "conquered territory," and the idea + of reconquest is strong in their minds. Of old time the Boer + farmers stood ever ready to defend what they had conquered + with the rifle, and the nigger had learned to dread the Dutch + rifle as he dreads few things in this world. To-day he knows + that the Boer is helpless, and is unsparing in his insolence + to his old-time foe. Later on friction between the white man + and the black is certain to ensue, and if he has the upper + hand the black man will not stop at mere insolence.</p> + + <p>I don't know how the Imperial Parliament may feel about + it, but I do know that if there is wrong done the Boers by + the blacks, the South African farmers of British blood will + rise like one man to defend the men and women of their own + colour. They will never permit the black man to dominate the + white, and that will cause friction between the Colonists and + the Imperial Government. There is more in this than may meet + the eye at the first glance, for if the Colonists rise to + battle with the blacks the Imperial troops will have to + assist them whether the Government of the day likes or + dislikes it, or else we shall see the Colonists of our own + blood clamouring for the withdrawal of British rule in South + Africa, and we shall hear again the cry for a South African + Republic. Not a "Dutch" South African Republic next time, but + a blended nationality, and Colonial Britons and Colonial + Dutchmen will be found fighting side by side under one flag, + for one common cause.</p> + + <p>Surely, if it is not wise to allow the whites to carry + arms, it is not wise or right to allow sixty thousand fierce + fighting men to remain fully equipped and mounted. To me it + seems that now, whilst we have two hundred and fifty thousand + fighting men in Africa to overawe and intimidate the + warriors, we should take from them, by force if necessary, + everything in the shape of warlike weapons. White men are not + permitted in any of our Colonies to ride or strut about the + country armed to the teeth. Therefore, I ask, why should + these negroes be privileged to do what Australians or + Canadians are forbidden to do? They have no valid excuse for + being in possession of weapons of war. They have now no + enemies capable of attacking them upon their borders. There + is no animal life of a savage or dangerous character near + them, and their armament is a menace to the public safety. If + their young men will not settle down to the peaceful calling + of husbandmen, tillers of the soil, and breeders of stock, + let them be drafted into our Army for service abroad. If + there is not enough for the more elderly men to do in the + farming line, let them turn their energies towards the + development of the diamond mines and gold mines that lie + within their borders—mines which at present they will not + work themselves nor allow any white man to work.</p> + + <p>I have spent a good many years of my life exploring new + mineral territory, and have seen much of the best auriferous + country known to modern times; but that Basuto country, + presided over and held by a mere gang of black barbarians, + ought, in my estimation, to be one of the richest gems in the + British diadem. That good payable gold-bearing rock exists + there I know beyond question. I also know beyond all doubt + that diamonds are to be easily won from the soil, and I am + thoroughly cognisant of the fact that at least one, and I + believe many, quicksilver mines can be located there. Others + who know the country well have told me of coal and tin and + silver mines, and samples have been shown to me which made my + mouth water. Yet, all this wealth, which nature's generous + hand has scattered so liberally for the use of mankind, is + jealously locked away year by year by men who, in their + savage state, have no use for it themselves, yet will not, + upon any consideration whatever, grant a mining concession to + a white man, no matter what that white man's nationality may + be. Verily, the heathen badly want educating, and we have now + 250,000 of the right kind of schoolmasters within handy reach + of them.</p> + </div> + <a id="page280" name="page280"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>MAGERSFONTEIN AVENGED.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>THABA NCHU.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>When, a few months ago, I stood upon the veldt almost + within the shadow of the frowning brow of Magersfontein's + surly heights, and looked upon the cold, stern faces of + Scotland's dead, and listened to the weird wailing of the + bagpipes, whilst Cronje gazed triumphantly down from his + inaccessible mountain stronghold upon his handiwork, I knew + in my soul that a day would dawn when Scotland would demand + an eye for an eye, blood for blood. I read it written on the + faces of the men who strode with martial tread around the + last sad resting-place Of him they loved—their chief, the + dauntless General Wauchope. Vengeance spoke in the sombre + fire that blazed in every Scotsman's eye. Retribution was + carved large and deep on every hard-set Scottish face; it + spoke in silent eloquence in the grip of each hard, browned + hand on rifle barrels; it found a mute echo in each knitted + brow, and leapt to life in every deep-drawn breath; it + sparkled in each tear that rolled unheeded and unchecked down + war-scarred cheeks, and thundered in the echo of the men's + tread across the veldt, right up to Cronje's lines, as they + marched campwards. The Highland Brigade had gazed upon its + dead; and neither time, nor change, nor thought of home, or + wife, or lisping babe, would wipe the memory of that sight + away until the bayonet's ruthless thrust gave Scotland + quittance in the rich, red blood of those who did that + deed.</p> + + <p>That hour has come. The men who sleep in soldiers' graves + beside the willow-clad banks of the Modder River have been + avenged. Or, if the debt has not been paid in full, the + interest owing on that bond of blood has at least now been + handed in. It was not paid by our Colonial sons; not from + Australian or Canadian hands did the stubborn Boers receive + the debt we owed. They were not Irish hearts that cleared old + Scotland's legacy of hate on that May Day amidst the African + hills; it was not England's yeoman sons who did that deed. + But men whose feet were native to the heather, men on whose + tongues the Scottish burr clung lovingly—the bare-legged + kilted "boys" whom the lasses in the Highlands love, the + gallant Gordons.</p> + + <p>Let the tale be told in Edinburgh Town; let it ring along + the Border; let the lass, as she braids the widow's hair, + whisper the story with love-kissed breath; let the lads, as + they come from their daily toil, throw out their chests for + the sake of their breeding; let the pessimist turn up the + faded page of history, written when the world was young, and + find, if he can, a grander deed done by the sons of men since + the morning stars sang together.</p> + + <p>So to my tale. It was the 1st of May. We had the Boers + hard pressed in Thaba Nchu in a run of kopjes that reached in + almost unbroken sequence farther than a man's eye might + reach. The flying French was with us, chafing like a leashed + greyhound because he could not sweep all before him with one + impetuous rush. Rundle, too, was here, with his haughty, + handsome face, as keen as French, but with a better grip on + his feelings. Six thousand of the foe, under Louis Botha, + cool, crafty, long-headed, resourceful, have held the kopjes. + Again and again we manoeuvred to trap them, but no wolf in + winter is more wary than Botha, no weasels more watchful than + the men he commanded. When we advanced they fell back, when + we fell back they advanced, until the merest tyro in the art + of war could see that a frontal attack, unless made in almost + hopeless positions, was impossible. So Hamilton swept round + their right flank, ten miles north of Thaba Nchu, and gave + them a taste of his skill and daring, whilst Rundle held + their main body here at Thaba Nchu. Rundle made a feint on + their centre in strong force, and they closed in from both + flanks to resist him. Then he drew off, as if fearing the + issue. This drew the Boers in, and they pounded our camp with + shells until one wondered whether the German-made rubbish + they used would last them much longer. Then we threatened + their left flank quickly and sharply, giving Hamilton time to + strike on their right; and he struck without erring, whipping + the enemy at every point he touched, driving them out of + their positions, and holding them firmly himself, so + threatening their rear and the immense herds of sheep and + oxen they have with them, making a footing for the British to + move on and cut Botha off from his base at Kroonstad.</p> + + <p>Whether he will now stand his ground and fight or make a + break for the main army of the Boers is hard to calculate, + for the Boer generally does just what no one expects he will + attempt to do. It was during Hamilton's flanking effort that + the Gordons vindicated their character for courage. Captain + Towse, a brave, courteous soldier and gentleman, whom I had + had the pleasure of meeting at Graspan, and whose guest I had + been on several occasions, was the hero of the hour. He is a + fine figure of a man, well set up, good-looking, strong, + active. He was, I think, about the only soldier I have seen + who could wear an eye-glass and not lose by it. In age he + looked about forty. I remember snapping a "photo" of him as + he was "tidying up" the grave of gallant young Huddart, an + Australian "middy," who lay buried on the veldt; but the + Boers collected that portrait from me later on, worse luck. + On this fateful day Captain Towse, with about fifty of the + Gordons, got isolated from the main body of British troops, + and the Boers, with that marvellous dexterity for which they + are fast becoming famous, sized up the position, and + determined upon a capture. They little dreamt of the nature + of the lion they had snared in their toils. With fully two + hundred and fifty men they closed in on the little band of + kilted men, and in triumphant tones called upon them to throw + down their arms and surrender. It was a picture to warm an + artist's heart. On all sides rose the bleak, black kopjes, + ridge on ridge, as inhospitable as a watch-dog's growl. On + one hand the little band of Highlanders, the picturesque + colours of their clan showing in kilt and stocking, perfect + in all their appointments, but nowhere so absolutely flawless + as in their leadership. Under such leaders as he who held + them there so calm and steady their forbears had hurled back + the chivalry of France, and had tamed the Muscovite pride, + and they were soon to prove themselves men worthy of their + captain.</p> + + <p>On the other side rose the superior numbers of the Boers. + A wild and motley crew they looked compared with the gem of + Britain's army. Boys stood side by side with old men, lads + braced themselves shoulder to shoulder with men in their + manhood's prime, ragged beards fell on still more ragged + shirt fronts. But there were manly hearts behind those ragged + garments, hearts that beat high with love of home and + country, hearts that seldom quailed in the hour of peril. + Their rifles lay in hands steady and strong. The Boer was + face to face with the Briton; the numbers lay on the side of + the Boer, but the bayonet was with the Briton.</p> + + <p>"Throw up your hands and surrender." The language was + English, but the accent was Dutch; a moment, an awful second + of time, the rifle barrels gleamed coldly towards that little + group of men, who stood their ground as pine trees stand on + their mountain sides in bonny Scotland. Then out on the + African air there rang a voice, proud, clear, and high as + clarion note: "Fix bayonets, Gordons!" Like lightning the + strong hands gripped the ready steel; the bayonets went home + to the barrel as the lips of lover to lover. Rifles spoke + from the Boer lines, and men reeled a pace from the British + and fell, and lay where they fell. Again that voice with the + Scottish burr on every note: "Charge, Gordons! Charge!" and + the dauntless Scotchman rushed on at the head of his fiery + few. The Boer's heart is a brave heart, and he who calls them + cowards lies; but never before had they faced so grim a + charge, never before had they seen a torrent of steel + advancing on their lines in front of a tornado of flesh and + blood. On rushed the Scots, on over fallen comrades, on over + rocks and clefts, on to the ranks of the foe, and onward + through them, sweeping them down as I have seen wild horses + sweep through a field of ripening corn. The bayonets hissed + as they crashed through breastbone and backbone. Vainly the + Boer clubbed his rifle and smote back. As well might the wild + goat strike with puny hoofs when the tiger springs. Nothing + could stay the fury of that desperate rush. Do you sneer at + the Boers? Then sneer at half the armies of Europe, for never + yet have Scotland's sons been driven back when once they + reached a foe to smite.</p> + + <p>How do they charge, these bare-legged sons of Scotia? Go + ask the hills of Afghanistan, and if there be tongues within + them they will tell you that they sweep like hosts from hell. + Ask in sneering Paris, and the red records of Waterloo will + give you answer. Ask in St. Petersburg, and from Sebastopol + your answer will come. They thought of the dreary morning + hours of Magersfontein, and they smote the steel downwards + through the neck into the liver. They thought of the row of + comrades in the graves beside the Modder, and they gave the + Boers the "haymaker's lift," and tossed the dead body behind + them. They thought of gallant Wauchope riddled with lead, and + they sent the cold steel, with a horrible crash, through + skull and brain, leaving the face a thing to make fiends + shudder. They thought of Scotland, and they sent the wild + slogan of their clan ringing along the line until the British + troops, far off along the veldt, hearing it, turned to one + another, saying: "God help the Boers this hour; our Jocks are + into 'em with the bay'nit!"</p> + + <p>But when they turned to gather up those who had fallen, + then they found that he whose lion soul had pointed them the + crimson path to duty was to lead them no more. The noble + heart that beat so true to honour's highest notes was not + stilled, but a bullet missing the brain had closed his eyes + for ever to God's sunlight, leaving him to go through life in + darkness; and they mourned for him as they had mourned for + noble, white-souled Wauchope, whose prototype he was. They + knew that many a long, long year would roll away before their + eyes would rest upon his like again in camp or bloody field. + But it gladdened their stern warrior hearts to know that the + last sight he ever gazed upon was Scotland sweeping on her + foes.</p> + + <p>And when our noble Queen shall place upon his breast the + cross which is the soldier's diadem, their hearts will throb + in unison with his, for their strong hands on that May Day + helped him to win what he is so fat to wear; and when our + Sovereign honours him she honours them, and well they know + it. And when the years have rolled away, and they are old and + grey, and spent with wounds and toil, fit for nothing but to + dandle little grand-babes on their knees, young men and maids + will flock around, and pointing out the veteran to the + curious stranger say, with honest pride, "He was with Towse + the day he won the cross."</p> + </div> + <a id="page289" name="page289"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="right"> + <h3>ORANGE RIVER COLONY.</h3> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>There are hundreds of men lying in unmarked graves in + African soil to-day who ought to be alive and well, others + who have been done to death by the crass ignorance, the + appalling stupidity, the damnable conceit which will brook no + teaching. I have seen men die like dogs, men who left + comfortable homes in the old land to go forth to uphold the + power and prestige of our nation's flag. I have seen them + gasping out their lives like stricken sheep, just in the + springtide of their manhood, when the glory and the lust of + life should have been strong upon them I have watched the + Irish lad with the down upon his brave boyish face pass with + the last deep-drawn quivering sob over the border line of + life, into the shadows of the unsearchable beyond, a wasted + sacrifice upon the grim altar of incapacity. I have seen the + kilted Scottish laddie lie, with hollow cheeks and sunken + eyes, waiting for the whisper of the wings of the Angel of + Death. I have seen the death damp gather on his unlined brow, + and watched the grey pallor creep upwards from throat to + temple; until my very soul, wrung with anguish unutterable, + has risen in hot revolt against the crimes of the + incapable.</p> + + <p>I have knelt by England's fair-faced sons, the child of + the cities, the boy from the fens, the youth from the farm, + and watched the shadows creeping over eyes that mothers loved + to look upon. I have seen the wasted fingers, grown clawlike, + plucking aimlessly at the rude blankets as if weaving the + woof of the winding-sheet, and have listened with aching + heart to the aimless babbling of the dying, in which home and + friends were blended, until the tired voice, grown aweary + with the weight of utterance, died out like the crooning of a + lisping child, as the soul slipped through the golden gateway + that leads to the glory beyond the grave. I have watched them + pile the earth above the last home of Cambria's sons, the + gallant children of the old Welsh hills. I have seen them + laid to sleep, as harvest hands will lay the sheaves in + undulating rows when the summer shower has passed; and over + every shallow grave I have sent a curse for those whose + brutish folly caused the flower of Britain's army to wither + in the pride of their peerless boyhood.</p> + + <p>For the men who fall in battle we can flush our tears with + pride, and though our hearts may ache for those we love, yet + is there an undercurrent of hot joy to know they fell as + soldiers love to fall, face forward to the foe. But for those + who die, as more than half of Britain's dead have died in + this last war, stricken by pestilence brought about by + ignorance and indolence, we have only sorrow and tears and + prayers, blended with hate and contempt for the triple-dyed + dandies and dunces who robbed us of those who should have + been alive to-day to be the bulwark of the Empire, the pride + of the nation, and the joy of many homes.</p> + + <p>Why did they die, these strong young soldiers of our + Queen? Was it because their hearts failed them in the + presence of hardship and danger? I tell you, No. The + hardships of the campaign only roused them to greater + exertions. Bravely and uncomplainingly they answered every + call of duty, ready by night or day to go anywhere, or do + anything, if only they were led by men worthy of our Queen's + commission, worthy of the cloth they wore. Why did they die? + Was it because of poisoned or polluted water, left in their + path by the enemy whom they were fighting? Not so. No, not + so. The Boers left no death-traps in our path. Why did they + die? Was it because the country through which we marched lent + itself climatically to the propagation and dissemination of + fever germs? No, England, no! In all the world there is no + finer climate than that in which our gallant soldiers died + like rotting sheep. Wherever else the blame may lie, no + truthful man can lay the blame of those untimely graves upon + the climate or the country of our enemies.</p> + + <p>I will tell you why they died, and tell you in language so + plain that a wayfaring man, even though a fool, cannot + misunderstand me, for the time has arrived when the whole + Empire should know the truth in all its native hideousness. + Those men were done to death by wanton carelessness upon the + part of men sent out by the British War Office. They were + done to death through criminal neglect of the most simple + laws of sanitation. Men were huddled together in camp after + camp; they were allowed to turn the surrounding veldt and + adjacent kopjes into cesspools and excreta camps. In some + camps no latrines were dug, no supervision was exercised. The + so-called Medical Staff looked on, and puffed their + cigarettes and talked under their eye-glasses—the fools, the + idle, empty-headed noodles. And whilst they smoked and talked + twaddle, the grim, gaunt Shadow of Death chuckled in the + watches of the night, thinking of the harvest that was to + follow.</p> + + <p>Then the careless soldiers passed onward, leaving their + camp vacant, and later came another batch of soldiers. + Perhaps the men in charge would be men of higher mental + calibre; they would order latrines to be dug, and all garbage + to be burnt or buried. But by this time the germs of fever + were in the air, the men would sicken and die, just as I have + seen them sicken and die upon a score of mining fields away + in the Australian bush; and all for the want of a little + honest care and attention, all for the want of a few grains + of good, wholesome, everyday common sense. Had proper care + been taken in regard to these matters, four-fifths of those + who now fill fever graves in South Africa would be with us, + hale and hearty men, to-day.</p> + + <p>But, England, you must not complain. "Tommy" is a cheap + article; he only costs a few pence per day, and if he dies + there are plenty more ready and willing to take his place. + Don't think of him as a human being. Don't think of him as + some woman's husband and breadwinner. Don't think of him as + some grey-haired widow's son, whose support he has been. + Don't think of him as some foolish girl's heart's idol. But + think of him as a part of the country's revenue. Think of him + as "One-and-fourpence a day."</p> + + <p>What excuse can or will be made by the authorities for the + wholesale murder of our men I know not. Possibly those high + and haughty personages will sniff contemptuously and decline + to give any explanation at all. And you, who hold the remedy + in your own hands, what will you do? Will you at election + times put a stern question to every candidate for the + Commons, and demand a straight and unqualified answer to your + questions. Remember this: You supply the men who do the + fighting; the nation at a pinch can do without a Roberts, a + Duller, or a Kitchener, but, as my soul liveth, it cannot do + without "Tommy."</p> + + <p>If you want Army reform, you must commence with the "Press + gang"; you must stand in one solid mass firmly behind those + war correspondents who have not feared to speak out plainly. + You must send men to the Commons pledged to stand behind them + also, men who will not flinch and allow themselves to be + flouted by every scion of some ancient house; for if you do + not support the war correspondents of the great newspapers, + how are you ever to know the real truth concerning the doings + of our armies in the field? I tell you that you have not + heard one-millionth part of the truth concerning this South + African enterprise, and now you never will know the truth. + Had the abominable practice of censorship been abolished + prior to this war, most of the abuses which have made our + Army the laughing stock of Europe would have been set right + by the correspondents, for they would have pointed out the + evils to the public through the medium of their journals, and + an indignant people would have clamoured for reform in a + voice which would brook no denial. As things are at present, + the military people during the progress of the war have their + heel upon the necks of the journalists, and the public are + robbed of what is their just right, the right of knowledge of + passing events; only that which suits the censor being + allowed to filter over the wires. Had it been otherwise, + hundreds of young widows in Ireland, Scotland, England, and + Wales would be proud and happy wives to-day.</p> + + <p>But do not let me rouse your phlegmatic blood, my Britons; + sit down, with your thumbs in your mouths, my masters, and + allow a coterie to flout you at will, whilst the Frenchmen, + the Germans, the Russians alternately laugh at and pity you. + Pity you, the sons of the men who chased their fathers half + over Europe at the point of the blood-red bayonet! Have you + grown tame, have you waxed fat and foolish during these long + years of peace? Is the spirit that swept the legions of + France through the Pyrenees and carried the old flag up the + heights of Inkerman in the teeth of Russian chivalry—is it + dead, or only sleeping? If it but slumbers, let me cry, + Sleeper, awake, for danger is at the gates! Not the danger + due from foreign foes, but a greater danger—the danger of + unjust government, for where evil is hidden injustice + reigns.</p> + + <p>Our military friends tell us that censorship of Press work + is necessary for the welfare of the Army. They urge that if + we correspondents had a free hand the enemy might gain + valuable information regarding the movements of our troops. + To us who for the greater portion of a year have been at the + front there is grim irony in that assertion. Fancy the Boer + scouts wanting information from us which might filter through + London newspapers! That flimsy, paltry excuse can be + dismissed with a contemptuous laugh. That is not why the + military people want our work censored. The real reason is + that their awful blunders, their farcical mistakes, and their + criminal negligence may not reach the British public. Just + try for one brief moment to remember some of the "censored" + cables that have been sent home to you during the war, and + then compare it with such a cable as this, which would have + come if the Press men had a free hand:</p> + </div> + + <table cellspacing="5" border="0" cellpadding="5" + align="center" summary="A uncensored telegram"> + <tr> + <td align="right"><code>"Kruger's Valley, Jan. + 12.</code></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align="left"><code> "The —— Division, + under General ——, arrived at<br /> + Kruger's Valley four days ago. No latrines have been<br /> + dug ... weather terribly hot, with rain threatening.<br /> + This Division moves out in about a week. Its place + will<br /> + be taken by troops just arrived at Durban from + England.<br /> + Should we have rain in the meantime half the new + draft<br /> + will be down with enteric fever before they are here + a<br /> + week, and the death rate will be simply awful. General + ——<br /> + and staff will be responsible for those + deaths."</code></td> + </tr> + </table> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>The military folk would, doubtless, designate such a + telegram "a piece of d——d impudence."</p> + + <p>But the latrines would be dug, the camp would be kept free + from foulness, and the new draft would not die untimely + deaths, but would live to fight the enemies of their + country.</p> + + <p>Why the camps in South Africa were not models of + cleanliness passes my comprehension. There was no need to + harass "Tommy" by setting him to do the work. Every Division + was accompanied by swarms of niggers, who drew from + Government £4 10s. per month and their food. These + niggers had a gentleman's life. They waxed fat, lazy, and + cheeky. Four-fifths of them rode all day on transport wagons, + and never earned a fourth of the wages they drew from a + sweetly paternal Government. Why could not those men have + been used in every camp to make things safe and comparatively + comfortable for "Tommy," who had to march all day, with his + fighting kit upon his back march and fight, and not only + march and fight, but go on picket and sentry duty as well? + Those niggers ought to have, been turned out to dig and fill + in latrines for our soldiers, they ought to have been + compelled to do all the menial work of the camps; but they + never did anything of the sort "Tommy" was treated for the + most part like a Kaffir dog, whilst the saucy niggers led the + lives of fightingcocks, and to-day any ordinary Army Service + nigger thinks himself a better man than "Tommy," and doesn't + hesitate to tell you so. It would be instructive to know the + name of the genius who fixed the scale of nigger wage at + £ 4 10s. per month, with rations. Fully half that sum + could with ease have been saved the British taxpayer, and the + nigger would have taken it with delight, and jumped at the + chance of getting it. As a matter of fact, the nigger has had + a huge picnic, and has been well paid for attending it. He + has never been kept short of food. He has never had to march + until his feet were almost falling off him. He has not had to + fight for the country that fed and clothed him. Poor + "Tommy!"</p> + </div> + <a id="page299" name="page299"></a> + + <div align="center"> + <h2>HOME AGAIN.</h2> + </div> + + <div align="justify"> + <p>I stood where Nelson's Column stands—a stranger, and + alone. Alone amidst a mighty multitude of men and maids. I + saw a people drunk with joy. I looked from face to face, and + in each flashing eye, and on each quivering lip, a nation's + heart lay bared to all the world, for England's capital was + but the throbbing pulse of England's Empire. Our nation spoke + to the nations that dwell where the sea foam flies, and woe + to them who do not heed the tale that the city told. There + was no sun, the city lay enveloped in silvery shadows, like + some grey lioness that knows her might and is not quickly + stirred to wrath or joy, like meaner things. I looked above, + and saw the monument of him whose peerless genius gave us + empire on the seas. I looked below, and saw, far as my eyes + could range, a seething mass of men, as good, as gallant, and + as great of heart as those who fought and fell beneath his + flag, and in my blood I felt the pride of empire stirring, + and knew how great a thing it is to call one's self a + Briton.</p> + + <p>I looked along that swaying mass of human flesh and blood, + and saw the best that England owns waiting to welcome, with + heart-stirring cheers, the gallant lads whose lion hearts had + carried London's name and fame along the rough-hewn tracks of + war. I saw the cream of Britain's chivalry and Britain's + beauty there. Men and women from the countryside, from + Ireland and from Scotland, all eager to pay tribute to the + London lads who had so proudly proved to all the world that + it was not for a soldier's pay, not for the love of gain, but + for a nation's glory that they had risked limb and life + beneath an African sun. Then, as I looked, I caught a distant + hum of voices—a far-off sound, such as I have heard amid + Pacific isles when wind and waves were beating upon coral + crags, and foam-topped rollers thrashed the surf into the + magic music of the storm-tossed sea. It was the roar of + London's multitudes welcoming home her own; and what a sound + it was! I have heard the music of the guns when our nation + spoke in the stern tones of battle to a nation in arms; I + have heard the crash of tempests on Southern coasts when + ships were reeling in the breath of the blast, and souls to + their God were going; I have crouched low in my saddle when + the tornado has swept trees from the forest as a boy brushes + flowers with his footsteps. But never had I heard a sound + like that. It was the voice of millions, it was the great + heart-beats of a mighty nation, it was a welcome and a + warning—a welcome to the descendants of the 'prentice lads + of Old London, a warning to the world. I caught the echoes in + my hands, I hugged them to my heart, I let them pour into my + brain, and this is the tale they told: "Sluggish we are, ye + people, slow to wake, strong in the strength of conscious + might. Jibe at us, jeer at us, flout us and threaten us; but + beware the day we turn in our strength. We have sent forth a + few of our children, but they were but as a drop in the + ocean. All Britain sent two hundred and fifty thousand strong + men to Africa; London, if need be, can send five hundred + thousand more to the uttermost parts of the earth. Aye, and + when they have died, as these would have died if need be, we + can open our hearts and send five hundred thousand more, and + yet be strong for our home fighting." It was a nation + speaking to the nations, and that is the tale it told. Let + the nations take heed and beware, for the language was the + language of truth.</p> + + <p>I listened; and lo! through the storm of cheering, through + the cries of women and the strong shouting of men in their + prime, I caught another sound, a sound I knew and loved—the + sound of marching men. Music hath charms to stir the blood + and make men mad, but there is no music in all the earth like + the trained tread of men who have marched to battle. I knew + the rhythm of that tread; I knew that the "boys" of Old + London were coming, and my nostrils seemed filled with the + fumes of fighting. I looked again, and, saw them, hard faced, + clean limbed, close set, as soldiers should be who have faced + the storm and stress of war, as proud a band as Britain ever + had, soldier and citizen both in one, fit to be a nation's + bulwark and a nation's trust; and in the crowd around them + there were a thousand thousand men as good, as game, as + gritty, as they, for they were the children of the people, + the men of the shop-counter, the men of the city office, the + men of every artisan craft, the very vitals of London. They + had sprung from the womb of the city, and the city could give + birth to a million more if need be.</p> + + <p>I saw them pass amidst a storm of cheers, and I, who had + seen them out on the African veldt under the foeman's guns, + lifted up my voice to cheer them onward, for well I knew that + there was nothing in the gift of England that they were not + worthy of, those children of the "flat caps," those offspring + of the 'prentice lads of London. I knew how they had starved; + I knew how they had suffered through the freezing cold of the + African winter; I knew how gallantly, how uncomplainingly, + they had marched with empty bellies and aching limbs, ready + to go anywhere, to do anything, ready to fight, and, if it + were the will of the great God of Battles, ready to lay down + their young lives and die. I knew those things, and, knowing + them, gave them a cheer for the sake of Australia, for the + sake of the kinship which binds us as no bonds of steel could + bind us and them. I heard a voice at my knee whimpering, the + voice of a gutter kid, who had dodged in there out of the way + of the police. I looked at his ragged clothes, looked at his + grimy face, looked at his hands, which looked as if they had + never looked at soap, and I said: "What are you yelping for, + kiddie?" And he, looking up at me through his tears, fired a + voice at me through his sobs, and said: "I'm yelping, mister, + because I'm only a little 'un, and can't see me mates come + home from the war." Then I laughed, and tossing him up on my + shoulder let him jamb his dirty fist on the only silk hat I + possess, whilst he looked at his "mates" march home; for they + were his mates—he was a child of London, and some day—who + knows?—he may be a general.</p> + </div> + <hr align="center" width="33%" /> +<p> </p> + + <div align="center"> + PRINTED BY<br /> + <br /> + CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE,<br /> + <br /> + LONDON, E.C.<br /> + <br /> + 10.101. + </div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGN PICTURES OF THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA (1899-1900)***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 16131-h.txt or 16131-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/1/3/16131">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/1/3/16131</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Hales + + +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: Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900) + Letters from the Front + + +Author: A. G. Hales + + + +Release Date: June 25, 2005 [eBook #16131] +[Date last updated: June 9, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGN PICTURES OF THE WAR IN +SOUTH AFRICA (1899-1900)*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Rudy Ketterer, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +CAMPAIGN PICTURES OF THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA (1899-1900) + +Letters from the Front + +by + +A. G. HALES + +Special Correspondent of the "Daily News" + +Cassell and Company, Limited +London, Paris, New York & Melbourne + +1901 + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + +Dedication. + + +This book, such as it is, is dedicated to the man whose kindliness of heart +and generous journalistic instincts lifted me from the unknown, and placed +me where I had a chance to battle with the best men in my profession. He +was the man who found Archibald Forbes, the most brilliant, accurate, and +entertaining of all war correspondents. What he did for that splendid +genius let Forbes' memoirs tell; what he did for me I will tell myself. He +gave me the chance I had looked for for twenty years, and the dearest name +in my memory to-day is the name of + + + SIR JOHN ROBINSON, + + Manager of the _Daily News_, London. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +WITH THE AUSTRALIANS. + AUSTRALIA ON THE MARCH 1 + WITH THE AUSTRALIANS 6 + A PRISONER OF WAR 15 + "STOPPING A FEW" 29 + AUSTRALIA AT THE WAR 38 + AUSTRALIA ON THE MOVE 48 + SLINGERSFONTEIN 60 + THE WEST AUSTRALIANS 69 + +AMONG THE BOERS. + IN A BOER TOWN 75 + BEHIND THE SCENES 83 + A BOER FIGHTING LAAGER 90 + THROUGH BOER GLASSES 104 + LIFE IN THE BOER CAMPS 116 + +WITH GENERAL RUNDLE. + BATTLE OF CONSTANTIA FARM 127 + WITH RUNDLE IN THE FREE STATE 149 + RED WAR WITH RUNDLE 159 + THE FREE STATERS' LAST STAND 174 + +CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP. + THE CAMP LIAR 194 + THE NIGGER SERVANT 199 + THE SOLDIER PREACHER 207 + + * * * * * + +PRESIDENT STEYN 212 +LOUIS BOTHA, COMMANDANT-GENERAL OF THE BOER ARMY 218 +WHITE FLAG TREACHERY 224 +THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN 229 +SCOUTS AND SCOUTING: DRISCOLL, KING OF SCOUTS 242 +HUNTING AND HUNTED 253 +WITH THE BASUTOS 264 +MAGERSFONTEIN AVENGED 280 +THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR 289 +HOME AGAIN 299 + + + + + + + Australia's Appeal to England. + + + + We grow weary waiting, England, + For the summons that never comes-- + For the blast of the British bugles + And the throb of the British drums. + Our hearts grow sore and sullen + As year by year rolls by, + And your cold, contemptuous actions + Give your fervent words the lie. + + Are we only an English market, + Held dear for the sake of trade? + Or are we a part of the Empire, + Close welded as hilt and blade? + If we are to cleave together + As mother and son through life, + Give us our share of the burden, + Let us stand with you in the strife. + + If we are to share your glory, + Let the sons whom the South has bred + Lie side by side on your battlefields + With England's heroes dead. + A nation is never a nation + Worthy of pride or place + Till the mothers have sent their firstborn + To look death on the field in the face. + + Are we only an English market, + Held dear for the sake of trade? + Or are we a part of the Empire + Close welded as hilt and blade? + If so, let us share your dangers, + Let the glory we boast be real, + Let the boys of the South fight with you, + Let our children taste cold steel. + + Do you think we are chicken-hearted? + Do you count us devoid of pride? + Just try us in deadly earnest, + And see how our boys can ride. + We are sick of your empty praises! + If the mother is proud of her son, + Let him do some deed on a hard-fought field, + Then boast what he has done. + + A nation is never a nation + Worthy of pride or place + Till the mothers have sent their firstborn + To look death on the field in the face. + Australia is calling to England, + Let England answer the call; + There are smiles for those who come back to us, + And tears for those who may fall. + + Bridle to bridle our sons will ride + With the best that Britain has bred, + And all we ask is an open field + And a soldier's grave for our dead. + + + +I have decided to enclose these verses in my book because some critics + have pronounced me anti-English in my sentiments. Heaven alone + knows why; yet the above poem was written and published by me in + Australia just before war was declared between England and the + Republics, at a time when all Australia considered it very + probable that we should have to fight one of the big European + Powers as well as the Boers. + + A. G. HALES. + + + + + + + + AUSTRALIA ON THE MARCH. + + BELMONT BATTLEFIELD. + + +At two o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, the 6th of the month, the +reveille sounded, and the Australians commenced their preparations for the +march to join Methuen's army. By 4 a.m. the mounted rifles led the way out +of camp, and the toilsome march over rough and rocky ground commenced. The +country was terribly rough as we drove the transports up and over the +Orange River, and rougher still in the low kopjes on the other side. The +heat was simply blistering, but the Australians did not seem to mind it to +any great extent; they were simply feverish to get on to the front, but +they had to hang back and guard the transports. + +At last the hilly country faded behind us. We counted upon pushing on +rapidly, but the African mules were a sorry lot, and could make but little +headway in the sandy tracks. Still, there was no rest for the men, because +at intervals one of Remington's scouts would turn up at a flying gallop, +springing apparently from nowhere, out of the womb of the wilderness, to +inform us that flying squads of Boers were hanging round us. But so +carefully watchful were the Remingtons that the Boers had no chance of +surprising us. No sooner did the scouts inform us of their approach in any +direction than our rifles swung forward ready to give them a hearty +Australian reception. This made the march long and toilsome, though we +never had a chance to fire a shot. At 5.30 we marched with all our +transports into Witteput, the wretched little mules being the only +distressed portion of the contingent. + +At Witteput the news reached us that a large party of the enemy had managed +to pass between General Methuen's men and ourselves, and had invested +Belmont, out of which place the British troops had driven them a few weeks +previously. We had no authentic news concerning this movement. Our +contingent spread out on the hot sand at Witteput, panting for a drop of +rain from the lowering clouds that hung heavily overhead. Yet hot, tired, +and thirsty as we were, we yet found time to look with wonder at the sky +above us. The men from the land of the Southern Cross are used to gorgeous +sunsets, but never had we looked upon anything like this. Great masses of +coal-black clouds frowned down upon us, flanked by fiery crimson cloud +banks, that looked as if they would rain blood, whilst the atmosphere was +dense enough to half-stifle one. Now and again the thunder rolled out +majestically, and the lightning flashed from the black clouds into the red, +like bayonets through smoke banks. + +Yet we had not long to wait and watch, for within half an hour after our +arrival the Colonel galloped down into our midst just as the evening ration +was being given out. He held a telegram aloft, and the stillness that fell +over the camp was so deep that each man could hear his neighbour's heart +beat. Then the Colonel's voice cut the stillness like a bugle call. "Men, +we are needed at Belmont; the Boers are there in force, and we have been +sent for to relieve the place. I'll want you in less than two hours." It +was then the men showed their mettle. Up to their feet they leapt like one +man, and they gave the Colonel a cheer that made the sullen, halting mules +kick in their harness. "We are ready now, Colonel, we'll eat as we march," +and the "old man" smiled, and gave the order to fall in, and they fell in, +and as darkness closed upon the land they marched out of Witteput to the +music of the falling rain and the thunder of heaven's artillery. + +All night long it was march, halt, and "Bear a hand, men," for those thrice +accursed mules failed us at every pinch. In vain the niggers plied the +whips of green hide, vain their shouts of encouragement, or painfully +shrill anathemas; the mules had the whip hand of us, and they kept it. But, +in spite of it all, in the chilly dawn of the African morning, our fellows, +with their shoulders well back, and heads held high, marched into Belmont, +with every man safe and sound, and every waggon complete. + +Then the Gordons turned out and gave us a cheer, for they had passed us in +the train as we crossed the line above Witteput, and they knew, those +veterans from Indian wars, what our raw Volunteers had done; they had been +on their feet from two o'clock on Wednesday morning until five o'clock of +the following day, with the heat at 122 in the shade, and bitter was their +wrath when they learnt that the Boer spies, who swarm all over the country, +had heralded their coming, so that the enemy had only waited to plant a few +shells into Belmont before disappearing into the hills beyond. That was the +cruel part of it. They did not mind the fatigue, they did not worry about +the thirst or the hunger, but to be robbed of a chance to show the world +what they could do in the teeth of the enemy was gall and wormwood to them, +and the curses they sent after the discreet Boer were weird, quaint, +picturesque, and painfully prolific. + +We are lying with the Gordons now, waiting for the Boers to come along and +try to take Belmont, and our fellows and the "Scotties" are particularly +good chums, and it is the cordial wish of both that they may some day give +the enemy a taste of the bayonet together. + + + + + + WITH THE AUSTRALIANS. + + BELMONT. + + +Australia has had her first taste of war, not a very great or very +important performance, but we have buried our dead, and that at least binds +us more closely to the Motherland than ever before. The Queenslanders, the +wild riders, and the bushmen of the north-eastern portion of the continent +have been the first to pay their tribute to nationhood with the life blood +of her sons, two of whom--Victor James and McLeod--were buried by their +comrades on the scene of action a couple of days ago, whilst half a dozen +others, including Lieutenant Aide, fell more or less seriously wounded. The +story of the fight is simply told; there is no necessity for any wild +vapouring in regard to Australian courage, no need for hysterical praise. +Our fellows simply did what they were told to do in a quiet and workmanlike +manner, just as we who know them expected that they would; we are all proud +of them, and doubly proud that the men in the fight with them were our +cousins from Canada. + +The most noteworthy fact about the engagement is to be gleaned by noting +that the Australians adopted Boer tactics, and so escaped the slaughter +that has so often fallen to the lot of the British troops when attacking +similar positions. Before describing the fight it may be as well to give +some slight idea of the disposition of the opposing forces. Our troops held +the railway line all the way from Cape Town to Modder River. At given +distances, or at points of strategic importance, strong bodies of men are +posted to keep the Boers from raiding, or from interfering with the railway +or telegraph lines. Such a force, consisting of Munster Fusiliers, two guns +of R.H. Artillery, the Canadians, and the Queenslanders, were posted at +Belmont under Colonel Pilcher. The enemy had no fixed camping ground. +Mounted on hardy Basuto ponies, carrying no provisions but a few mealies +and a little biltong, armed only with rifles, they sweep incessantly from +place to place, and are an everlasting source of annoyance to us. At one +moment they may be hovering in the kopjes around us at Enslin, waiting to +get a chance to sneak into the kopjes that immediately overlook our camp, +but thanks to the magnificent scouting qualities of the Victorian Mounted +Rifles, they have never been able to do so. During the night they disperse, +and take up their abode on surrounding farms as peaceful tillers of the +soil. In a day or so they organise again, and swoop down on some other +place, such as Belmont. Their armies, under men like Cronje or Joubert, +seldom move from strongly-entrenched positions. + +The people I am referring to as reivers are farmers recruited by local +leaders, and are a particularly dangerous class of people to deal with, as +they know every inch of this most deceptive country. As soon as they are +whipped they make off to wives and home, and meet the scouts with a bland +smile and outstretched hand. It is no use trying to get any information out +of them, for no man living can look so much like an unmitigated fool when +he wants to as the ordinary, every-day farmer of the veldt. I know Chinamen +exceptionally well, I have had an education in the ways of the children of +Confucius; but no Chinaman that I have come in contact with could ever +imitate the half-idiotic smile, the patient, ox-like placidity of +countenance, the meek, religious look of holy resignation to the will of +Providence which comes naturally to the ordinary Boer farmer. It is this +faculty which made our very clever Army Intelligence people rank the farmer +of the veldt as a fool. Yet, if I am any judge, and I have known men in +many lands, our friend of the veldt is as clever and as crafty as any +Oriental I have yet mixed with. + +Now for the Australian fight. On the day before Christmas, Colonel Pilcher, +at Belmont, got wind of the assemblage of a considerable Boer force at a +place 30 miles away, called Sunnyside Farm, and he determined to try to +attack it before the enemy could get wind of his intention. To this end he +secured every nigger for some miles around--which proved his good sense, as +the niggers are all in the pay of the Boers, no matter how loyal they may +pretend to be to the British, a fact which the British would do well to +take heed of, for it has cost them pretty dearly already. On Christmas Eve +he started out, taking two guns of the Royal Navy Artillery, a couple of +Maxims, all the Queenslanders, and a few hundred Canadians. Colonel +Pilcher's force numbered in all about 600 men. He marched swiftly all +night, and got to Sunnyside Farm in good time Christmas Day. The Boers had +not a ghost of an idea that our men were near them, and were completely +beaten at their own game, the surprise party being complete. The enemy were +found in a laager in a strong position in some rather steep kopjes, and it +was at once evident that they were expecting strong reinforcements from +surrounding farms. Colonel Pilcher at once extended his forces so as to try +to surround the kopjes. Whilst this was going on, Lieutenant Aide, with +four Queensland troopers, was sent to the far left of what was supposed to +be the Boer position. His orders were to give notice of any attempt at +retreat on the part of the enemy. He did his work well. Getting close to +the kopje, he saw a number of the enemy slinking off, and at once +challenged them. As he did so a dozen Boers dashed out of the kopje, and +Aide opened fire on them, which caused the Boers to fire a volley at him. +Lieutenant Aide fell from his horse with two bullets in his body; one went +through the fleshy part of his stomach, entering his body sideways, the +other went into his thigh. A trooper named McLeod was shot through the +heart, and fell dead. Both the other troopers were wounded. Trooper Rose +caught a horse, and hoisted his lieutenant into the saddle, and sent him +out of danger. + +Meantime the R.H. Battery, taking range from Lieutenant Aide's fire, opened +out on the enemy. Their guns put a great fear into the Boers, and a general +bolt set in. The Boers fired as they cleared, and if our fellows had been +formed up in the style usual to the British army in action, we should have +suffered heavily; but the Queensland bushmen had dropped behind cover, and +soon had complete possession of the kopjes; another trooper named Victor +Jones was shot through the brain, and fourteen others were more or less +badly wounded. The Boers then surrendered. We took 40 prisoners, and found +about 14 dead Boers on the ground, besides a dozen wounded. They were all +Cape Dutch, no Transvaalers being found in their ranks. We secured 40,000 +rounds of their ammunition, 300 Martini rifles, and only one Mauser rifle, +which was in the possession of the Boer commander. After destroying all +that we took, we moved on, and had a look at some of the farms near by, as +from some of the documents found in camp it was certain that the whole +district was a perfect nest of rebellion. Quite a little store of arms and +ammunition was discovered by this means, and the occupants of the farms +were therefore transported to Belmont. Our fellows carried the little +children and babies in their arms all the way, and marched into Belmont +singing, with the little ones on their shoulders. Every respect was shown +to the women, old and young, and to the old men, but the young fellows were +closely guarded all the time. The Canadians did not lose a single man, +neither did any of the others except the Queenslanders. + +Another Boer commando, about 1,000 strong, with two batteries of artillery, +is now hovering in the ranges away to the north-west of Enslin, but Colonel +Hoad is not likely to be tempted out to meet them, since his orders are to +hold Enslin against attack. However, should they venture to make a dash for +Enslin, they will get a pretty bad time, as the Australians there are keen +for a fight. + +Concerning farming, it is an unknown quantity here, as we in Australia +understand it. These people simply squat down wherever they can find a +natural catchment for water. There is no clearing to be done, as the land +is quite devoid of timber. They put nigger labour on, and build a +farmhouse. These farmhouses are much better built than those which the +average pioneer farmer in Australia owns. They make no attempt at +adornment, but build plain, substantial houses, containing mostly about six +rooms. The roofs are mostly flat, and the frontages plain to ugliness. They +do no fencing, except where they go in for ostrich breeding. When they farm +for feathers they fence with wire about six feet in height. This kind of +farming is very popular with the better class of Boers, as it entails very +little labour, and no outlay beyond the initial expense. They raise just +enough meal to keep themselves, but do not farm for the market. They breed +horses and cattle; the horses are a poor-looking lot, as the Boers do not +believe much in blood. They never ride or work mares, but use them as brood +stock. This is a bad plan, as young and immature mares breed early on the +veldt, and throw weedy stock. Their cattle, however, are attended to on +much better lines, and most of the beef that I have seen would do credit to +any station in Australia, or any American ranch. They mostly raise a few +sheep and goats; the sheep are a poor lot, the wool is of a very inferior +class, and the mutton poor. I don't know much about goats, so will pass +them, though I very much doubt if any Australian squatter would give them +grass room. + +On most of the farms a small orchard is found enclosed in stone walls. Here +again the ignorance of the Boers is very marked; the fruit is of poor +quality, though the variety is large. Thus, one finds in these orchards +pears, apples, grapes, plums, pomegranates, peaches, quinces, apricots, and +almonds. The fruit is harsh, small, and flavourless, owing to bad pruning, +want of proper manure, and good husbandry generally. The Boer seems to +think that he has done all that is required of him when he has planted a +tree; all that follows he leaves to nature, and he would much rather sit +down and pray for a beautiful harvest than get up and work for it. He is a +great believer in the power of prayer. He prays for a good crop of fruit; +if it comes he exalts himself and takes all the credit; if the crop fails +he folds his hands and remarks that it was God's will that things should so +come to pass. He knocks all the work he can out of his niggers, but does +precious little himself. In stature he is mostly tall, thin, and active. He +moves with a quick, shuffling gait, which is almost noiseless. Some of his +women folk are beautiful, while others are fat and clumsy, and are never +likely to have their portraits hung on the walls of the Royal Academy. + + + + + + A PRISONER OF WAR. + + BLOEMFONTEIN HOSPITAL. + + +I little fancied when I sat at my ease in my tent in the British camp that +my next epistle would be written from a hospital as a prisoner, but such is +the case, and, after all, I am far more inclined to be thankful than to +growl at my luck. Let me tell the story, for it is typical of this peculiar +country, and still more peculiar war. I had been writing far into the +night, and had left the letter ready for post next day. Then, with a clear +conscience, I threw myself on my blankets, satisfied that I was ready for +what might happen next. Things were going to happen, but though the night +was big with fate there was no warning to me in the whispering wind. Some +men would have heard all sorts of sounds on such a night, but I am not +built that way I suppose. Anyway, I heard nothing until, half an hour +before dawn, a voice jarred my ear with the news that "there was something +on, and I'd better fly round pretty sharp if I did not mean to miss it." + +By the light of my lantern I saddled my horse, and snatched a hasty cup of +coffee and a mouthful of biscuit, and as the little band of Tasmanians +moved from Rensburg I rode with them. Where they were going, or what their +mission, I did not know, but I guessed it was to be no picnic. The quiet, +resolute manner of the officers, the hushed voices, the set, stern faces of +the young soldiers, none of whom had ever been under fire before, all told +me that there was blood in the air, so I asked no questions, and sat tight +in my saddle. As the daylight broke over the far-stretching veldt, I saw +that two other correspondents were with the party, viz., Reay, of the +Melbourne _Herald_, and Lambie, poor, ill-fated Lambie, of the +_Melbourne Age_. For a couple of hours we trotted along without +incident of any kind, then we halted at a farmhouse, the name of which I +have forgotten. There we found Captain Cameron encamped with the rest of +the Tasmanians, and after a short respite the troops moved outward again, +Captain Cameron in command; we had about eighty men, all of whom were +mounted. + +As we rode off I heard the order given for every man to "sit tight and keep +his eyes open." Then our scouts put spurs to their horses and dashed away +on either wing, skirting the kopjes and screening the main body, and so for +another hour we moved without seeing or hearing anything to cause us +trouble. By this time we had got into a kind of huge basin, the kopjes were +all round us, but the veldt was some miles in extent. I knew at a glance +that if the Boers were in force our little band was in for a bad time, as +an enemy hidden in those hills could watch our every movement on the plain, +note just where we intended to try and pass through the chain of hills, and +attack us with unerring certainty and suddenness. All at once one of our +scouts, who had been riding far out on our left flank, came flying in with +the news that the enemy was in the kopjes in front of us, and he further +added that he thought they intended to surround our party if possible. +Captain Cameron ordered the men to split into two parties, one to move +towards the kopjes on our right; the other to fall back and protect our +retreat, if such a move became necessary. Mr. Lambie and I decided to move +on with the advance party, and at a hard gallop we moved away towards a +line of kopjes that seemed higher than any of the others in the belt. As we +neared those hills it seemed to us that there were no Boers in possession, +and that nothing would come of the ride after all, and we drew bridle and +started to discuss the situation. At that time we were not far from the +edge of some kopjes, which, though lying low, were covered with rocky +boulders and low scrub. + +We had drifted a few hundred yards behind the advance party, but were a +good distance in front of the rearguard, when a number of horsemen made a +dash from the kopjes which we were skirting, and the rifles began to speak. +There was no time for poetry; it was a case of "sit tight and ride hard," +or surrender and be made prisoners. Lambie shouted to me: "Let's make a +dash, Hales," and we made it. The Boers were very close to us before we +knew anything concerning their presence. Some of them were behind us, and +some extended along the edge of the kopjes by which we had to pass to get +to the British line in front, all of them were galloping in on us, shooting +as they rode, and shouting to us to surrender, and, had we been wise men, +we would have thrown up our hands, for it was almost hopeless to try and +ride through the rain of lead that whistled around us. It was no wonder we +were hit; the wonder to me is that we were not filled with lead, for some +of the bullets came so close to me that I think I should know them again if +I met them in a shop-window. We were racing by this time, Lambie's big +chestnut mare had gained a length on my little veldt pony, and we were not +more than a hundred yards away from the Mauser rifles that had closed in on +us from the kopjes. A voice called in good English: "Throw up your hands, +you d---- fools." But the galloping fever was on us both, and we only +crouched lower on our horses' backs, and rode all the harder, for even a +barn-yard fowl loves liberty. + +All at once I saw my comrade throw his hands up with a spasmodic gesture. +He rose in his stirrups, and fairly bounded high out of his saddle, and as +he spun round in the air I saw the red blood on the white face, and I knew +that death had come to him sudden and sharp. Again the rifles spoke, and +the lead was closer to me than ever a friend sticks in time of trouble, and +I knew in my heart that the next few strides would settle things. The black +pony was galloping gamely under my weight. Would he carry me safely out of +that line of fire, or would he fail me? Suddenly something touched me on +the right temple; it was not like a blow; it was not a shock; for half a +second I was conscious. I knew I was hit; knew that the reins had fallen +from my nerveless hands, knew that I was lying down upon my horse's back, +with my head hanging below his throat. Then all the world went out in one +mad whirl. Earth and heaven seemed to meet as if by magic. My horse seemed +to rise with me, not to fall, and then--chaos. + +When next I knew I was still on this planet I found myself in the saddle +again, riding between two Boers, who were supporting me in the saddle as I +swayed from side to side. There was a halt; a man with a kindly face took +my head in the hollow of his arm, whilst another poured water down my +throat. Then they carried me to a shady spot beneath some shrubbery, and +laid me gently down. One man bent over me and washed the blood that had +dried on my face, and then carefully bound up my wounded temple. I began to +see things more plainly--a blue sky above me; a group of rough, hardy men, +all armed with rifles, around me. I saw that I was a prisoner, and when I +tried to move I soon knew I was damaged. + +The same good-looking young fellow with the curly beard bent over me again. +"Feel any better now, old fellow?" I stared hard at the speaker, for he +spoke like an Englishman, and a well-educated one, too. "Yes, I'm better. +I'm a prisoner, ain't I?" "Yes." "Are you an Englishman?" I asked. He +laughed. "Not I," he said, "I'm a Boer born and bred, and I am the man who +bowled you over. What on earth made you do such a fool's trick as to try +and ride from our rifles at that distance?" "Didn't think I was welcome in +these parts." "Don't make a jest of it, man," the Boer said gravely; +"rather thank God you are a living man this moment. It was His hand that +saved you; nothing else could have done so." He spoke reverently; there was +no cant in the sentiment he uttered--his face was too open, too manly, too +fearless for hypocrisy. "How long is it since I was knocked over?" "About +three hours." "Is my comrade dead?" "Quite dead," the Boer replied; "death +came instantly to him. He was shot through the brain." "Poor beggar!" I +muttered, "and he'll have to rot on the open veldt, I suppose?" + +The Boer leader's face flushed angrily. "Do you take us for savages?" he +said. "Rest easy. Your friend will get decent burial. What was his rank?" +"War correspondent." "And your own?" "War correspondent also. My papers are +in my pocket somewhere." "Sir," said the Boer leader, "you dress exactly +like two British officers; you ride out with a fighting party, you try to +ride off at a gallop under the very muzzles of our rifles when we tell you +to surrender. You can blame no one but yourselves for this day's work." "I +blame no man; I played the game, and am paying the penalty." Then they told +me how poor Lambie's horse had swerved between myself and them after Lambie +had fallen, then they saw me fall forward in the saddle, and they knew I +was hit. A few strides later one of them had sent a bullet through my +horse's head, and he had rolled on top of me. Yet, with it all, I had +escaped with a graze over the right temple and a badly knocked-up shoulder. +Truly, as the Boer said, the hand of God must have shielded me. + +For a day and a half I lay at that laager whilst our wounded men were +brought in, and here I should like to say a word to the people of England. +Our men, when wounded, are treated by the Boers with manly gentleness and +kind consideration. When we left the laager in an open trolly, we, some +half-dozen Australians, and about as many Boers, all wounded, were driven +for some hours to a small hospital, the name of which I do not know. It was +simply a farmhouse turned into a place for the wounded. On the road thither +we called at many farms, and at every one men, women, and children came out +to see us. Not one taunting word was uttered in our hearing, not one +braggart sentence passed their lips. Men brought us cooling drinks, or +moved us into more comfortable positions on the trolly. Women, with gentle +fingers, shifted bandages, or washed wounds, or gave us little dainties +that come so pleasant in such a time; whilst the little children crowded +round us with tears running down their cheeks as they looked upon the +bloodstained khaki clothing of the wounded British. Let no man or woman in +all the British Empire whose son or husband lies wounded in the hands of +the Boers fear for his welfare, for it is a foul slander to say that the +Boers do not treat their wounded well. England does not treat her own men +better than the Boers treat the wounded British, and I am writing of that +which I have seen and know beyond the shadow of a doubt. + +From the little farmhouse hospital I was sent on in an ambulance train to +the hospital at Springfontein, where all the nurses and medical staff are +foreigners, all of them trained and skilful. Even the nurses had a +soldierly air about them. Here everything was as clean as human industry +could make it, and the hospital was worked like a piece of military +mechanism. I only had a day or two here, and then I was sent by train in an +ambulance carriage to the capital of the Orange Free State, and here I am +in Bloemfontein Hospital. There are a lot of our wounded here, both +officers and men, some of whom have been here for months. + +I have made it my business to get about amongst the private soldiers, to +question them concerning the treatment they have received since the moment +the Mauser rifles tumbled them over, and I say emphatically that in every +solitary instance, without one single exception, our countrymen declare +that they have been grandly treated. Not by the hospital nurses only, not +by the officials alone, but by the very men whom they were fighting. Our +"Tommies" are not the men to waste praise on any men unless it is well +deserved, but this is just about how "Tommy" sums up the situation: + +"The Boer is a rough-looking beggar in the field, 'e don't wear no uniform, +'nd 'e don't know enough about soldiers' drill to keep himself warm, but 'e +can fight in 'is own bloomin' style, which ain't our style. If 'e'd come +out on the veldt, 'nd fight us our way, we'd lick 'im every time, but when +it comes to fightin' in the kopjes, why, the Boer is a dandy, 'nd if the +rest of Europe don't think so, only let 'em have a try at 'im 'nd see. But +when 'e has shot you he acts like a blessed Christian, 'nd bears no malice. +'E's like a bloomin' South Sea cocoanut, not much to look at outside, but +white 'nd sweet inside when yer know 'im, 'nd it's when you're wounded 'nd +a prisoner that you get a chance to know 'im, see." And "Tommy" is about +correct in his judgment. + +The Boers have made most excellent provision for the treatment of wounded +after battle. All that science can do is done. Their medical men fight as +hard to save a British life or a British limb as medical men in England +would battle to save life or limb of a private person. At the Bloemfontein +Hospital everything is as near perfection, from a medical and surgical +point, as any sane man can hope to see. It is an extensive institution. One +end is set apart for the Boer wounded, the other for the British. No +difference is made between the two in regard to accommodation--food, +medical attendance, nursing, or visiting. Ministers of religion come and go +daily--almost hourly--at both ends. Our men, when able to walk, are allowed +to roam around the grounds, but, of course, are not allowed to go beyond +the gates, being prisoners of war. Concerning our matron (Miss M.M. Young) +and nurses, all I can say is that they are gentlewomen of the highest type, +of whom any nation in the world might well be proud. + +I have met one or two old friends since I came here, notably Lieutenant +Bowling, of the Australian Horse, who is now able to get about, and is +cheerful and jolly. Lieutenant Bowling has his right thumb shot off, and +had a terribly close call for his life, a Mauser bullet going into his head +alongside his right eye, and coming out just in front of the right ear. His +friends need not be anxious concerning him; he is quite out of danger, and +he and I have killed a few tedious hours blowing tobacco smoke skywards, +and chatting about life in far off Australia. Another familiar face was +that of an English private, named Charles Laxen, of the Northumberlands, +who was wounded at Stormberg. I am told that he displayed excellent pluck +before he was laid out, firstly by a piece of shell on the side of the +head, and, later, by a Mauser bullet through the left knee. He is getting +along O.K., but will never see service as a soldier again on account of the +wounded leg. + +I had written to the President of the Orange Free State, asking him to +grant me my liberty on the ground that I was a non-combatant. Yesterday Mr. +Steyn courteously sent his private secretary and carriage to the hospital +with an intimation that I should be granted an interview. I was accordingly +driven down to what I believe was the Stadt House. In Australia we should +term it the Town Hall. The President met me, and treated me very +courteously, and, after chatting over my capture and the death of my +friend, he informed me that I might have my liberty as soon as I considered +myself sufficiently recovered to travel. He offered me a pass _via_ +Lourenco Marques, but I pointed out that if I were sent that way I should +be so far away from my work as to be practically useless to my paper. The +President explained to me that it was not his wish nor the desire of his +colleagues to hamper me in any way in regard to my work. "What we want more +than anything else," remarked the President, "is that the world shall know +the truth, and nothing but the truth, in reference to this most unhappy +war, and we will not needlessly place obstruction in your way in your +search for facts; if we can by any means place you in the British lines we +will do so. If we find it impossible to do that you must understand that +there is some potent reason for it." So I let that question drop, feeling +satisfied that everything that a sensible man has a right to ask would be +done on my behalf. + +President Steyn is a man of a notable type. He is a big man physically, +tall and broad, a man of immense strength, but very gentle in his manner, +as so many exceptionally strong men are. He has a typical Dutch face, calm, +strong, and passionless. A man not easily swayed by outside agencies; one +of those persons who think long and earnestly before embarking upon a +venture, but, when once started, no human agency would turn him back from +the line of conduct he had mapped out for himself. He is no ignorant +back-block politician, but a refined, cultured gentleman, who knows the +full strength of the British Empire; and, knowing it, he has defied it in +all its might, and will follow his convictions to the bitter end, no matter +what that end may be. He introduced me to a couple of gentlemen whose names +are very dear to the Free Staters, viz., Messrs. Fraser and Fischer, and +whilst the interview lasted nothing was talked of but the war, and it +struck me very forcibly that not one of those men had any hatred in their +hearts towards the British people. "This," said the President, "is not a +war between us and the British people on any question of principle; it is a +war forced upon us by a band of capitalistic adventurers, who have +hoodwinked the British public and dragged them into an unholy, an unjust +struggle with a people whose only desire was to live at peace with all men. +We do not hate your nation; we do not hate your soldiers, though they fight +against us; but we do hate and despise the men who have brought a cruel war +upon us for their own evil ends, whilst they try to cloak their designs in +a mantle of righteousness and liberty." I may not have given the exact +words of the President, as I am writing from memory, but I think I have +given his exact sentiments; and, if I am any judge of human nature, the +love of his country is the love of his life. + + + + + + "STOPPING A FEW." + + +I saw him first, years ago upon a station in New South Wales; a neat, smart +figure less than nine stone in weight, but it was nine stone of fencing +wire full of the electricity of life. He was in the stockyard when I first +saw him, working like any ordinary station hand, for it was the busy +portion of the year, and at such times the squatters' sons work like any +hired hand, only a lot harder, if they are worth their salt, and have not +been bitten by the mania for dudeism during their college course in the +cities. There was nothing of the dandy about this fellow. From head to heel +he was a man's son, full of the vim of living, strong with the lust of +life. The sweat ran down his face, dirty with the dust kicked up by the +cattle in the stockyard. His clothes were not guiltless of mire, for he had +been knocked over more than once that morning, and there was an edge upon +his voice as he rapped out his orders to the stockmen who were working with +him. He did not look in the least degree pretty, and there was not enough +poetry about him just then to make an obituary jingle on a tombstone. I +little thought that day that a time would come when he would prove the +glory of his Australian breeding in the teeth of an enemy's guns on African +soil. + +I saw him again--under silk this time--as a gentleman rider. He was the +same quiet, cool little fellow, grey-eyed, steel-lipped, stout-hearted, +with "hands" that Archer might have envied. He rode at his fences that day +as the Australian amateurs can ride, with a rip and a rattle, with the +long, loose leg, the hands well down, and head up and back, and "Over or +Through" was his motto. I did not know him to speak to in those old days. +We were to shake hands under peculiar circumstances away in a foreign land, +in a foreign hospital, both of us prisoners of war, both of us wounded. +That was where and how I spoke to little Dowling, lieutenant in the First +Australian Horse, as game a sample of humanity as ever threw leg over +saddle or loosed a rifle at a foe. He came to my bedside the morning after +I entered the hospital, and standing over me with a green shade over one +eye, and one hand in a sling, said laconically: + +"Australian ain't you?" + +"Yes, by gad, and I know you." He reached out his left hand, and placed it +in mine. + +"Been 'stopping one'?" he remarked. + +"Only a graze, thank God," I replied. + +Then the matron and the German doctor, as fine a gentleman as ever drew +breath, came along to have a look at me, and he was turned out; but we +chummed, as Australians have a knack of doing in time of trouble, and I +tried hard to get him to talk of his adventures, but he was a mummy on that +subject. He would not yarn about his own doings on the fateful day when he +was laid out, though he was eloquent enough concerning the doings of his +comrades. All I could get out of him in regard to his own part in the fray +was that his men and he had been ambushed, and that he had "stopped one" +with his head, and one with his hand, and another with his leg, his horse +had been killed, and he knew mighty little more about it until he found +himself in the hands of the Boers, who had treated him well and kindly. I +asked the matron about his wounds, and she told me that a bullet had +entered the corner of his right eye, coming out by the right ear, ruining +the sight for ever. Another had carried away his right thumb, and a couple +had passed through his right leg, one just below the groin, another 'just +above the knee. That was what he modestly termed "stopping a few." + +After I had been in hospital a little while, the matron gave me leave to +prowl about to pick up "copy," and my feet soon led me into the ward where +the wounded Dutchmen were lying, and there I met a couple of burghers who +had been in the _melee_ when Dowling was gathered in. One of them was +a handsome Swede, with a long blonde moustache, that fell with a glorious +sweep on to his chest, as the Viking's did of old. He was an adventurer, +who knew how to take his gruel like a man. He had joined the Boers because +he thought they were the weaker side, and had done his best for them. He +saw Dowling talking to me one day, and asked me if I knew the "little +devil." "Yes," I replied, "we are countrymen." "Americans?" he asked. "No, +Australians." He raised himself on his elbow, whilst I propped his +shoulders up with pillows, and as he remained thus he gazed admiringly at +the slight, boyish figure which limped lazily through the ward. "What a +little tiger cat he is," muttered the recumbent giant. "I thought we'd have +to kill him before we got him, and that would have been a shame, for I hate +to kill brave men when they have no chance." "Tell me about it," I said. +"He won't give me any information himself, only tells me he 'stopped a +few.'" The big, handsome Swede laughed a mighty laugh under his great +blonde moustache. + +"Stopped a few, did he? If all your fellows fought it out to the bitter end +as he did, we should run short of ammunition before the war was very old." + +A Boer nurse came over and asked us "what nonsense we made one with the +other, that we did laugh to ourselves like two hens clucking over one egg." +The blonde giant turned his joyous blue eyes upon her, and paid her a +compliment which caused her to bridle, whilst the blood swept like a +race-horse in its stride over neck, and cheek, and brow, causing her +dainty, girlish face to look prettier than ever. "Ah, little Eckhardt," he +whispered, and then murmured something in Dutch. I did not understand the +words, but there was something in the sound of the adventurer's voice which +conjured up a moonlit garden, a rose-crowned gate swinging on one hinge, a +girl on one side and a fool on the other. The nurse tossed her pretty head +with its wealth of jet black hair, and as she smoothed his pillows with +infinite care she murmured: "Fighting and making love, making love and +fighting--it is all one to you, Karl. I know you, you big pirate; you are +as a hen that lays away from home." And with that round of shrapnel she +left us. + +Karl got rid of a fourteen-pound sigh, which sounded like the bursting of a +lyddite shell. Then he slipped his hand under his pillow and drew forth a +flask of "Dop." "Drink to her," he said. "To whom?" I asked, falling in +with the humour of the man. "To the girl I love," he muttered like a +schoolboy. "Which one, Karl?" I asked, and I laughed as I spoke. He +snatched the brandy from my hand, lifted the flask to his lips, and drank +deeply. Then again his mighty laugh ran through the hospital ward. "Which +one?" he said; "why, all of them, God bless them. But the maid that is +nearest is always the dearest." "Shut up, you Goth," I said, "and tell me +about Dowling, for some day I shall write the story, and I would like to +hear it from the lips of one of his enemies." The Swede lay back upon his +pillow, stroking the golden horns of hair that fell each side of his mouth, +and I noticed that the lips which a little time before had been smiling +into the face of the nurse were now hard set and stern. So I could have +imagined him standing by the side of his gun, or rushing headlong on to our +ranks. A man with a mouth like that could not flinch in the hour of peril +if he tried, for his jaw had the Kitchener grip, the antithesis of the +parrot pout of the dandy, or the flabby fulness of the fool. + +"It was in the fore part of the day," he said at length. "We had been +posted snugly overnight on both sides of two ranges of kopjes, for we knew +that your fellows were going to attempt a reconnaissance next day. How did +we know? you ask. Well, comrade, ask no questions of that kind, and I'll +tell you no lies. The truth I won't tell you." + +But we knew, and we were ready. We were disappointed when we saw the force, +for we had expected something much bigger, and had made arrangements for a +larger capture. It was only a troop of Australian Horse that came our way, +and 'the little devil' was riding at their head. We bided our time, hoping +that he might be followed by more men, and, above all, we expected and +wanted some guns; but they did not put in an appearance, so we loosed upon +the little troop. They were fairly ambushed; they did not know that a rifle +was within miles of them until the bullets were singing through their +ranks. Horses plunged suddenly forward, reared, lurched now to the near +side, now to the off, then blundered forward on their heads, for many of +our men fired at the chargers instead of at the riders. Dowling's horse +went down with a bullet between the flap of the saddle and the crease of +the shoulder, and the little chap went spinning over his head amongst the +rocks. But a good many saddles were empty. He was up in a moment, yelling +to his men to ride for their lives, and they rode. We charged from cover, +and rode down on the men who had fallen, and as we closed in on them your +countryman lifted his rifle and loosed on us. + +"One of our fellows took a flying shot at him at close quarters, for his +rifle was talking the language of death, and that is a tongue no man likes +to listen to. The bit of lead took him in the eye and came out by his ear, +and down he went. But he climbed up in a moment, and his rifle was going to +his shoulder again, when I fired to break his arm, and carried his thumb +away--the thumb of the right hand, I think. The rifle clattered on to the +rocks, but as we drew round him he pulled his revolver with his one good +hand, and started to pot us. He looked a gamecock as he stood there in the +sunlight, his face all bathed in blood, and his shattered hand hanging +numbed beside him. So we gave him a couple in the legs to steady him, and +down by his dead horse he went; but even then he was as eager for fight as +a grass widow is for compliments, and it was not until Jan Viljoens jammed +the butt of his rifle on the crown of his head that he stretched himself +out and took no further part in that circus. We carried him into our lines, +and handed him over to our medical man, though even as we gathered him up +our scouts came galloping in to tell us that a big body of British troops +were advancing to cut us off from our main body. But we knew that if we +left him until your ambulance people found him, it was a million to one +that he would bleed to death amongst the rocks, and he was too good a +fighter and too brave a fellow to be left to a fate like that. Had he shown +the white feather we might have left him to the asvogels." + +"And so," said I, "that is how little Dowling, son of Australia, came, as +he said, 'to stop a few' for the sake of his breeding. If I live, the men +out in the sunny Southland shall hear how he did it, and his name shall be +known round the gold-hunters' camp fires, and be mentioned with pride where +the cattle drovers foregather to talk of the African war and the men who +fought and fell there." + + + + + + AUSTRALIA AT THE WAR. + + ENSLIN CAMP. + + +Lately I have been over a very considerable tract of country in the saddle. +I might remain at one spot and glean the information from various sources, +but do not care to do my business in that manner, simply because one is +then at the mercy of one's informants. I find it quite hard enough to get +at the truth even when it is personally sought for. It is really astounding +how lies increase and multiply as they spread from camp to camp. At one +spot a fellow ventilates an opinion that a big battle will be fought next +day at a certain spot; some other person catches a portion of the +conversation, and promptly tells his neighbour that a big battle has taken +place at the spot mentioned. A little later a passing train pulls up at +that camp, and a party possessing a picturesque and vivid imagination at +once informs the guard that a fearful fight has occurred, in which a +General, a Colonel, twelve subs., and six hundred men have been killed on +our side, with fourteen hundred wounded and nine hundred prisoners. The +Boer losses are generally estimated at something like five times that +number. + +The guard tells the tale later on to some traveller, who embellishes it, +and passes it along as a fact. He goes into details, tells harrowing +stories concerning hair-raising escapes from shot and shell. He splashes +the surrounding rocks with gouts of blood, and then shudders dismally at +the sight his fancy has conjured up. When the thrilled listener has +refreshed the tale-teller from his whisky flask, the romancist takes up the +thread of his narrative once more, and tells how the Lancers thundered over +the shivering veldts in pursuit of flying hordes of foemen, and for awhile, +like some graveyard ghoul, he revels in the moans of the dying and the +blood of the slain. Another pull at the flask sets him going again like +clockwork, and he makes a vivid picture out of the thunder of the guns as +our gallant (they are always gallant) fellows bombarded the enemy from the +heights. + +Then he switches off from the artillery, and tells a blood-curdling tale of +Boer treachery and cowardice. He tells how the enemy held out the white +flag to coax our men to stop firing. Then, in awe-inspiring tones, he sobs +forth a tale of dark and dismal war, how our soldiers respected the white +flag and rested on their arms, only to be mowed down by a withering rifle +fire from the canaille who represent the enemy in the field. Having got so +far, he does not feel justified in stopping until he has thrown in some +flowery language concerning a Boer cannonade upon British ambulance +waggons, full of wounded; from that he drifts by easy and natural stages to +Dum-Dum bullets, and the robbing of the wounded, and insults to the slain. +And that is very often the person who is quoted in newspaper interviews--as +a gentleman who was an eye-witness, and etc., etc., etc. + +And yet, for some reason which I have been unable to gauge, the military +authorities talk of sending all correspondents away from the front. It +seems to me that it would be far better to give _bona fide_ newspaper +men every reasonable opportunity of discovering the truth instead of +hampering them in any way. I fail to see why Great Britain and her Colonies +should be kept in the dark concerning the progress of the war, for all the +foreign Powers will be well supplied with information from the Boer lines; +and, if we are blocked, some at least of the British newspapers will most +assuredly go to foreign sources for news, if they are not allowed to obtain +it for themselves. Others will content themselves with news gathered +haphazard, and the last state of the Army, as far as the public mind is +concerned, will be far worse than the first. + +Colonel Hoad, who commands the Australians at Enslin, has offered the seven +hundred and sixteen men, who up to date have acted as infantry, to the +authorities as mounted infantry, and the offer has been accepted, much to +the delight of the men, all of whom are very eager to get into the saddle, +as they imagine that when their mounts arrive they will get a chance to go +into action. They have been practising horsemanship during the day, and did +fairly well, as many of them are expert riders, many more are fair; but a +few of them are more at home on a sand-heap than in a saddle. There are not +many of the latter kind, however. They will soon knock into shape, for +Colonel Hoad hates the sight of a slovenly horseman as badly as a duck +hates a dust storm. He is an untiring rider himself, and will work the +beggars who cannot ride until they can. + +After the arrival in Capetown of the two celebrated soldiers, Lords Roberts +and Kitchener, I made it my business to converse with as many Boers as +possible in regard to the two Generals, and was astonished to find how much +they knew concerning them. How, and from whom, they get information passes +my comprehension, but the fact remains that they knew all over the country +as soon, if not sooner, than we did that our great leaders had arrived. +They do not seem to fear them, though they invariably speak of them as +wonderful soldiers. "God and Oom Paul Kruger will look after us," is their +creed. Their faith in President Kruger is simply boundless. Not only do +they fancy that he is a man of dauntless courage, great sagacity, and +indomitable will, but they really seem to think that he has God's special +blessing concerning this war. + +He is to the Boers what Mahomet was to the wild tribesmen of Arabia, and it +is as impossible to shake their faith in him as it would be to shake their +faith in the story of Mount Calvary. It is all very well for a certain +class of writers to attempt to cast unbounded ridicule upon these men and +their leader, but it is not by ridicule that they can be conquered. It is +not by contemptuous utterances or by untrue reports that they can be +overcome. It is not by belittling them that we can raise ourselves in the +eyes of the men of to-day or ennoble ourselves upon the pages of history. +It would be conduct more in accordance with the traditions of a great +nation if we gave them credit for the virtues they possess and the courage +they display. + +It is hard to drag any sort of information from a Boer, whether bond or +free, but from what I can pick up they are perfectly satisfied with what +they have done up to date. They think that President Kruger has astonished +the world, and they wag their heads, and give one to understand that the +same old gentleman has a good many more surprises in store for us. It is +impossible to get a direct statement of any kind from them, but by patching +fragments together I incline to the opinion that they really count on Cape +Colony rising when Kruger wants a rising. Personally, from my own limited +observations, I would not give a fig of tobacco for the alleged loyalty of +the Cape Colony. If I am correct, this "surprise" will give the enemy an +additional force of 45,000 men, most of whom will be found able to ride +well and shoot straight. + +It is nonsense to say that they will only form a mob destitute of +discipline and unprovided with officers. They will not be a mob, they will +be guerilla soldiers of the same type that the North and South in America +provided, and they will take a lot of whipping at their own peculiar +tactics. As for officers--well, up to date, they have not gone short of +them. It is true they do not bear the hallmark of any modern university, +but they know how to lead men into battle, all the same. They wear no +uniforms, neither do they adorn themselves with any of the stylish +trappings of war, but they are brainy, resourceful men, highly useful if +not ornamental. Like Oliver Cromwell's hard-faced "Roundheads," they are +the children of a great emergency, not much to look at, but full of a "get +there" quality, which many school-bred soldiers lack entirely. + +I rode down to Belmont a couple of days ago, and had a look at the +Canadians and Queenslanders, who are quartered there. They are all in +excellent health and spirits, and seem to be just about hungry for a fight. +The Munsters, who are quartered there, are simply spoiling for a brush with +the enemy, and seem to be as full of ginger as any men I have ever seen. + +And every one of them with whom I conversed--and I chatted with a good many +of the burly young Irishmen--expressed a keen desire to meet in open fight +the Irish brigade now fighting on the side of the Boers. Should it ever +come to pass during the progress of the war, I devoutly hope that I may be +handy to witness the struggle. It will not be a long-range fight if I am +any judge of men and things; it will be settled at close quarters, and the +"baynit and the butt" will play a prominent part in the _melee_. + +A few of our New Zealand fellows got to close quarters with the enemy +recently up Colesberg way, and they did just as we knew they would when it +came to the crossing of steel. The Boers stormed the position, and the New +Zealanders joined in the bayonet charge which drove them back. Our men had +a couple killed and one or two wounded. The enemy left a goodish number of +dead on the field when they retired, about thirty of whom met their fate at +the bayonet's point. The British losses were small. There was nothing +remarkable about the behaviour of the New Zealanders in action; they simply +did coolly and well what they were ordered to do, and proved that they are +quite as good fighting material as anything the Old Country can produce. +The gravest misfortune which has yet befallen any of the Australians +happened at the same locality, when eighteen New South Welshmen allowed +themselves to be pinned in a tight place. Eight escaped, but the others are +either prisoners or killed. We do not like the surrender business, and +would rather see our men do as their fathers and grandfathers used to +do--bite the motto, "No surrender," into the butts of their rifles with +their teeth, and fight their way out of a hot corner. There has been a good +deal too much of this throwing up of arms during the present campaign, and +I hope that we shall hear less of it in the future. + +We had a nasty night here at Enslin. Word reached our headquarters that +three thousand mounted Boers were on the move towards our camp, which, for +strategic purposes, is the most important between Methuen's column and De +Aar. If the enemy could take Enslin they could make things very awkward for +General Methuen, because they would then have him between two fires. As +soon as the news came our fellows, with the Gordons, were ordered to occupy +the surrounding heights. All night long, and well on into the day, we held +them until we learned that the enemy had decided not to attack us. Had they +done so they would have paid bitterly for their rashness, for the place is +practically impregnable. A thousand resolute and skilful men, who knew how +to use both rifle and bayonet, could hold the place against 20,000 of the +finest troops in the world, providing the defenders were not hopelessly +crushed by an immense artillery force. + +General Hector Macdonald went through here the other day to take the +command of the Highland Brigade, in the place of the late General Wauchope. +The "Scots" who were with us lined up and gave the General a thrilling +welcome, whilst our fellows, who are not usually demonstrative, crowded +around the railway line to get a look at the brilliant soldier who, by +sheer merit, dauntless pluck, and iron resolution, forced his way from the +ranks to the high place he holds. The Australians had expected to see a +gaunt, prematurely aged man, war-worn and battle-broken, and were surprised +to see a dashing, gallant-looking man, who might in appearance comfortably +have passed for five-and-thirty. The grey-clad men, in soft slouch hats, +from the land of the Southern Cross, lounging about with pipes in their +teeth, did not break into hysterical cheering--they are not built that way; +they simply looked at the man whose full history every one of them knew as +well as he knew the way into the front door of a "pub." But their flashing +eyes and clenched hands told in language more eloquent than a salvo of +cheers that this was their ideal man, the man they would follow rifle in +hand up the brimstone heights of hell itself, if need be; aye, and stand +sentry there until the day of judgment, if Hector Macdonald gave the order. + + + + + + AUSTRALIA ON THE MOVE. + + RENSBURG. + + +A complete change has come to the Australians who are in Africa under +Colonel Hoad. We have left General Methuen's column, and joined that of +General French. Formerly we were at Enslin, within sound of the guns that +were fired daily at Magersfontein; now we are two hundred and twenty miles +away, and are within easy patrolling distance of Colesberg. + +Before we left Methuen's column we had one small night affair, which, +however, did not amount to a great deal, though it has been very much +exaggerated in local newspaper circles, and will, I fear, be unduly boomed +in some of the Australian journals. The whole affair simply amounted to +this. One hundred of the Victorian Mounted Rifles went out to make a +demonstration towards Sunnyside, in Cape Colony, where a number of rebels +were known to congregate. A hundred Queenslanders and Canadians were with +them, when a corporal and a trooper of the Victorians saw an unarmed Boer +and a nigger riding towards them in the twilight. The Boer, as soon as he +was challenged, wheeled his horse and rode off at a gallop; our men rode +after the runaway, but would not fire upon the white man because they +thought he was simply a farmer who had got rather a bad scare at meeting +armed men. + +The Boer, however, played a deep game; he rode for a bit of a rise composed +of broken ground, where, unknown to our scouts, a party of rebels lay +concealed. As soon as the flying rebel was in safety the Boers opened fire, +shooting Peter Falla, the trooper, twice through the arm, one bullet +entering a few inches below the shoulder, the other shattering the bone a +little way above the elbow. The corporal got away safely, taking his +wounded comrade with him. Our fellows rode out and swept the veldt for +miles, but saw no more of the enemy. So ended what has grandiloquently been +termed "an Australian engagement," which, I may add, is just the kind of +flapdoodle our troopers do not want. What they most desire on earth at +present is an opportunity to show what they are made of. They don't want +cheap newspaper puffs, nor laudatory speeches from generals. They want to +get into grip with the enemy, and, as an Australian, let me say now that +Imperial federation will get a greater shock by keeping these fine fellows +out of action than by anything else that could happen under heaven. They +did not come here on a picnic party, they did not come for a circus; they +don't want a lot of maudlin sentiment wasted on them whilst they stay out +of the firing line to mind the jam, or give the African girls a treat. + +Mr. Chamberlain has made a good many mistakes in regard to the war, +mistakes that will live in history when his very name is forgotten, but he +need not add to them by alienating Australian sentiment by coddling men who +came across the Indian Ocean to prove to the whole world that on the field +of battle they are as good as their sires. Our fellows have got hold of a +rumour (the prophets only could tell whence camp rumours originate) that +instructions have been received from England that they are to be kept out +of danger, and a madder lot of men you could not find anywhere between here +and Tophet. They wanted to send a petition to Lord Roberts asking to be +allowed to face the enemy, but though the officers are quite as sore as the +men, they could not permit such a breach of discipline. So now the men ease +their feelings by jeering at each other. + +"What are we here fer, Bill?" + +"Oh, get yer head felt; any fool knows why we are here. There's a blessed +marmalade factory somewhere about, and we are going to mind it whilst the +British Tommy does the fighting." + +"Marmalade be d----!" chirruped a voice down the lines. "Think they'd trust +us to look after anything so important?" + +"Oh, you're a blessed prophet, you are," snarls the little bugler. "P'raps +you'll tell us what our game is." + +"Easy enough, little 'un. Our officers 've got to practise making mud maps +in the dust with a stick, and we've got to fool around and keep the flies +away." + +"I suppose they'll keep us at this till the war's over, and then send us to +England, 'nd give us a bloomin' medal, 'nd tell us then we are gory, +crimson heroes. Ugh!" grunts a big West Australian with a face like a +nightmare, and a voice that comes out of his chest with a sound like a +steam saw coming through a wet log. + +"Don't know about England 'nd the medal, 'Beauty,'" chirrups a Sydney +gunner, "but I know what they'll give us in Australia if we go back without +a fight." + +"P'raps it'll be a mansion, or a sheep station, or a stud of racehorses," +meekly suggests a tired-looking South Australian, with a derisive twist of +his under lip. + +"No, they won't present us with a racing stud," lisps the gunner, "but, by +G----, they'll shy chaff enough at us to keep all the bloomin' horses +between 'ere and 'ell, and the girls will send us a kid's feedin' bottle, +as a mark of feelin' and esteem, every Valentine's Day for ten years to +come, because of the glorious name we made for Australia on the bloody +fields of war in Africa." + +"Fields o' war--fields o' whisky 'nd watermelons! Oh, d---- it! I'm going +ter stop writing ter my girl before she writes ter tell me that a white +feather don't suit a girl's complexion in Australia." + +He lifts his bugle, and sounds "Feed up" so savagely that the horses strain +on their leg ropes and kick themselves into a lather as hot as their +riders' tempers, the long, loose-limbed troopers move off, cursing +artistically in their beards at the very thought of the roasting they will +get from the witty-tongued, red-lipped girls of Australia, when-- + + + They cross the rolling ocean, + Back from the fields of war, + To show the British medal + They got for guarding a store. + + To show the British medal + On stations, towns, and farms, + They got for guarding the marmalade, + Far away from war's alarms. + + To show the British medal, + With a blush of angry shame, + For which they went to risk their lives + In young Australia's name. + + To show the British medal, + With a sneer that's half a sob, + Ere they pawn it to their uncle, + And go and drink the "bob." + + +When we received notice to move away from Enslin down the line through +Graspan, Belmont, Orange River, to De Aar, our fellows were naturally very +wrathful; they had done splendid work for many weeks up that way; they had +dug trenches, sunk wells, drilled unceasingly; they had watched the kopjes +and scoured the veldt, and all that they were told to do they did like +soldiers--readily and uncomplainingly. The cold nights and the scorching +days, the monotonous drudgery, found them always ready and willing, because +they believed that when the order came for a great battle at Magersfontein, +or an onward march to Kimberley, they would be in the thick of it. But for +some reason, known only to those who gave the order, they were sent away +from the front, and they felt it keenly. From De Aar they were sent on to +Naauwpoort, and from this latter place they were forwarded on to Rensburg. + +At Naauwpoort nearly all the Australians were mounted, and now acted as +mounted infantry. The horses supplied are Indian ponies, formerly used by +the Madras Cavalry. They are a first-class lot of cattle, well suited to +the work that lies before them, and have evidently been selected by someone +who knows his business a good deal better than a great number of his +colleagues. General French inspected the men at Rensburg during the first +day or two, and seemed fairly well satisfied with them, though, of course, +they did not make a first-class show in their initial efforts on horseback. +A great number of them rode well, but very few of them had ever gone +through a course of mounted drill, and it will take a week or two to knock +them into shape for this work; though, when once out of the saddle, they +are not in any way inferior to the best British regiments I have seen. But +they are keen to learn, and very willing, so that I expect to see them make +wonderfully rapid strides towards efficiency as mounted men. They seem to +feel that their only chance to get a fight is to become high grade +soldiers, and to that end they will stand all the work that can be crowded +into them. I have no idea what their future movements will be, nor do I +think anyone else connected with the regiment has; but one thing seems +certain, that sooner or later they will fall foul of the enemy in small +skirmishing parties, as the kopjes for a length of twenty miles are +infested by little bands of Boers, who have a knack of disappearing as soon +as a British force draws near them, only, however, to crop up again in a +fresh place, a short distance away. + +For the Boer is a past master in this kind of warfare, and knows how to +play his own game to perfection. What the Goorkha is in Indian warfare, so +the Boer is in Africa. He does not fight in our style, but that does not +say that he cannot fight, neither does it argue that he is devoid of +courage. As a matter of fact, the more I have seen of this country, and +note what the Boers have done in opposition to all the might of Great +Britain, the more I am impressed with the idea that our alleged +Intelligence Department wants cutting down and burning root and branch, for +it must have been absolutely rotten, or unquestionably corrupt. We were led +by members of this Department to believe that the Boer was a cowardly kind +of veldt pariah, a degenerate offshoot of a fine old parent stock. Well, +the Boer is nothing of the kind. He is not in any way degenerate. He is a +good fighting man, according to his lights. He does not wear a stand-up +collar, nor an eyeglass, nor spats to his veldtschoon. He does not talk +with a silly lisp or an inane drawl. Therefore, the useless fellows whom +Britain trusted with the important task of watching him and sizing him up +counted him as a boor as well as a Boer--a mere country clod. But now, from +the rocky hills, these clods, these sons of semi-white savages, laugh at us +derisively, and answer our jeers with rifles that know how to speak in a +language that even the bravest of our troops have learnt to understand--and +respect. + +I have a keen recollection of the last Franco-Prussian War. I remember how +the English newspapers ridiculed the French military authorities because, +whilst the Germans had accurate maps of every province within the French +borders, the French themselves were grossly ignorant of their own +territory. Now we can eat our own sarcasms and enjoy the bitter fruit of +our own irony, for, thanks to the Intelligence Department connected with +the War Office in Great Britain, we to-day stand precisely in the same +position towards our African enemy as France did towards Prussia. A glance +at the country through which I have recently passed shows only too clearly +that, whilst Paul Kruger and his advisers knew our full strength to a man, +we, on our part, knew nothing about him or the men, money, or ordnance at +his command. We knew nothing of the country which had been patiently +fortified by the best skilled military engineers in Europe. We know nothing +of his rocky, well-fortified country, which lies behind that which we have +already attacked. Our generals, instead of being supplied with maps +covering every inch of country within the enemy's borders, have to gather +information at the bayonet's point at a loss to the Empire in men, money, +and in prestige. If our commanders blunder, who is to blame but the +criminally negligent officials who have supplied them with false or foolish +data to work upon? The Empire has been betrayed, either wilfully or through +crass idleness upon the part of men who have dipped deeply into the +Empire's coffers, and the nation should demand their impeachment, apart +from their position, place, or power, and punishment of the most drastic +kind should follow speedily in the footsteps of impeachment. + +The failure of General Buller to relieve Ladysmith was not due to any want +of sagacity on the part of that General. It was not due to any want of +bravery on the part of his troops. The General is worthy of his rank, and +worthy of the confidence of the nation, and his troops are as good as the +men who, under the same flag, taught the Russians to respect the power of +Britain. The cause of the failure lay mainly in the want of knowledge on +our part concerning the strength of the country the Boers held, and the +strength of the country they had to fall back upon when hard pressed. + +That information the "Intelligence" Department ought to have been able to +place in the hands of General Buller before he moved forward to the relief +of the beleaguered garrison in Ladysmith. But they could not give what they +had never possessed. + +Right up to the present moment, when the Boers have been forced to meet our +troops at close quarters, they have been found to possess no other arms +than the rifle. This has given truth to the belief that the enemy as an +attacking force is next door to useless, as no men, no matter how brave and +determined, could do very much damage to first-class troops armed with the +bayonet. + +However, there is a whisper in the air that the Boers are not deficient in +side-arms; it is rumoured that the President of the Boer Republic has +immense supplies of offensive as well as defensive weapons safely placed +away until they may be required Right up to date his war policy has been to +remain passive, excepting in a few isolated positions, allowing the British +to attack his generals in almost impregnable positions, and by so doing put +heart into the burghers, and dishearten our forces. But should the tide of +war continue to roll onward in his favour he may attempt to put in force +the oft-told Boer threat, and try to sweep the British into the sea. Should +that day dawn, it is rumoured that the enemy will be found well supplied +with side-arms and with mercenaries trained to their use in one of the best +schools that modern times have known. Where do these rumours come from? +Well, a Boer prisoner, taunted perhaps by a guard, loses his temper and +drops a hint, or a Boer farmer, exultant over the latest news of his +countrymen's success, lifts the veil a little, and a jealously-guarded +secret drops out; or, again, a Boer's wife or daughter, flinging a taunt at +a cursed "Rooinek," allows her temper to run away with her discretion. +There are a hundred ways in which such things get about; only straws, +perhaps, but a straw can point the way windward. A talkative Kaffir who has +been reared on a Dutch farm will at times give things away that would cost +him his life if the length of his tongue was known to his master; +especially will the nigger talk if his mouth be judiciously moistened with +Cape smoke brandy. + +Information that comes to a war correspondent's hand is of many colours, +shapes, and sizes, but if he is born to the business he pieces the whole +together and picks out what seemeth good to his own soul at the finish. +Sometimes, at the end of a week's hard work, he finds himself possessed of +a patchwork of information like unto Joseph's coat of many colours, but it +is hard fortune indeed if he cannot find something in the lot to repay him +for his earnest endeavours. + + + + + + SLINGERSFONTEIN. + + RENSBURG. + + +Scarcely had I returned from posting my last letter when the camp was in a +commotion, caused by the news that the West Australians were in action at +Slingersfontein, distant about twelve miles from Rensburg. To saddle up and +get out as fast as horseflesh would carry a man was but the work of a very +short period of time, for the gallop across the open veldt was not a very +laborious undertaking. I soon found that the stalwart sons of the great +gold colony were in it, and enjoying it. + +Slingersfontein is an important position on the right flank of French's +column. It is not only an important but a very hard position to hold on +account of the nature of the country. Here there is but very little open +veldt; mile after mile is covered by small kopjes that rise in countless +numbers, until the whole country looks as if it were covered with a +veritable forest of hills. Once inside that labyrinth of rocky +excrescences, an army might easily be lost, unless every individual man and +officer knew the place thoroughly. The Boers know the lay of the land, and, +consequently, shift from post to post by paths that are unknown to anyone +else with marvellous dexterity and incredible swiftness. Our forces hold a +small plain, which is like the palm of a giant's hand, with the surrounding +kopjes representing the digits. We hold those kopjes also. The shape of the +camp is in the form of a horseshoe, all around the little basin great hills +rise, and from those hills England's watch-dogs keep a sharp look-out on +the movements of the foe; and well they need to, for, in ground which suits +him, the African farmer is as 'cute and cunning as a Red Indian. Behind our +position, or, rather, outside of it, there is another small tract of open +country, but beyond that, lapping around our stronghold like a crescent, is +rough, hilly ground. None of those hills is worth dignifying with the title +of mountain, but all of them are big enough to shelter a hundred or two of +the enemy, and it is there that they play their game of hide and seek, +which is so trying to the nerves of young troops. The Boers hold that rough +country entirely, and the outer edge of their semi-circle is not, at any +given point, more than four miles from our centre at Slingersfontein. + +The outer line of kopjes which skirt their stalking ground are bigger than +the hills on the inner side, so that they have an excellent opportunity to +conceal their movements from the observation of our most astute pickets, +and the only way in which our commanding officer can locate the enemy with +any degree of certainty is by making a reconnaissance in force, and, if +possible, drawing their fire. If the Boers fall into this trap they +invariably pay dearly for the slight advantage they gain over the +investigating force, for our guns soon make any known position untenable. +The Boer leaders know this, however, and are very loth to allow temptation +to overcome discretion; but at times, either through the impetuosity of +their troops or through errors in generalship, they give themselves away +entirely, and that is precisely what they did upon this occasion. + +By means only known to those high up in authority, our people had become +acquainted with the fact that the enemy intended to try to extend their +line on our right flank, and so threaten us not only upon the left flank, +the direct front, and right flank, but also in the rear. Could they succeed +in doing this they would have us in a peculiarly tight place, as, once +posted in force well down on our right flank, they would then at least be +able to harass us badly in our communications with Rensburg, which is our +main base of operations. It is there that the General has his headquarters; +it is from there that we keep in touch, per medium of the railway and +telegraph lines, with the rest of the British Army in South Africa. It is +from there that we draw all our supplies of fodder and ammunition. It is +from there we should draw all our additional force if we needed +reinforcements in case of a general assault by the enemy upon our position +at Slingersfontein, and it is from there that we should be strengthened +should we decide to make a forward move on the Boers' position. Therefore +it behoved us to keep that line of communication intact, no matter what the +cost. All these things were as well known to the Boer leader as to us, and +that is why they were as keen to get the position as we were, and why we +are keen to stop them from accomplishing their object. + +It was for the purpose of ascertaining just what the enemy intended to do, +and how many men they had to do it with, that Major Ethoran ordered out the +West Australian Mounted Infantry, consisting of about 75 men, under Captain +Moor, an Imperial soldier in the pay of the West Australian Government, and +a small body of Inniskilling Dragoons and Lancers, with a section of the +Royal Horse Artillery and two guns. The men moved out of Slingersfontein on +Tuesday about midday, and at once proceeded towards a farmhouse located +right under the very jowl of an ugly-looking kopje. + +This farm was known as Pottsberg, and was well known as a regular haunt of +the most daring and dangerous rebels in the whole district. The farm +consisted of the usual white stone farmhouse of five or six rooms, a small +orchard, surrounded by rough stone walls from three feet six to four feet +in height, and about two feet thick, a small cluster of native huts, and a +kraal for cattle, made of rough, heavy stones, topped by cakes of sun-baked +manure, stored by the farmers for fuel. Some little distance from the back +of the farmhouse a stout stone wall ran down from the kopjes on to the +plain. This wall was between four and five feet in height and half a yard +across in its weakest place--an ugly barricade in itself--behind which a +few resolute men with quick-firing rifles, which they know how to use, +could make a good stand against vastly superior numbers advancing upon them +from the open veldt. + +When our fellows trotted out from camp, Captain Moor received orders to +distribute his men in small bodies all along the edge of the kopjes between +Pottsberg farmhouse and Kruger's Hill, a small kopje lying almost in a line +with our camp, on the right. The men were ordered to go as close as +possible to the enemy's position, to see as much as they could possibly see +in regard to the numbers of troops in the hills held by the enemy. If they +succeeded in discovering the rebels in large bodies they were to draw their +fire and immediately retreat at full speed. In the meantime the two guns +belonging to the Royal Horse Artillery were beautifully placed in a dip in +the veldt, where they could play upon the Boers should they attempt to rush +the West Australians at any given point. The Lancers and Dragoons were +placed in charge of some kopjes behind the guns, in order to protect them +should a concerted onslaught be made upon them by the mounted Boers, who +were shrewdly suspected to be in hiding in strong force behind the first +row of hills, which screened the enemy's position. + +The Australians rode out steadily, and took up their positions with an +amount of coolness that startled older soldiers. This was absolutely their +first trial on real fighting service, and everybody connected with them was +anxious to see how they would comport themselves in the face of the enemy. +Not only was it their first fighting effort, but it was their debut in the +saddle, as until a week previous they had been simply infantrymen, and not +a dozen of them had ever been in the hands of a mounted drill instructor. +It was a big task to set such green men, but they proved before the day was +out that they were worthy of the confidence reposed in them. Captain Moor, +Lieutenant Darling, and Lieutenant Parker each took a small section into +action; the others were under the immediate control of their sergeants. +They split up into small parties, and swept the very edge of the kopjes, +peering into gullies, climbing the outer hills, working along the ravines +with a courage and thoroughness that would have done credit to the oldest +scouts in all the Empire. Yet nothing came of their investigations for +quite a long time. The enemy did not mean to be drawn, and remained +passive, so that the West Australians at last became a little bit reckless, +and were consequently not so guarded as they might have been. All at once a +body of scouts ran upon a large body of the enemy near Pottsberg Farm, in a +deep and shady ravine. The enemy were trying to evade notice, but that was +now impossible. In a moment rifles were ringing on the air, and after that +first volley the little band of Australians wheeled and galloped for the +open country. To have remained there would have meant certain death to +every one of the half-dozen who comprised the picket, so they did their +duty--they fired and rode for the veldt. In a few seconds Boers were +dashing out of the kopjes on all sides, trying to cut the small band of +Australians off or shoot them down. But the Australians knew their game; +they opened out, so that each man was practically riding alone. + +The Boers could do little with them. Those who stood by the guns noticed +that very large numbers of men in the Boer ranks were either niggers or +half-castes, and it was also very noticeable that they knew but little +about the use of the rifle. They fired high and wide, and notwithstanding +the fact that they poured their ammunition away in wholesale fashion, they +did little harm worth mentioning, although many of them fired at little +more than pistol range. They were simply crazed with excitement, and did +not succeed in cutting off a single member of that adventurous band. +Whenever an Australian found himself in a tight place he simply dug his +spurs into his horse's flanks, lifted his rifle, and blazed into the ranks +of the foe. If his horse was shot dead under him he coo-eed to his mates, +and kept his rifle busy, and every time the coo-ee rang out over the +whispering veldt the Australians turned in their saddles, and riding as the +men from the South-land can ride, they dashed to the rescue, and did not +leave a single man in the hands of the enemy. Many a gallant deed was done +that day by officers and men. Captain Moor gave one fellow his horse, and +made a dash for liberty on foot, but he would have failed in his effort had +not Lieutenant Darling, a West Australian boy, ridden to his aid, and +together the two officers on the one horse got back to the shelter of the +guns. The enemy still blazed away in the wildest and most farcical fashion. +Had they been Boer hunters or marksmen very few of the West Australians +would ever have got across that strip of veldt alive. As it was, only two +of them got wounded, none were killed, one or two horses were shot dead, +and then the big guns got to work in grim earnest. + +A party of Boers, however, got round one of the kopjes, where some of the +Lancers were posted, and now half a dozen of those brave fellows are +missing, and I fear they are to be counted amongst those who will never +return again. Sergeant Watson, of the R.H., was killed, and several of his +men and a few of the Lancers were wounded, but the R.H. guns soon swept the +plain clear of the enemy, and they retired, carrying their dead and wounded +with them. The work for the day was done, and well done, for the enemy had +shown his hand. We knew his position and his strength, and next day we went +out in force to have a word with him, but the wily Boers kept strictly +under cover, and refused on any terms to be drawn again. + + + + + + THE WEST AUSTRALIANS. + + BETHANY. + + +I was feeling miserable as I sat in the hospital garden, and I rather fancy +I looked pretty much as I felt, for a cheery-faced Boer nurse, with her +black hair, blacker eyes, and rose-blossom lips, came up to where I sat, +bringing with her two or three slightly wounded Boers. "I have brought some +Boers who know something of your countrymen, Mr. Australian," she said. "I +thought you would be glad to hear all about them." "By Jove! yes, nurse. If +I were not a married man, I should try to thank you gracefully." "Oh, yees; +oh, yees," she answered, tossing back her head; "that is all right. You say +those pretty things; then, when you go away from here, you tell your wife, +and you write in your papers we Boer girls are fat old things, who never +use soap and water. All the Rooibaatjes do that." And off she went, +laughing merrily, whilst my friends the enemy grinned and enjoyed the +little comedy. So we fell to talking, and-half a dozen wounded "Tommies" +gathered round and chipped into the conversation, which by degrees worked +round to a deed which the West Australians did; and as I listened to the +tale so simply told by those rough farmer men, I felt my face flush with +pride, and my shoulders fell back square and solid once more, whilst every +drop of blood in my veins seemed to run warm and strong, like the red wine +they grow on the hillside in my own sunny land; for the story concerned men +whom I knew well, men who were bred with the scent of the wattle in the +first breath they drew, men who grew from childhood to manhood where the +silver sentinel stars form the cross in the rich blue midnight sky. My +countrymen--Australians--men with whom I had hunted for silver in the +desolate backblocks of New South Wales; men with whom I had scoured the +interior of West Australia seeking for gold; men who had been with me on +the tin fields and opal fields. I had never doubted that they would keep +their country's name unsullied when they met the foe on the field of war, +yet when I heard the tale the enemy told I felt my eyes fill as they have +seldom filled since childhood, for I was proud of the western diggers, +proud of my blood; and at that moment, with British "Tommies" sprawling on +the grass at my feet, and the Boer farmers grouped amongst them, I would +sooner have called myself an Australian commoner than the son of any peer +in any other land under high heaven. + +I will take the story from the Boer's mouth and tell it to you, as I hope +to tell it round a hundred camp fires when the war is over, and I go back +to the Australian bush once more. "It happened round Colesberg way," he +said; "we thought we had the British beaten, and our commandant gave us the +word to press on and cut them to pieces. Our big guns had been grandly +handled, and our rifle fire had told its tale. We saw the British falling +back from the kopjes they had held, and we thought that there was nothing +between us and victory; but there was, and we found it out before we were +many minutes older. There was one big kopje that was the very key of the +position. Our spies had told us that this was held by an Australian force. +We looked at it very anxiously, for it was a hard position to take, but +even as we watched we saw that nearly all the Australians were leaving it. +They, too, were falling back with the British troops. If we once got that +kopje there was nothing on earth could stop us. We could pass on and sweep +around the retiring foe, and wipe them off the earth, as a child wipes dirt +from its hands, and we laughed when we saw that only about twenty +Australians had been left to guard the kopje. + +"There were about four hundred of us, all picked men, and when the +commandant called to us to go and take the kopje, we sprang up eagerly, and +dashed down over some hills, meaning to cross the gully and charge up the +kopje where those twenty men were waiting for us. But we did not know the +Australians--then. We know them now. Scarcely had we risen to our feet when +they loosed their rifles on us, and not a shot was wasted. They did not +fire, as regular soldiers nearly always do, volley after volley, straight +in front of them, but every one picked his man, and shot to kill. They +fired like lightning, too, never dwelling on the trigger, yet never wildly +wasting lead, and all around us our best and boldest dropped, until we +dared not face them. We dropped to cover, and tried to pick them off, but +they were cool and watchful, throwing no chance away. We tried to crawl +from rock to rock to hem them in, but they, holding their fire until our +burghers moved, plugged us with lead, until we dared not stir a step ahead; +and all the time the British troops, with all their convoy, were slowly, +but safely, falling back through the kopjes, where we had hoped to hem them +in. We gnawed our beards and cursed those fellows who played our game as we +had thought no living men could play it Then, once again, we tried to rush +the hill, and once again they drove us back, though our guns were playing +on the heights they held. We could not face their fire. To move upright to +cross a dozen yards meant certain death, and many a Boer wife was widowed +and many a child left fatherless by those silent men who held the heights +above us. They did not cheer as we came onward. They did not play wild +music, they only clung close as climbing weeds to the rocks, and shot as we +never saw men shoot before, and never hope to see men shoot again. + +"Then we got ready to sweep the hill with guns, but our commandant, +admiring those brave few who would not budge before us in spite of our +numbers, sent an officer to them to ask them to surrender, promising them +all the honours of war. But they sent us word to come and take them if we +could. And then our officer asked them three times if they would hold up +their hands, and at the third time a grim sergeant rose and answered him: +'Aye, we will hold up our hands, but when we do, by God, you'll find a +bayonet in 'em. Go back and tell your commandant that Australia's here to +stay.' And there they stayed, and fought us hour by hour, holding us back, +when but for them victory would have been with us. We shelled them all +along their scattered line, and tried to rush them under cover of the +artillery fire; but they only held their posts with stouter hearts, and +shot the straighter when the fire was hottest, and we could do nothing but +lie there and swear at them, though we admired them for their stubborn +pluck. They held the hill till all their men were safe, and then, dashing +down the other side, they jumped into their saddles and made off, carrying +their wounded with them. They were but twenty men, and we four hundred" + +A "Tommy" sitting at the speaker's feet looked up and said: "What are yer +makin' sich a song abart it far? Lumme, them Horstraliars are as Hinglish +has hi ham!" + + + + + + IN A BOER TOWN. + + BETHANY. + + +A Boer town is not laid out on systematic lines, as one sees towns in +America, or Canada, or Australia. The streets seem to run much as they +please, or as the exigencies of traffic have caused them to run. I doubt if +the plan of a town is ever drawn in this country. People arrive and settle +down in a happy-go-lucky manner, and straightway build themselves a home. +Their homes are places to live in; not to look at. There is an almost utter +absence of architectural adornment everywhere. My eyes range over a large +number of dwellings. They are nearly all alike--plain, square structures, +plastered snow white. There is a double door in the centre of the front, +and a window at each side of the door. A stoep, about six feet wide, rises +a foot from the pathway, and there is nothing else to be seen from the +outside front. These houses look bare and bald, and are as expressionless +as a blind baby. To me most houses have an expression of their own. In an +English town a quiet walk in the dawning, making a survey of the +dwelling-places, always leaves the impression that I have gleaned an +insight into the character of the dwellers therein. The cheeky-looking +villa, with its superabundance of ornament, is a monument in masonry to the +successful mining jobber on a small scale. The solemn-looking, solid +dwelling, standing in its own grounds, where every flower bush has its +individual prop, where the lawn is trimmed with mathematical exactitude, +and not one vagrant leaf is allowed to stray, speaks with a kind of +brick-and-mortar eloquence of virtue that has never grasped the sublime +fulness of the Scriptural text which saith: "The way of transgressors is +hard!" That is the home of the middle-aged Churchman, whose feet from +infancy have fallen amidst roses. He has never erred, because he has never +known enough of human sympathy and human toil and struggle to feel +temptation. The coy little cottage further on, surrounded by climbing roses +and sweet-smelling herbs, where the gate is left just a little bit open, as +if inviting a welcome, seems to advertise itself as the home of two maiden +sisters, who, though past the giddy girlhood stage, still have hopes of +being somebody's darling by-and-by. + +But in a Boer town most of the piety is knocked out of a man. You stare at +the houses, and they stare back at you dumbly. There is nothing pretentious +or rakish about any of them; no matter how riotous a man's imagination +might be, he could never conjure up a "wink" from a Boer house, though I +have seen houses in other parts of the world that seemed to "cock an eye" +at a passing traveller and invite him to try the door. + +They have only two styles of roofing their dwellings--either the +old-fashioned gable roof, or the still older kind of "lean-to," the latter +being nothing but a flat top, high at the front and running lower towards +the back, in order that the rain water may carry off rapidly. They paint +their doors and windows a sober reddish brown, for your true Boer has an +utter contempt for anything gaudy or gay. He leaves that sort of thing to +his nigger servants, who make up for their master's lack of appreciation in +the matter of colour by rigging themselves out in anything that is +startling in the way of contrasts, for if the white master is a Puritan in +such things, the nigger servant, male and female, is a perfect sybarite. + +Right opposite where I am sitting a family group, or all that is left of +the family, is sitting, as the custom is at evening, out on the stoep. On +the side nearest me is a young widow. I have made inquiries concerning her. +Her husband was killed fighting against our troops at Graspan. She, poor +thing, is dressed in deepest mourning. Her dress is made of some heavy +black material, and has no touch of white or any colour anywhere to relieve +its sombre shades. On her head she wears a jet black cap, which rises high +and wide, and falls around her neck and shoulders. The cap is fashioned +much after the style of the sun bonnets worn by the peasant women of +Normandy, but hers is black, black as the grave. She has rather a nice +face, a good woman's face, pale and refined by suffering. No one looking at +her can doubt that she has suffered, and suffered as only such women can, +through this brutal, bloody war. I thought of the widows away in our own +land as I looked at her sitting there, so silently and sadly, with her thin +white hands clasped on the black folds of her lap. On one hand I plainly +saw the gold circle shining, which a few months ago had meant so much to +her; now, alas! only the outward and visible sign of all she had been and +of all that she had lost. Behind her the snow-white wall of the house, +sparkling in the red rays of the setting sun; at her feet only the white +slate of the stoep. And well enough I knew that under the proud Empire flag +many a widow as young and as heart-broken as this Dutch girl would watch +the sun go down as hopelessly as she, and I could not help the thought +which sprang to my soul--God's bitter curse rest on the head of the man, be +he Boer or Briton, who brought about this cruel war. + +On the street in front of the house where the widow sat I noticed a group +of niggers. Some of them were merely local "boys," who worked for the +townspeople. They were dressed in the usual nigger fashion, in old store +clothing, patched or ventilated according to the wearer's taste. One fellow +had on a pair of pants that had at some former stage belonged to a man +about four times his size. The portion of those pants which is usually +hidden when a man is sitting in the saddle had been worn into a huge hole, +which the nigger had picturesquely filled by tacking on a scarlet shawl. As +the pants were made of navy blue serge the effect was unquestionably +artistic, especially as the amateur tailor had done his sewing with string, +most of the stitches running from an inch to an inch and a half in length. +Still, he was only one of many in similar case, so that he did not feel in +the least degree lonely. There were other niggers there--"boys" belonging +to the mule-drivers of the army. These "boys" nearly all sported a military +jacket and some sort of field service cap, which they had picked up somehow +in camp. The "side" these niggers put on when they get inside odds and ends +of military wearing apparel is something appalling. They swagger around +amongst the civilian niggers, and treat them as beings of a very inferior +mould, whilst the lies they tell concerning their individual acts of +heroism would set the author of "Deadwood Dick" blushing out of simple +envy. + +The nigger girls cluster round these black veterans like flies around a +western water hole in midsummer, and their shrill laughter makes the air +fairly vibrate as they bandy jests with the cheeky herds. The girls are +rather pleasing in appearance, though far from being pretty. As a rule, +they wear clean print dresses and white aprons; they never wear hats of any +kind, but coil a showy kerchief around their heads in coquettish fashion. +They are not particular as to colour, red, blue, yellow, or pink, anything +will do as long as it is brilliant. The skins of the girls are almost as +varied as the headgear. The Kaffir girl is very dark, almost black. The +bushman's daughter is dirty yellow, like river water in flood time. Some of +the other tribes are as black as the record of a first-class burglar, but +they have bright black eyes, which they roll about as a kitten rolls a ball +of wool in playtime. + +But whether they are black, brown, or coffee-coloured, they are all alike +in one respect--every daughter of them has a mouth that is as boundless as +a mother's blessing, and as limitless as the imagination of a spring poet +in love. When they are vexed they purse that mouth up into a bunch until it +looks like a crumpled saddle-flap hanging on a hedge. When they are pleased +the mouth opens and expands like an indiarubber portmanteau ready for +packing; that is when they smile, but when they laugh their ears have to +shift to give the mouth a chance to get comfortably to its destination. +They have beautiful teeth, the white ivory showing against the black +foreground like fresh tombstones in an old cemetery on a dark night. It is +amusing to watch them flirting with the soldier niggers. They try to look +coy, but soon fall victims to the skilful blandishments of the +vain-glorious warriors, and after a little manoeuvring they put out their +lips to be kissed, a sight which might well make even a Scotch Covenanter +grin. They suck their lips in with a sharp hissing breath; then push them +out suddenly, ready for the osculatory seance, the lips moving as if they +were pushed from the inside by a pole. The "boys" enjoy the picnic +immensely. As a matter of fact, these "boys" always seem to me to be doing +one of four things. They are either eating, smoking, sleeping, or making +love; and they do enough love-making in twenty-four hours to last an +ordinary everyday sort of white man four months, even if he puts in a +little overtime. One of the most charming things noticeable about a Boer +town is the plenitude of trees in the streets. They are often ornamental, +always useful for purposes of shade. There is no regularity about their +distribution; they seem to have been planted spasmodically at odd times and +at odd positions. There is little about them to lead one to the belief that +they receive over much care after they have been put into the soil. I have +found a very creditable library in pretty nearly every Boer town that I +have visited, and it is a noteworthy fact that all of our most cherished +authors find a place on their book-shelves. One other thing I have also +noticed, which, though a small thing in itself, is yet very significant. In +nearly every hotel, and in many of the public places, portraits of our +Queen and members of the Royal Family have been hanging side by side with +portraits of notable men, such as Mr. Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, Mr. +Chamberlain, and Mr. Rhodes. During the course of the war all kinds and +conditions of Boers have had free access to the rooms where those portraits +were to be seen, but now I find that no damage has been done to any of +those pictures, excepting those of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Chamberlain. This has +not been an oversight on the part of the Boers, for I defy any person to +find a solitary picture of the two last-named gentlemen that has not been +hacked with knives. But the Queen and Royal Family photos have in every +case been treated with respect. + + + + + + BEHIND THE SCENES. + + STORMBERG. + + +I am writing this from Stormberg, a tremendously important military +position, which was taken on Monday, the 5th, by General Gatacre, without a +blow, the enemy falling back cowed by the British general's tactics. Had +they remained here another twenty-four hours Gatacre would have had them in +a ring of iron, but the Boer general is no fool. He saw his danger, and, +like a wise man, he dodged it. Gatacre's generalship was simply superb. Let +the idiotic band of critics who sit in safety in England howl to their +heart's content; Gatacre deserves well of his country. Had he dashed +recklessly into this hornet's nest he would have sacrificed four-fifths of +his gallant officers and a host of his men. Had I to write his military +epitaph to-day I should say that "he won with brains what most generals +would have won with blood." + +Strangely enough, I was a prisoner in the very room where I am penning this +epistle only last Saturday night. I left here in the centre of a Boer +commando, with a bandage over my eyes, on Sunday morning, and returned to +the spot surrounded by British "Tommies" a few days later. + +All the glory of this bloodless victory does not rest with the general who +commands the column. To Captain Tennant no small meed of praise is due. +This officer was here on secret service before hostilities commenced, and +he did his work so thoroughly that the country is as familiar to him as +paint to a barmaid. He is one of those men, unfortunately so rare in the +British Army, combining dash and dauntless pluck with a cool, level head. +If he gets his opportunity, England will hear more of this officer. I have +been intensely struck by the class of officers by whom General Gatacre is +surrounded. They all look like soldiers. I have not seen a single dude, not +one of those wretched fops of whom I have seen only too many in South +Africa. They speak like soldiers too. No idiotic drawl, no effeminate lisp, +no bullying, ill-bred, coarseness of tongue; they are neither drawing-room +dandies nor camp swashbucklers, but officers and gentlemen--and, I can +assure you, the terms are not always synonymous, even under the Queen's +cloth. I have seen mere lads in this country leading men into action who in +point of brains were not fit to lead a mule to water, and others who, in +regard to manners, were scarcely fit to follow the mule. But, thank God, +the Boers have taught our nation this, if they have taught us nought +else--that it needs something more than an eye-glass, a lisp, a pair of kid +gloves, and an insolent, overbearing manner to make a successful soldier. + +But let me get amongst the Boers. I was only a prisoner in their hands for +about a month, yet every moment of that time was so fraught with interest +that I fancy I picked up more of the real nature of the Boers than I should +have done under ordinary circumstances in a couple of years. I was moved +from laager to laager along their fighting line, saw them at work with +their rifles, saw them come in from more than one tough skirmish, bringing +their dead and wounded with them, saw them when they had triumphed, and saw +them when they had been whipped; saw them going to their farms, to be +welcomed by wife and children; saw them leaving home with a wife's sobs in +their ears, and children's loving kisses on their lips. I saw some of these +old greyheads shattered by our shells, dying grimly, with knitted brows and +fiercely clenched jaws; saw some of their beardless boys sobbing their +souls out as the life blood dyed the African heath. I saw some passing over +the border line which divides life and death, with a ring of stern-browed +comrades round them, leaning upon their rifles, whilst a brother or a +father knelt and pressed the hand of him whose feet were on the very +threshold of the land beyond the shadows. I saw others smiling up into the +faces of women--the poor, pain-drawn faces of the dying looking less +haggard and worn than the anguish-stricken features of their womanhood who +knelt to comfort them in that last awful hour--in the hour which divides +time from eternity, the sunlight of lusty life from the shadows of +unsearchable death. Those things I have seen, and in the ears of English +men and English women, let me say, as one who knows, and fain would speak +the plain, ungilded truth concerning friend and foe, that, not alone +beneath the British flag are heroes found. Not alone at the breasts of +British matrons are brave men suckled; for, as my soul liveth--whether +their cause be just or unjust, whether the right or the wrong of this war +be with them, whether the blood of the hundreds who have fallen since the +first rifle spoke defiance shall speak for or against them at the day of +judgment--they at least know how to die; and when a man has given his life +for the cause he believes in he is proven worthy even of his worst enemy's +respect. And it seems to me that the British nation, with its long roll of +heroic deeds, wrought the whole world over, from Africa to Iceland, can +well afford to honour the splendid bravery and self-sacrifice of these +rude, untutored tillers of the soil. I have seen them die. + +Once, as I lay a prisoner in a rocky ravine all through the hot afternoon, +I heard the rifles snapping like hounds around a cornered beast. I watched +the Boers as they moved from cover to cover, one here, one there, a little +farther on a couple in a place of vantage, again, in a natural fortress, a +group of eight; so they were placed as far as my eye could reach. The +British force I could not see at all; they were out on the veldt, and the +kopjes hid them from me; but I could hear the regular roll and ripple of +their disciplined volleys, and in course of time, by watching the actions +of the Boers, I could anticipate the sound. They watched our officers, and +when the signal to fire was given they dropped behind cover with such speed +and certainty that seldom a man was hit. Then, when the leaden hail had +ceased to fall upon the rocks, they sprang out again, and gave our fellows +lead for lead. After a while our gunners seemed to locate them, and the +shells came through the air, snarling savagely, as leopards snarl before +they spring, and the flying shrapnel reached many of the Boers, wounding, +maiming, or killing them; yet they held their position with indomitable +pluck, those who were not hit leaping out, regardless of personal danger, +to pick up those who were wounded. They were a strange, motley-looking +crowd, dressed in all kinds of common farming apparel, just such a crowd as +one is apt to see in a far inland shearing shed in Australia, but no man +with a man's heart in his body could help admiring their devotion to one +another or their loyalty to the cause they were risking their lives for. + +One sight I saw which will stay with me whilst memory lasts. They had +placed me under a waggon under a mass of overhanging rock for safety, and +there they brought two wounded men. One was a man of fifty, a hard old +veteran, with a complexion as dark as a New Zealand Maori; the beard that +framed the rugged face was three-fourths grey, his hands were as rough and +knotted by open air toil as the hoofs of a working steer. + +He looked what he was--a Boer of mixed Dutch and French lineage. Later on I +got into conversation with him, and he told me a good deal of his life. His +father was descended from one of the old Dutch families who had emigrated +to South Africa in search of religious liberty in the old days, when the +country was a wilderness. His mother had come in an unbroken line from one +of the noble families of France who fled from home in the days of the +terrible persecution of the Huguenots. He himself had been many +things--hunter, trader, farmer, fighting man. He had fought against the +natives, and he had fought against our people. The younger man was his son, +a tall, fair fellow, scarcely more than a stripling, and I had no need to +be a prophet or a prophet's son to tell that his very hours were numbered. +Both the father and the lad had been wounded by one of our shells, and it +was pitiful to watch them as they lay side by side, the elder man holding +the hand of the younger in a loving clasp, whilst with his other hand he +stroked the boyish face with gestures that were infinitely pathetic. Just +as the stars were coming out that night between the clouds that floated +over us the Boer boy sobbed his young life out, and all through the long +watches of that mournful darkness the father lay with his dead laddie's +hand in his. The pain of his own wounds must have been dreadful, but I +heard no moan of anguish from his lips. When, at the dawning, they came to +take the dead boy from the living man, the stern old warrior simply pressed +his grizzled lips to the cold face, and then turned his grey beard to the +hard earth and made no further sign; but I knew well that, had the +sacrifice been possible, he would gladly have given his life to save the +young one's. + + + + + + A BOER FIGHTING LAAGER. + + BURGHERSDORP. + + +Many and wonderful are the stories written and published concerning the +Boer and his habits when on the war-path. Most of these stories are written +by men who take good care never to get within a hundred miles of the +fighting line, but content themselves with an easy chair, a cigar, a bottle +of whisky, and carpet slippers on the stoep of some good hotel in a pretty +little Boer town. To scribes of this calibre flock a certain class of +British resident, who is always full to the very ears of his own dauntless +courage, his deathless loyalty to the Queen and Empire, his love for the +soldier, and his hatred of the Boer. This gallant class of British resident +has half a million excuses ready to his hand to explain why he did not take +a rifle and fight when the war summons rang clarion-like through the land. +Then he grits his teeth, knits his eyebrows, clenches his hands in +spasmodic wrath, throws out his chest, and tells his auditors, in a voice +husky with concentrated wrath and whisky, what he intends to do the next +time the damnable Boer rises to fight. The old British pioneer may have +whelped a few million good fighting stock in his time, but this class of +animal is no lion's whelp; it is a thing all mouth and no manners, a +shallow-brained, cowardly creature, always howling about the Boer, but too +discreet to go out and fight him, though ready at all times to malign him, +to ridicule him as a farmer or a fighter, and it is a perfect bear's feast +to this hybrid animal to get hold of a gullible newspaper correspondent to +tell him gruesome tales relative to Boer fighting laagers. + +I had one of this peculiar species at me the other day in Burghersdorp, and +he painted a Boer laager so vividly, between nips at my flask, that if I +had not seen a few laagers myself I should have felt bad over the matter. +He pictured the smell of that laager in language so intense, with gestures +so graphic, that some of his auditors had to hold their nostrils with +handkerchiefs, whilst they stirred the circumambient atmosphere with +cardboard fans, and I could not help wondering, if the portrait of the +smell was so awful, what the thing itself must be like. Flushed with +success, the narrator pursued his subject to the bitter extremity. He +conjured up scenes of half-buried men lying amongst the rocks surrounding +the laager: here a leg, there an arm, further on a ghastly human head +protruding from amidst the scattered boulders, until I had only to close my +eyes to fancy I was in a charnel-house, where Goths and Huns were holding +devilish revelry. The B.R. paused, and dropped his voice two octaves lower, +and the crowd on the balcony craned their heads further forward, so that +they might not miss a single word. He told of the women in the laagers, the +wild, unholy mirth of women, who moved from camp fire to camp fire, with +dishevelled hair streaming down their backs, with tossing arms, bare to the +shoulders, and blood besmeared, not the blood of goats or kine, but the +blood of soldiers--our soldiers. Thomas Atkins defunct, and done for by the +she-furies. + +He waded in again when the shudder which shook the crowd had died away, and +hinted, as that class of shallow-souled creature loves to hint, of orgies +under the dim light of the stars, or between the flickering light of +smoking camp fires, until the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah seemed to be +crowding all around us in a peculiarly beastly and uncomfortable fashion. +Then he lay back in his chair and sighed; but anon he sprang upright, and, +with flashing eyes and extended arms, wanted to know what the ---- Roberts +meant by offering peace with honour to such a people. "Mow them down!" he +yelled. "Shoot them on sight--no quarter for such devils! Kill 'em off! +kill 'em off! kill 'em off!" and he half sobbed, half sighed himself into +silence, whilst the audience gazed on him as on one who knew what war, +wild, red, carmine war, was. I broke in on his stillness, as newspaper men +who know the game are apt to do, for I wanted data, I wanted facts, and I +had not swallowed his yarn as freely as he had swallowed my whisky. + +"Born in this country?" I asked. + +"Yorkshire," he answered laconically. + +"Been in Africa long?" + +"'Bout five years." + +"Where did you put in most of your time before +the war?" + +"Johannesburg." + +"Mines?" + +"No." + +"Merchant?" + +"No." + +"Hotel-keeper, perhaps?" + +"No." + +"Shopkeeper?" + +"No." + +"What was your calling, or profession, or business, or means of +livelihood?" + +"General agent, sharebroker, correspondent for some local papers." + +H'm; I knew the class of animal well--general jackal; do the dirty work of +any trade, and master of none. + +"Where were you when the war broke out?" + +He scowled savagely: "Johannesburg." + +"Have the same hatred for the Boers before the war as you have now?" + +"Yes." + +"Why didn't you pick up a rifle and have a hand in the fighting?" + +"I'm not a blessed 'Tommy,' sir! Do you take me for a d---- 'Tommy,' sir?" + +"No; oh, no, I assure you I did nothing of the kind. But--er, have you been +in the hands of the Boers since the war started?" + +"Yes, until our troops marched in here a day or two ago." + +"H'm. Did they rob you?" + +"No." + +"Did they ill-treat you--knock you about, and that sort of thing?" + +"No." + +"Why do you hate them so bitterly, then?" + +"Oh, I can't stand a cursed Boer at any price. Thinks he's as good as a +Britisher all the time, and puts on side; and he's a cursed tyrant in his +heart, and would rub us out if he could." + +"Yes, the Boer thought himself as good a man as the Britishers he met out +this way," I replied, "and he backed his opinion with his life and his +rifle. Why didn't you do the same if you reckoned yourself a better man?" + +"Why should I; don't we pay 'Tommy' to do that for us?" + +"Perhaps we do; but, concerning those Boer laagers you have been telling us +about: where, when, and how did you see them; what was the name of the +place; who was the Boer general in command, or the field cornet, or +landdrost? I did not know the Boers gave British refugees the free run of +their war laagers, and I'm interested in the matter, being a scribe myself +and a man of peace. Just give me a few names and dates and facts, will +you?" + +"No, I won't," he snarled. "You seem to doubt my word, you do, and I'm as +good a Britisher as you are any day, and you think you can come along and +pump information out of me for nothing; but I'm too fly for that--they +don't breed fools in Yorkshire." + +"Well, sir, as it seems to suit your temper," I said as sweetly as I could, +"I'll make it a business proposition. I'll bet you fifty pounds to five you +have never put your head inside a Boer laager in war time in your life. If +you have, just name it and give me a few facts." + +The B.R. rose wrathfully and muttered something about it being a d---- good +job for me that I was a wounded man and had one arm in a sling, or he'd +show me a heap of things in the fistic line which I should remember for the +rest of my life; but as I only laughed he slouched off, and now, when we +meet in the street, we pass without speaking. But I got his history, all +the same, from one of the Cape Police, who told me the beggar had refused +to join a volunteer regiment when the war broke out, and had remained the +whole time in a quiet little Boer village as a British refugee, and had not +seen the outside, let alone the inside, of a Boer fighting laager in all +his lying life. Yet such cravens at times help to make history--of a kind. + +Possibly it may interest Englishmen--and women, too, for that matter--to +know what a fighting laager is like, and as I have seen half a dozen of +them from the enemies' side of the wall, a rough pen and ink sketch may not +be amiss. In war time the Boer never, under any circumstances, makes his +laager in the open country if there are any kopjes about. No matter how +secure he may fancy himself from attack, no matter if there is not a foe +within fifty miles of him, the Boer commander always pitches his laager in +a place of safety between two parallel lines of hills, so that no attack +can be made upon him, either front or rear, without giving him an immense +advantage over the attacking force, even if the enemy is ten times as +strong in numbers. By this means the Boers make their laagers almost +impregnable. If they have a choice of ground, they pick a narrow ravine, or +gully, with a line of hills front and rear, covered with small rocky +boulders and bushes. They drive their waggons along the ravine, and make a +sort of rude breastwork across the gully with the waggons. In between these +waggons the women are placed for safety, for it is a noticeable fact that +very large numbers of women have followed their husbands and fathers to the +war, not to act as viragoes, not to play the wanton, not to unsex +themselves, not to handle the rifle, but to nurse the wounded, to comfort +the dying, and to lay out the dead. I have heard them singing round the +camp fires in the starlight, but it was hymns that they sang, not ribald +songs. I have seen them kneeling by the side of men in the moonlight, not +in wantonness, but in mercy, and many a man who wears the British uniform +to-day can bear me witness that I speak the truth. + +The Boer never, if he can help it, allows himself to be separated from his +horse; and these hardy little animals, mostly about fifteen hands high, and +very lightly framed, are picketed close to the spot where the rider +deposits his rifle and blankets. If they allow them to graze on the +hillsides during the day, they run a rope through the halter near the +horse's muzzle, and tie it close above the knee-joint of the near fore-leg. +By this means the horse can graze in comfort, but cannot move away at any +pace beyond a slow walk, and so are easily caught and saddled if required +in a hurry. The oxen and sheep to be used for slaughtering purposes are +driven up close to the camp; a waggon or two is drawn across the ravine +above and below them, and they cannot then stampede if frightened by +anything, unless they climb the rocky heights on either side of them, which +they have small chance of doing, as the Kaffir herdsmen sleep on the hills +above them. Having pitched his laager, the commander sends out his scouts; +some amble off on horseback at a pace they call a "tripple"--a gait which +all the Boers educate their nags to adopt. It is not exactly an amble, but +a cousin to it, marvellously easy to the rider, whilst it enables the nag +to get over a wonderful lot of ground without knocking up. It also allows +the horse to pick his way amongst rocky ground, and so save his legs, where +an English, Indian, or Australian horse would be apt to cripple himself in +very short order. As soon as the mounted scouts set off on their journey, +holding the reins carelessly in the left hand, their handy little Mauser +rifles in their right, swaying carelessly in the saddle after the fashion +of all bush-riders the world over, the foot scouts take up their positions +amongst the rocks and shrubs on the hills in front and rear of the laager. +Each scout has his rifle in his hand, his pipe in his teeth, his bandolier +full of cartridges over his shoulder, and his scanty blanket under his left +arm. No fear of his sleeping at his post. He is fighting for honour, not +for pay; for home, not for glory; and he knows that on his acuteness the +lives of all may depend. He knows that his comrades and the women trust +him, and he values the trust as dearly as British soldier ever did. No +matter how tired he may be, no matter how famished, the Boer sentinel is +never faithless to his orders. + +When the scouts are out the laager is fixed for the night--not a very +exhaustive proceeding, as the Boers do not go in for luxuries of any kind. +Here a tarpaulin is stretched over a kind of temporary ridge pole, blankets +are tossed down on the hard earth, saddles are used for pillows, and the +couch is complete. A little way farther down the line a rude canvas screen +is thrown over the wheels of a waggon, and a family, or rather husband and +wife, make themselves at home under the waggon; whilst the single men +simply throw themselves at full length on the ground, wrap their one thin, +small blanket round them, and smoke and jest merrily enough, whilst the +Kaffirs light the fires and make the coffee. There is scarcely any timber +in this part of Africa, and the fuel used is the dried manure of cattle +pressed into slabs about fifteen inches long, eight inches wide, and three +inches thick. The smoke from the fires is very dense, and soon fills the +air with a pungent odour, which is not unpleasant in the open, but would be +simply intolerable in a building. The coffee is soon made, and the simple +meal begins; it consists of "rusks," a kind of bread baked until it becomes +crisp and hard, and plenty of steaming hot coffee. I never saw any people +so fond of this beverage as the Boers are. The Australian bushman and +digger loves tea, and can almost exist upon it; but these Boers cling to +coffee. They live, when out in laager, like Spartans, they dress anyhow, +sleep anyhow, and eat just rusks and precious little else. Talk about +"Tommy" and his hard times, why a private soldier at the front sleeps +better, dresses better, and eats better than a Boer general; yet never once +did I hear a Boer complain of hardships. After tea the Boers sit about and +clean their rifles; the women move from one little group to another, +chatting cheerfully, but I saw nothing in their conduct, or in the conduct +of any man towards one of them, that would cause the most chaste matron in +Great Britain to blush or droop her eyes. There is in the laager an utter +absence of what we term soldierly discipline; men moved about, went and +came in a free and easy fashion, just as I have seen them do a thousand +times in diggers' camps. There was no saluting of officers, no stiffness, +no starch anywhere. The general lounges about with hands in pockets and +pipe in mouth; no one pays him any special deference. He talks to the men, +the striplings, and the women, and they talk back to him in a manner which +seems strange to a Britisher familiar to the ways of military camps. After +the chatting, the pridikant, or parson, if there is one in the laager, +raises his hands, and all listen with reverent faces whilst the man of God +utters a few words in a solemn, earnest tone; then all kneel, and a prayer +floats up towards the skies, and a few moments later the whole camp is +wrapped in sleep, nothing is heard but the neighing of horses, the lowing +of cattle, the bleating of sheep, and the occasional barking of a dog. +There is no clatter of arms, no ringing of bugles, no deep-toned challenge +of sentries, no footfall of changing pickets. + +At regular intervals men rise silently from the ranks of the sleepers, pick +up their rifles noiselessly, and silently, like ghosts, slip out into the +deep shadows of the kopjes, and other men, equally silent, glide in from +posts they have been guarding, and stretch themselves out to snatch slumber +whilst they may. At dawn the men toss their blankets aside, and spring up +ready dressed, and move amongst their horses; the Kaffirs attend to the +morning meal, the everlasting rusks and coffee are served up, horses are +saddled, cattle are yoked to waggons, and in the twinkling of an eye the +camp is broken up, and the irregular army is on the march again, with +scouts guarding every pass in front, scouts watching (themselves unseen) on +every height. They travel fast, because they travel light; they use very +little water, because they find it impossible to move it from place to +place. Many critics charge them with habits of personal uncleanliness. It +is true that in their laagers one does not see as much soap and water used +as in our camps, but this is possibly due to want of opportunity as much as +to want of inclination. In sanitary matters they are neglectful. I did not +see a single latrine in any of their laagers, nor do I think they are in +the habit of making them, and to this cause and to no other I attribute the +large amount of fever in their ranks. They do not seem to understand the +first principles of the laws of sanitation, and had this season been a wet, +instead of a peculiarly dry one, I venture to assert that typhoid fever +would have wrought far more havoc amongst them than our rifles. + +I saw no literature in laager except Bibles. I witnessed no sports of any +kind, and the only sport I heard them talk about was horse-racing. I saw no +gambling, heard no blasphemy, noticed no quarrelling or bickering, and can +only say, from my slight acquaintance with life in Boer laager in war time, +that it may be rough, it may be irksome, it may not be so fastidiously +clean as a feather-bed soldier might like it, but I have been in many +tougher, rougher places, and never heard anyone cry about it. + + + + + + THROUGH BOER GLASSES. + + BURGHERSDORP. + + +I had a good many opportunities of chatting with Boers during the time +which elapsed between my capture and liberation, and had a long talk with +the President of the Orange Free State, Mr. Steyn; also with several of his +ministerial colleagues. Their ministers of religion, whom they call +pridikants, also chatted to me freely, as occasion offered. I had more than +one interview with their fighting generals. Medical men in their service I +found very much akin to medical men the world over. They patched up the +wounded and asked no questions concerning nationality, just as our own +medicos do. Personally, I must say that I found the Boers first-class +subjects for Press interviews. They did not know much about journalists and +the ways of journalism. Possibly had they had more experience in regard to +"interviews," I should not have found them quite so easy to manage, but it +never seemed to enter their heads that a man might make good "copy" out of +a quiet chat over pipes and tobacco. One of their stock subjects of +conversation was their great General, the man of Magersfontein--General +Cronje. + +"What do you Britishers and Australians think of Cronje?" was a stock +question with them. "Do you think him a good fighter?" + +"Well, yes, unquestionably he is a good fighting man." + +"Do you think him as good as Lord Roberts?" + +"No. We men of British blood don't think there are many men on earth as +good as the hero of Candahar." + +"Do you think him as good a man as Lord Kitchener?" + +"No. Very many of us consider the conqueror of the Soudan to be one who, if +he lives, will make as great a mark in history as Wellington." + +At this a joyous smile would illuminate the face of the Boer. He would +reply, "Yes, yes; Roberts is a great man, a very great man indeed. So is +Kitchener, so is General French, so is General Macdonald, so is General +Methuen. Yet all those five men are attempting to get Cronje into a corner +where they can capture him. They have ten times as many soldiers as Cronje +has, ten times as many guns; therefore, what a really great man Cronje must +be on your own showing." + +That was before the fatal 27th of February on which Cronje surrendered. + +I often asked them how they, representing a couple of small States, came to +get hold of the idea that they could whip a colossal Power like Great +Britain in a life or death struggle; and almost invariably they informed me +that they had expected that one of the great European Powers would take an +active part in the struggle on their behalf, and, furthermore, they had +been taught to think that Britain's Empire was rotten to the core, so much +so that as soon as war commenced in earnest all her colonies would fall +away from her and hoist the flag of independence, and that India would leap +once again into open and bloody mutiny. They expressed themselves as being +dumbfounded when they heard that Australian troops were rallying under the +Union Jack, and seemed to feel most bitterly that the men from the land of +the Southern Cross were in arms against them. "We fell out with England, +and we thought we had to fight England. Instead we find we have to fight +people from all parts of the world, Colonials like ourselves. Surely +Australia and Canada might have kept out of this fight, and allowed us to +battle it out with the country we had a quarrel with." + +"The Canadians and Australians are of British blood." + +"Well, what if they are? Ain't plenty of the Cape Volunteers who are +fighting under President Kruger's banner born of Dutch parents? Yet, +because they fight against Englishmen, you call them all rebels, and talk +of punishing them when the war is over, if you win, just because they lived +on your side of the border and not on ours. Would you ask one Boer to fight +against another Boer simply because he lived on one side of a river and his +blood relation lived on the other? You Britishers brag of your pride of +blood, and draw your fighting stock from all parts of the world in war +time, but you have no generosity; you won't allow other people to be proud +of their blood too." + +I tried to persuade them that I did not for one moment think that Britain +would be vindictive towards so-called rebels in the hour of victory, and +pointed out that, in my small opinion, such a course would be foreign to +the traditions of the Motherland; and was often met with the retort that if +England did so the shame would be hers, not theirs. Many a time I was told +to remember the Jameson raid and the manner in which the Boers treated not +only the leaders of that band of adventurers, but the men also. "Look +here," said one old fighting man to me, as he leant with negligent grace on +his rifle, "I was one of those who helped to corner Jameson and his men, +and I can tell you that we Boers knew very well that we would have been +acting within our rights if we had shot Jameson and every man he had with +him, because his was not an act of war--it was an act of piracy; and had we +done so, and England had attempted to avenge the deed, half the civilised +world would have ranged themselves on our side; but we did not seek those +men's blood; we gave them quarter as soon as they asked for it, and after +that, though we knew very well they had done all that men could do to +involve us in a war of extermination with a great nation, we sent their +leader home to his own country to be tried by his own countrymen, and the +rank and file we forgave freely. We may be a nation of white savages, but +our past does not prove it, and if Britain wins in the war now going on she +will have to be very generous indeed before we will need to blush for our +conduct." + +"Why should not the white population of South Africa be ready to live under +the protection of Britain? The yoke cannot be so heavy when men of all +creeds, colours, and nationalities who have lived under that rule for years +are now ready to volunteer to fight for her, even against you, who have +admittedly done them no direct wrong?" + +"Why should we live under any flag but our own?" replied the old fighting +man passionately. "We came here and found the country a wilderness in the +hands of savages; we fought our way into the land step by step, holding our +own with our rifles; we had to live lives of fearful hardships, facing wild +beasts and wilder men; we won with the strong hand the land we live in. Why +should we bow our necks to Britain's yoke, even if it be a yoke of silk?" +And as he spoke a murmur of deep and earnest sympathy ran through the ranks +of the Boers who were standing around him. + +"You, of course, blame all the Colonials, Australians and others, for +coming to fight against you?" I asked. "I don't know that I do, or that my +people do, in a sense," the veteran replied. "It all depends upon the +spirit which animated them. If your Australians, who are of British blood, +came here to fight for your Motherland, believing that her cause was a just +and a holy one, and that she needed your aid, you did right, for a son will +help his mother, if he be a son worth having; but if the Australians came +here merely for the sake of adventure, merely for sport, as men come in +time of peace to shoot buck on the veldt, then woe to that land, for though +God may make no sign to-day nor to-morrow, yet, in His own time, He will +surely wring from Australia a full recompense in sweat and blood and tears; +for whether we be right or wrong, our God knows that we are giving our +lives freely for what we in our hearts believe to be a holy cause." + +"What do you fellows think of Australians as fighters?" + +I asked the question carelessly, but the answer that I got brought me to my +bearings quickly, for then I learnt that more than one gallant Australian +officer dear to me had fallen, never to rise again, since I had been taken +prisoner. The man who spoke was little more than a lad, a pale-faced, +slenderly built son of the veldt. He had tangled curly hair, and big, +pathetic blue eyes, soft as a girl's, and limbs that lacked the rugged +strength of the old Boer stock; but there was that nameless "something," +that indefinable expression in his face which warranted him a brave man. He +carried one arm in a sling, and the bandage round his neck hid a bullet +wound. "The Australians can fight," he said simply. "They wounded me, +and--they killed my father." Perhaps it was the wind sighing through the +hospital trees that made the Boer lad's voice grow strangely husky; +possibly the same cause filled the blue eyes with unshed tears. + +"It was in fair fight, lad," I said gently; "it was the fortune of war." + +"Yes," he murmured, "it was in fair fight, an awful fight--I hope I'll +never look upon another like it. Damn the fighting," he broke out fiercely. +"Damn the fighting. I didn't hate your Australians. I didn't want to kill +any of them. My father had no ill-will to them, nor they to him, yet he is +out there--out there between two great kopjes--where the wind always blows +cold and dreary at night-time." The laddie shuddered. "It makes a man doubt +the love of the Christ," he said. "My father was a good man, a kind man, +who never turned the stranger empty-handed from his door, even the Kaffirs +on the farm loved him; and now he is lying where no one can weep over his +grave. We piled great rocks on his grave. My cousin and I buried him. We +had no shovels; we scooped a hole in the hard earth as well as we could, a +long, shallow hole, and we laid him in it. I took his head and Cousin +Gustave carried his feet. We folded his hands on his breast, laid his old +rifle by his side, because he had always loved that gun, and never used any +other when out hunting. Then we pushed the earth in on him gently with our +hands, breaking the hard lumps up and crumbling them in our palms, so that +they should not bruise his poor flesh. He had always been so kind, we could +not hurt him, even though we knew he was dead, for he had been gentle to +all of us in life; even the cows and the oxen at home loved him--and now +who will go back and tell mother and little Yacoba that he is dead, that he +will come to them no more? Oh, damn the war," the lad called again in his +pain. "I don't know--only God knows--which side is right or wrong, but I do +know that the curse of the Christ will rest on the heads of those who have +made this war for ambition's sake or the greed of gold, and the good God +will not let the widow and the orphan child go unavenged; blood will yet +speak for blood, and it must rest either on the heads of Kruger and Steyn, +or Chamberlain and Rhodes." + +"Tell me, comrade, of the Australians who fell. They were my countrymen." + +"It was a cruel fight," he said. "We had ambushed a lot of the British +troops--the Worcesters, I think, they called them. They could neither +advance nor retire; we had penned them in like sheep, and our field cornet, +Van Leyden, was beseeching them to throw down their rifles to save being +slaughtered, for they had no chance. Just then we saw about a hundred +Australians come bounding over the rocks in the gully behind us. There were +two great big men in front cheering them on. We turned and gave them a +volley, but it did not stop them. They rushed over everything, firing as +they came, not wildly, but as men who know the use of a rifle, with the +quick, sharp, upward jerk to the shoulder, the rapid sight, and then the +shot. They knocked over a lot of our men, but we had a splendid position. +They had to expose themselves to get to us, and we shot them as they came +at us. They were rushing to the rescue of the English. It was splendid, but +it was madness. On they came, and we lay behind the boulders, and our +rifles snapped and snapped again at pistol range, but we did not stop those +wild men until they charged right into a little basin which was fringed +around all its edges by rocks covered with bushes. Our men lay there as +thick as locusts, and the Australians were fairly trapped. They were far +worse off than the Worcesters, up high in the ravine. + +"Our field cornet gave the order to cease firing, and called on them to +throw down their rifles or die. Then one of the big officers--a, great, +rough-looking man, with a voice like a bull--roared out, 'Forward +Australia!--no surrender!' Those were the last words he ever uttered, for a +man on my right put a bullet clean between his eyes, and he fell forward +dead. We found later that his name was Major Eddy, of the Victorian Rifles. +He was as brave as a lion, but a Mauser bullet will stop the bravest. His +men dashed at the rocks like wolves; it was awful to see them. They smashed +at our heads with clubbed rifles, or thrust their rifles up against us +through the rocks and fired. One after another their leaders fell. The +second big man went down early, but he was not killed. He was shot through +the groin, but not dangerously. His name was Captain McInnerny. There was +another one, a little man named Lieutenant Roberts; he was shot through the +heart. Some of the others I forget. The men would not throw down their +rifles; they fought like furies. One man I saw climb right on to the rocky +ledge where Big Jan Albrecht was stationed. Just as he got there a bullet +took him, and he staggered and dropped his rifle. Big Jan jumped forward to +catch him before he toppled over the ledge, but the Australian struck Jan +in the mouth with his clenched fist, and fell over into the ravine below +and was killed. + +"We killed and wounded an awful lot of them, but some got away; they fought +their way out. I saw a long row of their dead and wounded laid out on the +slope of a farmhouse that evening--they were all young men, fine big +fellows. I could have cried to look at them lying so cold and still. They +had been so brave in the morning, so strong; but in the evening, a few +little hours, they were dead, and we had not hated them, nor they us. Yes, +I could have cried as I thought of the women who would wait for them in +Australia. Yes, I could have shed tears, though they had wounded me, but +then I thought of my father, and of the mother, and little Yacoba on the +farm, who would wait in vain for _him_, and then I could feel sorry +for those, the wives and children of the dead men, no longer." + + + + + + LIFE IN THE BOER CAMPS. + + HEADQUARTERS, ORANGE RIVER COLONY. + + +It is an article of faith with many people that a Boer commando is a mere +mob, that its leaders exercise no control over men in laager or on the +field, and that punishment for crimes is a thing unknown. But this is far +from being the case. It is quite true that a Boer soldier does not know how +to click his heels together, turn his toes to an acute angle, stiffen his +back, and salute every time an officer runs against him. He could not +properly perform any of the very simplest military evolutions common to all +European soldiers if his immortal welfare depended upon it. That is why he +is such a failure as an attacking agent. Still, in spite of these things, +the Boer on commando has to submit to very rigid laws. The penalty for +outrage, or attempted outrage, on a woman is instant death on conviction, +no matter what the woman's nationality may be. For sleeping on sentry duty +the punishment is unique; it is a punishment born of long dwelling in the +wilderness. It is of such a nature that no man who has once undergone it is +calculated ever to forget. When a clear case is made out against a burgher +by trial before his commandant the whole commando in laager is summoned to +witness the criminal's reward. He is taken out beyond the lines to a spot +where the sun shines in all its unprotected fierceness. He is led to an +ant-hill full of busy, wicked, little crawlers; the top of the ant-hill is +cut off with a spade, leaving a honeycombed surface for the sleepy one to +stand upon (not much fear of him sleeping whilst he is there). He is +ordered to mount the hill and stand with feet close together. His rifle is +placed in his hands, the butt resting between his toes, the muzzle clasped +in both hands. Two men are then told off to watch him. They are picked men, +noted for their stern, unyielding sense of duty and love for the cause they +fight for. + +These guards lie down in the veldt twenty-five yards away from the victim. +They have their loaded Mausers with them, and their orders are, if the +prisoner lifts a leg, to put a bullet into it; if he lifts an arm, a bullet +goes into that defaulting member; if he jumps down from his perch +altogether, the leaden messengers sent from both rifles will cancel all his +earthly obligations. The sun shines down in savage mockery; it strikes upon +the bare neck of the quivering wretch, who dare not lift a hand to shift +his hat to cover the blistering skin. It strikes in his eyes and burns his +lips until they swell and feel like bursting. The barrel of his rifle grows +hotter and hotter, until his fingers feel as if glued to a gridiron. The +very clothes upon his body burn the skin beneath. He feels desperate; he +must shift one arm, for the anguish is intolerable. He makes an almost +imperceptible movement of his shoulder, and glances towards his guards. The +man on his right front lays his pipe quickly in the grass, and swiftly +lifts his Mauser to his shoulder. The wretch on the ant-heap closes his +eyes with a groan, and stands as still as a Japanese god carved out of +jute-wood. The guard lays down his rifle and picks up his pipe. + +The sun climbs higher and higher, until it gleams down straight into the +ant-heap; the scorching heat penetrates into the unprotected cells, and +enrages the dwellers inside. They swarm out full of fight, like an army +lusting for battle. Their home has been ravished of the protection they had +raised with half a lifetime of labour, and in their puny way they want +vengeance. They find a foe on top, a man ready to their wrath. They crawl +into his scorched boots, over his baked feet, guiltless of stockings; they +charge up the legs, on which the trousers hang loosely, and as they charge +they bite, because they are out for business, not for a picnic. The very +stillness of their victim seems to enrage them. The first legion retires at +full speed down into the ant-heap again. They have gone for recruits. In a +few seconds up they come again, until the very top of the heap is alive +with them. They climb one over another in their eagerness to get in their +individual moiety of revenge. Down into the veldtschoon, up the bare, hairy +legs, over the hips, round the waist, over the lean ribs, along the spine, +under the arms, round the neck, over the whole man they go, as the +Mongolian hordes will some day go over the Western world. And each one digs +his tiny prongs into the smarting, burning, itching poor devil on top of +their homestead. He shifts a leg the hundredth part of an inch. The guard +on the left gives his bandolier a warning twist, and glances along the long +brown barrel that nestles in the hollow of his left hand. + +The commandant comes out of the circle of burghers, looks at the victim, +sees that the eyes are bloodshot and protruding far beyond the normal +position. He is not a hard man, but he knows that the culprit has +endangered the lives and liberties of all. "You will remember this," he +says sternly; "you will not again sleep when it is your turn to watch." +"Never, so help me God!" gasps the prisoner. "Stand down, then; you are +free." Quicker than a swallow's flight is the movement of the liberated +man. He drops his rifle with a gasp of relief, tears every stitch of +clothing from his body, throws the garments from him, and pelts his +veldtschoon after them. Some sympathetic veteran, who has possibly, in +earlier wars, been through the ordeal himself, runs up with a drink of +blessed water. He does not drink it; he pours it down his burning throat, +then sits on the grass, drawing his breath in long, sobbing sighs, all the +more terrible because they are tearless. From head to heel he is covered +with tiny red marks, just like a schoolboy who has had the measles; in +three days there will not be a mark on him, but he won't forget them, all +the same, not in thirty-three years, or three hundred and thirty-three, if +he happens to have a memory of any kind at that period. + +This mode of punishing recalcitrant persons was picked up, I am told, from +one of the savage tribes. I do not know if this is so or not, but there is +no doubt that the niggers know all about it, because one day, when I found +that one of my niggers had been helping himself lavishly to my tobacco, I +promised to stand him on an ant-heap as soon as I had finished shaving. +Five minutes later my other nigger, Lazarus, came into my tent and informed +me that Johnnie had bolted. I went out, and by the aid of my glasses I +could just espy a black dot away out on the veldt, making a rapid and +direct line for the land of the Basutos; and that was the last I ever saw +or heard of tobacco-loving, work-dodging, truth-twisting Johnnie. + +There is a distinctly humorous side to the Boer character, which crops out +sometimes in his methods of dealing out justice to those who have done the +thing that seems evil in his sight. If there is a fellow in laager who is +not amenable to orders, one of those malcontents who desires to have +everything his own way--and there generally is one of these cherubs in +every large gathering of men all the world over--the commandant first calls +him up and warns him that he is making himself a pest to the whole +commando, and exhorts him to mend his manners. As a general thing the +commandant throws a few slabs of Scripture appropriate to the occasion at +the disturber's ears, and mixes it judiciously with a good deal of worldly +wisdom, all of which tending to teach the fellow that he is about as +desirable as a comrade as a sore eye in a sand-storm. Should the +exhortation not have the desired effect, and the offender continue to stir +up strife in laager, as a lame mule stirs up mud in midstream, then the +commandant sends a guard of young men to gather in the unruly one. He is +captured with as little ceremony as a nigger captures a hog in the midst of +his mealy patch. They strip him bare to the waist, and put a bridle on his +head; the bit is jammed into his mouth, and firmly buckled there, and then +the circus begins. One of the guards takes the reins, usually a couple of +long lengths of raw hide; another flicks the human steed on the bare ribs +with a sjambok, and he is ordered to show his paces. He has to walk, trot, +canter, gallop, and "tripple" all around the laager several times, amidst +the badinage and laughter of the burghers, and he gets enough "chaff" +during the journey to last the biggest horse in England a lifetime. + +It is bad enough when there are only men there, but when there are, as is +often the case, a dozen or two of women and girls present his woe is served +up to him full measure and brimming over. The men roar with laughter, and +pelt him with crusts of rusks, but the women and girls make his life an +agony for the time being. They smile at him sweetly, and ask him if he +feels lonely without a cart, or they pull up a handful of grass and offer +it to him on the end of a stick, making a lot of "stage aside" remarks +concerning the length of his ears the while, until the fellow's face +crimsons with shame. + +They are wonderfully patriotic, these Boer girls and women, and are +merciless in their contempt for a man who will not do his share of +fighting, marching, and watching cheerfully and uncomplainingly. The +hardships and privations they themselves undergo without murmuring, in +order to assist their husbands, brothers, and lovers, is worthy of being +chronicled in the pages of history, for they are the Spartans of the +nineteenth century. They are swift to help those who need help, but +unsparing with their scorn for those who are unworthy. The treatment meted +out to the grumbler and mischief-maker usually presents more of the +elements of comedy than anything else, and it is his own fault if he does +not get off lightly. But if he cuts up rough, tries to strike or kick his +drivers or tormentors, or if he goes in for a course of sulks, and flops +himself down, refusing to be driven, then the comic element disappears from +the scene. Out come the sjamboks, and he is treated precisely as a vicious +or sulky horse would be treated under similar circumstances. As a rule, it +does not take long to bring a man of that kind to his proper senses. Should +he talk of deserting or of avenging himself later on, he is watched, and a +deserter soon learns that a rifle bullet can travel faster than he can. As +for revenge, the sooner he forgets desires or designs of that kind the +better for his own health. + +For minor offences, such as laziness, neglecting to keep the rifle clean +and in good shooting order, attempting to strike up a flirtation with a +married woman, to the annoyance of the lady, or any other little matter of +the kind, the wayward one is "tossed." Tossing is not the sort of pastime +any fellow would choose for fun, not if he were the party to be tossed, +though it is a beanfeast for the onlookers. They manage it this way. A +hide, freshly stripped from a bullock, smoking, bloody, and limber as a +bowstring, is requisitioned; the hairy side is turned downwards, two strong +men get hold of each corner, cutting holes in the green hide for their +hands to have a good grip; they allow the hide to sag until it forms a sort +of cradle, into which the unlucky one is dumped neck and crop. Then the +signal is given, the hide sways to and fro for a few seconds, and then, +with a skilful jerk, it is drawn as taut as eight pairs of strong arms can +draw it. If the executioners are skilful at the business the victim shoots +upwards from the blood-smeared surface like a dude's hat in a gale of wind. +Sometimes he comes down on his feet, sometimes on his head, or he may +sprawl face downwards, clutching at the slimy surface as eagerly as a +politician clutches at a place in power. But his efforts are vain; a couple +more swings and another jerk, and up he goes, turning and twisting like a +soiled shirt on a wire fence. This time he comes down on his hands and +knees, and promptly commences to plead for pity, but before he can open his +heart a neat little jerk sends him out on his back, where he claws and +kicks like a jackal in a gin case, whilst the more ribald amongst the +onlookers sing songs appropriate to the occasion, but the more devout chant +some such hymn as this: + + Lord, let me linger here, + For this is bliss. + +A man is very seldom hurt at this game, though how he escapes without a +broken neck is one of the wonders of gravitation to me. One second you see +the poor beggar in mid air, going like a circular saw through soft pine. +Just when you are beginning to wonder if he has converted himself into a +catherine-wheel or a corkscrew, he straightens himself out horizontally, +remains poised for the millionth part of a second like a he-angel that has +moulted his wings; then down he dives perpendicularly like a tornado in +trousers, skinning forehead, nose, and chin as he kisses the drum-like +surface of the hide. No, on the whole, I do not consider it healthy to try +to fool with a married woman in a Boer fighting laager, apart altogether +from the moral aspect of the affair. If some of the amorous dandies I wot +of, who claim kindred with us, got the same sort of treatment in Old +England, many a merry matron would be saved much annoyance. + +For rank disobedience of orders, brutality of conduct, cowardice in the +face of the enemy, flagrant neglect of the wounded, or any other very +serious military crime, the punishment is sjamboking, which is simply +flogging, as it existed in our Army and Navy not so many years ago. On +board ship they used to use the "cat," a genteel instrument with a handle +attached. The Boer sjambok is a different article altogether; it has not +nine tails, but it gets there just the same. The sjambok dear to the Boer +soul is that made out of rhinoceros hide. It is a plain piece of hide, not +twisted in any way; just clean cut out and trimmed round all the way down. +It is about three feet long, and at the end which the flogger holds it is +about two and a half inches in circumference, tapering down gradually to a +rat-tail point. It is a terrible weapon when the person who wields it is +bent on business, and is not manufacturing poetry or mingling thoughts of +home and mother with the flogging. Truth to tell, I don't think they do +much flogging--not half as much as they are credited with--but when they do +flog, the party who gets it wants a soft shirt for a month after, and it's +quite a while before he will lie on his back for the mere pleasure of +seeing the moon rise. + + + + + + BATTLE OF CONSTANTIA FARM. + + THABA NCHU. + + +The Battle of Constantia Farm will not rank as one of the big events of +this war, but it is worthy of a full description, because in this battle +the Briton for the first time laid himself out from start to finish to +fight the Boer pretty much on his own lines, instead of following +time-honoured British rules of war. Before attempting to portray the actual +fighting, I think a brief sketch of our movements from the time we left the +railway line to cross the country will be of interest to those readers of +_The Daily News_ who desire to follow the progress of the war with due +care. + +The Third Division, which had been at Stormberg, and had done such +excellent, though almost bloodless, work by sweeping the country between +the last-named place and Bethany, rested at the latter place, and built up +its full strength by incorporating a large number of men and guns. General +Gatacre, who had retrieved his reverse at Stormberg by forcing Commandant +Olivier to vacate his almost impregnable position without striking a blow, +and later by his masterly move in swooping down on Bethulie Bridge and +preventing the Boers from wrecking the line of communication between Lord +Roberts and his supplies from Capetown, only remained long enough with his +old command to see them equipped in a manner fit to take the field, and +then retired in favour of General Chermside. It was under this officer that +we marched away from the railway line across country known to be hostile to +us. Almost due east we moved to Reddersburg, about twelve and a half miles. +We had to move slowly and cautiously, because no living man can tell when, +where, or how a Boer force will attack. They follow rules of their own, and +laugh at all accepted theories of war, ancient or modern, and no general +can afford to hold them cheap. A day and a half was spent at Reddersburg, +and then the Third Division continued its eastward course in wretched +weather, until Rosendal was arrived at. This is the spot where the Royal +Irish Rifles and Northumberland Fusiliers had to surrender to the Boers. We +had to camp there for the best part of three days on account of the +continuous downpour of rain, which rendered the veldt tracks impassable for +our transport. To push onward meant the absolute destruction of mules and +oxen, and the consequent loss of food supplies, without which we were +helpless, for in that country every man's hand was against us, not only in +regard to actual warfare, but in regard to forage for man and beast. + +Here we were joined by General Rundle with the Eighth Division, which +brought our force up to about thirteen thousand men, thirty big guns, and a +number of Maxims. When the weather cleared slightly we moved onward slowly, +the ground simply clinging to the wheels of the heavily laden waggons, +until it seemed as if the very earth, as well as all that was on top of it, +was opposed to our march. Our scouts constantly saw the enemy hovering on +our front and flanks, and more than once exchanged shots with them. General +Rundle, who was in supreme command, thus knew that he could not hope to +surprise the wily foe, for it was evident to the merest tyro that the Boer +leader was keeping a sharp eye upon our movements, and would not be taken +at a disadvantage. We expected to measure the enemy's fighting force at any +hour, but it was not until about half-past ten on the morning of Friday, +the 20th of April, that we were certain that he meant to measure his arms +with ours, though early on that morning our scouts had brought in news that +a commando, believed to be about two thousand five hundred strong, with +half a dozen guns, commanded by General De Wet, was strongly posted right +on our line of march. Slowly we crept across the open veldt, our men +stretching from east to west for fully six miles. There was no moving of +solid masses of men, no solid grouping of troops; no two men marched +shoulder to shoulder, a gap showed plainly between each of the khaki-clad +figures as we moved on to the rugged, broken line of kopjes. There was no +hurry, no bustle, the men behaved admirably, each individual soldier +seeming to have his wits about him, and proving it by taking advantage of +every bit of cover that came in his way. If they halted near an ant-hill, +they at once put it between themselves and the enemy. + +Slowly but steadily they rolled onward, like a great sluggish, but +irresistible, yellow wave, until we saw the scouts slipping from rock to +rock up the stony heights of the first line of hills. Breathlessly we +watched the intrepid "eyes of the army" advance until they stood +silhouetted against the sky-line on the top of the black bulwarks of the +veldt. Then we strained our ears to catch the rattle of the enemy's rifles, +but we listened in vain; and we were completely staggered. What did it +mean? Was it a trap? Was there some devilish craft behind that apparent +peacefulness? Trap or no trap, we had not long to wait. The long, yellow +wave curled inwards from both flanks, the men going forward with quick, +lithesome steps. The mounted infantry shot forward as if moved by magic, +and, before the eye could scarcely grasp the details, our fellows held the +heights, and men marvelled and wondered whether the Boers had bolted for +good. But they soon undeceived us, for the hills shook with the +far-reaching roar of their guns, and shells began to make melody which +devils love; but they did no harm. Not a man was touched. Then came the +short, sharp word of command from our lines. Officers bit their words +across the centre, and threw them at the men. The Horse Artillery moved +into position, some going at a steady trot, others sweeping along the +valleys as if they were the children of the storm. The left flank swung +forward and encircled the base of an imposing kopje. The men swarmed up +with tiger-like activity, quickly, and in broken and irregular lines; but +there was no confusion, no wretched tangle, no helpless muddle. They did +not rush madly to the top and stand on the sky-line to be a mark for their +foes. When they almost touched the summit they paused, formed their broken +lines, and carefully and wisely topped the black brow; and as they did so +the Boer rifles spoke from a line of kopjes that lay behind the first. Then +our fellows dropped to cover, and sent an answer back that a duller foe +than the Boers would not have failed to understand. The Mauser bullets +splashed on the rocks, and spat little fragments of lead in all directions; +but few of them found a resting-place under those thin yellow jackets. +By-and-by the shells began to follow the Mauser's spiteful pellets, but the +shells were less harmful even than the little hostile messengers; for, +though well directed, the shells never burst--they simply shrieked, yelled, +and buried themselves. Our gunners got the ground they wanted, and soon gun +spoke to gun in their deep-throated tones of defiance. The Boers were not +hurting us; whether we were injuring them we could not tell. + +In the meantime our whole transport came safely inside a little +semi-circular valley, and arranged itself with almost ludicrous precision. +The nigger drivers chaffed one another as the shells made melody above +their heads, and made the air fairly dance with the picturesque terms of +endearment they bestowed upon their mules, between the welts they bestowed +with their long two-handed whips. When two of their leaders jibbed and +refused to budge, they howled and called them Mr. Steyn and Ole Oom Paul; +but when they got down solid to their work they laughed until even their +back teeth were showing beyond the dusky horizon of their lips, and endowed +them with the names of Cecil Rhodes and Mistah Chamberlain, which may or +may not appear complimentary to the owners of those titles--anyway, the +mules did not seem to be offended. One thing was made manifest to me then, +and confirmed later on, viz., the nigger is a game fellow; give him a +little excitement, and he is full of "devil"--it's the doing of deeds in +cold blood that finds him out. After seeing the way the transport was +handled, I moved along to look at the ambulance arrangements, and found +them practically perfect. The medical staff was cool and collected, the +helpers were alert and attentive to business; the waggons, with their +conspicuous red crosses, were all well and carefully placed--though in such +a fight it was a sheer impossibility to dispose them so as to render them +absolutely immune from danger, for shells have a knack of falling where +least expected, and when they burst he is a wise man who falls flat on his +face and leaves the rest to his Creator and the fortune of war. My next +move was to secure a position on the top of a kopje, to try to gather some +idea concerning the actual strength of the Boer position. It needed no +soldier's training to tell a man who knew the rugged Australian ranges +thoroughly that the enemy had chosen his ground with consummate skill. To +get at the Boers our men had either to go down the sides of the kopjes in +full view of the clever enemy, or else make their way between narrow +gullies, where shells would work havoc in their packed ranks. After they +had reached the open, level ground, they had to cross open spaces of veldt +commanded by the Boer guns and rifles, whilst the Boers themselves sat +tight in a row of ranges that ran from east to west, mile after mile, in +almost unbroken ruggedness. If we turned either flank, they could promptly +fall back upon another line of kopjes as strong as those they held. Away +behind their position the grim heights of Thaba Nchu rose towards the blue +sky, solemn and stately. Far away to the eastward, a little south of east +perhaps, I could see the hills that hid Wepener, distant about eighteen +miles from the Boer centre. There we knew, and the enemy knew, that the +Boers held a British force pinned in. They knew, and we knew, that +Commandant Olivier, with eight or nine thousand men and a lot of guns, held +the reins in his hands; and the men our force were engaging knew that +unless they could keep us in check Olivier would soon be the hunted instead +of the hunter. + +By-and-by the rifle fire on our left flank grew weaker and weaker--our guns +were searching the kopjes with merciless accuracy--and before sundown it +died away altogether, and we had time to collect our wounded and ascertain +our losses, though we could not even guess how the Boers had fared Our +wounded amounted to eight men all told, none of them dangerously hurt; of +dead we had none, not one. When their fire slackened the enemy doubtless +expected to see an onward dash of troops from our position, but it was not +to be. General Rundle had decided to play "patience" and save his men; +there was no necessity for him to rush on and force the Boer position, and +he chose the better part. Steadily our fellows were worked into position, +until every bit of ground that could bear upon the foe was lined with +British troops. Every available point, front or flank, where a gun could be +placed to harass the foe was taken advantage of; nothing was left to +chance, nothing was rashly hurried. Carefully, methodically the work was +done. There was to be no carnival of death on our side, no trusting to the +"luck of the British Army," no headlong rush into the arms of destruction, +no waving line of bayonets. The Boer was to play a hand with the cards he +loves to deal. He was to be shelled and sniped. If he wanted straight-out +fighting, he had to come out into the open and get it. He was to have no +chance to sit in safety and slaughter the British soldiers like shambled +deer, as he had so often done before. As the sun went down our men +bivouacked where they stood, and nothing was heard through the long, cold +night except at intervals the grim growling of a gun, the sentinels' swift, +curt challenge, or the neighing of horses as steed spoke to steed across +the grass-grown veldt. + +At the breaking of the dawn I was aroused from sleep by the simultaneous +crashing of several of our batteries. It was Britain's morning salutation +to the Boer. I hurried up to a spot on the kopje where a regiment of +Worcesters lay amongst the broken ground, and saw that the battle was just +about to commence in deadly earnest. It was a huge, flat-topped kopje where +I located myself. The outer edges of the hill rose higher than the centre, +a little rivulet ran across tiny indentations on the crown of that rampart, +and there was ample space for an army to lie concealed from the eyes of +enemies. If the Boers were strongly posted, so were the British. Away past +our right flank Wepener range was plainly visible in the clear morning +light, and just behind Wepener lay the Basuto border, with its fringe of +mountains. About two thousand yards away, directly facing our centre, a +white farmhouse stood in a cluster of trees. This farmhouse gave the +battlefield its name, Constantia Farm. The enemy could be seen by the aid +of glasses slipping from the kopjes down towards this farm and back again +at intervals. Cattle, horses, goats, and sheep went on grazing calmly, the +roaring of the guns doubtless seeming to them but as the tumult of a storm. + +Turning my eyes towards the valley behind our position, I saw that we +intended to try to turn the enemy's left flank. Little squads of mounted +men, 95 in each group, swept along the valley at a gallop. They were the +Yeomanry and mounted infantry, and numbered about 600. A more workmanlike +body of fellows it would be hard to find anywhere. They sat their horses +with easy confidence, and looked full of fight. Some of them carried their +rifles in their hands, muzzle upwards, the butt resting on the right thigh; +others had their guns slung across their shoulders. Group after group went +eastward, and the Boers knew nothing of the movement, because we were for +once employing their own tactics. I watched them out of sight, and then +turned my attention to the guns. There was very little time wasted by our +people. The gunners on our left flank poured in a heavy fire, the centre +took up the chorus, and the guns on the right repeated it. For miles along +their front the Boers must have been in deadly peril. We seldom saw them. +Now and again a group of roughly clad horsemen would flash into view and +disappear again as if by magic, with shells hurtling in their wake. Our +artillery could not locate their main force with any degree of certainty, +nor could they place us properly. They were not idle; their guns, of which +they had a decent number, sought for our position with dauntless +perseverance. Their shells soon began to drop amongst us, but they did no +harm at all. They fell close enough to our troops in many instances, but +they were so badly made that they would not explode, or if they did they +simply fizzed, and were almost as harmless as seidlitz powders. + +The spiteful little pom-poms cracked away and kept us on the alert, until +one grew weary of the everlasting noise of cannon. At mid-day, tired of the +monotony of the game, I turned my horse's head towards camp, and, in +company with three other correspondents, soon sat down to a lunch of +mealies and boiled fowl; but we were destined not to enjoy that meal, for +before the first mouthful had left my plate there came a wailing howl +through the air, then a strange jarring noise, and a shell plunged into the +earth forty yards away from the tent. A few minutes later another visitor +from the same direction crashed on top of one of the transport waggons +within a stone's throw of our tent. That decided me; in a few seconds I had +scrambled up the side of a kopje, with the leg of a fowl in one hand and a +soldier's biscuit in the other. The shells had not burst, but no man could +say when one would, and I had no particular interest in regard to the +inside of any shell myself. I was not the only one who made a hasty exit +from the camp; in ten seconds the side of the kopje was alive with men. The +shells continued to fall right amongst the waggons every few minutes for +over two hours; yet only one man was killed, a negro driver being the +victim, a shell dropping right against his thigh. The range of the Boer gun +was absolutely perfect, but the shells were mere rubbish. Had they been as +good as ours, half our transport would have been in ruins. The British +gunners manoeuvred in all directions in order to locate that particularly +dangerous piece of ordnance. They blazed at it in batteries; they tried to +find it by means of cross-firing; they lined men up on the sky-line of +kopjes to draw the fire; they limbered up and galloped far out on the +veldt, until the enemy's rifle fire drove them in again; but all in vain. +The Boer leader had placed his gun with such skill that the British could +not locate it, and it kept up its devilish jubilee until the night set in. + +That day our scouts captured one Free State flag from the enemy; the +Yeomanry and mounted infantry did not succeed in their efforts to turn the +Boers' left flank, but they checked the enemy from advancing in that +direction, which was an important item in the day's work. We did not want +the Boer left to overlap our right; had they done so they could then get +behind us and harass our convoys coming from the direction of Bethany +railway station. We had very little dread of them turning our left flank, +because we knew that General French was moving towards us on that side from +Bloemfontein, with the object of getting the Boers on the inside of two +forces, and so giving them no chance of escape. We had only a few men +wounded, one petty officer of the Scouts killed, and a negro driver killed, +which was simply marvellous when one considers the terrible amount of +ammunition used during the day. That night all the correspondents had to +sleep, or try to sleep, with the transport. It was a wretched night; we +knew the Boers had the range, and we fully expected to get a hot shelling +between darkness and dawn, but, curiously enough, the foe kept their guns +still all the night But the suspense made the night a weary one. + +The following day was Sunday, and at a very early hour our scouts informed +us that the Boers had made a wide detour towards Wepener, and had +overlapped our right flank. They slipped up into a kopje, which would have +enabled them to enfilade our position in a most masterly manner; but before +they could get their guns there our artillery was at them, and the kopje +was literally ploughed up with shells. It was too warm a corner for any man +on earth to attempt to hold, and they soon took their departure, falling +back in good order, and leaving no dead or wounded behind them. The +Yeomanry had advanced on the kopje, under the protection of the shell +firing, and when close to the position they fixed bayonets and dashed up +the hill; but when they topped it they found that the Boers had retired. It +was a quick bit of work, neatly and expeditiously done. Had the Boers held +the hill long enough to get their guns in position they would have played +havoc with us, for they could then have swept our whole line. From morning +until night-fall we kept at them with our big guns; whenever a cloud of +dust arose from behind a range of kopjes we dropped shells in the middle of +it; wherever a cluster of Boers showed themselves for a second a shell +sought them out. No matter how well they were placed, they must have had a +lively time of it. During the Sabbath they scarcely used their guns at all, +but they opened on our troops with rifle fire as soon as they made a +forward move at any part of the line, showing clearly that they were +watching as well as praying. The day closed without incident of any +particular character; we had a few wounded, but no deaths, and could form +no idea how the Boers were faring. Now and again during the night one or +another of our guns would bark like sullen watchdogs on the chain, but the +Boer guns were still. + +Monday morning broke crisp and clear, and once more the big-gun duel began, +only on this occasion the Boers made great use of a pom-pom gun This +spiteful little demon tossed its diminutive shells into camp with painful +freeness. They knocked three of the Worcesters over early in the day, +killing two and badly damaging the other. As on all other occasions in this +peculiar engagement, the Boer gunnery was simply superb; but their shells +were worthless. Shells grew so common that the "Tommies" scarcely ducked +when they heard the report of a gun they knew was trying to reach them, but +smoked their pipes and made irreverent remarks concerning things made in +Germany. About midday a party of Boers, who had somehow dodged round to our +rear, made a dashing attempt to raid some cattle that were grazing close +under our eyes; but they had to vanish in a hurry, and were particularly +lucky in being able to escape with their lives, for a party of scouts +darted out after them at full gallop on one side, whilst another party of +mounted infantry rode as hard as hoofs could carry them on the other side +of the bold raiders. They unslung their rifles as they dashed across the +veldt, and the Boers soon knew that the fellows behind them were as much at +home as they were themselves at that kind of business. + +Late on Monday evening the Boers located a little to the left of our centre +moved forward a bit. Though with infinite caution, and commenced sniping +with the rifle. It was an evidence that they were growing weary of our +tactics, and would greatly have liked us to attempt to rush their position +with the bayonet, so that they could have mowed our fellows down in +hundreds. But this General Rundle wisely declined to do; it was victory, +not glory, he was seeking, and he was wise enough to know that a victory +can be bought at far too high a price in country of this kind against a foe +like the wily Boer. On Sunday night our strength was augmented by the +arrival of three regiments of the Guards, and on Monday night we, knew for +a certainty that General French was close at hand. The Boer was between two +fires, and he would need all his "slimness" to pull him out of trouble. +During a greater part of the night our guns continued to rob sleep of its +sweetness, and the enemy's pom-pom mingled with our dreams. On Tuesday +morning news came to us that Wepener had been relieved by Brabant and Hart, +and that the Boers who had invested that place were drawing off in our +direction, so that our right flank needed strengthening. The Boers +displayed no sign of quitting their position, though they must have known +that Brabant and Hart would be on their track from the south-east, and +General French from the north-west. They held their ground with a grim +stubbornness against overwhelming odds of men and guns, and dropped shells +amongst us in a way that made one feel that no spot could be labelled +"absolutely safe." + +At about 7 p.m. we sent a force out south, consisting of about 4,000 men, +under General Boyes. Amongst that force were the West Kents, Staffords, +Worcesters, Manchesters, all infantry. The Imperial Yeomanry and mounted +infantry also accompanied the expedition. But there was little for them to +do except hold the enemy in check, which they did. There were some +phenomenally close shaves during the day. On one occasion the enemy got the +range of one of our guns with their pom-pom, and the way they dropped the +devilish little one-pound shells amongst those gunners was a sight to make +a man's blood run chill. The little iron imps fell between the men, grazed +the wheels, the carriage, and the truck of the gun; but + + He, watching over Israel, slumbers not nor sleeps. + +Nothing short of angel-wings could have kept our fellows safe. The men knew +their deadly peril, knew that the tip of the wand in the Death Angel's hand +was brushing their cheeks. One could see that they knew their peril. The +hard, firm grip of the jaw, the steady light in the hard-set eyes, the +manly pallor on the cheeks, all told of knowledge; yet not once did they +lose their heads. Each fellow stood there as bravely as human flesh and +blood could stand, and faced the iron hail with unblenching courage and +intrepid coolness. Had those khaki-clothed warriors been carved out of +bronze and moved by machinery, they could not have shown less fear or more +perfect discipline. The pom-pom is a gun which I have been told the British +War Office refused as a toy some two years back. I have had the doubtful +pleasure of being under its fire to-day, and all I can say is that I would +gladly have given my place to any gentleman in the War Office who happens +to hold the notion that the pom-pom is a toy. + +Somehow the enemy got hold of the position where General Rundle and staff +were located, and all the afternoon they swept the plain in front of the +tents, the hills above, and the hill opposite with shells; but they could +not quite drop one in the little ravine itself. Half an hour before sundown +I had to ride with two other correspondents to headquarters to get a +dispatch away. We got across safely, but had not been there five minutes +before a grandly directed shell sent the General and his staff off the brow +of the hill in double quick time. We delivered our dispatches, and were +getting ready for a gallop over the quarter mile of veldt, when, _pom, +pom, pom, pom_, came a dozen one-pounders a few yards away right across +our track. It made our hearts sit very close to our ribs, but there was +nothing for it but to take our horses by the head, drive the spurs home, +and ride as if we were rounding up wild cattle. I want it to stand on +record that I was not the last man across that strip of veldt. There was +not much incident in the day's fighting; there seldom is in an artillery +duel, carried on by men who know the game, in hilly country. Once during +the afternoon the big gun belonging to the Boers became so troublesome that +half a dozen of ours were trained upon it, and for best part of an hour it +sounded as if a section of Sheol had visited the earth, so deadly was the +fire, so fierce the bursting missiles, that not a rock wallaby, crouching +in its hole, could have lived twenty minutes in the location. We heard no +more from that gun. + +As I rode from position to position our fellows greeted me with the cry: +"Any news, sir? Heard if we are going to have a go at 'em with the spoons +(bayonets)?" One midget, a bugler kiddie, so small that an ordinary +maid-of-all-work could comfortably lay him across her knee and spank him, +yawned as he knelt in the grass, and desired to know when "we was goin' ter +'ave some real bloomin' fightin'. 'E was tired of them bloomin' guns, 'e +was; they made his carmine 'ead ache with their blanky noise. 'E didn't +call that fightin'; 'e called it an adjective waste of good hammunition. 'E +liked gettin' up to 'is man, fair 'nd square, 'nd knockin' 'ell out of +'im." He meant it, too, the little beggar, and I could not help laughing at +him when I considered that lots of the old fighting Boers I had seen could +have dropped the midget into their lunch bags, and not have noticed his +weight. + +The Yeomanry did a lot of useful work, and are as eager for fight as a bull +ant on a hot plate. They are as good as any men I have seen in Africa, full +of ginger, good horsemen, wear-and-tear, cut-and-come-again sort of men. +They adapt themselves to circumstances readily, are jolly and good-humoured +under trying circumstances. Their officers are, as a rule, first-class +soldiers, equal to any emergency. On Tuesday the Boers kept their guns +going at a great rate, and we really thought that they had made up their +minds to see the thing right out at all costs. Personally I did not for a +moment think that they were ignorant of General French's rapid advance. I +do not believe it possible for any large body of hostile troops to move in +South Africa without the Boers being thoroughly cognisant of every detail +connected with the move, partly because they are the most perfect scouts in +the world, and partly because the scattered population on every hand is +positively favourable to them. Our artillery dropped a storm of shells +during the day, and that night it was whispered in camp that there was to +be a general attack next morning. On Tuesday evening General French +advanced right on to the Boer rear, and some smart fighting took place, the +enemy suffering considerably, though our losses were small. + +At dawn on Wednesday we moved forward rapidly, and in a few hours' time our +infantry were standing in the trenches and upon the hills that the Boers +had occupied the day before. Our mounted men rode at a gallop through the +gullies, but nothing was to be seen of the foe except a few newly dug +graves. The Boers had vanished like a dream, taking all their guns with +them. Louis Botha, the commander-in-chief, had come in person to them, and +the retreat was carried out under his eyes. We followed to Dewetsdorp, and +from there on to Thaba Nchu (pronounced Tabancha). + +On Friday night the enemy exchanged a few shots with us from the heights +beyond, but no harm was done on either side. The Third Division, to which I +had attached myself, under General Chermside, has been ordered towards +Bloemfontein. French is in command, and, judging by his past performances, +I fully expect we shall have some busy times, though French may go away and +leave the Eighth Division under General Rundle. + + + + + + WITH RUNDLE IN THE FREE STATE. + + ORANGE FREE STATE. + + +Since the Boers bolted from Constantia Farm we have done but little beyond +following them from spot to spot through the Free State, in the conquered +territory along the Basuto border. At Constantia Farm they gave us a +gunnery duel, which, though incessant and continuous, did little real +damage to either side. After that, when General French joined issue with +us, the Boers shifted their ground with consummate skill. We moved on to +Dewetsdorp, and there the Third Division, under Chermside, parted company +with us. We moved onward to Thaba Nchu, Brabant keeping well away towards +the Basuto border with his flying column. At Thaba Nchu it looked day by +day as if we were in for something hot and hard, the Boers having, as +usual, taken up a position of vast natural strength. But Hamilton was the +only one to get to close quarters with the veldt warriors, when executing a +flanking movement. I have since learned that the enemy suffered very +severely on that occasion. + +They can give some of the British journalists a wholesome lesson in regard +to manliness of spirit, these same rough fellows, bred in the African +wilds. Speaking to me of the charge the Gordons made, when led by Captain +Towse, they were unstinted in their praises. "It was grand, it was +terrible," they said, "to see that little handful of men rush on fearless +of death, fearless of everything." It was bravery of the highest kind, and +they admired it, as only brave men do admire courage in a foeman. The +people of Britain who read extracts taken from Boer newspapers, extracts +which ridicule British pluck and all things British, must not blame the +Boers for those statements. In nearly every case the papers published +inside Burgher territory are edited by renegade Britons, and it is these +renegades, not the fighting Boers, who defame our nation, and take every +possible opportunity of hitting below the belt. + +When we left Thaba Nchu, General French left us, as did also Hamilton and +Smith-Dorien. Brabant hugged the Basuto border, and swept the land clean of +everything hostile. General Rundle (the flower of courtesy and chivalry) +kept the centre; General Boyes looked after our left wing; General Campbell +picked up the intermediate spaces as occasion demanded; and so we moved on, +trying, but trying in vain, to draw a cordon round the ever-shifting foe. +There was no chance for a dashing forward move; the country through which +we passed was lined by kopjes, which were simply appalling in their native +strength. What prompted the Boer leaders to fall back from them, step by +step, will for ever remain a mystery to me. It was not want of provisions, +for we knew that they had huge supplies of beef and mutton, whilst there +were in their possession almost inexhaustible stores of grain. It was not +want of fodder for their horses, for the valleys and veldt were covered +with beautiful grass, almost knee-deep. Water was plentiful in all +directions, and they apparently possessed plenty of ammunition. Prisoners +assert that Commandant Olivier was absolutely furious when compelled to +fall back, by order of his superiors. It is also asserted that he is now in +dire disgrace on account of his refusal to obey promptly some of his +superior's commands. It is further stated that he is to be deposed from his +command, and will cease to be a factor of any importance in the war. It is +hard to fathom Boer tactics. It does not follow because a line of kopjes +are abandoned to-day that the burghers have retreated; they fall back +before scouting parties; their pickets watch our scouts return to camp, +knowing that they will convey the news to headquarters that the kopjes are +empty of armed men. Then, with almost incredible swiftness, the light-armed +Boers swarm back by passes known only to themselves, and secretly and +silently take up positions where they can butcher an advancing army. If +General Rundle had been a rash, impetuous, or a headstrong man, he could +comfortably have lost his whole force on half a dozen occasions; but he is +not. He is essentially a cautious leader, and pits his brain against that +of the Boer leaders as a good chess player pits his against an opponent. He +may believe in the luck of the British Army, but he trusts mighty little to +it. Better lose a couple of days than a couple of regiments is his motto, +and a wise motto it is. Had he flung his men haphazard at any of the +positions where the Boers have made a stand, he would have been cut to +pieces. + +Rundle plays a wise game. When the enemy looks like sitting tight, Rundle +at once commences a series of manoeuvres directed from his centre. This +keeps the enemy busy, and gives them a lot of solid thinking to do, and +whilst they are thinking he moves his flanks forward, overlapping them in +the hope of surrounding them. The Boer hates to have his rear threatened, +and invariably falls away. His method of falling back is unique. As soon as +he smells danger, all the live stock is sent off and all the waggons. Cape +carts are kept handy for baggage that cannot be sent with the heavy convoy. +Most of the big guns go with the first flight; one or two, which can easily +be shifted, are kept to hold back our advance, and the deadly little +pom-poms are dodged about from kopje to kopje. The pom-pom is not much to +look at, but it is a weapon to be reckoned with in mountain warfare. It +throws only a one-pound shell, and throws it from the most impossible +places imaginable. The beauty of the pom-pom is that it drops its work in +from spots from which no sane man ever expects a shell to come. + +When the Boer finds that his position is untenable on account of a flanking +move, the horses are hitched up to the light Cape carts, the loading is +packed, and off they fly at a gallop, and the guns follow suit; whilst the +rifles hold the heights. That is why we so seldom get hold of anything +worth having when we do take a position. Our losses have been paltry, +because the Boer is a defensive, not an offensive, fighter. He waits to be +attacked, he does not often attack; and our general is a man who does not +throw men's lives away. He believes in brains before bayonets, and England +may be thankful for the possession of General Rundle. Had he been a madcap +general, there would have been a few thousand more widows in the old +country to-day than there are. At the same time, he is a man of immense +personality. Should he ever get a chance to engage the enemy in a pitched +battle, he will prove to the world that he is capable of great things. +There will be no half-hearted work in such an hour. If he has to sacrifice +men on the altar of war, he will surely sacrifice them, but not until he is +compelled to do so. Brabant is a wild daredevil, who rushes on like a +mountain torrent Boyes is brainy; careful, and yet dashing. + +I want to state here that I have never lost a single opportunity, whilst +travelling through the enemy's country, of looking at the "home" life of +the people--and I may say that I have been in a few back-country homes in +America, in Australia, and in other parts of the world--and I want to place +it on record that in my opinion the Boer farmer is as clean in his home +life, as loving in his domestic arrangements, as pure in his morals, as any +class of people I have ever met. Filth may abound, but I have seen nothing +of it. Immorality may be the common everyday occurrence I have seen it +depicted in some British journals, but I have failed to find trace of it. +Ignorance as black as the inside of a dog may be the prevailing state of +affairs; if so, I have been one of the lucky few who have found just the +reverse in whichsoever direction I have turned. After six months', or +nearly six months', close and careful observation of their habits, I have +arrived at the conclusion that the Boer farmer, and his son and daughter, +will compare very favourably with the farming folk of Australia, America, +and Great Britain. What he may be in the Transvaal I know not, because I +have not yet been there; but in Cape Colony and in the Free State he is +much as I have depicted him, no better, no worse, than Americans and +Australians, and as good a fighting man as either--which is tantamount to +saying that he is as good as anything on God's green earth, if he only had +military training. + +Ask "Tommy" privately, when he comes home, if this is not so--not "Thomas," +who has been on lines of communication all the time--but "Tommy," who has +fought him, and measured heart and hand with him. I think he will tell you +much as I have told you. For "Tommy" is no fool; he is not half such a +braggart, either, as some of the Jingoes, who shout and yell, but never +take a hand in the real fighting; those wastrels of England, who are at +home with a pewter of beer in their hands--hands that never did, and never +will, grip a rifle. + +Whilst at Trummel I took advantage of a couple of days' camping to go out +three miles from camp to have a look at a diamond mine. I found a +red-whiskered Dutchman in charge, who knew less English than I knew Dutch, +and as my Dutch consists of about twelve words we did not do much in the +conversational line; but I made him understand by pantomimic telegraphy +that I wanted to have a look round, to size up things. He took me to a +"dump," where the ore at grass was stored, and converted himself into a +human stone-cracking machine for my benefit, until I had seen all that I +wanted to see in regard to the "ore at grass." He was very much like mine +managers the world over--very ready to play tricks on anyone he considered +"green" at the business. It was not his fault that he did not know that I +had been a reporter on gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, and coal mines for +about twenty years. + +Thinking, doubtless, that I was like unto the ordinary city fellow who +comes at rare intervals to look at a mine, he made me a present of a piece +of rock with some worthless garnets in it, also a sample of country rock +pregnant with mundic; the garnets and the mundic glittered in the sunshine. +I rose to the bait, as I was expected to do, and intimated that I would +like a lot of it. This delighted the Dutchman, and he beamed all over his +expansive face, all the time cursing me for the second son of an idiot, as +is the way with mine managers. But he stopped grinning before the afternoon +wore out, for I set him climbing and clambering for little pieces of mundic +and tiny patches of garnets in all the toughest places I could find in that +mine, and went into ecstasies over each individual piece, until I had quite +a load of the rubbish. Then I intimated gently that I would be back that +way when the war was over, and would surely send my Cape cart for them if +he would be good enough to mind them for me. I fancy an inkling of the +truth dawned in that Dutchman's soul at last, for he made no further +reference to either garnets or mundic. I satisfied myself with a sample of +the matrix in which diamonds are found, and also with a specimen of the +country rock for geological reference, but the garnets are on the heap +still. + +The mine, which is named the "Monastery," is very crudely worked; +everything connected with it is primitive. A huge quarry, about 600 feet in +circumference, and about 40 feet deep, had been opened up. There was +nothing in it in the shape of lode or reef, but a large number of +disconnected "stringers," or leaders of rocky matter, in which diamonds are +often found. At the bottom of the quarry the water lay fully eight feet +deep, owing to the fact that the mine had lain unworked during the war. A +vertical shaft had been sunk a little distance from the quarry to a depth +of 150 feet, but there was a hundred feet of water in it, so that I am +unable to say anything concerning the Monastery diamond mine at its lower +levels. One or two tunnels had been drawn from the quarry into the +adjoining country on small leaders, and from what I could gather from my +guide diamonds had been discovered. Whilst I went below, I left my Kaffir +boy on top to pick up what he could in the shape of rumour or gossip from +the natives, and he informed me that the niggers had been the cause of the +opening of the mine, they having found diamonds near the surface in some of +the leaders, which consisted of a rock known in Australian mining circles +as illegitimate granite. The white folk, fearing that the poor heathen +might become debauched if they possessed too much wealth, had gathered +those diamonds in--when they could--and later had started mining for the +precious gems, with what success the heathen did not know. I tried the +Dutchman on the same point, but I might as well have interviewed an oyster +in regard to the science of gastronomy. He dodged around my question like a +fox terrier round a fence, until I gave him up in despair. But, for all +that, I rather fancy they have found diamonds round that way, only they +don't want the British to know anything about it. + + + + + + RED WAR WITH RUNDLE. + + NEAR SENEKAL. + + +In our rear lies the little village of Senekal, a shy little place, +seemingly too modest to lift itself out of the miniature basin caused by +the circumambient hills. Khaki-clad figures, gaunt, hungry, and dirty, +patrol the streets; the few stores are almost denuded of things saleable, +for friend and foe have swept through the place again and again, and both +Boer and Briton have paid the shops a visit. At the hotel I managed to get +a dinner of bread and dripping, washed down with a cup of coffee, guiltless +of both milk and sugar. But, if the bill of fare was meagre, the bill of +costs made up for it in its wealth of luxuriousness. If I rose from the +table almost as hollow as when I sat down, I only had to look at the +landlord's charges to fancy I had dined like one of the blood royal. +Opposite the hotel stands the church, a dainty piece of architecture, fit +for a more pretentious town than Senekal. It is fashioned out of white +stone, and stands in its own grounds, looking calm and peaceful amidst all +the bustle and blaze of war. Someone has turned all the seats out of the +sacred edifice, preparatory to converting it into a hospital. The seats are +not destroyed; they are not damaged; they are stacked away under a +neighbouring verandah. + +I do not think it wrong so to utilise a church. It is the only place fit to +put the wounded men in in all the town. The great Nazarene in whose name +the church was erected would not have allowed the sick to wither by the +wayside in the days when the Judean hills rang to the echo of His magnetic +voice, nor do I think it wrongful to His memory to convert His shrine into +an abiding place for the sick and suffering. + +Far away on our left flank the enemy hold the heights, and watch us moving +outward, whilst between them and us, stretching mile after mile in a line +with our column, ripples a line of scarlet flame, for the foe has fired the +veldt to starve the transit mules, horses, and oxen. Like a sword +unsheathed in the sunlight, the flames sparkle amidst the grass, which +grows knee-deep right to the kopje's very lips. Birds rise on the wing with +harsh, resonant cries, flutter awhile above their ravished homes, then +wheel in mid-air and seek more peaceful pastures. Hares spring up before +the crackling flames quite reach their forms, and, like grey streaks in a +sailor's beard on a stormy day, flash suddenly into view, and as suddenly +disappear again. Here and there a graceful springbok dashes through the +smoke, with head thrown back and graceful limbs extended, his glossy, +mottled hide looking doubly beautiful backed by that red streak of fire. +The wind catches the quivering crimson streak, and for awhile the flames +race, as I have seen wild horses, neck to neck, rush through the saltbush +plains at the sound of the stockman's whip. Then, as the wind drops, the +flames curl caressingly around the wealth of growing fodder, biting the +grass low down, and wrapping it in a mantle of black and red, as flame and +smoke commingle. + +Here and there a pool of water, hidden from view until the fire fiend +stripped the veldt land bare, leaps to life like a silver shield in the +grim setting of the bare and blackened plain. Small mobs of cattle stand +stupidly snuffing the smoke-laden air, until the breath of the blaze +awakens them to a sense of peril; then, with horns lowered like bayonets at +the charge, with tails stiff and straight behind them as levelled lances, +they leap onward, over or through everything in front of them, bellowing +frantically their brute beast protest against the red ruin of war. The +flames roll on; they reach the stone walls of a cattle pen, and leap it as +a hunter takes a brush fence in his stride; onward still, until a Kaffir +kraal is reached. The soft-lipped billows kiss the uncouth mud wall, and +for a moment transfigure them with a nameless beauty, the beauty that +precedes ruin. Only a moment or two, and then the resistless destroyer +flaunts its pennons amidst the reed-thatched roofs; the sparks leap up, the +black smoke curls towards the sky, whilst on the neighbouring hills the +negro women, with their babes in their arms, wail woefully, for those rude +huts, with all their barbarous trappings, meant home--aye, home and +happiness--to them. The flames roll onward now in two long lines, for the +Kaffir encampment had sundered them, and now they look, with their +beautifully rounded curves sweeping so gracefully out into the unknown, +like the rich, ripe lips of a wanton woman in the pride of her shameless +beauty. All that they leave behind is desolation, darkness, despair, ruin +unutterable, only blackened walls, simmering carcases, weeping women, and +wailing children. + +Away on our right flank we can just make out the skeletons of what a few +hours before had been a cluster of smiling farmhouses. They do not smile +now; they grin horribly in the sunlight, grin as the fleshless skulls of +dead men grin on a battlefield after those sextons of the veldt the +grey-hooded, curved-beaked vultures have screamed their final farewell to +the charnel-houses of war--noble war, splendid war, pastime of potentates +and princes, invented in hell and patented in all the temples of sorrow. + +As we look on those grim relics of this dreary time we catch the maddening +sound of distant guns. The chargers prick their ears, and quiver from +muzzle to coronet. The khaki-clad figures on the plain throw up their heads +and turn their eyes towards the sound; the tired shoulders square +themselves, each foot seems to tread the blackened plain with firmer, +prouder tread. The sound of guns is like the rush of wine through sluggish +veins, and men forget that they are faint with hunger, weary to the verge +of wretchedness with ceaseless marching. The sound of guns bespeaks the +presence of the foe, and those gaunt soldiers of the Queen are galvanised +to life and lust of battle by the very breath of war. A ripple runs along +the line, the farthest flanks catch the gleam of the sun on distant rifle +barrels. An order rings out sharp and crisp; the column stands as if each +man and horse were carved in rock. + +The infantry lean lightly on their guns, the cavalry crane forward in their +saddles. We pause and wait until we see the green badge of O'Driscoll's +scouts on the hats of the advancing riders. O'Driscoll rides towards the +staff with loosened rein, and every spur in all his gallant little troop +shows how the scouts had ridden. We strain our ears to catch the news the +Irish scout has brought. It comes at last Clements has met the foe, and +death is busy in those distant hills. + +Rundle sits silently, hard pressed in his saddle--a gallant figure, with +soldier and leader written all over him. We wait his verdict anxiously, for +on his word our fate may hinge. We have not long to wait--Clements can hold +his own; Brabant will outflank the Boers. Forward, march! The men droop as +wheat fields droop in the sultry air of a seething day. They are tired, +deadly tired; not too tired to fight, but weary of the endless marching +from point to point to keep the enemy from breaking through their lines and +striking southward. + +Away in front of us we note the snow-crowned hills which girdle Basutoland, +snow crowned and sun kissed; every hilltop sparkling like a giant gem, and +over all a pale blue sky, curtained by flimsy clouds of gauzy whiteness, +through which the sun laughs rosily, the handiwork of the Eternal. And +underfoot only the deep dead blackness of the blistered veldt, ravished of +its wondrous wealth of living green, the rude, rough footprint of the god +of war--sweet war; kind, Christian war! + +Now, overhead, betwixt the smoking earth and smiling sky, flocks of +vultures come and go, fluttering their great pinions noiselessly. To them +the sound of guns is merriest music; it is their summons to the banquet +board. Foul things they look as the float over us, silent as souls that +have slipped from some ash heap in Hades, grey with the greyness that grows +on the wolf's hide; their feathers hang upon them in ridges, unkempt, +unlovely, soiled with blood and offal. They float above our heads, they +wheel upon our flanks. + +A horse drops wearily upon its knees, looks round dumbly on the wilderness +of blackness, then turns its piteous eyes upward towards the skies that +seem so full of laughing loveliness; then, with a sob which is almost human +in the intensity of its pathos, the tired head falls downwards, the limbs +contract with spasmodic pain, then stiffen into rigidity; and one wonders, +if the Eternal mocked that silent appeal from those great sad eyes, eyes +that had neither part nor lot in the sin and sorrow of war, how shall a man +dare look upwards for help when the bitterness of death draws nigh unto +him? The grey lines above, on flank, and front, and rear, were with greedy +speed converging to one point, until they flock in a horrid, struggling, +fighting, revolting mass of beaks and feathers above the fallen steed, as +devils flock around the deathbed of a defaulting deacon. A soldier on the +outer edge of the extended line swings his rifle with swift, backhanded +motion over his shoulder, and brings the butt amidst the crowd of carrion. +The vultures hop with grotesque, ungainly motions from their prey, and +stand with wings extended and clawed feet apart, their necks outstretched +and curved heads dripping slime and blood, a fitting setting amidst the +black ruin of war. The charger now looks upward from eyeless sockets; his +gutted carcass, flattened into a shapeless streak, shrinks towards the +earth, as if asking to be veiled from the laughter of the skies. But there +is neither pity from above nor shelter from below as the red wave of war, +like the curse of the white Christ, sweeps over the land. God grant that +merry England may never witness, on her own green meadow lands, these +sights and sounds which meet the eye and ear on African soil. + +Oh, England, England, if I had a voice whose clarion tones could reach your +ears and stir your hearts in every city and town, village and hamlet, +wayside cot and stately castle, in all your sea-encircled isle, I would cry +to you to guard your coasts! Better, it seems to me, writing here, with all +the evidences of war beneath my eyes, that every man born of woman's love +on British soil should die between the decks, or find a grave in foundering +ships of war, than that the foot of a foreign foe should touch the +Motherland. Better that your ships be shambles, where men could die like +men, sending Nelson's royal message all along the armoured line; better +that our best and bravest found a grave where grey waves curl towards our +coastline, than that our womanhood should look with woe-encircled eyes into +the wolfish mouth of war. Better that our strong men perished, with the +brine and ocean breezes playing freshly on the gaping wounds through which +their souls passed outward, than that our little maids and tiny, tender +babes should face the unutterable shame, the anguish, and the suffering of +a war within our borders. + +Do not laugh the very thought to scorn and brand the thing impossible, for +fools have laughed before to-day whilst kingdoms tottered to their fall You +who stay at home miss much that others know--and, knowing, dread. If +England at this hour could only realise what manner of men control her +destinies, then all the lion in the breed would spring to life again. I do +not know if lack-brains of a similar strain control the supplies for +England's Navy; but if, in time of war, it proves to be the case, then God +help us, God help the old flag and the stout hearts who fight for it. + +Lend me your ears, and let me tell you how our army in Africa is treated by +the incompetent people in the good city of London. I pledge my word, as a +man and a journalist, that every written word is true. I will add nothing, +nor detract from, nor set down aught in malice. If my statements are proven +false, then let me be scourged with the tongue and pen of scorn from every +decent Briton's home and hearth for ever after, for he who lies about his +country at such an hour as this is of all traitors the vilest. I will deal +now particularly with the men who are acting under the command of +Lieutenant-General Sir Leslie Rundle. This good soldier and courteous +gentleman has to hold a frontage line from Winburg, _via_ Senekal, +almost to the borders of Basutoland. His whole front, extending nearly a +hundred miles, is constantly threatened by an active, dashing, determined +enemy, an enemy who knows the country far better than an English +fox-hunting squire knows the ground he hunts over season after season. To +hold this vast line intact General Rundle has to march from point to point +as his scouts warn him of the movements of the tireless foe. He has +stationed portions of his forces at given points along this line, and his +personal work is to march rapidly with small bodies of infantry, yeomanry, +scouts, and artillery towards places immediately threatened. He has to keep +the Boers from penetrating that long and flexible line, for if once they +forced a passage in large numbers they would sweep like a torrent +southwards, envelop his rear, cut the railway and telegraph to pieces, stop +all convoys, paralyse the movements of all troops up beyond Kroonstad, and +once more raise the whole of the Free State, and very possibly a great +portion of the Cape Colony as well. + +General Rundle's task is a colossal one, and any sane man would think that +gigantic efforts would be made to keep him amply supplied with food for his +soldiers. But such is not the case. The men are absolutely starving. Many +of the infantrymen are so weak that they can barely stagger along under the +weight of their soldierly equipment. They are worn to shadows, and move +with weary, listless footsteps on the march. People high up in authority +may deny this, but he who denies it sullies the truth. This is what the +soldiers get to eat, what they have been getting to eat for a long time +past, and what they are likely to get for a long time to come, unless +England rouses herself, and bites to the bone in regard to the people who +are responsible for it. + +One pound of raw flour, which the soldiers have to cook after a hard day's +march, is served out to each man every alternate day. The following day he +gets one pound of biscuits. In this country there is no fuel excepting a +little ox-dung, dried by the sun. If a soldier is lucky enough to pick up a +little, he can go to the nearest water, of which there is plenty, mix his +cake without yeast or baking-powder, and make some sort of a wretched +mouthful. He gets one pound of raw fresh meat daily, which nine times out +of ten he cannot cook, and there his supplies end. + +What has become of the rations of rum, of sugar, of tea, of cocoa, of +groceries generally? Ask at the snug little railway sidings where the goods +are stacked--and forgotten. Ask in the big stores in Capetown and other +seaport towns. Ask in your own country, where countless thousands of +pounds' worth of foodstuffs lie rotting in the warehouses, bound up and +tied down with red tape bandages. Ask--yes, ask; but don't stop at +asking--damn somebody high up in power. Don't let some wretched underling +be made the scapegoat of this criminal state of affairs, for the taint of +this shameful thing rests upon you, upon every Briton whose homes, +privileges, and prosperity are being safeguarded by these famishing men. +The folk in authority will probably tell you that General Rundle and his +splendid fellows are so isolated that food cannot be obtained for them. I +say that is false, for recently I, in company with another correspondent, +left General Rundle's camp without an escort. We made our way in the +saddle, taking our two Cape carts with us, to Winburg railway station; +leaving our horseflesh there, we took train for East London. Then back to +the junction, and trained it down to Capetown, where we remained for +forty-eight hours, and then made our way back to Winburg, and from Winburg +we came without escort to rejoin General Rundle at Hammonia. If two +innocent, incompetent (?) war correspondents could traverse that country +and get through with winter supplies for themselves, why cannot the +transport people manage to do the same? These transport people affect to +look with contempt upon a war correspondent and his opinions on things +military; but if we could not manage transport business better than they +do, most of us would willingly stand up and allow ourselves to be shot. We +are no burden upon the Army; we carry for ourselves, we buy for ourselves, +and we look for news for ourselves; and we take our fair share of risks in +the doing of our duty, as the long list of dead and disabled journalists +will amply prove. + +It is not, in my estimation, the whole duty of a war correspondent to go +around the earth making friends for himself, or looking after his personal +comfort, or booming himself for a seat in Parliament on a cheap patriotic +ticket. It is rather his duty to give praise where praise is due, censure +where censure has been earned, regardless of consequences to himself. Such +was the motto of England's two greatest correspondents--Forbes and +Steevens--both of whom have passed into the shadowland, and I would to God +that either of them were here to-day, for England knew them well, and they +would have roused your indignation as I, an unknown man, dare not hope to +do. But though what I have written does not bear the magical name of +Steevens or of Forbes, it bears the hallmark of the eternal truth. Our men +on the fields of war are famishing whilst millions worth of food lies +rotting on our wharves and in our cities, food that ought with ordinary +management to be within easy reach of our fighting generals. Britain asks +of Rundle the fulfilment of a task that would tax the energies and +abilities of the first general in Europe; and with a stout heart he faces +the work in front of him, faces it with men whose knees knock under them +when they march, with hands that shake when they shoulder their +rifles--shake, but not with fear; tremble, but not from wounds, but from +weakness, from poverty of blood and muscle, brought about by continual +hunger. Are those men fit to storm a kopje? Are they fit to tramp the whole +night through to make a forced march to turn a position, and then fight as +their fathers fought next day? + +I tell you no. And yours be the shame if the Empire's flag be lowered--not +theirs, but yours; for you--what do you do? You stand in your music-halls +and shout the chorus of songs full of pride for your soldier, full of +praise for his patience, his pluck, and his devotion to duty; and you let +him go hungry, so hungry that I have often seen him quarrel with a nigger +for a handful of raw mealies on the march. It is so cheap to sing, +especially when your bellies are full of good eating; it costs nothing to +open your mouths and bawl praises. It is pleasant to swagger and brag of +"your fellows at the front;" but why don't you see that they are fed, if +you want them to fight? Give "Tommy" a lot less music and flapdoodle, and a +lot more food of good quality, and he'll think a heap more of you. It is +nice of you to stay in Britain and drink "Tommy's" health, but there would +be far more sense in the whole outfit if you would allow him to "eat his +own" out here. + + + + + + THE FREE STATERS' LAST STAND. + + SLAP KRANZ. + + +At last the blow has fallen which has shattered the Boer cause in the Free +State. There will be skirmishes with scattered bands in the mountain gorges +beyond Harrismith, but the backbone of the Republic has been broken beyond +redemption. Sunday, the 30th of July, was big with fate, though we who sat +almost within the shadow of the snow enshrouded hills of savage Basutoland +at the dawning of that day knew it not. It was a joyful day for us, though +pregnant with sorrow for the veldtsmen who had fought so long and well for +their doomed cause, for on that day our generals reaped the harvest which +they had sown with infinite patience and undaunted courage. General Hunter, +to whom the chief command had just been given, was there, surrounded by his +staff, a soldierly figure worthy of a nation's trust; Clements, keen faced, +sharp voiced, with alertness written in each lineament; Paget, whose fiery +spirit spoke from his mobile face, his blood, hot as an Afghan sun, +flashing the workings of his mind into his face as sunlight flashes from +steel; and Rundle, hawk-eyed and stern, no friend to Pressmen, but a +soldier every inch, one of those men whose hands build empires. Had he been +stripped of modern gear that day, and placed in Roman trappings, one would +have looked behind him to see if Caesar meant to grace the show; but Caesar +was not there. + +One of the greatest soldiers since the world began was missing from our +ranks, the hero Roberts, whose great intellect had planned the _coup_ +which his generals had carried to maturity. Yet, though Lord Roberts +planned each general move, an immense amount of actual work was left to the +generals. The country they had to pass through was rugged and inhospitable. +The foe they had to fight was brave, resourceful, and well supplied with +all munitions of war; a single mistake on the part of any one of them would +have wrecked the magnificent plan of the Commander-in-Chief. But no +mistakes were made; each general worked as if his soul's salvation depended +upon his individual efforts. Where all are good, as a rule it is hard to +make a distinction; but in this instance one man stands out above his +fellows, and that man is General Sir Leslie Rundle, the commander of the +Eighth Division. His task from the first was herculean. He had to hold a +line fully one hundred miles in length; day after day, week after week, the +enemy tried to break that line and pour their forces into the territory we +had conquered. Had they succeeded, they would have shaken the whole of +South Africa to its very centre. This task kept Sir Leslie Rundle busy +night and day. Wherever he camped, spies dogged his footsteps; black men +and white men constantly upon his track. His every move was rapidly +reported to our ever-watchful enemies. But, quick as the enemy undoubtedly +were in all their movements, General Rundle nullified their efforts by his +rapidity. So terribly hard did he work his men that they nicknamed him +"Rundle, the Tramp." How the men stood it I cannot understand. I know of no +other men in all the world who would have gone on as they did, obeying +orders without a murmur or a whimper. They were savage at times over the +food they got, and small blame to them, but they never blamed their +general. They knew that he gave them plenty of the class of food that he +could lay hands upon. Had the general's supplies been in this part of the +country, instead of being tied up in red-tape packages on the railway line, +General Rundle would have kept his Division fully supplied. The only food +which he could command, beef and mutton, he gave without stint. Had the War +Office authorities attended to their end of the work with the same +commendable zeal, half the hardships of the campaign would have been +averted. + +If ever war was reduced to an absolute science, it was upon this occasion. +On the one hand, some six thousand Boers on the defensive, armed with the +handiest quick-firing rifle known to modern times, with from eight to ten +guns, well supplied with food and ammunition, and backed by some of the +most awful country the eye of man ever rested upon--a country which they +knew as a child knows its mother's face. On the other hand, an attacking +force of 30,000 men and guns. To read the number of the opposing forces one +would think the Boer task the effort of madmen, bent upon national +extinction; but one glance at the country would upset those calculations +entirely. Every kopje was a natural fortress, every sluit a perfect line of +trenches, and every donga a nursery for death. + +To attempt to go into every move made by our troops during the months of +May, June, and the early parts of July would only prove wearisome to the +average reader; suffice it to say that finally we got the burgher forces +into the Caledon Valley. This valley is about twenty-eight miles in length, +and from fourteen to fifteen miles across its widest part. Properly +speaking, it was not a valley at all, but a series of valleys interspersed +by great kopjes, nearly all of which presented an almost impregnable +appearance. The valley had a number of outlets, which the Boers fondly +believed our people to be unacquainted with. These outlets were known as +"neks," and were, without exception, terribly rough places for a hostile +force to attack. Commando Nek was upon the south-east, facing towards +Basutoland. This was merely a narrow pass, running up over a jagged kopje, +with two greater kopjes on each side of it. The hills all round it were so +placed that a number of good marksmen, hidden in the rocks, could easily +sweep off thousands of an enemy who attempted to take it by storm. But that +pass had to be taken before we could claim to hold the Free State in the +hollow of our hand. Slabbert's Nek was merely a huge gash in the face of a +cliff. It was the Boers' causeway towards the north, their highway to +safety. Retief's Nek lay to the westward, and formed a grinning death trap +for any general who might try the foolish hazard of a single-handed attack +Naauwpoort Nek, ugly and uninviting, faced south-east towards Harrismith. +Golden Gate, named by a satirist--or a satyr--was merely a narrow chasm +worn by wind and weather through the girdle of mountains. It looked towards +the east, and was a mere pathway, which none but desperate soldiers, driven +to their last extremity, would think of using. + +The Boers never dreamed that it was possible for our troops to move with +such machine-like precision as to hold every nek at our mercy. But whilst +Rundle held the ground to the south, and kept the Boers for ever on the +move by his restless activity, Clements and Paget moved on Slabbert's Nek, +Hunter swept down on Retief's Nek, Naauwpoort Nek was invested by Hector +Macdonald, Bruce Hamilton closed in upon Golden Gate, and the great net was +almost perfect in its meshes. The enemy did not realise their danger until +it was too late for the great bulk of their force to escape. Commandant De +Wet saw the impending peril at the eleventh hour, and tried hard to get his +countrymen to follow him in a dash through Slabbert's Nek; but very few of +the burghers would believe that the sword of fate was hanging by so slim a +thread over their heads. In vain this able soldier of the Republic +harangued them. Vain all his threats and protestations. They could not and +would not believe him. Sullenly they sat in their strongholds and watched +Rundle--they could see him, and that danger which was present to their eyes +was the only danger they would believe in; and day by day, hour by hour, +the cordon of Britain's might drew closer and closer, until every link in +the vast chain was practically flawless. Then Commandant De Wet gathered +around him about 1,800 of his most devoted followers, and with Ex-President +Steyn in their ranks they passed like ghosts of a fallen people through +Slabbert's Nek on towards the Transvaal. How they managed to elude the +incoming khaki wave some other pen must tell. It was a splendid piece of +work on the Republican Commandant's part, and history will not begrudge him +the full measure of praise due to him. Had General Prinsloo and his +burghers been guided by him, these pages had never been written, for where +De Wet took his 1,800 burghers he could as easily have taken 6,000. + +Scarcely had De Wet made his escape ere the truth was borne in upon the +burghers with an iron hand that their doom was sealed. General Rundle's +force, which all along had been essentially a blocking force, and not a +striking force, made a move on the 23rd of July. All day the cannons spoke +to the burghers from Willow Grange, all day long the rifles rippled their +leaden waves of death. We could see but little of the enemy; they lay +concealed behind the loose rocks, and our men had little else to do but +lift their rifles and pull the trigger, trusting to the powers that rule +the destinies of war to speed the bullets to some foeman's resting place. +But we knew they were there if we could not see them, for the snap and +snarl of the Mauser rifles came readily to our ears, and the booming of +their guns answered ours, as hound answers hound when the scent grows +hottest. We pounded them with shrapnel and pelted them with common shell +until the air around them rained iron. Our guns were six to one, yet those +brave veldtsmen held their own with a stubborn courage worthy of the +noblest traditions in all the red pages of war. They gave us a parting shot +at sundown, and at night, when the thick mists from the snow-draped +mountains behind us came down upon the land and added to the darkness of +the winter's night, they moved their gun and fell back with it to a place +where they could renew the battle on the morrow. And at the dawning they +testified their vitality by dropping a couple of shells right into the +midst of the Imperial Yeomanry camp. + +Whilst we were busy at Julies Kraal, drawing the Boers' attention from +other points, feinting as if we intended to push right on into Commando +Nek, General Sir Archibald Hunter made a dash at Relief's Nek with his +force, and our cannon were busy at almost every point around the valley +where the Boers were stationed. General Prinsloo, who was in supreme +command of the enemy's forces, had no means of knowing where the British +really meant to strike. In vain he pushed men to anticipate Rundle's +threatened move, vainly he turned like a trapped tiger towards Hunter's +marching men. Turn where he would, the khaki wave met him, rolling +resistlessly inward and onward. Hunter broke through with small loss, for +the force which should have checked him at Retief's Nek was waiting at +Commando Nek for Rundle and the Eighth Division. It was a master stroke, +for when once Hunter was upon the inside of the valley he was in a position +to threaten the rear of the Boer forces at Commando Nek, and that was a +state of affairs which the enemy could not stand upon any terms. A number +of them, under clever Commandant Olivier, slipped away through Golden Gate. +They did not face the more open country even inside the big valley, but +made their way through a piece of ground known as Witzies Hoek, and thence +through a ravine which almost beggars description. Later on I went with +Driscoll's Scouts in search of the tracks of these men, and followed along +the same road they had taken. The ravine was a long, narrow gap between +mountain ranges of immense height. The sides of the mountains were covered +with loose boulders, sufficient to protect the whole Boer army from our +artillery fire. The only track which a horseman could possibly follow wound +in and out alongside the face of the cliffs, so narrow that even the horses +bred in the country found it difficult to keep their feet upon it, and +could only proceed, at funeral pace, in single file. A handful of men could +have held that place against an army. With De Wet and Olivier gone, half +our task was over. The Boers made a blind rush, first to one nek, then to +the next, only to find that Britain's sons guarded them all. Small bodies +of men might escape, but the vast supplies of mealies, waggons, guns, and +all the cumbrous appliances of war, without which an army is useless, were +penned in. The hand of the Field-Marshal was on them. The blocking forces +held the neks, and now those forces which had to strike were ordered to +move. No sooner did General Rundle receive his orders to advance than he +rolled forward with the impetuosity of a storm breaking upon a southern +coast. They on the spot knew that all the enemy's hopes lay centred round a +town in the middle of the valley. This town was Fouriesburg. The general +who could strike that town first would deal the death blow to the Boer +forces in the Free State. Rundle was furthest from the town; the pathway +his troops would have to pursue was rougher and more rugged than that which +lay open to the rest of the forces. + +But Rundle knew his men; he knew their mettle; he had tried them with long, +weary marching, and he knew that they were worthy of his trust. He gave his +orders. The Leinsters and the Scots Guards, tall, gaunt, hunger-stricken +warriors, whose ribs could be counted through their ragged khaki coats, +swung out as cheerily as if they had never known the absence of a meal or +the fatigue of a dreary march. The Irishmen chaffed the Scots, and the +Scots yelled badinage back to the sons of Erin, and onward they went, +onward and upward, over the rock-strewn ground, through the narrow passes, +fixing their bayonets where the ground looked likely to hold a hidden foe, +ready at a moment's notice to charge into the blackness that lay engulfed +in those dreary passes. But the enemy did not wait for them. As the Eighth +Division advanced, making the rocky headlands ring with the rhythm of their +martial tread, the Boers fell back like driven deer, and the bugle spoke to +the Scottish bagpipe until the silent hills gave tongue, and echo answered +echo until the wearied ear sickened for silence. Onward we swept, until +Commando Nek lay like a grinning gash in the face of nature far in our +rear. When we did halt the men threw themselves down on the freezing earth, +and wolfed a biscuit; then, stretching themselves face downwards on the +grass, they slept with their rifles ready to their hands, their greatcoats +around them, and above only the stars, that seemed to freeze in the +boundless billows of eternal blue. Onward again, before the silver +sentinels above us had faded before the blushing face of the dawning. With +faces begrimed with dirt, with feet blistered by contact with flinty +boulders, with tattered garments flapping around them like feathers on +wounded waterfowl, officers and men faced the unknown, as their fathers +faced it before them. Meanwhile Hunter was pressing towards Fouriesburg +from Relief's Nek, his scouts--the well-known "Tigers," under Major +Remington--well in advance of his main column. + +Rundle gave an order to Driscoll, Captain of the Scouts, who had done such +good service to the Eighth Division. What passed between the general and +the Irish captain no man knows, probably no man will ever know. But when +Driscoll rode up at the mad gallop so characteristic of the man there was +that in his hard, ugly, wind-tanned face which spoke of stern deeds to be +done. He did not ride alone, this Irish-Indian Volunteer captain--Rundle's +own _aide_, Lord Kensington, of the 15th Hussars, was on his right +hand, and on his left Lieutenant Roger Tempest, of the Scots Guards, for a +squad of the Scots Guards who had been learning scouting under Driscoll +were to accompany Driscoll's Scouts. That little group was characteristic +of the future of the British Empire. Two aristocrats riding shoulder to +shoulder with a wild dare-devil, whose rifle had cracked over half the +earth. England, Ireland, and Scotland rode alone in front of the +adventurous band that day. It was a reckless ride; the captain, on his grey +stallion, half a length in front. They darted through gullies, drew rein +and unslung rifles up hill, now standing in the stirrups to ease their +cattle, now sitting tight in the saddle to drive them over the open veldt, +taking every chance that a dare-devil crew could take, pausing for nothing, +staying for nothing. Right into the town of Fouriesburg they galloped, down +from their saddles they leaped, up went the rifles; the foe poured in a few +shots, and, appalled by the devilish audacity of the deed, fled before a +handful. It was a proud moment then, when, in the last stronghold of the +foe in all the Free State, Kensington, the _aide_ of the General of +the Eighth Division, with a little band of officers grouped around him, +with the Scouts and Scots Guards lying behind cover, rifle in hand, pulled +down the Orange Free State flag in the very teeth of the foe. Only a little +band of officers--Kensington, Driscoll, Davies, and Tempest. May their +names be remembered when the wine cups flow! + +On the night of the 28th of July Colonel Harley, Chief Staff Officer Eighth +Division, led two companies of the Leinsters and the full strength of the +Scots Guards in a night attack on De Villier's Drift, which was to clear +the way for the whole of the Eighth Division towards Fouriesburg. The +movement had been well and carefully planned, and was neatly and +expeditiously carried out. The following day we advanced in open order over +the rolling veldt; now and again a man paused, lurched a little to one +side, staggered and fell, as shot and shell dropped amongst us, but the +march forward never ceased, never paused Paget and Hunter were with us now, +and the lyddite guns seemed to drive all the fight out of the foe. They +would not stand. Paget's artillerymen dashed forward, unlimbered, and +loosed on the enemy with a recklessness of personal safety that was almost +wanton. + +Every branch of the Service was vying with its neighbour to see who could +take the most chances in the game of war, and the very recklessness of the +men was their safeguard, for their dash whipped the foe, who now seemed to +realise that their evil hour had at last dawned. They sent in a flag of +truce, asking for the terms on which they might surrender. + +On the evening of the 29th July we knew that the enemy were negotiating for +terms of peace, though things were kept as secret as possible until the +following day. Then we saw General Prinsloo ride in with his _aide_ +and surrender. He met General Rundle first, and a few minutes later General +Hunter, and the three leaders rode through the lines together. They were +closeted closely for some hours before the final agreement could be arrived +at. Prinsloo wanted terms for his men which the British generals would not +concede, the final agreement being that the burghers were to ride in and +throw down their arms under our flag. They were to be allowed a riding hack +to convey them to the railway station, and each man was to remain in +possession of his private effects. More than this General Hunter would not +concede upon any terms. At one period of the negotiations things became so +strained that hostilities were almost renewed, but the Hoof Commandant was +wise enough to realise that destiny had decided against him and his burgher +band. He came from the conclave at last, and gave an order in Dutch to his +_aide_, and in a moment the horseman was flying towards the Boer +laager with the news that, so far as they were concerned, the great war of +1899 and 1900 was at an end. + +Our troops had been drawn up in long parallel lines, up over the slopes, +over the crest, and along the edge of "Victory Hill." They formed a lane of +blood and steel, down which the conquered veldtsmen had to march. Their +guns were on their flanks, the generals grouped in the centre. Everything +was hushed and still; there was no sign of braggart triumph, no unseemly +mirth, no swagger in the demeanour of the troops. They had worked like men; +they carried their laurels with conscious power and pride, but with no +offensive show. It was a sight which few men ever behold, and none ever +forget. The glory of the skies, where everything that met the eye was +brightest blue, edged with stainless whiteness, was above us; and beneath +our feet, and to right and left, were great valleys--not smiling like our +English vales, where sunlight runs through shadows like laughter through +tears, but vast uncultivated gaps that grinned in sardonic silence at +conqueror and conquered, as though to remind us that we were but puppets in +a passing show. Kopjes and valleys may have looked upon many a grim page in +war's history. Savage chiefs, backed by savage hordes, have swept across +them many a time and oft. Possibly, if the rocks had tongues, they could +tell us much of ancient armies, for this land of Africa is old in blood and +warlike doings. But few more remarkable sights than this upon which my eyes +rested upon the 30th July, 1900, have ever graced even this land of many +wonders. + +I looked along our lines, and saw our soldiers standing patiently waiting +for the curtain to fall. I was proud of them, and of the men who led them, +for they had won without one cruel stroke. No single human life had +wantonly been wasted, no dishonourable deed had smirched their arms, no +smoking ruins cried aloud to God for retribution, no outraged women sobbed +dry-eyed behind us, no starving children fled before the khaki wave; and in +this last hour, an hour pregnant with humiliation and pain to our enemies, +there was the steady manliness which spoke of the great dignity of a great +nation. Out from the stillness a bugle spoke from the lines of the +Leinsters; the Scottish bagpipes, far away down the hillside, took up the +note with a shrill scream of triumph, like the challenge of an eagle in its +eyrie. A rustle ran along the lines. We caught the hum of many voices, then +the tramp of horses' hoofs. A soldier slipped towards the spot where our +country's flag was furled and ready; a moment later the Union Jack spread +out and hugged the breezes. Our foemen rode towards the flag between the +lines of those whose hands had placed it there, and when they came abreast +of it they dropped their rifles and their bandoliers, and with bent heads +passed onwards. + +Some were boys, so young that rifles looked unholy things in hands so +childlike; others were old men, grey and grizzled, grim old tillers of the +soil, who looked as hard as the rocky boulders against which they leant, +many were in the pride of manhood; but old or young, grey beard or no +beard, all of them seemed to realise that they were a beaten people. All +day, and for many days, they came to us and laid their arms aside, until +fully 4,000 men had owned themselves our prisoners. We gathered in the +flocks and herds which had been held by them as army stores, and then we +set to work to give the Free State peace and peaceful laws. Our next step +was to march upon Harrismith, which was merely an armed promenade, for the +real work of the campaign had been completed when, on Victory Hill, near +Slap Kranz, Commandant Prinsloo surrendered with all his forces, excepting +the few who fled with De Wet and Olivier. Our flag is the symbol of victory +in every village and town. May it always be the symbol of even-handed +justice, for no power in all the world, unless backed by wise and pure +laws, will hold Africa for twenty years. + +I have never before attempted to express an opinion upon the future of +Africa, yet now, when I have been nine months at the front, when I have +marched through the Free State from border to border, noting carefully the +demeanour of the people we have conquered, and the conduct of our troops +towards those people, I may be allowed by the more tolerant of the British +public to express an opinion. I do not see "white winged peace" brooding +over this country. I see a people beaten, broken, out-generalled, and +out-fought. I see a people who, even when whipped, maintain that the war +has been an unholy war, brewed and bred by a few adventurers for sordid +motives; and in my poor opinion there is little in front of us in South +Africa but trouble and storm, unless someone with a cleaner soul than the +ordinary politician remains in Africa to represent our nation. Only one man +seems to me to stand out as fitted by God and nature with the high +qualities which the ruler of Africa should possess. He is a man who has the +gift of leadership as few men--ancient or modern--ever possessed it, a man +whose word is known to be unbreakable, whose hands are clean, whose record +is stainless--the Field-Marshal, Lord Roberts. The man who is to rule South +Africa must be a great soldier, not a tyrant, not a martinet, not a bundle +of red tape tied up with a Downing Street bow and adorned with frills. The +negro trouble is looming large on the African borders, and the negro chiefs +know that in Lord Roberts they have their master. We must not pander to +them to the injury of the Dutch, or how are we to weld Dutch and British +into a national whole? Our generals have so conducted this campaign, +especially this latter part of it, that not only does the Dutchman know +that we can fight, but he knows that we can be generous with the splendid +generosity of a truly great people. Our generals, with few exceptions, have +left that record behind them, for which a nation's thanks are due; and few +have done more than the commander of the Eighth Division, Sir Leslie +Rundle, who can say that not only did he never lose an English gun, but +that never did the enemy of his country succeed in breaking through his +lines. Few men, placed as he was, week after week, month after month, would +have been able to make so proud a boast. + +These are possibly the last lines I shall ever write in connection with the +Eighth Division. Their work is practically over here. My own is done, for +my health is badly broken, and I shall follow this to England. But if I +cannot march home with them, when they come back in triumph to receive from +a grateful country the praise they have won, I can at least have the +satisfaction of knowing that for many months I shared their vicissitudes, +if not their glory. + + + + + + CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP. + + THE CAMP LIAR. + + +In the days of my almost forgotten boyhood I remember reading in the Book +of all books that the Wise Man, in a fit of blank despair, declared that +there were several things under heaven which he could neither gauge nor +understand, viz., "The way of a serpent upon a rock, and the way of a man +with a maid," and I beg leave to doubt if Solomon, in all his wisdom, could +understand the little ways of a camp liar in his frisky glory. Whence he +cometh, whither he goeth, and why he was born, are conundrums which might +tax the ingenuity of all the prophets, from Daniel downwards, to solve. I +have sought him with peace offerings in each hand, hoping to beguile him +from his sinful ways, and have located him not. I have risen in the chilly +dawn, and laid wait for him with a gun, but have not feasted mine eyes upon +him. I have lain awake through the still watches of the night planning +divers surprises for him, but success has not come nigh unto me. I have +cursed the camp liar with a fervour born of long suffering, and I have +hired a Zulu mule-driver to curse him for me; but my efforts have come to +nought, and now I am sore in my very bones when I think of him. All men +whose fate it is to dwell under canvas know of his work, but no man hath +yet laid hand or eye upon him. A man goeth to his blankets at night time +feeling good towards all mankind, satisfied in his own soul that he has +garnered in all the legitimate news that he is in any way entitled to +handle for the public benefit; and lo! when he ariseth in the dawning he +finds that the camp liar has neither slept nor slumbered, for the very air +is full of stories concerning battles which have not been fought and +victories which have not been won. From mouth to mouth, all along the +lines, the stories run as fire runs along fuse, and no man born of woman +can tell whence they came or where they will stop. Each soldier questioned +swears the tale is true, because "'twas told to him by one who never lied." +Yet, at evening, when the weary wretch who works for newspapers returns to +his tent, with his boots worn through with fruitless search for the author +of the "news," he learns that once again he has been the dupe of the "camp +liar"; and he may well be forgiven if he then heaps a whole continent of +curses on the invisible shape which, forming itself into a lie, is small +enough to enter a man's mouth, and yet big enough to permeate a whole camp. +What is a camp liar? It is not a man, neither is it a maid, neither is it +dog nor devil. It is a nameless shadow, which flits through the minds of +men, fashioned by the Father of Evil to be a curse and a scourge to war +correspondents. A mining liar is an awful liar, but he takes tangible form, +and one can grapple with him when he appears upon a prospectus. A political +liar is a pitiful liar, and vengeance finds him out upon the hustings, and +eggs and the produce of the kitchen garden are his reward. A legal liar is +a loquacious liar, but he is bounded by his brief and the extent of his +fees. But the camp liar has no bounds, and is equally at home in all +languages, at one moment dealing with an army in full marching order, and +the next battening festively upon one man in a mudhole. There is no height +to which the camp liar dare not ascend, there is nothing too trivial for it +to touch. It has neither sex nor shape; but, like a fallen angel ousted +from Heaven, and not wanted in Hades, it flits through camp a mental +microbe, spawning falsehoods in the souls of soldiers. + +The camp liar concocts a story of a fearful fight, and fills the air with +the groans of the dying, and makes a weird picture out of the grisly, +grinning silence of the ghastly dead. Kopjes are stained a rich ripe red +with the blood of heroes, and arms, and legs, and skulls, and shattered jaw +bones hurtle through the air midst the sound of bursting shells, like +straws in a stable-yard when the wind blows high. The very poetry of lying +is touched with a master hand when charging squadrons sweep across the +veldt and the sunlight kisses the soldier's steel. Then comes the pathos +dear to the liar's soul--the farewells of the dying, sobbed just seven +seconds before sunset into comrades' ears; the faltering voice, the +tear-dimmed eyes, the death rattle in the throat, the last hand clasps, the +last deep-drawn breath, in which--mother--Mary--and Heaven are always +mingled; and then the moonlight and the moaning of the midnight +wind!----The war correspondent leaps from the tent, springs into his saddle +with his note-book in his mouth and an indelible lead pencil in each hand, +and rides over kopje and veldt ten dreary miles to gaze upon the scene of +that awful battle, and finds--one dead mule, and a nigger driver, dead +drunk. Then, if he has had a religious education, he climbs out of the +saddle, sinks on his knees, and prays for the peace of the camp liar's +immortal soul. But if, as is often the case, he has had a secular +upbringing, he spits on the dead mule, kicks the nigger, slinks back to +camp by a roundabout route, and swears to everyone that he has been forty +miles in another direction in a railway truck. + +Four or five days later, just at that hour in the morning when a man clings +most fondly to his blankets, another rumour breaks the early morning's +limpid silence, a rumour of a battle of great import raging eighteen miles +away, just within easy riding distance for a smart correspondent. But the +man of ink and hardships chuckles this time. He has been fooled so often by +the imp of camp rumours; so murmurs just loud enough to be heard in heaven, +"That infernal camp liar again," and rustles his blankets round his ears +and drops cosily back into dreamland; but when, later on, he learns that an +important battle has been fought, and he has missed it all because he did +not want to be fooled by the camp liar, then what he mutters is muttered +loud enough to be heard in a different place, and the folk there don't need +ear trumpets to catch what he says either. + + + + + + CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP. + + THE NIGGER SERVANT. + + +It is raining outside my tent. It has rained for three days and nights, and +looks quite capable of raining for three days more; everything is simply +sodden. You try to look around you at the men's camps. At every step your +boots go up to the ankle, squelch, in the black mud. You slip as you walk, +and go down on your hands and knees in the slimy filth; that brings out all +the poetry in your nature. If you have had a Christian training in your +youth, you think of David dodging Saul, and your sympathies go out towards +the stupid king. The mud is everywhere; the horses have trodden it to slime +in many places, in others the feet of the soldiers have transformed it to +batter. Everything is cold, dreary, dismal; even the tobacco is damp, and +leaves a taste in a man's mouth like the receipt of bad news from home. I +look at the soldiers hanging around like sheep round a blocked-up shed in a +snow-storm, and I feel sympathetic. Their puttees are wet, and there is a +suggestion of future rheumatism in every fold that encircles their calves; +I can't see much more of them except their weather-beaten faces. They wear +their helmets and their blue-black overcoats, but both are wet. They don't +look happy, and the cause is not hard to find: they have slept out for +three nights without tents. Their blankets are like sponges that have been +left in a tub. Each blanket seems to hold about three gallons of water. + +I arrived at this computation by watching the men wringing their bedding. +Two men got hold of a blanket, one at each end; they twist it different +ways, and the water runs out in a stream. The soldiers relapse into +language. Most of their adjectives have a decidedly pink tinge, and I +shouldn't wonder if they became scarlet if this sort of weather continued. + +My nigger slops along through the slush and tells me that my lunch is +ready. He is not a happy-looking nigger by any means. A white man looks bad +enough in the mud and cold, but a nigger presents a pitiful spectacle. His +face goes whitish green, with an undercurrent of slatey grey running +through it. The brilliancy leaves the coal-black eyes, and they become as +lifeless and limp as a professional politician at a prayer meeting. The +mouth goes agape, the thick lips become flabby, and fall away from the +teeth. The mouth does not seem to fit the face, but hangs on to it like a +second-hand suit on a backyard fence. My nigger is no better, and no worse, +than the rest of them. He looks like a chapter in Lamentations, and is +about as much at home in the sodden camp as a bar of wet soap in a sand +heap. Just now he is good for nothing except to sing doleful hymns in a key +sad enough to frighten a transit mule away from a bag of mealies. When he +is not singing sadly he is quoting Scripture and thinking about his +immortal soul. When the sun comes out to-morrow and the day after, he will +be dancing a most unholy dance or be making love to "Dinah," filling in the +intervals by cursing in three different languages stray horses that steal +our fodder. + +It is really astonishing what a difference the weather makes to the morals +of the South African nigger. Give him plenty of sunshine, and he forgets he +ever had a soul, and throws slabs of blasphemy, picked up from the Tommies +around him, with painful liberality. When he gets tired of English oaths, +he drops into Cape Dutch, and some of the curses contained in that language +are solid enough to hurt anything they hit. Later on he drifts into his +native tongue, raises his voice a couple of octaves, and streaks the +atmosphere with multi-coloured oaths, until you imagine you are listening +to a vocal rainbow. But take away the sunshine, give him a wet hide and a +wet floor to camp on, and he straightway becomes all penitence and prayer. +His face, peering out dismally between the upturned collar of his +weather-stained coat and the down-drawn brim of his battered hat, looks +like a soiled sermon, and he is altogether woeful. + +When the weather is warm he decks himself out in any piece of gaudy finery +he can lay hands upon. He loves to wear a glaring yellow roll of silk or +cloth around his hat, a blue or green 'kerchief about his throat, and a +crimson girdle encircled about his loins. Then he thinks he is a midsummer +sunset, and swaggers round like a peacock in full plumage, looking for +something to "mash." He has no sense of the eternal law of averages. It +does not trouble him if the whole seat of his most important garment is +represented by a hole big enough to put a baby in, if he only has the +artistic decorations I have mentioned above. Nor does he see anything out +of the way in the fact that one of his feet is encased in an officer's top +boot and the other in a remnant of a Boer farmer's cast-off veldtschoon. +His soul yearns towards feathers. He will pluck a grand white plume from +the tail of an ostrich if he gets a favourable opportunity, and place it +triumphantly in his torn and soiled slouch hat, or he will pick up a +discarded bonnet from a dust pile and rob it of feathers placed there by +feminine hands, in order that he may look a black Beau Brummell. + +His manners, like his morals, change with the weather. When the barometer +registers "fine and clear," you may expect a saucy answer if you rate him +for a late breakast; when it registers "warm, and likely to be warmer," you +may consider yourself lucky if you get a morning meal at all. But when it +indicates "hot," and the mercury still rising, you know that the time has +arrived for you to climb out of your coat and commence cooking for +yourself, unless you feel equal to the task of spreading a saucy nigger in +sections around the adjacent allotments. It is not always healthy to adopt +the latter plan, especially if your "boy" happens to be a Basuto or a Zulu. +Should he belong to either of those tribes, threaten him as much as you +like, but don't hurry to put your threats into practice; or the nigger may +do the scattering, and you may do the penitent part of the business. You +may bully him as much as you like when the barometer is falling, for then +the life is all out of him, and he has not sufficient spirit left in him to +resent any sort of insult. + +Even "Tommy" knows this, and on a cold day will call a big Zulu servant by +a name which implies that the Zulu's father and mother were never legally +married. The Zulu will only smile dismally, and tell "Tommy" that he will +pray for the salvation of his soul. Three days later, when the air is +dancing in the heat-rays, if Mr. Atkins, emboldened by former success, +repeats the speech, the Zulu will rise and confront him with blazing eyes, +showing at the same time a wide range of beautiful white teeth, set in a +savage snarl, and give Mr. Atkins a choice of titles which it would be hard +to improve upon even in a Dublin dockyard, and he will not be slow to back +his mouth with his hands should the argument become pressing, as more than +one of her Majesty's lieges have found out to their deep and lasting +humiliation. + +When a combination of rain and religion has depressed him the nigger +servant is one of the most abject-looking mortals that ever wore clothes, +and makes as sad a spectacle as a farmyard fowl on a front fence in a +thunderstorm. But he must not be judged altogether by his appearance on +such occasions. He can be loyal to his "boss," and when fit and well he +will fight when roused as a devil might fight for the soul of a deacon. He +loves to ride or drive a horse, but he is not fond of horses, as I +understand the term. He has no idea of making a pet of his charge. A horse +is to him merely something to get about upon, and he cannot understand our +fondness for our equine friends. I have noticed the same trait in the Boer +character. To a Boer a horse is usually merely a means of transit from spot +to spot; not a comrade, not a companion. I was not astonished to find this +feeling amongst the niggers, because I have noticed it among the natives in +every colony in Australia, and even amongst such inveterate horsemen as the +Sioux Indians of America and the Maories of New Zealand; but I was +surprised to note how little sympathy existed between the Boer and his +equine helper. + +The nigger servant is a sporting sort of party, and never loses an +opportunity to indulge his tastes in this direction. I had an excellent +chance the other day to note how fond he is of a bit of hunting. We had +camped before sundown in a rather picturesque position, and I was watching +the effect of the declining sun on the gloomy kopjes, when I noticed a +commotion in all the camps, in front, at the rear, and on both flanks. In +ten seconds every nigger in the whole camp had deserted his work and was +frantically dashing out on to the veldt. They uttered shrill cries as they +ran, and every man had some sort of weapon in his hand, either a tomahawk, +a billet of wood, or a rock. With marvellous celerity they formed a huge +circle, though what they were after was a puzzle to me. I fancied for +awhile that one of their number must have run "amuck," and the rest meant +to send him to slumber. Quickly they narrowed the circle, the whole body of +them moving as if linked together and propelled by unseen mechanism. When +the circle got about the third the size of an ordinary cricket ground I saw +what they were after. A brace of hares had caught their eyes, and this was +their method of capturing the fleet-footed, but stupid, "racers of the +veldt." First one nigger and then another detached himself from the circle, +and, darting in, had a shy at the quarry with whatever missile he had with +him. If he missed--and a good many of them missed--the speedy little bit of +fur, he returned crestfallen to the circle again, amidst jeers and laughter +from the rest. The hares darted hither and thither in that ever narrowing +circle of foes, until a couple of well-aimed shots, one with a rock as big +as a cricket ball, and one with a tomahawk, laid them out, and they became +the prize of the successful marksmen. The nigger "boy" has to be paid one +pound a week and his "scoff," and, taking him all in all, in spite of his +faults, which are many, I verily think he earns it. + + + + + + CHARACTER SKETCHES IN CAMP. + + THE SOLDIER PREACHER. + + (Written at Enslin Battlefield.) + + +He was standing at eventide facing the rough and rugged heights of Enslin. +The crimson-tinted clouds that emblazoned the sky cast a ruddy radiance +round his head and face, making him appear like one of those ancient +martyrs one is apt to see on stained-glass windows in old-world churches in +Rome or Venice. His feet were firmly planted close to the graves of the +British soldiers and sailors who had fallen when we beat the Boers and +drove them back upon Modder River. + +In one hand he held a little, well-worn Bible; his other hand was raised +high above his close-cropped head, whilst his voice rang out on the sultry, +storm-laden air like the clang of steel on steel: + +"Prepare ter meet yer God!" + +No one who looked at the neat, strong figure arrayed in the plain khaki +uniform of a private soldier, at the clean-shaven, square-jawed face, at +the fearless grey-blue eyes, could doubt either his honesty or earnestness. +Courage was imprinted by Nature's never-erring hand on every lineament of +his Saxon features. So might one of Cromwell's stern-browed warriors have +stood on the eve of Marston Moor. + +"Prepare ter meet yer God!" + +To the right of him the long lines of the tents spread upwards towards the +kopje; to the left the veldt, with its wealth of grey-green grass, sown by +the bounteous hand of the Great Harvester; all around him, excepting where +the graves raised their red-brown furrows, rows of soldiers lounged, +listing to the old, old story of man's weakness and eternal shame, and +Christ's love and everlasting pity. On the soldier preacher's breast a long +row of decorations gleamed, telling of honourable service to Queen and +country. Before a man could wear those ribbons he must have faced death as +brave men face it on many a battlefield. He must have known the agonies of +thirst, the dull dead pain of sleepless nights and midnight marches, the +tireless watching at the sentry's post, and the onward rush of armed men up +heights almost unscalable. On Egypt's sun-scorched plains he must have +faced the mad onslaughts of the Dervish hosts, and rallied with the men who +held the lines at Abu Klea Wells, where gallant Burnaby was slain. The +hills of Afghanistan must have re-echoed to his tread, else why the green +and crimson ribbon that mingled with the rest? His eyes had flashed along +the advancing lines of charging impi, led by Zulu chiefs. Yet never had +they flashed with braver light than now, when, facing that half-mocking, +half-reckless crowd, he cried: + +"Prepare ter meet yer God!" + +Rough as the thrust of a broken bayonet was his speech, unskilled in +rhetoric his tongue, his periods unrounded as flying fragments of shrapnel +shell; yet all who listened knew that every word came from the speaker's +soul, from the magazine of truth. Some London slum had been his cradle, the +gutters of the great city the only University his feet had known, the +costers' dialect was native to his tongue; yet no smug Churchman crowned +with the laurels of the schools could so have stirred the blood of those +wild lads, fresh from the boundless bush and lawless mining camps beneath +Australian suns. + +"Prepare ter meet yer God!" + +And even as he spoke we, who listened, plainly heard the rolling thunder of +our guns as they spoke in sterner tones to the nation's foes from Modder +River. It was no new figure that the soldier preacher placed before us. It +was the same indignant Christ that swept the rabble from the Temple; the +same great Christ who calmly faced the seething mob in Pilate's judgment +hall; the same sweet Christ who took the babes upon His knee; the same +Divine Christ who, with hyssop and gall, and mingled blood and tears, +passed death's dread portals on the dark brow of Calvary. The same grand +figure, but quaintly dressed in words that savoured of the London slums and +of the soldier's camp, and yet so hedged around with earnest love and +childlike faith that all its grossest trappings fell away and left us +nothing but the ideal Christ. + +Once more we heard the distant batteries speak to those whose hands had +rudely grasped the Empire's flag, and every rock, and hill, and crag, and +stony height took up the echo, like a lion's roar, until the whispering +wind was tremulous with sound. Then all was hushed except the preacher's +voice. + +"Prepare ter meet yer God! I've come ter tell yer all abart a General whose +armies hold ther City of Eternal Life. If you are wounded, throw yer rifles +down, 'nd 'e will send the ambulance of 'is love, with Red Cross angels, +and 'is adjutant, whose name is Mercy, to dress yer wounds. Throw down yer +rifles 'nd surrender. No rebels can enter the City of Eternal Life. You +can't storm ther walls, Or take ther gates at ther point of ther baynit, +for ther ramparts are guarded 'nd ther sentries never sleep. When ther +bugles sound ther larst reville you will ever 'ear, 'nd ther colonel, whose +name is Death, gives the order ter march, you'll have nothink to fear +abart, if yer bandoliers are full o' faith 'nd yer rifles are sighted with +good works. Yer uniforms may be ragged, and you may not even have a +corporal's stripe to show; but if yer can pass ther sentries fearlessly, +you'll find a general's commission waitin' for yer just inside ther gate. +But yer earn't fool with my General. Remember this: ther password is, +'Repentance,' 'nd nothink else will do. The sentry on duty will see you +comin' and will challenge you. 'Who goes there?' 'Friend!' 'Advance, +friend, 'nd give ther counter-sign!' If you say, 'Good works,' you'll find +'is baynit up against yer chest. If yer say you forgot to get it, you'll be +in ther clink in 'ell in ther twinklin' of an eye; but if yer say, loud 'nd +clear, 'Repentance,' 'e will lower 'is baynit 'nd say, 'Pass, friend. All's +well!'" + + + + + + PRESIDENT STEYN. + + +Out on the veldt, far from the wife and home he loves so well, he stands, +our country's bold, unyielding foe. And even as he stands he knows that the +finger of Fate has written his own and his country's doom in letters large +and deep on the walls of time. Yet, with unblenching brow, he waits the +falling of the thunderbolt, a calm, grand figure, fit to live in history's +pages when every memory of meaner men has passed into oblivion, M.T. Steyn, +President of the shattered Free State of South Africa. Around this man the +human jackals howl to try with lying lips to foul his memory. Yet, as a +rock, age after age, throws back with contemptuous strength the waves that +break against its base, so every action of his manly life gives the lie to +tales which cowards tell. + +He is our foe, no stabber in the dark, moving with stealthy steps amidst +professions of pretended peace, but in the open, where the gaze of God and +man can rest upon him, he stands, defiant, though undone. He staked his +country's freedom, his earthly happiness, and his high position in the +great game of war; staked all that mortal man holds dear; staked it for +what? For love of gain! May he who spawned that lie to stir our people's +hearts to boundless wrath against this falling man live to repent in +sackcloth and in tears the evil deed so done. . . . Staked it for what? To +feed his own ambition! I tell you no; the undercurrent which brought forth +the deed sprang from a nobler and a higher source. His country stood +pledged in time of peace to help in time of war a sister State, and when +the bond fell due he honoured it, though none knew better than this noble +man that when he loosed the dogs of war he crossed a lion's path. + +Now he is tottering to his fall, amidst the ruins of a crumbling State, +forsaken by the Powers that egged him on with covert promises of armed +support, abandoned to the tender mercies of his foes by those on whose +behalf he drew the sword. Yet, even now, the dauntless spirit of the man +rises above the wreckage of disaster. A little band of heroes ring him +round. Though every man in all that fearless few is England's foe, yet we, +who boast the Vikings' blood in every vein, can we not honour them? So did +our forefathers stand round Harold when Norman William trod with armed heel +on English soil. So stood our fathers when Blucher's laggard step hung back +from Waterloo. Are we not great enough to look with pride upon a gallant +foe? Or has our nation fallen from its high estate, has chivalry departed +from our blood, and left us nothing but the dregs which go to make a nation +of hucksters? If so, then let us leave the battlefields to better men, and +train our children solely for the market-place. But these are idle words, +born of the spleen which such a thought engenders. Full well I know the +temper of our people, terrible in their wrath, but swift to see the +nobleness in those who face them boldly. + +And these be noble men, my masters. They rally round their chief, as you +and yours would rally round a British leader if foreign hordes swept with +resistless might over England's historic soil. All that they loved they've +lost, and nothing now remains to them but honour and a patriot's grave; and +in the grim game of war it is our stern task to give them what they seek--a +soldier's death beneath the doomed flag which, in their stubborn pride, +they will never forsake. But even whilst we hem them round with bristling +bayonets, ready for the last dread act in this red drama, let us pay them +the tribute due to all brave men; for he who gives his life to guard a +cause he holds most dear is worthy of our admiration, though he be ten +thousand times our foe. What should we think of men who, left to guard the +Kentish fields, threw down their arms and sued for peace to any leader of +an invading host because our cause seemed lost? Should we not curse them as +a craven crowd, and teach our lisping babes to mock their memory? Would any +fair-faced girl in all the British Isles wed any man who would not fight +until the sinews slackened with slaying in defence of the homeland? If so, +they are not fashioned of the metal of which their granddames were made. + +And what we honour as the prince of virtues in a Briton shall we condemn as +vice in this little band of Free State Boers and their leader, loyal to a +lost cause? No, England, no! It is not you that shriek anathemas to the +weeping skies because the foe dies hard. The gutter gamin and the brutal +lout who never owned a soul fit to rise above the level of the kettle +singing on the hearth may brand the name of Steyn and his stout burghers +with infamy; but the clean-souled people of the Motherland, the people from +whose ranks our greatest fighters and thinkers spring, will not endorse +that cry. No, not though every slanderous throat shall shriek until they +cannot wail an octave higher. + +It is not from such great men as Roberts that we hear these pitiful tales +concerning those who give us battle. He who has been a man of war from +childhood to old age would never stoop to soil his manly lips to woo the +fleeting favours of a mob, and he has proved himself as wise in council as +upon the death-strewn fields of war. So wise, so brave, so loyal to his +word, that even those whom he, at his country's call, has had to crush, +lift their hats reverently at the mention of his name, because he wears +upon his hero soul the white flower of a blameless life. Would Kitchener, +whose dread name strikes terror to the heart of every burgher, would he +befoul his foeman's fame? I tell you no, though whilst a foe remains in +arms he strikes with all a giant's force and spares not; but when the blow +has fallen, he of all men would preserve his enemies' fair fame intact. So +it should be whilst those who stand in arms against our country and our +country's flag refuse the terms we offer. We should make war so terrible +that every enemy should dread the sound of British bugles as they would +dread the trump of doom. When once the country's voice has called for war, +then war should sweep with resistless might over land and sea, until sweet +peace should seem a boon to be desired above all earthly things by those +who stand in arms against us. If Steyn and those who with heroic hearts +hedge him round refuse to bow to destiny and the God of Battles, then he +and they must fall before the bayonets of our soldiery as growing corn +falls before the sickle of the reaper. But even in their fall they can +claim as their heaven-born heritage our nation's deepest admiration for +their dauntless devotion to their love of country, home, and kindred. And +we will but add laurels to the renown our soldiers have won if we, with +unsparing hand, mete out to them the praises due to manly foes. Ours be the +task to slay them where they stand; not ours the task to rob them of the +glory they have won. + + + + + + LOUIS BOTHA, + COMMANDANT-GENERAL OF THE + BOER ARMY. + + +Louis Botha, who has cut so deep a mark in the pages of history, is only a +young man yet, being about seven-and-thirty years of age. He is a "fine +figure of a man," standing in the neighbourhood of six feet in his boots. +His face is handsome, intellectual, and determined; his expression kindly +and compassionate. The razor never touches his face, but his brown beard is +always neatly trimmed, for the young Commandant-General is particular in +regard to his personal appearance in a manly way, though in no respect +foppish. He is now, and always has been, an excellent athlete, a good rifle +shot, and a first-class horseman; not given at any time to indoor pastimes +over much, though fond of a quiet game of whist. He was born in Natal, of +Dutch parents, and married to Miss Emmett, a relative of Robert Emmett, the +Irish Revolutionist. Young Botha was educated at Greytown, and though a +good, sound commercial scholar, he gave no evidence in his schoolboy days +of what was in him. No one who knew him then would have dreamed that before +he was forty years of age he would be the foremost soldier of his country. +His folk were moderately well off, but the adventurous spirit of the future +general sent him inland from Natal when a large number of Natal and Free +State Boers enlisted under the flag of General Lucas Meyer, who was bent +upon making war upon a powerful negro tribe in the neighbourhood of +Vryheid. During the fighting young Botha was his general's right-hand man, +displaying even at that early age a cool, level head and a stout heart. +When the Boers were firmly settled upon the land Vryheid was declared a +Republic, and Lucas Meyer was elected first President. But the new Republic +lasted only about three years, and was then, by mutual consent, merged into +Transvaal territory, and both Lucas Meyer and Louis Botha were elected +members of the Volksraad. Louis Botha retained his seat right up to the +time hostilities broke out between Great Britain and the Republics under +Mr. Kruger and Mr. Steyn. + +During the many stormy scenes which preceded the actual declaration of war +Louis Botha proved that he possessed the coolest and most level head in the +Volksraad. He opposed the war, and, with prophetic eye, foresaw the awful +devastation of his country which would follow in the footsteps of the +British army. But when the time came, and his country was irretrievably +pledged to war, he was not the man to hang back. He was one of those who +had much to lose and little indeed to gain by taking up arms against us, +for, by honest industry, he had become a wealthy farmer and stockbreeder. +At the first call to arms he threw aside his senatorial duties, and took up +his rifle, rejoining his old commando at Vryheid as commandant under +General Lucas Meyer. It is said that at the battle of Dundee General Meyer, +feeling convinced that the God of Battles had decided against him and his +forces, decided to surrender to the British, but Louis Botha fiercely +combated his general's decision, and point-blank refused to throw down his +arms or counsel his men to do so. What followed all the world knows, and +Botha went up very high in the estimation of the better class of fighting +burghers. At the Tugela, before the first big battle took place, General +Meyer was taken ill, and had to retire to Pretoria, and Louis Botha was +then elected assistant-general, and the planning of the battle was left +entirely to him. + +It was a terribly responsible position to place so young a man in, for he +was face to face with the then Commander-in-Chief of the British army, Sir +Redvers Buller, a general of dauntless determination and undoubted ability. +Experience, men, and all the munitions of war were in favour of the British +general; but the awful nature of the country was upon the side of the newly +fledged Boer leader, and he made terrible use of it. The day of Colenso, +when Sir Redvers Buller received his first decisive check, will not soon be +forgotten in the annals of our Army. A man of weaker fibre than the British +leader would have been daunted by the disasters of that day, for there he +lost ten guns and a large number of men. But Buller carried in his blood +all the old grit of our race, and the heavier the check the more his soul +was set upon ultimate victory. I have been over that battle ground, and +have looked at the positions taken up by Louis Botha. They were chosen with +consummate skill, born of a thorough knowledge of the nature of the country +and inherent generalship. + +I have looked at the country Sir Redvers Buller had to pass through to get +at his wise and skilful adversary. The man who dared make the attempt that +Buller made must have had nerves of steel, and a soul that would not blench +if ordered to storm the very gates of Hades. The worst fighting ground that +I saw in all the Free State was but a mockery of war compared to the ground +around Colenso, and I have seen some terrible places in the Free State. But +a man has to see the ground Buller fought in to realise the magnitude of +the task the Empire set him at the beginning of the war. Great as Lord +Roberts is, I doubt if he would have done more than Buller did under the +same circumstances. + +That battle of Colenso made young Louis Botha famous, and from that hour +the eyes of the burghers were turned towards him as the one man fit to lead +them. At Spion Kop, when the Boer leader, Schalk Burger, vacated the +splendid position he had been ordered to take up, Louis Botha's genius +grasped the mighty import of the situation, and he at once realised that +Schalk Burger had blundered terribly, and it was he who retook those +positions with such disastrous consequences to our forces. His fame spread +far and near, and his name became a thing to conjure with. When the +Commandant-General of the Boer Army, General Joubert, lay dying, he was +asked who was the best man to fill his place. And he, the grey veteran, did +not hesitate for a second, but with his dying breath gasped out the name of +Louis Botha. The Boer Government promptly appointed him to the position, +and from that day to this he has been the paramount military power in the +Boer lines. He is not the only one of his line fighting under the Transvaal +flag. There are four other brothers in the field, one of whom, Christian +Botha, is now a general, and a good fighter. As a soldier Louis Botha has +proved himself a foeman worthy the steel of any of our generals; as a man +his worst enemy can say nothing derogatory concerning him, for in all his +actions he has borne himself like a gentleman. He is generous and courteous +in the hour of victory, stout-hearted and self-reliant in the time of +disaster--just the type of soldier that a great nation like ours knows how +to esteem, even though he is an enemy in arms against us. + + + + + + WHITE FLAG TREACHERY. + + +Few things have astonished me more during the progress of this war than the +number of charges levelled against our foes in reference to the treacherous +use of the white flag. Almost every newspaper that came my way contained +some such account; yet, though constantly at the front for nine months, I +cannot recall one solitary instance of such treachery which I could vouch +for. I have heard of dozens of cases, and have taken the trouble to +investigate a good many, but never once managed to obtain sufficient proof +to satisfy me that the charge was genuine. On one occasion I was following +close on the heels of our advancing troops, and had for a comrade a rather +excitable correspondent. When within about fourteen hundred yards of the +kopjes we were advancing to attack, the Boers opened a heavy rifle fire; +and, though we could not see a solitary enemy, our fellows began to drop. +It was very evident that the enemy were secreted in the rocks not far from +a substantial farmhouse, from the roof of which floated a large white flag +(it turned out later to be a tablecloth braced to a broom handle). + +"There's another case of d---- white flag treachery," shouted my companion. +"I wonder the general don't turn the guns on that farm and blow it to +Hades." + +"What for?" I asked. + +"What for! Why, they are flying the white flag, and shooting from the +farmhouse. Isn't that enough?" + +"Quite enough, if true," I replied. "But how the devil do you know they are +shooting from the farmhouse?" + +"They must be shooting from the farmhouse," he yelled. "Why, I've been +scouring all the rocks around with my glasses, and can't see a blessed Boer +in any of 'em. No, sir, you can bet your soul they are skulking in that +farm. They know we won't loose a shell on the white flag---the cowards!" + +I did not think it worth while to argue with a man of that stamp, but kept +my glasses on that farm very closely during the fight that followed. Right +up to the time when our men rushed the kopjes and surrounded the farmhouse +I did not see a man enter or leave the house, and when I rode up I found +that two women and three children were in possession. Furthermore, on +examination, I soon discovered that, as the doors and windows faced the +wrong way, it would have been impossible for a Boer to do much shooting at +our men, unless the walls at the gable end were loopholed, which they were +not, I know, for I examined them minutely. Fortunately for the credit of +the British Army, most of our generals are coolheaded men who do not allow +the irresponsible chatter of the army to influence them. Otherwise our guns +would have been trained upon many a homestead on charges quite as flimsy +and groundless as the one quoted above. + +I suppose that cases of treachery have really occurred during the war. In a +mixed crowd like that which composes the burgher army, there are sure to be +some mortals fit to do any mean trick, just as sure as there are men fit to +do or say anything in the British Army, But I cannot, and I will not, +believe that the great bulk of these men are such paltry cowards as to make +the "white flag" act a common one. It may be news to British readers to +know that the burghers complain of the behaviour of our troops as bitterly +as we complain of theirs; and I think, from personal observation, that +their charges are as groundless as are some charges made by the same class +of hysterical individuals, though of different nationality. Their pet +hatred, when I was a prisoner in their hands, was the Lancers. They used to +swear that the Lancers never spared a wounded man, but ran him through as +they galloped past him. I was told this fifty times, and each time told my +informant flatly that I declined to believe the assertion, and should +continue to disbelieve it until I had undeniable proof, for it would take a +good deal to convince me that a British soldier would strike a fallen foe +even in the heat and stress of battle. One day they asked me to come and +look at the dead body of one of their field cornets, whom they alleged to +have been done to death whilst wounded by our Lancers. I went and saw the +man, and at a glance saw that the wounds were not lance wounds at all, but +ripping bullet wounds. He had been sniped by some Australian riflemen from +a high kopje whilst in a valley. I tried to explain this to the excited +burghers, but they only sneered at me for my trouble, until one of their +own doctors coming along had a look at the corpse, and promptly verified my +statements. That calmed them considerably, and they looked at the thing in +cooler blood, and soon saw that it was really absurd to put the blame of +the man's death on the shoulders of the Lancers, though they stoutly +maintained that our cavalry were at times guilty of such monstrous conduct. +I have often heard them solemnly swear never to give a Lancer a chance to +surrender if they once got him within rifle range. + +Personally, I could never see just what the Boers would gain by the white +flag business. As a rule, our troops did not want coaxing into rifle range; +they marched within hitting distance readily enough, and did not require a +white flag to lure them into a tight place, so that the object to be gained +by the enemy by such disgraceful tactics never seemed to me to be too +apparent. If they had ever by such means been able to entrap an army, or to +bring about the wholesale slaughter of our men, I could understand things a +bit better; but they had little to gain and an awful lot to lose by such +tactics. There is no slight risk attached to the act of firing on an +advancing army treacherously under cover of the white flag. Such a deed +rouses all the slumbering devil in the men, and the foe found guilty of +such a deed would get more bayonet than he would find conducive to his +health when it came to his turn to be beaten. + + + + + + THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN. + + MAGERSFONTEIN. + + +The Australians, after relieving Belmont from the Boer commando, suddenly +received orders to march upon Enslin, as the Boers had attacked that place, +which was held by two companies of the Northamptonshires under Captain +Godley; the latter had no artillery, whilst the enemy, who were over 1,000 +strong, had one 12-pounder gun with them, but the sequel proved that the +Boer is a poor fighter in the open country. He is hard to beat in hilly and +rocky ground when acting on the defensive, but he is not over dangerous as +an attacking power. Let him choose his ground, and fight according to his +own traditions, and the best soldiers in the world will find it no sinecure +to oust him. As soon as the Boers put in an appearance at Enslin, +Lieutenant Brierly, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, who is attached to the +Northamptons, made his way to a kopje, which had formerly been held by Boer +forces, and a mere handful of men fairly held the enemy in check at that +point for over seven hours. The enemy made frantic efforts to dislodge this +gallant little band, but failed dismally, and they had not the heart to try +to take the kopje by storm, though there were enough of them around the +hill to have eaten the little band of Britishers. In the meantime Captain +Godley and his men held the township. Again and again the enemy threatened +to rush the place, but their valour melted before the determined front of +the besieged, and they drew off, taking their gun with them, their scouts +having warned them that the Australians, with a section of the Royal Horse +Artillery and two guns, were coming upon them from the direction of +Belmont, whilst a body of the 12th Lancers and a battery of artillery were +dashing down from Modder River. The Australians, who are now 720 strong, +the New South Wales Company of 125 men having joined Colonel Head's forces, +remained at Enslin, and entrenched there in order to keep open the line of +communication between General Methuen's army and Orange River; a section of +Royal Horse Artillery and two guns is with them. On half a dozen occasions +the Boers have threatened to sweep down upon them from the hilly country +adjacent, but up to the time of writing nothing serious has occurred. + +On Sunday last we heard the sound of heavy firing coming from the direction +of Modder River; scouts coming in informed us that an engagement between +General Methuen's force and the enemy, under the astute General Cronje, had +commenced. Seeing that Australia was liable to remain idle for the time +being, I determined to push on with my assistant, Mr. E. Monger, of +Coolgardie, West Australia. When we arrived at Modder River we found the +fight raging at a spot about four and a half miles beyond Modder River +bridge. Our forces were in possession of the river and the plain beyond; +but General Cronje had entrenched himself in a line of ranges stretching +for several miles across the veldt. So well had the Boer general chosen his +ground, and such good use had he made of the natural advantages of his +position, that the British found themselves face to face with an African +Gibraltar. The frowning rocks were bristling with rifles, which commanded +the plain below, trenches seamed the hillsides in all directions, and in +those trenches lay concealed the picked marksmen of the veldt--men who, +though they know but little of soldiering from a European point of view, +yet had been familiar with the rifle from earliest boyhood; rough and +uncouth in appearance, dressed in farmers' garb, still under those +conditions, fighting under a general they knew and trusted, amidst +surroundings familiar to them from infancy, they were foemen worthy of the +respect of the veteran troops of any nation under heaven. + +At every post of vantage Cronje, with consummate generalship, had posted +his artillery so that it would be almost impossible for our guns to silence +them, whilst at the same time he could sweep the plains below should our +infantry attempt to storm the heights at the point of the bayonet. At the +bottom of the kopjes, right under the muzzle of his guns, he had excavated +trenches deep enough to hide his riflemen, but he had thrown up no +earthworks, so that our guns could not locate the exact spot where his +rifle trenches lay. All the earth from the trenches had been very carefully +removed, and the low blue bush which covers these plains completely +screened his trenches from view. In front of the trenches, and extending +some considerable distance out in front of the veldt, the clever Boer +leader had placed an immense amount of barbed wire entanglement, so +fashioned that no cavalry could live amongst it, whilst even the very +flower of our infantry would find it hard work to charge over it, even in +daylight. The Boer forces are variously estimated at from 12,000 to 15,000 +men. The number and nature of their guns can only be guessed at, but that +the enemy's men are well supplied in that respect there can be no question. +Our forces I estimate at about 11,000 men of all arms, including the +never-to-be-forgotten section of the Naval Brigade, to whom England owes a +debt of gratitude too deep for words to portray; for their steadiness, +valour, and accuracy of shooting saved England from disaster on this the +blackest day that Scotland has known since the Crimea. + +Our troops extended over many miles of country. Every move had to be made +in full view of the enemy upon a level plain where a collie dog could not +have moved unperceived by those foemen hidden so securely behind +impregnable ramparts. During the whole of Sunday our gunners played havoc +with the enemy, the shooting of the Naval Brigade being of such a nature +that even thus early in the fight the big gun of the bluejackets, with its +42-pound lyddite shell, struck terror into the hearts of the enemy. But the +Boers were not idle. Whenever our infantry, in manoeuvring, came within +range'of their rifles, our ranks began to thin out, and the blood of our +gallant fellows dyed the sun-baked veldt in richest crimson. + +During the night that followed it was considered expedient that the +Highland Brigade, about 4,000 strong, under General Wauchope, should get +close enough to the lines of the foe to make it possible to charge the +heights. At midnight the gallant, but ill-fated, general moved cautiously +through the darkness towards the kopje where the Boers were most strongly +entrenched. They were led by a guide, who was supposed to know every inch +of the country, out into the darkness of an African night. The brigade +marched in line of quarter-column, each man stepping cautiously and slowly, +for they knew that any sound meant death. Every order was given in a hoarse +whisper, and in whispers it was passed along the ranks from man to man; +nothing was heard as they moved towards the gloomy, steel-fronted heights +but the brushing of their feet in the veldt grass and the deep-drawn +breaths of the marching men. + +So, onward, until three of the clock on the morning of Monday. Then out of +the darkness a rifle rang, sharp and clear, a herald of disaster--a soldier +had tripped in the dark over the hidden wires laid down by the enemy. In a +second, in the twinkling of an eye, the searchlights of the Boers fell +broad and clear as the noonday sun on the ranks of the doomed Highlanders, +though it left the enemy concealed in the shadows of the frowning mass of +hills behind them. For one brief moment the Scots seemed paralysed by the +suddenness of their discovery, for they knew that they were huddled +together like sheep within fifty yards of the trenches of the foe. Then, +clear above the confusion, rolled the voice of the general--"Steady, men, +steady!"--and, like an echo to the veterans, out came the crash of nearly +a thousand rifles not fifty paces from them. The Highlanders reeled before +the shock like trees before the tempest. Their best, their bravest, fell in +that wild hail of lead. General Wauchope was down, riddled with bullets; +yet, gasping, dying, bleeding from every vein, the Highland chieftain +raised himself on his hands and knees, and cheered his men forward. Men and +officers fell in heaps together. + +The Black Watch charged, and the Gordons and the Seaforths, with a yell +that stirred the British camp below, rushed onward--onward to death or +disaster. The accursed wires caught them round the legs until they +floundered, like trapped wolves, and all the time the rifles of the foe +sang the song of death in their ears. Then they fell back, broken and +beaten, leaving nearly 1,300 dead and wounded just where the broad breast +of the grassy veldt melts into the embrace of the rugged African hills, and +an hour later the dawning came of the dreariest day that Scotland has known +for a generation-past. Of her officers, the flower of her chivalry, the +pride of her breeding, but few remained to tell the tale--a sad tale truly, +but one untainted with dishonour or smirched with disgrace, for up those +heights under similar circumstances even a brigade of devils could scarce +have hoped to pass. All that mortal men could do the Scots did; they tried, +they failed, they fell. And there is nothing left us now but to mourn for +them, and avenge them; and I am no prophet if the day is distant when the +Highland bayonet will write the name of Wauchope large and deep in the best +blood of the Boers. + +All that fateful day our wounded men lay close to the Boer lines under a +blazing sun; over their heads the shots of friends and foes passed without +ceasing. Many a gallant deed was done by comrades helping comrades; men who +were shot through the body lay without water, enduring all the agony of +thirst engendered by their wounds and the blistering heat of the day; to +them crawled Scots with shattered limbs, sharing the last drop of water in +their bottles, and taking messages to be delivered to mourning women in the +cottage home of far-off Scotland. Many a last farewell was whispered by +pain-drawn lips in between the ringing of the rifles, many a rough soldier +with tenderest care closed the eyes of a brother in arms amidst the tempest +and the stir of battle; and above it all, Cronje, the Boer general, must +have smiled grimly, for well he knew that where the Highland Brigade had +failed all the world might falter. All day long the battle raged; scarcely +could we see the foe--all that met our eyes was the rocky heights that +spoke with tongues of flame whenever our troops drew near. We could not +reach their lines; it was murder, grim and ghastly, to send the infantry +forward to fight a foe they could not see and could not reach. Once our +Guards made a brilliant dash at the trenches, and, like a torrent, their +resistless valour bore all before them, and for a few brief moments they +got within hitting distance of the foe. Well did they avenge the slaughter +of the Scots; the bayonets, like tongues of flame, passed above or below +the rifles' guard, and swept through brisket and breastbone. Out of their +trenches the Guardsmen tossed the Boers, as men in English harvest fields +toss the hay when the reapers' scythes have whitened the cornfields; and +the human sheaves were plentiful where the British Guardsmen stood. Then +they fell back, for the fire from the heights above them fell thick as the +spume of the surf on an Australian rock-ribbed coast. But the Guards had +proved to the Boers that, man to man, the Briton was his master. + +In vain all that day Methuen tried by every rule he knew to draw the enemy; +vainly, the Lancers rode recklessly to induce those human rock limpets to +come out and cut them off. Cronje knew the mettle of our men, and an ironic +laugh played round his iron mouth, and still he stayed within his native +fastness; but Death sat ever at his elbow, for our gunners dropped the +lyddite shells and the howling shrapnel all along his lines, until the +trenches ran blood, and many of his guns were silenced. In the valley +behind his outer line of hills his dead lay piled in hundreds, and the +slope of the hill was a charnel-house where the wounded all writhed amidst +the masses of the dead; a ghastly tribute to British gunnery. For hours I +stood within speaking distance of the great naval gun as it spoke to the +enemy, and such a sight as their shooting the world has possibly never +witnessed. Not a shell was wasted; cool as if on the decks of a pleasure +yacht our tars moved through the fight, obeying orders with smiling +alacrity. Whenever the signal came from the balloon above us that the enemy +were moving behind their lines, the sailors sent a message from England +into their midst, and the name of the messenger was Destruction; and when, +at 1.30 p.m. of Tuesday, we drew off to Modder River to recuperate we left +a ghastly pile of dead and wounded of grim old Cronje's men as a token that +the lion of England had bared his teeth in earnest. + +Three hundred yards to the rear of the little township of Modder River, +just as the sun was sinking in a blaze of African splendour on the evening +of Tuesday, the 13th of December, a long, shallow grave lay exposed in the +breast of the veldt. To the westward, the broad river, fringed with trees, +ran murmuringly, to the eastward, the heights still held by the enemy +scowled menacingly, north and south, the veldt undulated peacefully; a few +paces to the northward of that grave fifty dead Highlanders lay, dressed as +they had fallen on the field of battle; they had followed their chief to +the field, and they were to follow him to the grave. How grim and stern +those dead men looked as they lay face upward to the sky, with great hands +clenched in the last death agony, and brows still knitted with the stern +lust of the strife in which they had fallen. The plaids dear to every +Highland clan were represented there, and, as I looked, out of the distance +came the sound of the pipes; it was the General coming to join his men. +There, right under the eyes of the enemy, moved with slow and solemn tread +all that remained of the Highland Brigade. In front of them walked-the +chaplain, with bared head, dressed in his robes of office, then came the +pipers, with their pipes, sixteen in all, and behind them, with arms +reversed, moved the Highlanders, dressed in all the regalia of their +regiments, and in the midst the dead General, borne by four of his +comrades. Out swelled the pipes to the strains of "The Flowers of the +Forest," now ringing proud and high until the soldier's head went back in +haughty defiance, and eyes flashed through tears like sunlight on steel; +now sinking to a moaning wail, like a woman mourning for her first-born, +until the proud heads dropped forward till they rested on heaving chests, +and tears rolled down the wan and scarred faces, and the choking sobs broke +through the solemn rhythm of the march of death. Right up to the grave they +marched, then broke away in companies, until the General lay in the shallow +grave with a Scottish square of armed men around him, only the dead man's +son and a small remnant of his officers stood with the chaplain and the +pipers whilst the solemn service of the Church was spoken. + +Then once again the pipes pealed out, and "Lochaber No More" cut through +the stillness like a cry of pain, until one could almost hear the widow in +her Highland home moaning for the soldier she would welcome back no more. +Then, as if touched by the magic of one thought, the soldiers turned their +tear-damp eyes from the still form in the shallow grave towards the heights +where Cronje, the "lion of Africa," and his soldiers stood. Then every +cheek flushed crimson, and the strong jaws set like steel, and the veins on +the hands that clasped the rifle barrels swelled almost to bursting with +the fervour of the grip, and that look from those silent, armed men spoke +more eloquently than ever spoke the tongues of orators. For on each +frowning face the spirit of vengeance sat, and each sparkling eye asked +silently for blood. God help the Boers when next the Highland pibroch +sounds! God rest the Boers' souls when the Highland bayonets charge, for +neither death, nor hell, nor things above, nor things below, will hold the +Scots back from their blood feud. At the head of the grave, at the point +nearest the enemy, the General was laid to sleep, his officers grouped +around him, whilst in line behind him his soldiers were laid in a double +row, wrapped in their blankets. No shots were fired over the dead men +resting so peacefully, only the salute was given, and then the men marched +campwards as the darkness of an African night rolled over the +far-stretching breadth of the veldt. To the gentlewoman who bears their +General's name the Highland Brigade sends its deepest sympathy. To the +mothers and the wives, the sisters and the sweethearts, in cottage home by +hillside and glen they send their love and good wishes--sad will their +Christmas be, sadder the new year. Yet, enshrined in every womanly heart, +from Queen Empress to cottage girl, let their memory lie, the memory of the +men of the Highland Brigade who died at Magersfontein. + + + + + + SCOUTS AND SCOUTING. + + DRISCOLL, KING OF SCOUTS. + + ORANGE RIVER COLONY. + + +I have a weakness for scouts. Good scouts seem to me to be of more +importance to an army in the field than all the tape-tied intelligence +officers out of Hades. They don't get on well with the regular officers as +a rule, because scouts are like poets--they are born, not manufactured. +They are people who do not feel as if God had forsaken them for ever if +they don't get a shave and a clean shirt every morning, they are just a +trifle rough in their appearance and manners; but they ride as straight as +they talk, and shoot straighter than they ride. They have to be built for +the business. All the training in the world won't make a scout unless +nature has commenced the job; mere pluck is not worth a dog's bark in this +line of life, though without pluck no scout is worth a wanton woman's +smile. A good scout wants any amount of courage; he wants a level head--a +head of ice, and a heart of fire. He wants to know by instinct when to rush +onward and chance his life to the heels of his horse and the goodness of +God, and he wants to know with unfailing certainty when to crawl into cover +and hide. He must understand how to ride with no other guide than the lay +of the country, the course of the sun, or the position of the stars. He +must have eyes that note every broken hill, every little hollow, every +footprint of man or horse on the veldt. + +He must be an excellent judge of distance, of time, of numbers. He must be +able to tell at a glance whether a cloud of dust is caused by moving troops +or by the action of the elements. Above all, he must be truthful, not given +to exaggeration of his friends' strength or his enemy's weakness. When he +makes his report it should need no corroboration. If a scout is worth his +salt, his advice should be accepted and acted upon promptly. + +I often go out with the scouts; they are the eyes of the army. A man who +knocks around with scouting parties knows more, sees more, hears more of +the real state of affairs than nine-tenths of the staff officers ever know, +hear, or see. Men fresh from the Old Country seldom make good scouts. Take +the Yeomanry, for instance. They are plucky enough, but not one in a +hundred of them has the making of a scout in him. All his fathers and his +grandfather's and his great-grandfather's breeding trends in other +directions, and there is an awful lot more in the breeding of men than most +folk imagine. The American makes a good scout. If he knows nothing of the +life, he soon picks it up. So does the Australian, and the Canadian, and +the Colonial-born South African. Something in the life appeals to them. +They get the "hang" of it with very little trouble. There are some +English-born men, however, who develop into rattling great scouts. These +men are mostly adventurous fellows, who have roamed about the world, and +had the corners knocked off them. I have two of them in my mind's eye just +at present. One of them is an Irishman named Driscoll, Captain of the +Scouts who are the eyes and ears of Rundle's army. The other is an +Englishman named Davies, a captain in the same gallant little band. The +first lieutenant is a Cape colonial of English extraction, named Brabant, a +gallant son of a gallant general. Captain Driscoll is a typical Irishman, +just such a man as the soul of Charles Lever would have revelled in, a man +of dauntless daring, with a heart of iron, and a face to match. Strangely +enough, the captain does not pride himself a bit on his pluck, but he +thinks a deuce of a lot of his beauty. As a matter of fact, he has the +courage of ten ordinary men, but he would not take a prize in a first-class +beauty show. (Lord send I may be far from the reach of his revolver when +this reaches his eye.) He has that dash of vanity in his composition which +I have found in all good Irishmen, and he prides himself far more on the +execution his eyes have done amidst the Dutch girls than of the work his +deadly rifle has wrought in the ranks of the Dutch mea Yet, if you want to +know if Driscoll can shoot, just go to Burmah, where for ten years he held +the position of captain in the Upper Burmah Volunteer Rifles. That was +where I heard of him first, as the most deadly rifle and revolver shot in +all the East. + +The Boers know him now as the prince of rifle shots and the king of scouts. +He is standing in the wintry sunlight just in front of my tent as I am +writing, one hand on the bridle of his horse, rapping out Dutch oaths with +a strong Cork accent to a nigger who has not groomed his pet animal +properly. The nigger is very meek, for past experience has told him that +Irish blood is hot, and an Irishman's boot quick and heavy. He is a +picturesque figure, this Celtic scout leader, just such a picture as Phil +May could bring to life on a sheet of paper with a few strokes of his +master hand. He is about eleven stone in weight, and, roughly, five feet +eight, clean cut and strong, with a face which tells you he was born in +Cork, and had knocked about a lot in tropic lands; eight-and-thirty if he +is a day, though he swears at night around the camp fire that the pretty +Dutch girls have guessed his age as twenty-seven. He wears a slouch hat, +around which a green puggaree coils lovingly. In his right hand his rifle +rests as if it felt at home there. His coat is worn and shabby, khaki in +colour; riding pants of roughest yellow cords, patched in places +unspeakable, leggings around his sinewy calves, and feet planted in neat +boots make up the whole man. He is clean shaven except for a moustache, +dark brown in colour, which sprouts from his upper lip. + +In his softer moments Driscoll tells us that it used to "cur-r-r-l" before +he had the "faver" in Burmah, and on such occasions we assure him that it +"cur-r-rls" even yet. It is more polite to agree with him than to cross +him--and a lot safer. He is as full of anecdote as heaven is of angels, and +I mean to use him in the sweet days of peace, unless some stay-at-home +journalist niches him from me in the meantime. Driscoll and Davies are fast +friends. The Englishman is not such a picturesque figure as the Irishman. +Englishmen seldom are, somehow; but he is a man, a real white man, all +over. He is rather a good-looking, well set-up young fellow, who always +looks as if he had just had a bath; not a dude by any manner of means, but +a fellow with a soft eye for a pretty ankle, and a hard fist for a foe--one +of those quiet chaps a man always likes to find close beside him in a row. +Driscoll almost weeps over him to me sometimes. "He's the devil's own at +close quarters," says the Irishman. "Never want a better chum when it comes +to bashing the enemy. If he could only shoot a bit 'straighther and talk a +bit sweether to the colleens he'd be perfect." All the same, I have, and +hold, my own opinion concerning the "talking." Many a smile which the +gallant Celt appropriated to himself as we rode out of a conquered town +seemed to me to belong of right to the rosy-faced Welsh lad on the +off-side. To hear these two men chatter over a glass of hot rum in my tent +at night one would think they had never faced danger. Yet never a day goes +by but one or the other of them has to run the gauntlet of Boer rifles; +whilst Jack Brabant, who is death on cigars or anything else that will emit +smoke, and who curls up and says little, has been near death so often that +it will be no stranger to him when it comes in all its finality. + +Driscoll was in Burmah when the news came of the first disaster to the +Irish troops in South Africa. He threw up his business as lightly as a +coquette throws up a midsummer lover, and started for the war. At Bombay he +was stopped by a yard or two of red tape, and had to go back to Calcutta, +where he used his Irish tongue to such purpose that he got a permit to +leave India, and made his way to the scene of trouble. He first joined +General Gatacre as orderly officer. Later he was attached to the Border +Mounted Rifles as captain, and did splendid service at the battles of +Dordrecht and Labuschagne's Nek In the latter place he was the first man to +gallop into the Boer laager before the fight had ceased. Captain, then +Lieutenant, Davies was as close to his side as a shadow to a serpent, and +they only had fourteen men with them at the time. After this Driscoll, +whose skill as a scout had been remarked on all sides, was ordered to form +a body of fifty scouts to act as the very eyes of the rapidly moving +Colonial Division under General Brabant. This was promptly done, most of +the men picked being Colonial-born Britishers. Soon after the formation of +his band, Driscoll, with fifty men, attacked Rouxville from four sides at +once. Dashing in, he demanded surrender of the place, as if he had an army +at his back to enforce his demands, a piece of Irish impudent valour that +would have cost every man amongst the little band his life had the Boers +known that he was unbacked. But they did not know it, and consequently +surrendered, and he hoisted the British flag and disarmed the residents--a +really brilliant piece of work, for which Driscoll's Scouts have up to date +received no public credit. + +The Scout and his men took a warm part in the, very warm fight at Wepener, +where many a good Briton fell. He had lost a good few fellows in the many +fights, but Driscoll's name soon charmed others to his little band. At +Jammersberg Drift the Scouts were so badly mauled that over a fourth of +their number were counted out, but the places of the fallen men were soon +filled, and to-day the number is almost complete. Driscoll has one +especially good quality. He never speaks slightingly of his enemy unless he +well deserves it. Few men have had so many hand-to-hand encounters with the +burghers as he has; few men have held their lives by virtue of their steady +hand on a rifle as frequently as this wild, good-natured, merry Irishman +has done. Yet of the Boer as a fighter he speaks most highly. "He don't +like cold steel, and shmall blame to'm," says Driscoll, "but for the clever +tactics he's a devil of a chap, 'nd the men who run him down are mostly the +men who run away from him. They're not all heroes, any more than all women +are angels. Some of 'em are fit only for a dog's death, but most of 'em are +good men; and if I wasn't an Irishman I wouldn't mind being a Boer, for +they've no call to hang their heads and blush when this war is over." + +I asked him if he had ever of his own knowledge come into contact with +anything savouring of white flag treachery. "Once I did," said the great +scout, and for a while his eyes were filled with a sombre fire which spoke +of the volcano under the genial human crust. "Onct," and he lapsed into the +brogue as he spoke; "only onct, and there's a debt owin' on it yet which +has got to be paid. It was at Karronna Ridge. I was out wid me scouts, 'nd +I saw a farmhouse flying the white flag--a great flag it was, too, as big +as a bed sheet. I'm not sure that it was not wan, too. I rode towards it, +thinking the people wanted to surrender, and sent two of me men, two young +lads they were--good boys, eager for duty. I sent 'em forward to ask what +was the matther inside; and when they got within fifteen paces of the house +the Boers inside opened fire from twenty rifles, and blew 'em out of the +saddle. I had to ride with me little troop for dear life then, for the +rocks all around us were alive with rifles. That house still stands; but if +Driscoll's name is Driscoll it's going to burn, and the cur who flew the +white flag in it, if I can get him, for the sake of the dead boys out on +the veldt there. That's the only dirty trick I knew them play, and they +must have been a lot of wasters, not like the general run of their +fighters." + +Three nights ago Driscoll, Davies, Brabant, and twenty men camped in a +farmhouse a long way from the British lines, for these men scour the +country for many miles in all directions. The night was cold and rough, a +bleak wind whistling amidst the kopjes half a mile away. Just as the scouts +were sitting down to supper, the farmer's wife rushed in, and said to +Driscoll, in a voice between a sob and a scream, "Do you know, sir, that +our burghers are in the kopjes, and are watching the farm?" and as she +spoke she wrung her hands wildly. The Irish scout rose from the table and +bowed, as only an Irish scout can bow, for the "vrow" was about thirty +years of age, and pleasing to the eye beyond the lot of most women. "I am +awfully glad to hear it, madam," he said in his execrable Dutch. "I've been +looking for that commando for a week past. As they have doubtless sent a +message by you, please send this back for me. Tell their officers, if they +will accept an offer to come and dine with Driscoll's Scouts here to-night, +they shall be made welcome to the best we have in the way of kindness. For +it must be cold waiting outside in the wind. Tell them they shall go as +they come, unmolested and unwatched, and in the morning we'll come out and +give 'em all the fight they want in this world." Then, sweeping the floor +with a graceful wave of his green puggareed soft slouch hat, Driscoll bowed +the astonished dame out of the dining-room, whilst his officers and men +nearly choked themselves with their hot soup, as they noticed him +surreptitiously drawing a pocket mirror from his breeches pocket. For well +they knew that the dare-devil leader was thinking far more of the effect +his looks had had on the Dutch housewife than of the effect of his message +on the enemy. Yet, at the first promise of dawn, he unrolled himself from +his blanket on the hard floor, and was the foremost man to show in the +open, where the enemy's rifles might reach him. But no rifles sounded, for +the Boers had declined the invitation both to supper and breakfast. + + + + + + HUNTING AND HUNTED. + + ORANGE RIVER COLONY. + + +There is a funny side to pretty nearly every kind of tragedy if one only +has the humorous edge of his nature sufficiently well developed to see it. +Not that the humour is always apparent at the time--that comes later. I am +led to these reflections as I watch Lieutenant "Jack" Brabant, of the +Scouts, dancing a wild war dance round our little camp fire. He is a +picturesque figure in the firelight, this thirty-year-old son of the +renowned General Brabant, ten stone weight I should say, all whipcord and +fencing wire, rather a hard-faced man; no feather-bed frontiersman this, +but a tough, hard-grained bit of humanity, who has fought niggers and +hunted for big game at an age when most young fellows are thinking more of +poetry and pretty faces than of hard knocks and harder sport. I know him +for a rattling good shot at either man or beast, a fine bushman, and a +dandy horseman. He is a rather quiet fellow, as a rule, but all the +quietness is out of him to-night, and he only wants to be stripped of his +tight yellow jacket, cord breeches, leather gaiters, soft slouch hat with +green puggaree, and then, given a coat of black paint, he would pass well +for some warrior chief doing a death dance in the smoke. He is boiling with +passion, his left fist, clenched hard as the head of an axe, moves up and +down, in and out, like the legs of a kicking mule midst a crowd of +cart-horses. In his right he swings his Mauser carbine, and a man don't +need to be a descendant of a race of prophets to know that something has +gone gravely wrong with the lieutenant, otherwise he would not be making a +circus of himself in this fantastic fashion. + +I lay my pencil aside for a minute or two to catch what he is saying, and +when I have got the hang of the story I don't wonder he feels as mad as a +wooden-legged man on a wet mud-bank. He had been out all day since the very +break of dawn with a couple of scouts, searching the kopjes for a notorious +Boer spy, whose cleverness and audacity had made him a thorn in our side. +If there was a man in the British lines capable of running the "slim" Boer +to earth, that man was Lieutenant Jack Brabant. It had been a grim hunt, +for the spy was worthy of his reputation, and the pursuers had to move with +their fingers on their triggers, and a rash move would have meant death. +All the forenoon he dodged them, in and out of the kopjes, along the +sluits, up and down the dongas; sometimes they pelted him at long range +with flying bullets, sometimes he sent them a reminder of the same sort. +And so the day wore on; but at last, towards evening, they fixed him so +that he had to make a dash out across the veldt. He was splendidly mounted, +and when the time came for a dash he did not waste any time making poetry. +Neither did Brabant and his two men; they galloped at full speed after the +fleetly flying figure, and when they saw that a broad and deep donga ran +right across his track, cutting him off from the long line of kopjes for +which he was making, they counted him as theirs. He only had one chance, to +gallop into the donga, jump out of the saddle and fire at them as they +closed in on him; and, as they rode far apart, it was a million to one on +missing in his hurry in the fading light. But the gods had decided +otherwise, for the whiplike crack of rifles suddenly cut the air, and the +bullets fell so thick around the pursuers that the three men could almost +breathe lead. Half a mile away, on the far side of the donga, appeared a +squad of Yeomanry, blazing away like veritable seraphs at Brabant and his +men, whilst they let the flying Boer go free. Brabant whipped out his +handkerchief, and waved it frantically; but the lead only whistled the +faster, and he had only one chance for his life, and that was to wheel and +ride at full speed for the nearest cover, where he and his men hid until +the Yeomen rode up. Then Brabant hailed them, and asked them what the devil +they meant by trying to blow him and his men out of the saddle. + +There was a pause in the ranks of the Yeomen, then a voice lisped through +the gathering gloom, "Are you fellahs British?" + +"Yes, d--n you; did you think we were springbok?" + +"No, by Jove, but we thought you were beastly Booahs. Awfully sorry if +we've caused you any inconvenience. What were you chasing the other fellah +foah, eh?" + +"Oh!" howled the disgusted backwoodsman with a snort of wrath, "we only +wanted to know if he'd cut his eye tooth yet." + +"Bah Jove," quoth the Yeoman, "you fellahs are awfully sporting, don't yer +know." + +"Yes," snarled the angry South African, "and the next time you Johnnies +mistake me for a Booah and plug at me, I'll just take cover and send you +back a bit of lead to teach you to look before you tighten your finger on a +trigger." + +Talking of the Yeomen brings back a good yarn that is going round the camps +at their expense. They are notorious for two things--their pluck and their +awful bad bushcraft. They would ride up to the mouth of a foeman's guns +coolly and gamely enough, but they can't find their way home on the veldt +after dark to save their souls, and so fall into Boer traps with a +regularity that is becoming monotonous. Recently a British officer who had +business in a Boer laager asked a commander why they set the Yeomen free +when they made them prisoners. "Oh!" quoth the Boer, with a merry twinkle +in his eye, "those poor Yeomen of yours, we can always capture them when we +want them." This is not a good story to tell if you want an _encore_, +if you happen to be sitting round a Yeoman table or camp fire. + +But it is time I got back to the subject which lay in my mind when I sat +down to write this epistle. The lieutenant's war dance took me off the +track for a while, but I thought his story would come in nicely under the +heading of "Hunting and Hunted." Camp life gets dull at times, so does camp +food, the eternal round of fried flour cakes and mutton makes a man long +for something which will remind him that he has still a palate, so when one +of the scouts came in and told me that he had seen three herds of +vildebeestes, numbering over a hundred each, and dozens of little mobs of +springbok and blesbok, within ten miles of camp, away towards Doornberg, I +made up my mind to ride out next day, and have a shot for luck. My friend +Driscoll, captain of the Scouts, rammed a lot of sage advice into me +concerning Boers known to be in force at Doornberg. I assured him that I +had no intention of allowing myself to drift within range of any of the +veldtsmen, so taking a sporting Martini I mounted my horse and set forth, +intending to have a real good time among the "buck." At a Kaffir kraal I +picked up a half-caste "boy," who assured me that he knew just where to +pick up the "spoor" of the vildebeeste, and he was as good as his boast, +for within a couple of hours he brought me within sight of a mob of about +fifty of the animals, calmly grazing. I worked my way towards them as well +as I could, leaving the "boy" to hold my horse; but, though I was careful +according to my lights, I was not sufficiently good as a veldtsman to get +within shooting distance before they saw me or scented me. Suddenly I saw a +fine-looking fellow, about as big as a year-and-a-half-old steer, trot out +from the herd. He came about twenty yards in my direction, and I had a +grand chance to watch him through my strong military glasses. He looked for +all the world like a miniature buffalo bull, the same ungainly head and +fore-quarters, big, heavy shoulders, neat legs, shapely barrel, light loin, +and hindquarters, the same proppy, ungainly gait. I unslung my rifle to +have a shot at him, when he wheeled and blundered back to the herd, and the +lot streamed off at a pace which the best hunter in England would have +found trying, in spite of the clumsiness of their movements. The half-caste +grinned as he came towards me with the horses, grinned with such a glorious +breadth of mouth that I could see far enough down his black and tan throat +to tell pretty well what he had for breakfast. This annoyed me. I like an +open countenance in a servant, but I detest a mouth that looks like a mere +burial ground for cold chicken. We rode on for a mile or two, and then saw +a pretty little herd of springbok about eighteen hundred yards away on the +left. Slipping down into a donga, I left the horse and crawled forward, +getting within nice, easy range. I dropped one of the pretty little +beauties. I tried a flying shot at the others as they raced away like magic +things through the grass, which climbed half-way up their flanks, but it +was lead wasted that time. + +My coffee-coloured retainer gathered up the spoil, and paid me a compliment +concerning my shooting, though well I knew he had sized me up as a +"wastrel" with a rifle, for his shy eyes gave the lie to his oily tongue. +We hunted round for awhile, and then from the top of a little kopje I saw a +beautiful herd of vildebeestes one hundred and sixteen in number, lumbering +slowly towards where we stood. The wind blew straight from them towards us, +so that I had no fear on the score of scent. Climbing swiftly down until +almost level with the veldt, I lay cosily coiled up behind a rock, and +waited for the quarry. They came at last, Indian file, about a yard and a +half separating one from the other, not a hundred and twenty yards from +where I lay. I had plenty of time to pick and choose, and plenty of time to +take aim, so did not hurry myself. Sighting for a spot just behind the +shoulder, I sent a bit of lead fair through a fine beast, and expected to +see him drop, but he did nothing of the kind. For one brief second the +animal stood as if paralysed; then, with a leap and a lurch, he dashed on +with his fellows. I fired again, straight into the shoulder this time, and +brought him down; but he took a third bullet before he cried +_peccavi_. I had a good time for pretty near the whole of that day, +and was lamenting that I had not brought a Cape cart and pair of horses +with me to bring home the spoil, when, happening to look into the face of +my brown guide, I saw that his complexion had turned the colour of blighted +sandalwood. He did not speak, but swift as thought ripped out his knife, +and cut the thongs which bound the springbok and other trophies of the +day's sport to his saddle, letting everything fall in an undignified heap +on to the veldt. Then, without a word of farewell, or any other kind of +word for that matter, he drove his one spur into the flank of his wretched +nag, and fled round the bend of a kopje, which, thank Providence, was close +handy, and as he went I saw something splash against a rock a dozen yards +behind him. I had glanced hurriedly over the veldt the moment I caught that +queer expression on the saffron face of my assistant, but as far as the eye +could reach I could see nothing. Now, however, looking backwards, I saw +three or four men riding out of a donga two thousand five hundred yards +away. + +Twenty-five seconds later I had caught and passed my fleeing servant, who +was heading for some kopjes, which lay right in front, about a mile and a +half away. As I passed him he yelled, "Booers, baas, Booers! Ride hard, +baas, ride hard; there are three hundred in the donga." When I heard that +item of news I just sat down and attended strictly to business, and I am +free to wager that never since the day he was foaled had that horse covered +so much ground in so short a space of time as he did by the time he reached +the kopjes. My servant had adroitly dodged into a sluit which hid him from +view, and I knew that he could work his way out far better than I could. +Besides, if they captured him, the worst he would get would be a cut across +the neck with a sjambok for acting as hunting-guide to a detested +Rooitbaaitje; whilst as for me, they would in all probability discredit my +tale concerning the hunting trip, and give me a free, but rapid, pass to +that land which we all hope to see eventually, but none of us are anxious +to start for; because a correspondent has no right to carry a rifle during +war time, a thing I never do unless I am out hunting. I gave my tired horse +a spell, whilst I searched the veldt with my glasses, then slipping through +a gully I made my way out on to the veldt, got in touch with a donga that +ran the way I wanted to travel, got into its bed, gave my horse a drink, +and rode on until dark; then I made my way into camp, and religiously held +my peace concerning the doings of that day, because I did not want the life +chaffed out of me. A few days later I happened to call at the Colonial +camp, and was asked to dine by one of the officers. + +"Like venison?" he asked cheerily. + +"Yes, when it comes my way," I replied. + +"Got some to-day," he said. "It's nicely hung, too; not fresh from the +gun." + +"Shoot it yourself, eh?" + +"Well, no, not exactly; was out on patrol on Monday, and saw a couple of +lousy Dutchmen. They didn't think we were round, so were enjoying +themselves shooting buck. We nearly got one of 'em with a long shot." + +"Didn't they show fight?" I asked innocently. + +"Fight?" he said, with scorn unutterable in his accent. "Not a bit of it. +They dropped their game, and cleared as if a thousand devils were after +them. I never saw men ride so fast." + +"Positive they were Dutchmen?" I ventured. + +"Yes," he laughed; "why, I'd know one of those ugly devils five miles off." + +That settled me, and I said no more. + + + + + + WITH THE BASUTOS. + + +When the Eighth Division was skirting the borders of Basutoland I thought +it would not be a waste of time to cross the border, and if possible +interview one of the chiefs. My opportunity came at last. Our general +decided to give his weary men a few days' rest, so getting into the saddle +at Willow Grange I rode to Ficksburg, and there crossed the River Caledon, +whose yellow waters, like an orange ribbon, divide Basutoland from the Free +State. At this point the river runs between steep banks, and when I crossed +it was about deep enough to kiss my horse's girths, though I could well +believe that in the flood season it becomes a most formidable torrent. An +artificial cutting has been made on both sides to facilitate the passage of +traders, black and white, but even there the ford is so constituted that +the Boers on the one side and the blacks on the other could successfully +dispute the passage of an invading army with a mere handful of men. + +Once across the river one soon felt the influence of Jonathan, the "black +prince." The niggers, naked except for the loin cloth, swaggered along with +arms in their hands, and grinned with insolent familiarity into our faces. +They may have an intense respect and an unbounded love for the British--I +have read scores of times that they have--but I beg leave to doubt it. +Physically speaking they are a superb race of men, these sable subjects of +our Queen. Their heads sit upon their necks with a bold, defiant poise, +their throats are full, round, and muscular, their chests magnificent, +broad and deep, tapering swiftly towards the waist. Their arms and legs are +beautifully fashioned for strong, swift deeds. Strip an ordinary white man +and put him amongst those black warriors, and he would look like a human +clothes rack. They walk with a quick, springy step, and gave me the +impression that they could march at the double for a week without tiring. +But they are at their best on horseback. To see them barebacked dash down +the side of a sheer cliff, plunge into the river, swim their horses over, +and then climb the opposite bank when the face of the bank is like the face +of a wall is a sight worth travelling far to see. + +There are many things in this world that I know nothing at all about, but I +do know a horseman when I see him, for I was bred in a land where +nine-tenths of the boys can ride. But nowhere have I seen a whole male +population ride as these Basuto warriors ride, and the best use England can +make of them is to turn them into mounted infantry. Give them six months' +drill, and they will be fit to face any troops in Europe. I never saw them +do any fighting, but they carry the fighting brand on every lineament--the +bold, keen eye, the prominent cheek-bone, the hard-set mouth, the massive +jaw, the quivering nostril, the swing and spring of every movement, all +speak the fighting race. + +And their women; what of them? From the back of the head to the back of the +heel you could place a lance shaft, so straight are they in their carriage. +Their dress is a bunch of feathers and the third of a silk pocket +handkerchief, with a copper ring around the ankle and another around the +wrist. They do most of the daily toil, such as it is, though I know of no +peasant population in any other part of the world who get a living as +easily as these folk. The men allow the women to do most of the field +labour, but when the grain is bagged the males place it in single bags +across the back of a pony, and so take it to market. They walk beside the +tiny little ponies and balance the grain slung crosswise on the animal's +back, and when the grain has been sold or bartered they bound on to their +ponies and career madly homewards, each one trying to outdo his neighbour +in deeds of recklessness in the hope of winning favour in the eyes of the +dusky maidens. They are mean in regard to money or gifts, and know the +intrinsic value of things just as well as any pedlar in all England. +Judging the "nigger" merely as a human being, irrespective of sentiment, +colour, and so forth, I can only say that in my estimation he and his are +far better off in every respect than the average white labourer and his +family in England. These folk have plenty to eat, little to do, and are +very jolly. They would be perfectly happy if they only had a sufficient +number of rifles and a large enough supply of ammunition to enable them to +drive every white man clean away from their borders. + +When I arrived at Jonathan's village that warrior was away with a band of +his young men, so that I could not see him, though I saw his son at a +wedding which was being held when I reached the scene. I was taken through +rows of naked, grinning savages, of both sexes, to be introduced to the +bride and bridegroom, whom I found to be a pair of mission converts. When I +saw the pair the shock nearly shook my boots off. The bride, a full-blooded +young negress, was dressed in a beautiful white satin dress, which fitted +her as if it had been fired at her out of a gun. It would not meet in front +by about three inches, and the bodice was laced up by narrow bands of red +silk, like a foot-baller's jersey. In her short, woolly hair she had pinned +a wreath of artificial orange blossoms, which looked like a diadem of snow +on a mid-winter mudheap. Down her broad back there hung a great gauzy lace +veil, big enough to make a fly-net for a cow camel in summer. It was not +fixed on to her dress, nor to her wreath, but was tied on to two little +kinky curls at each side of her head by bright green ribbons, after the +fashion of a prize filly of the draught order at a country fair. Her hands +were encased in a pair of white kid gloves, man's size, and a pretty big +man at that, for she had a gentle little fist that would have scared John +L. Sullivan in his palmiest days. + +When I was introduced to the newly shackled matron she put one of those +gloved hands into mine with a simpering air of coyness that made me feel +cold all over, for that hand in the kid glove reminded me of the day I took +my first lesson from Laurence Foley, Australia's champion boxer, and he had +an eight-ounce glove on (thank Heaven!) on that occasion. In her right hand +the bride carried a fan of splendid ostrich feathers, with which she +brushed the flies off the groom. It was vast enough to have brushed away a +toy terrier, to say nothing of flies, but it looked a toy in that giant +fist. + +The groom hung on to his bride's arm like a fly to a sugar-stick. He was a +tall young man, dressed in a black frock coat, light trousers, braced up to +show that he wore socks, shoes, white gloves, and a high-crowned hat. He +carried his bride's white silk gingham in one hand, and an enormous bunch +of flowers in the other. He tried to look meek, but only succeeded in +looking sly, hypocritical, and awfully uncomfortable. At times he would +look at his new spouse, and then a most unsaintly expression would cross +his foxy face; he would push out his great thick lips until they threw a +shadow all round him; open his dazzling white teeth and let his great +blood-red tongue loll out until the chasm in his face looked like a rent in +a black velvet gown with a Cardinal's red hat stuffed in the centre. He may +have been full of saving grace--full up, and running over--but it was not +the brand of Christianity that I should care to invest my money in. When he +caught my gaze riveted upon him, he tried to look like a brand plucked from +the burning; he rolled his great velvet-black eyes skyward, screwed up the +sluit which ran across his face, and which he called a mouth, until it +looked like a crumpled doormat, folded his hands meekly over his breast, +and comported himself generally like a fraudulent advertisement for a +London mission society. + +From him I glanced to his "Pa," who had given him away, and seemed mighty +glad to get rid of him. "Pa" was dressed in pure black from head to +heel--just the same old suit that he had worn when he struck this planet, +only more of it. He was guiltless of anything and everything in the shape +of dress except for a large ring of horn which he wore on top of his head. +He did not carry any parasols, or fans, or geegaws of any kind in his great +muscular fists. One hand grasped an iron-shod assegai, and the other +lovingly fondled a battle-axe, and both weapons looked at home where they +rested. He was not just the sort of father-in-law I should have hankered +for if I had been out on a matrimonial venture; but I would rather have had +one limb of that old heathen than the whole body of his "civilised" son, +for with all his faults he looked a man. A chum of mine who knew the ways +of these people had advised me to purchase a horn of snuff before being +presented to the bride and groom, and I had acted accordingly. + +When the ceremony of introduction was over, and I had managed to turn my +blushing face away from "Ma" and the bevy of damsels, as airily clothed as +herself, I offered the snuff box to the happy pair. The groom took a tiny +pinch and smiled sadly, as though committing some deadly sin. The bride, +however, poured a little heap in the palm of her hand about as big as a +hen's egg, regardless of her nice white kid gloves. This she proceeded to +snuff up her capacious nostrils with savage delight, until the tears +streamed down her cheeks like rain down a coal heap. Then she threw back +her head, spread her hands out palm downwards, like a mammoth duck treading +water, and sneezed. I never heard a human sneeze like that before; it was +like the effort of a horse after a two-mile gallop through a dust storm. +And each time she sneezed something connected with her wedding gear ripped +or gave way, until I began to be afraid for her. But the wreck was not +quite so awful as I had anticipated, and when she had done sneezing she +laughed. All the crowd except the groom laughed, and the sound of their +laughter was like the sound of the sea on a cliff-crowned coast. + +A little later one of the bridesmaids, whose toilet consisted of a dainty +necklace of beads and a copper ring around one ankle, invited me to drink a +draught of native beer. The beer was in a large calabash, and I felt +constrained to drink some of it. These natives know how to make love, and +they know how to make war, but, as my soul liveth, they don't know how to +make beer. The stuff they gave me to drink was about as thick as +boardinghouse cocoa; in colour it was like unto milk that a very dirty maid +of all work had been stirring round in a soiled soup dish with an unwashed +forefinger. It had neither body nor soul in it, and was as insipid as a +policeman at a prayer meeting. Some of the niggers got gloriously merry on +it, and sang songs and danced weird, unholy dances under its influence. But +it did not appeal to me in that way, possibly I was not educated up to its +niceties. All I know is that I became possessed of a strange yearning to +get rid of what had been given me--and get rid of it early. + +The wedding joys were of a peculiar nature. Bride and bridegroom, linked +arm in arm, marched up and down on a pad about twenty yards in length, a +nude minstrel marched in front, and drew unearthly music from a kind of +mouth organ. Girls squatting in the dust _en route_ clapped their +hands and chanted a chorus. The groom hopped first on one leg and then on +the other, and tried to look gorgeously happy; the bride kicked her satin +skirts out behind, pranced along the track as gracefully as a lady camel in +the mating season; behind the principal actors in the drama came a regiment +of youths and girls, and the antics they cut were worthy of the occasion. +Now and again some dusky Don Juan would dig his thumb into the ribs of a +daughter of Ham. The lady would promptly squeal, and try to look coy. It is +not easy to look coy when you have not got enough clothes on your whole +body to make a patch to cover a black eye; but still they tried it, for the +sex seem to me to be much alike on the inside, whether they dress in a coat +of paint or a coat of sealskin. + +By-and-by the groom took his bride by the arm, and made an effort to induce +her to leave her maids of honour and "trek" towards the cabin which +henceforth was to be her home. The lady pouted, and shook his hand off her +arm; whilst the maidens laughed and clapped their hands, dancing in the +dust-strewn sunlight with such high kicking action as would win fame for +any ballet dancer in Europe. The young men jeered the groom, and incited +him to take charge of his own. He hung down his ebony head and looked +sillily sullen, and the bride continued to "pout." Have you ever seen a +savage nigger wench pout, my masters? Verily it is a sight worth travelling +far to see. First of all she wraps her mouth in a simper, and her lips look +like a fold in a badly doubled blanket. Then slowly, she draws the corners +towards, the centre, just as the universe will be crumpled up on the Day of +Judgment. It is a beautiful sight. The mouth, which, when she smiled, +looked like a sword wound on the flank of a horse, now, when the "pout" is +complete, looks like a crumpled concertina. The groom again timidly +advanced his hand towards the satin-covered arm of his spouse, and the +"pout" became more pronounced than ever. The white of one eye was slyly +turned towards the bridesmaids, the other rolled with infinite subtlety in +the direction of him who was to be her lord and master; and the "pout" grew +larger and larger, until I was constrained to push my way amidst the maids +to get a look behind the bride, for I fancied the back of her neck must +surely have got somehow into the front of her face. When I got to the front +again the "pout" was still growing, the rich red lips in their midnight +setting looking like some giant rose in full bloom that an elephant's hoof +had trodden upon. So the show proceeded. At last one of the bridesmaids +stepped from amidst her sisters, and playfully pushed the bride in the +direction of her home. Then the "pout" gave way to a smile, the white teeth +gleaming in the gap like tombstones in a Highland churchyard. I had been a +bit scared of her "pout," but when she smiled I looked round anxiously for +my horse. After a little manoeuvring, the blissful pair marched cabinwards, +with the whole group of naked men and maids circling round them, stamping +their bare feet, kicking up clouds of dust like a mob of travelling cattle. +The men yelled some barbarous melody, flourished their arms, smote upon +their breasts, and anon gripping a damsel by the waist circled afar like +goats on a green grass hill slope. The maids twisted and turned in +fantastic figures, swaying their nobly fashioned bodies hither and thither, +whilst they kept up a continuous wailing, sing-song cry. So they passed +from my sight into the regions of the honeymoon, and the clubbings and +general hidings which follow it. + +I only stayed a few days amongst these savages, but, short as my stay was, +I arrived at the conclusion that the sooner they are disarmed the better. +There are hundreds of white women living upon isolated farms within easy +riding distance of the Basuto villages, and as we are disarming the +husbands and brothers of these women it is our solemn duty to see that the +savage warriors have not the means within their reach to injure or outrage +those whom we have left practically defenceless. It is true that these +women are the wives, daughters, and sisters of our enemy, but surely in all +England there does not breathe a man so poor in spirit as to wish to place +them at the mercy of a horde of barbarians. Ours is a grave responsibility +in regard to this matter. Just at present the native warriors are quiet in +their kraals, but a day will surely dawn when the younger and more +turbulent fighting men will lust for the excitement of war. They look upon +the Boer farmers who dwell near their borders as so many interlopers, whose +title deeds were signed by the rifle, and they long for the time to come +when they can sweep them backwards with the strong arm. They never speak of +the land close to their border as the Free State. They call it with deadly +significance the "conquered territory," and the idea of reconquest is +strong in their minds. Of old time the Boer farmers stood ever ready to +defend what they had conquered with the rifle, and the nigger had learned +to dread the Dutch rifle as he dreads few things in this world. To-day he +knows that the Boer is helpless, and is unsparing in his insolence to his +old-time foe. Later on friction between the white man and the black is +certain to ensue, and if he has the upper hand the black man will not stop +at mere insolence. + +I don't know how the Imperial Parliament may feel about it, but I do know +that if there is wrong done the Boers by the blacks, the South African +farmers of British blood will rise like one man to defend the men and women +of their own colour. They will never permit the black man to dominate the +white, and that will cause friction between the Colonists and the Imperial +Government. There is more in this than may meet the eye at the first +glance, for if the Colonists rise to battle with the blacks the Imperial +troops will have to assist them whether the Government of the day likes or +dislikes it, or else we shall see the Colonists of our own blood clamouring +for the withdrawal of British rule in South Africa, and we shall hear again +the cry for a South African Republic. Not a "Dutch" South African Republic +next time, but a blended nationality, and Colonial Britons and Colonial +Dutchmen will be found fighting side by side under one flag, for one common +cause. + +Surely, if it is not wise to allow the whites to carry arms, it is not wise +or right to allow sixty thousand fierce fighting men to remain fully +equipped and mounted. To me it seems that now, whilst we have two hundred +and fifty thousand fighting men in Africa to overawe and intimidate the +warriors, we should take from them, by force if necessary, everything in +the shape of warlike weapons. White men are not permitted in any of our +Colonies to ride or strut about the country armed to the teeth. Therefore, +I ask, why should these negroes be privileged to do what Australians or +Canadians are forbidden to do? They have no valid excuse for being in +possession of weapons of war. They have now no enemies capable of attacking +them upon their borders. There is no animal life of a savage or dangerous +character near them, and their armament is a menace to the public safety. +If their young men will not settle down to the peaceful calling of +husbandmen, tillers of the soil, and breeders of stock, let them be drafted +into our Army for service abroad. If there is not enough for the more +elderly men to do in the farming line, let them turn their energies towards +the development of the diamond mines and gold mines that lie within their +borders--mines which at present they will not work themselves nor allow any +white man to work. + +I have spent a good many years of my life exploring new mineral territory, +and have seen much of the best auriferous country known to modern times; +but that Basuto country, presided over and held by a mere gang of black +barbarians, ought, in my estimation, to be one of the richest gems in the +British diadem. That good payable gold-bearing rock exists there I know +beyond question. I also know beyond all doubt that diamonds are to be +easily won from the soil, and I am thoroughly cognisant of the fact that at +least one, and I believe many, quicksilver mines can be located there. +Others who know the country well have told me of coal and tin and silver +mines, and samples have been shown to me which made my mouth water. Yet, +all this wealth, which nature's generous hand has scattered so liberally +for the use of mankind, is jealously locked away year by year by men who, +in their savage state, have no use for it themselves, yet will not, upon +any consideration whatever, grant a mining concession to a white man, no +matter what that white man's nationality may be. Verily, the heathen badly +want educating, and we have now 250,000 of the right kind of schoolmasters +within handy reach of them. + + + + + + MAGERSFONTEIN AVENGED. + + THABA NCHU. + + +When, a few months ago, I stood upon the veldt almost within the shadow of +the frowning brow of Magersfontein's surly heights, and looked upon the +cold, stern faces of Scotland's dead, and listened to the weird wailing of +the bagpipes, whilst Cronje gazed triumphantly down from his inaccessible +mountain stronghold upon his handiwork, I knew in my soul that a day would +dawn when Scotland would demand an eye for an eye, blood for blood. I read +it written on the faces of the men who strode with martial tread around the +last sad resting-place Of him they loved--their chief, the dauntless +General Wauchope. Vengeance spoke in the sombre fire that blazed in every +Scotsman's eye. Retribution was carved large and deep on every hard-set +Scottish face; it spoke in silent eloquence in the grip of each hard, +browned hand on rifle barrels; it found a mute echo in each knitted brow, +and leapt to life in every deep-drawn breath; it sparkled in each tear that +rolled unheeded and unchecked down war-scarred cheeks, and thundered in the +echo of the men's tread across the veldt, right up to Cronje's lines, as +they marched campwards. The Highland Brigade had gazed upon its dead; and +neither time, nor change, nor thought of home, or wife, or lisping babe, +would wipe the memory of that sight away until the bayonet's ruthless +thrust gave Scotland quittance in the rich, red blood of those who did that +deed. + +That hour has come. The men who sleep in soldiers' graves beside the +willow-clad banks of the Modder River have been avenged. Or, if the debt +has not been paid in full, the interest owing on that bond of blood has at +least now been handed in. It was not paid by our Colonial sons; not from +Australian or Canadian hands did the stubborn Boers receive the debt we +owed. They were not Irish hearts that cleared old Scotland's legacy of hate +on that May Day amidst the African hills; it was not England's yeoman sons +who did that deed. But men whose feet were native to the heather, men on +whose tongues the Scottish burr clung lovingly--the bare-legged kilted +"boys" whom the lasses in the Highlands love, the gallant Gordons. + +Let the tale be told in Edinburgh Town; let it ring along the Border; let +the lass, as she braids the widow's hair, whisper the story with +love-kissed breath; let the lads, as they come from their daily toil, throw +out their chests for the sake of their breeding; let the pessimist turn up +the faded page of history, written when the world was young, and find, if +he can, a grander deed done by the sons of men since the morning stars sang +together. + +So to my tale. It was the 1st of May. We had the Boers hard pressed in +Thaba Nchu in a run of kopjes that reached in almost unbroken sequence +farther than a man's eye might reach. The flying French was with us, +chafing like a leashed greyhound because he could not sweep all before him +with one impetuous rush. Rundle, too, was here, with his haughty, handsome +face, as keen as French, but with a better grip on his feelings. Six +thousand of the foe, under Louis Botha, cool, crafty, long-headed, +resourceful, have held the kopjes. Again and again we manoeuvred to trap +them, but no wolf in winter is more wary than Botha, no weasels more +watchful than the men he commanded. When we advanced they fell back, when +we fell back they advanced, until the merest tyro in the art of war could +see that a frontal attack, unless made in almost hopeless positions, was +impossible. So Hamilton swept round their right flank, ten miles north of +Thaba Nchu, and gave them a taste of his skill and daring, whilst Rundle +held their main body here at Thaba Nchu. Rundle made a feint on their +centre in strong force, and they closed in from both flanks to resist him. +Then he drew off, as if fearing the issue. This drew the Boers in, and they +pounded our camp with shells until one wondered whether the German-made +rubbish they used would last them much longer. Then we threatened their +left flank quickly and sharply, giving Hamilton time to strike on their +right; and he struck without erring, whipping the enemy at every point he +touched, driving them out of their positions, and holding them firmly +himself, so threatening their rear and the immense herds of sheep and oxen +they have with them, making a footing for the British to move on and cut +Botha off from his base at Kroonstad. + +Whether he will now stand his ground and fight or make a break for the main +army of the Boers is hard to calculate, for the Boer generally does just +what no one expects he will attempt to do. It was during Hamilton's +flanking effort that the Gordons vindicated their character for courage. +Captain Towse, a brave, courteous soldier and gentleman, whom I had had the +pleasure of meeting at Graspan, and whose guest I had been on several +occasions, was the hero of the hour. He is a fine figure of a man, well set +up, good-looking, strong, active. He was, I think, about the only soldier I +have seen who could wear an eye-glass and not lose by it. In age he looked +about forty. I remember snapping a "photo" of him as he was "tidying up" +the grave of gallant young Huddart, an Australian "middy," who lay buried +on the veldt; but the Boers collected that portrait from me later on, worse +luck. On this fateful day Captain Towse, with about fifty of the Gordons, +got isolated from the main body of British troops, and the Boers, with that +marvellous dexterity for which they are fast becoming famous, sized up the +position, and determined upon a capture. They little dreamt of the nature +of the lion they had snared in their toils. With fully two hundred and +fifty men they closed in on the little band of kilted men, and in +triumphant tones called upon them to throw down their arms and surrender. +It was a picture to warm an artist's heart. On all sides rose the bleak, +black kopjes, ridge on ridge, as inhospitable as a watch-dog's growl. On +one hand the little band of Highlanders, the picturesque colours of their +clan showing in kilt and stocking, perfect in all their appointments, but +nowhere so absolutely flawless as in their leadership. Under such leaders +as he who held them there so calm and steady their forbears had hurled back +the chivalry of France, and had tamed the Muscovite pride, and they were +soon to prove themselves men worthy of their captain. + +On the other side rose the superior numbers of the Boers. A wild and motley +crew they looked compared with the gem of Britain's army. Boys stood side +by side with old men, lads braced themselves shoulder to shoulder with men +in their manhood's prime, ragged beards fell on still more ragged shirt +fronts. But there were manly hearts behind those ragged garments, hearts +that beat high with love of home and country, hearts that seldom quailed in +the hour of peril. Their rifles lay in hands steady and strong. The Boer +was face to face with the Briton; the numbers lay on the side of the Boer, +but the bayonet was with the Briton. + +"Throw up your hands and surrender." The language was English, but the +accent was Dutch; a moment, an awful second of time, the rifle barrels +gleamed coldly towards that little group of men, who stood their ground as +pine trees stand on their mountain sides in bonny Scotland. Then out on the +African air there rang a voice, proud, clear, and high as clarion note: +"Fix bayonets, Gordons!" Like lightning the strong hands gripped the ready +steel; the bayonets went home to the barrel as the lips of lover to lover. +Rifles spoke from the Boer lines, and men reeled a pace from the British +and fell, and lay where they fell. Again that voice with the Scottish burr +on every note: "Charge, Gordons! Charge!" and the dauntless Scotchman +rushed on at the head of his fiery few. The Boer's heart is a brave heart, +and he who calls them cowards lies; but never before had they faced so grim +a charge, never before had they seen a torrent of steel advancing on their +lines in front of a tornado of flesh and blood. On rushed the Scots, on +over fallen comrades, on over rocks and clefts, on to the ranks of the foe, +and onward through them, sweeping them down as I have seen wild horses +sweep through a field of ripening corn. The bayonets hissed as they crashed +through breastbone and backbone. Vainly the Boer clubbed his rifle and +smote back. As well might the wild goat strike with puny hoofs when the +tiger springs. Nothing could stay the fury of that desperate rush. Do you +sneer at the Boers? Then sneer at half the armies of Europe, for never yet +have Scotland's sons been driven back when once they reached a foe to +smite. + +How do they charge, these bare-legged sons of Scotia? Go ask the hills of +Afghanistan, and if there be tongues within them they will tell you that +they sweep like hosts from hell. Ask in sneering Paris, and the red records +of Waterloo will give you answer. Ask in St. Petersburg, and from +Sebastopol your answer will come. They thought of the dreary morning hours +of Magersfontein, and they smote the steel downwards through the neck into +the liver. They thought of the row of comrades in the graves beside the +Modder, and they gave the Boers the "haymaker's lift," and tossed the dead +body behind them. They thought of gallant Wauchope riddled with lead, and +they sent the cold steel, with a horrible crash, through skull and brain, +leaving the face a thing to make fiends shudder. They thought of Scotland, +and they sent the wild slogan of their clan ringing along the line until +the British troops, far off along the veldt, hearing it, turned to one +another, saying: "God help the Boers this hour; our Jocks are into 'em with +the bay'nit!" + +But when they turned to gather up those who had fallen, then they found +that he whose lion soul had pointed them the crimson path to duty was to +lead them no more. The noble heart that beat so true to honour's highest +notes was not stilled, but a bullet missing the brain had closed his eyes +for ever to God's sunlight, leaving him to go through life in darkness; and +they mourned for him as they had mourned for noble, white-souled Wauchope, +whose prototype he was. They knew that many a long, long year would roll +away before their eyes would rest upon his like again in camp or bloody +field. But it gladdened their stern warrior hearts to know that the last +sight he ever gazed upon was Scotland sweeping on her foes. + +And when our noble Queen shall place upon his breast the cross which is the +soldier's diadem, their hearts will throb in unison with his, for their +strong hands on that May Day helped him to win what he is so fat to wear; +and when our Sovereign honours him she honours them, and well they know it. +And when the years have rolled away, and they are old and grey, and spent +with wounds and toil, fit for nothing but to dandle little grand-babes on +their knees, young men and maids will flock around, and pointing out the +veteran to the curious stranger say, with honest pride, "He was with Towse +the day he won the cross." + + + + + + THE CONDUCT OF THE WAR. + + ORANGE RIVER COLONY. + + +There are hundreds of men lying in unmarked graves in African soil to-day +who ought to be alive and well, others who have been done to death by the +crass ignorance, the appalling stupidity, the damnable conceit which will +brook no teaching. I have seen men die like dogs, men who left comfortable +homes in the old land to go forth to uphold the power and prestige of our +nation's flag. I have seen them gasping out their lives like stricken +sheep, just in the springtide of their manhood, when the glory and the lust +of life should have been strong upon them I have watched the Irish lad with +the down upon his brave boyish face pass with the last deep-drawn quivering +sob over the border line of life, into the shadows of the unsearchable +beyond, a wasted sacrifice upon the grim altar of incapacity. I have seen +the kilted Scottish laddie lie, with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, waiting +for the whisper of the wings of the Angel of Death. I have seen the death +damp gather on his unlined brow, and watched the grey pallor creep upwards +from throat to temple; until my very soul, wrung with anguish unutterable, +has risen in hot revolt against the crimes of the incapable. + +I have knelt by England's fair-faced sons, the child of the cities, the boy +from the fens, the youth from the farm, and watched the shadows creeping +over eyes that mothers loved to look upon. I have seen the wasted fingers, +grown clawlike, plucking aimlessly at the rude blankets as if weaving the +woof of the winding-sheet, and have listened with aching heart to the +aimless babbling of the dying, in which home and friends were blended, +until the tired voice, grown aweary with the weight of utterance, died out +like the crooning of a lisping child, as the soul slipped through the +golden gateway that leads to the glory beyond the grave. I have watched +them pile the earth above the last home of Cambria's sons, the gallant +children of the old Welsh hills. I have seen them laid to sleep, as harvest +hands will lay the sheaves in undulating rows when the summer shower has +passed; and over every shallow grave I have sent a curse for those whose +brutish folly caused the flower of Britain's army to wither in the pride of +their peerless boyhood. + +For the men who fall in battle we can flush our tears with pride, and +though our hearts may ache for those we love, yet is there an undercurrent +of hot joy to know they fell as soldiers love to fall, face forward to the +foe. But for those who die, as more than half of Britain's dead have died +in this last war, stricken by pestilence brought about by ignorance and +indolence, we have only sorrow and tears and prayers, blended with hate and +contempt for the triple-dyed dandies and dunces who robbed us of those who +should have been alive to-day to be the bulwark of the Empire, the pride of +the nation, and the joy of many homes. + +Why did they die, these strong young soldiers of our Queen? Was it because +their hearts failed them in the presence of hardship and danger? I tell +you, No. The hardships of the campaign only roused them to greater +exertions. Bravely and uncomplainingly they answered every call of duty, +ready by night or day to go anywhere, or do anything, if only they were led +by men worthy of our Queen's commission, worthy of the cloth they wore. Why +did they die? Was it because of poisoned or polluted water, left in their +path by the enemy whom they were fighting? Not so. No, not so. The Boers +left no death-traps in our path. Why did they die? Was it because the +country through which we marched lent itself climatically to the +propagation and dissemination of fever germs? No, England, no! In all the +world there is no finer climate than that in which our gallant soldiers +died like rotting sheep. Wherever else the blame may lie, no truthful man +can lay the blame of those untimely graves upon the climate or the country +of our enemies. + +I will tell you why they died, and tell you in language so plain that a +wayfaring man, even though a fool, cannot misunderstand me, for the time +has arrived when the whole Empire should know the truth in all its native +hideousness. Those men were done to death by wanton carelessness upon the +part of men sent out by the British War Office. They were done to death +through criminal neglect of the most simple laws of sanitation. Men were +huddled together in camp after camp; they were allowed to turn the +surrounding veldt and adjacent kopjes into cesspools and excreta camps. In +some camps no latrines were dug, no supervision was exercised. The +so-called Medical Staff looked on, and puffed their cigarettes and talked +under their eye-glasses--the fools, the idle, empty-headed noodles. And +whilst they smoked and talked twaddle, the grim, gaunt Shadow of Death +chuckled in the watches of the night, thinking of the harvest that was to +follow. + +Then the careless soldiers passed onward, leaving their camp vacant, and +later came another batch of soldiers. Perhaps the men in charge would be +men of higher mental calibre; they would order latrines to be dug, and all +garbage to be burnt or buried. But by this time the germs of fever were in +the air, the men would sicken and die, just as I have seen them sicken and +die upon a score of mining fields away in the Australian bush; and all for +the want of a little honest care and attention, all for the want of a few +grains of good, wholesome, everyday common sense. Had proper care been +taken in regard to these matters, four-fifths of those who now fill fever +graves in South Africa would be with us, hale and hearty men, to-day. + +But, England, you must not complain. "Tommy" is a cheap article; he only +costs a few pence per day, and if he dies there are plenty more ready and +willing to take his place. Don't think of him as a human being. Don't think +of him as some woman's husband and breadwinner. Don't think of him as some +grey-haired widow's son, whose support he has been. Don't think of him as +some foolish girl's heart's idol. But think of him as a part of the +country's revenue. Think of him as "One-and-fourpence a day." + +What excuse can or will be made by the authorities for the wholesale murder +of our men I know not. Possibly those high and haughty personages will +sniff contemptuously and decline to give any explanation at all. And you, +who hold the remedy in your own hands, what will you do? Will you at +election times put a stern question to every candidate for the Commons, and +demand a straight and unqualified answer to your questions. Remember this: +You supply the men who do the fighting; the nation at a pinch can do +without a Roberts, a Duller, or a Kitchener, but, as my soul liveth, it +cannot do without "Tommy." + +If you want Army reform, you must commence with the "Press gang"; you must +stand in one solid mass firmly behind those war correspondents who have not +feared to speak out plainly. You must send men to the Commons pledged to +stand behind them also, men who will not flinch and allow themselves to be +flouted by every scion of some ancient house; for if you do not support the +war correspondents of the great newspapers, how are you ever to know the +real truth concerning the doings of our armies in the field? I tell you +that you have not heard one-millionth part of the truth concerning this +South African enterprise, and now you never will know the truth. Had the +abominable practice of censorship been abolished prior to this war, most of +the abuses which have made our Army the laughing stock of Europe would have +been set right by the correspondents, for they would have pointed out the +evils to the public through the medium of their journals, and an indignant +people would have clamoured for reform in a voice which would brook no +denial. As things are at present, the military people during the progress +of the war have their heel upon the necks of the journalists, and the +public are robbed of what is their just right, the right of knowledge of +passing events; only that which suits the censor being allowed to filter +over the wires. Had it been otherwise, hundreds of young widows in Ireland, +Scotland, England, and Wales would be proud and happy wives to-day. + +But do not let me rouse your phlegmatic blood, my Britons; sit down, with +your thumbs in your mouths, my masters, and allow a coterie to flout you at +will, whilst the Frenchmen, the Germans, the Russians alternately laugh at +and pity you. Pity you, the sons of the men who chased their fathers half +over Europe at the point of the blood-red bayonet! Have you grown tame, +have you waxed fat and foolish during these long years of peace? Is the +spirit that swept the legions of France through the Pyrenees and carried +the old flag up the heights of Inkerman in the teeth of Russian +chivalry--is it dead, or only sleeping? If it but slumbers, let me cry, +Sleeper, awake, for danger is at the gates! Not the danger due from foreign +foes, but a greater danger--the danger of unjust government, for where evil +is hidden injustice reigns. + +Our military friends tell us that censorship of Press work is necessary for +the welfare of the Army. They urge that if we correspondents had a free +hand the enemy might gain valuable information regarding the movements of +our troops. To us who for the greater portion of a year have been at the +front there is grim irony in that assertion. Fancy the Boer scouts wanting +information from us which might filter through London newspapers! That +flimsy, paltry excuse can be dismissed with a contemptuous laugh. That is +not why the military people want our work censored. The real reason is that +their awful blunders, their farcical mistakes, and their criminal +negligence may not reach the British public. Just try for one brief moment +to remember some of the "censored" cables that have been sent home to you +during the war, and then compare it with such a cable as this, which would +have come if the Press men had a free hand: + + "Kruger's Valley, Jan. 12. + + "The ---- Division, under General ----, arrived at + Kruger's Valley four days ago. No latrines have been + dug ... weather terribly hot, with rain threatening. + This Division moves out in about a week. Its place will + be taken by troops just arrived at Durban from England. + Should we have rain in the meantime half the new draft + will be down with enteric fever before they are here a + week, and the death rate will be simply awful. General ---- + and staff will be responsible for those deaths." + +The military folk would, doubtless, designate such a telegram "a piece of +d----d impudence." + +But the latrines would be dug, the camp would be kept free from foulness, +and the new draft would not die untimely deaths, but would live to fight +the enemies of their country. + +Why the camps in South Africa were not models of cleanliness passes my +comprehension. There was no need to harass "Tommy" by setting him to do the +work. Every Division was accompanied by swarms of niggers, who drew from +Government L4 10s. per month and their food. These niggers had a +gentleman's life. They waxed fat, lazy, and cheeky. Four-fifths of them +rode all day on transport wagons, and never earned a fourth of the wages +they drew from a sweetly paternal Government. Why could not those men have +been used in every camp to make things safe and comparatively comfortable +for "Tommy," who had to march all day, with his fighting kit upon his back +march and fight, and not only march and fight, but go on picket and sentry +duty as well? Those niggers ought to have, been turned out to dig and fill +in latrines for our soldiers, they ought to have been compelled to do all +the menial work of the camps; but they never did anything of the sort +"Tommy" was treated for the most part like a Kaffir dog, whilst the saucy +niggers led the lives of fightingcocks, and to-day any ordinary Army +Service nigger thinks himself a better man than "Tommy," and doesn't +hesitate to tell you so. It would be instructive to know the name of the +genius who fixed the scale of nigger wage at L 4 10s. per month, with +rations. Fully half that sum could with ease have been saved the British +taxpayer, and the nigger would have taken it with delight, and jumped at +the chance of getting it. As a matter of fact, the nigger has had a huge +picnic, and has been well paid for attending it. He has never been kept +short of food. He has never had to march until his feet were almost falling +off him. He has not had to fight for the country that fed and clothed him. +Poor "Tommy!" + + + + + + HOME AGAIN. + + +I stood where Nelson's Column stands--a stranger, and alone. Alone amidst a +mighty multitude of men and maids. I saw a people drunk with joy. I looked +from face to face, and in each flashing eye, and on each quivering lip, a +nation's heart lay bared to all the world, for England's capital was but +the throbbing pulse of England's Empire. Our nation spoke to the nations +that dwell where the sea foam flies, and woe to them who do not heed the +tale that the city told. There was no sun, the city lay enveloped in +silvery shadows, like some grey lioness that knows her might and is not +quickly stirred to wrath or joy, like meaner things. I looked above, and +saw the monument of him whose peerless genius gave us empire on the seas. I +looked below, and saw, far as my eyes could range, a seething mass of men, +as good, as gallant, and as great of heart as those who fought and fell +beneath his flag, and in my blood I felt the pride of empire stirring, and +knew how great a thing it is to call one's self a Briton. + +I looked along that swaying mass of human flesh and blood, and saw the best +that England owns waiting to welcome, with heart-stirring cheers, the +gallant lads whose lion hearts had carried London's name and fame along the +rough-hewn tracks of war. I saw the cream of Britain's chivalry and +Britain's beauty there. Men and women from the countryside, from Ireland +and from Scotland, all eager to pay tribute to the London lads who had so +proudly proved to all the world that it was not for a soldier's pay, not +for the love of gain, but for a nation's glory that they had risked limb +and life beneath an African sun. Then, as I looked, I caught a distant hum +of voices--a far-off sound, such as I have heard amid Pacific isles when +wind and waves were beating upon coral crags, and foam-topped rollers +thrashed the surf into the magic music of the storm-tossed sea. It was the +roar of London's multitudes welcoming home her own; and what a sound it +was! I have heard the music of the guns when our nation spoke in the stern +tones of battle to a nation in arms; I have heard the crash of tempests on +Southern coasts when ships were reeling in the breath of the blast, and +souls to their God were going; I have crouched low in my saddle when the +tornado has swept trees from the forest as a boy brushes flowers with his +footsteps. But never had I heard a sound like that. It was the voice of +millions, it was the great heart-beats of a mighty nation, it was a welcome +and a warning--a welcome to the descendants of the 'prentice lads of Old +London, a warning to the world. I caught the echoes in my hands, I hugged +them to my heart, I let them pour into my brain, and this is the tale they +told: "Sluggish we are, ye people, slow to wake, strong in the strength of +conscious might. Jibe at us, jeer at us, flout us and threaten us; but +beware the day we turn in our strength. We have sent forth a few of our +children, but they were but as a drop in the ocean. All Britain sent two +hundred and fifty thousand strong men to Africa; London, if need be, can +send five hundred thousand more to the uttermost parts of the earth. Aye, +and when they have died, as these would have died if need be, we can open +our hearts and send five hundred thousand more, and yet be strong for our +home fighting." It was a nation speaking to the nations, and that is the +tale it told. Let the nations take heed and beware, for the language was +the language of truth. + +I listened; and lo! through the storm of cheering, through the cries of +women and the strong shouting of men in their prime, I caught another +sound, a sound I knew and loved--the sound of marching men. Music hath +charms to stir the blood and make men mad, but there is no music in all the +earth like the trained tread of men who have marched to battle. I knew the +rhythm of that tread; I knew that the "boys" of Old London were coming, and +my nostrils seemed filled with the fumes of fighting. I looked again, and, +saw them, hard faced, clean limbed, close set, as soldiers should be who +have faced the storm and stress of war, as proud a band as Britain ever +had, soldier and citizen both in one, fit to be a nation's bulwark and a +nation's trust; and in the crowd around them there were a thousand thousand +men as good, as game, as gritty, as they, for they were the children of the +people, the men of the shop-counter, the men of the city office, the men of +every artisan craft, the very vitals of London. They had sprung from the +womb of the city, and the city could give birth to a million more if need +be. + +I saw them pass amidst a storm of cheers, and I, who had seen them out on +the African veldt under the foeman's guns, lifted up my voice to cheer them +onward, for well I knew that there was nothing in the gift of England that +they were not worthy of, those children of the "flat caps," those offspring +of the 'prentice lads of London. I knew how they had starved; I knew how +they had suffered through the freezing cold of the African winter; I knew +how gallantly, how uncomplainingly, they had marched with empty bellies and +aching limbs, ready to go anywhere, to do anything, ready to fight, and, if +it were the will of the great God of Battles, ready to lay down their young +lives and die. I knew those things, and, knowing them, gave them a cheer +for the sake of Australia, for the sake of the kinship which binds us as no +bonds of steel could bind us and them. I heard a voice at my knee +whimpering, the voice of a gutter kid, who had dodged in there out of the +way of the police. I looked at his ragged clothes, looked at his grimy +face, looked at his hands, which looked as if they had never looked at +soap, and I said: "What are you yelping for, kiddie?" And he, looking up at +me through his tears, fired a voice at me through his sobs, and said: "I'm +yelping, mister, because I'm only a little 'un, and can't see me mates come +home from the war." Then I laughed, and tossing him up on my shoulder let +him jamb his dirty fist on the only silk hat I possess, whilst he looked at +his "mates" march home; for they were his mates--he was a child of London, +and some day--who knows?--he may be a general. + + * * * * * + +Printed by +Cassell & Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, +London, E.C. +10.101. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAMPAIGN PICTURES OF THE WAR IN +SOUTH AFRICA (1899-1900)*** + + +******* This file should be named 16131.txt or 16131.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/1/3/16131 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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