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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/23875-8.txt b/23875-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d4a306 --- /dev/null +++ b/23875-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5980 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Relief of Mafeking, by Filson Young + + +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: The Relief of Mafeking + How it Was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column; with an Account of Some Earlier Episodes in the Boer War of 1899-1900 + + +Author: Filson Young + + + +Release Date: December 16, 2007 [eBook #23875] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Graeme Mackreth, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 23875-h.htm or 23875-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/7/23875/23875-h/23875-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/7/23875/23875-h.zip) + + + + + +THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING + +How It Was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column; with +an Account of Some Earlier Episodes in the Boer War of +1899-1900 + +by + +FILSON YOUNG + +With Portraits and Plans + + + + + + + +Methuen & Co. +36 Essex Street W.C. +London +1900 + + + +[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHALL LORD ROBERTS, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., +G.C.I.E., V.C.] + + + +TO + +M. C. D. + + + + +PREFACE + + + + +The proprietors of the _Manchester Guardian_ have kindly allowed me to +make use of their copyright in the letters written by me to that +newspaper during the first half of the year. The substance of the +letters has been reproduced in the hope that home-staying folk may find +in them something of the atmosphere that surrounds the collision of +armed forces. It is a strange and rude atmosphere; yet it pleases me at +this moment to remember not so much the strangeness and rudeness as the +kindness and good-fellowship that made a dreadful business tolerable and +the memory of it pleasant. Many friends of these brave days I may not +see again, but if their eyes should ever light on this page I would have +them know that it contains a greeting. + + +FILSON YOUNG + +LONDON, _July 31st, 1900_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I. + +ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR + PAGE + + I. How the Reserves came up 3 + + II. How the Army left England 12 + + III. How the Wounded came Home 40 + + +PART II. + +IN THE WAKE OF THE ARMY + + + IV. The Long Sea Road 51 + + V. Scenes at Cape Town 61 + + VI. In the Eddies of a Great Whirl 72 + + VII. Magersfontein and Kimberley 85 + + VIII. Paardeberg 97 + + +PART III. + +LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE TO BLOEMFONTEIN + + + IX. The Boer Panic at Osfontein 105 + + X. The March on Dreifontein 115 + + XI. The Battle of Dreifontein and the March on Bloemfontein 123 + + XII. Retracing the Steps of the Army 132 + + +PART IV. + +AN EXPEDITION WITH LORD METHUEN + + + XIII. In the Field again 147 + + XIV. The Capture of Boers at Tweefontein 156 + + XV. An Elusive Enemy 164 + + XVI. A Surprise on the March 179 + + XVII. Under the Red Cross Flag 188 + + +PART V. + +WITH THE FLYING COLUMN TO MAFEKING + + + XVIII. A Strategic Secret 205 + + XIX. The Departure from Kimberley 209 + + XX. From Taungs to Vryburg 221 + + XXI. Nearing the Goal 230 + + XXII. We Repel an Attack and Join Forces with Plumer 238 + + XXIII. The Fighting on the Molopo 248 + + XXIV. Mafeking at Last 260 + + XXV. A Memorial of the Siege 271 + + XXVI. Good-bye to Mafeking 277 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR, +K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., V.C. _Frontispiece_ + +MR. G. LENTHAL CHEATLE, F.R.C.S., CONSULTING +SURGEON TO HER MAJESTY'S FORCES +IN SOUTH AFRICA _To face page_ 72 + +LIEUTENANT-GENERAL P.S. LORD METHUEN, +K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G. " 156 + +BRIGADIER-GENERAL BRYAN MAHON, D.S.O. " 210 + +MAP OF MAHON'S MARCH " 230 + +PLAN OF THE BATTLE ON THE MOLOPO ON +MAY 16TH " 248 + +FACSIMILE OF SIGNED MENU OF THE RELIEF +DINNER AT MAFEKING " 267 + + + + +PART I + +ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR + + + + +I + +HOW THE RESERVES CAME UP + + +From a seat in the paymaster's office of the depôt barracks at Bury one +afternoon in November, 1899, I could look either into the barrack yard +or out along the Bolton Road. A four-wheeler clove its way through the +crowd surrounding the gates, and the sentries presented arms to it. It +contained my friend, the paymaster, who presently came upstairs carrying +a bag in which were several hundred pounds sterling--the real sinews of +war. This was the man whose business it was to call up the Reservists, +and he had a very simple way of doing it. He had several books +containing large forms divided by perforation into four parts. The first +was a counterfoil on which was written the Reservist's name and the date +of posting the order; the second was a railway warrant requesting the +railway company to furnish him with a ticket available by the most +direct route from his place of residence to the depôt; the third was the +order requiring him to present himself at the barracks on or before a +certain date; and the fourth was a money-order for three shillings, +officially called an advance, but virtually a present from a considerate +Government. On the 11th of the month the paymaster at Bury had signed +about six hundred of these notices, and had seen them posted; on Sunday +and Monday they had begun to fall like bombs on the breakfast tables of +prosperous civilians all over the country; and soon the pieces of blue +paper had made a sad disturbance in several hundreds of cottage homes, +and added several hundred men to the strength of the 2nd Battalion of +the Lancashire Fusiliers. The business of the pay office, or at least my +friend's part of it--a few subalterns rushing up in a hurry to get money +for their various companies; eighty pounds for A, a hundred pounds for +D, and so on--was soon over, and then he told me something of how the +Reserve system works. + +All the men in the Reserve have put in at least seven years' service. +They go into the Reserve first for a term of five years at sixpence a +day, and then (if they wish) for a term of four years at fourpence a +day. Of course when the Reserves are called out they receive the same +pay as regular soldiers, and their wives have separation allowances. As +everyone knows, this was the first time that any considerable number of +the Reserves had been called up, and the system has worked admirably. +About 98 per cent, in some districts presented themselves, the small +remainder being either ill or in gaol. A small proportion of those who +came up were rejected by the doctor, but on the whole the men were tough +and fit. In this district they were allowed eight days in which to +settle their affairs and present themselves at the depôt, but most of +them did not come until the last minute, and several not until after the +last minute of the time allowed by the order. + +The crowd outside the barrack gates was composed chiefly of women and +loafers, but every now and then it opened to admit a handful of +reluctant-looking men, who had probably stayed outside until their money +was exhausted. And many of them were hanging about outside the gates +having nothing to do and no money to spend, but deferring to the last +moment the final step of self-submission to the iron hand of discipline. +For once the Reservist was inside the barrack yard he could have no more +liberty, probably, for many a long month--unless, indeed, he gained an +endless liberty on the battlefield. The scene through the opposite +window looking on to the barrack yard was very different from the +rather sombre picture without. The yard was gay with the wonderful red +that has done so much to make the army popular. For movement there were +a few squads of Militia recruits being drilled by the trumpet-voiced +sergeants; and for music there was the ring of a hundred rifle-butts +striking the ground together, the tramp and click of many feet, and the +clatter of the colonel's horse as he rode across the yard. + +But the most interesting people were the Reservists and their friends, +who dotted the yard in many-coloured groups. Here was a party of girls +and women taking a farewell of some engaging blade whose course of +gallantry had been suddenly interrupted. There was a father standing +with his wife and small family grouped round him, no one saying very +much, but everyone feeling a good deal. And another group would be +laughing and singing, not quite recovered from the means they had taken +to drown regrets. + +Sitting in the window, one could trace the Reservist's progress from his +entrance at the gate to his disappearance into quarters. The square was +filled with little processions containing six or eight men each; first +from the orderly-room to the hospital, in all kinds of civilian raiment: +black, grey, brown, green, blue, drab--anything but red; hatless, +capless, black-hatted, cloth-capped, shabby, spruce, dirty, soiled, +clean, pretty clean, white-faced, red-faced, unkempt, well-groomed, +hungry, well-fed, thin, fat--every class between clerks and tramps; +every condition between prosperity and destitution. A procession was +also constantly flowing from the hospital to the quartermaster's +stores--the same procession, with one military touch; for this time the +men did not straggle, but were marched single file in charge of a +sergeant. The next procession was from the stores to the men's quarters; +but now each man had a great bundle under his arms containing his entire +kit wrapped up in an overcoat. + +The quartermaster, not without pardonable pride, took me over the stores +in which the men's kits are prepared. There were hundreds of racks +containing bundles so cunningly rolled that you could see at a glance +what was in each. And beside each bundle was a valise already packed +with everything that a campaigner could need; indeed, when I read the +printed list showing what was in each my heart warmed with the same joy +that I felt when I first read _Robinson Crusoe_. Government, who is +rigorous and unyielding as a disciplinarian to her soldiers, is a mother +to them in her provision for their wants. Each bag contained a knife, +fork, spoon, tin canteen, shaving brush, soap, razor, boot brushes, +clothes brush, hair brush, pipeclay, button polisher, cleaning paste, +and a dozen other things just as interesting and as useful. Out of +curiosity I opened a housewife, and my heart was touched with the almost +feminine consideration that it indicated; for there, cunningly folded +up, were skeins of wool and cotton in many different shades, as well as +half a dozen sizes of needles. Surely the War Office is human, and not +the strange machine that some of us esteem it, for how else could it +provide that Tommy shall not have to darn his socks with scarlet, nor +his tunic with grey, nor his trousers with white wool? As the men came +into the stores each one received his share of these excellent things, +and the quartermaster's sergeants displayed quite a genius in estimating +and fitting the various proportions of the men. And the men's eyes +brightened at the sight of the glorious new red cloth; I believe that, +although they wore it for a few days only, it did much to reconcile +them with the inconvenience and hardship that some of them endured in +rejoining. Khaki uniforms were served out later. + +All round the barrack square the men stood in groups as I have +described, and in one corner were clusters of men arrayed in their new +garments. One could read pretty easily in their faces the story of the +last few days. One saw several men who had evidently risen in the world +since they had left the army. They had an air of sleekness and delicacy +that made them seem out of place. Others had evidently been going down +in the social scale, and wore their new clothes like fine feathers. Some +were evidently glad at the prospect of action and excitement, and fell +back into the regimental routine as a man sits down in a comfortable +chair. To others, not a few, all this hustle was an act in a domestic +tragedy. Sometimes it was a comedy, as in the case of one man who had +built up a "nice little butchering business," snatching his profits from +the niggard hand of competition; and now he must go forth to kill men, +leaving his rival master in the field of domestic butchery. But the +comedies were few, or else I did not come across them, for it was the +serious side of this business that impressed me the most. Men caught +away from new-found family joys, not for personal advancement or glory, +but to take their places as units in the huge war-machine that is fed +with human bodies. It is so easy to speak and think of "losses" when we +count them by the hundred; it is so hard and bitter to think of one +death and all that it means when one stands and speaks to a soldier. I +found one man standing apart by himself--a young man, with a good, +clean, hardy face--and there were tears in his eyes. As I was passing he +asked me what time it was, and in a few minutes he told me his story. He +had been married two years; he had one little child; he had left his +wife dying of pneumonia. That was all; but I think one can hardly +realise how much it meant. I should like some civilians who do their +soldiering in an armchair, and who really seem to like a war for the +spice with which it flavours their newspaper, to have seen that man and +heard his short tale of misery.[1] He is, of course, one of the few on +whom an admirable system inflicts a fearful wound; but he is an example +(if one were needed) of the matchless discipline that can teach a man +to obey without question or complaint a command that has two edges for +death. I am glad to say that I met no other man in half so dreadful a +plight as his, but there were dozens of men to whom the order came as an +ending of happiness, and of course one knew, although the thought was +not dwelt upon, that many of the little homes of which these men had +been the centre and support would have that support no more. Yet of one +thing I am very sure. Not one of the men to whom I spoke but was willing +and anxious to serve his country; not one but looked proud to be wearing +the old uniform again. The sadness and trouble was all in the +retrospect, not in the outlook. Tommy Atkins, with his great, simple, +conspicuous vices and his obscure, surprising, and enduring virtues was +unconsciously putting into practice the precept of a certain Old +Buccaneer: _No regrets; they unman the heart we want for to-morrow._ + +[Footnote 1: This man's wife died a week after he had sailed.] + + + + +II + +HOW THE ARMY LEFT ENGLAND + + +The few days that elapsed between rejoining and embarkation were spent +by the Reservist at the depôt barracks of his regiment, where he +received his kit and underwent the small amount of drill necessary to +remove the rust of civilian life. After that, the sound of reveille in +the depth of a winter night; the sudden awakening; the hasty breakfast, +eaten like a Passover feast; the long and noisy railway journey; the +faint, salt smell of the sea, and the first sight of it through the +rainy dawn. In the early days of the war I was present at many +embarkations at Liverpool and Southampton, and they left an impression +on my mind which will not easily be effaced. For, even to an onlooker, +the embarkation of troops, with its sights and sounds of tragedy, is an +affair that burns itself into the memory; one is dazzled and confounded +by the number and variety of the small dramas that are enacted before +one's eyes; and the whole is framed in a setting of military system and +circumstance that lends dignity, if that were needed, to the humble +tragedies of the moment. + +Only a few of the thousands who came to watch the departure of the +_Canada_ from Liverpool one December morning were allowed inside the +dock shed; nearly all of those within the gate were sweethearts and +wives and children of soldiers who had contrived to procure passes for +them. Even in the shed the scene was one of extraordinary confusion. At +intervals of about half an hour detachments were marched in and formed +up at one end of the shed, where they left their bundles and heavy kit, +and whence they were marched in single file up the gangway of the ship. +With the exception of the Manchesters, all the troops were in khaki, and +were easily distinguishable from the dark-coloured mass of civilians. +Thus there was always a yellow pool of colour in the midst of the black +mass, and all the morning a thin yellow line flowed from the pool to the +ship's gangway. As often as one looked, during the whole morning, there +was a line of men in the act of ascending the gangway. One felt as +though one had fallen asleep for a moment and dreamed, and waked again +to find the same men in the same position, so little did the appearance +of things change. It was really a picture that one looked at, for the +colours and bold outlines remained constant; the eye at times grew used +to the minute movement, and refused to notice that the picture was +preserved only because the same things were being done over and over +again by hundreds of different people. The same greetings as friends +recognised the newly-arrived man, the same hurried words, the same +faltering voices, the same desperate embraces, the same endless tramp +from the formed ranks to the ship, the same tears. The absorption of so +many acute personal emotions into one revolving routine was the most +amazing part of it; the stream of discipline and system ran swift and +deep here, drawing into its flood even the most sacred and intimate of +human experiences, and turning into a pattern the parting of husband +from wife and father from child. When at length one became used to the +picture one began to notice the elements of its composition, and only in +watching them could one gain relief from the overburdening sense of +personality submerged in a system. The little dramas were very strange +and very affecting. I can only give a few examples out of dozens that I +watched. + +As the troops came in at the door, marching four deep, the crowd formed +on each side, and those who had friends in the detachment tried to get a +prominent place in the front rank of the crowd, where they could attract +the attention of the soldiers as they passed. The men were not hurried, +and they were marching at ease, so there was generally time for a few +words and a kiss or a hand-clasp before they were moved on. One wife, +who was little more than a girl, had taken a good place on the edge of +the crowd when her husband's detachment began to file in. I heard her +telling a friend that she had not said good-bye to "her lad," as she +wanted to see the last of him; it had been arranged that she was to be +near when he passed so that he could give her a parting kiss. Oh, how +anxiously she scanned the faces of the men as they swung into sight, +throwing all her soul into her eyes! + +Presently, "There he is!" she cried; "here, Jim, I'm here!" + +The young man's fine honest face had a look no less intent than hers, +but it was turned away from her; he was searching as eagerly as she, but +on the wrong side of the lane of people; and by one of those impish +tricks that Fate plays upon us in acute moments, he never saw her, nor +heard her voice above the cheers of the people and the blare of the +band. It was a cruel thing; she was fast wedged in the crowd. Someone +ran after the man and told him where she was, but before the sympathiser +could reach him his company had been drawn up and he could not be +allowed to fall out. And long before she was clear of the tightly packed +throng he had passed on to the ship, where she could not follow him. + +Another incident of another kind. The North Lancashires were marching +in, and an old man in the crowd was on the look-out for his son. He +explained to everybody near him what a fine boy his son was, and how +keen a soldier; how it had nearly broken the old man's heart that his +boy should leave him and go to the war, but how it would "do un good and +make a mon of un." Presently two soldiers appeared, half-carrying and +half-dragging between them a young man who was so drunk that he could +neither stand nor walk. His helmet was jammed over his eyes, but as he +was dragged past us it fell off and rolled to the old man's feet. I +heard him draw in his breath sharply and murmur something as his face +flushed; and then all the people round began to point and say, "That's +his son there, him that's being carried"; and some--God forgive +them!--laughed and joked at the old man. And he who had a moment ago +filled our ears with the praises of his boy gazed after him with a look +of bitter amazement and then went silently away. Another man who had +missed seeing his wife before he had embarked caught sight of her from +the ship's deck as she stood upon the quay with tears in her eyes. There +was no chance of his being allowed to pass down the gangway. But the +husband in him knew no obedience to the stern order, and he dived clean +off the stern of the steamer into the filthy water and swam, khaki and +all, to the steps at the side of the dock. And you may be sure his wife +was there to help him out, and she forgot her grief in her pride at his +daring. So he held her in his arm for a moment (and had three ringing +cheers from his mates into the bargain) before he was collared and +marched back to restraint, dirty but glorious. + +Here and there one saw men much the worse for liquor; and I have no +words to describe the folly of those friends who thrust bottles of +spirits into the soldiers' hands as they passed through the streets. +They did them a double cruelty, for the poor fellows, all unstrung by +their partings, gulped the raw spirit thinking they drank courage; and +so once or twice I saw poor women saying good-bye to staggering +maniacs--grim mockeries of the husbands they might never see again, the +poor fools themselves at present oblivious indeed, but doomed to I know +not what horrors of remorse on awaking. Happily, however, there were not +many in this sad condition. Most of the men behaved with a fortitude and +gentleness that was most touching. Indeed I find it hard to express my +admiration of their bearing. There was none of the bluster of the +armchair Jingo, none of the loud hectoring and swaggering and bravado +that distinguish the carpet warrior. On the contrary, when they were +talking of the war amongst themselves they had an air of quiet +determination, of good-humoured banter, and of easy, serious confidence +far more ominous for an enemy than any amount of fluent rant. After the +world of politics, with its hair-splitting and word-mincing, it was good +to be with soldiers--the men who do the work. They knew no fine +political shades, they bandied no epithets; England was at war and they +were going to fight--that was enough. And the spirit in which they +fought all the world knows: every day during the war one read tales of +devotion and heroism that became almost commonplace; it is even a +commonplace to praise them. Yet one could not see the soldiers in this +most trying duty of all, the laying down of home ties and interests (for +I think the heroism of mere fighting is nothing to it), without feeling +a pride in the moral discipline that makes it all possible, and under +the authority of which Tommy is content to be as a child. And this +childlike submission to discipline has its pathetic side, as when one +saw the little family of mother and children grouped to see the last of +its head. The children stood in wide-eyed amazement to see daddy the +Reservist, who in the little household had been the emblem of all +authority, now in the place of obedience, and taking directions from +another man (not so big and strong as he) as to how he should stand and +into what hole he should put the buckle of his strap. Thus even the +father and the husband are absorbed in the soldier. It is a great price; +and the way in which it was paid by so many was perhaps our firmest +assurance of the stuff that is in our soldiers. + +Early on the morning of departure a few hundred people--mostly +women--stood on the pierhead of Canada Dock, watching the transport as +she lay a short distance off in the stream with the Blue Peter at her +fore and the St. George's ensign hanging astern. The rain beat steadily +down, loading the raw wind that blew out of the morning twilight, and +the brown water broke sullenly to the send of a setting flood tide. The +faces of nearly all the women were worn with weeping; now they wept no +longer, but looked dully out to sea, while the rain ran down their +soaking garments and splashed on the ground. A drunken soldier who had +somehow got ashore the night before reeled helplessly on his wife's arm, +his head bruised and cut and his new uniform torn and filthy. But in the +woman's face there was a kind of fearful joy; she had rescued him from +his pot-house satellites, and she thought she could keep him. Presently +a tug came off from the transport with a picket to collect deserters--he +had to go. She sobbed and wailed, imploring the sergeant in vain; and +she clung to her poor senseless husband as though she would never leave +him. He hardly knew her; he laughed vacantly in her face when with +streaming eyes she begged him to speak her name; then they took him away +from her. As the tug steamed out I heard him singing. + +A little while afterwards the _Canada's_ siren began to wail and squeal +with a horrible mockery of painful cries. The tugs backed clear of her, +and lent their shrill voices to the discordant concert. Presently the +water astern of the transport turned from brown to foaming white, and +her masts began to move past the farther shore. There was a faint sound +of cheering from her, but she was soon out of sound and sight, and still +the women stared into the mist that had enfolded her, as though their +wishes might draw her back again. But in a little while they turned +towards home and a world that had changed its face. + + * * * * * + +On another day I went down to Liverpool to see the _Majestic_ depart +with troops for the front. The weather was consistently unkind. The +_Canada_ had sailed in a whirl of rainy fog, and the departing +passengers of the _Majestic_ looked across a little inky strip of water +to a land that was cloaked with snow. It was bitterly cold on the +landing-stage, and all the interest of the scene could not keep the +bitter wind from whipping one's face and numbing the feet. The wooden +planks resounded not more with the tramp of marching feet than with the +hard stampings of people who were trying to restore circulation. There +were no very poor people on the stage. The space opposite to the ship +was occupied chiefly by the friends of officers and by the troops +themselves, and certainly it seemed kinder to the men to prevent the +dreadful scrambling for farewells that took place when the _Canada_ +sailed. But a sea of anxious faces pressed against the barriers at +either end of the reserved space, and no doubt there was much bitter +envy of us in the enclosure, who had so much better an opportunity, and +perhaps so much less reasonable a claim to the front places. + +Outwardly this departure seemed very different from that of the +_Canada_. It was not so sordid, if one may use the term; the vessel did +not slip away furtively from a dock in the small hours of the morning, +but departed in open day from the more accessible landing-stage; and +although the weather was chill and bitter, it had not that infinitely +dreary effect upon the spirits that one associates with a soaking +downpour. Here were all the pomps and circumstances of farewell--the +blowing of bands and wavings of caps and great shouts of a multitude +that must give vent to acute emotions. Yet, different though the +outward circumstances were, they only accentuated the likeness that lay +beneath. Good-bye is good-bye, whether we say it at a carriage window or +shout it across a strip of harbour water; whether a crowd sings "Auld +Lang Syne" or a mother whispers "Don't forget me." And at the sailing of +the _Majestic_, with all its dignity, one saw the same tragedies +repeated over and over again, until one's heart sickened of it all, and +one would gladly have come away. Of course it was not among the officers +and their wives that one saw these things; people used to self-control +keep their griefs to themselves, and perhaps a very inexperienced person +would have been deceived by the smiles on women's faces and the cheery +chaff of men. Even here there were things to be seen at the last moment, +but I confess that I turned my back when the saloon gangway was about to +be removed; some things are sacred even from the man whose business it +is to describe what he sees. + +It was after the two thousand troops had all been embarked that the +friends of the men were admitted to the stage, and the dismal, though +enthusiastic, part of the affair began. Before that everything was +business and order. As the men arrived they were provided with hot +coffee and meat pies, which they drank and ate with every sign of +pleasure. Some of us who were very cold envied them for that moment. The +forward gangway was for about an hour occupied by men who did nothing +but pass rifles from the quay to the ship; it was a formidable sight, +this stream of deadly weapons that flowed on board. Up another gangway +enough cordite to blow up the whole of Liverpool was being gingerly +carried in small cases. But this hour or two of embarkation, in which so +much really happened, left little impression on my mind. It simply was +one more illustration of the admirable efficiency of discipline for +which our army is famous. It was when the gangways were removed and the +crowd began to pour on to the stage that the affair became human; and +the half-hour that elapsed between that time and the moment when the +mist finally hid the ship wrote itself much more deeply on my memory. + +One gangway was left open, and stragglers and men who at the last moment +had stayed away for an hour with their wives and children were hunted +out and hurried up it. At the shore end there were many painful scenes, +which people with a little imagination may picture for themselves. +Fortunately a farewell is a brief thing, and leaves only aching hearts; +people could not stand a sustained agony like that of the last moment. +It is the price we pay for our powers of memory and forethought; the +charger, going perhaps to a bloody and cruel death, steps willingly +enough up plank; the drunken man sings his good-bye; only the sober and +alert taste the fearful sting of parting. Even the people who had kept +up a great show of callousness had the mask suddenly and for the moment +plucked from their faces; young subalterns with rather watery eyes and +very loud voices ran swiftly up the plank, and brave women who had a +smile even to the last for their husbands turned a different face +shorewards. One could not help contrasting the weight of the burden for +those who went away and those who stayed behind; for the men and for the +women; for those who were going to fight, to die perhaps, but still to +_do_ something, and for those who had nothing but their thoughts to be +busy with. Pessimistic as this view may seem, it is the true one; the +event described as an "enthusiastic send-off" is essentially a +melancholy function, and the relief afforded by the antics of a few +intoxicated men does not make it less so. It is strange, indeed, how +important a part is played by the whisky-bottle in the farewells of the +poor. I have seen it passed round family circles at the last moment like +some grotesque sacrament; have even overheard husband and wife almost +quarrelling in their desire to press the comforter each upon the other. +"Here, take it with you, Sam." "No, Missus, you 'ave it; I can get some +off Tom." "No, lad, take it--I'll throw it after you if you don't." +Chance generally stepped in to kill the ghost in the bottle, throwing it +to the ground and spilling the contents. I saw one little boy, aged +about four, run up to his daddy at the last moment with a gorgeous +present in the shape of a glass pistol (a delicate reference to his +profession) full of spirits; it had a cork in the barrel, and I suppose +you fired it down your throat. Amid all these scenes the officers +displayed an unvarying tact, coaxing the men on board and not unduly +hastening their farewells; but for all that there were many violent and +tragic scenes. + +Just before the last gangway was run ashore a little woman came up, +crying and almost breathless, and begging to be allowed to say good-bye +to her husband, who was at the other end of the gangway, not allowed to +come down. The orders were absolute--no one must go up to the ship. Then +the woman broke out into a great wailing and sobbing, praying the +quartermaster on her knees that he would let her go half-way up the +gangway; but he was as firm as a rock. Then she came to the edge of the +landing-stage and cried quietly, all alone in that vast crowd, now and +then calling broken words of endearment to the man who stood a dozen +yards away from her across the strip of black water. Discipline is +heavy, and crushes; it is also sharp, and sometimes cuts cruelly and +deeply. But in the midst of her amazing grief she found time to call +some cheering words across to her husband: "Keep your heart up, lad, and +think of me and the children as loves you." He, poor soul, looked +thunder at his sergeant, and raged and swore; but he was a unit in a +mass--he kicked against the pricks, and he knew it. + +At last the gangway was removed, and a kind of quietness fell upon the +crowd, waiting for the next harrowing sensation. It came in a +succession of those minute incidents that burn themselves into the +memory of people whose nerves are on the rack. The splash of a hawser +into the dock; the deep notes of the engine-room telegraph, and the +clicking reply upon the bridge; the spinning of the wheel as a +quartermaster tests the steering engine; the clack and spit of winches, +and finally the thrilling shout of the foghorn, whose echo leaves you +trembling--all these things have a painful significance, and they bite +and grip into the heart. As the ship began to move a band on the +shade-deck struck up "Auld Lang Syne," and immediately the floodgates +were unlocked. Tears started again into bitterly dry eyes, handkerchiefs +were waved, people shouted, sang snatches of song--everyone made a sound +of some kind, and contributed to the great unrestrained noise of human +beings in distress and excitement. Above it all rose the hooting of +foghorns and sirens, while the band made its noise too--thump and throb +of drums, scream of pipes, and red-hot flare of brass instruments. +Sea-birds, seeing the ship about to depart, flapped and hovered about it +by the score, adding their shrill cries to the tumult; and high on his +flying-bridge stood the captain, shifting his telegraph from "stand by" +to "ahead," holding up or moving his hand, but not uttering his voice. +It was a striking picture, in which he stood as an image of a Fate by +which all men were for the moment helplessly crushed down. + +It was at this moment that something happened which I, for one, had been +expecting. One of the many men who were perched in the rigging or +outside the rails lost his hold, and in the same second was wriggling in +the water. It conveys some idea of the pitch to which the crowd was +strung up to say that the noise did not increase and hardly changed its +character. I suppose people turned from cheering to shouting, but the +big sound was still the same, and since the bands-men were high up and +in the middle of the deck they saw and knew nothing and went on playing. +But something else impressed me far more deeply; indeed, I think that I +can never forget it. Quite close to me was standing the man's wife +holding a baby, and as the man's face turned towards us in his +floundering she said calmly, "God, it's my George." And the little boy, +not understanding, repeated gleefully and senselessly, "It's dadda; it's +dadda." + +I looked at the woman's face; her cup had been full before; she had +drunk her fill of grief; and this new horror, her husband struggling +like a mouse in the bitter cold water, could not add a pang to her +torture. All that I have described happened, of course, in a few +seconds; the man had barely gone under before one of the ship's +butchers, in his white clothes, was in after him. Let no one belittle +the race of butchers. The life-taker knew how to save life, and Master +Butcher had his man in a moment, turned him on his back, and began to +swim ashore; indeed, there was no fear of the man's drowning, for there +were half a dozen men in the water within half a minute of the accident. +The man was brought ashore, and his wife helped to rub him down; only to +go through her parting again on the deck of a tender a few minutes +afterwards. But there was a cheerier note in the cheering that broke out +when the ship again began to move, and when the band struck up "God Save +the Queen" everyone who had a croak in him or her joined with a will. +The shape of the ship grew dim in the mist, but still the sea-birds +cried and hovered like winged prayers and wishes between her and the +shore. + + * * * * * + +In the Thames and at Southampton similar scenes were enacted almost +daily. Here is an account of a "Specimen Day" at Southampton--one of the +busiest that had been known there since the beginning of the war, for +Lord Roberts's grand army was being hurried out to repair the fortunes +shattered at Magersfontein, Stormberg, and Colenso. + +All day long crowded troop-trains had been steaming into the station, +where small pilot engines waited to receive them and drag them, groaning +and squealing, round the curves and across the points that lead to the +docks. The first train arrived at about nine, and the last at two. +Between those hours there was a constant succession of trains. Three +steamers were waiting to receive the troops; the Peninsular and Oriental +liner _Assaye_, the Union Steamship Company's _Goorkha_, and the Castle +liner _Braemar Castle_. The _Assaye_ was a new boat, and this was her +maiden voyage. She carried two regiments, the 2nd Norfolk and the 2nd +Hampshire, and the fact that the Hampshire is the territorial regiment +of the port, accounted for the unusually large crowd that assembled on +the wharf beside which the _Assaye_ lay. The business of despatching +transports had become so commonplace at Southampton that unless there +was some special interest attached to the embarkation there was no crowd +at all. Only the town loafers would assemble in any strength. But many +of the Southampton people had friends in the Hampshire Regiment, so +there were some thousands pressing round the barriers that surrounded +the dock shed into which the trains on arriving were drawn. + +It was on board the _Assaye_ that I spent the greater part of the +morning and afternoon, piloted by a naval lieutenant who was in charge +of the embarkation. I perched myself high up on the flying-bridge and +watched the busy scene below. In the next dock was the _Goorkha_, into +whose commodious maw were pouring the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment, the 9th +Field Company Royal Engineers, the 14th Brigade Staff, the Cavalry +Brigade Field Hospital, the Fifth Division Field Hospital, and No. 12 +Company Army Medical Corps. Further away, alongside the dock extension +jetty, the _Braemar Castle_ was receiving the 1st King's Own Scottish +Borderers, No. 7 Bearer Company, and No. 19 Company Army Medical Corps. +In the _Assaye_, however, were men of only two colours, the Norfolks and +the Hampshires. The Norfolks arrived first, and were promptly embarked. +The 'tween-decks of the _Assaye_, having been constructed specially for +the purpose, were more commodious than those on most other transports, +and certainly they were better ventilated, for a great open shaft ran +right up from the bottom of the ship to the upper deck, and round this +were grouped the tables at which the men, in messes of sixteen, were to +be accommodated. The men seemed pleased with their quarters and with the +general arrangements made for their comfort, but they were almost +laughably critical. The fact was that the soldiers were in great danger +of being spoiled by the fuss that had been made of them before they +embarked. It is well that we should cheer the soldiers up by our +enthusiasm, but, as everyone knows, the British public did much more +than that. "Tommy Atkins" was the rage for the moment, and what may be +called "Absent-minded Beggarism" was rampant. Unfortunately, this +enthusiasm found a vent too often in silly and thoughtless squandering +of money on the soldiers. They were banqueted before they started; their +friends used to ply them with drink; mayors were waiting upon them at +every turn with pipes and tobacco, and total strangers showered money +on them quite recklessly. For example, while I was on the _Assaye's_ +bridge I saw a civilian, standing quite apart from the crowd, with his +hat full of copper and small silver coins. No one seemed to be watching +him. He could have no thought of making an impression. But in an ecstasy +of enthusiasm he kept throwing showers of money to the troops on deck. +It is an excellent thing that the people at home should be touched with +such gratitude to the men who fight for them, but, like all great public +movements which have more heart than head in them, this kind of thing +was sometimes overdone, and failed in its object. One saw the men +sometimes arriving drunken, grumbling, and impudent; criticising the +quality or quantity of the refreshments which the steamship company had +thoughtfully provided for them, and generally behaving in a way most +unlike what one would expect. No one seemed to lack money, although so +much was spent in drink. Several times that day I heard men at the +canteen calling for whisky and soda or brandy and potash, and grumbling +heartily when they were not supplied. + +With regard to the way in which men got drink one or two things fall to +be said. Every effort was made by the authorities to prevent +drunkenness. One of the naval embarkation officers told me that drink +was not supplied to the men at the canteen, that they were forbidden to +bring any on board, and that they were forbidden to buy or receive any +from civilians; yet it had been found that certain tradesmen at +Southampton had deliberately smuggled whisky on board by heavily bribing +some of the crew. In the face of this kind of thing the officers could +do little. They spoke very bitterly of the cruelty to the men involved +in such practices, for the soldiers are necessarily packed pretty close +together when hammocks are slung, and when the effects of drunkenness +are added to the horrors of sea-sickness the result is awful, and almost +unendurable by a man who cherishes any self-respect. I mention this at +some length because, although it was not prominent on the day of which I +am writing, it had happened terribly often, and on the day before it had +made the scene at the embarkation of an Irish regiment a really horrible +one. The two regiments which embarked on the _Assaye_ happened to be the +soberest I had yet seen. Indeed, there was hardly one case of +drunkenness amongst them. I think this was partly because the outside +public was not allowed near the ship. The men passed from the train +directly on board, and did not come in contact with their friends. It +was kinder to the friends too. I saw none of those heartrending tragic +scenes of parting, none of the wild grief that grows so much wilder for +being indulged. From the officers' deck the picture of embarkation +appeared in outline rather than in detail. The constant movement of +people far below, the orderly disorder, the shouts and cries of officers +and stevedores, the waving arms of cranes and the general excitement +produced in a mere onlooker a strange sense of isolation. One felt like +Gulliver observing the Liliputians in some great effort of maritime +preparation, and the longer one looked the smaller and more like toy +soldiers seemed the men. Such an endless stream of them poured from the +dock shed to the ship. I heard their cries faintly. "Bring back old +Kroojer's whiskers" was the burden of them, and this was indeed the +chief trophy, the chief spoil of war which the average soldier pictured +for himself. It was strange to think that this army of Liliput which +tramped and cried down there conceived its mission so vaguely and +imperfectly that it could depart light-heartedly. + +The deep note of the _Goorkha's_ foghorn sounded close at hand. The tops +of her masts glided past the roof of the dock shed; in five minutes she +was out of sight, and her departure seemed to have been almost +uncelebrated. She got away at about two, and an hour later the _Braemar +Castle_ also departed. + +The only thing which now delayed the departure of the _Assaye_ was the +embarkation of the horses. There were eight chargers belonging to +officers of the two regiments, and they made the utmost objection to +being enclosed in narrow boxes and swung in mid-air. In particular a +magnificent grey belonging to the colonel of the Hampshire Regiment gave +any amount of trouble. It took her groom ten minutes to coax her into +the box, and as soon as it began to move upwards she snorted and +trembled with fear, and finally sat down on her haunches, with her neck +hanging over the door. The colonel, who was standing near, seemed rather +proud of this exhibition, but when the mare was almost beside herself +with terror, and while she was yet swinging in mid-air, he spoke +reassuring words--"Woa, Bunny! Steady, old girl!" The beast could not +see him, but she heard the voice in the air, and became suddenly quiet. +May she live to need the same assurance on her homeward journey, was +one's involuntary thought. The sight of these fine horses was very +pitiful, in the light of their possible destiny. One looked at the +glossy coats and saw them torn and bloody. One watched the nervous wild +eye and the twitching ears, and heard the whistling bullets and the +shells bursting round them, who know no reason for the commotion, +holding themselves bravely in check until the steadying voice behind +them ceases and the load suddenly lightens, or until a stray bullet ends +both fears and endeavours. + +After many delays the last horse was on board. And now there remained +only the inspection by the naval embarkation officers, an interval for +the crowd of half an hour, which the band on the quay did its best to +pass agreeably. There were many false alarms of departure. Every +patriotic song and tune had been played and cheered, but after "Auld +Lang Syne" had been hammered out for the third time the ship began to +move. As she left the quay the younger men at one end of the ship made a +great commotion. One held up a flag which he proposed to plant on +"Kroojer's Hill." (Some authorities might read Majuba.) These men, +recruits for the most part, made in their ignorance of war a joyful +noise, but the Reservists and old hands looked grave and sad, and hardly +joined in the singing or cheering. They were thinking. + + + + +III + +HOW THE WOUNDED CAME HOME + + +Going down Southampton Water on January 5th to meet the _Aurania_ with +her company of sick and wounded, one enjoyed a wonderful study of sober +tints in land and sea under a winter sky. The little steamer clove light +green waters that were hardly rippled by the breeze. This green sea she +divided in two long curling lines that seemed to reach the shore on +either hand, merging their light colour with a dark green of fields +waiting for spring. The fields in their turn faded into the bluish black +of leafless trees, and the trees bounded a sky of soft banks shading +from blue to grey. The waters seemed almost deserted, except for a ship +that now and then might meet us, stealing up on the tide and gently +heeling to the breeze. Sometimes a yacht would pass us, sometimes a +fishing-smack; but it was a lonely journey. The air was soft and +sweet--not like that of spring, but like that of a world which lives in +the promise of a coming spring and can wait. There were no sounds but +one sweet and familiar--the whisper, swelling and diminishing but never +dying, of foam at the cutwater. + +Little Hythe seemed to have retired into itself for the winter. Its pier +was deserted by boats and men when we passed. Lower down on the other +side was Netley Hospital, with how many pains and agonies hidden behind +its long, imposing front. Opposite Netley the sea eats and bites like an +acid into a kind of mossy grass of rare and vivid green, making a +wonderful coast-line on a small scale, with bays and channels and +sounds. + +We made for West Cowes, where the sea brims up to the streets and the +spray sometimes sprinkles the shop windows. Here the telegraph was set +in motion, asking Hurst Castle for news of the _Aurania_. But there was +no news, so, as it would take her two hours to reach Southampton after +passing the Castle, we went on past green promontories that dip into the +sea, right up to where the trees clothe them, past the towers of +Osborne, to Ryde. Again the telegraph asked the question, and again +there was a negative answer. Then we cut across the Solent towards +Southsea, watching the weird evolutions of a 35-knot torpedo-boat. It +darted about, annihilating the small distances of the Solent and making +a strange, buzzing noise like some foul fly. Vomiting flames and sparks, +it trailed a cloud in the air and snow upon the water. While we were +crawling across the river it had made a dozen journeys. Now it would be +down near Cowes, and now half-way up Southampton Water, and when one +looked again a few minutes afterwards it would be close astern, +overtaking us with the speed of a nightmare. I escaped from it at +Southsea, for there the wires told me something that sent me doubling to +the railway station, and thanking my stars that I was in time for a fast +train to Southampton. It arrived at half-past three, and at four the +_Aurania_ showed her nose round the corner of a dock shed. Ten minutes +later she was alongside and berthed, and the disembarkation began. + +The total absence of any kind of popular demonstration was most +impressive. There was no crowd at all, and the barriers that had been +provided were not needed. This neglect of a welcome seemed sadly to +discount the value of the great hysterical demonstrations made when the +troops departed. They were men who were perhaps going to suffer for +their country. These invalids had suffered for it, and no one came to +cheer them up. Of course some of the men's own friends were there, and +the few strangers who were present shook hands with the men as they came +limping and hopping and stumbling down the gangway. But it was all very +quiet, very sad, very tame from a spectator's point of view, but deeply +significant. One could hardly imagine a greater contrast than was +presented by the same shed on a day of departure and on a day of arrival +like this. In the one case great crowds hurrahing and shouting and +cheering, bands playing, and bottles going busily round. In the other a +great quietness, a few people standing in little knots and speaking +almost in undertones. And the men themselves were very different. No +excitement, of course; no drunkenness; no yelling for "Kroojer's +whiskers." Oh, no!--something very different from that. About a hundred +men with pain-worn faces, bandaged arms and legs, slings and splints +everywhere, and talking, when they talked at all, of the horrors of the +war, of the death of comrades, and of the seriousness of the news we +gave them, in the light of their own experiences at the front. The men +were speedily disembarked and taken into the dock shed where a train +with some ambulance coaches was waiting, but they preferred to stand and +talk for a little while before taking their seats. A really kind and +useful work was done by members of the Southampton branch of the +"Absent-minded Beggars" relief corps, who provided hot coffee and buns +for the men, and in addition provided each with a stamped telegraph +form, so that he might reassure his friends at home. + +Of course there was another beside the serious aspect of this scene. +Nothing could exceed the interest in their ailments displayed by the men +who had partly recovered from them, and those whose wounds had healed +could not tire of giving demonstrations to their friends and relations, +or even to strangers. An illness or a wound is often the first view an +ignorant man gets of Nature's ingenuity displayed in the construction of +his own person, and when one of these invalids got hold of some medical +or surgical word he would cherish and roll it on his tongue like a man +tasting wine. One of them--a man who looked as strong as a horse--was +explaining to an admiring group how he came to be alive at all. A bullet +had passed through the rim of his helmet, entered his left temple, +passed behind his nose, through the roof of his mouth, and out through +the lower part of his right cheek. First he would show us the dent in +his temple; then describe, with many strange words, the inward passage +of the bullet; and then, emerging into the sphere of common things, wind +up with, "and came out of my blooming cheek." Then he would show the +dent in his cheek, and pass his helmet round for all to see, as a +conjurer does. I moved round with this man and heard him recite his tale +three times, and every time he used just the same form of words, which +he repeated pat like a lesson. His corruption of "cerebral" was amusing. +"Nearly scattered the cerveral nerve, so help me!" he said. One could +have understood it if he had been in the Spanish-American war. Another +soldier used a word which I cannot explain. He was showing a mate how a +bullet had entered his shoulder, "and," said he, "it penetrated me +agamemnon." What is an agamemnon? It has been puzzling me ever since. + +Only a few of the more robust men were going on in this way, and there +was enough of the pathetic even in the man with the "cerveral" nerve and +him with the "agamemnon." The men looked tired and serious, and seemed +to lack interest in anything but their own afflictions. It is almost a +pity that the public will not witness such scenes as this, for I fear +that it is still sadly in need of having even the most elementary fruits +of war brought home to it. One might, of course, easily overdraw the +picture of the men's condition; it is difficult to describe it +faithfully. Many of them seemed happy and contented to be home again, +and forgot past pains in present joy. As I turned away from the carriage +window I heard a confused drone of conversation, in which such terms as +"ligature," "suppuration," "cavity of the hear'ole," "styptic," and +"prelatic" were prominent. The last thing I heard was--"He hadn't got no +fraxur at all, leastways only a simple un. Mine was a compound fraxur." +One can understand these things. But what is an "agamemnon"? + +It was dark when the train went away, and there was nothing more for me +to see on that day, but I had another sensation and a memorable one. +After dinner a little group, composed mainly of naval and military +officers on embarkation duty, was established round the smoke-room fire +in the South Western Hotel. We were all talking about the war, and all +wishing that we were out in the thick of it. In the midst of this chorus +of aspiration a telegram was handed to me inviting me to go to South +Africa as a war correspondent for the _Manchester Guardian_. The chorus +continued while I read, but it sounded far away; I was trying to realise +what acquiescence in the request contained on the pink paper might mean. +When I had decided I handed the telegram to my neighbour, and in a +moment it had made the circuit of the group, trailing exclamations in +its wake and changing the melancholy chorus to one of whole-hearted +envy. I went to bed in some doubt as to whether I had received +congratulations or condolences. In a few hours I was on my way to +London; in a few days the flying wheels had carried me back to +Southampton; but I thought that the busy docks wore a different face. + + + + +PART II + +IN THE WAKE OF THE ARMY + + + + +IV + +THE LONG SEA ROAD + + +In the terms of the street, you make for Madeira from the Needles as +straight as Ushant and Finisterre will permit, keep to the left until +you catch the flare of the solitary light on Cape Verde, go on past that +for about ten days, and Cape Town is the last place on the left. In the +terms of the sea, your course is west-south-west until the Bay is open, +then south-south-west, then south, and then south by east a half-east +for the long stretch. But for most of us the way to the war lay through +a stranger region than that. Years ago (as it seems) on a rainy winter +evening, we watched the buoys of the Solent Channel streaming past us +all aslope on the strong ebb-tide, and as the Trinity Brothers began to +open their eyes for an all-night watch on the south coast, we closed +ours to the world behind. + +A day and night of dust and tumble in the Bay, and we awoke on a summer +morning to find the wind blowing softly through the open ports and the +water chiming on the ship's side. After that we lived in a world all our +own; ourselves the sum and centre of it; a blue world that slid through +degrees of latitude and longitude, but held us, its inhabitants, at ever +the same distance from realities. The past was miles away at the end of +the white path astern; the future did not yet so much as smudge the +forward horizon; we were adrift, lost in the present. + +Since we were, for the most part, Englishmen, we played games. At first +we had walked about eyeing one another mistrustfully; but Time, the +surest of teachers, soon convinced us of the essential harmlessness of +our fellows. And then we played quoits, and danced and listened to the +band, forgetting the things which were behind and disregarding (for the +moment) the things which were before. Disregarding, but not quite +forgetting. When the last game was over and the last pipe lighted, and +the good, cool hours drew on, men used to sit in little groups watching +the flash of waves tripping and spilling over smooth black furrows; and +then they talked. The C.I.V. officers talked of Lee-Enfields, +trajectories, mass and volley firing; the Indian Staff Corps men, who +were going out on special service, spoke of commissariat and transport, +of standing patrols and Cossack posts, of bivouacks, entrenchments, +vedettes, contact squadrons, tactical sub-units, demolitions and +entanglements. In those dark hours, while alien stars were rising and +swinging westward over the masthead, hard, fit, clear-headed young men +talked coolly and with common sense of the big business before them. The +evening consultations were all that we gave to the future. The past was +even less openly recognised; but it proclaimed itself eloquently in the +withered bunches of flowers on this and that cabin table, in the demand +for the ship's notepaper, in the women's trinkets worn by men who, under +ordinary circumstances, would rather wear sack-cloth than jewellery: +emblems, all of them, of thoughts that travelled the white road between +the rudder and the horizon. + +In that strange detached world of ours, energy alone was unsuspended. It +was even stimulated, and in a race and class of men not accustomed to +look inward for recreative resources manifested itself in a violent and +unresting pursuit of artificial amusements. In this pursuit all our days +were passed. The morning sun streams into the port-cabins, the diligent +quartermaster brings our toys on deck and gravely arranges them; +throughout the day we play with them until we are tired, when they are +flung aside untidily; again the quartermaster returns, and, like a kind +nurse, puts them away. The sun slants through the starboard windows and +is quenched in the waters; a little talking, a little dancing, a little +music, and we are all asleep. Such were our days. And ever before, +behind, around and beneath us the moving, mysterious sea, wrinkled and +old as the world, but blowing airs of eternal youth from its crumbling +ridges. Down below iron floors stokers and trimmers were sweating, +engineers were watching and nursing and feeding the great steel +bondagers that drove us along; but how many of the light-hearted +passengers ever thought of them? They were out of sight and mind, hidden +away in their stifling holes, where in their relation to us they +completed the satire of our miniature society. + +I might give you a dozen pictures of our life, and yet mislead you as to +its uncommonness; it was really commonplace life in strange and +unfamiliar circumstances. Here is an example. At the first concert it +was noticed, not without surprise, that the Captain's name was down for +a song. Now for days the Captain had tramped alone up and down the +deck--a large man, with a heavy face and drooping eye, and a head set +forward on the shoulders by reason of long hours of staring into the +sea dust; a man past middle-age, silent and (as we thought) surly. +Therefore something like a sensation was produced when it was announced +that the Captain would sing "Mary." I think I see and hear it now. The +saloon filled with people; the windows framing faces of deck hands and +firemen, with a background of moving blue; the heavy central figure, the +kindly (we saw that now) Scotch face; the worn voice, unused to +sustained utterance, gasping for breath in the middle of a line, and +sometimes failing to be ready in time ("I lost the run of it," he +explained to us in the middle of a temporary breakdown); the quaint +simplicity of the words, "Kind, kind and gentle is she, kind is ma +Ma-ary"; the thunder of applause that greeted the close; the immediate +and unassailable popularity of the Captain. If I have described it as I +saw it, you will understand why I shall always like to remember that +scene. Here is another glimpse. + +On a Sunday, when the church bells at home were jangling and the streets +were (for a guess) streaming with rain and mud, it was Sunday with us +also, three thousand miles away. The sun was lighting the lazy sea until +it shone like a big blue diamond, the whales were spouting, the +porpoises plunging and blowing, and here and there a shark lay basking +near the surface with a wicked, wriggling, black fin exposed. It was +very hot and still; the great sea people seemed to be revelling in some +sort of Sabbath of their own, and the waters lay quiet and shining under +the eye of Heaven. Here and there a drove of small flying-fishes rose +and skimmed over the surface like swallows, but they too soon plunged +into the blue and sought below that the cool green depths. Into this +tranquil scene steamed the _Kinfauns Castle_ in a triangle of snow, a +big porpoise rolling and rollicking along beside her, now rising on this +side, now on that. When he came very close he could see into the saloon +windows, and presently he saw the Captain standing at the end of a table +spread with the Union Jack and a great crowd of people sitting round the +tables. + +"Dearly beloved brethren," began the Captain, and then the porpoise's +tail came up and his head went down with a "pflough!" + +When he came up again near enough to see, all the people were muttering +and gobbling over the Psalms, the Captain rolling out his short +alternate verses as though he were directing his own quartermaster on a +course. While the porpoise was very close to the ship and listening hard +the ash-shoot was emptied almost on his head, which scared him so badly +that he dived deep, and did not come up again for a long time. When he +did rise the people were singing, "On, then, Christian soldiers, on to +victory"; again he dived, and again came up with a snort, to hear them +singing with equal vigour, "Make wars to cease and give us peace." But +just then the third engineer opened the exhaust of the waste condenser +water, and my black friend got such a shock when the cloud of steam and +hot water burst from the ship's side that he altered his course three +points, and I saw him plunging and rolling away to the west of south. +One thing the porpoise did not hear, for he was below at the time. In +his course through the Liturgy the Captain had reached the Collect for +the day. I will warrant he was trained in a sterner school of theology +than the Anglican; his voice and tones were never meant for the smooth +diction of the Prayer-book; but that is neither here nor there. The +"Coallect for the fourth Sunday after 'Pithany" rolled from his tongue. +I never hope to hear it in a more appropriate time or place; there was +something almost startling in the coincidence that brought it round on +such a day, and there was significance in the words--"_O God, Who +knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers that by +reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; +grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all +dangers and carry us through, all temptations._" Thus prayed the +Captain, the Chief Officer standing beside him; and none knew so well as +those two how many and great were the dangers that lurked in our smiling +environment. + +As we drew nearer to our journey's end the desire for news became acute. +At Madeira, on the 24th of January, we heard that the situation in Natal +was practically unchanged, and up to February 3rd we had not seen +another ship pass nearer than five miles. But then it was thought +probable that we should meet the _Dunottar Castle_ on her way home, and +a bright look-out was kept. In the afternoon I was up on the bridge +discussing celestial angles with the Chief Officer; we were snoring into +the south-east trade, and the strong sun-warmed wind was a thing to +bathe in; the bridge binoculars diligently swept the sharp blue line of +horizon. Presently the Third Officer put his glass down. "There she +is," said he, "two points on the starboard bow." We all looked, and we +saw the tiny smear of smoke on the line. How strange it was; both of us +coming up from nowhere and meeting on this roadless waste! In a quarter +of an hour we raised her masts and funnel, and then we perceived it was +not the _Dunottar_. Our course was altered two points, and the three of +us stood up there in the wind and sun watching the growing speck. Down +below they had just seen her, and glasses were levelled by the hundred. +In a little while we could see a red cross on her bow, and we made her +out to be a hospital ship carrying home wounded--Buller's wounded, we +said, from the Tugela fight. + +"BWF, HLF, WBQ," fluttered out our signal flags in a bravery of scarlet +and blue and white, which is, being interpreted, "What news since the +24th?" + +She was abeam now, a mile away; how slow they were in running up an +answer! We pictured their signal quartermaster racking the pigeon-holes +to spell "Ladysmith," and expected a gaudy display. Presently the +coloured stream blew out from her main topmast stay. Only four flags! + +"DFPC," reported the Third Officer, and there was a scramble for the +Code-book. "Nothing important since last accounts." + +Could anything be more exasperating? We ran up another question, I do +not know what, but we waited in vain for the answering flutter, and the +hospital ship _Princess of Wales_ rolled along on the blue swell. + +"South by east-a-half-east," snapped the Chief Officer; the wheel spun +and the steering engine hissed, and the _Kinfauns Castle_ drove her stem +into it again, while from the promenade deck rose the sound of many +voices. + +And so we went driving along again through a wonderful sea of deep blue +rollers jousting on a grey ground. It did not yet appear where we should +go or what would be our lot; to-night or to-morrow we should know; but +to-day it was enough that the sun shone and that the waters were wide. + + + + +V + +SCENES AT CAPE TOWN + + +When at last the _Kinfauns Castle_ carried us on a sunny evening out of +blue emptiness into Cape Town harbour and dumped us down on dry land, +about thirty of us who were on our way to the front took elaborate +farewells--only to meet again twelve hours later in the vestibule at +headquarters. + +No one was in the least excited by our arrival. If we were special +service men, we were told that there were no instructions for us, and +that we had better turn up three or four times a day and look at the +order-board. If we were correspondents, heads were shaken, and +smooth-spoken people with stars and crowns on their shoulder-straps said +they doubted very much whether Lord Roberts would grant any more passes. +If we were nobodies who had come out (with more or less direct +encouragement from the officials) in the hope of getting commissions, we +were turned away like tramps, and told that there was "nothing for us." +It was all rather flattening and dispiriting. + +When we turned up again at headquarters next morning we found the place +empty but for a Kaffir charwoman snuffling over her brushes: Lord +Roberts gone, Lord Kitchener gone, all the staff gone, stolen away like +thieves in the night, gone "to the front." No one was left in authority, +no one knew anything about us; so we went to the barracks and worried +irresponsible officers who would have moved heaven and earth for us if +they could, but they "had no instructions." At last, in a remote corner +of the barrack buildings, someone discovered a major who was in charge +of the Intelligence Department. Didn't we all fall upon him like birds +of prey! In half an hour the telegraph that connected Cape Town with the +Commander-in-Chief was thrilling all our wants northward; in six hours +half the special service men were flying about the town collecting +sardines and whisky and ink; in twenty-four hours only a few of us were +left, still worrying the unfortunate major. Then the wires began to come +back from Lord Roberts saying that no licence must be granted to this +man and that; that there were more than enough correspondents at the +front; and at this news some of us began to quake. At this critical +point, when I was wandering in the corridor of the post office, I found +the Press Censor, all alone and unguarded; so I fastened upon him and +drove him, the kindest and most amiable of men, into his office, and +stood over him while he wrote a long telegram to the chief, in which +many reasons were given why I should go to the front. The result was +that I received the desired privilege, but when I left Cape Town many +men were still haunting the barracks and the post office. + +My week of waiting was a busy time, but in the intervals between +sitting down before staff officers, interviewing possible--and +impossible--servants, and trying horses, I contrived to see a little +of the Cape Town life in those martial days. + +One seemed to be no nearer the war there than in London or Manchester. +Troops marched to the station and disappeared into the night; so they +did at home. There were hospitals there, filled with wounded men; none +so large or so full as Netley. There was a big camp there; not so big a +camp as Aldershot. And the place was full of officers, coming and going, +even as Southampton had been crowded with officers pausing on their way +to or from the war. Then there was at Cape Town something like a famine +of news; by far the latest and most trustworthy came from London. Things +that thrilled us out there and were cabled home in hot haste were found +to be stale news in England. As the storm blows over the cliff far out +to sea, but leaves the hamlet on the shore in absolute peace, so Cape +Town seemed to be sheltered by the big, dominating mountain from all the +home-going news, and to abide in peaceful ignorance while the +telegraph-rooms resounded to the talk of the needles. + +I rather dreaded the hospitals, but they were magnificent. To see so +many men bearing pain bravely and cheerfully were privilege enough; but +to find men who had undergone the most dreadful tortures soberly begging +and hoping to be sent back to the front showed one what can be +accomplished by discipline and an ideal of conduct. Here is an example. +Two men lay side by side in the Wynberg hospital. One had five holes in +his body, made during a charge by as many bullets. He had nearly +recovered. The other had been shot while lying down, and the bullet had +passed along his back and touched the base of his spine, paralysing him +for ever. Both men were almost weeping; the first with joy because there +was a chance of his returning to the front, the second with grief +because he was powerless to help his comrades any more. I could cite a +hundred examples of the astounding spirit that such men displayed. I do +not think that we at home ever doubted their bravery on the field, but +the kind of endurance that is seldom bred but by long habit and early +training was to be found no less universally in these hospital beds. The +people of Cape Town had done well in the matter of hospitals, and fully +half the accommodation was provided by public subscription. But +Government hospitals were far from efficient in their equipment, as well +as far from sufficient in their accommodation. Many things that would be +regarded as necessaries in a pauper hospital at home had to be provided +at Cape Town for the Government hospitals by private bounty. + +I walked over to the infantry camp at Sea Point one morning with Mr. +Rudyard Kipling. As we neared the camp we overtook a private carrying in +his hand a large pair of boots. Mr. Rudyard Kipling asked if we were on +the right road, and the man said-- + +"Yes; are yer goin' there? Then yer can tike these boots. I 'av to +entrine at twelve o'clock, and I ain't goin' ter miss it fer no blessed +boots. 'Ere, tike 'old," he continued, thrusting the boots into Mr. +Kipling's hand, "and give 'em to Private Dickson, B Company; and mind, +if yer cawn't find 'im, jest tike 'em back ter Williams, opposite the +White 'Orse." + +Mr. Kipling promised faithfully, and gave a receipt, which he signed; +but the man did not notice the name. + +"My friend," said Mr. Kipling, "you'll get your head chaffed off when +you get back to the guard-room." + +"What for?" vainly asked the man, and departed, while we continued our +way towards the camp. + +No sooner were we inside the railings than Mr. Kipling was accosted by a +military policeman. + +"What are you doing here? You must get out of here, you know, sharp!" + +"I'm taking these boots to Private Dickson," said Mr. Kipling. + +"Well, you ought to take them to the guard tent, and not go wandering +about the camp like this. Out of it, now!" + +Now Mr. Kipling had a pass from the Commander-in-Chief to go wherever he +pleased in South Africa, and, besides that, he is Rudyard Kipling, whom +private soldiers call their brother and father; so the situation was +amusing. + +Just then a police sergeant rode up and said, "Please, sir, I lived ten +years with the man as you get your tobacco from in Brighton; anything I +can do for you?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Kipling, "I want this man taken away and killed!" + +The youth was much confused, but he had done his duty; so Private +Dickson had his boots, and great was the mirth and loud the cheering +about the tents of B Company. + +This police protection of the camps was surprisingly close, but one +learned the reason when one had moved about for a little while among the +military authorities. For here, even in the heart of British territory, +the Boer spy was feared; he was thought to be the servant of an agency +hardly less invisible and powerful than the Open Eye of the Mormons; and +one was told that his machinations were as patent as his secrecy was +perfect. One morning a section of the railings surrounding picketed +horses would be found demolished; on another the whole milk supply of a +camp would be infected by some poisonous bacillus. It seems almost +incredible, but it is true that all such mishaps were attributed to Boer +treachery. In the popular imagination the Boer agent moved undiscovered +amid the daily life of Cape Town; at noon in the busy street; in the +club smoke-room; in the hotel dining-room--a woman this time, arrayed in +frocks from Paris, and keeping a table charmed by her conversation. And +yet the objects of this superstitious dread were allowed to have +qualities that made some of our officers dislike their business. An +English officer said to me one night: + +"One can't say it here without being misunderstood, but I love the +Boers, even though I am fighting them. My father was a colonist, and +these men were like brothers of his. I have been in houses here where I +knew there were guns stored for the enemy, and where the sons would +probably be fighting me in the field, and the people have almost cried +when I have been going away; neither of us talked about it, but each +knew what was in the other's mind. People say they're like animals, and +perhaps they are; at least they're like animals in this, that once you +make them distrust you, you'll never win their confidence again. And +they don't trust us." + +That officer is well enough known, and universally admired as a smart +soldier; but not everyone who sees the keen soldier, anxious above all +things for his own country's success, realises with what conflicting +emotions he goes to the fight. + +I was anxious to see a real live Boer, as I thought it quite improbable +that I should see one at the front; half the officers and men who had +been wounded had never seen one of the enemy. So, having heard that our +Boer prisoners--450 in number--had been landed from Her Majesty's ship +_Penelope_ and encamped at Simonstown, I went there to visit them. + +From Cape Town the land stretches an arm southward to the Cape of Good +Hope and Bellows Rock, where it divides the Atlantic from the Indian +Ocean. The mainland runs about as far southward, so that the arm partly +encloses the waters of False Bay; and in the hollow of its elbow nestles +Simonstown. This is a cluster of white houses on the sea-beat foot of a +hill that sweeps upward to the giddy white clouds. All day long at that +season the hill is steeped in sunshine; all day long its lower slopes +reverberate to the assault of the rollers while the summit is folded in +the silence of the upper air. Close in-shore half a dozen cruisers were +lying like rocks among the deep moving waters; the St. George's ensign +floated from the shore flagstaffs, and an air of whiteness and tidiness +proclaimed the naval station. + +The railway from Cape Town runs so close to the shore of the bay that +you cannot hear yourself speak for the noise of bursting surf. It +brought me to Simonstown in the full glare and heat of the afternoon. +The prisoners were encamped about a hundred yards out of the town, and +as we walked through the street we spoke with pity of men imprisoned on +such a day. What we expected I do not quite know--dungeons perhaps, or +cells hewn out of the rock--but it was with something like a shock of +disappointment or relief (according to our notions of appropriate +treatment for prisoners) that we caught our first view of the +encampment. Just beyond the town the hillside takes a gentler slope, +dipping a lawn of sea-grass into the water; and it was upon this +charming spot, enclosed with a double fence, that the prisoners were +quartered. We pressed our faces against the wires and stared, much as +one stares in the Zoo at a cageful of newly-arrived animals that have +cost a great deal of money and maybe a life or two. Fine, big men, +stalwart and burned brown by the sun; stern-looking, but with that air +of large contentment they wear who live much alone and out of doors; +massive of jaw and forehead, moulded after a grand pattern. They were +lying on the grass, standing in little groups, sauntering up and down +in the hot sunshine, playing cricket with ponderous energy, bathing and +sporting in the clear apple-green water. It was not their contentment +that surprised me, but the perfection of their circumstances. They were +encamped on such a spot as people pay large sums for the privilege of +pitching tents upon; they were numerous enough to make themselves +independent of alien company; the sun was shining, the sea breeze +blowing; they had food and drink, and tobacco to smoke; where they +bathed an eight-oar gig from the _Powerful_ swung on the swell, not so +much to prevent escape as to render assistance to tired swimmers. + +So our prisoners blinked in the sun and listened to the organ-note of +the surf, and brooded on the most beautiful picture I have ever seen: +masses of bare rock towering into the bright sky, and an endless pageant +of seas rolling grandly homeward from the south, from the infinite +purple and blue of the Indian Ocean, grounding at the edge of the green +lawn and showering snow upon the hot rocks. + + + + +VI + +IN THE EDDIES OF A GREAT WHIRL + + +When I arrived at Modder River Camp, on February 17th, the guns were +being hauled back from the hills into camp, tents were being struck, and +waggon transport organised. The plain was a cloud of hot, whirling sand +that shrouded near objects as closely as a fog, but, instead of the damp +coldness of a fog, the plain was radiating heat that sent the +thermometer inside one's tent up to 135 degrees. The place that a few +days before had been resounding with artillery was now silent and (by +comparison) deserted; buck waggons took the place of gun carriages, and +the ambulance cart carried mails from home. One thought of Modder River +as being surely at "the front," but here was the place, here were the +troops, the guns, the hospitals, the sand-enveloped cemetery, and yet +one seemed to be no nearer than before to actual war. As for news, there +was less even than at Cape Town. A few telegrams, days old, fluttered +from the notice-board, and in at headquarters I found that we who had +been sixty hours on the journey from Cape Town were hailed as +newsbearers. There was a press censor, yet one could not send press +telegrams; headquarters had moved on to Jacobsdaal; telegrams must go +through headquarters, and the wire to Jacobsdaal was only to be used for +military purposes. This was something like a block, so Mr. Amery, of the +_Times_, and I, resolved to ride over to Jacobsdaal and see if we could +get any news. + +[Illustration: MR. G. LENTHAL CHEATLE, F.R.C.S. + +_Consulting Surgeon to Her Majesty's Forces in South Africa_] + +We crossed the Riet and Modder drifts, and passed over the island where +the shells and bullets had been singing so shrilly on the day of the big +fight. When we passed the birds were singing instead, sending down with +the cooing pigeons a chorus from the trees. No one could tell us whether +or not the twelve miles to Jacobsdaal were free from the enemy; people +thought so, but they were not quite sure. So we rode along, observing +the dry veldt not without interest, but the lonely road heaved up and +down over the plain and revealed little sign of human occupation. Once +we passed a convoy carrying stores to the front, and at about the eighth +mile a little Boer camp of about a dozen tents, all deserted, and +apparently in haste, for there were half-emptied tins of provisions and +a few cooking utensils scattered about, and a dead horse lay by the +roadside. The heat was very great, and was only supportable when one +kept a drenched handkerchief under one's hat. Indeed, officers who had +come straight out from India protested that they never felt there +anything like the heat of that South African drought. + +Jacobsdaal, a little white town or village near the river, appeared at +last from a ridge of the plain. It contained an inn, and the inn +contained cups of tea--a fact in connection with Jacobsdaal that I shall +long remember. In about an hour we were ready to look about a little, +but at headquarters we could only learn that the front had again moved +forward. We could not advance without transport, and we could get no +quarters, so we lay down in a stony field under the stars, and made a +poor shift at sleeping through a concert of complaining oxen and cocks +cheering all night long, with an undertone of rumbling wheels on the +distant road. + +Next morning early I rode back to Modder, where I collected with +difficulty two sorry but useful nags and a Cape cart. On my way out I +passed a sentry, who brought me up with the usual cry, "Halt! who goes +there?" + +"Friend," said I. + +"Advance, friend, and give the countersign." + +Now I did not know the countersign, and I had to tell him so. The +private soldier is sometimes zealous and often stupid, and occasionally +both; and in the pause that followed my answer I heard the click of his +rifle. In that second of time I remembered a story which I had heard the +day before of a sentry at Modder, who, when the guard came up in the +dark to relieve him, made the usual challenge. "It's only us, old man," +said the sergeant. "None of your blooming us," said the sentry, and shot +the sergeant dead. + +However the sentry was soon persuaded, and when I passed the outpost, +the sentry who should really have stopped me and examined my passport +treated me as a field-officer and presented arms, so I rode away back to +the dust of Modder. There I collected as much forage as possible, and +the next day rode back with my caravan to Jacobsdaal. Once more there +was a block. The front forty miles away; no more forage, no rations +even; and I starved officially, but was entertained privately by the +commandant. The front was reaching away forward along the road to +Bloemfontein; and as telegrams had to be censored there and handed in at +Modder River, fifty miles away, and as I had no despatch riders, I +decided that the game was up on this line. A dose of fever helped my +decision, and held me afterwards at Modder when great things were +happening at Paardeberg. But for the day during which I stayed in +Jacobsdaal I studied the little town and its alien inhabitants. + +Jacobsdaal stands four-square on the northern bank of the Riet River, +eleven miles east-south-east from Modder; and the manner of its +occupation, as described to me by General Wavell (who captured it on the +15th of February and remained in it as commandant), seems to have been +surprisingly neat and effectual. General Chermside, commanding the 14th +Brigade, left Enslin on the 11th and marched to Ramdam, where he was +joined by General Wavell, commanding the 15th Brigade, who had moved +from Graspan. From Ramdam the two brigades marched almost due east to +Dekiel's Drift, which they were delayed in crossing during the whole of +the 13th. They started again on the next evening and made a night march +to Wegdraai, where they arrived at four o'clock on the morning of the +15th. An officer of the North Staffordshire Regiment told me that he +never saw anything so impressive as that night march. The horizon was +level all round like the sea, and all night long it was alive with +streams of lightning that lighted up the plain with the brigade crawling +across it through the thunder. On the 15th General Wavell's brigade was +detached, and at midday started to march upon Jacobsdaal. The brigade +was strengthened by about seventy men of the C.I.V. (who acted as +scouts) and by a battery of artillery. The North Staffordshires acted as +advance guard, the South Wales Borderers and the Cheshire Regiment +formed the main body, and the East Lancashires brought up the rear--half +a battalion as reserves and half as rear-guard with the baggage. + +The position was an admirable one for the enemy. General Wavell had the +town ahead and the river on the left parallel with his line of march; +and as he approached, the Boers (about 400 strong) opened a brisk fire +on his flank from the river-bed. The fire was directed at the C.I.V.'s, +who were advancing on the right bank of the river; but it had a double +objective, since what missed the C.I.V.'s had a fair chance of finding +the Staffordshires, who were advancing on a parallel ridge still further +to the right. The C.I.V.'s had a good many horses killed, and many of +the men were wounded and "dropped," but I believe only one was killed. +Finding the attack was coming from the left, the General showed his +force on that side, at the same time shelling the south-east corner of +the town. He would do no more because of the women and children in the +place; and, considering his disadvantage, the Boers with a little more +determination might have held the town. After showing on the left +General Wavell swept round on the right, sending the North +Staffordshires towards the north side. There they entered, and the place +was, so to speak, nipped between the two arms of the brigade, with the +artillery in the middle ready to speak. The Boers now broke and fled +south-west and north-west, followed by showers of shrapnel. "It was an +awfully pretty sight," the General remarked to me, "to see the shrapnel +bursting all round in showers; one of the prettiest things I have ever +seen." The enemy had open country and soon got away, but in the meantime +the Union Jack was blowing bravely over Jacobsdaal, and we were in +possession of a most important square on the big chessboard of the +Orange Free State. + +Of course the chief importance of the position was that it formed a +depôt for stores and a halting-place for convoys on the way to the +front. The General, with Captain Carleton (brigade-major) and Captain +Davidson (A.D.C.), was under fire during the whole of this brisk little +action; and Captain Carleton told me that the bullets were whizzing past +as briskly at two thousand yards as at two hundred. It need hardly be +said that since there were only three staff-officers, whose lives were +of the utmost value to the expedition, they spent most of their time in +and about the front firing lines. As soon as the General had occupied +the square he turned his men out and bivouacked them on the plain round +the village. They were exhausted after an eight-mile march, with this +action at the end of it; hot and thirsty too, suffering from such heat +and thirst as is only known in dusty deserts like the Karoo in time of +drought. There was a certain amount of looting--chiefly of cloth and +stuffs from the shops; but it was suddenly brought to an end by Lord +Roberts's startling order that any man found in the act of looting, or +any man against whom acts of looting could be proved, would be hanged, +and his battalion sent down to the base. There was no more looting. +"There _were_ three ducks found with their necks wrung," the General +admitted, "but we paid for them!" + +The occupation of Jacobsdaal was, of course, only an incident in the +great whirl of operations which began on the 3rd of February, when +General Macdonald with the Highland Brigade moved westward from Modder +River and seized Koodoesberg. Hitherto we had been waging a very +straightforward kind of war, and Lord Roberts's masterly tactics between +Modder River and Paardeberg were the first hint we had given our enemy +that we also could be cunning. When I arrived at Modder River the wheels +of this great operation were spinning, but Modder itself was in an eddy, +where there was no movement and little news of any. French was racing to +head Cronje off on the north of the Modder River, and the main body of +the army was advancing in his rear, but we at Modder River knew next to +nothing of these movements. + +It is worth while to recall the principal events in Lord Roberts's +operations near Modder River. The seizing of Koodoesberg was, of course, +intended to divert the attention of the Boers from the points at which +the real movement was taking place. On the 8th of the month General +Macdonald was recalled to Modder River; on the 9th Lord Roberts arrived +there and assumed command; on the 12th General French marched from +Ramdam, where he had been collecting a big cavalry force, seized +Dekiel's Drift and Klip Drift on the Modder, and the next day occupied a +commanding position on the north of the river, capturing three of the +enemy's laagers. On the 15th, having traversed Cronje's communications, +French reached Kimberley and dislodged the enemy from the southern side +of the town; they evacuated Magersfontein and Spytfontein, and retreated +to Koodoesrand, contriving in their turn to slip through our containing +lines. Jacobsdaal was captured on the same day, and on the 16th of +February began the fighting at Paardeberg, which was only brought to an +end by Cronje's surrender on the 27th. + +However, one was only (as I have said) in the stagnant middle of things +at Jacobsdaal, and the outer currents did not reach us. From our point +of view Jacobsdaal was not an important station on the war-path to +Bloemfontein; it was simply a place of insufficient food, bad smells, +choking dust, and many hospitals. The Red Cross flag flew from all the +churches and every available house; furniture was piled in verandahs, +and pews were stacked in churchyards. + +Enteric was rife there; but could a man, officer or private, who had +been out for twelve hours on foraging or convoy duty, sit down and boil +his water and then wait for a drink until it cooled? Because the water +looked clear and innocent they drank it by the quart, and therefore the +hospitals were full. Jacobsdaal is responsible for many of the +inglorious deaths of "active service." + +Early one morning, while the air was yet fresh and cool, General Wavell +took me round with him on his hospital inspection. He is one of the +small, keen, kind-eyed men who emerge in the senior ranks of the army. +One never meets them as subalterns, and they represent the army's best +workmanship in the matter of moulding and finishing. We were still +talking about the "pretty" little action when we entered the first +hospital--a small Dutch church. I should have said that besides our own +field hospitals at Jacobsdaal there was a Boer hospital and one of the +German Red Cross Society. + +This first was the Boer hospital, and even at this early hour the air +was pungent with the reek of strong tobacco. The General spoke to all +the patients, and had a kind word for everyone, and they all greeted him +with gratitude and cordiality. Their one cry was, "We've had as much as +we want. If we could only get back to our farms!" Most of those to whom +I spoke said that they had never wanted to fight us, never hoped to beat +us, and were heartily sick of the whole affair. "I wish I could send you +back to your homes, men," said the General; "but I must obey orders." +They chatted away to us, and said they hoped the General would come in +often. It was much the same in the German and English houses, only here +Boers and Englishmen lay side by side, sharing pipes and papers and talk +with each other. Truly, animosity ceases at the hospital door; and the +attitude of these men who had been menacing each other's lives and now +lay stricken together was not unlike the shame-faced amity of children +who have been caught fighting, and are made to share a punishment. + +And no one was more concerned and depressed by the whole business than +the brisk little General, who had been speaking almost caressingly of +his shells and shrapnel. He is surely a good soldier who fights at as +small a cost as possible, disregards that cost while he fights, and +afterwards so behaves that his enemies like to take him by the hand. + +Hospitals, where so many virtues too tender for the airs of the outside +world have time to bloom, are generally attractive rather than repulsive +places, and I was on that account the more surprised to find myself +repelled by these field-hospitals. To see men lying about distorted, +impotent, disfigured by all kinds of fantastic deformities, their wounds +still new, themselves lying near the spot where they fell; and to +remember the cause of it all, and how vague that cause really was to the +men who were suffering for it; the grossness and brutality of +mutilation--here a man with lead in his bowels, there a man with his +face obliterated, one man groaning and spitting from bleeding lungs, +another, struck by a great piece of flying iron, silent under the shock +of news that his sight was gone for ever; the feeling that these men +were suffering on our account, and the realisation that every one of us +has had his share in the responsibility for the whole, makes a load that +one cannot, or should not, slough away in a moment. + + + + +VII + +MAGERSFONTEIN AND KIMBERLEY + + +There was a train going to Kimberley with cattle and forage on the +afternoon of Thursday, February 22nd, and the stagnation of everything +except dust at Modder being complete, I jumped on the twenty-ninth truck +as the engine was taking up the slack of the couplings and was +immediately jerked forward on the newly-mended road to the north. I had +nothing with me except what I stood in and a waterproof; but as the +journey of twenty-four miles occupied four hours, and as the heavens +poured down a deluge during three hours and twenty-five minutes of the +time I was glad to have even that. The line passes beside Magersfontein +and through gaps in six ridges behind it, affording an excellent view of +the whole position. That position seemed to me practically impregnable. +To have won a way to Kimberley upon this road would probably have meant +six bloody battles, always with the likelihood of a reverse after each +for the attacking army. Imagine a wide and perfectly level plain with a +ridge standing straight across it like a great railway embankment, but +with arms at each end curving towards the front as the arms of a trench +are curved; behind the ridge, and higher, two or three kopjes which +command it; behind the kopjes another ridge like the first, with more +kopjes to command it; the same thing repeated half a dozen times, +without another eminence within fifteen miles. Imagine this, and you see +the country between Modder River and Kimberley. And throughout the +position every piece of open ground was slashed and seamed by trenches +and works, constructed as though for the inspection of an examiner in +engineering--beautiful, artistic, formidable work that filled the mind +of every British officer who saw it with envy and admiration. Behind the +hills were little huts and hiding-places contrived within the shadow of +the low, thick trees that grow there, so that not a soul lived out of +cover. Captain Austin, R.A., who shared the humidity of my truck, and +who had been in charge of a 6-inch field-gun trained on Magersfontein at +eight thousand yards, told me that he could see through his glasses the +whole working of the enemy's admirable system. They had a look-out man +sitting at the far end of a long tunnel of rock and stone; when we fired +he gave the signal, and the Boers got into cover; and twenty seconds +afterwards, when our shell, beautifully aimed and timed, arrived on the +hill, it spent itself upon the flinty rock. Then the Boers showed their +heads and fired; and their shell swept through its arc and exploded, +generally finding its mark. + +The battle of Magersfontein has been the subject of more prolonged +discussion than any other single event in the war. Coming on the day +after our reverse at Stormberg, it completed the momentary +demoralisation of a great mass of people at home who had expected the +campaign to resolve itself into a sweeping march on Pretoria. Like the +affair of Majuba, it has been sentimentally magnified out of all +proportion to its military importance. On the strength of the emotions +roused by our disaster, thousands graduated as military critics and +cried aloud for the recall of Lord Methuen. Private soldiers with +shattered nerves wrote home hysterical narratives and criticisms which +were published and commented upon, and treated as valuable evidence. We +lost our heads for the moment; there is no doubt of that; but people who +are thus betrayed into panic will not be appeased until they have made a +scapegoat of someone. Lord Methuen was, of course, the obvious +sacrifice. Why did he make a frontal attack? Why did he fail? + +It is well to remember that Lord Methuen was being pressed to relieve +Kimberley, which represented its case as extreme. He must do something. +Naturally he designed the kind of attack which the forces at his +disposal were best suited to deliver. A long turning movement was out of +the question since he had not the mounted men for it. As for the +"frontal attack" at Magersfontein, of which we have heard so much, Lord +Methuen never designed and did not deliver a direct frontal attack. His +plan was to surprise the extreme left of Cronje's position, and at the +same time contain the whole of his front with a strong force. And no +competent critic has ventured to suggest any better disposal of the +forces then available for the purposes of attack. No, Lord Methuen has +not been criticised and abused because he used his force in one way +rather than in another, but simply because he failed. + +There is very often more to be learned from a failure than a success, +and this particular failure is worthy of a little study. Everyone knows +that the reason why the attack on Magersfontein failed was, first, +because the Highland Brigade lost its way and came unexpectedly into +contact with the enemy's position, and, secondly, because they failed to +rally after the first confusion, when (in the opinion of many experts +who were present) a little confidence would probably have saved the day. +If any single precaution was neglected, if any pains were spared in the +reconnoitring of the position or in securing the proper conduct of the +troops towards the place from which their attack was to be delivered, +then Lord Methuen was absolutely to blame. But the more that is known +about this unfortunate affair the more clearly it will be seen that Lord +Methuen neglected no precaution and spared no pains. The rain and pitch +darkness were the act of God, and no general in the world can prevail +when Nature is so completely in league with the enemy as she was on the +night of Magersfontein. + +I do not care to dwell on the malice and cruel unfairness of many of the +attacks on Lord Methuen, because, for my country's sake, I hope they +will soon be forgotten; but if anyone should still suppose that these +great hysterical waves of public feeling select their victims +impartially, I would ask him to compare the battle of Magersfontein +with the fruitless attack delivered by Lord Kitchener on the Paardeberg +laager on February 18th. In one case time was working against Lord +Methuen, and threatening to exhaust the endurance of Kimberley; in the +other case time was working with Lord Kitchener, limiting the resistance +of Cronje to a calculable number of days and hours. In one case there +was a small force which, owing to the nature of its composition, could +only be used in one way; in the other case there was a large and +splendidly-assorted force, which gave opportunity for an infinite +variety of combinations. In one case the attack was turned by +circumstances which no human being could have prevented into a frontal +contact; in the other case that form of attack was deliberately chosen. +In one case the casualties were about nine hundred; in the other, about +sixteen hundred. And in one case the general officer commanding has been +insulted and attacked and defamed, while the officer responsible for the +second affair is still regarded by the masses as a consummate master of +field operations. + +This is a long digression; I have made it here because the subject of +it is inseparable from my memory of the dark and stony ranges which I +saw closely for the first time through the pitiless rain of that +February day. Miserable as the journey was, its passage through the +country occupied so lately by the enemy made it interesting. The way in +which our sappers had toiled to repair the line was beyond praise. Every +telegraph post had been blasted in two pieces by dynamite; every culvert +had been blown up; nearly every insulator smashed; the wires (about +seven in number) had been cut every few hundred yards; yet within four +days from the relief of Kimberley trains had begun to go up the whole +distance and telegraphic communication had been restored. I saw the work +that had been done, and the difficulty of it, and was proud of the way +in which it was accomplished. Not that there is little to be proud of in +the work of the army. On the contrary, one is amazed to see what is +accomplished in spite of the system, amazed to find what can be done by +able men against the most determined opposition from their own side; but +the great fact that was brought out by the earlier part of this campaign +is that the man of intelligence and initiative and ability and energy +was fast in the clutches of the Red Tape spider, which fussed round him +until he was enveloped in the scarlet web and impotent to use brains or +energy. Engineering is one of the few things of which corporate bodies +admit their ignorance; therefore the sappers got through much admirable +work quietly and quickly. + +The approach to Kimberley with its mine shafts and hills of blue dust +reminded me of the Black Country. What one noticed first with regard to +the town was the number of holes and shelters and warrens into which +people had crept for safety. Hundreds of them, like human anthills; and +one thought, What strange place is this, where men fear to walk upright? +The menu at the principal hotel, where I dined, would (if it had been +printed) have consisted of one item--horseflesh. I noticed that the +residents ate it eagerly, and even talked about it; but most of us +strangers arose hungry and went quickly into the fresh air. + +That night and the next morning I walked through the town and talked to +people who had been living there; and it was when I talked to the people +that I began to realise what had been happening. The few ruined +buildings and riddled walls conveyed little to me. But when one found +man after man thin, listless, and (in spite of the joy of salvation) +dispirited; talking with a tired voice and hopeless air, and with a +queer, shifty, nervous, scared look in the eye, one began to understand. + +The thing was scarcely human, scarcely of this world. These men were not +like oneself. If you threaten an inexperienced boxer with a quick play +of fists on every side of his head, even though you never touch him, you +may completely demoralise him; he shies at every feint and every +movement. And these people had been in a situation comparable with that +of the poor boxer. Think of it. The signal from the conning tower, the +clamour of bells and whistles, the sudden silence amongst the people, +the rush for shelter, and then the hum and roar, like wind in a chimney, +of the huge iron cylinder flying through the air, potent for death. And +then, perhaps, the noise of a falling building, or the scream of some +human creature who is nothing but a mass of offence when you come up +five seconds later. Think of this repeated six or seven--sometimes sixty +or seventy--times during the daylight hours, and can you wonder that men +should lose their placid manners and scuttle like rats into their holes +at the dreaded sound? And all this fear and horror to be borne upon an +empty stomach, for the horrors of partial starvation were added to the +constant fear of a violent death. Mothers had to see their babies die +because there was no milk or other suitable nourishment; a baby cannot +live on horse and mule flesh. There was hardly a coloured baby left +alive; and that one statement accounts for whole lifetimes of misery and +suffering. + +It was not until the Boers had mounted their 6-inch gun on the 8th of +February that the panic began. People had got used to the smaller +shells, which could often be dodged; besides, the enemy did not fire so +many of them. But when the big gun began its seventy rounds a day people +lost their self-command and began to dig and scratch in the earth for +shelter. Thousands went down the mines and sat all day in the bowels of +the earth. Men walking in the streets jumped if a mule kicked an iron +plate; they screamed when the signal was given; they broke and ran and +burrowed into shelter. Yet so fast do some men anchor themselves to +routine that many kept their offices open and did business--all the +while, however, with one eye on the paper and the other glancing through +the door or window; ever with one ear turned to the speaker and the +other noting the rustle of paper stirred by the breeze and the hum of +wind under the door. + +That only twenty people were killed is no fact at all in connection with +the panic; what really matters is that seventy times a day something +happened which might have killed a dozen people. + +I have only to add, in case I am accused of exaggerating the state of +terror, that the people who went through this ordeal have not +necessarily the clearest conception of it. I came out of the safe outer +world and saw their faces and eyes, and, if I had not heard a word, I +should have known. + +One other thing. A despatch sent by me to _The Manchester Guardian_ +contained this sentence complimentary to the De Beers Company: "The +condition of the town would have been deplorable but for the relief +administration of the De Beers Company." + +That sentence was not made, but suggested by my good friend the censor; +and it will serve to indicate how great was the bowing down before the +house of De Beers. I wish to disavow any compliment I may have appeared +to pay that company in my telegram, for I think they did their bare +duty. What they did was to provide a ration of soup for the inhabitants +as long as some bullock meat which they possessed lasted; to organise +relief works by making roads and fences in a town which belongs chiefly +to themselves; and to allow people to shelter in their mines. Perhaps +they could do no more. Considering everything, and remembering some +facts in connection with this and other political troubles, I ask, Could +they well have done less? + + + + +VIII + +PAARDEBERG + + +From Modder River to Paardeberg the road rolls over a bare yet beautiful +plain, brown and dry before the rain, but after a heavy rain bursting +into endless stretches of purple and scarlet flowers of the karoo. I +went by Jacobsdaal. Early on Wednesday morning, February 28th, I rode +out from the little town with General Wavell, who put me a couple of +miles on the road. You are to understand that this was something of an +adventure. I had nothing but a Cape cart and a couple of horses to draw +it--a thing that holds, with one's kit, about three hundred pounds of +forage. I was going to a camp where I could get no forage and hardly any +food; there was not a despatch-rider to be had at Modder; my telegrams +must be ridden back from the front, now thirty and soon to be ninety +miles away. Sickness had tethered me to Modder River camp throughout the +exciting week that had ended with Cronje's surrender; and now on +February 28th I was following the army, feeling like one who should +enter a theatre as the curtain was falling on the first act. + +The thirty-mile ride through the lonely country would have been +delightful but for the dismal trail left by the war--carcases of horses +and oxen lining the road, a carcase every few hundred yards surrounded +by a gorged flock of aasvögels, the foulest of the vulture tribe. With a +nervous horse the passage of these pestilential spots was made difficult +as well as revolting, and it was with a feeling of relief that one saw +the tents and waggons of the Paardeberg camp by the river trees. + +Along the road, I should have said, the trail was one of devastation. In +the midst of the dry veldt one sometimes came upon a farmhouse with its +grove of trees, and spring, and pleasant fields; but always the farm was +derelict, windows broken, rooms gutted, stock destroyed, with often some +poor abandoned creature tethered to a tree, and waiting, in the midst of +the dead silence of the empty country, to be fed and watered. + +At Paardeberg I found the headquarters camp situated on the river bank, +a place pretty to look at but horrible to be near. The only water to +drink was that from a well by the river--water of a dark and strange +colour; and even while one drank it one sat and watched the carcases of +horses floating down the brown stream from the deserted Boer laager a +mile above. For Cronje and his men had surrendered, not only because of +losses or lack of ammunition, but chiefly, it was said, because the same +conditions that made our camp almost unbearable made his laager in the +river-bed impossible for human accommodation. So he surrendered, after a +resistance that will live in history as one of the bravest pieces of +human endurance. + +On my way down I had met a great company of men moving over the plain +surrounded by mounted infantry. These were our prisoners--a noble bag of +more than four thousand. But now that they had gone there was no reason +why the camp should be maintained at Paardeberg, and at noon we +proceeded to thread our way eastward--a long procession of men and +horses and waggons--to the farm of Osfontein, where the force was being +concentrated for the final advance. The delay was fortunate for the +correspondents, for those of us who had only a scanty stock of +provisions and forage could send our carts back once more to Modder for +a supply. In the meantime nothing was likely to happen until a +fortnight's stock of provisions and forage for the army had been +collected. + +Before leaving Paardeberg, and in the intervals of arranging the mere +details of living--which on this line of advance were harassing and +formidable--I rode over to the deserted Boer laager, or as near to it as +was safe. The scene was strange and significant. Imagine the river, deep +down between steep terraced banks, flowing through the level plain. On +the left side our position, well entrenched, with a few kopjes about two +thousand yards from the bank. On the right was the enemy's position, +which extended further down the banks of the river and up to the very +edge of our side. On the far bank I saw a line of hundreds of transport +waggons and carts, all empty, many of them smashed and broken by our +shell fire. But it was the river-bed itself that was most interesting. +The water was very low, and there was any amount of cover on the steep +banks, and this was increased by a number of small pits or trenches--not +long trenches like ours, but simple little holes or graves dug in the +banks, with room enough for a couple of men. Graves they proved to be in +many cases, for where the Boers were shot in them the trenches were +simply filled in and the bodies thus rudely buried. But how independent +they were! No bulky commissariat department, no army of cooks and +butchers--every man with his own kettle and biltong or canned beef, his +own rug or sleeping bag, his own water-bottle; so that when he came into +such a position as this he could remain in it for days together. One saw +many pathetic things in these trenches--garments and personal belongings +evidently made by hands that did not work for hire. + +In two trenches I found Dutch Bibles; in one a diary of the last few +weeks; in almost all some sign that human beings and not machines had +been at work there; and on all sides spent shells and shrapnel cases and +cartridges, to remind one of the nature of their work. When one +followed, as I had followed so far, in the shadow of the war and not in +the midst of it, in the track of the Red Cross and the wayside cemetery +instead of within sound and sight of the thing itself, one saw a very +dark and unrelieved side of it--the shadow without the substance, the +effect without the cause. + + + + +PART III + +LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE TO BLOEMFONTEIN + + + + +IX + +THE BOER PANIC AT OSFONTEIN + + +The carefully prepared attack of Lord Roberts on the Boer position at +Osfontein was delivered on Wednesday, March 7th, with the result that +the enemy fled without attempting to defend his extremely strong +position. To understand the gravity of the attack you must have been +there during the last few days of preparation, when hills and ridges, +subsequently abandoned in a moment, were being strengthened and armed +with trenches and guns. On Sunday and Monday, the 4th and 5th of March, +I rode round the whole position, and, like everyone else, was led to +expect a very severe struggle. The position was roughly this. The great +plain through which the river winds is broken five miles east of +Osfontein by a long range of kopjes extending about fourteen miles north +and south. All these kopjes were until the day of our attack occupied by +a force of 7,000 Boers, but to the west of them were a few lower hills +and ridges which we held. We did not know exactly how far to the east +the Boer kopjes extended; that is to say, we did not know how broad +might be the line of their defences; all we knew was that there were +other kopjes to the eastward, and that the enemy probably held them. Our +force, 30,000 strong, was disposed over a square of perhaps eight miles; +yet if you had ridden all day in circles round the farm of Osfontein, +which was Lord Roberts's headquarters, you might have wondered whether +there were even 5,000 men, so scattered were our camps. The whole air of +the place was that of almost pastoral quietness, and the only sound to +be heard was the lowing of oxen. + +Out in the advanced pickets the silence was deeper, but it was not +pastoral. I rode out on the Monday to a little kopje, our most advanced +post--a place within rifle range of the opposite Boer position, about +2,000 yards away. Over the plain, here green and sweet with the smell of +tiny flowers newly burst out by the heavy rains, I rode out from under +the shelter of a big kopje held by Kitchener's Horse. Between it and the +little hill held by the picket the ground was exposed, but a man and a +horse make a poor target at extreme range, and the danger was small. + +We cantered along in the midst of the great harmonious silence of +populous fields; the locusts waltzed in the sun, the little mere-cats +stood and watched us for a moment and then scampered into their holes; +the ants were toiling busily beneath a thousand heaps. The plain +stretched to the horizon, with the stone-covered kopjes standing out +like larger ant-heaps. + +Something sang in the sunny air above my head, and I flicked with my +whip to drive the locust away. Immediately afterwards I heard the sharp +double report of a Mauser, like a postman's knock, and after that again +the shrill moan, infinitely melancholy, of a flying bullet; and away to +my left, about two hundred yards, the sand rose in a fountain. It was my +first experience under fire, and I confess that for ten seconds I gave +myself up. During those ten seconds I was altogether absorbed in +watching a mere-cat trying to roll something into his house; then I +began to see that I was not in any particular danger at so extreme a +range, and I lost my interest in the mere-cat. But for all that my pony +had to do his best over the space that separated us from the picket. +There were a few more shots, and always the shrill moan, but in two +minutes we were behind the shelter of the little hill. + +I climbed up its steep side and found the handful of men, with an +officer, lying among the stones on the windy height. There is no +comfort in picket work. This officer and his men had to lie for +twenty-four hours at a time without shelter from sun or rain, and with +nothing to eat but bully beef and hard-tack biscuits. Always their +glasses were sweeping the enemy's position, as the officer on a ship's +bridge examines the horizon; every little movement of men or cattle was +carefully noted. + +Presently I had an illustration of the spirit in which lives are taken +in war, a demonstration of what had been happening to myself a few +minutes before. Out of the shoulder of a hill three Boers came on +ponies, and began to walk leisurely across to the next kopje. Now +immediately in front of our hill was another and smaller one, too +inconsiderable to be occupied permanently, but useful for commanding the +Boer front at rifle range. As we lay watching the three specks crossing +the field, "Sergeant," said the officer, "take a few men down to that +kopje, and see if you can't get a shot at the fellows." And off went the +sergeant and a dozen men, as pleased as Punch. + +Some time elapsed before they reached the hillock, and still the three +Boers moved slowly and unsuspectingly across our view. After an anxious +pause the rifles cracked out, one after another, like a rip-rap, and at +the same time the Boers seemed to fly instead of to crawl. I then saw +through my glasses that one of the men pitched backwards from his horse, +which still fled, riderless now, beside the others, who were soon out of +range. The men beside me cheered, but ten minutes ago I had been in a +position exactly similar to that of the Boers; we are all egoists in +such a case; it was myself that I saw out in the plain, my own pony +rushing away scared; and I did not join in the acclamations. But all is +changed in war-time; men are no more than game; the excitement is the +old savage one--the lust of blood and the chase. + +Late on the Tuesday night we heard that the attack was to be made early +on the morrow. So we rose at three and rode out in the starlight through +the busy camp, where the flashlights were talking and the fires blazing. +I rode round to the south about eight miles, and presently the whole +Boer position stood out black before the fires of dawn, and when the sun +came up it showed one division of our troops--the Sixth--creeping round +to the south where the enemy's position terminated in seven small +kopjes. It was beautiful to see the division advance down the slope with +the screen of mounted infantry opening out in front like a fan, with +another and more slender screen, like another fan, in front of them +again. + +The sun was well up, but I had not yet heard a gun go off. Presently +there was a report, and the sand rose in a column before the kopjes. +This was a 4.7 naval gun finding its range with common shell. Again the +invisible gun behind me boomed, again the weird, prolonged whirtling +overhead; the long wait--perhaps for fifteen seconds; then a cloud of +hideous vapour right on the kopje; then the report of the exploding +shell. This happened perhaps half a dozen times; the well-aimed shells +dropped now behind, now on the hills; there was no reply; and in half an +hour the mounted infantry were riding over the kopjes. The enemy had +simply broken and fled towards their central position. + +From the north side, where the Ninth and Seventh Divisions were, one +could hear the same sounds, but no rifle fire. After our guns had +cleared the seven kopjes a kind of Sabbath stillness fell upon the land. + +Lying in the grass, listening to the droning flies, I tried to tell +myself that I was watching a momentous battle; that matters of life and +death were on hand: but the wind laughed through the grasses at the very +notion, and the timid steinbuck leaped up quite close to me, as if to +say, "Who's afraid?" + +Behind me a brigade was winding to the south with a movement almost +lyrical; but no man seemed to be doing anything that could be called +fighting. I decided that nothing more was to be seen on the south, and +started to cross northward between the positions. My path was in what +ought to have been the hottest zone of fire; but the hares leapt in the +sun and the grasshoppers hummed with delight. While crossing northward I +met the advance scouts of a regiment of mounted infantry advancing +where, according to all ordinary laws, no mounted infantry could or +ought to have been--advancing directly on the central Boer position. + +"Come along," said the Colonel; "I believe the whole position is empty; +we're going to scale those ridges." + +Now these very ridges were the ones to which I had seen the Boers +retreat, about a thousand of them, half an hour ago, and I told the +Colonel so. "But they must have gone," he said, "or else they would be +firing at us now." + +It was perfectly true. The whole company was halted, while we chatted, +within easy fire of the enemy's position; a few pom-poms would have made +a shocking mess amongst the men and horses. But the hills were clothed +with silence as with a garment. + +"Anyhow, I'm going to see," said the Colonel. "Come along." + +So we cantered on up to the foot of the hill, up the slope, over the +hill, and not a shot was fired at us. The excitement was tremendous; we +were riding slap into what looked like a hornets' nest. There were +kopjes flanking us now on both sides; I wished that I hadn't come. I +expected every moment to hear the rattle of Mausers. Someone's horse +kicked a tin can, and we ducked our heads like one man. But we rode up +to and into and through and over the central position of the enemy that +he had been strengthening for days; and he never fired a shot to prevent +us. It was glorious luck, thus to be in the very front of an advancing +force, to be on the very horns of the advance, and to be absolutely out +of danger, for what little opposition there was was encountered later by +the main body. + +When I thought that I had advanced far enough into what ought to have +been the jaws of death, I drew on one side and let the brigade go past, +and then I saw what little firing there was. Behind the mounted infantry +came the field-guns, galloping alone over the smooth ground; and +presently we heard the report of a gun from the other side of the next +eastward ridge over which the enemy had retired. It is very +uncomfortable waiting for a shell to arrive. One has only the sound to +guide one as to where it has come from, and one has no notion at all as +to where it is going to strike. This one burst right amongst the +galloping artillery, which at once opened out on both sides of a smoking +patch. Not a man or horse was down. And here the Boers lost their big +chance of the day. All the brigade had to advance through this one +narrow pass between the kopjes; the Boers had got the range of it +absolutely; if they had fired a dozen shells in quick succession they +would have done a dismal amount of mischief. But they only fired two +other shells, and, marvellously, no one was hit. The reason I believe to +have been that the dust of their own retreat, which hung like a haze +over the ridge, hid our advancing troops from the Boers, and they did +not know whether or not anyone was under their fire. + +In the meantime the Ninth Brigade had been doing just the same kind of +thing on the north river bank; and when the attack (such as it was--a +gentle shelling) was being pressed there, General French came up from +the south-east and drove the enemy northward across the river. If French +had been a little earlier we should have cut off the Boers at the river, +for that was their only line of retreat. As it was, he came in time to +chase them; and when we heard of him again he was in full cry on the +road to Bloemfontein. + +It was a strange engagement; an almost bloodless battle; a great +spectacle like an Aldershot Field Day; a demonstration of forces far +stronger than the mere force of arms--confidence on the one hand, and on +the other demoralisation and a broken spirit. + + + + +X + +THE MARCH ON DREIFONTEIN + + +Early on the morning after the Osfontein engagement the army was again +upon the march, and towards afternoon reached a farm called Poplar +Grove, the point on which our left flank had rested on the day before. +That was only a ten-mile journey, but men and beasts were tired, and a +longer distance would have tried them severely. We rested a whole day at +Poplar Grove, and many of us bathed in the river. It is strange indeed +to find how comparative are all our standards of luxury; on that day you +could have seen what Mr. Dooley might call the "flowers of the British +aristocracy" splashing and rejoicing in filthy, muddy water beside +Kaffirs and drinking mules; and no one who bathed on that day, after +many days of wearing the same clothes and being impregnated with sand +and sun, is likely to forget the luxury of the bath. + +The discomforts of a hurried march are many, and the feeling of +uncleanness is not the least of them; yet one recalls with pleasure the +long days spent dozing along on one's horse at the head of a marching +column that stretched seven miles over the plain and hills behind. Let +me try to describe some of the circumstances of the march from Poplar +Grove to Dreifontein. It must be remembered that these are but the names +of farms, and that a farm means often nothing more than a mud house, a +few trees, and a well of water. + +Long before it was light we were awakened by the cries of Kaffirs +collecting their ox teams and by the almost human complaints of many +mules; and while we breakfasted by lamplight in the dim grove where our +camp was pitched a stream of transport was already flowing out of the +mass surrounding us on all sides. We started later, when the line along +the east, crimson at first, had changed from saffron to bright gold, and +the head of the column was already out of sight, melting towards the +sunrise in a cloud of dust. The mounted infantry brigade, which +furnished the patrols and screens, was already away scouring the plain +in advance of the column, but the thin line of waggons was broken now by +the broad shape of infantry brigades, marching fifty deep across the +grass. + +Our own small convoy was not got under weigh without many pains. The two +newspapers which it represented were the proprietors of many and +various beasts. Six riding ponies for the three correspondents, two +horses for the despatch-rider, six horses to draw an American waggon and +two Cape carts, and six oxen to draw an ox cart laden with forage. No +tongue can tell the anxiety caused by those fourteen horses. No more +could be bought, and if anything happened to them our usefulness would +be at an end. I have often arisen during the night and walked down what +we called our "lines," counting the beasts, and feeling like Abraham. To +be sure, one of the horses cost but thirty shillings; we bought him from +a Kaffir whose honesty I should be sorry to vouch for, but he could +pull, and he lived more than a fortnight. For another one I paid a +sovereign at Osfontein, but observing that he did not eat his supper one +night I gently pushed him away a good hundred yards so that he should +not die close to us. + +By the time breakfast had been eaten, the oxen caught, the horses +counted, the differences of six jealous servants adjusted, and the carts +packed, we were ready to move off. Then the sun came up and the day +began, and one could canter up to the front of the column, clear of the +dust. On some days one rode up and down, visiting different regiments +or finding out friends who were trudging beside their companies; but on +the day of this march my pony was tired, and I let him amble along in +front of the Guards for the whole eighteen miles. + +I wish I could describe for people who have never seen it the grand and +majestic march of 30,000 men with their guns and baggage across a large +country; the slow dignity of a vast seven-mile column winding over the +face of a plain, all the units diverging to pass the same ant-heap or to +avoid the same rough place. After the first few miles it is silent, and +one hears behind one only the sweep of many feet upon the grass. It is +like Fate, or, say, Time with his scythe held steady; the thing comes +and passes and is gone; but ride backward and you shall see the traces +of its passage. Grass downtrodden that shall rise again, little flowers +bruised that shall renew their blossoms; and still the birds singing +peacefully, the hares leaping, the manifold petty life of the veldt +resuming its routine and circumstance. One passes on through the quaking +air as in a dream, and as though impelled by the great force behind; and +to eyes gazing long on the ground the affairs of tiny creatures become +conspicuous and important. The mere-cats sit listening, and wonder what +the new sound in the grass means, not like wind or rain. Little lizards +basking on the sand suddenly wake up and wriggle away to avoid the thing +against which the shelter of a leaf will not avail them. And always in +front hares and buck by the hundred stream away like the shadows of +clouds over grass. Then someone looks at his watch and shouts "Halt!" +and the welcome word is shouted and repeated down the line until the +sound is lost in the distance, while the tired men throw themselves down +between the burning sun and the sand. + +It is like sailing on a wide sea after a storm, when the short and high +waves have died away beneath the tread of smooth rollers. The veldt +undulates from sky to sky, a plain rising and falling about the base of +rocks and island kopjes. One reaches the crest, hoping for a new view, +searching for the clump of trees that means a farm and fresh water; and +one sinks down again into the furrow, while the wave of disappointment +runs backward along the seven miles of column as each man rises to the +barren view. Now an ox, now a mule or a horse falls out and lies down to +die; now a man stumbles and falls, and lies down to wait for the cool +hours. + +To men who find this kind of monotony irksome the march is a dreary +business, while to others its bare outline is filled with the interest +of a thousand little happenings. The tired, dusty, shabby "Tommy" is a +man much more agreeable to talk with than his ancestor of the +barrack-room at home; the youngest subaltern has forgotten all about his +swagger mess-kit and the "style" of his regiment, and shows himself as +the good fellow he is; even the Brigadier forgets the scarlet on his +khaki collar, and remembers that he too is a frail mortal. And always, +when other interest failed, one could fall back on that of one's own +sometimes troublesome affairs. On the afternoon of the Dreifontein march +our advance cart with the luncheon had not outspanned fifteen minutes +before it was discovered that one of the horses was gone. There was no +doubt as to why, of course--a soldier had "snaffled" it. I am sorry to +say that in the matter of horse property the average Tommy holds vague +moral views. That cart had to be brought into camp by night, and there +was only one way in which it could be done. I rode about for ten +minutes, and found an old framework so thin and so dejected that I +blushed when I put the halter on it; it had been abandoned on account +of lameness, from which it had recovered, and had since been starving. +They harnessed it up and it brought in the cart; and that night, being +given a good feed of oats, it died from shock. Another skeleton was +found in the morning to take its place; but this skeleton grew fat. We +used to laugh at these misfortunes, but the poor horses had a cruel +time, especially the English ones; no one would have recognised the +Horse Artillery, although the tragic skeletons that drew the guns still +affected some imitation of their old dash. All the way from Modder to +Bloemfontein was strewn with the bodies of horses; if all other marks +had been gone, these melancholy quarter-mile posts would have guided you +unerringly. + +It was night as a rule before the column reached its camp, and there +were some gorgeous pictures in the great outspanning commotion seen +through dust clouds and the red sunset, and by light of many camp fires. +But on this bit of the march we found our quarters sooner than we +expected; and it was early in the afternoon when, climbing the ridge of +undulating plain, I saw the smoke of a shell bursting on the hillside +five miles away, and knew that our day's march, though not our day's +work, was at an end. + + + + +XI + +THE BATTLE OF DREIFONTEIN AND THE MARCH ON BLOEMFONTEIN + + +A great chain of kopjes barred the horizon ahead of us, and we came to +the usual conclusion that the Boers were opposing our advance. It is +well to remember that Lord Roberts's army was not marching in a single +column, but in three separate columns, of which the Cavalry Division was +marching on a road about six miles to the north, and the Seventh +Division by a road about four miles to the south of the main body. +General French was a day's march ahead of the main army, and on this +morning he reached Abraham's Kraal (the most northerly hill of the chain +held by the Boers) at ten o'clock, while the Ninth Division did not +arrive until four o'clock. It will thus be seen that one end of the +position was a couple of hours' ride distant from the other and far out +of sight of it. + +No one saw the whole of the battle of Dreifontein. General French, when +he arrived at ten in the morning, came into contact with the Boers at +Abraham's Kraal, and (the river preventing a turning movement on the +north) he sent the second cavalry brigade galloping southward down the +line of the kopjes in order to turn, if possible, the enemy's left +flank. But he soon found that the position extended too far southward to +be assailable by his limited forces. This turning movement, or rather +the preparation for it, was carried out under an extremely heavy fire +from pom-poms and other quick-firing guns. Finding that his resources +would be exhausted in drawing out the long containing thread necessary +to hold the enemy in front, and so leave nothing with which to make a +flank attack, General French contented himself with engaging the enemy +on the northernmost end of their position. + +At half-past one the Sixth Division arrived at Dreifontein, a farmhouse +about seven miles south of Abraham's Kraal. I had ridden hard in order +to catch them up as I had been in the early morning with the Ninth +Division, which did not arrive until four o'clock, and when I came up I +was just in time to see the Buffs, leading the 13th Brigade, preparing +to clear some kopjes near the main ridge which were held by the Boers. +Things were very hot here, and as I had never been in a big fight before +I found it very difficult to realise what was going on, or where the +enemy was, or where the fire was coming from, or at what point it was +being directed. All I knew for some time was that there were shells +dropping rather closer than was pleasant, and that with a rashness born +of ignorance I had got into a place where everyone had to lie down for +cover. + +When your face is in the sand you do not see much. What you hear is not +encouraging--the distant boom of a gun, a few seconds' silence, then a +long quavering whistle in the air, like the cry of a banshee, growing +every moment nearer and louder, and finally the deafening report +somewhere near you. You never know where a shell is going to burst, +although you hear it long before it arrives; you can only sit tight and +hope that it will go where the other fellows are, or better still where +no one is. To say truth, shells generally go where no one is; I saw only +one man killed by a shell. I had raised my head from the ground and was +listening for the burst of a coming shell, when I saw a man among the +advance ranks of the 13th Brigade on my right stop suddenly in the midst +of a blinding flash. An arm and hand flew through the air in a horrible +curve; the smoke belched, the air was rent by the explosion, the smoke +blew and drifted away, and there on the hillside lay what was left of +the man, folded in the deep quietness of death. + +A little to the left the Welsh Regiment was advancing up the steep side +of Alexander's kopje, which was doubly enfiladed by the Boer guns; two +Elswicks firing from the east and a Vickers-Maxim from the south-west. +There was also a nasty rain of bullets. In the long semi-circular +skirmishing line, strung like a girdle round the hillside, a man +suddenly turned and ran backwards for half a dozen paces, and then +tumbled, rolling over and over like a shot rabbit. I saw him five +minutes later when his body was brought to the dressing-station; he had +been shot through the heart. Poor fellow! He ran not of his own +conscious volition; he was killed while bravely advancing; he died while +retreating. The Welsh Regiment was losing badly all this time, and the +ground was becoming dotted with writhing and motionless bodies; it was a +horrible sight and came near to turning me sick, so I resolved to go and +see what was happening on the south side. + +I made a long detour round by the headquarter farmhouse towards which +the black mass of the Ninth Division was advancing across the plain--too +late, as it turned out, to join in the action. Seeing a kopje on our +extreme right from which our artillery seemed to be firing, I rode in +that direction. There was not a soul in sight; and when I was within a +thousand yards of the place the instinct which so often interferes to +keep our heads from betraying us made me pull up. There was not a sound +except the far-away bang of guns and rifles. Near to the kopje there was +a garden surrounded by low trees and a hedge of prickly pear. The sun +setting behind us slanted into it and made it appear as a charming, +peaceful shelter from the dust and noise of the battle. I was still +debating with myself as to whether I should go on a little farther when +I heard behind me the sound of a horse galloping. I turned round and +saw, perhaps two miles behind me, three mounted men. The one who now +rode up had evidently just left them. He was a trooper in Rimington's +Guides. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said, "but I wouldn't stay here if I was you." + +"Why not?" said the Green One; "no one in front, is there?" + +The man spat on the ground. + +"Don't know that there is, sir," he said, "but then I don't know that +there isn't, and that's good enough for me. If there _is_ anyone in +that garden"--and he pointed to the patch of trees--"you bet they won't +send out a flag of truce asking you to get out of the way before they +shoot. We've been sent to round up cattle out of that there garden, but +I believe the cattle are all a blind. Anyway, I'm not going near it till +I'm sure of it. I believe it's a trap." + +They must have been watching us from the garden with their eyes on the +sights of their rifles, for no sooner had we turned our horses' heads +than _bang, bang, bang, bang--phtt, phtt, phtt, phtt_! We doubled +ourselves on our saddles and our horses stretched along the road, while +for perhaps thirty seconds our ears twitched to a hail of bullets that +lasted until we were out of range. While we were still racing my pony, +which was last, suddenly jumped into the air and shot past the big +cavalry horse, laying herself flat on the ground like a hare; and it was +not until she had carried me far out of range that I found the warm +blood from a bullet wound running down her leg. I had no further +interest that day but to have her attended to. At any rate, I think the +shot which was fired at her was one of the last fired in the battle of +Dreifontein. + +The battle was fought on Saturday, March 10th. On Sunday morning we +found that the Boers had melted away from before us, and the army +marched on twelve miles to Aasvögel's Kop. On Monday the main body was +at Venters Vlei; and at four o'clock that afternoon General French, +after an artillery engagement, occupied a few hills commanding +Bloemfontein, and sent in an ultimatum requiring the surrender of the +town within twenty-four hours. + +Early on Tuesday morning Mr. Gwynne (Reuter's correspondent), Mr. +Oppenheim, of the _Daily News_, and another correspondent, rode into +Bloemfontein and found that President Steyn had departed during the +night, that the Boer forces had retired from the immediate neighbourhood +of the town, and that the people were willing to surrender. They rode +back to Lord Roberts (who was by this time well under weigh with his +column), escorting the Landdrost in his Cape cart. The Field Marshal +was, I believe, sitting on a low hill having breakfast with his staff +when the keys were delivered up to him. This formality was conducted +with the utmost courtesy and good-humour, and when it was over the march +was resumed. Lord Roberts rode on and joined the cavalry, and a +procession was formed about three miles out of the town, Lord Roberts at +the head of the cavalry brigade which preceded the army. I shall never +forget that ride down the sloping country into Bloemfontein; the little +white-haired man sitting his horse like a rock, leading; then the +personal staff; then the general staff; then the foreign attachés; then +the correspondents; then the cavalry staff; then the cavalry; then the +main body of the army--artillery, infantry, engineers, commissariat, and +baggage. + +As we came into the first street of the town it was apparent that the +day was regarded as a festival. One could hardly imagine a stranger +reception of an invader. Flags flew at every window, and the people were +all decked out as though for a holiday. Half-way towards the Presidency +there was a little diversion. Some Kaffirs, thinking that this was a +good opportunity of paying off old scores, had begun to loot and pillage +a large building like a school-house, which belonged to the Free State +Government. As we swung round the corner of the street they were in the +act of bundling out mattresses, bedsteads, linen, chairs, desks, and +tables, and carrying them off. A few dozen Lancers were let loose +amongst them; they dropped their booty and fled, only to be driven back +at the point of a lance and made to replace the stolen property. Then +the march was resumed until the procession drew up in front of the +Presidency. The Federal flag had been struck some time before, and the +flagstaff now stood gaunt and undecorated. There was a pause of about +ten minutes while Lord Roberts went in and transacted some necessary +formalities; then the little silk Union Jack, made by Lady Roberts, was +run up to the truck amid a great sound of cheering. The singing of the +National Anthem ended the ceremony. The town seemed altogether +English--English shops, English manners, the English language, and +English faces. All that day enthusiasm bubbled in the town like water +boiling in a pot; all day the troops continued to march in; shabby and +dusty and dirty and tired, they were nevertheless all stamped with some +nameless quality which they had not when they left England. All day the +population of Bloemfontein eddied through the streets like a crowd at a +fair; all day the sounds of rejoicing continued, and far into the night +the streets resounded to the cries of people who made merry. + + + + +XII + +RETRACING THE STEPS OF THE ARMY + + +With its independence, handed over amid the imposing circumstance of +arms, Bloemfontein lost something of its charm. The noise and dust and +commotion of the army did violence to its pastoral quietness, and the +pretty shops put up their shutters at midday as though in maidenly +horror at the eagerness of crowds of soldiers running amuck like +children with their Saturday pennies. I entered the town early enough to +see what its normal condition must be, and there was something rude and +unkind in the din of the multitude breaking on this quiet place where +the bees sang loud in the streets, and the midday idler slumbered upon +the doorstep. + +To be sure, one had opportunity for studying the soldier in a new +setting, but the study is one that requires time; the average Tommy is +an oyster to strangers. He varies to the tune and colour of his +surroundings; on the veldt, where hardness is to be endured, he is the +"good soldier," the patient, strong man; under fire he is a fierce +creature, still obedient to his habit of discipline, but hot for combat; +in the town, with money in his pocket, he is a little child. Indeed, +after weeks of absence from places where money is of value we all share +in this rejuvenation, and if you had been in Bloemfontein on any one of +these fine days you would have seen men of every age and rank, from +generals to trumpeters, wandering about the streets, agape at the shop +windows, chinking their money in their pockets, and buying things for +which they had no kind of use. + +The British officer afield is a very different creature from the gilded +ornament of an English mess. His face is scorched and peeled, he is +generally (unless he be a staff officer) very ill-clad; he has a ragged +beard; he esteems golden syrup the greatest luxury on earth; he ceases +to be ashamed of originality in thought or expression; he altogether +fails to disguise what a good fellow he is. But in a very short time the +neighbourhood of a club, the possibility of a bath, the presence of +barbers and tailors, by a mysterious and marvellous working, reverse his +development, and the little graces which endear him to society at home +begin to reappear. So long as the sole of his boot was tied to the +uppers by a piece of string, he could not look you in the face with any +pretending; but when the cobbler has done his office, and the tailor has +sewn up the rent breeches, the spell is broken. + +We "occupied" Bloemfontein so completely that, after the first few days, +I was glad to take the road again. We occupied the club, we occupied the +shops and hotels, we occupied even the homes of the simple townspeople; +and we occupied the streets, so that all day the town resounded to the +din of tramping feet. When one has slept for a month under the stars, +sheets and a roof are stifling; so as the railway was not yet open, +Major Pollock (of _The Times_) and I decided to go to Kimberley by road, +assured that the moral effect of the proclamation would keep us out of +danger from the Queen's enemies. + +Our little caravan set forth by moonlight, taking the road travelled by +the left-hand column of the three parallel columns that had advanced on +Bloemfontein, and somewhat to the north of that taken by Lord Roberts +and the central column, with which we had gone in. The journey itself +was uneventful enough, full of the little interests and anxieties and +pleasures of the road, full of joy for the travellers, but without +serious interest to anyone else. There was just enough risk of +encountering a commando to give the necessary spice of adventure; two +despatch-riders--not mine, by the good fortune of half a mile--had been +captured the day before, and we kept a bright look-out. But by the time +we came across them the commandos were forlornly[2] dispersing. For the +rest, there was the unending charm of the climate and the place; the +gorgeous evenings, when sunset and moonrise encircled the horizon in a +flame of gold and silver; the spring-cold mornings, with the veldt +glowing from violet to purple and crimson; the noonday rest in some +deserted farm garden; the bed at nightfall, with the sound of horses +munching their corn for a lullaby--all the circumstances of simple +travel accomplished by the means that nature has provided. After having +been for so long in the company of 30,000 men we found the loneliness +and quietness refreshing, and we passed almost unnoticed through the +birds and beasts and flowers. We swam once more in the muddy Modder, now +quite an old friend. The track of the army was marked for us in two +ways--one ludicrous, the other tragic; both unmistakable. For all along +the way bright tin biscuit canisters of the Army Service Corps shone +like diamonds in the sun; and all along the way, at intervals, tired and +sick old cavalry horses stood by the roadside, each surrounded by a +crowd of foul aasvögels, the vultures of South Africa, waiting. + +[Footnote 2: For the time being.] + +The chief party of Boers which we encountered was at Abraham's Kraal. +While we were breakfasting about two dozen of them cantered up, of whom +about six were armed. If I had qualms, I hope I did not show them when I +said "Good-morning." I fell into conversation with one of the Boers, and +mentioned incidentally that, from their point of view, the game was up, +and that I supposed he knew that anyone who interfered with peaceful +Englishmen would be hanged. He was a sulky fellow, but he took my word +for it, and presently we began to talk. These Boers were in low spirits +about the war, and spoke of it without enthusiasm or hope. Most of them +were Transvaalers, and two spoke with an unmistakable Glasgow accent, +but on the whole they were gruff and uncommunicative, and, as they cast +envious eyes from their own sorry nags to our well-conditioned mounts, +I was glad to wish them good-day. They had come to bury the dead from +the Dreifontein fight, and from what they told me of the still unburied +Boers both there and at Paardeberg, I gathered that their casualties all +along the line had been heavier than we had thought. + +I have said that the neighbourhood of the Boers made our journey +exciting, and there was one point at which the excitement became very +nearly painful. We had made a long stage one day, and at about sundown +arrived at the Modder, which we intended to cross at a drift near +Koodoesrand. This was the dangerous neighbourhood, and we were anxious +to push on and cross the river before encamping for the night. The banks +of the Modder at this drift are about forty feet high and almost +precipitous, the path down to the drift being little better than a track +worn at a long diagonal down the bank. It was steep enough going down, +but when we had crossed the shallow river and begun the ascent of the +other bank we found the track very soft and almost perpendicular. By +fetching a compass and putting the horses to it at a great pace the two +Cape carts managed to reach the top, but a four-wheeled American waggon +stuck fast at the bottom and could not be moved. At that moment the last +of the daylight ebbed, and darkness began to quench the sunset embers. + +We tried unhitching the teams from the Cape carts and hitching them to +the waggon, but we only succeeded in breaking harness. It was after the +second attempt, when we were all standing hot and angry after our +unavailing exertion of whip-cracking and shouting, that we suddenly saw +a light shine out from the edge of a low kopje about two miles in front +of us. One of us lost his head, and by speaking his fears communicated +the malady. + +"There are the Boers," he said, "and if they haven't heard us yelling +they must have seen the light from our lanterns. The sooner we get out +of this the better." + +There was nothing for it but to unload the waggon and carry the contents +up by hand, and this we did in an agony of excitement, staggering and +sweating up the steep path with portmanteaus, beds, valises, cases of +tinned provisions, kettles, bottles, saucepans, bags of harness, oats, +and guns. The empty waggon was easily drawn up to the top, and then we +must reload it again with a burden which seemed to have swollen +enormously since it was unpacked. We were working so frantically that we +had not even time to look at the kopje, but when at length I glanced at +it I saw that a strange thing had happened. + +The light was now suspended about thirty feet above the hill. + +Had they a balloon? Major Pollock and I gazed blankly for more than a +minute at that mysterious shining, which seemed to rise higher and +higher. More than a minute: just so long did it take us to remember that +Orion rises low in the west! + +Now for what will remain with me as the crowning impression of this +journey. The road we took led through a fairly fertile country, and that +in the Free State means that there generally was grass instead of karoo. +There were many farms; we probably passed twenty in the course of ninety +miles. Each of those farms I visited, and at each stood aghast at the +ruin that had been wrought. Signs of looting one expected--the looting +of food-stuffs and livestock and necessaries; that, after all, is but a +kind of self-defence, and I suppose it is allowable to live upon an +enemy when one invades his land. But the destruction that had here taken +place was wanton and savage. One seemed to travel in the footsteps of +some fiend who had left his mark upon every home, destroying the things +that were probably most prized by the owners, and destroying with a +devilish ingenuity that had saved him all unnecessary labour. For +example, in one little farmhouse I found a flimsy, showy, London bedroom +suite that was clearly the pride of the establishment, with its wardrobe +and full-length mirror. The destroyer had smashed just what could not be +mended--the mirror and the marble top of the washstand. In another +cottage I found an old clock that had ticked, most likely, for years on +end in the quietness of the little home; its hands were torn off, and +its works strewn upon the floor. In every house the little bits of +rubbish that adorn the homes of the poor were destroyed or disfigured; +in all were the same signs of violation, the same marks of the beast. + +It has always seemed to me that a little farm in a lonely country +contains more than anything else the atmosphere of a home. It is +self-centred; there you see all the little shifts and contrivances which +result from the forced supplying of wants that cannot be satisfied from +outside. And when such a homestead is deserted, I think the atmosphere +is only the more pronounced; the disused implements find voices in the +silence and cry aloud for their absent owners. But when all that is +personal and human in such a place is ruined, the pathos turns to +tragedy. One farm I found absolutely gutted save for a great and old +Bible which stood upon a table in the largest room. It was a beautiful +folio, full of quaint plates and fine old printing, and bound in a rich +leather that time and the sun had tanned to an autumn gold. While I was +regarding it the breeze came through the window and stirred the yellow +leaves, exposing a pencil-marked verse in the most pastoral of psalms: +"_Hy doert my nederliggen in grasige wenden; Hy doert my sachtkens aen +seer stille wateren._" There was something impressive in the accident: +the old book stoutly reminding the chance passer-by that present evil +cannot affect the ultimate good, promising amid rude circumstances a +time of quietness. He was an old man who owned that book; his name and +age were marked upon the leaf; I think, to judge by the signs of +handling, that he had the heart of its contents; and I hope that +whatever his bodily circumstances, his soul retained some of the peace +of the "_grasige wenden_." + +Who is responsible for all this mischief it is hard to say. I am sure +that the English soldiers, thoughtless though they may be, would not +stoop to this sort of purposeless outrage. I do not like to accuse the +colonial troops as a whole either, although I suspect that some of them, +some whose own homes had been destroyed by the enemy, might conceivably +have taken vengeance in kind. It is thought by many whose opinion is +valuable that the Kaffirs were here, as in Natal, responsible for much +of the damage; and that is a view which one would willingly take, for it +would acquit English-speaking troops of a miserable suspicion. Perhaps +the thing is well-nigh inevitable, for I know what pains Lord Roberts +took to prevent it; and it may be as well that we should recognise it as +one of the realities of war. For myself, the horrors of actual fighting +did not touch me half so nearly; I have seen men killed close to me and +been less shocked than I was by these domestic outrages. To die, for the +one who dies, is nothing; it affects him not at all; he is absent. But +here was not death, but outrage on the foundations of civilised life; +outrage upon living people, who suffer and remember. + + + + +PART IV + +AN EXPEDITION WITH LORD METHUEN + + + + +XIII + +IN THE FIELD AGAIN + + +After all, we need not have made so much haste to leave Bloemfontein. We +had been told there that a column would start for the relief of Mafeking +on March 20th, but when we arrived at Kimberley on the 18th we found +that no movement was to take place for several days. The date was +constantly shifted farther into the future, and the days of waiting had +grown into weeks before an order came that Lord Methuen with his force +of about 10,000 men was to march on Boshof. As far as information went +we lived from hand to mouth; all the orders came from Bloemfontein, and +they seldom provided for more than a day at a time. It was not +unnatural, therefore, that when an order to move did at last come we +built upon it all kinds of extravagant expectations, and it was a +cheerful army that left Kimberley on April 2nd and took the road for +Boshof. + +After many days of inaction it was indeed good to recommence a moving +life among oxen and waggons and guns and soldiers. Kimberley was all +very well as a spectacle immediately after the siege; everyone flocked +to see the holes in the houses and the ruined buildings. It was all very +well (so, at any rate, we persuaded ourselves) to live in a club and to +dine again amid damask and flowers and cut glass after the rude life of +the fields; but even this was a novelty only for a day, and one soon +became impatient of the poor shift at living which dwellers in towns are +forced to make. I think I never saw a town so lost and drowned beneath +the wave of money-getting as Kimberley; even its recent privations were +turned to a nimble account, and 6-inch shells were selling at £10 apiece +before I left. The people who fled most readily from the projectiles +were of course the most eager to buy them--so highly do we esteem the +instruments which make us seem heroes to ourselves. For the moment +Kimberley transferred its attentions commercially from diamonds to +shells: a less romantic and (if you will believe it) a more sordid +industry; for there were already more storied and pedigreed shells in +private collections and for sale in Kimberley than ever fell into the +town. + +Boshof, at any rate, provided a welcome change from all this. It is a +pretty little town of greensward streets and clear brooks; of white +cottages embowered in trees; of rose-gardens and orchards; rather like a +remote country town in Ireland--poor and pretty and sleepy. There were +few able-bodied men left in it, and aged people looked doubtfully out +from their fuchsia-covered doors upon the ranks and regiments of foreign +soldiers who came clattering through the streets on some of those hot +April afternoons. We were to advance, it was now thought, on the 6th; in +what direction we did not know certainly, but we suspected that it would +be along the Hoopstad Road. The arguments and speculations with which we +occupied ourselves need not be recorded now, but it was at once our hope +and fear that we should advance along the north bank of the Vaal. Hope, +because there was work to be done there; fear, lest our smaller force +should be absorbed by Lord Roberts's larger army and become merely its +left flank. Events showed that we might have spared ourselves both hopes +and fears, but fortunately we were ignorant, and so found occupation for +many an hour that had otherwise been empty. + +An interval of inaction in the midst of a war is tedious in some ways, +but it is at least of benefit to a mere onlooker, who is thus enabled to +disengage himself from the whirl of operations and to discover the +results of his unwonted occupation. After having lived amongst +soldiers--in some ways and in spite of their profession the most human +and civilised of men--it had come upon me as a shock to find in +Kimberley the same bloodthirstiness that had distinguished the more +thoughtless section of the public at home. Cruel shouting for blood by +people who never see it; the iteration of that most illogical demand, a +life for a life--and, if possible, two lives for a life; the loud, +hectoring, frothy argument that lashes itself into a fury with strong +and abusive language--they all came like a clap of thunder after what I +am bound to call in comparison the quiet decency of the battlefield. +This is a grave thing to say, but it would be unfair to disguise so +clear an impression as this that I received, who went to South Africa +with so little political bias that eager partisans of neither colour in +Cape Town would own me. To appear lukewarm amongst people who are +red-hot is not always pleasant, but it has its compensations; one has at +least a foothold--inglorious, perhaps, but safe and desirable in a dizzy +world. + +It was impossible to be in Kimberley and not to become involved in the +endless political discussions of clubs and dinner tables. I used to try +very hard to discover what it was that made the average Briton living in +South Africa hate the Boers so bitterly. The Colonial despises the Boer, +but one does not hate a man only because one despises him. Jealousy is +the best blend with contempt, and there is no doubt that the Boer's not +unnatural desire to be paramount in his own land was what English +colonists with whom I talked chiefly resented. We might talk for an hour +or for a day--the same old grievances always came round: the inferior +political position of the Uitlanders, the primitive, not to say dirty +and slovenly, habits of many Boer farmers, and their lack of energy. +These are the grievances of the man in the street, and they appear grave +enough--when once one has invested oneself with the right of censorship. +Then the rebels--wretched, unsuccessful farmers, who found themselves +misled and their ideas of duty confounded--these were the chief objects +of the lust for revenge. A rebel, as a man who has tried unsuccessfully +to overthrow by force the Government to which he owes allegiance, must +expect to suffer; but even in the case of these miserable creatures +there is surely a scale of responsibility to be observed and a measure +of justice to be meted. If Kimberley or Cape Town had ruled the matter +by their mass meetings nearly every rebel would have been hanged--a very +poor way, one would think, of making loyal subjects. But the reasons +that were urged in support of such drastic punishment were astonishingly +frank: "It doesn't pay to be loyal," one was told; "we might as well +have been rebels." Not a very lofty form of patriotism. + +One came to shrink from using that grand word, so plausible a cloak did +it become for much that is mean and degrading. For example, when I was +riding from Bloemfontein to Kimberley I and my companion descried a +farmhouse two miles in front of us near Koodoesrand Drift; when we had +come within about a mile of it a little travesty of a Union Jack was run +up on a stick, and when we rode up to the door a farmer came out, +smiling, rubbing his hands, sniggering--in a word, truckling. His talk +was like the political swagger of the music-hall or the butler's pantry. + +"I'm John Bull to the core--eh? No damned Boers for me--eh? Ha, ha, wipe +'em out, gentlemen, wipe 'em out: old England's all right as long as +we've got gentlemen like you to defend us--eh?" (He took us for +officers.) "John Bull for ever--eh?" + +And while he spoke someone inside the house played "God Save the Queen" +with one finger (incorrectly) on a harmonium. The incident had a more +unpleasant flavour than I can well convey; we went away feeling ashamed. + +All this belongs to the dark side of the campaign; fortunately there was +another, how bright I cannot say, that went far to make one forget the +rest. For the soldier the whole moral question had been decided; his +duty was so clear that he never needed to hesitate. And his blood would +have been sluggish indeed who must not have been stirred to the heart by +these inspiring circumstances: whether in camp, where the population of +a town was housed and fed in an hour, every man charged with some duty +for the common benefit, the whole a pattern of social administration; or +on the march, with the scouts and patrols opening and spreading in +advance and covering every patch of ground for miles round, the sweep +and imposing measure of the marching troops, the miles of supply and +baggage waggons, each in its appointed place; or on the battlefield, +where troops were handled and manoeuvred as on a chessboard, where men +went to death with light hearts, lying for perhaps hours under fire, +stealing a piece of ground here or a bit of cover there, with one eye on +their officer and another on the flash before them, and perhaps a +thought in the middle of it all for someone at home--there, indeed, +where stern duties were faithfully fulfilled was set a great example. +Fortunately for some of us at home the men who direct and conduct our +battles are magnanimous, and one had the gratification of seeing, even +upon occasions so savage, little acts of courtesy and humanity rendered +on both sides that went far to take the sting out of a defeat. + +And let there be no mistake about the Boers as soldiers. In spite of the +far too numerous abuses of the rules of civilised warfare by detached +and independent combatants--abuses, it should be remembered, that have +occurred and will occur in every war and in the ranks of every army +--our officers and men have a genuine respect and admiration for their +enemy. No one looked upon death at their hands as anything but +honourable. And as one's admiration and sympathy were stirred for one's +own fellow-countrymen, who so unflinchingly performed their duties, +could one withhold it from that other army five miles away across the +plain--citizen soldiers fighting for their country and their homes? For +the soldier politics do not exist; he fights and dies for an idea. This +is mere sentiment, you may say, instead of fact about arms and battles; +yet the hardest fact that rings beneath your stamp is no more real than +poor, flimsy sentiment, which is a living force in the world, and will +remain to be reckoned with when pom-poms and Creusots are rusting in +archæological museums--monuments only to the mechanical and political +clumsiness of the nineteenth century. + + + + +XIV + +THE CAPTURE OF BOERS AT TWEEFONTEIN + + +Lord Methuen had not long to wait for occupation. As soon as he arrived +at Boshof he posted his pickets on every possible point of vantage, and +patrolled the neighbourhood of Boshof over a wide circumference; and he +was rewarded. The little engagement at Tweefontein was, we all hoped, an +auspicious beginning for Lord Methuen's advance. If one might apply the +word to military tactics, it was as artistic a piece of work as could +be. I do not remember a single mistake or an instance of anything less +well or less quickly done than was possible. The result was a raising of +everyone's spirits, and I thought that Lord Methuen himself had the air +of a man emerging from depression. Certainly no general was better liked +by those around him, and, in spite of all mischievous gossip to the +contrary, he was perfectly trusted by his officers and men. + +[Illustration: LIEUT.-GEN. LORD METHUEN, K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G.] + +On Friday morning, April 6th, a native guide came in with information +that the enemy had a laager at a farm called Tweefontein, nine miles +south-east of Boshof. In ten minutes Major Streatfeild had his horse +packed and saddled and was off to the Yeomanry camp. Now the Yeomanry +horses were out on the plain grazing a good mile away; yet from the time +when the order was given until the moment of starting exactly +thirty-five minutes elapsed--a performance that would not have disgraced +veterans. The artillery and the Kimberley Mounted Corps (an excellent +force, although not so well horsed as the Yeomanry) were ready in the +same time, and the force started in the following order: Scouts of the +Kimberley Mounted Corps; advance guard ditto; Staff; Imperial Yeomanry, +under Lord Chesham; Fourth Company Royal Artillery; Kimberley Mounted +Corps, under Lieut.-Colonel Peakman. + +When the force was within three miles of Tweefontein the scouts +returned, stating that the only kopje in the neighbourhood was held by +the enemy. The native guides had led us by an excellent road and with +absolute accuracy, and the enemy had no idea of our presence until we +came up over the ridge and showed our force in the centre. Lord Methuen +then developed his attack, which, as the kopje was isolated, was on the +simple plan of a centre with two extending wings. There was a delay in +the centre until Captain Rolleston's (Lieutenant-Colonel commanding +Nottinghamshire Yeomanry) company, under Lord Scarborough, could get +into position on the left. The enemy opened fire without delay, so the +Yeomanry had to make a wide detour. Meanwhile the centre was held back +while the Kimberley Mounted Corps, under Colonel Peakman, were sent to +the right, where they found cover in a ridge of very low kopjes. + +When both flanks were in position the main body of Yeomanry dismounted +and advanced towards the kopje in extended order. Now was their time. +You must remember that this was their baptism of fire, and everyone was +on the look-out for signs of "greenness"; everyone had more or less been +making fun of them in a mild way, and prophesying all sorts of disaster. +As they advanced the bullets began to pipe on the edge of the +firing-zone, but there was not a bit of change in the Yeomanry when they +came under fire. I know from experience how disconcerting it is to ride +into the zone of fire, and walking must be much worse. It is not half so +bad when you are fairly in; it is like wading into a cold and shallow +sea instead of plunging--a kind of shivering sensation, most unpleasant. +Well, they went through this nasty belt as coolly as you please--no +hurry or funk. They dropped like wax when the order came to lie down, +and fired steadily. + +The whole of our little field was now under fire, and the cavalry on +each side were keeping the Boers very busy. All the time the right and +left flanks were opening out and reaching towards each other behind the +kopje. The only disappointment was that the artillery could not get to +work; the rise of the ground was so great and we had covered the +position so completely that it was rather dangerous to attempt shelling. +For about two hours there was hot firing, and every now and then there +was a little work for our ambulance people, but not much. The only +noticeable evidence of inexperience on the part of the Yeomanry was that +they did not realise--and no one can realise this when fighting the +Boers for the first time--how great is the enemy's firing range, and how +far away one must keep to be able to live at all. They kept pressing +forward, and Major Streatfeild had to ride across from the General under +a very hot fire to tell them to keep back. + +Towards the end of the engagement there was a gap in front of the +artillery position, and the guns spoke. They got the range at once, and +fired three rounds of shrapnel, and a few minutes after the third round +had been fired a white flag was waved from the hill. Silence fell like a +shadow over the place that had been crackling with fire a minute before; +people who had been lying flat on the ground stood up and stretched +themselves; and in the midst of the silence a shot cracked from the +hill, and there was a rush of men towards a prostrate body on our side. +Then another shot cracked--from our side this time; the treacherous +Boer, I was told, fell dead, and the action was over. + +We captured fifty-two prisoners, and the Boers had eight killed and six +wounded. No one escaped. They all laid down their arms and surrendered, +handing over also a cart of dynamite. From this it was gathered that +General Villebois (who was killed) had been trying to get behind us to +the railway line near Modder River, where he hoped to destroy it. I +spoke to some of the prisoners next day--Frenchmen, many of them, and +nice enough fellows. I heard then something which gave me pause with +regard to the white flag. When the thing happened it appeared to be a +flagrant and indubitable case of treachery; everyone was speaking of it. +But one of the prisoners, in talking to me, referred to the "rascal" who +showed the flag. + +"We had no intention to surrender," he said; "no order was given; that +worm had a flag in his pocket, and he held it up; poor ---- (mentioning +the man who shot and was killed) probably never saw it. It's a wonder +half of us did not go on firing." + +I give this statement for what it is worth. "All lies" was the comment +of some of the officers there, and quite possibly they were right; but +quite possibly also they were wrong, and the whole thing was an +accident. At least one may learn a lesson from it. I hated to believe +it, but I believed it to be treachery. Now it turns out that I may have +been unjust, and possibly on a dozen other occasions the same sort of +involuntary injustice may have been done to our enemies. Certainly it is +much easier for soldiers to see a small conspicuous object when it is +displayed by the enemy than when it is displayed by one of their own +side. The men on either side are intent upon watching the other side, +not their own. + +In General Villebois de Mareuil's pocket was found a note-book +containing a cleverly planned diagram of an attack on Boshof, and when +the sun was setting he was buried in the town he had hoped to enter +victoriously. It was a most impressive ceremony; the slanting sun, the +imposing military honours, the solemn words of the office--it is easily +imagined; it will not be easily forgotten by those of us who witnessed +it. Next morning we had left Boshof and its green streets behind, and +were winding along the road, the line of patrols sweeping like a long +billow over the hills before and on each side of us. We paused for a +night at Zwaartzkopjesfontein, went on the next morning to +Mahemsfontein; whence, having received orders from Lord Roberts to halt, +we fell back on Zwaartzkopjesfontein. + +On Monday morning, April 9th, I went out with the Yeomanry, who made a +reconnaissance ten miles to the east. We found a party of about sixty +Boers chasing goats and cattle and stock of all kinds on a Dutch farm +occupied only by women. We could see them through glasses driving the +stock away (about sixty head), but they only fired a shot or two at one +of our scouts, and then fled, taking and keeping a four-mile start of +us. This expedition was at least interesting, as again showing the +really excellent work and methods of the Yeomanry. They cared for their +horses in a more intelligent way than any regular cavalry I have seen, +and they were not above taking hints from the Colonials in the matter +of marching and patrolling order. Everyone was surprised. It had been +quite the thing to smile at the very mention of the Yeomanry; yet they +speedily proved themselves quite equal to take their place beside any +other of the Volunteers, even the best of the Colonial mounted corps. + +With a charming courtesy Lord Methuen designed and erected at his own +expense a monument over the grave of his fallen enemy. On the stone is +engraved this inscription:-- + + + [cross] + A LA MEMOIRE + DU COMTE DE VILLEBOIS DE MAREUIL + ANCIEN COLONEL + DE LA LEGION ÉTRANGÈRE + EN FRANCE + GÉNÉRAL DU TRANSVAAL + MORT AU CHAMP D'HONNEUR + PRÈS DE BOSHOF + LE 5 AVRIL, 1900 + DANS SA 53ème ANNÉE + + R.I.P. + + + + +XV + +AN ELUSIVE ENEMY + + +In spite of their former experiences the troops under Lord Methuen were +in some danger of forgetting the sterner realities of warfare, and of +mistaking for them the mere physical discomforts incidental to life +afield in rough weather. The camp at Zwaartzkopjesfontein--the highest +point of land within a large area--was scattered amongst rocks and +boulders piled high into an island ridge rising from the plain; and +amongst the rocks and ferns one found here and there a piece of lawn +(long untrodden by any feet but those of goats) large enough to picket +one's horses and pitch one's tent upon. Eastward the plain stretched to +the horizon, as level as the sea; indeed, in a landscape so monotonous +that one was fain to decorate it with fancies, it stood for the sea, and +touched the rocky base of our island as the sea washes many a mile of +bluff coast. Winter was setting in, and all day long wreaths of mist and +banks of rain came blowing from the eastward (the seaward, as we called +it), and shrouded the brown rock. The signallers on the height used to +wrap themselves in their oilskins as darkness fell and lamps took the +place of flags and spy-glasses; in the dark gusty hours we heard the +"all's well" of a sentry as the visiting patrol went by, much as one +hears the cry of the watch on board ship; and down below, the +mimosa-trees sighed like surges against the foot of the rock. + +The ten days spent there by the troops were marked by only two +expeditions against the invisible enemy, neither of which achieved +anything but a nominal result. One was under Colonel Mahon, and repaired +the telegraph line in the neighbourhood of Modder River; it was intended +to patrol as far as Klip Drift, but the rain made the veldt impassable +for waggons. Certainly the line was repaired, but, as the Colonel +contemptuously remarked, "What's the use of sending an expedition to +repair telegraph lines? An old woman can cut 'em again ten minutes after +you've gone." + +The other flying column was under General Douglas, and was sent out +eastward in search of a commando known to be in the neighbourhood. As +both columns started on the same day (April 11th) I could not be with +both, so I chose General Douglas's as offering the better chances of an +engagement. Two days before Lord Chesham had conducted a reconnaissance +with his cavalry, to which I had been invited, and at which he had +promised me "fine sport." Result: a fine cross-country gallop, a deal of +used-up horseflesh, a number of tired and (because they had been hurried +out without their breakfasts) rather cross men, and a sight of a few +Boers riding off at a distance of five miles. "Butterflies" was +someone's description of these elusive enemies of ours; and when one +considers what a fine chase they gave us, and how hot and cross we +became in the course of it, the description seems not inapt. + +General Douglas's column, consisting of a battalion of the Northamptons, +300 Imperial Yeomanry, 50 men of the Kimberley Mounted Corps, a section +of Field Artillery, Ambulance and Supply Corps, set out before dawn on +Wednesday, April 11th. We marched, as it had hitherto been my lot always +to march in this campaign, eastwards towards the fires of dawn, leaving +the dark night-sky behind us. The waggons creaked and jolted across the +rough veldt, the gun harness jingled, the horses snorted out the cold +air, the Kaffirs cried to their beasts; and in this discordant chorus we +stretched out across the sea-plain while the east kindled and glowed. +Above us the clouds changed from grey to dove-colour, from that to +rose-pink; and then, straight before us, the sun came up and gave us +gold for redness. The little purple wild flowers opened, showing us +where the night had left a jewel on every petal, and the sleepy soldiers +plucked them as they passed and cheered themselves with their faint +fragrance. The day, like the night, comes quickly there, and brings with +it an even greater change. For in that last week of autumn we tasted of +every season; hot summer days, nights of spring, dark, cold winter +mornings by the camp fire; and it was when night changed to day that +winter faded into summer. For that reason, I suppose, the hour after +sunrise was the most invigorating of all, and long before the sun had +dried the dew from their clothes the men were marching with a freer +step. + +This will show you how suddenly things may come upon the unwary in that +country. I had been riding with the scouts, two miles in advance of the +column, and we had just been examining through glasses a moving group in +the distance. It turned out to be nothing but cattle feeding--the only +moving things in a plain that seemed absolutely level, and I rode back +and rejoined the column. The Brigadier was just saying that he was +afraid we should see nothing to-day, when an orderly galloped up with a +note from Lord Chesham (who was out with the scouts on our left flank) +to say that the Boers were holding a kopje three miles on our left front +in strength. + +Then began the excitement. Everyone was wide awake in a moment and +curious to see how the new Brigadier would manage his first job. The +convoy was halted, and the troops drawn on under cover of a slight and +almost imperceptible rise in the ground. Riding on in advance I suddenly +came on the scouts in action, that is to say, their horses were picketed +in rear of them, and they were lying hidden in the long grasses. And +there you have a typical picture of this kind of warfare. A row of men +lying on the ground, for no apparent reason, chewing the long stalks and +talking quietly to each other; in front a flat and seemingly vacant +ground; profound silence reigning everywhere. But use your glasses, and +you will see what looks like a shadow, but is really a rise on the +ground, giving advantage enough for the extermination of an army; show +your head, and you will hear the bang and whirr of the Mauser. + +Presently the jingle of harness sounded behind me, and the guns went by +to take up a position on the left. I followed behind them in shelter of +the ridge, and therefore out of sight of the position. When I saw it +again I found that we were facing three long low mounds, running north +and south across our path, and the attack was now being developed. The +infantry, so dense a mass when marching, were now strung out in long +lines sweeping towards the left, and Lord Chesham with two squadrons had +also gone far to the left, to try to get round the position. Meanwhile +the guns were unlimbered, and their anxious crew (the battery had never +been in action before) were on tenter-hooks. + +Up rides a staff officer. "Shell that ridge on the left." + +"Right, sir. Sight for 1,800. Fuse six--no, six and a half," says the +nervous subaltern. + +"Fire, number one gun! Fire, number two gun!" Then two shattering +explosions, the suspense of six seconds, the burst of shrapnel in the +air, the cloud of brown dust rising where it struck, and the hollow +"boom" coming back when all was over. + +These exercises were repeated with much zeal by the subaltern and his +crew, until after about fifty rounds had been fired the order came to +cease fire; and it was afterwards ascertained that, as the net result of +this commotion, one partridge had been shot. But I know of another +result. A certain subaltern member of the Royal Regiment of Artillery +sat thereafter a little straighter on his horse than he had sat a week +ago. + +But while the noise was going on, for all we knew, the Boers might be +suffering heavily from the shrapnel; although we rather thought not, +since no one was shooting back at the guns. Meanwhile the infantry was +threading out to the left, from which direction a shot now and then +sounded; and the remark of the onlookers (the onlooker is invariably a +critic) was, "Why is he committing all his force to a left-flank turning +movement, leaving only a hundred and fifty men to watch his centre and +right, when there may be only a dozen men on that left kopje?" + +So said we, who sat on the gun limbers looking very wise; and, by one of +those unfortunate chances which sometimes justify the amateur critic and +encourage him in his vice, we turned out to be right. What was really +happening was this. The 150 or 400 Boers (I never discovered which, +although I believe it was the smaller number) who sat on that hill and +saw us coming did not wish to stay. So they held the middle kopje, and +threw out what is called a "false flank" on to the left kopje; and then, +seeing our whole force committed to the left, they went behind the hill +and filled their pipes, and packed their saddlebags and rode off, +leaving the six men to keep us busy while they went. And then the six +men departed also; and after much careful scouting, we rode victoriously +over the kopje. If we had attacked on the right flank also, we should +probably have caught them, as Lord Chesham would in a little longer have +got round to their rear and cut them off. Of course, the whole +difficulty in such cases arises from the invisible fire of smokeless +powder. One never knows whether the banging is produced by six men +firing briskly or by sixty firing slowly, and that was why Lord Chesham +had to tire out his horses by taking them round twelve miles to avoid +six men. + +Our only "casualty" was carried out of action in a stretcher--he was a +member of the volunteer company of the Northamptons. + +"They've got me, sir," he said to me, in tones of mingled pride and +martyrdom, "'it in the leg." + +As a matter of fact, the man was only scratched; he could easily walk, +but could not resist the circumstance of the stretcher; and he fell into +his place for the rest of the march, a very proud man. + +We bivouacked at Granaatz Plaatz farm that night, whence the heliograph +winked the news of our engagement to our camp. It was a day of alternate +sunshine and cloud, and the messages gave the signallers much trouble. I +had one to send after the official messages, and the sun was getting low +by the time it began. The shine never lasted for more than twenty +seconds, but they managed to edge the words into the blinks until they +came to "Zwaartzkopjesfontein." The sun always gave out in the middle of +it; the regulations demanded that the word should be begun afresh every +time, and finally the sun sank victoriously on the fell word. Darkness +set in, and a blinding thunderstorm with deluges of rain, but the +signallers were not to be beaten. + +"We'll do ut on the lamp, sorr, and divil take the ould sun for goin' +out on us," said the Irish sergeant. + +I should not like to say how many people had to do with that message +before it got near the cable. In the first place, the light could hardly +penetrate the twelve-mile space of rain; and even when they had +succeeded in "calling up" headquarters the lightning flashes interfered +with our feeble dots and dashes. I shall always remember that little +group of men working most admirably on the kopje high up amid the storm +and rain--one lying on his face in the mud with a telescope propped on a +stone reading the reply; another keeping the paper dry under his helmet +while he spelt the message to the operator; and a third working the +shutter that, by occulting the light, makes flashes from the lamp. + +"_Guardian_--G-u-a-r-d-i-a-n," says the reader. + +"Bang, bang; rattle; bang, rattle, rattle; bang; bang, bang, rattle; +bang, rattle; bang, rattle, rattle; bang, bang, bang," goes the lamp. + +An anxious pause is enlivened by a clap of thunder. + +"Answered," says Spy-glass. And often a word had to be repeated three or +four times before it was answered, but at the fourth letter of +"Zwaartzkopjesfontein" the answering signal was plainly given, followed +by DDDD, which, although not in the code-book, is an expression well +understood by all signallers. + +All that night it rained, and the men in their wretched bivouacs sang +through it all with a most admirable heroism. Imagine yourself with two +other people lying in three inches of water with two blankets supported +by rifles over your head, and you have their condition. And they started +again in the cold, rainy darkness, wet and chilled to the bone, still +singing. But that is the private soldier all over. Put him in really +happy circumstances, and he grumbles himself hoarse; give him something +really to grumble at, and he is cheerful; give him misery, and he sings. +We marched fifteen miles on Thursday, the 12th, and encamped at +Buitendam, the farm of a field-cornet, where a few of the enemy sniped +at us as we arrived and had the satisfaction of seeing the whole force +turned out after a weary march. But of course the Boers are in their +element at this kind of game. A hundred of them wish to drive away some +stock; they leave a dozen to snipe from a ridge, while we send Tommy +plodding round for miles on a flanking movement (for you must keep him +out of range); and when the cattle have been driven far enough away, +Mr. Boer jumps on his horse and is off also, while we ruefully "occupy" +the vacant hill. + +We found a noisy and rather gratifying revenge in destroying some +ammunition which was buried in the garden; the throwing of three +thousand rounds of cordite ammunition into the fire is a peculiarly +exciting game. Some presiding genius, instead of blowing up the two +cases of dynamite, threw them into the dam, whence, I have been told, +they were fished up, not a penny the worse, by the Boers after our +departure next day. + +A thing happened in connection with this Boer ammunition which shows +once more how very easy it is to attribute all kinds of sins to one's +enemy. Someone came running up to a little group of us with several +packets of cartridges, one with the seal broken. + +"Here's a pretty thing," he said; "poisoned bullets--the brutes!" + +Sure enough, there were the steel bullets projecting out of the +cartridges, each completely coated with something very like verdigris up +to the edge of the brass envelope. The sealed packets showed that they +must have been so received from the makers, which easily proved the +most premeditated barbarity. Exclamations were rife; a brigadier was +making notes in his pocket-book; someone was urging a correspondent to +send home a cable announcing the fact, when a man, who had been sitting +quietly through it all, said-- + +"That's all very well, but how about the rifling in the barrel? I guess +there wouldn't be much of that stuff left on by the time the bullet was +spinning." + +Silence fell like a cloud on the group, and the bubble was finally +pricked when another officer came up and said-- + +"More bad grease! I've had to chuck out half a box of ammunition because +the grease has gone bad and fouls the rifles." + +Of course; it was as simple as day. The bullets had, as usual, been +dipped in grease to preserve them, and the grease had gone bad. When I +returned to the little circle there was an animated conversation in +progress on the subject of visiting patrols. + +We marched in next day, eighteen miles, having covered a pear-shaped +track eastwards of about forty miles, while the men behaved like Trojans +under most uncomfortable circumstances. + +We remained for some days in camp, waiting for Lord Roberts to move, and +fighting no more dangerous enemy than the wet and boisterous weather of +young winter. Certainly Lord Methuen had a fine force there, well tried +and in excellent condition, and we all hoped that he might be given a +chance to do something with it. There is something at once lonely and +lofty in the position of a General Officer in the field that wins one's +sympathy. You see it most plainly at a full church parade such as was +held on Easter Sunday, when the whole force was formed into a hollow +square. Walls of living faces; before them, a few paces, company +officers; before them again, commanding officers; the chaplain in the +middle; and then the pleasant-looking Guardsman striding into his place +in front of all and saluting the chaplain--the only person to whom that +honour is rendered. After the short service the General's position is +still more sharply indicated, when the shouting of orders takes the +place of the parson's placid tones. + +"Northamptons! _'shon_! Fours left, by the left--quick--_march_!" and +the tramp of feet nears the spot where the General stands alone. Down +the whole battalion you hear the order run, "Company! eyes _left_!" and +hundreds of eyes are turned on the General, until the (to him) welcome +"Eyes _front_!" relieves him from so particular a scrutiny. Is it not a +paragon of what he has to endure from the world? + + + + +XVI + +A SURPRISE ON THE MARCH + + +Strangely enough, I had just written the last chapter, describing the +profound peace of our environments, when from my tent near the farmhouse +I saw one after another of the headquarters staff mount their horses and +gallop westwards up the hill after Lord Methuen, who was easily first. +One learns to read signs quickly in a military camp, and it did not +require much intuition to understand that something was, in the phrase +of the orderly at the vacant headquarters, "bloomin' well hup." My own +horse was ready in five minutes, and when I reached the top of the hill +I found the cavalry horse lines vacant. + +The site of the Zwaartzkopjesfontein camp turns an abrupt face +eastwards, but on the westward side the plateau slopes almost +imperceptibly to the plain, which is, in its immediate neighbourhood, +thickly sown with kopjes. Down this slope the cavalry were galloping, +about two miles in advance of me, in squadron formation, towards a small +kopje on which we had a picket. Realising that nothing could happen +immediately, I followed them at a foot-pace, and came up with them at +the foot of the hill where they had dismounted. Scouts were sent out +westwards among the low bush with which these slopes are clothed, and +from the top of the hill one could see them scattering and spreading +over ten miles of country; but no sound broke the silence of the hills. +Summer was back again to-day; our sea-plain was calm, shimmering in the +haze; and only the buzz of an insect disturbed the peace of the little +group on the brown hill. + +While we were watching the scouts I heard what was in the wind. It +seemed that an outpost of four yeomen, who were stationed about six +miles north-west from camp, had so far forgotten the delicacy of their +position as to light a fire and cook a turkey which they had found. They +were surprised in the act by a small party of Boers, who fired upon +them. Of the men thus surprised three were taken unhurt, while the +fourth escaped slightly wounded, and, returning to camp, told the +disturbing tale. Three squadrons had instantly been turned out to +attempt a rescue, and it was on their heels that I had come out. We +waited for an hour, and then the scouts came in one by one, all with the +same tale. Nothing to be seen--no Boers; one thought that he had seen +two on the sky line seven miles away, but they might have been Kaffirs +rounding up cattle--he was not sure. So we had to give up the men for +lost, and ride back to camp in a hurry and in rather bad temper, for it +was mail day, and time was precious. But the little disaster proved to +be a cheap enough lesson to the Yeomanry, and also to be the herald of +operations far more important. + +This happened on Thursday, April 19th. On Friday morning I was out at +the same place at half-past six, because a staff officer had told me the +night before that there was "a show on," and a "show" may mean anything +from a patrol to a reconnaissance in force. Lord Chesham, who was in +command, was sitting on the kopje with his staff, and I climbed up and +joined them, the cavalry remaining as before underneath the hill while +the scouts went out. We sat for an hour, comparing each other's glasses, +until the stones became hotter and hotter and the sky line began to wave +in the heat. At last I rode out to where there was an advanced picket, +and sat searching the horizon with glasses. We were in a little grove of +mimosa, and the doves were busy above our heads. After waiting for +another hour we saw some Boers to the north, and presently the right +flank scouts came in to report that there were about forty Boers working +northwards on our flank. + +That was quite enough. Everyone was back at the kopje in no time, and +Lord Chesham sent out Lord Scarborough with one squadron, and Colonel +Mahon with another. + +I went with Lord Scarborough's. We rode out to the point at which the +picket had been cut off, and saw more and more Boers coming from the +north--about seventy--but they never got within range, although they +worked closer and closer. Our little body of men was so well protected +by flankers and scouts that, when the Boers at length began to steal +along our flank with the evident intention of sniping us as we returned, +we were able to retire before they came within range, having discovered +the very useful fact that they were becoming more numerous and bolder in +our neighbourhood. + +As we passed through the camp we saw waggons and tents being packed. +Advancing at last? Oh, dear, no. Only Lord Kitchener at the other end of +the wire playing with us again. We were to retire on Boshof, but Lord +Methuen decided, instead of going into the town, to encamp at Beck's +Farm about five miles out, where the grazing was better. The lay mind +found it hard to understand the purpose of these movements. Lord Methuen +had been humbugged and baffled by Headquarters in what seemed at the +time a most unbusinesslike way. First he was ordered out from Kimberley +to Griquatown. When he was there and had 400 Boers in his grasp he +received a message ordering him back to Kimberley at once. Then he was +sent to Boshof and ordered to march with all speed on Hoopstad. Having +reached Mahemsfontein he was ordered to halt, and that place being +unsuitable for an encampment, had to fall back on Zwaartzkopjesfontein. +And then he was ordered back to Boshof again. No doubt the explanation +was that the advance of the main army under Lord Roberts had been +delayed, but of course the Boers believed that all this was due to their +own formidable movements, and were accordingly encouraged. + +Well, there was no doubt that we were moving, and I hoped that we were +going to march in the direction of Fourteen Streams and do something +towards the relief of Mafeking. That was what we had all been longing +to do, and it was with a long face that a staff officer said, "Back to +Boshof." + +So back we started. + +Our column was nearly three miles long, and just as the tail of it was +leaving camp and the head of it, like a snake's, beginning to curl round +Spitz Kop--a lofty cone-shaped kopje beside the road--pom--pom--pom--pom! +suddenly sounded from--where? The wicked little shells licked like a +rising tide along our right flank. + +Up on a ridge far on our right I saw the rogues working their gun, as +busy as monkeys. Our friend the pom-pom once more, and most vivacious. +At the same time I heard the banging of Mausers behind me, and the air +above sang for an instant. And when that flight was over--Boom...! and +the long screaming whirr--sounds which tell you that someone has touched +off a field-gun, and that the shell is coming your way. This one was a +common shell, and did not come within a hundred yards. The whole thing +was very prettily done. Such a surprise, too. We had no idea that they +had guns. + +Turning my horse round I paused for an instant to watch the effect and +the result. The column was still moving on, the Kaffir drivers shouting +a little louder than usual perhaps, but not a bullock out of place or +even a sheep touched. They were firing on a rather vulnerable part of +the convoy, where a flock of about a thousand sheep were being driven +and the remount horses led. But even while I looked the rear-guard was +spreading out and joining hands with the right flank, and the sound of +rifle fire from the ridge showed that they were already engaged. The +pom-pom and the 12-pounder continued for about a quarter of an hour, and +then our battery opened with a roar and silenced them in about two +minutes. And all the while the convoy jolted along the road, and the +rest of the action, or the chief part of it, remained with the right +flank. But I could see the Boers galloping along the ridge in front of +us to be ready for the convoy when it should come up, and certainly that +ought not to have been possible. It is ungrateful to criticise the +Yeomanry who had been doing so very well and learning so quickly, but, +if the truth must be told, their work on the right flank that day was +not beyond reproach. Once, when the fire was slack, I went across to the +right, and rode back very quickly, for I found kopjes which, according +to all military rules, should have been occupied by us, held by the +enemy. + +Of course to guard efficiently the flank of a marching column is not +easy for untried troops, especially when a running fight has to be kept +up. In this kind of country, where a line of kopjes runs parallel with +the road, the best plan is for two flanking parties to occupy them by +turn. Thus A party should occupy No. 1 kopje and B party No. 2; when No. +1 needs no longer to be held A leaves it and seizes No. 3, and then B +leaves No. 2 and occupies No. 4, and so on. But the Yeomanry were +strolling aimlessly along the foot of the kopjes, while the nimble Boer +was climbing up the other side to the top, and shooting down upon +them--or over their heads at the convoy--as he pleased. + +It is a marvel that of our twenty casualties only two were killed. If +the Boers had known of our movement just a little sooner I fear we +should have suffered heavily, or at least lost many cattle and perhaps a +few waggons. At the same time we were taken at the usual disadvantage of +a moving force that has to defend itself, and, with the exception of the +flanking, our work was done really well. The guns at once silenced the +Boer artillery, and they were brought into action so expeditiously that +the Boers never got the proper range. It is true that one shell plumped +into the middle of a flock of sheep, but I believe it killed only two. +And our rear-guard fought manfully. The fire was heavy there, and one +could not see much, but I saw enough to realise that theirs was stiff +work. They and darkness finished the engagement, and we went on to +Boshof, arriving there just as night closed in. + +I shall never forget riding down the main street in pitch darkness--the +street full of waggons (each with its sixteen oxen), blundering about, +the waggon in front of one suddenly stopping, and the waggon behind +coming on--cries, curses, hailings, and railings of the drivers and +soldiers--everyone trying to find his camp or his waggons or his horses, +and not a light to be seen. And, in spite of it all, order emerged from +the chaos; brigade signals flashing, camps pitched, pickets posted to +keep watch over us all night, fires lighted, stations allotted; and +presently "last post" and "lights out," and in spite of the bellowing +oxen, rest. + + + + +XVII + +UNDER THE RED CROSS FLAG + + +There was a burial party going out to Spitz Kop early the next morning, +and Major Pollock and I had leave to go with it. No one was armed, the +ambulance being preceded by an orderly carrying the P.M.O.'s bath-towel. +When we came near to the Boer pickets we rode on with the bath-towel, +while the Red Cross flag waved over the ambulance; and had come quite +close before we distinguished the two figures sitting amongst the large +brown boulders of the hill. + +They both spoke English and treated us with civility. They were both +farmers from the neighbourhood of Boshof, and had a keen appetite for +news of the town. We were soon deep in an examination of their +weapons--one of them had a beautiful Mauser sporting rifle, +hair-sighted, of which he was extremely proud; altogether we had quite a +friendly chat. They gave us the best information they could as to the +whereabouts of our dead and wounded, but it seemed that the Boer +ambulance party had been out working all night, and had recovered nearly +all the wounded as well as the bodies of two dead. + +We went on behind the kopje into a level space surrounded by ridges, and +as we advanced (the bath-towel well to the fore) mounted men began to +appear from behind the ridges. First by twos and threes, then by sixes +and dozens, from north and south and east and west the black figures +came cantering towards us, until our little party was surrounded by, I +suppose, three or four hundred mounted men. The babel of talk was +deafening; everyone had something to say about the fight of yesterday; +and in addition to that it was easily apparent that merely as Englishmen +we were objects of absorbing interest to these pastoral Free Staters. I +know that my tobacco-pouch was empty in about two minutes, and I +presently fell into more particular conversation with the Boer doctor, +who had been up all night attending to his own and our wounded. It was a +rough-and-ready kind of first aid that he gave; a whisky-bottle filled +with carbolic dressing hung from his saddle on one side, and on the +other were rolls of lint and bandages; but I believe that the ambulance +equipment in the laager was thoroughly complete. He told me of one of +our men who had been wounded in the thigh, and had been seen late the +night before crawling about on the ground; but when they had brought +back a stretcher for him they had not been able to find him. The doctor +thought he knew where he was likely to be, so I volunteered to go with +him and search the place. The doctor and I, therefore, with one other +Boer, rode away towards the west. + +The wind was blowing strong from the west, choking down our voices as we +tried to speak while we rode; and therefore we had no idea until some +hours later of the excitement that was caused by our departure. It +seemed that the Commandant, who had been engaged in conversation with +our doctor, had ordered that no one should advance any farther into the +Boer position, and that the empty ambulances must be sent on to receive +the dead and wounded. Indeed we heard afterwards that the friendly +outpost which we first encountered had got into very hot water for +allowing us to pass. When I galloped off, therefore, I was unconsciously +disobeying a very important order, and several of the Boers and our own +party shouted after me that I must come back; but riding against a stiff +breeze none of us could hear a word, and we were so soon out of sight +and over the ridge that the Boers, with a shrug, left me to my fate. +Pollock called the second in command (a Scotchman, I regret to say) to +witness that I had not heard the order, and he promised to intercede on +my behalf with the Commandant, who was a son of General Cronje of +Paardeberg fame. + +I had now better return to my own adventures. With my two companions I +soon reached a rocky plateau, where the horses had to choose their steps +carefully amongst the sharp stones, and searching thus for about an hour +we had a long and interesting conversation. I remember asking one of +them what his real feeling was about their chance of success. + +"We shall win," he said, with that simple confidence, born of ignorance +and self-trust, which is often a dangerous element in a force opposed to +us. "Lord Roberts with all his army cannot leave Bloemfontein; we oppose +him there. Your Lord Methuen cannot advance here; he has had to retire +twice." + +We knew that they would thus interpret Lord Roberts's delay and his +contradictory orders to Lord Methuen, but it was rather galling not to +be able to deny it. + +"We have no dislike for the English," the man went on; and it was at +least true of him and many of the Free Staters whom I met, although it +was not true of all the Transvaalers. "You are brave soldiers and you +fight well and we can respect you, but you are led astray by Joe +Chamberlain." His face darkened when he uttered the name; I had a +glimpse of a man hated by a nation. + +"Rhodes, too," he said, but with less hatred and more contempt. "If we +had caught him in Kimberley we should have killed him, but if _we_ don't +kill him----" and he named an alternative in which he clearly saw a +Providence working on behalf of the wronged. + +I asked him a little later what he thought of our generals and of whom +he was most afraid? He was quite ready with an opinion. + +"There is no difference," he said, with a lofty air, "it makes no +difference to us; we take them as they come. First come first served." +He was even impartial. "Your Lord Methuen has been blamed for +Magersfontein, but the English do not know that we were as much +surprised and scared as he was when his troops stumbled on us in the +dark. It was a very near thing for us. We are not afraid of Kitchener of +whom you talk so much. Roberts? Yes, he is a fairly good general, but +alone we do not fear him. Roberts and Kitchener together are good; we +do not like them. But alone we will take them on any day." + +Although we talked for a long time I did not really learn much from +these Boers, who represented the most unthinking class. Just as I had +found the English colonists to conduct their arguments in a circle and +constantly to bring forward the same old statements, so I found these +Boers repeating the same assertions over and over again: that the Lord +was on their side; that they must prevail in the end; that they could +not trust us; that we had played them false; that we were really after +their gold-fields; "if there had been no gold in South Africa there +would have been no war." They spoke as men who repeated a lesson; yet I +am bound to say that they spoke with sincerity, and although they seemed +to speak parrot-wise, they probably accepted current forms of speech as +giving the best expression to a deep and universal conviction. + +We had been riding for nearly two hours, when one of my companions +noticed marks on the ground evidently made by a man dragging himself +along. We followed this spoor down the rocky slope where ferns and +little shrubs divided the stones. It wound about, choosing the +smoothest places, covering altogether a distance of about a mile; it +led us at last to the shade of a mimosa bush, where the poor soldier had +ended his duty and journey together. + +There was nothing to be done now but to rejoin my party, and when I +expressed a wish to do so the doctor said, "This will be your nearest +way," pointing to a barrier range of low hills. They lay in the right +direction, so I rode on for about a mile and a half, the two Boers still +accompanying me, until we reached the top of the nearest hill. What was +my surprise to see lying below me the smoke and waggons and picketed +horses of the enemy's laager! The Boers, to the number of perhaps seven +or eight hundred, were sitting or lying beneath trees that made a circle +round the mile-wide basin. I glanced at the faces of my companions with +some misgiving, but honesty was written there. + +"I have no business to be here, you know," said I. "We shall all get +into a row." They preceded me down the slope, and, with a presentiment +that I should get out again, I slipped out my pocket compass and made a +mental note of the bearings of the laager from Spitz Kop, the head of +which was visible about six miles away. There was a small farmhouse +which appeared to be used as headquarters; round this were twenty or +thirty waggons piled with cases, but, so far as I could see, no forage +or oats. There were either three or four guns; there were certainly four +gun-carriages, but one of them may have been a limber. As we came into +the basin a small, young-looking man, to whom I was introduced as the +Commandant, met us. + +"Please remain here," he said to me sharply; and as he led the doctor +away, pouring forth a stream of Dutch, I gathered that my poor friend +was getting into trouble. At last Cronje came back and addressed me, +speaking English very imperfectly. This is the substance of what he +said-- + +"You should never have been allowed to come here, and it is my duty to +detain you as a prisoner." + +I remonstrated. "I'm a non-combatant, sir." + +"I cannot help that. You are here and you have seen this place, and I +must send you to Pretoria, whence, if the authorities are satisfied that +you are a genuine non-combatant, you may be sent to Delagoa Bay. It was +very foolish of you to come here." + +I explained that I had come in ignorance, not knowing where my guide +would lead me; that I had come to look for a wounded man, and under the +protection of a flag of truce; that the whole thing was an unfortunate +accident, and that he should treat it as such. + +Much to my surprise he seemed to waver. "If I were to let you go"--and +he looked at me sideways--"would you undertake to give no information?" + +I suggested that the question was an unfair one. "You know how you would +answer it yourself, sir." + +"Yes" (he was melting), "we are honourable also, and to our own side +first of all. I have spoken of you with the doctor," he said, looking at +me kindly for the first time, "and I shall let you go. By rights you +ought to go to Pretoria. Of course your general may come and attack us +here, and your information will be useful, but we are strong enough for +all the English. Bring his horse," he shouted to someone standing by, +and to me, "You may go. No, you may not!" he added sharply; and then, +with a smile, "not until you have had a cup of coffee." + +Upon this civility we parted, but it was not until I had rejoined my +anxious friends with the ambulance that I began to suspect Commandant +Cronje of a piece of pleasantry. Major Pollock, it appeared, had +interceded on my behalf so effectually that my fate had been decided and +my safe return promised long before I had met the Commandant. He +afterwards entertained himself by playing upon my anxiety, which, I have +no doubt, was apparent enough. + +But now the ambulance was slowly returning from the place whither it had +been sent to receive the dead bodies. A place for the grave was chosen +where a thorn tree spread shadows on the ground. There were stony hills +all round, encircling a wide and green basin just within the Boer lines, +and it was beside one of these that the grave was dug. The ground was +very hard and the labour severe; it was at least two hours before the +fatigue-party, working in short shifts, had excavated a resting-place +for the two bodies. While they were working the Boers gathered round us +to the number of a couple of hundred. They were very silent, eyeing us +with an absorbed interest that embraced every article of our equipment. +Men of the humblest peasant class, poorly--in many respects +wretchedly--clad, they presented, in their ragged and shabby apparel, a +sharp contrast to our Yeomanry soldiers, who seemed, by comparison, trim +and well cared for. The Boers wore their ordinary clothes, which were +relieved by only one military touch--the bandolier. This was generally +of home manufacture, and in many cases was a touching and significant +document of affection. "Thought flies best when the hands are easily +busy"; ah, how many thoughts and fears had been worked into those +bandoliers when busy fingers wrought them in the far-away farmhouse! In +some of them, I thought, portraits of the makers were to be discovered. +Fancy stitches and cunning invention which provided for thrice the usual +number of cartridges told one tale; flannel paddings which sought to +make of the military appointment a winter garment told another. The +Boers, I suppose, envied us our serge and whipcord, but to examine their +homely makeshifts was to realise that even the art of Stohwasser may +leave something to be desired. Although they eyed us diligently they had +now fallen strangely silent; they offered us little conversation, but +spoke freely in low tones amongst themselves; they replied to our +questions with a brief civility that did not encourage any very brisk +intercourse. We soon gave up the attempt and lay down under the shade of +the ambulance in our sheltered hollow, listening to the wind singing in +the thin vegetation of the hill above us. + +The sound of picks ceased at last, and an orderly came to report that +the grave was ready. The stretchers were withdrawn from the ambulance +and exposed two bodies stained with soil and blood--one shot through the +lungs, another through the head; neither of them remarkable for the +dignity that death is supposed to lend to the meanest features, both +looking strangely small and almost grotesque in their crumpled postures: +two troopers of the Yeomanry, known (as it happened) to not one man of +the crowd; and now emerging, before they reached a final obscurity, to +be for a moment a mark for all our thoughts and eyes. They were laid +beside the grave; the Boers ranked themselves upon one side, we upon the +other; the doctor opened his book and, shyly enough, began the service. +A bird flew twittering and perched on the thorn above us, making the +office choral. + +You are to remember that there were present to us just the simplest +facts of life. Hills and the naked sun, great winds and death--before +these we may cease to make believe; they tune and temper us to +accordance with pulses which, if only we are honest, will give us back +multiplied our own faintest vibration. Honesty is easy when we can +forget ourselves; and here, where the wind seemed to pluck the words +from the reader's mouth and carry them to the hills that matched them in +grandeur, they cut the last link between us and our selfish thoughts and +fears, imparting a sense of world-without-end, making us one with our +feathered clerk who, his red-brown wings folded, wove a thread of song +into the Psalm. In that texture of admonition and prayer are many +seizing pictures: man walking in a vain shadow and disquieting himself +in vain, heaping up riches, ignorant who shall gather them: man turned +to destruction: our secret sins set in the light of one countenance: a +displeasure in which we consume away: a wrathful indignation that can +make all our busy years as a tale that is told. The first thought in +each of us had been, "There, but for the grace of God, I lie"; but the +bird's song seemed so to chase away all shadows of self-pity that Death +appeared in his natural order with the wind and rain and sun; no more +unkind than they. + +At a signal the bodies were placed in the earth. No hateful furniture; +clay against clay: they seemed almost to nestle in it. A trooper covered +one face with his handkerchief, his comrade shielded the other with a +branch of mimosa; and while the words flowed to an end we stood, +Dutchmen and Englishmen, our small quarrel for the moment forgotten, +face to face with clear truth and knowing for once the taste of +sincerity. It was a good prayer to pray, that at our own last hour we +should not fall from that charity for any pains of death. + +It seemed a natural thing for us to shake hands with the Boers before we +turned to resume this game of hostility in which we stumbled upon such +great issues. It was a silent ride home, and I need not say that it went +sore against the grain with me to make my report to Lord Methuen and the +Intelligence Department respecting the position of the laager. My +thoughts were not upon compass bearings and distances, but in the +sun-steeped basin where the grave was; and all day long I had a picture +in my mind of two groups of men united in one human emotion, but now +seeking each others' lives. At night, long after the camp slept, I lay +awake with the echo of the graveside "last post" ringing in my ears, +and, because of the appetite for effect that afflicts us in weak +moments, I was teased and worried by a sense of incompleteness. In a +military camp, after "last post" and "lights out" have been sounded, no +bugle save that which sounds an alarm may be blown until the hour of +reveille. The soldiers under the hill had been trumpeted to their last +sleep; in a few hours I should hear the morning call: why should they +never hear it again? Suddenly my irrational complaint was silenced as +certain words of Saint Paul to the Corinthians reverberated in my mind. +After all, it was well; one night was but a little longer than the +other; and, those words being true, my troopers should wake to a +familiar sound. + + + + +PART V + +WITH THE FLYING COLUMN TO MAFEKING + + + + +XVIII + +A STRATEGIC SECRET + + +It was now more than six weeks since we had hurried from Bloemfontein to +be in time for the expected operations for the relief of Mafeking. When +Lord Methuen had moved from Boshof we had been sure that Mafeking was +the goal, and I think that Lord Methuen himself had at least expected to +conduct a turning movement on the Boer position at Fourteen Streams. It +is easy to see now, when even Lord Roberts's strong march on Pretoria +has been harassed and his communications interrupted, why such a +movement of Methuen's small force could not have been successful; but we +did not see it then. There was a great dearth of information, and the +secret of the Flying Column was kept perfectly until within a few days +of its departure. While we were waiting at Boshof in the blank days that +followed the rear-guard engagement everyone suspected his fellow of some +secret information, and men's most trivial movements were elaborately +construed into indications that they meditated some independent action. +Even Lord Methuen was so much in the dark that he used to say he liked +to see the correspondents coming, as he supposed it meant that he should +have something to do. Those of us who were there knew really nothing, +and had only come prompted by a vague instinct that something was in the +air. + +Unavoidable as the delay in despatching a column to the relief of +Mafeking seems to have been, I think that there was one moment at which, +if Lord Methuen had had a slightly stronger force under his command, the +course of the campaign on the north-west frontier might have been +changed, and Mafeking relieved by pressure from the south. After my +accidental discovery of the Boer laager near Spitz Kop there was a long +discussion by Lord Methuen and his staff of the possibilities of +surrounding and attacking the enemy. It was plain that this large force, +commanded by young Cronje, had moved across from Fourteen Streams with +the object of harrying us and perhaps retaking Boshof; and for a few +days there was practically no force at Fourteen Streams. Now if Lord +Methuen could have sent out a light column westward from Boshof to the +rear of the laager, and also held the enemy in front with the remainder +of his force, he might with good fortune have bagged the whole Boer +force, which he knew from my information to be weak in guns. I know he +was urged to do it; I know he wanted to do it; I know what the chance of +a sensational success meant to a man whose successes had hitherto been +unexciting and his one failure a spectacle; and I admired him for not +running the risk. It would have been so easy to yield to the urgency of +his staff and Intelligence Department, and success was almost certainly +assured; but Lord Methuen, who has been foolishly accused of all kinds +of rashness, chose in this case to read in that "almost" an assurance +that he was not justified in taking the risk. He had no Horse Artillery; +and the rapid and secret march to the rear of the laager might have been +impossible with field-guns. So he decided at any rate; and decisions +like these are among not the least important victories of a campaign. + +Since the Boers were in the neighbourhood, and might at any moment make +an attack, Major Pollock and I were anxious not to leave Boshof until it +became absolutely necessary. We had a secret agent watching our +interests at Kimberley in the person of a staff officer whose name I +suppose I had better not mention; thus we witnessed, without misgiving, +the sudden and hurried flight of all the other correspondents from +Boshof, mystery written on their faces. Thus we spent two more peaceful +days riding in the shady lanes and lying on the sunburnt kopjes, +sweeping the horizon with the telescopes of Lord Chesham and his +pleasant crew; thus we received a telegram from Kimberley advising us to +"come here and attend to the business yourselves"; thus we rode away and +closed what will remain in my memory as the pleasantest chapter in the +campaign. + +The diary that follows was written during the march of the Relief +Column--not always under the most favourable circumstances. The +imperfections of a document of this kind are so closely bound up with +its only merit that I have decided to leave it exactly as it was +written, and not to risk a sacrifice of reality in an attempt to abolish +defects which, I hope, the reader will regard as being in the +circumstances unavoidable. + + + + +XIX + +THE DEPARTURE FROM KIMBERLEY + + +BARKLY WEST, _Thursday, May 3rd._ + +At last! + +During the inaction of the past weeks there has been but one question +asked--"Is nothing to be done for Mafeking?" With the gallant little +garrison waiting and keeping the enemy from the door while disease is +busy within, it has been hard to sit still and wait for the orders that +have been so long in coming. But Kimberley, which had been almost +emptied of troops by Lord Methuen's departure, gradually filled again as +General Hunter's division assembled; and a few days ago it became plain +that some movement was imminent. + +Tuesday evening--the eve of the mysterious move--was full of romance for +anyone who knew what was about to happen. The dining-room of the club +was gay with yellow and brass and scarlet and the subtler colours of +wine and flowers; but conversation grouped itself into the small low +choruses that indicate far more truly than one united sound indicates +the presence of some common and thrilling interest. Earlier in the day +I had been admitted to a kind of _séance_ in the Press Censor's office, +where an envelope alluringly marked "secret" had been opened, and its +contents read to a "limited number of correspondents of known +discretion." Within it was written that a flying column under Colonel +Mahon would set out at daybreak on the 4th from Barkly West for the +relief of Mafeking; that a certain number of correspondents (of known +discretion) would be invited to accompany it; that the estimated time +was fifteen days; that no provisions or forage would be supplied; that +the correspondents must give their word of honour to divulge nothing +until a certain time: to all of which we set our hands and seals, and +then departed from the office somewhat impressed. It is characteristic +of our Intelligence Department that on leaving the office I was greeted +by a Kimberley resident with the remark--"Well, I hear that Mahon is +going to make a dash for Mafeking on Friday _viâ_ Barkly West; good +business!" + +[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL BRYAN MAHON, D.S.O.] + +So in the evening, although if you had asked point-blank questions you +would have been told nothing, the forthcoming dash to the rescue was +really the topic. That it is to be the work of the Colonial troops is +fair enough, since no one has a better right than they to help their +besieged comrades. Therefore the British officer has been for once +eclipsed, and the Colonials have had it all their own way. They hovered +and bustled about the club all the evening, taking leave of friends and +settling affairs. Some of them, one knew, would not return; and the +thought never fails to lend a strange kind of solemnity to the eve of a +big enterprise. "We're going to have a tough job," Colonel Peakman had +said, and men had looked grave for a moment, and then gone on talking +and laughing; but the prospect of serious fighting was displeasing to no +one. That is always the way; the excitements and not the horrors of a +battle are remembered; every man thinks that, though all the rest should +fall, he shall stand at the last; a sense of danger in the future is a +trumpet-call. And this is a noble part of warfare, to relieve the +distressed. A duty to be done at all costs; no questions of how or why, +but a clear lead. + +There is something in the very words "flying column" to appease the +impatient; wings in the air, a swoop upon the victim. But it is merely a +bold figure of speech, and means in a case like this a rapid march of +twenty miles a day, mules instead of oxen, short rations, starving and +ruined horses. These flying cavalry columns and forced marches (the only +means by which the slippery Boer is to be cornered) demonstrate to how +great an extent this is a campaign of horses. Only the shortest horse +rations can be carried, and even at the best, a fortnight's continuous +work of this kind will so knock up a good horse that he must have three +months' rest before he can be of any further use. So your flying column +must start with fat horses, and use up their reserve of flesh, arriving +at the end with skeletons. It is dreadful enough to see a good beast, +and hundreds of good beasts, starving before your eyes and working hard +all the time; but it is only one of the many horrible and necessary +accompaniments of a war. What is asked of the horses on an expedition of +this kind is that they shall carry a man say twenty-five miles a day on +the march, and at the end perhaps carry him another thirty galloping +about in a fight; and no animal will stand more than a fortnight of +that, even on full rations. So the remount officers have been busy in +Kimberley, buying up every animal that looked as though he would last +for a fortnight; and the private buyer has been hard put to it to +provide for his needs. I was lucky enough in the two hours of yesterday +afternoon that were available for the purpose to light upon a cart and +team that would carry my load of forage and bully beef; and at 5 p.m. to +see the leaders harnessed in for the first time, while my faithful +Kaffir groom gathered up the reins with doubt in his eye. Of course the +leaders turned round and tried to climb up over the wheelers' heads, but +at length they came to an approximate sort of unanimity as to which pair +was to lead. Thereafter I had the fearful joy of seeing the equipage set +forth at speed down the narrow street. A policeman escaped with his life +at one corner, a cripple was snatched from death at another, a nigger +was cannoned off at a third--the proprietor of the public menace riding +diffidently behind the while, trying to look as though he had no hand in +it. But the great thing was that I had got something capable of "flying" +with the column, and I was twice hailed on the way out to know whether I +would sell the horses. + +From Kimberley to Barkly (whither the forces comprising the column had +proceeded earlier in the day) the road lies through twenty-five miles +of the loneliest veldt; except at the half-way house I did not see a +human being all the way. The young moon was up, and threw the earth and +sky into sombre night colours--a purple wall of earth meeting the +spangled violet of the sky in one long line. For twenty miles of the +road there was hardly a sound save the beat of horses' feet; but +presently there stole on my ear a kind of music for which one's senses +long in this barren country--the murmur of water over stones. It was the +Vaal river, running here broad and deep, and making Barkly West a +pleasing instead of a dull place. Beside a sharp bend the lights of an +inn shone upon the road, promising rest for tired people, whether they +had four feet or two; and the promise was fulfilled. + +To-day has been given up to horse-buying; the place was like a fair; +everyone who owned even the framework of a horse brought it out and +offered it for sale; and officers were competing busily for the purchase +of any decent animal. I found time to go down and listen to the +river--strange sights the water that is flowing so quietly must have +passed this morning! For one of our 6-inch siege guns was sent up to +Warrenton last night, and opened at daybreak on the Boers at Fourteen +Streams. One longs to know something of the result; but the water flows +secretly on into more peaceful scenes. + + +GUNNING'S FARM, _Saturday, May 5th_. + +We did not get away until nearly nine yesterday morning, and for the +first few miles were much delayed by breakdowns in the transport column. +The transport mule is a troublesome creature; sometimes he insists on +stopping to pick up grass; always he is reluctant to do merely what is +required of him. So although our transport column is supposed to take up +only one mile of road, it straggled over a good two miles during +Friday's march. The road was very dangerous, winding through narrow +passes and thick bush country; therefore the scouting was slow and +laborious, and the whole column was halted before every unusually +dangerous place. But we met no Boers; and since we desire to proceed +very quietly and unostentatiously at first this was fortunate. The +column consists of about eleven hundred men of the Kimberley Mounted +Corps and the Imperial Light Horse, a mixed company of picked volunteers +from the Sixth Fusilier Brigade (representing England, Ireland, +Scotland, and Wales), and a four-gun battery of the Royal Horse +Artillery, with two pom-poms in addition. Every man is mounted, +including the infantry men, who ride on waggons. Yesterday we marched +only twelve miles, owing to the difficulties of the ground, but in the +evening our business began in earnest. Lights had to be out at eight +o'clock, and this morning we marched off at two, no lights or fires +being allowed, not even a match for a cigarette. The joys of rising at +1.30 in the cold pitch darkness (for these are winter mornings, in spite +of the summer noonday), and of trying to harness a team, and pick up all +one's kit, exist only in retrospect, where all troubles fade. The +six-hour march this morning was very cold and very tedious; four hours +of it were in darkness, and how late the sun seemed to be in rising! But +he came punctually, in spite of a mild panic amongst us lest something +should have happened to him, and the pageant of his rising was +entertainment for the last two hours. Fifteen miles before breakfast and +fifteen after lunch--a journey almost too heavy for the second day. Two +teams of mules were knocked up, and more will follow if this goes on. + +At Spitz Kop, our breakfast outspan, we heard guns in the distance, and +from the top of the high hill we could see the little fluffy clouds of +smoke, that meant so much to someone, bursting on both sides. There was +an alarm that the Boers were coming our way, and the guns were turned +out; but it was a false alarm, and the column came on here to Gunning's +Farm, where we arrived after dark. Camping in the dark after a +thirty-mile march is wild work--such a commotion of hails and calls, +such searching for one's camp, and for the watering-place for horses. +The hour of lamplight is precious, and I am near the end of it now. + + +MUCHADIN, _Monday, May 7th_. + +A day seldom passes on which one does not receive fresh proof that the +world contains foolish people. In the small hours of Sunday morning, +when the camp was astir in the darkness, a rifle-shot rang out quite +close to me. I could hear the bullet going up like a rocket until the +sound was lost. It was the usual thing--some idiot charging his +magazine, and forgetting to close the cut-off--with the result that when +he snapped his trigger the gun went off. Any good result of our +discomfortable regulation as to fires and lights is quite cancelled by +such an act, which proves much more certainly than fires can prove the +presence of armed troops. The same thing happened early this morning, +and the pickets were turned out to find that the alarm was false. It is +a great pity, but where the British soldier is to be found in any force, +there seems invariably to be found also the man who lets off his gun by +mistake. The marvel is that the thing generally hurts no one. + +Sunday's march was uneventful, except that trouble began among the +horses. One of my four fellow-correspondents lost a fine pair--the +wheelers of his team--which he had bought in Barkly on Thursday, and +which probably returned to their former owner. But as we have no lines +of communication, he will not see them again. My horse fell sick, and +the three hours of the midday bivouac had to be spent in hastily +breaking in to the saddle one of the leaders of my team. The +headquarters staff lost two horses, and five mules strayed from the +supply park. The fact was rather tersely announced by Corporal Jenkins +of the Army Service Corps, who came up while I was talking to his +officer, saluted, and said in the language of his kind-- + +"Please, sir, I'm deficient of five mules." + +The loss of animals from so small a column is really serious, and +everyone is looking blue over his deficiencies. I am deficient of a +spade and two nose-bags. But then I am to the good by one lame dog, who, +in return for slight services rendered on the road, refuses to allow any +but my own lawful servants to approach the encampment. We did eighteen +miles to-day, and encamped at Greefdal in the evening. We are now well +north of Fourteen Streams, where all day long we have heard the guns +booming. In the afternoon the native scouts (who work far outside the +ground patrolled by our scouts and flankers) reported a party of 500 +Boers approaching from the south and east, but they must have turned +northward, for we have heard nothing more of them. This morning we could +see a long line of dust moving about twenty miles to the north-east; but +it has subsided, and the Boers are probably in laager. It is fortunate +that Colonel Mahon is an absolutely careful man, since any little +neglect in the matter of patrolling and choosing bivouac positions might +mean complete disaster to the column, and the frustration of its end. +These little things have often been neglected in this campaign; and +whenever there has been a convoy captured, it has been because someone +has taken for granted that someone else was holding a drift or pass. So +we move warily through a placid country that may become at any moment +full of menace; travelling may at any moment be exchanged for fighting, +and the roadway for the battlefield; even the green slopes that front us +may hide the gravest danger, and the river-bed with its grasses and +lapsing waters become a pit of death. But one knows little of the +future; it is on the knees of the gods. + + + + +XX + +FROM TAUNGS TO VRYBURG + + +DRY HARTZ, _Tuesday, May 8th_. + +The march of yesterday afternoon was not without its incidents. We came +in sight of the village of Taungs at about four o'clock, our road +passing ten miles to the west of it at the opposite side of the Hartz +valley. I was riding with the advance guard when a man rode up from the +direction of the village. + +"I've just come to have a look at the troops," said he; "I'm a British +subject." + +"Oh, are you?" said the colonel in command of the guard, and ordered him +to be detained and examined. He told us a great many lies, and is now a +prisoner. We have collected about nine prisoners so far, chiefly +insurgents against whom there is grave evidence; and they ride along in +an ox-waggon quite contentedly, while the dozen men of the Scots +Fusiliers who act as their escort regale them with specimens of northern +wit. To judge by the sounds of hilarity which float from the waggon, +even towards the end of a long march, their efforts are well +appreciated. + +A patrol was sent over to Taungs, and we watched the squadron dancing +away until a fold of the green plain hid them. Soon afterwards we came +into camp. + +The paramount question at such a moment is always: "What is the water +like?" Last night it was very bad, and there was no officer in charge of +the watering when the rear of the column came in. The only water was a +small, almost stagnant river, and the men were into it, bathing, as soon +as they arrived. Then the horses and mules were watered, and stirred up +the mud with their feet; and then we sent for drinking water. Of course +one has it boiled, but even so----. + +While we were having dinner the patrol returned from Taungs, having cut +the wire north and south and destroyed the instrument. They found the +village empty except for women. + +Encounters with insurgents are often amusing, although amongst them they +have so far afforded natives of all our three kingdoms reason for shame. +Here is something quite typical. + +SCENE: _The veldt road. Enter very slowly from the north, an ox-waggon. +Enter from the south, a cloud of dust, out of which emerges the Mounted +Advance Guard of the column. They meet, and halt._ + +TROOPER _in charge of ox-waggon, saluting and pointing with his thumb +within_: + +"Come to report, sir. Found this woman trekkin' along, and won't give no +account of herself." + +_Commanding Officer draws aside tent of waggon and discovers fat and +hearty old woman._ + +C.O.: "Now, my good woman, what have you to say for yourself?" (_No +answer._) + +TROOPER: "Please, sir, she come from that there rebel farm." (_To fat +and hearty old woman_) "Now then, missus, tell the Colonel who you are." +(_Long silence, during which something seems to be working in the mind +of the fat and hearty old woman._) + +C.O.: "Can anyone speak Dutch? Here, Evans, ask her what she has to say +for herself." (_Trooper Evans asks her in fluent Dutch--no +answer--question repeated with emphasis._) + +F. and H.O.W.: "Whethen now, and shure it's Mrs. McGuire Oi am, and bad +luck to the whole av ye. Glory be to Goodness, but it's a quare place +Oi'd be in if the likes of you was all Oi had to me back, wid all me +bits av sticks and the ould hin herself took be the Boers--bad cess to +'em" (_and much more to the same effect, during which the waggon is +searched and a couple of Martini rifles found in it, and various other +damning evidences, with the result that the waggon is confiscated, and +the fat and hearty old woman bundled off to her farm, protesting +loudly_). + +But although such incidents are sometimes amusing they are often +painful, and the burning of houses that has gone on this afternoon has +been a most unpleasant business. We have been marching through a part of +the country where some mischievous person has been collecting and +encouraging insurgents. And this afternoon in the course of about ten +miles we have burned no less than six farmhouses. Care seems to have +been taken that there was proper evidence against the owners who were +absent. In one case the wife of an insurgent who was lying sick at a +friend's farm, watched from her sick husband's bedside the burning of +her home a hundred yards away. I cannot think that punishment need take +this wild form; it seems as though a kind of domestic murder were being +committed while one watches the roof and furniture of a house blazing; +and how many obscure deaths of the soul take place while a woman +watches her home, and all the little valueless possessions that are +precious to her, falling into ruin before her eyes? I stood till late +last night before the red blaze, and saw the flames lick round each +piece of the poor furniture--the chairs and tables, the baby's cradle, +the chest of drawers containing a world of treasure; and when I saw the +poor housewife's face pressed against the window of the neighbouring +house my own heart burned with a sense of outrage. The crime of +insurrection is a serious one, but I never heard yet of a crime for +which the responsibility rested on the criminal alone. + +On quite different grounds, this destruction would appear to be worse +than useless. The effect on those of the Colonial troops who, in +carrying out the orders to destroy, are gratifying their feelings of +hatred and revenge, is very bad. Their discipline is far below that of +the Imperial troops, and they soon get out of hand. They swarm into the +houses, looting and destroying, and filling the air with high-sounding +cries of vengeance, and yesterday some of them were complaining bitterly +that a suspected house, against the owner of which there was not +sufficient evidence, was not delivered into their hands. Further, if +these farms are to be confiscated (as the more revengeful loyalists +desire) and given over to settlers, why burn the houses? The new +occupant will only have to build another homestead, and building is a +serious matter where wood and the means of dressing stone are so very +scarce as here. The ends achieved are small--simply an exhibition of +power, and punishment which (if it be really necessary) could be +otherwise inflicted; and the evils, as one sees them on the spot, are +many and great. If I described one-half of the little things which I saw +in the process of destruction I should be accused of sentimentalising; +but the principle of the thing seems clear enough. If one could only +hope that with the conflagration would die down those hotter fires that +burn in the heart of this country, one might accept the manifest +disadvantages. But good feeling will never spring from ashes like these; +every charred spot is the grave of that which neither time nor laws can +revive. + + +BRAKFONTEIN, _Wednesday, May 9th._ + +We are not far from Vryburg now, and expect to enter it to-day without +opposition. From several prisoners taken on the way (there are twenty of +them now) we heard that the Boer police in Vryburg knew of our presence +at two o'clock on Sunday, and that they all fled. Another farm was +burned this morning, and much ammunition destroyed. We have now got over +a great and critical part of our journey, which has been admirably made +through very difficult country, and we do not expect opposition until we +approach Mafeking. Cronje, who was reported on Sunday to be moving +westwards with a force to cut us off, has apparently missed us, and he +will hardly attempt a rear-guard action without guns. We have two +pom-poms, and everyone--even the most peaceful of us--who has once been +shot at by these infernal machines is eager to watch them at work from +the right end. + + +VRYBURG, _Thursday, May 10th._ + +We occupied Vryburg yesterday at about three o'clock. We made a very +easy march, with a long rest at midday, and as the column wound up to +the summit of a high ridge we saw Vryburg lying green and white on the +farther slope. Half our journey done, and the most dangerous half; it +was a pleasant sight. The Boers had all left the little town, and the +English residents--chiefly women of the artisan and shopkeeper +class--swarmed out to meet us, waving spurious Union Jacks, and +exhibiting all the loyalty that can be displayed by means of dyes and +pigments. It was like Bloemfontein on a smaller scale. + +The people here have been in rather a bad way. There has been a great +deal of sickness; the supplies have been very scanty, and meal seems to +be the only thing of which they have plenty. So naturally they welcomed +the column as the sign of an open road to Kimberley. + +I went to see the railway station, which has been much damaged. The only +two locomotives here have been outraged; vacuum gauges have been broken, +dome-covers torn, and taps smashed; and bullets have been fired at the +steel-plated boilers, which, however, they did not penetrate. But it is +only outrage, and it seems that with materials left in the workshops +here the engines can be repaired in a couple of days. The Boers have +been very clumsy over this; a dynamite cartridge might have been +strapped under a driving axle in far less time, and its explosion would +have been more effectual. + +Our chief joy has been in straying about the town, revelling in the +sense of things to be bought. No man can withstand shops after having +experienced for several days conditions under which money is not of +value. There is really nothing to buy that is of much use, but we stand +agape at the window of an ironmonger's shop, fingering the money in our +pockets, and wondering whether to buy an axe or a mincing machine. On +the whole, the axe has it; one must have fires; and bully beef _can_ be +eaten in the slab form. + + + + +XXI + +NEARING THE GOAL + + +JACKAL'S PAN, _Saturday, May 12th_. + +Colonel Mahon's column left Vryburg on Thursday at sunset in a cloud of +purple dust, and as long as the light lasted, we could see the rather +pathetic-looking little crowd of residents waving handkerchiefs and +flags. It was intended only to march for three hours; but our +information about water proved to be incorrect, and the column wound +along in the moonlight over mile after mile of the most sterile veldt I +have yet seen in the country. I was riding with Colonel Mahon for the +last few hours, and was to some extent buoyed up by the repeated +assurances of the guide that there was water "just round the bend"; but +even so it was a weary correspondent who got off his horse at 2 a.m., +after eight hours of walking and riding at a foot-pace. Of course, the +poor mules suffered most. Even four hours in harness without a rest is +considered too much for them; here they had twice that time, over very +rough ground, and in consequence half of them had bad breast-galls. It +was a mistake to go on for so long, especially as we had to halt after +all without water; but the Colonel could not be persuaded to halt until +his transport officer warned him that the mules were at the end of their +endurance. And all through that weary march no lights were permitted; no +smoking even, which gives one something to do; and when we got into the +bivouac at two o'clock, no fires or lights. We had to be up at five and +start in the misery of darkness and intense cold; without even the +comfort of a hot drink; but we reached the water at eight, and had a +long morning of rest and sunshine. No one really grumbles at this sort +of thing, although it is most unpleasant; and as the men are all picked +for health and endurance, no one is any the worse for it. + +We marched eighteen miles on Thursday night, and four the next morning; +thirteen yesterday evening, and eight this morning; this afternoon we +expect to do another twelve, and reduce the distance before us to an +easy two days' journey. Of course, all this speed is achieved at a +certain cost in mule and horse flesh, but we hope that the end will +justify it. The authorities at Kimberley have not done so well for us as +they might have done. They did not take the trouble to find out exactly +how many horses were in the force, with the result that the daily horse +ration has been reduced from the inadequate seven pounds to the absurd +four pounds, while the men are on half meat and three-quarter biscuit +rations. Another serious defect in the equipment of the column is that +there is not even a section of engineers with us. The want is the more +felt as water is scarce and bad along the route; often the only water is +a small pan or pond into which the mules wade breast high and churn it +into mud, which the men have to make a shift to drink. A few sappers and +a waggon with the advance guard would ensure a clean supply for +everyone, since water that is quite insufficient in a dam can be made to +go a long way when it is pumped into watering troughs; and a section of +engineers can fix up the whole necessary apparatus in ten minutes. + +Far more interesting than the march of a great army corps, where one +gets lost in the miles of transport, is the progress of a small column +like this, where one is more or less in touch with everyone, and can +watch from within the deliberations and methods of the small staff to +whom success or failure means so very much. The little group that rides +in front of the guns discusses minutely many questions of absorbing +interest in the course of a day's march. Whether such and such a ridge +ought to be patrolled; how far the scouts are working in this or that +direction; whether it is advisable to halt now and go on after a rest, +or do a greater distance and have a long rest at the end. And then, when +the time for the five minutes' rest in the hour has arrived, "_Halt_!" +is passed down the column, and one hears the word running down squadron +after squadron until it is lost among the lines of the ammunition +column. The connecting files pass it forward to the advance guard, who +send it out to their scouts and patrols, until the great serpent that +winds over the country is completely at rest. Then follows a sound of +horses cropping grass and men talking. Then "_Stand to your horses_!" +runs down the column, followed by a shuffling of feet as men scramble +from the ground where they have been lying; "_Prepare to mount_!" and +there is a general gathering up of reins; "_Mount_!" and a long rustle +and jingle as the men swing into their saddles; "_Walk march_!" and the +serpent is off again, feeling his way before him. + +Three miles in front of us the furthest scouts of the advance guard are +working cautiously in the bush, and from the officer in command of the +guard a note occasionally comes back to the Brigadier, carried from +squadron to squadron and passed along the connecting files until it +reaches the head of the main column. One never becomes accustomed to the +interest and mystery attaching to these notes, and one almost holds +one's breath while they are read; they may contain so much, may carry +news of the gravest or most astonishing nature; for if the advance guard +found the enemy in strength standing on his head in a donga the +information would still be conveyed through the cold propriety of Army +Form No. C 398. It is one of the sanest of cold-blooded regulations; let +a patrol be never so hard pressed and requiring help never so urgently, +the officer commanding it must take time to say so in writing. + +I am glad to see that no more farms are being burned, and that we are +not burdening ourselves further with the insurgent prisoners. We have +already twenty-five, but the Brigadier has been content to read the +insurgents who have been taken since a lecture on the folly of their +ways, and to warn them that a day of reckoning is coming. I came up to +a house yesterday where the Dutch farmer, who was known to be disloyal, +had just been arrested and taken away. The troops were making +preparations to burn the house, acting on the general order, which had +not been cancelled. Within, a child had dropped his toys to stare in +astonishment at the strangers, and his mother was weeping alone. I rode +back to the Brigadier and said what I could, with the result that I was +able to return and assure the woman that her house would not be burned, +and in addition to see her husband come back in half an hour. The effect +has really been produced already, and prisoners in a flying column are a +particular nuisance. + + +BRODIE'S FARM, _Sunday, May 13th_. + +The end is drawing near now, and a fight is almost certain this +afternoon or to-morrow. A commando of Boers, 400 strong, was reported +yesterday afternoon about eighteen miles on our right flank, and some +time during last night they pushed on and occupied a kopje at +Koodoesrand, directly in our path, where they laid an ambuscade with +three guns. They expected (as well they might) that we should come on +and butt into their position. But we have learned our lesson, and this +morning we made a detour and have got past them. We have marched nine +miles; we shall reach the next water (twelve miles) this evening, and +to-morrow we must march straight on to Mafeking (twenty-four miles), for +there is no water all the way, and there is the prospect of heavy +fighting at the end of it. The horses will simply be used up, but that +cannot be helped; if we win it will not matter, and if we lose----. It +will be a trying day for everyone, and we shall only have a few hours' +sleep to-night, but I think no one grudges the discomfort. I write on +the eve of what may be a very brilliant, a very disastrous, or a very +simple affair. We are a small force, the march so far has been +brilliant, and success will be a brilliant crown for the expedition and +its leader. Everyone is more than a little anxious, but it is hard to +foretell any result. + +I forgot to say that we had a runner from Mafeking, with messages from +Colonel Plumer and Colonel Baden-Powell; they asked us what our numbers +were, how many our guns, and what the state of our supplies. The answer +was most ingenious, as we had no code to which they had a key, and we +could not trust a straightforward statement of such important facts to +the risks of the road. So Colonel Rhodes invented this answer:-- + +"Our numbers are the Naval and Military multiplied by ten; our guns, the +number of sons in the Ward family; our supplies, the O.C. 9th Lancers." + +Excellent as the Boer Intelligence is, I do not suppose that they are +aware that the Naval and Military Club is at 94, Piccadilly; that the +house of Dudley rejoices in six stalwart sons; or that the officer +commanding the 9th Lancers is Colonel Little. + + + + +XXII + +WE REPEL AN ATTACK AND JOIN FORCES WITH PLUMER + + +BUCK REEF FARM, _Monday, May 14th_. + +A diary is the last place in which to indulge in prophecy; it preserves +too clearly the record of fallacy. In the last twenty-four hours have +been reversed all the expectations of those in charge of this column, +and even the direction of our march has been completely changed. My last +entry was made at midday yesterday, and at 2.30 we resumed the march +northwards, intending to reach a point ten miles distant at which there +was water. The road was very heavy, or rather there was no road at all, +the way lying over rough bush veldt, which consists of long, rank grass, +with thorn bushes at small intervals and hardwood trees at greater +distances--the whole something like an English paddock or park of young +trees, except, of course, for the grass. This was heavy going; the mules +were hot and tired, and the convoy trailed out and straggled; we spent +quite two hours in covering the first four miles. + +I have said that the convoy straggled, and there were long intervals +between one part of it and the next. During one such interval, the +afternoon being very hot, I lay down under a tree and left my horse to +graze. A cloud of locusts flying high and beating the air with millions +of wings made a pleasant sound as of wind in a forest, and listening to +these and to the thousand other minute noises that proceed from the +insect life on a few square yards of veldt, I almost fell asleep. There +was not a sound from the column; you could not imagine a more peaceful +spot; and the obvious contrast between the purpose of this little army +and its present circumstances impressed me more vividly than ever. And +in less than half an hour from that moment of absolute peace the bullets +were hailing round us and the air was resonant with the boom of guns. +This is how it happened. + +It was half-past three when I left the shade of the tree and joined +Colonel Mahon in front of the Horse Artillery, and at twenty minutes to +four we heard the sound of rifle-shots--three or four--to the +south-east. We had now got into a kind of wood in the bush, and here and +there could see beyond the edge of it eastwards towards a hillside that +sloped up from us to a ridge four miles away. On this ridge we could see +a cloud of dust, and we were looking at it through glasses when a note +came in from the right flank reporting a body of the enemy advancing on +us from the east. Presently we made out on the edge of the dust a line +of horsemen opening out on a kind of glade on the hillside, and the +Brigadier ordered the guns to come into position where we were standing. +It was really no sort of position at all, being merely a wood with no +view from it, and in a hollow at that; but it was all that could be +done. + +The guns came galloping up, the horses as keen as mustard; in five +minutes they had unlimbered and were in position; but Major Jackson, who +was in command of the battery, reported that the range was extreme and +that he could not be effective. So we lit pipes and waited, while the +convoy was ordered to be hurried up as much as possible. + +Up galloped an orderly with a note, and everyone tried to read the +Brigadier's face. It clouded a little. + +"Enemy advancing in strength on our front" was the essence of the note. +But "They've got us in the nastiest place of the whole march" was all he +said. + +In a few minutes more Prince Alexander of Teck came up to report that +the convoy was well up, and just as he had finished speaking rifle-fire +broke out on our right, and a minute later, sharply, on our front. It +was then 4.45, and a bewildering moment for the Brigadier, who had a +great, bulky convoy to protect, and had it at the moment in a +defenceless position. I think I would not take any reward to bear the +responsibility of acting at such a moment. The shots were sounding +quicker, but one could see nothing except the surrounding trees. Colonel +Mahon looked coolly round. + +"We must try with the guns," he said, and ordered another squadron out +on the right. + +The orderly rode away with the order, and at exactly five o'clock the +fire broke out furiously and bullets began to whistle over us. Everyone +put his horse into a canter by instinct, and I think the staff went +round to the guns. I returned to the convoy to look after my cart. + +The convoy was moving on now on as broad a front as the shrubs and trees +would permit of; it raised a cloud of dust, which the level rays of the +sun lit like a rainbow, and the bullets began to come in a hail. Well, +that is rather exaggerated--not a hail. But on a summer day after +oppressive heat and dark clouds the big raindrops begin to splash on the +ground; and this fire, which many old stagers who have been through +several fights describe as the hottest they have known, was something +like that. There was no cover; everyone was under fire; so there was +nothing to do but to dismount and lead one's horse along beside the +convoy. Every now and then with the clear high "phit" of the Mauser +bullet would come the hideous twisting whistle of the Martini--really a +horrible sound. There was something like a panic amongst the native +drivers; they walked along bent almost double, taking what shelter they +could; one I saw crawling along on his belly, and the sight made me +laugh, although I had at heart too much sympathy with him to be really +amused. The mules and horses, alarmed by these strange whistlings in the +air, began to neigh and scream, and they added to the general tumult. +One gave up wondering whether or no one would be hit, but merely +wondered if it would be a graze or a "plug." There were the usual number +of miraculous escapes; the driver of the waggon beside which I was +walking tumbled off his seat like a sack, stone dead; a mule in the +waggon behind me leapt and kicked, and sank on the ground; my horse +jumped as a Martini bullet smote the sand at his heel; yet I think there +was never a bullet nearer me than a dozen feet. Major Baden-Powell, who +is accompanying the expedition for his brother's relief, had his watch, +worn in the left breast-pocket, smashed to atoms, but his skin was not +even scratched. + +They were ten very long and, to put it frankly, very hateful minutes +that passed until M Battery opened with a roar. It was a welcome sound, +and still more welcome the "pom--pom--pom--_pom_," like the bark of a +good dog, that sounded immediately afterwards. And it was like oil on +water, or water on fire. Immediately the enemy's fire slackened; in two +minutes it had almost ceased; in five it had stopped entirely, and one +began to get one's breath. There were men lying all round and about the +wood, and the small ambulance staff had more work than they could do; my +cart made three trips, carrying wounded men from the column to the +dressing-station. Only ten minutes of fighting, and over thirty +casualties; six killed, twenty-four wounded, one missing. + +But when one had been through those ten minutes, it was not the men +lying stark and still in the grass beside the ambulance that made one +astonished; it was the sight of people walking about and talking that +made one wonder whether or no one had been dreaming. It was decided to +halt. Everyone lay down where he stood, and it was a strange, troubled +night, with horses stumbling about in the moonlight and blowing with +astonishment into one's face. + +This morning, as some of us more than half expected, the enemy had +cleared, but in consequence of a message received from Colonel Plumer +asking us to meet and join him at a certain place we have turned from +our original direction. We reached a dry river at eight o'clock this +morning, and men had to begin to dig in the sand for water for +themselves and their horses. One of my servants found a well fifty feet +deep, from which the bucket hoist and ropes were missing. I had sixty +feet of rope in my cart, and I went quietly away with two boys carrying +all our buckets and bags and kegs, and leading all the horses. We had +two hours of very hard work at that well; and when the horses had drunk +their fill, and every vessel had been replenished, the fact that there +was a well was reported to the Brigadier. In ten minutes a crowd of +troopers was round the well, trampling down earth into the water; but if +we had only had a few engineers everyone could have been supplied in +half an hour. + + +JAN MASSIBI'S, _Tuesday, May 15th_. + +We marched off at half-past three yesterday, keeping west of north; on +and on, until half-past eight in the evening. Everyone was dog-tired, +and dropped to the ground, only to be roused at one o'clock this morning +by the Brigadier, who personally went round and woke people up. He had +to shake me twice, and I imagine that other people were wrapped in just +as profound an oblivion; nevertheless we were on the march again at +1.30. + +Oh, the weariness of that eternal plod through the rough grassy ground, +the coldness, the interminable darkness! It was no better on horseback +than on foot, for the animals kept falling asleep and stumbling. At +every halt one tumbled off one's horse and fell asleep, only to be +awakened by the hateful "Stand to your horses." But at last the light +began to glimmer in the east, the air took an even colder tone, so that +even the grasses seemed to shiver with the breath of dawn, and presently +the whole horizon on our right burned with a red fire. Thereafter the +shedding of greatcoats and sweaters and woollen helmets, and the glad +breathing in of the wine of morning. A little after daylight our advance +patrols came in touch with the pickets of Colonel Plumer's camp, down in +the valley of the Molopo River at Jan Massibi's. The Brigadier and his +staff rode on, and it was a pleasant meeting between the two officers. +And pleasanter still when the cloud of dust that heralded our force +appeared on the crest of the southern ridge and the long column began to +pour down the slope and to cross the drift. Soon it was filling the +valley and mingling with the other force already encamped, and now +everyone is busy washing or eating near the picturesque little cluster +of Kaffir kraals and big shady trees; for the region of karoo and +shadeless plain has been left far behind. Our supplies are practically +exhausted; the horses are eating their last ration to-day; but Mafeking +is only eighteen miles distant, waiting for our help. There is something +inspiring in that knowledge, and in the news of the grand little +garrison's latest success; and everyone is anxious to push on and get +the inevitable fight over. + +To-day we rest under the trees and dream through the music of singing +birds, with perhaps a thought for yesterday and the fellow-travellers +whose journey ended so suddenly. But for the soldier, more than for +anyone, the watchword is "No regrets"; and as for to-morrow, who can +tell the issue? + + + + +XXIII + +THE FIGHTING ON THE MOLOPO + + +At daybreak on Wednesday, May 16th, the two columns under Colonel +Mahon's command moved from Jan Massibi's in two parallel lines along the +northern bank of the Molopo River. As the sky brightened before us +Mafeking was eagerly looked for, but for a long time each successive +rise only showed us another beyond which hid the desired view. The +country consisted of a succession of ridges lying at right angles to our +line of march, and as each one rose before us the staff galloped forward +to the summit, only to see another lying beyond. But at last, while some +of us were buying eggs at a Kaffir kraal, a more adventurous person +climbed upon a rubbish heap and shouted "There's Mafeking!" There was a +rush for the coign of vantage, and a great levelling of glasses. There +it lay, sure enough, the little town that we had come so far to see--a +tiny cluster of white near the eastward horizon, glistening amid the +yellowish-brown of the flats. We looked at it for a few moments in +silence, and then Colonel Mahon said, "Well, let's be getting on"; and +no one said anything more about Mafeking, but everyone thought a +great deal. + +[Illustration: Sketch Map of Fight at ISRAEL'S FARM. on May 16th] + +There was a difficulty about water, and it was finally decided to halt +at midday at a point where the Molopo River curved near to the road. We +turned off the road down a slope which sank towards the river on the +right. The ground rose up on all sides round us, but the guns were +placed near the top of the northward rise. The mules were outspanned and +led to water, and we breakfasted. Remember that we had been up since +half-past five and had had nothing to eat, that it was now nearly an +hour after midday, and you will understand how it happened that I was +more interested in the cooking of certain meats than in the galloping +about of orderlies on the hillside. + +Breakfast was just over and my horse was being saddled, when a crack of +rifle-fire on our right front warned me that things were about to +happen; and at the same time I saw that the mules were being harnessed +with frantic haste. By the time that I had ridden up the slope the guns +had gone forward into position, but as yet there was no firing except +from rifles, which were banging in a desultory fashion now all along our +right flank. I searched the slope beyond the river with my glasses, but +could not see a man; yet the firing was there sure enough, and +increasing. It was at 1.55 that the first firing broke out, and for half +an hour the same thing continued, during which the convoy was formed up +in what seemed a sheltered part of the hollow. We were in a bad place--a +very shallow saucer; and on the edge of the saucer the Boers had taken +up their position. + +During this half-hour little seemed to be done, but there is always this +interval during which a battle develops. We did not as yet know any but +one place in which the Boers were; it was pretty certain that they did +not know what we were going to do; so the right front, where our advance +guard had first come into touch with the enemy, was as yet the only +point of contact. Meanwhile Colonel Plumer, with the whole of his +mounted men, was sent off to the right flank; Colonel Peakman, with the +Kimberley Mounted Corps, was held back to watch the rear; Colonel +Edwards was sent with the Imperial Light Horse to the left flank, with +instructions to work round in advance if possible, and so turn the +enemy's right; and the Royal Horse Artillery and the Canadian guns took +up a position on the front. It was difficult to find a place from which +to look on, especially as we were far from confident that the Boers +were on our right alone. There were folds in the sides of our saucer, +and I found a kind of ridge on the northward slope below our guns. I had +just dismounted and was watching the right ridge through my glasses when +the edge of the horizon at which I was looking was divided by a bright +flash. In a few seconds there was a deep report, followed by the whine +of a shell in the air; the sand spouted up in a great fountain--Heavens! +how close to the convoy; and presently the sound of the burst drowned +the crackling of musketry. The convoy huddled away from the smoking +patch where the shell had fallen, and began--oh, how slowly!--to wind up +the slope towards me. Another shell, still on the same spot, of which +the waggons were now quite clear; and now the shells followed each other +so rapidly that one gave up trying to distinguish between the initial +and the bursting reports, and became absorbed in watching the brown +columns spouting from the earth. + +They were now playing all round the moving convoy, and each was a +miracle; wherever there was a blank space, there the fountain rose; and +when the convoy had closed up so completely that one was certain that +the next shell must hit something, it fell quite wide. I was still +watching this beautiful and dreadful sight when the air above me +vibrated to a new song, and on my right a small shell burst with a +disagreeable sound. I cleared away to the northern side of the basin, +only to feel once more obliged to move as a new gun opened and began to +churn up the ground. To be sure, these were long, range-finding shots, +and were not intended to pitch where they did, but it is not always safe +to rely upon the accuracy of shrapnel fire, and I moved again. But it +was of no use; the enemy's pom-pom suddenly began to bark, and played on +the one spot which had seemed but a moment before to be safe. + +During this development (which had only occupied about ten minutes) our +artillery had gradually come into action; first the solitary, abrupt +bang of the 12-pound horse gun, then the readier and brisker fusilade of +the Canadian quick-firing Vickers-Maxim, then the clamour of our two +pom-poms, then the rattle of a Maxim somewhere in the rear. And all the +while the area from which the sounds proceeded was spreading like a +bush-fire; beginning on the right, it worked across our front, spread +from the left front along that flank until it seemed almost to meet the +firing on the right rear. When all the guns were going the medley was +terrific, although I suppose it was nothing to the sound produced in a +really big pitched battle. But it was confusing enough, and, what with +the baffling effect of the cross-fire, the whining in the air, and the +continuous noise of the explosions, the rattle and crackle of musketry, +the galloping hither and thither of orderlies and messengers, and the +unpleasantness resulting from the whole thing's happening in so small an +area, provided excitement enough to satisfy the most jaded adventurer. + +In colder language what had happened was this. The commando that had +been holding on for days on our right as we marched had got ahead of us +when we diverted towards Plumer, had effected a junction with a force +sent out from Mafeking to oppose us, and had just arrived in position +near Israel's Farm when we came up against them. Fortunately they had +not time to entrench, but they were just going to begin when we turned +them, as we found picks and spades lying about in rear of their +northward artillery position. From the large outline of their attack +there must have been at least 2,000 of them, and from the cleverness +with which they were disposed we at first estimated them at twice that +number. We held them on our right while we sent a strong force working +round on our left, which ultimately got out far enough to turn their +right. Of course we were too few to do more than dislodge them; +surrounding was out of the question; so when we had fairly turned them +we "let go" on the right, and the Boers fled in that direction. The +house at Israel's Farm they held until the very end, shelling our +rear-guard briskly. The engagement lasted close on five hours, during +which our casualties amounted to less than forty. + +In even fewer words than these (so concise is his art) the military +despatch-writer might have described those eventful hours; and one takes +a kind of pleasure in trying to imitate him, so supremely inadequate are +such sentences to produce any real impression on people who have never +found themselves in the midst of a battle. Not that any art of written +words is equal to it. One goes through the whole gamut of sensation; one +is charmed, afraid, bewildered; charmed by the scale and magnitude of +the operations, afraid for one's own skin, bewildered with a kind of +dream at the strangeness of it all. One may sit, as I sat, under a tree +listening and watching for hours; and from the grossly and crudely real +the thing fades and changes into an unreal image of the senses. The +gaudy flies and beetles that hum round one, whose noise is so much +louder and nearer than the crash of shells, they fill the foreground of +reality; it is not conceivable that the man with the pleasant face and +kindly eye who is directing a battery should be attempting the lives of +his fellows on so large a scale. Yet it is the scale that makes the +difference: a man who would abhor to kill another will with a smile +direct the machine that destroys twenty; and he, if anyone, has the +right to act upon this reduced estimate of the value of human life, for +he counts his own as lightly as that of his enemy. + +But I have forsaken my narrative of the fight, and I am confronted by +the fact that there are five hours of fighting to be accounted for. + +Five hours! Was it for so long that one listened to the voices of guns +and rifles? I can hardly believe it, and no bare catalogue of +manoeuvres seems to fill the gap. Our artillery positions were changed +several times, and when the convoy was crowded up into a fold of the +ground the shells no longer reached it, but continued to pound at +Colonel Peakman and his rear-guard. At about five o'clock, the Boers +having cleared from our left front, the convoy was pushed on in that +direction, and we penetrated as far as the position which had been held +by the Boer 15-pounder on our front. Just as we reached that point a +note was brought in from Colonel Plumer on the right reporting that he +was checked by the Boers at Israel's Farm, and accordingly the Horse +Artillery battery was formed up in front of the convoy, and with the two +pom-poms (which followed it about like small dogs barking after a big +one) shelled the farm, which the enemy evacuated. The sun began to sink, +the firing in our rear dropped and died out gradually, and with a few +shots from a Martini, fired by someone on the left who amused himself by +sniping the staff, the fight came to an end. + +The fight was over, but as the convoy began to work its way cautiously +through the bush in the dusk we began to talk about it, and to fit it +together from the pieces of our individual experience. What had they +been trying to do? What had So-and-so been doing on the left? Had we +many casualties? Should we go on into Mafeking? Ah, that was the +question. But after about an hour's trekking through the bush it was +decided to halt, as someone reported that the enemy was entrenched ahead +of us. As for the fight, we did not then fully know what had happened, +but we found out afterwards. The Boers had once more given us a lesson +in tactics, and we had given them one in dealing with a nasty situation. +With a comparatively small force (although stronger than ours) they had +bluffed us by extending their attack round a large perimeter, leading us +to suppose their strength to be far greater than it really was. They had +caught us in the one bad bit of country between Jan Massibi's and +Mafeking, and but for the really excellent fighting on our side might +have held us where we were until the want of supplies forced us to +retire or surrender. As we had so few casualties it is probable that +they had not many; but it is possible to have very warm fighting with +few casualties. Our cover was excellent; so was theirs; and Colonel +Peakman, who, with the rear-guard, bore the heaviest burden of the +fight, lost hardly a man, although he lost heavily in horses. Everyone +is agreed that the honours of the day fell chiefly to this gallant +business man, who in his spare time had made himself so good a soldier. + +All these matters were talked over until we halted about seven o'clock +and reluctantly heard that we were not to proceed that night. No lights, +of course; but everyone was ready to lie down. While my bed was being +prepared I went over to the ambulance, whither the wounded were being +brought in on stretchers. There were only two small waggons, and the +wretched sufferers were literally heaped inside them, lying in the dark +amid their own blood. The little staff under Surgeon-Captain Davies +worked gallantly, getting the men out, dressing their wounds, making +them as comfortable as possible on blankets over the grass; but it was a +miserable and sordid scene, relieved only by the cheery willingness of +the helpers and the fortitude of the patients. Even here, of course, +there were no lights, but in the recesses of a waggon an orderly was +trying to prepare hot water with a tiny Etna. Dressing about twenty +serious surgical cases out of doors in pitch darkness, with a limited +supply of not over clean water, short-handed, hurried, without proper +appliances--it was a sight that would have startled the artist in +antiseptic surgery. But there they lay; and it was with something like a +sense of shame that I turned into my own comfortable bed. + + + + +XXIV + +MAFEKING AT LAST + + +They were twenty-four very exciting hours that began when we moved from +Jan Massibi's at daybreak on Wednesday and ended when we lay down to +snatch a little rest at daybreak on Thursday. Many miles were travelled, +a great enterprise was brought to a successful issue, a tough battle was +fought, men received wounds and died, Mafeking was relieved: enough +incident and adventure to fill months of ordinary life. The bare events +are recorded here, but the emotional history of those twenty-four hours +will probably never be written. But as you read the narrative, put +yourself in the place of those to whom it was not a story but a piece of +life, and then perhaps you will realise something of what it meant to +them. + +Not much of the story remains to be told. + +At midnight between Wednesday and Thursday I was awakened by a general +stir in the surrounding camp, to find that the moon was shining +brightly, lighting up busy drivers, and the troops getting their horses +ready. We were to advance. Major Karri-Davies had ridden on into +Mafeking, and, with the luck which rewards daring, had found the road +clear, and sent back a messenger with that information to Colonel Mahon. +I think men were never so willingly awakened from sleep; not even the +wounded grumbled, who had also to be roused from their beds on the grass +and repacked into the stuffy ambulance. At about 12.30 we were ready to +start, but during the first mile there were long halts and delays while +the guides argued and boggled about the roads. At last the strain became +too great, and Major Gifford, Captain Smith, and I resolved to ride on +and trust to finding the right road. We knew the direction by the stars, +and started across the veldt a little south of east. + +It was bitterly cold, and we were all both sleepy and hungry, but there +was an excitement in the air that kept us easily going. After about half +an hour we heard voices ahead, and descried the shapes of horses and +men. Our hearts sank for a moment, only to rise again when we recognised +Colonel Peakman, who, having been in command of the rear-guard on the +previous day up till nine o'clock at night, was now taking his turn at +advance guard at one o'clock the next morning. As a Kimberley man, it +had long been his ambition to lead the relieving force into Mafeking, +and I think no one grudged him the honour. Amongst all, indeed, there +was a certain amount of competition, and the four correspondents who +survived to the end of the expedition became strangely silent about +their intentions for the evening. I pinned my faith to Peakman, as I +knew he was as anxious as anyone to be in first. + +Well, we joined the Advance Guard, which presently went on along the +road pointed out by the guide, and for an hour we jogged on at a fast +walk, until we had clearly "run the distance," as they say at sea. Still +no sign of the trenches or forts which should mark the outward boundary +of the defended area. We pulled up, and the guide was questioned. + +"Two miles more," he said. + +We rode on for another quarter of an hour, and still found nothing +before us but the rolling veldt; not a light, not a sound except the +beating of the horses' feet. Again we halted, and this time Colonel +Peakman himself questioned the guide, and the man had to admit that he +had mistaken his way, and that we were on the lower road, longer by a +good three miles than that originally intended. We had no connecting +files with the main column, and, as it had a guide of its own, it was +certain that it would take the shorter road, and probably be in before +its own Advance Guard. A bitter moment, in which things were said to the +guide; but some of us hoped that the slow convoy, with its tired and +galled mules, would even yet take a longer time on its short road than +we on our long one. So we went on again, this time at a trot; the +excitement seemed to extend to the horses, so that even they could not +be restrained. In ten minutes we saw men sitting by the roadside, and +found a hundred very weary Fusiliers, who had been sent to take Israel's +Farm at the end of the fight, and told to go on afterwards. + +"Had anyone passed along the road before us?" "No"; and with a gasp of +relief we hurried on. In a few moment's the group in advance pulled up, +shouting "'Ware barbed wire!" + +We all stopped, and there were frantic calls for wire-cutters. With four +reports like the snapping of big fiddle-strings the last barrier before +Mafeking was removed, and we passed on again, this time at a +hand-canter. In a few minutes we heard the sound of a galloping horse +on the road, and a mounted man challenged us. + +"Halt! Who goes there?" + +"Friend." + +"Who are you?" (The excitement was too high for the preservation of the +proper formula.) + +"Colonel Peakman, in command of the Advance Guard of the Relief Column." + +"By Jove, ain't I glad to see you, sir!" + +It was an officer sent out by Colonel Baden-Powell to meet us and bring +us in. We left the squadron, and the five of us went on, this time at a +gallop, over trenches, past breastworks and redoubts and little forts, +until we pulled up at the door of the headquarters' mess. + +Ah, the narrative is helpless here. No art could describe the +handshaking and the welcome and the smiles on the faces of these +tired-looking men; how they looked with rapt faces at us commonplace +people from the outer world as though we were angels, how we all tried +to speak at once, and only succeeded in gazing at each other and in +saying, "By Jove!" "Well, I'm hanged!" and the like senseless +expressions that sometimes mean much to Englishmen. One man tried to +speak; then he swore; then he buried his face in his arms and sobbed. +We all gulped at nothing, until someone brought in cocoa and we gulped +that instead; then Baden-Powell came in, and one could only gaze at him, +and search in vain on his jolly face for the traces of seven months' +anxiety and strain. + +After an hour we went out and found the column safely encamped just +outside the town. Everyone was dog-tired, and although it was half-past +five in the morning and the moon was sinking we lay down and were +immediately asleep--in Mafeking. + +We did not know it, but we were in a besieged town. Officially the +relief did not take place until ten o'clock that morning, when the Boers +hurried away with their last gun. I was awakened at eight by the sound +of heavy firing, and as soon as my horse was ready rode away to the +north-east corner of the town (we had entered from the north-west), to +where the greater part of our column was in action. Through glasses one +could see something being drawn up the purple slope of a hill six miles +away--the last gun of the besiegers. Earlier in the morning our troops +had advanced on all the Boer positions which were still occupied (only +the eastern ones were then held), and had shelled the enemy in the +midst of his preparations for flight. It was only a rear-guard action; +indeed the engagement was practically limited to the artillery; and all +I was in time to see was the flight. It was a good sight, the mounted +men galloping in open order up the hillside which the morning sun was +throwing into a thousand patches of light and shade. They were soon out +of range, and we stood watching the disappearing specks of black crawl +like flies up the furthest ridges, here in groups of a dozen, there in +twos and threes, until the last one had vanished from our view; and thus +the siege of Mafeking came to an end. + +There was joy in the camps of the relieving column when it was known +that they had also taken part in the siege; "Another bar," said the +medal-hunters. + +Colonel Mahon's column consisted of 900 mounted men of the Imperial +Light Horse, under Lieutenant-Colonel Edwardes, and the amalgamation of +local troops known as the Kimberley Mounted Corps, under Colonel King; +100 picked volunteers from the Fusilier Brigade; four guns of M Battery +Royal Horse Artillery, under Major Jackson, and a pom-pom section (two +guns), under Captain Robinson, the whole artillery force consisting +of 100 men; three Maxims, 56 waggons, and several private Cape carts, +660 mules; in all, 1,200 horses and 1,100 men. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF SIGNED MENU OF THE RELIEF DINNER AT +MAFEKING] + +The staff was: Colonel Mahon, 8th Hussars, brigadier; Captain +Bell-Smythe, 1st Dragoon Guards, chief staff officer; Colonel Frank +Rhodes, late Royal Dragoons, chief of Intelligence Department; Prince +Alexander of Teck, 7th Hussars, A.D.C.; Major Jackson, commanding Royal +Artillery; Major Sir John Willoughby, late of the Blues; Major the Hon. +Maurice Gifford, attached to the Imperial Yeomanry, general staff; and +Lieutenant F.W. Smith, Kimberley Mounted Corps, galloper. There was not +an officer on the staff whose industry and good sense did not contribute +to the success of the expedition; and we correspondents owe a peculiar +gratitude to Colonel Rhodes, who acted as Press Censor. No doubt his own +experience as a correspondent helped him to fulfil what is always a +responsible and seldom an easy office. He was always considerate, always +interested, always kind and always fair. + +Here ends an imperfect narrative of the relief. What the deliverers saw +on Thursday morning was a little white town lying in the midst of a +wide shallow basin of green moorland; and it reminded one of a town that +had been long deserted and in ruins. I am not exaggerating when I say +that by far the greater number of houses in the town had been struck by +shells, and that very nearly all had been struck either by shells or +bullets. + +After the engagement on Thursday morning the relieving column formed up +and entered the town, headed by Colonel Baden-Powell, Colonel Mahon, and +his staff. As one passed house after house, one with a gaping hole in +its side, another with the chimneys overthrown, another with a whole +wall stove in, none with windows completely glazed, all bearing some +mark of assault--as this panorama of destruction unfolded itself one +marvelled that anyone should have lived throughout the siege. And when +the procession formed up in the dilapidated Market Square, and the whole +of the Town Guard mustered--Kaffirs, Parsees, Jews, Arabians, +Englishmen, Dutchmen, nearly every sort and nationality of men--and when +the Mayor read an address expressing in the conventional terms of such +compliments the emotions of this motley crowd, one asked oneself what it +was that had held these very ordinary-looking people to so heroic an +intention. Remember that the defence of Mafeking had been one big bluff, +that there was nothing to prevent the Boers, with determination and +careful arrangement, from taking the place at almost any time, and you +will realise how startlingly that question asserted itself. I like to +think that there were many men in Mafeking whose courage alone would +have disdained surrender; but there was one man in whose face one found +the answer to the riddle. Brains alone would not have done it; heart +alone would have fainted and failed under those long months of danger; +but the officer commanding this garrison had both brains and heart, and +so he taught his men to endure. + +I do not pay the garrison of Mafeking so poor a compliment as to suppose +that the mere hunger for luxuries, serious misfortune though it be, was +the signal trial of its endurance. Ladysmith suffered worse in this +respect and did not complain. In Mafeking there was always a plentiful +supply of green vegetables, of tobacco, and of wine, and it was only +with a smile that the heir to one of the wealthiest estates in England +told me that they had latterly invented a brawn made with glue from the +hides and feet and ears of mules and donkeys. + +But nearly 30,000 shells fell into a town covering about the same area +as Cowes; in many streets not a man dared show himself save under the +cloud of a dark night, for they were swept by rifle bullets; hardly one +of the many forts on the circumference of defence held weapons half so +formidable as the stout hearts that served them. Thirty thousand shells! +I have been in the neighbourhood of perhaps a hundred bursting shells, +and every burst will be a memory for a lifetime; but thirty thousand! +The heart stops at the thought. Yet here was the little ruined town; +here were the men with weak bodies and cheery faces to prove that +courage can raise the mind beyond fear and suffering; that, given an +ideal and a chance in the leadership, men may be counted on for +something far greater even than bravery. + + + + +XXV + +A MEMORIAL OF THE SIEGE + + +There is nothing pretty about the place where the dead defenders of +Mafeking are laid. It lies in a little square of brown stone wall, +planted amid the dreary waste outside the town. There are no green +lawns, no twisted yews, no weeping willows; the few fir trees hold +themselves stiffly up, as though in pride at this triumph of the +vegetable over the animal; and the great bushes of faded geranium only +throw into relief the regular lines of limestone mounds, each with its +prim wooden cross of advertisement. Always an ugly and a dreary place, +it was, when I saw it a few days after the relief, more dreary than +ever; for the sun, whose presence makes the difference of a season in +this bare land, was hidden behind dark stacks of cloud flying westward +before a cold gale. + +From a sandbag protection at one corner of the cemetery there is a view +on all sides to the horizon. The town, the empty railway station, the +hospital, the network of shelter trenches, connecting earth-works, +redans, redoubts, forts, and emplacements; the straight line of +railway-ruled across the plain to the horizon--these make the view. +Hardly anything is moving except the white flag on the hospital and the +colours on the forts. Sometimes a figure crosses the open stretch +between the hospital and the town, but outside the cemetery itself +hardly a man is to be seen. The wind hums in the empty hearth of a +locomotive, through the stiff trees of the cemetery, past the signal, +standing like a sentinel gone to sleep with his head sunk on his breast, +waiting in an attitude of invitation for the train that is seven months +overdue. + +One's eye returns along the shining rails until it rests again within +the yard, in a far corner of which a couple of orderlies detailed for +burial fatigue are hacking with picks at the hard, white earth. The +graves are in prim, uniform rows--the soldiers' graves, I mean, for even +here the military element swamps the civilian, and one hardly takes note +of the private graves, they are so few. But the soldiers' graves are +arranged with military precision, row behind row, each row containing +twenty graves or more. And at least seven or eight rows of graves are +marked by the regulation cross, while there are many rows on which as +yet no crosses have been erected. The painted words on the crosses +become monotonous as one reads from the head of the first row down to +where the mounds give place to gaping caverns--five or six--prepared for +the dying, whom even now the doctor is plying with physic in the +hospital. Trooper A, Private B, Colour-Sergeant C; the names vary, +indeed, but there are only three versions of the manner of death--"Died +of wounds," "Died of enteric fever," "Killed in action"--the three +epitaphs for soldiers in South Africa. + +It was strange, amid the dreariness and stagnation of this place, to +think of the jubilations at home. What cheering, what toasting, what +hilarity! But here the sparkle in the wine had died, leaving the cup +that had brimmed flat and dull and only half full after all. Food was +scanty and of the plainest quality, there was no news from the outside +world, disease was still busy; and here, set forth in the hard +limestone, was the bill for all the glory and excitement. The bill, but +not the payment; that was being made at home by the people who cared for +what lies beneath the limestone. + +The evils of a war are so direct and obvious that they are apt to be +discounted or accepted as Fate, and classed among the thousand +unavoidable ills beneath which we must patiently sit. But are they? In a +war, the necessity and even justice of which are doubted honestly by +many, where all share the responsibility and few the personal cost, it +is hard to see the hand of an impartial Fate. + +A strange place, you may say, in which to attempt the adjustment of +mingled impressions. Yet in the midst of our crude existence at +Mafeking, where life was shorn of all the impalpable things that make it +real and reduced to a simple material level of food and sleep and noise, +it was a kind of relief to spend an hour in the place where men had gone +down into rest and silence. In normal circumstances one may avoid such +places, but after the din of arms and the shout of victory there was a +sense of companionship to be found in the place that stood for the +ending of disputes. Peaceful, yes; but how was the peace gained? It is +sweet and seemly to die for one's country; but blood and fire, grief and +anguish had filled the vestibule of this sleeping-chamber; and peaceful +though it be, the graveyard of Mafeking is a place to induce in +Englishmen some searchings of heart. + +"Oh, surely not," says the music-hall patriot; "the brave fellows who +lie there have died a glorious death, and the glory is ours as their +fellow-countrymen"; and he drops a tear and a shilling into the +particular tambourine which happens at the moment to be raising the +loudest clamour, and honestly believes himself to have achieved some +nobility at second-hand. + +Our glory? Hardly that. Those who, justly or unjustly, place the martyr +in his last predicament do not wear his crown; and the glory of Trooper +A's death does not rest with you or me, but with those in whose hearts +his memory is quick and real. To count these scores of deaths, as it +were, to our credit in the war, to esteem them merely as things for +which more vengeance must be taken, would be the last and greatest +mistake. Surely they lie in the scale of responsibility, they are things +for which an account must be rendered, by which an obligation is +incurred to use well the fruits of victory. + +There is no need that the wind should moan over this desolate patch, or +that the tattered geranium should scatter its withered leaves on the +unlovely ground. Were it as sweet as a garden in Delos, were the ground +carpeted with violet and primrose and shadows of laburnum, the +burying-ground of Mafeking would still be a sad spot on the chart of +British South Africa. + + + + +XXVI + +GOOD-BYE TO MAFEKING + + +A sudden order from General Hunter; a morning of preparation; a +commotion of dismantling, packing, harnessing, saddling; handshaking and +well-wishing; cheers ringing, hoofs clattering, dust rising beneath +wheels and many feet, a backward glance along the road, and--Good-bye to +Mafeking. An episode in the lives of men, and one which, in spite of the +excitement that went before it, will probably leave a small though deep +impression. Life there was dull beyond words, perhaps because there must +be a reaction after seven months of excitement, and because the nature +of man is elastic, springing quickly back to the commonplace when an +unusual element in its circumstances has been withdrawn. I tried hard to +fancy that the people of the garrison bore in their faces or manners +some sign of the strain which they had undergone. But the months seemed +to have left no traces except on the buildings and on the cemetery; or +perhaps their mark upon the besieged men was set beneath the surface +scanned by a casual observer. At any rate, the people of Mafeking could +not successfully be exhibited in a show of wonders, and they took less +interest in their food than did we, their deliverers, who lived with +them for a while in what might be called "poor circumstances." Strange +to say, the only way in which to secure an ample meal in Mafeking was to +give a dinner-party, when all sorts of things were produced from secret +reserves and--charged for. + +Brigadier-General Mahon's column left Mafeking on Monday, May 28th, +taking the road that runs southward beside the railway, and I think that +everyone breathed a sigh of satisfaction when we were once more fairly +on the road. "The Happy Family" someone called Mahon's force, and there +was certainly never a more united company. He is the kind of +leader--considerate, strict, careless of unessential formalities, +careful of all essential details, jolly of face, kind of eye, a good +companion on the road, a rock of strength and confidence in the +field--who is obeyed in the spirit as well as the letter, and for whom +men would gladly march their feet to blisters. It need hardly be said +that he is an Irishman--"Ould Pat Mahon God bless 'um!" as a friend of +mine said that morning; and the remark was strangely apt, in spite of +the Brigadier's youth and the fact that his name is Bryan. + +For four days we marched southward in easy stages across a stretch of +country that was almost blighted by the scarcity of water; we never had +water through which the bottom of a white cup could be seen; nearly +always we had to share with the mules and horses the vast puddle known +in that country as a pan, and at every puddle or waterhole, as the mules +churned it up into inky mud, the wish was the same--"If only we had some +engineers!" + +At Maritsani siding we found the first really serious break in the +railway. For about three miles the line was completely wrecked, and two +culverts, one (over the river) spanned by unusually long girders, had +been blasted in the middle and were lying broken in the gap. Even here +it was easy to distinguish between the work of the trained German or +French engineer and that of the ordinary rank-and-file Boer. The Boer +did not understand dynamite, but he had a very fair idea of destruction +from the spectacular point of view, and his work made by far the finer +show. One might almost think that children had been at work, so +laborious and futile were his efforts. The permanent way for perhaps +two miles was bodily uprooted, each length of rails with the sleepers +attached, and laid along the embankment. Not a thing was destroyed; the +fishplates, four to each joint, were lying at a convenient distance, and +even the bolts and nuts for securing them were disposed in little heaps. +All that the repairing party had to do there was to replace the lengths +of line, couple them, and shovel in the ballast. But the mile on which +the trained engineer had been at work probably took four times as long +to repair. Here a dynamite cap had been attached to the middle of each +rail, with the result that there was a piece about six inches long blown +out of every length, and that meant that all the old way had to be taken +up and an entirely new one laid down. One thing I did envy this +simple-minded enemy of ours, and that was the pleasure he must have +experienced in doing one bit of damage. Towards one culvert the line +sloped down in a long gradient, and on this a couple of trucks and a van +had evidently been placed and allowed to run down to the culvert, where, +the bridge being gone, they plunged into the gap. Think of the glorious +smash! The trucks must have got up considerable speed. And picture the +crowd waiting expectantly for the final catastrophe. I must say that I +should have liked to see it. + +The destructive spirit had evidently been satisfied by this gorgeous +sacrifice, for nine miles of the line and telegraph wires running +southward from Maritsani were untouched, and at Kraaipan, where we met +the repairing party from the south, the damage was nearly repaired. + +On the Thursday night we marched from Kraaipan to a point four miles +north of Maribogo station, and during the march we heard a whistle in +the far distance. A message was sent to the advance guard, and the train +was "held up" while we gleaned some news from the officer in charge. To +us who had been living in the wild for more than a month the great hot, +hissing, bubbling engine was a strange sight, and we stood gazing at it +open-mouthed like yokels, and stretching out our hands towards its warm +body. When we had learned the news it moved off into the darkness with a +shriek, and we resumed our march with a strange sense of cold and +silence. Early next morning (June 1st) the column marched into Maribogo, +where it was to receive ten days' provisions and a complete supply of +remounts--new wings for the flying column. Hunter and the components of +his force were to rendezvous at Lichtenburg on June 7th. + +Setting out from Maribogo on Sunday morning, June 3rd, we entered the +Transvaal at about midday, and reached Geysdorp in the afternoon. Hart's +brigade had left Maribogo a few hours before us, and we passed ahead of +it at Geysdorp. After having been long with only mounted troops we +thought the infantry brigade a slow and primitive thing; but we envied +it the drums and fifes, to the music of which the Irishmen were stepping +along bravely when we passed. Although their destination, like ours, was +Lichtenburg, we marched at different times of the day, for even in this +large country there was not room on the road for both brigades. While +they were yet asleep in their bivouacs we were at breakfast, and their +reveille generally found us setting out on the march. + +The awaking of a column on these dark, cold mornings is ghostly and +mysterious. The first trumpet-call trembling through the chill starlight +brings one back from dreams to the world. The cavalry trumpeter plays a +longer and more ornate flourish than that sounded by the infantry +bugler, but reveille is all too short on a winter morning. From under +one's shelter one sees the camp return to life--first a match glowing +here, then the smoke and crackle of a fire there, until acres of ground +are scattered with flame. Then the sound of voices begins to insinuate +itself--one never knows exactly when it begins--until the air is lively +with the cries of the cheerful Kaffir. Darkness still on the ground and +cold starlight in the upper air; but eastwards a very sharp eye might +notice a kind of lightening of the gloom. And cold, bitterly cold, one +gratefully withdraws beneath blankets the hand that was experimentally +stretched out. In one's own little camp the stir is also beginning; +fires being kindled, shadowy figures moving through the gloom, the sound +of horses munching corn. Presently the air vibrates to another +trumpet-call--"Stables"; and the few horses (chiefly among the +artillery) that know the calls begin to neigh and paw the ground. Now +the sky above the eastward horizon has faded to the palest blue, +revealing the heads of horses and men where one thought there were only +trees, and along the lower edge of the blue comes another line, like a +fine silver wire. It grows broader and fades into the blue, but in its +place comes a sheet of dull crimson. Millions of miles away God sets it +on fire, and it kindles, glows, flushes to scarlet, melts into gold, +until from the gold flows amber, and from amber the pure white wine of +daylight. All the old colours rush westward across the sky; the veldt +glows with tints that have no name nor description in our dull tongue; +yet these are the mere drip and overflow of the dayspring. + +Small wonder if amid such an entertainment one forgets the bustle in the +now visible camp, and smaller still if one forgets that one ever wanted +to sleep. Another trumpet sounds--"Boot and saddle"--and the bustle +becomes acute as the mules are harnessed and horses saddled. And from +some near squadron which is to form the advance guard are heard the few +sharp orders that are necessary to transform it from a crowd of men and +horses to a military unit. "Fall in. Number!" And the numbers run down a +switchback of sound as each man shouts his own. "Stand to your horses. +Prepare to mount. Mount. Advance by sections from the right. +Walk--march!" And with the last word the day's work begins. + +On Tuesday morning I had ridden on far in advance of the column in +search of buck. There was very little cover, and at the first shot they +were off like the wind, so I gave it up. Just beyond the ridge where I +had been shooting I came upon the pan of water that was to be our +outspan, and beside the pan was a farmhouse, outside of which stood a +little group of people. An old woman, a young man, a girl, two +middle-aged matrons, a man horribly deformed--people of different ages +and manners, yet having in common one startling thing: they were all +shaking with terror. It was startling because they were the only living +creatures except birds and springbuck that I had seen for miles of that +lonely march. The heath stretching to the sky north and south and east +and west; the muddy pan; the poor house and outbuildings; the solitary +horseman; the terrified group--these filled the picture; and it was not +without misgivings that I approached the house. + +"Oh, sir" (it was one of the matrons speaking English with the pleasant +deliberation of a Dutchwoman), "was it you whom we heard shooting on the +hill?" + +When I said that it was they all gasped with relief, and the women broke +out into a clamour of talk and questioning. Was the army coming? Were +there many troops? Where were the Kaffirs? Was I sure that there were no +Kaffirs about? When I had reassured them on the point the deformed man +spoke. + +"The Kaffirs are jumping about. Ja! They have looted my farm. All my +stock also. We are afraid. I am waiting to go to my farm, which is one +hour over the hill, but when I heard your gun I was afraid the Kaffirs +were near. They know we are only women or sick men here, and they have +guns, and they are jumping about. Your Colonel at Mafeking gave them +guns, and now they run about stealing and murdering. All last night I +dared not move from here, although we have no food. I was afraid, and so +were these ladies, knowing they were jumping about. Now I go to my +farm." + +He called a black boy, who presently brought round a miserable cart +drawn by two skeleton ponies. One of the women got in. There was no need +to ask the fierce little cripple why he had not been on commando, and I +was wondering how he was going to get into the cart, when he gave a +great leap, and, climbing nimbly into his seat, drove away. + +When he had gone the woman of the house began to pour out a woeful tale. +Her husband--was he dead or alive? No news for three months; no letters +or telegrams. Even the casualty lists had ceased to reach them. Her babe +was dying for want of milk food. Could I give her a tin? General +Hunter's men had broken up her kraal to use the wood for burning, and +all her goats had wandered off and she had no one to send to look for +them. These few logs of wood were all she had to bake bread with; would +I ask the General to see that the soldiers did not take them? And then +the Kaffirs! It was a piteous tale launched on a flood of tears. +Possibly it was exaggerated; people have different ways of asking for +help; but the terror in the woman's eye when she spoke of the Kaffirs +was genuine. And I remembered the cripple's phrase--"The Kaffirs are +jumping about." + +Captain Bell-Smythe, the brigade major, came up presently, and I found +him willing, as he and General Mahon had always been, to listen with +patience to the long recital of woe. A sentry was put over the house +and gardens to protect them from the desecrating foot of Tommy, and I +know that a tin of milk was furnished out of the scanty stores of the +headquarters' mess. + +As for the Kaffirs, that trouble turned out to be a very real one. On +the next day's march four were captured by a patrol of General Barton +and shot, and it almost seems as though their blood were upon the heads +of those who failed to disarm them after the siege of Mafeking was +raised. I heard that the reason given was that it would offend the +Barralongs, who had fought so bravely in defence of their staadt; but +surely it had been better to offend them than allow them to run their +heads into a noose. The Kaffir trouble was like a shadow on our march; +they imagined that they had old scores to pay off; they paid them with +remarkable fidelity to their own austere sense of justice; and it was +felt that in suffering death they were bearing the punishment for more +than their own misdeeds. + +Incidents such as these marked the days of our march to Lichtenburg. But +our family was breaking up; Colonel Rhodes and Sir John Willoughby, who +had worked so hard on the relieving march, left us at Maribogo; one by +one my fellow-correspondents were departing; one officer after another +who had been with us on some special service was being withdrawn. + +And suddenly my own summons came. Over thousands of miles of sea-bed it +found me at a spot where the telegraph instruments never spoke before, +and may never speak again until the end of Time. We were encamped +fifteen miles from Lichtenburg, in a place made green by a clear and +brimming river. I had wished to send a telegram, and the obliging +orderly had undertaken to tap the temporary wire and "call up" +Lichtenburg. So the instruments were connected in the green field, and +soon the voice of the man at Lichtenburg was heard. The first thing he +did was to ask if anyone of my name was with the column, and when he +found I was there he said there was a cable for me. He read it to me +over the wire, with the result that I did not send my telegram. And +presently the voice ceased, the wire was disconnected, and (although I +had been hoping that the message would come) I went about like one under +sentence of death. + +We came on into Lichtenburg the next day, once more passing the Irish +Brigade with its childish pipes. General Hunter's division was now +complete, and I had not seen so great an encampment of tents since +leaving Lord Methuen at Boshof. They surrounded the pretty town--long +lanes arched by great willows trembling over streams such as run clearly +through the streets of all South African villages. On the next day +Mahon's column, proceeding in advance of the Division, was to set out +towards Rustenburg, while I rode forty miles westward into Mafeking. + +The day at Lichtenburg was very busy, occupied by those miserable duties +that affront the softer feelings. To dismantle and sell the moving home +that, as though by a miracle, has been nightly disposed through hundreds +of miles of road travel, and to part from horses that have served you +well and shared your dangers, if not your alarms, is to suffer a new and +painful damage to the affections. It was here, also, that I had to say +good-bye to Major Pollock, with whom I had been living for the last five +months. Some correspondents live always alone, and some like to join +with several of their fellows in a large mess; but I think that our +arrangement (when one is so fortunate in one's companion as I was) is by +far the best. Of course the newspaper correspondent has to remember that +he is the rival and not the ally of all his fellows; but in the South +African war there were many occasions when two correspondents might work +together to the advantage of both newspapers, and there were few +occasions when a correspondent could obtain any advantage or information +which was not shared by all the rest. At such times, of course, when +they did arise, we used to become very silent as to our immediate +intentions, and the subject which was uppermost in both our minds was +shunned. But so long as my companion was with me I never lacked a home +on the veldt. + +The happiest endings and the lightest farewells are indeed serious; they +punctuate life, and set a period upon chapters that may not be revised. +Out of the dust of preparation rose once more the pillar of cloud that +had hovered over the column for hundreds of dusty miles; and soon to an +accompaniment of stamping feet and jingling harness it moved on, leaving +me behind as it had left so many others--not all to go home, but some to +sleep beneath the roadside bushes. General Mahon waited, chatting, until +the last waggon had passed, and then he also, who had been the +pleasantest of companions as well as the most respected of commanding +officers, rode away with that stiffening of the back with which your +true soldier ever turns from private to public affairs. I looked after +the vanishing column, and felt as though every prop of existence had +been knocked from under me. I had been one amongst a thousand, a mere +molecule in a large mass, moved hither and thither without reference to +my desires or efforts; and I resented the restoration of independence. +Strange contradiction! We crave and struggle for individuality; here was +mine restored to me, and I looked at it askance. The tail of the column +disappeared round a bend in the road. Was this indeed the end of the +chapter? + +Not quite the end. As I set out on the westward road I met a +half-battalion of the Scots Fusiliers returning to camp from exercise, +marching at ease. Each company was headed by a piper who swung and +swaggered, blowing deep into the lungs of his instrument. As one company +passed, the measured bleat and squeal of the pipes faded and merged into +a sound heralding the approach of another. The gorgeous uniforms were +absent; but even the shabby khaki, stained with the soil of long marches +and hard fights, could not obliterate that perfect harmony of movement +which marks the first-class regiment. + +I stood to watch them go by. The last company approached; the piper, his +head thrown back, so deeply drunk of sound that his soul seemed to float +on the steady hum of the chanter, set the rhythm to ranks of men +stepping out to the inspiring discord. I turned my horse's head; before +me the road stretched long and lonely; behind was the bustle and stir of +the camp. A file of officers marching behind the column hailed me with +envious congratulation when they heard where I was going. But they did +not know that, just for one moment, I would have given the world to turn +and follow the piper. + + + +PLYMOUTH +WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON +PRINTERS + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING*** + + +******* This file should be named 23875-8.txt or 23875-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/7/23875 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Relief of Mafeking</p> +<p> How it Was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column; with an Account of Some Earlier Episodes in the Boer War of 1899-1900</p> +<p>Author: Filson Young</p> +<p>Release Date: December 16, 2007 [eBook #23875]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Graeme Mackreth,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1> +THE RELIEF OF<br /> +MAFEKING</h1> + +<h2>HOW IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY<br /> +MAHON'S FLYING COLUMN; WITH<br /> +AN ACCOUNT OF SOME EARLIER<br /> +EPISODES IN THE BOER WAR OF<br /> +1899-1900</h2> + + +<h4>BY</h4> +<h3>FILSON YOUNG</h3> + +<h5>WITH PORTRAITS AND PLANS</h5> + + +<p class='center' style="margin-top: 5em;"><small>METHUEN & CO.<br /> +36 ESSEX STREET W.C.<br /> +LONDON<br /> +1900</small> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus03.png" alt="Roberts" /> +<a id="illus03" name="illus03"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> FIELD-MARSHALL LORD ROBERTS, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., +G.C.I.E., V.C.</p> + + +<p class='center' style="margin-top: 10em;">TO<br /> + +M. C. D.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + + +<p>The proprietors of the <i>Manchester Guardian</i> have kindly allowed me to +make use of their copyright in the letters written by me to that +newspaper during the first half of the year. The substance of the +letters has been reproduced in the hope that home-staying folk may find +in them something of the atmosphere that surrounds the collision of +armed forces. It is a strange and rude atmosphere; yet it pleases me at +this moment to remember not so much the strangeness and rudeness as the +kindness and good-fellowship that made a dreadful business tolerable and +the memory of it pleasant. Many friends of these brave days I may not +see again, but if their eyes should ever light on this page I would have +them know that it contains a greeting.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"> +FILSON YOUNG</p> +<p> +<span class="smcap">London</span>, <i>July 31st, 1900</i><br /> +</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + +<h3><a href="#Part_I"><span class="smcap">Part I.</span></a></h3> + + +<h3>ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR</h3> + +<table summary="TOC" cellspacing="16" width="90%"> +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>I.</td> +<td><a href="#I">How the Reserves came up </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>II.</td> +<td><a href="#II"> How the Army left England</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>III.</td> +<td><a href="#III"> How the Wounded came Home </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h3><a href="#PART_II"><span class="smcap">Part II.</span></a></h3> + + +<h3>IN THE WAKE OF THE ARMY</h3> + +<table summary="TOC" cellspacing="16" width="100%"> +<tr> +<td align='right'>IV.</td> +<td><a href="#IV">The Long Sea Road </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>V.</td> +<td><a href="#V">Scenes at Cape Town </a> </td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>VI.</td> +<td><a href="#VI">In the Eddies of a Great Whirl</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>VI.</td> +<td><a href="#VI">In the Eddies of a Great Whirl</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>VII.</td> +<td><a href="#VII"> Magersfontein and Kimberley</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>VIII.</td> +<td><a href="#VIII">Paardeberg </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<h3><a href="#Part_III"><span class="smcap">Part III.</span></a></h3> + +<h3>LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE TO BLOEMFONTEIN</h3> + +<table summary="TOC" cellspacing="16" width="85%"> +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>IX.</td> +<td><a href="#IX">The Boer Panic at Osfontein</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>X.</td> +<td> <a href="#X">The March on Dreifontein </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XI.</td> +<td><a href="#XI">The Battle of Dreifontein and the March on Bloemfontein</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XII.</td> +<td><a href="#XII">Retracing the Steps of the Army </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h3><a href="#Part_IV"><span class="smcap">Part IV.</span></a></h3> + +<h3>AN EXPEDITION WITH LORD METHUEN</h3> + +<table summary="TOC" cellspacing="16" width="100%"> +<tr align='left'> +<td align='right'>XIII.</td> +<td><a href="#XIII">In the Field again </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XIV.</td> +<td> <a href="#XIV"> The Capture of Boers at Tweefontein</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XV.</td> +<td> <a href="#XV">An Elusive Enemy </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XVI.</td> +<td><a href="#XVI"> A Surprise on the March </a> </td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XVII.</td> +<td><a href="#XVII">Under the Red Cross Flag </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h3><a href="#Part_V"><span class="smcap">Part V.</span></a></h3> + +<h3>WITH THE FLYING COLUMN TO MAFEKING</h3> + +<table summary="TOC" cellspacing="16" width="95%"> +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XVIII.</td> +<td><a href="#XVIII">. A Strategic Secret</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XIX.</td> +<td><a href="#XIX"> The Departure from Kimberley </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XX.</td> +<td><a href="#XX"> From Taungs to Vryburg</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XXI.</td> +<td><a href="#XXI">Nearing the Goal</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XXII.</td> +<td><a href="#XXII"> We Repel an Attack and Join Forces with Plumer </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XXIII.</td> +<td><a href="#XXIII"> The Fighting on the Molopo</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XXIV.</td> +<td><a href="#XXIV"> Mafeking at Last </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XXV.</td> +<td><a href="#XXV"> A Memorial of the Siege </a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> + +<tr align="left"> +<td align='right'>XXVI.</td> +<td><a href="#XXVI"> Good-bye to Mafeking</a></td> +<td></td> +<td></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p> +<a href='#illus03'>FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR, +K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., V.C.</a> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href='#illus04'>MR. G. LENTHAL CHEATLE, F.R.C.S., CONSULTING +SURGEON TO HER MAJESTY'S FORCES<br /> +IN SOUTH AFRICA</a> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href='#illus05'>LIEUTENANT-GENERAL P.S. LORD METHUEN, +K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G. </a> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href='#illus06'>BRIGADIER-GENERAL BRYAN MAHON, D.S.O.</a> +<br /> +<br /> +MAP OF MAHON'S MARCH +[Transcibers note: This map, although listed, did not appear in the original +and therefore does not in this copy] +<br /> +<a href="#illus07">PLAN OF THE BATTLE ON THE MOLOPO ON +MAY 16TH </a> +<br /> +<br /> +<a href='#illus08'>FACSIMILE OF SIGNED MENU OF THE RELIEF +DINNER AT MAFEKING </a> +</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Part_I" id="Part_I"></a><span class="smcap">Part I</span></h2> + +<h2>ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR</h2> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE RESERVES CAME UP</h2> + +<p>From a seat in the paymaster's office of the depôt barracks at Bury one +afternoon in November, 1899, I could look either into the barrack yard +or out along the Bolton Road. A four-wheeler clove its way through the +crowd surrounding the gates, and the sentries presented arms to it. It +contained my friend, the paymaster, who presently came upstairs carrying +a bag in which were several hundred pounds sterling—the real sinews of +war. This was the man whose business it was to call up the Reservists, +and he had a very simple way of doing it. He had several books +containing large forms divided by perforation into four parts. The first +was a counterfoil on which was written the Reservist's name and the date +of posting the order; the second was a railway warrant requesting the +railway company to furnish him with a ticket available by the most +direct route from his place of residence to the depôt; the third was the +order requiring him to present himself at the barracks on or before a +certain date; and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> fourth was a money-order for three shillings, +officially called an advance, but virtually a present from a considerate +Government. On the 11th of the month the paymaster at Bury had signed +about six hundred of these notices, and had seen them posted; on Sunday +and Monday they had begun to fall like bombs on the breakfast tables of +prosperous civilians all over the country; and soon the pieces of blue +paper had made a sad disturbance in several hundreds of cottage homes, +and added several hundred men to the strength of the 2nd Battalion of +the Lancashire Fusiliers. The business of the pay office, or at least my +friend's part of it—a few subalterns rushing up in a hurry to get money +for their various companies; eighty pounds for A, a hundred pounds for +D, and so on—was soon over, and then he told me something of how the +Reserve system works.</p> + +<p>All the men in the Reserve have put in at least seven years' service. +They go into the Reserve first for a term of five years at sixpence a +day, and then (if they wish) for a term of four years at fourpence a +day. Of course when the Reserves are called out they receive the same +pay as regular soldiers, and their wives have separation allowances. As +everyone knows, this was the first time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> that any considerable number of +the Reserves had been called up, and the system has worked admirably. +About 98 per cent, in some districts presented themselves, the small +remainder being either ill or in gaol. A small proportion of those who +came up were rejected by the doctor, but on the whole the men were tough +and fit. In this district they were allowed eight days in which to +settle their affairs and present themselves at the depôt, but most of +them did not come until the last minute, and several not until after the +last minute of the time allowed by the order.</p> + +<p>The crowd outside the barrack gates was composed chiefly of women and +loafers, but every now and then it opened to admit a handful of +reluctant-looking men, who had probably stayed outside until their money +was exhausted. And many of them were hanging about outside the gates +having nothing to do and no money to spend, but deferring to the last +moment the final step of self-submission to the iron hand of discipline. +For once the Reservist was inside the barrack yard he could have no more +liberty, probably, for many a long month—unless, indeed, he gained an +endless liberty on the battlefield. The scene through the opposite +window looking on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> to the barrack yard was very different from the +rather sombre picture without. The yard was gay with the wonderful red +that has done so much to make the army popular. For movement there were +a few squads of Militia recruits being drilled by the trumpet-voiced +sergeants; and for music there was the ring of a hundred rifle-butts +striking the ground together, the tramp and click of many feet, and the +clatter of the colonel's horse as he rode across the yard.</p> + +<p>But the most interesting people were the Reservists and their friends, +who dotted the yard in many-coloured groups. Here was a party of girls +and women taking a farewell of some engaging blade whose course of +gallantry had been suddenly interrupted. There was a father standing +with his wife and small family grouped round him, no one saying very +much, but everyone feeling a good deal. And another group would be +laughing and singing, not quite recovered from the means they had taken +to drown regrets.</p> + +<p>Sitting in the window, one could trace the Reservist's progress from his +entrance at the gate to his disappearance into quarters. The square was +filled with little processions contain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>ing six or eight men each; first +from the orderly-room to the hospital, in all kinds of civilian raiment: +black, grey, brown, green, blue, drab—anything but red; hatless, +capless, black-hatted, cloth-capped, shabby, spruce, dirty, soiled, +clean, pretty clean, white-faced, red-faced, unkempt, well-groomed, +hungry, well-fed, thin, fat—every class between clerks and tramps; +every condition between prosperity and destitution. A procession was +also constantly flowing from the hospital to the quartermaster's +stores—the same procession, with one military touch; for this time the +men did not straggle, but were marched single file in charge of a +sergeant. The next procession was from the stores to the men's quarters; +but now each man had a great bundle under his arms containing his entire +kit wrapped up in an overcoat.</p> + +<p>The quartermaster, not without pardonable pride, took me over the stores +in which the men's kits are prepared. There were hundreds of racks +containing bundles so cunningly rolled that you could see at a glance +what was in each. And beside each bundle was a valise already packed +with everything that a campaigner could need; indeed, when I read the +printed list showing what was in each my heart warmed with the same joy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +that I felt when I first read <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>. Government, who is +rigorous and unyielding as a disciplinarian to her soldiers, is a mother +to them in her provision for their wants. Each bag contained a knife, +fork, spoon, tin canteen, shaving brush, soap, razor, boot brushes, +clothes brush, hair brush, pipeclay, button polisher, cleaning paste, +and a dozen other things just as interesting and as useful. Out of +curiosity I opened a housewife, and my heart was touched with the almost +feminine consideration that it indicated; for there, cunningly folded +up, were skeins of wool and cotton in many different shades, as well as +half a dozen sizes of needles. Surely the War Office is human, and not +the strange machine that some of us esteem it, for how else could it +provide that Tommy shall not have to darn his socks with scarlet, nor +his tunic with grey, nor his trousers with white wool? As the men came +into the stores each one received his share of these excellent things, +and the quartermaster's sergeants displayed quite a genius in estimating +and fitting the various proportions of the men. And the men's eyes +brightened at the sight of the glorious new red cloth; I believe that, +although they wore it for a few days only,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> it did much to reconcile +them with the inconvenience and hardship that some of them endured in +rejoining. Khaki uniforms were served out later.</p> + +<p>All round the barrack square the men stood in groups as I have +described, and in one corner were clusters of men arrayed in their new +garments. One could read pretty easily in their faces the story of the +last few days. One saw several men who had evidently risen in the world +since they had left the army. They had an air of sleekness and delicacy +that made them seem out of place. Others had evidently been going down +in the social scale, and wore their new clothes like fine feathers. Some +were evidently glad at the prospect of action and excitement, and fell +back into the regimental routine as a man sits down in a comfortable +chair. To others, not a few, all this hustle was an act in a domestic +tragedy. Sometimes it was a comedy, as in the case of one man who had +built up a "nice little butchering business," snatching his profits from +the niggard hand of competition; and now he must go forth to kill men, +leaving his rival master in the field of domestic butchery. But the +comedies were few, or else I did not come across them, for it wa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>s the +serious side of this business that impressed me the most. Men caught +away from new-found family joys, not for personal advancement or glory, +but to take their places as units in the huge war-machine that is fed +with human bodies. It is so easy to speak and think of "losses" when we +count them by the hundred; it is so hard and bitter to think of one +death and all that it means when one stands and speaks to a soldier. I +found one man standing apart by himself—a young man, with a good, +clean, hardy face—and there were tears in his eyes. As I was passing he +asked me what time it was, and in a few minutes he told me his story. He +had been married two years; he had one little child; he had left his +wife dying of pneumonia. That was all; but I think one can hardly +realise how much it meant. I should like some civilians who do their +soldiering in an armchair, and who really seem to like a war for the +spice with which it flavours their newspaper, to have seen that man and +heard his short tale of misery.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> He is, of course, one of the few on +whom an admirable system inflicts a fearful wound; but he is an example +(if one were needed) of the matchless discipline that can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> teach a man +to obey without question or complaint a command that has two edges for +death. I am glad to say that I met no other man in half so dreadful a +plight as his, but there were dozens of men to whom the order came as an +ending of happiness, and of course one knew, although the thought was +not dwelt upon, that many of the little homes of which these men had +been the centre and support would have that support no more. Yet of one +thing I am very sure. Not one of the men to whom I spoke but was willing +and anxious to serve his country; not one but looked proud to be wearing +the old uniform again. The sadness and trouble was all in the +retrospect, not in the outlook. Tommy Atkins, with his great, simple, +conspicuous vices and his obscure, surprising, and enduring virtues was +unconsciously putting into practice the precept of a certain Old +Buccaneer: <i>No regrets; they unman the heart we want for to-morrow.</i></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This man's wife died a week after he had sailed.</p></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE ARMY LEFT ENGLAND</h2> + + +<p>The few days that elapsed between rejoining and embarkation were spent +by the Reservist at the depôt barracks of his regiment, where he +received his kit and underwent the small amount of drill necessary to +remove the rust of civilian life. After that, the sound of reveille in +the depth of a winter night; the sudden awakening; the hasty breakfast, +eaten like a Passover feast; the long and noisy railway journey; the +faint, salt smell of the sea, and the first sight of it through the +rainy dawn. In the early days of the war I was present at many +embarkations at Liverpool and Southampton, and they left an impression +on my mind which will not easily be effaced. For, even to an onlooker, +the embarkation of troops, with its sights and sounds of tragedy, is an +affair that burns itself into the memory; one is dazzled and confounded +by the number and variety of the small dramas that are enacted before +one's eyes; and the whole is framed in a setting of military system and +circumstance that lends dignity, if that were needed, to the humble +tragedies of the moment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>Only a few of the thousands who came to watch the departure of the +<i>Canada</i> from Liverpool one December morning were allowed inside the +dock shed; nearly all of those within the gate were sweethearts and +wives and children of soldiers who had contrived to procure passes for +them. Even in the shed the scene was one of extraordinary confusion. At +intervals of about half an hour detachments were marched in and formed +up at one end of the shed, where they left their bundles and heavy kit, +and whence they were marched in single file up the gangway of the ship. +With the exception of the Manchesters, all the troops were in khaki, and +were easily distinguishable from the dark-coloured mass of civilians. +Thus there was always a yellow pool of colour in the midst of the black +mass, and all the morning a thin yellow line flowed from the pool to the +ship's gangway. As often as one looked, during the whole morning, there +was a line of men in the act of ascending the gangway. One felt as +though one had fallen asleep for a moment and dreamed, and waked again +to find the same men in the same position, so little did the appearance +of things change. It was really a picture that one looked at, for the +colours and bold outlines remained constant; the eye at times grew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> used +to the minute movement, and refused to notice that the picture was +preserved only because the same things were being done over and over +again by hundreds of different people. The same greetings as friends +recognised the newly-arrived man, the same hurried words, the same +faltering voices, the same desperate embraces, the same endless tramp +from the formed ranks to the ship, the same tears. The absorption of so +many acute personal emotions into one revolving routine was the most +amazing part of it; the stream of discipline and system ran swift and +deep here, drawing into its flood even the most sacred and intimate of +human experiences, and turning into a pattern the parting of husband +from wife and father from child. When at length one became used to the +picture one began to notice the elements of its composition, and only in +watching them could one gain relief from the overburdening sense of +personality submerged in a system. The little dramas were very strange +and very affecting. I can only give a few examples out of dozens that I +watched.</p> + +<p>As the troops came in at the door, marching four deep,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> the crowd formed +on each side, and those who had friends in the detachment tried to get a +prominent place in the front rank of the crowd, where they could attract +the attention of the soldiers as they passed. The men were not hurried, +and they were marching at ease, so there was generally time for a few +words and a kiss or a hand-clasp before they were moved on. One wife, +who was little more than a girl, had taken a good place on the edge of +the crowd when her husband's detachment began to file in. I heard her +telling a friend that she had not said good-bye to "her lad," as she +wanted to see the last of him; it had been arranged that she was to be +near when he passed so that he could give her a parting kiss. Oh, how +anxiously she scanned the faces of the men as they swung into sight, +throwing all her soul into her eyes!</p> + +<p>Presently, "There he is!" she cried; "here, Jim, I'm here!"</p> + +<p>The young man's fine honest face had a look no less intent than hers, +but it was turned away from her; he was searching as eagerly as she, but +on the wrong side of the lane of people; and by one of those impish +tricks that Fate plays upon us in acute moments, he never saw her, nor +heard her voice above the cheers of the people and the blare of the +band. It was a cruel thing; she was fast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> wedged in the crowd. Someone +ran after the man and told him where she was, but before the sympathiser +could reach him his company had been drawn up and he could not be +allowed to fall out. And long before she was clear of the tightly packed +throng he had passed on to the ship, where she could not follow him.</p> + +<p>Another incident of another kind. The North Lancashires were marching +in, and an old man in the crowd was on the look-out for his son. He +explained to everybody near him what a fine boy his son was, and how +keen a soldier; how it had nearly broken the old man's heart that his +boy should leave him and go to the war, but how it would "do un good and +make a mon of un." Presently two soldiers appeared, half-carrying and +half-dragging between them a young man who was so drunk that he could +neither stand nor walk. His helmet was jammed over his eyes, but as he +was dragged past us it fell off and rolled to the old man's feet. I +heard him draw in his breath sharply and murmur something as his face +flushed; and then all the people round began to point and say, "That's +his son there, him that's being carried"; and some—God forgive +them!—laughed and joked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> at the old man. And he who had a moment ago +filled our ears with the praises of his boy gazed after him with a look +of bitter amazement and then went silently away. Another man who had +missed seeing his wife before he had embarked caught sight of her from +the ship's deck as she stood upon the quay with tears in her eyes. There +was no chance of his being allowed to pass down the gangway. But the +husband in him knew no obedience to the stern order, and he dived clean +off the stern of the steamer into the filthy water and swam, khaki and +all, to the steps at the side of the dock. And you may be sure his wife +was there to help him out, and she forgot her grief in her pride at his +daring. So he held her in his arm for a moment (and had three ringing +cheers from his mates into the bargain) before he was collared and +marched back to restraint, dirty but glorious.</p> + +<p>Here and there one saw men much the worse for liquor; and I have no +words to describe the folly of those friends who thrust bottles of +spirits into the soldiers' hands as they passed through the streets. +They did them a double cruelty, for the poor fellows, all unstrung by +their partings, gulped the raw spirit thinking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>they drank courage; and +so once or twice I saw poor women saying good-bye to staggering +maniacs—grim mockeries of the husbands they might never see again, the +poor fools themselves at present oblivious indeed, but doomed to I know +not what horrors of remorse on awaking. Happily, however, there were not +many in this sad condition. Most of the men behaved with a fortitude and +gentleness that was most touching. Indeed I find it hard to express my +admiration of their bearing. There was none of the bluster of the +armchair Jingo, none of the loud hectoring and swaggering and bravado +that distinguish the carpet warrior. On the contrary, when they were +talking of the war amongst themselves they had an air of quiet +determination, of good-humoured banter, and of easy, serious confidence +far more ominous for an enemy than any amount of fluent rant. After the +world of politics, with its hair-splitting and word-mincing, it was good +to be with soldiers—the men who do the work. They knew no fine +political shades, they bandied no epithets; England was at war and they +were going to fight—that was enough. And the spirit in which they +fought all the world knows: every day during the war one read tales of +devotion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> and heroism that became almost commonplace; it is even a +commonplace to praise them. Yet one could not see the soldiers in this +most trying duty of all, the laying down of home ties and interests (for +I think the heroism of mere fighting is nothing to it), without feeling +a pride in the moral discipline that makes it all possible, and under +the authority of which Tommy is content to be as a child. And this +childlike submission to discipline has its pathetic side, as when one +saw the little family of mother and children grouped to see the last of +its head. The children stood in wide-eyed amazement to see daddy the +Reservist, who in the little household had been the emblem of all +authority, now in the place of obedience, and taking directions from +another man (not so big and strong as he) as to how he should stand and +into what hole he should put the buckle of his strap. Thus even the +father and the husband are absorbed in the soldier. It is a great price; +and the way in which it was paid by so many was perhaps our firmest +assurance of the stuff that is in our soldiers.</p> + +<p>Early on the morning of departure a few hundred people—mostly +women—stood o<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>n the pierhead of Canada Dock, watching the transport as +she lay a short distance off in the stream with the Blue Peter at her +fore and the St. George's ensign hanging astern. The rain beat steadily +down, loading the raw wind that blew out of the morning twilight, and +the brown water broke sullenly to the send of a setting flood tide. The +faces of nearly all the women were worn with weeping; now they wept no +longer, but looked dully out to sea, while the rain ran down their +soaking garments and splashed on the ground. A drunken soldier who had +somehow got ashore the night before reeled helplessly on his wife's arm, +his head bruised and cut and his new uniform torn and filthy. But in the +woman's face there was a kind of fearful joy; she had rescued him from +his pot-house satellites, and she thought she could keep him. Presently +a tug came off from the transport with a picket to collect deserters—he +had to go. She sobbed and wailed, imploring the sergeant in vain; and +she clung to her poor senseless husband as though she would never leave +him. He hardly knew her; he laughed vacantly in her face when with +streaming eyes she begged him to speak her name; then they took him away +from her. As the tug steamed out I heard him singing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>A little while afterwards the <i>Canada's</i> siren began to wail and squeal +with a horrible mockery of painful cries. The tugs backed clear of her, +and lent their shrill voices to the discordant concert. Presently the +water astern of the transport turned from brown to foaming white, and +her masts began to move past the farther shore. There was a faint sound +of cheering from her, but she was soon out of sound and sight, and still +the women stared into the mist that had enfolded her, as though their +wishes might draw her back again. But in a little while they turned +towards home and a world that had changed its face.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On another day I went down to Liverpool to see the <i>Majestic</i> depart +with troops for the front. The weather was consistently unkind. The +<i>Canada</i> had sailed in a whirl of rainy fog, and the departing +passengers of the <i>Majestic</i> looked across a little inky strip of water +to a land that was cloaked with snow. It was bitterly cold on the +landing-stage, and all the interest of the scene could not keep the +bitter wind from whipping one's face and numbing the feet. The wooden +planks resounded not more with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> tramp of marching feet than with the +hard stampings of people who were trying to restore circulation. There +were no very poor people on the stage. The space opposite to the ship +was occupied chiefly by the friends of officers and by the troops +themselves, and certainly it seemed kinder to the men to prevent the +dreadful scrambling for farewells that took place when the <i>Canada</i> +sailed. But a sea of anxious faces pressed against the barriers at +either end of the reserved space, and no doubt there was much bitter +envy of us in the enclosure, who had so much better an opportunity, and +perhaps so much less reasonable a claim to the front places.</p> + +<p>Outwardly this departure seemed very different from that of the +<i>Canada</i>. It was not so sordid, if one may use the term; the vessel did +not slip away furtively from a dock in the small hours of the morning, +but departed in open day from the more accessible landing-stage; and +although the weather was chill and bitter, it had not that infinitely +dreary effect upon the spirits that one associates with a soaking +downpour. Here were all the pomps and circumstances of farewell—the +blowing of bands and wavings of caps and great shouts of a multitude +that must give vent to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> acute emotions. Yet, different though the +outward circumstances were, they only accentuated the likeness that lay +beneath. Good-bye is good-bye, whether we say it at a carriage window or +shout it across a strip of harbour water; whether a crowd sings "Auld +Lang Syne" or a mother whispers "Don't forget me." And at the sailing of +the <i>Majestic</i>, with all its dignity, one saw the same tragedies +repeated over and over again, until one's heart sickened of it all, and +one would gladly have come away. Of course it was not among the officers +and their wives that one saw these things; people used to self-control +keep their griefs to themselves, and perhaps a very inexperienced person +would have been deceived by the smiles on women's faces and the cheery +chaff of men. Even here there were things to be seen at the last moment, +but I confess that I turned my back when the saloon gangway was about to +be removed; some things are sacred even from the man whose business it +is to describe what he sees.</p> + +<p>It was after the two thousand troops had all been embarked that the +friends of the men were admitted to the stage, and the dismal, though +enthusiastic, part of the affair began. Befo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>re that everything was +business and order. As the men arrived they were provided with hot +coffee and meat pies, which they drank and ate with every sign of +pleasure. Some of us who were very cold envied them for that moment. The +forward gangway was for about an hour occupied by men who did nothing +but pass rifles from the quay to the ship; it was a formidable sight, +this stream of deadly weapons that flowed on board. Up another gangway +enough cordite to blow up the whole of Liverpool was being gingerly +carried in small cases. But this hour or two of embarkation, in which so +much really happened, left little impression on my mind. It simply was +one more illustration of the admirable efficiency of discipline for +which our army is famous. It was when the gangways were removed and the +crowd began to pour on to the stage that the affair became human; and +the half-hour that elapsed between that time and the moment when the +mist finally hid the ship wrote itself much more deeply on my memory.</p> + +<p>One gangway was left open, and stragglers and men who at the last moment +had stayed away for an hour with their wives and children were hunted +out and hurried up it. At the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> shore end there were many painful scenes, +which people with a little imagination may picture for themselves. +Fortunately a farewell is a brief thing, and leaves only aching hearts; +people could not stand a sustained agony like that of the last moment. +It is the price we pay for our powers of memory and forethought; the +charger, going perhaps to a bloody and cruel death, steps willingly +enough up plank; the drunken man sings his good-bye; only the sober and +alert taste the fearful sting of parting. Even the people who had kept +up a great show of callousness had the mask suddenly and for the moment +plucked from their faces; young subalterns with rather watery eyes and +very loud voices ran swiftly up the plank, and brave women who had a +smile even to the last for their husbands turned a different face +shorewards. One could not help contrasting the weight of the burden for +those who went away and those who stayed behind; for the men and for the +women; for those who were going to fight, to die perhaps, but still to +<i>do</i> something, and for those who had nothing but their thoughts to be +busy with. Pessimistic as this view may seem, it is the true one; the +event described as an "enthusiastic send-off" is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> essentially a +melancholy function, and the relief afforded by the antics of a few +intoxicated men does not make it less so. It is strange, indeed, how +important a part is played by the whisky-bottle in the farewells of the +poor. I have seen it passed round family circles at the last moment like +some grotesque sacrament; have even overheard husband and wife almost +quarrelling in their desire to press the comforter each upon the other. +"Here, take it with you, Sam." "No, Missus, you 'ave it; I can get some +off Tom." "No, lad, take it—I'll throw it after you if you don't." +Chance generally stepped in to kill the ghost in the bottle, throwing it +to the ground and spilling the contents. I saw one little boy, aged +about four, run up to his daddy at the last moment with a gorgeous +present in the shape of a glass pistol (a delicate reference to his +profession) full of spirits; it had a cork in the barrel, and I suppose +you fired it down your throat. Amid all these scenes the officers +displayed an unvarying tact, coaxing the men on board and not unduly +hastening their farewells; but for all that there were many violent and +tragic scenes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just before the last gangway was run ashore a little woman came up, +crying and almost breathless, and begging to be allowed to say good-bye +to her husband, who was at the other end of the gangway, not allowed to +come down. The orders were absolute—no one must go up to the ship. Then +the woman broke out into a great wailing and sobbing, praying the +quartermaster on her knees that he would let her go half-way up the +gangway; but he was as firm as a rock. Then she came to the edge of the +landing-stage and cried quietly, all alone in that vast crowd, now and +then calling broken words of endearment to the man who stood a dozen +yards away from her across the strip of black water. Discipline is +heavy, and crushes; it is also sharp, and sometimes cuts cruelly and +deeply. But in the midst of her amazing grief she found time to call +some cheering words across to her husband: "Keep your heart up, lad, and +think of me and the children as loves you." He, poor soul, looked +thunder at his sergeant, and raged and swore; but he was a unit in a +mass—he kicked against the pricks, and he knew it.</p> + +<p>At last the gangway was removed, and a kind of quietness fell upon the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>crowd, waiting for the next harrowing sensation. It came in a +succession of those minute incidents that burn themselves into the +memory of people whose nerves are on the rack. The splash of a hawser +into the dock; the deep notes of the engine-room telegraph, and the +clicking reply upon the bridge; the spinning of the wheel as a +quartermaster tests the steering engine; the clack and spit of winches, +and finally the thrilling shout of the foghorn, whose echo leaves you +trembling—all these things have a painful significance, and they bite +and grip into the heart. As the ship began to move a band on the +shade-deck struck up "Auld Lang Syne," and immediately the floodgates +were unlocked. Tears started again into bitterly dry eyes, handkerchiefs +were waved, people shouted, sang snatches of song—everyone made a sound +of some kind, and contributed to the great unrestrained noise of human +beings in distress and excitement. Above it all rose the hooting of +foghorns and sirens, while the band made its noise too—thump and throb +of drums, scream of pipes, and red-hot flare of brass instruments. +Sea-birds, seeing the ship about to depart, flapped and hovered about it +by the score, adding their shrill cries to the tumult; and high on his +flying-bridge stood the captain, shifting his telegraph<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> from "stand by" +to "ahead," holding up or moving his hand, but not uttering his voice. +It was a striking picture, in which he stood as an image of a Fate by +which all men were for the moment helplessly crushed down.</p> + +<p>It was at this moment that something happened which I, for one, had been +expecting. One of the many men who were perched in the rigging or +outside the rails lost his hold, and in the same second was wriggling in +the water. It conveys some idea of the pitch to which the crowd was +strung up to say that the noise did not increase and hardly changed its +character. I suppose people turned from cheering to shouting, but the +big sound was still the same, and since the bands-men were high up and +in the middle of the deck they saw and knew nothing and went on playing. +But something else impressed me far more deeply; indeed, I think that I +can never forget it. Quite close to me was standing the man's wife +holding a baby, and as the man's face turned towards us in his +floundering she said calmly, "God, it's my George." And the little boy, +not understanding, repeated gleefully and senselessly, "It's dadda; it's +dadda."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<p>I looked at the woman's face; her cup had been full before; she had +drunk her fill of grief; and this new horror, her husband struggling +like a mouse in the bitter cold water, could not add a pang to her +torture. All that I have described happened, of course, in a few +seconds; the man had barely gone under before one of the ship's +butchers, in his white clothes, was in after him. Let no one belittle +the race of butchers. The life-taker knew how to save life, and Master +Butcher had his man in a moment, turned him on his back, and began to +swim ashore; indeed, there was no fear of the man's drowning, for there +were half a dozen men in the water within half a minute of the accident. +The man was brought ashore, and his wife helped to rub him down; only to +go through her parting again on the deck of a tender a few minutes +afterwards. But there was a cheerier note in the cheering that broke out +when the ship again began to move, and when the band struck up "God Save +the Queen" everyone who had a croak in him or her joined with a will. +The shape of the ship grew dim in the mist, but still the sea-birds +cried and hovered like winged prayers and wishes between her and the +shore.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the Thames and at Southampton similar scenes were enacted almost +daily. Here is an account of a "Specimen Day" at Southampton—one of the +busiest that had been known there since the beginning of the war, for +Lord Roberts's grand army was being hurried out to repair the fortunes +shattered at Magersfontein, Stormberg, and Colenso.</p> + +<p>All day long crowded troop-trains had been steaming into the station, +where small pilot engines waited to receive them and drag them, groaning +and squealing, round the curves and across the points that lead to the +docks. The first train arrived at about nine, and the last at two. +Between those hours there was a constant succession of trains. Three +steamers were waiting to receive the troops; the Peninsular and Oriental +liner <i>Assaye</i>, the Union Steamship Company's <i>Goorkha</i>, and the Castle +liner <i>Braemar Castle</i>. The <i>Assaye</i> was a new boat, and this was her +maiden voyage. She carried two regiments, the 2nd Norfolk and the 2nd +Hampshire, and the fact that the Hampshire is the territorial regiment +of the port, accounted for the unusually large crowd that assembled on +the wharf beside which the <i>Assaye</i> lay. The business of despatching +transpo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>rts had become so commonplace at Southampton that unless there +was some special interest attached to the embarkation there was no crowd +at all. Only the town loafers would assemble in any strength. But many +of the Southampton people had friends in the Hampshire Regiment, so +there were some thousands pressing round the barriers that surrounded +the dock shed into which the trains on arriving were drawn.</p> + +<p>It was on board the <i>Assaye</i> that I spent the greater part of the +morning and afternoon, piloted by a naval lieutenant who was in charge +of the embarkation. I perched myself high up on the flying-bridge and +watched the busy scene below. In the next dock was the <i>Goorkha</i>, into +whose commodious maw were pouring the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment, the 9th +Field Company Royal Engineers, the 14th Brigade Staff, the Cavalry +Brigade Field Hospital, the Fifth Division Field Hospital, and No. 12 +Company Army Medical Corps. Further away, alongside the dock extension +jetty, the <i>Braemar Castle</i> was receiving the 1st King's Own Scottish +Borderers, No. 7 Bearer Company, and No. 19 Company Army Medical Corps. +In the <i>Assaye</i>, however, were men of only two colours, the Norfolks and +th<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>e Hampshires. The Norfolks arrived first, and were promptly embarked. +The 'tween-decks of the <i>Assaye</i>, having been constructed specially for +the purpose, were more commodious than those on most other transports, +and certainly they were better ventilated, for a great open shaft ran +right up from the bottom of the ship to the upper deck, and round this +were grouped the tables at which the men, in messes of sixteen, were to +be accommodated. The men seemed pleased with their quarters and with the +general arrangements made for their comfort, but they were almost +laughably critical. The fact was that the soldiers were in great danger +of being spoiled by the fuss that had been made of them before they +embarked. It is well that we should cheer the soldiers up by our +enthusiasm, but, as everyone knows, the British public did much more +than that. "Tommy Atkins" was the rage for the moment, and what may be +called "Absent-minded Beggarism" was rampant. Unfortunately, this +enthusiasm found a vent too often in silly and thoughtless squandering +of money on the soldiers. They were banqueted before they started; their +friends used to ply them with drink; mayors were waiting upon them at +every turn with pipes and tobacco, and tot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>al strangers showered money +on them quite recklessly. For example, while I was on the <i>Assaye's</i> +bridge I saw a civilian, standing quite apart from the crowd, with his +hat full of copper and small silver coins. No one seemed to be watching +him. He could have no thought of making an impression. But in an ecstasy +of enthusiasm he kept throwing showers of money to the troops on deck. +It is an excellent thing that the people at home should be touched with +such gratitude to the men who fight for them, but, like all great public +movements which have more heart than head in them, this kind of thing +was sometimes overdone, and failed in its object. One saw the men +sometimes arriving drunken, grumbling, and impudent; criticising the +quality or quantity of the refreshments which the steamship company had +thoughtfully provided for them, and generally behaving in a way most +unlike what one would expect. No one seemed to lack money, although so +much was spent in drink. Several times that day I heard men at the +canteen calling for whisky and soda or brandy and potash, and grumbling +heartily when they were not supplied.</p> + +<p>With regard to the way in which men got drink one or two things fall to +be sa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>id. Every effort was made by the authorities to prevent +drunkenness. One of the naval embarkation officers told me that drink +was not supplied to the men at the canteen, that they were forbidden to +bring any on board, and that they were forbidden to buy or receive any +from civilians; yet it had been found that certain tradesmen at +Southampton had deliberately smuggled whisky on board by heavily bribing +some of the crew. In the face of this kind of thing the officers could +do little. They spoke very bitterly of the cruelty to the men involved +in such practices, for the soldiers are necessarily packed pretty close +together when hammocks are slung, and when the effects of drunkenness +are added to the horrors of sea-sickness the result is awful, and almost +unendurable by a man who cherishes any self-respect. I mention this at +some length because, although it was not prominent on the day of which I +am writing, it had happened terribly often, and on the day before it had +made the scene at the embarkation of an Irish regiment a really horrible +one. The two regiments which embarked on the <i>Assaye</i> happened to be the +soberest I had yet seen. Indeed, there was hardly one case of +drunkenness amongst them. I think this was partly because the outside +public was not allowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> near the ship. The men passed from the train +directly on board, and did not come in contact with their friends. It +was kinder to the friends too. I saw none of those heartrending tragic +scenes of parting, none of the wild grief that grows so much wilder for +being indulged. From the officers' deck the picture of embarkation +appeared in outline rather than in detail. The constant movement of +people far below, the orderly disorder, the shouts and cries of officers +and stevedores, the waving arms of cranes and the general excitement +produced in a mere onlooker a strange sense of isolation. One felt like +Gulliver observing the Liliputians in some great effort of maritime +preparation, and the longer one looked the smaller and more like toy +soldiers seemed the men. Such an endless stream of them poured from the +dock shed to the ship. I heard their cries faintly. "Bring back old +Kroojer's whiskers" was the burden of them, and this was indeed the +chief trophy, the chief spoil of war which the average soldier pictured +for himself. It was strange to think that this army of Liliput which +tramped and cried down there conceived its mission so vaguely and +imperfectly that it could depart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> light-heartedly.</p> + +<p>The deep note of the <i>Goorkha's</i> foghorn sounded close at hand. The tops +of her masts glided past the roof of the dock shed; in five minutes she +was out of sight, and her departure seemed to have been almost +uncelebrated. She got away at about two, and an hour later the <i>Braemar +Castle</i> also departed.</p> + +<p>The only thing which now delayed the departure of the <i>Assaye</i> was the +embarkation of the horses. There were eight chargers belonging to +officers of the two regiments, and they made the utmost objection to +being enclosed in narrow boxes and swung in mid-air. In particular a +magnificent grey belonging to the colonel of the Hampshire Regiment gave +any amount of trouble. It took her groom ten minutes to coax her into +the box, and as soon as it began to move upwards she snorted and +trembled with fear, and finally sat down on her haunches, with her neck +hanging over the door. The colonel, who was standing near, seemed rather +proud of this exhibition, but when the mare was almost beside herself +with terror, and while she was yet swinging in mid-air, he spoke +reassuring words—"Woa, Bunny! Steady, old girl!" The beast could not +see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> him, but she heard the voice in the air, and became suddenly quiet. +May she live to need the same assurance on her homeward journey, was +one's involuntary thought. The sight of these fine horses was very +pitiful, in the light of their possible destiny. One looked at the +glossy coats and saw them torn and bloody. One watched the nervous wild +eye and the twitching ears, and heard the whistling bullets and the +shells bursting round them, who know no reason for the commotion, +holding themselves bravely in check until the steadying voice behind +them ceases and the load suddenly lightens, or until a stray bullet ends +both fears and endeavours.</p> + +<p>After many delays the last horse was on board. And now there remained +only the inspection by the naval embarkation officers, an interval for +the crowd of half an hour, which the band on the quay did its best to +pass agreeably. There were many false alarms of departure. Every +patriotic song and tune had been played and cheered, but after "Auld +Lang Syne" had been hammered out for the third time the ship began to +move. As she left the quay the younger men at one end of the ship made a +great commotion. One held up a flag which he proposed to plant on +"Kroojer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>'s Hill." (Some authorities might read Majuba.) These men, +recruits for the most part, made in their ignorance of war a joyful +noise, but the Reservists and old hands looked grave and sad, and hardly +joined in the singing or cheering. They were thinking.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE WOUNDED CAME HOME</h2> + + +<p>Going down Southampton Water on January 5th to meet the <i>Aurania</i> with +her company of sick and wounded, one enjoyed a wonderful study of sober +tints in land and sea under a winter sky. The little steamer clove light +green waters that were hardly rippled by the breeze. This green sea she +divided in two long curling lines that seemed to reach the shore on +either hand, merging their light colour with a dark green of fields +waiting for spring. The fields in their turn faded into the bluish black +of leafless trees, and the trees bounded a sky of soft banks shading +from blue to grey. The waters seemed almost deserted, except for a ship +that now and then might meet us, stealing up on the tide and gently +heeling to the breeze. Sometimes a yacht would pass us, sometimes a +fishing-smack; but it was a lonely journey. The air was soft and +sweet—not like that of spring, but like that of a world which lives in +the promise of a coming spring and can wait. There were no sounds but +one sweet and familiar—the whisper, swelling and diminishing but never +dying, of foam at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> the cutwater.</p> + +<p>Little Hythe seemed to have retired into itself for the winter. Its pier +was deserted by boats and men when we passed. Lower down on the other +side was Netley Hospital, with how many pains and agonies hidden behind +its long, imposing front. Opposite Netley the sea eats and bites like an +acid into a kind of mossy grass of rare and vivid green, making a +wonderful coast-line on a small scale, with bays and channels and +sounds.</p> + +<p>We made for West Cowes, where the sea brims up to the streets and the +spray sometimes sprinkles the shop windows. Here the telegraph was set +in motion, asking Hurst Castle for news of the <i>Aurania</i>. But there was +no news, so, as it would take her two hours to reach Southampton after +passing the Castle, we went on past green promontories that dip into the +sea, right up to where the trees clothe them, past the towers of +Osborne, to Ryde. Again the telegraph asked the question, and again +there was a negative answer. Then we cut across the Solent towards +Southsea, watching the weird evolutions of a 35-knot torpedo-boat. It +darted about, annihilating the small distances of the Solent and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> making +a strange, buzzing noise like some foul fly. Vomiting flames and sparks, +it trailed a cloud in the air and snow upon the water. While we were +crawling across the river it had made a dozen journeys. Now it would be +down near Cowes, and now half-way up Southampton Water, and when one +looked again a few minutes afterwards it would be close astern, +overtaking us with the speed of a nightmare. I escaped from it at +Southsea, for there the wires told me something that sent me doubling to +the railway station, and thanking my stars that I was in time for a fast +train to Southampton. It arrived at half-past three, and at four the +<i>Aurania</i> showed her nose round the corner of a dock shed. Ten minutes +later she was alongside and berthed, and the disembarkation began.</p> + +<p>The total absence of any kind of popular demonstration was most +impressive. There was no crowd at all, and the barriers that had been +provided were not needed. This neglect of a welcome seemed sadly to +discount the value of the great hysterical demonstrations made when the +troops departed. They were men who were perhaps going to suffer for +their country. These invalids had suffered for it, and no one came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> to +cheer them up. Of course some of the men's own friends were there, and +the few strangers who were present shook hands with the men as they came +limping and hopping and stumbling down the gangway. But it was all very +quiet, very sad, very tame from a spectator's point of view, but deeply +significant. One could hardly imagine a greater contrast than was +presented by the same shed on a day of departure and on a day of arrival +like this. In the one case great crowds hurrahing and shouting and +cheering, bands playing, and bottles going busily round. In the other a +great quietness, a few people standing in little knots and speaking +almost in undertones. And the men themselves were very different. No +excitement, of course; no drunkenness; no yelling for "Kroojer's +whiskers." Oh, no!—something very different from that. About a hundred +men with pain-worn faces, bandaged arms and legs, slings and splints +everywhere, and talking, when they talked at all, of the horrors of the +war, of the death of comrades, and of the seriousness of the news we +gave them, in the light of their own experiences at the front. The men +were speedily disembarked and taken into the dock shed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> where a train +with some ambulance coaches was waiting, but they preferred to stand and +talk for a little while before taking their seats. A really kind and +useful work was done by members of the Southampton branch of the +"Absent-minded Beggars" relief corps, who provided hot coffee and buns +for the men, and in addition provided each with a stamped telegraph +form, so that he might reassure his friends at home.</p> + +<p>Of course there was another beside the serious aspect of this scene. +Nothing could exceed the interest in their ailments displayed by the men +who had partly recovered from them, and those whose wounds had healed +could not tire of giving demonstrations to their friends and relations, +or even to strangers. An illness or a wound is often the first view an +ignorant man gets of Nature's ingenuity displayed in the construction of +his own person, and when one of these invalids got hold of some medical +or surgical word he would cherish and roll it on his tongue like a man +tasting wine. One of them—a man who looked as strong as a horse—was +explaining to an admiring group how he came to be alive at all. A bullet +had passed through the rim of his helmet, entered his left temple, +passed be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>hind his nose, through the roof of his mouth, and out through +the lower part of his right cheek. First he would show us the dent in +his temple; then describe, with many strange words, the inward passage +of the bullet; and then, emerging into the sphere of common things, wind +up with, "and came out of my blooming cheek." Then he would show the +dent in his cheek, and pass his helmet round for all to see, as a +conjurer does. I moved round with this man and heard him recite his tale +three times, and every time he used just the same form of words, which +he repeated pat like a lesson. His corruption of "cerebral" was amusing. +"Nearly scattered the cerveral nerve, so help me!" he said. One could +have understood it if he had been in the Spanish-American war. Another +soldier used a word which I cannot explain. He was showing a mate how a +bullet had entered his shoulder, "and," said he, "it penetrated me +agamemnon." What is an agamemnon? It has been puzzling me ever since.</p> + +<p>Only a few of the more robust men were going on in this way, and there +was enough of the pathetic even in the man with the "cerveral" nerve and +him with the "agamemnon." The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> men looked tired and serious, and seemed +to lack interest in anything but their own afflictions. It is almost a +pity that the public will not witness such scenes as this, for I fear +that it is still sadly in need of having even the most elementary fruits +of war brought home to it. One might, of course, easily overdraw the +picture of the men's condition; it is difficult to describe it +faithfully. Many of them seemed happy and contented to be home again, +and forgot past pains in present joy. As I turned away from the carriage +window I heard a confused drone of conversation, in which such terms as +"ligature," "suppuration," "cavity of the hear'ole," "styptic," and +"prelatic" were prominent. The last thing I heard was—"He hadn't got no +fraxur at all, leastways only a simple un. Mine was a compound fraxur." +One can understand these things. But what is an "agamemnon"?</p> + +<p>It was dark when the train went away, and there was nothing more for me +to see on that day, but I had another sensation and a memorable one. +After dinner a little group, composed mainly of naval and military +officers on embarkation duty, was established round the smoke-room fire +in the South Western Hotel. We were all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> talking about the war, and all +wishing that we were out in the thick of it. In the midst of this chorus +of aspiration a telegram was handed to me inviting me to go to South +Africa as a war correspondent for the <i>Manchester Guardian</i>. The chorus +continued while I read, but it sounded far away; I was trying to realise +what acquiescence in the request contained on the pink paper might mean. +When I had decided I handed the telegram to my neighbour, and in a +moment it had made the circuit of the group, trailing exclamations in +its wake and changing the melancholy chorus to one of whole-hearted +envy. I went to bed in some doubt as to whether I had received +congratulations or condolences. In a few hours I was on my way to +London; in a few days the flying wheels had carried me back to +Southampton; but I thought that the busy docks wore a different face.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II</h2> + +<h2>IN THE WAKE OF THE ARMY</h2> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h2>THE LONG SEA ROAD</h2> + + +<p>In the terms of the street, you make for Madeira from the Needles as +straight as Ushant and Finisterre will permit, keep to the left until +you catch the flare of the solitary light on Cape Verde, go on past that +for about ten days, and Cape Town is the last place on the left. In the +terms of the sea, your course is west-south-west until the Bay is open, +then south-south-west, then south, and then south by east a half-east +for the long stretch. But for most of us the way to the war lay through +a stranger region than that. Years ago (as it seems) on a rainy winter +evening, we watched the buoys of the Solent Channel streaming past us +all aslope on the strong ebb-tide, and as the Trinity Brothers began to +open their eyes for an all-night watch on the south coast, we closed +ours to the world behind.</p> + +<p>A day and night of dust and tumble in the Bay, and we awoke on a summer +morning to find the wind blowing softly through the open ports and the +water chiming on the ship's side. After that we lived in a world all our +own; ourselves the sum and centre of it; a blue world that slid throu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>gh +degrees of latitude and longitude, but held us, its inhabitants, at ever +the same distance from realities. The past was miles away at the end of +the white path astern; the future did not yet so much as smudge the +forward horizon; we were adrift, lost in the present.</p> + +<p>Since we were, for the most part, Englishmen, we played games. At first +we had walked about eyeing one another mistrustfully; but Time, the +surest of teachers, soon convinced us of the essential harmlessness of +our fellows. And then we played quoits, and danced and listened to the +band, forgetting the things which were behind and disregarding (for the +moment) the things which were before. Disregarding, but not quite +forgetting. When the last game was over and the last pipe lighted, and +the good, cool hours drew on, men used to sit in little groups watching +the flash of waves tripping and spilling over smooth black furrows; and +then they talked. The C.I.V. officers talked of Lee-Enfields, +trajectories, mass and volley firing; the Indian Staff Corps men, who +were going out on special service, spoke of commissariat and transport, +of standing patrols and Cossack posts, of bivouacks, entrenchments, +vedettes, contact squadrons, tactical sub-units<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>, demolitions and +entanglements. In those dark hours, while alien stars were rising and +swinging westward over the masthead, hard, fit, clear-headed young men +talked coolly and with common sense of the big business before them. The +evening consultations were all that we gave to the future. The past was +even less openly recognised; but it proclaimed itself eloquently in the +withered bunches of flowers on this and that cabin table, in the demand +for the ship's notepaper, in the women's trinkets worn by men who, under +ordinary circumstances, would rather wear sack-cloth than jewellery: +emblems, all of them, of thoughts that travelled the white road between +the rudder and the horizon.</p> + +<p>In that strange detached world of ours, energy alone was unsuspended. It +was even stimulated, and in a race and class of men not accustomed to +look inward for recreative resources manifested itself in a violent and +unresting pursuit of artificial amusements. In this pursuit all our days +were passed. The morning sun streams into the port-cabins, the diligent +quartermaster brings our toys on deck and gravely arranges them; +throughout the day we play with them until we are tired, when they are +flung aside untidily; again <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>the quartermaster returns, and, like a kind +nurse, puts them away. The sun slants through the starboard windows and +is quenched in the waters; a little talking, a little dancing, a little +music, and we are all asleep. Such were our days. And ever before, +behind, around and beneath us the moving, mysterious sea, wrinkled and +old as the world, but blowing airs of eternal youth from its crumbling +ridges. Down below iron floors stokers and trimmers were sweating, +engineers were watching and nursing and feeding the great steel +bondagers that drove us along; but how many of the light-hearted +passengers ever thought of them? They were out of sight and mind, hidden +away in their stifling holes, where in their relation to us they +completed the satire of our miniature society.</p> + +<p>I might give you a dozen pictures of our life, and yet mislead you as to +its uncommonness; it was really commonplace life in strange and +unfamiliar circumstances. Here is an example. At the first concert it +was noticed, not without surprise, that the Captain's name was down for +a song. Now for days the Captain had tramped alone up and down the +deck—a large man, with a heavy face and drooping eye, and a head set +forwar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>d on the shoulders by reason of long hours of staring into the +sea dust; a man past middle-age, silent and (as we thought) surly. +Therefore something like a sensation was produced when it was announced +that the Captain would sing "Mary." I think I see and hear it now. The +saloon filled with people; the windows framing faces of deck hands and +firemen, with a background of moving blue; the heavy central figure, the +kindly (we saw that now) Scotch face; the worn voice, unused to +sustained utterance, gasping for breath in the middle of a line, and +sometimes failing to be ready in time ("I lost the run of it," he +explained to us in the middle of a temporary breakdown); the quaint +simplicity of the words, "Kind, kind and gentle is she, kind is ma +Ma-ary"; the thunder of applause that greeted the close; the immediate +and unassailable popularity of the Captain. If I have described it as I +saw it, you will understand why I shall always like to remember that +scene. Here is another glimpse.</p> + +<p>On a Sunday, when the church bells at home were jangling and the streets +were (for a guess) streaming with rain and mud, it was Sunday with us +also, three thousand miles away. The sun was lighting the lazy sea until +it shone like a big <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>blue diamond, the whales were spouting, the +porpoises plunging and blowing, and here and there a shark lay basking +near the surface with a wicked, wriggling, black fin exposed. It was +very hot and still; the great sea people seemed to be revelling in some +sort of Sabbath of their own, and the waters lay quiet and shining under +the eye of Heaven. Here and there a drove of small flying-fishes rose +and skimmed over the surface like swallows, but they too soon plunged +into the blue and sought below that the cool green depths. Into this +tranquil scene steamed the <i>Kinfauns Castle</i> in a triangle of snow, a +big porpoise rolling and rollicking along beside her, now rising on this +side, now on that. When he came very close he could see into the saloon +windows, and presently he saw the Captain standing at the end of a table +spread with the Union Jack and a great crowd of people sitting round the +tables.</p> + +<p>"Dearly beloved brethren," began the Captain, and then the porpoise's +tail came up and his head went down with a "pflough!"</p> + +<p>When he came up again near enough to see, all the people were muttering +and gobbling over the Psalms, the Captain rolling out his short +alternate verses as though he were directing his ow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>n quartermaster on a +course. While the porpoise was very close to the ship and listening hard +the ash-shoot was emptied almost on his head, which scared him so badly +that he dived deep, and did not come up again for a long time. When he +did rise the people were singing, "On, then, Christian soldiers, on to +victory"; again he dived, and again came up with a snort, to hear them +singing with equal vigour, "Make wars to cease and give us peace." But +just then the third engineer opened the exhaust of the waste condenser +water, and my black friend got such a shock when the cloud of steam and +hot water burst from the ship's side that he altered his course three +points, and I saw him plunging and rolling away to the west of south. +One thing the porpoise did not hear, for he was below at the time. In +his course through the Liturgy the Captain had reached the Collect for +the day. I will warrant he was trained in a sterner school of theology +than the Anglican; his voice and tones were never meant for the smooth +diction of the Prayer-book; but that is neither here nor there. The +"Coallect for the fourth Sunday after 'Pithany" rolled from his tongue. +I never hope to hear it in a more appropriate time or place;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> there was +something almost startling in the coincidence that brought it round on +such a day, and there was significance in the words—"<i>O God, Who +knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers that by +reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; +grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all +dangers and carry us through, all temptations.</i>" Thus prayed the +Captain, the Chief Officer standing beside him; and none knew so well as +those two how many and great were the dangers that lurked in our smiling +environment.</p> + +<p>As we drew nearer to our journey's end the desire for news became acute. +At Madeira, on the 24th of January, we heard that the situation in Natal +was practically unchanged, and up to February 3rd we had not seen +another ship pass nearer than five miles. But then it was thought +probable that we should meet the <i>Dunottar Castle</i> on her way home, and +a bright look-out was kept. In the afternoon I was up on the bridge +discussing celestial angles with the Chief Officer; we were snoring into +the south-east trade, and the strong sun-warmed wind was a thing to +bathe in; the bridge binoculars diligently swept the sharp blue line of +horizon. Presently the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> Third Officer put his glass down. "There she +is," said he, "two points on the starboard bow." We all looked, and we +saw the tiny smear of smoke on the line. How strange it was; both of us +coming up from nowhere and meeting on this roadless waste! In a quarter +of an hour we raised her masts and funnel, and then we perceived it was +not the <i>Dunottar</i>. Our course was altered two points, and the three of +us stood up there in the wind and sun watching the growing speck. Down +below they had just seen her, and glasses were levelled by the hundred. +In a little while we could see a red cross on her bow, and we made her +out to be a hospital ship carrying home wounded—Buller's wounded, we +said, from the Tugela fight.</p> + +<p>"BWF, HLF, WBQ," fluttered out our signal flags in a bravery of scarlet +and blue and white, which is, being interpreted, "What news since the +24th?"</p> + +<p>She was abeam now, a mile away; how slow they were in running up an +answer! We pictured their signal quartermaster racking the pigeon-holes +to spell "Ladysmith," and expected a gaudy display. Presently the +coloured stream blew out from her main topmast stay. Only four flags!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<p>"DFPC," reported the Third Officer, and there was a scramble for the +Code-book. "Nothing important since last accounts."</p> + +<p>Could anything be more exasperating? We ran up another question, I do +not know what, but we waited in vain for the answering flutter, and the +hospital ship <i>Princess of Wales</i> rolled along on the blue swell.</p> + +<p>"South by east-a-half-east," snapped the Chief Officer; the wheel spun +and the steering engine hissed, and the <i>Kinfauns Castle</i> drove her stem +into it again, while from the promenade deck rose the sound of many +voices.</p> + +<p>And so we went driving along again through a wonderful sea of deep blue +rollers jousting on a grey ground. It did not yet appear where we should +go or what would be our lot; to-night or to-morrow we should know; but +to-day it was enough that the sun shone and that the waters were wide.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h2>SCENES AT CAPE TOWN</h2> + + +<p>When at last the <i>Kinfauns Castle</i> carried us on a sunny evening out of +blue emptiness into Cape Town harbour and dumped us down on dry land, +about thirty of us who were on our way to the front took elaborate +farewells—only to meet again twelve hours later in the vestibule at +headquarters.</p> + +<p>No one was in the least excited by our arrival. If we were special +service men, we were told that there were no instructions for us, and +that we had better turn up three or four times a day and look at the +order-board. If we were correspondents, heads were shaken, and +smooth-spoken people with stars and crowns on their shoulder-straps said +they doubted very much whether Lord Roberts would grant any more passes. +If we were nobodies who had come out (with more or less direct +encouragement from the officials) in the hope of getting commissions, we +were turned away like tramps, and told that there was "nothing for us." +It was all rather flattening and dispiriting.</p> + +<p>When we turned up again at headquarters next morning we found the place +empty but for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> a Kaffir charwoman snuffling over her brushes: Lord +Roberts gone, Lord Kitchener gone, all the staff gone, stolen away like +thieves in the night, gone "to the front." No one was left in authority, +no one knew anything about us; so we went to the barracks and worried +irresponsible officers who would have moved heaven and earth for us if +they could, but they "had no instructions." At last, in a remote corner +of the barrack buildings, someone discovered a major who was in charge +of the Intelligence Department. Didn't we all fall upon him like birds +of prey! In half an hour the telegraph that connected Cape Town with the +Commander-in-Chief was thrilling all our wants northward; in six hours +half the special service men were flying about the town collecting +sardines and whisky and ink; in twenty-four hours only a few of us were +left, still worrying the unfortunate major. Then the wires began to come +back from Lord Roberts saying that no licence must be granted to this +man and that; that there were more than enough correspondents at the +front; and at this news some of us began to quake. At this critical +point, when I was wandering in the corridor of the post office, I found +the Press Censor, all alone and unguarded; so I fastened upon him and +drove him, the kindest and most amiable of men, into his office, and +stood over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> him while he wrote a long telegram to the chief, in which +many reasons were given why I should go to the front. The result was +that I received the desired privilege, but when I left Cape Town many +men were still haunting the barracks and the post office.</p> + +<p>My week of waiting was a busy time, but in the intervals between sitting +down before staff officers, interviewing possible—and impossible—servants, +and trying horses, I contrived to see a little of the Cape Town life in +those martial days.</p> + +<p>One seemed to be no nearer the war there than in London or Manchester. +Troops marched to the station and disappeared into the night; so they +did at home. There were hospitals there, filled with wounded men; none +so large or so full as Netley. There was a big camp there; not so big a +camp as Aldershot. And the place was full of officers, coming and going, +even as Southampton had been crowded with officers pausing on their way +to or from the war. Then there was at Cape Town something like a famine +of news; by far the latest and most trustworthy came from London. Things +that thrilled us out there and were cabled home in hot haste were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> found +to be stale news in England. As the storm blows over the cliff far out +to sea, but leaves the hamlet on the shore in absolute peace, so Cape +Town seemed to be sheltered by the big, dominating mountain from all the +home-going news, and to abide in peaceful ignorance while the +telegraph-rooms resounded to the talk of the needles.</p> + +<p>I rather dreaded the hospitals, but they were magnificent. To see so +many men bearing pain bravely and cheerfully were privilege enough; but +to find men who had undergone the most dreadful tortures soberly begging +and hoping to be sent back to the front showed one what can be +accomplished by discipline and an ideal of conduct. Here is an example. +Two men lay side by side in the Wynberg hospital. One had five holes in +his body, made during a charge by as many bullets. He had nearly +recovered. The other had been shot while lying down, and the bullet had +passed along his back and touched the base of his spine, paralysing him +for ever. Both men were almost weeping; the first with joy because there +was a chance of his returning to the front, the second with grief +because he was powerless to help his comrades any more. I could cite a +hundred examples of the astounding spirit that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> such men displayed. I do +not think that we at home ever doubted their bravery on the field, but +the kind of endurance that is seldom bred but by long habit and early +training was to be found no less universally in these hospital beds. The +people of Cape Town had done well in the matter of hospitals, and fully +half the accommodation was provided by public subscription. But +Government hospitals were far from efficient in their equipment, as well +as far from sufficient in their accommodation. Many things that would be +regarded as necessaries in a pauper hospital at home had to be provided +at Cape Town for the Government hospitals by private bounty.</p> + +<p>I walked over to the infantry camp at Sea Point one morning with Mr. +Rudyard Kipling. As we neared the camp we overtook a private carrying in +his hand a large pair of boots. Mr. Rudyard Kipling asked if we were on +the right road, and the man said—</p> + +<p>"Yes; are yer goin' there? Then yer can tike these boots. I 'av to +entrine at twelve o'clock, and I ain't goin' ter miss it fer no blessed +boots. 'Ere, tike 'old," he continued, thrusting the boots into Mr. +Kipling's hand, "and give 'em to Private Dickson, B Company; and mind, +if yer cawn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> find 'im, jest tike 'em back ter Williams, opposite the +White 'Orse."</p> + +<p>Mr. Kipling promised faithfully, and gave a receipt, which he signed; +but the man did not notice the name.</p> + +<p>"My friend," said Mr. Kipling, "you'll get your head chaffed off when +you get back to the guard-room."</p> + +<p>"What for?" vainly asked the man, and departed, while we continued our +way towards the camp.</p> + +<p>No sooner were we inside the railings than Mr. Kipling was accosted by a +military policeman.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here? You must get out of here, you know, sharp!"</p> + +<p>"I'm taking these boots to Private Dickson," said Mr. Kipling.</p> + +<p>"Well, you ought to take them to the guard tent, and not go wandering +about the camp like this. Out of it, now!"</p> + +<p>Now Mr. Kipling had a pass from the Commander-in-Chief to go wherever he +pleased in South Africa, and, besides that, he is Rudyard Kipling, whom +private soldiers call their brother and father; so the situation was +amusing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just then a police sergeant rode up and said, "Please, sir, I lived ten +years with the man as you get your tobacco from in Brighton; anything I +can do for you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mr. Kipling, "I want this man taken away and killed!"</p> + +<p>The youth was much confused, but he had done his duty; so Private +Dickson had his boots, and great was the mirth and loud the cheering +about the tents of B Company.</p> + +<p>This police protection of the camps was surprisingly close, but one +learned the reason when one had moved about for a little while among the +military authorities. For here, even in the heart of British territory, +the Boer spy was feared; he was thought to be the servant of an agency +hardly less invisible and powerful than the Open Eye of the Mormons; and +one was told that his machinations were as patent as his secrecy was +perfect. One morning a section of the railings surrounding picketed +horses would be found demolished; on another the whole milk supply of a +camp would be infected by some poisonous bacillus. It seems almost +incredible, but it is true that all such mishaps were attributed to Boer +treachery. In the popular imagination the Boer agent moved undiscovered +amid the daily life of Cape Town; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>at noon in the busy street; in the +club smoke-room; in the hotel dining-room—a woman this time, arrayed in +frocks from Paris, and keeping a table charmed by her conversation. And +yet the objects of this superstitious dread were allowed to have +qualities that made some of our officers dislike their business. An +English officer said to me one night:</p> + +<p>"One can't say it here without being misunderstood, but I love the +Boers, even though I am fighting them. My father was a colonist, and +these men were like brothers of his. I have been in houses here where I +knew there were guns stored for the enemy, and where the sons would +probably be fighting me in the field, and the people have almost cried +when I have been going away; neither of us talked about it, but each +knew what was in the other's mind. People say they're like animals, and +perhaps they are; at least they're like animals in this, that once you +make them distrust you, you'll never win their confidence again. And +they don't trust us."</p> + +<p>That officer is well enough known, and universally admired as a smart +soldier; but not everyone who sees the keen soldier, anxious above all +things for his own country's success, realises with what conflicting +emotions he goes to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>fight.</p> + +<p>I was anxious to see a real live Boer, as I thought it quite improbable +that I should see one at the front; half the officers and men who had +been wounded had never seen one of the enemy. So, having heard that our +Boer prisoners—450 in number—had been landed from Her Majesty's ship +<i>Penelope</i> and encamped at Simonstown, I went there to visit them.</p> + +<p>From Cape Town the land stretches an arm southward to the Cape of Good +Hope and Bellows Rock, where it divides the Atlantic from the Indian +Ocean. The mainland runs about as far southward, so that the arm partly +encloses the waters of False Bay; and in the hollow of its elbow nestles +Simonstown. This is a cluster of white houses on the sea-beat foot of a +hill that sweeps upward to the giddy white clouds. All day long at that +season the hill is steeped in sunshine; all day long its lower slopes +reverberate to the assault of the rollers while the summit is folded in +the silence of the upper air. Close in-shore half a dozen cruisers were +lying like rocks among the deep moving waters; the St. George's ensign +floated from the shore flagstaffs, and an air of whiteness and tidiness +proclaimed the naval station.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>The railway from Cape Town runs so close to the shore of the bay that +you cannot hear yourself speak for the noise of bursting surf. It +brought me to Simonstown in the full glare and heat of the afternoon. +The prisoners were encamped about a hundred yards out of the town, and +as we walked through the street we spoke with pity of men imprisoned on +such a day. What we expected I do not quite know—dungeons perhaps, or +cells hewn out of the rock—but it was with something like a shock of +disappointment or relief (according to our notions of appropriate +treatment for prisoners) that we caught our first view of the +encampment. Just beyond the town the hillside takes a gentler slope, +dipping a lawn of sea-grass into the water; and it was upon this +charming spot, enclosed with a double fence, that the prisoners were +quartered. We pressed our faces against the wires and stared, much as +one stares in the Zoo at a cageful of newly-arrived animals that have +cost a great deal of money and maybe a life or two. Fine, big men, +stalwart and burned brown by the sun; stern-looking, but with that air +of large contentment they wear who live much alone and out of doors; +massive of jaw and forehead, moulded after a grand pattern. They were +lying on the grass, standing in litt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>le groups, sauntering up and down +in the hot sunshine, playing cricket with ponderous energy, bathing and +sporting in the clear apple-green water. It was not their contentment +that surprised me, but the perfection of their circumstances. They were +encamped on such a spot as people pay large sums for the privilege of +pitching tents upon; they were numerous enough to make themselves +independent of alien company; the sun was shining, the sea breeze +blowing; they had food and drink, and tobacco to smoke; where they +bathed an eight-oar gig from the <i>Powerful</i> swung on the swell, not so +much to prevent escape as to render assistance to tired swimmers.</p> + +<p>So our prisoners blinked in the sun and listened to the organ-note of +the surf, and brooded on the most beautiful picture I have ever seen: +masses of bare rock towering into the bright sky, and an endless pageant +of seas rolling grandly homeward from the south, from the infinite +purple and blue of the Indian Ocean, grounding at the edge of the green +lawn and showering snow upon the hot rocks.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h2>IN THE EDDIES OF A GREAT WHIRL</h2> + + +<p>When I arrived at Modder River Camp, on February 17th, the guns were +being hauled back from the hills into camp, tents were being struck, and +waggon transport organised. The plain was a cloud of hot, whirling sand +that shrouded near objects as closely as a fog, but, instead of the damp +coldness of a fog, the plain was radiating heat that sent the +thermometer inside one's tent up to 135 degrees. The place that a few +days before had been resounding with artillery was now silent and (by +comparison) deserted; buck waggons took the place of gun carriages, and +the ambulance cart carried mails from home. One thought of Modder River +as being surely at "the front," but here was the place, here were the +troops, the guns, the hospitals, the sand-enveloped cemetery, and yet +one seemed to be no nearer than before to actual war. As for news, there +was less even than at Cape Town. A few telegrams, days old, fluttered +from the notice-board, and in at headquarters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> I found that we who had +been sixty hours on the journey from Cape Town were hailed as +newsbearers. There was a press censor, yet one could not send press +telegrams; headquarters had moved on to Jacobsdaal; telegrams must go +through headquarters, and the wire to Jacobsdaal was only to be used for +military purposes. This was something like a block, so Mr. Amery, of the +<i>Times</i>, and I, resolved to ride over to Jacobsdaal and see if we could +get any news.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus04.png" alt="Cheatle" /> +<a id="illus04" name="illus04"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> MR. G. LENTHAL CHEATLE, F.R.C.S.<br /> + +<i>Consulting Surgeon to Her Majesty's Forces in South Africa</i></p> + +<p>We crossed the Riet and Modder drifts, and passed over the island where +the shells and bullets had been singing so shrilly on the day of the big +fight. When we passed the birds were singing instead, sending down with +the cooing pigeons a chorus from the trees. No one could tell us whether +or not the twelve miles to Jacobsdaal were free from the enemy; people +thought so, but they were not quite sure. So we rode along, observing +the dry veldt not without interest, but the lonely road heaved up and +down over the plain and revealed little sign of human occupation. Once +we passed a convoy carrying stores to the front, and at about the eighth +mile a little Boer camp of about a dozen tents, all deserted, and +apparently in haste, for there were half-emptied tins of provisions and +a few cooking utensils scattered about, and a dead horse lay by the +roadside. The heat was very great, and was only supporta<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>ble when one +kept a drenched handkerchief under one's hat. Indeed, officers who had +come straight out from India protested that they never felt there +anything like the heat of that South African drought.</p> + +<p>Jacobsdaal, a little white town or village near the river, appeared at +last from a ridge of the plain. It contained an inn, and the inn +contained cups of tea—a fact in connection with Jacobsdaal that I shall +long remember. In about an hour we were ready to look about a little, +but at headquarters we could only learn that the front had again moved +forward. We could not advance without transport, and we could get no +quarters, so we lay down in a stony field under the stars, and made a +poor shift at sleeping through a concert of complaining oxen and cocks +cheering all night long, with an undertone of rumbling wheels on the +distant road.</p> + +<p>Next morning early I rode back to Modder, where I collected with +difficulty two sorry but useful nags and a Cape cart. On my way out I +passed a sentry, who brought me up with the usual cry, "Halt! who goes +there?"</p> + +<p>"Friend," said I.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Advance, friend, and give the countersign."</p> + +<p>Now I did not know the countersign, and I had to tell him so. The +private soldier is sometimes zealous and often stupid, and occasionally +both; and in the pause that followed my answer I heard the click of his +rifle. In that second of time I remembered a story which I had heard the +day before of a sentry at Modder, who, when the guard came up in the +dark to relieve him, made the usual challenge. "It's only us, old man," +said the sergeant. "None of your blooming us," said the sentry, and shot +the sergeant dead.</p> + +<p>However the sentry was soon persuaded, and when I passed the outpost, +the sentry who should really have stopped me and examined my passport +treated me as a field-officer and presented arms, so I rode away back to +the dust of Modder. There I collected as much forage as possible, and +the next day rode back with my caravan to Jacobsdaal. Once more there +was a block. The front forty miles away; no more forage, no rations +even; and I starved officially, but was entertained privately by the +commandant. The front was reaching away forward along the road to +Bloemfontein; and as telegrams had to be censored there and handed in at +Modder River, fifty miles away, and as I had no despatch riders, I +decided that the game was up on this line. A dose of fever hel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>ped my +decision, and held me afterwards at Modder when great things were +happening at Paardeberg. But for the day during which I stayed in +Jacobsdaal I studied the little town and its alien inhabitants.</p> + +<p>Jacobsdaal stands four-square on the northern bank of the Riet River, +eleven miles east-south-east from Modder; and the manner of its +occupation, as described to me by General Wavell (who captured it on the +15th of February and remained in it as commandant), seems to have been +surprisingly neat and effectual. General Chermside, commanding the 14th +Brigade, left Enslin on the 11th and marched to Ramdam, where he was +joined by General Wavell, commanding the 15th Brigade, who had moved +from Graspan. From Ramdam the two brigades marched almost due east to +Dekiel's Drift, which they were delayed in crossing during the whole of +the 13th. They started again on the next evening and made a night march +to Wegdraai, where they arrived at four o'clock on the morning of the +15th. An officer of the North Staffordshire Regiment told me that he +never saw anything so impressive as that night march. The horizon was +level all round like the sea, and all night long it was al<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>ive with +streams of lightning that lighted up the plain with the brigade crawling +across it through the thunder. On the 15th General Wavell's brigade was +detached, and at midday started to march upon Jacobsdaal. The brigade +was strengthened by about seventy men of the C.I.V. (who acted as +scouts) and by a battery of artillery. The North Staffordshires acted as +advance guard, the South Wales Borderers and the Cheshire Regiment +formed the main body, and the East Lancashires brought up the rear—half +a battalion as reserves and half as rear-guard with the baggage.</p> + +<p>The position was an admirable one for the enemy. General Wavell had the +town ahead and the river on the left parallel with his line of march; +and as he approached, the Boers (about 400 strong) opened a brisk fire +on his flank from the river-bed. The fire was directed at the C.I.V.'s, +who were advancing on the right bank of the river; but it had a double +objective, since what missed the C.I.V.'s had a fair chance of finding +the Staffordshires, who were advancing on a parallel ridge still further +to the right. The C.I.V.'s had a good many horses killed, and many of +the men were wounded and "dropped," but I believe only one was killed. +Finding the attack was coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> from the left, the General showed his +force on that side, at the same time shelling the south-east corner of +the town. He would do no more because of the women and children in the +place; and, considering his disadvantage, the Boers with a little more +determination might have held the town. After showing on the left +General Wavell swept round on the right, sending the North +Staffordshires towards the north side. There they entered, and the place +was, so to speak, nipped between the two arms of the brigade, with the +artillery in the middle ready to speak. The Boers now broke and fled +south-west and north-west, followed by showers of shrapnel. "It was an +awfully pretty sight," the General remarked to me, "to see the shrapnel +bursting all round in showers; one of the prettiest things I have ever +seen." The enemy had open country and soon got away, but in the meantime +the Union Jack was blowing bravely over Jacobsdaal, and we were in +possession of a most important square on the big chessboard of the +Orange Free State.</p> + +<p>Of course the chief importance of the position was that it formed a +depôt for stores and a halting-place for convoys on the way to the +front. The General, with Captain Carleton (brigade-major)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> and Captain +Davidson (A.D.C.), was under fire during the whole of this brisk little +action; and Captain Carleton told me that the bullets were whizzing past +as briskly at two thousand yards as at two hundred. It need hardly be +said that since there were only three staff-officers, whose lives were +of the utmost value to the expedition, they spent most of their time in +and about the front firing lines. As soon as the General had occupied +the square he turned his men out and bivouacked them on the plain round +the village. They were exhausted after an eight-mile march, with this +action at the end of it; hot and thirsty too, suffering from such heat +and thirst as is only known in dusty deserts like the Karoo in time of +drought. There was a certain amount of looting—chiefly of cloth and +stuffs from the shops; but it was suddenly brought to an end by Lord +Roberts's startling order that any man found in the act of looting, or +any man against whom acts of looting could be proved, would be hanged, +and his battalion sent down to the base. There was no more looting. +"There <i>were</i> three ducks found with their necks wrung," the General +admitted, "but we paid for them!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>The occupation of Jacobsdaal was, of course, only an incident in the +great whirl of operations which began on the 3rd of February, when +General Macdonald with the Highland Brigade moved westward from Modder +River and seized Koodoesberg. Hitherto we had been waging a very +straightforward kind of war, and Lord Roberts's masterly tactics between +Modder River and Paardeberg were the first hint we had given our enemy +that we also could be cunning. When I arrived at Modder River the wheels +of this great operation were spinning, but Modder itself was in an eddy, +where there was no movement and little news of any. French was racing to +head Cronje off on the north of the Modder River, and the main body of +the army was advancing in his rear, but we at Modder River knew next to +nothing of these movements.</p> + +<p>It is worth while to recall the principal events in Lord Roberts's +operations near Modder River. The seizing of Koodoesberg was, of course, +intended to divert the attention of the Boers from the points at which +the real movement was taking place. On the 8th of the month General +Macdonald was recalled to Modder River; on the 9th Lord Roberts arrived +there and assumed command; on the 12th General French marched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> from +Ramdam, where he had been collecting a big cavalry force, seized +Dekiel's Drift and Klip Drift on the Modder, and the next day occupied a +commanding position on the north of the river, capturing three of the +enemy's laagers. On the 15th, having traversed Cronje's communications, +French reached Kimberley and dislodged the enemy from the southern side +of the town; they evacuated Magersfontein and Spytfontein, and retreated +to Koodoesrand, contriving in their turn to slip through our containing +lines. Jacobsdaal was captured on the same day, and on the 16th of +February began the fighting at Paardeberg, which was only brought to an +end by Cronje's surrender on the 27th.</p> + +<p>However, one was only (as I have said) in the stagnant middle of things +at Jacobsdaal, and the outer currents did not reach us. From our point +of view Jacobsdaal was not an important station on the war-path to +Bloemfontein; it was simply a place of insufficient food, bad smells, +choking dust, and many hospitals. The Red Cross flag flew from all the +churches and every available house; furniture was piled in verandahs, +and pews were stacked in churchyards.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> + +<p>Enteric was rife there; but could a man, officer or private, who had +been out for twelve hours on foraging or convoy duty, sit down and boil +his water and then wait for a drink until it cooled? Because the water +looked clear and innocent they drank it by the quart, and therefore the +hospitals were full. Jacobsdaal is responsible for many of the +inglorious deaths of "active service."</p> + +<p>Early one morning, while the air was yet fresh and cool, General Wavell +took me round with him on his hospital inspection. He is one of the +small, keen, kind-eyed men who emerge in the senior ranks of the army. +One never meets them as subalterns, and they represent the army's best +workmanship in the matter of moulding and finishing. We were still +talking about the "pretty" little action when we entered the first +hospital—a small Dutch church. I should have said that besides our own +field hospitals at Jacobsdaal there was a Boer hospital and one of the +German Red Cross Society.</p> + +<p>This first was the Boer hospital, and even at this early hour the air +was pungent with the reek of strong tobacco. The General spoke to all +the patients, and had a kind word for everyone, and they all greeted him +with gratitude and cordialit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>y. Their one cry was, "We've had as much as +we want. If we could only get back to our farms!" Most of those to whom +I spoke said that they had never wanted to fight us, never hoped to beat +us, and were heartily sick of the whole affair. "I wish I could send you +back to your homes, men," said the General; "but I must obey orders." +They chatted away to us, and said they hoped the General would come in +often. It was much the same in the German and English houses, only here +Boers and Englishmen lay side by side, sharing pipes and papers and talk +with each other. Truly, animosity ceases at the hospital door; and the +attitude of these men who had been menacing each other's lives and now +lay stricken together was not unlike the shame-faced amity of children +who have been caught fighting, and are made to share a punishment.</p> + +<p>And no one was more concerned and depressed by the whole business than +the brisk little General, who had been speaking almost caressingly of +his shells and shrapnel. He is surely a good soldier who fights at as +small a cost as possible, disregards that cost while he fights, and +afterwards so behaves that his enemies like to take him by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> the hand.</p> + +<p>Hospitals, where so many virtues too tender for the airs of the outside +world have time to bloom, are generally attractive rather than repulsive +places, and I was on that account the more surprised to find myself +repelled by these field-hospitals. To see men lying about distorted, +impotent, disfigured by all kinds of fantastic deformities, their wounds +still new, themselves lying near the spot where they fell; and to +remember the cause of it all, and how vague that cause really was to the +men who were suffering for it; the grossness and brutality of +mutilation—here a man with lead in his bowels, there a man with his +face obliterated, one man groaning and spitting from bleeding lungs, +another, struck by a great piece of flying iron, silent under the shock +of news that his sight was gone for ever; the feeling that these men +were suffering on our account, and the realisation that every one of us +has had his share in the responsibility for the whole, makes a load that +one cannot, or should not, slough away in a moment.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h2>MAGERSFONTEIN AND KIMBERLEY</h2> + + +<p>There was a train going to Kimberley with cattle and forage on the +afternoon of Thursday, February 22nd, and the stagnation of everything +except dust at Modder being complete, I jumped on the twenty-ninth truck +as the engine was taking up the slack of the couplings and was +immediately jerked forward on the newly-mended road to the north. I had +nothing with me except what I stood in and a waterproof; but as the +journey of twenty-four miles occupied four hours, and as the heavens +poured down a deluge during three hours and twenty-five minutes of the +time I was glad to have even that. The line passes beside Magersfontein +and through gaps in six ridges behind it, affording an excellent view of +the whole position. That position seemed to me practically impregnable. +To have won a way to Kimberley upon this road would probably have meant +six bloody battles, always with the likelihood of a reverse after each +for the attacking army. Imagine a wide and perfectly level plain with a +ridge standing straight across it like a great railway embankment, but +with arms a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>t each end curving towards the front as the arms of a trench +are curved; behind the ridge, and higher, two or three kopjes which +command it; behind the kopjes another ridge like the first, with more +kopjes to command it; the same thing repeated half a dozen times, +without another eminence within fifteen miles. Imagine this, and you see +the country between Modder River and Kimberley. And throughout the +position every piece of open ground was slashed and seamed by trenches +and works, constructed as though for the inspection of an examiner in +engineering—beautiful, artistic, formidable work that filled the mind +of every British officer who saw it with envy and admiration. Behind the +hills were little huts and hiding-places contrived within the shadow of +the low, thick trees that grow there, so that not a soul lived out of +cover. Captain Austin, <span class="smcap">R.A.</span>, who shared the humidity of my truck, and +who had been in charge of a 6-inch field-gun trained on Magersfontein at +eight thousand yards, told me that he could see through his glasses the +whole working of the enemy's admirable system. They had a look-out man +sitting at the far end of a long tunnel of rock and stone; when we fired +he gave the signal, and the Boers got into cover<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>; and twenty seconds +afterwards, when our shell, beautifully aimed and timed, arrived on the +hill, it spent itself upon the flinty rock. Then the Boers showed their +heads and fired; and their shell swept through its arc and exploded, +generally finding its mark.</p> + +<p>The battle of Magersfontein has been the subject of more prolonged +discussion than any other single event in the war. Coming on the day +after our reverse at Stormberg, it completed the momentary +demoralisation of a great mass of people at home who had expected the +campaign to resolve itself into a sweeping march on Pretoria. Like the +affair of Majuba, it has been sentimentally magnified out of all +proportion to its military importance. On the strength of the emotions +roused by our disaster, thousands graduated as military critics and +cried aloud for the recall of Lord Methuen. Private soldiers with +shattered nerves wrote home hysterical narratives and criticisms which +were published and commented upon, and treated as valuable evidence. We +lost our heads for the moment; there is no doubt of that; but people who +are thus betrayed into panic will not be appeased until they have made a +scapegoat of someone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>. Lord Methuen was, of course, the obvious +sacrifice. Why did he make a frontal attack? Why did he fail?</p> + +<p>It is well to remember that Lord Methuen was being pressed to relieve +Kimberley, which represented its case as extreme. He must do something. +Naturally he designed the kind of attack which the forces at his +disposal were best suited to deliver. A long turning movement was out of +the question since he had not the mounted men for it. As for the +"frontal attack" at Magersfontein, of which we have heard so much, Lord +Methuen never designed and did not deliver a direct frontal attack. His +plan was to surprise the extreme left of Cronje's position, and at the +same time contain the whole of his front with a strong force. And no +competent critic has ventured to suggest any better disposal of the +forces then available for the purposes of attack. No, Lord Methuen has +not been criticised and abused because he used his force in one way +rather than in another, but simply because he failed.</p> + +<p>There is very often more to be learned from a failu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>re than a success, +and this particular failure is worthy of a little study. Everyone knows +that the reason why the attack on Magersfontein failed was, first, +because the Highland Brigade lost its way and came unexpectedly into +contact with the enemy's position, and, secondly, because they failed to +rally after the first confusion, when (in the opinion of many experts +who were present) a little confidence would probably have saved the day. +If any single precaution was neglected, if any pains were spared in the +reconnoitring of the position or in securing the proper conduct of the +troops towards the place from which their attack was to be delivered, +then Lord Methuen was absolutely to blame. But the more that is known +about this unfortunate affair the more clearly it will be seen that Lord +Methuen neglected no precaution and spared no pains. The rain and pitch +darkness were the act of God, and no general in the world can prevail +when Nature is so completely in league with the enemy as she was on the +night of Magersfontein.</p> + +<p>I do not care to dwell on the malice and cruel unfairness of many of the +attacks on Lord Methuen, because, for my country's sake, I hope they +will soon be forgotten; but if anyone should still suppose that these +great hysterical waves of public feeling select their victims +impartially<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>, I would ask him to compare the battle of Magersfontein +with the fruitless attack delivered by Lord Kitchener on the Paardeberg +laager on February 18th. In one case time was working against Lord +Methuen, and threatening to exhaust the endurance of Kimberley; in the +other case time was working with Lord Kitchener, limiting the resistance +of Cronje to a calculable number of days and hours. In one case there +was a small force which, owing to the nature of its composition, could +only be used in one way; in the other case there was a large and +splendidly-assorted force, which gave opportunity for an infinite +variety of combinations. In one case the attack was turned by +circumstances which no human being could have prevented into a frontal +contact; in the other case that form of attack was deliberately chosen. +In one case the casualties were about nine hundred; in the other, about +sixteen hundred. And in one case the general officer commanding has been +insulted and attacked and defamed, while the officer responsible for the +second affair is still regarded by the masses as a consummate master of +field operations.</p> + +<p>This is a long digression; I have made it here because the subject <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>of +it is inseparable from my memory of the dark and stony ranges which I +saw closely for the first time through the pitiless rain of that +February day. Miserable as the journey was, its passage through the +country occupied so lately by the enemy made it interesting. The way in +which our sappers had toiled to repair the line was beyond praise. Every +telegraph post had been blasted in two pieces by dynamite; every culvert +had been blown up; nearly every insulator smashed; the wires (about +seven in number) had been cut every few hundred yards; yet within four +days from the relief of Kimberley trains had begun to go up the whole +distance and telegraphic communication had been restored. I saw the work +that had been done, and the difficulty of it, and was proud of the way +in which it was accomplished. Not that there is little to be proud of in +the work of the army. On the contrary, one is amazed to see what is +accomplished in spite of the system, amazed to find what can be done by +able men against the most determined opposition from their own side; but +the great fact that was brought out by the earlier part of this campaign +is that the man of intelligence and initiative and ability and energy +was fast in the clutches of the Red Tape spider, which fussed round him +until he was enveloped in the scarlet web and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> impotent to use brains or +energy. Engineering is one of the few things of which corporate bodies +admit their ignorance; therefore the sappers got through much admirable +work quietly and quickly.</p> + +<p>The approach to Kimberley with its mine shafts and hills of blue dust +reminded me of the Black Country. What one noticed first with regard to +the town was the number of holes and shelters and warrens into which +people had crept for safety. Hundreds of them, like human anthills; and +one thought, What strange place is this, where men fear to walk upright? +The menu at the principal hotel, where I dined, would (if it had been +printed) have consisted of one item—horseflesh. I noticed that the +residents ate it eagerly, and even talked about it; but most of us +strangers arose hungry and went quickly into the fresh air.</p> + +<p>That night and the next morning I walked through the town and talked to +people who had been living there; and it was when I talked to the people +that I began to realise what had been happening. The few ruined +buildings and riddled walls conveyed little to me. But when one found +man after man thin, listless, and (in spite of the joy of salvation) +dispirited; t<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>alking with a tired voice and hopeless air, and with a +queer, shifty, nervous, scared look in the eye, one began to understand.</p> + +<p>The thing was scarcely human, scarcely of this world. These men were not +like oneself. If you threaten an inexperienced boxer with a quick play +of fists on every side of his head, even though you never touch him, you +may completely demoralise him; he shies at every feint and every +movement. And these people had been in a situation comparable with that +of the poor boxer. Think of it. The signal from the conning tower, the +clamour of bells and whistles, the sudden silence amongst the people, +the rush for shelter, and then the hum and roar, like wind in a chimney, +of the huge iron cylinder flying through the air, potent for death. And +then, perhaps, the noise of a falling building, or the scream of some +human creature who is nothing but a mass of offence when you come up +five seconds later. Think of this repeated six or seven—sometimes sixty +or seventy—times during the daylight hours, and can you wonder that men +should lose their placid manners and scuttle like rats into their holes +at the dreaded sound? And all this fear and horror to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> borne upon an +empty stomach, for the horrors of partial starvation were added to the +constant fear of a violent death. Mothers had to see their babies die +because there was no milk or other suitable nourishment; a baby cannot +live on horse and mule flesh. There was hardly a coloured baby left +alive; and that one statement accounts for whole lifetimes of misery and +suffering.</p> + +<p>It was not until the Boers had mounted their 6-inch gun on the 8th of +February that the panic began. People had got used to the smaller +shells, which could often be dodged; besides, the enemy did not fire so +many of them. But when the big gun began its seventy rounds a day people +lost their self-command and began to dig and scratch in the earth for +shelter. Thousands went down the mines and sat all day in the bowels of +the earth. Men walking in the streets jumped if a mule kicked an iron +plate; they screamed when the signal was given; they broke and ran and +burrowed into shelter. Yet so fast do some men anchor themselves to +routine that many kept their offices open and did business—all the +while, however, with one eye on the paper and the other glancing through +the door or window;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> ever with one ear turned to the speaker and the +other noting the rustle of paper stirred by the breeze and the hum of +wind under the door.</p> + +<p>That only twenty people were killed is no fact at all in connection with +the panic; what really matters is that seventy times a day something +happened which might have killed a dozen people.</p> + +<p>I have only to add, in case I am accused of exaggerating the state of +terror, that the people who went through this ordeal have not +necessarily the clearest conception of it. I came out of the safe outer +world and saw their faces and eyes, and, if I had not heard a word, I +should have known.</p> + +<p>One other thing. A despatch sent by me to <i>The Manchester Guardian</i> +contained this sentence complimentary to the De Beers Company: "The +condition of the town would have been deplorable but for the relief +administration of the De Beers Company."</p> + +<p>That sentence was not made, but suggested by my good friend the censor; +and it will serve to indicate how great was the bowing down before the +house of De Beers. I wish to disavow any compliment I may have appeared +to pay that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> company in my telegram, for I think they did their bare +duty. What they did was to provide a ration of soup for the inhabitants +as long as some bullock meat which they possessed lasted; to organise +relief works by making roads and fences in a town which belongs chiefly +to themselves; and to allow people to shelter in their mines. Perhaps +they could do no more. Considering everything, and remembering some +facts in connection with this and other political troubles, I ask, Could +they well have done less?</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h2>PAARDEBERG</h2> + + +<p>From Modder River to Paardeberg the road rolls over a bare yet beautiful +plain, brown and dry before the rain, but after a heavy rain bursting +into endless stretches of purple and scarlet flowers of the karoo. I +went by Jacobsdaal. Early on Wednesday morning, February 28th, I rode +out from the little town with General Wavell, who put me a couple of +miles on the road. You are to understand that this was something of an +adventure. I had nothing but a Cape cart and a couple of horses to draw +it—a thing that holds, with one's kit, about three hundred pounds of +forage. I was going to a camp where I could get no forage and hardly any +food; there was not a despatch-rider to be had at Modder; my telegrams +must be ridden back from the front, now thirty and soon to be ninety +miles away. Sickness had tethered me to Modder River camp throughout the +exciting week that had ended with Cronje's surrender; and now on +February 28th I was following the army, feeling like one who should +enter a theatre as the curtain was falling on the first act.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<p>The thirty-mile ride through the lonely country would have been +delightful but for the dismal trail left by the war—carcases of horses +and oxen lining the road, a carcase every few hundred yards surrounded +by a gorged flock of aasvögels, the foulest of the vulture tribe. With a +nervous horse the passage of these pestilential spots was made difficult +as well as revolting, and it was with a feeling of relief that one saw +the tents and waggons of the Paardeberg camp by the river trees.</p> + +<p>Along the road, I should have said, the trail was one of devastation. In +the midst of the dry veldt one sometimes came upon a farmhouse with its +grove of trees, and spring, and pleasant fields; but always the farm was +derelict, windows broken, rooms gutted, stock destroyed, with often some +poor abandoned creature tethered to a tree, and waiting, in the midst of +the dead silence of the empty country, to be fed and watered.</p> + +<p>At Paardeberg I found the headquarters camp situated on the river bank, +a place pretty to look at but horrible to be near. The only water to +drink was that from a well by the river—water of a dark and strange +colour; and even while one drank it one sat and watched the carcases of +horses floating down the brown stream from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> deserted Boer laager a +mile above. For Cronje and his men had surrendered, not only because of +losses or lack of ammunition, but chiefly, it was said, because the same +conditions that made our camp almost unbearable made his laager in the +river-bed impossible for human accommodation. So he surrendered, after a +resistance that will live in history as one of the bravest pieces of +human endurance.</p> + +<p>On my way down I had met a great company of men moving over the plain +surrounded by mounted infantry. These were our prisoners—a noble bag of +more than four thousand. But now that they had gone there was no reason +why the camp should be maintained at Paardeberg, and at noon we +proceeded to thread our way eastward—a long procession of men and +horses and waggons—to the farm of Osfontein, where the force was being +concentrated for the final advance. The delay was fortunate for the +correspondents, for those of us who had only a scanty stock of +provisions and forage could send our carts back once more to Modder for +a supply. In the meantime nothing was likely to happen until a +fortnight's stock of provisions and forage for the army had been +collected.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before leaving Paardeberg, and in the intervals of arranging the mere +details of living—which on this line of advance were harassing and +formidable—I rode over to the deserted Boer laager, or as near to it as +was safe. The scene was strange and significant. Imagine the river, deep +down between steep terraced banks, flowing through the level plain. On +the left side our position, well entrenched, with a few kopjes about two +thousand yards from the bank. On the right was the enemy's position, +which extended further down the banks of the river and up to the very +edge of our side. On the far bank I saw a line of hundreds of transport +waggons and carts, all empty, many of them smashed and broken by our +shell fire. But it was the river-bed itself that was most interesting. +The water was very low, and there was any amount of cover on the steep +banks, and this was increased by a number of small pits or trenches—not +long trenches like ours, but simple little holes or graves dug in the +banks, with room enough for a couple of men. Graves they proved to be in +many cases, for where the Boers were shot in them the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> trenches were +simply filled in and the bodies thus rudely buried. But how independent +they were! No bulky commissariat department, no army of cooks and +butchers—every man with his own kettle and biltong or canned beef, his +own rug or sleeping bag, his own water-bottle; so that when he came into +such a position as this he could remain in it for days together. One saw +many pathetic things in these trenches—garments and personal belongings +evidently made by hands that did not work for hire.</p> + +<p>In two trenches I found Dutch Bibles; in one a diary of the last few +weeks; in almost all some sign that human beings and not machines had +been at work there; and on all sides spent shells and shrapnel cases and +cartridges, to remind one of the nature of their work. When one +followed, as I had followed so far, in the shadow of the war and not in +the midst of it, in the track of the Red Cross and the wayside cemetery +instead of within sound and sight of the thing itself, one saw a very +dark and unrelieved side of it—the shadow without the substance, the +effect without the cause.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Part_III" id="Part_III"></a><span class="smcap">Part III</span></h2> + +<h2>LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE TO BLOEMFONTEIN</h2> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h2>THE BOER PANIC AT OSFONTEIN</h2> + + +<p>The carefully prepared attack of Lord Roberts on the Boer position at +Osfontein was delivered on Wednesday, March 7th, with the result that +the enemy fled without attempting to defend his extremely strong +position. To understand the gravity of the attack you must have been +there during the last few days of preparation, when hills and ridges, +subsequently abandoned in a moment, were being strengthened and armed +with trenches and guns. On Sunday and Monday, the 4th and 5th of March, +I rode round the whole position, and, like everyone else, was led to +expect a very severe struggle. The position was roughly this. The great +plain through which the river winds is broken five miles east of +Osfontein by a long range of kopjes extending about fourteen miles north +and south. All these kopjes were until the day of our attack occupied by +a force of 7,000 Boers, but to the west of them were a few lower hills +and ridges which we held. We did not know exactly how far to the east +the Boer kopjes extended; that is to say, we did not know how broad +might be the line of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> defences; all we knew was that there were +other kopjes to the eastward, and that the enemy probably held them. Our +force, 30,000 strong, was disposed over a square of perhaps eight miles; +yet if you had ridden all day in circles round the farm of Osfontein, +which was Lord Roberts's headquarters, you might have wondered whether +there were even 5,000 men, so scattered were our camps. The whole air of +the place was that of almost pastoral quietness, and the only sound to +be heard was the lowing of oxen.</p> + +<p>Out in the advanced pickets the silence was deeper, but it was not +pastoral. I rode out on the Monday to a little kopje, our most advanced +post—a place within rifle range of the opposite Boer position, about +2,000 yards away. Over the plain, here green and sweet with the smell of +tiny flowers newly burst out by the heavy rains, I rode out from under +the shelter of a big kopje held by Kitchener's Horse. Between it and the +little hill held by the picket the ground was exposed, but a man and a +horse make a poor target at extreme range, and the danger was small.</p> + +<p>We cantered along in the midst of the great harmonious silence of +populous fields; the locusts waltzed in the sun, the little mere-cats +stood and watched us for a moment and then scampered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> into their holes; +the ants were toiling busily beneath a thousand heaps. The plain +stretched to the horizon, with the stone-covered kopjes standing out +like larger ant-heaps.</p> + +<p>Something sang in the sunny air above my head, and I flicked with my +whip to drive the locust away. Immediately afterwards I heard the sharp +double report of a Mauser, like a postman's knock, and after that again +the shrill moan, infinitely melancholy, of a flying bullet; and away to +my left, about two hundred yards, the sand rose in a fountain. It was my +first experience under fire, and I confess that for ten seconds I gave +myself up. During those ten seconds I was altogether absorbed in +watching a mere-cat trying to roll something into his house; then I +began to see that I was not in any particular danger at so extreme a +range, and I lost my interest in the mere-cat. But for all that my pony +had to do his best over the space that separated us from the picket. +There were a few more shots, and always the shrill moan, but in two +minutes we were behind the shelter of the little hill.</p> + +<p>I climbed up its steep side and found the handful of men, with an +officer, lying among the st<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>ones on the windy height. There is no +comfort in picket work. This officer and his men had to lie for +twenty-four hours at a time without shelter from sun or rain, and with +nothing to eat but bully beef and hard-tack biscuits. Always their +glasses were sweeping the enemy's position, as the officer on a ship's +bridge examines the horizon; every little movement of men or cattle was +carefully noted.</p> + +<p>Presently I had an illustration of the spirit in which lives are taken +in war, a demonstration of what had been happening to myself a few +minutes before. Out of the shoulder of a hill three Boers came on +ponies, and began to walk leisurely across to the next kopje. Now +immediately in front of our hill was another and smaller one, too +inconsiderable to be occupied permanently, but useful for commanding the +Boer front at rifle range. As we lay watching the three specks crossing +the field, "Sergeant," said the officer, "take a few men down to that +kopje, and see if you can't get a shot at the fellows." And off went the +sergeant and a dozen men, as pleased as Punch.</p> + +<p>Some time elapsed before they reached the hillock, and still the three +Boers moved slowly and unsuspectingly across our view. After an anxious +pause the rifles cracked out, one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> after another, like a rip-rap, and at +the same time the Boers seemed to fly instead of to crawl. I then saw +through my glasses that one of the men pitched backwards from his horse, +which still fled, riderless now, beside the others, who were soon out of +range. The men beside me cheered, but ten minutes ago I had been in a +position exactly similar to that of the Boers; we are all egoists in +such a case; it was myself that I saw out in the plain, my own pony +rushing away scared; and I did not join in the acclamations. But all is +changed in war-time; men are no more than game; the excitement is the +old savage one—the lust of blood and the chase.</p> + +<p>Late on the Tuesday night we heard that the attack was to be made early +on the morrow. So we rose at three and rode out in the starlight through +the busy camp, where the flashlights were talking and the fires blazing. +I rode round to the south about eight miles, and presently the whole +Boer position stood out black before the fires of dawn, and when the sun +came up it showed one division of our troops—the Sixth—creeping round +to the south where the enemy's position terminated in seven small +kopjes. It was beautiful to see the division advance down the slope with +the screen o<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>f mounted infantry opening out in front like a fan, with +another and more slender screen, like another fan, in front of them +again.</p> + +<p>The sun was well up, but I had not yet heard a gun go off. Presently +there was a report, and the sand rose in a column before the kopjes. +This was a 4.7 naval gun finding its range with common shell. Again the +invisible gun behind me boomed, again the weird, prolonged whirtling +overhead; the long wait—perhaps for fifteen seconds; then a cloud of +hideous vapour right on the kopje; then the report of the exploding +shell. This happened perhaps half a dozen times; the well-aimed shells +dropped now behind, now on the hills; there was no reply; and in half an +hour the mounted infantry were riding over the kopjes. The enemy had +simply broken and fled towards their central position.</p> + +<p>From the north side, where the Ninth and Seventh Divisions were, one +could hear the same sounds, but no rifle fire. After our guns had +cleared the seven kopjes a kind of Sabbath stillness fell upon the land.</p> + +<p>Lying in the grass, listening to the droning flies, I tried to t<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>ell +myself that I was watching a momentous battle; that matters of life and +death were on hand: but the wind laughed through the grasses at the very +notion, and the timid steinbuck leaped up quite close to me, as if to +say, "Who's afraid?"</p> + +<p>Behind me a brigade was winding to the south with a movement almost +lyrical; but no man seemed to be doing anything that could be called +fighting. I decided that nothing more was to be seen on the south, and +started to cross northward between the positions. My path was in what +ought to have been the hottest zone of fire; but the hares leapt in the +sun and the grasshoppers hummed with delight. While crossing northward I +met the advance scouts of a regiment of mounted infantry advancing +where, according to all ordinary laws, no mounted infantry could or +ought to have been—advancing directly on the central Boer position.</p> + +<p>"Come along," said the Colonel; "I believe the whole position is empty; +we're going to scale those ridges."</p> + +<p>Now these very ridges were the ones to which I had seen the Boers +retreat, about a thousand of them, half an hour ago, and I told the +Colonel so. "But they must have gone," he said, "or else they would be +firing at us now."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was perfectly true. The whole company was halted, while we chatted, +within easy fire of the enemy's position; a few pom-poms would have made +a shocking mess amongst the men and horses. But the hills were clothed +with silence as with a garment.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, I'm going to see," said the Colonel. "Come along."</p> + +<p>So we cantered on up to the foot of the hill, up the slope, over the +hill, and not a shot was fired at us. The excitement was tremendous; we +were riding slap into what looked like a hornets' nest. There were +kopjes flanking us now on both sides; I wished that I hadn't come. I +expected every moment to hear the rattle of Mausers. Someone's horse +kicked a tin can, and we ducked our heads like one man. But we rode up +to and into and through and over the central position of the enemy that +he had been strengthening for days; and he never fired a shot to prevent +us. It was glorious luck, thus to be in the very front of an advancing +force, to be on the very horns of the advance, and to be absolutely out +of danger, for what little opposition there was was encountered later by +the main body.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<p>When I thought that I had advanced far enough into what ought to have +been the jaws of death, I drew on one side and let the brigade go past, +and then I saw what little firing there was. Behind the mounted infantry +came the field-guns, galloping alone over the smooth ground; and +presently we heard the report of a gun from the other side of the next +eastward ridge over which the enemy had retired. It is very +uncomfortable waiting for a shell to arrive. One has only the sound to +guide one as to where it has come from, and one has no notion at all as +to where it is going to strike. This one burst right amongst the +galloping artillery, which at once opened out on both sides of a smoking +patch. Not a man or horse was down. And here the Boers lost their big +chance of the day. All the brigade had to advance through this one +narrow pass between the kopjes; the Boers had got the range of it +absolutely; if they had fired a dozen shells in quick succession they +would have done a dismal amount of mischief. But they only fired two +other shells, and, marvellously, no one was hit. The reason I believe to +have been that the dust of their own retreat, which hung like a haze +over the ridge, hid our advancing troops from the Boers, and they did +not know whether or not any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>one was under their fire.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the Ninth Brigade had been doing just the same kind of +thing on the north river bank; and when the attack (such as it was—a +gentle shelling) was being pressed there, General French came up from +the south-east and drove the enemy northward across the river. If French +had been a little earlier we should have cut off the Boers at the river, +for that was their only line of retreat. As it was, he came in time to +chase them; and when we heard of him again he was in full cry on the +road to Bloemfontein.</p> + +<p>It was a strange engagement; an almost bloodless battle; a great +spectacle like an Aldershot Field Day; a demonstration of forces far +stronger than the mere force of arms—confidence on the one hand, and on +the other demoralisation and a broken spirit.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h2>THE MARCH ON DREIFONTEIN</h2> + + +<p>Early on the morning after the Osfontein engagement the army was again +upon the march, and towards afternoon reached a farm called Poplar +Grove, the point on which our left flank had rested on the day before. +That was only a ten-mile journey, but men and beasts were tired, and a +longer distance would have tried them severely. We rested a whole day at +Poplar Grove, and many of us bathed in the river. It is strange indeed +to find how comparative are all our standards of luxury; on that day you +could have seen what Mr. Dooley might call the "flowers of the British +aristocracy" splashing and rejoicing in filthy, muddy water beside +Kaffirs and drinking mules; and no one who bathed on that day, after +many days of wearing the same clothes and being impregnated with sand +and sun, is likely to forget the luxury of the bath.</p> + +<p>The discomforts of a hurried march are many, and the feeling of +uncleanness is not the least of them; yet one recalls with pleasure the +long days spent dozing along on one's horse at the head of a marching +column that stretched seven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> miles over the plain and hills behind. Let +me try to describe some of the circumstances of the march from Poplar +Grove to Dreifontein. It must be remembered that these are but the names +of farms, and that a farm means often nothing more than a mud house, a +few trees, and a well of water.</p> + +<p>Long before it was light we were awakened by the cries of Kaffirs +collecting their ox teams and by the almost human complaints of many +mules; and while we breakfasted by lamplight in the dim grove where our +camp was pitched a stream of transport was already flowing out of the +mass surrounding us on all sides. We started later, when the line along +the east, crimson at first, had changed from saffron to bright gold, and +the head of the column was already out of sight, melting towards the +sunrise in a cloud of dust. The mounted infantry brigade, which +furnished the patrols and screens, was already away scouring the plain +in advance of the column, but the thin line of waggons was broken now by +the broad shape of infantry brigades, marching fifty deep across the +grass.</p> + +<p>Our own small convoy was not got under weigh without many pains. The two +newspapers which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> it represented were the proprietors of many and +various beasts. Six riding ponies for the three correspondents, two +horses for the despatch-rider, six horses to draw an American waggon and +two Cape carts, and six oxen to draw an ox cart laden with forage. No +tongue can tell the anxiety caused by those fourteen horses. No more +could be bought, and if anything happened to them our usefulness would +be at an end. I have often arisen during the night and walked down what +we called our "lines," counting the beasts, and feeling like Abraham. To +be sure, one of the horses cost but thirty shillings; we bought him from +a Kaffir whose honesty I should be sorry to vouch for, but he could +pull, and he lived more than a fortnight. For another one I paid a +sovereign at Osfontein, but observing that he did not eat his supper one +night I gently pushed him away a good hundred yards so that he should +not die close to us.</p> + +<p>By the time breakfast had been eaten, the oxen caught, the horses +counted, the differences of six jealous servants adjusted, and the carts +packed, we were ready to move off. Then the sun came up and the day +began, and one could canter up to the front of the column, clear of the +dust. On some days one rode up and down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>, visiting different regiments +or finding out friends who were trudging beside their companies; but on +the day of this march my pony was tired, and I let him amble along in +front of the Guards for the whole eighteen miles.</p> + +<p>I wish I could describe for people who have never seen it the grand and +majestic march of 30,000 men with their guns and baggage across a large +country; the slow dignity of a vast seven-mile column winding over the +face of a plain, all the units diverging to pass the same ant-heap or to +avoid the same rough place. After the first few miles it is silent, and +one hears behind one only the sweep of many feet upon the grass. It is +like Fate, or, say, Time with his scythe held steady; the thing comes +and passes and is gone; but ride backward and you shall see the traces +of its passage. Grass downtrodden that shall rise again, little flowers +bruised that shall renew their blossoms; and still the birds singing +peacefully, the hares leaping, the manifold petty life of the veldt +resuming its routine and circumstance. One passes on through the quaking +air as in a dream, and as though impelled by the great force behind; and +to eyes gazing long on the ground the affairs of tiny creatures become +conspicu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>ous and important. The mere-cats sit listening, and wonder what +the new sound in the grass means, not like wind or rain. Little lizards +basking on the sand suddenly wake up and wriggle away to avoid the thing +against which the shelter of a leaf will not avail them. And always in +front hares and buck by the hundred stream away like the shadows of +clouds over grass. Then someone looks at his watch and shouts "Halt!" +and the welcome word is shouted and repeated down the line until the +sound is lost in the distance, while the tired men throw themselves down +between the burning sun and the sand.</p> + +<p>It is like sailing on a wide sea after a storm, when the short and high +waves have died away beneath the tread of smooth rollers. The veldt +undulates from sky to sky, a plain rising and falling about the base of +rocks and island kopjes. One reaches the crest, hoping for a new view, +searching for the clump of trees that means a farm and fresh water; and +one sinks down again into the furrow, while the wave of disappointment +runs backward along the seven miles of column as each man rises to the +barren view. Now an ox, now a mule or a horse falls out and lies down to +die; now a man stumbles and falls, and lie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>s down to wait for the cool +hours.</p> + +<p>To men who find this kind of monotony irksome the march is a dreary +business, while to others its bare outline is filled with the interest +of a thousand little happenings. The tired, dusty, shabby "Tommy" is a +man much more agreeable to talk with than his ancestor of the +barrack-room at home; the youngest subaltern has forgotten all about his +swagger mess-kit and the "style" of his regiment, and shows himself as +the good fellow he is; even the Brigadier forgets the scarlet on his +khaki collar, and remembers that he too is a frail mortal. And always, +when other interest failed, one could fall back on that of one's own +sometimes troublesome affairs. On the afternoon of the Dreifontein march +our advance cart with the luncheon had not outspanned fifteen minutes +before it was discovered that one of the horses was gone. There was no +doubt as to why, of course—a soldier had "snaffled" it. I am sorry to +say that in the matter of horse property the average Tommy holds vague +moral views. That cart had to be brought into camp by night, and there +was only one way in which it could be done. I rode about for ten +minutes, and found an old framework so thin and so dejected that I +blush<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>ed when I put the halter on it; it had been abandoned on account +of lameness, from which it had recovered, and had since been starving. +They harnessed it up and it brought in the cart; and that night, being +given a good feed of oats, it died from shock. Another skeleton was +found in the morning to take its place; but this skeleton grew fat. We +used to laugh at these misfortunes, but the poor horses had a cruel +time, especially the English ones; no one would have recognised the +Horse Artillery, although the tragic skeletons that drew the guns still +affected some imitation of their old dash. All the way from Modder to +Bloemfontein was strewn with the bodies of horses; if all other marks +had been gone, these melancholy quarter-mile posts would have guided you +unerringly.</p> + +<p>It was night as a rule before the column reached its camp, and there +were some gorgeous pictures in the great outspanning commotion seen +through dust clouds and the red sunset, and by light of many camp fires. +But on this bit of the march we found our quarters sooner than we +expected; and it was early in the afternoon when, climbing the ridge of +undulating plain, I saw the smoke of a shell bursting on the hillside +five miles aw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>ay, and knew that our day's march, though not our day's +work, was at an end.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h2>THE BATTLE OF DREIFONTEIN AND THE MARCH ON BLOEMFONTEIN</h2> + + +<p>A great chain of kopjes barred the horizon ahead of us, and we came to +the usual conclusion that the Boers were opposing our advance. It is +well to remember that Lord Roberts's army was not marching in a single +column, but in three separate columns, of which the Cavalry Division was +marching on a road about six miles to the north, and the Seventh +Division by a road about four miles to the south of the main body. +General French was a day's march ahead of the main army, and on this +morning he reached Abraham's Kraal (the most northerly hill of the chain +held by the Boers) at ten o'clock, while the Ninth Division did not +arrive until four o'clock. It will thus be seen that one end of the +position was a couple of hours' ride distant from the other and far out +of sight of it.</p> + +<p>No one saw the whole of the battle of Dreifontein. General French, when +he arrived at ten in the morning, came into contact with the Boers at +Abraham's Kraal, and (the river preventing a turning movement on the +north) he se<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>nt the second cavalry brigade galloping southward down the +line of the kopjes in order to turn, if possible, the enemy's left +flank. But he soon found that the position extended too far southward to +be assailable by his limited forces. This turning movement, or rather +the preparation for it, was carried out under an extremely heavy fire +from pom-poms and other quick-firing guns. Finding that his resources +would be exhausted in drawing out the long containing thread necessary +to hold the enemy in front, and so leave nothing with which to make a +flank attack, General French contented himself with engaging the enemy +on the northernmost end of their position.</p> + +<p>At half-past one the Sixth Division arrived at Dreifontein, a farmhouse +about seven miles south of Abraham's Kraal. I had ridden hard in order +to catch them up as I had been in the early morning with the Ninth +Division, which did not arrive until four o'clock, and when I came up I +was just in time to see the Buffs, leading the 13th Brigade, preparing +to clear some kopjes near the main ridge which were held by the Boers. +Things were very hot here, and as I had never been in a big fight before +I found it very difficult to realise what was going on, or where the +enemy was, or where the fire was coming from, or at what point it w<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>as +being directed. All I knew for some time was that there were shells +dropping rather closer than was pleasant, and that with a rashness born +of ignorance I had got into a place where everyone had to lie down for +cover.</p> + +<p>When your face is in the sand you do not see much. What you hear is not +encouraging—the distant boom of a gun, a few seconds' silence, then a +long quavering whistle in the air, like the cry of a banshee, growing +every moment nearer and louder, and finally the deafening report +somewhere near you. You never know where a shell is going to burst, +although you hear it long before it arrives; you can only sit tight and +hope that it will go where the other fellows are, or better still where +no one is. To say truth, shells generally go where no one is; I saw only +one man killed by a shell. I had raised my head from the ground and was +listening for the burst of a coming shell, when I saw a man among the +advance ranks of the 13th Brigade on my right stop suddenly in the midst +of a blinding flash. An arm and hand flew through the air in a horrible +curve; the smoke belched, the air was rent by the explosion, the smoke +blew and drifted away, and there on the hillside lay what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>was left of +the man, folded in the deep quietness of death.</p> + +<p>A little to the left the Welsh Regiment was advancing up the steep side +of Alexander's kopje, which was doubly enfiladed by the Boer guns; two +Elswicks firing from the east and a Vickers-Maxim from the south-west. +There was also a nasty rain of bullets. In the long semi-circular +skirmishing line, strung like a girdle round the hillside, a man +suddenly turned and ran backwards for half a dozen paces, and then +tumbled, rolling over and over like a shot rabbit. I saw him five +minutes later when his body was brought to the dressing-station; he had +been shot through the heart. Poor fellow! He ran not of his own +conscious volition; he was killed while bravely advancing; he died while +retreating. The Welsh Regiment was losing badly all this time, and the +ground was becoming dotted with writhing and motionless bodies; it was a +horrible sight and came near to turning me sick, so I resolved to go and +see what was happening on the south side.</p> + +<p>I made a long detour round by the headquarter farmhouse towards which +the black mass of the Ninth Division was advancing across the plain—too +late, as it turned out, to join in the action. Seeing a kopje on our +extreme right from whic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>h our artillery seemed to be firing, I rode in +that direction. There was not a soul in sight; and when I was within a +thousand yards of the place the instinct which so often interferes to +keep our heads from betraying us made me pull up. There was not a sound +except the far-away bang of guns and rifles. Near to the kopje there was +a garden surrounded by low trees and a hedge of prickly pear. The sun +setting behind us slanted into it and made it appear as a charming, +peaceful shelter from the dust and noise of the battle. I was still +debating with myself as to whether I should go on a little farther when +I heard behind me the sound of a horse galloping. I turned round and +saw, perhaps two miles behind me, three mounted men. The one who now +rode up had evidently just left them. He was a trooper in Rimington's +Guides.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon, sir," he said, "but I wouldn't stay here if I was you."</p> + +<p>"Why not?" said the Green One; "no one in front, is there?"</p> + +<p>The man spat on the ground.</p> + +<p>"Don't know that there is, sir," he said, "but then I don't know that +ther<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>e isn't, and that's good enough for me. If there <i>is</i> anyone in +that garden"—and he pointed to the patch of trees—"you bet they won't +send out a flag of truce asking you to get out of the way before they +shoot. We've been sent to round up cattle out of that there garden, but +I believe the cattle are all a blind. Anyway, I'm not going near it till +I'm sure of it. I believe it's a trap."</p> + +<p>They must have been watching us from the garden with their eyes on the +sights of their rifles, for no sooner had we turned our horses' heads +than <i>bang, bang, bang, bang—phtt, phtt, phtt, phtt</i>! We doubled +ourselves on our saddles and our horses stretched along the road, while +for perhaps thirty seconds our ears twitched to a hail of bullets that +lasted until we were out of range. While we were still racing my pony, +which was last, suddenly jumped into the air and shot past the big +cavalry horse, laying herself flat on the ground like a hare; and it was +not until she had carried me far out of range that I found the warm +blood from a bullet wound running down her leg. I had no further +interest that day but to have her attended to. At any rate, I think the +shot which was fired at her was one of the last fired in the battle of +Dreifontein.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<p>The battle was fought on Saturday, March 10th. On Sunday morning we +found that the Boers had melted away from before us, and the army +marched on twelve miles to Aasvögel's Kop. On Monday the main body was +at Venters Vlei; and at four o'clock that afternoon General French, +after an artillery engagement, occupied a few hills commanding +Bloemfontein, and sent in an ultimatum requiring the surrender of the +town within twenty-four hours.</p> + +<p>Early on Tuesday morning Mr. Gwynne (Reuter's correspondent), Mr. +Oppenheim, of the <i>Daily News</i>, and another correspondent, rode into +Bloemfontein and found that President Steyn had departed during the +night, that the Boer forces had retired from the immediate neighbourhood +of the town, and that the people were willing to surrender. They rode +back to Lord Roberts (who was by this time well under weigh with his +column), escorting the Landdrost in his Cape cart. The Field Marshal +was, I believe, sitting on a low hill having breakfast with his staff +when the keys were delivered up to him. This formality was conducted +with the utmost courtesy and good-humour, and when it was over the march +was resumed. Lord Roberts rode on and joined the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> cavalry, and a +procession was formed about three miles out of the town, Lord Roberts at +the head of the cavalry brigade which preceded the army. I shall never +forget that ride down the sloping country into Bloemfontein; the little +white-haired man sitting his horse like a rock, leading; then the +personal staff; then the general staff; then the foreign attachés; then +the correspondents; then the cavalry staff; then the cavalry; then the +main body of the army—artillery, infantry, engineers, commissariat, and +baggage.</p> + +<p>As we came into the first street of the town it was apparent that the +day was regarded as a festival. One could hardly imagine a stranger +reception of an invader. Flags flew at every window, and the people were +all decked out as though for a holiday. Half-way towards the Presidency +there was a little diversion. Some Kaffirs, thinking that this was a +good opportunity of paying off old scores, had begun to loot and pillage +a large building like a school-house, which belonged to the Free State +Government. As we swung round the corner of the street they were in the +act of bundling out mattresses, bedsteads, linen, chairs, desks, and +tables, and carrying them off. A few dozen Lancers were let loose +amongst them; they dropped their booty and fled, only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> to be driven back +at the point of a lance and made to replace the stolen property. Then +the march was resumed until the procession drew up in front of the +Presidency. The Federal flag had been struck some time before, and the +flagstaff now stood gaunt and undecorated. There was a pause of about +ten minutes while Lord Roberts went in and transacted some necessary +formalities; then the little silk Union Jack, made by Lady Roberts, was +run up to the truck amid a great sound of cheering. The singing of the +National Anthem ended the ceremony. The town seemed altogether +English—English shops, English manners, the English language, and +English faces. All that day enthusiasm bubbled in the town like water +boiling in a pot; all day the troops continued to march in; shabby and +dusty and dirty and tired, they were nevertheless all stamped with some +nameless quality which they had not when they left England. All day the +population of Bloemfontein eddied through the streets like a crowd at a +fair; all day the sounds of rejoicing continued, and far into the night +the streets resounded to the cries of people who made merry.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h2>RETRACING THE STEPS OF THE ARMY</h2> + + +<p>With its independence, handed over amid the imposing circumstance of +arms, Bloemfontein lost something of its charm. The noise and dust and +commotion of the army did violence to its pastoral quietness, and the +pretty shops put up their shutters at midday as though in maidenly +horror at the eagerness of crowds of soldiers running amuck like +children with their Saturday pennies. I entered the town early enough to +see what its normal condition must be, and there was something rude and +unkind in the din of the multitude breaking on this quiet place where +the bees sang loud in the streets, and the midday idler slumbered upon +the doorstep.</p> + +<p>To be sure, one had opportunity for studying the soldier in a new +setting, but the study is one that requires time; the average Tommy is +an oyster to strangers. He varies to the tune and colour of his +surroundings; on the veldt, where hardness is to be endured, he is the +"good soldier," the patient, strong man; under fire he is a fi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>erce +creature, still obedient to his habit of discipline, but hot for combat; +in the town, with money in his pocket, he is a little child. Indeed, +after weeks of absence from places where money is of value we all share +in this rejuvenation, and if you had been in Bloemfontein on any one of +these fine days you would have seen men of every age and rank, from +generals to trumpeters, wandering about the streets, agape at the shop +windows, chinking their money in their pockets, and buying things for +which they had no kind of use.</p> + +<p>The British officer afield is a very different creature from the gilded +ornament of an English mess. His face is scorched and peeled, he is +generally (unless he be a staff officer) very ill-clad; he has a ragged +beard; he esteems golden syrup the greatest luxury on earth; he ceases +to be ashamed of originality in thought or expression; he altogether +fails to disguise what a good fellow he is. But in a very short time the +neighbourhood of a club, the possibility of a bath, the presence of +barbers and tailors, by a mysterious and marvellous working, reverse his +development, and the little graces which endear him to society at home +begin to reappear. So long as the sole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> of his boot was tied to the +uppers by a piece of string, he could not look you in the face with any +pretending; but when the cobbler has done his office, and the tailor has +sewn up the rent breeches, the spell is broken.</p> + +<p>We "occupied" Bloemfontein so completely that, after the first few days, +I was glad to take the road again. We occupied the club, we occupied the +shops and hotels, we occupied even the homes of the simple townspeople; +and we occupied the streets, so that all day the town resounded to the +din of tramping feet. When one has slept for a month under the stars, +sheets and a roof are stifling; so as the railway was not yet open, +Major Pollock (of <i>The Times</i>) and I decided to go to Kimberley by road, +assured that the moral effect of the proclamation would keep us out of +danger from the Queen's enemies.</p> + +<p>Our little caravan set forth by moonlight, taking the road travelled by +the left-hand column of the three parallel columns that had advanced on +Bloemfontein, and somewhat to the north of that taken by Lord Roberts +and the central column, with which we had gone in. The journey itself +was uneventful enough, full of the little interests and anxieties and +pleasures of t<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>he road, full of joy for the travellers, but without +serious interest to anyone else. There was just enough risk of +encountering a commando to give the necessary spice of adventure; two +despatch-riders—not mine, by the good fortune of half a mile—had been +captured the day before, and we kept a bright look-out. But by the time +we came across them the commandos were forlornly<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> dispersing. For the +rest, there was the unending charm of the climate and the place; the +gorgeous evenings, when sunset and moonrise encircled the horizon in a +flame of gold and silver; the spring-cold mornings, with the veldt +glowing from violet to purple and crimson; the noonday rest in some +deserted farm garden; the bed at nightfall, with the sound of horses +munching their corn for a lullaby—all the circumstances of simple +travel accomplished by the means that nature has provided. After having +been for so long in the company of 30,000 men we found the loneliness +and quietness refreshing, and we passed almost unnoticed through the +birds and beasts and flowers. We swam once more in the muddy Modder, now +quite an old friend. The track of the army was marked for us in two +ways<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>—one ludicrous, the other tragic; both unmistakable. For all along +the way bright tin biscuit canisters of the Army Service Corps shone +like diamonds in the sun; and all along the way, at intervals, tired and +sick old cavalry horses stood by the roadside, each surrounded by a +crowd of foul aasvögels, the vultures of South Africa, waiting.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> For the time being.</p></div> + +<p>The chief party of Boers which we encountered was at Abraham's Kraal. +While we were breakfasting about two dozen of them cantered up, of whom +about six were armed. If I had qualms, I hope I did not show them when I +said "Good-morning." I fell into conversation with one of the Boers, and +mentioned incidentally that, from their point of view, the game was up, +and that I supposed he knew that anyone who interfered with peaceful +Englishmen would be hanged. He was a sulky fellow, but he took my word +for it, and presently we began to talk. These Boers were in low spirits +about the war, and spoke of it without enthusiasm or hope. Most of them +were Transvaalers, and two spoke with an unmistakable Glasgow accent, +but on the whole they were gruff and uncommunicative, and, as they cast +envious eyes from their own sorry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> nags to our well-conditioned mounts, +I was glad to wish them good-day. They had come to bury the dead from +the Dreifontein fight, and from what they told me of the still unburied +Boers both there and at Paardeberg, I gathered that their casualties all +along the line had been heavier than we had thought.</p> + +<p>I have said that the neighbourhood of the Boers made our journey +exciting, and there was one point at which the excitement became very +nearly painful. We had made a long stage one day, and at about sundown +arrived at the Modder, which we intended to cross at a drift near +Koodoesrand. This was the dangerous neighbourhood, and we were anxious +to push on and cross the river before encamping for the night. The banks +of the Modder at this drift are about forty feet high and almost +precipitous, the path down to the drift being little better than a track +worn at a long diagonal down the bank. It was steep enough going down, +but when we had crossed the shallow river and begun the ascent of the +other bank we found the track very soft and almost perpendicular. By +fetching a compass and putting the horses to it at a great pace the two +Cape carts managed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> reach the top, but a four-wheeled American waggon +stuck fast at the bottom and could not be moved. At that moment the last +of the daylight ebbed, and darkness began to quench the sunset embers.</p> + +<p>We tried unhitching the teams from the Cape carts and hitching them to +the waggon, but we only succeeded in breaking harness. It was after the +second attempt, when we were all standing hot and angry after our +unavailing exertion of whip-cracking and shouting, that we suddenly saw +a light shine out from the edge of a low kopje about two miles in front +of us. One of us lost his head, and by speaking his fears communicated +the malady.</p> + +<p>"There are the Boers," he said, "and if they haven't heard us yelling +they must have seen the light from our lanterns. The sooner we get out +of this the better."</p> + +<p>There was nothing for it but to unload the waggon and carry the contents +up by hand, and this we did in an agony of excitement, staggering and +sweating up the steep path with portmanteaus, beds, valises, cases of +tinned provisions, kettles, bottles, saucepans, bags of harness, oats, +and guns. The empty waggon was easily drawn up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> to the top, and then we +must reload it again with a burden which seemed to have swollen +enormously since it was unpacked. We were working so frantically that we +had not even time to look at the kopje, but when at length I glanced at +it I saw that a strange thing had happened.</p> + +<p>The light was now suspended about thirty feet above the hill.</p> + +<p>Had they a balloon? Major Pollock and I gazed blankly for more than a +minute at that mysterious shining, which seemed to rise higher and +higher. More than a minute: just so long did it take us to remember that +Orion rises low in the west!</p> + +<p>Now for what will remain with me as the crowning impression of this +journey. The road we took led through a fairly fertile country, and that +in the Free State means that there generally was grass instead of karoo. +There were many farms; we probably passed twenty in the course of ninety +miles. Each of those farms I visited, and at each stood aghast at the +ruin that had been wrought. Signs of looting one expected—the looting +of food-stuffs and livestock and necessaries; that, after all, is but a +kind of self-defe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>nce, and I suppose it is allowable to live upon an +enemy when one invades his land. But the destruction that had here taken +place was wanton and savage. One seemed to travel in the footsteps of +some fiend who had left his mark upon every home, destroying the things +that were probably most prized by the owners, and destroying with a +devilish ingenuity that had saved him all unnecessary labour. For +example, in one little farmhouse I found a flimsy, showy, London bedroom +suite that was clearly the pride of the establishment, with its wardrobe +and full-length mirror. The destroyer had smashed just what could not be +mended—the mirror and the marble top of the washstand. In another +cottage I found an old clock that had ticked, most likely, for years on +end in the quietness of the little home; its hands were torn off, and +its works strewn upon the floor. In every house the little bits of +rubbish that adorn the homes of the poor were destroyed or disfigured; +in all were the same signs of violation, the same marks of the beast.</p> + +<p>It has always seemed to me that a little farm in a lonely country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +contains more than anything else the atmosphere of a home. It is +self-centred; there you see all the little shifts and contrivances which +result from the forced supplying of wants that cannot be satisfied from +outside. And when such a homestead is deserted, I think the atmosphere +is only the more pronounced; the disused implements find voices in the +silence and cry aloud for their absent owners. But when all that is +personal and human in such a place is ruined, the pathos turns to +tragedy. One farm I found absolutely gutted save for a great and old +Bible which stood upon a table in the largest room. It was a beautiful +folio, full of quaint plates and fine old printing, and bound in a rich +leather that time and the sun had tanned to an autumn gold. While I was +regarding it the breeze came through the window and stirred the yellow +leaves, exposing a pencil-marked verse in the most pastoral of psalms: +"<i>Hy doert my nederliggen in grasige wenden; Hy doert my sachtkens aen +seer stille wateren.</i>" There was something impressive in the accident: +the old book stoutly reminding the chance passer-by that present evil +cannot affect the ultimate good, promising amid rude circumstances a +time of quietness. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>He was an old man who owned that book; his name and +age were marked upon the leaf; I think, to judge by the signs of +handling, that he had the heart of its contents; and I hope that +whatever his bodily circumstances, his soul retained some of the peace +of the "<i>grasige wenden</i>."</p> + +<p>Who is responsible for all this mischief it is hard to say. I am sure +that the English soldiers, thoughtless though they may be, would not +stoop to this sort of purposeless outrage. I do not like to accuse the +colonial troops as a whole either, although I suspect that some of them, +some whose own homes had been destroyed by the enemy, might conceivably +have taken vengeance in kind. It is thought by many whose opinion is +valuable that the Kaffirs were here, as in Natal, responsible for much +of the damage; and that is a view which one would willingly take, for it +would acquit English-speaking troops of a miserable suspicion. Perhaps +the thing is well-nigh inevitable, for I know what pains Lord Roberts +took to prevent it; and it may be as well that we should recognise it as +one of the realities of war. For myself, the horrors of actual fighting +did not touch me half so nearly; I have seen men killed close to me and +been less shocked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> than I was by these domestic outrages. To die, for the +one who dies, is nothing; it affects him not at all; he is absent. But +here was not death, but outrage on the foundations of civilised life; +outrage upon living people, who suffer and remember.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Part_IV" id="Part_IV"></a><span class="smcap">Part IV</span></h2> + +<h2>AN EXPEDITION WITH LORD METHUEN</h2> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h2>IN THE FIELD AGAIN</h2> + + +<p>After all, we need not have made so much haste to leave Bloemfontein. We +had been told there that a column would start for the relief of Mafeking +on March 20th, but when we arrived at Kimberley on the 18th we found +that no movement was to take place for several days. The date was +constantly shifted farther into the future, and the days of waiting had +grown into weeks before an order came that Lord Methuen with his force +of about 10,000 men was to march on Boshof. As far as information went +we lived from hand to mouth; all the orders came from Bloemfontein, and +they seldom provided for more than a day at a time. It was not +unnatural, therefore, that when an order to move did at last come we +built upon it all kinds of extravagant expectations, and it was a +cheerful army that left Kimberley on April 2nd and took the road for +Boshof.</p> + +<p>After many days of inaction it was indeed good to recommence a moving +life among oxen and waggons and guns and soldiers. Kimberley was all +very well as a spectacle immediately after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> the siege; everyone flocked +to see the holes in the houses and the ruined buildings. It was all very +well (so, at any rate, we persuaded ourselves) to live in a club and to +dine again amid damask and flowers and cut glass after the rude life of +the fields; but even this was a novelty only for a day, and one soon +became impatient of the poor shift at living which dwellers in towns are +forced to make. I think I never saw a town so lost and drowned beneath +the wave of money-getting as Kimberley; even its recent privations were +turned to a nimble account, and 6-inch shells were selling at £10 apiece +before I left. The people who fled most readily from the projectiles +were of course the most eager to buy them—so highly do we esteem the +instruments which make us seem heroes to ourselves. For the moment +Kimberley transferred its attentions commercially from diamonds to +shells: a less romantic and (if you will believe it) a more sordid +industry; for there were already more storied and pedigreed shells in +private collections and for sale in Kimberley than ever fell into the +town.</p> + +<p>Boshof, at any rate, provided a welcome change from all this. It is a +pretty little to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>wn of greensward streets and clear brooks; of white +cottages embowered in trees; of rose-gardens and orchards; rather like a +remote country town in Ireland—poor and pretty and sleepy. There were +few able-bodied men left in it, and aged people looked doubtfully out +from their fuchsia-covered doors upon the ranks and regiments of foreign +soldiers who came clattering through the streets on some of those hot +April afternoons. We were to advance, it was now thought, on the 6th; in +what direction we did not know certainly, but we suspected that it would +be along the Hoopstad Road. The arguments and speculations with which we +occupied ourselves need not be recorded now, but it was at once our hope +and fear that we should advance along the north bank of the Vaal. Hope, +because there was work to be done there; fear, lest our smaller force +should be absorbed by Lord Roberts's larger army and become merely its +left flank. Events showed that we might have spared ourselves both hopes +and fears, but fortunately we were ignorant, and so found occupation for +many an hour that had otherwise been empty.</p> + +<p>An interval of inaction in the midst of a war is tedious in some ways, +but it is at least of benefit to a mere onlooker, who is thus enabled to +disengage himself from the whirl of operat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>ions and to discover the +results of his unwonted occupation. After having lived amongst +soldiers—in some ways and in spite of their profession the most human +and civilised of men—it had come upon me as a shock to find in +Kimberley the same bloodthirstiness that had distinguished the more +thoughtless section of the public at home. Cruel shouting for blood by +people who never see it; the iteration of that most illogical demand, a +life for a life—and, if possible, two lives for a life; the loud, +hectoring, frothy argument that lashes itself into a fury with strong +and abusive language—they all came like a clap of thunder after what I +am bound to call in comparison the quiet decency of the battlefield. +This is a grave thing to say, but it would be unfair to disguise so +clear an impression as this that I received, who went to South Africa +with so little political bias that eager partisans of neither colour in +Cape Town would own me. To appear lukewarm amongst people who are +red-hot is not always pleasant, but it has its compensations; one has at +least a foothold—inglorious, perhaps, but safe and desirable in a dizzy +world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was impossible to be in Kimberley and not to become involved in the +endless political discussions of clubs and dinner tables. I used to try +very hard to discover what it was that made the average Briton living in +South Africa hate the Boers so bitterly. The Colonial despises the Boer, +but one does not hate a man only because one despises him. Jealousy is +the best blend with contempt, and there is no doubt that the Boer's not +unnatural desire to be paramount in his own land was what English +colonists with whom I talked chiefly resented. We might talk for an hour +or for a day—the same old grievances always came round: the inferior +political position of the Uitlanders, the primitive, not to say dirty +and slovenly, habits of many Boer farmers, and their lack of energy. +These are the grievances of the man in the street, and they appear grave +enough—when once one has invested oneself with the right of censorship. +Then the rebels—wretched, unsuccessful farmers, who found themselves +misled and their ideas of duty confounded—these were the chief objects +of the lust for revenge. A rebel, as a man who has tried unsuccessfully +to overthrow by force the Government to which he owes allegiance, must +expect to suffer; but even in the case of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> these miserable creatures +there is surely a scale of responsibility to be observed and a measure +of justice to be meted. If Kimberley or Cape Town had ruled the matter +by their mass meetings nearly every rebel would have been hanged—a very +poor way, one would think, of making loyal subjects. But the reasons +that were urged in support of such drastic punishment were astonishingly +frank: "It doesn't pay to be loyal," one was told; "we might as well +have been rebels." Not a very lofty form of patriotism.</p> + +<p>One came to shrink from using that grand word, so plausible a cloak did +it become for much that is mean and degrading. For example, when I was +riding from Bloemfontein to Kimberley I and my companion descried a +farmhouse two miles in front of us near Koodoesrand Drift; when we had +come within about a mile of it a little travesty of a Union Jack was run +up on a stick, and when we rode up to the door a farmer came out, +smiling, rubbing his hands, sniggering—in a word, truckling. His talk +was like the political swagger of the music-hall or the butler's pantry.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm John Bull to the core—eh? No damned Boers for me—eh? Ha, ha, wipe +'em out, gentlemen, wipe 'em out: old England's all right as long as +we've got gentlemen like you to defend us—eh?" (He took us for +officers.) "John Bull for ever—eh?"</p> + +<p>And while he spoke someone inside the house played "God Save the Queen" +with one finger (incorrectly) on a harmonium. The incident had a more +unpleasant flavour than I can well convey; we went away feeling ashamed.</p> + +<p>All this belongs to the dark side of the campaign; fortunately there was +another, how bright I cannot say, that went far to make one forget the +rest. For the soldier the whole moral question had been decided; his +duty was so clear that he never needed to hesitate. And his blood would +have been sluggish indeed who must not have been stirred to the heart by +these inspiring circumstances: whether in camp, where the population of +a town was housed and fed in an hour, every man charged with some duty +for the common benefit, the whole a pattern of social administration; or +on the march, with the scouts and patrols opening and spreading in +advance and covering every patch of ground for miles round, the sweep +and imposing measure of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> marching troops, the miles of supply and +baggage waggons, each in its appointed place; or on the battlefield, +where troops were handled and man[oe]uvred as on a chessboard, where men +went to death with light hearts, lying for perhaps hours under fire, +stealing a piece of ground here or a bit of cover there, with one eye on +their officer and another on the flash before them, and perhaps a +thought in the middle of it all for someone at home—there, indeed, +where stern duties were faithfully fulfilled was set a great example. +Fortunately for some of us at home the men who direct and conduct our +battles are magnanimous, and one had the gratification of seeing, even +upon occasions so savage, little acts of courtesy and humanity rendered +on both sides that went far to take the sting out of a defeat.</p> + +<p>And let there be no mistake about the Boers as soldiers. In spite of the +far too numerous abuses of the rules of civilised warfare by detached +and independent combatants—abuses, it should be remembered, that have +occurred and will occur in every war and in the ranks of every army +—our officers and men have a genuine respect and admiration for their +enemy. No one looked upon death at their hands as anything but +honourable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> And as one's admiration and sympathy were stirred for one's +own fellow-countrymen, who so unflinchingly performed their duties, +could one withhold it from that other army five miles away across the +plain—citizen soldiers fighting for their country and their homes? For +the soldier politics do not exist; he fights and dies for an idea. This +is mere sentiment, you may say, instead of fact about arms and battles; +yet the hardest fact that rings beneath your stamp is no more real than +poor, flimsy sentiment, which is a living force in the world, and will +remain to be reckoned with when pom-poms and Creusots are rusting in +archæological museums—monuments only to the mechanical and political +clumsiness of the nineteenth century.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h2>THE CAPTURE OF BOERS AT TWEEFONTEIN</h2> + + +<p>Lord Methuen had not long to wait for occupation. As soon as he arrived +at Boshof he posted his pickets on every possible point of vantage, and +patrolled the neighbourhood of Boshof over a wide circumference; and he +was rewarded. The little engagement at Tweefontein was, we all hoped, an +auspicious beginning for Lord Methuen's advance. If one might apply the +word to military tactics, it was as artistic a piece of work as could +be. I do not remember a single mistake or an instance of anything less +well or less quickly done than was possible. The result was a raising of +everyone's spirits, and I thought that Lord Methuen himself had the air +of a man emerging from depression. Certainly no general was better liked +by those around him, and, in spite of all mischievous gossip to the +contrary, he was perfectly trusted by his officers and men.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus05.png" alt="Methuen" /> +<a id="illus05" name="illus05"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> LIEUT.-GEN. LORD METHUEN, K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G.</p> + +<p>On Friday morning, April 6th, a native guide came in with information +that the enemy had a laager at a farm called Tweefontein, nine miles +south-east of Boshof. In ten minutes Major<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> Streatfeild had his horse +packed and saddled and was off to the Yeomanry camp. Now the Yeomanry +horses were out on the plain grazing a good mile away; yet from the time +when the order was given until the moment of starting exactly +thirty-five minutes elapsed—a performance that would not have disgraced +veterans. The artillery and the Kimberley Mounted Corps (an excellent +force, although not so well horsed as the Yeomanry) were ready in the +same time, and the force started in the following order: Scouts of the +Kimberley Mounted Corps; advance guard ditto; Staff; Imperial Yeomanry, +under Lord Chesham; Fourth Company Royal Artillery; Kimberley Mounted +Corps, under Lieut.-Colonel Peakman.</p> + +<p>When the force was within three miles of Tweefontein the scouts +returned, stating that the only kopje in the neighbourhood was held by +the enemy. The native guides had led us by an excellent road and with +absolute accuracy, and the enemy had no idea of our presence until we +came up over the ridge and showed our force in the centre. Lord Methuen +then developed his attack, which, as the kopje was isolated, was on the +simple plan of a centre with two extending wings. There was a delay in +the centre until Captain Rolleston's (Lieutenant-Colonel commandi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>ng +Nottinghamshire Yeomanry) company, under Lord Scarborough, could get +into position on the left. The enemy opened fire without delay, so the +Yeomanry had to make a wide detour. Meanwhile the centre was held back +while the Kimberley Mounted Corps, under Colonel Peakman, were sent to +the right, where they found cover in a ridge of very low kopjes.</p> + +<p>When both flanks were in position the main body of Yeomanry dismounted +and advanced towards the kopje in extended order. Now was their time. +You must remember that this was their baptism of fire, and everyone was +on the look-out for signs of "greenness"; everyone had more or less been +making fun of them in a mild way, and prophesying all sorts of disaster. +As they advanced the bullets began to pipe on the edge of the +firing-zone, but there was not a bit of change in the Yeomanry when they +came under fire. I know from experience how disconcerting it is to ride +into the zone of fire, and walking must be much worse. It is not half so +bad when you are fairly in; it is like wading into a cold and shallow +sea instead of plunging—a kind of shivering sensation, most unpleasant. +Well, they went through this nasty belt as coolly as you please—no +hurry or funk. They dropped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> like wax when the order came to lie down, +and fired steadily.</p> + +<p>The whole of our little field was now under fire, and the cavalry on +each side were keeping the Boers very busy. All the time the right and +left flanks were opening out and reaching towards each other behind the +kopje. The only disappointment was that the artillery could not get to +work; the rise of the ground was so great and we had covered the +position so completely that it was rather dangerous to attempt shelling. +For about two hours there was hot firing, and every now and then there +was a little work for our ambulance people, but not much. The only +noticeable evidence of inexperience on the part of the Yeomanry was that +they did not realise—and no one can realise this when fighting the +Boers for the first time—how great is the enemy's firing range, and how +far away one must keep to be able to live at all. They kept pressing +forward, and Major Streatfeild had to ride across from the General under +a very hot fire to tell them to keep back.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of the engagement there was a gap in front of the +artillery position, and the guns spoke. They got the range at once, and +fired three rounds of shrapnel, and a few m<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>inutes after the third round +had been fired a white flag was waved from the hill. Silence fell like a +shadow over the place that had been crackling with fire a minute before; +people who had been lying flat on the ground stood up and stretched +themselves; and in the midst of the silence a shot cracked from the +hill, and there was a rush of men towards a prostrate body on our side. +Then another shot cracked—from our side this time; the treacherous +Boer, I was told, fell dead, and the action was over.</p> + +<p>We captured fifty-two prisoners, and the Boers had eight killed and six +wounded. No one escaped. They all laid down their arms and surrendered, +handing over also a cart of dynamite. From this it was gathered that +General Villebois (who was killed) had been trying to get behind us to +the railway line near Modder River, where he hoped to destroy it. I +spoke to some of the prisoners next day—Frenchmen, many of them, and +nice enough fellows. I heard then something which gave me pause with +regard to the white flag. When the thing happened it appeared to be a +flagrant and indubitable case of treachery; everyone was speaking of it. +But one of the prisoners, in talking to me, referred to the "rascal" who +showed the flag.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We had no intention to surrender," he said; "no order was given; that +worm had a flag in his pocket, and he held it up; poor —— (mentioning +the man who shot and was killed) probably never saw it. It's a wonder +half of us did not go on firing."</p> + +<p>I give this statement for what it is worth. "All lies" was the comment +of some of the officers there, and quite possibly they were right; but +quite possibly also they were wrong, and the whole thing was an +accident. At least one may learn a lesson from it. I hated to believe +it, but I believed it to be treachery. Now it turns out that I may have +been unjust, and possibly on a dozen other occasions the same sort of +involuntary injustice may have been done to our enemies. Certainly it is +much easier for soldiers to see a small conspicuous object when it is +displayed by the enemy than when it is displayed by one of their own +side. The men on either side are intent upon watching the other side, +not their own.</p> + +<p>In General Villebois de Mareuil's pocket was found a note-book +containing a cleverly planned diagram of an attack on Boshof, and when +the sun was setting he was buried in the town he had hoped to enter +victoriously. It was a most impr<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>essive ceremony; the slanting sun, the +imposing military honours, the solemn words of the office—it is easily +imagined; it will not be easily forgotten by those of us who witnessed +it. Next morning we had left Boshof and its green streets behind, and +were winding along the road, the line of patrols sweeping like a long +billow over the hills before and on each side of us. We paused for a +night at Zwaartzkopjesfontein, went on the next morning to +Mahemsfontein; whence, having received orders from Lord Roberts to halt, +we fell back on Zwaartzkopjesfontein.</p> + +<p>On Monday morning, April 9th, I went out with the Yeomanry, who made a +reconnaissance ten miles to the east. We found a party of about sixty +Boers chasing goats and cattle and stock of all kinds on a Dutch farm +occupied only by women. We could see them through glasses driving the +stock away (about sixty head), but they only fired a shot or two at one +of our scouts, and then fled, taking and keeping a four-mile start of +us. This expedition was at least interesting, as again showing the +really excellent work and methods of the Yeomanry. They cared for their +horses in a more intelligent way than any regular cavalry I have seen, +and they were not above taking hints from the Colonials in the matter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +of marching and patrolling order. Everyone was surprised. It had been +quite the thing to smile at the very mention of the Yeomanry; yet they +speedily proved themselves quite equal to take their place beside any +other of the Volunteers, even the best of the Colonial mounted corps.</p> + +<p>With a charming courtesy Lord Methuen designed and erected at his own +expense a monument over the grave of his fallen enemy. On the stone is +engraved this inscription:—</p> + + +<p style="margin-left: 15em;"> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><img src="images/illus02.png" alt="cross" /></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">A LA MEMOIRE</span><br /> +DU COMTE DE VILLEBOIS DE MAREUIL<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">ANCIEN COLONEL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">DE LA LEGION ÉTRANGÈRE</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">EN FRANCE</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">GÉNÉRAL DU TRANSVAAL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;">MORT AU CHAMP D'HONNEUR</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">PRÈS DE BOSHOF</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5.5em;">LE 5 AVRIL, 1900</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">DANS SA 53<sup>ème</sup> ANNÉE</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;"><img src="images/illus01.png" alt="r.i.p" /></span><br /> +</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h2>AN ELUSIVE ENEMY</h2> + + +<p>In spite of their former experiences the troops under Lord Methuen were +in some danger of forgetting the sterner realities of warfare, and of +mistaking for them the mere physical discomforts incidental to life +afield in rough weather. The camp at Zwaartzkopjesfontein—the highest +point of land within a large area—was scattered amongst rocks and +boulders piled high into an island ridge rising from the plain; and +amongst the rocks and ferns one found here and there a piece of lawn +(long untrodden by any feet but those of goats) large enough to picket +one's horses and pitch one's tent upon. Eastward the plain stretched to +the horizon, as level as the sea; indeed, in a landscape so monotonous +that one was fain to decorate it with fancies, it stood for the sea, and +touched the rocky base of our island as the sea washes many a mile of +bluff coast. Winter was setting in, and all day long wreaths of mist and +banks of rain came blowing from the eastward (the seaward, as we called +it), and shrouded the brown rock. The signallers on the height used to +wrap themselves in their oilskin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>s as darkness fell and lamps took the +place of flags and spy-glasses; in the dark gusty hours we heard the +"all's well" of a sentry as the visiting patrol went by, much as one +hears the cry of the watch on board ship; and down below, the +mimosa-trees sighed like surges against the foot of the rock.</p> + +<p>The ten days spent there by the troops were marked by only two +expeditions against the invisible enemy, neither of which achieved +anything but a nominal result. One was under Colonel Mahon, and repaired +the telegraph line in the neighbourhood of Modder River; it was intended +to patrol as far as Klip Drift, but the rain made the veldt impassable +for waggons. Certainly the line was repaired, but, as the Colonel +contemptuously remarked, "What's the use of sending an expedition to +repair telegraph lines? An old woman can cut 'em again ten minutes after +you've gone."</p> + +<p>The other flying column was under General Douglas, and was sent out +eastward in search of a commando known to be in the neighbourhood. As +both columns started on the same day (April 11th) I could not be with +both, so I chose General Douglas's as offering the better chances of an +engagement. Two days before Lord Chesham had conducted a reconnaissance +wit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>h his cavalry, to which I had been invited, and at which he had +promised me "fine sport." Result: a fine cross-country gallop, a deal of +used-up horseflesh, a number of tired and (because they had been hurried +out without their breakfasts) rather cross men, and a sight of a few +Boers riding off at a distance of five miles. "Butterflies" was +someone's description of these elusive enemies of ours; and when one +considers what a fine chase they gave us, and how hot and cross we +became in the course of it, the description seems not inapt.</p> + +<p>General Douglas's column, consisting of a battalion of the Northamptons, +300 Imperial Yeomanry, 50 men of the Kimberley Mounted Corps, a section +of Field Artillery, Ambulance and Supply Corps, set out before dawn on +Wednesday, April 11th. We marched, as it had hitherto been my lot always +to march in this campaign, eastwards towards the fires of dawn, leaving +the dark night-sky behind us. The waggons creaked and jolted across the +rough veldt, the gun harness jingled, the horses snorted out the cold +air, the Kaffirs cried to their beasts; and in this discordant chorus we +stretched out across the sea-plain while the east kindled and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> glowed. +Above us the clouds changed from grey to dove-colour, from that to +rose-pink; and then, straight before us, the sun came up and gave us +gold for redness. The little purple wild flowers opened, showing us +where the night had left a jewel on every petal, and the sleepy soldiers +plucked them as they passed and cheered themselves with their faint +fragrance. The day, like the night, comes quickly there, and brings with +it an even greater change. For in that last week of autumn we tasted of +every season; hot summer days, nights of spring, dark, cold winter +mornings by the camp fire; and it was when night changed to day that +winter faded into summer. For that reason, I suppose, the hour after +sunrise was the most invigorating of all, and long before the sun had +dried the dew from their clothes the men were marching with a freer +step.</p> + +<p>This will show you how suddenly things may come upon the unwary in that +country. I had been riding with the scouts, two miles in advance of the +column, and we had just been examining through glasses a moving group in +the distance. It turned out to be nothing but cattle feeding—the only +moving things in a plain that seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> absolutely level, and I rode back +and rejoined the column. The Brigadier was just saying that he was +afraid we should see nothing to-day, when an orderly galloped up with a +note from Lord Chesham (who was out with the scouts on our left flank) +to say that the Boers were holding a kopje three miles on our left front +in strength.</p> + +<p>Then began the excitement. Everyone was wide awake in a moment and +curious to see how the new Brigadier would manage his first job. The +convoy was halted, and the troops drawn on under cover of a slight and +almost imperceptible rise in the ground. Riding on in advance I suddenly +came on the scouts in action, that is to say, their horses were picketed +in rear of them, and they were lying hidden in the long grasses. And +there you have a typical picture of this kind of warfare. A row of men +lying on the ground, for no apparent reason, chewing the long stalks and +talking quietly to each other; in front a flat and seemingly vacant +ground; profound silence reigning everywhere. But use your glasses, and +you will see what looks like a shadow, but is really a rise on the +ground, giving advantage enough for the extermination of an army; show +your head, and you will hear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> the bang and whirr of the Mauser.</p> + +<p>Presently the jingle of harness sounded behind me, and the guns went by +to take up a position on the left. I followed behind them in shelter of +the ridge, and therefore out of sight of the position. When I saw it +again I found that we were facing three long low mounds, running north +and south across our path, and the attack was now being developed. The +infantry, so dense a mass when marching, were now strung out in long +lines sweeping towards the left, and Lord Chesham with two squadrons had +also gone far to the left, to try to get round the position. Meanwhile +the guns were unlimbered, and their anxious crew (the battery had never +been in action before) were on tenter-hooks.</p> + +<p>Up rides a staff officer. "Shell that ridge on the left."</p> + +<p>"Right, sir. Sight for 1,800. Fuse six—no, six and a half," says the +nervous subaltern.</p> + +<p>"Fire, number one gun! Fire, number two gun!" Then two shattering +explosions, the suspense of six seconds, the burst of shrapnel in the +air, the cloud of brown dust rising where it struck, and the hollow +"boom" coming back when all was over.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<p>These exercises were repeated with much zeal by the subaltern and his +crew, until after about fifty rounds had been fired the order came to +cease fire; and it was afterwards ascertained that, as the net result of +this commotion, one partridge had been shot. But I know of another +result. A certain subaltern member of the Royal Regiment of Artillery +sat thereafter a little straighter on his horse than he had sat a week +ago.</p> + +<p>But while the noise was going on, for all we knew, the Boers might be +suffering heavily from the shrapnel; although we rather thought not, +since no one was shooting back at the guns. Meanwhile the infantry was +threading out to the left, from which direction a shot now and then +sounded; and the remark of the onlookers (the onlooker is invariably a +critic) was, "Why is he committing all his force to a left-flank turning +movement, leaving only a hundred and fifty men to watch his centre and +right, when there may be only a dozen men on that left kopje?"</p> + +<p>So said we, who sat on the gun limbers looking very wise; and, by one of +those unfortunate chances which sometimes justify the amateur critic and +encourage him in his vice, we turned out to be right. What was really +happening was this. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>The 150 or 400 Boers (I never discovered which, +although I believe it was the smaller number) who sat on that hill and +saw us coming did not wish to stay. So they held the middle kopje, and +threw out what is called a "false flank" on to the left kopje; and then, +seeing our whole force committed to the left, they went behind the hill +and filled their pipes, and packed their saddlebags and rode off, +leaving the six men to keep us busy while they went. And then the six +men departed also; and after much careful scouting, we rode victoriously +over the kopje. If we had attacked on the right flank also, we should +probably have caught them, as Lord Chesham would in a little longer have +got round to their rear and cut them off. Of course, the whole +difficulty in such cases arises from the invisible fire of smokeless +powder. One never knows whether the banging is produced by six men +firing briskly or by sixty firing slowly, and that was why Lord Chesham +had to tire out his horses by taking them round twelve miles to avoid +six men.</p> + +<p>Our only "casualty" was carried out of action in a stretcher—he was a +member of the volunteer company of the Northamptons.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They've got me, sir," he said to me, in tones of mingled pride and +martyrdom, "'it in the leg."</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the man was only scratched; he could easily walk, +but could not resist the circumstance of the stretcher; and he fell into +his place for the rest of the march, a very proud man.</p> + +<p>We bivouacked at Granaatz Plaatz farm that night, whence the heliograph +winked the news of our engagement to our camp. It was a day of alternate +sunshine and cloud, and the messages gave the signallers much trouble. I +had one to send after the official messages, and the sun was getting low +by the time it began. The shine never lasted for more than twenty +seconds, but they managed to edge the words into the blinks until they +came to "Zwaartzkopjesfontein." The sun always gave out in the middle of +it; the regulations demanded that the word should be begun afresh every +time, and finally the sun sank victoriously on the fell word. Darkness +set in, and a blinding thunderstorm with deluges of rain, but the +signallers were not to be beaten.</p> + +<p>"We'll do ut on the lamp, sorr, and divil take the ould sun for goin' +out on us," said the Irish sergeant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> + +<p>I should not like to say how many people had to do with that message +before it got near the cable. In the first place, the light could hardly +penetrate the twelve-mile space of rain; and even when they had +succeeded in "calling up" headquarters the lightning flashes interfered +with our feeble dots and dashes. I shall always remember that little +group of men working most admirably on the kopje high up amid the storm +and rain—one lying on his face in the mud with a telescope propped on a +stone reading the reply; another keeping the paper dry under his helmet +while he spelt the message to the operator; and a third working the +shutter that, by occulting the light, makes flashes from the lamp.</p> + +<p>"<i>Guardian</i>—G-u-a-r-d-i-a-n," says the reader.</p> + +<p>"Bang, bang; rattle; bang, rattle, rattle; bang; bang, bang, rattle; +bang, rattle; bang, rattle, rattle; bang, bang, bang," goes the lamp.</p> + +<p>An anxious pause is enlivened by a clap of thunder.</p> + +<p>"Answered," says Spy-glass. And often a word had to be repeated three or +four times before it was answered, but at the fourth letter of +"Zwaartzkopjesfontein" the answering signal was plainly given, followed +by DDDD, which, although not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> in the code-book, is an expression well +understood by all signallers.</p> + +<p>All that night it rained, and the men in their wretched bivouacs sang +through it all with a most admirable heroism. Imagine yourself with two +other people lying in three inches of water with two blankets supported +by rifles over your head, and you have their condition. And they started +again in the cold, rainy darkness, wet and chilled to the bone, still +singing. But that is the private soldier all over. Put him in really +happy circumstances, and he grumbles himself hoarse; give him something +really to grumble at, and he is cheerful; give him misery, and he sings. +We marched fifteen miles on Thursday, the 12th, and encamped at +Buitendam, the farm of a field-cornet, where a few of the enemy sniped +at us as we arrived and had the satisfaction of seeing the whole force +turned out after a weary march. But of course the Boers are in their +element at this kind of game. A hundred of them wish to drive away some +stock; they leave a dozen to snipe from a ridge, while we send Tommy +plodding round for miles on a flanking movement (for you must keep him +out of range); and when the cattle have been driven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> far enough away, +Mr. Boer jumps on his horse and is off also, while we ruefully "occupy" +the vacant hill.</p> + +<p>We found a noisy and rather gratifying revenge in destroying some +ammunition which was buried in the garden; the throwing of three +thousand rounds of cordite ammunition into the fire is a peculiarly +exciting game. Some presiding genius, instead of blowing up the two +cases of dynamite, threw them into the dam, whence, I have been told, +they were fished up, not a penny the worse, by the Boers after our +departure next day.</p> + +<p>A thing happened in connection with this Boer ammunition which shows +once more how very easy it is to attribute all kinds of sins to one's +enemy. Someone came running up to a little group of us with several +packets of cartridges, one with the seal broken.</p> + +<p>"Here's a pretty thing," he said; "poisoned bullets—the brutes!"</p> + +<p>Sure enough, there were the steel bullets projecting out of the +cartridges, each completely coated with something very like verdigris up +to the edge of the brass envelope. The sealed packets showed that they +must have been so received from the makers, which easily proved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> the +most premeditated barbarity. Exclamations were rife; a brigadier was +making notes in his pocket-book; someone was urging a correspondent to +send home a cable announcing the fact, when a man, who had been sitting +quietly through it all, said—</p> + +<p>"That's all very well, but how about the rifling in the barrel? I guess +there wouldn't be much of that stuff left on by the time the bullet was +spinning."</p> + +<p>Silence fell like a cloud on the group, and the bubble was finally +pricked when another officer came up and said—</p> + +<p>"More bad grease! I've had to chuck out half a box of ammunition because +the grease has gone bad and fouls the rifles."</p> + +<p>Of course; it was as simple as day. The bullets had, as usual, been +dipped in grease to preserve them, and the grease had gone bad. When I +returned to the little circle there was an animated conversation in +progress on the subject of visiting patrols.</p> + +<p>We marched in next day, eighteen miles, having covered a pear-shaped +track eastwards of about forty miles, while the men behaved like Trojans +under most uncomfortable c<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>ircumstances.</p> + +<p>We remained for some days in camp, waiting for Lord Roberts to move, and +fighting no more dangerous enemy than the wet and boisterous weather of +young winter. Certainly Lord Methuen had a fine force there, well tried +and in excellent condition, and we all hoped that he might be given a +chance to do something with it. There is something at once lonely and +lofty in the position of a General Officer in the field that wins one's +sympathy. You see it most plainly at a full church parade such as was +held on Easter Sunday, when the whole force was formed into a hollow +square. Walls of living faces; before them, a few paces, company +officers; before them again, commanding officers; the chaplain in the +middle; and then the pleasant-looking Guardsman striding into his place +in front of all and saluting the chaplain—the only person to whom that +honour is rendered. After the short service the General's position is +still more sharply indicated, when the shouting of orders takes the +place of the parson's placid tones.</p> + +<p>"Northamptons! <i>'shon!</i> Fours left, by the left—quick—<i>march</i>!" and +the tramp of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>feet nears the spot where the General stands alone. Down +the whole battalion you hear the order run, "Company! eyes <i>left</i>!" and +hundreds of eyes are turned on the General, until the (to him) welcome +"Eyes <i>front</i>!" relieves him from so particular a scrutiny. Is it not a +paragon of what he has to endure from the world?</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h2>A SURPRISE ON THE MARCH</h2> + + +<p>Strangely enough, I had just written the last chapter, describing the +profound peace of our environments, when from my tent near the farmhouse +I saw one after another of the headquarters staff mount their horses and +gallop westwards up the hill after Lord Methuen, who was easily first. +One learns to read signs quickly in a military camp, and it did not +require much intuition to understand that something was, in the phrase +of the orderly at the vacant headquarters, "bloomin' well hup." My own +horse was ready in five minutes, and when I reached the top of the hill +I found the cavalry horse lines vacant.</p> + +<p>The site of the Zwaartzkopjesfontein camp turns an abrupt face +eastwards, but on the westward side the plateau slopes almost +imperceptibly to the plain, which is, in its immediate neighbourhood, +thickly sown with kopjes. Down this slope the cavalry were galloping, +about two miles in advance of me, in squadron formation, towards a small +kopje on which we had a picket. Realising that nothing could happen +immediately, I follo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>wed them at a foot-pace, and came up with them at +the foot of the hill where they had dismounted. Scouts were sent out +westwards among the low bush with which these slopes are clothed, and +from the top of the hill one could see them scattering and spreading +over ten miles of country; but no sound broke the silence of the hills. +Summer was back again to-day; our sea-plain was calm, shimmering in the +haze; and only the buzz of an insect disturbed the peace of the little +group on the brown hill.</p> + +<p>While we were watching the scouts I heard what was in the wind. It +seemed that an outpost of four yeomen, who were stationed about six +miles north-west from camp, had so far forgotten the delicacy of their +position as to light a fire and cook a turkey which they had found. They +were surprised in the act by a small party of Boers, who fired upon +them. Of the men thus surprised three were taken unhurt, while the +fourth escaped slightly wounded, and, returning to camp, told the +disturbing tale. Three squadrons had instantly been turned out to +attempt a rescue, and it was on their heels that I had come out. We +waited for an hour, and then the scouts came in one by one, all with the +same tale. Nothing to be seen—no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> Boers; one thought that he had seen +two on the sky line seven miles away, but they might have been Kaffirs +rounding up cattle—he was not sure. So we had to give up the men for +lost, and ride back to camp in a hurry and in rather bad temper, for it +was mail day, and time was precious. But the little disaster proved to +be a cheap enough lesson to the Yeomanry, and also to be the herald of +operations far more important.</p> + +<p>This happened on Thursday, April 19th. On Friday morning I was out at +the same place at half-past six, because a staff officer had told me the +night before that there was "a show on," and a "show" may mean anything +from a patrol to a reconnaissance in force. Lord Chesham, who was in +command, was sitting on the kopje with his staff, and I climbed up and +joined them, the cavalry remaining as before underneath the hill while +the scouts went out. We sat for an hour, comparing each other's glasses, +until the stones became hotter and hotter and the sky line began to wave +in the heat. At last I rode out to where there was an advanced picket, +and sat searching the horizon with glasses. We were in a little grove of +mimosa, and the doves were busy above our heads. After waiting for +another <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>hour we saw some Boers to the north, and presently the right +flank scouts came in to report that there were about forty Boers working +northwards on our flank.</p> + +<p>That was quite enough. Everyone was back at the kopje in no time, and +Lord Chesham sent out Lord Scarborough with one squadron, and Colonel +Mahon with another.</p> + +<p>I went with Lord Scarborough's. We rode out to the point at which the +picket had been cut off, and saw more and more Boers coming from the +north—about seventy—but they never got within range, although they +worked closer and closer. Our little body of men was so well protected +by flankers and scouts that, when the Boers at length began to steal +along our flank with the evident intention of sniping us as we returned, +we were able to retire before they came within range, having discovered +the very useful fact that they were becoming more numerous and bolder in +our neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>As we passed through the camp we saw waggons and tents being packed. +Advancing at last? Oh, dear, no. Only Lord Kitchener at the other end of +the wire playing with us again. We were to retire on Boshof, but Lord +Methue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>n decided, instead of going into the town, to encamp at Beck's +Farm about five miles out, where the grazing was better. The lay mind +found it hard to understand the purpose of these movements. Lord Methuen +had been humbugged and baffled by Headquarters in what seemed at the +time a most unbusinesslike way. First he was ordered out from Kimberley +to Griquatown. When he was there and had 400 Boers in his grasp he +received a message ordering him back to Kimberley at once. Then he was +sent to Boshof and ordered to march with all speed on Hoopstad. Having +reached Mahemsfontein he was ordered to halt, and that place being +unsuitable for an encampment, had to fall back on Zwaartzkopjesfontein. +And then he was ordered back to Boshof again. No doubt the explanation +was that the advance of the main army under Lord Roberts had been +delayed, but of course the Boers believed that all this was due to their +own formidable movements, and were accordingly encouraged.</p> + +<p>Well, there was no doubt that we were moving, and I hoped that we were +going to march in the direction of Fourteen Streams and do something +towards the relief of Mafeking. That was what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> we had all been longing +to do, and it was with a long face that a staff officer said, "Back to +Boshof."</p> + +<p>So back we started.</p> + +<p>Our column was nearly three miles long, and just as the tail of it was +leaving camp and the head of it, like a snake's, beginning to curl round +Spitz Kop—a lofty cone-shaped kopje beside the road—pom—pom—pom—pom! +suddenly sounded from—where? The wicked little shells licked like a +rising tide along our right flank.</p> + +<p>Up on a ridge far on our right I saw the rogues working their gun, as +busy as monkeys. Our friend the pom-pom once more, and most vivacious. +At the same time I heard the banging of Mausers behind me, and the air +above sang for an instant. And when that flight was over—Boom...! and +the long screaming whirr—sounds which tell you that someone has touched +off a field-gun, and that the shell is coming your way. This one was a +common shell, and did not come within a hundred yards. The whole thing +was very prettily done. Such a surprise, too. We had no idea that they +had guns.</p> + +<p>Turning my horse round I paused for an instant to watch the effect and +the result<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>. The column was still moving on, the Kaffir drivers shouting +a little louder than usual perhaps, but not a bullock out of place or +even a sheep touched. They were firing on a rather vulnerable part of +the convoy, where a flock of about a thousand sheep were being driven +and the remount horses led. But even while I looked the rear-guard was +spreading out and joining hands with the right flank, and the sound of +rifle fire from the ridge showed that they were already engaged. The +pom-pom and the 12-pounder continued for about a quarter of an hour, and +then our battery opened with a roar and silenced them in about two +minutes. And all the while the convoy jolted along the road, and the +rest of the action, or the chief part of it, remained with the right +flank. But I could see the Boers galloping along the ridge in front of +us to be ready for the convoy when it should come up, and certainly that +ought not to have been possible. It is ungrateful to criticise the +Yeomanry who had been doing so very well and learning so quickly, but, +if the truth must be told, their work on the right flank that day was +not beyond reproach. Once, when the fire was slack, I went across to the +right, and rode back very quickly, for I found kopjes which, according +to all military rules, should have been occupied by us, held by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> the +enemy.</p> + +<p>Of course to guard efficiently the flank of a marching column is not +easy for untried troops, especially when a running fight has to be kept +up. In this kind of country, where a line of kopjes runs parallel with +the road, the best plan is for two flanking parties to occupy them by +turn. Thus A party should occupy No. 1 kopje and B party No. 2; when No. +1 needs no longer to be held A leaves it and seizes No. 3, and then B +leaves No. 2 and occupies No. 4, and so on. But the Yeomanry were +strolling aimlessly along the foot of the kopjes, while the nimble Boer +was climbing up the other side to the top, and shooting down upon +them—or over their heads at the convoy—as he pleased.</p> + +<p>It is a marvel that of our twenty casualties only two were killed. If +the Boers had known of our movement just a little sooner I fear we +should have suffered heavily, or at least lost many cattle and perhaps a +few waggons. At the same time we were taken at the usual disadvantage of +a moving force that has to defend itself, and, with the exception of the +flanking, our work was done really well. The guns at once silenced the +Boer artillery, and they were brought into action<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> so expeditiously that +the Boers never got the proper range. It is true that one shell plumped +into the middle of a flock of sheep, but I believe it killed only two. +And our rear-guard fought manfully. The fire was heavy there, and one +could not see much, but I saw enough to realise that theirs was stiff +work. They and darkness finished the engagement, and we went on to +Boshof, arriving there just as night closed in.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget riding down the main street in pitch darkness—the +street full of waggons (each with its sixteen oxen), blundering about, +the waggon in front of one suddenly stopping, and the waggon behind +coming on—cries, curses, hailings, and railings of the drivers and +soldiers—everyone trying to find his camp or his waggons or his horses, +and not a light to be seen. And, in spite of it all, order emerged from +the chaos; brigade signals flashing, camps pitched, pickets posted to +keep watch over us all night, fires lighted, stations allotted; and +presently "last post" and "lights out," and in spite of the bellowing +oxen, rest.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h2>UNDER THE RED CROSS FLAG</h2> + + +<p>There was a burial party going out to Spitz Kop early the next morning, +and Major Pollock and I had leave to go with it. No one was armed, the +ambulance being preceded by an orderly carrying the P.M.O.'s bath-towel. +When we came near to the Boer pickets we rode on with the bath-towel, +while the Red Cross flag waved over the ambulance; and had come quite +close before we distinguished the two figures sitting amongst the large +brown boulders of the hill.</p> + +<p>They both spoke English and treated us with civility. They were both +farmers from the neighbourhood of Boshof, and had a keen appetite for +news of the town. We were soon deep in an examination of their +weapons—one of them had a beautiful Mauser sporting rifle, +hair-sighted, of which he was extremely proud; altogether we had quite a +friendly chat. They gave us the best information they could as to the +whereabouts of our dead and wounded, but it seemed that the Boer +ambulance party had been out working all night, and had recovered nearly +all the wounded as well as the bodies of two dead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + +<p>We went on behind the kopje into a level space surrounded by ridges, and +as we advanced (the bath-towel well to the fore) mounted men began to +appear from behind the ridges. First by twos and threes, then by sixes +and dozens, from north and south and east and west the black figures +came cantering towards us, until our little party was surrounded by, I +suppose, three or four hundred mounted men. The babel of talk was +deafening; everyone had something to say about the fight of yesterday; +and in addition to that it was easily apparent that merely as Englishmen +we were objects of absorbing interest to these pastoral Free Staters. I +know that my tobacco-pouch was empty in about two minutes, and I +presently fell into more particular conversation with the Boer doctor, +who had been up all night attending to his own and our wounded. It was a +rough-and-ready kind of first aid that he gave; a whisky-bottle filled +with carbolic dressing hung from his saddle on one side, and on the +other were rolls of lint and bandages; but I believe that the ambulance +equipment in the laager was thoroughly complete. He told me of one of +our men who had been wounded in the thigh, and had been seen late the +night before crawling about on the grou<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>nd; but when they had brought +back a stretcher for him they had not been able to find him. The doctor +thought he knew where he was likely to be, so I volunteered to go with +him and search the place. The doctor and I, therefore, with one other +Boer, rode away towards the west.</p> + +<p>The wind was blowing strong from the west, choking down our voices as we +tried to speak while we rode; and therefore we had no idea until some +hours later of the excitement that was caused by our departure. It +seemed that the Commandant, who had been engaged in conversation with +our doctor, had ordered that no one should advance any farther into the +Boer position, and that the empty ambulances must be sent on to receive +the dead and wounded. Indeed we heard afterwards that the friendly +outpost which we first encountered had got into very hot water for +allowing us to pass. When I galloped off, therefore, I was unconsciously +disobeying a very important order, and several of the Boers and our own +party shouted after me that I must come back; but riding against a stiff +breeze none of us could hear a word, and we were so soon out of sight +and over the ridge that the Boers, with a shrug, left me to my fate. +Pollock called the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> second in command (a Scotchman, I regret to say) to +witness that I had not heard the order, and he promised to intercede on +my behalf with the Commandant, who was a son of General Cronje of +Paardeberg fame.</p> + +<p>I had now better return to my own adventures. With my two companions I +soon reached a rocky plateau, where the horses had to choose their steps +carefully amongst the sharp stones, and searching thus for about an hour +we had a long and interesting conversation. I remember asking one of +them what his real feeling was about their chance of success.</p> + +<p>"We shall win," he said, with that simple confidence, born of ignorance +and self-trust, which is often a dangerous element in a force opposed to +us. "Lord Roberts with all his army cannot leave Bloemfontein; we oppose +him there. Your Lord Methuen cannot advance here; he has had to retire +twice."</p> + +<p>We knew that they would thus interpret Lord Roberts's delay and his +contradictory orders to Lord Methuen, but it was rather galling not to +be able to deny it.</p> + +<p>"We have no dislike for the English," the man went on; and it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> at +least true of him and many of the Free Staters whom I met, although it +was not true of all the Transvaalers. "You are brave soldiers and you +fight well and we can respect you, but you are led astray by Joe +Chamberlain." His face darkened when he uttered the name; I had a +glimpse of a man hated by a nation.</p> + +<p>"Rhodes, too," he said, but with less hatred and more contempt. "If we +had caught him in Kimberley we should have killed him, but if <i>we</i> don't +kill him——" and he named an alternative in which he clearly saw a +Providence working on behalf of the wronged.</p> + +<p>I asked him a little later what he thought of our generals and of whom +he was most afraid? He was quite ready with an opinion.</p> + +<p>"There is no difference," he said, with a lofty air, "it makes no +difference to us; we take them as they come. First come first served." +He was even impartial. "Your Lord Methuen has been blamed for +Magersfontein, but the English do not know that we were as much +surprised and scared as he was when his troops stumbled on us in the +dark. It was a very near thing for us. We are not afraid of Kitchener of +whom you talk so much. Roberts? Yes, he is a fairly good general, but +alone we do not fear him. Roberts and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> Kitchener together are good; we +do not like them. But alone we will take them on any day."</p> + +<p>Although we talked for a long time I did not really learn much from +these Boers, who represented the most unthinking class. Just as I had +found the English colonists to conduct their arguments in a circle and +constantly to bring forward the same old statements, so I found these +Boers repeating the same assertions over and over again: that the Lord +was on their side; that they must prevail in the end; that they could +not trust us; that we had played them false; that we were really after +their gold-fields; "if there had been no gold in South Africa there +would have been no war." They spoke as men who repeated a lesson; yet I +am bound to say that they spoke with sincerity, and although they seemed +to speak parrot-wise, they probably accepted current forms of speech as +giving the best expression to a deep and universal conviction.</p> + +<p>We had been riding for nearly two hours, when one of my companions +noticed marks on the ground evidently made by a man dragging himself +along. We followed this spoor down the rocky slope where ferns and +little shrubs divided the stones. It wound about, choosing the +sm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>oothest places, covering altogether a distance of about a mile; it +led us at last to the shade of a mimosa bush, where the poor soldier had +ended his duty and journey together.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to be done now but to rejoin my party, and when I +expressed a wish to do so the doctor said, "This will be your nearest +way," pointing to a barrier range of low hills. They lay in the right +direction, so I rode on for about a mile and a half, the two Boers still +accompanying me, until we reached the top of the nearest hill. What was +my surprise to see lying below me the smoke and waggons and picketed +horses of the enemy's laager! The Boers, to the number of perhaps seven +or eight hundred, were sitting or lying beneath trees that made a circle +round the mile-wide basin. I glanced at the faces of my companions with +some misgiving, but honesty was written there.</p> + +<p>"I have no business to be here, you know," said I. "We shall all get +into a row." They preceded me down the slope, and, with a presentiment +that I should get out again, I slipped out my pocket compass and made a +mental note of the bearings of the laager from Spitz Kop, the head of +which was visible about six mi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>les away. There was a small farmhouse +which appeared to be used as headquarters; round this were twenty or +thirty waggons piled with cases, but, so far as I could see, no forage +or oats. There were either three or four guns; there were certainly four +gun-carriages, but one of them may have been a limber. As we came into +the basin a small, young-looking man, to whom I was introduced as the +Commandant, met us.</p> + +<p>"Please remain here," he said to me sharply; and as he led the doctor +away, pouring forth a stream of Dutch, I gathered that my poor friend +was getting into trouble. At last Cronje came back and addressed me, +speaking English very imperfectly. This is the substance of what he +said—</p> + +<p>"You should never have been allowed to come here, and it is my duty to +detain you as a prisoner."</p> + +<p>I remonstrated. "I'm a non-combatant, sir."</p> + +<p>"I cannot help that. You are here and you have seen this place, and I +must send you to Pretoria, whence, if the authorities are satisfied that +you are a genuine non-combatant, you may be sent to Delagoa Bay. It was +very foolish of you to come here."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + +<p>I explained that I had come in ignorance, not knowing where my guide +would lead me; that I had come to look for a wounded man, and under the +protection of a flag of truce; that the whole thing was an unfortunate +accident, and that he should treat it as such.</p> + +<p>Much to my surprise he seemed to waver. "If I were to let you go"—and +he looked at me sideways—"would you undertake to give no information?"</p> + +<p>I suggested that the question was an unfair one. "You know how you would +answer it yourself, sir."</p> + +<p>"Yes" (he was melting), "we are honourable also, and to our own side +first of all. I have spoken of you with the doctor," he said, looking at +me kindly for the first time, "and I shall let you go. By rights you +ought to go to Pretoria. Of course your general may come and attack us +here, and your information will be useful, but we are strong enough for +all the English. Bring his horse," he shouted to someone standing by, +and to me, "You may go. No, you may not!" he added sharply; and then, +with a smile, "not until you have had a cup of coffee."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<p>Upon this civility we parted, but it was not until I had rejoined my +anxious friends with the ambulance that I began to suspect Commandant +Cronje of a piece of pleasantry. Major Pollock, it appeared, had +interceded on my behalf so effectually that my fate had been decided and +my safe return promised long before I had met the Commandant. He +afterwards entertained himself by playing upon my anxiety, which, I have +no doubt, was apparent enough.</p> + +<p>But now the ambulance was slowly returning from the place whither it had +been sent to receive the dead bodies. A place for the grave was chosen +where a thorn tree spread shadows on the ground. There were stony hills +all round, encircling a wide and green basin just within the Boer lines, +and it was beside one of these that the grave was dug. The ground was +very hard and the labour severe; it was at least two hours before the +fatigue-party, working in short shifts, had excavated a resting-place +for the two bodies. While they were working the Boers gathered round us +to the number of a couple of hundred. They were very silent, eyeing us +with an absorbed interest that embraced every article of our equipment. +Men of the humblest peasant class, poorly—in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> many respects +wretchedly—clad, they presented, in their ragged and shabby apparel, a +sharp contrast to our Yeomanry soldiers, who seemed, by comparison, trim +and well cared for. The Boers wore their ordinary clothes, which were +relieved by only one military touch—the bandolier. This was generally +of home manufacture, and in many cases was a touching and significant +document of affection. "Thought flies best when the hands are easily +busy"; ah, how many thoughts and fears had been worked into those +bandoliers when busy fingers wrought them in the far-away farmhouse! In +some of them, I thought, portraits of the makers were to be discovered. +Fancy stitches and cunning invention which provided for thrice the usual +number of cartridges told one tale; flannel paddings which sought to +make of the military appointment a winter garment told another. The +Boers, I suppose, envied us our serge and whipcord, but to examine their +homely makeshifts was to realise that even the art of Stohwasser may +leave something to be desired. Although they eyed us diligently they had +now fallen strangely silent; they offered us little conversation, but +spoke freely in low tones amongst<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> themselves; they replied to our +questions with a brief civility that did not encourage any very brisk +intercourse. We soon gave up the attempt and lay down under the shade of +the ambulance in our sheltered hollow, listening to the wind singing in +the thin vegetation of the hill above us.</p> + +<p>The sound of picks ceased at last, and an orderly came to report that +the grave was ready. The stretchers were withdrawn from the ambulance +and exposed two bodies stained with soil and blood—one shot through the +lungs, another through the head; neither of them remarkable for the +dignity that death is supposed to lend to the meanest features, both +looking strangely small and almost grotesque in their crumpled postures: +two troopers of the Yeomanry, known (as it happened) to not one man of +the crowd; and now emerging, before they reached a final obscurity, to +be for a moment a mark for all our thoughts and eyes. They were laid +beside the grave; the Boers ranked themselves upon one side, we upon the +other; the doctor opened his book and, shyly enough, began the service. +A bird flew twittering and perched on the thorn above us, making the +office choral.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + +<p>You are to remember that there were present to us just the simplest +facts of life. Hills and the naked sun, great winds and death—before +these we may cease to make believe; they tune and temper us to +accordance with pulses which, if only we are honest, will give us back +multiplied our own faintest vibration. Honesty is easy when we can +forget ourselves; and here, where the wind seemed to pluck the words +from the reader's mouth and carry them to the hills that matched them in +grandeur, they cut the last link between us and our selfish thoughts and +fears, imparting a sense of world-without-end, making us one with our +feathered clerk who, his red-brown wings folded, wove a thread of song +into the Psalm. In that texture of admonition and prayer are many +seizing pictures: man walking in a vain shadow and disquieting himself +in vain, heaping up riches, ignorant who shall gather them: man turned +to destruction: our secret sins set in the light of one countenance: a +displeasure in which we consume away: a wrathful indignation that can +make all our busy years as a tale that is told. The first thought in +each of us had been, "There, but for the grace of God, I lie"; but the +bird's song seemed so to chase away all shado<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>ws of self-pity that Death +appeared in his natural order with the wind and rain and sun; no more +unkind than they.</p> + +<p>At a signal the bodies were placed in the earth. No hateful furniture; +clay against clay: they seemed almost to nestle in it. A trooper covered +one face with his handkerchief, his comrade shielded the other with a +branch of mimosa; and while the words flowed to an end we stood, +Dutchmen and Englishmen, our small quarrel for the moment forgotten, +face to face with clear truth and knowing for once the taste of +sincerity. It was a good prayer to pray, that at our own last hour we +should not fall from that charity for any pains of death.</p> + +<p>It seemed a natural thing for us to shake hands with the Boers before we +turned to resume this game of hostility in which we stumbled upon such +great issues. It was a silent ride home, and I need not say that it went +sore against the grain with me to make my report to Lord Methuen and the +Intelligence Department respecting the position of the laager. My +thoughts were not upon compass bearings and distances, but in the +sun-steeped basin where the grave was; and all day long I had a picture +i<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>n my mind of two groups of men united in one human emotion, but now +seeking each others' lives. At night, long after the camp slept, I lay +awake with the echo of the graveside "last post" ringing in my ears, +and, because of the appetite for effect that afflicts us in weak +moments, I was teased and worried by a sense of incompleteness. In a +military camp, after "last post" and "lights out" have been sounded, no +bugle save that which sounds an alarm may be blown until the hour of +reveille. The soldiers under the hill had been trumpeted to their last +sleep; in a few hours I should hear the morning call: why should they +never hear it again? Suddenly my irrational complaint was silenced as +certain words of Saint Paul to the Corinthians reverberated in my mind. +After all, it was well; one night was but a little longer than the +other; and, those words being true, my troopers should wake to a +familiar sound.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Part_V" id="Part_V"></a><span class="smcap">Part V</span></h2> + +<h2>WITH THE FLYING COLUMN TO MAFEKING</h2> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h2>A STRATEGIC SECRET</h2> + + +<p>It was now more than six weeks since we had hurried from Bloemfontein to +be in time for the expected operations for the relief of Mafeking. When +Lord Methuen had moved from Boshof we had been sure that Mafeking was +the goal, and I think that Lord Methuen himself had at least expected to +conduct a turning movement on the Boer position at Fourteen Streams. It +is easy to see now, when even Lord Roberts's strong march on Pretoria +has been harassed and his communications interrupted, why such a +movement of Methuen's small force could not have been successful; but we +did not see it then. There was a great dearth of information, and the +secret of the Flying Column was kept perfectly until within a few days +of its departure. While we were waiting at Boshof in the blank days that +followed the rear-guard engagement everyone suspected his fellow of some +secret information, and men's most trivial movements were elaborately +construed into indications that they meditated some independent action. +Even Lord Methuen was so much in the dark that he used to say he liked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +to see the correspondents coming, as he supposed it meant that he should +have something to do. Those of us who were there knew really nothing, +and had only come prompted by a vague instinct that something was in the +air.</p> + +<p>Unavoidable as the delay in despatching a column to the relief of +Mafeking seems to have been, I think that there was one moment at which, +if Lord Methuen had had a slightly stronger force under his command, the +course of the campaign on the north-west frontier might have been +changed, and Mafeking relieved by pressure from the south. After my +accidental discovery of the Boer laager near Spitz Kop there was a long +discussion by Lord Methuen and his staff of the possibilities of +surrounding and attacking the enemy. It was plain that this large force, +commanded by young Cronje, had moved across from Fourteen Streams with +the object of harrying us and perhaps retaking Boshof; and for a few +days there was practically no force at Fourteen Streams. Now if Lord +Methuen could have sent out a light column westward from Boshof to the +rear of the laager, and also held the enemy in front with the remainder +of his force, he might with good fortune have bagged the whole Boer +force, which he kne<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>w from my information to be weak in guns. I know he +was urged to do it; I know he wanted to do it; I know what the chance of +a sensational success meant to a man whose successes had hitherto been +unexciting and his one failure a spectacle; and I admired him for not +running the risk. It would have been so easy to yield to the urgency of +his staff and Intelligence Department, and success was almost certainly +assured; but Lord Methuen, who has been foolishly accused of all kinds +of rashness, chose in this case to read in that "almost" an assurance +that he was not justified in taking the risk. He had no Horse Artillery; +and the rapid and secret march to the rear of the laager might have been +impossible with field-guns. So he decided at any rate; and decisions +like these are among not the least important victories of a campaign.</p> + +<p>Since the Boers were in the neighbourhood, and might at any moment make +an attack, Major Pollock and I were anxious not to leave Boshof until it +became absolutely necessary. We had a secret agent watching our +interests at Kimberley in the person of a staff officer whose name I +suppose I had better not mention; thus we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> witnessed, without misgiving, +the sudden and hurried flight of all the other correspondents from +Boshof, mystery written on their faces. Thus we spent two more peaceful +days riding in the shady lanes and lying on the sunburnt kopjes, +sweeping the horizon with the telescopes of Lord Chesham and his +pleasant crew; thus we received a telegram from Kimberley advising us to +"come here and attend to the business yourselves"; thus we rode away and +closed what will remain in my memory as the pleasantest chapter in the +campaign.</p> + +<p>The diary that follows was written during the march of the Relief +Column—not always under the most favourable circumstances. The +imperfections of a document of this kind are so closely bound up with +its only merit that I have decided to leave it exactly as it was +written, and not to risk a sacrifice of reality in an attempt to abolish +defects which, I hope, the reader will regard as being in the +circumstances unavoidable.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h2>THE DEPARTURE FROM KIMBERLEY</h2> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Barkly West</span>, <i>Thursday, May 3rd.</i></p> + +<p>At last!</p> + +<p>During the inaction of the past weeks there has been but one question +asked—"Is nothing to be done for Mafeking?" With the gallant little +garrison waiting and keeping the enemy from the door while disease is +busy within, it has been hard to sit still and wait for the orders that +have been so long in coming. But Kimberley, which had been almost +emptied of troops by Lord Methuen's departure, gradually filled again as +General Hunter's division assembled; and a few days ago it became plain +that some movement was imminent.</p> + +<p>Tuesday evening—the eve of the mysterious move—was full of romance for +anyone who knew what was about to happen. The dining-room of the club +was gay with yellow and brass and scarlet and the subtler colours of +wine and flowers; but conversation grouped itself into the small low +choruses that indicate far more truly than one united sound indicates +the presence of some common and thrilling interest. Earlier in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> the day +I had been admitted to a kind of <i>séance</i> in the Press Censor's office, +where an envelope alluringly marked "secret" had been opened, and its +contents read to a "limited number of correspondents of known +discretion." Within it was written that a flying column under Colonel +Mahon would set out at daybreak on the 4th from Barkly West for the +relief of Mafeking; that a certain number of correspondents (of known +discretion) would be invited to accompany it; that the estimated time +was fifteen days; that no provisions or forage would be supplied; that +the correspondents must give their word of honour to divulge nothing +until a certain time: to all of which we set our hands and seals, and +then departed from the office somewhat impressed. It is characteristic +of our Intelligence Department that on leaving the office I was greeted +by a Kimberley resident with the remark—"Well, I hear that Mahon is +going to make a dash for Mafeking on Friday <i>viâ</i> Barkly West; good +business!"</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus06.png" alt="Mahon" /> +<a id="illus06" name="illus06"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> BRIGADIER-GENERAL BRYAN MAHON, D.S.O.</p> + +<p>So in the evening, although if you had asked point-blank questions you +would have been told nothing, the forthcoming dash to the rescue was +really the topic. That it is to be the work <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>of the Colonial troops is +fair enough, since no one has a better right than they to help their +besieged comrades. Therefore the British officer has been for once +eclipsed, and the Colonials have had it all their own way. They hovered +and bustled about the club all the evening, taking leave of friends and +settling affairs. Some of them, one knew, would not return; and the +thought never fails to lend a strange kind of solemnity to the eve of a +big enterprise. "We're going to have a tough job," Colonel Peakman had +said, and men had looked grave for a moment, and then gone on talking +and laughing; but the prospect of serious fighting was displeasing to no +one. That is always the way; the excitements and not the horrors of a +battle are remembered; every man thinks that, though all the rest should +fall, he shall stand at the last; a sense of danger in the future is a +trumpet-call. And this is a noble part of warfare, to relieve the +distressed. A duty to be done at all costs; no questions of how or why, +but a clear lead.</p> + +<p>There is something in the very words "flying column" to appease the +impatient; wings in the air, a swoop upon the victim. But it is merely a +bold figure of speech, and means in a case<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> like this a rapid march of +twenty miles a day, mules instead of oxen, short rations, starving and +ruined horses. These flying cavalry columns and forced marches (the only +means by which the slippery Boer is to be cornered) demonstrate to how +great an extent this is a campaign of horses. Only the shortest horse +rations can be carried, and even at the best, a fortnight's continuous +work of this kind will so knock up a good horse that he must have three +months' rest before he can be of any further use. So your flying column +must start with fat horses, and use up their reserve of flesh, arriving +at the end with skeletons. It is dreadful enough to see a good beast, +and hundreds of good beasts, starving before your eyes and working hard +all the time; but it is only one of the many horrible and necessary +accompaniments of a war. What is asked of the horses on an expedition of +this kind is that they shall carry a man say twenty-five miles a day on +the march, and at the end perhaps carry him another thirty galloping +about in a fight; and no animal will stand more than a fortnight of +that, even on full rations. So the remount officers have been busy in +Kimberley, buying up every animal that looked as though he would last +for a fortnight; and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> private buyer has been hard put to it to +provide for his needs. I was lucky enough in the two hours of yesterday +afternoon that were available for the purpose to light upon a cart and +team that would carry my load of forage and bully beef; and at 5 p.m. to +see the leaders harnessed in for the first time, while my faithful +Kaffir groom gathered up the reins with doubt in his eye. Of course the +leaders turned round and tried to climb up over the wheelers' heads, but +at length they came to an approximate sort of unanimity as to which pair +was to lead. Thereafter I had the fearful joy of seeing the equipage set +forth at speed down the narrow street. A policeman escaped with his life +at one corner, a cripple was snatched from death at another, a nigger +was cannoned off at a third—the proprietor of the public menace riding +diffidently behind the while, trying to look as though he had no hand in +it. But the great thing was that I had got something capable of "flying" +with the column, and I was twice hailed on the way out to know whether I +would sell the horses.</p> + +<p>From Kimberley to Barkly (whither the forces comprising the column had +proceeded earl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>ier in the day) the road lies through twenty-five miles +of the loneliest veldt; except at the half-way house I did not see a +human being all the way. The young moon was up, and threw the earth and +sky into sombre night colours—a purple wall of earth meeting the +spangled violet of the sky in one long line. For twenty miles of the +road there was hardly a sound save the beat of horses' feet; but +presently there stole on my ear a kind of music for which one's senses +long in this barren country—the murmur of water over stones. It was the +Vaal river, running here broad and deep, and making Barkly West a +pleasing instead of a dull place. Beside a sharp bend the lights of an +inn shone upon the road, promising rest for tired people, whether they +had four feet or two; and the promise was fulfilled.</p> + +<p>To-day has been given up to horse-buying; the place was like a fair; +everyone who owned even the framework of a horse brought it out and +offered it for sale; and officers were competing busily for the purchase +of any decent animal. I found time to go down and listen to the +river—strange sights the water that is flowing so quietly must have +passed this morning! For one of our 6-inch siege guns was sent up to +Warrenton last night, and opened at daybrea<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>k on the Boers at Fourteen +Streams. One longs to know something of the result; but the water flows +secretly on into more peaceful scenes.</p> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Gunning's Farm</span>, <i>Saturday, May 5th</i>.</p> + +<p>We did not get away until nearly nine yesterday morning, and for the +first few miles were much delayed by breakdowns in the transport column. +The transport mule is a troublesome creature; sometimes he insists on +stopping to pick up grass; always he is reluctant to do merely what is +required of him. So although our transport column is supposed to take up +only one mile of road, it straggled over a good two miles during +Friday's march. The road was very dangerous, winding through narrow +passes and thick bush country; therefore the scouting was slow and +laborious, and the whole column was halted before every unusually +dangerous place. But we met no Boers; and since we desire to proceed +very quietly and unostentatiously at first this was fortunate. The +column consists of about eleven hundred men of the Kimberley Mounted +Corps and the Imperial Light Horse, a mixed company of picked volunteers +from the Sixth Fusilier Brigade (representing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> England, Ireland, +Scotland, and Wales), and a four-gun battery of the Royal Horse +Artillery, with two pom-poms in addition. Every man is mounted, +including the infantry men, who ride on waggons. Yesterday we marched +only twelve miles, owing to the difficulties of the ground, but in the +evening our business began in earnest. Lights had to be out at eight +o'clock, and this morning we marched off at two, no lights or fires +being allowed, not even a match for a cigarette. The joys of rising at +1.30 in the cold pitch darkness (for these are winter mornings, in spite +of the summer noonday), and of trying to harness a team, and pick up all +one's kit, exist only in retrospect, where all troubles fade. The +six-hour march this morning was very cold and very tedious; four hours +of it were in darkness, and how late the sun seemed to be in rising! But +he came punctually, in spite of a mild panic amongst us lest something +should have happened to him, and the pageant of his rising was +entertainment for the last two hours. Fifteen miles before breakfast and +fifteen after lunch—a journey almost too heavy for the second day. Two +teams of mules were knocked up, and more will follow if this goes on.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> + +<p>At Spitz Kop, our breakfast outspan, we heard guns in the distance, and +from the top of the high hill we could see the little fluffy clouds of +smoke, that meant so much to someone, bursting on both sides. There was +an alarm that the Boers were coming our way, and the guns were turned +out; but it was a false alarm, and the column came on here to Gunning's +Farm, where we arrived after dark. Camping in the dark after a +thirty-mile march is wild work—such a commotion of hails and calls, +such searching for one's camp, and for the watering-place for horses. +The hour of lamplight is precious, and I am near the end of it now.</p> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Muchadin</span>, <i>Monday, May 7th</i>.</p> + +<p>A day seldom passes on which one does not receive fresh proof that the +world contains foolish people. In the small hours of Sunday morning, +when the camp was astir in the darkness, a rifle-shot rang out quite +close to me. I could hear the bullet going up like a rocket until the +sound was lost. It was the usual thing—some idiot charging his +magazine, and forgetting to close the cut-off—with the result that when +he snapped his trigger the gun went off. Any good result of our +discomfortable regulation as to fires and lights is quite cancelled by +such an act, which prove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>s much more certainly than fires can prove the +presence of armed troops. The same thing happened early this morning, +and the pickets were turned out to find that the alarm was false. It is +a great pity, but where the British soldier is to be found in any force, +there seems invariably to be found also the man who lets off his gun by +mistake. The marvel is that the thing generally hurts no one.</p> + +<p>Sunday's march was uneventful, except that trouble began among the +horses. One of my four fellow-correspondents lost a fine pair—the +wheelers of his team—which he had bought in Barkly on Thursday, and +which probably returned to their former owner. But as we have no lines +of communication, he will not see them again. My horse fell sick, and +the three hours of the midday bivouac had to be spent in hastily +breaking in to the saddle one of the leaders of my team. The +headquarters staff lost two horses, and five mules strayed from the +supply park. The fact was rather tersely announced by Corporal Jenkins +of the Army Service Corps, who came up while I was talking to his +officer, saluted, and said in the language of his kind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Please, sir, I'm deficient of five mules."</p> + +<p>The loss of animals from so small a column is really serious, and +everyone is looking blue over his deficiencies. I am deficient of a +spade and two nose-bags. But then I am to the good by one lame dog, who, +in return for slight services rendered on the road, refuses to allow any +but my own lawful servants to approach the encampment. We did eighteen +miles to-day, and encamped at Greefdal in the evening. We are now well +north of Fourteen Streams, where all day long we have heard the guns +booming. In the afternoon the native scouts (who work far outside the +ground patrolled by our scouts and flankers) reported a party of 500 +Boers approaching from the south and east, but they must have turned +northward, for we have heard nothing more of them. This morning we could +see a long line of dust moving about twenty miles to the north-east; but +it has subsided, and the Boers are probably in laager. It is fortunate +that Colonel Mahon is an absolutely careful man, since any little +neglect in the matter of patrolling and choosing bivouac positions might +mean complete disaster to the column, and the frustration of its end. +These little things have often been neglected in this campaign; and +whenever there has been a convoy captured, it has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> because someone +has taken for granted that someone else was holding a drift or pass. So +we move warily through a placid country that may become at any moment +full of menace; travelling may at any moment be exchanged for fighting, +and the roadway for the battlefield; even the green slopes that front us +may hide the gravest danger, and the river-bed with its grasses and +lapsing waters become a pit of death. But one knows little of the +future; it is on the knees of the gods.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h2>FROM TAUNGS TO VRYBURG</h2> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Dry Hartz</span>, <i>Tuesday, May 8th</i>.</p> + +<p>The march of yesterday afternoon was not without its incidents. We came +in sight of the village of Taungs at about four o'clock, our road +passing ten miles to the west of it at the opposite side of the Hartz +valley. I was riding with the advance guard when a man rode up from the +direction of the village.</p> + +<p>"I've just come to have a look at the troops," said he; "I'm a British +subject."</p> + +<p>"Oh, are you?" said the colonel in command of the guard, and ordered him +to be detained and examined. He told us a great many lies, and is now a +prisoner. We have collected about nine prisoners so far, chiefly +insurgents against whom there is grave evidence; and they ride along in +an ox-waggon quite contentedly, while the dozen men of the Scots +Fusiliers who act as their escort regale them with specimens of northern +wit. To judge by the sounds of hilarity which float from the waggon, +even towards the end of a long march, their efforts are well +appreciated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> + +<p>A patrol was sent over to Taungs, and we watched the squadron dancing +away until a fold of the green plain hid them. Soon afterwards we came +into camp.</p> + +<p>The paramount question at such a moment is always: "What is the water +like?" Last night it was very bad, and there was no officer in charge of +the watering when the rear of the column came in. The only water was a +small, almost stagnant river, and the men were into it, bathing, as soon +as they arrived. Then the horses and mules were watered, and stirred up +the mud with their feet; and then we sent for drinking water. Of course +one has it boiled, but even so——.</p> + +<p>While we were having dinner the patrol returned from Taungs, having cut +the wire north and south and destroyed the instrument. They found the +village empty except for women.</p> + +<p>Encounters with insurgents are often amusing, although amongst them they +have so far afforded natives of all our three kingdoms reason for shame. +Here is something quite typical.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Scene</span>: <i>The veldt road. Enter very slowly from the north, an ox-waggon. +Enter from the south, a cloud of dust, out of which emerges the Mounted +Advance Guard of the column. They meet, and halt.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Trooper</span> <i>in charge of ox-waggon, saluting and pointing with his thumb +within</i>:</p> + +<p>"Come to report, sir. Found this woman trekkin' along, and won't give no +account of herself."</p> + +<p><i>Commanding Officer draws aside tent of waggon and discovers fat and +hearty old woman.</i></p> + +<p>C.O.: "Now, my good woman, what have you to say for yourself?" (<i>No +answer.</i>)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Trooper</span>: "Please, sir, she come from that there rebel farm." (<i>To fat +and hearty old woman</i>) "Now then, missus, tell the Colonel who you are." +(<i>Long silence, during which something seems to be working in the mind +of the fat and hearty old woman.</i>)</p> + +<p>C.O.: "Can anyone speak Dutch? Here, Evans, ask her what she has to say +for herself." (<i>Trooper Evans asks her in fluent Dutch—no +answer—question repeated with emphasis.</i>)</p> + +<p>F. and H.O.W.: "Whethen now, and shure it's Mrs. McGuire Oi am, and bad +luck to the whole av ye. Glory be to Goodness, but it's a quare place +Oi'd be in if the likes of you was all Oi had to me back, wid all me +bits av sticks and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> ould hin herself took be the Boers—bad cess to +'em" (<i>and much more to the same effect, during which the waggon is +searched and a couple of Martini rifles found in it, and various other +damning evidences, with the result that the waggon is confiscated, and +the fat and hearty old woman bundled off to her farm, protesting +loudly</i>).</p> + +<p>But although such incidents are sometimes amusing they are often +painful, and the burning of houses that has gone on this afternoon has +been a most unpleasant business. We have been marching through a part of +the country where some mischievous person has been collecting and +encouraging insurgents. And this afternoon in the course of about ten +miles we have burned no less than six farmhouses. Care seems to have +been taken that there was proper evidence against the owners who were +absent. In one case the wife of an insurgent who was lying sick at a +friend's farm, watched from her sick husband's bedside the burning of +her home a hundred yards away. I cannot think that punishment need take +this wild form; it seems as though a kind of domestic murder were being +committed while one watches the roof and furniture of a house blazing; +and how many obscure deaths of the soul take place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> while a woman +watches her home, and all the little valueless possessions that are +precious to her, falling into ruin before her eyes? I stood till late +last night before the red blaze, and saw the flames lick round each +piece of the poor furniture—the chairs and tables, the baby's cradle, +the chest of drawers containing a world of treasure; and when I saw the +poor housewife's face pressed against the window of the neighbouring +house my own heart burned with a sense of outrage. The crime of +insurrection is a serious one, but I never heard yet of a crime for +which the responsibility rested on the criminal alone.</p> + +<p>On quite different grounds, this destruction would appear to be worse +than useless. The effect on those of the Colonial troops who, in +carrying out the orders to destroy, are gratifying their feelings of +hatred and revenge, is very bad. Their discipline is far below that of +the Imperial troops, and they soon get out of hand. They swarm into the +houses, looting and destroying, and filling the air with high-sounding +cries of vengeance, and yesterday some of them were complaining bitterly +that a suspected house, against the owner of which there was not +sufficient evidence, was not delivered into their han<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>ds. Further, if +these farms are to be confiscated (as the more revengeful loyalists +desire) and given over to settlers, why burn the houses? The new +occupant will only have to build another homestead, and building is a +serious matter where wood and the means of dressing stone are so very +scarce as here. The ends achieved are small—simply an exhibition of +power, and punishment which (if it be really necessary) could be +otherwise inflicted; and the evils, as one sees them on the spot, are +many and great. If I described one-half of the little things which I saw +in the process of destruction I should be accused of sentimentalising; +but the principle of the thing seems clear enough. If one could only +hope that with the conflagration would die down those hotter fires that +burn in the heart of this country, one might accept the manifest +disadvantages. But good feeling will never spring from ashes like these; +every charred spot is the grave of that which neither time nor laws can +revive.</p> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Brakfontein</span>, <i>Wednesday, May 9th.</i></p> + +<p>We are not far from Vryburg now, and expect to enter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> it to-day without +opposition. From several prisoners taken on the way (there are twenty of +them now) we heard that the Boer police in Vryburg knew of our presence +at two o'clock on Sunday, and that they all fled. Another farm was +burned this morning, and much ammunition destroyed. We have now got over +a great and critical part of our journey, which has been admirably made +through very difficult country, and we do not expect opposition until we +approach Mafeking. Cronje, who was reported on Sunday to be moving +westwards with a force to cut us off, has apparently missed us, and he +will hardly attempt a rear-guard action without guns. We have two +pom-poms, and everyone—even the most peaceful of us—who has once been +shot at by these infernal machines is eager to watch them at work from +the right end.</p> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Vryburg</span>, <i>Thursday, May 10th.</i></p> + +<p>We occupied Vryburg yesterday at about three o'clock. We made a very +easy march, with a long rest at midday, and as the column wound up to +the summit of a high ridge we saw Vryburg lying green and white on the +farther slope. Half our journey done, and the most dangerous half; it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +was a pleasant sight. The Boers had all left the little town, and the +English residents—chiefly women of the artisan and shopkeeper +class—swarmed out to meet us, waving spurious Union Jacks, and +exhibiting all the loyalty that can be displayed by means of dyes and +pigments. It was like Bloemfontein on a smaller scale.</p> + +<p>The people here have been in rather a bad way. There has been a great +deal of sickness; the supplies have been very scanty, and meal seems to +be the only thing of which they have plenty. So naturally they welcomed +the column as the sign of an open road to Kimberley.</p> + +<p>I went to see the railway station, which has been much damaged. The only +two locomotives here have been outraged; vacuum gauges have been broken, +dome-covers torn, and taps smashed; and bullets have been fired at the +steel-plated boilers, which, however, they did not penetrate. But it is +only outrage, and it seems that with materials left in the workshops +here the engines can be repaired in a couple of days. The Boers have +been very clumsy over this; a dynamite cartridge might have been +strapped under a driving axle in far less time, and its explosion would +have been more effectual.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + +<p>Our chief joy has been in straying about the town, revelling in the +sense of things to be bought. No man can withstand shops after having +experienced for several days conditions under which money is not of +value. There is really nothing to buy that is of much use, but we stand +agape at the window of an ironmonger's shop, fingering the money in our +pockets, and wondering whether to buy an axe or a mincing machine. On +the whole, the axe has it; one must have fires; and bully beef <i>can</i> be +eaten in the slab form.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h2>NEARING THE GOAL</h2> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Jackal's Pan</span>, <i>Saturday, May 12th</i>.</p> + +<p>Colonel Mahon's column left Vryburg on Thursday at sunset in a cloud of +purple dust, and as long as the light lasted, we could see the rather +pathetic-looking little crowd of residents waving handkerchiefs and +flags. It was intended only to march for three hours; but our +information about water proved to be incorrect, and the column wound +along in the moonlight over mile after mile of the most sterile veldt I +have yet seen in the country. I was riding with Colonel Mahon for the +last few hours, and was to some extent buoyed up by the repeated +assurances of the guide that there was water "just round the bend"; but +even so it was a weary correspondent who got off his horse at 2 a.m., +after eight hours of walking and riding at a foot-pace. Of course, the +poor mules suffered most. Even four hours in harness without a rest is +considered too much for them; here they had twice that time, over very +rough ground, and in consequence half of them had bad breast-galls.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> It +was a mistake to go on for so long, especially as we had to halt after +all without water; but the Colonel could not be persuaded to halt until +his transport officer warned him that the mules were at the end of their +endurance. And all through that weary march no lights were permitted; no +smoking even, which gives one something to do; and when we got into the +bivouac at two o'clock, no fires or lights. We had to be up at five and +start in the misery of darkness and intense cold; without even the +comfort of a hot drink; but we reached the water at eight, and had a +long morning of rest and sunshine. No one really grumbles at this sort +of thing, although it is most unpleasant; and as the men are all picked +for health and endurance, no one is any the worse for it.</p> + +<p>We marched eighteen miles on Thursday night, and four the next morning; +thirteen yesterday evening, and eight this morning; this afternoon we +expect to do another twelve, and reduce the distance before us to an +easy two days' journey. Of course, all this speed is achieved at a +certain cost in mule and horse flesh, but we hope that the end will +justify it. The authorities at Kimberley have not done so well for us as +they might have done. They did not take the trouble to find out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> exactly +how many horses were in the force, with the result that the daily horse +ration has been reduced from the inadequate seven pounds to the absurd +four pounds, while the men are on half meat and three-quarter biscuit +rations. Another serious defect in the equipment of the column is that +there is not even a section of engineers with us. The want is the more +felt as water is scarce and bad along the route; often the only water is +a small pan or pond into which the mules wade breast high and churn it +into mud, which the men have to make a shift to drink. A few sappers and +a waggon with the advance guard would ensure a clean supply for +everyone, since water that is quite insufficient in a dam can be made to +go a long way when it is pumped into watering troughs; and a section of +engineers can fix up the whole necessary apparatus in ten minutes.</p> + +<p>Far more interesting than the march of a great army corps, where one +gets lost in the miles of transport, is the progress of a small column +like this, where one is more or less in touch with everyone, and can +watch from within the deliberations and methods of the small staff to +whom success or failure means so very much. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> little group that rides +in front of the guns discusses minutely many questions of absorbing +interest in the course of a day's march. Whether such and such a ridge +ought to be patrolled; how far the scouts are working in this or that +direction; whether it is advisable to halt now and go on after a rest, +or do a greater distance and have a long rest at the end. And then, when +the time for the five minutes' rest in the hour has arrived, "<i>Halt</i>!" +is passed down the column, and one hears the word running down squadron +after squadron until it is lost among the lines of the ammunition +column. The connecting files pass it forward to the advance guard, who +send it out to their scouts and patrols, until the great serpent that +winds over the country is completely at rest. Then follows a sound of +horses cropping grass and men talking. Then "<i>Stand to your horses</i>!" +runs down the column, followed by a shuffling of feet as men scramble +from the ground where they have been lying; "<i>Prepare to mount</i>!" and +there is a general gathering up of reins; "<i>Mount</i>!" and a long rustle +and jingle as the men swing into their saddles; "<i>Walk march</i>!" and the +serpent is off again, feeling his way before him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> + +<p>Three miles in front of us the furthest scouts of the advance guard are +working cautiously in the bush, and from the officer in command of the +guard a note occasionally comes back to the Brigadier, carried from +squadron to squadron and passed along the connecting files until it +reaches the head of the main column. One never becomes accustomed to the +interest and mystery attaching to these notes, and one almost holds +one's breath while they are read; they may contain so much, may carry +news of the gravest or most astonishing nature; for if the advance guard +found the enemy in strength standing on his head in a donga the +information would still be conveyed through the cold propriety of Army +Form No. C 398. It is one of the sanest of cold-blooded regulations; let +a patrol be never so hard pressed and requiring help never so urgently, +the officer commanding it must take time to say so in writing.</p> + +<p>I am glad to see that no more farms are being burned, and that we are +not burdening ourselves further with the insurgent prisoners. We have +already twenty-five, but the Brigadier has been content to read the +insurgents who have been taken since a lecture on the folly of their +w<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>ays, and to warn them that a day of reckoning is coming. I came up to +a house yesterday where the Dutch farmer, who was known to be disloyal, +had just been arrested and taken away. The troops were making +preparations to burn the house, acting on the general order, which had +not been cancelled. Within, a child had dropped his toys to stare in +astonishment at the strangers, and his mother was weeping alone. I rode +back to the Brigadier and said what I could, with the result that I was +able to return and assure the woman that her house would not be burned, +and in addition to see her husband come back in half an hour. The effect +has really been produced already, and prisoners in a flying column are a +particular nuisance.</p> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Brodie's Farm</span>, <i>Sunday, May 13th</i>.</p> + +<p>The end is drawing near now, and a fight is almost certain this +afternoon or to-morrow. A commando of Boers, 400 strong, was reported +yesterday afternoon about eighteen miles on our right flank, and some +time during last night they pushed on and occupied a kopje at +Koodoesrand, directly in our path, where they laid an ambuscade with +three guns. They expected (as well they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> might) that we should come on +and butt into their position. But we have learned our lesson, and this +morning we made a detour and have got past them. We have marched nine +miles; we shall reach the next water (twelve miles) this evening, and +to-morrow we must march straight on to Mafeking (twenty-four miles), for +there is no water all the way, and there is the prospect of heavy +fighting at the end of it. The horses will simply be used up, but that +cannot be helped; if we win it will not matter, and if we lose——. It +will be a trying day for everyone, and we shall only have a few hours' +sleep to-night, but I think no one grudges the discomfort. I write on +the eve of what may be a very brilliant, a very disastrous, or a very +simple affair. We are a small force, the march so far has been +brilliant, and success will be a brilliant crown for the expedition and +its leader. Everyone is more than a little anxious, but it is hard to +foretell any result.</p> + +<p>I forgot to say that we had a runner from Mafeking, with messages from +Colonel Plumer and Colonel Baden-Powell; they asked us what our numbers +were, how many our guns, and what the state of our supplies. The answer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +was most ingenious, as we had no code to which they had a key, and we +could not trust a straightforward statement of such important facts to +the risks of the road. So Colonel Rhodes invented this answer:—</p> + +<p>"Our numbers are the Naval and Military multiplied by ten; our guns, the +number of sons in the Ward family; our supplies, the O.C. 9th Lancers."</p> + +<p>Excellent as the Boer Intelligence is, I do not suppose that they are +aware that the Naval and Military Club is at 94, Piccadilly; that the +house of Dudley rejoices in six stalwart sons; or that the officer +commanding the 9th Lancers is Colonel Little.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + +<h2>WE REPEL AN ATTACK AND JOIN FORCES WITH PLUMER</h2> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Buck Reef Farm</span>, <i>Monday, May 14th</i>.</p> + +<p>A diary is the last place in which to indulge in prophecy; it preserves +too clearly the record of fallacy. In the last twenty-four hours have +been reversed all the expectations of those in charge of this column, +and even the direction of our march has been completely changed. My last +entry was made at midday yesterday, and at 2.30 we resumed the march +northwards, intending to reach a point ten miles distant at which there +was water. The road was very heavy, or rather there was no road at all, +the way lying over rough bush veldt, which consists of long, rank grass, +with thorn bushes at small intervals and hardwood trees at greater +distances—the whole something like an English paddock or park of young +trees, except, of course, for the grass. This was heavy going; the mules +were hot and tired, and the convoy trailed out and straggled; we spent +quite two hours in covering the first four miles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have said that the convoy straggled, and there were long intervals +between one part of it and the next. During one such interval, the +afternoon being very hot, I lay down under a tree and left my horse to +graze. A cloud of locusts flying high and beating the air with millions +of wings made a pleasant sound as of wind in a forest, and listening to +these and to the thousand other minute noises that proceed from the +insect life on a few square yards of veldt, I almost fell asleep. There +was not a sound from the column; you could not imagine a more peaceful +spot; and the obvious contrast between the purpose of this little army +and its present circumstances impressed me more vividly than ever. And +in less than half an hour from that moment of absolute peace the bullets +were hailing round us and the air was resonant with the boom of guns. +This is how it happened.</p> + +<p>It was half-past three when I left the shade of the tree and joined +Colonel Mahon in front of the Horse Artillery, and at twenty minutes to +four we heard the sound of rifle-shots—three or four—to the +south-east. We had now got into a kind of wood in the bush, and here and +there could see beyond the edge of it eastwards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> towards a hillside that +sloped up from us to a ridge four miles away. On this ridge we could see +a cloud of dust, and we were looking at it through glasses when a note +came in from the right flank reporting a body of the enemy advancing on +us from the east. Presently we made out on the edge of the dust a line +of horsemen opening out on a kind of glade on the hillside, and the +Brigadier ordered the guns to come into position where we were standing. +It was really no sort of position at all, being merely a wood with no +view from it, and in a hollow at that; but it was all that could be +done.</p> + +<p>The guns came galloping up, the horses as keen as mustard; in five +minutes they had unlimbered and were in position; but Major Jackson, who +was in command of the battery, reported that the range was extreme and +that he could not be effective. So we lit pipes and waited, while the +convoy was ordered to be hurried up as much as possible.</p> + +<p>Up galloped an orderly with a note, and everyone tried to read the +Brigadier's face. It clouded a little.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Enemy advancing in strength on our front" was the essence of the note. +But "They've got us in the nastiest place of the whole march" was all he +said.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes more Prince Alexander of Teck came up to report that +the convoy was well up, and just as he had finished speaking rifle-fire +broke out on our right, and a minute later, sharply, on our front. It +was then 4.45, and a bewildering moment for the Brigadier, who had a +great, bulky convoy to protect, and had it at the moment in a +defenceless position. I think I would not take any reward to bear the +responsibility of acting at such a moment. The shots were sounding +quicker, but one could see nothing except the surrounding trees. Colonel +Mahon looked coolly round.</p> + +<p>"We must try with the guns," he said, and ordered another squadron out +on the right.</p> + +<p>The orderly rode away with the order, and at exactly five o'clock the +fire broke out furiously and bullets began to whistle over us. Everyone +put his horse into a canter by instinct, and I think the staff went +round to the guns. I returned to the convoy to look after my cart.</p> + +<p>The convoy was moving on now on as broad a front as the shrubs and trees +woul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>d permit of; it raised a cloud of dust, which the level rays of the +sun lit like a rainbow, and the bullets began to come in a hail. Well, +that is rather exaggerated—not a hail. But on a summer day after +oppressive heat and dark clouds the big raindrops begin to splash on the +ground; and this fire, which many old stagers who have been through +several fights describe as the hottest they have known, was something +like that. There was no cover; everyone was under fire; so there was +nothing to do but to dismount and lead one's horse along beside the +convoy. Every now and then with the clear high "phit" of the Mauser +bullet would come the hideous twisting whistle of the Martini—really a +horrible sound. There was something like a panic amongst the native +drivers; they walked along bent almost double, taking what shelter they +could; one I saw crawling along on his belly, and the sight made me +laugh, although I had at heart too much sympathy with him to be really +amused. The mules and horses, alarmed by these strange whistlings in the +air, began to neigh and scream, and they added to the general tumult. +One gave up wondering whether or no one would be hit, but merely +wondered if it would be a graze or a "plug." There were the usual number +of miraculous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> escapes; the driver of the waggon beside which I was +walking tumbled off his seat like a sack, stone dead; a mule in the +waggon behind me leapt and kicked, and sank on the ground; my horse +jumped as a Martini bullet smote the sand at his heel; yet I think there +was never a bullet nearer me than a dozen feet. Major Baden-Powell, who +is accompanying the expedition for his brother's relief, had his watch, +worn in the left breast-pocket, smashed to atoms, but his skin was not +even scratched.</p> + +<p>They were ten very long and, to put it frankly, very hateful minutes +that passed until M Battery opened with a roar. It was a welcome sound, +and still more welcome the "pom—pom—pom—<i>pom</i>," like the bark of a +good dog, that sounded immediately afterwards. And it was like oil on +water, or water on fire. Immediately the enemy's fire slackened; in two +minutes it had almost ceased; in five it had stopped entirely, and one +began to get one's breath. There were men lying all round and about the +wood, and the small ambulance staff had more work than they could do; my +cart made three trips, carrying wounded men from the column to the +dressing-station. Only ten minutes of fighting, and over thirty +casualties; six ki<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>lled, twenty-four wounded, one missing.</p> + +<p>But when one had been through those ten minutes, it was not the men +lying stark and still in the grass beside the ambulance that made one +astonished; it was the sight of people walking about and talking that +made one wonder whether or no one had been dreaming. It was decided to +halt. Everyone lay down where he stood, and it was a strange, troubled +night, with horses stumbling about in the moonlight and blowing with +astonishment into one's face.</p> + +<p>This morning, as some of us more than half expected, the enemy had +cleared, but in consequence of a message received from Colonel Plumer +asking us to meet and join him at a certain place we have turned from +our original direction. We reached a dry river at eight o'clock this +morning, and men had to begin to dig in the sand for water for +themselves and their horses. One of my servants found a well fifty feet +deep, from which the bucket hoist and ropes were missing. I had sixty +feet of rope in my cart, and I went quietly away with two boys carrying +all our buckets and bags and kegs, and leading all the horses. We had +two hours of very hard work at that well; and when the horses had drunk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +their fill, and every vessel had been replenished, the fact that there +was a well was reported to the Brigadier. In ten minutes a crowd of +troopers was round the well, trampling down earth into the water; but if +we had only had a few engineers everyone could have been supplied in +half an hour.</p> + + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Jan Massibi's</span>, <i>Tuesday, May 15th</i>.</p> + +<p>We marched off at half-past three yesterday, keeping west of north; on +and on, until half-past eight in the evening. Everyone was dog-tired, +and dropped to the ground, only to be roused at one o'clock this morning +by the Brigadier, who personally went round and woke people up. He had +to shake me twice, and I imagine that other people were wrapped in just +as profound an oblivion; nevertheless we were on the march again at +1.30.</p> + +<p>Oh, the weariness of that eternal plod through the rough grassy ground, +the coldness, the interminable darkness! It was no better on horseback +than on foot, for the animals kept falling asleep and stumbling. At +every halt one tumbled off one's horse and fell asleep, only to be +awakened by the hateful "Stand to your horses." But at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> last the light +began to glimmer in the east, the air took an even colder tone, so that +even the grasses seemed to shiver with the breath of dawn, and presently +the whole horizon on our right burned with a red fire. Thereafter the +shedding of greatcoats and sweaters and woollen helmets, and the glad +breathing in of the wine of morning. A little after daylight our advance +patrols came in touch with the pickets of Colonel Plumer's camp, down in +the valley of the Molopo River at Jan Massibi's. The Brigadier and his +staff rode on, and it was a pleasant meeting between the two officers. +And pleasanter still when the cloud of dust that heralded our force +appeared on the crest of the southern ridge and the long column began to +pour down the slope and to cross the drift. Soon it was filling the +valley and mingling with the other force already encamped, and now +everyone is busy washing or eating near the picturesque little cluster +of Kaffir kraals and big shady trees; for the region of karoo and +shadeless plain has been left far behind. Our supplies are practically +exhausted; the horses are eating their last ration to-day; but Mafeking +is only eighteen miles distant, waiting for our help. There is something +inspiring in that knowledge, and in the news of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> the grand little +garrison's latest success; and everyone is anxious to push on and get +the inevitable fight over.</p> + +<p>To-day we rest under the trees and dream through the music of singing +birds, with perhaps a thought for yesterday and the fellow-travellers +whose journey ended so suddenly. But for the soldier, more than for +anyone, the watchword is "No regrets"; and as for to-morrow, who can +tell the issue?</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + +<h2>THE FIGHTING ON THE MOLOPO</h2> + + +<p>At daybreak on Wednesday, May 16th, the two columns under Colonel +Mahon's command moved from Jan Massibi's in two parallel lines along the +northern bank of the Molopo River. As the sky brightened before us +Mafeking was eagerly looked for, but for a long time each successive +rise only showed us another beyond which hid the desired view. The +country consisted of a succession of ridges lying at right angles to our +line of march, and as each one rose before us the staff galloped forward +to the summit, only to see another lying beyond. But at last, while some +of us were buying eggs at a Kaffir kraal, a more adventurous person +climbed upon a rubbish heap and shouted "There's Mafeking!" There was a +rush for the coign of vantage, and a great levelling of glasses. There +it lay, sure enough, the little town that we had come so far to see—a +tiny cluster of white near the eastward horizon, glistening amid the +yellowish-brown of the flats. We looked at it for a few moments in +silence, and then Colonel Mahon said, "Well, let's be getting on"; and +no one said anything more about Mafeking, but everyone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> thought a +great deal.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus07.png" alt="fight" /> +<a id="illus07" name="illus07"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> Sketch Map of Fight at <span class="smcap">Israel's Farm.</span> on May 16th</p> + +<p>There was a difficulty about water, and it was finally decided to halt +at midday at a point where the Molopo River curved near to the road. We +turned off the road down a slope which sank towards the river on the +right. The ground rose up on all sides round us, but the guns were +placed near the top of the northward rise. The mules were outspanned and +led to water, and we breakfasted. Remember that we had been up since +half-past five and had had nothing to eat, that it was now nearly an +hour after midday, and you will understand how it happened that I was +more interested in the cooking of certain meats than in the galloping +about of orderlies on the hillside.</p> + +<p>Breakfast was just over and my horse was being saddled, when a crack of +rifle-fire on our right front warned me that things were about to +happen; and at the same time I saw that the mules were being harnessed +with frantic haste. By the time that I had ridden up the slope the guns +had gone forward into position, but as yet there was no firing except +from rifles, which were banging in a desultory fashion now all along our +right flank. I searched the slope beyond the ri<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>ver with my glasses, but +could not see a man; yet the firing was there sure enough, and +increasing. It was at 1.55 that the first firing broke out, and for half +an hour the same thing continued, during which the convoy was formed up +in what seemed a sheltered part of the hollow. We were in a bad place—a +very shallow saucer; and on the edge of the saucer the Boers had taken +up their position.</p> + +<p>During this half-hour little seemed to be done, but there is always this +interval during which a battle develops. We did not as yet know any but +one place in which the Boers were; it was pretty certain that they did +not know what we were going to do; so the right front, where our advance +guard had first come into touch with the enemy, was as yet the only +point of contact. Meanwhile Colonel Plumer, with the whole of his +mounted men, was sent off to the right flank; Colonel Peakman, with the +Kimberley Mounted Corps, was held back to watch the rear; Colonel +Edwards was sent with the Imperial Light Horse to the left flank, with +instructions to work round in advance if possible, and so turn the +enemy's right; and the Royal Horse Artillery and the Canadian guns took +up a position on the front. It was difficult to find a place from which +to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>look on, especially as we were far from confident that the Boers +were on our right alone. There were folds in the sides of our saucer, +and I found a kind of ridge on the northward slope below our guns. I had +just dismounted and was watching the right ridge through my glasses when +the edge of the horizon at which I was looking was divided by a bright +flash. In a few seconds there was a deep report, followed by the whine +of a shell in the air; the sand spouted up in a great fountain—Heavens! +how close to the convoy; and presently the sound of the burst drowned +the crackling of musketry. The convoy huddled away from the smoking +patch where the shell had fallen, and began—oh, how slowly!—to wind up +the slope towards me. Another shell, still on the same spot, of which +the waggons were now quite clear; and now the shells followed each other +so rapidly that one gave up trying to distinguish between the initial +and the bursting reports, and became absorbed in watching the brown +columns spouting from the earth.</p> + +<p>They were now playing all round the moving convoy, and each was a +miracle; wherever there was a blank space, there the fountain rose; and +when the convoy had closed up so completel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>y that one was certain that +the next shell must hit something, it fell quite wide. I was still +watching this beautiful and dreadful sight when the air above me +vibrated to a new song, and on my right a small shell burst with a +disagreeable sound. I cleared away to the northern side of the basin, +only to feel once more obliged to move as a new gun opened and began to +churn up the ground. To be sure, these were long, range-finding shots, +and were not intended to pitch where they did, but it is not always safe +to rely upon the accuracy of shrapnel fire, and I moved again. But it +was of no use; the enemy's pom-pom suddenly began to bark, and played on +the one spot which had seemed but a moment before to be safe.</p> + +<p>During this development (which had only occupied about ten minutes) our +artillery had gradually come into action; first the solitary, abrupt +bang of the 12-pound horse gun, then the readier and brisker fusilade of +the Canadian quick-firing Vickers-Maxim, then the clamour of our two +pom-poms, then the rattle of a Maxim somewhere in the rear. And all the +while the area from which the sounds proceeded was spreading like a +bush-fire; beginning on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> right, it worked across our front, spread +from the left front along that flank until it seemed almost to meet the +firing on the right rear. When all the guns were going the medley was +terrific, although I suppose it was nothing to the sound produced in a +really big pitched battle. But it was confusing enough, and, what with +the baffling effect of the cross-fire, the whining in the air, and the +continuous noise of the explosions, the rattle and crackle of musketry, +the galloping hither and thither of orderlies and messengers, and the +unpleasantness resulting from the whole thing's happening in so small an +area, provided excitement enough to satisfy the most jaded adventurer.</p> + +<p>In colder language what had happened was this. The commando that had +been holding on for days on our right as we marched had got ahead of us +when we diverted towards Plumer, had effected a junction with a force +sent out from Mafeking to oppose us, and had just arrived in position +near Israel's Farm when we came up against them. Fortunately they had +not time to entrench, but they were just going to begin when we turned +them, as we found picks and spades lying about in rear of their +northward artille<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>ry position. From the large outline of their attack +there must have been at least 2,000 of them, and from the cleverness +with which they were disposed we at first estimated them at twice that +number. We held them on our right while we sent a strong force working +round on our left, which ultimately got out far enough to turn their +right. Of course we were too few to do more than dislodge them; +surrounding was out of the question; so when we had fairly turned them +we "let go" on the right, and the Boers fled in that direction. The +house at Israel's Farm they held until the very end, shelling our +rear-guard briskly. The engagement lasted close on five hours, during +which our casualties amounted to less than forty.</p> + +<p>In even fewer words than these (so concise is his art) the military +despatch-writer might have described those eventful hours; and one takes +a kind of pleasure in trying to imitate him, so supremely inadequate are +such sentences to produce any real impression on people who have never +found themselves in the midst of a battle. Not that any art of written +words is equal to it. One goes through the whole gamut of sensation; one +is charmed, afraid, bewildered; charmed by the scale and magnitude of +the operations, afraid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> for one's own skin, bewildered with a kind of +dream at the strangeness of it all. One may sit, as I sat, under a tree +listening and watching for hours; and from the grossly and crudely real +the thing fades and changes into an unreal image of the senses. The +gaudy flies and beetles that hum round one, whose noise is so much +louder and nearer than the crash of shells, they fill the foreground of +reality; it is not conceivable that the man with the pleasant face and +kindly eye who is directing a battery should be attempting the lives of +his fellows on so large a scale. Yet it is the scale that makes the +difference: a man who would abhor to kill another will with a smile +direct the machine that destroys twenty; and he, if anyone, has the +right to act upon this reduced estimate of the value of human life, for +he counts his own as lightly as that of his enemy.</p> + +<p>But I have forsaken my narrative of the fight, and I am confronted by +the fact that there are five hours of fighting to be accounted for.</p> + +<p>Five hours! Was it for so long that one listened to the voices of guns +and rifles? I can hardly believe it, and no bare catalogue of +man[oe]uvres seems to fill the gap. Our artillery positions were changed +several times, and when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> the convoy was crowded up into a fold of the +ground the shells no longer reached it, but continued to pound at +Colonel Peakman and his rear-guard. At about five o'clock, the Boers +having cleared from our left front, the convoy was pushed on in that +direction, and we penetrated as far as the position which had been held +by the Boer 15-pounder on our front. Just as we reached that point a +note was brought in from Colonel Plumer on the right reporting that he +was checked by the Boers at Israel's Farm, and accordingly the Horse +Artillery battery was formed up in front of the convoy, and with the two +pom-poms (which followed it about like small dogs barking after a big +one) shelled the farm, which the enemy evacuated. The sun began to sink, +the firing in our rear dropped and died out gradually, and with a few +shots from a Martini, fired by someone on the left who amused himself by +sniping the staff, the fight came to an end.</p> + +<p>The fight was over, but as the convoy began to work its way cautiously +through the bush in the dusk we began to talk about it, and to fit it +together from the pieces of our individual experience. What had they +been trying to do? What had So-and-so been doing on the left?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> Had we +many casualties? Should we go on into Mafeking? Ah, that was the +question. But after about an hour's trekking through the bush it was +decided to halt, as someone reported that the enemy was entrenched ahead +of us. As for the fight, we did not then fully know what had happened, +but we found out afterwards. The Boers had once more given us a lesson +in tactics, and we had given them one in dealing with a nasty situation. +With a comparatively small force (although stronger than ours) they had +bluffed us by extending their attack round a large perimeter, leading us +to suppose their strength to be far greater than it really was. They had +caught us in the one bad bit of country between Jan Massibi's and +Mafeking, and but for the really excellent fighting on our side might +have held us where we were until the want of supplies forced us to +retire or surrender. As we had so few casualties it is probable that +they had not many; but it is possible to have very warm fighting with +few casualties. Our cover was excellent; so was theirs; and Colonel +Peakman, who, with the rear-guard, bore the heaviest burden of the +fight, lost hardly a man, although he lost heavily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> in horses. Everyone +is agreed that the honours of the day fell chiefly to this gallant +business man, who in his spare time had made himself so good a soldier.</p> + +<p>All these matters were talked over until we halted about seven o'clock +and reluctantly heard that we were not to proceed that night. No lights, +of course; but everyone was ready to lie down. While my bed was being +prepared I went over to the ambulance, whither the wounded were being +brought in on stretchers. There were only two small waggons, and the +wretched sufferers were literally heaped inside them, lying in the dark +amid their own blood. The little staff under Surgeon-Captain Davies +worked gallantly, getting the men out, dressing their wounds, making +them as comfortable as possible on blankets over the grass; but it was a +miserable and sordid scene, relieved only by the cheery willingness of +the helpers and the fortitude of the patients. Even here, of course, +there were no lights, but in the recesses of a waggon an orderly was +trying to prepare hot water with a tiny Etna. Dressing about twenty +serious surgical cases out of doors in pitch darkness, with a limited +supply of not over clean water, short-handed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> hurried, without proper +appliances—it was a sight that would have startled the artist in +antiseptic surgery. But there they lay; and it was with something like a +sense of shame that I turned into my own comfortable bed.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + +<h2>MAFEKING AT LAST</h2> + + +<p>They were twenty-four very exciting hours that began when we moved from +Jan Massibi's at daybreak on Wednesday and ended when we lay down to +snatch a little rest at daybreak on Thursday. Many miles were travelled, +a great enterprise was brought to a successful issue, a tough battle was +fought, men received wounds and died, Mafeking was relieved: enough +incident and adventure to fill months of ordinary life. The bare events +are recorded here, but the emotional history of those twenty-four hours +will probably never be written. But as you read the narrative, put +yourself in the place of those to whom it was not a story but a piece of +life, and then perhaps you will realise something of what it meant to +them.</p> + +<p>Not much of the story remains to be told.</p> + +<p>At midnight between Wednesday and Thursday I was awakened by a general +stir in the surrounding camp, to find that the moon was shining +brightly, lighting up busy drivers, and th<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>e troops getting their horses +ready. We were to advance. Major Karri-Davies had ridden on into +Mafeking, and, with the luck which rewards daring, had found the road +clear, and sent back a messenger with that information to Colonel Mahon. +I think men were never so willingly awakened from sleep; not even the +wounded grumbled, who had also to be roused from their beds on the grass +and repacked into the stuffy ambulance. At about 12.30 we were ready to +start, but during the first mile there were long halts and delays while +the guides argued and boggled about the roads. At last the strain became +too great, and Major Gifford, Captain Smith, and I resolved to ride on +and trust to finding the right road. We knew the direction by the stars, +and started across the veldt a little south of east.</p> + +<p>It was bitterly cold, and we were all both sleepy and hungry, but there +was an excitement in the air that kept us easily going. After about half +an hour we heard voices ahead, and descried the shapes of horses and +men. Our hearts sank for a moment, only to rise again when we recognised +Colonel Peakman, who, having been in command of the rear-guard on the +previous day up till nine o'clock at night, was now taking his turn at +ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>vance guard at one o'clock the next morning. As a Kimberley man, it +had long been his ambition to lead the relieving force into Mafeking, +and I think no one grudged him the honour. Amongst all, indeed, there +was a certain amount of competition, and the four correspondents who +survived to the end of the expedition became strangely silent about +their intentions for the evening. I pinned my faith to Peakman, as I +knew he was as anxious as anyone to be in first.</p> + +<p>Well, we joined the Advance Guard, which presently went on along the +road pointed out by the guide, and for an hour we jogged on at a fast +walk, until we had clearly "run the distance," as they say at sea. Still +no sign of the trenches or forts which should mark the outward boundary +of the defended area. We pulled up, and the guide was questioned.</p> + +<p>"Two miles more," he said.</p> + +<p>We rode on for another quarter of an hour, and still found nothing +before us but the rolling veldt; not a light, not a sound except the +beating of the horses' feet. Again we halted, and this time Colonel +Peakman himself questioned the guide, and the man had to admit that he +had mistaken his way, and that we were on the lower road,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> longer by a +good three miles than that originally intended. We had no connecting +files with the main column, and, as it had a guide of its own, it was +certain that it would take the shorter road, and probably be in before +its own Advance Guard. A bitter moment, in which things were said to the +guide; but some of us hoped that the slow convoy, with its tired and +galled mules, would even yet take a longer time on its short road than +we on our long one. So we went on again, this time at a trot; the +excitement seemed to extend to the horses, so that even they could not +be restrained. In ten minutes we saw men sitting by the roadside, and +found a hundred very weary Fusiliers, who had been sent to take Israel's +Farm at the end of the fight, and told to go on afterwards.</p> + +<p>"Had anyone passed along the road before us?" "No"; and with a gasp of +relief we hurried on. In a few moment's the group in advance pulled up, +shouting "'Ware barbed wire!"</p> + +<p>We all stopped, and there were frantic calls for wire-cutters. With four +reports like the snapping of big fiddle-strings the last barrier before +Mafeking was removed, and we passed on again, this time at a +hand-canter. In a few minutes we heard the sound of a galloping horse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +on the road, and a mounted man challenged us.</p> + +<p>"Halt! Who goes there?"</p> + +<p>"Friend."</p> + +<p>"Who are you?" (The excitement was too high for the preservation of the +proper formula.)</p> + +<p>"Colonel Peakman, in command of the Advance Guard of the Relief Column."</p> + +<p>"By Jove, ain't I glad to see you, sir!"</p> + +<p>It was an officer sent out by Colonel Baden-Powell to meet us and bring +us in. We left the squadron, and the five of us went on, this time at a +gallop, over trenches, past breastworks and redoubts and little forts, +until we pulled up at the door of the headquarters' mess.</p> + +<p>Ah, the narrative is helpless here. No art could describe the +handshaking and the welcome and the smiles on the faces of these +tired-looking men; how they looked with rapt faces at us commonplace +people from the outer world as though we were angels, how we all tried +to speak at once, and only succeeded in gazing at each other and in +saying, "By Jove!" "Well, I'm hanged!" and the like senseless +expressions that sometimes mean much to Englishmen. One man tried to +speak; then he swore; then he buried his face in his arms and sobbed. +We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> all gulped at nothing, until someone brought in cocoa and we gulped +that instead; then Baden-Powell came in, and one could only gaze at him, +and search in vain on his jolly face for the traces of seven months' +anxiety and strain.</p> + +<p>After an hour we went out and found the column safely encamped just +outside the town. Everyone was dog-tired, and although it was half-past +five in the morning and the moon was sinking we lay down and were +immediately asleep—in Mafeking.</p> + +<p>We did not know it, but we were in a besieged town. Officially the +relief did not take place until ten o'clock that morning, when the Boers +hurried away with their last gun. I was awakened at eight by the sound +of heavy firing, and as soon as my horse was ready rode away to the +north-east corner of the town (we had entered from the north-west), to +where the greater part of our column was in action. Through glasses one +could see something being drawn up the purple slope of a hill six miles +away—the last gun of the besiegers. Earlier in the morning our troops +had advanced on all the Boer positions which were still occupied (only +the eastern ones were then held), and had shelled the enemy in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> the +midst of his preparations for flight. It was only a rear-guard action; +indeed the engagement was practically limited to the artillery; and all +I was in time to see was the flight. It was a good sight, the mounted +men galloping in open order up the hillside which the morning sun was +throwing into a thousand patches of light and shade. They were soon out +of range, and we stood watching the disappearing specks of black crawl +like flies up the furthest ridges, here in groups of a dozen, there in +twos and threes, until the last one had vanished from our view; and thus +the siege of Mafeking came to an end.</p> + +<p>There was joy in the camps of the relieving column when it was known +that they had also taken part in the siege; "Another bar," said the +medal-hunters.</p> + +<p>Colonel Mahon's column consisted of 900 mounted men of the Imperial +Light Horse, under Lieutenant-Colonel Edwardes, and the amalgamation of +local troops known as the Kimberley Mounted Corps, under Colonel King; +100 picked volunteers from the Fusilier Brigade; four guns of M Battery +Royal Horse Artillery, under Major Jackson, and a pom-pom section (two +guns),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> under Captain Robinson, the whole artillery force consisting +of 100 men; three Maxims, 56 waggons, and several private Cape carts, +660 mules; in all, 1,200 horses and 1,100 men.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus08.png" alt="menu" /> +<a id="illus08" name="illus08"></a> +</p> + +<p class='center'> FACSIMILE OF SIGNED MENU OF THE RELIEF DINNER AT +MAFEKING</p> + +<p>The staff was: Colonel Mahon, 8th Hussars, brigadier; Captain +Bell-Smythe, 1st Dragoon Guards, chief staff officer; Colonel Frank +Rhodes, late Royal Dragoons, chief of Intelligence Department; Prince +Alexander of Teck, 7th Hussars, A.D.C.; Major Jackson, commanding Royal +Artillery; Major Sir John Willoughby, late of the Blues; Major the Hon. +Maurice Gifford, attached to the Imperial Yeomanry, general staff; and +Lieutenant F.W. Smith, Kimberley Mounted Corps, galloper. There was not +an officer on the staff whose industry and good sense did not contribute +to the success of the expedition; and we correspondents owe a peculiar +gratitude to Colonel Rhodes, who acted as Press Censor. No doubt his own +experience as a correspondent helped him to fulfil what is always a +responsible and seldom an easy office. He was always considerate, always +interested, always kind and always fair.</p> + +<p>Here ends an imperfect narrative of the relief. What the deliverers saw +on T<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>hursday morning was a little white town lying in the midst of a +wide shallow basin of green moorland; and it reminded one of a town that +had been long deserted and in ruins. I am not exaggerating when I say +that by far the greater number of houses in the town had been struck by +shells, and that very nearly all had been struck either by shells or +bullets.</p> + +<p>After the engagement on Thursday morning the relieving column formed up +and entered the town, headed by Colonel Baden-Powell, Colonel Mahon, and +his staff. As one passed house after house, one with a gaping hole in +its side, another with the chimneys overthrown, another with a whole +wall stove in, none with windows completely glazed, all bearing some +mark of assault—as this panorama of destruction unfolded itself one +marvelled that anyone should have lived throughout the siege. And when +the procession formed up in the dilapidated Market Square, and the whole +of the Town Guard mustered—Kaffirs, Parsees, Jews, Arabians, +Englishmen, Dutchmen, nearly every sort and nationality of men—and when +the Mayor read an address expressing in the conventional terms of such +compliments the emotions of this motley crowd, one asked oneself what it +was that had held these very ordinary-looking people to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> so heroic an +intention. Remember that the defence of Mafeking had been one big bluff, +that there was nothing to prevent the Boers, with determination and +careful arrangement, from taking the place at almost any time, and you +will realise how startlingly that question asserted itself. I like to +think that there were many men in Mafeking whose courage alone would +have disdained surrender; but there was one man in whose face one found +the answer to the riddle. Brains alone would not have done it; heart +alone would have fainted and failed under those long months of danger; +but the officer commanding this garrison had both brains and heart, and +so he taught his men to endure.</p> + +<p>I do not pay the garrison of Mafeking so poor a compliment as to suppose +that the mere hunger for luxuries, serious misfortune though it be, was +the signal trial of its endurance. Ladysmith suffered worse in this +respect and did not complain. In Mafeking there was always a plentiful +supply of green vegetables, of tobacco, and of wine, and it was only +with a smile that the heir to one of the wealthiest estates in England +told me that they had latterly invented a brawn made with glue from the +hides and feet and ears of mules and donkeys.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> + +<p>But nearly 30,000 shells fell into a town covering about the same area +as Cowes; in many streets not a man dared show himself save under the +cloud of a dark night, for they were swept by rifle bullets; hardly one +of the many forts on the circumference of defence held weapons half so +formidable as the stout hearts that served them. Thirty thousand shells! +I have been in the neighbourhood of perhaps a hundred bursting shells, +and every burst will be a memory for a lifetime; but thirty thousand! +The heart stops at the thought. Yet here was the little ruined town; +here were the men with weak bodies and cheery faces to prove that +courage can raise the mind beyond fear and suffering; that, given an +ideal and a chance in the leadership, men may be counted on for +something far greater even than bravery.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + +<h2>A MEMORIAL OF THE SIEGE</h2> + + +<p>There is nothing pretty about the place where the dead defenders of +Mafeking are laid. It lies in a little square of brown stone wall, +planted amid the dreary waste outside the town. There are no green +lawns, no twisted yews, no weeping willows; the few fir trees hold +themselves stiffly up, as though in pride at this triumph of the +vegetable over the animal; and the great bushes of faded geranium only +throw into relief the regular lines of limestone mounds, each with its +prim wooden cross of advertisement. Always an ugly and a dreary place, +it was, when I saw it a few days after the relief, more dreary than +ever; for the sun, whose presence makes the difference of a season in +this bare land, was hidden behind dark stacks of cloud flying westward +before a cold gale.</p> + +<p>From a sandbag protection at one corner of the cemetery there is a view +on all sides to the horizon. The town, the empty railway station, the +hospital, the network of shelter trenches, connecting earth-works, +redans, redoubts, forts, and emplacements;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> the straight line of +railway-ruled across the plain to the horizon—these make the view. +Hardly anything is moving except the white flag on the hospital and the +colours on the forts. Sometimes a figure crosses the open stretch +between the hospital and the town, but outside the cemetery itself +hardly a man is to be seen. The wind hums in the empty hearth of a +locomotive, through the stiff trees of the cemetery, past the signal, +standing like a sentinel gone to sleep with his head sunk on his breast, +waiting in an attitude of invitation for the train that is seven months +overdue.</p> + +<p>One's eye returns along the shining rails until it rests again within +the yard, in a far corner of which a couple of orderlies detailed for +burial fatigue are hacking with picks at the hard, white earth. The +graves are in prim, uniform rows—the soldiers' graves, I mean, for even +here the military element swamps the civilian, and one hardly takes note +of the private graves, they are so few. But the soldiers' graves are +arranged with military precision, row behind row, each row containing +twenty graves or more. And at least seven or eight rows of graves are +marked by the regulation cross, while there are many rows on which as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +yet no crosses have been erected. The painted words on the crosses +become monotonous as one reads from the head of the first row down to +where the mounds give place to gaping caverns—five or six—prepared for +the dying, whom even now the doctor is plying with physic in the +hospital. Trooper A, Private B, Colour-Sergeant C; the names vary, +indeed, but there are only three versions of the manner of death—"Died +of wounds," "Died of enteric fever," "Killed in action"—the three +epitaphs for soldiers in South Africa.</p> + +<p>It was strange, amid the dreariness and stagnation of this place, to +think of the jubilations at home. What cheering, what toasting, what +hilarity! But here the sparkle in the wine had died, leaving the cup +that had brimmed flat and dull and only half full after all. Food was +scanty and of the plainest quality, there was no news from the outside +world, disease was still busy; and here, set forth in the hard +limestone, was the bill for all the glory and excitement. The bill, but +not the payment; that was being made at home by the people who cared for +what lies beneath the limestone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<p>The evils of a war are so direct and obvious that they are apt to be +discounted or accepted as Fate, and classed among the thousand +unavoidable ills beneath which we must patiently sit. But are they? In a +war, the necessity and even justice of which are doubted honestly by +many, where all share the responsibility and few the personal cost, it +is hard to see the hand of an impartial Fate.</p> + +<p>A strange place, you may say, in which to attempt the adjustment of +mingled impressions. Yet in the midst of our crude existence at +Mafeking, where life was shorn of all the impalpable things that make it +real and reduced to a simple material level of food and sleep and noise, +it was a kind of relief to spend an hour in the place where men had gone +down into rest and silence. In normal circumstances one may avoid such +places, but after the din of arms and the shout of victory there was a +sense of companionship to be found in the place that stood for the +ending of disputes. Peaceful, yes; but how was the peace gained? It is +sweet and seemly to die for one's country; but blood and fire, grief and +anguish had filled the vestibule of this sleeping-chamber; and peaceful +though it be, the graveyard of Mafeking is a place to induce in +Englishmen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> some searchings of heart.</p> + +<p>"Oh, surely not," says the music-hall patriot; "the brave fellows who +lie there have died a glorious death, and the glory is ours as their +fellow-countrymen"; and he drops a tear and a shilling into the +particular tambourine which happens at the moment to be raising the +loudest clamour, and honestly believes himself to have achieved some +nobility at second-hand.</p> + +<p>Our glory? Hardly that. Those who, justly or unjustly, place the martyr +in his last predicament do not wear his crown; and the glory of Trooper +A's death does not rest with you or me, but with those in whose hearts +his memory is quick and real. To count these scores of deaths, as it +were, to our credit in the war, to esteem them merely as things for +which more vengeance must be taken, would be the last and greatest +mistake. Surely they lie in the scale of responsibility, they are things +for which an account must be rendered, by which an obligation is +incurred to use well the fruits of victory.</p> + +<p>There is no need that the wind should moan over thi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>s desolate patch, or +that the tattered geranium should scatter its withered leaves on the +unlovely ground. Were it as sweet as a garden in Delos, were the ground +carpeted with violet and primrose and shadows of laburnum, the +burying-ground of Mafeking would still be a sad spot on the chart of +British South Africa.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + +<h2>GOOD-BYE TO MAFEKING</h2> + + +<p>A sudden order from General Hunter; a morning of preparation; a +commotion of dismantling, packing, harnessing, saddling; handshaking and +well-wishing; cheers ringing, hoofs clattering, dust rising beneath +wheels and many feet, a backward glance along the road, and—Good-bye to +Mafeking. An episode in the lives of men, and one which, in spite of the +excitement that went before it, will probably leave a small though deep +impression. Life there was dull beyond words, perhaps because there must +be a reaction after seven months of excitement, and because the nature +of man is elastic, springing quickly back to the commonplace when an +unusual element in its circumstances has been withdrawn. I tried hard to +fancy that the people of the garrison bore in their faces or manners +some sign of the strain which they had undergone. But the months seemed +to have left no traces except on the buildings and on the cemetery; or +perhaps their mark upon the besieged men was set beneath the surface +scanned by a casual observer. At any rate, the people of Mafekin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>g could +not successfully be exhibited in a show of wonders, and they took less +interest in their food than did we, their deliverers, who lived with +them for a while in what might be called "poor circumstances." Strange +to say, the only way in which to secure an ample meal in Mafeking was to +give a dinner-party, when all sorts of things were produced from secret +reserves and—charged for.</p> + +<p>Brigadier-General Mahon's column left Mafeking on Monday, May 28th, +taking the road that runs southward beside the railway, and I think that +everyone breathed a sigh of satisfaction when we were once more fairly +on the road. "The Happy Family" someone called Mahon's force, and there +was certainly never a more united company. He is the kind of +leader—considerate, strict, careless of unessential formalities, +careful of all essential details, jolly of face, kind of eye, a good +companion on the road, a rock of strength and confidence in the +field—who is obeyed in the spirit as well as the letter, and for whom +men would gladly march their feet to blisters. It need hardly be said +that he is an Irishman—"Ould Pat Mahon God bless 'um!" as a friend of +mine said that morning; and the remark was strangely apt, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> spite of +the Brigadier's youth and the fact that his name is Bryan.</p> + +<p>For four days we marched southward in easy stages across a stretch of +country that was almost blighted by the scarcity of water; we never had +water through which the bottom of a white cup could be seen; nearly +always we had to share with the mules and horses the vast puddle known +in that country as a pan, and at every puddle or waterhole, as the mules +churned it up into inky mud, the wish was the same—"If only we had some +engineers!"</p> + +<p>At Maritsani siding we found the first really serious break in the +railway. For about three miles the line was completely wrecked, and two +culverts, one (over the river) spanned by unusually long girders, had +been blasted in the middle and were lying broken in the gap. Even here +it was easy to distinguish between the work of the trained German or +French engineer and that of the ordinary rank-and-file Boer. The Boer +did not understand dynamite, but he had a very fair idea of destruction +from the spectacular point of view, and his work made by far the finer +show. One might almost think that children had been at work, so +laborious and futile were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> his efforts. The permanent way for perhaps +two miles was bodily uprooted, each length of rails with the sleepers +attached, and laid along the embankment. Not a thing was destroyed; the +fishplates, four to each joint, were lying at a convenient distance, and +even the bolts and nuts for securing them were disposed in little heaps. +All that the repairing party had to do there was to replace the lengths +of line, couple them, and shovel in the ballast. But the mile on which +the trained engineer had been at work probably took four times as long +to repair. Here a dynamite cap had been attached to the middle of each +rail, with the result that there was a piece about six inches long blown +out of every length, and that meant that all the old way had to be taken +up and an entirely new one laid down. One thing I did envy this +simple-minded enemy of ours, and that was the pleasure he must have +experienced in doing one bit of damage. Towards one culvert the line +sloped down in a long gradient, and on this a couple of trucks and a van +had evidently been placed and allowed to run down to the culvert, where, +the bridge being gone, they plunged into the gap. Think of the glorious +smash! The trucks must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> have got up considerable speed. And picture the +crowd waiting expectantly for the final catastrophe. I must say that I +should have liked to see it.</p> + +<p>The destructive spirit had evidently been satisfied by this gorgeous +sacrifice, for nine miles of the line and telegraph wires running +southward from Maritsani were untouched, and at Kraaipan, where we met +the repairing party from the south, the damage was nearly repaired.</p> + +<p>On the Thursday night we marched from Kraaipan to a point four miles +north of Maribogo station, and during the march we heard a whistle in +the far distance. A message was sent to the advance guard, and the train +was "held up" while we gleaned some news from the officer in charge. To +us who had been living in the wild for more than a month the great hot, +hissing, bubbling engine was a strange sight, and we stood gazing at it +open-mouthed like yokels, and stretching out our hands towards its warm +body. When we had learned the news it moved off into the darkness with a +shriek, and we resumed our march with a strange sense of cold and +silence. Early next morning (June 1st) the column marched into Maribogo, +where it was to rec<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>eive ten days' provisions and a complete supply of +remounts—new wings for the flying column. Hunter and the components of +his force were to rendezvous at Lichtenburg on June 7th.</p> + +<p>Setting out from Maribogo on Sunday morning, June 3rd, we entered the +Transvaal at about midday, and reached Geysdorp in the afternoon. Hart's +brigade had left Maribogo a few hours before us, and we passed ahead of +it at Geysdorp. After having been long with only mounted troops we +thought the infantry brigade a slow and primitive thing; but we envied +it the drums and fifes, to the music of which the Irishmen were stepping +along bravely when we passed. Although their destination, like ours, was +Lichtenburg, we marched at different times of the day, for even in this +large country there was not room on the road for both brigades. While +they were yet asleep in their bivouacs we were at breakfast, and their +reveille generally found us setting out on the march.</p> + +<p>The awaking of a column on these dark, cold mornings is ghostly and +mysterious. The first trumpet-call trembling through the chill starlight +brings one back from dreams to the world. The cavalry trumpeter plays a +longer and more orn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>ate flourish than that sounded by the infantry +bugler, but reveille is all too short on a winter morning. From under +one's shelter one sees the camp return to life—first a match glowing +here, then the smoke and crackle of a fire there, until acres of ground +are scattered with flame. Then the sound of voices begins to insinuate +itself—one never knows exactly when it begins—until the air is lively +with the cries of the cheerful Kaffir. Darkness still on the ground and +cold starlight in the upper air; but eastwards a very sharp eye might +notice a kind of lightening of the gloom. And cold, bitterly cold, one +gratefully withdraws beneath blankets the hand that was experimentally +stretched out. In one's own little camp the stir is also beginning; +fires being kindled, shadowy figures moving through the gloom, the sound +of horses munching corn. Presently the air vibrates to another +trumpet-call—"Stables"; and the few horses (chiefly among the +artillery) that know the calls begin to neigh and paw the ground. Now +the sky above the eastward horizon has faded to the palest blue, +revealing the heads of horses and men where one thought there were only +trees, and along the lower edge of the blue comes another line, like a +fine silver wire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>. It grows broader and fades into the blue, but in its +place comes a sheet of dull crimson. Millions of miles away God sets it +on fire, and it kindles, glows, flushes to scarlet, melts into gold, +until from the gold flows amber, and from amber the pure white wine of +daylight. All the old colours rush westward across the sky; the veldt +glows with tints that have no name nor description in our dull tongue; +yet these are the mere drip and overflow of the dayspring.</p> + +<p>Small wonder if amid such an entertainment one forgets the bustle in the +now visible camp, and smaller still if one forgets that one ever wanted +to sleep. Another trumpet sounds—"Boot and saddle"—and the bustle +becomes acute as the mules are harnessed and horses saddled. And from +some near squadron which is to form the advance guard are heard the few +sharp orders that are necessary to transform it from a crowd of men and +horses to a military unit. "Fall in. Number!" And the numbers run down a +switchback of sound as each man shouts his own. "Stand to your horses. +Prepare to mount. Mount. Advance by sections from the right. +Walk—march!" And with the last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> word the day's work begins.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday morning I had ridden on far in advance of the column in +search of buck. There was very little cover, and at the first shot they +were off like the wind, so I gave it up. Just beyond the ridge where I +had been shooting I came upon the pan of water that was to be our +outspan, and beside the pan was a farmhouse, outside of which stood a +little group of people. An old woman, a young man, a girl, two +middle-aged matrons, a man horribly deformed—people of different ages +and manners, yet having in common one startling thing: they were all +shaking with terror. It was startling because they were the only living +creatures except birds and springbuck that I had seen for miles of that +lonely march. The heath stretching to the sky north and south and east +and west; the muddy pan; the poor house and outbuildings; the solitary +horseman; the terrified group—these filled the picture; and it was not +without misgivings that I approached the house.</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir" (it was one of the matrons speaking English with the pleasant +deliberation of a Dutchwoman), "was it you whom we heard shooting on the +hill?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> + +<p>When I said that it was they all gasped with relief, and the women broke +out into a clamour of talk and questioning. Was the army coming? Were +there many troops? Where were the Kaffirs? Was I sure that there were no +Kaffirs about? When I had reassured them on the point the deformed man +spoke.</p> + +<p>"The Kaffirs are jumping about. Ja! They have looted my farm. All my +stock also. We are afraid. I am waiting to go to my farm, which is one +hour over the hill, but when I heard your gun I was afraid the Kaffirs +were near. They know we are only women or sick men here, and they have +guns, and they are jumping about. Your Colonel at Mafeking gave them +guns, and now they run about stealing and murdering. All last night I +dared not move from here, although we have no food. I was afraid, and so +were these ladies, knowing they were jumping about. Now I go to my +farm."</p> + +<p>He called a black boy, who presently brought round a miserable cart +drawn by two skeleton ponies. One of the women got in. There was no need +to ask the fierce little cripple why he had not been on commando, and I +was wondering how he was going to get into the cart, when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> gave a +great leap, and, climbing nimbly into his seat, drove away.</p> + +<p>When he had gone the woman of the house began to pour out a woeful tale. +Her husband—was he dead or alive? No news for three months; no letters +or telegrams. Even the casualty lists had ceased to reach them. Her babe +was dying for want of milk food. Could I give her a tin? General +Hunter's men had broken up her kraal to use the wood for burning, and +all her goats had wandered off and she had no one to send to look for +them. These few logs of wood were all she had to bake bread with; would +I ask the General to see that the soldiers did not take them? And then +the Kaffirs! It was a piteous tale launched on a flood of tears. +Possibly it was exaggerated; people have different ways of asking for +help; but the terror in the woman's eye when she spoke of the Kaffirs +was genuine. And I remembered the cripple's phrase—"The Kaffirs are +jumping about."</p> + +<p>Captain Bell-Smythe, the brigade major, came up presently, and I found +him willing, as he and General Mahon had always been, to listen with +patience to the long recital of woe. A sentr<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>y was put over the house +and gardens to protect them from the desecrating foot of Tommy, and I +know that a tin of milk was furnished out of the scanty stores of the +headquarters' mess.</p> + +<p>As for the Kaffirs, that trouble turned out to be a very real one. On +the next day's march four were captured by a patrol of General Barton +and shot, and it almost seems as though their blood were upon the heads +of those who failed to disarm them after the siege of Mafeking was +raised. I heard that the reason given was that it would offend the +Barralongs, who had fought so bravely in defence of their staadt; but +surely it had been better to offend them than allow them to run their +heads into a noose. The Kaffir trouble was like a shadow on our march; +they imagined that they had old scores to pay off; they paid them with +remarkable fidelity to their own austere sense of justice; and it was +felt that in suffering death they were bearing the punishment for more +than their own misdeeds.</p> + +<p>Incidents such as these marked the days of our march to Lichtenburg. But +our family was breaking up; Colonel Rhodes and Sir John Willoughby, who +had worked so hard on the relieving march, left us at Maribogo; one by +one my fellow-corr<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>espondents were departing; one officer after another +who had been with us on some special service was being withdrawn.</p> + +<p>And suddenly my own summons came. Over thousands of miles of sea-bed it +found me at a spot where the telegraph instruments never spoke before, +and may never speak again until the end of Time. We were encamped +fifteen miles from Lichtenburg, in a place made green by a clear and +brimming river. I had wished to send a telegram, and the obliging +orderly had undertaken to tap the temporary wire and "call up" +Lichtenburg. So the instruments were connected in the green field, and +soon the voice of the man at Lichtenburg was heard. The first thing he +did was to ask if anyone of my name was with the column, and when he +found I was there he said there was a cable for me. He read it to me +over the wire, with the result that I did not send my telegram. And +presently the voice ceased, the wire was disconnected, and (although I +had been hoping that the message would come) I went about like one under +sentence of death.</p> + +<p>We came on into Lichtenburg the next day, once more passing the Irish +Brigade with its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> childish pipes. General Hunter's division was now +complete, and I had not seen so great an encampment of tents since +leaving Lord Methuen at Boshof. They surrounded the pretty town—long +lanes arched by great willows trembling over streams such as run clearly +through the streets of all South African villages. On the next day +Mahon's column, proceeding in advance of the Division, was to set out +towards Rustenburg, while I rode forty miles westward into Mafeking.</p> + +<p>The day at Lichtenburg was very busy, occupied by those miserable duties +that affront the softer feelings. To dismantle and sell the moving home +that, as though by a miracle, has been nightly disposed through hundreds +of miles of road travel, and to part from horses that have served you +well and shared your dangers, if not your alarms, is to suffer a new and +painful damage to the affections. It was here, also, that I had to say +good-bye to Major Pollock, with whom I had been living for the last five +months. Some correspondents live always alone, and some like to join +with several of their fellows in a large mess; but I think that our +arrangement (when one is so fortunate in one's companion as I was) is by +far the best. Of course the newspaper correspondent has to remember that +he is the rival and n<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>ot the ally of all his fellows; but in the South +African war there were many occasions when two correspondents might work +together to the advantage of both newspapers, and there were few +occasions when a correspondent could obtain any advantage or information +which was not shared by all the rest. At such times, of course, when +they did arise, we used to become very silent as to our immediate +intentions, and the subject which was uppermost in both our minds was +shunned. But so long as my companion was with me I never lacked a home +on the veldt.</p> + +<p>The happiest endings and the lightest farewells are indeed serious; they +punctuate life, and set a period upon chapters that may not be revised. +Out of the dust of preparation rose once more the pillar of cloud that +had hovered over the column for hundreds of dusty miles; and soon to an +accompaniment of stamping feet and jingling harness it moved on, leaving +me behind as it had left so many others—not all to go home, but some to +sleep beneath the roadside bushes. General Mahon waited, chatting, until +the last waggon had passed, and then he also, who had been the +pleasantest of companions as well as the most respected of commanding +officers, rode away w<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>ith that stiffening of the back with which your +true soldier ever turns from private to public affairs. I looked after +the vanishing column, and felt as though every prop of existence had +been knocked from under me. I had been one amongst a thousand, a mere +molecule in a large mass, moved hither and thither without reference to +my desires or efforts; and I resented the restoration of independence. +Strange contradiction! We crave and struggle for individuality; here was +mine restored to me, and I looked at it askance. The tail of the column +disappeared round a bend in the road. Was this indeed the end of the +chapter?</p> + +<p>Not quite the end. As I set out on the westward road I met a +half-battalion of the Scots Fusiliers returning to camp from exercise, +marching at ease. Each company was headed by a piper who swung and +swaggered, blowing deep into the lungs of his instrument. As one company +passed, the measured bleat and squeal of the pipes faded and merged into +a sound heralding the approach of another. The gorgeous uniforms were +absent; but even the shabby khaki, stained with the soil of long marches +and hard fights, could not obliterate that perfect harmony of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> movement +which marks the first-class regiment.</p> + +<p>I stood to watch them go by. The last company approached; the piper, his +head thrown back, so deeply drunk of sound that his soul seemed to float +on the steady hum of the chanter, set the rhythm to ranks of men +stepping out to the inspiring discord. I turned my horse's head; before +me the road stretched long and lonely; behind was the bustle and stir of +the camp. A file of officers marching behind the column hailed me with +envious congratulation when they heard where I was going. But they did +not know that, just for one moment, I would have given the world to turn +and follow the piper.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class='center'> <small>PLYMOUTH<br /> + +WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON<br /> + +PRINTERS</small></p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 23875-h.txt or 23875-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/7/23875">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/8/7/23875</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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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: The Relief of Mafeking + How it Was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column; with an Account of Some Earlier Episodes in the Boer War of 1899-1900 + + +Author: Filson Young + + + +Release Date: December 16, 2007 [eBook #23875] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Graeme Mackreth, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 23875-h.htm or 23875-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/7/23875/23875-h/23875-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/7/23875/23875-h.zip) + + + + + +THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING + +How It Was Accomplished by Mahon's Flying Column; with +an Account of Some Earlier Episodes in the Boer War of +1899-1900 + +by + +FILSON YOUNG + +With Portraits and Plans + + + + + + + +Methuen & Co. +36 Essex Street W.C. +London +1900 + + + +[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHALL LORD ROBERTS, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., +G.C.I.E., V.C.] + + + +TO + +M. C. D. + + + + +PREFACE + + + + +The proprietors of the _Manchester Guardian_ have kindly allowed me to +make use of their copyright in the letters written by me to that +newspaper during the first half of the year. The substance of the +letters has been reproduced in the hope that home-staying folk may find +in them something of the atmosphere that surrounds the collision of +armed forces. It is a strange and rude atmosphere; yet it pleases me at +this moment to remember not so much the strangeness and rudeness as the +kindness and good-fellowship that made a dreadful business tolerable and +the memory of it pleasant. Many friends of these brave days I may not +see again, but if their eyes should ever light on this page I would have +them know that it contains a greeting. + + +FILSON YOUNG + +LONDON, _July 31st, 1900_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I. + +ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR + PAGE + + I. How the Reserves came up 3 + + II. How the Army left England 12 + + III. How the Wounded came Home 40 + + +PART II. + +IN THE WAKE OF THE ARMY + + + IV. The Long Sea Road 51 + + V. Scenes at Cape Town 61 + + VI. In the Eddies of a Great Whirl 72 + + VII. Magersfontein and Kimberley 85 + + VIII. Paardeberg 97 + + +PART III. + +LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE TO BLOEMFONTEIN + + + IX. The Boer Panic at Osfontein 105 + + X. The March on Dreifontein 115 + + XI. The Battle of Dreifontein and the March on Bloemfontein 123 + + XII. Retracing the Steps of the Army 132 + + +PART IV. + +AN EXPEDITION WITH LORD METHUEN + + + XIII. In the Field again 147 + + XIV. The Capture of Boers at Tweefontein 156 + + XV. An Elusive Enemy 164 + + XVI. A Surprise on the March 179 + + XVII. Under the Red Cross Flag 188 + + +PART V. + +WITH THE FLYING COLUMN TO MAFEKING + + + XVIII. A Strategic Secret 205 + + XIX. The Departure from Kimberley 209 + + XX. From Taungs to Vryburg 221 + + XXI. Nearing the Goal 230 + + XXII. We Repel an Attack and Join Forces with Plumer 238 + + XXIII. The Fighting on the Molopo 248 + + XXIV. Mafeking at Last 260 + + XXV. A Memorial of the Siege 271 + + XXVI. Good-bye to Mafeking 277 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +FIELD-MARSHAL LORD ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR, +K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., V.C. _Frontispiece_ + +MR. G. LENTHAL CHEATLE, F.R.C.S., CONSULTING +SURGEON TO HER MAJESTY'S FORCES +IN SOUTH AFRICA _To face page_ 72 + +LIEUTENANT-GENERAL P.S. LORD METHUEN, +K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G. " 156 + +BRIGADIER-GENERAL BRYAN MAHON, D.S.O. " 210 + +MAP OF MAHON'S MARCH " 230 + +PLAN OF THE BATTLE ON THE MOLOPO ON +MAY 16TH " 248 + +FACSIMILE OF SIGNED MENU OF THE RELIEF +DINNER AT MAFEKING " 267 + + + + +PART I + +ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR + + + + +I + +HOW THE RESERVES CAME UP + + +From a seat in the paymaster's office of the depot barracks at Bury one +afternoon in November, 1899, I could look either into the barrack yard +or out along the Bolton Road. A four-wheeler clove its way through the +crowd surrounding the gates, and the sentries presented arms to it. It +contained my friend, the paymaster, who presently came upstairs carrying +a bag in which were several hundred pounds sterling--the real sinews of +war. This was the man whose business it was to call up the Reservists, +and he had a very simple way of doing it. He had several books +containing large forms divided by perforation into four parts. The first +was a counterfoil on which was written the Reservist's name and the date +of posting the order; the second was a railway warrant requesting the +railway company to furnish him with a ticket available by the most +direct route from his place of residence to the depot; the third was the +order requiring him to present himself at the barracks on or before a +certain date; and the fourth was a money-order for three shillings, +officially called an advance, but virtually a present from a considerate +Government. On the 11th of the month the paymaster at Bury had signed +about six hundred of these notices, and had seen them posted; on Sunday +and Monday they had begun to fall like bombs on the breakfast tables of +prosperous civilians all over the country; and soon the pieces of blue +paper had made a sad disturbance in several hundreds of cottage homes, +and added several hundred men to the strength of the 2nd Battalion of +the Lancashire Fusiliers. The business of the pay office, or at least my +friend's part of it--a few subalterns rushing up in a hurry to get money +for their various companies; eighty pounds for A, a hundred pounds for +D, and so on--was soon over, and then he told me something of how the +Reserve system works. + +All the men in the Reserve have put in at least seven years' service. +They go into the Reserve first for a term of five years at sixpence a +day, and then (if they wish) for a term of four years at fourpence a +day. Of course when the Reserves are called out they receive the same +pay as regular soldiers, and their wives have separation allowances. As +everyone knows, this was the first time that any considerable number of +the Reserves had been called up, and the system has worked admirably. +About 98 per cent, in some districts presented themselves, the small +remainder being either ill or in gaol. A small proportion of those who +came up were rejected by the doctor, but on the whole the men were tough +and fit. In this district they were allowed eight days in which to +settle their affairs and present themselves at the depot, but most of +them did not come until the last minute, and several not until after the +last minute of the time allowed by the order. + +The crowd outside the barrack gates was composed chiefly of women and +loafers, but every now and then it opened to admit a handful of +reluctant-looking men, who had probably stayed outside until their money +was exhausted. And many of them were hanging about outside the gates +having nothing to do and no money to spend, but deferring to the last +moment the final step of self-submission to the iron hand of discipline. +For once the Reservist was inside the barrack yard he could have no more +liberty, probably, for many a long month--unless, indeed, he gained an +endless liberty on the battlefield. The scene through the opposite +window looking on to the barrack yard was very different from the +rather sombre picture without. The yard was gay with the wonderful red +that has done so much to make the army popular. For movement there were +a few squads of Militia recruits being drilled by the trumpet-voiced +sergeants; and for music there was the ring of a hundred rifle-butts +striking the ground together, the tramp and click of many feet, and the +clatter of the colonel's horse as he rode across the yard. + +But the most interesting people were the Reservists and their friends, +who dotted the yard in many-coloured groups. Here was a party of girls +and women taking a farewell of some engaging blade whose course of +gallantry had been suddenly interrupted. There was a father standing +with his wife and small family grouped round him, no one saying very +much, but everyone feeling a good deal. And another group would be +laughing and singing, not quite recovered from the means they had taken +to drown regrets. + +Sitting in the window, one could trace the Reservist's progress from his +entrance at the gate to his disappearance into quarters. The square was +filled with little processions containing six or eight men each; first +from the orderly-room to the hospital, in all kinds of civilian raiment: +black, grey, brown, green, blue, drab--anything but red; hatless, +capless, black-hatted, cloth-capped, shabby, spruce, dirty, soiled, +clean, pretty clean, white-faced, red-faced, unkempt, well-groomed, +hungry, well-fed, thin, fat--every class between clerks and tramps; +every condition between prosperity and destitution. A procession was +also constantly flowing from the hospital to the quartermaster's +stores--the same procession, with one military touch; for this time the +men did not straggle, but were marched single file in charge of a +sergeant. The next procession was from the stores to the men's quarters; +but now each man had a great bundle under his arms containing his entire +kit wrapped up in an overcoat. + +The quartermaster, not without pardonable pride, took me over the stores +in which the men's kits are prepared. There were hundreds of racks +containing bundles so cunningly rolled that you could see at a glance +what was in each. And beside each bundle was a valise already packed +with everything that a campaigner could need; indeed, when I read the +printed list showing what was in each my heart warmed with the same joy +that I felt when I first read _Robinson Crusoe_. Government, who is +rigorous and unyielding as a disciplinarian to her soldiers, is a mother +to them in her provision for their wants. Each bag contained a knife, +fork, spoon, tin canteen, shaving brush, soap, razor, boot brushes, +clothes brush, hair brush, pipeclay, button polisher, cleaning paste, +and a dozen other things just as interesting and as useful. Out of +curiosity I opened a housewife, and my heart was touched with the almost +feminine consideration that it indicated; for there, cunningly folded +up, were skeins of wool and cotton in many different shades, as well as +half a dozen sizes of needles. Surely the War Office is human, and not +the strange machine that some of us esteem it, for how else could it +provide that Tommy shall not have to darn his socks with scarlet, nor +his tunic with grey, nor his trousers with white wool? As the men came +into the stores each one received his share of these excellent things, +and the quartermaster's sergeants displayed quite a genius in estimating +and fitting the various proportions of the men. And the men's eyes +brightened at the sight of the glorious new red cloth; I believe that, +although they wore it for a few days only, it did much to reconcile +them with the inconvenience and hardship that some of them endured in +rejoining. Khaki uniforms were served out later. + +All round the barrack square the men stood in groups as I have +described, and in one corner were clusters of men arrayed in their new +garments. One could read pretty easily in their faces the story of the +last few days. One saw several men who had evidently risen in the world +since they had left the army. They had an air of sleekness and delicacy +that made them seem out of place. Others had evidently been going down +in the social scale, and wore their new clothes like fine feathers. Some +were evidently glad at the prospect of action and excitement, and fell +back into the regimental routine as a man sits down in a comfortable +chair. To others, not a few, all this hustle was an act in a domestic +tragedy. Sometimes it was a comedy, as in the case of one man who had +built up a "nice little butchering business," snatching his profits from +the niggard hand of competition; and now he must go forth to kill men, +leaving his rival master in the field of domestic butchery. But the +comedies were few, or else I did not come across them, for it was the +serious side of this business that impressed me the most. Men caught +away from new-found family joys, not for personal advancement or glory, +but to take their places as units in the huge war-machine that is fed +with human bodies. It is so easy to speak and think of "losses" when we +count them by the hundred; it is so hard and bitter to think of one +death and all that it means when one stands and speaks to a soldier. I +found one man standing apart by himself--a young man, with a good, +clean, hardy face--and there were tears in his eyes. As I was passing he +asked me what time it was, and in a few minutes he told me his story. He +had been married two years; he had one little child; he had left his +wife dying of pneumonia. That was all; but I think one can hardly +realise how much it meant. I should like some civilians who do their +soldiering in an armchair, and who really seem to like a war for the +spice with which it flavours their newspaper, to have seen that man and +heard his short tale of misery.[1] He is, of course, one of the few on +whom an admirable system inflicts a fearful wound; but he is an example +(if one were needed) of the matchless discipline that can teach a man +to obey without question or complaint a command that has two edges for +death. I am glad to say that I met no other man in half so dreadful a +plight as his, but there were dozens of men to whom the order came as an +ending of happiness, and of course one knew, although the thought was +not dwelt upon, that many of the little homes of which these men had +been the centre and support would have that support no more. Yet of one +thing I am very sure. Not one of the men to whom I spoke but was willing +and anxious to serve his country; not one but looked proud to be wearing +the old uniform again. The sadness and trouble was all in the +retrospect, not in the outlook. Tommy Atkins, with his great, simple, +conspicuous vices and his obscure, surprising, and enduring virtues was +unconsciously putting into practice the precept of a certain Old +Buccaneer: _No regrets; they unman the heart we want for to-morrow._ + +[Footnote 1: This man's wife died a week after he had sailed.] + + + + +II + +HOW THE ARMY LEFT ENGLAND + + +The few days that elapsed between rejoining and embarkation were spent +by the Reservist at the depot barracks of his regiment, where he +received his kit and underwent the small amount of drill necessary to +remove the rust of civilian life. After that, the sound of reveille in +the depth of a winter night; the sudden awakening; the hasty breakfast, +eaten like a Passover feast; the long and noisy railway journey; the +faint, salt smell of the sea, and the first sight of it through the +rainy dawn. In the early days of the war I was present at many +embarkations at Liverpool and Southampton, and they left an impression +on my mind which will not easily be effaced. For, even to an onlooker, +the embarkation of troops, with its sights and sounds of tragedy, is an +affair that burns itself into the memory; one is dazzled and confounded +by the number and variety of the small dramas that are enacted before +one's eyes; and the whole is framed in a setting of military system and +circumstance that lends dignity, if that were needed, to the humble +tragedies of the moment. + +Only a few of the thousands who came to watch the departure of the +_Canada_ from Liverpool one December morning were allowed inside the +dock shed; nearly all of those within the gate were sweethearts and +wives and children of soldiers who had contrived to procure passes for +them. Even in the shed the scene was one of extraordinary confusion. At +intervals of about half an hour detachments were marched in and formed +up at one end of the shed, where they left their bundles and heavy kit, +and whence they were marched in single file up the gangway of the ship. +With the exception of the Manchesters, all the troops were in khaki, and +were easily distinguishable from the dark-coloured mass of civilians. +Thus there was always a yellow pool of colour in the midst of the black +mass, and all the morning a thin yellow line flowed from the pool to the +ship's gangway. As often as one looked, during the whole morning, there +was a line of men in the act of ascending the gangway. One felt as +though one had fallen asleep for a moment and dreamed, and waked again +to find the same men in the same position, so little did the appearance +of things change. It was really a picture that one looked at, for the +colours and bold outlines remained constant; the eye at times grew used +to the minute movement, and refused to notice that the picture was +preserved only because the same things were being done over and over +again by hundreds of different people. The same greetings as friends +recognised the newly-arrived man, the same hurried words, the same +faltering voices, the same desperate embraces, the same endless tramp +from the formed ranks to the ship, the same tears. The absorption of so +many acute personal emotions into one revolving routine was the most +amazing part of it; the stream of discipline and system ran swift and +deep here, drawing into its flood even the most sacred and intimate of +human experiences, and turning into a pattern the parting of husband +from wife and father from child. When at length one became used to the +picture one began to notice the elements of its composition, and only in +watching them could one gain relief from the overburdening sense of +personality submerged in a system. The little dramas were very strange +and very affecting. I can only give a few examples out of dozens that I +watched. + +As the troops came in at the door, marching four deep, the crowd formed +on each side, and those who had friends in the detachment tried to get a +prominent place in the front rank of the crowd, where they could attract +the attention of the soldiers as they passed. The men were not hurried, +and they were marching at ease, so there was generally time for a few +words and a kiss or a hand-clasp before they were moved on. One wife, +who was little more than a girl, had taken a good place on the edge of +the crowd when her husband's detachment began to file in. I heard her +telling a friend that she had not said good-bye to "her lad," as she +wanted to see the last of him; it had been arranged that she was to be +near when he passed so that he could give her a parting kiss. Oh, how +anxiously she scanned the faces of the men as they swung into sight, +throwing all her soul into her eyes! + +Presently, "There he is!" she cried; "here, Jim, I'm here!" + +The young man's fine honest face had a look no less intent than hers, +but it was turned away from her; he was searching as eagerly as she, but +on the wrong side of the lane of people; and by one of those impish +tricks that Fate plays upon us in acute moments, he never saw her, nor +heard her voice above the cheers of the people and the blare of the +band. It was a cruel thing; she was fast wedged in the crowd. Someone +ran after the man and told him where she was, but before the sympathiser +could reach him his company had been drawn up and he could not be +allowed to fall out. And long before she was clear of the tightly packed +throng he had passed on to the ship, where she could not follow him. + +Another incident of another kind. The North Lancashires were marching +in, and an old man in the crowd was on the look-out for his son. He +explained to everybody near him what a fine boy his son was, and how +keen a soldier; how it had nearly broken the old man's heart that his +boy should leave him and go to the war, but how it would "do un good and +make a mon of un." Presently two soldiers appeared, half-carrying and +half-dragging between them a young man who was so drunk that he could +neither stand nor walk. His helmet was jammed over his eyes, but as he +was dragged past us it fell off and rolled to the old man's feet. I +heard him draw in his breath sharply and murmur something as his face +flushed; and then all the people round began to point and say, "That's +his son there, him that's being carried"; and some--God forgive +them!--laughed and joked at the old man. And he who had a moment ago +filled our ears with the praises of his boy gazed after him with a look +of bitter amazement and then went silently away. Another man who had +missed seeing his wife before he had embarked caught sight of her from +the ship's deck as she stood upon the quay with tears in her eyes. There +was no chance of his being allowed to pass down the gangway. But the +husband in him knew no obedience to the stern order, and he dived clean +off the stern of the steamer into the filthy water and swam, khaki and +all, to the steps at the side of the dock. And you may be sure his wife +was there to help him out, and she forgot her grief in her pride at his +daring. So he held her in his arm for a moment (and had three ringing +cheers from his mates into the bargain) before he was collared and +marched back to restraint, dirty but glorious. + +Here and there one saw men much the worse for liquor; and I have no +words to describe the folly of those friends who thrust bottles of +spirits into the soldiers' hands as they passed through the streets. +They did them a double cruelty, for the poor fellows, all unstrung by +their partings, gulped the raw spirit thinking they drank courage; and +so once or twice I saw poor women saying good-bye to staggering +maniacs--grim mockeries of the husbands they might never see again, the +poor fools themselves at present oblivious indeed, but doomed to I know +not what horrors of remorse on awaking. Happily, however, there were not +many in this sad condition. Most of the men behaved with a fortitude and +gentleness that was most touching. Indeed I find it hard to express my +admiration of their bearing. There was none of the bluster of the +armchair Jingo, none of the loud hectoring and swaggering and bravado +that distinguish the carpet warrior. On the contrary, when they were +talking of the war amongst themselves they had an air of quiet +determination, of good-humoured banter, and of easy, serious confidence +far more ominous for an enemy than any amount of fluent rant. After the +world of politics, with its hair-splitting and word-mincing, it was good +to be with soldiers--the men who do the work. They knew no fine +political shades, they bandied no epithets; England was at war and they +were going to fight--that was enough. And the spirit in which they +fought all the world knows: every day during the war one read tales of +devotion and heroism that became almost commonplace; it is even a +commonplace to praise them. Yet one could not see the soldiers in this +most trying duty of all, the laying down of home ties and interests (for +I think the heroism of mere fighting is nothing to it), without feeling +a pride in the moral discipline that makes it all possible, and under +the authority of which Tommy is content to be as a child. And this +childlike submission to discipline has its pathetic side, as when one +saw the little family of mother and children grouped to see the last of +its head. The children stood in wide-eyed amazement to see daddy the +Reservist, who in the little household had been the emblem of all +authority, now in the place of obedience, and taking directions from +another man (not so big and strong as he) as to how he should stand and +into what hole he should put the buckle of his strap. Thus even the +father and the husband are absorbed in the soldier. It is a great price; +and the way in which it was paid by so many was perhaps our firmest +assurance of the stuff that is in our soldiers. + +Early on the morning of departure a few hundred people--mostly +women--stood on the pierhead of Canada Dock, watching the transport as +she lay a short distance off in the stream with the Blue Peter at her +fore and the St. George's ensign hanging astern. The rain beat steadily +down, loading the raw wind that blew out of the morning twilight, and +the brown water broke sullenly to the send of a setting flood tide. The +faces of nearly all the women were worn with weeping; now they wept no +longer, but looked dully out to sea, while the rain ran down their +soaking garments and splashed on the ground. A drunken soldier who had +somehow got ashore the night before reeled helplessly on his wife's arm, +his head bruised and cut and his new uniform torn and filthy. But in the +woman's face there was a kind of fearful joy; she had rescued him from +his pot-house satellites, and she thought she could keep him. Presently +a tug came off from the transport with a picket to collect deserters--he +had to go. She sobbed and wailed, imploring the sergeant in vain; and +she clung to her poor senseless husband as though she would never leave +him. He hardly knew her; he laughed vacantly in her face when with +streaming eyes she begged him to speak her name; then they took him away +from her. As the tug steamed out I heard him singing. + +A little while afterwards the _Canada's_ siren began to wail and squeal +with a horrible mockery of painful cries. The tugs backed clear of her, +and lent their shrill voices to the discordant concert. Presently the +water astern of the transport turned from brown to foaming white, and +her masts began to move past the farther shore. There was a faint sound +of cheering from her, but she was soon out of sound and sight, and still +the women stared into the mist that had enfolded her, as though their +wishes might draw her back again. But in a little while they turned +towards home and a world that had changed its face. + + * * * * * + +On another day I went down to Liverpool to see the _Majestic_ depart +with troops for the front. The weather was consistently unkind. The +_Canada_ had sailed in a whirl of rainy fog, and the departing +passengers of the _Majestic_ looked across a little inky strip of water +to a land that was cloaked with snow. It was bitterly cold on the +landing-stage, and all the interest of the scene could not keep the +bitter wind from whipping one's face and numbing the feet. The wooden +planks resounded not more with the tramp of marching feet than with the +hard stampings of people who were trying to restore circulation. There +were no very poor people on the stage. The space opposite to the ship +was occupied chiefly by the friends of officers and by the troops +themselves, and certainly it seemed kinder to the men to prevent the +dreadful scrambling for farewells that took place when the _Canada_ +sailed. But a sea of anxious faces pressed against the barriers at +either end of the reserved space, and no doubt there was much bitter +envy of us in the enclosure, who had so much better an opportunity, and +perhaps so much less reasonable a claim to the front places. + +Outwardly this departure seemed very different from that of the +_Canada_. It was not so sordid, if one may use the term; the vessel did +not slip away furtively from a dock in the small hours of the morning, +but departed in open day from the more accessible landing-stage; and +although the weather was chill and bitter, it had not that infinitely +dreary effect upon the spirits that one associates with a soaking +downpour. Here were all the pomps and circumstances of farewell--the +blowing of bands and wavings of caps and great shouts of a multitude +that must give vent to acute emotions. Yet, different though the +outward circumstances were, they only accentuated the likeness that lay +beneath. Good-bye is good-bye, whether we say it at a carriage window or +shout it across a strip of harbour water; whether a crowd sings "Auld +Lang Syne" or a mother whispers "Don't forget me." And at the sailing of +the _Majestic_, with all its dignity, one saw the same tragedies +repeated over and over again, until one's heart sickened of it all, and +one would gladly have come away. Of course it was not among the officers +and their wives that one saw these things; people used to self-control +keep their griefs to themselves, and perhaps a very inexperienced person +would have been deceived by the smiles on women's faces and the cheery +chaff of men. Even here there were things to be seen at the last moment, +but I confess that I turned my back when the saloon gangway was about to +be removed; some things are sacred even from the man whose business it +is to describe what he sees. + +It was after the two thousand troops had all been embarked that the +friends of the men were admitted to the stage, and the dismal, though +enthusiastic, part of the affair began. Before that everything was +business and order. As the men arrived they were provided with hot +coffee and meat pies, which they drank and ate with every sign of +pleasure. Some of us who were very cold envied them for that moment. The +forward gangway was for about an hour occupied by men who did nothing +but pass rifles from the quay to the ship; it was a formidable sight, +this stream of deadly weapons that flowed on board. Up another gangway +enough cordite to blow up the whole of Liverpool was being gingerly +carried in small cases. But this hour or two of embarkation, in which so +much really happened, left little impression on my mind. It simply was +one more illustration of the admirable efficiency of discipline for +which our army is famous. It was when the gangways were removed and the +crowd began to pour on to the stage that the affair became human; and +the half-hour that elapsed between that time and the moment when the +mist finally hid the ship wrote itself much more deeply on my memory. + +One gangway was left open, and stragglers and men who at the last moment +had stayed away for an hour with their wives and children were hunted +out and hurried up it. At the shore end there were many painful scenes, +which people with a little imagination may picture for themselves. +Fortunately a farewell is a brief thing, and leaves only aching hearts; +people could not stand a sustained agony like that of the last moment. +It is the price we pay for our powers of memory and forethought; the +charger, going perhaps to a bloody and cruel death, steps willingly +enough up plank; the drunken man sings his good-bye; only the sober and +alert taste the fearful sting of parting. Even the people who had kept +up a great show of callousness had the mask suddenly and for the moment +plucked from their faces; young subalterns with rather watery eyes and +very loud voices ran swiftly up the plank, and brave women who had a +smile even to the last for their husbands turned a different face +shorewards. One could not help contrasting the weight of the burden for +those who went away and those who stayed behind; for the men and for the +women; for those who were going to fight, to die perhaps, but still to +_do_ something, and for those who had nothing but their thoughts to be +busy with. Pessimistic as this view may seem, it is the true one; the +event described as an "enthusiastic send-off" is essentially a +melancholy function, and the relief afforded by the antics of a few +intoxicated men does not make it less so. It is strange, indeed, how +important a part is played by the whisky-bottle in the farewells of the +poor. I have seen it passed round family circles at the last moment like +some grotesque sacrament; have even overheard husband and wife almost +quarrelling in their desire to press the comforter each upon the other. +"Here, take it with you, Sam." "No, Missus, you 'ave it; I can get some +off Tom." "No, lad, take it--I'll throw it after you if you don't." +Chance generally stepped in to kill the ghost in the bottle, throwing it +to the ground and spilling the contents. I saw one little boy, aged +about four, run up to his daddy at the last moment with a gorgeous +present in the shape of a glass pistol (a delicate reference to his +profession) full of spirits; it had a cork in the barrel, and I suppose +you fired it down your throat. Amid all these scenes the officers +displayed an unvarying tact, coaxing the men on board and not unduly +hastening their farewells; but for all that there were many violent and +tragic scenes. + +Just before the last gangway was run ashore a little woman came up, +crying and almost breathless, and begging to be allowed to say good-bye +to her husband, who was at the other end of the gangway, not allowed to +come down. The orders were absolute--no one must go up to the ship. Then +the woman broke out into a great wailing and sobbing, praying the +quartermaster on her knees that he would let her go half-way up the +gangway; but he was as firm as a rock. Then she came to the edge of the +landing-stage and cried quietly, all alone in that vast crowd, now and +then calling broken words of endearment to the man who stood a dozen +yards away from her across the strip of black water. Discipline is +heavy, and crushes; it is also sharp, and sometimes cuts cruelly and +deeply. But in the midst of her amazing grief she found time to call +some cheering words across to her husband: "Keep your heart up, lad, and +think of me and the children as loves you." He, poor soul, looked +thunder at his sergeant, and raged and swore; but he was a unit in a +mass--he kicked against the pricks, and he knew it. + +At last the gangway was removed, and a kind of quietness fell upon the +crowd, waiting for the next harrowing sensation. It came in a +succession of those minute incidents that burn themselves into the +memory of people whose nerves are on the rack. The splash of a hawser +into the dock; the deep notes of the engine-room telegraph, and the +clicking reply upon the bridge; the spinning of the wheel as a +quartermaster tests the steering engine; the clack and spit of winches, +and finally the thrilling shout of the foghorn, whose echo leaves you +trembling--all these things have a painful significance, and they bite +and grip into the heart. As the ship began to move a band on the +shade-deck struck up "Auld Lang Syne," and immediately the floodgates +were unlocked. Tears started again into bitterly dry eyes, handkerchiefs +were waved, people shouted, sang snatches of song--everyone made a sound +of some kind, and contributed to the great unrestrained noise of human +beings in distress and excitement. Above it all rose the hooting of +foghorns and sirens, while the band made its noise too--thump and throb +of drums, scream of pipes, and red-hot flare of brass instruments. +Sea-birds, seeing the ship about to depart, flapped and hovered about it +by the score, adding their shrill cries to the tumult; and high on his +flying-bridge stood the captain, shifting his telegraph from "stand by" +to "ahead," holding up or moving his hand, but not uttering his voice. +It was a striking picture, in which he stood as an image of a Fate by +which all men were for the moment helplessly crushed down. + +It was at this moment that something happened which I, for one, had been +expecting. One of the many men who were perched in the rigging or +outside the rails lost his hold, and in the same second was wriggling in +the water. It conveys some idea of the pitch to which the crowd was +strung up to say that the noise did not increase and hardly changed its +character. I suppose people turned from cheering to shouting, but the +big sound was still the same, and since the bands-men were high up and +in the middle of the deck they saw and knew nothing and went on playing. +But something else impressed me far more deeply; indeed, I think that I +can never forget it. Quite close to me was standing the man's wife +holding a baby, and as the man's face turned towards us in his +floundering she said calmly, "God, it's my George." And the little boy, +not understanding, repeated gleefully and senselessly, "It's dadda; it's +dadda." + +I looked at the woman's face; her cup had been full before; she had +drunk her fill of grief; and this new horror, her husband struggling +like a mouse in the bitter cold water, could not add a pang to her +torture. All that I have described happened, of course, in a few +seconds; the man had barely gone under before one of the ship's +butchers, in his white clothes, was in after him. Let no one belittle +the race of butchers. The life-taker knew how to save life, and Master +Butcher had his man in a moment, turned him on his back, and began to +swim ashore; indeed, there was no fear of the man's drowning, for there +were half a dozen men in the water within half a minute of the accident. +The man was brought ashore, and his wife helped to rub him down; only to +go through her parting again on the deck of a tender a few minutes +afterwards. But there was a cheerier note in the cheering that broke out +when the ship again began to move, and when the band struck up "God Save +the Queen" everyone who had a croak in him or her joined with a will. +The shape of the ship grew dim in the mist, but still the sea-birds +cried and hovered like winged prayers and wishes between her and the +shore. + + * * * * * + +In the Thames and at Southampton similar scenes were enacted almost +daily. Here is an account of a "Specimen Day" at Southampton--one of the +busiest that had been known there since the beginning of the war, for +Lord Roberts's grand army was being hurried out to repair the fortunes +shattered at Magersfontein, Stormberg, and Colenso. + +All day long crowded troop-trains had been steaming into the station, +where small pilot engines waited to receive them and drag them, groaning +and squealing, round the curves and across the points that lead to the +docks. The first train arrived at about nine, and the last at two. +Between those hours there was a constant succession of trains. Three +steamers were waiting to receive the troops; the Peninsular and Oriental +liner _Assaye_, the Union Steamship Company's _Goorkha_, and the Castle +liner _Braemar Castle_. The _Assaye_ was a new boat, and this was her +maiden voyage. She carried two regiments, the 2nd Norfolk and the 2nd +Hampshire, and the fact that the Hampshire is the territorial regiment +of the port, accounted for the unusually large crowd that assembled on +the wharf beside which the _Assaye_ lay. The business of despatching +transports had become so commonplace at Southampton that unless there +was some special interest attached to the embarkation there was no crowd +at all. Only the town loafers would assemble in any strength. But many +of the Southampton people had friends in the Hampshire Regiment, so +there were some thousands pressing round the barriers that surrounded +the dock shed into which the trains on arriving were drawn. + +It was on board the _Assaye_ that I spent the greater part of the +morning and afternoon, piloted by a naval lieutenant who was in charge +of the embarkation. I perched myself high up on the flying-bridge and +watched the busy scene below. In the next dock was the _Goorkha_, into +whose commodious maw were pouring the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment, the 9th +Field Company Royal Engineers, the 14th Brigade Staff, the Cavalry +Brigade Field Hospital, the Fifth Division Field Hospital, and No. 12 +Company Army Medical Corps. Further away, alongside the dock extension +jetty, the _Braemar Castle_ was receiving the 1st King's Own Scottish +Borderers, No. 7 Bearer Company, and No. 19 Company Army Medical Corps. +In the _Assaye_, however, were men of only two colours, the Norfolks and +the Hampshires. The Norfolks arrived first, and were promptly embarked. +The 'tween-decks of the _Assaye_, having been constructed specially for +the purpose, were more commodious than those on most other transports, +and certainly they were better ventilated, for a great open shaft ran +right up from the bottom of the ship to the upper deck, and round this +were grouped the tables at which the men, in messes of sixteen, were to +be accommodated. The men seemed pleased with their quarters and with the +general arrangements made for their comfort, but they were almost +laughably critical. The fact was that the soldiers were in great danger +of being spoiled by the fuss that had been made of them before they +embarked. It is well that we should cheer the soldiers up by our +enthusiasm, but, as everyone knows, the British public did much more +than that. "Tommy Atkins" was the rage for the moment, and what may be +called "Absent-minded Beggarism" was rampant. Unfortunately, this +enthusiasm found a vent too often in silly and thoughtless squandering +of money on the soldiers. They were banqueted before they started; their +friends used to ply them with drink; mayors were waiting upon them at +every turn with pipes and tobacco, and total strangers showered money +on them quite recklessly. For example, while I was on the _Assaye's_ +bridge I saw a civilian, standing quite apart from the crowd, with his +hat full of copper and small silver coins. No one seemed to be watching +him. He could have no thought of making an impression. But in an ecstasy +of enthusiasm he kept throwing showers of money to the troops on deck. +It is an excellent thing that the people at home should be touched with +such gratitude to the men who fight for them, but, like all great public +movements which have more heart than head in them, this kind of thing +was sometimes overdone, and failed in its object. One saw the men +sometimes arriving drunken, grumbling, and impudent; criticising the +quality or quantity of the refreshments which the steamship company had +thoughtfully provided for them, and generally behaving in a way most +unlike what one would expect. No one seemed to lack money, although so +much was spent in drink. Several times that day I heard men at the +canteen calling for whisky and soda or brandy and potash, and grumbling +heartily when they were not supplied. + +With regard to the way in which men got drink one or two things fall to +be said. Every effort was made by the authorities to prevent +drunkenness. One of the naval embarkation officers told me that drink +was not supplied to the men at the canteen, that they were forbidden to +bring any on board, and that they were forbidden to buy or receive any +from civilians; yet it had been found that certain tradesmen at +Southampton had deliberately smuggled whisky on board by heavily bribing +some of the crew. In the face of this kind of thing the officers could +do little. They spoke very bitterly of the cruelty to the men involved +in such practices, for the soldiers are necessarily packed pretty close +together when hammocks are slung, and when the effects of drunkenness +are added to the horrors of sea-sickness the result is awful, and almost +unendurable by a man who cherishes any self-respect. I mention this at +some length because, although it was not prominent on the day of which I +am writing, it had happened terribly often, and on the day before it had +made the scene at the embarkation of an Irish regiment a really horrible +one. The two regiments which embarked on the _Assaye_ happened to be the +soberest I had yet seen. Indeed, there was hardly one case of +drunkenness amongst them. I think this was partly because the outside +public was not allowed near the ship. The men passed from the train +directly on board, and did not come in contact with their friends. It +was kinder to the friends too. I saw none of those heartrending tragic +scenes of parting, none of the wild grief that grows so much wilder for +being indulged. From the officers' deck the picture of embarkation +appeared in outline rather than in detail. The constant movement of +people far below, the orderly disorder, the shouts and cries of officers +and stevedores, the waving arms of cranes and the general excitement +produced in a mere onlooker a strange sense of isolation. One felt like +Gulliver observing the Liliputians in some great effort of maritime +preparation, and the longer one looked the smaller and more like toy +soldiers seemed the men. Such an endless stream of them poured from the +dock shed to the ship. I heard their cries faintly. "Bring back old +Kroojer's whiskers" was the burden of them, and this was indeed the +chief trophy, the chief spoil of war which the average soldier pictured +for himself. It was strange to think that this army of Liliput which +tramped and cried down there conceived its mission so vaguely and +imperfectly that it could depart light-heartedly. + +The deep note of the _Goorkha's_ foghorn sounded close at hand. The tops +of her masts glided past the roof of the dock shed; in five minutes she +was out of sight, and her departure seemed to have been almost +uncelebrated. She got away at about two, and an hour later the _Braemar +Castle_ also departed. + +The only thing which now delayed the departure of the _Assaye_ was the +embarkation of the horses. There were eight chargers belonging to +officers of the two regiments, and they made the utmost objection to +being enclosed in narrow boxes and swung in mid-air. In particular a +magnificent grey belonging to the colonel of the Hampshire Regiment gave +any amount of trouble. It took her groom ten minutes to coax her into +the box, and as soon as it began to move upwards she snorted and +trembled with fear, and finally sat down on her haunches, with her neck +hanging over the door. The colonel, who was standing near, seemed rather +proud of this exhibition, but when the mare was almost beside herself +with terror, and while she was yet swinging in mid-air, he spoke +reassuring words--"Woa, Bunny! Steady, old girl!" The beast could not +see him, but she heard the voice in the air, and became suddenly quiet. +May she live to need the same assurance on her homeward journey, was +one's involuntary thought. The sight of these fine horses was very +pitiful, in the light of their possible destiny. One looked at the +glossy coats and saw them torn and bloody. One watched the nervous wild +eye and the twitching ears, and heard the whistling bullets and the +shells bursting round them, who know no reason for the commotion, +holding themselves bravely in check until the steadying voice behind +them ceases and the load suddenly lightens, or until a stray bullet ends +both fears and endeavours. + +After many delays the last horse was on board. And now there remained +only the inspection by the naval embarkation officers, an interval for +the crowd of half an hour, which the band on the quay did its best to +pass agreeably. There were many false alarms of departure. Every +patriotic song and tune had been played and cheered, but after "Auld +Lang Syne" had been hammered out for the third time the ship began to +move. As she left the quay the younger men at one end of the ship made a +great commotion. One held up a flag which he proposed to plant on +"Kroojer's Hill." (Some authorities might read Majuba.) These men, +recruits for the most part, made in their ignorance of war a joyful +noise, but the Reservists and old hands looked grave and sad, and hardly +joined in the singing or cheering. They were thinking. + + + + +III + +HOW THE WOUNDED CAME HOME + + +Going down Southampton Water on January 5th to meet the _Aurania_ with +her company of sick and wounded, one enjoyed a wonderful study of sober +tints in land and sea under a winter sky. The little steamer clove light +green waters that were hardly rippled by the breeze. This green sea she +divided in two long curling lines that seemed to reach the shore on +either hand, merging their light colour with a dark green of fields +waiting for spring. The fields in their turn faded into the bluish black +of leafless trees, and the trees bounded a sky of soft banks shading +from blue to grey. The waters seemed almost deserted, except for a ship +that now and then might meet us, stealing up on the tide and gently +heeling to the breeze. Sometimes a yacht would pass us, sometimes a +fishing-smack; but it was a lonely journey. The air was soft and +sweet--not like that of spring, but like that of a world which lives in +the promise of a coming spring and can wait. There were no sounds but +one sweet and familiar--the whisper, swelling and diminishing but never +dying, of foam at the cutwater. + +Little Hythe seemed to have retired into itself for the winter. Its pier +was deserted by boats and men when we passed. Lower down on the other +side was Netley Hospital, with how many pains and agonies hidden behind +its long, imposing front. Opposite Netley the sea eats and bites like an +acid into a kind of mossy grass of rare and vivid green, making a +wonderful coast-line on a small scale, with bays and channels and +sounds. + +We made for West Cowes, where the sea brims up to the streets and the +spray sometimes sprinkles the shop windows. Here the telegraph was set +in motion, asking Hurst Castle for news of the _Aurania_. But there was +no news, so, as it would take her two hours to reach Southampton after +passing the Castle, we went on past green promontories that dip into the +sea, right up to where the trees clothe them, past the towers of +Osborne, to Ryde. Again the telegraph asked the question, and again +there was a negative answer. Then we cut across the Solent towards +Southsea, watching the weird evolutions of a 35-knot torpedo-boat. It +darted about, annihilating the small distances of the Solent and making +a strange, buzzing noise like some foul fly. Vomiting flames and sparks, +it trailed a cloud in the air and snow upon the water. While we were +crawling across the river it had made a dozen journeys. Now it would be +down near Cowes, and now half-way up Southampton Water, and when one +looked again a few minutes afterwards it would be close astern, +overtaking us with the speed of a nightmare. I escaped from it at +Southsea, for there the wires told me something that sent me doubling to +the railway station, and thanking my stars that I was in time for a fast +train to Southampton. It arrived at half-past three, and at four the +_Aurania_ showed her nose round the corner of a dock shed. Ten minutes +later she was alongside and berthed, and the disembarkation began. + +The total absence of any kind of popular demonstration was most +impressive. There was no crowd at all, and the barriers that had been +provided were not needed. This neglect of a welcome seemed sadly to +discount the value of the great hysterical demonstrations made when the +troops departed. They were men who were perhaps going to suffer for +their country. These invalids had suffered for it, and no one came to +cheer them up. Of course some of the men's own friends were there, and +the few strangers who were present shook hands with the men as they came +limping and hopping and stumbling down the gangway. But it was all very +quiet, very sad, very tame from a spectator's point of view, but deeply +significant. One could hardly imagine a greater contrast than was +presented by the same shed on a day of departure and on a day of arrival +like this. In the one case great crowds hurrahing and shouting and +cheering, bands playing, and bottles going busily round. In the other a +great quietness, a few people standing in little knots and speaking +almost in undertones. And the men themselves were very different. No +excitement, of course; no drunkenness; no yelling for "Kroojer's +whiskers." Oh, no!--something very different from that. About a hundred +men with pain-worn faces, bandaged arms and legs, slings and splints +everywhere, and talking, when they talked at all, of the horrors of the +war, of the death of comrades, and of the seriousness of the news we +gave them, in the light of their own experiences at the front. The men +were speedily disembarked and taken into the dock shed where a train +with some ambulance coaches was waiting, but they preferred to stand and +talk for a little while before taking their seats. A really kind and +useful work was done by members of the Southampton branch of the +"Absent-minded Beggars" relief corps, who provided hot coffee and buns +for the men, and in addition provided each with a stamped telegraph +form, so that he might reassure his friends at home. + +Of course there was another beside the serious aspect of this scene. +Nothing could exceed the interest in their ailments displayed by the men +who had partly recovered from them, and those whose wounds had healed +could not tire of giving demonstrations to their friends and relations, +or even to strangers. An illness or a wound is often the first view an +ignorant man gets of Nature's ingenuity displayed in the construction of +his own person, and when one of these invalids got hold of some medical +or surgical word he would cherish and roll it on his tongue like a man +tasting wine. One of them--a man who looked as strong as a horse--was +explaining to an admiring group how he came to be alive at all. A bullet +had passed through the rim of his helmet, entered his left temple, +passed behind his nose, through the roof of his mouth, and out through +the lower part of his right cheek. First he would show us the dent in +his temple; then describe, with many strange words, the inward passage +of the bullet; and then, emerging into the sphere of common things, wind +up with, "and came out of my blooming cheek." Then he would show the +dent in his cheek, and pass his helmet round for all to see, as a +conjurer does. I moved round with this man and heard him recite his tale +three times, and every time he used just the same form of words, which +he repeated pat like a lesson. His corruption of "cerebral" was amusing. +"Nearly scattered the cerveral nerve, so help me!" he said. One could +have understood it if he had been in the Spanish-American war. Another +soldier used a word which I cannot explain. He was showing a mate how a +bullet had entered his shoulder, "and," said he, "it penetrated me +agamemnon." What is an agamemnon? It has been puzzling me ever since. + +Only a few of the more robust men were going on in this way, and there +was enough of the pathetic even in the man with the "cerveral" nerve and +him with the "agamemnon." The men looked tired and serious, and seemed +to lack interest in anything but their own afflictions. It is almost a +pity that the public will not witness such scenes as this, for I fear +that it is still sadly in need of having even the most elementary fruits +of war brought home to it. One might, of course, easily overdraw the +picture of the men's condition; it is difficult to describe it +faithfully. Many of them seemed happy and contented to be home again, +and forgot past pains in present joy. As I turned away from the carriage +window I heard a confused drone of conversation, in which such terms as +"ligature," "suppuration," "cavity of the hear'ole," "styptic," and +"prelatic" were prominent. The last thing I heard was--"He hadn't got no +fraxur at all, leastways only a simple un. Mine was a compound fraxur." +One can understand these things. But what is an "agamemnon"? + +It was dark when the train went away, and there was nothing more for me +to see on that day, but I had another sensation and a memorable one. +After dinner a little group, composed mainly of naval and military +officers on embarkation duty, was established round the smoke-room fire +in the South Western Hotel. We were all talking about the war, and all +wishing that we were out in the thick of it. In the midst of this chorus +of aspiration a telegram was handed to me inviting me to go to South +Africa as a war correspondent for the _Manchester Guardian_. The chorus +continued while I read, but it sounded far away; I was trying to realise +what acquiescence in the request contained on the pink paper might mean. +When I had decided I handed the telegram to my neighbour, and in a +moment it had made the circuit of the group, trailing exclamations in +its wake and changing the melancholy chorus to one of whole-hearted +envy. I went to bed in some doubt as to whether I had received +congratulations or condolences. In a few hours I was on my way to +London; in a few days the flying wheels had carried me back to +Southampton; but I thought that the busy docks wore a different face. + + + + +PART II + +IN THE WAKE OF THE ARMY + + + + +IV + +THE LONG SEA ROAD + + +In the terms of the street, you make for Madeira from the Needles as +straight as Ushant and Finisterre will permit, keep to the left until +you catch the flare of the solitary light on Cape Verde, go on past that +for about ten days, and Cape Town is the last place on the left. In the +terms of the sea, your course is west-south-west until the Bay is open, +then south-south-west, then south, and then south by east a half-east +for the long stretch. But for most of us the way to the war lay through +a stranger region than that. Years ago (as it seems) on a rainy winter +evening, we watched the buoys of the Solent Channel streaming past us +all aslope on the strong ebb-tide, and as the Trinity Brothers began to +open their eyes for an all-night watch on the south coast, we closed +ours to the world behind. + +A day and night of dust and tumble in the Bay, and we awoke on a summer +morning to find the wind blowing softly through the open ports and the +water chiming on the ship's side. After that we lived in a world all our +own; ourselves the sum and centre of it; a blue world that slid through +degrees of latitude and longitude, but held us, its inhabitants, at ever +the same distance from realities. The past was miles away at the end of +the white path astern; the future did not yet so much as smudge the +forward horizon; we were adrift, lost in the present. + +Since we were, for the most part, Englishmen, we played games. At first +we had walked about eyeing one another mistrustfully; but Time, the +surest of teachers, soon convinced us of the essential harmlessness of +our fellows. And then we played quoits, and danced and listened to the +band, forgetting the things which were behind and disregarding (for the +moment) the things which were before. Disregarding, but not quite +forgetting. When the last game was over and the last pipe lighted, and +the good, cool hours drew on, men used to sit in little groups watching +the flash of waves tripping and spilling over smooth black furrows; and +then they talked. The C.I.V. officers talked of Lee-Enfields, +trajectories, mass and volley firing; the Indian Staff Corps men, who +were going out on special service, spoke of commissariat and transport, +of standing patrols and Cossack posts, of bivouacks, entrenchments, +vedettes, contact squadrons, tactical sub-units, demolitions and +entanglements. In those dark hours, while alien stars were rising and +swinging westward over the masthead, hard, fit, clear-headed young men +talked coolly and with common sense of the big business before them. The +evening consultations were all that we gave to the future. The past was +even less openly recognised; but it proclaimed itself eloquently in the +withered bunches of flowers on this and that cabin table, in the demand +for the ship's notepaper, in the women's trinkets worn by men who, under +ordinary circumstances, would rather wear sack-cloth than jewellery: +emblems, all of them, of thoughts that travelled the white road between +the rudder and the horizon. + +In that strange detached world of ours, energy alone was unsuspended. It +was even stimulated, and in a race and class of men not accustomed to +look inward for recreative resources manifested itself in a violent and +unresting pursuit of artificial amusements. In this pursuit all our days +were passed. The morning sun streams into the port-cabins, the diligent +quartermaster brings our toys on deck and gravely arranges them; +throughout the day we play with them until we are tired, when they are +flung aside untidily; again the quartermaster returns, and, like a kind +nurse, puts them away. The sun slants through the starboard windows and +is quenched in the waters; a little talking, a little dancing, a little +music, and we are all asleep. Such were our days. And ever before, +behind, around and beneath us the moving, mysterious sea, wrinkled and +old as the world, but blowing airs of eternal youth from its crumbling +ridges. Down below iron floors stokers and trimmers were sweating, +engineers were watching and nursing and feeding the great steel +bondagers that drove us along; but how many of the light-hearted +passengers ever thought of them? They were out of sight and mind, hidden +away in their stifling holes, where in their relation to us they +completed the satire of our miniature society. + +I might give you a dozen pictures of our life, and yet mislead you as to +its uncommonness; it was really commonplace life in strange and +unfamiliar circumstances. Here is an example. At the first concert it +was noticed, not without surprise, that the Captain's name was down for +a song. Now for days the Captain had tramped alone up and down the +deck--a large man, with a heavy face and drooping eye, and a head set +forward on the shoulders by reason of long hours of staring into the +sea dust; a man past middle-age, silent and (as we thought) surly. +Therefore something like a sensation was produced when it was announced +that the Captain would sing "Mary." I think I see and hear it now. The +saloon filled with people; the windows framing faces of deck hands and +firemen, with a background of moving blue; the heavy central figure, the +kindly (we saw that now) Scotch face; the worn voice, unused to +sustained utterance, gasping for breath in the middle of a line, and +sometimes failing to be ready in time ("I lost the run of it," he +explained to us in the middle of a temporary breakdown); the quaint +simplicity of the words, "Kind, kind and gentle is she, kind is ma +Ma-ary"; the thunder of applause that greeted the close; the immediate +and unassailable popularity of the Captain. If I have described it as I +saw it, you will understand why I shall always like to remember that +scene. Here is another glimpse. + +On a Sunday, when the church bells at home were jangling and the streets +were (for a guess) streaming with rain and mud, it was Sunday with us +also, three thousand miles away. The sun was lighting the lazy sea until +it shone like a big blue diamond, the whales were spouting, the +porpoises plunging and blowing, and here and there a shark lay basking +near the surface with a wicked, wriggling, black fin exposed. It was +very hot and still; the great sea people seemed to be revelling in some +sort of Sabbath of their own, and the waters lay quiet and shining under +the eye of Heaven. Here and there a drove of small flying-fishes rose +and skimmed over the surface like swallows, but they too soon plunged +into the blue and sought below that the cool green depths. Into this +tranquil scene steamed the _Kinfauns Castle_ in a triangle of snow, a +big porpoise rolling and rollicking along beside her, now rising on this +side, now on that. When he came very close he could see into the saloon +windows, and presently he saw the Captain standing at the end of a table +spread with the Union Jack and a great crowd of people sitting round the +tables. + +"Dearly beloved brethren," began the Captain, and then the porpoise's +tail came up and his head went down with a "pflough!" + +When he came up again near enough to see, all the people were muttering +and gobbling over the Psalms, the Captain rolling out his short +alternate verses as though he were directing his own quartermaster on a +course. While the porpoise was very close to the ship and listening hard +the ash-shoot was emptied almost on his head, which scared him so badly +that he dived deep, and did not come up again for a long time. When he +did rise the people were singing, "On, then, Christian soldiers, on to +victory"; again he dived, and again came up with a snort, to hear them +singing with equal vigour, "Make wars to cease and give us peace." But +just then the third engineer opened the exhaust of the waste condenser +water, and my black friend got such a shock when the cloud of steam and +hot water burst from the ship's side that he altered his course three +points, and I saw him plunging and rolling away to the west of south. +One thing the porpoise did not hear, for he was below at the time. In +his course through the Liturgy the Captain had reached the Collect for +the day. I will warrant he was trained in a sterner school of theology +than the Anglican; his voice and tones were never meant for the smooth +diction of the Prayer-book; but that is neither here nor there. The +"Coallect for the fourth Sunday after 'Pithany" rolled from his tongue. +I never hope to hear it in a more appropriate time or place; there was +something almost startling in the coincidence that brought it round on +such a day, and there was significance in the words--"_O God, Who +knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers that by +reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; +grant to us such strength and protection as may support us in all +dangers and carry us through, all temptations._" Thus prayed the +Captain, the Chief Officer standing beside him; and none knew so well as +those two how many and great were the dangers that lurked in our smiling +environment. + +As we drew nearer to our journey's end the desire for news became acute. +At Madeira, on the 24th of January, we heard that the situation in Natal +was practically unchanged, and up to February 3rd we had not seen +another ship pass nearer than five miles. But then it was thought +probable that we should meet the _Dunottar Castle_ on her way home, and +a bright look-out was kept. In the afternoon I was up on the bridge +discussing celestial angles with the Chief Officer; we were snoring into +the south-east trade, and the strong sun-warmed wind was a thing to +bathe in; the bridge binoculars diligently swept the sharp blue line of +horizon. Presently the Third Officer put his glass down. "There she +is," said he, "two points on the starboard bow." We all looked, and we +saw the tiny smear of smoke on the line. How strange it was; both of us +coming up from nowhere and meeting on this roadless waste! In a quarter +of an hour we raised her masts and funnel, and then we perceived it was +not the _Dunottar_. Our course was altered two points, and the three of +us stood up there in the wind and sun watching the growing speck. Down +below they had just seen her, and glasses were levelled by the hundred. +In a little while we could see a red cross on her bow, and we made her +out to be a hospital ship carrying home wounded--Buller's wounded, we +said, from the Tugela fight. + +"BWF, HLF, WBQ," fluttered out our signal flags in a bravery of scarlet +and blue and white, which is, being interpreted, "What news since the +24th?" + +She was abeam now, a mile away; how slow they were in running up an +answer! We pictured their signal quartermaster racking the pigeon-holes +to spell "Ladysmith," and expected a gaudy display. Presently the +coloured stream blew out from her main topmast stay. Only four flags! + +"DFPC," reported the Third Officer, and there was a scramble for the +Code-book. "Nothing important since last accounts." + +Could anything be more exasperating? We ran up another question, I do +not know what, but we waited in vain for the answering flutter, and the +hospital ship _Princess of Wales_ rolled along on the blue swell. + +"South by east-a-half-east," snapped the Chief Officer; the wheel spun +and the steering engine hissed, and the _Kinfauns Castle_ drove her stem +into it again, while from the promenade deck rose the sound of many +voices. + +And so we went driving along again through a wonderful sea of deep blue +rollers jousting on a grey ground. It did not yet appear where we should +go or what would be our lot; to-night or to-morrow we should know; but +to-day it was enough that the sun shone and that the waters were wide. + + + + +V + +SCENES AT CAPE TOWN + + +When at last the _Kinfauns Castle_ carried us on a sunny evening out of +blue emptiness into Cape Town harbour and dumped us down on dry land, +about thirty of us who were on our way to the front took elaborate +farewells--only to meet again twelve hours later in the vestibule at +headquarters. + +No one was in the least excited by our arrival. If we were special +service men, we were told that there were no instructions for us, and +that we had better turn up three or four times a day and look at the +order-board. If we were correspondents, heads were shaken, and +smooth-spoken people with stars and crowns on their shoulder-straps said +they doubted very much whether Lord Roberts would grant any more passes. +If we were nobodies who had come out (with more or less direct +encouragement from the officials) in the hope of getting commissions, we +were turned away like tramps, and told that there was "nothing for us." +It was all rather flattening and dispiriting. + +When we turned up again at headquarters next morning we found the place +empty but for a Kaffir charwoman snuffling over her brushes: Lord +Roberts gone, Lord Kitchener gone, all the staff gone, stolen away like +thieves in the night, gone "to the front." No one was left in authority, +no one knew anything about us; so we went to the barracks and worried +irresponsible officers who would have moved heaven and earth for us if +they could, but they "had no instructions." At last, in a remote corner +of the barrack buildings, someone discovered a major who was in charge +of the Intelligence Department. Didn't we all fall upon him like birds +of prey! In half an hour the telegraph that connected Cape Town with the +Commander-in-Chief was thrilling all our wants northward; in six hours +half the special service men were flying about the town collecting +sardines and whisky and ink; in twenty-four hours only a few of us were +left, still worrying the unfortunate major. Then the wires began to come +back from Lord Roberts saying that no licence must be granted to this +man and that; that there were more than enough correspondents at the +front; and at this news some of us began to quake. At this critical +point, when I was wandering in the corridor of the post office, I found +the Press Censor, all alone and unguarded; so I fastened upon him and +drove him, the kindest and most amiable of men, into his office, and +stood over him while he wrote a long telegram to the chief, in which +many reasons were given why I should go to the front. The result was +that I received the desired privilege, but when I left Cape Town many +men were still haunting the barracks and the post office. + +My week of waiting was a busy time, but in the intervals between +sitting down before staff officers, interviewing possible--and +impossible--servants, and trying horses, I contrived to see a little +of the Cape Town life in those martial days. + +One seemed to be no nearer the war there than in London or Manchester. +Troops marched to the station and disappeared into the night; so they +did at home. There were hospitals there, filled with wounded men; none +so large or so full as Netley. There was a big camp there; not so big a +camp as Aldershot. And the place was full of officers, coming and going, +even as Southampton had been crowded with officers pausing on their way +to or from the war. Then there was at Cape Town something like a famine +of news; by far the latest and most trustworthy came from London. Things +that thrilled us out there and were cabled home in hot haste were found +to be stale news in England. As the storm blows over the cliff far out +to sea, but leaves the hamlet on the shore in absolute peace, so Cape +Town seemed to be sheltered by the big, dominating mountain from all the +home-going news, and to abide in peaceful ignorance while the +telegraph-rooms resounded to the talk of the needles. + +I rather dreaded the hospitals, but they were magnificent. To see so +many men bearing pain bravely and cheerfully were privilege enough; but +to find men who had undergone the most dreadful tortures soberly begging +and hoping to be sent back to the front showed one what can be +accomplished by discipline and an ideal of conduct. Here is an example. +Two men lay side by side in the Wynberg hospital. One had five holes in +his body, made during a charge by as many bullets. He had nearly +recovered. The other had been shot while lying down, and the bullet had +passed along his back and touched the base of his spine, paralysing him +for ever. Both men were almost weeping; the first with joy because there +was a chance of his returning to the front, the second with grief +because he was powerless to help his comrades any more. I could cite a +hundred examples of the astounding spirit that such men displayed. I do +not think that we at home ever doubted their bravery on the field, but +the kind of endurance that is seldom bred but by long habit and early +training was to be found no less universally in these hospital beds. The +people of Cape Town had done well in the matter of hospitals, and fully +half the accommodation was provided by public subscription. But +Government hospitals were far from efficient in their equipment, as well +as far from sufficient in their accommodation. Many things that would be +regarded as necessaries in a pauper hospital at home had to be provided +at Cape Town for the Government hospitals by private bounty. + +I walked over to the infantry camp at Sea Point one morning with Mr. +Rudyard Kipling. As we neared the camp we overtook a private carrying in +his hand a large pair of boots. Mr. Rudyard Kipling asked if we were on +the right road, and the man said-- + +"Yes; are yer goin' there? Then yer can tike these boots. I 'av to +entrine at twelve o'clock, and I ain't goin' ter miss it fer no blessed +boots. 'Ere, tike 'old," he continued, thrusting the boots into Mr. +Kipling's hand, "and give 'em to Private Dickson, B Company; and mind, +if yer cawn't find 'im, jest tike 'em back ter Williams, opposite the +White 'Orse." + +Mr. Kipling promised faithfully, and gave a receipt, which he signed; +but the man did not notice the name. + +"My friend," said Mr. Kipling, "you'll get your head chaffed off when +you get back to the guard-room." + +"What for?" vainly asked the man, and departed, while we continued our +way towards the camp. + +No sooner were we inside the railings than Mr. Kipling was accosted by a +military policeman. + +"What are you doing here? You must get out of here, you know, sharp!" + +"I'm taking these boots to Private Dickson," said Mr. Kipling. + +"Well, you ought to take them to the guard tent, and not go wandering +about the camp like this. Out of it, now!" + +Now Mr. Kipling had a pass from the Commander-in-Chief to go wherever he +pleased in South Africa, and, besides that, he is Rudyard Kipling, whom +private soldiers call their brother and father; so the situation was +amusing. + +Just then a police sergeant rode up and said, "Please, sir, I lived ten +years with the man as you get your tobacco from in Brighton; anything I +can do for you?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Kipling, "I want this man taken away and killed!" + +The youth was much confused, but he had done his duty; so Private +Dickson had his boots, and great was the mirth and loud the cheering +about the tents of B Company. + +This police protection of the camps was surprisingly close, but one +learned the reason when one had moved about for a little while among the +military authorities. For here, even in the heart of British territory, +the Boer spy was feared; he was thought to be the servant of an agency +hardly less invisible and powerful than the Open Eye of the Mormons; and +one was told that his machinations were as patent as his secrecy was +perfect. One morning a section of the railings surrounding picketed +horses would be found demolished; on another the whole milk supply of a +camp would be infected by some poisonous bacillus. It seems almost +incredible, but it is true that all such mishaps were attributed to Boer +treachery. In the popular imagination the Boer agent moved undiscovered +amid the daily life of Cape Town; at noon in the busy street; in the +club smoke-room; in the hotel dining-room--a woman this time, arrayed in +frocks from Paris, and keeping a table charmed by her conversation. And +yet the objects of this superstitious dread were allowed to have +qualities that made some of our officers dislike their business. An +English officer said to me one night: + +"One can't say it here without being misunderstood, but I love the +Boers, even though I am fighting them. My father was a colonist, and +these men were like brothers of his. I have been in houses here where I +knew there were guns stored for the enemy, and where the sons would +probably be fighting me in the field, and the people have almost cried +when I have been going away; neither of us talked about it, but each +knew what was in the other's mind. People say they're like animals, and +perhaps they are; at least they're like animals in this, that once you +make them distrust you, you'll never win their confidence again. And +they don't trust us." + +That officer is well enough known, and universally admired as a smart +soldier; but not everyone who sees the keen soldier, anxious above all +things for his own country's success, realises with what conflicting +emotions he goes to the fight. + +I was anxious to see a real live Boer, as I thought it quite improbable +that I should see one at the front; half the officers and men who had +been wounded had never seen one of the enemy. So, having heard that our +Boer prisoners--450 in number--had been landed from Her Majesty's ship +_Penelope_ and encamped at Simonstown, I went there to visit them. + +From Cape Town the land stretches an arm southward to the Cape of Good +Hope and Bellows Rock, where it divides the Atlantic from the Indian +Ocean. The mainland runs about as far southward, so that the arm partly +encloses the waters of False Bay; and in the hollow of its elbow nestles +Simonstown. This is a cluster of white houses on the sea-beat foot of a +hill that sweeps upward to the giddy white clouds. All day long at that +season the hill is steeped in sunshine; all day long its lower slopes +reverberate to the assault of the rollers while the summit is folded in +the silence of the upper air. Close in-shore half a dozen cruisers were +lying like rocks among the deep moving waters; the St. George's ensign +floated from the shore flagstaffs, and an air of whiteness and tidiness +proclaimed the naval station. + +The railway from Cape Town runs so close to the shore of the bay that +you cannot hear yourself speak for the noise of bursting surf. It +brought me to Simonstown in the full glare and heat of the afternoon. +The prisoners were encamped about a hundred yards out of the town, and +as we walked through the street we spoke with pity of men imprisoned on +such a day. What we expected I do not quite know--dungeons perhaps, or +cells hewn out of the rock--but it was with something like a shock of +disappointment or relief (according to our notions of appropriate +treatment for prisoners) that we caught our first view of the +encampment. Just beyond the town the hillside takes a gentler slope, +dipping a lawn of sea-grass into the water; and it was upon this +charming spot, enclosed with a double fence, that the prisoners were +quartered. We pressed our faces against the wires and stared, much as +one stares in the Zoo at a cageful of newly-arrived animals that have +cost a great deal of money and maybe a life or two. Fine, big men, +stalwart and burned brown by the sun; stern-looking, but with that air +of large contentment they wear who live much alone and out of doors; +massive of jaw and forehead, moulded after a grand pattern. They were +lying on the grass, standing in little groups, sauntering up and down +in the hot sunshine, playing cricket with ponderous energy, bathing and +sporting in the clear apple-green water. It was not their contentment +that surprised me, but the perfection of their circumstances. They were +encamped on such a spot as people pay large sums for the privilege of +pitching tents upon; they were numerous enough to make themselves +independent of alien company; the sun was shining, the sea breeze +blowing; they had food and drink, and tobacco to smoke; where they +bathed an eight-oar gig from the _Powerful_ swung on the swell, not so +much to prevent escape as to render assistance to tired swimmers. + +So our prisoners blinked in the sun and listened to the organ-note of +the surf, and brooded on the most beautiful picture I have ever seen: +masses of bare rock towering into the bright sky, and an endless pageant +of seas rolling grandly homeward from the south, from the infinite +purple and blue of the Indian Ocean, grounding at the edge of the green +lawn and showering snow upon the hot rocks. + + + + +VI + +IN THE EDDIES OF A GREAT WHIRL + + +When I arrived at Modder River Camp, on February 17th, the guns were +being hauled back from the hills into camp, tents were being struck, and +waggon transport organised. The plain was a cloud of hot, whirling sand +that shrouded near objects as closely as a fog, but, instead of the damp +coldness of a fog, the plain was radiating heat that sent the +thermometer inside one's tent up to 135 degrees. The place that a few +days before had been resounding with artillery was now silent and (by +comparison) deserted; buck waggons took the place of gun carriages, and +the ambulance cart carried mails from home. One thought of Modder River +as being surely at "the front," but here was the place, here were the +troops, the guns, the hospitals, the sand-enveloped cemetery, and yet +one seemed to be no nearer than before to actual war. As for news, there +was less even than at Cape Town. A few telegrams, days old, fluttered +from the notice-board, and in at headquarters I found that we who had +been sixty hours on the journey from Cape Town were hailed as +newsbearers. There was a press censor, yet one could not send press +telegrams; headquarters had moved on to Jacobsdaal; telegrams must go +through headquarters, and the wire to Jacobsdaal was only to be used for +military purposes. This was something like a block, so Mr. Amery, of the +_Times_, and I, resolved to ride over to Jacobsdaal and see if we could +get any news. + +[Illustration: MR. G. LENTHAL CHEATLE, F.R.C.S. + +_Consulting Surgeon to Her Majesty's Forces in South Africa_] + +We crossed the Riet and Modder drifts, and passed over the island where +the shells and bullets had been singing so shrilly on the day of the big +fight. When we passed the birds were singing instead, sending down with +the cooing pigeons a chorus from the trees. No one could tell us whether +or not the twelve miles to Jacobsdaal were free from the enemy; people +thought so, but they were not quite sure. So we rode along, observing +the dry veldt not without interest, but the lonely road heaved up and +down over the plain and revealed little sign of human occupation. Once +we passed a convoy carrying stores to the front, and at about the eighth +mile a little Boer camp of about a dozen tents, all deserted, and +apparently in haste, for there were half-emptied tins of provisions and +a few cooking utensils scattered about, and a dead horse lay by the +roadside. The heat was very great, and was only supportable when one +kept a drenched handkerchief under one's hat. Indeed, officers who had +come straight out from India protested that they never felt there +anything like the heat of that South African drought. + +Jacobsdaal, a little white town or village near the river, appeared at +last from a ridge of the plain. It contained an inn, and the inn +contained cups of tea--a fact in connection with Jacobsdaal that I shall +long remember. In about an hour we were ready to look about a little, +but at headquarters we could only learn that the front had again moved +forward. We could not advance without transport, and we could get no +quarters, so we lay down in a stony field under the stars, and made a +poor shift at sleeping through a concert of complaining oxen and cocks +cheering all night long, with an undertone of rumbling wheels on the +distant road. + +Next morning early I rode back to Modder, where I collected with +difficulty two sorry but useful nags and a Cape cart. On my way out I +passed a sentry, who brought me up with the usual cry, "Halt! who goes +there?" + +"Friend," said I. + +"Advance, friend, and give the countersign." + +Now I did not know the countersign, and I had to tell him so. The +private soldier is sometimes zealous and often stupid, and occasionally +both; and in the pause that followed my answer I heard the click of his +rifle. In that second of time I remembered a story which I had heard the +day before of a sentry at Modder, who, when the guard came up in the +dark to relieve him, made the usual challenge. "It's only us, old man," +said the sergeant. "None of your blooming us," said the sentry, and shot +the sergeant dead. + +However the sentry was soon persuaded, and when I passed the outpost, +the sentry who should really have stopped me and examined my passport +treated me as a field-officer and presented arms, so I rode away back to +the dust of Modder. There I collected as much forage as possible, and +the next day rode back with my caravan to Jacobsdaal. Once more there +was a block. The front forty miles away; no more forage, no rations +even; and I starved officially, but was entertained privately by the +commandant. The front was reaching away forward along the road to +Bloemfontein; and as telegrams had to be censored there and handed in at +Modder River, fifty miles away, and as I had no despatch riders, I +decided that the game was up on this line. A dose of fever helped my +decision, and held me afterwards at Modder when great things were +happening at Paardeberg. But for the day during which I stayed in +Jacobsdaal I studied the little town and its alien inhabitants. + +Jacobsdaal stands four-square on the northern bank of the Riet River, +eleven miles east-south-east from Modder; and the manner of its +occupation, as described to me by General Wavell (who captured it on the +15th of February and remained in it as commandant), seems to have been +surprisingly neat and effectual. General Chermside, commanding the 14th +Brigade, left Enslin on the 11th and marched to Ramdam, where he was +joined by General Wavell, commanding the 15th Brigade, who had moved +from Graspan. From Ramdam the two brigades marched almost due east to +Dekiel's Drift, which they were delayed in crossing during the whole of +the 13th. They started again on the next evening and made a night march +to Wegdraai, where they arrived at four o'clock on the morning of the +15th. An officer of the North Staffordshire Regiment told me that he +never saw anything so impressive as that night march. The horizon was +level all round like the sea, and all night long it was alive with +streams of lightning that lighted up the plain with the brigade crawling +across it through the thunder. On the 15th General Wavell's brigade was +detached, and at midday started to march upon Jacobsdaal. The brigade +was strengthened by about seventy men of the C.I.V. (who acted as +scouts) and by a battery of artillery. The North Staffordshires acted as +advance guard, the South Wales Borderers and the Cheshire Regiment +formed the main body, and the East Lancashires brought up the rear--half +a battalion as reserves and half as rear-guard with the baggage. + +The position was an admirable one for the enemy. General Wavell had the +town ahead and the river on the left parallel with his line of march; +and as he approached, the Boers (about 400 strong) opened a brisk fire +on his flank from the river-bed. The fire was directed at the C.I.V.'s, +who were advancing on the right bank of the river; but it had a double +objective, since what missed the C.I.V.'s had a fair chance of finding +the Staffordshires, who were advancing on a parallel ridge still further +to the right. The C.I.V.'s had a good many horses killed, and many of +the men were wounded and "dropped," but I believe only one was killed. +Finding the attack was coming from the left, the General showed his +force on that side, at the same time shelling the south-east corner of +the town. He would do no more because of the women and children in the +place; and, considering his disadvantage, the Boers with a little more +determination might have held the town. After showing on the left +General Wavell swept round on the right, sending the North +Staffordshires towards the north side. There they entered, and the place +was, so to speak, nipped between the two arms of the brigade, with the +artillery in the middle ready to speak. The Boers now broke and fled +south-west and north-west, followed by showers of shrapnel. "It was an +awfully pretty sight," the General remarked to me, "to see the shrapnel +bursting all round in showers; one of the prettiest things I have ever +seen." The enemy had open country and soon got away, but in the meantime +the Union Jack was blowing bravely over Jacobsdaal, and we were in +possession of a most important square on the big chessboard of the +Orange Free State. + +Of course the chief importance of the position was that it formed a +depot for stores and a halting-place for convoys on the way to the +front. The General, with Captain Carleton (brigade-major) and Captain +Davidson (A.D.C.), was under fire during the whole of this brisk little +action; and Captain Carleton told me that the bullets were whizzing past +as briskly at two thousand yards as at two hundred. It need hardly be +said that since there were only three staff-officers, whose lives were +of the utmost value to the expedition, they spent most of their time in +and about the front firing lines. As soon as the General had occupied +the square he turned his men out and bivouacked them on the plain round +the village. They were exhausted after an eight-mile march, with this +action at the end of it; hot and thirsty too, suffering from such heat +and thirst as is only known in dusty deserts like the Karoo in time of +drought. There was a certain amount of looting--chiefly of cloth and +stuffs from the shops; but it was suddenly brought to an end by Lord +Roberts's startling order that any man found in the act of looting, or +any man against whom acts of looting could be proved, would be hanged, +and his battalion sent down to the base. There was no more looting. +"There _were_ three ducks found with their necks wrung," the General +admitted, "but we paid for them!" + +The occupation of Jacobsdaal was, of course, only an incident in the +great whirl of operations which began on the 3rd of February, when +General Macdonald with the Highland Brigade moved westward from Modder +River and seized Koodoesberg. Hitherto we had been waging a very +straightforward kind of war, and Lord Roberts's masterly tactics between +Modder River and Paardeberg were the first hint we had given our enemy +that we also could be cunning. When I arrived at Modder River the wheels +of this great operation were spinning, but Modder itself was in an eddy, +where there was no movement and little news of any. French was racing to +head Cronje off on the north of the Modder River, and the main body of +the army was advancing in his rear, but we at Modder River knew next to +nothing of these movements. + +It is worth while to recall the principal events in Lord Roberts's +operations near Modder River. The seizing of Koodoesberg was, of course, +intended to divert the attention of the Boers from the points at which +the real movement was taking place. On the 8th of the month General +Macdonald was recalled to Modder River; on the 9th Lord Roberts arrived +there and assumed command; on the 12th General French marched from +Ramdam, where he had been collecting a big cavalry force, seized +Dekiel's Drift and Klip Drift on the Modder, and the next day occupied a +commanding position on the north of the river, capturing three of the +enemy's laagers. On the 15th, having traversed Cronje's communications, +French reached Kimberley and dislodged the enemy from the southern side +of the town; they evacuated Magersfontein and Spytfontein, and retreated +to Koodoesrand, contriving in their turn to slip through our containing +lines. Jacobsdaal was captured on the same day, and on the 16th of +February began the fighting at Paardeberg, which was only brought to an +end by Cronje's surrender on the 27th. + +However, one was only (as I have said) in the stagnant middle of things +at Jacobsdaal, and the outer currents did not reach us. From our point +of view Jacobsdaal was not an important station on the war-path to +Bloemfontein; it was simply a place of insufficient food, bad smells, +choking dust, and many hospitals. The Red Cross flag flew from all the +churches and every available house; furniture was piled in verandahs, +and pews were stacked in churchyards. + +Enteric was rife there; but could a man, officer or private, who had +been out for twelve hours on foraging or convoy duty, sit down and boil +his water and then wait for a drink until it cooled? Because the water +looked clear and innocent they drank it by the quart, and therefore the +hospitals were full. Jacobsdaal is responsible for many of the +inglorious deaths of "active service." + +Early one morning, while the air was yet fresh and cool, General Wavell +took me round with him on his hospital inspection. He is one of the +small, keen, kind-eyed men who emerge in the senior ranks of the army. +One never meets them as subalterns, and they represent the army's best +workmanship in the matter of moulding and finishing. We were still +talking about the "pretty" little action when we entered the first +hospital--a small Dutch church. I should have said that besides our own +field hospitals at Jacobsdaal there was a Boer hospital and one of the +German Red Cross Society. + +This first was the Boer hospital, and even at this early hour the air +was pungent with the reek of strong tobacco. The General spoke to all +the patients, and had a kind word for everyone, and they all greeted him +with gratitude and cordiality. Their one cry was, "We've had as much as +we want. If we could only get back to our farms!" Most of those to whom +I spoke said that they had never wanted to fight us, never hoped to beat +us, and were heartily sick of the whole affair. "I wish I could send you +back to your homes, men," said the General; "but I must obey orders." +They chatted away to us, and said they hoped the General would come in +often. It was much the same in the German and English houses, only here +Boers and Englishmen lay side by side, sharing pipes and papers and talk +with each other. Truly, animosity ceases at the hospital door; and the +attitude of these men who had been menacing each other's lives and now +lay stricken together was not unlike the shame-faced amity of children +who have been caught fighting, and are made to share a punishment. + +And no one was more concerned and depressed by the whole business than +the brisk little General, who had been speaking almost caressingly of +his shells and shrapnel. He is surely a good soldier who fights at as +small a cost as possible, disregards that cost while he fights, and +afterwards so behaves that his enemies like to take him by the hand. + +Hospitals, where so many virtues too tender for the airs of the outside +world have time to bloom, are generally attractive rather than repulsive +places, and I was on that account the more surprised to find myself +repelled by these field-hospitals. To see men lying about distorted, +impotent, disfigured by all kinds of fantastic deformities, their wounds +still new, themselves lying near the spot where they fell; and to +remember the cause of it all, and how vague that cause really was to the +men who were suffering for it; the grossness and brutality of +mutilation--here a man with lead in his bowels, there a man with his +face obliterated, one man groaning and spitting from bleeding lungs, +another, struck by a great piece of flying iron, silent under the shock +of news that his sight was gone for ever; the feeling that these men +were suffering on our account, and the realisation that every one of us +has had his share in the responsibility for the whole, makes a load that +one cannot, or should not, slough away in a moment. + + + + +VII + +MAGERSFONTEIN AND KIMBERLEY + + +There was a train going to Kimberley with cattle and forage on the +afternoon of Thursday, February 22nd, and the stagnation of everything +except dust at Modder being complete, I jumped on the twenty-ninth truck +as the engine was taking up the slack of the couplings and was +immediately jerked forward on the newly-mended road to the north. I had +nothing with me except what I stood in and a waterproof; but as the +journey of twenty-four miles occupied four hours, and as the heavens +poured down a deluge during three hours and twenty-five minutes of the +time I was glad to have even that. The line passes beside Magersfontein +and through gaps in six ridges behind it, affording an excellent view of +the whole position. That position seemed to me practically impregnable. +To have won a way to Kimberley upon this road would probably have meant +six bloody battles, always with the likelihood of a reverse after each +for the attacking army. Imagine a wide and perfectly level plain with a +ridge standing straight across it like a great railway embankment, but +with arms at each end curving towards the front as the arms of a trench +are curved; behind the ridge, and higher, two or three kopjes which +command it; behind the kopjes another ridge like the first, with more +kopjes to command it; the same thing repeated half a dozen times, +without another eminence within fifteen miles. Imagine this, and you see +the country between Modder River and Kimberley. And throughout the +position every piece of open ground was slashed and seamed by trenches +and works, constructed as though for the inspection of an examiner in +engineering--beautiful, artistic, formidable work that filled the mind +of every British officer who saw it with envy and admiration. Behind the +hills were little huts and hiding-places contrived within the shadow of +the low, thick trees that grow there, so that not a soul lived out of +cover. Captain Austin, R.A., who shared the humidity of my truck, and +who had been in charge of a 6-inch field-gun trained on Magersfontein at +eight thousand yards, told me that he could see through his glasses the +whole working of the enemy's admirable system. They had a look-out man +sitting at the far end of a long tunnel of rock and stone; when we fired +he gave the signal, and the Boers got into cover; and twenty seconds +afterwards, when our shell, beautifully aimed and timed, arrived on the +hill, it spent itself upon the flinty rock. Then the Boers showed their +heads and fired; and their shell swept through its arc and exploded, +generally finding its mark. + +The battle of Magersfontein has been the subject of more prolonged +discussion than any other single event in the war. Coming on the day +after our reverse at Stormberg, it completed the momentary +demoralisation of a great mass of people at home who had expected the +campaign to resolve itself into a sweeping march on Pretoria. Like the +affair of Majuba, it has been sentimentally magnified out of all +proportion to its military importance. On the strength of the emotions +roused by our disaster, thousands graduated as military critics and +cried aloud for the recall of Lord Methuen. Private soldiers with +shattered nerves wrote home hysterical narratives and criticisms which +were published and commented upon, and treated as valuable evidence. We +lost our heads for the moment; there is no doubt of that; but people who +are thus betrayed into panic will not be appeased until they have made a +scapegoat of someone. Lord Methuen was, of course, the obvious +sacrifice. Why did he make a frontal attack? Why did he fail? + +It is well to remember that Lord Methuen was being pressed to relieve +Kimberley, which represented its case as extreme. He must do something. +Naturally he designed the kind of attack which the forces at his +disposal were best suited to deliver. A long turning movement was out of +the question since he had not the mounted men for it. As for the +"frontal attack" at Magersfontein, of which we have heard so much, Lord +Methuen never designed and did not deliver a direct frontal attack. His +plan was to surprise the extreme left of Cronje's position, and at the +same time contain the whole of his front with a strong force. And no +competent critic has ventured to suggest any better disposal of the +forces then available for the purposes of attack. No, Lord Methuen has +not been criticised and abused because he used his force in one way +rather than in another, but simply because he failed. + +There is very often more to be learned from a failure than a success, +and this particular failure is worthy of a little study. Everyone knows +that the reason why the attack on Magersfontein failed was, first, +because the Highland Brigade lost its way and came unexpectedly into +contact with the enemy's position, and, secondly, because they failed to +rally after the first confusion, when (in the opinion of many experts +who were present) a little confidence would probably have saved the day. +If any single precaution was neglected, if any pains were spared in the +reconnoitring of the position or in securing the proper conduct of the +troops towards the place from which their attack was to be delivered, +then Lord Methuen was absolutely to blame. But the more that is known +about this unfortunate affair the more clearly it will be seen that Lord +Methuen neglected no precaution and spared no pains. The rain and pitch +darkness were the act of God, and no general in the world can prevail +when Nature is so completely in league with the enemy as she was on the +night of Magersfontein. + +I do not care to dwell on the malice and cruel unfairness of many of the +attacks on Lord Methuen, because, for my country's sake, I hope they +will soon be forgotten; but if anyone should still suppose that these +great hysterical waves of public feeling select their victims +impartially, I would ask him to compare the battle of Magersfontein +with the fruitless attack delivered by Lord Kitchener on the Paardeberg +laager on February 18th. In one case time was working against Lord +Methuen, and threatening to exhaust the endurance of Kimberley; in the +other case time was working with Lord Kitchener, limiting the resistance +of Cronje to a calculable number of days and hours. In one case there +was a small force which, owing to the nature of its composition, could +only be used in one way; in the other case there was a large and +splendidly-assorted force, which gave opportunity for an infinite +variety of combinations. In one case the attack was turned by +circumstances which no human being could have prevented into a frontal +contact; in the other case that form of attack was deliberately chosen. +In one case the casualties were about nine hundred; in the other, about +sixteen hundred. And in one case the general officer commanding has been +insulted and attacked and defamed, while the officer responsible for the +second affair is still regarded by the masses as a consummate master of +field operations. + +This is a long digression; I have made it here because the subject of +it is inseparable from my memory of the dark and stony ranges which I +saw closely for the first time through the pitiless rain of that +February day. Miserable as the journey was, its passage through the +country occupied so lately by the enemy made it interesting. The way in +which our sappers had toiled to repair the line was beyond praise. Every +telegraph post had been blasted in two pieces by dynamite; every culvert +had been blown up; nearly every insulator smashed; the wires (about +seven in number) had been cut every few hundred yards; yet within four +days from the relief of Kimberley trains had begun to go up the whole +distance and telegraphic communication had been restored. I saw the work +that had been done, and the difficulty of it, and was proud of the way +in which it was accomplished. Not that there is little to be proud of in +the work of the army. On the contrary, one is amazed to see what is +accomplished in spite of the system, amazed to find what can be done by +able men against the most determined opposition from their own side; but +the great fact that was brought out by the earlier part of this campaign +is that the man of intelligence and initiative and ability and energy +was fast in the clutches of the Red Tape spider, which fussed round him +until he was enveloped in the scarlet web and impotent to use brains or +energy. Engineering is one of the few things of which corporate bodies +admit their ignorance; therefore the sappers got through much admirable +work quietly and quickly. + +The approach to Kimberley with its mine shafts and hills of blue dust +reminded me of the Black Country. What one noticed first with regard to +the town was the number of holes and shelters and warrens into which +people had crept for safety. Hundreds of them, like human anthills; and +one thought, What strange place is this, where men fear to walk upright? +The menu at the principal hotel, where I dined, would (if it had been +printed) have consisted of one item--horseflesh. I noticed that the +residents ate it eagerly, and even talked about it; but most of us +strangers arose hungry and went quickly into the fresh air. + +That night and the next morning I walked through the town and talked to +people who had been living there; and it was when I talked to the people +that I began to realise what had been happening. The few ruined +buildings and riddled walls conveyed little to me. But when one found +man after man thin, listless, and (in spite of the joy of salvation) +dispirited; talking with a tired voice and hopeless air, and with a +queer, shifty, nervous, scared look in the eye, one began to understand. + +The thing was scarcely human, scarcely of this world. These men were not +like oneself. If you threaten an inexperienced boxer with a quick play +of fists on every side of his head, even though you never touch him, you +may completely demoralise him; he shies at every feint and every +movement. And these people had been in a situation comparable with that +of the poor boxer. Think of it. The signal from the conning tower, the +clamour of bells and whistles, the sudden silence amongst the people, +the rush for shelter, and then the hum and roar, like wind in a chimney, +of the huge iron cylinder flying through the air, potent for death. And +then, perhaps, the noise of a falling building, or the scream of some +human creature who is nothing but a mass of offence when you come up +five seconds later. Think of this repeated six or seven--sometimes sixty +or seventy--times during the daylight hours, and can you wonder that men +should lose their placid manners and scuttle like rats into their holes +at the dreaded sound? And all this fear and horror to be borne upon an +empty stomach, for the horrors of partial starvation were added to the +constant fear of a violent death. Mothers had to see their babies die +because there was no milk or other suitable nourishment; a baby cannot +live on horse and mule flesh. There was hardly a coloured baby left +alive; and that one statement accounts for whole lifetimes of misery and +suffering. + +It was not until the Boers had mounted their 6-inch gun on the 8th of +February that the panic began. People had got used to the smaller +shells, which could often be dodged; besides, the enemy did not fire so +many of them. But when the big gun began its seventy rounds a day people +lost their self-command and began to dig and scratch in the earth for +shelter. Thousands went down the mines and sat all day in the bowels of +the earth. Men walking in the streets jumped if a mule kicked an iron +plate; they screamed when the signal was given; they broke and ran and +burrowed into shelter. Yet so fast do some men anchor themselves to +routine that many kept their offices open and did business--all the +while, however, with one eye on the paper and the other glancing through +the door or window; ever with one ear turned to the speaker and the +other noting the rustle of paper stirred by the breeze and the hum of +wind under the door. + +That only twenty people were killed is no fact at all in connection with +the panic; what really matters is that seventy times a day something +happened which might have killed a dozen people. + +I have only to add, in case I am accused of exaggerating the state of +terror, that the people who went through this ordeal have not +necessarily the clearest conception of it. I came out of the safe outer +world and saw their faces and eyes, and, if I had not heard a word, I +should have known. + +One other thing. A despatch sent by me to _The Manchester Guardian_ +contained this sentence complimentary to the De Beers Company: "The +condition of the town would have been deplorable but for the relief +administration of the De Beers Company." + +That sentence was not made, but suggested by my good friend the censor; +and it will serve to indicate how great was the bowing down before the +house of De Beers. I wish to disavow any compliment I may have appeared +to pay that company in my telegram, for I think they did their bare +duty. What they did was to provide a ration of soup for the inhabitants +as long as some bullock meat which they possessed lasted; to organise +relief works by making roads and fences in a town which belongs chiefly +to themselves; and to allow people to shelter in their mines. Perhaps +they could do no more. Considering everything, and remembering some +facts in connection with this and other political troubles, I ask, Could +they well have done less? + + + + +VIII + +PAARDEBERG + + +From Modder River to Paardeberg the road rolls over a bare yet beautiful +plain, brown and dry before the rain, but after a heavy rain bursting +into endless stretches of purple and scarlet flowers of the karoo. I +went by Jacobsdaal. Early on Wednesday morning, February 28th, I rode +out from the little town with General Wavell, who put me a couple of +miles on the road. You are to understand that this was something of an +adventure. I had nothing but a Cape cart and a couple of horses to draw +it--a thing that holds, with one's kit, about three hundred pounds of +forage. I was going to a camp where I could get no forage and hardly any +food; there was not a despatch-rider to be had at Modder; my telegrams +must be ridden back from the front, now thirty and soon to be ninety +miles away. Sickness had tethered me to Modder River camp throughout the +exciting week that had ended with Cronje's surrender; and now on +February 28th I was following the army, feeling like one who should +enter a theatre as the curtain was falling on the first act. + +The thirty-mile ride through the lonely country would have been +delightful but for the dismal trail left by the war--carcases of horses +and oxen lining the road, a carcase every few hundred yards surrounded +by a gorged flock of aasvoegels, the foulest of the vulture tribe. With a +nervous horse the passage of these pestilential spots was made difficult +as well as revolting, and it was with a feeling of relief that one saw +the tents and waggons of the Paardeberg camp by the river trees. + +Along the road, I should have said, the trail was one of devastation. In +the midst of the dry veldt one sometimes came upon a farmhouse with its +grove of trees, and spring, and pleasant fields; but always the farm was +derelict, windows broken, rooms gutted, stock destroyed, with often some +poor abandoned creature tethered to a tree, and waiting, in the midst of +the dead silence of the empty country, to be fed and watered. + +At Paardeberg I found the headquarters camp situated on the river bank, +a place pretty to look at but horrible to be near. The only water to +drink was that from a well by the river--water of a dark and strange +colour; and even while one drank it one sat and watched the carcases of +horses floating down the brown stream from the deserted Boer laager a +mile above. For Cronje and his men had surrendered, not only because of +losses or lack of ammunition, but chiefly, it was said, because the same +conditions that made our camp almost unbearable made his laager in the +river-bed impossible for human accommodation. So he surrendered, after a +resistance that will live in history as one of the bravest pieces of +human endurance. + +On my way down I had met a great company of men moving over the plain +surrounded by mounted infantry. These were our prisoners--a noble bag of +more than four thousand. But now that they had gone there was no reason +why the camp should be maintained at Paardeberg, and at noon we +proceeded to thread our way eastward--a long procession of men and +horses and waggons--to the farm of Osfontein, where the force was being +concentrated for the final advance. The delay was fortunate for the +correspondents, for those of us who had only a scanty stock of +provisions and forage could send our carts back once more to Modder for +a supply. In the meantime nothing was likely to happen until a +fortnight's stock of provisions and forage for the army had been +collected. + +Before leaving Paardeberg, and in the intervals of arranging the mere +details of living--which on this line of advance were harassing and +formidable--I rode over to the deserted Boer laager, or as near to it as +was safe. The scene was strange and significant. Imagine the river, deep +down between steep terraced banks, flowing through the level plain. On +the left side our position, well entrenched, with a few kopjes about two +thousand yards from the bank. On the right was the enemy's position, +which extended further down the banks of the river and up to the very +edge of our side. On the far bank I saw a line of hundreds of transport +waggons and carts, all empty, many of them smashed and broken by our +shell fire. But it was the river-bed itself that was most interesting. +The water was very low, and there was any amount of cover on the steep +banks, and this was increased by a number of small pits or trenches--not +long trenches like ours, but simple little holes or graves dug in the +banks, with room enough for a couple of men. Graves they proved to be in +many cases, for where the Boers were shot in them the trenches were +simply filled in and the bodies thus rudely buried. But how independent +they were! No bulky commissariat department, no army of cooks and +butchers--every man with his own kettle and biltong or canned beef, his +own rug or sleeping bag, his own water-bottle; so that when he came into +such a position as this he could remain in it for days together. One saw +many pathetic things in these trenches--garments and personal belongings +evidently made by hands that did not work for hire. + +In two trenches I found Dutch Bibles; in one a diary of the last few +weeks; in almost all some sign that human beings and not machines had +been at work there; and on all sides spent shells and shrapnel cases and +cartridges, to remind one of the nature of their work. When one +followed, as I had followed so far, in the shadow of the war and not in +the midst of it, in the track of the Red Cross and the wayside cemetery +instead of within sound and sight of the thing itself, one saw a very +dark and unrelieved side of it--the shadow without the substance, the +effect without the cause. + + + + +PART III + +LORD ROBERTS'S ADVANCE TO BLOEMFONTEIN + + + + +IX + +THE BOER PANIC AT OSFONTEIN + + +The carefully prepared attack of Lord Roberts on the Boer position at +Osfontein was delivered on Wednesday, March 7th, with the result that +the enemy fled without attempting to defend his extremely strong +position. To understand the gravity of the attack you must have been +there during the last few days of preparation, when hills and ridges, +subsequently abandoned in a moment, were being strengthened and armed +with trenches and guns. On Sunday and Monday, the 4th and 5th of March, +I rode round the whole position, and, like everyone else, was led to +expect a very severe struggle. The position was roughly this. The great +plain through which the river winds is broken five miles east of +Osfontein by a long range of kopjes extending about fourteen miles north +and south. All these kopjes were until the day of our attack occupied by +a force of 7,000 Boers, but to the west of them were a few lower hills +and ridges which we held. We did not know exactly how far to the east +the Boer kopjes extended; that is to say, we did not know how broad +might be the line of their defences; all we knew was that there were +other kopjes to the eastward, and that the enemy probably held them. Our +force, 30,000 strong, was disposed over a square of perhaps eight miles; +yet if you had ridden all day in circles round the farm of Osfontein, +which was Lord Roberts's headquarters, you might have wondered whether +there were even 5,000 men, so scattered were our camps. The whole air of +the place was that of almost pastoral quietness, and the only sound to +be heard was the lowing of oxen. + +Out in the advanced pickets the silence was deeper, but it was not +pastoral. I rode out on the Monday to a little kopje, our most advanced +post--a place within rifle range of the opposite Boer position, about +2,000 yards away. Over the plain, here green and sweet with the smell of +tiny flowers newly burst out by the heavy rains, I rode out from under +the shelter of a big kopje held by Kitchener's Horse. Between it and the +little hill held by the picket the ground was exposed, but a man and a +horse make a poor target at extreme range, and the danger was small. + +We cantered along in the midst of the great harmonious silence of +populous fields; the locusts waltzed in the sun, the little mere-cats +stood and watched us for a moment and then scampered into their holes; +the ants were toiling busily beneath a thousand heaps. The plain +stretched to the horizon, with the stone-covered kopjes standing out +like larger ant-heaps. + +Something sang in the sunny air above my head, and I flicked with my +whip to drive the locust away. Immediately afterwards I heard the sharp +double report of a Mauser, like a postman's knock, and after that again +the shrill moan, infinitely melancholy, of a flying bullet; and away to +my left, about two hundred yards, the sand rose in a fountain. It was my +first experience under fire, and I confess that for ten seconds I gave +myself up. During those ten seconds I was altogether absorbed in +watching a mere-cat trying to roll something into his house; then I +began to see that I was not in any particular danger at so extreme a +range, and I lost my interest in the mere-cat. But for all that my pony +had to do his best over the space that separated us from the picket. +There were a few more shots, and always the shrill moan, but in two +minutes we were behind the shelter of the little hill. + +I climbed up its steep side and found the handful of men, with an +officer, lying among the stones on the windy height. There is no +comfort in picket work. This officer and his men had to lie for +twenty-four hours at a time without shelter from sun or rain, and with +nothing to eat but bully beef and hard-tack biscuits. Always their +glasses were sweeping the enemy's position, as the officer on a ship's +bridge examines the horizon; every little movement of men or cattle was +carefully noted. + +Presently I had an illustration of the spirit in which lives are taken +in war, a demonstration of what had been happening to myself a few +minutes before. Out of the shoulder of a hill three Boers came on +ponies, and began to walk leisurely across to the next kopje. Now +immediately in front of our hill was another and smaller one, too +inconsiderable to be occupied permanently, but useful for commanding the +Boer front at rifle range. As we lay watching the three specks crossing +the field, "Sergeant," said the officer, "take a few men down to that +kopje, and see if you can't get a shot at the fellows." And off went the +sergeant and a dozen men, as pleased as Punch. + +Some time elapsed before they reached the hillock, and still the three +Boers moved slowly and unsuspectingly across our view. After an anxious +pause the rifles cracked out, one after another, like a rip-rap, and at +the same time the Boers seemed to fly instead of to crawl. I then saw +through my glasses that one of the men pitched backwards from his horse, +which still fled, riderless now, beside the others, who were soon out of +range. The men beside me cheered, but ten minutes ago I had been in a +position exactly similar to that of the Boers; we are all egoists in +such a case; it was myself that I saw out in the plain, my own pony +rushing away scared; and I did not join in the acclamations. But all is +changed in war-time; men are no more than game; the excitement is the +old savage one--the lust of blood and the chase. + +Late on the Tuesday night we heard that the attack was to be made early +on the morrow. So we rose at three and rode out in the starlight through +the busy camp, where the flashlights were talking and the fires blazing. +I rode round to the south about eight miles, and presently the whole +Boer position stood out black before the fires of dawn, and when the sun +came up it showed one division of our troops--the Sixth--creeping round +to the south where the enemy's position terminated in seven small +kopjes. It was beautiful to see the division advance down the slope with +the screen of mounted infantry opening out in front like a fan, with +another and more slender screen, like another fan, in front of them +again. + +The sun was well up, but I had not yet heard a gun go off. Presently +there was a report, and the sand rose in a column before the kopjes. +This was a 4.7 naval gun finding its range with common shell. Again the +invisible gun behind me boomed, again the weird, prolonged whirtling +overhead; the long wait--perhaps for fifteen seconds; then a cloud of +hideous vapour right on the kopje; then the report of the exploding +shell. This happened perhaps half a dozen times; the well-aimed shells +dropped now behind, now on the hills; there was no reply; and in half an +hour the mounted infantry were riding over the kopjes. The enemy had +simply broken and fled towards their central position. + +From the north side, where the Ninth and Seventh Divisions were, one +could hear the same sounds, but no rifle fire. After our guns had +cleared the seven kopjes a kind of Sabbath stillness fell upon the land. + +Lying in the grass, listening to the droning flies, I tried to tell +myself that I was watching a momentous battle; that matters of life and +death were on hand: but the wind laughed through the grasses at the very +notion, and the timid steinbuck leaped up quite close to me, as if to +say, "Who's afraid?" + +Behind me a brigade was winding to the south with a movement almost +lyrical; but no man seemed to be doing anything that could be called +fighting. I decided that nothing more was to be seen on the south, and +started to cross northward between the positions. My path was in what +ought to have been the hottest zone of fire; but the hares leapt in the +sun and the grasshoppers hummed with delight. While crossing northward I +met the advance scouts of a regiment of mounted infantry advancing +where, according to all ordinary laws, no mounted infantry could or +ought to have been--advancing directly on the central Boer position. + +"Come along," said the Colonel; "I believe the whole position is empty; +we're going to scale those ridges." + +Now these very ridges were the ones to which I had seen the Boers +retreat, about a thousand of them, half an hour ago, and I told the +Colonel so. "But they must have gone," he said, "or else they would be +firing at us now." + +It was perfectly true. The whole company was halted, while we chatted, +within easy fire of the enemy's position; a few pom-poms would have made +a shocking mess amongst the men and horses. But the hills were clothed +with silence as with a garment. + +"Anyhow, I'm going to see," said the Colonel. "Come along." + +So we cantered on up to the foot of the hill, up the slope, over the +hill, and not a shot was fired at us. The excitement was tremendous; we +were riding slap into what looked like a hornets' nest. There were +kopjes flanking us now on both sides; I wished that I hadn't come. I +expected every moment to hear the rattle of Mausers. Someone's horse +kicked a tin can, and we ducked our heads like one man. But we rode up +to and into and through and over the central position of the enemy that +he had been strengthening for days; and he never fired a shot to prevent +us. It was glorious luck, thus to be in the very front of an advancing +force, to be on the very horns of the advance, and to be absolutely out +of danger, for what little opposition there was was encountered later by +the main body. + +When I thought that I had advanced far enough into what ought to have +been the jaws of death, I drew on one side and let the brigade go past, +and then I saw what little firing there was. Behind the mounted infantry +came the field-guns, galloping alone over the smooth ground; and +presently we heard the report of a gun from the other side of the next +eastward ridge over which the enemy had retired. It is very +uncomfortable waiting for a shell to arrive. One has only the sound to +guide one as to where it has come from, and one has no notion at all as +to where it is going to strike. This one burst right amongst the +galloping artillery, which at once opened out on both sides of a smoking +patch. Not a man or horse was down. And here the Boers lost their big +chance of the day. All the brigade had to advance through this one +narrow pass between the kopjes; the Boers had got the range of it +absolutely; if they had fired a dozen shells in quick succession they +would have done a dismal amount of mischief. But they only fired two +other shells, and, marvellously, no one was hit. The reason I believe to +have been that the dust of their own retreat, which hung like a haze +over the ridge, hid our advancing troops from the Boers, and they did +not know whether or not anyone was under their fire. + +In the meantime the Ninth Brigade had been doing just the same kind of +thing on the north river bank; and when the attack (such as it was--a +gentle shelling) was being pressed there, General French came up from +the south-east and drove the enemy northward across the river. If French +had been a little earlier we should have cut off the Boers at the river, +for that was their only line of retreat. As it was, he came in time to +chase them; and when we heard of him again he was in full cry on the +road to Bloemfontein. + +It was a strange engagement; an almost bloodless battle; a great +spectacle like an Aldershot Field Day; a demonstration of forces far +stronger than the mere force of arms--confidence on the one hand, and on +the other demoralisation and a broken spirit. + + + + +X + +THE MARCH ON DREIFONTEIN + + +Early on the morning after the Osfontein engagement the army was again +upon the march, and towards afternoon reached a farm called Poplar +Grove, the point on which our left flank had rested on the day before. +That was only a ten-mile journey, but men and beasts were tired, and a +longer distance would have tried them severely. We rested a whole day at +Poplar Grove, and many of us bathed in the river. It is strange indeed +to find how comparative are all our standards of luxury; on that day you +could have seen what Mr. Dooley might call the "flowers of the British +aristocracy" splashing and rejoicing in filthy, muddy water beside +Kaffirs and drinking mules; and no one who bathed on that day, after +many days of wearing the same clothes and being impregnated with sand +and sun, is likely to forget the luxury of the bath. + +The discomforts of a hurried march are many, and the feeling of +uncleanness is not the least of them; yet one recalls with pleasure the +long days spent dozing along on one's horse at the head of a marching +column that stretched seven miles over the plain and hills behind. Let +me try to describe some of the circumstances of the march from Poplar +Grove to Dreifontein. It must be remembered that these are but the names +of farms, and that a farm means often nothing more than a mud house, a +few trees, and a well of water. + +Long before it was light we were awakened by the cries of Kaffirs +collecting their ox teams and by the almost human complaints of many +mules; and while we breakfasted by lamplight in the dim grove where our +camp was pitched a stream of transport was already flowing out of the +mass surrounding us on all sides. We started later, when the line along +the east, crimson at first, had changed from saffron to bright gold, and +the head of the column was already out of sight, melting towards the +sunrise in a cloud of dust. The mounted infantry brigade, which +furnished the patrols and screens, was already away scouring the plain +in advance of the column, but the thin line of waggons was broken now by +the broad shape of infantry brigades, marching fifty deep across the +grass. + +Our own small convoy was not got under weigh without many pains. The two +newspapers which it represented were the proprietors of many and +various beasts. Six riding ponies for the three correspondents, two +horses for the despatch-rider, six horses to draw an American waggon and +two Cape carts, and six oxen to draw an ox cart laden with forage. No +tongue can tell the anxiety caused by those fourteen horses. No more +could be bought, and if anything happened to them our usefulness would +be at an end. I have often arisen during the night and walked down what +we called our "lines," counting the beasts, and feeling like Abraham. To +be sure, one of the horses cost but thirty shillings; we bought him from +a Kaffir whose honesty I should be sorry to vouch for, but he could +pull, and he lived more than a fortnight. For another one I paid a +sovereign at Osfontein, but observing that he did not eat his supper one +night I gently pushed him away a good hundred yards so that he should +not die close to us. + +By the time breakfast had been eaten, the oxen caught, the horses +counted, the differences of six jealous servants adjusted, and the carts +packed, we were ready to move off. Then the sun came up and the day +began, and one could canter up to the front of the column, clear of the +dust. On some days one rode up and down, visiting different regiments +or finding out friends who were trudging beside their companies; but on +the day of this march my pony was tired, and I let him amble along in +front of the Guards for the whole eighteen miles. + +I wish I could describe for people who have never seen it the grand and +majestic march of 30,000 men with their guns and baggage across a large +country; the slow dignity of a vast seven-mile column winding over the +face of a plain, all the units diverging to pass the same ant-heap or to +avoid the same rough place. After the first few miles it is silent, and +one hears behind one only the sweep of many feet upon the grass. It is +like Fate, or, say, Time with his scythe held steady; the thing comes +and passes and is gone; but ride backward and you shall see the traces +of its passage. Grass downtrodden that shall rise again, little flowers +bruised that shall renew their blossoms; and still the birds singing +peacefully, the hares leaping, the manifold petty life of the veldt +resuming its routine and circumstance. One passes on through the quaking +air as in a dream, and as though impelled by the great force behind; and +to eyes gazing long on the ground the affairs of tiny creatures become +conspicuous and important. The mere-cats sit listening, and wonder what +the new sound in the grass means, not like wind or rain. Little lizards +basking on the sand suddenly wake up and wriggle away to avoid the thing +against which the shelter of a leaf will not avail them. And always in +front hares and buck by the hundred stream away like the shadows of +clouds over grass. Then someone looks at his watch and shouts "Halt!" +and the welcome word is shouted and repeated down the line until the +sound is lost in the distance, while the tired men throw themselves down +between the burning sun and the sand. + +It is like sailing on a wide sea after a storm, when the short and high +waves have died away beneath the tread of smooth rollers. The veldt +undulates from sky to sky, a plain rising and falling about the base of +rocks and island kopjes. One reaches the crest, hoping for a new view, +searching for the clump of trees that means a farm and fresh water; and +one sinks down again into the furrow, while the wave of disappointment +runs backward along the seven miles of column as each man rises to the +barren view. Now an ox, now a mule or a horse falls out and lies down to +die; now a man stumbles and falls, and lies down to wait for the cool +hours. + +To men who find this kind of monotony irksome the march is a dreary +business, while to others its bare outline is filled with the interest +of a thousand little happenings. The tired, dusty, shabby "Tommy" is a +man much more agreeable to talk with than his ancestor of the +barrack-room at home; the youngest subaltern has forgotten all about his +swagger mess-kit and the "style" of his regiment, and shows himself as +the good fellow he is; even the Brigadier forgets the scarlet on his +khaki collar, and remembers that he too is a frail mortal. And always, +when other interest failed, one could fall back on that of one's own +sometimes troublesome affairs. On the afternoon of the Dreifontein march +our advance cart with the luncheon had not outspanned fifteen minutes +before it was discovered that one of the horses was gone. There was no +doubt as to why, of course--a soldier had "snaffled" it. I am sorry to +say that in the matter of horse property the average Tommy holds vague +moral views. That cart had to be brought into camp by night, and there +was only one way in which it could be done. I rode about for ten +minutes, and found an old framework so thin and so dejected that I +blushed when I put the halter on it; it had been abandoned on account +of lameness, from which it had recovered, and had since been starving. +They harnessed it up and it brought in the cart; and that night, being +given a good feed of oats, it died from shock. Another skeleton was +found in the morning to take its place; but this skeleton grew fat. We +used to laugh at these misfortunes, but the poor horses had a cruel +time, especially the English ones; no one would have recognised the +Horse Artillery, although the tragic skeletons that drew the guns still +affected some imitation of their old dash. All the way from Modder to +Bloemfontein was strewn with the bodies of horses; if all other marks +had been gone, these melancholy quarter-mile posts would have guided you +unerringly. + +It was night as a rule before the column reached its camp, and there +were some gorgeous pictures in the great outspanning commotion seen +through dust clouds and the red sunset, and by light of many camp fires. +But on this bit of the march we found our quarters sooner than we +expected; and it was early in the afternoon when, climbing the ridge of +undulating plain, I saw the smoke of a shell bursting on the hillside +five miles away, and knew that our day's march, though not our day's +work, was at an end. + + + + +XI + +THE BATTLE OF DREIFONTEIN AND THE MARCH ON BLOEMFONTEIN + + +A great chain of kopjes barred the horizon ahead of us, and we came to +the usual conclusion that the Boers were opposing our advance. It is +well to remember that Lord Roberts's army was not marching in a single +column, but in three separate columns, of which the Cavalry Division was +marching on a road about six miles to the north, and the Seventh +Division by a road about four miles to the south of the main body. +General French was a day's march ahead of the main army, and on this +morning he reached Abraham's Kraal (the most northerly hill of the chain +held by the Boers) at ten o'clock, while the Ninth Division did not +arrive until four o'clock. It will thus be seen that one end of the +position was a couple of hours' ride distant from the other and far out +of sight of it. + +No one saw the whole of the battle of Dreifontein. General French, when +he arrived at ten in the morning, came into contact with the Boers at +Abraham's Kraal, and (the river preventing a turning movement on the +north) he sent the second cavalry brigade galloping southward down the +line of the kopjes in order to turn, if possible, the enemy's left +flank. But he soon found that the position extended too far southward to +be assailable by his limited forces. This turning movement, or rather +the preparation for it, was carried out under an extremely heavy fire +from pom-poms and other quick-firing guns. Finding that his resources +would be exhausted in drawing out the long containing thread necessary +to hold the enemy in front, and so leave nothing with which to make a +flank attack, General French contented himself with engaging the enemy +on the northernmost end of their position. + +At half-past one the Sixth Division arrived at Dreifontein, a farmhouse +about seven miles south of Abraham's Kraal. I had ridden hard in order +to catch them up as I had been in the early morning with the Ninth +Division, which did not arrive until four o'clock, and when I came up I +was just in time to see the Buffs, leading the 13th Brigade, preparing +to clear some kopjes near the main ridge which were held by the Boers. +Things were very hot here, and as I had never been in a big fight before +I found it very difficult to realise what was going on, or where the +enemy was, or where the fire was coming from, or at what point it was +being directed. All I knew for some time was that there were shells +dropping rather closer than was pleasant, and that with a rashness born +of ignorance I had got into a place where everyone had to lie down for +cover. + +When your face is in the sand you do not see much. What you hear is not +encouraging--the distant boom of a gun, a few seconds' silence, then a +long quavering whistle in the air, like the cry of a banshee, growing +every moment nearer and louder, and finally the deafening report +somewhere near you. You never know where a shell is going to burst, +although you hear it long before it arrives; you can only sit tight and +hope that it will go where the other fellows are, or better still where +no one is. To say truth, shells generally go where no one is; I saw only +one man killed by a shell. I had raised my head from the ground and was +listening for the burst of a coming shell, when I saw a man among the +advance ranks of the 13th Brigade on my right stop suddenly in the midst +of a blinding flash. An arm and hand flew through the air in a horrible +curve; the smoke belched, the air was rent by the explosion, the smoke +blew and drifted away, and there on the hillside lay what was left of +the man, folded in the deep quietness of death. + +A little to the left the Welsh Regiment was advancing up the steep side +of Alexander's kopje, which was doubly enfiladed by the Boer guns; two +Elswicks firing from the east and a Vickers-Maxim from the south-west. +There was also a nasty rain of bullets. In the long semi-circular +skirmishing line, strung like a girdle round the hillside, a man +suddenly turned and ran backwards for half a dozen paces, and then +tumbled, rolling over and over like a shot rabbit. I saw him five +minutes later when his body was brought to the dressing-station; he had +been shot through the heart. Poor fellow! He ran not of his own +conscious volition; he was killed while bravely advancing; he died while +retreating. The Welsh Regiment was losing badly all this time, and the +ground was becoming dotted with writhing and motionless bodies; it was a +horrible sight and came near to turning me sick, so I resolved to go and +see what was happening on the south side. + +I made a long detour round by the headquarter farmhouse towards which +the black mass of the Ninth Division was advancing across the plain--too +late, as it turned out, to join in the action. Seeing a kopje on our +extreme right from which our artillery seemed to be firing, I rode in +that direction. There was not a soul in sight; and when I was within a +thousand yards of the place the instinct which so often interferes to +keep our heads from betraying us made me pull up. There was not a sound +except the far-away bang of guns and rifles. Near to the kopje there was +a garden surrounded by low trees and a hedge of prickly pear. The sun +setting behind us slanted into it and made it appear as a charming, +peaceful shelter from the dust and noise of the battle. I was still +debating with myself as to whether I should go on a little farther when +I heard behind me the sound of a horse galloping. I turned round and +saw, perhaps two miles behind me, three mounted men. The one who now +rode up had evidently just left them. He was a trooper in Rimington's +Guides. + +"Beg pardon, sir," he said, "but I wouldn't stay here if I was you." + +"Why not?" said the Green One; "no one in front, is there?" + +The man spat on the ground. + +"Don't know that there is, sir," he said, "but then I don't know that +there isn't, and that's good enough for me. If there _is_ anyone in +that garden"--and he pointed to the patch of trees--"you bet they won't +send out a flag of truce asking you to get out of the way before they +shoot. We've been sent to round up cattle out of that there garden, but +I believe the cattle are all a blind. Anyway, I'm not going near it till +I'm sure of it. I believe it's a trap." + +They must have been watching us from the garden with their eyes on the +sights of their rifles, for no sooner had we turned our horses' heads +than _bang, bang, bang, bang--phtt, phtt, phtt, phtt_! We doubled +ourselves on our saddles and our horses stretched along the road, while +for perhaps thirty seconds our ears twitched to a hail of bullets that +lasted until we were out of range. While we were still racing my pony, +which was last, suddenly jumped into the air and shot past the big +cavalry horse, laying herself flat on the ground like a hare; and it was +not until she had carried me far out of range that I found the warm +blood from a bullet wound running down her leg. I had no further +interest that day but to have her attended to. At any rate, I think the +shot which was fired at her was one of the last fired in the battle of +Dreifontein. + +The battle was fought on Saturday, March 10th. On Sunday morning we +found that the Boers had melted away from before us, and the army +marched on twelve miles to Aasvoegel's Kop. On Monday the main body was +at Venters Vlei; and at four o'clock that afternoon General French, +after an artillery engagement, occupied a few hills commanding +Bloemfontein, and sent in an ultimatum requiring the surrender of the +town within twenty-four hours. + +Early on Tuesday morning Mr. Gwynne (Reuter's correspondent), Mr. +Oppenheim, of the _Daily News_, and another correspondent, rode into +Bloemfontein and found that President Steyn had departed during the +night, that the Boer forces had retired from the immediate neighbourhood +of the town, and that the people were willing to surrender. They rode +back to Lord Roberts (who was by this time well under weigh with his +column), escorting the Landdrost in his Cape cart. The Field Marshal +was, I believe, sitting on a low hill having breakfast with his staff +when the keys were delivered up to him. This formality was conducted +with the utmost courtesy and good-humour, and when it was over the march +was resumed. Lord Roberts rode on and joined the cavalry, and a +procession was formed about three miles out of the town, Lord Roberts at +the head of the cavalry brigade which preceded the army. I shall never +forget that ride down the sloping country into Bloemfontein; the little +white-haired man sitting his horse like a rock, leading; then the +personal staff; then the general staff; then the foreign attaches; then +the correspondents; then the cavalry staff; then the cavalry; then the +main body of the army--artillery, infantry, engineers, commissariat, and +baggage. + +As we came into the first street of the town it was apparent that the +day was regarded as a festival. One could hardly imagine a stranger +reception of an invader. Flags flew at every window, and the people were +all decked out as though for a holiday. Half-way towards the Presidency +there was a little diversion. Some Kaffirs, thinking that this was a +good opportunity of paying off old scores, had begun to loot and pillage +a large building like a school-house, which belonged to the Free State +Government. As we swung round the corner of the street they were in the +act of bundling out mattresses, bedsteads, linen, chairs, desks, and +tables, and carrying them off. A few dozen Lancers were let loose +amongst them; they dropped their booty and fled, only to be driven back +at the point of a lance and made to replace the stolen property. Then +the march was resumed until the procession drew up in front of the +Presidency. The Federal flag had been struck some time before, and the +flagstaff now stood gaunt and undecorated. There was a pause of about +ten minutes while Lord Roberts went in and transacted some necessary +formalities; then the little silk Union Jack, made by Lady Roberts, was +run up to the truck amid a great sound of cheering. The singing of the +National Anthem ended the ceremony. The town seemed altogether +English--English shops, English manners, the English language, and +English faces. All that day enthusiasm bubbled in the town like water +boiling in a pot; all day the troops continued to march in; shabby and +dusty and dirty and tired, they were nevertheless all stamped with some +nameless quality which they had not when they left England. All day the +population of Bloemfontein eddied through the streets like a crowd at a +fair; all day the sounds of rejoicing continued, and far into the night +the streets resounded to the cries of people who made merry. + + + + +XII + +RETRACING THE STEPS OF THE ARMY + + +With its independence, handed over amid the imposing circumstance of +arms, Bloemfontein lost something of its charm. The noise and dust and +commotion of the army did violence to its pastoral quietness, and the +pretty shops put up their shutters at midday as though in maidenly +horror at the eagerness of crowds of soldiers running amuck like +children with their Saturday pennies. I entered the town early enough to +see what its normal condition must be, and there was something rude and +unkind in the din of the multitude breaking on this quiet place where +the bees sang loud in the streets, and the midday idler slumbered upon +the doorstep. + +To be sure, one had opportunity for studying the soldier in a new +setting, but the study is one that requires time; the average Tommy is +an oyster to strangers. He varies to the tune and colour of his +surroundings; on the veldt, where hardness is to be endured, he is the +"good soldier," the patient, strong man; under fire he is a fierce +creature, still obedient to his habit of discipline, but hot for combat; +in the town, with money in his pocket, he is a little child. Indeed, +after weeks of absence from places where money is of value we all share +in this rejuvenation, and if you had been in Bloemfontein on any one of +these fine days you would have seen men of every age and rank, from +generals to trumpeters, wandering about the streets, agape at the shop +windows, chinking their money in their pockets, and buying things for +which they had no kind of use. + +The British officer afield is a very different creature from the gilded +ornament of an English mess. His face is scorched and peeled, he is +generally (unless he be a staff officer) very ill-clad; he has a ragged +beard; he esteems golden syrup the greatest luxury on earth; he ceases +to be ashamed of originality in thought or expression; he altogether +fails to disguise what a good fellow he is. But in a very short time the +neighbourhood of a club, the possibility of a bath, the presence of +barbers and tailors, by a mysterious and marvellous working, reverse his +development, and the little graces which endear him to society at home +begin to reappear. So long as the sole of his boot was tied to the +uppers by a piece of string, he could not look you in the face with any +pretending; but when the cobbler has done his office, and the tailor has +sewn up the rent breeches, the spell is broken. + +We "occupied" Bloemfontein so completely that, after the first few days, +I was glad to take the road again. We occupied the club, we occupied the +shops and hotels, we occupied even the homes of the simple townspeople; +and we occupied the streets, so that all day the town resounded to the +din of tramping feet. When one has slept for a month under the stars, +sheets and a roof are stifling; so as the railway was not yet open, +Major Pollock (of _The Times_) and I decided to go to Kimberley by road, +assured that the moral effect of the proclamation would keep us out of +danger from the Queen's enemies. + +Our little caravan set forth by moonlight, taking the road travelled by +the left-hand column of the three parallel columns that had advanced on +Bloemfontein, and somewhat to the north of that taken by Lord Roberts +and the central column, with which we had gone in. The journey itself +was uneventful enough, full of the little interests and anxieties and +pleasures of the road, full of joy for the travellers, but without +serious interest to anyone else. There was just enough risk of +encountering a commando to give the necessary spice of adventure; two +despatch-riders--not mine, by the good fortune of half a mile--had been +captured the day before, and we kept a bright look-out. But by the time +we came across them the commandos were forlornly[2] dispersing. For the +rest, there was the unending charm of the climate and the place; the +gorgeous evenings, when sunset and moonrise encircled the horizon in a +flame of gold and silver; the spring-cold mornings, with the veldt +glowing from violet to purple and crimson; the noonday rest in some +deserted farm garden; the bed at nightfall, with the sound of horses +munching their corn for a lullaby--all the circumstances of simple +travel accomplished by the means that nature has provided. After having +been for so long in the company of 30,000 men we found the loneliness +and quietness refreshing, and we passed almost unnoticed through the +birds and beasts and flowers. We swam once more in the muddy Modder, now +quite an old friend. The track of the army was marked for us in two +ways--one ludicrous, the other tragic; both unmistakable. For all along +the way bright tin biscuit canisters of the Army Service Corps shone +like diamonds in the sun; and all along the way, at intervals, tired and +sick old cavalry horses stood by the roadside, each surrounded by a +crowd of foul aasvoegels, the vultures of South Africa, waiting. + +[Footnote 2: For the time being.] + +The chief party of Boers which we encountered was at Abraham's Kraal. +While we were breakfasting about two dozen of them cantered up, of whom +about six were armed. If I had qualms, I hope I did not show them when I +said "Good-morning." I fell into conversation with one of the Boers, and +mentioned incidentally that, from their point of view, the game was up, +and that I supposed he knew that anyone who interfered with peaceful +Englishmen would be hanged. He was a sulky fellow, but he took my word +for it, and presently we began to talk. These Boers were in low spirits +about the war, and spoke of it without enthusiasm or hope. Most of them +were Transvaalers, and two spoke with an unmistakable Glasgow accent, +but on the whole they were gruff and uncommunicative, and, as they cast +envious eyes from their own sorry nags to our well-conditioned mounts, +I was glad to wish them good-day. They had come to bury the dead from +the Dreifontein fight, and from what they told me of the still unburied +Boers both there and at Paardeberg, I gathered that their casualties all +along the line had been heavier than we had thought. + +I have said that the neighbourhood of the Boers made our journey +exciting, and there was one point at which the excitement became very +nearly painful. We had made a long stage one day, and at about sundown +arrived at the Modder, which we intended to cross at a drift near +Koodoesrand. This was the dangerous neighbourhood, and we were anxious +to push on and cross the river before encamping for the night. The banks +of the Modder at this drift are about forty feet high and almost +precipitous, the path down to the drift being little better than a track +worn at a long diagonal down the bank. It was steep enough going down, +but when we had crossed the shallow river and begun the ascent of the +other bank we found the track very soft and almost perpendicular. By +fetching a compass and putting the horses to it at a great pace the two +Cape carts managed to reach the top, but a four-wheeled American waggon +stuck fast at the bottom and could not be moved. At that moment the last +of the daylight ebbed, and darkness began to quench the sunset embers. + +We tried unhitching the teams from the Cape carts and hitching them to +the waggon, but we only succeeded in breaking harness. It was after the +second attempt, when we were all standing hot and angry after our +unavailing exertion of whip-cracking and shouting, that we suddenly saw +a light shine out from the edge of a low kopje about two miles in front +of us. One of us lost his head, and by speaking his fears communicated +the malady. + +"There are the Boers," he said, "and if they haven't heard us yelling +they must have seen the light from our lanterns. The sooner we get out +of this the better." + +There was nothing for it but to unload the waggon and carry the contents +up by hand, and this we did in an agony of excitement, staggering and +sweating up the steep path with portmanteaus, beds, valises, cases of +tinned provisions, kettles, bottles, saucepans, bags of harness, oats, +and guns. The empty waggon was easily drawn up to the top, and then we +must reload it again with a burden which seemed to have swollen +enormously since it was unpacked. We were working so frantically that we +had not even time to look at the kopje, but when at length I glanced at +it I saw that a strange thing had happened. + +The light was now suspended about thirty feet above the hill. + +Had they a balloon? Major Pollock and I gazed blankly for more than a +minute at that mysterious shining, which seemed to rise higher and +higher. More than a minute: just so long did it take us to remember that +Orion rises low in the west! + +Now for what will remain with me as the crowning impression of this +journey. The road we took led through a fairly fertile country, and that +in the Free State means that there generally was grass instead of karoo. +There were many farms; we probably passed twenty in the course of ninety +miles. Each of those farms I visited, and at each stood aghast at the +ruin that had been wrought. Signs of looting one expected--the looting +of food-stuffs and livestock and necessaries; that, after all, is but a +kind of self-defence, and I suppose it is allowable to live upon an +enemy when one invades his land. But the destruction that had here taken +place was wanton and savage. One seemed to travel in the footsteps of +some fiend who had left his mark upon every home, destroying the things +that were probably most prized by the owners, and destroying with a +devilish ingenuity that had saved him all unnecessary labour. For +example, in one little farmhouse I found a flimsy, showy, London bedroom +suite that was clearly the pride of the establishment, with its wardrobe +and full-length mirror. The destroyer had smashed just what could not be +mended--the mirror and the marble top of the washstand. In another +cottage I found an old clock that had ticked, most likely, for years on +end in the quietness of the little home; its hands were torn off, and +its works strewn upon the floor. In every house the little bits of +rubbish that adorn the homes of the poor were destroyed or disfigured; +in all were the same signs of violation, the same marks of the beast. + +It has always seemed to me that a little farm in a lonely country +contains more than anything else the atmosphere of a home. It is +self-centred; there you see all the little shifts and contrivances which +result from the forced supplying of wants that cannot be satisfied from +outside. And when such a homestead is deserted, I think the atmosphere +is only the more pronounced; the disused implements find voices in the +silence and cry aloud for their absent owners. But when all that is +personal and human in such a place is ruined, the pathos turns to +tragedy. One farm I found absolutely gutted save for a great and old +Bible which stood upon a table in the largest room. It was a beautiful +folio, full of quaint plates and fine old printing, and bound in a rich +leather that time and the sun had tanned to an autumn gold. While I was +regarding it the breeze came through the window and stirred the yellow +leaves, exposing a pencil-marked verse in the most pastoral of psalms: +"_Hy doert my nederliggen in grasige wenden; Hy doert my sachtkens aen +seer stille wateren._" There was something impressive in the accident: +the old book stoutly reminding the chance passer-by that present evil +cannot affect the ultimate good, promising amid rude circumstances a +time of quietness. He was an old man who owned that book; his name and +age were marked upon the leaf; I think, to judge by the signs of +handling, that he had the heart of its contents; and I hope that +whatever his bodily circumstances, his soul retained some of the peace +of the "_grasige wenden_." + +Who is responsible for all this mischief it is hard to say. I am sure +that the English soldiers, thoughtless though they may be, would not +stoop to this sort of purposeless outrage. I do not like to accuse the +colonial troops as a whole either, although I suspect that some of them, +some whose own homes had been destroyed by the enemy, might conceivably +have taken vengeance in kind. It is thought by many whose opinion is +valuable that the Kaffirs were here, as in Natal, responsible for much +of the damage; and that is a view which one would willingly take, for it +would acquit English-speaking troops of a miserable suspicion. Perhaps +the thing is well-nigh inevitable, for I know what pains Lord Roberts +took to prevent it; and it may be as well that we should recognise it as +one of the realities of war. For myself, the horrors of actual fighting +did not touch me half so nearly; I have seen men killed close to me and +been less shocked than I was by these domestic outrages. To die, for the +one who dies, is nothing; it affects him not at all; he is absent. But +here was not death, but outrage on the foundations of civilised life; +outrage upon living people, who suffer and remember. + + + + +PART IV + +AN EXPEDITION WITH LORD METHUEN + + + + +XIII + +IN THE FIELD AGAIN + + +After all, we need not have made so much haste to leave Bloemfontein. We +had been told there that a column would start for the relief of Mafeking +on March 20th, but when we arrived at Kimberley on the 18th we found +that no movement was to take place for several days. The date was +constantly shifted farther into the future, and the days of waiting had +grown into weeks before an order came that Lord Methuen with his force +of about 10,000 men was to march on Boshof. As far as information went +we lived from hand to mouth; all the orders came from Bloemfontein, and +they seldom provided for more than a day at a time. It was not +unnatural, therefore, that when an order to move did at last come we +built upon it all kinds of extravagant expectations, and it was a +cheerful army that left Kimberley on April 2nd and took the road for +Boshof. + +After many days of inaction it was indeed good to recommence a moving +life among oxen and waggons and guns and soldiers. Kimberley was all +very well as a spectacle immediately after the siege; everyone flocked +to see the holes in the houses and the ruined buildings. It was all very +well (so, at any rate, we persuaded ourselves) to live in a club and to +dine again amid damask and flowers and cut glass after the rude life of +the fields; but even this was a novelty only for a day, and one soon +became impatient of the poor shift at living which dwellers in towns are +forced to make. I think I never saw a town so lost and drowned beneath +the wave of money-getting as Kimberley; even its recent privations were +turned to a nimble account, and 6-inch shells were selling at L10 apiece +before I left. The people who fled most readily from the projectiles +were of course the most eager to buy them--so highly do we esteem the +instruments which make us seem heroes to ourselves. For the moment +Kimberley transferred its attentions commercially from diamonds to +shells: a less romantic and (if you will believe it) a more sordid +industry; for there were already more storied and pedigreed shells in +private collections and for sale in Kimberley than ever fell into the +town. + +Boshof, at any rate, provided a welcome change from all this. It is a +pretty little town of greensward streets and clear brooks; of white +cottages embowered in trees; of rose-gardens and orchards; rather like a +remote country town in Ireland--poor and pretty and sleepy. There were +few able-bodied men left in it, and aged people looked doubtfully out +from their fuchsia-covered doors upon the ranks and regiments of foreign +soldiers who came clattering through the streets on some of those hot +April afternoons. We were to advance, it was now thought, on the 6th; in +what direction we did not know certainly, but we suspected that it would +be along the Hoopstad Road. The arguments and speculations with which we +occupied ourselves need not be recorded now, but it was at once our hope +and fear that we should advance along the north bank of the Vaal. Hope, +because there was work to be done there; fear, lest our smaller force +should be absorbed by Lord Roberts's larger army and become merely its +left flank. Events showed that we might have spared ourselves both hopes +and fears, but fortunately we were ignorant, and so found occupation for +many an hour that had otherwise been empty. + +An interval of inaction in the midst of a war is tedious in some ways, +but it is at least of benefit to a mere onlooker, who is thus enabled to +disengage himself from the whirl of operations and to discover the +results of his unwonted occupation. After having lived amongst +soldiers--in some ways and in spite of their profession the most human +and civilised of men--it had come upon me as a shock to find in +Kimberley the same bloodthirstiness that had distinguished the more +thoughtless section of the public at home. Cruel shouting for blood by +people who never see it; the iteration of that most illogical demand, a +life for a life--and, if possible, two lives for a life; the loud, +hectoring, frothy argument that lashes itself into a fury with strong +and abusive language--they all came like a clap of thunder after what I +am bound to call in comparison the quiet decency of the battlefield. +This is a grave thing to say, but it would be unfair to disguise so +clear an impression as this that I received, who went to South Africa +with so little political bias that eager partisans of neither colour in +Cape Town would own me. To appear lukewarm amongst people who are +red-hot is not always pleasant, but it has its compensations; one has at +least a foothold--inglorious, perhaps, but safe and desirable in a dizzy +world. + +It was impossible to be in Kimberley and not to become involved in the +endless political discussions of clubs and dinner tables. I used to try +very hard to discover what it was that made the average Briton living in +South Africa hate the Boers so bitterly. The Colonial despises the Boer, +but one does not hate a man only because one despises him. Jealousy is +the best blend with contempt, and there is no doubt that the Boer's not +unnatural desire to be paramount in his own land was what English +colonists with whom I talked chiefly resented. We might talk for an hour +or for a day--the same old grievances always came round: the inferior +political position of the Uitlanders, the primitive, not to say dirty +and slovenly, habits of many Boer farmers, and their lack of energy. +These are the grievances of the man in the street, and they appear grave +enough--when once one has invested oneself with the right of censorship. +Then the rebels--wretched, unsuccessful farmers, who found themselves +misled and their ideas of duty confounded--these were the chief objects +of the lust for revenge. A rebel, as a man who has tried unsuccessfully +to overthrow by force the Government to which he owes allegiance, must +expect to suffer; but even in the case of these miserable creatures +there is surely a scale of responsibility to be observed and a measure +of justice to be meted. If Kimberley or Cape Town had ruled the matter +by their mass meetings nearly every rebel would have been hanged--a very +poor way, one would think, of making loyal subjects. But the reasons +that were urged in support of such drastic punishment were astonishingly +frank: "It doesn't pay to be loyal," one was told; "we might as well +have been rebels." Not a very lofty form of patriotism. + +One came to shrink from using that grand word, so plausible a cloak did +it become for much that is mean and degrading. For example, when I was +riding from Bloemfontein to Kimberley I and my companion descried a +farmhouse two miles in front of us near Koodoesrand Drift; when we had +come within about a mile of it a little travesty of a Union Jack was run +up on a stick, and when we rode up to the door a farmer came out, +smiling, rubbing his hands, sniggering--in a word, truckling. His talk +was like the political swagger of the music-hall or the butler's pantry. + +"I'm John Bull to the core--eh? No damned Boers for me--eh? Ha, ha, wipe +'em out, gentlemen, wipe 'em out: old England's all right as long as +we've got gentlemen like you to defend us--eh?" (He took us for +officers.) "John Bull for ever--eh?" + +And while he spoke someone inside the house played "God Save the Queen" +with one finger (incorrectly) on a harmonium. The incident had a more +unpleasant flavour than I can well convey; we went away feeling ashamed. + +All this belongs to the dark side of the campaign; fortunately there was +another, how bright I cannot say, that went far to make one forget the +rest. For the soldier the whole moral question had been decided; his +duty was so clear that he never needed to hesitate. And his blood would +have been sluggish indeed who must not have been stirred to the heart by +these inspiring circumstances: whether in camp, where the population of +a town was housed and fed in an hour, every man charged with some duty +for the common benefit, the whole a pattern of social administration; or +on the march, with the scouts and patrols opening and spreading in +advance and covering every patch of ground for miles round, the sweep +and imposing measure of the marching troops, the miles of supply and +baggage waggons, each in its appointed place; or on the battlefield, +where troops were handled and manoeuvred as on a chessboard, where men +went to death with light hearts, lying for perhaps hours under fire, +stealing a piece of ground here or a bit of cover there, with one eye on +their officer and another on the flash before them, and perhaps a +thought in the middle of it all for someone at home--there, indeed, +where stern duties were faithfully fulfilled was set a great example. +Fortunately for some of us at home the men who direct and conduct our +battles are magnanimous, and one had the gratification of seeing, even +upon occasions so savage, little acts of courtesy and humanity rendered +on both sides that went far to take the sting out of a defeat. + +And let there be no mistake about the Boers as soldiers. In spite of the +far too numerous abuses of the rules of civilised warfare by detached +and independent combatants--abuses, it should be remembered, that have +occurred and will occur in every war and in the ranks of every army +--our officers and men have a genuine respect and admiration for their +enemy. No one looked upon death at their hands as anything but +honourable. And as one's admiration and sympathy were stirred for one's +own fellow-countrymen, who so unflinchingly performed their duties, +could one withhold it from that other army five miles away across the +plain--citizen soldiers fighting for their country and their homes? For +the soldier politics do not exist; he fights and dies for an idea. This +is mere sentiment, you may say, instead of fact about arms and battles; +yet the hardest fact that rings beneath your stamp is no more real than +poor, flimsy sentiment, which is a living force in the world, and will +remain to be reckoned with when pom-poms and Creusots are rusting in +archaeological museums--monuments only to the mechanical and political +clumsiness of the nineteenth century. + + + + +XIV + +THE CAPTURE OF BOERS AT TWEEFONTEIN + + +Lord Methuen had not long to wait for occupation. As soon as he arrived +at Boshof he posted his pickets on every possible point of vantage, and +patrolled the neighbourhood of Boshof over a wide circumference; and he +was rewarded. The little engagement at Tweefontein was, we all hoped, an +auspicious beginning for Lord Methuen's advance. If one might apply the +word to military tactics, it was as artistic a piece of work as could +be. I do not remember a single mistake or an instance of anything less +well or less quickly done than was possible. The result was a raising of +everyone's spirits, and I thought that Lord Methuen himself had the air +of a man emerging from depression. Certainly no general was better liked +by those around him, and, in spite of all mischievous gossip to the +contrary, he was perfectly trusted by his officers and men. + +[Illustration: LIEUT.-GEN. LORD METHUEN, K.C.V.O., C.B., C.M.G.] + +On Friday morning, April 6th, a native guide came in with information +that the enemy had a laager at a farm called Tweefontein, nine miles +south-east of Boshof. In ten minutes Major Streatfeild had his horse +packed and saddled and was off to the Yeomanry camp. Now the Yeomanry +horses were out on the plain grazing a good mile away; yet from the time +when the order was given until the moment of starting exactly +thirty-five minutes elapsed--a performance that would not have disgraced +veterans. The artillery and the Kimberley Mounted Corps (an excellent +force, although not so well horsed as the Yeomanry) were ready in the +same time, and the force started in the following order: Scouts of the +Kimberley Mounted Corps; advance guard ditto; Staff; Imperial Yeomanry, +under Lord Chesham; Fourth Company Royal Artillery; Kimberley Mounted +Corps, under Lieut.-Colonel Peakman. + +When the force was within three miles of Tweefontein the scouts +returned, stating that the only kopje in the neighbourhood was held by +the enemy. The native guides had led us by an excellent road and with +absolute accuracy, and the enemy had no idea of our presence until we +came up over the ridge and showed our force in the centre. Lord Methuen +then developed his attack, which, as the kopje was isolated, was on the +simple plan of a centre with two extending wings. There was a delay in +the centre until Captain Rolleston's (Lieutenant-Colonel commanding +Nottinghamshire Yeomanry) company, under Lord Scarborough, could get +into position on the left. The enemy opened fire without delay, so the +Yeomanry had to make a wide detour. Meanwhile the centre was held back +while the Kimberley Mounted Corps, under Colonel Peakman, were sent to +the right, where they found cover in a ridge of very low kopjes. + +When both flanks were in position the main body of Yeomanry dismounted +and advanced towards the kopje in extended order. Now was their time. +You must remember that this was their baptism of fire, and everyone was +on the look-out for signs of "greenness"; everyone had more or less been +making fun of them in a mild way, and prophesying all sorts of disaster. +As they advanced the bullets began to pipe on the edge of the +firing-zone, but there was not a bit of change in the Yeomanry when they +came under fire. I know from experience how disconcerting it is to ride +into the zone of fire, and walking must be much worse. It is not half so +bad when you are fairly in; it is like wading into a cold and shallow +sea instead of plunging--a kind of shivering sensation, most unpleasant. +Well, they went through this nasty belt as coolly as you please--no +hurry or funk. They dropped like wax when the order came to lie down, +and fired steadily. + +The whole of our little field was now under fire, and the cavalry on +each side were keeping the Boers very busy. All the time the right and +left flanks were opening out and reaching towards each other behind the +kopje. The only disappointment was that the artillery could not get to +work; the rise of the ground was so great and we had covered the +position so completely that it was rather dangerous to attempt shelling. +For about two hours there was hot firing, and every now and then there +was a little work for our ambulance people, but not much. The only +noticeable evidence of inexperience on the part of the Yeomanry was that +they did not realise--and no one can realise this when fighting the +Boers for the first time--how great is the enemy's firing range, and how +far away one must keep to be able to live at all. They kept pressing +forward, and Major Streatfeild had to ride across from the General under +a very hot fire to tell them to keep back. + +Towards the end of the engagement there was a gap in front of the +artillery position, and the guns spoke. They got the range at once, and +fired three rounds of shrapnel, and a few minutes after the third round +had been fired a white flag was waved from the hill. Silence fell like a +shadow over the place that had been crackling with fire a minute before; +people who had been lying flat on the ground stood up and stretched +themselves; and in the midst of the silence a shot cracked from the +hill, and there was a rush of men towards a prostrate body on our side. +Then another shot cracked--from our side this time; the treacherous +Boer, I was told, fell dead, and the action was over. + +We captured fifty-two prisoners, and the Boers had eight killed and six +wounded. No one escaped. They all laid down their arms and surrendered, +handing over also a cart of dynamite. From this it was gathered that +General Villebois (who was killed) had been trying to get behind us to +the railway line near Modder River, where he hoped to destroy it. I +spoke to some of the prisoners next day--Frenchmen, many of them, and +nice enough fellows. I heard then something which gave me pause with +regard to the white flag. When the thing happened it appeared to be a +flagrant and indubitable case of treachery; everyone was speaking of it. +But one of the prisoners, in talking to me, referred to the "rascal" who +showed the flag. + +"We had no intention to surrender," he said; "no order was given; that +worm had a flag in his pocket, and he held it up; poor ---- (mentioning +the man who shot and was killed) probably never saw it. It's a wonder +half of us did not go on firing." + +I give this statement for what it is worth. "All lies" was the comment +of some of the officers there, and quite possibly they were right; but +quite possibly also they were wrong, and the whole thing was an +accident. At least one may learn a lesson from it. I hated to believe +it, but I believed it to be treachery. Now it turns out that I may have +been unjust, and possibly on a dozen other occasions the same sort of +involuntary injustice may have been done to our enemies. Certainly it is +much easier for soldiers to see a small conspicuous object when it is +displayed by the enemy than when it is displayed by one of their own +side. The men on either side are intent upon watching the other side, +not their own. + +In General Villebois de Mareuil's pocket was found a note-book +containing a cleverly planned diagram of an attack on Boshof, and when +the sun was setting he was buried in the town he had hoped to enter +victoriously. It was a most impressive ceremony; the slanting sun, the +imposing military honours, the solemn words of the office--it is easily +imagined; it will not be easily forgotten by those of us who witnessed +it. Next morning we had left Boshof and its green streets behind, and +were winding along the road, the line of patrols sweeping like a long +billow over the hills before and on each side of us. We paused for a +night at Zwaartzkopjesfontein, went on the next morning to +Mahemsfontein; whence, having received orders from Lord Roberts to halt, +we fell back on Zwaartzkopjesfontein. + +On Monday morning, April 9th, I went out with the Yeomanry, who made a +reconnaissance ten miles to the east. We found a party of about sixty +Boers chasing goats and cattle and stock of all kinds on a Dutch farm +occupied only by women. We could see them through glasses driving the +stock away (about sixty head), but they only fired a shot or two at one +of our scouts, and then fled, taking and keeping a four-mile start of +us. This expedition was at least interesting, as again showing the +really excellent work and methods of the Yeomanry. They cared for their +horses in a more intelligent way than any regular cavalry I have seen, +and they were not above taking hints from the Colonials in the matter +of marching and patrolling order. Everyone was surprised. It had been +quite the thing to smile at the very mention of the Yeomanry; yet they +speedily proved themselves quite equal to take their place beside any +other of the Volunteers, even the best of the Colonial mounted corps. + +With a charming courtesy Lord Methuen designed and erected at his own +expense a monument over the grave of his fallen enemy. On the stone is +engraved this inscription:-- + + + [cross] + A LA MEMOIRE + DU COMTE DE VILLEBOIS DE MAREUIL + ANCIEN COLONEL + DE LA LEGION ETRANGERE + EN FRANCE + GENERAL DU TRANSVAAL + MORT AU CHAMP D'HONNEUR + PRES DE BOSHOF + LE 5 AVRIL, 1900 + DANS SA 53eme ANNEE + + R.I.P. + + + + +XV + +AN ELUSIVE ENEMY + + +In spite of their former experiences the troops under Lord Methuen were +in some danger of forgetting the sterner realities of warfare, and of +mistaking for them the mere physical discomforts incidental to life +afield in rough weather. The camp at Zwaartzkopjesfontein--the highest +point of land within a large area--was scattered amongst rocks and +boulders piled high into an island ridge rising from the plain; and +amongst the rocks and ferns one found here and there a piece of lawn +(long untrodden by any feet but those of goats) large enough to picket +one's horses and pitch one's tent upon. Eastward the plain stretched to +the horizon, as level as the sea; indeed, in a landscape so monotonous +that one was fain to decorate it with fancies, it stood for the sea, and +touched the rocky base of our island as the sea washes many a mile of +bluff coast. Winter was setting in, and all day long wreaths of mist and +banks of rain came blowing from the eastward (the seaward, as we called +it), and shrouded the brown rock. The signallers on the height used to +wrap themselves in their oilskins as darkness fell and lamps took the +place of flags and spy-glasses; in the dark gusty hours we heard the +"all's well" of a sentry as the visiting patrol went by, much as one +hears the cry of the watch on board ship; and down below, the +mimosa-trees sighed like surges against the foot of the rock. + +The ten days spent there by the troops were marked by only two +expeditions against the invisible enemy, neither of which achieved +anything but a nominal result. One was under Colonel Mahon, and repaired +the telegraph line in the neighbourhood of Modder River; it was intended +to patrol as far as Klip Drift, but the rain made the veldt impassable +for waggons. Certainly the line was repaired, but, as the Colonel +contemptuously remarked, "What's the use of sending an expedition to +repair telegraph lines? An old woman can cut 'em again ten minutes after +you've gone." + +The other flying column was under General Douglas, and was sent out +eastward in search of a commando known to be in the neighbourhood. As +both columns started on the same day (April 11th) I could not be with +both, so I chose General Douglas's as offering the better chances of an +engagement. Two days before Lord Chesham had conducted a reconnaissance +with his cavalry, to which I had been invited, and at which he had +promised me "fine sport." Result: a fine cross-country gallop, a deal of +used-up horseflesh, a number of tired and (because they had been hurried +out without their breakfasts) rather cross men, and a sight of a few +Boers riding off at a distance of five miles. "Butterflies" was +someone's description of these elusive enemies of ours; and when one +considers what a fine chase they gave us, and how hot and cross we +became in the course of it, the description seems not inapt. + +General Douglas's column, consisting of a battalion of the Northamptons, +300 Imperial Yeomanry, 50 men of the Kimberley Mounted Corps, a section +of Field Artillery, Ambulance and Supply Corps, set out before dawn on +Wednesday, April 11th. We marched, as it had hitherto been my lot always +to march in this campaign, eastwards towards the fires of dawn, leaving +the dark night-sky behind us. The waggons creaked and jolted across the +rough veldt, the gun harness jingled, the horses snorted out the cold +air, the Kaffirs cried to their beasts; and in this discordant chorus we +stretched out across the sea-plain while the east kindled and glowed. +Above us the clouds changed from grey to dove-colour, from that to +rose-pink; and then, straight before us, the sun came up and gave us +gold for redness. The little purple wild flowers opened, showing us +where the night had left a jewel on every petal, and the sleepy soldiers +plucked them as they passed and cheered themselves with their faint +fragrance. The day, like the night, comes quickly there, and brings with +it an even greater change. For in that last week of autumn we tasted of +every season; hot summer days, nights of spring, dark, cold winter +mornings by the camp fire; and it was when night changed to day that +winter faded into summer. For that reason, I suppose, the hour after +sunrise was the most invigorating of all, and long before the sun had +dried the dew from their clothes the men were marching with a freer +step. + +This will show you how suddenly things may come upon the unwary in that +country. I had been riding with the scouts, two miles in advance of the +column, and we had just been examining through glasses a moving group in +the distance. It turned out to be nothing but cattle feeding--the only +moving things in a plain that seemed absolutely level, and I rode back +and rejoined the column. The Brigadier was just saying that he was +afraid we should see nothing to-day, when an orderly galloped up with a +note from Lord Chesham (who was out with the scouts on our left flank) +to say that the Boers were holding a kopje three miles on our left front +in strength. + +Then began the excitement. Everyone was wide awake in a moment and +curious to see how the new Brigadier would manage his first job. The +convoy was halted, and the troops drawn on under cover of a slight and +almost imperceptible rise in the ground. Riding on in advance I suddenly +came on the scouts in action, that is to say, their horses were picketed +in rear of them, and they were lying hidden in the long grasses. And +there you have a typical picture of this kind of warfare. A row of men +lying on the ground, for no apparent reason, chewing the long stalks and +talking quietly to each other; in front a flat and seemingly vacant +ground; profound silence reigning everywhere. But use your glasses, and +you will see what looks like a shadow, but is really a rise on the +ground, giving advantage enough for the extermination of an army; show +your head, and you will hear the bang and whirr of the Mauser. + +Presently the jingle of harness sounded behind me, and the guns went by +to take up a position on the left. I followed behind them in shelter of +the ridge, and therefore out of sight of the position. When I saw it +again I found that we were facing three long low mounds, running north +and south across our path, and the attack was now being developed. The +infantry, so dense a mass when marching, were now strung out in long +lines sweeping towards the left, and Lord Chesham with two squadrons had +also gone far to the left, to try to get round the position. Meanwhile +the guns were unlimbered, and their anxious crew (the battery had never +been in action before) were on tenter-hooks. + +Up rides a staff officer. "Shell that ridge on the left." + +"Right, sir. Sight for 1,800. Fuse six--no, six and a half," says the +nervous subaltern. + +"Fire, number one gun! Fire, number two gun!" Then two shattering +explosions, the suspense of six seconds, the burst of shrapnel in the +air, the cloud of brown dust rising where it struck, and the hollow +"boom" coming back when all was over. + +These exercises were repeated with much zeal by the subaltern and his +crew, until after about fifty rounds had been fired the order came to +cease fire; and it was afterwards ascertained that, as the net result of +this commotion, one partridge had been shot. But I know of another +result. A certain subaltern member of the Royal Regiment of Artillery +sat thereafter a little straighter on his horse than he had sat a week +ago. + +But while the noise was going on, for all we knew, the Boers might be +suffering heavily from the shrapnel; although we rather thought not, +since no one was shooting back at the guns. Meanwhile the infantry was +threading out to the left, from which direction a shot now and then +sounded; and the remark of the onlookers (the onlooker is invariably a +critic) was, "Why is he committing all his force to a left-flank turning +movement, leaving only a hundred and fifty men to watch his centre and +right, when there may be only a dozen men on that left kopje?" + +So said we, who sat on the gun limbers looking very wise; and, by one of +those unfortunate chances which sometimes justify the amateur critic and +encourage him in his vice, we turned out to be right. What was really +happening was this. The 150 or 400 Boers (I never discovered which, +although I believe it was the smaller number) who sat on that hill and +saw us coming did not wish to stay. So they held the middle kopje, and +threw out what is called a "false flank" on to the left kopje; and then, +seeing our whole force committed to the left, they went behind the hill +and filled their pipes, and packed their saddlebags and rode off, +leaving the six men to keep us busy while they went. And then the six +men departed also; and after much careful scouting, we rode victoriously +over the kopje. If we had attacked on the right flank also, we should +probably have caught them, as Lord Chesham would in a little longer have +got round to their rear and cut them off. Of course, the whole +difficulty in such cases arises from the invisible fire of smokeless +powder. One never knows whether the banging is produced by six men +firing briskly or by sixty firing slowly, and that was why Lord Chesham +had to tire out his horses by taking them round twelve miles to avoid +six men. + +Our only "casualty" was carried out of action in a stretcher--he was a +member of the volunteer company of the Northamptons. + +"They've got me, sir," he said to me, in tones of mingled pride and +martyrdom, "'it in the leg." + +As a matter of fact, the man was only scratched; he could easily walk, +but could not resist the circumstance of the stretcher; and he fell into +his place for the rest of the march, a very proud man. + +We bivouacked at Granaatz Plaatz farm that night, whence the heliograph +winked the news of our engagement to our camp. It was a day of alternate +sunshine and cloud, and the messages gave the signallers much trouble. I +had one to send after the official messages, and the sun was getting low +by the time it began. The shine never lasted for more than twenty +seconds, but they managed to edge the words into the blinks until they +came to "Zwaartzkopjesfontein." The sun always gave out in the middle of +it; the regulations demanded that the word should be begun afresh every +time, and finally the sun sank victoriously on the fell word. Darkness +set in, and a blinding thunderstorm with deluges of rain, but the +signallers were not to be beaten. + +"We'll do ut on the lamp, sorr, and divil take the ould sun for goin' +out on us," said the Irish sergeant. + +I should not like to say how many people had to do with that message +before it got near the cable. In the first place, the light could hardly +penetrate the twelve-mile space of rain; and even when they had +succeeded in "calling up" headquarters the lightning flashes interfered +with our feeble dots and dashes. I shall always remember that little +group of men working most admirably on the kopje high up amid the storm +and rain--one lying on his face in the mud with a telescope propped on a +stone reading the reply; another keeping the paper dry under his helmet +while he spelt the message to the operator; and a third working the +shutter that, by occulting the light, makes flashes from the lamp. + +"_Guardian_--G-u-a-r-d-i-a-n," says the reader. + +"Bang, bang; rattle; bang, rattle, rattle; bang; bang, bang, rattle; +bang, rattle; bang, rattle, rattle; bang, bang, bang," goes the lamp. + +An anxious pause is enlivened by a clap of thunder. + +"Answered," says Spy-glass. And often a word had to be repeated three or +four times before it was answered, but at the fourth letter of +"Zwaartzkopjesfontein" the answering signal was plainly given, followed +by DDDD, which, although not in the code-book, is an expression well +understood by all signallers. + +All that night it rained, and the men in their wretched bivouacs sang +through it all with a most admirable heroism. Imagine yourself with two +other people lying in three inches of water with two blankets supported +by rifles over your head, and you have their condition. And they started +again in the cold, rainy darkness, wet and chilled to the bone, still +singing. But that is the private soldier all over. Put him in really +happy circumstances, and he grumbles himself hoarse; give him something +really to grumble at, and he is cheerful; give him misery, and he sings. +We marched fifteen miles on Thursday, the 12th, and encamped at +Buitendam, the farm of a field-cornet, where a few of the enemy sniped +at us as we arrived and had the satisfaction of seeing the whole force +turned out after a weary march. But of course the Boers are in their +element at this kind of game. A hundred of them wish to drive away some +stock; they leave a dozen to snipe from a ridge, while we send Tommy +plodding round for miles on a flanking movement (for you must keep him +out of range); and when the cattle have been driven far enough away, +Mr. Boer jumps on his horse and is off also, while we ruefully "occupy" +the vacant hill. + +We found a noisy and rather gratifying revenge in destroying some +ammunition which was buried in the garden; the throwing of three +thousand rounds of cordite ammunition into the fire is a peculiarly +exciting game. Some presiding genius, instead of blowing up the two +cases of dynamite, threw them into the dam, whence, I have been told, +they were fished up, not a penny the worse, by the Boers after our +departure next day. + +A thing happened in connection with this Boer ammunition which shows +once more how very easy it is to attribute all kinds of sins to one's +enemy. Someone came running up to a little group of us with several +packets of cartridges, one with the seal broken. + +"Here's a pretty thing," he said; "poisoned bullets--the brutes!" + +Sure enough, there were the steel bullets projecting out of the +cartridges, each completely coated with something very like verdigris up +to the edge of the brass envelope. The sealed packets showed that they +must have been so received from the makers, which easily proved the +most premeditated barbarity. Exclamations were rife; a brigadier was +making notes in his pocket-book; someone was urging a correspondent to +send home a cable announcing the fact, when a man, who had been sitting +quietly through it all, said-- + +"That's all very well, but how about the rifling in the barrel? I guess +there wouldn't be much of that stuff left on by the time the bullet was +spinning." + +Silence fell like a cloud on the group, and the bubble was finally +pricked when another officer came up and said-- + +"More bad grease! I've had to chuck out half a box of ammunition because +the grease has gone bad and fouls the rifles." + +Of course; it was as simple as day. The bullets had, as usual, been +dipped in grease to preserve them, and the grease had gone bad. When I +returned to the little circle there was an animated conversation in +progress on the subject of visiting patrols. + +We marched in next day, eighteen miles, having covered a pear-shaped +track eastwards of about forty miles, while the men behaved like Trojans +under most uncomfortable circumstances. + +We remained for some days in camp, waiting for Lord Roberts to move, and +fighting no more dangerous enemy than the wet and boisterous weather of +young winter. Certainly Lord Methuen had a fine force there, well tried +and in excellent condition, and we all hoped that he might be given a +chance to do something with it. There is something at once lonely and +lofty in the position of a General Officer in the field that wins one's +sympathy. You see it most plainly at a full church parade such as was +held on Easter Sunday, when the whole force was formed into a hollow +square. Walls of living faces; before them, a few paces, company +officers; before them again, commanding officers; the chaplain in the +middle; and then the pleasant-looking Guardsman striding into his place +in front of all and saluting the chaplain--the only person to whom that +honour is rendered. After the short service the General's position is +still more sharply indicated, when the shouting of orders takes the +place of the parson's placid tones. + +"Northamptons! _'shon_! Fours left, by the left--quick--_march_!" and +the tramp of feet nears the spot where the General stands alone. Down +the whole battalion you hear the order run, "Company! eyes _left_!" and +hundreds of eyes are turned on the General, until the (to him) welcome +"Eyes _front_!" relieves him from so particular a scrutiny. Is it not a +paragon of what he has to endure from the world? + + + + +XVI + +A SURPRISE ON THE MARCH + + +Strangely enough, I had just written the last chapter, describing the +profound peace of our environments, when from my tent near the farmhouse +I saw one after another of the headquarters staff mount their horses and +gallop westwards up the hill after Lord Methuen, who was easily first. +One learns to read signs quickly in a military camp, and it did not +require much intuition to understand that something was, in the phrase +of the orderly at the vacant headquarters, "bloomin' well hup." My own +horse was ready in five minutes, and when I reached the top of the hill +I found the cavalry horse lines vacant. + +The site of the Zwaartzkopjesfontein camp turns an abrupt face +eastwards, but on the westward side the plateau slopes almost +imperceptibly to the plain, which is, in its immediate neighbourhood, +thickly sown with kopjes. Down this slope the cavalry were galloping, +about two miles in advance of me, in squadron formation, towards a small +kopje on which we had a picket. Realising that nothing could happen +immediately, I followed them at a foot-pace, and came up with them at +the foot of the hill where they had dismounted. Scouts were sent out +westwards among the low bush with which these slopes are clothed, and +from the top of the hill one could see them scattering and spreading +over ten miles of country; but no sound broke the silence of the hills. +Summer was back again to-day; our sea-plain was calm, shimmering in the +haze; and only the buzz of an insect disturbed the peace of the little +group on the brown hill. + +While we were watching the scouts I heard what was in the wind. It +seemed that an outpost of four yeomen, who were stationed about six +miles north-west from camp, had so far forgotten the delicacy of their +position as to light a fire and cook a turkey which they had found. They +were surprised in the act by a small party of Boers, who fired upon +them. Of the men thus surprised three were taken unhurt, while the +fourth escaped slightly wounded, and, returning to camp, told the +disturbing tale. Three squadrons had instantly been turned out to +attempt a rescue, and it was on their heels that I had come out. We +waited for an hour, and then the scouts came in one by one, all with the +same tale. Nothing to be seen--no Boers; one thought that he had seen +two on the sky line seven miles away, but they might have been Kaffirs +rounding up cattle--he was not sure. So we had to give up the men for +lost, and ride back to camp in a hurry and in rather bad temper, for it +was mail day, and time was precious. But the little disaster proved to +be a cheap enough lesson to the Yeomanry, and also to be the herald of +operations far more important. + +This happened on Thursday, April 19th. On Friday morning I was out at +the same place at half-past six, because a staff officer had told me the +night before that there was "a show on," and a "show" may mean anything +from a patrol to a reconnaissance in force. Lord Chesham, who was in +command, was sitting on the kopje with his staff, and I climbed up and +joined them, the cavalry remaining as before underneath the hill while +the scouts went out. We sat for an hour, comparing each other's glasses, +until the stones became hotter and hotter and the sky line began to wave +in the heat. At last I rode out to where there was an advanced picket, +and sat searching the horizon with glasses. We were in a little grove of +mimosa, and the doves were busy above our heads. After waiting for +another hour we saw some Boers to the north, and presently the right +flank scouts came in to report that there were about forty Boers working +northwards on our flank. + +That was quite enough. Everyone was back at the kopje in no time, and +Lord Chesham sent out Lord Scarborough with one squadron, and Colonel +Mahon with another. + +I went with Lord Scarborough's. We rode out to the point at which the +picket had been cut off, and saw more and more Boers coming from the +north--about seventy--but they never got within range, although they +worked closer and closer. Our little body of men was so well protected +by flankers and scouts that, when the Boers at length began to steal +along our flank with the evident intention of sniping us as we returned, +we were able to retire before they came within range, having discovered +the very useful fact that they were becoming more numerous and bolder in +our neighbourhood. + +As we passed through the camp we saw waggons and tents being packed. +Advancing at last? Oh, dear, no. Only Lord Kitchener at the other end of +the wire playing with us again. We were to retire on Boshof, but Lord +Methuen decided, instead of going into the town, to encamp at Beck's +Farm about five miles out, where the grazing was better. The lay mind +found it hard to understand the purpose of these movements. Lord Methuen +had been humbugged and baffled by Headquarters in what seemed at the +time a most unbusinesslike way. First he was ordered out from Kimberley +to Griquatown. When he was there and had 400 Boers in his grasp he +received a message ordering him back to Kimberley at once. Then he was +sent to Boshof and ordered to march with all speed on Hoopstad. Having +reached Mahemsfontein he was ordered to halt, and that place being +unsuitable for an encampment, had to fall back on Zwaartzkopjesfontein. +And then he was ordered back to Boshof again. No doubt the explanation +was that the advance of the main army under Lord Roberts had been +delayed, but of course the Boers believed that all this was due to their +own formidable movements, and were accordingly encouraged. + +Well, there was no doubt that we were moving, and I hoped that we were +going to march in the direction of Fourteen Streams and do something +towards the relief of Mafeking. That was what we had all been longing +to do, and it was with a long face that a staff officer said, "Back to +Boshof." + +So back we started. + +Our column was nearly three miles long, and just as the tail of it was +leaving camp and the head of it, like a snake's, beginning to curl round +Spitz Kop--a lofty cone-shaped kopje beside the road--pom--pom--pom--pom! +suddenly sounded from--where? The wicked little shells licked like a +rising tide along our right flank. + +Up on a ridge far on our right I saw the rogues working their gun, as +busy as monkeys. Our friend the pom-pom once more, and most vivacious. +At the same time I heard the banging of Mausers behind me, and the air +above sang for an instant. And when that flight was over--Boom...! and +the long screaming whirr--sounds which tell you that someone has touched +off a field-gun, and that the shell is coming your way. This one was a +common shell, and did not come within a hundred yards. The whole thing +was very prettily done. Such a surprise, too. We had no idea that they +had guns. + +Turning my horse round I paused for an instant to watch the effect and +the result. The column was still moving on, the Kaffir drivers shouting +a little louder than usual perhaps, but not a bullock out of place or +even a sheep touched. They were firing on a rather vulnerable part of +the convoy, where a flock of about a thousand sheep were being driven +and the remount horses led. But even while I looked the rear-guard was +spreading out and joining hands with the right flank, and the sound of +rifle fire from the ridge showed that they were already engaged. The +pom-pom and the 12-pounder continued for about a quarter of an hour, and +then our battery opened with a roar and silenced them in about two +minutes. And all the while the convoy jolted along the road, and the +rest of the action, or the chief part of it, remained with the right +flank. But I could see the Boers galloping along the ridge in front of +us to be ready for the convoy when it should come up, and certainly that +ought not to have been possible. It is ungrateful to criticise the +Yeomanry who had been doing so very well and learning so quickly, but, +if the truth must be told, their work on the right flank that day was +not beyond reproach. Once, when the fire was slack, I went across to the +right, and rode back very quickly, for I found kopjes which, according +to all military rules, should have been occupied by us, held by the +enemy. + +Of course to guard efficiently the flank of a marching column is not +easy for untried troops, especially when a running fight has to be kept +up. In this kind of country, where a line of kopjes runs parallel with +the road, the best plan is for two flanking parties to occupy them by +turn. Thus A party should occupy No. 1 kopje and B party No. 2; when No. +1 needs no longer to be held A leaves it and seizes No. 3, and then B +leaves No. 2 and occupies No. 4, and so on. But the Yeomanry were +strolling aimlessly along the foot of the kopjes, while the nimble Boer +was climbing up the other side to the top, and shooting down upon +them--or over their heads at the convoy--as he pleased. + +It is a marvel that of our twenty casualties only two were killed. If +the Boers had known of our movement just a little sooner I fear we +should have suffered heavily, or at least lost many cattle and perhaps a +few waggons. At the same time we were taken at the usual disadvantage of +a moving force that has to defend itself, and, with the exception of the +flanking, our work was done really well. The guns at once silenced the +Boer artillery, and they were brought into action so expeditiously that +the Boers never got the proper range. It is true that one shell plumped +into the middle of a flock of sheep, but I believe it killed only two. +And our rear-guard fought manfully. The fire was heavy there, and one +could not see much, but I saw enough to realise that theirs was stiff +work. They and darkness finished the engagement, and we went on to +Boshof, arriving there just as night closed in. + +I shall never forget riding down the main street in pitch darkness--the +street full of waggons (each with its sixteen oxen), blundering about, +the waggon in front of one suddenly stopping, and the waggon behind +coming on--cries, curses, hailings, and railings of the drivers and +soldiers--everyone trying to find his camp or his waggons or his horses, +and not a light to be seen. And, in spite of it all, order emerged from +the chaos; brigade signals flashing, camps pitched, pickets posted to +keep watch over us all night, fires lighted, stations allotted; and +presently "last post" and "lights out," and in spite of the bellowing +oxen, rest. + + + + +XVII + +UNDER THE RED CROSS FLAG + + +There was a burial party going out to Spitz Kop early the next morning, +and Major Pollock and I had leave to go with it. No one was armed, the +ambulance being preceded by an orderly carrying the P.M.O.'s bath-towel. +When we came near to the Boer pickets we rode on with the bath-towel, +while the Red Cross flag waved over the ambulance; and had come quite +close before we distinguished the two figures sitting amongst the large +brown boulders of the hill. + +They both spoke English and treated us with civility. They were both +farmers from the neighbourhood of Boshof, and had a keen appetite for +news of the town. We were soon deep in an examination of their +weapons--one of them had a beautiful Mauser sporting rifle, +hair-sighted, of which he was extremely proud; altogether we had quite a +friendly chat. They gave us the best information they could as to the +whereabouts of our dead and wounded, but it seemed that the Boer +ambulance party had been out working all night, and had recovered nearly +all the wounded as well as the bodies of two dead. + +We went on behind the kopje into a level space surrounded by ridges, and +as we advanced (the bath-towel well to the fore) mounted men began to +appear from behind the ridges. First by twos and threes, then by sixes +and dozens, from north and south and east and west the black figures +came cantering towards us, until our little party was surrounded by, I +suppose, three or four hundred mounted men. The babel of talk was +deafening; everyone had something to say about the fight of yesterday; +and in addition to that it was easily apparent that merely as Englishmen +we were objects of absorbing interest to these pastoral Free Staters. I +know that my tobacco-pouch was empty in about two minutes, and I +presently fell into more particular conversation with the Boer doctor, +who had been up all night attending to his own and our wounded. It was a +rough-and-ready kind of first aid that he gave; a whisky-bottle filled +with carbolic dressing hung from his saddle on one side, and on the +other were rolls of lint and bandages; but I believe that the ambulance +equipment in the laager was thoroughly complete. He told me of one of +our men who had been wounded in the thigh, and had been seen late the +night before crawling about on the ground; but when they had brought +back a stretcher for him they had not been able to find him. The doctor +thought he knew where he was likely to be, so I volunteered to go with +him and search the place. The doctor and I, therefore, with one other +Boer, rode away towards the west. + +The wind was blowing strong from the west, choking down our voices as we +tried to speak while we rode; and therefore we had no idea until some +hours later of the excitement that was caused by our departure. It +seemed that the Commandant, who had been engaged in conversation with +our doctor, had ordered that no one should advance any farther into the +Boer position, and that the empty ambulances must be sent on to receive +the dead and wounded. Indeed we heard afterwards that the friendly +outpost which we first encountered had got into very hot water for +allowing us to pass. When I galloped off, therefore, I was unconsciously +disobeying a very important order, and several of the Boers and our own +party shouted after me that I must come back; but riding against a stiff +breeze none of us could hear a word, and we were so soon out of sight +and over the ridge that the Boers, with a shrug, left me to my fate. +Pollock called the second in command (a Scotchman, I regret to say) to +witness that I had not heard the order, and he promised to intercede on +my behalf with the Commandant, who was a son of General Cronje of +Paardeberg fame. + +I had now better return to my own adventures. With my two companions I +soon reached a rocky plateau, where the horses had to choose their steps +carefully amongst the sharp stones, and searching thus for about an hour +we had a long and interesting conversation. I remember asking one of +them what his real feeling was about their chance of success. + +"We shall win," he said, with that simple confidence, born of ignorance +and self-trust, which is often a dangerous element in a force opposed to +us. "Lord Roberts with all his army cannot leave Bloemfontein; we oppose +him there. Your Lord Methuen cannot advance here; he has had to retire +twice." + +We knew that they would thus interpret Lord Roberts's delay and his +contradictory orders to Lord Methuen, but it was rather galling not to +be able to deny it. + +"We have no dislike for the English," the man went on; and it was at +least true of him and many of the Free Staters whom I met, although it +was not true of all the Transvaalers. "You are brave soldiers and you +fight well and we can respect you, but you are led astray by Joe +Chamberlain." His face darkened when he uttered the name; I had a +glimpse of a man hated by a nation. + +"Rhodes, too," he said, but with less hatred and more contempt. "If we +had caught him in Kimberley we should have killed him, but if _we_ don't +kill him----" and he named an alternative in which he clearly saw a +Providence working on behalf of the wronged. + +I asked him a little later what he thought of our generals and of whom +he was most afraid? He was quite ready with an opinion. + +"There is no difference," he said, with a lofty air, "it makes no +difference to us; we take them as they come. First come first served." +He was even impartial. "Your Lord Methuen has been blamed for +Magersfontein, but the English do not know that we were as much +surprised and scared as he was when his troops stumbled on us in the +dark. It was a very near thing for us. We are not afraid of Kitchener of +whom you talk so much. Roberts? Yes, he is a fairly good general, but +alone we do not fear him. Roberts and Kitchener together are good; we +do not like them. But alone we will take them on any day." + +Although we talked for a long time I did not really learn much from +these Boers, who represented the most unthinking class. Just as I had +found the English colonists to conduct their arguments in a circle and +constantly to bring forward the same old statements, so I found these +Boers repeating the same assertions over and over again: that the Lord +was on their side; that they must prevail in the end; that they could +not trust us; that we had played them false; that we were really after +their gold-fields; "if there had been no gold in South Africa there +would have been no war." They spoke as men who repeated a lesson; yet I +am bound to say that they spoke with sincerity, and although they seemed +to speak parrot-wise, they probably accepted current forms of speech as +giving the best expression to a deep and universal conviction. + +We had been riding for nearly two hours, when one of my companions +noticed marks on the ground evidently made by a man dragging himself +along. We followed this spoor down the rocky slope where ferns and +little shrubs divided the stones. It wound about, choosing the +smoothest places, covering altogether a distance of about a mile; it +led us at last to the shade of a mimosa bush, where the poor soldier had +ended his duty and journey together. + +There was nothing to be done now but to rejoin my party, and when I +expressed a wish to do so the doctor said, "This will be your nearest +way," pointing to a barrier range of low hills. They lay in the right +direction, so I rode on for about a mile and a half, the two Boers still +accompanying me, until we reached the top of the nearest hill. What was +my surprise to see lying below me the smoke and waggons and picketed +horses of the enemy's laager! The Boers, to the number of perhaps seven +or eight hundred, were sitting or lying beneath trees that made a circle +round the mile-wide basin. I glanced at the faces of my companions with +some misgiving, but honesty was written there. + +"I have no business to be here, you know," said I. "We shall all get +into a row." They preceded me down the slope, and, with a presentiment +that I should get out again, I slipped out my pocket compass and made a +mental note of the bearings of the laager from Spitz Kop, the head of +which was visible about six miles away. There was a small farmhouse +which appeared to be used as headquarters; round this were twenty or +thirty waggons piled with cases, but, so far as I could see, no forage +or oats. There were either three or four guns; there were certainly four +gun-carriages, but one of them may have been a limber. As we came into +the basin a small, young-looking man, to whom I was introduced as the +Commandant, met us. + +"Please remain here," he said to me sharply; and as he led the doctor +away, pouring forth a stream of Dutch, I gathered that my poor friend +was getting into trouble. At last Cronje came back and addressed me, +speaking English very imperfectly. This is the substance of what he +said-- + +"You should never have been allowed to come here, and it is my duty to +detain you as a prisoner." + +I remonstrated. "I'm a non-combatant, sir." + +"I cannot help that. You are here and you have seen this place, and I +must send you to Pretoria, whence, if the authorities are satisfied that +you are a genuine non-combatant, you may be sent to Delagoa Bay. It was +very foolish of you to come here." + +I explained that I had come in ignorance, not knowing where my guide +would lead me; that I had come to look for a wounded man, and under the +protection of a flag of truce; that the whole thing was an unfortunate +accident, and that he should treat it as such. + +Much to my surprise he seemed to waver. "If I were to let you go"--and +he looked at me sideways--"would you undertake to give no information?" + +I suggested that the question was an unfair one. "You know how you would +answer it yourself, sir." + +"Yes" (he was melting), "we are honourable also, and to our own side +first of all. I have spoken of you with the doctor," he said, looking at +me kindly for the first time, "and I shall let you go. By rights you +ought to go to Pretoria. Of course your general may come and attack us +here, and your information will be useful, but we are strong enough for +all the English. Bring his horse," he shouted to someone standing by, +and to me, "You may go. No, you may not!" he added sharply; and then, +with a smile, "not until you have had a cup of coffee." + +Upon this civility we parted, but it was not until I had rejoined my +anxious friends with the ambulance that I began to suspect Commandant +Cronje of a piece of pleasantry. Major Pollock, it appeared, had +interceded on my behalf so effectually that my fate had been decided and +my safe return promised long before I had met the Commandant. He +afterwards entertained himself by playing upon my anxiety, which, I have +no doubt, was apparent enough. + +But now the ambulance was slowly returning from the place whither it had +been sent to receive the dead bodies. A place for the grave was chosen +where a thorn tree spread shadows on the ground. There were stony hills +all round, encircling a wide and green basin just within the Boer lines, +and it was beside one of these that the grave was dug. The ground was +very hard and the labour severe; it was at least two hours before the +fatigue-party, working in short shifts, had excavated a resting-place +for the two bodies. While they were working the Boers gathered round us +to the number of a couple of hundred. They were very silent, eyeing us +with an absorbed interest that embraced every article of our equipment. +Men of the humblest peasant class, poorly--in many respects +wretchedly--clad, they presented, in their ragged and shabby apparel, a +sharp contrast to our Yeomanry soldiers, who seemed, by comparison, trim +and well cared for. The Boers wore their ordinary clothes, which were +relieved by only one military touch--the bandolier. This was generally +of home manufacture, and in many cases was a touching and significant +document of affection. "Thought flies best when the hands are easily +busy"; ah, how many thoughts and fears had been worked into those +bandoliers when busy fingers wrought them in the far-away farmhouse! In +some of them, I thought, portraits of the makers were to be discovered. +Fancy stitches and cunning invention which provided for thrice the usual +number of cartridges told one tale; flannel paddings which sought to +make of the military appointment a winter garment told another. The +Boers, I suppose, envied us our serge and whipcord, but to examine their +homely makeshifts was to realise that even the art of Stohwasser may +leave something to be desired. Although they eyed us diligently they had +now fallen strangely silent; they offered us little conversation, but +spoke freely in low tones amongst themselves; they replied to our +questions with a brief civility that did not encourage any very brisk +intercourse. We soon gave up the attempt and lay down under the shade of +the ambulance in our sheltered hollow, listening to the wind singing in +the thin vegetation of the hill above us. + +The sound of picks ceased at last, and an orderly came to report that +the grave was ready. The stretchers were withdrawn from the ambulance +and exposed two bodies stained with soil and blood--one shot through the +lungs, another through the head; neither of them remarkable for the +dignity that death is supposed to lend to the meanest features, both +looking strangely small and almost grotesque in their crumpled postures: +two troopers of the Yeomanry, known (as it happened) to not one man of +the crowd; and now emerging, before they reached a final obscurity, to +be for a moment a mark for all our thoughts and eyes. They were laid +beside the grave; the Boers ranked themselves upon one side, we upon the +other; the doctor opened his book and, shyly enough, began the service. +A bird flew twittering and perched on the thorn above us, making the +office choral. + +You are to remember that there were present to us just the simplest +facts of life. Hills and the naked sun, great winds and death--before +these we may cease to make believe; they tune and temper us to +accordance with pulses which, if only we are honest, will give us back +multiplied our own faintest vibration. Honesty is easy when we can +forget ourselves; and here, where the wind seemed to pluck the words +from the reader's mouth and carry them to the hills that matched them in +grandeur, they cut the last link between us and our selfish thoughts and +fears, imparting a sense of world-without-end, making us one with our +feathered clerk who, his red-brown wings folded, wove a thread of song +into the Psalm. In that texture of admonition and prayer are many +seizing pictures: man walking in a vain shadow and disquieting himself +in vain, heaping up riches, ignorant who shall gather them: man turned +to destruction: our secret sins set in the light of one countenance: a +displeasure in which we consume away: a wrathful indignation that can +make all our busy years as a tale that is told. The first thought in +each of us had been, "There, but for the grace of God, I lie"; but the +bird's song seemed so to chase away all shadows of self-pity that Death +appeared in his natural order with the wind and rain and sun; no more +unkind than they. + +At a signal the bodies were placed in the earth. No hateful furniture; +clay against clay: they seemed almost to nestle in it. A trooper covered +one face with his handkerchief, his comrade shielded the other with a +branch of mimosa; and while the words flowed to an end we stood, +Dutchmen and Englishmen, our small quarrel for the moment forgotten, +face to face with clear truth and knowing for once the taste of +sincerity. It was a good prayer to pray, that at our own last hour we +should not fall from that charity for any pains of death. + +It seemed a natural thing for us to shake hands with the Boers before we +turned to resume this game of hostility in which we stumbled upon such +great issues. It was a silent ride home, and I need not say that it went +sore against the grain with me to make my report to Lord Methuen and the +Intelligence Department respecting the position of the laager. My +thoughts were not upon compass bearings and distances, but in the +sun-steeped basin where the grave was; and all day long I had a picture +in my mind of two groups of men united in one human emotion, but now +seeking each others' lives. At night, long after the camp slept, I lay +awake with the echo of the graveside "last post" ringing in my ears, +and, because of the appetite for effect that afflicts us in weak +moments, I was teased and worried by a sense of incompleteness. In a +military camp, after "last post" and "lights out" have been sounded, no +bugle save that which sounds an alarm may be blown until the hour of +reveille. The soldiers under the hill had been trumpeted to their last +sleep; in a few hours I should hear the morning call: why should they +never hear it again? Suddenly my irrational complaint was silenced as +certain words of Saint Paul to the Corinthians reverberated in my mind. +After all, it was well; one night was but a little longer than the +other; and, those words being true, my troopers should wake to a +familiar sound. + + + + +PART V + +WITH THE FLYING COLUMN TO MAFEKING + + + + +XVIII + +A STRATEGIC SECRET + + +It was now more than six weeks since we had hurried from Bloemfontein to +be in time for the expected operations for the relief of Mafeking. When +Lord Methuen had moved from Boshof we had been sure that Mafeking was +the goal, and I think that Lord Methuen himself had at least expected to +conduct a turning movement on the Boer position at Fourteen Streams. It +is easy to see now, when even Lord Roberts's strong march on Pretoria +has been harassed and his communications interrupted, why such a +movement of Methuen's small force could not have been successful; but we +did not see it then. There was a great dearth of information, and the +secret of the Flying Column was kept perfectly until within a few days +of its departure. While we were waiting at Boshof in the blank days that +followed the rear-guard engagement everyone suspected his fellow of some +secret information, and men's most trivial movements were elaborately +construed into indications that they meditated some independent action. +Even Lord Methuen was so much in the dark that he used to say he liked +to see the correspondents coming, as he supposed it meant that he should +have something to do. Those of us who were there knew really nothing, +and had only come prompted by a vague instinct that something was in the +air. + +Unavoidable as the delay in despatching a column to the relief of +Mafeking seems to have been, I think that there was one moment at which, +if Lord Methuen had had a slightly stronger force under his command, the +course of the campaign on the north-west frontier might have been +changed, and Mafeking relieved by pressure from the south. After my +accidental discovery of the Boer laager near Spitz Kop there was a long +discussion by Lord Methuen and his staff of the possibilities of +surrounding and attacking the enemy. It was plain that this large force, +commanded by young Cronje, had moved across from Fourteen Streams with +the object of harrying us and perhaps retaking Boshof; and for a few +days there was practically no force at Fourteen Streams. Now if Lord +Methuen could have sent out a light column westward from Boshof to the +rear of the laager, and also held the enemy in front with the remainder +of his force, he might with good fortune have bagged the whole Boer +force, which he knew from my information to be weak in guns. I know he +was urged to do it; I know he wanted to do it; I know what the chance of +a sensational success meant to a man whose successes had hitherto been +unexciting and his one failure a spectacle; and I admired him for not +running the risk. It would have been so easy to yield to the urgency of +his staff and Intelligence Department, and success was almost certainly +assured; but Lord Methuen, who has been foolishly accused of all kinds +of rashness, chose in this case to read in that "almost" an assurance +that he was not justified in taking the risk. He had no Horse Artillery; +and the rapid and secret march to the rear of the laager might have been +impossible with field-guns. So he decided at any rate; and decisions +like these are among not the least important victories of a campaign. + +Since the Boers were in the neighbourhood, and might at any moment make +an attack, Major Pollock and I were anxious not to leave Boshof until it +became absolutely necessary. We had a secret agent watching our +interests at Kimberley in the person of a staff officer whose name I +suppose I had better not mention; thus we witnessed, without misgiving, +the sudden and hurried flight of all the other correspondents from +Boshof, mystery written on their faces. Thus we spent two more peaceful +days riding in the shady lanes and lying on the sunburnt kopjes, +sweeping the horizon with the telescopes of Lord Chesham and his +pleasant crew; thus we received a telegram from Kimberley advising us to +"come here and attend to the business yourselves"; thus we rode away and +closed what will remain in my memory as the pleasantest chapter in the +campaign. + +The diary that follows was written during the march of the Relief +Column--not always under the most favourable circumstances. The +imperfections of a document of this kind are so closely bound up with +its only merit that I have decided to leave it exactly as it was +written, and not to risk a sacrifice of reality in an attempt to abolish +defects which, I hope, the reader will regard as being in the +circumstances unavoidable. + + + + +XIX + +THE DEPARTURE FROM KIMBERLEY + + +BARKLY WEST, _Thursday, May 3rd._ + +At last! + +During the inaction of the past weeks there has been but one question +asked--"Is nothing to be done for Mafeking?" With the gallant little +garrison waiting and keeping the enemy from the door while disease is +busy within, it has been hard to sit still and wait for the orders that +have been so long in coming. But Kimberley, which had been almost +emptied of troops by Lord Methuen's departure, gradually filled again as +General Hunter's division assembled; and a few days ago it became plain +that some movement was imminent. + +Tuesday evening--the eve of the mysterious move--was full of romance for +anyone who knew what was about to happen. The dining-room of the club +was gay with yellow and brass and scarlet and the subtler colours of +wine and flowers; but conversation grouped itself into the small low +choruses that indicate far more truly than one united sound indicates +the presence of some common and thrilling interest. Earlier in the day +I had been admitted to a kind of _seance_ in the Press Censor's office, +where an envelope alluringly marked "secret" had been opened, and its +contents read to a "limited number of correspondents of known +discretion." Within it was written that a flying column under Colonel +Mahon would set out at daybreak on the 4th from Barkly West for the +relief of Mafeking; that a certain number of correspondents (of known +discretion) would be invited to accompany it; that the estimated time +was fifteen days; that no provisions or forage would be supplied; that +the correspondents must give their word of honour to divulge nothing +until a certain time: to all of which we set our hands and seals, and +then departed from the office somewhat impressed. It is characteristic +of our Intelligence Department that on leaving the office I was greeted +by a Kimberley resident with the remark--"Well, I hear that Mahon is +going to make a dash for Mafeking on Friday _via_ Barkly West; good +business!" + +[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL BRYAN MAHON, D.S.O.] + +So in the evening, although if you had asked point-blank questions you +would have been told nothing, the forthcoming dash to the rescue was +really the topic. That it is to be the work of the Colonial troops is +fair enough, since no one has a better right than they to help their +besieged comrades. Therefore the British officer has been for once +eclipsed, and the Colonials have had it all their own way. They hovered +and bustled about the club all the evening, taking leave of friends and +settling affairs. Some of them, one knew, would not return; and the +thought never fails to lend a strange kind of solemnity to the eve of a +big enterprise. "We're going to have a tough job," Colonel Peakman had +said, and men had looked grave for a moment, and then gone on talking +and laughing; but the prospect of serious fighting was displeasing to no +one. That is always the way; the excitements and not the horrors of a +battle are remembered; every man thinks that, though all the rest should +fall, he shall stand at the last; a sense of danger in the future is a +trumpet-call. And this is a noble part of warfare, to relieve the +distressed. A duty to be done at all costs; no questions of how or why, +but a clear lead. + +There is something in the very words "flying column" to appease the +impatient; wings in the air, a swoop upon the victim. But it is merely a +bold figure of speech, and means in a case like this a rapid march of +twenty miles a day, mules instead of oxen, short rations, starving and +ruined horses. These flying cavalry columns and forced marches (the only +means by which the slippery Boer is to be cornered) demonstrate to how +great an extent this is a campaign of horses. Only the shortest horse +rations can be carried, and even at the best, a fortnight's continuous +work of this kind will so knock up a good horse that he must have three +months' rest before he can be of any further use. So your flying column +must start with fat horses, and use up their reserve of flesh, arriving +at the end with skeletons. It is dreadful enough to see a good beast, +and hundreds of good beasts, starving before your eyes and working hard +all the time; but it is only one of the many horrible and necessary +accompaniments of a war. What is asked of the horses on an expedition of +this kind is that they shall carry a man say twenty-five miles a day on +the march, and at the end perhaps carry him another thirty galloping +about in a fight; and no animal will stand more than a fortnight of +that, even on full rations. So the remount officers have been busy in +Kimberley, buying up every animal that looked as though he would last +for a fortnight; and the private buyer has been hard put to it to +provide for his needs. I was lucky enough in the two hours of yesterday +afternoon that were available for the purpose to light upon a cart and +team that would carry my load of forage and bully beef; and at 5 p.m. to +see the leaders harnessed in for the first time, while my faithful +Kaffir groom gathered up the reins with doubt in his eye. Of course the +leaders turned round and tried to climb up over the wheelers' heads, but +at length they came to an approximate sort of unanimity as to which pair +was to lead. Thereafter I had the fearful joy of seeing the equipage set +forth at speed down the narrow street. A policeman escaped with his life +at one corner, a cripple was snatched from death at another, a nigger +was cannoned off at a third--the proprietor of the public menace riding +diffidently behind the while, trying to look as though he had no hand in +it. But the great thing was that I had got something capable of "flying" +with the column, and I was twice hailed on the way out to know whether I +would sell the horses. + +From Kimberley to Barkly (whither the forces comprising the column had +proceeded earlier in the day) the road lies through twenty-five miles +of the loneliest veldt; except at the half-way house I did not see a +human being all the way. The young moon was up, and threw the earth and +sky into sombre night colours--a purple wall of earth meeting the +spangled violet of the sky in one long line. For twenty miles of the +road there was hardly a sound save the beat of horses' feet; but +presently there stole on my ear a kind of music for which one's senses +long in this barren country--the murmur of water over stones. It was the +Vaal river, running here broad and deep, and making Barkly West a +pleasing instead of a dull place. Beside a sharp bend the lights of an +inn shone upon the road, promising rest for tired people, whether they +had four feet or two; and the promise was fulfilled. + +To-day has been given up to horse-buying; the place was like a fair; +everyone who owned even the framework of a horse brought it out and +offered it for sale; and officers were competing busily for the purchase +of any decent animal. I found time to go down and listen to the +river--strange sights the water that is flowing so quietly must have +passed this morning! For one of our 6-inch siege guns was sent up to +Warrenton last night, and opened at daybreak on the Boers at Fourteen +Streams. One longs to know something of the result; but the water flows +secretly on into more peaceful scenes. + + +GUNNING'S FARM, _Saturday, May 5th_. + +We did not get away until nearly nine yesterday morning, and for the +first few miles were much delayed by breakdowns in the transport column. +The transport mule is a troublesome creature; sometimes he insists on +stopping to pick up grass; always he is reluctant to do merely what is +required of him. So although our transport column is supposed to take up +only one mile of road, it straggled over a good two miles during +Friday's march. The road was very dangerous, winding through narrow +passes and thick bush country; therefore the scouting was slow and +laborious, and the whole column was halted before every unusually +dangerous place. But we met no Boers; and since we desire to proceed +very quietly and unostentatiously at first this was fortunate. The +column consists of about eleven hundred men of the Kimberley Mounted +Corps and the Imperial Light Horse, a mixed company of picked volunteers +from the Sixth Fusilier Brigade (representing England, Ireland, +Scotland, and Wales), and a four-gun battery of the Royal Horse +Artillery, with two pom-poms in addition. Every man is mounted, +including the infantry men, who ride on waggons. Yesterday we marched +only twelve miles, owing to the difficulties of the ground, but in the +evening our business began in earnest. Lights had to be out at eight +o'clock, and this morning we marched off at two, no lights or fires +being allowed, not even a match for a cigarette. The joys of rising at +1.30 in the cold pitch darkness (for these are winter mornings, in spite +of the summer noonday), and of trying to harness a team, and pick up all +one's kit, exist only in retrospect, where all troubles fade. The +six-hour march this morning was very cold and very tedious; four hours +of it were in darkness, and how late the sun seemed to be in rising! But +he came punctually, in spite of a mild panic amongst us lest something +should have happened to him, and the pageant of his rising was +entertainment for the last two hours. Fifteen miles before breakfast and +fifteen after lunch--a journey almost too heavy for the second day. Two +teams of mules were knocked up, and more will follow if this goes on. + +At Spitz Kop, our breakfast outspan, we heard guns in the distance, and +from the top of the high hill we could see the little fluffy clouds of +smoke, that meant so much to someone, bursting on both sides. There was +an alarm that the Boers were coming our way, and the guns were turned +out; but it was a false alarm, and the column came on here to Gunning's +Farm, where we arrived after dark. Camping in the dark after a +thirty-mile march is wild work--such a commotion of hails and calls, +such searching for one's camp, and for the watering-place for horses. +The hour of lamplight is precious, and I am near the end of it now. + + +MUCHADIN, _Monday, May 7th_. + +A day seldom passes on which one does not receive fresh proof that the +world contains foolish people. In the small hours of Sunday morning, +when the camp was astir in the darkness, a rifle-shot rang out quite +close to me. I could hear the bullet going up like a rocket until the +sound was lost. It was the usual thing--some idiot charging his +magazine, and forgetting to close the cut-off--with the result that when +he snapped his trigger the gun went off. Any good result of our +discomfortable regulation as to fires and lights is quite cancelled by +such an act, which proves much more certainly than fires can prove the +presence of armed troops. The same thing happened early this morning, +and the pickets were turned out to find that the alarm was false. It is +a great pity, but where the British soldier is to be found in any force, +there seems invariably to be found also the man who lets off his gun by +mistake. The marvel is that the thing generally hurts no one. + +Sunday's march was uneventful, except that trouble began among the +horses. One of my four fellow-correspondents lost a fine pair--the +wheelers of his team--which he had bought in Barkly on Thursday, and +which probably returned to their former owner. But as we have no lines +of communication, he will not see them again. My horse fell sick, and +the three hours of the midday bivouac had to be spent in hastily +breaking in to the saddle one of the leaders of my team. The +headquarters staff lost two horses, and five mules strayed from the +supply park. The fact was rather tersely announced by Corporal Jenkins +of the Army Service Corps, who came up while I was talking to his +officer, saluted, and said in the language of his kind-- + +"Please, sir, I'm deficient of five mules." + +The loss of animals from so small a column is really serious, and +everyone is looking blue over his deficiencies. I am deficient of a +spade and two nose-bags. But then I am to the good by one lame dog, who, +in return for slight services rendered on the road, refuses to allow any +but my own lawful servants to approach the encampment. We did eighteen +miles to-day, and encamped at Greefdal in the evening. We are now well +north of Fourteen Streams, where all day long we have heard the guns +booming. In the afternoon the native scouts (who work far outside the +ground patrolled by our scouts and flankers) reported a party of 500 +Boers approaching from the south and east, but they must have turned +northward, for we have heard nothing more of them. This morning we could +see a long line of dust moving about twenty miles to the north-east; but +it has subsided, and the Boers are probably in laager. It is fortunate +that Colonel Mahon is an absolutely careful man, since any little +neglect in the matter of patrolling and choosing bivouac positions might +mean complete disaster to the column, and the frustration of its end. +These little things have often been neglected in this campaign; and +whenever there has been a convoy captured, it has been because someone +has taken for granted that someone else was holding a drift or pass. So +we move warily through a placid country that may become at any moment +full of menace; travelling may at any moment be exchanged for fighting, +and the roadway for the battlefield; even the green slopes that front us +may hide the gravest danger, and the river-bed with its grasses and +lapsing waters become a pit of death. But one knows little of the +future; it is on the knees of the gods. + + + + +XX + +FROM TAUNGS TO VRYBURG + + +DRY HARTZ, _Tuesday, May 8th_. + +The march of yesterday afternoon was not without its incidents. We came +in sight of the village of Taungs at about four o'clock, our road +passing ten miles to the west of it at the opposite side of the Hartz +valley. I was riding with the advance guard when a man rode up from the +direction of the village. + +"I've just come to have a look at the troops," said he; "I'm a British +subject." + +"Oh, are you?" said the colonel in command of the guard, and ordered him +to be detained and examined. He told us a great many lies, and is now a +prisoner. We have collected about nine prisoners so far, chiefly +insurgents against whom there is grave evidence; and they ride along in +an ox-waggon quite contentedly, while the dozen men of the Scots +Fusiliers who act as their escort regale them with specimens of northern +wit. To judge by the sounds of hilarity which float from the waggon, +even towards the end of a long march, their efforts are well +appreciated. + +A patrol was sent over to Taungs, and we watched the squadron dancing +away until a fold of the green plain hid them. Soon afterwards we came +into camp. + +The paramount question at such a moment is always: "What is the water +like?" Last night it was very bad, and there was no officer in charge of +the watering when the rear of the column came in. The only water was a +small, almost stagnant river, and the men were into it, bathing, as soon +as they arrived. Then the horses and mules were watered, and stirred up +the mud with their feet; and then we sent for drinking water. Of course +one has it boiled, but even so----. + +While we were having dinner the patrol returned from Taungs, having cut +the wire north and south and destroyed the instrument. They found the +village empty except for women. + +Encounters with insurgents are often amusing, although amongst them they +have so far afforded natives of all our three kingdoms reason for shame. +Here is something quite typical. + +SCENE: _The veldt road. Enter very slowly from the north, an ox-waggon. +Enter from the south, a cloud of dust, out of which emerges the Mounted +Advance Guard of the column. They meet, and halt._ + +TROOPER _in charge of ox-waggon, saluting and pointing with his thumb +within_: + +"Come to report, sir. Found this woman trekkin' along, and won't give no +account of herself." + +_Commanding Officer draws aside tent of waggon and discovers fat and +hearty old woman._ + +C.O.: "Now, my good woman, what have you to say for yourself?" (_No +answer._) + +TROOPER: "Please, sir, she come from that there rebel farm." (_To fat +and hearty old woman_) "Now then, missus, tell the Colonel who you are." +(_Long silence, during which something seems to be working in the mind +of the fat and hearty old woman._) + +C.O.: "Can anyone speak Dutch? Here, Evans, ask her what she has to say +for herself." (_Trooper Evans asks her in fluent Dutch--no +answer--question repeated with emphasis._) + +F. and H.O.W.: "Whethen now, and shure it's Mrs. McGuire Oi am, and bad +luck to the whole av ye. Glory be to Goodness, but it's a quare place +Oi'd be in if the likes of you was all Oi had to me back, wid all me +bits av sticks and the ould hin herself took be the Boers--bad cess to +'em" (_and much more to the same effect, during which the waggon is +searched and a couple of Martini rifles found in it, and various other +damning evidences, with the result that the waggon is confiscated, and +the fat and hearty old woman bundled off to her farm, protesting +loudly_). + +But although such incidents are sometimes amusing they are often +painful, and the burning of houses that has gone on this afternoon has +been a most unpleasant business. We have been marching through a part of +the country where some mischievous person has been collecting and +encouraging insurgents. And this afternoon in the course of about ten +miles we have burned no less than six farmhouses. Care seems to have +been taken that there was proper evidence against the owners who were +absent. In one case the wife of an insurgent who was lying sick at a +friend's farm, watched from her sick husband's bedside the burning of +her home a hundred yards away. I cannot think that punishment need take +this wild form; it seems as though a kind of domestic murder were being +committed while one watches the roof and furniture of a house blazing; +and how many obscure deaths of the soul take place while a woman +watches her home, and all the little valueless possessions that are +precious to her, falling into ruin before her eyes? I stood till late +last night before the red blaze, and saw the flames lick round each +piece of the poor furniture--the chairs and tables, the baby's cradle, +the chest of drawers containing a world of treasure; and when I saw the +poor housewife's face pressed against the window of the neighbouring +house my own heart burned with a sense of outrage. The crime of +insurrection is a serious one, but I never heard yet of a crime for +which the responsibility rested on the criminal alone. + +On quite different grounds, this destruction would appear to be worse +than useless. The effect on those of the Colonial troops who, in +carrying out the orders to destroy, are gratifying their feelings of +hatred and revenge, is very bad. Their discipline is far below that of +the Imperial troops, and they soon get out of hand. They swarm into the +houses, looting and destroying, and filling the air with high-sounding +cries of vengeance, and yesterday some of them were complaining bitterly +that a suspected house, against the owner of which there was not +sufficient evidence, was not delivered into their hands. Further, if +these farms are to be confiscated (as the more revengeful loyalists +desire) and given over to settlers, why burn the houses? The new +occupant will only have to build another homestead, and building is a +serious matter where wood and the means of dressing stone are so very +scarce as here. The ends achieved are small--simply an exhibition of +power, and punishment which (if it be really necessary) could be +otherwise inflicted; and the evils, as one sees them on the spot, are +many and great. If I described one-half of the little things which I saw +in the process of destruction I should be accused of sentimentalising; +but the principle of the thing seems clear enough. If one could only +hope that with the conflagration would die down those hotter fires that +burn in the heart of this country, one might accept the manifest +disadvantages. But good feeling will never spring from ashes like these; +every charred spot is the grave of that which neither time nor laws can +revive. + + +BRAKFONTEIN, _Wednesday, May 9th._ + +We are not far from Vryburg now, and expect to enter it to-day without +opposition. From several prisoners taken on the way (there are twenty of +them now) we heard that the Boer police in Vryburg knew of our presence +at two o'clock on Sunday, and that they all fled. Another farm was +burned this morning, and much ammunition destroyed. We have now got over +a great and critical part of our journey, which has been admirably made +through very difficult country, and we do not expect opposition until we +approach Mafeking. Cronje, who was reported on Sunday to be moving +westwards with a force to cut us off, has apparently missed us, and he +will hardly attempt a rear-guard action without guns. We have two +pom-poms, and everyone--even the most peaceful of us--who has once been +shot at by these infernal machines is eager to watch them at work from +the right end. + + +VRYBURG, _Thursday, May 10th._ + +We occupied Vryburg yesterday at about three o'clock. We made a very +easy march, with a long rest at midday, and as the column wound up to +the summit of a high ridge we saw Vryburg lying green and white on the +farther slope. Half our journey done, and the most dangerous half; it +was a pleasant sight. The Boers had all left the little town, and the +English residents--chiefly women of the artisan and shopkeeper +class--swarmed out to meet us, waving spurious Union Jacks, and +exhibiting all the loyalty that can be displayed by means of dyes and +pigments. It was like Bloemfontein on a smaller scale. + +The people here have been in rather a bad way. There has been a great +deal of sickness; the supplies have been very scanty, and meal seems to +be the only thing of which they have plenty. So naturally they welcomed +the column as the sign of an open road to Kimberley. + +I went to see the railway station, which has been much damaged. The only +two locomotives here have been outraged; vacuum gauges have been broken, +dome-covers torn, and taps smashed; and bullets have been fired at the +steel-plated boilers, which, however, they did not penetrate. But it is +only outrage, and it seems that with materials left in the workshops +here the engines can be repaired in a couple of days. The Boers have +been very clumsy over this; a dynamite cartridge might have been +strapped under a driving axle in far less time, and its explosion would +have been more effectual. + +Our chief joy has been in straying about the town, revelling in the +sense of things to be bought. No man can withstand shops after having +experienced for several days conditions under which money is not of +value. There is really nothing to buy that is of much use, but we stand +agape at the window of an ironmonger's shop, fingering the money in our +pockets, and wondering whether to buy an axe or a mincing machine. On +the whole, the axe has it; one must have fires; and bully beef _can_ be +eaten in the slab form. + + + + +XXI + +NEARING THE GOAL + + +JACKAL'S PAN, _Saturday, May 12th_. + +Colonel Mahon's column left Vryburg on Thursday at sunset in a cloud of +purple dust, and as long as the light lasted, we could see the rather +pathetic-looking little crowd of residents waving handkerchiefs and +flags. It was intended only to march for three hours; but our +information about water proved to be incorrect, and the column wound +along in the moonlight over mile after mile of the most sterile veldt I +have yet seen in the country. I was riding with Colonel Mahon for the +last few hours, and was to some extent buoyed up by the repeated +assurances of the guide that there was water "just round the bend"; but +even so it was a weary correspondent who got off his horse at 2 a.m., +after eight hours of walking and riding at a foot-pace. Of course, the +poor mules suffered most. Even four hours in harness without a rest is +considered too much for them; here they had twice that time, over very +rough ground, and in consequence half of them had bad breast-galls. It +was a mistake to go on for so long, especially as we had to halt after +all without water; but the Colonel could not be persuaded to halt until +his transport officer warned him that the mules were at the end of their +endurance. And all through that weary march no lights were permitted; no +smoking even, which gives one something to do; and when we got into the +bivouac at two o'clock, no fires or lights. We had to be up at five and +start in the misery of darkness and intense cold; without even the +comfort of a hot drink; but we reached the water at eight, and had a +long morning of rest and sunshine. No one really grumbles at this sort +of thing, although it is most unpleasant; and as the men are all picked +for health and endurance, no one is any the worse for it. + +We marched eighteen miles on Thursday night, and four the next morning; +thirteen yesterday evening, and eight this morning; this afternoon we +expect to do another twelve, and reduce the distance before us to an +easy two days' journey. Of course, all this speed is achieved at a +certain cost in mule and horse flesh, but we hope that the end will +justify it. The authorities at Kimberley have not done so well for us as +they might have done. They did not take the trouble to find out exactly +how many horses were in the force, with the result that the daily horse +ration has been reduced from the inadequate seven pounds to the absurd +four pounds, while the men are on half meat and three-quarter biscuit +rations. Another serious defect in the equipment of the column is that +there is not even a section of engineers with us. The want is the more +felt as water is scarce and bad along the route; often the only water is +a small pan or pond into which the mules wade breast high and churn it +into mud, which the men have to make a shift to drink. A few sappers and +a waggon with the advance guard would ensure a clean supply for +everyone, since water that is quite insufficient in a dam can be made to +go a long way when it is pumped into watering troughs; and a section of +engineers can fix up the whole necessary apparatus in ten minutes. + +Far more interesting than the march of a great army corps, where one +gets lost in the miles of transport, is the progress of a small column +like this, where one is more or less in touch with everyone, and can +watch from within the deliberations and methods of the small staff to +whom success or failure means so very much. The little group that rides +in front of the guns discusses minutely many questions of absorbing +interest in the course of a day's march. Whether such and such a ridge +ought to be patrolled; how far the scouts are working in this or that +direction; whether it is advisable to halt now and go on after a rest, +or do a greater distance and have a long rest at the end. And then, when +the time for the five minutes' rest in the hour has arrived, "_Halt_!" +is passed down the column, and one hears the word running down squadron +after squadron until it is lost among the lines of the ammunition +column. The connecting files pass it forward to the advance guard, who +send it out to their scouts and patrols, until the great serpent that +winds over the country is completely at rest. Then follows a sound of +horses cropping grass and men talking. Then "_Stand to your horses_!" +runs down the column, followed by a shuffling of feet as men scramble +from the ground where they have been lying; "_Prepare to mount_!" and +there is a general gathering up of reins; "_Mount_!" and a long rustle +and jingle as the men swing into their saddles; "_Walk march_!" and the +serpent is off again, feeling his way before him. + +Three miles in front of us the furthest scouts of the advance guard are +working cautiously in the bush, and from the officer in command of the +guard a note occasionally comes back to the Brigadier, carried from +squadron to squadron and passed along the connecting files until it +reaches the head of the main column. One never becomes accustomed to the +interest and mystery attaching to these notes, and one almost holds +one's breath while they are read; they may contain so much, may carry +news of the gravest or most astonishing nature; for if the advance guard +found the enemy in strength standing on his head in a donga the +information would still be conveyed through the cold propriety of Army +Form No. C 398. It is one of the sanest of cold-blooded regulations; let +a patrol be never so hard pressed and requiring help never so urgently, +the officer commanding it must take time to say so in writing. + +I am glad to see that no more farms are being burned, and that we are +not burdening ourselves further with the insurgent prisoners. We have +already twenty-five, but the Brigadier has been content to read the +insurgents who have been taken since a lecture on the folly of their +ways, and to warn them that a day of reckoning is coming. I came up to +a house yesterday where the Dutch farmer, who was known to be disloyal, +had just been arrested and taken away. The troops were making +preparations to burn the house, acting on the general order, which had +not been cancelled. Within, a child had dropped his toys to stare in +astonishment at the strangers, and his mother was weeping alone. I rode +back to the Brigadier and said what I could, with the result that I was +able to return and assure the woman that her house would not be burned, +and in addition to see her husband come back in half an hour. The effect +has really been produced already, and prisoners in a flying column are a +particular nuisance. + + +BRODIE'S FARM, _Sunday, May 13th_. + +The end is drawing near now, and a fight is almost certain this +afternoon or to-morrow. A commando of Boers, 400 strong, was reported +yesterday afternoon about eighteen miles on our right flank, and some +time during last night they pushed on and occupied a kopje at +Koodoesrand, directly in our path, where they laid an ambuscade with +three guns. They expected (as well they might) that we should come on +and butt into their position. But we have learned our lesson, and this +morning we made a detour and have got past them. We have marched nine +miles; we shall reach the next water (twelve miles) this evening, and +to-morrow we must march straight on to Mafeking (twenty-four miles), for +there is no water all the way, and there is the prospect of heavy +fighting at the end of it. The horses will simply be used up, but that +cannot be helped; if we win it will not matter, and if we lose----. It +will be a trying day for everyone, and we shall only have a few hours' +sleep to-night, but I think no one grudges the discomfort. I write on +the eve of what may be a very brilliant, a very disastrous, or a very +simple affair. We are a small force, the march so far has been +brilliant, and success will be a brilliant crown for the expedition and +its leader. Everyone is more than a little anxious, but it is hard to +foretell any result. + +I forgot to say that we had a runner from Mafeking, with messages from +Colonel Plumer and Colonel Baden-Powell; they asked us what our numbers +were, how many our guns, and what the state of our supplies. The answer +was most ingenious, as we had no code to which they had a key, and we +could not trust a straightforward statement of such important facts to +the risks of the road. So Colonel Rhodes invented this answer:-- + +"Our numbers are the Naval and Military multiplied by ten; our guns, the +number of sons in the Ward family; our supplies, the O.C. 9th Lancers." + +Excellent as the Boer Intelligence is, I do not suppose that they are +aware that the Naval and Military Club is at 94, Piccadilly; that the +house of Dudley rejoices in six stalwart sons; or that the officer +commanding the 9th Lancers is Colonel Little. + + + + +XXII + +WE REPEL AN ATTACK AND JOIN FORCES WITH PLUMER + + +BUCK REEF FARM, _Monday, May 14th_. + +A diary is the last place in which to indulge in prophecy; it preserves +too clearly the record of fallacy. In the last twenty-four hours have +been reversed all the expectations of those in charge of this column, +and even the direction of our march has been completely changed. My last +entry was made at midday yesterday, and at 2.30 we resumed the march +northwards, intending to reach a point ten miles distant at which there +was water. The road was very heavy, or rather there was no road at all, +the way lying over rough bush veldt, which consists of long, rank grass, +with thorn bushes at small intervals and hardwood trees at greater +distances--the whole something like an English paddock or park of young +trees, except, of course, for the grass. This was heavy going; the mules +were hot and tired, and the convoy trailed out and straggled; we spent +quite two hours in covering the first four miles. + +I have said that the convoy straggled, and there were long intervals +between one part of it and the next. During one such interval, the +afternoon being very hot, I lay down under a tree and left my horse to +graze. A cloud of locusts flying high and beating the air with millions +of wings made a pleasant sound as of wind in a forest, and listening to +these and to the thousand other minute noises that proceed from the +insect life on a few square yards of veldt, I almost fell asleep. There +was not a sound from the column; you could not imagine a more peaceful +spot; and the obvious contrast between the purpose of this little army +and its present circumstances impressed me more vividly than ever. And +in less than half an hour from that moment of absolute peace the bullets +were hailing round us and the air was resonant with the boom of guns. +This is how it happened. + +It was half-past three when I left the shade of the tree and joined +Colonel Mahon in front of the Horse Artillery, and at twenty minutes to +four we heard the sound of rifle-shots--three or four--to the +south-east. We had now got into a kind of wood in the bush, and here and +there could see beyond the edge of it eastwards towards a hillside that +sloped up from us to a ridge four miles away. On this ridge we could see +a cloud of dust, and we were looking at it through glasses when a note +came in from the right flank reporting a body of the enemy advancing on +us from the east. Presently we made out on the edge of the dust a line +of horsemen opening out on a kind of glade on the hillside, and the +Brigadier ordered the guns to come into position where we were standing. +It was really no sort of position at all, being merely a wood with no +view from it, and in a hollow at that; but it was all that could be +done. + +The guns came galloping up, the horses as keen as mustard; in five +minutes they had unlimbered and were in position; but Major Jackson, who +was in command of the battery, reported that the range was extreme and +that he could not be effective. So we lit pipes and waited, while the +convoy was ordered to be hurried up as much as possible. + +Up galloped an orderly with a note, and everyone tried to read the +Brigadier's face. It clouded a little. + +"Enemy advancing in strength on our front" was the essence of the note. +But "They've got us in the nastiest place of the whole march" was all he +said. + +In a few minutes more Prince Alexander of Teck came up to report that +the convoy was well up, and just as he had finished speaking rifle-fire +broke out on our right, and a minute later, sharply, on our front. It +was then 4.45, and a bewildering moment for the Brigadier, who had a +great, bulky convoy to protect, and had it at the moment in a +defenceless position. I think I would not take any reward to bear the +responsibility of acting at such a moment. The shots were sounding +quicker, but one could see nothing except the surrounding trees. Colonel +Mahon looked coolly round. + +"We must try with the guns," he said, and ordered another squadron out +on the right. + +The orderly rode away with the order, and at exactly five o'clock the +fire broke out furiously and bullets began to whistle over us. Everyone +put his horse into a canter by instinct, and I think the staff went +round to the guns. I returned to the convoy to look after my cart. + +The convoy was moving on now on as broad a front as the shrubs and trees +would permit of; it raised a cloud of dust, which the level rays of the +sun lit like a rainbow, and the bullets began to come in a hail. Well, +that is rather exaggerated--not a hail. But on a summer day after +oppressive heat and dark clouds the big raindrops begin to splash on the +ground; and this fire, which many old stagers who have been through +several fights describe as the hottest they have known, was something +like that. There was no cover; everyone was under fire; so there was +nothing to do but to dismount and lead one's horse along beside the +convoy. Every now and then with the clear high "phit" of the Mauser +bullet would come the hideous twisting whistle of the Martini--really a +horrible sound. There was something like a panic amongst the native +drivers; they walked along bent almost double, taking what shelter they +could; one I saw crawling along on his belly, and the sight made me +laugh, although I had at heart too much sympathy with him to be really +amused. The mules and horses, alarmed by these strange whistlings in the +air, began to neigh and scream, and they added to the general tumult. +One gave up wondering whether or no one would be hit, but merely +wondered if it would be a graze or a "plug." There were the usual number +of miraculous escapes; the driver of the waggon beside which I was +walking tumbled off his seat like a sack, stone dead; a mule in the +waggon behind me leapt and kicked, and sank on the ground; my horse +jumped as a Martini bullet smote the sand at his heel; yet I think there +was never a bullet nearer me than a dozen feet. Major Baden-Powell, who +is accompanying the expedition for his brother's relief, had his watch, +worn in the left breast-pocket, smashed to atoms, but his skin was not +even scratched. + +They were ten very long and, to put it frankly, very hateful minutes +that passed until M Battery opened with a roar. It was a welcome sound, +and still more welcome the "pom--pom--pom--_pom_," like the bark of a +good dog, that sounded immediately afterwards. And it was like oil on +water, or water on fire. Immediately the enemy's fire slackened; in two +minutes it had almost ceased; in five it had stopped entirely, and one +began to get one's breath. There were men lying all round and about the +wood, and the small ambulance staff had more work than they could do; my +cart made three trips, carrying wounded men from the column to the +dressing-station. Only ten minutes of fighting, and over thirty +casualties; six killed, twenty-four wounded, one missing. + +But when one had been through those ten minutes, it was not the men +lying stark and still in the grass beside the ambulance that made one +astonished; it was the sight of people walking about and talking that +made one wonder whether or no one had been dreaming. It was decided to +halt. Everyone lay down where he stood, and it was a strange, troubled +night, with horses stumbling about in the moonlight and blowing with +astonishment into one's face. + +This morning, as some of us more than half expected, the enemy had +cleared, but in consequence of a message received from Colonel Plumer +asking us to meet and join him at a certain place we have turned from +our original direction. We reached a dry river at eight o'clock this +morning, and men had to begin to dig in the sand for water for +themselves and their horses. One of my servants found a well fifty feet +deep, from which the bucket hoist and ropes were missing. I had sixty +feet of rope in my cart, and I went quietly away with two boys carrying +all our buckets and bags and kegs, and leading all the horses. We had +two hours of very hard work at that well; and when the horses had drunk +their fill, and every vessel had been replenished, the fact that there +was a well was reported to the Brigadier. In ten minutes a crowd of +troopers was round the well, trampling down earth into the water; but if +we had only had a few engineers everyone could have been supplied in +half an hour. + + +JAN MASSIBI'S, _Tuesday, May 15th_. + +We marched off at half-past three yesterday, keeping west of north; on +and on, until half-past eight in the evening. Everyone was dog-tired, +and dropped to the ground, only to be roused at one o'clock this morning +by the Brigadier, who personally went round and woke people up. He had +to shake me twice, and I imagine that other people were wrapped in just +as profound an oblivion; nevertheless we were on the march again at +1.30. + +Oh, the weariness of that eternal plod through the rough grassy ground, +the coldness, the interminable darkness! It was no better on horseback +than on foot, for the animals kept falling asleep and stumbling. At +every halt one tumbled off one's horse and fell asleep, only to be +awakened by the hateful "Stand to your horses." But at last the light +began to glimmer in the east, the air took an even colder tone, so that +even the grasses seemed to shiver with the breath of dawn, and presently +the whole horizon on our right burned with a red fire. Thereafter the +shedding of greatcoats and sweaters and woollen helmets, and the glad +breathing in of the wine of morning. A little after daylight our advance +patrols came in touch with the pickets of Colonel Plumer's camp, down in +the valley of the Molopo River at Jan Massibi's. The Brigadier and his +staff rode on, and it was a pleasant meeting between the two officers. +And pleasanter still when the cloud of dust that heralded our force +appeared on the crest of the southern ridge and the long column began to +pour down the slope and to cross the drift. Soon it was filling the +valley and mingling with the other force already encamped, and now +everyone is busy washing or eating near the picturesque little cluster +of Kaffir kraals and big shady trees; for the region of karoo and +shadeless plain has been left far behind. Our supplies are practically +exhausted; the horses are eating their last ration to-day; but Mafeking +is only eighteen miles distant, waiting for our help. There is something +inspiring in that knowledge, and in the news of the grand little +garrison's latest success; and everyone is anxious to push on and get +the inevitable fight over. + +To-day we rest under the trees and dream through the music of singing +birds, with perhaps a thought for yesterday and the fellow-travellers +whose journey ended so suddenly. But for the soldier, more than for +anyone, the watchword is "No regrets"; and as for to-morrow, who can +tell the issue? + + + + +XXIII + +THE FIGHTING ON THE MOLOPO + + +At daybreak on Wednesday, May 16th, the two columns under Colonel +Mahon's command moved from Jan Massibi's in two parallel lines along the +northern bank of the Molopo River. As the sky brightened before us +Mafeking was eagerly looked for, but for a long time each successive +rise only showed us another beyond which hid the desired view. The +country consisted of a succession of ridges lying at right angles to our +line of march, and as each one rose before us the staff galloped forward +to the summit, only to see another lying beyond. But at last, while some +of us were buying eggs at a Kaffir kraal, a more adventurous person +climbed upon a rubbish heap and shouted "There's Mafeking!" There was a +rush for the coign of vantage, and a great levelling of glasses. There +it lay, sure enough, the little town that we had come so far to see--a +tiny cluster of white near the eastward horizon, glistening amid the +yellowish-brown of the flats. We looked at it for a few moments in +silence, and then Colonel Mahon said, "Well, let's be getting on"; and +no one said anything more about Mafeking, but everyone thought a +great deal. + +[Illustration: Sketch Map of Fight at ISRAEL'S FARM. on May 16th] + +There was a difficulty about water, and it was finally decided to halt +at midday at a point where the Molopo River curved near to the road. We +turned off the road down a slope which sank towards the river on the +right. The ground rose up on all sides round us, but the guns were +placed near the top of the northward rise. The mules were outspanned and +led to water, and we breakfasted. Remember that we had been up since +half-past five and had had nothing to eat, that it was now nearly an +hour after midday, and you will understand how it happened that I was +more interested in the cooking of certain meats than in the galloping +about of orderlies on the hillside. + +Breakfast was just over and my horse was being saddled, when a crack of +rifle-fire on our right front warned me that things were about to +happen; and at the same time I saw that the mules were being harnessed +with frantic haste. By the time that I had ridden up the slope the guns +had gone forward into position, but as yet there was no firing except +from rifles, which were banging in a desultory fashion now all along our +right flank. I searched the slope beyond the river with my glasses, but +could not see a man; yet the firing was there sure enough, and +increasing. It was at 1.55 that the first firing broke out, and for half +an hour the same thing continued, during which the convoy was formed up +in what seemed a sheltered part of the hollow. We were in a bad place--a +very shallow saucer; and on the edge of the saucer the Boers had taken +up their position. + +During this half-hour little seemed to be done, but there is always this +interval during which a battle develops. We did not as yet know any but +one place in which the Boers were; it was pretty certain that they did +not know what we were going to do; so the right front, where our advance +guard had first come into touch with the enemy, was as yet the only +point of contact. Meanwhile Colonel Plumer, with the whole of his +mounted men, was sent off to the right flank; Colonel Peakman, with the +Kimberley Mounted Corps, was held back to watch the rear; Colonel +Edwards was sent with the Imperial Light Horse to the left flank, with +instructions to work round in advance if possible, and so turn the +enemy's right; and the Royal Horse Artillery and the Canadian guns took +up a position on the front. It was difficult to find a place from which +to look on, especially as we were far from confident that the Boers +were on our right alone. There were folds in the sides of our saucer, +and I found a kind of ridge on the northward slope below our guns. I had +just dismounted and was watching the right ridge through my glasses when +the edge of the horizon at which I was looking was divided by a bright +flash. In a few seconds there was a deep report, followed by the whine +of a shell in the air; the sand spouted up in a great fountain--Heavens! +how close to the convoy; and presently the sound of the burst drowned +the crackling of musketry. The convoy huddled away from the smoking +patch where the shell had fallen, and began--oh, how slowly!--to wind up +the slope towards me. Another shell, still on the same spot, of which +the waggons were now quite clear; and now the shells followed each other +so rapidly that one gave up trying to distinguish between the initial +and the bursting reports, and became absorbed in watching the brown +columns spouting from the earth. + +They were now playing all round the moving convoy, and each was a +miracle; wherever there was a blank space, there the fountain rose; and +when the convoy had closed up so completely that one was certain that +the next shell must hit something, it fell quite wide. I was still +watching this beautiful and dreadful sight when the air above me +vibrated to a new song, and on my right a small shell burst with a +disagreeable sound. I cleared away to the northern side of the basin, +only to feel once more obliged to move as a new gun opened and began to +churn up the ground. To be sure, these were long, range-finding shots, +and were not intended to pitch where they did, but it is not always safe +to rely upon the accuracy of shrapnel fire, and I moved again. But it +was of no use; the enemy's pom-pom suddenly began to bark, and played on +the one spot which had seemed but a moment before to be safe. + +During this development (which had only occupied about ten minutes) our +artillery had gradually come into action; first the solitary, abrupt +bang of the 12-pound horse gun, then the readier and brisker fusilade of +the Canadian quick-firing Vickers-Maxim, then the clamour of our two +pom-poms, then the rattle of a Maxim somewhere in the rear. And all the +while the area from which the sounds proceeded was spreading like a +bush-fire; beginning on the right, it worked across our front, spread +from the left front along that flank until it seemed almost to meet the +firing on the right rear. When all the guns were going the medley was +terrific, although I suppose it was nothing to the sound produced in a +really big pitched battle. But it was confusing enough, and, what with +the baffling effect of the cross-fire, the whining in the air, and the +continuous noise of the explosions, the rattle and crackle of musketry, +the galloping hither and thither of orderlies and messengers, and the +unpleasantness resulting from the whole thing's happening in so small an +area, provided excitement enough to satisfy the most jaded adventurer. + +In colder language what had happened was this. The commando that had +been holding on for days on our right as we marched had got ahead of us +when we diverted towards Plumer, had effected a junction with a force +sent out from Mafeking to oppose us, and had just arrived in position +near Israel's Farm when we came up against them. Fortunately they had +not time to entrench, but they were just going to begin when we turned +them, as we found picks and spades lying about in rear of their +northward artillery position. From the large outline of their attack +there must have been at least 2,000 of them, and from the cleverness +with which they were disposed we at first estimated them at twice that +number. We held them on our right while we sent a strong force working +round on our left, which ultimately got out far enough to turn their +right. Of course we were too few to do more than dislodge them; +surrounding was out of the question; so when we had fairly turned them +we "let go" on the right, and the Boers fled in that direction. The +house at Israel's Farm they held until the very end, shelling our +rear-guard briskly. The engagement lasted close on five hours, during +which our casualties amounted to less than forty. + +In even fewer words than these (so concise is his art) the military +despatch-writer might have described those eventful hours; and one takes +a kind of pleasure in trying to imitate him, so supremely inadequate are +such sentences to produce any real impression on people who have never +found themselves in the midst of a battle. Not that any art of written +words is equal to it. One goes through the whole gamut of sensation; one +is charmed, afraid, bewildered; charmed by the scale and magnitude of +the operations, afraid for one's own skin, bewildered with a kind of +dream at the strangeness of it all. One may sit, as I sat, under a tree +listening and watching for hours; and from the grossly and crudely real +the thing fades and changes into an unreal image of the senses. The +gaudy flies and beetles that hum round one, whose noise is so much +louder and nearer than the crash of shells, they fill the foreground of +reality; it is not conceivable that the man with the pleasant face and +kindly eye who is directing a battery should be attempting the lives of +his fellows on so large a scale. Yet it is the scale that makes the +difference: a man who would abhor to kill another will with a smile +direct the machine that destroys twenty; and he, if anyone, has the +right to act upon this reduced estimate of the value of human life, for +he counts his own as lightly as that of his enemy. + +But I have forsaken my narrative of the fight, and I am confronted by +the fact that there are five hours of fighting to be accounted for. + +Five hours! Was it for so long that one listened to the voices of guns +and rifles? I can hardly believe it, and no bare catalogue of +manoeuvres seems to fill the gap. Our artillery positions were changed +several times, and when the convoy was crowded up into a fold of the +ground the shells no longer reached it, but continued to pound at +Colonel Peakman and his rear-guard. At about five o'clock, the Boers +having cleared from our left front, the convoy was pushed on in that +direction, and we penetrated as far as the position which had been held +by the Boer 15-pounder on our front. Just as we reached that point a +note was brought in from Colonel Plumer on the right reporting that he +was checked by the Boers at Israel's Farm, and accordingly the Horse +Artillery battery was formed up in front of the convoy, and with the two +pom-poms (which followed it about like small dogs barking after a big +one) shelled the farm, which the enemy evacuated. The sun began to sink, +the firing in our rear dropped and died out gradually, and with a few +shots from a Martini, fired by someone on the left who amused himself by +sniping the staff, the fight came to an end. + +The fight was over, but as the convoy began to work its way cautiously +through the bush in the dusk we began to talk about it, and to fit it +together from the pieces of our individual experience. What had they +been trying to do? What had So-and-so been doing on the left? Had we +many casualties? Should we go on into Mafeking? Ah, that was the +question. But after about an hour's trekking through the bush it was +decided to halt, as someone reported that the enemy was entrenched ahead +of us. As for the fight, we did not then fully know what had happened, +but we found out afterwards. The Boers had once more given us a lesson +in tactics, and we had given them one in dealing with a nasty situation. +With a comparatively small force (although stronger than ours) they had +bluffed us by extending their attack round a large perimeter, leading us +to suppose their strength to be far greater than it really was. They had +caught us in the one bad bit of country between Jan Massibi's and +Mafeking, and but for the really excellent fighting on our side might +have held us where we were until the want of supplies forced us to +retire or surrender. As we had so few casualties it is probable that +they had not many; but it is possible to have very warm fighting with +few casualties. Our cover was excellent; so was theirs; and Colonel +Peakman, who, with the rear-guard, bore the heaviest burden of the +fight, lost hardly a man, although he lost heavily in horses. Everyone +is agreed that the honours of the day fell chiefly to this gallant +business man, who in his spare time had made himself so good a soldier. + +All these matters were talked over until we halted about seven o'clock +and reluctantly heard that we were not to proceed that night. No lights, +of course; but everyone was ready to lie down. While my bed was being +prepared I went over to the ambulance, whither the wounded were being +brought in on stretchers. There were only two small waggons, and the +wretched sufferers were literally heaped inside them, lying in the dark +amid their own blood. The little staff under Surgeon-Captain Davies +worked gallantly, getting the men out, dressing their wounds, making +them as comfortable as possible on blankets over the grass; but it was a +miserable and sordid scene, relieved only by the cheery willingness of +the helpers and the fortitude of the patients. Even here, of course, +there were no lights, but in the recesses of a waggon an orderly was +trying to prepare hot water with a tiny Etna. Dressing about twenty +serious surgical cases out of doors in pitch darkness, with a limited +supply of not over clean water, short-handed, hurried, without proper +appliances--it was a sight that would have startled the artist in +antiseptic surgery. But there they lay; and it was with something like a +sense of shame that I turned into my own comfortable bed. + + + + +XXIV + +MAFEKING AT LAST + + +They were twenty-four very exciting hours that began when we moved from +Jan Massibi's at daybreak on Wednesday and ended when we lay down to +snatch a little rest at daybreak on Thursday. Many miles were travelled, +a great enterprise was brought to a successful issue, a tough battle was +fought, men received wounds and died, Mafeking was relieved: enough +incident and adventure to fill months of ordinary life. The bare events +are recorded here, but the emotional history of those twenty-four hours +will probably never be written. But as you read the narrative, put +yourself in the place of those to whom it was not a story but a piece of +life, and then perhaps you will realise something of what it meant to +them. + +Not much of the story remains to be told. + +At midnight between Wednesday and Thursday I was awakened by a general +stir in the surrounding camp, to find that the moon was shining +brightly, lighting up busy drivers, and the troops getting their horses +ready. We were to advance. Major Karri-Davies had ridden on into +Mafeking, and, with the luck which rewards daring, had found the road +clear, and sent back a messenger with that information to Colonel Mahon. +I think men were never so willingly awakened from sleep; not even the +wounded grumbled, who had also to be roused from their beds on the grass +and repacked into the stuffy ambulance. At about 12.30 we were ready to +start, but during the first mile there were long halts and delays while +the guides argued and boggled about the roads. At last the strain became +too great, and Major Gifford, Captain Smith, and I resolved to ride on +and trust to finding the right road. We knew the direction by the stars, +and started across the veldt a little south of east. + +It was bitterly cold, and we were all both sleepy and hungry, but there +was an excitement in the air that kept us easily going. After about half +an hour we heard voices ahead, and descried the shapes of horses and +men. Our hearts sank for a moment, only to rise again when we recognised +Colonel Peakman, who, having been in command of the rear-guard on the +previous day up till nine o'clock at night, was now taking his turn at +advance guard at one o'clock the next morning. As a Kimberley man, it +had long been his ambition to lead the relieving force into Mafeking, +and I think no one grudged him the honour. Amongst all, indeed, there +was a certain amount of competition, and the four correspondents who +survived to the end of the expedition became strangely silent about +their intentions for the evening. I pinned my faith to Peakman, as I +knew he was as anxious as anyone to be in first. + +Well, we joined the Advance Guard, which presently went on along the +road pointed out by the guide, and for an hour we jogged on at a fast +walk, until we had clearly "run the distance," as they say at sea. Still +no sign of the trenches or forts which should mark the outward boundary +of the defended area. We pulled up, and the guide was questioned. + +"Two miles more," he said. + +We rode on for another quarter of an hour, and still found nothing +before us but the rolling veldt; not a light, not a sound except the +beating of the horses' feet. Again we halted, and this time Colonel +Peakman himself questioned the guide, and the man had to admit that he +had mistaken his way, and that we were on the lower road, longer by a +good three miles than that originally intended. We had no connecting +files with the main column, and, as it had a guide of its own, it was +certain that it would take the shorter road, and probably be in before +its own Advance Guard. A bitter moment, in which things were said to the +guide; but some of us hoped that the slow convoy, with its tired and +galled mules, would even yet take a longer time on its short road than +we on our long one. So we went on again, this time at a trot; the +excitement seemed to extend to the horses, so that even they could not +be restrained. In ten minutes we saw men sitting by the roadside, and +found a hundred very weary Fusiliers, who had been sent to take Israel's +Farm at the end of the fight, and told to go on afterwards. + +"Had anyone passed along the road before us?" "No"; and with a gasp of +relief we hurried on. In a few moment's the group in advance pulled up, +shouting "'Ware barbed wire!" + +We all stopped, and there were frantic calls for wire-cutters. With four +reports like the snapping of big fiddle-strings the last barrier before +Mafeking was removed, and we passed on again, this time at a +hand-canter. In a few minutes we heard the sound of a galloping horse +on the road, and a mounted man challenged us. + +"Halt! Who goes there?" + +"Friend." + +"Who are you?" (The excitement was too high for the preservation of the +proper formula.) + +"Colonel Peakman, in command of the Advance Guard of the Relief Column." + +"By Jove, ain't I glad to see you, sir!" + +It was an officer sent out by Colonel Baden-Powell to meet us and bring +us in. We left the squadron, and the five of us went on, this time at a +gallop, over trenches, past breastworks and redoubts and little forts, +until we pulled up at the door of the headquarters' mess. + +Ah, the narrative is helpless here. No art could describe the +handshaking and the welcome and the smiles on the faces of these +tired-looking men; how they looked with rapt faces at us commonplace +people from the outer world as though we were angels, how we all tried +to speak at once, and only succeeded in gazing at each other and in +saying, "By Jove!" "Well, I'm hanged!" and the like senseless +expressions that sometimes mean much to Englishmen. One man tried to +speak; then he swore; then he buried his face in his arms and sobbed. +We all gulped at nothing, until someone brought in cocoa and we gulped +that instead; then Baden-Powell came in, and one could only gaze at him, +and search in vain on his jolly face for the traces of seven months' +anxiety and strain. + +After an hour we went out and found the column safely encamped just +outside the town. Everyone was dog-tired, and although it was half-past +five in the morning and the moon was sinking we lay down and were +immediately asleep--in Mafeking. + +We did not know it, but we were in a besieged town. Officially the +relief did not take place until ten o'clock that morning, when the Boers +hurried away with their last gun. I was awakened at eight by the sound +of heavy firing, and as soon as my horse was ready rode away to the +north-east corner of the town (we had entered from the north-west), to +where the greater part of our column was in action. Through glasses one +could see something being drawn up the purple slope of a hill six miles +away--the last gun of the besiegers. Earlier in the morning our troops +had advanced on all the Boer positions which were still occupied (only +the eastern ones were then held), and had shelled the enemy in the +midst of his preparations for flight. It was only a rear-guard action; +indeed the engagement was practically limited to the artillery; and all +I was in time to see was the flight. It was a good sight, the mounted +men galloping in open order up the hillside which the morning sun was +throwing into a thousand patches of light and shade. They were soon out +of range, and we stood watching the disappearing specks of black crawl +like flies up the furthest ridges, here in groups of a dozen, there in +twos and threes, until the last one had vanished from our view; and thus +the siege of Mafeking came to an end. + +There was joy in the camps of the relieving column when it was known +that they had also taken part in the siege; "Another bar," said the +medal-hunters. + +Colonel Mahon's column consisted of 900 mounted men of the Imperial +Light Horse, under Lieutenant-Colonel Edwardes, and the amalgamation of +local troops known as the Kimberley Mounted Corps, under Colonel King; +100 picked volunteers from the Fusilier Brigade; four guns of M Battery +Royal Horse Artillery, under Major Jackson, and a pom-pom section (two +guns), under Captain Robinson, the whole artillery force consisting +of 100 men; three Maxims, 56 waggons, and several private Cape carts, +660 mules; in all, 1,200 horses and 1,100 men. + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF SIGNED MENU OF THE RELIEF DINNER AT +MAFEKING] + +The staff was: Colonel Mahon, 8th Hussars, brigadier; Captain +Bell-Smythe, 1st Dragoon Guards, chief staff officer; Colonel Frank +Rhodes, late Royal Dragoons, chief of Intelligence Department; Prince +Alexander of Teck, 7th Hussars, A.D.C.; Major Jackson, commanding Royal +Artillery; Major Sir John Willoughby, late of the Blues; Major the Hon. +Maurice Gifford, attached to the Imperial Yeomanry, general staff; and +Lieutenant F.W. Smith, Kimberley Mounted Corps, galloper. There was not +an officer on the staff whose industry and good sense did not contribute +to the success of the expedition; and we correspondents owe a peculiar +gratitude to Colonel Rhodes, who acted as Press Censor. No doubt his own +experience as a correspondent helped him to fulfil what is always a +responsible and seldom an easy office. He was always considerate, always +interested, always kind and always fair. + +Here ends an imperfect narrative of the relief. What the deliverers saw +on Thursday morning was a little white town lying in the midst of a +wide shallow basin of green moorland; and it reminded one of a town that +had been long deserted and in ruins. I am not exaggerating when I say +that by far the greater number of houses in the town had been struck by +shells, and that very nearly all had been struck either by shells or +bullets. + +After the engagement on Thursday morning the relieving column formed up +and entered the town, headed by Colonel Baden-Powell, Colonel Mahon, and +his staff. As one passed house after house, one with a gaping hole in +its side, another with the chimneys overthrown, another with a whole +wall stove in, none with windows completely glazed, all bearing some +mark of assault--as this panorama of destruction unfolded itself one +marvelled that anyone should have lived throughout the siege. And when +the procession formed up in the dilapidated Market Square, and the whole +of the Town Guard mustered--Kaffirs, Parsees, Jews, Arabians, +Englishmen, Dutchmen, nearly every sort and nationality of men--and when +the Mayor read an address expressing in the conventional terms of such +compliments the emotions of this motley crowd, one asked oneself what it +was that had held these very ordinary-looking people to so heroic an +intention. Remember that the defence of Mafeking had been one big bluff, +that there was nothing to prevent the Boers, with determination and +careful arrangement, from taking the place at almost any time, and you +will realise how startlingly that question asserted itself. I like to +think that there were many men in Mafeking whose courage alone would +have disdained surrender; but there was one man in whose face one found +the answer to the riddle. Brains alone would not have done it; heart +alone would have fainted and failed under those long months of danger; +but the officer commanding this garrison had both brains and heart, and +so he taught his men to endure. + +I do not pay the garrison of Mafeking so poor a compliment as to suppose +that the mere hunger for luxuries, serious misfortune though it be, was +the signal trial of its endurance. Ladysmith suffered worse in this +respect and did not complain. In Mafeking there was always a plentiful +supply of green vegetables, of tobacco, and of wine, and it was only +with a smile that the heir to one of the wealthiest estates in England +told me that they had latterly invented a brawn made with glue from the +hides and feet and ears of mules and donkeys. + +But nearly 30,000 shells fell into a town covering about the same area +as Cowes; in many streets not a man dared show himself save under the +cloud of a dark night, for they were swept by rifle bullets; hardly one +of the many forts on the circumference of defence held weapons half so +formidable as the stout hearts that served them. Thirty thousand shells! +I have been in the neighbourhood of perhaps a hundred bursting shells, +and every burst will be a memory for a lifetime; but thirty thousand! +The heart stops at the thought. Yet here was the little ruined town; +here were the men with weak bodies and cheery faces to prove that +courage can raise the mind beyond fear and suffering; that, given an +ideal and a chance in the leadership, men may be counted on for +something far greater even than bravery. + + + + +XXV + +A MEMORIAL OF THE SIEGE + + +There is nothing pretty about the place where the dead defenders of +Mafeking are laid. It lies in a little square of brown stone wall, +planted amid the dreary waste outside the town. There are no green +lawns, no twisted yews, no weeping willows; the few fir trees hold +themselves stiffly up, as though in pride at this triumph of the +vegetable over the animal; and the great bushes of faded geranium only +throw into relief the regular lines of limestone mounds, each with its +prim wooden cross of advertisement. Always an ugly and a dreary place, +it was, when I saw it a few days after the relief, more dreary than +ever; for the sun, whose presence makes the difference of a season in +this bare land, was hidden behind dark stacks of cloud flying westward +before a cold gale. + +From a sandbag protection at one corner of the cemetery there is a view +on all sides to the horizon. The town, the empty railway station, the +hospital, the network of shelter trenches, connecting earth-works, +redans, redoubts, forts, and emplacements; the straight line of +railway-ruled across the plain to the horizon--these make the view. +Hardly anything is moving except the white flag on the hospital and the +colours on the forts. Sometimes a figure crosses the open stretch +between the hospital and the town, but outside the cemetery itself +hardly a man is to be seen. The wind hums in the empty hearth of a +locomotive, through the stiff trees of the cemetery, past the signal, +standing like a sentinel gone to sleep with his head sunk on his breast, +waiting in an attitude of invitation for the train that is seven months +overdue. + +One's eye returns along the shining rails until it rests again within +the yard, in a far corner of which a couple of orderlies detailed for +burial fatigue are hacking with picks at the hard, white earth. The +graves are in prim, uniform rows--the soldiers' graves, I mean, for even +here the military element swamps the civilian, and one hardly takes note +of the private graves, they are so few. But the soldiers' graves are +arranged with military precision, row behind row, each row containing +twenty graves or more. And at least seven or eight rows of graves are +marked by the regulation cross, while there are many rows on which as +yet no crosses have been erected. The painted words on the crosses +become monotonous as one reads from the head of the first row down to +where the mounds give place to gaping caverns--five or six--prepared for +the dying, whom even now the doctor is plying with physic in the +hospital. Trooper A, Private B, Colour-Sergeant C; the names vary, +indeed, but there are only three versions of the manner of death--"Died +of wounds," "Died of enteric fever," "Killed in action"--the three +epitaphs for soldiers in South Africa. + +It was strange, amid the dreariness and stagnation of this place, to +think of the jubilations at home. What cheering, what toasting, what +hilarity! But here the sparkle in the wine had died, leaving the cup +that had brimmed flat and dull and only half full after all. Food was +scanty and of the plainest quality, there was no news from the outside +world, disease was still busy; and here, set forth in the hard +limestone, was the bill for all the glory and excitement. The bill, but +not the payment; that was being made at home by the people who cared for +what lies beneath the limestone. + +The evils of a war are so direct and obvious that they are apt to be +discounted or accepted as Fate, and classed among the thousand +unavoidable ills beneath which we must patiently sit. But are they? In a +war, the necessity and even justice of which are doubted honestly by +many, where all share the responsibility and few the personal cost, it +is hard to see the hand of an impartial Fate. + +A strange place, you may say, in which to attempt the adjustment of +mingled impressions. Yet in the midst of our crude existence at +Mafeking, where life was shorn of all the impalpable things that make it +real and reduced to a simple material level of food and sleep and noise, +it was a kind of relief to spend an hour in the place where men had gone +down into rest and silence. In normal circumstances one may avoid such +places, but after the din of arms and the shout of victory there was a +sense of companionship to be found in the place that stood for the +ending of disputes. Peaceful, yes; but how was the peace gained? It is +sweet and seemly to die for one's country; but blood and fire, grief and +anguish had filled the vestibule of this sleeping-chamber; and peaceful +though it be, the graveyard of Mafeking is a place to induce in +Englishmen some searchings of heart. + +"Oh, surely not," says the music-hall patriot; "the brave fellows who +lie there have died a glorious death, and the glory is ours as their +fellow-countrymen"; and he drops a tear and a shilling into the +particular tambourine which happens at the moment to be raising the +loudest clamour, and honestly believes himself to have achieved some +nobility at second-hand. + +Our glory? Hardly that. Those who, justly or unjustly, place the martyr +in his last predicament do not wear his crown; and the glory of Trooper +A's death does not rest with you or me, but with those in whose hearts +his memory is quick and real. To count these scores of deaths, as it +were, to our credit in the war, to esteem them merely as things for +which more vengeance must be taken, would be the last and greatest +mistake. Surely they lie in the scale of responsibility, they are things +for which an account must be rendered, by which an obligation is +incurred to use well the fruits of victory. + +There is no need that the wind should moan over this desolate patch, or +that the tattered geranium should scatter its withered leaves on the +unlovely ground. Were it as sweet as a garden in Delos, were the ground +carpeted with violet and primrose and shadows of laburnum, the +burying-ground of Mafeking would still be a sad spot on the chart of +British South Africa. + + + + +XXVI + +GOOD-BYE TO MAFEKING + + +A sudden order from General Hunter; a morning of preparation; a +commotion of dismantling, packing, harnessing, saddling; handshaking and +well-wishing; cheers ringing, hoofs clattering, dust rising beneath +wheels and many feet, a backward glance along the road, and--Good-bye to +Mafeking. An episode in the lives of men, and one which, in spite of the +excitement that went before it, will probably leave a small though deep +impression. Life there was dull beyond words, perhaps because there must +be a reaction after seven months of excitement, and because the nature +of man is elastic, springing quickly back to the commonplace when an +unusual element in its circumstances has been withdrawn. I tried hard to +fancy that the people of the garrison bore in their faces or manners +some sign of the strain which they had undergone. But the months seemed +to have left no traces except on the buildings and on the cemetery; or +perhaps their mark upon the besieged men was set beneath the surface +scanned by a casual observer. At any rate, the people of Mafeking could +not successfully be exhibited in a show of wonders, and they took less +interest in their food than did we, their deliverers, who lived with +them for a while in what might be called "poor circumstances." Strange +to say, the only way in which to secure an ample meal in Mafeking was to +give a dinner-party, when all sorts of things were produced from secret +reserves and--charged for. + +Brigadier-General Mahon's column left Mafeking on Monday, May 28th, +taking the road that runs southward beside the railway, and I think that +everyone breathed a sigh of satisfaction when we were once more fairly +on the road. "The Happy Family" someone called Mahon's force, and there +was certainly never a more united company. He is the kind of +leader--considerate, strict, careless of unessential formalities, +careful of all essential details, jolly of face, kind of eye, a good +companion on the road, a rock of strength and confidence in the +field--who is obeyed in the spirit as well as the letter, and for whom +men would gladly march their feet to blisters. It need hardly be said +that he is an Irishman--"Ould Pat Mahon God bless 'um!" as a friend of +mine said that morning; and the remark was strangely apt, in spite of +the Brigadier's youth and the fact that his name is Bryan. + +For four days we marched southward in easy stages across a stretch of +country that was almost blighted by the scarcity of water; we never had +water through which the bottom of a white cup could be seen; nearly +always we had to share with the mules and horses the vast puddle known +in that country as a pan, and at every puddle or waterhole, as the mules +churned it up into inky mud, the wish was the same--"If only we had some +engineers!" + +At Maritsani siding we found the first really serious break in the +railway. For about three miles the line was completely wrecked, and two +culverts, one (over the river) spanned by unusually long girders, had +been blasted in the middle and were lying broken in the gap. Even here +it was easy to distinguish between the work of the trained German or +French engineer and that of the ordinary rank-and-file Boer. The Boer +did not understand dynamite, but he had a very fair idea of destruction +from the spectacular point of view, and his work made by far the finer +show. One might almost think that children had been at work, so +laborious and futile were his efforts. The permanent way for perhaps +two miles was bodily uprooted, each length of rails with the sleepers +attached, and laid along the embankment. Not a thing was destroyed; the +fishplates, four to each joint, were lying at a convenient distance, and +even the bolts and nuts for securing them were disposed in little heaps. +All that the repairing party had to do there was to replace the lengths +of line, couple them, and shovel in the ballast. But the mile on which +the trained engineer had been at work probably took four times as long +to repair. Here a dynamite cap had been attached to the middle of each +rail, with the result that there was a piece about six inches long blown +out of every length, and that meant that all the old way had to be taken +up and an entirely new one laid down. One thing I did envy this +simple-minded enemy of ours, and that was the pleasure he must have +experienced in doing one bit of damage. Towards one culvert the line +sloped down in a long gradient, and on this a couple of trucks and a van +had evidently been placed and allowed to run down to the culvert, where, +the bridge being gone, they plunged into the gap. Think of the glorious +smash! The trucks must have got up considerable speed. And picture the +crowd waiting expectantly for the final catastrophe. I must say that I +should have liked to see it. + +The destructive spirit had evidently been satisfied by this gorgeous +sacrifice, for nine miles of the line and telegraph wires running +southward from Maritsani were untouched, and at Kraaipan, where we met +the repairing party from the south, the damage was nearly repaired. + +On the Thursday night we marched from Kraaipan to a point four miles +north of Maribogo station, and during the march we heard a whistle in +the far distance. A message was sent to the advance guard, and the train +was "held up" while we gleaned some news from the officer in charge. To +us who had been living in the wild for more than a month the great hot, +hissing, bubbling engine was a strange sight, and we stood gazing at it +open-mouthed like yokels, and stretching out our hands towards its warm +body. When we had learned the news it moved off into the darkness with a +shriek, and we resumed our march with a strange sense of cold and +silence. Early next morning (June 1st) the column marched into Maribogo, +where it was to receive ten days' provisions and a complete supply of +remounts--new wings for the flying column. Hunter and the components of +his force were to rendezvous at Lichtenburg on June 7th. + +Setting out from Maribogo on Sunday morning, June 3rd, we entered the +Transvaal at about midday, and reached Geysdorp in the afternoon. Hart's +brigade had left Maribogo a few hours before us, and we passed ahead of +it at Geysdorp. After having been long with only mounted troops we +thought the infantry brigade a slow and primitive thing; but we envied +it the drums and fifes, to the music of which the Irishmen were stepping +along bravely when we passed. Although their destination, like ours, was +Lichtenburg, we marched at different times of the day, for even in this +large country there was not room on the road for both brigades. While +they were yet asleep in their bivouacs we were at breakfast, and their +reveille generally found us setting out on the march. + +The awaking of a column on these dark, cold mornings is ghostly and +mysterious. The first trumpet-call trembling through the chill starlight +brings one back from dreams to the world. The cavalry trumpeter plays a +longer and more ornate flourish than that sounded by the infantry +bugler, but reveille is all too short on a winter morning. From under +one's shelter one sees the camp return to life--first a match glowing +here, then the smoke and crackle of a fire there, until acres of ground +are scattered with flame. Then the sound of voices begins to insinuate +itself--one never knows exactly when it begins--until the air is lively +with the cries of the cheerful Kaffir. Darkness still on the ground and +cold starlight in the upper air; but eastwards a very sharp eye might +notice a kind of lightening of the gloom. And cold, bitterly cold, one +gratefully withdraws beneath blankets the hand that was experimentally +stretched out. In one's own little camp the stir is also beginning; +fires being kindled, shadowy figures moving through the gloom, the sound +of horses munching corn. Presently the air vibrates to another +trumpet-call--"Stables"; and the few horses (chiefly among the +artillery) that know the calls begin to neigh and paw the ground. Now +the sky above the eastward horizon has faded to the palest blue, +revealing the heads of horses and men where one thought there were only +trees, and along the lower edge of the blue comes another line, like a +fine silver wire. It grows broader and fades into the blue, but in its +place comes a sheet of dull crimson. Millions of miles away God sets it +on fire, and it kindles, glows, flushes to scarlet, melts into gold, +until from the gold flows amber, and from amber the pure white wine of +daylight. All the old colours rush westward across the sky; the veldt +glows with tints that have no name nor description in our dull tongue; +yet these are the mere drip and overflow of the dayspring. + +Small wonder if amid such an entertainment one forgets the bustle in the +now visible camp, and smaller still if one forgets that one ever wanted +to sleep. Another trumpet sounds--"Boot and saddle"--and the bustle +becomes acute as the mules are harnessed and horses saddled. And from +some near squadron which is to form the advance guard are heard the few +sharp orders that are necessary to transform it from a crowd of men and +horses to a military unit. "Fall in. Number!" And the numbers run down a +switchback of sound as each man shouts his own. "Stand to your horses. +Prepare to mount. Mount. Advance by sections from the right. +Walk--march!" And with the last word the day's work begins. + +On Tuesday morning I had ridden on far in advance of the column in +search of buck. There was very little cover, and at the first shot they +were off like the wind, so I gave it up. Just beyond the ridge where I +had been shooting I came upon the pan of water that was to be our +outspan, and beside the pan was a farmhouse, outside of which stood a +little group of people. An old woman, a young man, a girl, two +middle-aged matrons, a man horribly deformed--people of different ages +and manners, yet having in common one startling thing: they were all +shaking with terror. It was startling because they were the only living +creatures except birds and springbuck that I had seen for miles of that +lonely march. The heath stretching to the sky north and south and east +and west; the muddy pan; the poor house and outbuildings; the solitary +horseman; the terrified group--these filled the picture; and it was not +without misgivings that I approached the house. + +"Oh, sir" (it was one of the matrons speaking English with the pleasant +deliberation of a Dutchwoman), "was it you whom we heard shooting on the +hill?" + +When I said that it was they all gasped with relief, and the women broke +out into a clamour of talk and questioning. Was the army coming? Were +there many troops? Where were the Kaffirs? Was I sure that there were no +Kaffirs about? When I had reassured them on the point the deformed man +spoke. + +"The Kaffirs are jumping about. Ja! They have looted my farm. All my +stock also. We are afraid. I am waiting to go to my farm, which is one +hour over the hill, but when I heard your gun I was afraid the Kaffirs +were near. They know we are only women or sick men here, and they have +guns, and they are jumping about. Your Colonel at Mafeking gave them +guns, and now they run about stealing and murdering. All last night I +dared not move from here, although we have no food. I was afraid, and so +were these ladies, knowing they were jumping about. Now I go to my +farm." + +He called a black boy, who presently brought round a miserable cart +drawn by two skeleton ponies. One of the women got in. There was no need +to ask the fierce little cripple why he had not been on commando, and I +was wondering how he was going to get into the cart, when he gave a +great leap, and, climbing nimbly into his seat, drove away. + +When he had gone the woman of the house began to pour out a woeful tale. +Her husband--was he dead or alive? No news for three months; no letters +or telegrams. Even the casualty lists had ceased to reach them. Her babe +was dying for want of milk food. Could I give her a tin? General +Hunter's men had broken up her kraal to use the wood for burning, and +all her goats had wandered off and she had no one to send to look for +them. These few logs of wood were all she had to bake bread with; would +I ask the General to see that the soldiers did not take them? And then +the Kaffirs! It was a piteous tale launched on a flood of tears. +Possibly it was exaggerated; people have different ways of asking for +help; but the terror in the woman's eye when she spoke of the Kaffirs +was genuine. And I remembered the cripple's phrase--"The Kaffirs are +jumping about." + +Captain Bell-Smythe, the brigade major, came up presently, and I found +him willing, as he and General Mahon had always been, to listen with +patience to the long recital of woe. A sentry was put over the house +and gardens to protect them from the desecrating foot of Tommy, and I +know that a tin of milk was furnished out of the scanty stores of the +headquarters' mess. + +As for the Kaffirs, that trouble turned out to be a very real one. On +the next day's march four were captured by a patrol of General Barton +and shot, and it almost seems as though their blood were upon the heads +of those who failed to disarm them after the siege of Mafeking was +raised. I heard that the reason given was that it would offend the +Barralongs, who had fought so bravely in defence of their staadt; but +surely it had been better to offend them than allow them to run their +heads into a noose. The Kaffir trouble was like a shadow on our march; +they imagined that they had old scores to pay off; they paid them with +remarkable fidelity to their own austere sense of justice; and it was +felt that in suffering death they were bearing the punishment for more +than their own misdeeds. + +Incidents such as these marked the days of our march to Lichtenburg. But +our family was breaking up; Colonel Rhodes and Sir John Willoughby, who +had worked so hard on the relieving march, left us at Maribogo; one by +one my fellow-correspondents were departing; one officer after another +who had been with us on some special service was being withdrawn. + +And suddenly my own summons came. Over thousands of miles of sea-bed it +found me at a spot where the telegraph instruments never spoke before, +and may never speak again until the end of Time. We were encamped +fifteen miles from Lichtenburg, in a place made green by a clear and +brimming river. I had wished to send a telegram, and the obliging +orderly had undertaken to tap the temporary wire and "call up" +Lichtenburg. So the instruments were connected in the green field, and +soon the voice of the man at Lichtenburg was heard. The first thing he +did was to ask if anyone of my name was with the column, and when he +found I was there he said there was a cable for me. He read it to me +over the wire, with the result that I did not send my telegram. And +presently the voice ceased, the wire was disconnected, and (although I +had been hoping that the message would come) I went about like one under +sentence of death. + +We came on into Lichtenburg the next day, once more passing the Irish +Brigade with its childish pipes. General Hunter's division was now +complete, and I had not seen so great an encampment of tents since +leaving Lord Methuen at Boshof. They surrounded the pretty town--long +lanes arched by great willows trembling over streams such as run clearly +through the streets of all South African villages. On the next day +Mahon's column, proceeding in advance of the Division, was to set out +towards Rustenburg, while I rode forty miles westward into Mafeking. + +The day at Lichtenburg was very busy, occupied by those miserable duties +that affront the softer feelings. To dismantle and sell the moving home +that, as though by a miracle, has been nightly disposed through hundreds +of miles of road travel, and to part from horses that have served you +well and shared your dangers, if not your alarms, is to suffer a new and +painful damage to the affections. It was here, also, that I had to say +good-bye to Major Pollock, with whom I had been living for the last five +months. Some correspondents live always alone, and some like to join +with several of their fellows in a large mess; but I think that our +arrangement (when one is so fortunate in one's companion as I was) is by +far the best. Of course the newspaper correspondent has to remember that +he is the rival and not the ally of all his fellows; but in the South +African war there were many occasions when two correspondents might work +together to the advantage of both newspapers, and there were few +occasions when a correspondent could obtain any advantage or information +which was not shared by all the rest. At such times, of course, when +they did arise, we used to become very silent as to our immediate +intentions, and the subject which was uppermost in both our minds was +shunned. But so long as my companion was with me I never lacked a home +on the veldt. + +The happiest endings and the lightest farewells are indeed serious; they +punctuate life, and set a period upon chapters that may not be revised. +Out of the dust of preparation rose once more the pillar of cloud that +had hovered over the column for hundreds of dusty miles; and soon to an +accompaniment of stamping feet and jingling harness it moved on, leaving +me behind as it had left so many others--not all to go home, but some to +sleep beneath the roadside bushes. General Mahon waited, chatting, until +the last waggon had passed, and then he also, who had been the +pleasantest of companions as well as the most respected of commanding +officers, rode away with that stiffening of the back with which your +true soldier ever turns from private to public affairs. I looked after +the vanishing column, and felt as though every prop of existence had +been knocked from under me. I had been one amongst a thousand, a mere +molecule in a large mass, moved hither and thither without reference to +my desires or efforts; and I resented the restoration of independence. +Strange contradiction! We crave and struggle for individuality; here was +mine restored to me, and I looked at it askance. The tail of the column +disappeared round a bend in the road. Was this indeed the end of the +chapter? + +Not quite the end. As I set out on the westward road I met a +half-battalion of the Scots Fusiliers returning to camp from exercise, +marching at ease. Each company was headed by a piper who swung and +swaggered, blowing deep into the lungs of his instrument. As one company +passed, the measured bleat and squeal of the pipes faded and merged into +a sound heralding the approach of another. The gorgeous uniforms were +absent; but even the shabby khaki, stained with the soil of long marches +and hard fights, could not obliterate that perfect harmony of movement +which marks the first-class regiment. + +I stood to watch them go by. The last company approached; the piper, his +head thrown back, so deeply drunk of sound that his soul seemed to float +on the steady hum of the chanter, set the rhythm to ranks of men +stepping out to the inspiring discord. I turned my horse's head; before +me the road stretched long and lonely; behind was the bustle and stir of +the camp. A file of officers marching behind the column hailed me with +envious congratulation when they heard where I was going. But they did +not know that, just for one moment, I would have given the world to turn +and follow the piper. + + + +PLYMOUTH +WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON +PRINTERS + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING*** + + +******* This file should be named 23875.txt or 23875.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/8/7/23875 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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