diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-8.txt | 2138 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 43714 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 140751 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-h/24842-h.htm | 2379 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-h/images/map.png | bin | 0 -> 95206 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/f001.png | bin | 0 -> 17320 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/f002.png | bin | 0 -> 15181 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p139.png | bin | 0 -> 39038 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p140.png | bin | 0 -> 296176 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p141.png | bin | 0 -> 54153 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p142.png | bin | 0 -> 43136 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p143.png | bin | 0 -> 46651 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p144.png | bin | 0 -> 55311 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p145.png | bin | 0 -> 50919 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p146.png | bin | 0 -> 51183 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p147.png | bin | 0 -> 45860 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p148.png | bin | 0 -> 52869 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p149.png | bin | 0 -> 55775 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p150.png | bin | 0 -> 55404 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p151.png | bin | 0 -> 44536 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p152.png | bin | 0 -> 46800 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p153.png | bin | 0 -> 54134 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p154.png | bin | 0 -> 50923 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p155.png | bin | 0 -> 56047 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p156.png | bin | 0 -> 52916 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p157.png | bin | 0 -> 49083 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p158.png | bin | 0 -> 48635 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p159.png | bin | 0 -> 50814 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p160.png | bin | 0 -> 54073 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p161.png | bin | 0 -> 53141 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p162.png | bin | 0 -> 51618 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p163.png | bin | 0 -> 53973 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p164.png | bin | 0 -> 51523 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p165.png | bin | 0 -> 54705 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p166.png | bin | 0 -> 45322 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p167.png | bin | 0 -> 56409 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p168.png | bin | 0 -> 58387 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p169.png | bin | 0 -> 58612 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p170.png | bin | 0 -> 58572 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p171.png | bin | 0 -> 55788 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p172.png | bin | 0 -> 53717 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p173.png | bin | 0 -> 51420 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p174.png | bin | 0 -> 50299 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p175.png | bin | 0 -> 48473 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p176.png | bin | 0 -> 56517 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p177.png | bin | 0 -> 58297 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p178.png | bin | 0 -> 58673 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p179.png | bin | 0 -> 55288 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p180.png | bin | 0 -> 52857 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p181.png | bin | 0 -> 57526 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842-page-images/p182.png | bin | 0 -> 38102 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842.txt | 2138 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 24842.zip | bin | 0 -> 43695 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
56 files changed, 6671 insertions, 0 deletions
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/24842-8.txt b/24842-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..def8c7d --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2138 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +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 Defence of Duffer's Drift + +Author: Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +Editor: Wm. P. Evans + +Release Date: March 16, 2008 [EBook #24842] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +VOL. I. April, 1905 No. 4. + +JOURNAL OF THE +UNITED STATES +INFANTRY +ASSOCIATION + + +PUBLISHED QUARTERLY +BY THE UNITED STATES INFANTRY ASSOCIATION +75 CENTS PER COPY; $3.00 PER YEAR + + +MAJOR WM. P. EVANS, A.A.G., _Editor_ + + +1800 F STREET NORTHWEST, +WASHINGTON, D.C. + + +Entered July 5, 1904, at the Post Office at Washington, D.C., +as second-class matter, under act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, +1904, by the U.S. Infantry Association. All rights reserved. + + + + +THE UNITED STATES +INFANTRY +ASSOCIATION + + +OFFICERS + +_President._ +Major-General J.C. BATES, U.S. Army. + +_Vice-President._ +Lieutenant-Colonel JAS. S. PETTIT, U.S. Infantry. +_Assistant Adjutant-General._ + +_Secretary and Treasurer._ +Captain BENJAMIN ALVORD, General Staff. + +_Executive Council._ +Lieutenant-Colonel JAMES S. PETTIT, U.S. Infantry, A.A.G. +Major WM. P. EVANS, U.S. Infantry, A.A.G. +Major JOHN S. MALLORY, 12th Infantry, G.S. +Captain BENJAMIN ALVORD, 25th Infantry, G.S. +Captain H.C. HALE, 15th Infantry, G.S. +Captain C.H. MUIR, 2d Infantry, G.S. +Captain FRANK MCINTYRE, 19th Infantry, G.S. +Captain D.E. NOLAN, 30th Infantry, G.S. + + + + +THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT. + +BY CAPTAIN E.D. SWINTON, D.S.O., R.E.--(BACKSIGHT FORETHOUGHT.) + +BY PERMISSION. + + +PROLOGUE. + +Upon an evening after a long and tiring trek, I arrived at Dreamdorp. +The local atmosphere, combined with a heavy meal, are responsible for +the following nightmare, consisting of a series of dreams. To make the +sequence of the whole intelligible, it is necessary to explain that, +though the scene of each vision was the same, yet by some curious +mental process I had no recollection of the place whatsoever. In each +dream the locality was totally new to me, and I had an entirely fresh +detachment. Thus I had not the great advantage of working over +familiar ground. One thing, and one only, was carried on from dream to +dream, and that was the vivid recollection of the general lessons +previously learnt. These finally produced success. + +The whole series of dreams, however, remained in my memory as a +connected whole when I awoke. + + + + +FIRST DREAM. + + "Any fool can get into a hole."--_Old Chinese proverb._ + + "If left to you, for defence make spades."--_Bridge Maxim._ + + +I felt lonely, and not a little sad, as I stood on the bank of the +river near Duffer's Drift and watched the red dust haze, raised by the +southward departing column in the distance, turn slowly into gold as +it hung in the afternoon sunlight. It was just three o'clock, and here +I was on the banks of the Silliaasvogel river, left behind by my +column with a party of fifty N.C.O.'s and men to hold the drift. It +was an important ford, because it was the only one across which +wheeled traffic could pass for some miles up or down the river. + +[Illustration: MAP OF DUFFER'S DRIFT.] + +The river was a sluggish stream, not now in flood, crawling along at +the very bottom of its bed between steep banks which were almost +vertical, or at any rate too steep for wagons everywhere except at the +drift itself. The banks from the river edge to their tops and some +distance outwards were covered with dense thorn and other bushes, +which formed a screen impenetrable to the sight. They were also broken +by small ravines and holes, where the earth had been eaten away by the +river when in flood, and were consequently very rough. + +Some two thousand odd yards north of the drift was a flat-topped, +rocky mountain, and about a mile to the northeast appeared the usual +sugar-loaf kopje, covered with bushes and boulders--steep on the +south, but gently falling to the north; this had a farm on the near +side of it. About a thousand yards south of the drift was a convex and +smooth hill, somewhat like an inverted basin, sparsely sown with small +boulders, and with a Kaffir kraal, consisting of a few grass and mud +huts on top. Between the river and the hills on the north the ground +consisted of open and almost level veldt; on the south bank the veldt +was more undulating, and equally open. The whole place was covered +with ant-hills. + +My orders were--to hold Duffer's Drift at all costs. That I should +probably be visited by some column within three or four days' time. +That I might possibly be attacked before that time, but that this was +very unlikely, as no enemy were known to be within a hundred miles. +That the enemy had guns. + +It all seemed plain enough except that the true inwardness of the last +piece of information did not strike me at the time. Though in company +with fifty "good men and true," it certainly made me feel somewhat +lonely and marooned to be left out there comparatively alone on the +boundless veldt; but the chance of an attack filled me, and, I am +quite sure, my men with martial ardor; and at last here was the chance +I had so often longed for. This was my first "show," my first +independent command, and I was determined to carry out my orders to +the bitter end. I was young and inexperienced, it is true, but I had +passed all my examinations with fair success; my men were a good +willing lot, with the traditions of a glorious regiment to uphold, and +would, I knew, do all I should require of them. We were also well +supplied with ammunition and rations; and had a number of picks, +shovels and sandbags, etc., which I confess had been rather forced on +me. + +As I turned towards my gallant little detachment, visions of a bloody +and desperate fight crossed my mind--a fight to the last cartridge, +and then an appeal to cold steel, with ultimate victory--and---- But +a discreet cough at my elbow brought me back to realities, and warned +me that my color-sergeant was waiting for orders. + +After a moment's consideration, I decided to pitch my small camp on a +spot just south of the drift, because it was slightly rising ground, +which I knew should be chosen for a camp whenever possible. It was, +moreover, quite close to the drift, which was also in its favor, for, +as everyone knows, if you are told off to guard anything, you mount a +guard quite close to it, and place a sentry, if possible, standing on +top of it. The place picked out by me also had the river circling +round three sides of it in a regular horseshoe bend, which formed a +kind of ditch, or, as the book says, "a natural obstacle." I was +indeed lucky to have such an ideal place close at hand; nothing could +have been more suitable. + +I came to the conclusion that, as the enemy were not within a hundred +miles, there would be no need to place the camp in a state of defence +till the following day. Besides, the men were tired after their long +trek, and it would be quite as much as they could do comfortably to +arrange nice and shipshape all the stores and tools, which had been +dumped down anyhow in a heap, pitch the camp, and get their teas +before dark. + +Between you and me, I was really relieved to be able to put off my +defensive measures till the morrow, because I was a wee bit puzzled as +to what to do. In fact, the more I thought, the more puzzled I grew. +The only "measures of defence" I could recall for the moment were, how +to tie "a thumb or overhand knot," and how long it takes to cut down +an apple tree of six inches' diameter. Unluckily neither of these +useful facts seemed quite to apply. Now, if they had given me a job +like fighting the battle of Waterloo, or Sedan, or Bull Run, I knew +all about that, as I had crammed it up and been examined in it, too. I +also knew how to take up a position for a division, or even an army +corps, but the stupid little subaltern's game of the defence of a +drift with a small detachment was, curiously enough, most perplexing. +I had never really considered such a thing. However, in the light of +my habitual dealings with army corps, it would, no doubt, be +child's-play after a little thought. + +Having issued my immediate orders accordingly, I decided to explore +the neighborhood, but was for a moment puzzled as to which direction I +should take; for, having no horse, I could not possibly get all round +before dark. After a little thought, it flashed across my mind that +obviously I should go to the north. The bulk of the enemy being away +to the north, that, of course, must be the _front_. I knew naturally +that there must be a front, because in all the schemes I had had to +prepare, or the exams I had undergone, there was always a front, +or--"the place where the enemies come from." How often, also, had I +not had trouble in getting out of a dull sentry which his "front" and +what his "beat" was. The north, then, being my front, the east and +west were my flanks, where there might possibly be enemies, and the +south was my _rear_, where naturally there were none. + +I settled these knotty points to my satisfaction, and off I trudged, +with my field-glasses and, of course, my kodak, directing my steps +towards the Dutch farm, with gleaming white walls, nestling under the +kopje to the northeast. It was quite a snug little farm for South +Africa, surrounded by blue gums and fruit trees. About a quarter of a +mile from the farm I was met by the owner, Mr. Andreas Brink, a tame +or surrendered Boer farmer, and his two sons, Piet and Gert. Such a +nice man, too, with a pleasant face and long beard. He would insist on +calling me "captain," and as any correction might have confused him, I +did not think it worth while to make any, and after all I wasn't so +very far from my "company." The three of them positively bristled with +dog's-eared and dirty passes from every provost marshal in South +Africa, which they insisted on showing me. I had not thought of +asking for them, and was much impressed; to have so many they must be +special men. They escorted me to the farm, where the guid wife and +several daughters met us, and gave me a drink of milk, which was most +acceptable after my long and dusty trek. The whole family appeared +either to speak or to understand English, and we had a very friendly +chat, during the course of which I gathered that there were no Boer +commandoes anywhere within miles; that the whole family cordially +hoped that there never would be again, and that Brink was really a +most loyal Briton, and had been much against the war, but had been +forced to go on commando with his two sons. Their loyalty was evident, +because there was an oleograph of the Queen on the wall, and one of +the numerous flappers was playing our National anthem on the harmonium +as I entered. + +The farmer and the boys took a great interest in all my personal gear, +especially a brand-new pair of latest-pattern field-glasses, which +they tried with much delight, and many exclamations of "Allermachtig." +They evidently appreciated them extremely, but could not imagine any +use for my kodak in war-time, even after I had taken a family group. +Funny, simple fellows! They asked and got permission from me to sell +milk, eggs, and butter in the camp, and I strolled on my way +congratulating myself on the good turn I was thus able to do myself +and detachment, none of whom had even smelt such luxuries for weeks. + +After an uneventful round, I directed my steps back towards the thin +blue threads of smoke, rising vertically in the still air, which alone +showed the position of my little post, and as I walked the +peacefulness of the whole scene impressed me. The landscape lay bathed +in the warm light of the setting sun, whose parting rays tinged most +strongly the various heights within view, and the hush of approaching +evening was only broken by the distant lowing of oxen, and by the +indistinct and cheerful hum of the camp, which gradually grew louder +as I approached. I strolled along in quite a pleasant frame of mind, +meditating over the rather curious names which Mr. Brink had given me +for the surrounding features of the landscape. The kopje above his +farm was called Incidentamba, the flat-topped mountain some two miles +to the north was called Regret Table Mountain, and the gently rising +hill close to the drift on the south of the river was called Waschout +Hill. Everything was going on well, and the men were at their teas +when I got back. The nice Dutchman, with his apostolic face, and the +lanky Piet and Gert, were already there, surrounded by a swarm of men, +to whom they were selling their wares at exorbitant rates. The three +of them strolled about the camp, showing great interest in everything, +asking most intelligent questions about the British forces and the +general position of affairs, and seemed really relieved to have a +strong British post near. They did not even take offence when some of +the rougher men called them "blarsted Dutchmen," and refused to +converse with them, or buy their "skoff." About dusk they left, with +many promises to return with a fresh supply on the morrow. + +After writing out my orders for next day--one of which was for digging +some trenches round the camp, an operation which I knew my men, as +becomes good British soldiers, disliked very much, and regarded as +fatigues--I saw the two guards mounted, one at the drift, and the +other some little way down the river, each furnishing one sentry on +the river bank. + +When all had turned in, and the camp was quite silent, it was almost +comforting to hear the half-hourly cry of the sentries--"Number +one--all is well;" "Number two--all is well." By this sound I was able +to locate them, and knew they were at their proper posts. On going +round sentries about midnight, I was pleased to find that they were +both alert, and that, as it was a cold night, each guard had built a +bonfire, silhouetted in the cheerful blaze of which stood the +sentry--a clear-cut monument to all round that here was a British +sentry fully on the _qui-vive_. After impressing them with their +orders, the extent of their "beat," and the direction of their +"front," etc., I turned in. The fires they had built, besides being a +comfort to themselves, were also useful to me, because twice during +the night when I looked out I could, without leaving my tent, plainly +see them at their posts. I finally fell asleep, and dreamt of being +decorated with a crossbelt made of V.C.'s and D.S.O.'s and of wearing +red tabs all down my back. + + * * * * * + +I was suddenly awoken, about the grey of dawn, by a hoarse cry--"Halt! +who goes----" cut short by the unmistakable "plip-plop" of a Mauser +rifle. Before I was off my valise, the reports of Mausers rang around +the camp from every side; these, mingled with the smack of the bullets +as they hit the ground and stripped the "zipzip" of the leaden hail +through the tents, and the curses and groans of men who were hit as +they lay or stumbled about trying to get out, made a hellish din. +There was some wild shooting in return from my men, but it was all +over in a moment, and as I managed to wriggle out of my tent the whole +place was swarming with bearded men, shooting into the heaving canvas. +At that moment I must have been clubbed on the head, for I knew no +more until I found myself seated on an empty case having my head, +which was dripping with blood, tied up by one of my men. + + * * * * * + +Our losses were ten men killed, including both sentries, and +twenty-one wounded; the Boers, one killed and two wounded. + + * * * * * + +Later on, as, at the order of the not ill-natured but very frowzy Boer +commandant, I was gloomily taking off the saucy warm spotted waistcoat +knitted for me by my sister, I noticed our friends of the previous +evening in very animated and friendly conversation with the burghers, +and "Pappa" was, curiously enough, carrying a rifle and bandolier and +my new field-glasses. He was laughing and pointing towards something +lying on the ground, through which he finally put his foot. This, to +my horror, I recognized as my unhappy camera. Here, I suppose, my mind +must have slightly wandered, for I found myself repeating some Latin +lines, once my favorite imposition, but forgotten since my +school-days-- + + "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes----" + + +when suddenly the voice of the field cornet broke into my musing with +"Your breeches, too, captain." + + * * * * * + +Trekking all that day on foot, sockless, and in the boots of another, +I had much to think of besides my throbbing head. The sight of the +long Boer convoy with guns, which had succeeded so easily in crossing +the drift _I_ was to have held, was a continual reminder of my +failure, and of my responsibility for the dreadful losses to my poor +detachment. I gradually gathered from the Boers what I had already +partially guessed, namely, that they had been fetched and guided all +round our camp by friend Brink, had surrounded it in the dark, +crawling about in the bush on the river bank, and had carefully marked +down our two poor sentries. These they had at once shot on the alarm +being given, and had then rushed the camp from the dense cover on +three sides. Towards evening my head got worse, and its rhythmic +throbbing seemed gradually to take a meaning, and hammered out the +following lessons, the result of much pondering on my failure: + +1. Do not put off taking your measures of defence till the morrow, as +this is more important than the comfort of your men or the shipshape +arrangement of your camp. Choose the position of your camp mainly with +reference to your defence. + +2. Do not in war-time show stray men of the enemy's breed all over +your camp, be they never so kind and full of butter, and do not be +hypnotized, by numerous "passes," at once to confide in them. + +3. Do not let your sentries advertise their position to the whole +world, including the enemy, by standing in the full glare of a fire, +and making much noise every half hour. + +4. Do not, if avoidable, be in tents when bullets are ripping through +them: at such times a hole in the ground is worth many tents. + +After these lessons had been dinned into my soul millions and millions +of times, so that I could never forget them, a strange thing came to +pass--there was a kaleidoscopic change. I had another dream. + + + + +SECOND DREAM. + + "And what did ye look they should compass? Warcraft learnt in a breath, + Knowledge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?"--KIPLING. + + +I suddenly found myself dumped down at Duffer's Drift with the same +orders as already detailed, and an equal detachment composed of +entirely different men. As before, and on every subsequent occasion, I +had ample stores, ammunition, and tools. My position was precisely +similar to my former one, with this important exception, running +through my brain were _four_ lessons. + +As soon as I received my orders, therefore, I began to make out my +plan of operations without wasting any time over the landscape, the +setting sun, or the departing column, which, having off-loaded all our +stores, soon vanished. I was determined to carry out all the lessons I +had learnt as well as I knew how. + +To prevent any strangers, friendly or otherwise, from coming into my +position and spying out the elaborate defences I was going to make, I +sent out at once two examining posts of one N.C.O. and three men each, +one to the top of Waschout Hill, and the other some 1,000 yards out on +the veldt to the north of the drift. Their orders were to watch the +surrounding country, and give the alarm in the event of the approach +of any body of men whatever (Boers were, of course, improbable, but +still just possible), and also to stop any individuals, friendly or +not, from coming anywhere near camp, and to shoot at once on +non-compliance with the order to halt. If the new-comers had any +provisions to sell, these were to be sent in with a list by one of the +guard, who would return with the money, but the strangers were not to +be allowed nearer the camp on any account. + +Having thus arranged a safeguard against spies, I proceeded to choose +a camping-ground. I chose the site already described in my former +dream, and for the same reasons, which still appealed to me. So long +as I was entrenched, it appeared the best place around. We started +making our trenches as soon as I had marked off a nice squarish little +enclosure which would about contain our small camp. Though, of +course, the north was the front, I thought, having a camp, it would be +best to have an all-round defence as a sort of obstacle. The majority +of the men were told off to dig, which they did not relish, a few +being detailed to pitch camp and prepare tea. As the length of trench +was rather great for the available number of diggers, and the soil was +hard, we were only able by dark, by which time the men were quite done +up by their hard day, to make quite a low parapet and shallow trench. +Still, we were "entrenched," which was the great thing, and the trench +was all round our camp, so we were well prepared, even should we be +attacked during the night or early next morning, which was out of the +question. + +During this time one or two strangers had approached the guard of the +north from a farm under Incidentamba. As they had eggs and butter, +etc., to sell, these were brought in as arranged for. The man sent in +with the stuff reported that the elder of the Dutchmen was a most +pleasant man, and had sent me a present of a pat of butter and some +eggs, with his compliments, and would I allow him to come in and speak +to me. However, not being such a fool as to allow him in my defences, +I went out instead, in case he had any information. His only +information was that there were no Boers anywhere near. He was an old +man, but though he had a museum of "passes," I was not to be +chloroformed by them into confidence. As he seemed friendly, and +possibly loyal, I walked part of the way back to his farm with him, in +order to look around. At dark the two examining posts came in, and two +guards were mounted close by the object I was to watch, namely, the +drift, at the same places as in my previous dream. This time, however, +there was no half-hourly shouting, nor were there any fires, and the +sentries had orders not to challenge but to shoot any person they +might see outside camp at once. They were placed standing down the +river bank, just high enough to see over the top, and were thus not +unnecessarily exposed. Teas had been eaten, and all fires put out at +dusk, and after dark all turned in, but in the trenches instead of in +tents. After going round sentries to see everything snug for the +night, I lay down myself with a sense of having done my duty, and +neglected no possible precaution for our safety. + + * * * * * + +Just before dawn much the same happened as already described in my +first dream, except that the ball was started by a shot without +challenge from one of our sentries at something moving among the bush, +which resulted in close range fire opening onto us from all sides. +This time we were not rushed, but a perfect hail of bullets whistled +in from every direction--from in front of each trench, along each +trench, and from behind each trench, and over and through our parapet. +It was sufficient to put a hand or head up to have a dozen bullets +through and all round it, and the strange part was, we saw no one. As +the detachment wag plaintively remarked, we could have seen lots of +Boers, "if wasn't for the bushes in between." + +After vainly trying until bright daylight to see the enemy in order to +do some damage in return, so many men were hit, and the position +seemed so utterly hopeless, that I had to hoist the white flag. We had +by then twenty-four men killed and six wounded. As soon as the white +flag went up the Boers ceased firing at once, and stood up; every bush +and ant-hill up to 100 yards' range seemed to have hid a Boer behind +it. This close range explained the marvelous accuracy of their +shooting, and the great proportion of our killed (who were nearly all +shot through the head) to our wounded. + +As we were collecting ourselves preparatory to marching off, there +were one or two things which struck me; one was that the Dutchman who +had presented me with eggs and butter was in earnest confabulation +with the Boer commandant, who was calling him "Oom" most +affectionately. I also noticed that all the male Kaffirs from the +neighboring kraal had been fetched and impressed to assist in getting +the Boer guns and wagons across the drift and to load up our captured +gear, and generally do odd and dirty jobs. These same Kaffirs did +their work with amazing alacrity, and looked as if they enjoyed it; +there was no "backchat" when an order was given--usually by friend +"Oom." + +Again, as I trudged with blistered feet that livelong day, did I +think over my failure. It seemed so strange, I had done all I knew, +and yet, here we were, ignominiously captured, twenty-four of us +killed, and the Boers over the drift. "Ah, B.F., my boy," I thought, +"there must be a few more lessons to be learnt besides those you +already know," and in order to find out what these were, I pondered +deeply over the details of the fight. + +How the Boers must have known of our position, and how they had +managed to get close up all round within snapshooting range without +being discovered. What a tremendous advantage they had had in shooting +from among the bushes on the bank, where they could not be seen, over +us who had to show up over a parapet every time we looked for an +enemy, and show up, moreover, just in the very place where every Boer +expected us to, and was watching. There seemed to be some fault in the +position. How the bullets seemed sometimes to come through the +parapet, and how those that passed over one side hit the men defending +the other side in the back. How on the whole that "natural obstacle," +the river bed, seemed to be more of a disadvantage than a protection. + +Eventually the following lessons framed themselves in my head--some of +them quite new, some of them supplementing those four I had already +learnt: + +5. With modern rifles, to guard a drift or locality does _not_ +necessitate sitting on top of it (as if it could be picked up and +carried away), unless the locality is suitable to hold for other and +defensive reasons. It may even be much better to take up your +defensive position some way from the spot, and so away from concealed +ground, which enables the enemy to crawl up to very close range, +concealed and unperceived, and to fire from cover which hides them +even when shooting. It would be better, if possible, to have the enemy +in the open, or to have what is called a clear "field of fire." + +A non-bullet proof parapet or shelter which is visible serves merely +to attract bullets instead of keeping them out--the proof-thickness +can be easily tested practically. + +When fired at by an enemy at close range from nearly all round, a low +parapet and shallow trench are not of much use, as what bullets do +not hit the defenders on one side hit those on another. + +6. It is _not_ enough to keep strange men of the enemy's breed away +from your actual defences, letting them go free to warn their friends +of your existence and whereabouts--even though they do not know the +details of your defences. It would be very much better to gather in +all such strangers and kindly, but firmly, to take care of them, so +that they should not be under temptation to impart any knowledge they +may have obtained. "Another way," as the cookery book says, more +economical in lives, would be as follows: Gather and warmly greet a +sufficiency of strangers. Stuff well with chestnuts as to the large +force about to join you in a few hours; garnish with corroborative +detail, and season according to taste with whiskey or tobacco. This +will very likely be sufficient for the nearest commando. Probable +cost--some heavy and glib lying, but no lives will be expended. + +7. It is not business to allow lazy black men (even though they be +brothers and neutrals) to sit and pick their teeth outside their +kraals whilst tired white men are breaking their hearts trying to do +heavy labor in short time. It is more the duty of a Christian soldier +to teach the dusky neutral the dignity of labor, and to keep him under +guard, to prevent his going away to talk about it. + +By the time the above lessons had been well burnt into my brain, +beyond all chance of forgetfulness, a strange thing happened--I had a +fresh dream. + + + + +THIRD DREAM. + + "So when we take tea with a few guns, o' course you will know + what to do--hoo! hoo!"--KIPLING. + + +I was at Duffer's Drift on a similar sunny afternoon and under +precisely similar conditions, except that I now had _seven_ lessons +running through my mind. + +I at once sent out two patrols, each of one N.C.O. and three men, one +to the north and one to the south. They were to visit all neighboring +farms and kraals and bring in all able-bodied Dutchmen and boys and +male Kaffirs--by persuasion if possible, but by force if necessary. +This would prevent the news of our arrival being carried around to any +adjacent commandoes, and would also assist to solve the labor +question. A small guard was mounted on the top of Waschout Hill as a +look-out. + +I decided that as the drift could not get up and run away, it was not +necessary to take up my post or position quite close to it, especially +as such a position would be under close rifle fire from the river +bank, to which the approaches were quite concealed, and which gave +excellent cover. The very worst place for such a position seemed to be +anywhere within the horseshoe bend of the river, as this would allow +an enemy practically to surround it. My choice, therefore, fell on a +spot to which the ground gently rose from the river bank some 700 to +800 yards south of the drift. Here I arranged to dig a trench roughly +facing the front (north) which thus would have about 800 yards clear +ground on its front. We started to make a trench about fifty yards +long for my fifty men, according to the usual rule. + +Some little time after beginning, the patrols came in, having +collected three Dutchmen and two boys, and about thirteen Kaffirs. The +former, the leader of whom seemed a man of education and some +importance, were at first inclined to protest when they were given +tools to dig trenches for themselves, showed bundles of "passes," and +talked very big about complaining to the General, and even as to a +question in the "House" about our brutality. This momentarily +staggered me, as I could not help wondering what might happen to poor +B.F. if the member for Upper Tooting should raise the point; but +Westminster was far away, and I hardened my heart. Finally they had +the humor to see the force of the argument, that it was, after all, +necessary, for their own health, as they would otherwise be out in the +open veldt, should the post be attacked. + +The Kaffirs served as a welcome relief to my men as they got tired. +They also dug a separate hole for themselves on one side of and behind +our trench, in a small ravine. + +By evening we had quite a decent trench dug--the parapet was about +two feet six inches thick at the top, and was quite bullet-proof, as I +tested it. Our trench was not all in one straight line, but in two +portions, broken back at a slight angle, so as to get a more divergent +fire [rather cunning of me], though each half was of course as +straight as I could get it. + +It was astonishing what difficulty I had to get the men to dig in a +nice straight line. I was particular as to this point, because I once +heard a certain captain severely "told off" at manoeuvres by a very +senior officer for having his trenches "out of dressing." No one could +tell whether some "brass hat" might not come around and inspect us +next day, so it was as well to be prepared for anything. + +At dusk the guard on Waschout Hill, for whom a trench had also been +dug, was relieved and increased to six men, and after teas and giving +out the orders for the next day, we all "turned in" in our trenches. +The tents were not pitched, as we were not going to occupy them, and +it was no good merely showing up our position. A guard was mounted +over our prisoners, or rather "guests," and furnished one sentry to +watch over them. + +Before falling asleep I ran over my seven lessons, and it seemed to me +I had left nothing undone which could possibly help towards success. +We were entrenched, had a good bullet-proof defence, all our rations +and ammunition close at hand in the trenches, and water-bottles +filled. It was with a contented feeling of having done everything +right and of being quite "the little white-haired boy" that I +gradually dozed off. + +Next morning dawned brightly and uneventfully, and we had about an +hour's work improving details of our trenches before breakfasts were +ready. Just as breakfast was over, the sentry on Waschout Hill +reported a cloud of dust away to the north, by Regret Table Mountain. +This was caused by a large party of men mounted with wheeled transport +of some sort. They were most probably the enemy, and seemed to be +trekking in all innocence of our presence for the drift. + +What a "scoop," I thought, if they come on quite unsuspecting, and +cross the drift in a lump without discerning our position. I shall +lie low, let the advanced party go past without a shot, and wait until +the main body gets over this side within close range, and then open +magazine fire into the thick of them. Yes, it will be just when they +reach that broken ant-hill about 400 yards away that I shall give the +word "Fire!" + +However, it was not to be. After a short time the enemy halted, +apparently for consideration. The advanced men seemed to have a +consultation, and then gradually approached Incidentamba farm with +much caution. Two or three women ran out and waved, whereupon these +men galloped up to the farm at once. What passed, of course, we could +not tell, but evidently the women gave information as to our arrival +and position, because the effect was electrical. The advanced Boers +split up into two main parties, one riding towards the river a long +way to the east, and another going similarly to the west. One man +galloped back with the information obtained to the main body, which +became all bustle, and started off with their wagons behind +Incidentamba, when they were lost to sight. Of course, they were all +well out of range, and as we were quite ready, the only thing to do +was to wait till they came out in the open within range, and then to +shoot them down. + +The minutes seemed to crawl--five, then ten minutes passed with no +further sign of the enemy. Suddenly, "Beg pardon, sir; I think I see +somethink on top of that kop-je on the fur side yonder." One of the +men drew my attention to a few specks which looked like wagons moving +about on the flatish shoulder of Incidentamba. Whilst I was focussing +my glasses there was a "boom" from the hill, followed by a sharp +report and a puff of smoke up in the air quite close by, then the +sound as of heavy rain pattering down some two hundred feet in front +of the trench, each drop raising its own little cloud of dust. This, +of course, called forth the time-honored remarks of "What ho, she +bumps!" and "Now we shan't be long," which proved only too true. I was +aghast--I had quite forgotten the possibility of guns being used +against me, though, had I remembered their existence, I do not know +with my then knowledge, what difference it would have made to my +defensive measures. As there was some little uneasiness among my men, +I, quite cheerful in the security of our nice trench with the thick +bullet-proof parapet, at once shouted out, "It's all right, men; keep +under cover, and they can't touch us." A moment later there was a +second boom, the shell whistled over our heads, and the hillside some +way behind the trench was spattered with bullets. + +By this time we were crouching as close as possible to the parapet, +which, though it had seemed only quite a short time before so +complete, now suddenly felt most woefully inadequate, with those +beastly shells dropping their bullets down from the sky. Another boom. +This time the shell burst well, and the whole ground in front of the +trench was covered with bullets, one man being hit. At this moment +rifle fire began on Waschout Hill, but no bullets came our way. Almost +immediately another shot followed which showered bullets all over us; +a few more men were hit, whose groans were unpleasant to listen to. +Tools were seized, and men began frantically to try and dig themselves +deeper into the hard earth, as our trench seemed to give no more +protection from the dropping bullets than a saucer would from a storm +of rain--but it was too late. We could not sink into the earth fast +enough. The Boers had got the range of the trench to a nicety, and the +shells burst over us now with a horrible methodic precision. Several +men were hit, and there was no reason why the enemy should cease to +rain shrapnel over us until we were all killed. As we were absolutely +powerless to do anything, I put up the white flag. All I could do was +to thank Providence that the enemy had no quick-firing field guns, or, +though "we had not been long," we should have been blotted out before +we could have hoisted it. + +As soon as the gun-fire ceased, I was greatly surprised to find that +no party of Boers came down from their artillery position on +Incidentamba to take our surrender, but within three minutes some +fifty Boers galloped up from the river bank on the east and the west, +and a few more came up from the south round Waschout Hill. The guard +on Waschout Hill, which had done a certain amount of damage to the +enemy, had two men wounded by rifle fire. Not a single shell had come +near them, though they were close to the Kaffir huts, which were plain +enough. + + * * * * * + +What an anti-climax the reality had been from the pleasurable +anticipations of the early morn, when I had first sighted the Boers. + +Of course, the women on the farm had betrayed us, but it was difficult +to make out why the Boers had at first halted and begun to be +suspicious before they had seen the women at the farm. What could they +have discovered? I failed entirely to solve this mystery. + +During the day's trek the following lessons slowly evolved themselves, +and were stored in my mind in addition to those already learnt: + +8. When collecting the friendly stranger and his sons in order to +prevent their taking information to the enemy of your existence and +whereabouts, if you are wishful for a "surprise packet," do not forget +also to gather his wife and his daughter, his manservant and his +maidservant (who also have tongues), and his ox and his ass (which may +possibly serve the enemy). Of course, if they are very numerous or +very far off, this is impossible; only do not then hope to surprise +the enemy. + +9. Do not forget that, if guns are going to be used against you, a +shallow trench with a low parapet some way from it is worse than +useless, even though the parapet be bullet-proof ten times over. The +trench gives the gunners an object to lay on, and gives no protection +from shrapnel. Against well-aimed long-range artillery fire it would +be better to scatter the defenders in the open, hidden in grass and +bushes, or behind stones or ant-hills, than to keep them huddled in +such a trench. With your men scattered around you can safely let the +enemy fill your trench to the brim with shrapnel bullets. + +10. Though to stop a shrapnel bullet much less actual thickness of +earth is necessary than to stop a rifle bullet, yet this earth must be +in the right place. For protection you must be able to get right +close under the cover. As narrow a trench as possible, with the sides +and inside of the parapet as steep as they will stand, will give you +the best chance. To hollow out the bottom of the trench sides to give +extra room will be even better, because the open top of the trench can +be kept the less wide. The more like a mere slit the open top of the +trench is, the fewer shrapnel bullets will get in. While chewing over +these lessons learnt from bitter experience, I had yet another dream. + + + + +FOURTH DREAM. + + "O wad some power the giftie gie us, + To see oursels as others see us!" + BURNS. + + +Again did I find myself facing the same problem, this time with _ten_ +lessons to guide me. I started off by sending out patrols, as +described in my last dream, but their orders were slightly different. +All human beings were to be brought into our post, and any animals +which could be of use to the enemy were to be shot, as we had no place +for them. + +For my defensive post I chose the position already described in my +last dream, which seemed very suitable, for the reasons already given. +We consequently dug a trench similar in plan to that already +described, but, as I feared the possibility of guns being used against +us, it was of a very different section. In plan it faced north +generally, and was slightly broken forward to the front, each half +being quite straight. In section it was about three feet six inches +deep, with a parapet about twelve inches high in front of it; we made +the trench as narrow as possible at the top compatible with free +movement. Each man hollowed out the under part of the trench to suit +himself, and made his own portion of the parapet to suit his height. +The parapet was about two feet six inches thick at the top and quite +steep inside, being built up of pieces of broken ant-heap, which were +nearly as hard as stone. + +The patrols returned shortly with their bag of a few men, women, and +children. The women indulged in much useless abuse, and refused to +obey orders, taking the matter less philosophically than their +mankind. Here was evidently an opportunity of making use of the short +training I had once had as A.D.C. I tried it. I treated the ladies +with tons of "tact" in my suavest manner, and repeated the only Dutch +words of comfort I knew--"Al zal recht kom"--but to no purpose. They +had not been brought up to appreciate tact; in fact, they were not +taking any. I turned regretfully round to the color-sergeant, winked +solemnly and officially, and seeing an answering but respectful quiver +in his left eyelid, said: + +"Color-sergeant." + +"Sir?" + +"Which do you think is the best way of setting alight to a farm?" + +"Well, sir, some prefer the large bedstead and straw, but I think the +'armonium and a little kerosene in one corner is as neat as anything." + +There was no need for more--the ladies quite understood this sort of +tact; the trouble was over. + +The Dutchmen and Kaffirs were at once started digging shelters for +themselves and the women and children. The latter were placed +together, and were put into a small ravine not far from the trench, as +it was necessary to place them in a really deep trench, firstly to +keep them safe, and secondly to prevent their waving or signalling to +the enemy. The existence of this ravine, therefore, saved much +digging, as it only required some hollowing out at the bottom and a +little excavation to suit admirably. + +All dug with a will, and by night the shelters for the women and +children and men prisoners, and the firing trench, were nearly done. +All arrangements for the guards and sentries were the same as those +described in the last dream, and after seeing everything was all +correct and the ladies provided with tents to crawl under (they had +their own blankets), I went to sleep with a feeling of well-earned +security. + +At daybreak next morning, as there were no signs of any enemy, we +continued to improve our trench, altering the depth and alignment +where necessary, each man suiting the size of the trench to his own +legs. In the end the trench really looked quite neat, with the fresh +red earth contrasting with the yellow of the veldt. As one of my +reservists remarked, it only wanted an edging of oyster shells or +ginger-beer bottles to be like his little "broccoli patch" at home. +Upon these important details and breakfast a good two hours had been +spent, when a force was reported to the north in the same position as +described in the previous dream. It advanced in the same manner, +except, of course, the advance men were met by no one at the farm. +When I saw this, I could not help patting myself on the back and +smiling at the Dutch ladies in the pit, who only scowled at me in +return, and (whisper) spat! + +The advanced party of the enemy came on, scouting carefully and +stalking the farm as they came. As they appeared quite unwarned, I was +wondering if I should be able to surprise them, all innocent of our +presence, with a close-range volley, and then magazine fire into their +midst, when suddenly one man stopped and the others gathered round +him. This was when they were some 1,800 yards away, about on a level +with the end of Incidentamba. They had evidently seen something and +sniffed danger, for there was a short palaver and much pointing. A +messenger then galloped back to the main body, which turned off behind +Incidentamba with its wagons, etc. A small number, including a man on +a white horse, rode off in a vague way to the west. The object of this +move I could not quite see. They appeared to have a vehicle with them +of some sort. The advanced party split up as already described. As all +were still at long range, we could only wait. + +Very shortly "boom" went a gun from the top of Incidentamba, and a +shrapnel shell burst not far from us. A second and third followed, +after which they soon picked up our range exactly, and the shell began +to burst all about us; however, we were quite snug and happy in our +nice deep trench, where we contentedly crouched. The waste of good and +valuable shrapnel shell by the enemy was the cause of much amusement +to the men, who were in great spirits, and, as one of them remarked, +were "as cosy as cockroaches in a crack." At the expenditure of many +shells two men only were hit--in the legs. + +After a time the guns ceased fire, and we at once manned the parapet +and stood up to repel an attack, but we could see no Boers, though the +air began at once to whistle and hum with bullets. Nearly all these +seemed to come from the river-bank in front, to the north and +north-east, and kept the parapet one continual spirt of dust as they +smacked into it. All we could do was to fire by sound at various +likely bushes on the river-bank, and this we did with the greatest +possible diligence, but no visible result. + +In about a quarter of an hour we had had five men shot through the +head, the most exposed part. The mere raising of a head to fire seemed +to be absolutely fatal, as it had on a former occasion when we were +attempting to fire at close range over a parapet against the enemy +concealed. I saw two poor fellows trying to build up a pitiful little +kind of house of cards with stones and pieces of anthill through which +to fire. This was as conspicuous as a chimney-pot on top of the +parapet, and was at once shot to powder before they had even used it, +but not before it had suggested to me the remedy for this state of +affairs. Of course, we wanted in such a case "head cover" and +"loopholes." As usual, I was wise after the event, for we had no +chance of making them then, even had we not been otherwise harassed. +Suddenly the noise of firing became much more intense, but with the +smack of the bullets striking the earth all round quite close it was +not easy to tell from which direction this fresh firing came. At the +same time the men seemed to be dropping much oftener, and I was +impressing them with the necessity of keeping up a brisker fire to the +front, when I noticed a bullet hit _our_ side of the parapet. + +It then became clear, the enemy must evidently have got into the donga +behind us (to which I paid no attention, as it was to the rear), and +were shooting us in the back as we stood up to our parapet. + +This, I thought, must be what is called being "taken in _reverse_," +and it was. + +By the time I had gathered what was happening, about a dozen more men +had been bowled over. I then ordered the whole lot to take cover in +the trench, and only pop up to take a shot to the front or rear. But +no more could be done by us towards the rear than to the front. The +conditions were the same--no Boers to be seen. At this moment two of +the guard from Waschout Hill started to run in to our trench, and a +terrific fusillade was opened on to them, the bullets kicking up the +dust all round them as they ran. One poor fellow was dropped, but the +other managed to reach our trench and fall into it. He too was badly +hit, but just had the strength to gasp out that except himself and the +man who had started with him, all the guard on Waschout Hill had been +killed or wounded, and that the Boers were gradually working their way +up to the top. This was indeed cheering. + +So hot was the fire now that no one could raise his head above ground +without being shot, and by crouching down altogether and not +attempting to aim, but merely firing our rifles over the edge of the +trench, we remained for a short time without casualties. This respite, +however, was short, for the men in the right half of the trench began +to drop unaccountably whilst they were sitting well under cover, and +not exposing themselves at all. I gradually discovered the cause of +this. Some snipers must have reached the top of Waschout Hill, and +were shooting straight down our right half trench. As the bullets +snicked in thicker and thicker, it was plain the number of snipers was +being increased. + +This, I thought, must be being "_enfiladed_ from a flank." It was so. + +Without any order, we had all instinctively vacated the right half of +our trench and crowded into the left half, which by great good luck +could not be enfiladed from any point on the south side of the river, +nor indeed by rifle-fire from anywhere, as, owing to the ground, its +prolongation on the right was up above ground into the open air, and +to the left did not touch ground for some 3,000 yards away on the +veldt on the north bank. + +Though we were huddled together quite helpless like rats in a trap, +still it was in a small degree comforting to think that, short of +charging the enemy could do nothing. For that we fixed bayonets and +grimly waited. If they did make an assault, we had bayonets, and they +had not, and we could sell our lives very dearly in a rough-and-tumble. + +Alas! I was again deceived. There was to be no chance of close +quarters and cold steel, for suddenly we heard, far away out on the +veldt to the north, a sound as of some one beating a tin tray, and a +covey of little shells whistled into the ground close by the trench; +two of these burst on touching the ground. Right out of rifle-range, +away on the open veldt on the north, I saw a party of Boers, with a +white horse and a vehicle. Then I knew. But how had they managed to +hit off so well the right spot to go to to enfilade our trench before +they even knew where we were? + +Pompom pompompom again, and the little steel devils ploughed their way +into the middle of us in our shell-trap, mangling seven men. I at once +diagnosed the position with great professional acumen--we were now +_enfiladed_ from _both_ flanks, but the knowledge was acquired too +late to help us, for-- + + "We lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow, + To the hail of the Nordenfeldt." + +This was the last straw; there was nothing left but surrender or +entire annihilation at long range. I surrendered. + +Boers, as usual, sprang up from all round. We had fought for three +hours, and had twenty-five killed and seventeen wounded. Of these, +seven only had been hit by the shrapnel and rifle-fire from the +_front_. All the rest had been killed or hit from the _flanks_, where +there should be few enemies, or the _rear_, where there should be +none! This fact convinced me that my preconceived notions as to the +_front_, and its danger relative to the other points of the compass, +needed considerable modification. All my cherished ideas were being +ruthlessly swept away, and I was plunged into a sea of doubt, groping +for _something_ certain or fixed to lay hold of. Could Longfellow, +when he wrote that immortal line, "Things are not what they seem," +ever have been in my position? + +The survivors were naturally a little disheartened at their total +discomfiture, when all had started so well with them in their "crack." +This expressed itself in different ways. As one man said to a +corporal, who was plugging a hole in his ear with a bit of rag-- + +"Somethink sickening, I call it, this enfilading racket; you never +know which way it will take yer. I'm fairly fed up." To which the +gloomy reply, "Enfiladed? Of course we've been enfiladed. This 'ere +trench should have been wiggled about a bit, and then there would not +have been quite so much of it. Yes, wiggled about--that's what it +should have been." To which chipped in a third, "Yes, and somethink to +keep the blighters from shooting us in the back wouldn't 'ave done us +much 'arm, anyway." + +There were evidently more things in _earth_ than I had hitherto dreamt +of in my philosophy! + + * * * * * + +As we trekked away to the north under a detached guard of Boers, many +little points such as the above sank into my soul, but I could not for +some time solve the mystery of why we had not succeeded in surprising +the enemy. There were no men, women, children, or Kaffirs who knew of +our arrival, who could have warned them. How did they spot our +presence so soon, as they evidently must have done when they stopped +and consulted in the morning? It was not until passing Incidentamba, +as I casually happened to look round and survey the scene of the fight +from the enemy's point of view, that I discovered the simple answer to +the riddle. There on the smooth yellow slope of the veldt just south +of the drift was a brownish-red streak, as plain as the Long Man of +Wilmington on the dear old Sussex downs, which positively shrieked +aloud, "Hi! hi! hi!--this way for the British defence." I then grimly +smiled to think of myself sitting like a "slick Alick" in that poster +of a trench and expecting to surprise anybody! + +Besides having been enfiladed and also taken in reverse, we had again +found ourselves at a disadvantage as compared with the concealed enemy +shooting at close range, from having to show up at a fixed place in +order to fire. + +Eventually I collected the following lessons: + +11. For a small isolated post and an active enemy, there are no +_flanks_, no _rear_, or, to put it otherwise, it is _front all round_. + +12. Beware of being taken in _reverse_; take care, when placing and +making your defences, that when you are engaged in shooting the enemy +to the front of your trench, his pal cannot sneak up and shoot you in +the back. + +13. Beware of being _enfiladed_. It is nasty from one flank--far worse +from both flanks. + +Remember, also, that though you may arrange matters so that you cannot +be enfiladed by rifle-fire, yet you may be open to it from long range, +by means of gun or pompom fire. There are few straight trenches that +cannot be enfiladed from somewhere, if the enemy can only get there. +You can sometimes prevent being enfiladed by so placing your trench +that no one can get into prolongation of it to fire down it, or you +can "wiggle" it about in many ways, so that it is not straight, or +make "traverses" across it, or dig separate trenches for every two or +three men. + +14. Do not have your trench near rising ground over which you cannot +see, and which you cannot hold. + +15. Do not huddle all your men together in a small trench like sheep +in a pen. Give them air. + +16. As once before--cover from sight is often worth more than cover +from bullets. + +For close shooting from a non-concealed trench, _head cover_ with +_loopholes_ is an advantage. This should be bullet-proof and not be +conspicuously on the top of the parapet, so as to draw fire, or it +will be far more dangerous than having none. + +17. To surprise the enemy is a great advantage. + +18. If you wish to obtain this advantage, _conceal_ your position. +Though for promotion it may be sound to advertise your position, for +defence it is not. + +19. To test the concealment or otherwise of your position, look at it +from the enemy's point of view. + + + + +FIFTH DREAM. + + "A trifling sum of misery + New added to the foot of thy account." + DRYDEN. + + "Jack Frost looked forth one still clear night, + And he said, 'Now I shall be out of sight; + So over the valley and over the height + In silence I'll take my way.'" + GOULD. + + +Again I faced the same task with a fresh mind and fresh hopes, all +that remained with me of my former attempts being _nineteen_ lessons. + +Having detailed the two patrols and the guard on Waschout Hill as +already described, I spent some twenty minutes--whilst the stores, +etc., were being arranged--in walking about to choose a position to +hold in the light of my nineteen lessons. + +I came to the conclusion that it was not any good being near the top +of a hill and yet not _at_ the top. I would make my post on the top of +Waschout Hill, where I could not be overlooked from any place within +rifle-range, and where I should, I believed, have "command." I was not +quite certain what "command" meant, but I knew it was important--it +says so in the book; besides, in all the manoeuvres I had attended +and tactical schemes I had seen, the "defence" always held a position +on top of a hill or ridge. My duty was plain: Waschout Hill seemed the +only place which did not contravene any of the nineteen lessons I had +learnt, and up it I walked. As I stood near one of the huts, I got an +excellent view of the drift and its southern approach just over the +bulge of the hill, and a clear view of the river further east and +west. I thought at first I would demolish the few grass and matting +huts which, with some empty kerosene tins and heaps of bones and +_débris_, formed the Kaffir kraal, but on consideration I decided to +play cunning, and that this same innocent-looking Kaffir kraal would +materially assist me to hide my defences. I made out my plan of +operations in detail, and we had soon conveyed all our stores up to +the top of the hill, and started work. + +Upon the return of the patrols with their prisoners, the Dutchmen and +"boys" were told off to dig for themselves and their females. The +Kaffirs of the kraal we had impressed to assist at once. + +My arrangements were as follows: All round the huts on the hill-top, +and close to them we dug some ten short lengths of deep firing-trench, +curved in plan, and each long enough to hold five men. These trenches +had extremely low parapets, really only serving as rifle-rests, some +of the excavated earth being heaped up _behind_ the trenches to the +height of a foot or so, the remainder being dealt with as described +later. In most cases the parapets were provided with grooves to fire +through at ground-level, the parapet on each side being high enough to +just protect the head. As with the background the men's heads were not +really visible, it was unnecessary to provide proper loopholes, which +would have necessitated also the use of new sandbags, which would be +rather conspicuous and troublesome to conceal. When the men using +these trenches were firing, their heads would be just above the level +of the ground. These firing-trenches having been got well under way, +the communication trenches were started. These were to be narrow and +deep, leading from one trench to the next, and also leading from each +trench back to four of the huts, which were to be arranged as follows, +to allow of men to fire standing up without being seen. Round the +inside of the walls of these huts part of the excavated earth, of +which there was ample, would be built up with sand bags, piece of +anthill, stones, etc., to a height that a man can fire over, about +four and a half feet, and to a thickness of some two and a half feet +at the top, and loopholes, which would be quite invisible, cut through +the hut sides above this parapet. There was room in each hut for three +men to fire. In three of them I meant to place my best shots, to act +as snipers, as they would have a more favorable position than the men +in the trenches below, and the fourth was a conning tower for myself. +All the tents and stores were stacked inside one of the huts out of +sight. + +That evening, in spite of the hardness of the work, which caused much +grousing among my men, we had got the firing trenches complete, but +the others were not finished--they were only half the necessary depth. +The earth-walls inside the huts were also not quite completed. The +Kaffirs and Dutch had deep pits, as before, in three of the huts. +Ammunition and rations were distributed round the trenches the last +thing before we turned in. I also had all water-bottles and every +vessel that would hold water, such as empty tins, Kaffir gourds, and +cooking-pots, filled and distributed in case of a long and protracted +fight. Having issued orders as to the necessity for the greatest +secrecy in not giving away our position should Boers turn up early +next morning, I went to sleep with confidence. We had, anyhow, a very +good position, and though our communications were not quite perfect, +these we could soon improve if we had any time to ourselves the next +morning. + +Next morning broke; no enemy in sight. This was excellent, and before +daylight we were hard at it, finishing the work still undone. By this +time the men had fully entered into the spirit of the thing, and were +quite keen on surprising Brother Boer if possible. While the digging +was proceeding, the "dixies" were being boiled for the breakfasts +inside four grass-screens, some of which we found lying about, so as +to show nothing but some very natural smoke above the kraal. I picked +out one or two of my smartest N.C.O.'s, and instructed them to walk +down the hill in different directions to the river-bank and try if +they could see the heads of the men in the firing trenches against the +sky. If so, the heaps of earth, tins, bones, grass-screens, etc., +should be re-arranged so as to give a background to every man's head. + +To review the place generally, I and my orderly walked off some +half-mile to the north of the river. As we were going some distance, +we doffed our helmets and wrapped ourselves in two beautiful orange +and magenta striped blankets, borrowed from our Kaffir lady guests, in +case any stray Boer should be lurking around, as he might be +interested to see two "khakis" wandering about on the veldt. It was +awkward trying to walk with our rifles hidden under our blankets, and, +moreover, every two minutes we had to look around to see if the sentry +at the camp had signalled any enemy in sight. This was to be done by +raising a pole on the highest hut. The result of our work was +splendid. We saw a Kaffir kraal on a hill, and to us "it was nothing +more." There were the heaps of _débris_ usually round a kraal, looking +most natural, but no heads were visible, and no trenches. There was +only one fault, and that was that a few thoughtless men began, as we +looked, to spread their brown army blankets out in the sun on top of +the huts and on the veldt. To the veriest new chum these square blots, +like squares of brown sticking-plaster all around the kraal, would +have betokened something unusual. To remedy this before it was too +late I hastened back. + +After we had done our breakfasts, and some three hours after dawn, the +sentry in one of the huts reported a force to the north. We could do +nothing but wait and hope; everything was ready, and every man knew +what to do. No head was to be raised nor a rifle to be fired until I +whistled from my conning-tower; then every man would pop up and empty +his magazine into any of the enemy in range. If we were shelled the +men in the huts could at once drop into the deep trenches and be safe. +Standing in my "conning-tower," from the loopholes of which I could +see the drift, I thought over the possibilities before us. With great +luck perhaps the Boer scouts would pass us on either side, and so +allow us to lie low for the main body. With a view to seeing exactly +how far I would let the latter come before opening fire, and to +marking the exact spot when it would be best to give the word, I got +down into the firing-trenches facing the drift and the road south to +see how matters appeared from the level of the rifles. To my intense +horror, I found that from these trenches neither the drift nor the +road on the near bank of the river, until it got a long way south of +Waschout Hill, _could be seen_! The bulging convexity of the hill hid +all this; it must be _dead ground_! It was. The very spot where I +could best catch the enemy, where they _must_ pass, was not under my +fire! At most, the northern loopholes of the conning tower and one +other hut alone could give fire on the drift. How I cursed my +stupidity! However, it was no good. I could not now start digging +fresh trenches further down the hill; it would betray our whole +position at once. I determined to make the best of it, and _if_ we +were not discovered by the scouts, to open fire on the main body when +they were just on the other side of the river bunched up on the bank, +waiting for those in front. Here we could fire on them; but it would +be at a much longer range than I had intended. It was really a stroke +of luck that I had discovered this serious fault, for otherwise we +might have let the bulk of the enemy cross the drift without +discovering the little fact of the dead ground till too late. I +reflected, also (though it was not much consolation), that I had erred +in good company, for how often had I not seen a "brass-hat" ride along +on horseback, and from that height fix the exact position for trenches +in which the rifles would be little above the ground. These trenches, +however, had not been put to the test of actual use. My error was not +going to escape in the same way. + +Meanwhile the enemy's scouts had advanced in much the same way as +detailed before, except that after coming past Incidentamba Farm they +had not halted suspiciously, but came on in small groups or clumps. +They crossed the river in several places and examined the bushy banks +most carefully, but finding no "khakis" there, they evidently +suspected none on the open veldt beyond them, for they advanced "any +way" without care. Several of the clumps joined together, and came on +chatting in one body of some thirty men. Would they examine the kraal, +or would they pass on? My heart beat. The little hill we were on +would, unluckily, be certain to prove an attraction for them, because +it was an excellent vantage ground whence to scan the horizon to the +south, and to signal back to the main body to the north. The kraal was +also a suitable place to off-saddle for a few minutes while the main +body came up to the drift, and it meant possibly a fire, and therefore +a cup of coffee. They rode up towards it laughing, chatting, and +smoking, quite unsuspecting. We uttered no sound. Our Dutch and Kaffir +guests uttered no sound either, for in their pits was a man with a +rifle alongside them. At last they halted a moment some 250 yards away +on the northeast, where the slope of the hill was more gradual and +showed them all up. A few dismounted, the rest started again straight +towards us. It was not magnificent, but it was war. I whistled. + + * * * * * + +About ten of them succeeded in galloping off, also some loose horses; +five or six of them on the ground threw up their hands and came into +the post. On the ground there remained a mass of kicking horses and +dead or groaning men. The other parties of scouts to east and west had +at once galloped back to the river, where they dismounted under cover +and began to pepper us. Anyway, we had done _something_. + +As soon as our immediate enemy were disposed of, we opened fire on the +main body some 1,500 yards away, who had at once halted and opened +out. To these we did a good deal of damage, causing great confusion, +which was comforting to watch. The Boer in command of the main body +must have gathered that the river-bed was clear, for he made a very +bold move; he drove the whole of the wagons, etc., straight on as fast +as possible over the odd 400 yards to the river and down the drift +into the river-bed, where they were safe from our fire. Their losses +must have been heavy over this short distance, for they had to abandon +two of their wagons on the way to the river. This was done under cover +of the fire from a large number of riflemen, who had at once galloped +up to the river-bank, dismounted, and opened fire at us, and also of +two guns and a pompom, which had immediately been driven a short +distance back and then outwards to the east and west. It was really +the best thing he could have done, and if he had only known that we +could not fire on the ground to the south of the drift, he might have +come straight on with a rush. + +We had so far scored; but now ensued a period of stalemate. We were +being fired at from the river-bank on the north, and from anthills, +etc., pretty well all round, and were also under the intermittent +shell-fire from the two guns. They made most excellent practice at the +huts, which were soon knocked to bits, but not till they had well +served their turn. Some of the new white sandbags from inside the huts +were scattered out in full view of the enemy, and it was instructive +to see what a splendid target they made for rifle-fire, and how often +they were hit. They must have drawn a lot of fire away from the actual +trenches. Until the Boers discovered that they could advance south +from the drift without being under rifle-fire from our position, they +were held up. + +Would they discover it? As they had ridden all round us by now, well +out of range, they must know all about us and our isolation. + +After dark, by which time we had one man killed and two wounded, the +firing died away into a continuous but desultory rifle-fire, with an +occasional dropping shell from the guns. Under cover of dark, I tried +to guard the drift and dead ground to the south of it, by men standing +up and firing at that level, but towards midnight I was forced to +withdraw them into the trenches, after several casualties, as the +enemy then apparently woke up and kept up a furious rifle-fire upon us +for over an hour. During this time the guns went through some +mysterious evolutions. At first we got it very hot from the north, +where the guns had been all along. Then suddenly a gun was opened on +us away from the southwest, and we were shelled for a short time from +both sides. After a little the shelling on the north ceased, and +continued from the southwest only for twenty minutes. After this the +guns ceased, and the rifle-fire also gradually died away. + +When day dawned not a living soul was to be seen; there were the dead +men, horses, and the deserted wagons. I feared a trap, but gradually +came to the conclusion the Boers had retired. After a little we +discovered the river-bed was deserted as well, but the Boers had not +retired. They had discovered the dead ground, and under the mutually +supporting fire of their guns, which had kept us to our trenches, had +all _crossed the drift_ and trekked south. + +True, we were not captured, and had very few losses, and had severely +mauled the enemy, _but_ they had crossed the drift. It must have +evidently been of great importance to them to go on, or they would +have attempted to capture us, as they were about 500 to our 50. + +I had failed in my duty. + +During the next few hours we buried the dead, tended the wounded, and +took some well-earned rest, and I had ample leisure to consider my +failure and the causes. The lessons I derived from the fight were: + +20. Beware of convex hills and _dead ground_. Especially take care to +have some place where the enemy _must_ come under your fire. Choose +the exact position of your firing-trenches, with your eye at the level +of the men who will eventually use them. + +21. A hill may not, after all, though it has "command," be the best +place to hold necessarily. + +22. A conspicuous "bluff" trench may cause the enemy to waste much +ammunition, and draw fire away from the actual defences. + +In addition to these lessons, another little matter on my mind was +what my colonel would say at my failure. + +Lying on my back, looking up at the sky, I was trying to get a few +winks of sleep myself before we started to improve our defences +against a possible further attack, but it was no use, sleep evaded me. + +The clear blue vault of heaven was suddenly overcast by clouds, which +gradually assumed the frowning face of my colonel. "_What?_ You mean +to say, Mr. Forethought, the Boers have _crossed_?" But, luckily for +me, before more could be said, the face began slowly to fade away like +that of the Cheshire Puss in "Alice in Wonderland," leaving nothing +but the awful frown across the sky. This too finally dissolved, and +the whole scene changed. I had another dream. + + + + +SIXTH DREAM. + + "Sweet are the uses of adversity." + + +Once more was I fated to essay the task of defending Duffer's Drift. +This time I had twenty-two lessons below my belt to help me out, and +in the oblivion of my dream I was saved that sense of monotony which +by now may possibly have overtaken you, "gentle reader." + +After sending out the patrols, and placing a guard on Waschout Hill, +as already described, and whilst the stores were being collected, I +considered deeply what position I should take up, and walked up to the +top of Waschout Hill to spy out the land. On the top I found a Kaffir +kraal, which I saw would assist me much to concealment should I +decide to hold this hill. This I was very inclined to do, but after a +few minutes' trial of the shape of the ground, with the help of some +men walking about down below, and my eyes a little above +ground-level--I found that its convexity was such that, to see and +fire on the drift and the approach on the south side, I should have to +abandon the top of the hill, and so the friendly concealment of the +Kaffir huts, and take up a position on the open hillside some way +down. This was, of course, quite feasible, especially if I held a +position at the top of the hill as well, near the huts on the east and +southeast sides; but, as it would be impossible to really conceal +ourselves on the bare hillside, it meant giving up all idea of +surprising the enemy, which I wished to do. I must, therefore, find +some other place which would lend itself to easy and good concealment, +and also have the drift or its approaches under close rifle-fire. But +where to find such a place? + +As I stood deep in thought, considering this knotty problem, an idea +gently wormed itself into my mind, which I at once threw out again as +being absurd and out of the question. This idea was--to hold the river +bed and banks on each side of the drift! To give up all idea of +command, and, instead of seeking the nearest high ground, which comes +as natural to the student of tactics as rushing for a tree does to a +squirrel, to take the lowest ground, even though it should be all +among thick cover, instead of being nicely in the open. + +No, it was absolutely revolutionary, and against every canon I had +ever read or heard of; it was evidently the freak of a sorely tried +and worried brain. I would none of it, and I put it firmly from me. +But the more I argued to myself the absurdity of it, the more this +idea obtained possession of me. The more I said it was impossible, the +more allurements were spread before me in its favor, until each of my +conscientious objections was enmeshed and smothered in a network of +specious reasons as to the advantages of the proposal. + +I resisted, I struggled, but finally fell to temptation, dressed up in +the plausible guise of reason. I would hold the river-bed. + +The advantages I thus hoped to obtain were-- + +Perfect concealment and cover from sight. + +Trenches and protection against both rifle and gun fire practically +ready made. + +Communications under good cover. + +The enemy would be out in the open veldt except along the river-bank, +where we, being in position first, would still have the advantage. + +Plentiful water-supply at hand. + +True, there were a few dead animals near the drift, and the tainted +air seemed to hang heavy over the river-bed, but the carcasses could +be quickly buried under the steep banks, and, after all, one could not +expect _every_ luxury. + +As our clear field of fire, which in the north was only bounded by the +range of our rifles, was on the south limited by Waschout Hill, a +suitable position for the enemy to occupy, I decided to hold the top +of it as well as the river-bed. All I could spare for this would be +two N.C.O.'s and eight men, who would be able to defend the south side +of the hill, the north being under our fire from the river-bank. + +Having detailed this party, I gave my instructions for the work, which +was soon started. In about a couple of hours the patrols returned with +their prisoners, which were dealt with as before. + +For the post on Waschout Hill, the scheme was that the trenches should +be concealed much in the same way as described in the last dream, but +great care should be taken that no one in the post should be exposed +to rifle-fire from our main position in the river. I did not wish the +fire of the main body to be in any degree hampered by a fear of +hitting the men on Waschout Hill, especially at night. If we knew it +was not possible to hit them, we could shoot freely all over the hill. +This detachment was to have a double lot of water-bottles, besides +every available receptacle collected in the kraal, filled with water, +in anticipation of a prolonged struggle. + +The general idea for the main defensive position was to hold both +sides of the river, improving the existing steep banks and ravines +into rifle-pits to contain from one to four men. These could, with +very little work, be made to give cover from all sides. As such a +large amount of the work was already done for us, we were enabled to +dig many more of these pits than the exact number required for our +party. Pathways leading between these were to be cut into the bank, so +that we should be able to shift about from one position to another. +Besides the advantage this would give us in the way of moving about, +according as we wished to fire, it also meant that we should probably +be able to mislead the enemy as to our numbers--which, by such +shifting tactics might, for a time at least, be much exaggerated. The +pits for fire to the north and south were nearly all so placed as to +allow the occupants to fire at ground-level over the veldt. They were +placed well among the bushes, only just sufficient scrub being cut +away to allow a man to see all round, without exposing the position of +his trench. On each side of the river, just by the drift, were some +"spoil" heaps of earth, excavated from the road ramp. These stood some +five or six feet above the general level, and were as rough as the +banks in outline. These heaps were large enough to allow of a few pits +being made on them, which had the extra advantage of height. In some +of the pits, to give head-cover, loopholes of sandbags were made, +though in most cases this was not needed, owing to the concealment of +the bushes. I found it was necessary to examine personally every +loophole, and correct the numerous mistakes made in their +construction. Some had the new clean sandbags exposed to full view, +thus serving as mere whited sepulchres to their occupants, others were +equally conspicuous from their absurd cock-shy appearance, others were +not bullet-proof, whilst others again would allow of shooting in one +direction, or into the ground at a few yards' range, or up into the +blue sky. As I corrected all these faults I thought that loopholes not +made under supervision might prove rather a snare. + +The result was, in the way of concealment, splendid. From these pits +with our heads at ground-level we could see quite clearly out on to +the veldt beyond, either from under the thicker part of the bushes or +even through those which were close to our eyes. From the open, on the +other hand, we were quite invisible, even from 300 yards' distance, +and would have been more so had we had the whiskers of the "brethren." +It was quite evident to me that these same whiskers were a wise +provision of nature for this very purpose and part of her universal +scheme of protective mimicry. + +The numerous small dongas and rifts lent themselves readily to +flanking fire, and in many places the vertical banks required no +cutting in order to give ideal protection against even artillery. In +others, the sides of the crooked waterways had to be merely scooped +out a little, or a shelf cut to stand upon. + +In one of these deeper ravines two tents, which, being below +ground-level, were quite invisible, were pitched for the women and +children, and small caves cut for them in case of a bombardment. The +position extended for a length of some 150 yards on each side of the +drift along both banks of the river, and at its extremities, where an +attack was most to be feared, pits were dug down the river-banks and +across the dry river-bed. These also were concealed as well as +possible. The flanks or ends were, of course, our greatest danger, for +it was from here we might expect to be rushed, and not from the open +veldt. I was undecided for some time as to whether to clear a "field +of fire" along the river-banks or not, as I had no wish to give away +our presence by any suspicious nudity of the banks at each end of our +position. I finally decided, in order to prevent this, to clear the +scrub for as great a range as possible from the ends of the position, +everywhere below the ground-level, and also on the level ground, +except for a good fringe just on the edges of the banks. This fringe I +thought would be sufficient to hide the clearance to any one not very +close. I now blessed the man who had left us some cutting tools. +Whilst all this was being carried out, I paced out some ranges to the +north and south, and these we marked by a few empty tins placed on +ant-heaps, etc. + +At dusk, when we had nearly all the pits finished and some of the +clearance done, tents and gear were hidden, ammunition and rations +distributed to all, and orders in case of an attack given out. As I +could not be everywhere, I had to rely on the outlying groups of men +fully understanding my aims beforehand, and acting on their "own." To +prevent our chance of a close-range volley into the enemy being spoilt +by some over-zealous or jumpy man opening fire at long range, I gave +orders that fire was to be held as long as possible, and that no man +was to fire a shot until firing had already commenced elsewhere (which +sounded rather Irish), or my whistle sounded. This was unless the +enemy were so close to him that further silence was useless. Firing +having once started, every man was to blaze away at any enemy within +range as judged by our range marks. Finally, we turned in to our pits +for the night with some complacency, each eight men furnishing their +own sentry. + +We had about three hours next morning before any enemy were reported +from Waschout Hill (the pre-arranged signal for this was the raising +of a pole from one of the huts). This time was employed in perfecting +our defences in various ways. We managed to clear away the scrub in +the dry river-bed and banks for some 200 yards beyond our line of pits +on each side, and actually attained to the refinement of an +"obstacle;" for at the extremity of this clearance a sort of _abatis_ +entanglement was made with the wire from an adjacent fence which the +men had discovered. During the morning I visited the post on Waschout +Hill, found everything correct, and took the opportunity of showing +the detachment the exact limits of our position in the river-bed, and +explained what we were going to do. After about three hours' work, +"Somebody in sight" was signalled, and we soon after saw from our +position a cloud of dust away to the north. This force, which proved +to be a commando, approached as already described in the last dream; +all we could do meanwhile was to sit tight in concealment. Their +scouts came on in clumps of twos and threes which extended over some +mile of front, the centre of the line heading for the drift. As the +scouts got closer, the natural impulse to make for the easiest +crossing place was obeyed by two or three of the parties on each side +of the one approaching the drift, and they inclined inwards and joined +forces with it. This was evidently the largest party we could hope to +surprise, and we accordingly lay for it. When about 300 yards away, +the "brethren" stopped rather suspiciously. This was too much for +some man on the east side, who let fly, and the air was rent by the +rattle as we emptied our magazines, killing five of this special +scouting party and two from other groups further out on either side. +We continued to fire at the scouts as they galloped back, dropping two +more, and also at the column which was about a mile away, but afforded +a splendid target till it opened out. + +In a very few moments our position was being shelled by three guns, +but with the only result, as far as we were concerned, of having one +man wounded by shell-fire, though the firing went on slowly till dark. +To be accurate, I should say the river was being shelled, our position +incidentally, for shells were bursting along the river for some half +mile. The Boers were evidently quite at sea as regards the extent of +our position and strength, and wasted many shells. We noticed much +galloping of men away to the east and west, out of range, and guessed +that these were parties who intended to strike the river at some +distance away, and gradually work along the bed, in order probably to +get into close range during the night. + +We exchanged a few shots during the night along the river bed, and not +much was done on either side, though of course we were on the _qui +vive_ all the time; but it was not till near one in the morning that +Waschout Hill had an inning. + +As I had hoped, the fact that we held the kraal had not been spotted +by the enemy, and a large body of them, crawling up the south side of +the hill in order to get a good fire on to us in the river, struck a +snag in the shape of a close-range volley from our detachment. As the +night was not very dark, in the panic following the first volley our +men were able (as I learnt afterwards) to stand right up and shoot at +the surprised burghers bolting down the hill. However, their panic did +not last long, to judge by the sound, for after the first volley from +our Lee-Metfords and the subsequent minute's independent firing, the +reports of our rifles were soon mingled with the softer reports of the +Mausers, and we shortly observed flashes on our side of Waschout Hill. +As these could not be our men, we knew the enemy were endeavoring to +surround the detachment. We knew the ranges fairly well, and though, +as we could not see our sights, the shooting was rather guesswork, we +soon put a stop to this manoeuvre by firing a small volley from +three or four rifles at each flash on the hill-side. So the night +passed without much incident. + +During the dark we had taken the opportunity cunningly to place some +new white sandbags (which I had found among the stores) in full view +at some little distance from our actual trenches and pits. Some men +had even gone further, and added a helmet here and a coat there +peeping over the top. This ruse had been postponed until our position +was discovered, so as not to betray our presence, but after the +fighting had begun no harm was done by it. Next morning it was quite a +pleasure to see the very accurate shooting made by "Brother" at these +sandbags, as betokened by the little spurts of dust. + +During this day the veldt to the north and south was deserted by the +enemy except at out-of-range distance, but a continuous sniping fire +was kept up along the river-banks on each side. The Boer guns were +shifted--one to the top of Incidentamba and one to the east and west +in order to enfilade the river bank--but, owing to our good cover, we +escaped with two killed and three wounded. The enemy did not shell +quite such a length of river this time. I confidently expected an +attack along the river bank that night, and slightly strengthened my +flanks, even at the risk of dangerously denuding the north bank. I was +not disappointed. + +Under cover of the dark, the enemy came up to within, perhaps, 600 +yards on the open veldt on the north and round the edges of Waschout +Hill, on the south, and kept up a furious fire, probably to distract +our attention, whilst the guns shelled us for about an hour. As soon +as the gun-fire ceased they tried to rush us along the river-bed east +and west, but owing to the _abatis_ and the holes in the ground, and +the fact that it was not a very dark night, they were unsuccessful. +However, it was touch and go, and a few of the Boers did succeed in +getting into our position only to be bayoneted. Luckily the enemy did +not know our strength, or rather our weakness, or they would have +persisted in their attempt and succeeded; as it was, they must have +lost 20 or 30 men killed and wounded. + +Next morning, with so many men out of my original 40 out of action +(not to include Waschout Hill, whose losses I did not know), matters +seemed to be serious, and I was greatly afraid that another night +would be the end of us. I was pleased to see that the detachment on +Waschout Hill had still got its tail well up, for they had hoisted a +red rag at the masthead. True, this was not the national flag, +probably only a mere handkerchief, but it was not white. The day wore +on with intermittent shelling and sniping, and we all felt that the +enemy must have by now guessed our weakness, and were saving +themselves for another night attack, relying upon our being tired out. +We did our best to snatch a little sleep by turns during the day, and +I did all I could to keep the spirits of the little force up by saying +that relief could not be very far off. But it was with a gloomy +desperation at best that we saw the day wear on and morning turn into +afternoon. + +The Boer guns had not been firing for some two hours, and the silence +was just beginning to get irritating and mysterious, when the booming +of guns in the distance aroused us to the highest pitch of excitement. +We were saved! We could not say what guns these were--they might be +British or Boer--but, any way, it proved the neighborhood of another +force. All faces lighted up, for somehow the welcome sound at once +drew the tired feeling out of us. + +In order to prevent any chance of the fresh force missing our +whereabouts, I collected a few men and at once started to fire some +good old British volleys into the scrub, "Ready--present--fire," which +were not to be mistaken. Shortly afterwards we heard musketry in the +distance, and saw a cloud of dust to the northeast. We were relieved! + + * * * * * + +Our total losses were 11 killed and 15 wounded; but we had held the +drift, and so enabled a victory to be won. I need not here touch upon +the well-known and far-reaching results of the holding of Duffer's +Drift, of the prevention thereby of Boer guns, ammunition, and +reinforcements reaching one of their sorely pressed forces at a +critical moment, and the ensuing victory gained by our side. It is +now, of course, all public knowledge that this was the turning-point +in the war, though we, the humble instruments, did not know what vital +results hung upon our action. + +That evening the relieving force halted at the drift, and, after +burying the dead, we spent some time examining the lairs of the Boer +snipers, the men collecting bits of shell and cartridge-cases as +mementoes--only to be thrown away at once. We found some 25 dead and +partially buried Boers, to whom we gave burial. + +That night I did not trek, but lay down (in my own breeches and +spotted waistcoat). As the smoke from the "prime segar," presented to +me by my Colonel, was eddying in spirals over my head, these gradually +changed into clouds of rosy glory, and I heard brass bands in the +distance playing a familiar air: "See the Conquering Hero comes," it +was they were playing. + +I felt a tap on my shoulder, and heard a gentle voice say, "Arise, Sir +Backsight Forethought;" but in a trice my dream of bliss was +shattered--the gentle voice changed into the well-known croak of my +servant. "Time to pack your kit on the wagon, sir. Corfy's been up +some time now, sir." I was still in stinking old Dreamdorp. + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 166: maneuvers replaced with manoeuvres | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by +Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT *** + +***** This file should be named 24842-8.txt or 24842-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/8/4/24842/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/24842-8.zip b/24842-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..338f317 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-8.zip diff --git a/24842-h.zip b/24842-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..30b1061 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-h.zip diff --git a/24842-h/24842-h.htm b/24842-h/24842-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..43ca0dd --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-h/24842-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2379 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by Captain E.D. Swinton, D.S.O., R.E. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + h1 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h5,h6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + h2 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + h3 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* centered and coloured */ + } + h4 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + body{margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + ul {list-style-type: none} /* no bullets on lists */ + ul.nest {margin-top: .15em; margin-bottom: .15em; text-indent: -1.5em;} /* spacing for nested list */ + li {margin-top: .15em; margin-bottom: .15em;} /* spacing for list */ + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} /* small caps */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .hang {text-indent: -2em;} /* hanging indents */ + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .block {margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 15%;} /* block indent */ + .right {text-align: right; padding-right: 2em;} /* right aligning paragraphs */ + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 70%; text-align: right;} /* Table of contents anchor */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .tdr {text-align: right;} /* right align cell */ + .tdc {text-align: center;} /* center align cell */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* left align cell */ + .tdlsc {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdrsc {text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdcsc {text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tr {margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + color: silver; + background-color: inherit; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers */ + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 90%;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; font-size: 90%;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: text-top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left: 25%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.pn { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; right: 2%; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0em; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + color: silver; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal;} /* page numbers in poems */ + .poem span.i20 {display: block; margin-left: 20em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +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 Defence of Duffer's Drift + +Author: Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +Editor: Wm. P. Evans + +Release Date: March 16, 2008 [EBook #24842] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p> +<br /> +<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p> +<p class="noin">A Table of Contents has been added to this e-text for ease of navigation.</p> +<p class="noin" style="text-align: left;">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. +For a complete list, please see the <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</span></p> +<p class="noin">Click on the image to see a larger version.</p> +</div> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h3><span class="sc">Vol. I.</span> April, 1905 No. 4.</h3> + +<br /> + +<h1>JOURNAL OF THE<br /> +UNITED STATES<br /> +INFANTRY<br /> +ASSOCIATION</h1> + +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">Published Quarterly<br /> +By the United States Infantry Association<br /> +75 cents per copy; $3.00 per year</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4><span class="sc">Major</span> WM. P. EVANS, A.A.G., <i>Editor</i></h4> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4 class="sc">1800 F Street Northwest, +Washington, D.C.</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>Entered July 5, 1904, at the Post Office at Washington, D.C.,<br /> +as second-class matter, under act of March 3, 1879. Copyright,<br /> +1904, by the U.S. Infantry Association. All rights reserved.</h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h2>THE UNITED STATES<br /> +INFANTRY<br /> +ASSOCIATION</h2> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>OFFICERS</h4> + +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>President.</i><br /> +Major-General <span class="sc">J.C. Bates</span>, U.S. Army.</p> + +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>Vice-President.</i><br /> +Lieutenant-Colonel <span class="sc">Jas. S. Pettit</span>, U.S. Infantry.<br /> +<i>Assistant Adjutant-General.</i></p> + +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>Secretary and Treasurer.</i><br /> +Captain <span class="sc">Benjamin Alvord</span>, General Staff.</p> + +<br /> + +<p class="cen"><i>Executive Council.</i><br /> +Lieutenant-Colonel <span class="sc">James S. Pettit</span>, U.S. Infantry, A.A.G.<br /> +Major <span class="sc">Wm. P. Evans</span>, U.S. Infantry, A.A.G.<br /> +Major <span class="sc">John S. Mallory</span>, 12th Infantry, G.S.<br /> +Captain <span class="sc">Benjamin Alvord</span>, 25th Infantry, G.S.<br /> +Captain <span class="sc">H.C. Hale</span>, 15th Infantry, G.S.<br /> +Captain <span class="sc">C.H. Muir</span>, 2d Infantry, G.S.<br /> +Captain <span class="sc">Frank McIntyre</span>, 19th Infantry, G.S.<br /> +Captain <span class="sc">D.E. Nolan</span>, 30th Infantry, G.S.</p> + +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span><br /> + +<h2>THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT.</h2> + +<h4 class="sc">By Captain E.D. SWINTON, D.S.O., R.E.—(Backsight +Forethought.)</h4> + +<p class="cen sc">By Permission.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 5%;" /> +<br /> + +<p class="cen sc"><a href="#First_Dream"><b>First Dream.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Second_Dream"><b>Second Dream.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Third_Dream"><b>Third Dream.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Fourth_Dream"><b>Fourth Dream.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Fifth_Dream"><b>Fifth Dream.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#Sixth_Dream"><b>Sixth Dream.</b></a></p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 5%;" /> +<br /> + +<h3 class="sc">Prologue.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Upon an evening after a long and tiring trek, I arrived at Dreamdorp. +The local atmosphere, combined with a heavy meal, are responsible for +the following nightmare, consisting of a series of dreams. To make the +sequence of the whole intelligible, it is necessary to explain that, +though the scene of each vision was the same, yet by some curious +mental process I had no recollection of the place whatsoever. In each +dream the locality was totally new to me, and I had an entirely fresh +detachment. Thus I had not the great advantage of working over +familiar ground. One thing, and one only, was carried on from dream to +dream, and that was the vivid recollection of the general lessons +previously learnt. These finally produced success.</p> + +<p>The whole series of dreams, however, remained in my memory as a +connected whole when I awoke.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="First_Dream" id="First_Dream"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3 class="sc">First Dream.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<div class="block"><p class="noin">"Any fool can get into a hole."—<i>Old Chinese proverb.</i></p> + +<p class="noin">"If left to you, for defence make spades."—<i>Bridge Maxim.</i></p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p>I felt lonely, and not a little sad, as I stood on the bank of the +river near Duffer's Drift and watched the red dust haze, raised by the +southward departing column in the distance, turn slowly into gold as +it hung in the afternoon sunlight. It was just three o'clock, and here +I was on the banks of the Silliaasvogel river, left behind by my +column with a party of fifty N.C.O.'s and men to hold the drift. It +was an important ford, because it was the only one across which +wheeled traffic could pass for some miles up or down the river.</p> + +<br /> + +<div class="img"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +<a href="images/map.png"> +<img border="0" src="images/map.png" width="60%" alt="Map of Duffer's Drift" /></a><br /> +<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em; font-size: 80%;">MAP OF DUFFER'S DRIFT.</p> +</div> + +<br /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>The river was a sluggish stream, not now in flood, crawling along at +the very bottom of its bed between steep banks which were almost +vertical, or at any rate too steep for wagons everywhere except at the +drift itself. The banks from the river edge to their tops and some +distance outwards were covered with dense thorn and other bushes, +which formed a screen impenetrable to the sight. They were also broken +by small ravines and holes, where the earth had been eaten away by the +river when in flood, and were consequently very rough.</p> + +<p>Some two thousand odd yards north of the drift was a flat-topped, +rocky mountain, and about a mile to the northeast appeared the usual +sugar-loaf kopje, covered with bushes and boulders—steep on the +south, but gently falling to the north; this had a farm on the near +side of it. About a thousand yards south of the drift was a convex and +smooth hill, somewhat like an inverted basin, sparsely sown with small +boulders, and with a Kaffir kraal, consisting of a few grass and mud +huts on top. Between the river and the hills on the north the ground +consisted of open and almost level veldt; on the south bank the veldt +was more undulating, and equally open. The whole place was covered +with ant-hills.</p> + +<p>My orders were—to hold Duffer's Drift at all costs. That I should +probably be visited by some column within three or four days' time. +That I might possibly be attacked before that time, but that this was +very unlikely, as no enemy were known to be within a hundred miles. +That the enemy had guns.</p> + +<p>It all seemed plain enough except that the true inwardness of the last +piece of information did not strike me at the time. Though in company +with fifty "good men and true," it certainly made me feel somewhat +lonely and marooned to be left out there comparatively alone on the +boundless veldt; but the chance of an attack filled me, and, I am +quite sure, my men with martial ardor; and at last here was the chance +I had so often longed for. This was my first "show," my first +independent command, and I was determined to carry out my orders to +the bitter end. I was young and inexperienced, it is true, but I had +passed all my examinations with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>fair success; my men were a good +willing lot, with the traditions of a glorious regiment to uphold, and +would, I knew, do all I should require of them. We were also well +supplied with ammunition and rations; and had a number of picks, +shovels and sandbags, etc., which I confess had been rather forced on +me.</p> + +<p>As I turned towards my gallant little detachment, visions of a bloody +and desperate fight crossed my mind—a fight to the last cartridge, +and then an appeal to cold steel, with ultimate victory—and—— But +a discreet cough at my elbow brought me back to realities, and warned +me that my color-sergeant was waiting for orders.</p> + +<p>After a moment's consideration, I decided to pitch my small camp on a +spot just south of the drift, because it was slightly rising ground, +which I knew should be chosen for a camp whenever possible. It was, +moreover, quite close to the drift, which was also in its favor, for, +as everyone knows, if you are told off to guard anything, you mount a +guard quite close to it, and place a sentry, if possible, standing on +top of it. The place picked out by me also had the river circling +round three sides of it in a regular horseshoe bend, which formed a +kind of ditch, or, as the book says, "a natural obstacle." I was +indeed lucky to have such an ideal place close at hand; nothing could +have been more suitable.</p> + +<p>I came to the conclusion that, as the enemy were not within a hundred +miles, there would be no need to place the camp in a state of defence +till the following day. Besides, the men were tired after their long +trek, and it would be quite as much as they could do comfortably to +arrange nice and shipshape all the stores and tools, which had been +dumped down anyhow in a heap, pitch the camp, and get their teas +before dark.</p> + +<p>Between you and me, I was really relieved to be able to put off my +defensive measures till the morrow, because I was a wee bit puzzled as +to what to do. In fact, the more I thought, the more puzzled I grew. +The only "measures of defence" I could recall for the moment were, how +to tie "a thumb or overhand knot," and how long it takes to cut down +an apple tree of six inches' diameter. Unluckily neither of these +useful facts seemed quite to apply. Now, if they had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>given me a job +like fighting the battle of Waterloo, or Sedan, or Bull Run, I knew +all about that, as I had crammed it up and been examined in it, too. I +also knew how to take up a position for a division, or even an army +corps, but the stupid little subaltern's game of the defence of a +drift with a small detachment was, curiously enough, most perplexing. +I had never really considered such a thing. However, in the light of +my habitual dealings with army corps, it would, no doubt, be +child's-play after a little thought.</p> + +<p>Having issued my immediate orders accordingly, I decided to explore +the neighborhood, but was for a moment puzzled as to which direction I +should take; for, having no horse, I could not possibly get all round +before dark. After a little thought, it flashed across my mind that +obviously I should go to the north. The bulk of the enemy being away +to the north, that, of course, must be the <i>front</i>. I knew naturally +that there must be a front, because in all the schemes I had had to +prepare, or the exams I had undergone, there was always a front, +or—"the place where the enemies come from." How often, also, had I +not had trouble in getting out of a dull sentry which his "front" and +what his "beat" was. The north, then, being my front, the east and +west were my flanks, where there might possibly be enemies, and the +south was my <i>rear</i>, where naturally there were none.</p> + +<p>I settled these knotty points to my satisfaction, and off I trudged, +with my field-glasses and, of course, my kodak, directing my steps +towards the Dutch farm, with gleaming white walls, nestling under the +kopje to the northeast. It was quite a snug little farm for South +Africa, surrounded by blue gums and fruit trees. About a quarter of a +mile from the farm I was met by the owner, Mr. Andreas Brink, a tame +or surrendered Boer farmer, and his two sons, Piet and Gert. Such a +nice man, too, with a pleasant face and long beard. He would insist on +calling me "captain," and as any correction might have confused him, I +did not think it worth while to make any, and after all I wasn't so +very far from my "company." The three of them positively bristled with +dog's-eared and dirty passes from every provost marshal in South +Africa, which they insisted on showing me. I had not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>thought of +asking for them, and was much impressed; to have so many they must be +special men. They escorted me to the farm, where the guid wife and +several daughters met us, and gave me a drink of milk, which was most +acceptable after my long and dusty trek. The whole family appeared +either to speak or to understand English, and we had a very friendly +chat, during the course of which I gathered that there were no Boer +commandoes anywhere within miles; that the whole family cordially +hoped that there never would be again, and that Brink was really a +most loyal Briton, and had been much against the war, but had been +forced to go on commando with his two sons. Their loyalty was evident, +because there was an oleograph of the Queen on the wall, and one of +the numerous flappers was playing our National anthem on the harmonium +as I entered.</p> + +<p>The farmer and the boys took a great interest in all my personal gear, +especially a brand-new pair of latest-pattern field-glasses, which +they tried with much delight, and many exclamations of "Allermachtig." +They evidently appreciated them extremely, but could not imagine any +use for my kodak in war-time, even after I had taken a family group. +Funny, simple fellows! They asked and got permission from me to sell +milk, eggs, and butter in the camp, and I strolled on my way +congratulating myself on the good turn I was thus able to do myself +and detachment, none of whom had even smelt such luxuries for weeks.</p> + +<p>After an uneventful round, I directed my steps back towards the thin +blue threads of smoke, rising vertically in the still air, which alone +showed the position of my little post, and as I walked the +peacefulness of the whole scene impressed me. The landscape lay bathed +in the warm light of the setting sun, whose parting rays tinged most +strongly the various heights within view, and the hush of approaching +evening was only broken by the distant lowing of oxen, and by the +indistinct and cheerful hum of the camp, which gradually grew louder +as I approached. I strolled along in quite a pleasant frame of mind, +meditating over the rather curious names which Mr. Brink had given me +for the surrounding features of the landscape. The kopje above his +farm was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>called Incidentamba, the flat-topped mountain some two miles +to the north was called Regret Table Mountain, and the gently rising +hill close to the drift on the south of the river was called Waschout +Hill. Everything was going on well, and the men were at their teas +when I got back. The nice Dutchman, with his apostolic face, and the +lanky Piet and Gert, were already there, surrounded by a swarm of men, +to whom they were selling their wares at exorbitant rates. The three +of them strolled about the camp, showing great interest in everything, +asking most intelligent questions about the British forces and the +general position of affairs, and seemed really relieved to have a +strong British post near. They did not even take offence when some of +the rougher men called them "blarsted Dutchmen," and refused to +converse with them, or buy their "skoff." About dusk they left, with +many promises to return with a fresh supply on the morrow.</p> + +<p>After writing out my orders for next day—one of which was for digging +some trenches round the camp, an operation which I knew my men, as +becomes good British soldiers, disliked very much, and regarded as +fatigues—I saw the two guards mounted, one at the drift, and the +other some little way down the river, each furnishing one sentry on +the river bank.</p> + +<p>When all had turned in, and the camp was quite silent, it was almost +comforting to hear the half-hourly cry of the sentries—"Number +one—all is well;" "Number two—all is well." By this sound I was able +to locate them, and knew they were at their proper posts. On going +round sentries about midnight, I was pleased to find that they were +both alert, and that, as it was a cold night, each guard had built a +bonfire, silhouetted in the cheerful blaze of which stood the +sentry—a clear-cut monument to all round that here was a British +sentry fully on the <i>qui-vive</i>. After impressing them with their +orders, the extent of their "beat," and the direction of their +"front," etc., I turned in. The fires they had built, besides being a +comfort to themselves, were also useful to me, because twice during +the night when I looked out I could, without leaving my tent, plainly +see them at their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>posts. I finally fell asleep, and dreamt of being +decorated with a crossbelt made of V.C.'s and D.S.O.'s and of wearing +red tabs all down my back.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>I was suddenly awoken, about the grey of dawn, by a hoarse cry—"Halt! +who goes——" cut short by the unmistakable "plip-plop" of a Mauser +rifle. Before I was off my valise, the reports of Mausers rang around +the camp from every side; these, mingled with the smack of the bullets +as they hit the ground and stripped the "zipzip" of the leaden hail +through the tents, and the curses and groans of men who were hit as +they lay or stumbled about trying to get out, made a hellish din. +There was some wild shooting in return from my men, but it was all +over in a moment, and as I managed to wriggle out of my tent the whole +place was swarming with bearded men, shooting into the heaving canvas. +At that moment I must have been clubbed on the head, for I knew no +more until I found myself seated on an empty case having my head, +which was dripping with blood, tied up by one of my men.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>Our losses were ten men killed, including both sentries, and +twenty-one wounded; the Boers, one killed and two wounded.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>Later on, as, at the order of the not ill-natured but very frowzy Boer +commandant, I was gloomily taking off the saucy warm spotted waistcoat +knitted for me by my sister, I noticed our friends of the previous +evening in very animated and friendly conversation with the burghers, +and "Pappa" was, curiously enough, carrying a rifle and bandolier and +my new field-glasses. He was laughing and pointing towards something +lying on the ground, through which he finally put his foot. This, to +my horror, I recognized as my unhappy camera. Here, I suppose, my mind +must have slightly wandered, for I found myself repeating some Latin +lines, once my favorite imposition, but forgotten since my +school-days—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes——"<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="noin"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>when suddenly the voice of the field cornet broke into my musing with +"Your breeches, too, captain."</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>Trekking all that day on foot, sockless, and in the boots of another, +I had much to think of besides my throbbing head. The sight of the +long Boer convoy with guns, which had succeeded so easily in crossing +the drift <i>I</i> was to have held, was a continual reminder of my +failure, and of my responsibility for the dreadful losses to my poor +detachment. I gradually gathered from the Boers what I had already +partially guessed, namely, that they had been fetched and guided all +round our camp by friend Brink, had surrounded it in the dark, +crawling about in the bush on the river bank, and had carefully marked +down our two poor sentries. These they had at once shot on the alarm +being given, and had then rushed the camp from the dense cover on +three sides. Towards evening my head got worse, and its rhythmic +throbbing seemed gradually to take a meaning, and hammered out the +following lessons, the result of much pondering on my failure:</p> + +<p>1. Do not put off taking your measures of defence till the morrow, as +this is more important than the comfort of your men or the shipshape +arrangement of your camp. Choose the position of your camp mainly with +reference to your defence.</p> + +<p>2. Do not in war-time show stray men of the enemy's breed all over +your camp, be they never so kind and full of butter, and do not be +hypnotized, by numerous "passes," at once to confide in them.</p> + +<p>3. Do not let your sentries advertise their position to the whole +world, including the enemy, by standing in the full glare of a fire, +and making much noise every half hour.</p> + +<p>4. Do not, if avoidable, be in tents when bullets are ripping through +them: at such times a hole in the ground is worth many tents.</p> + +<p>After these lessons had been dinned into my soul millions and millions +of times, so that I could never forget them, a strange thing came to +pass—there was a kaleidoscopic change. I had another dream.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Second_Dream" id="Second_Dream"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span><br /> + +<h3 class="sc">Second Dream.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"And what did ye look they should compass? Warcraft learnt in a breath,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Knowledge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?"<br /></span> +<span class="i10 sc">—Kipling.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>I suddenly found myself dumped down at Duffer's Drift with the same +orders as already detailed, and an equal detachment composed of +entirely different men. As before, and on every subsequent occasion, I +had ample stores, ammunition, and tools. My position was precisely +similar to my former one, with this important exception, running +through my brain were <i>four</i> lessons.</p> + +<p>As soon as I received my orders, therefore, I began to make out my +plan of operations without wasting any time over the landscape, the +setting sun, or the departing column, which, having off-loaded all our +stores, soon vanished. I was determined to carry out all the lessons I +had learnt as well as I knew how.</p> + +<p>To prevent any strangers, friendly or otherwise, from coming into my +position and spying out the elaborate defences I was going to make, I +sent out at once two examining posts of one N.C.O. and three men each, +one to the top of Waschout Hill, and the other some 1,000 yards out on +the veldt to the north of the drift. Their orders were to watch the +surrounding country, and give the alarm in the event of the approach +of any body of men whatever (Boers were, of course, improbable, but +still just possible), and also to stop any individuals, friendly or +not, from coming anywhere near camp, and to shoot at once on +non-compliance with the order to halt. If the new-comers had any +provisions to sell, these were to be sent in with a list by one of the +guard, who would return with the money, but the strangers were not to +be allowed nearer the camp on any account.</p> + +<p>Having thus arranged a safeguard against spies, I proceeded to choose +a camping-ground. I chose the site already described in my former +dream, and for the same reasons, which still appealed to me. So long +as I was entrenched, it appeared the best place around. We started +making our trenches as soon as I had marked off a nice squarish little +enclosure which would about contain our small camp. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>Though, of +course, the north was the front, I thought, having a camp, it would be +best to have an all-round defence as a sort of obstacle. The majority +of the men were told off to dig, which they did not relish, a few +being detailed to pitch camp and prepare tea. As the length of trench +was rather great for the available number of diggers, and the soil was +hard, we were only able by dark, by which time the men were quite done +up by their hard day, to make quite a low parapet and shallow trench. +Still, we were "entrenched," which was the great thing, and the trench +was all round our camp, so we were well prepared, even should we be +attacked during the night or early next morning, which was out of the +question.</p> + +<p>During this time one or two strangers had approached the guard of the +north from a farm under Incidentamba. As they had eggs and butter, +etc., to sell, these were brought in as arranged for. The man sent in +with the stuff reported that the elder of the Dutchmen was a most +pleasant man, and had sent me a present of a pat of butter and some +eggs, with his compliments, and would I allow him to come in and speak +to me. However, not being such a fool as to allow him in my defences, +I went out instead, in case he had any information. His only +information was that there were no Boers anywhere near. He was an old +man, but though he had a museum of "passes," I was not to be +chloroformed by them into confidence. As he seemed friendly, and +possibly loyal, I walked part of the way back to his farm with him, in +order to look around. At dark the two examining posts came in, and two +guards were mounted close by the object I was to watch, namely, the +drift, at the same places as in my previous dream. This time, however, +there was no half-hourly shouting, nor were there any fires, and the +sentries had orders not to challenge but to shoot any person they +might see outside camp at once. They were placed standing down the +river bank, just high enough to see over the top, and were thus not +unnecessarily exposed. Teas had been eaten, and all fires put out at +dusk, and after dark all turned in, but in the trenches instead of in +tents. After going round sentries to see everything snug for the +night, I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>lay down myself with a sense of having done my duty, and +neglected no possible precaution for our safety.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>Just before dawn much the same happened as already described in my +first dream, except that the ball was started by a shot without +challenge from one of our sentries at something moving among the bush, +which resulted in close range fire opening onto us from all sides. +This time we were not rushed, but a perfect hail of bullets whistled +in from every direction—from in front of each trench, along each +trench, and from behind each trench, and over and through our parapet. +It was sufficient to put a hand or head up to have a dozen bullets +through and all round it, and the strange part was, we saw no one. As +the detachment wag plaintively remarked, we could have seen lots of +Boers, "if wasn't for the bushes in between."</p> + +<p>After vainly trying until bright daylight to see the enemy in order to +do some damage in return, so many men were hit, and the position +seemed so utterly hopeless, that I had to hoist the white flag. We had +by then twenty-four men killed and six wounded. As soon as the white +flag went up the Boers ceased firing at once, and stood up; every bush +and ant-hill up to 100 yards' range seemed to have hid a Boer behind +it. This close range explained the marvelous accuracy of their +shooting, and the great proportion of our killed (who were nearly all +shot through the head) to our wounded.</p> + +<p>As we were collecting ourselves preparatory to marching off, there +were one or two things which struck me; one was that the Dutchman who +had presented me with eggs and butter was in earnest confabulation +with the Boer commandant, who was calling him "Oom" most +affectionately. I also noticed that all the male Kaffirs from the +neighboring kraal had been fetched and impressed to assist in getting +the Boer guns and wagons across the drift and to load up our captured +gear, and generally do odd and dirty jobs. These same Kaffirs did +their work with amazing alacrity, and looked as if they enjoyed it; +there was no "backchat" when an order was given—usually by friend +"Oom."</p> + +<p>Again, as I trudged with blistered feet that livelong day, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>did I +think over my failure. It seemed so strange, I had done all I knew, +and yet, here we were, ignominiously captured, twenty-four of us +killed, and the Boers over the drift. "Ah, B.F., my boy," I thought, +"there must be a few more lessons to be learnt besides those you +already know," and in order to find out what these were, I pondered +deeply over the details of the fight.</p> + +<p>How the Boers must have known of our position, and how they had +managed to get close up all round within snapshooting range without +being discovered. What a tremendous advantage they had had in shooting +from among the bushes on the bank, where they could not be seen, over +us who had to show up over a parapet every time we looked for an +enemy, and show up, moreover, just in the very place where every Boer +expected us to, and was watching. There seemed to be some fault in the +position. How the bullets seemed sometimes to come through the +parapet, and how those that passed over one side hit the men defending +the other side in the back. How on the whole that "natural obstacle," +the river bed, seemed to be more of a disadvantage than a protection.</p> + +<p>Eventually the following lessons framed themselves in my head—some of +them quite new, some of them supplementing those four I had already +learnt:</p> + +<p>5. With modern rifles, to guard a drift or locality does <i>not</i> +necessitate sitting on top of it (as if it could be picked up and +carried away), unless the locality is suitable to hold for other and +defensive reasons. It may even be much better to take up your +defensive position some way from the spot, and so away from concealed +ground, which enables the enemy to crawl up to very close range, +concealed and unperceived, and to fire from cover which hides them +even when shooting. It would be better, if possible, to have the enemy +in the open, or to have what is called a clear "field of fire."</p> + +<p>A non-bullet proof parapet or shelter which is visible serves merely +to attract bullets instead of keeping them out—the proof-thickness +can be easily tested practically.</p> + +<p>When fired at by an enemy at close range from nearly all round, a low +parapet and shallow trench are not of much use, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>as what bullets do +not hit the defenders on one side hit those on another.</p> + +<p>6. It is <i>not</i> enough to keep strange men of the enemy's breed away +from your actual defences, letting them go free to warn their friends +of your existence and whereabouts—even though they do not know the +details of your defences. It would be very much better to gather in +all such strangers and kindly, but firmly, to take care of them, so +that they should not be under temptation to impart any knowledge they +may have obtained. "Another way," as the cookery book says, more +economical in lives, would be as follows: Gather and warmly greet a +sufficiency of strangers. Stuff well with chestnuts as to the large +force about to join you in a few hours; garnish with corroborative +detail, and season according to taste with whiskey or tobacco. This +will very likely be sufficient for the nearest commando. Probable +cost—some heavy and glib lying, but no lives will be expended.</p> + +<p>7. It is not business to allow lazy black men (even though they be +brothers and neutrals) to sit and pick their teeth outside their +kraals whilst tired white men are breaking their hearts trying to do +heavy labor in short time. It is more the duty of a Christian soldier +to teach the dusky neutral the dignity of labor, and to keep him under +guard, to prevent his going away to talk about it.</p> + +<p>By the time the above lessons had been well burnt into my brain, +beyond all chance of forgetfulness, a strange thing happened—I had a +fresh dream.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Third_Dream" id="Third_Dream"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3 class="sc">Third Dream.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"So when we take tea with a few guns, o' course you will know what to do—hoo! hoo!"<br /></span> +<span class="i10 sc">—Kipling.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>I was at Duffer's Drift on a similar sunny afternoon and under +precisely similar conditions, except that I now had <i>seven</i> lessons +running through my mind.</p> + +<p>I at once sent out two patrols, each of one N.C.O. and three men, one +to the north and one to the south. They were to visit all neighboring +farms and kraals and bring in all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>able-bodied Dutchmen and boys and +male Kaffirs—by persuasion if possible, but by force if necessary. +This would prevent the news of our arrival being carried around to any +adjacent commandoes, and would also assist to solve the labor +question. A small guard was mounted on the top of Waschout Hill as a +look-out.</p> + +<p>I decided that as the drift could not get up and run away, it was not +necessary to take up my post or position quite close to it, especially +as such a position would be under close rifle fire from the river +bank, to which the approaches were quite concealed, and which gave +excellent cover. The very worst place for such a position seemed to be +anywhere within the horseshoe bend of the river, as this would allow +an enemy practically to surround it. My choice, therefore, fell on a +spot to which the ground gently rose from the river bank some 700 to +800 yards south of the drift. Here I arranged to dig a trench roughly +facing the front (north) which thus would have about 800 yards clear +ground on its front. We started to make a trench about fifty yards +long for my fifty men, according to the usual rule.</p> + +<p>Some little time after beginning, the patrols came in, having +collected three Dutchmen and two boys, and about thirteen Kaffirs. The +former, the leader of whom seemed a man of education and some +importance, were at first inclined to protest when they were given +tools to dig trenches for themselves, showed bundles of "passes," and +talked very big about complaining to the General, and even as to a +question in the "House" about our brutality. This momentarily +staggered me, as I could not help wondering what might happen to poor +B.F. if the member for Upper Tooting should raise the point; but +Westminster was far away, and I hardened my heart. Finally they had +the humor to see the force of the argument, that it was, after all, +necessary, for their own health, as they would otherwise be out in the +open veldt, should the post be attacked.</p> + +<p>The Kaffirs served as a welcome relief to my men as they got tired. +They also dug a separate hole for themselves on one side of and behind +our trench, in a small ravine.</p> + +<p>By evening we had quite a decent trench dug—the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>parapet was about +two feet six inches thick at the top, and was quite bullet-proof, as I +tested it. Our trench was not all in one straight line, but in two +portions, broken back at a slight angle, so as to get a more divergent +fire [rather cunning of me], though each half was of course as +straight as I could get it.</p> + +<p>It was astonishing what difficulty I had to get the men to dig in a +nice straight line. I was particular as to this point, because I once +heard a certain captain severely "told off" at manœuvres by a very +senior officer for having his trenches "out of dressing." No one could +tell whether some "brass hat" might not come around and inspect us +next day, so it was as well to be prepared for anything.</p> + +<p>At dusk the guard on Waschout Hill, for whom a trench had also been +dug, was relieved and increased to six men, and after teas and giving +out the orders for the next day, we all "turned in" in our trenches. +The tents were not pitched, as we were not going to occupy them, and +it was no good merely showing up our position. A guard was mounted +over our prisoners, or rather "guests," and furnished one sentry to +watch over them.</p> + +<p>Before falling asleep I ran over my seven lessons, and it seemed to me +I had left nothing undone which could possibly help towards success. +We were entrenched, had a good bullet-proof defence, all our rations +and ammunition close at hand in the trenches, and water-bottles +filled. It was with a contented feeling of having done everything +right and of being quite "the little white-haired boy" that I +gradually dozed off.</p> + +<p>Next morning dawned brightly and uneventfully, and we had about an +hour's work improving details of our trenches before breakfasts were +ready. Just as breakfast was over, the sentry on Waschout Hill +reported a cloud of dust away to the north, by Regret Table Mountain. +This was caused by a large party of men mounted with wheeled transport +of some sort. They were most probably the enemy, and seemed to be +trekking in all innocence of our presence for the drift.</p> + +<p>What a "scoop," I thought, if they come on quite unsuspecting, and +cross the drift in a lump without discerning our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>position. I shall +lie low, let the advanced party go past without a shot, and wait until +the main body gets over this side within close range, and then open +magazine fire into the thick of them. Yes, it will be just when they +reach that broken ant-hill about 400 yards away that I shall give the +word "Fire!"</p> + +<p>However, it was not to be. After a short time the enemy halted, +apparently for consideration. The advanced men seemed to have a +consultation, and then gradually approached Incidentamba farm with +much caution. Two or three women ran out and waved, whereupon these +men galloped up to the farm at once. What passed, of course, we could +not tell, but evidently the women gave information as to our arrival +and position, because the effect was electrical. The advanced Boers +split up into two main parties, one riding towards the river a long +way to the east, and another going similarly to the west. One man +galloped back with the information obtained to the main body, which +became all bustle, and started off with their wagons behind +Incidentamba, when they were lost to sight. Of course, they were all +well out of range, and as we were quite ready, the only thing to do +was to wait till they came out in the open within range, and then to +shoot them down.</p> + +<p>The minutes seemed to crawl—five, then ten minutes passed with no +further sign of the enemy. Suddenly, "Beg pardon, sir; I think I see +somethink on top of that kop-je on the fur side yonder." One of the +men drew my attention to a few specks which looked like wagons moving +about on the flatish shoulder of Incidentamba. Whilst I was focussing +my glasses there was a "boom" from the hill, followed by a sharp +report and a puff of smoke up in the air quite close by, then the +sound as of heavy rain pattering down some two hundred feet in front +of the trench, each drop raising its own little cloud of dust. This, +of course, called forth the time-honored remarks of "What ho, she +bumps!" and "Now we shan't be long," which proved only too true. I was +aghast—I had quite forgotten the possibility of guns being used +against me, though, had I remembered their existence, I do not know +with my then knowledge, what difference it would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>have made to my +defensive measures. As there was some little uneasiness among my men, +I, quite cheerful in the security of our nice trench with the thick +bullet-proof parapet, at once shouted out, "It's all right, men; keep +under cover, and they can't touch us." A moment later there was a +second boom, the shell whistled over our heads, and the hillside some +way behind the trench was spattered with bullets.</p> + +<p>By this time we were crouching as close as possible to the parapet, +which, though it had seemed only quite a short time before so +complete, now suddenly felt most woefully inadequate, with those +beastly shells dropping their bullets down from the sky. Another boom. +This time the shell burst well, and the whole ground in front of the +trench was covered with bullets, one man being hit. At this moment +rifle fire began on Waschout Hill, but no bullets came our way. Almost +immediately another shot followed which showered bullets all over us; +a few more men were hit, whose groans were unpleasant to listen to. +Tools were seized, and men began frantically to try and dig themselves +deeper into the hard earth, as our trench seemed to give no more +protection from the dropping bullets than a saucer would from a storm +of rain—but it was too late. We could not sink into the earth fast +enough. The Boers had got the range of the trench to a nicety, and the +shells burst over us now with a horrible methodic precision. Several +men were hit, and there was no reason why the enemy should cease to +rain shrapnel over us until we were all killed. As we were absolutely +powerless to do anything, I put up the white flag. All I could do was +to thank Providence that the enemy had no quick-firing field guns, or, +though "we had not been long," we should have been blotted out before +we could have hoisted it.</p> + +<p>As soon as the gun-fire ceased, I was greatly surprised to find that +no party of Boers came down from their artillery position on +Incidentamba to take our surrender, but within three minutes some +fifty Boers galloped up from the river bank on the east and the west, +and a few more came up from the south round Waschout Hill. The guard +on Waschout <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>Hill, which had done a certain amount of damage to the +enemy, had two men wounded by rifle fire. Not a single shell had come +near them, though they were close to the Kaffir huts, which were plain +enough.</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>What an anti-climax the reality had been from the pleasurable +anticipations of the early morn, when I had first sighted the Boers.</p> + +<p>Of course, the women on the farm had betrayed us, but it was difficult +to make out why the Boers had at first halted and begun to be +suspicious before they had seen the women at the farm. What could they +have discovered? I failed entirely to solve this mystery.</p> + +<p>During the day's trek the following lessons slowly evolved themselves, +and were stored in my mind in addition to those already learnt:</p> + +<p>8. When collecting the friendly stranger and his sons in order to +prevent their taking information to the enemy of your existence and +whereabouts, if you are wishful for a "surprise packet," do not forget +also to gather his wife and his daughter, his manservant and his +maidservant (who also have tongues), and his ox and his ass (which may +possibly serve the enemy). Of course, if they are very numerous or +very far off, this is impossible; only do not then hope to surprise +the enemy.</p> + +<p>9. Do not forget that, if guns are going to be used against you, a +shallow trench with a low parapet some way from it is worse than +useless, even though the parapet be bullet-proof ten times over. The +trench gives the gunners an object to lay on, and gives no protection +from shrapnel. Against well-aimed long-range artillery fire it would +be better to scatter the defenders in the open, hidden in grass and +bushes, or behind stones or ant-hills, than to keep them huddled in +such a trench. With your men scattered around you can safely let the +enemy fill your trench to the brim with shrapnel bullets.</p> + +<p>10. Though to stop a shrapnel bullet much less actual thickness of +earth is necessary than to stop a rifle bullet, yet this earth must be +in the right place. For protection you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>must be able to get right +close under the cover. As narrow a trench as possible, with the sides +and inside of the parapet as steep as they will stand, will give you +the best chance. To hollow out the bottom of the trench sides to give +extra room will be even better, because the open top of the trench can +be kept the less wide. The more like a mere slit the open top of the +trench is, the fewer shrapnel bullets will get in. While chewing over +these lessons learnt from bitter experience, I had yet another dream.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Fourth_Dream" id="Fourth_Dream"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3 class="sc">Fourth Dream.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O wad some power the giftie gie us,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To see oursels as others see us!"<br /></span> +<span class="i10 sc">Burns.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>Again did I find myself facing the same problem, this time with <i>ten</i> +lessons to guide me. I started off by sending out patrols, as +described in my last dream, but their orders were slightly different. +All human beings were to be brought into our post, and any animals +which could be of use to the enemy were to be shot, as we had no place +for them.</p> + +<p>For my defensive post I chose the position already described in my +last dream, which seemed very suitable, for the reasons already given. +We consequently dug a trench similar in plan to that already +described, but, as I feared the possibility of guns being used against +us, it was of a very different section. In plan it faced north +generally, and was slightly broken forward to the front, each half +being quite straight. In section it was about three feet six inches +deep, with a parapet about twelve inches high in front of it; we made +the trench as narrow as possible at the top compatible with free +movement. Each man hollowed out the under part of the trench to suit +himself, and made his own portion of the parapet to suit his height. +The parapet was about two feet six inches thick at the top and quite +steep inside, being built up of pieces of broken ant-heap, which were +nearly as hard as stone.</p> + +<p>The patrols returned shortly with their bag of a few men, women, and +children. The women indulged in much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>useless abuse, and refused to +obey orders, taking the matter less philosophically than their +mankind. Here was evidently an opportunity of making use of the short +training I had once had as A.D.C. I tried it. I treated the ladies +with tons of "tact" in my suavest manner, and repeated the only Dutch +words of comfort I knew—"Al zal recht kom"—but to no purpose. They +had not been brought up to appreciate tact; in fact, they were not +taking any. I turned regretfully round to the color-sergeant, winked +solemnly and officially, and seeing an answering but respectful quiver +in his left eyelid, said:</p> + +<p>"Color-sergeant."</p> + +<p>"Sir?"</p> + +<p>"Which do you think is the best way of setting alight to a farm?"</p> + +<p>"Well, sir, some prefer the large bedstead and straw, but I think the +'armonium and a little kerosene in one corner is as neat as anything."</p> + +<p>There was no need for more—the ladies quite understood this sort of +tact; the trouble was over.</p> + +<p>The Dutchmen and Kaffirs were at once started digging shelters for +themselves and the women and children. The latter were placed +together, and were put into a small ravine not far from the trench, as +it was necessary to place them in a really deep trench, firstly to +keep them safe, and secondly to prevent their waving or signalling to +the enemy. The existence of this ravine, therefore, saved much +digging, as it only required some hollowing out at the bottom and a +little excavation to suit admirably.</p> + +<p>All dug with a will, and by night the shelters for the women and +children and men prisoners, and the firing trench, were nearly done. +All arrangements for the guards and sentries were the same as those +described in the last dream, and after seeing everything was all +correct and the ladies provided with tents to crawl under (they had +their own blankets), I went to sleep with a feeling of well-earned +security.</p> + +<p>At daybreak next morning, as there were no signs of any enemy, we +continued to improve our trench, altering the depth and alignment +where necessary, each man suiting the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>size of the trench to his own +legs. In the end the trench really looked quite neat, with the fresh +red earth contrasting with the yellow of the veldt. As one of my +reservists remarked, it only wanted an edging of oyster shells or +ginger-beer bottles to be like his little "broccoli patch" at home. +Upon these important details and breakfast a good two hours had been +spent, when a force was reported to the north in the same position as +described in the previous dream. It advanced in the same manner, +except, of course, the advance men were met by no one at the farm. +When I saw this, I could not help patting myself on the back and +smiling at the Dutch ladies in the pit, who only scowled at me in +return, and (whisper) spat!</p> + +<p>The advanced party of the enemy came on, scouting carefully and +stalking the farm as they came. As they appeared quite unwarned, I was +wondering if I should be able to surprise them, all innocent of our +presence, with a close-range volley, and then magazine fire into their +midst, when suddenly one man stopped and the others gathered round +him. This was when they were some 1,800 yards away, about on a level +with the end of Incidentamba. They had evidently seen something and +sniffed danger, for there was a short palaver and much pointing. A +messenger then galloped back to the main body, which turned off behind +Incidentamba with its wagons, etc. A small number, including a man on +a white horse, rode off in a vague way to the west. The object of this +move I could not quite see. They appeared to have a vehicle with them +of some sort. The advanced party split up as already described. As all +were still at long range, we could only wait.</p> + +<p>Very shortly "boom" went a gun from the top of Incidentamba, and a +shrapnel shell burst not far from us. A second and third followed, +after which they soon picked up our range exactly, and the shell began +to burst all about us; however, we were quite snug and happy in our +nice deep trench, where we contentedly crouched. The waste of good and +valuable shrapnel shell by the enemy was the cause of much amusement +to the men, who were in great spirits, and, as one of them remarked, +were "as cosy as cockroaches in a crack." <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>At the expenditure of many +shells two men only were hit—in the legs.</p> + +<p>After a time the guns ceased fire, and we at once manned the parapet +and stood up to repel an attack, but we could see no Boers, though the +air began at once to whistle and hum with bullets. Nearly all these +seemed to come from the river-bank in front, to the north and +north-east, and kept the parapet one continual spirt of dust as they +smacked into it. All we could do was to fire by sound at various +likely bushes on the river-bank, and this we did with the greatest +possible diligence, but no visible result.</p> + +<p>In about a quarter of an hour we had had five men shot through the +head, the most exposed part. The mere raising of a head to fire seemed +to be absolutely fatal, as it had on a former occasion when we were +attempting to fire at close range over a parapet against the enemy +concealed. I saw two poor fellows trying to build up a pitiful little +kind of house of cards with stones and pieces of anthill through which +to fire. This was as conspicuous as a chimney-pot on top of the +parapet, and was at once shot to powder before they had even used it, +but not before it had suggested to me the remedy for this state of +affairs. Of course, we wanted in such a case "head cover" and +"loopholes." As usual, I was wise after the event, for we had no +chance of making them then, even had we not been otherwise harassed. +Suddenly the noise of firing became much more intense, but with the +smack of the bullets striking the earth all round quite close it was +not easy to tell from which direction this fresh firing came. At the +same time the men seemed to be dropping much oftener, and I was +impressing them with the necessity of keeping up a brisker fire to the +front, when I noticed a bullet hit <i>our</i> side of the parapet.</p> + +<p>It then became clear, the enemy must evidently have got into the donga +behind us (to which I paid no attention, as it was to the rear), and +were shooting us in the back as we stood up to our parapet.</p> + +<p>This, I thought, must be what is called being "taken in <i>reverse</i>," +and it was.</p> + +<p>By the time I had gathered what was happening, about a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>dozen more men +had been bowled over. I then ordered the whole lot to take cover in +the trench, and only pop up to take a shot to the front or rear. But +no more could be done by us towards the rear than to the front. The +conditions were the same—no Boers to be seen. At this moment two of +the guard from Waschout Hill started to run in to our trench, and a +terrific fusillade was opened on to them, the bullets kicking up the +dust all round them as they ran. One poor fellow was dropped, but the +other managed to reach our trench and fall into it. He too was badly +hit, but just had the strength to gasp out that except himself and the +man who had started with him, all the guard on Waschout Hill had been +killed or wounded, and that the Boers were gradually working their way +up to the top. This was indeed cheering.</p> + +<p>So hot was the fire now that no one could raise his head above ground +without being shot, and by crouching down altogether and not +attempting to aim, but merely firing our rifles over the edge of the +trench, we remained for a short time without casualties. This respite, +however, was short, for the men in the right half of the trench began +to drop unaccountably whilst they were sitting well under cover, and +not exposing themselves at all. I gradually discovered the cause of +this. Some snipers must have reached the top of Waschout Hill, and +were shooting straight down our right half trench. As the bullets +snicked in thicker and thicker, it was plain the number of snipers was +being increased.</p> + +<p>This, I thought, must be being "<i>enfiladed</i> from a flank." It was so.</p> + +<p>Without any order, we had all instinctively vacated the right half of +our trench and crowded into the left half, which by great good luck +could not be enfiladed from any point on the south side of the river, +nor indeed by rifle-fire from anywhere, as, owing to the ground, its +prolongation on the right was up above ground into the open air, and +to the left did not touch ground for some 3,000 yards away on the +veldt on the north bank.</p> + +<p>Though we were huddled together quite helpless like rats in a trap, +still it was in a small degree comforting to think <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>that, short of +charging the enemy could do nothing. For that we fixed bayonets and +grimly waited. If they did make an assault, we had bayonets, and they +had not, and we could sell our lives very dearly in a rough-and-tumble.</p> + +<p>Alas! I was again deceived. There was to be no chance of close +quarters and cold steel, for suddenly we heard, far away out on the +veldt to the north, a sound as of some one beating a tin tray, and a +covey of little shells whistled into the ground close by the trench; +two of these burst on touching the ground. Right out of rifle-range, +away on the open veldt on the north, I saw a party of Boers, with a +white horse and a vehicle. Then I knew. But how had they managed to +hit off so well the right spot to go to to enfilade our trench before +they even knew where we were?</p> + +<p>Pompom pompompom again, and the little steel devils ploughed their way +into the middle of us in our shell-trap, mangling seven men. I at once +diagnosed the position with great professional acumen—we were now +<i>enfiladed</i> from <i>both</i> flanks, but the knowledge was acquired too +late to help us, for—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"We lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">To the hail of the Nordenfeldt."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noin">This was the last straw; there was nothing left but surrender or +entire annihilation at long range. I surrendered.</p> + +<p>Boers, as usual, sprang up from all round. We had fought for three +hours, and had twenty-five killed and seventeen wounded. Of these, +seven only had been hit by the shrapnel and rifle-fire from the +<i>front</i>. All the rest had been killed or hit from the <i>flanks</i>, where +there should be few enemies, or the <i>rear</i>, where there should be +none! This fact convinced me that my preconceived notions as to the +<i>front</i>, and its danger relative to the other points of the compass, +needed considerable modification. All my cherished ideas were being +ruthlessly swept away, and I was plunged into a sea of doubt, groping +for <i>something</i> certain or fixed to lay hold of. Could Longfellow, +when he wrote that immortal line, "Things are not what they seem," +ever have been in my position?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>The survivors were naturally a little disheartened at their total +discomfiture, when all had started so well with them in their "crack." +This expressed itself in different ways. As one man said to a +corporal, who was plugging a hole in his ear with a bit of rag—</p> + +<p>"Somethink sickening, I call it, this enfilading racket; you never +know which way it will take yer. I'm fairly fed up." To which the +gloomy reply, "Enfiladed? Of course we've been enfiladed. This 'ere +trench should have been wiggled about a bit, and then there would not +have been quite so much of it. Yes, wiggled about—that's what it +should have been." To which chipped in a third, "Yes, and somethink to +keep the blighters from shooting us in the back wouldn't 'ave done us +much 'arm, anyway."</p> + +<p>There were evidently more things in <i>earth</i> than I had hitherto dreamt +of in my philosophy!</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>As we trekked away to the north under a detached guard of Boers, many +little points such as the above sank into my soul, but I could not for +some time solve the mystery of why we had not succeeded in surprising +the enemy. There were no men, women, children, or Kaffirs who knew of +our arrival, who could have warned them. How did they spot our +presence so soon, as they evidently must have done when they stopped +and consulted in the morning? It was not until passing Incidentamba, +as I casually happened to look round and survey the scene of the fight +from the enemy's point of view, that I discovered the simple answer to +the riddle. There on the smooth yellow slope of the veldt just south +of the drift was a brownish-red streak, as plain as the Long Man of +Wilmington on the dear old Sussex downs, which positively shrieked +aloud, "Hi! hi! hi!—this way for the British defence." I then grimly +smiled to think of myself sitting like a "slick Alick" in that poster +of a trench and expecting to surprise anybody!</p> + +<p>Besides having been enfiladed and also taken in reverse, we had again +found ourselves at a disadvantage as compared with the concealed enemy +shooting at close range, from having to show up at a fixed place in +order to fire.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>Eventually I collected the following lessons:</p> + +<p>11. For a small isolated post and an active enemy, there are no +<i>flanks</i>, no <i>rear</i>, or, to put it otherwise, it is <i>front all round</i>.</p> + +<p>12. Beware of being taken in <i>reverse</i>; take care, when placing and +making your defences, that when you are engaged in shooting the enemy +to the front of your trench, his pal cannot sneak up and shoot you in +the back.</p> + +<p>13. Beware of being <i>enfiladed</i>. It is nasty from one flank—far worse +from both flanks.</p> + +<p>Remember, also, that though you may arrange matters so that you cannot +be enfiladed by rifle-fire, yet you may be open to it from long range, +by means of gun or pompom fire. There are few straight trenches that +cannot be enfiladed from somewhere, if the enemy can only get there. +You can sometimes prevent being enfiladed by so placing your trench +that no one can get into prolongation of it to fire down it, or you +can "wiggle" it about in many ways, so that it is not straight, or +make "traverses" across it, or dig separate trenches for every two or +three men.</p> + +<p>14. Do not have your trench near rising ground over which you cannot +see, and which you cannot hold.</p> + +<p>15. Do not huddle all your men together in a small trench like sheep +in a pen. Give them air.</p> + +<p>16. As once before—cover from sight is often worth more than cover +from bullets.</p> + +<p>For close shooting from a non-concealed trench, <i>head cover</i> with +<i>loopholes</i> is an advantage. This should be bullet-proof and not be +conspicuously on the top of the parapet, so as to draw fire, or it +will be far more dangerous than having none.</p> + +<p>17. To surprise the enemy is a great advantage.</p> + +<p>18. If you wish to obtain this advantage, <i>conceal</i> your position. +Though for promotion it may be sound to advertise your position, for +defence it is not.</p> + +<p>19. To test the concealment or otherwise of your position, look at it +from the enemy's point of view.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Fifth_Dream" id="Fifth_Dream"></a><hr /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span><br /> + +<h3 class="sc">Fifth Dream.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"A trifling sum of misery<br /></span> +<span class="i0">New added to the foot of thy account."<br /></span> +<span class="i10 sc">Dryden.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Jack Frost looked forth one still clear night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And he said, 'Now I shall be out of sight;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So over the valley and over the height<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In silence I'll take my way.'"<br /></span> +<span class="i10 sc">Gould.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>Again I faced the same task with a fresh mind and fresh hopes, all +that remained with me of my former attempts being <i>nineteen</i> lessons.</p> + +<p>Having detailed the two patrols and the guard on Waschout Hill as +already described, I spent some twenty minutes—whilst the stores, +etc., were being arranged—in walking about to choose a position to +hold in the light of my nineteen lessons.</p> + +<p>I came to the conclusion that it was not any good being near the top +of a hill and yet not <i>at</i> the top. I would make my post on the top of +Waschout Hill, where I could not be overlooked from any place within +rifle-range, and where I should, I believed, have "command." I was not +quite certain what "command" meant, but I knew it was important—it +says so in the book; besides, in all the manœuvres I had attended +and tactical schemes I had seen, the "defence" always held a position +on top of a hill or ridge. My duty was plain: Waschout Hill seemed the +only place which did not contravene any of the nineteen lessons I had +learnt, and up it I walked. As I stood near one of the huts, I got an +excellent view of the drift and its southern approach just over the +bulge of the hill, and a clear view of the river further east and +west. I thought at first I would demolish the few grass and matting +huts which, with some empty kerosene tins and heaps of bones and +<i>débris</i>, formed the Kaffir kraal, but on consideration I decided to +play cunning, and that this same innocent-looking Kaffir kraal would +materially assist me to hide my defences. I made out my plan of +operations in detail, and we had soon conveyed all our stores up to +the top of the hill, and started work.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>Upon the return of the patrols with their prisoners, the Dutchmen and +"boys" were told off to dig for themselves and their females. The +Kaffirs of the kraal we had impressed to assist at once.</p> + +<p>My arrangements were as follows: All round the huts on the hill-top, +and close to them we dug some ten short lengths of deep firing-trench, +curved in plan, and each long enough to hold five men. These trenches +had extremely low parapets, really only serving as rifle-rests, some +of the excavated earth being heaped up <i>behind</i> the trenches to the +height of a foot or so, the remainder being dealt with as described +later. In most cases the parapets were provided with grooves to fire +through at ground-level, the parapet on each side being high enough to +just protect the head. As with the background the men's heads were not +really visible, it was unnecessary to provide proper loopholes, which +would have necessitated also the use of new sandbags, which would be +rather conspicuous and troublesome to conceal. When the men using +these trenches were firing, their heads would be just above the level +of the ground. These firing-trenches having been got well under way, +the communication trenches were started. These were to be narrow and +deep, leading from one trench to the next, and also leading from each +trench back to four of the huts, which were to be arranged as follows, +to allow of men to fire standing up without being seen. Round the +inside of the walls of these huts part of the excavated earth, of +which there was ample, would be built up with sand bags, piece of +anthill, stones, etc., to a height that a man can fire over, about +four and a half feet, and to a thickness of some two and a half feet +at the top, and loopholes, which would be quite invisible, cut through +the hut sides above this parapet. There was room in each hut for three +men to fire. In three of them I meant to place my best shots, to act +as snipers, as they would have a more favorable position than the men +in the trenches below, and the fourth was a conning tower for myself. +All the tents and stores were stacked inside one of the huts out of +sight.</p> + +<p>That evening, in spite of the hardness of the work, which caused much +grousing among my men, we had got the firing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>trenches complete, but +the others were not finished—they were only half the necessary depth. +The earth-walls inside the huts were also not quite completed. The +Kaffirs and Dutch had deep pits, as before, in three of the huts. +Ammunition and rations were distributed round the trenches the last +thing before we turned in. I also had all water-bottles and every +vessel that would hold water, such as empty tins, Kaffir gourds, and +cooking-pots, filled and distributed in case of a long and protracted +fight. Having issued orders as to the necessity for the greatest +secrecy in not giving away our position should Boers turn up early +next morning, I went to sleep with confidence. We had, anyhow, a very +good position, and though our communications were not quite perfect, +these we could soon improve if we had any time to ourselves the next +morning.</p> + +<p>Next morning broke; no enemy in sight. This was excellent, and before +daylight we were hard at it, finishing the work still undone. By this +time the men had fully entered into the spirit of the thing, and were +quite keen on surprising Brother Boer if possible. While the digging +was proceeding, the "dixies" were being boiled for the breakfasts +inside four grass-screens, some of which we found lying about, so as +to show nothing but some very natural smoke above the kraal. I picked +out one or two of my smartest N.C.O.'s, and instructed them to walk +down the hill in different directions to the river-bank and try if +they could see the heads of the men in the firing trenches against the +sky. If so, the heaps of earth, tins, bones, grass-screens, etc., +should be re-arranged so as to give a background to every man's head.</p> + +<p>To review the place generally, I and my orderly walked off some +half-mile to the north of the river. As we were going some distance, +we doffed our helmets and wrapped ourselves in two beautiful orange +and magenta striped blankets, borrowed from our Kaffir lady guests, in +case any stray Boer should be lurking around, as he might be +interested to see two "khakis" wandering about on the veldt. It was +awkward trying to walk with our rifles hidden under our blankets, and, +moreover, every two minutes we had to look around to see if the sentry +at the camp had signalled any enemy in sight. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>This was to be done by +raising a pole on the highest hut. The result of our work was +splendid. We saw a Kaffir kraal on a hill, and to us "it was nothing +more." There were the heaps of <i>débris</i> usually round a kraal, looking +most natural, but no heads were visible, and no trenches. There was +only one fault, and that was that a few thoughtless men began, as we +looked, to spread their brown army blankets out in the sun on top of +the huts and on the veldt. To the veriest new chum these square blots, +like squares of brown sticking-plaster all around the kraal, would +have betokened something unusual. To remedy this before it was too +late I hastened back.</p> + +<p>After we had done our breakfasts, and some three hours after dawn, the +sentry in one of the huts reported a force to the north. We could do +nothing but wait and hope; everything was ready, and every man knew +what to do. No head was to be raised nor a rifle to be fired until I +whistled from my conning-tower; then every man would pop up and empty +his magazine into any of the enemy in range. If we were shelled the +men in the huts could at once drop into the deep trenches and be safe. +Standing in my "conning-tower," from the loopholes of which I could +see the drift, I thought over the possibilities before us. With great +luck perhaps the Boer scouts would pass us on either side, and so +allow us to lie low for the main body. With a view to seeing exactly +how far I would let the latter come before opening fire, and to +marking the exact spot when it would be best to give the word, I got +down into the firing-trenches facing the drift and the road south to +see how matters appeared from the level of the rifles. To my intense +horror, I found that from these trenches neither the drift nor the +road on the near bank of the river, until it got a long way south of +Waschout Hill, <i>could be seen</i>! The bulging convexity of the hill hid +all this; it must be <i>dead ground</i>! It was. The very spot where I +could best catch the enemy, where they <i>must</i> pass, was not under my +fire! At most, the northern loopholes of the conning tower and one +other hut alone could give fire on the drift. How I cursed my +stupidity! However, it was no good. I could not now start digging +fresh trenches further down the hill; it would betray our whole +position at once. I determined to make <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>the best of it, and <i>if</i> we +were not discovered by the scouts, to open fire on the main body when +they were just on the other side of the river bunched up on the bank, +waiting for those in front. Here we could fire on them; but it would +be at a much longer range than I had intended. It was really a stroke +of luck that I had discovered this serious fault, for otherwise we +might have let the bulk of the enemy cross the drift without +discovering the little fact of the dead ground till too late. I +reflected, also (though it was not much consolation), that I had erred +in good company, for how often had I not seen a "brass-hat" ride along +on horseback, and from that height fix the exact position for trenches +in which the rifles would be little above the ground. These trenches, +however, had not been put to the test of actual use. My error was not +going to escape in the same way.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the enemy's scouts had advanced in much the same way as +detailed before, except that after coming past Incidentamba Farm they +had not halted suspiciously, but came on in small groups or clumps. +They crossed the river in several places and examined the bushy banks +most carefully, but finding no "khakis" there, they evidently +suspected none on the open veldt beyond them, for they advanced "any +way" without care. Several of the clumps joined together, and came on +chatting in one body of some thirty men. Would they examine the kraal, +or would they pass on? My heart beat. The little hill we were on +would, unluckily, be certain to prove an attraction for them, because +it was an excellent vantage ground whence to scan the horizon to the +south, and to signal back to the main body to the north. The kraal was +also a suitable place to off-saddle for a few minutes while the main +body came up to the drift, and it meant possibly a fire, and therefore +a cup of coffee. They rode up towards it laughing, chatting, and +smoking, quite unsuspecting. We uttered no sound. Our Dutch and Kaffir +guests uttered no sound either, for in their pits was a man with a +rifle alongside them. At last they halted a moment some 250 yards away +on the northeast, where the slope of the hill was more gradual and +showed them all up. A few dismounted, the rest started again straight +towards us. It was not magnificent, but it was war. I whistled.</p> + +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>About ten of them succeeded in galloping off, also some loose horses; +five or six of them on the ground threw up their hands and came into +the post. On the ground there remained a mass of kicking horses and +dead or groaning men. The other parties of scouts to east and west had +at once galloped back to the river, where they dismounted under cover +and began to pepper us. Anyway, we had done <i>something</i>.</p> + +<p>As soon as our immediate enemy were disposed of, we opened fire on the +main body some 1,500 yards away, who had at once halted and opened +out. To these we did a good deal of damage, causing great confusion, +which was comforting to watch. The Boer in command of the main body +must have gathered that the river-bed was clear, for he made a very +bold move; he drove the whole of the wagons, etc., straight on as fast +as possible over the odd 400 yards to the river and down the drift +into the river-bed, where they were safe from our fire. Their losses +must have been heavy over this short distance, for they had to abandon +two of their wagons on the way to the river. This was done under cover +of the fire from a large number of riflemen, who had at once galloped +up to the river-bank, dismounted, and opened fire at us, and also of +two guns and a pompom, which had immediately been driven a short +distance back and then outwards to the east and west. It was really +the best thing he could have done, and if he had only known that we +could not fire on the ground to the south of the drift, he might have +come straight on with a rush.</p> + +<p>We had so far scored; but now ensued a period of stalemate. We were +being fired at from the river-bank on the north, and from anthills, +etc., pretty well all round, and were also under the intermittent +shell-fire from the two guns. They made most excellent practice at the +huts, which were soon knocked to bits, but not till they had well +served their turn. Some of the new white sandbags from inside the huts +were scattered out in full view of the enemy, and it was instructive +to see what a splendid target they made for rifle-fire, and how often +they were hit. They must have drawn a lot of fire away from the actual +trenches. Until the Boers discovered that they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>could advance south +from the drift without being under rifle-fire from our position, they +were held up.</p> + +<p>Would they discover it? As they had ridden all round us by now, well +out of range, they must know all about us and our isolation.</p> + +<p>After dark, by which time we had one man killed and two wounded, the +firing died away into a continuous but desultory rifle-fire, with an +occasional dropping shell from the guns. Under cover of dark, I tried +to guard the drift and dead ground to the south of it, by men standing +up and firing at that level, but towards midnight I was forced to +withdraw them into the trenches, after several casualties, as the +enemy then apparently woke up and kept up a furious rifle-fire upon us +for over an hour. During this time the guns went through some +mysterious evolutions. At first we got it very hot from the north, +where the guns had been all along. Then suddenly a gun was opened on +us away from the southwest, and we were shelled for a short time from +both sides. After a little the shelling on the north ceased, and +continued from the southwest only for twenty minutes. After this the +guns ceased, and the rifle-fire also gradually died away.</p> + +<p>When day dawned not a living soul was to be seen; there were the dead +men, horses, and the deserted wagons. I feared a trap, but gradually +came to the conclusion the Boers had retired. After a little we +discovered the river-bed was deserted as well, but the Boers had not +retired. They had discovered the dead ground, and under the mutually +supporting fire of their guns, which had kept us to our trenches, had +all <i>crossed the drift</i> and trekked south.</p> + +<p>True, we were not captured, and had very few losses, and had severely +mauled the enemy, <i>but</i> they had crossed the drift. It must have +evidently been of great importance to them to go on, or they would +have attempted to capture us, as they were about 500 to our 50.</p> + +<p>I had failed in my duty.</p> + +<p>During the next few hours we buried the dead, tended the wounded, and +took some well-earned rest, and I had ample leisure to consider my +failure and the causes. The lessons I derived from the fight were:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>20. Beware of convex hills and <i>dead ground</i>. Especially take care to +have some place where the enemy <i>must</i> come under your fire. Choose +the exact position of your firing-trenches, with your eye at the level +of the men who will eventually use them.</p> + +<p>21. A hill may not, after all, though it has "command," be the best +place to hold necessarily.</p> + +<p>22. A conspicuous "bluff" trench may cause the enemy to waste much +ammunition, and draw fire away from the actual defences.</p> + +<p>In addition to these lessons, another little matter on my mind was +what my colonel would say at my failure.</p> + +<p>Lying on my back, looking up at the sky, I was trying to get a few +winks of sleep myself before we started to improve our defences +against a possible further attack, but it was no use, sleep evaded me.</p> + +<p>The clear blue vault of heaven was suddenly overcast by clouds, which +gradually assumed the frowning face of my colonel. "<i>What?</i> You mean +to say, Mr. Forethought, the Boers have <i>crossed</i>?" But, luckily for +me, before more could be said, the face began slowly to fade away like +that of the Cheshire Puss in "Alice in Wonderland," leaving nothing +but the awful frown across the sky. This too finally dissolved, and +the whole scene changed. I had another dream.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Sixth_Dream" id="Sixth_Dream"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<h3 class="sc">Sixth Dream.<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Sweet are the uses of adversity."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>Once more was I fated to essay the task of defending Duffer's Drift. +This time I had twenty-two lessons below my belt to help me out, and +in the oblivion of my dream I was saved that sense of monotony which +by now may possibly have overtaken you, "gentle reader."</p> + +<p>After sending out the patrols, and placing a guard on Waschout Hill, +as already described, and whilst the stores were being collected, I +considered deeply what position I should take up, and walked up to the +top of Waschout Hill to spy out the land. On the top I found a Kaffir +kraal, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>which I saw would assist me much to concealment should I +decide to hold this hill. This I was very inclined to do, but after a +few minutes' trial of the shape of the ground, with the help of some +men walking about down below, and my eyes a little above +ground-level—I found that its convexity was such that, to see and +fire on the drift and the approach on the south side, I should have to +abandon the top of the hill, and so the friendly concealment of the +Kaffir huts, and take up a position on the open hillside some way +down. This was, of course, quite feasible, especially if I held a +position at the top of the hill as well, near the huts on the east and +southeast sides; but, as it would be impossible to really conceal +ourselves on the bare hillside, it meant giving up all idea of +surprising the enemy, which I wished to do. I must, therefore, find +some other place which would lend itself to easy and good concealment, +and also have the drift or its approaches under close rifle-fire. But +where to find such a place?</p> + +<p>As I stood deep in thought, considering this knotty problem, an idea +gently wormed itself into my mind, which I at once threw out again as +being absurd and out of the question. This idea was—to hold the river +bed and banks on each side of the drift! To give up all idea of +command, and, instead of seeking the nearest high ground, which comes +as natural to the student of tactics as rushing for a tree does to a +squirrel, to take the lowest ground, even though it should be all +among thick cover, instead of being nicely in the open.</p> + +<p>No, it was absolutely revolutionary, and against every canon I had +ever read or heard of; it was evidently the freak of a sorely tried +and worried brain. I would none of it, and I put it firmly from me. +But the more I argued to myself the absurdity of it, the more this +idea obtained possession of me. The more I said it was impossible, the +more allurements were spread before me in its favor, until each of my +conscientious objections was enmeshed and smothered in a network of +specious reasons as to the advantages of the proposal.</p> + +<p>I resisted, I struggled, but finally fell to temptation, dressed up in +the plausible guise of reason. I would hold the river-bed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>The advantages I thus hoped to obtain were—</p> + +<p>Perfect concealment and cover from sight.</p> + +<p>Trenches and protection against both rifle and gun fire practically +ready made.</p> + +<p>Communications under good cover.</p> + +<p>The enemy would be out in the open veldt except along the river-bank, +where we, being in position first, would still have the advantage.</p> + +<p>Plentiful water-supply at hand.</p> + +<p>True, there were a few dead animals near the drift, and the tainted +air seemed to hang heavy over the river-bed, but the carcasses could +be quickly buried under the steep banks, and, after all, one could not +expect <i>every</i> luxury.</p> + +<p>As our clear field of fire, which in the north was only bounded by the +range of our rifles, was on the south limited by Waschout Hill, a +suitable position for the enemy to occupy, I decided to hold the top +of it as well as the river-bed. All I could spare for this would be +two N.C.O.'s and eight men, who would be able to defend the south side +of the hill, the north being under our fire from the river-bank.</p> + +<p>Having detailed this party, I gave my instructions for the work, which +was soon started. In about a couple of hours the patrols returned with +their prisoners, which were dealt with as before.</p> + +<p>For the post on Waschout Hill, the scheme was that the trenches should +be concealed much in the same way as described in the last dream, but +great care should be taken that no one in the post should be exposed +to rifle-fire from our main position in the river. I did not wish the +fire of the main body to be in any degree hampered by a fear of +hitting the men on Waschout Hill, especially at night. If we knew it +was not possible to hit them, we could shoot freely all over the hill. +This detachment was to have a double lot of water-bottles, besides +every available receptacle collected in the kraal, filled with water, +in anticipation of a prolonged struggle.</p> + +<p>The general idea for the main defensive position was to hold both +sides of the river, improving the existing steep banks and ravines +into rifle-pits to contain from one to four <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>men. These could, with +very little work, be made to give cover from all sides. As such a +large amount of the work was already done for us, we were enabled to +dig many more of these pits than the exact number required for our +party. Pathways leading between these were to be cut into the bank, so +that we should be able to shift about from one position to another. +Besides the advantage this would give us in the way of moving about, +according as we wished to fire, it also meant that we should probably +be able to mislead the enemy as to our numbers—which, by such +shifting tactics might, for a time at least, be much exaggerated. The +pits for fire to the north and south were nearly all so placed as to +allow the occupants to fire at ground-level over the veldt. They were +placed well among the bushes, only just sufficient scrub being cut +away to allow a man to see all round, without exposing the position of +his trench. On each side of the river, just by the drift, were some +"spoil" heaps of earth, excavated from the road ramp. These stood some +five or six feet above the general level, and were as rough as the +banks in outline. These heaps were large enough to allow of a few pits +being made on them, which had the extra advantage of height. In some +of the pits, to give head-cover, loopholes of sandbags were made, +though in most cases this was not needed, owing to the concealment of +the bushes. I found it was necessary to examine personally every +loophole, and correct the numerous mistakes made in their +construction. Some had the new clean sandbags exposed to full view, +thus serving as mere whited sepulchres to their occupants, others were +equally conspicuous from their absurd cock-shy appearance, others were +not bullet-proof, whilst others again would allow of shooting in one +direction, or into the ground at a few yards' range, or up into the +blue sky. As I corrected all these faults I thought that loopholes not +made under supervision might prove rather a snare.</p> + +<p>The result was, in the way of concealment, splendid. From these pits +with our heads at ground-level we could see quite clearly out on to +the veldt beyond, either from under the thicker part of the bushes or +even through those which were close to our eyes. From the open, on the +other hand, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>we were quite invisible, even from 300 yards' distance, +and would have been more so had we had the whiskers of the "brethren." +It was quite evident to me that these same whiskers were a wise +provision of nature for this very purpose and part of her universal +scheme of protective mimicry.</p> + +<p>The numerous small dongas and rifts lent themselves readily to +flanking fire, and in many places the vertical banks required no +cutting in order to give ideal protection against even artillery. In +others, the sides of the crooked waterways had to be merely scooped +out a little, or a shelf cut to stand upon.</p> + +<p>In one of these deeper ravines two tents, which, being below +ground-level, were quite invisible, were pitched for the women and +children, and small caves cut for them in case of a bombardment. The +position extended for a length of some 150 yards on each side of the +drift along both banks of the river, and at its extremities, where an +attack was most to be feared, pits were dug down the river-banks and +across the dry river-bed. These also were concealed as well as +possible. The flanks or ends were, of course, our greatest danger, for +it was from here we might expect to be rushed, and not from the open +veldt. I was undecided for some time as to whether to clear a "field +of fire" along the river-banks or not, as I had no wish to give away +our presence by any suspicious nudity of the banks at each end of our +position. I finally decided, in order to prevent this, to clear the +scrub for as great a range as possible from the ends of the position, +everywhere below the ground-level, and also on the level ground, +except for a good fringe just on the edges of the banks. This fringe I +thought would be sufficient to hide the clearance to any one not very +close. I now blessed the man who had left us some cutting tools. +Whilst all this was being carried out, I paced out some ranges to the +north and south, and these we marked by a few empty tins placed on +ant-heaps, etc.</p> + +<p>At dusk, when we had nearly all the pits finished and some of the +clearance done, tents and gear were hidden, ammunition and rations +distributed to all, and orders in case of an attack given out. As I +could not be everywhere, I had to rely on the outlying groups of men +fully understanding my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>aims beforehand, and acting on their "own." To +prevent our chance of a close-range volley into the enemy being spoilt +by some over-zealous or jumpy man opening fire at long range, I gave +orders that fire was to be held as long as possible, and that no man +was to fire a shot until firing had already commenced elsewhere (which +sounded rather Irish), or my whistle sounded. This was unless the +enemy were so close to him that further silence was useless. Firing +having once started, every man was to blaze away at any enemy within +range as judged by our range marks. Finally, we turned in to our pits +for the night with some complacency, each eight men furnishing their +own sentry.</p> + +<p>We had about three hours next morning before any enemy were reported +from Waschout Hill (the pre-arranged signal for this was the raising +of a pole from one of the huts). This time was employed in perfecting +our defences in various ways. We managed to clear away the scrub in +the dry river-bed and banks for some 200 yards beyond our line of pits +on each side, and actually attained to the refinement of an +"obstacle;" for at the extremity of this clearance a sort of <i>abatis</i> +entanglement was made with the wire from an adjacent fence which the +men had discovered. During the morning I visited the post on Waschout +Hill, found everything correct, and took the opportunity of showing +the detachment the exact limits of our position in the river-bed, and +explained what we were going to do. After about three hours' work, +"Somebody in sight" was signalled, and we soon after saw from our +position a cloud of dust away to the north. This force, which proved +to be a commando, approached as already described in the last dream; +all we could do meanwhile was to sit tight in concealment. Their +scouts came on in clumps of twos and threes which extended over some +mile of front, the centre of the line heading for the drift. As the +scouts got closer, the natural impulse to make for the easiest +crossing place was obeyed by two or three of the parties on each side +of the one approaching the drift, and they inclined inwards and joined +forces with it. This was evidently the largest party we could hope to +surprise, and we accordingly lay for it. When about 300 yards away, +the "brethren" <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>stopped rather suspiciously. This was too much for +some man on the east side, who let fly, and the air was rent by the +rattle as we emptied our magazines, killing five of this special +scouting party and two from other groups further out on either side. +We continued to fire at the scouts as they galloped back, dropping two +more, and also at the column which was about a mile away, but afforded +a splendid target till it opened out.</p> + +<p>In a very few moments our position was being shelled by three guns, +but with the only result, as far as we were concerned, of having one +man wounded by shell-fire, though the firing went on slowly till dark. +To be accurate, I should say the river was being shelled, our position +incidentally, for shells were bursting along the river for some half +mile. The Boers were evidently quite at sea as regards the extent of +our position and strength, and wasted many shells. We noticed much +galloping of men away to the east and west, out of range, and guessed +that these were parties who intended to strike the river at some +distance away, and gradually work along the bed, in order probably to +get into close range during the night.</p> + +<p>We exchanged a few shots during the night along the river bed, and not +much was done on either side, though of course we were on the <i>qui +vive</i> all the time; but it was not till near one in the morning that +Waschout Hill had an inning.</p> + +<p>As I had hoped, the fact that we held the kraal had not been spotted +by the enemy, and a large body of them, crawling up the south side of +the hill in order to get a good fire on to us in the river, struck a +snag in the shape of a close-range volley from our detachment. As the +night was not very dark, in the panic following the first volley our +men were able (as I learnt afterwards) to stand right up and shoot at +the surprised burghers bolting down the hill. However, their panic did +not last long, to judge by the sound, for after the first volley from +our Lee-Metfords and the subsequent minute's independent firing, the +reports of our rifles were soon mingled with the softer reports of the +Mausers, and we shortly observed flashes on our side of Waschout Hill. +As these could not be our men, we knew the enemy were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>endeavoring to +surround the detachment. We knew the ranges fairly well, and though, +as we could not see our sights, the shooting was rather guesswork, we +soon put a stop to this manœuvre by firing a small volley from +three or four rifles at each flash on the hill-side. So the night +passed without much incident.</p> + +<p>During the dark we had taken the opportunity cunningly to place some +new white sandbags (which I had found among the stores) in full view +at some little distance from our actual trenches and pits. Some men +had even gone further, and added a helmet here and a coat there +peeping over the top. This ruse had been postponed until our position +was discovered, so as not to betray our presence, but after the +fighting had begun no harm was done by it. Next morning it was quite a +pleasure to see the very accurate shooting made by "Brother" at these +sandbags, as betokened by the little spurts of dust.</p> + +<p>During this day the veldt to the north and south was deserted by the +enemy except at out-of-range distance, but a continuous sniping fire +was kept up along the river-banks on each side. The Boer guns were +shifted—one to the top of Incidentamba and one to the east and west +in order to enfilade the river bank—but, owing to our good cover, we +escaped with two killed and three wounded. The enemy did not shell +quite such a length of river this time. I confidently expected an +attack along the river bank that night, and slightly strengthened my +flanks, even at the risk of dangerously denuding the north bank. I was +not disappointed.</p> + +<p>Under cover of the dark, the enemy came up to within, perhaps, 600 +yards on the open veldt on the north and round the edges of Waschout +Hill, on the south, and kept up a furious fire, probably to distract +our attention, whilst the guns shelled us for about an hour. As soon +as the gun-fire ceased they tried to rush us along the river-bed east +and west, but owing to the <i>abatis</i> and the holes in the ground, and +the fact that it was not a very dark night, they were unsuccessful. +However, it was touch and go, and a few of the Boers did succeed in +getting into our position only to be bayoneted. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>Luckily the enemy did +not know our strength, or rather our weakness, or they would have +persisted in their attempt and succeeded; as it was, they must have +lost 20 or 30 men killed and wounded.</p> + +<p>Next morning, with so many men out of my original 40 out of action +(not to include Waschout Hill, whose losses I did not know), matters +seemed to be serious, and I was greatly afraid that another night +would be the end of us. I was pleased to see that the detachment on +Waschout Hill had still got its tail well up, for they had hoisted a +red rag at the masthead. True, this was not the national flag, +probably only a mere handkerchief, but it was not white. The day wore +on with intermittent shelling and sniping, and we all felt that the +enemy must have by now guessed our weakness, and were saving +themselves for another night attack, relying upon our being tired out. +We did our best to snatch a little sleep by turns during the day, and +I did all I could to keep the spirits of the little force up by saying +that relief could not be very far off. But it was with a gloomy +desperation at best that we saw the day wear on and morning turn into +afternoon.</p> + +<p>The Boer guns had not been firing for some two hours, and the silence +was just beginning to get irritating and mysterious, when the booming +of guns in the distance aroused us to the highest pitch of excitement. +We were saved! We could not say what guns these were—they might be +British or Boer—but, any way, it proved the neighborhood of another +force. All faces lighted up, for somehow the welcome sound at once +drew the tired feeling out of us.</p> + +<p>In order to prevent any chance of the fresh force missing our +whereabouts, I collected a few men and at once started to fire some +good old British volleys into the scrub, "Ready—present—fire," which +were not to be mistaken. Shortly afterwards we heard musketry in the +distance, and saw a cloud of dust to the northeast. We were relieved!</p> + +<br /> +<hr style="width: 15%;" /> +<br /> + +<p>Our total losses were 11 killed and 15 wounded; but we had held the +drift, and so enabled a victory to be won. I need not here touch upon +the well-known and far-reaching <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>results of the holding of Duffer's +Drift, of the prevention thereby of Boer guns, ammunition, and +reinforcements reaching one of their sorely pressed forces at a +critical moment, and the ensuing victory gained by our side. It is +now, of course, all public knowledge that this was the turning-point +in the war, though we, the humble instruments, did not know what vital +results hung upon our action.</p> + +<p>That evening the relieving force halted at the drift, and, after +burying the dead, we spent some time examining the lairs of the Boer +snipers, the men collecting bits of shell and cartridge-cases as +mementoes—only to be thrown away at once. We found some 25 dead and +partially buried Boers, to whom we gave burial.</p> + +<p>That night I did not trek, but lay down (in my own breeches and +spotted waistcoat). As the smoke from the "prime segar," presented to +me by my Colonel, was eddying in spirals over my head, these gradually +changed into clouds of rosy glory, and I heard brass bands in the +distance playing a familiar air: "See the Conquering Hero comes," it +was they were playing.</p> + +<p>I felt a tap on my shoulder, and heard a gentle voice say, "Arise, Sir +Backsight Forethought;" but in a trice my dream of bliss was +shattered—the gentle voice changed into the well-known croak of my +servant. "Time to pack your kit on the wagon, sir. Corfy's been up +some time now, sir." I was still in stinking old Dreamdorp.</p> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<div class="tr"> +<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p> +<br /> +Page 166: maneuvers replaced with manœuvres<br /> +</div> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by +Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT *** + +***** This file should be named 24842-h.htm or 24842-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/8/4/24842/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/24842-h/images/map.png b/24842-h/images/map.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c864eb --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-h/images/map.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/f001.png b/24842-page-images/f001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f97147f --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/f001.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/f002.png b/24842-page-images/f002.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..50549b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/f002.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p139.png b/24842-page-images/p139.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..274633a --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p139.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p140.png b/24842-page-images/p140.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f127d81 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p140.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p141.png b/24842-page-images/p141.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..14f4119 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p141.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p142.png b/24842-page-images/p142.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3845c90 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p142.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p143.png b/24842-page-images/p143.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..00d7ee0 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p143.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p144.png b/24842-page-images/p144.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..915e466 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p144.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p145.png b/24842-page-images/p145.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..47c01e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p145.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p146.png b/24842-page-images/p146.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..61566eb --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p146.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p147.png b/24842-page-images/p147.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2092dd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p147.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p148.png b/24842-page-images/p148.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..94cff51 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p148.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p149.png b/24842-page-images/p149.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..604b0fe --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p149.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p150.png b/24842-page-images/p150.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe2e6b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p150.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p151.png b/24842-page-images/p151.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..083e0a2 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p151.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p152.png b/24842-page-images/p152.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..00327fb --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p152.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p153.png b/24842-page-images/p153.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6db0b61 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p153.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p154.png b/24842-page-images/p154.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..994e779 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p154.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p155.png b/24842-page-images/p155.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..211d32d --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p155.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p156.png b/24842-page-images/p156.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8ceeab --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p156.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p157.png b/24842-page-images/p157.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..446513a --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p157.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p158.png b/24842-page-images/p158.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ea848b --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p158.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p159.png b/24842-page-images/p159.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f5d565 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p159.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p160.png b/24842-page-images/p160.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..37ad1b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p160.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p161.png b/24842-page-images/p161.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb64e76 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p161.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p162.png b/24842-page-images/p162.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f27dfd9 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p162.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p163.png b/24842-page-images/p163.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..657fe35 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p163.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p164.png b/24842-page-images/p164.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..10adc5c --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p164.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p165.png b/24842-page-images/p165.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f83b752 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p165.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p166.png b/24842-page-images/p166.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b7bde9 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p166.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p167.png b/24842-page-images/p167.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b36eb76 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p167.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p168.png b/24842-page-images/p168.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..16e8581 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p168.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p169.png b/24842-page-images/p169.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0bf446 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p169.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p170.png b/24842-page-images/p170.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..de35e55 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p170.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p171.png b/24842-page-images/p171.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a45b62 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p171.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p172.png b/24842-page-images/p172.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3321868 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p172.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p173.png b/24842-page-images/p173.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f9a318 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p173.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p174.png b/24842-page-images/p174.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e18860c --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p174.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p175.png b/24842-page-images/p175.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3036c41 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p175.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p176.png b/24842-page-images/p176.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9fc910 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p176.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p177.png b/24842-page-images/p177.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..239eca0 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p177.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p178.png b/24842-page-images/p178.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5ee4dd --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p178.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p179.png b/24842-page-images/p179.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..299a620 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p179.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p180.png b/24842-page-images/p180.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6709804 --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p180.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p181.png b/24842-page-images/p181.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..341376d --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p181.png diff --git a/24842-page-images/p182.png b/24842-page-images/p182.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ef26aa --- /dev/null +++ b/24842-page-images/p182.png diff --git a/24842.txt b/24842.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4bc7d8b --- /dev/null +++ b/24842.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2138 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +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 Defence of Duffer's Drift + +Author: Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +Editor: Wm. P. Evans + +Release Date: March 16, 2008 [EBook #24842] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT *** + + + + +Produced by Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + +VOL. I. April, 1905 No. 4. + +JOURNAL OF THE +UNITED STATES +INFANTRY +ASSOCIATION + + +PUBLISHED QUARTERLY +BY THE UNITED STATES INFANTRY ASSOCIATION +75 CENTS PER COPY; $3.00 PER YEAR + + +MAJOR WM. P. EVANS, A.A.G., _Editor_ + + +1800 F STREET NORTHWEST, +WASHINGTON, D.C. + + +Entered July 5, 1904, at the Post Office at Washington, D.C., +as second-class matter, under act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, +1904, by the U.S. Infantry Association. All rights reserved. + + + + +THE UNITED STATES +INFANTRY +ASSOCIATION + + +OFFICERS + +_President._ +Major-General J.C. BATES, U.S. Army. + +_Vice-President._ +Lieutenant-Colonel JAS. S. PETTIT, U.S. Infantry. +_Assistant Adjutant-General._ + +_Secretary and Treasurer._ +Captain BENJAMIN ALVORD, General Staff. + +_Executive Council._ +Lieutenant-Colonel JAMES S. PETTIT, U.S. Infantry, A.A.G. +Major WM. P. EVANS, U.S. Infantry, A.A.G. +Major JOHN S. MALLORY, 12th Infantry, G.S. +Captain BENJAMIN ALVORD, 25th Infantry, G.S. +Captain H.C. HALE, 15th Infantry, G.S. +Captain C.H. MUIR, 2d Infantry, G.S. +Captain FRANK MCINTYRE, 19th Infantry, G.S. +Captain D.E. NOLAN, 30th Infantry, G.S. + + + + +THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT. + +BY CAPTAIN E.D. SWINTON, D.S.O., R.E.--(BACKSIGHT FORETHOUGHT.) + +BY PERMISSION. + + +PROLOGUE. + +Upon an evening after a long and tiring trek, I arrived at Dreamdorp. +The local atmosphere, combined with a heavy meal, are responsible for +the following nightmare, consisting of a series of dreams. To make the +sequence of the whole intelligible, it is necessary to explain that, +though the scene of each vision was the same, yet by some curious +mental process I had no recollection of the place whatsoever. In each +dream the locality was totally new to me, and I had an entirely fresh +detachment. Thus I had not the great advantage of working over +familiar ground. One thing, and one only, was carried on from dream to +dream, and that was the vivid recollection of the general lessons +previously learnt. These finally produced success. + +The whole series of dreams, however, remained in my memory as a +connected whole when I awoke. + + + + +FIRST DREAM. + + "Any fool can get into a hole."--_Old Chinese proverb._ + + "If left to you, for defence make spades."--_Bridge Maxim._ + + +I felt lonely, and not a little sad, as I stood on the bank of the +river near Duffer's Drift and watched the red dust haze, raised by the +southward departing column in the distance, turn slowly into gold as +it hung in the afternoon sunlight. It was just three o'clock, and here +I was on the banks of the Silliaasvogel river, left behind by my +column with a party of fifty N.C.O.'s and men to hold the drift. It +was an important ford, because it was the only one across which +wheeled traffic could pass for some miles up or down the river. + +[Illustration: MAP OF DUFFER'S DRIFT.] + +The river was a sluggish stream, not now in flood, crawling along at +the very bottom of its bed between steep banks which were almost +vertical, or at any rate too steep for wagons everywhere except at the +drift itself. The banks from the river edge to their tops and some +distance outwards were covered with dense thorn and other bushes, +which formed a screen impenetrable to the sight. They were also broken +by small ravines and holes, where the earth had been eaten away by the +river when in flood, and were consequently very rough. + +Some two thousand odd yards north of the drift was a flat-topped, +rocky mountain, and about a mile to the northeast appeared the usual +sugar-loaf kopje, covered with bushes and boulders--steep on the +south, but gently falling to the north; this had a farm on the near +side of it. About a thousand yards south of the drift was a convex and +smooth hill, somewhat like an inverted basin, sparsely sown with small +boulders, and with a Kaffir kraal, consisting of a few grass and mud +huts on top. Between the river and the hills on the north the ground +consisted of open and almost level veldt; on the south bank the veldt +was more undulating, and equally open. The whole place was covered +with ant-hills. + +My orders were--to hold Duffer's Drift at all costs. That I should +probably be visited by some column within three or four days' time. +That I might possibly be attacked before that time, but that this was +very unlikely, as no enemy were known to be within a hundred miles. +That the enemy had guns. + +It all seemed plain enough except that the true inwardness of the last +piece of information did not strike me at the time. Though in company +with fifty "good men and true," it certainly made me feel somewhat +lonely and marooned to be left out there comparatively alone on the +boundless veldt; but the chance of an attack filled me, and, I am +quite sure, my men with martial ardor; and at last here was the chance +I had so often longed for. This was my first "show," my first +independent command, and I was determined to carry out my orders to +the bitter end. I was young and inexperienced, it is true, but I had +passed all my examinations with fair success; my men were a good +willing lot, with the traditions of a glorious regiment to uphold, and +would, I knew, do all I should require of them. We were also well +supplied with ammunition and rations; and had a number of picks, +shovels and sandbags, etc., which I confess had been rather forced on +me. + +As I turned towards my gallant little detachment, visions of a bloody +and desperate fight crossed my mind--a fight to the last cartridge, +and then an appeal to cold steel, with ultimate victory--and---- But +a discreet cough at my elbow brought me back to realities, and warned +me that my color-sergeant was waiting for orders. + +After a moment's consideration, I decided to pitch my small camp on a +spot just south of the drift, because it was slightly rising ground, +which I knew should be chosen for a camp whenever possible. It was, +moreover, quite close to the drift, which was also in its favor, for, +as everyone knows, if you are told off to guard anything, you mount a +guard quite close to it, and place a sentry, if possible, standing on +top of it. The place picked out by me also had the river circling +round three sides of it in a regular horseshoe bend, which formed a +kind of ditch, or, as the book says, "a natural obstacle." I was +indeed lucky to have such an ideal place close at hand; nothing could +have been more suitable. + +I came to the conclusion that, as the enemy were not within a hundred +miles, there would be no need to place the camp in a state of defence +till the following day. Besides, the men were tired after their long +trek, and it would be quite as much as they could do comfortably to +arrange nice and shipshape all the stores and tools, which had been +dumped down anyhow in a heap, pitch the camp, and get their teas +before dark. + +Between you and me, I was really relieved to be able to put off my +defensive measures till the morrow, because I was a wee bit puzzled as +to what to do. In fact, the more I thought, the more puzzled I grew. +The only "measures of defence" I could recall for the moment were, how +to tie "a thumb or overhand knot," and how long it takes to cut down +an apple tree of six inches' diameter. Unluckily neither of these +useful facts seemed quite to apply. Now, if they had given me a job +like fighting the battle of Waterloo, or Sedan, or Bull Run, I knew +all about that, as I had crammed it up and been examined in it, too. I +also knew how to take up a position for a division, or even an army +corps, but the stupid little subaltern's game of the defence of a +drift with a small detachment was, curiously enough, most perplexing. +I had never really considered such a thing. However, in the light of +my habitual dealings with army corps, it would, no doubt, be +child's-play after a little thought. + +Having issued my immediate orders accordingly, I decided to explore +the neighborhood, but was for a moment puzzled as to which direction I +should take; for, having no horse, I could not possibly get all round +before dark. After a little thought, it flashed across my mind that +obviously I should go to the north. The bulk of the enemy being away +to the north, that, of course, must be the _front_. I knew naturally +that there must be a front, because in all the schemes I had had to +prepare, or the exams I had undergone, there was always a front, +or--"the place where the enemies come from." How often, also, had I +not had trouble in getting out of a dull sentry which his "front" and +what his "beat" was. The north, then, being my front, the east and +west were my flanks, where there might possibly be enemies, and the +south was my _rear_, where naturally there were none. + +I settled these knotty points to my satisfaction, and off I trudged, +with my field-glasses and, of course, my kodak, directing my steps +towards the Dutch farm, with gleaming white walls, nestling under the +kopje to the northeast. It was quite a snug little farm for South +Africa, surrounded by blue gums and fruit trees. About a quarter of a +mile from the farm I was met by the owner, Mr. Andreas Brink, a tame +or surrendered Boer farmer, and his two sons, Piet and Gert. Such a +nice man, too, with a pleasant face and long beard. He would insist on +calling me "captain," and as any correction might have confused him, I +did not think it worth while to make any, and after all I wasn't so +very far from my "company." The three of them positively bristled with +dog's-eared and dirty passes from every provost marshal in South +Africa, which they insisted on showing me. I had not thought of +asking for them, and was much impressed; to have so many they must be +special men. They escorted me to the farm, where the guid wife and +several daughters met us, and gave me a drink of milk, which was most +acceptable after my long and dusty trek. The whole family appeared +either to speak or to understand English, and we had a very friendly +chat, during the course of which I gathered that there were no Boer +commandoes anywhere within miles; that the whole family cordially +hoped that there never would be again, and that Brink was really a +most loyal Briton, and had been much against the war, but had been +forced to go on commando with his two sons. Their loyalty was evident, +because there was an oleograph of the Queen on the wall, and one of +the numerous flappers was playing our National anthem on the harmonium +as I entered. + +The farmer and the boys took a great interest in all my personal gear, +especially a brand-new pair of latest-pattern field-glasses, which +they tried with much delight, and many exclamations of "Allermachtig." +They evidently appreciated them extremely, but could not imagine any +use for my kodak in war-time, even after I had taken a family group. +Funny, simple fellows! They asked and got permission from me to sell +milk, eggs, and butter in the camp, and I strolled on my way +congratulating myself on the good turn I was thus able to do myself +and detachment, none of whom had even smelt such luxuries for weeks. + +After an uneventful round, I directed my steps back towards the thin +blue threads of smoke, rising vertically in the still air, which alone +showed the position of my little post, and as I walked the +peacefulness of the whole scene impressed me. The landscape lay bathed +in the warm light of the setting sun, whose parting rays tinged most +strongly the various heights within view, and the hush of approaching +evening was only broken by the distant lowing of oxen, and by the +indistinct and cheerful hum of the camp, which gradually grew louder +as I approached. I strolled along in quite a pleasant frame of mind, +meditating over the rather curious names which Mr. Brink had given me +for the surrounding features of the landscape. The kopje above his +farm was called Incidentamba, the flat-topped mountain some two miles +to the north was called Regret Table Mountain, and the gently rising +hill close to the drift on the south of the river was called Waschout +Hill. Everything was going on well, and the men were at their teas +when I got back. The nice Dutchman, with his apostolic face, and the +lanky Piet and Gert, were already there, surrounded by a swarm of men, +to whom they were selling their wares at exorbitant rates. The three +of them strolled about the camp, showing great interest in everything, +asking most intelligent questions about the British forces and the +general position of affairs, and seemed really relieved to have a +strong British post near. They did not even take offence when some of +the rougher men called them "blarsted Dutchmen," and refused to +converse with them, or buy their "skoff." About dusk they left, with +many promises to return with a fresh supply on the morrow. + +After writing out my orders for next day--one of which was for digging +some trenches round the camp, an operation which I knew my men, as +becomes good British soldiers, disliked very much, and regarded as +fatigues--I saw the two guards mounted, one at the drift, and the +other some little way down the river, each furnishing one sentry on +the river bank. + +When all had turned in, and the camp was quite silent, it was almost +comforting to hear the half-hourly cry of the sentries--"Number +one--all is well;" "Number two--all is well." By this sound I was able +to locate them, and knew they were at their proper posts. On going +round sentries about midnight, I was pleased to find that they were +both alert, and that, as it was a cold night, each guard had built a +bonfire, silhouetted in the cheerful blaze of which stood the +sentry--a clear-cut monument to all round that here was a British +sentry fully on the _qui-vive_. After impressing them with their +orders, the extent of their "beat," and the direction of their +"front," etc., I turned in. The fires they had built, besides being a +comfort to themselves, were also useful to me, because twice during +the night when I looked out I could, without leaving my tent, plainly +see them at their posts. I finally fell asleep, and dreamt of being +decorated with a crossbelt made of V.C.'s and D.S.O.'s and of wearing +red tabs all down my back. + + * * * * * + +I was suddenly awoken, about the grey of dawn, by a hoarse cry--"Halt! +who goes----" cut short by the unmistakable "plip-plop" of a Mauser +rifle. Before I was off my valise, the reports of Mausers rang around +the camp from every side; these, mingled with the smack of the bullets +as they hit the ground and stripped the "zipzip" of the leaden hail +through the tents, and the curses and groans of men who were hit as +they lay or stumbled about trying to get out, made a hellish din. +There was some wild shooting in return from my men, but it was all +over in a moment, and as I managed to wriggle out of my tent the whole +place was swarming with bearded men, shooting into the heaving canvas. +At that moment I must have been clubbed on the head, for I knew no +more until I found myself seated on an empty case having my head, +which was dripping with blood, tied up by one of my men. + + * * * * * + +Our losses were ten men killed, including both sentries, and +twenty-one wounded; the Boers, one killed and two wounded. + + * * * * * + +Later on, as, at the order of the not ill-natured but very frowzy Boer +commandant, I was gloomily taking off the saucy warm spotted waistcoat +knitted for me by my sister, I noticed our friends of the previous +evening in very animated and friendly conversation with the burghers, +and "Pappa" was, curiously enough, carrying a rifle and bandolier and +my new field-glasses. He was laughing and pointing towards something +lying on the ground, through which he finally put his foot. This, to +my horror, I recognized as my unhappy camera. Here, I suppose, my mind +must have slightly wandered, for I found myself repeating some Latin +lines, once my favorite imposition, but forgotten since my +school-days-- + + "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes----" + + +when suddenly the voice of the field cornet broke into my musing with +"Your breeches, too, captain." + + * * * * * + +Trekking all that day on foot, sockless, and in the boots of another, +I had much to think of besides my throbbing head. The sight of the +long Boer convoy with guns, which had succeeded so easily in crossing +the drift _I_ was to have held, was a continual reminder of my +failure, and of my responsibility for the dreadful losses to my poor +detachment. I gradually gathered from the Boers what I had already +partially guessed, namely, that they had been fetched and guided all +round our camp by friend Brink, had surrounded it in the dark, +crawling about in the bush on the river bank, and had carefully marked +down our two poor sentries. These they had at once shot on the alarm +being given, and had then rushed the camp from the dense cover on +three sides. Towards evening my head got worse, and its rhythmic +throbbing seemed gradually to take a meaning, and hammered out the +following lessons, the result of much pondering on my failure: + +1. Do not put off taking your measures of defence till the morrow, as +this is more important than the comfort of your men or the shipshape +arrangement of your camp. Choose the position of your camp mainly with +reference to your defence. + +2. Do not in war-time show stray men of the enemy's breed all over +your camp, be they never so kind and full of butter, and do not be +hypnotized, by numerous "passes," at once to confide in them. + +3. Do not let your sentries advertise their position to the whole +world, including the enemy, by standing in the full glare of a fire, +and making much noise every half hour. + +4. Do not, if avoidable, be in tents when bullets are ripping through +them: at such times a hole in the ground is worth many tents. + +After these lessons had been dinned into my soul millions and millions +of times, so that I could never forget them, a strange thing came to +pass--there was a kaleidoscopic change. I had another dream. + + + + +SECOND DREAM. + + "And what did ye look they should compass? Warcraft learnt in a breath, + Knowledge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?"--KIPLING. + + +I suddenly found myself dumped down at Duffer's Drift with the same +orders as already detailed, and an equal detachment composed of +entirely different men. As before, and on every subsequent occasion, I +had ample stores, ammunition, and tools. My position was precisely +similar to my former one, with this important exception, running +through my brain were _four_ lessons. + +As soon as I received my orders, therefore, I began to make out my +plan of operations without wasting any time over the landscape, the +setting sun, or the departing column, which, having off-loaded all our +stores, soon vanished. I was determined to carry out all the lessons I +had learnt as well as I knew how. + +To prevent any strangers, friendly or otherwise, from coming into my +position and spying out the elaborate defences I was going to make, I +sent out at once two examining posts of one N.C.O. and three men each, +one to the top of Waschout Hill, and the other some 1,000 yards out on +the veldt to the north of the drift. Their orders were to watch the +surrounding country, and give the alarm in the event of the approach +of any body of men whatever (Boers were, of course, improbable, but +still just possible), and also to stop any individuals, friendly or +not, from coming anywhere near camp, and to shoot at once on +non-compliance with the order to halt. If the new-comers had any +provisions to sell, these were to be sent in with a list by one of the +guard, who would return with the money, but the strangers were not to +be allowed nearer the camp on any account. + +Having thus arranged a safeguard against spies, I proceeded to choose +a camping-ground. I chose the site already described in my former +dream, and for the same reasons, which still appealed to me. So long +as I was entrenched, it appeared the best place around. We started +making our trenches as soon as I had marked off a nice squarish little +enclosure which would about contain our small camp. Though, of +course, the north was the front, I thought, having a camp, it would be +best to have an all-round defence as a sort of obstacle. The majority +of the men were told off to dig, which they did not relish, a few +being detailed to pitch camp and prepare tea. As the length of trench +was rather great for the available number of diggers, and the soil was +hard, we were only able by dark, by which time the men were quite done +up by their hard day, to make quite a low parapet and shallow trench. +Still, we were "entrenched," which was the great thing, and the trench +was all round our camp, so we were well prepared, even should we be +attacked during the night or early next morning, which was out of the +question. + +During this time one or two strangers had approached the guard of the +north from a farm under Incidentamba. As they had eggs and butter, +etc., to sell, these were brought in as arranged for. The man sent in +with the stuff reported that the elder of the Dutchmen was a most +pleasant man, and had sent me a present of a pat of butter and some +eggs, with his compliments, and would I allow him to come in and speak +to me. However, not being such a fool as to allow him in my defences, +I went out instead, in case he had any information. His only +information was that there were no Boers anywhere near. He was an old +man, but though he had a museum of "passes," I was not to be +chloroformed by them into confidence. As he seemed friendly, and +possibly loyal, I walked part of the way back to his farm with him, in +order to look around. At dark the two examining posts came in, and two +guards were mounted close by the object I was to watch, namely, the +drift, at the same places as in my previous dream. This time, however, +there was no half-hourly shouting, nor were there any fires, and the +sentries had orders not to challenge but to shoot any person they +might see outside camp at once. They were placed standing down the +river bank, just high enough to see over the top, and were thus not +unnecessarily exposed. Teas had been eaten, and all fires put out at +dusk, and after dark all turned in, but in the trenches instead of in +tents. After going round sentries to see everything snug for the +night, I lay down myself with a sense of having done my duty, and +neglected no possible precaution for our safety. + + * * * * * + +Just before dawn much the same happened as already described in my +first dream, except that the ball was started by a shot without +challenge from one of our sentries at something moving among the bush, +which resulted in close range fire opening onto us from all sides. +This time we were not rushed, but a perfect hail of bullets whistled +in from every direction--from in front of each trench, along each +trench, and from behind each trench, and over and through our parapet. +It was sufficient to put a hand or head up to have a dozen bullets +through and all round it, and the strange part was, we saw no one. As +the detachment wag plaintively remarked, we could have seen lots of +Boers, "if wasn't for the bushes in between." + +After vainly trying until bright daylight to see the enemy in order to +do some damage in return, so many men were hit, and the position +seemed so utterly hopeless, that I had to hoist the white flag. We had +by then twenty-four men killed and six wounded. As soon as the white +flag went up the Boers ceased firing at once, and stood up; every bush +and ant-hill up to 100 yards' range seemed to have hid a Boer behind +it. This close range explained the marvelous accuracy of their +shooting, and the great proportion of our killed (who were nearly all +shot through the head) to our wounded. + +As we were collecting ourselves preparatory to marching off, there +were one or two things which struck me; one was that the Dutchman who +had presented me with eggs and butter was in earnest confabulation +with the Boer commandant, who was calling him "Oom" most +affectionately. I also noticed that all the male Kaffirs from the +neighboring kraal had been fetched and impressed to assist in getting +the Boer guns and wagons across the drift and to load up our captured +gear, and generally do odd and dirty jobs. These same Kaffirs did +their work with amazing alacrity, and looked as if they enjoyed it; +there was no "backchat" when an order was given--usually by friend +"Oom." + +Again, as I trudged with blistered feet that livelong day, did I +think over my failure. It seemed so strange, I had done all I knew, +and yet, here we were, ignominiously captured, twenty-four of us +killed, and the Boers over the drift. "Ah, B.F., my boy," I thought, +"there must be a few more lessons to be learnt besides those you +already know," and in order to find out what these were, I pondered +deeply over the details of the fight. + +How the Boers must have known of our position, and how they had +managed to get close up all round within snapshooting range without +being discovered. What a tremendous advantage they had had in shooting +from among the bushes on the bank, where they could not be seen, over +us who had to show up over a parapet every time we looked for an +enemy, and show up, moreover, just in the very place where every Boer +expected us to, and was watching. There seemed to be some fault in the +position. How the bullets seemed sometimes to come through the +parapet, and how those that passed over one side hit the men defending +the other side in the back. How on the whole that "natural obstacle," +the river bed, seemed to be more of a disadvantage than a protection. + +Eventually the following lessons framed themselves in my head--some of +them quite new, some of them supplementing those four I had already +learnt: + +5. With modern rifles, to guard a drift or locality does _not_ +necessitate sitting on top of it (as if it could be picked up and +carried away), unless the locality is suitable to hold for other and +defensive reasons. It may even be much better to take up your +defensive position some way from the spot, and so away from concealed +ground, which enables the enemy to crawl up to very close range, +concealed and unperceived, and to fire from cover which hides them +even when shooting. It would be better, if possible, to have the enemy +in the open, or to have what is called a clear "field of fire." + +A non-bullet proof parapet or shelter which is visible serves merely +to attract bullets instead of keeping them out--the proof-thickness +can be easily tested practically. + +When fired at by an enemy at close range from nearly all round, a low +parapet and shallow trench are not of much use, as what bullets do +not hit the defenders on one side hit those on another. + +6. It is _not_ enough to keep strange men of the enemy's breed away +from your actual defences, letting them go free to warn their friends +of your existence and whereabouts--even though they do not know the +details of your defences. It would be very much better to gather in +all such strangers and kindly, but firmly, to take care of them, so +that they should not be under temptation to impart any knowledge they +may have obtained. "Another way," as the cookery book says, more +economical in lives, would be as follows: Gather and warmly greet a +sufficiency of strangers. Stuff well with chestnuts as to the large +force about to join you in a few hours; garnish with corroborative +detail, and season according to taste with whiskey or tobacco. This +will very likely be sufficient for the nearest commando. Probable +cost--some heavy and glib lying, but no lives will be expended. + +7. It is not business to allow lazy black men (even though they be +brothers and neutrals) to sit and pick their teeth outside their +kraals whilst tired white men are breaking their hearts trying to do +heavy labor in short time. It is more the duty of a Christian soldier +to teach the dusky neutral the dignity of labor, and to keep him under +guard, to prevent his going away to talk about it. + +By the time the above lessons had been well burnt into my brain, +beyond all chance of forgetfulness, a strange thing happened--I had a +fresh dream. + + + + +THIRD DREAM. + + "So when we take tea with a few guns, o' course you will know + what to do--hoo! hoo!"--KIPLING. + + +I was at Duffer's Drift on a similar sunny afternoon and under +precisely similar conditions, except that I now had _seven_ lessons +running through my mind. + +I at once sent out two patrols, each of one N.C.O. and three men, one +to the north and one to the south. They were to visit all neighboring +farms and kraals and bring in all able-bodied Dutchmen and boys and +male Kaffirs--by persuasion if possible, but by force if necessary. +This would prevent the news of our arrival being carried around to any +adjacent commandoes, and would also assist to solve the labor +question. A small guard was mounted on the top of Waschout Hill as a +look-out. + +I decided that as the drift could not get up and run away, it was not +necessary to take up my post or position quite close to it, especially +as such a position would be under close rifle fire from the river +bank, to which the approaches were quite concealed, and which gave +excellent cover. The very worst place for such a position seemed to be +anywhere within the horseshoe bend of the river, as this would allow +an enemy practically to surround it. My choice, therefore, fell on a +spot to which the ground gently rose from the river bank some 700 to +800 yards south of the drift. Here I arranged to dig a trench roughly +facing the front (north) which thus would have about 800 yards clear +ground on its front. We started to make a trench about fifty yards +long for my fifty men, according to the usual rule. + +Some little time after beginning, the patrols came in, having +collected three Dutchmen and two boys, and about thirteen Kaffirs. The +former, the leader of whom seemed a man of education and some +importance, were at first inclined to protest when they were given +tools to dig trenches for themselves, showed bundles of "passes," and +talked very big about complaining to the General, and even as to a +question in the "House" about our brutality. This momentarily +staggered me, as I could not help wondering what might happen to poor +B.F. if the member for Upper Tooting should raise the point; but +Westminster was far away, and I hardened my heart. Finally they had +the humor to see the force of the argument, that it was, after all, +necessary, for their own health, as they would otherwise be out in the +open veldt, should the post be attacked. + +The Kaffirs served as a welcome relief to my men as they got tired. +They also dug a separate hole for themselves on one side of and behind +our trench, in a small ravine. + +By evening we had quite a decent trench dug--the parapet was about +two feet six inches thick at the top, and was quite bullet-proof, as I +tested it. Our trench was not all in one straight line, but in two +portions, broken back at a slight angle, so as to get a more divergent +fire [rather cunning of me], though each half was of course as +straight as I could get it. + +It was astonishing what difficulty I had to get the men to dig in a +nice straight line. I was particular as to this point, because I once +heard a certain captain severely "told off" at manoeuvres by a very +senior officer for having his trenches "out of dressing." No one could +tell whether some "brass hat" might not come around and inspect us +next day, so it was as well to be prepared for anything. + +At dusk the guard on Waschout Hill, for whom a trench had also been +dug, was relieved and increased to six men, and after teas and giving +out the orders for the next day, we all "turned in" in our trenches. +The tents were not pitched, as we were not going to occupy them, and +it was no good merely showing up our position. A guard was mounted +over our prisoners, or rather "guests," and furnished one sentry to +watch over them. + +Before falling asleep I ran over my seven lessons, and it seemed to me +I had left nothing undone which could possibly help towards success. +We were entrenched, had a good bullet-proof defence, all our rations +and ammunition close at hand in the trenches, and water-bottles +filled. It was with a contented feeling of having done everything +right and of being quite "the little white-haired boy" that I +gradually dozed off. + +Next morning dawned brightly and uneventfully, and we had about an +hour's work improving details of our trenches before breakfasts were +ready. Just as breakfast was over, the sentry on Waschout Hill +reported a cloud of dust away to the north, by Regret Table Mountain. +This was caused by a large party of men mounted with wheeled transport +of some sort. They were most probably the enemy, and seemed to be +trekking in all innocence of our presence for the drift. + +What a "scoop," I thought, if they come on quite unsuspecting, and +cross the drift in a lump without discerning our position. I shall +lie low, let the advanced party go past without a shot, and wait until +the main body gets over this side within close range, and then open +magazine fire into the thick of them. Yes, it will be just when they +reach that broken ant-hill about 400 yards away that I shall give the +word "Fire!" + +However, it was not to be. After a short time the enemy halted, +apparently for consideration. The advanced men seemed to have a +consultation, and then gradually approached Incidentamba farm with +much caution. Two or three women ran out and waved, whereupon these +men galloped up to the farm at once. What passed, of course, we could +not tell, but evidently the women gave information as to our arrival +and position, because the effect was electrical. The advanced Boers +split up into two main parties, one riding towards the river a long +way to the east, and another going similarly to the west. One man +galloped back with the information obtained to the main body, which +became all bustle, and started off with their wagons behind +Incidentamba, when they were lost to sight. Of course, they were all +well out of range, and as we were quite ready, the only thing to do +was to wait till they came out in the open within range, and then to +shoot them down. + +The minutes seemed to crawl--five, then ten minutes passed with no +further sign of the enemy. Suddenly, "Beg pardon, sir; I think I see +somethink on top of that kop-je on the fur side yonder." One of the +men drew my attention to a few specks which looked like wagons moving +about on the flatish shoulder of Incidentamba. Whilst I was focussing +my glasses there was a "boom" from the hill, followed by a sharp +report and a puff of smoke up in the air quite close by, then the +sound as of heavy rain pattering down some two hundred feet in front +of the trench, each drop raising its own little cloud of dust. This, +of course, called forth the time-honored remarks of "What ho, she +bumps!" and "Now we shan't be long," which proved only too true. I was +aghast--I had quite forgotten the possibility of guns being used +against me, though, had I remembered their existence, I do not know +with my then knowledge, what difference it would have made to my +defensive measures. As there was some little uneasiness among my men, +I, quite cheerful in the security of our nice trench with the thick +bullet-proof parapet, at once shouted out, "It's all right, men; keep +under cover, and they can't touch us." A moment later there was a +second boom, the shell whistled over our heads, and the hillside some +way behind the trench was spattered with bullets. + +By this time we were crouching as close as possible to the parapet, +which, though it had seemed only quite a short time before so +complete, now suddenly felt most woefully inadequate, with those +beastly shells dropping their bullets down from the sky. Another boom. +This time the shell burst well, and the whole ground in front of the +trench was covered with bullets, one man being hit. At this moment +rifle fire began on Waschout Hill, but no bullets came our way. Almost +immediately another shot followed which showered bullets all over us; +a few more men were hit, whose groans were unpleasant to listen to. +Tools were seized, and men began frantically to try and dig themselves +deeper into the hard earth, as our trench seemed to give no more +protection from the dropping bullets than a saucer would from a storm +of rain--but it was too late. We could not sink into the earth fast +enough. The Boers had got the range of the trench to a nicety, and the +shells burst over us now with a horrible methodic precision. Several +men were hit, and there was no reason why the enemy should cease to +rain shrapnel over us until we were all killed. As we were absolutely +powerless to do anything, I put up the white flag. All I could do was +to thank Providence that the enemy had no quick-firing field guns, or, +though "we had not been long," we should have been blotted out before +we could have hoisted it. + +As soon as the gun-fire ceased, I was greatly surprised to find that +no party of Boers came down from their artillery position on +Incidentamba to take our surrender, but within three minutes some +fifty Boers galloped up from the river bank on the east and the west, +and a few more came up from the south round Waschout Hill. The guard +on Waschout Hill, which had done a certain amount of damage to the +enemy, had two men wounded by rifle fire. Not a single shell had come +near them, though they were close to the Kaffir huts, which were plain +enough. + + * * * * * + +What an anti-climax the reality had been from the pleasurable +anticipations of the early morn, when I had first sighted the Boers. + +Of course, the women on the farm had betrayed us, but it was difficult +to make out why the Boers had at first halted and begun to be +suspicious before they had seen the women at the farm. What could they +have discovered? I failed entirely to solve this mystery. + +During the day's trek the following lessons slowly evolved themselves, +and were stored in my mind in addition to those already learnt: + +8. When collecting the friendly stranger and his sons in order to +prevent their taking information to the enemy of your existence and +whereabouts, if you are wishful for a "surprise packet," do not forget +also to gather his wife and his daughter, his manservant and his +maidservant (who also have tongues), and his ox and his ass (which may +possibly serve the enemy). Of course, if they are very numerous or +very far off, this is impossible; only do not then hope to surprise +the enemy. + +9. Do not forget that, if guns are going to be used against you, a +shallow trench with a low parapet some way from it is worse than +useless, even though the parapet be bullet-proof ten times over. The +trench gives the gunners an object to lay on, and gives no protection +from shrapnel. Against well-aimed long-range artillery fire it would +be better to scatter the defenders in the open, hidden in grass and +bushes, or behind stones or ant-hills, than to keep them huddled in +such a trench. With your men scattered around you can safely let the +enemy fill your trench to the brim with shrapnel bullets. + +10. Though to stop a shrapnel bullet much less actual thickness of +earth is necessary than to stop a rifle bullet, yet this earth must be +in the right place. For protection you must be able to get right +close under the cover. As narrow a trench as possible, with the sides +and inside of the parapet as steep as they will stand, will give you +the best chance. To hollow out the bottom of the trench sides to give +extra room will be even better, because the open top of the trench can +be kept the less wide. The more like a mere slit the open top of the +trench is, the fewer shrapnel bullets will get in. While chewing over +these lessons learnt from bitter experience, I had yet another dream. + + + + +FOURTH DREAM. + + "O wad some power the giftie gie us, + To see oursels as others see us!" + BURNS. + + +Again did I find myself facing the same problem, this time with _ten_ +lessons to guide me. I started off by sending out patrols, as +described in my last dream, but their orders were slightly different. +All human beings were to be brought into our post, and any animals +which could be of use to the enemy were to be shot, as we had no place +for them. + +For my defensive post I chose the position already described in my +last dream, which seemed very suitable, for the reasons already given. +We consequently dug a trench similar in plan to that already +described, but, as I feared the possibility of guns being used against +us, it was of a very different section. In plan it faced north +generally, and was slightly broken forward to the front, each half +being quite straight. In section it was about three feet six inches +deep, with a parapet about twelve inches high in front of it; we made +the trench as narrow as possible at the top compatible with free +movement. Each man hollowed out the under part of the trench to suit +himself, and made his own portion of the parapet to suit his height. +The parapet was about two feet six inches thick at the top and quite +steep inside, being built up of pieces of broken ant-heap, which were +nearly as hard as stone. + +The patrols returned shortly with their bag of a few men, women, and +children. The women indulged in much useless abuse, and refused to +obey orders, taking the matter less philosophically than their +mankind. Here was evidently an opportunity of making use of the short +training I had once had as A.D.C. I tried it. I treated the ladies +with tons of "tact" in my suavest manner, and repeated the only Dutch +words of comfort I knew--"Al zal recht kom"--but to no purpose. They +had not been brought up to appreciate tact; in fact, they were not +taking any. I turned regretfully round to the color-sergeant, winked +solemnly and officially, and seeing an answering but respectful quiver +in his left eyelid, said: + +"Color-sergeant." + +"Sir?" + +"Which do you think is the best way of setting alight to a farm?" + +"Well, sir, some prefer the large bedstead and straw, but I think the +'armonium and a little kerosene in one corner is as neat as anything." + +There was no need for more--the ladies quite understood this sort of +tact; the trouble was over. + +The Dutchmen and Kaffirs were at once started digging shelters for +themselves and the women and children. The latter were placed +together, and were put into a small ravine not far from the trench, as +it was necessary to place them in a really deep trench, firstly to +keep them safe, and secondly to prevent their waving or signalling to +the enemy. The existence of this ravine, therefore, saved much +digging, as it only required some hollowing out at the bottom and a +little excavation to suit admirably. + +All dug with a will, and by night the shelters for the women and +children and men prisoners, and the firing trench, were nearly done. +All arrangements for the guards and sentries were the same as those +described in the last dream, and after seeing everything was all +correct and the ladies provided with tents to crawl under (they had +their own blankets), I went to sleep with a feeling of well-earned +security. + +At daybreak next morning, as there were no signs of any enemy, we +continued to improve our trench, altering the depth and alignment +where necessary, each man suiting the size of the trench to his own +legs. In the end the trench really looked quite neat, with the fresh +red earth contrasting with the yellow of the veldt. As one of my +reservists remarked, it only wanted an edging of oyster shells or +ginger-beer bottles to be like his little "broccoli patch" at home. +Upon these important details and breakfast a good two hours had been +spent, when a force was reported to the north in the same position as +described in the previous dream. It advanced in the same manner, +except, of course, the advance men were met by no one at the farm. +When I saw this, I could not help patting myself on the back and +smiling at the Dutch ladies in the pit, who only scowled at me in +return, and (whisper) spat! + +The advanced party of the enemy came on, scouting carefully and +stalking the farm as they came. As they appeared quite unwarned, I was +wondering if I should be able to surprise them, all innocent of our +presence, with a close-range volley, and then magazine fire into their +midst, when suddenly one man stopped and the others gathered round +him. This was when they were some 1,800 yards away, about on a level +with the end of Incidentamba. They had evidently seen something and +sniffed danger, for there was a short palaver and much pointing. A +messenger then galloped back to the main body, which turned off behind +Incidentamba with its wagons, etc. A small number, including a man on +a white horse, rode off in a vague way to the west. The object of this +move I could not quite see. They appeared to have a vehicle with them +of some sort. The advanced party split up as already described. As all +were still at long range, we could only wait. + +Very shortly "boom" went a gun from the top of Incidentamba, and a +shrapnel shell burst not far from us. A second and third followed, +after which they soon picked up our range exactly, and the shell began +to burst all about us; however, we were quite snug and happy in our +nice deep trench, where we contentedly crouched. The waste of good and +valuable shrapnel shell by the enemy was the cause of much amusement +to the men, who were in great spirits, and, as one of them remarked, +were "as cosy as cockroaches in a crack." At the expenditure of many +shells two men only were hit--in the legs. + +After a time the guns ceased fire, and we at once manned the parapet +and stood up to repel an attack, but we could see no Boers, though the +air began at once to whistle and hum with bullets. Nearly all these +seemed to come from the river-bank in front, to the north and +north-east, and kept the parapet one continual spirt of dust as they +smacked into it. All we could do was to fire by sound at various +likely bushes on the river-bank, and this we did with the greatest +possible diligence, but no visible result. + +In about a quarter of an hour we had had five men shot through the +head, the most exposed part. The mere raising of a head to fire seemed +to be absolutely fatal, as it had on a former occasion when we were +attempting to fire at close range over a parapet against the enemy +concealed. I saw two poor fellows trying to build up a pitiful little +kind of house of cards with stones and pieces of anthill through which +to fire. This was as conspicuous as a chimney-pot on top of the +parapet, and was at once shot to powder before they had even used it, +but not before it had suggested to me the remedy for this state of +affairs. Of course, we wanted in such a case "head cover" and +"loopholes." As usual, I was wise after the event, for we had no +chance of making them then, even had we not been otherwise harassed. +Suddenly the noise of firing became much more intense, but with the +smack of the bullets striking the earth all round quite close it was +not easy to tell from which direction this fresh firing came. At the +same time the men seemed to be dropping much oftener, and I was +impressing them with the necessity of keeping up a brisker fire to the +front, when I noticed a bullet hit _our_ side of the parapet. + +It then became clear, the enemy must evidently have got into the donga +behind us (to which I paid no attention, as it was to the rear), and +were shooting us in the back as we stood up to our parapet. + +This, I thought, must be what is called being "taken in _reverse_," +and it was. + +By the time I had gathered what was happening, about a dozen more men +had been bowled over. I then ordered the whole lot to take cover in +the trench, and only pop up to take a shot to the front or rear. But +no more could be done by us towards the rear than to the front. The +conditions were the same--no Boers to be seen. At this moment two of +the guard from Waschout Hill started to run in to our trench, and a +terrific fusillade was opened on to them, the bullets kicking up the +dust all round them as they ran. One poor fellow was dropped, but the +other managed to reach our trench and fall into it. He too was badly +hit, but just had the strength to gasp out that except himself and the +man who had started with him, all the guard on Waschout Hill had been +killed or wounded, and that the Boers were gradually working their way +up to the top. This was indeed cheering. + +So hot was the fire now that no one could raise his head above ground +without being shot, and by crouching down altogether and not +attempting to aim, but merely firing our rifles over the edge of the +trench, we remained for a short time without casualties. This respite, +however, was short, for the men in the right half of the trench began +to drop unaccountably whilst they were sitting well under cover, and +not exposing themselves at all. I gradually discovered the cause of +this. Some snipers must have reached the top of Waschout Hill, and +were shooting straight down our right half trench. As the bullets +snicked in thicker and thicker, it was plain the number of snipers was +being increased. + +This, I thought, must be being "_enfiladed_ from a flank." It was so. + +Without any order, we had all instinctively vacated the right half of +our trench and crowded into the left half, which by great good luck +could not be enfiladed from any point on the south side of the river, +nor indeed by rifle-fire from anywhere, as, owing to the ground, its +prolongation on the right was up above ground into the open air, and +to the left did not touch ground for some 3,000 yards away on the +veldt on the north bank. + +Though we were huddled together quite helpless like rats in a trap, +still it was in a small degree comforting to think that, short of +charging the enemy could do nothing. For that we fixed bayonets and +grimly waited. If they did make an assault, we had bayonets, and they +had not, and we could sell our lives very dearly in a rough-and-tumble. + +Alas! I was again deceived. There was to be no chance of close +quarters and cold steel, for suddenly we heard, far away out on the +veldt to the north, a sound as of some one beating a tin tray, and a +covey of little shells whistled into the ground close by the trench; +two of these burst on touching the ground. Right out of rifle-range, +away on the open veldt on the north, I saw a party of Boers, with a +white horse and a vehicle. Then I knew. But how had they managed to +hit off so well the right spot to go to to enfilade our trench before +they even knew where we were? + +Pompom pompompom again, and the little steel devils ploughed their way +into the middle of us in our shell-trap, mangling seven men. I at once +diagnosed the position with great professional acumen--we were now +_enfiladed_ from _both_ flanks, but the knowledge was acquired too +late to help us, for-- + + "We lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow, + To the hail of the Nordenfeldt." + +This was the last straw; there was nothing left but surrender or +entire annihilation at long range. I surrendered. + +Boers, as usual, sprang up from all round. We had fought for three +hours, and had twenty-five killed and seventeen wounded. Of these, +seven only had been hit by the shrapnel and rifle-fire from the +_front_. All the rest had been killed or hit from the _flanks_, where +there should be few enemies, or the _rear_, where there should be +none! This fact convinced me that my preconceived notions as to the +_front_, and its danger relative to the other points of the compass, +needed considerable modification. All my cherished ideas were being +ruthlessly swept away, and I was plunged into a sea of doubt, groping +for _something_ certain or fixed to lay hold of. Could Longfellow, +when he wrote that immortal line, "Things are not what they seem," +ever have been in my position? + +The survivors were naturally a little disheartened at their total +discomfiture, when all had started so well with them in their "crack." +This expressed itself in different ways. As one man said to a +corporal, who was plugging a hole in his ear with a bit of rag-- + +"Somethink sickening, I call it, this enfilading racket; you never +know which way it will take yer. I'm fairly fed up." To which the +gloomy reply, "Enfiladed? Of course we've been enfiladed. This 'ere +trench should have been wiggled about a bit, and then there would not +have been quite so much of it. Yes, wiggled about--that's what it +should have been." To which chipped in a third, "Yes, and somethink to +keep the blighters from shooting us in the back wouldn't 'ave done us +much 'arm, anyway." + +There were evidently more things in _earth_ than I had hitherto dreamt +of in my philosophy! + + * * * * * + +As we trekked away to the north under a detached guard of Boers, many +little points such as the above sank into my soul, but I could not for +some time solve the mystery of why we had not succeeded in surprising +the enemy. There were no men, women, children, or Kaffirs who knew of +our arrival, who could have warned them. How did they spot our +presence so soon, as they evidently must have done when they stopped +and consulted in the morning? It was not until passing Incidentamba, +as I casually happened to look round and survey the scene of the fight +from the enemy's point of view, that I discovered the simple answer to +the riddle. There on the smooth yellow slope of the veldt just south +of the drift was a brownish-red streak, as plain as the Long Man of +Wilmington on the dear old Sussex downs, which positively shrieked +aloud, "Hi! hi! hi!--this way for the British defence." I then grimly +smiled to think of myself sitting like a "slick Alick" in that poster +of a trench and expecting to surprise anybody! + +Besides having been enfiladed and also taken in reverse, we had again +found ourselves at a disadvantage as compared with the concealed enemy +shooting at close range, from having to show up at a fixed place in +order to fire. + +Eventually I collected the following lessons: + +11. For a small isolated post and an active enemy, there are no +_flanks_, no _rear_, or, to put it otherwise, it is _front all round_. + +12. Beware of being taken in _reverse_; take care, when placing and +making your defences, that when you are engaged in shooting the enemy +to the front of your trench, his pal cannot sneak up and shoot you in +the back. + +13. Beware of being _enfiladed_. It is nasty from one flank--far worse +from both flanks. + +Remember, also, that though you may arrange matters so that you cannot +be enfiladed by rifle-fire, yet you may be open to it from long range, +by means of gun or pompom fire. There are few straight trenches that +cannot be enfiladed from somewhere, if the enemy can only get there. +You can sometimes prevent being enfiladed by so placing your trench +that no one can get into prolongation of it to fire down it, or you +can "wiggle" it about in many ways, so that it is not straight, or +make "traverses" across it, or dig separate trenches for every two or +three men. + +14. Do not have your trench near rising ground over which you cannot +see, and which you cannot hold. + +15. Do not huddle all your men together in a small trench like sheep +in a pen. Give them air. + +16. As once before--cover from sight is often worth more than cover +from bullets. + +For close shooting from a non-concealed trench, _head cover_ with +_loopholes_ is an advantage. This should be bullet-proof and not be +conspicuously on the top of the parapet, so as to draw fire, or it +will be far more dangerous than having none. + +17. To surprise the enemy is a great advantage. + +18. If you wish to obtain this advantage, _conceal_ your position. +Though for promotion it may be sound to advertise your position, for +defence it is not. + +19. To test the concealment or otherwise of your position, look at it +from the enemy's point of view. + + + + +FIFTH DREAM. + + "A trifling sum of misery + New added to the foot of thy account." + DRYDEN. + + "Jack Frost looked forth one still clear night, + And he said, 'Now I shall be out of sight; + So over the valley and over the height + In silence I'll take my way.'" + GOULD. + + +Again I faced the same task with a fresh mind and fresh hopes, all +that remained with me of my former attempts being _nineteen_ lessons. + +Having detailed the two patrols and the guard on Waschout Hill as +already described, I spent some twenty minutes--whilst the stores, +etc., were being arranged--in walking about to choose a position to +hold in the light of my nineteen lessons. + +I came to the conclusion that it was not any good being near the top +of a hill and yet not _at_ the top. I would make my post on the top of +Waschout Hill, where I could not be overlooked from any place within +rifle-range, and where I should, I believed, have "command." I was not +quite certain what "command" meant, but I knew it was important--it +says so in the book; besides, in all the manoeuvres I had attended +and tactical schemes I had seen, the "defence" always held a position +on top of a hill or ridge. My duty was plain: Waschout Hill seemed the +only place which did not contravene any of the nineteen lessons I had +learnt, and up it I walked. As I stood near one of the huts, I got an +excellent view of the drift and its southern approach just over the +bulge of the hill, and a clear view of the river further east and +west. I thought at first I would demolish the few grass and matting +huts which, with some empty kerosene tins and heaps of bones and +_debris_, formed the Kaffir kraal, but on consideration I decided to +play cunning, and that this same innocent-looking Kaffir kraal would +materially assist me to hide my defences. I made out my plan of +operations in detail, and we had soon conveyed all our stores up to +the top of the hill, and started work. + +Upon the return of the patrols with their prisoners, the Dutchmen and +"boys" were told off to dig for themselves and their females. The +Kaffirs of the kraal we had impressed to assist at once. + +My arrangements were as follows: All round the huts on the hill-top, +and close to them we dug some ten short lengths of deep firing-trench, +curved in plan, and each long enough to hold five men. These trenches +had extremely low parapets, really only serving as rifle-rests, some +of the excavated earth being heaped up _behind_ the trenches to the +height of a foot or so, the remainder being dealt with as described +later. In most cases the parapets were provided with grooves to fire +through at ground-level, the parapet on each side being high enough to +just protect the head. As with the background the men's heads were not +really visible, it was unnecessary to provide proper loopholes, which +would have necessitated also the use of new sandbags, which would be +rather conspicuous and troublesome to conceal. When the men using +these trenches were firing, their heads would be just above the level +of the ground. These firing-trenches having been got well under way, +the communication trenches were started. These were to be narrow and +deep, leading from one trench to the next, and also leading from each +trench back to four of the huts, which were to be arranged as follows, +to allow of men to fire standing up without being seen. Round the +inside of the walls of these huts part of the excavated earth, of +which there was ample, would be built up with sand bags, piece of +anthill, stones, etc., to a height that a man can fire over, about +four and a half feet, and to a thickness of some two and a half feet +at the top, and loopholes, which would be quite invisible, cut through +the hut sides above this parapet. There was room in each hut for three +men to fire. In three of them I meant to place my best shots, to act +as snipers, as they would have a more favorable position than the men +in the trenches below, and the fourth was a conning tower for myself. +All the tents and stores were stacked inside one of the huts out of +sight. + +That evening, in spite of the hardness of the work, which caused much +grousing among my men, we had got the firing trenches complete, but +the others were not finished--they were only half the necessary depth. +The earth-walls inside the huts were also not quite completed. The +Kaffirs and Dutch had deep pits, as before, in three of the huts. +Ammunition and rations were distributed round the trenches the last +thing before we turned in. I also had all water-bottles and every +vessel that would hold water, such as empty tins, Kaffir gourds, and +cooking-pots, filled and distributed in case of a long and protracted +fight. Having issued orders as to the necessity for the greatest +secrecy in not giving away our position should Boers turn up early +next morning, I went to sleep with confidence. We had, anyhow, a very +good position, and though our communications were not quite perfect, +these we could soon improve if we had any time to ourselves the next +morning. + +Next morning broke; no enemy in sight. This was excellent, and before +daylight we were hard at it, finishing the work still undone. By this +time the men had fully entered into the spirit of the thing, and were +quite keen on surprising Brother Boer if possible. While the digging +was proceeding, the "dixies" were being boiled for the breakfasts +inside four grass-screens, some of which we found lying about, so as +to show nothing but some very natural smoke above the kraal. I picked +out one or two of my smartest N.C.O.'s, and instructed them to walk +down the hill in different directions to the river-bank and try if +they could see the heads of the men in the firing trenches against the +sky. If so, the heaps of earth, tins, bones, grass-screens, etc., +should be re-arranged so as to give a background to every man's head. + +To review the place generally, I and my orderly walked off some +half-mile to the north of the river. As we were going some distance, +we doffed our helmets and wrapped ourselves in two beautiful orange +and magenta striped blankets, borrowed from our Kaffir lady guests, in +case any stray Boer should be lurking around, as he might be +interested to see two "khakis" wandering about on the veldt. It was +awkward trying to walk with our rifles hidden under our blankets, and, +moreover, every two minutes we had to look around to see if the sentry +at the camp had signalled any enemy in sight. This was to be done by +raising a pole on the highest hut. The result of our work was +splendid. We saw a Kaffir kraal on a hill, and to us "it was nothing +more." There were the heaps of _debris_ usually round a kraal, looking +most natural, but no heads were visible, and no trenches. There was +only one fault, and that was that a few thoughtless men began, as we +looked, to spread their brown army blankets out in the sun on top of +the huts and on the veldt. To the veriest new chum these square blots, +like squares of brown sticking-plaster all around the kraal, would +have betokened something unusual. To remedy this before it was too +late I hastened back. + +After we had done our breakfasts, and some three hours after dawn, the +sentry in one of the huts reported a force to the north. We could do +nothing but wait and hope; everything was ready, and every man knew +what to do. No head was to be raised nor a rifle to be fired until I +whistled from my conning-tower; then every man would pop up and empty +his magazine into any of the enemy in range. If we were shelled the +men in the huts could at once drop into the deep trenches and be safe. +Standing in my "conning-tower," from the loopholes of which I could +see the drift, I thought over the possibilities before us. With great +luck perhaps the Boer scouts would pass us on either side, and so +allow us to lie low for the main body. With a view to seeing exactly +how far I would let the latter come before opening fire, and to +marking the exact spot when it would be best to give the word, I got +down into the firing-trenches facing the drift and the road south to +see how matters appeared from the level of the rifles. To my intense +horror, I found that from these trenches neither the drift nor the +road on the near bank of the river, until it got a long way south of +Waschout Hill, _could be seen_! The bulging convexity of the hill hid +all this; it must be _dead ground_! It was. The very spot where I +could best catch the enemy, where they _must_ pass, was not under my +fire! At most, the northern loopholes of the conning tower and one +other hut alone could give fire on the drift. How I cursed my +stupidity! However, it was no good. I could not now start digging +fresh trenches further down the hill; it would betray our whole +position at once. I determined to make the best of it, and _if_ we +were not discovered by the scouts, to open fire on the main body when +they were just on the other side of the river bunched up on the bank, +waiting for those in front. Here we could fire on them; but it would +be at a much longer range than I had intended. It was really a stroke +of luck that I had discovered this serious fault, for otherwise we +might have let the bulk of the enemy cross the drift without +discovering the little fact of the dead ground till too late. I +reflected, also (though it was not much consolation), that I had erred +in good company, for how often had I not seen a "brass-hat" ride along +on horseback, and from that height fix the exact position for trenches +in which the rifles would be little above the ground. These trenches, +however, had not been put to the test of actual use. My error was not +going to escape in the same way. + +Meanwhile the enemy's scouts had advanced in much the same way as +detailed before, except that after coming past Incidentamba Farm they +had not halted suspiciously, but came on in small groups or clumps. +They crossed the river in several places and examined the bushy banks +most carefully, but finding no "khakis" there, they evidently +suspected none on the open veldt beyond them, for they advanced "any +way" without care. Several of the clumps joined together, and came on +chatting in one body of some thirty men. Would they examine the kraal, +or would they pass on? My heart beat. The little hill we were on +would, unluckily, be certain to prove an attraction for them, because +it was an excellent vantage ground whence to scan the horizon to the +south, and to signal back to the main body to the north. The kraal was +also a suitable place to off-saddle for a few minutes while the main +body came up to the drift, and it meant possibly a fire, and therefore +a cup of coffee. They rode up towards it laughing, chatting, and +smoking, quite unsuspecting. We uttered no sound. Our Dutch and Kaffir +guests uttered no sound either, for in their pits was a man with a +rifle alongside them. At last they halted a moment some 250 yards away +on the northeast, where the slope of the hill was more gradual and +showed them all up. A few dismounted, the rest started again straight +towards us. It was not magnificent, but it was war. I whistled. + + * * * * * + +About ten of them succeeded in galloping off, also some loose horses; +five or six of them on the ground threw up their hands and came into +the post. On the ground there remained a mass of kicking horses and +dead or groaning men. The other parties of scouts to east and west had +at once galloped back to the river, where they dismounted under cover +and began to pepper us. Anyway, we had done _something_. + +As soon as our immediate enemy were disposed of, we opened fire on the +main body some 1,500 yards away, who had at once halted and opened +out. To these we did a good deal of damage, causing great confusion, +which was comforting to watch. The Boer in command of the main body +must have gathered that the river-bed was clear, for he made a very +bold move; he drove the whole of the wagons, etc., straight on as fast +as possible over the odd 400 yards to the river and down the drift +into the river-bed, where they were safe from our fire. Their losses +must have been heavy over this short distance, for they had to abandon +two of their wagons on the way to the river. This was done under cover +of the fire from a large number of riflemen, who had at once galloped +up to the river-bank, dismounted, and opened fire at us, and also of +two guns and a pompom, which had immediately been driven a short +distance back and then outwards to the east and west. It was really +the best thing he could have done, and if he had only known that we +could not fire on the ground to the south of the drift, he might have +come straight on with a rush. + +We had so far scored; but now ensued a period of stalemate. We were +being fired at from the river-bank on the north, and from anthills, +etc., pretty well all round, and were also under the intermittent +shell-fire from the two guns. They made most excellent practice at the +huts, which were soon knocked to bits, but not till they had well +served their turn. Some of the new white sandbags from inside the huts +were scattered out in full view of the enemy, and it was instructive +to see what a splendid target they made for rifle-fire, and how often +they were hit. They must have drawn a lot of fire away from the actual +trenches. Until the Boers discovered that they could advance south +from the drift without being under rifle-fire from our position, they +were held up. + +Would they discover it? As they had ridden all round us by now, well +out of range, they must know all about us and our isolation. + +After dark, by which time we had one man killed and two wounded, the +firing died away into a continuous but desultory rifle-fire, with an +occasional dropping shell from the guns. Under cover of dark, I tried +to guard the drift and dead ground to the south of it, by men standing +up and firing at that level, but towards midnight I was forced to +withdraw them into the trenches, after several casualties, as the +enemy then apparently woke up and kept up a furious rifle-fire upon us +for over an hour. During this time the guns went through some +mysterious evolutions. At first we got it very hot from the north, +where the guns had been all along. Then suddenly a gun was opened on +us away from the southwest, and we were shelled for a short time from +both sides. After a little the shelling on the north ceased, and +continued from the southwest only for twenty minutes. After this the +guns ceased, and the rifle-fire also gradually died away. + +When day dawned not a living soul was to be seen; there were the dead +men, horses, and the deserted wagons. I feared a trap, but gradually +came to the conclusion the Boers had retired. After a little we +discovered the river-bed was deserted as well, but the Boers had not +retired. They had discovered the dead ground, and under the mutually +supporting fire of their guns, which had kept us to our trenches, had +all _crossed the drift_ and trekked south. + +True, we were not captured, and had very few losses, and had severely +mauled the enemy, _but_ they had crossed the drift. It must have +evidently been of great importance to them to go on, or they would +have attempted to capture us, as they were about 500 to our 50. + +I had failed in my duty. + +During the next few hours we buried the dead, tended the wounded, and +took some well-earned rest, and I had ample leisure to consider my +failure and the causes. The lessons I derived from the fight were: + +20. Beware of convex hills and _dead ground_. Especially take care to +have some place where the enemy _must_ come under your fire. Choose +the exact position of your firing-trenches, with your eye at the level +of the men who will eventually use them. + +21. A hill may not, after all, though it has "command," be the best +place to hold necessarily. + +22. A conspicuous "bluff" trench may cause the enemy to waste much +ammunition, and draw fire away from the actual defences. + +In addition to these lessons, another little matter on my mind was +what my colonel would say at my failure. + +Lying on my back, looking up at the sky, I was trying to get a few +winks of sleep myself before we started to improve our defences +against a possible further attack, but it was no use, sleep evaded me. + +The clear blue vault of heaven was suddenly overcast by clouds, which +gradually assumed the frowning face of my colonel. "_What?_ You mean +to say, Mr. Forethought, the Boers have _crossed_?" But, luckily for +me, before more could be said, the face began slowly to fade away like +that of the Cheshire Puss in "Alice in Wonderland," leaving nothing +but the awful frown across the sky. This too finally dissolved, and +the whole scene changed. I had another dream. + + + + +SIXTH DREAM. + + "Sweet are the uses of adversity." + + +Once more was I fated to essay the task of defending Duffer's Drift. +This time I had twenty-two lessons below my belt to help me out, and +in the oblivion of my dream I was saved that sense of monotony which +by now may possibly have overtaken you, "gentle reader." + +After sending out the patrols, and placing a guard on Waschout Hill, +as already described, and whilst the stores were being collected, I +considered deeply what position I should take up, and walked up to the +top of Waschout Hill to spy out the land. On the top I found a Kaffir +kraal, which I saw would assist me much to concealment should I +decide to hold this hill. This I was very inclined to do, but after a +few minutes' trial of the shape of the ground, with the help of some +men walking about down below, and my eyes a little above +ground-level--I found that its convexity was such that, to see and +fire on the drift and the approach on the south side, I should have to +abandon the top of the hill, and so the friendly concealment of the +Kaffir huts, and take up a position on the open hillside some way +down. This was, of course, quite feasible, especially if I held a +position at the top of the hill as well, near the huts on the east and +southeast sides; but, as it would be impossible to really conceal +ourselves on the bare hillside, it meant giving up all idea of +surprising the enemy, which I wished to do. I must, therefore, find +some other place which would lend itself to easy and good concealment, +and also have the drift or its approaches under close rifle-fire. But +where to find such a place? + +As I stood deep in thought, considering this knotty problem, an idea +gently wormed itself into my mind, which I at once threw out again as +being absurd and out of the question. This idea was--to hold the river +bed and banks on each side of the drift! To give up all idea of +command, and, instead of seeking the nearest high ground, which comes +as natural to the student of tactics as rushing for a tree does to a +squirrel, to take the lowest ground, even though it should be all +among thick cover, instead of being nicely in the open. + +No, it was absolutely revolutionary, and against every canon I had +ever read or heard of; it was evidently the freak of a sorely tried +and worried brain. I would none of it, and I put it firmly from me. +But the more I argued to myself the absurdity of it, the more this +idea obtained possession of me. The more I said it was impossible, the +more allurements were spread before me in its favor, until each of my +conscientious objections was enmeshed and smothered in a network of +specious reasons as to the advantages of the proposal. + +I resisted, I struggled, but finally fell to temptation, dressed up in +the plausible guise of reason. I would hold the river-bed. + +The advantages I thus hoped to obtain were-- + +Perfect concealment and cover from sight. + +Trenches and protection against both rifle and gun fire practically +ready made. + +Communications under good cover. + +The enemy would be out in the open veldt except along the river-bank, +where we, being in position first, would still have the advantage. + +Plentiful water-supply at hand. + +True, there were a few dead animals near the drift, and the tainted +air seemed to hang heavy over the river-bed, but the carcasses could +be quickly buried under the steep banks, and, after all, one could not +expect _every_ luxury. + +As our clear field of fire, which in the north was only bounded by the +range of our rifles, was on the south limited by Waschout Hill, a +suitable position for the enemy to occupy, I decided to hold the top +of it as well as the river-bed. All I could spare for this would be +two N.C.O.'s and eight men, who would be able to defend the south side +of the hill, the north being under our fire from the river-bank. + +Having detailed this party, I gave my instructions for the work, which +was soon started. In about a couple of hours the patrols returned with +their prisoners, which were dealt with as before. + +For the post on Waschout Hill, the scheme was that the trenches should +be concealed much in the same way as described in the last dream, but +great care should be taken that no one in the post should be exposed +to rifle-fire from our main position in the river. I did not wish the +fire of the main body to be in any degree hampered by a fear of +hitting the men on Waschout Hill, especially at night. If we knew it +was not possible to hit them, we could shoot freely all over the hill. +This detachment was to have a double lot of water-bottles, besides +every available receptacle collected in the kraal, filled with water, +in anticipation of a prolonged struggle. + +The general idea for the main defensive position was to hold both +sides of the river, improving the existing steep banks and ravines +into rifle-pits to contain from one to four men. These could, with +very little work, be made to give cover from all sides. As such a +large amount of the work was already done for us, we were enabled to +dig many more of these pits than the exact number required for our +party. Pathways leading between these were to be cut into the bank, so +that we should be able to shift about from one position to another. +Besides the advantage this would give us in the way of moving about, +according as we wished to fire, it also meant that we should probably +be able to mislead the enemy as to our numbers--which, by such +shifting tactics might, for a time at least, be much exaggerated. The +pits for fire to the north and south were nearly all so placed as to +allow the occupants to fire at ground-level over the veldt. They were +placed well among the bushes, only just sufficient scrub being cut +away to allow a man to see all round, without exposing the position of +his trench. On each side of the river, just by the drift, were some +"spoil" heaps of earth, excavated from the road ramp. These stood some +five or six feet above the general level, and were as rough as the +banks in outline. These heaps were large enough to allow of a few pits +being made on them, which had the extra advantage of height. In some +of the pits, to give head-cover, loopholes of sandbags were made, +though in most cases this was not needed, owing to the concealment of +the bushes. I found it was necessary to examine personally every +loophole, and correct the numerous mistakes made in their +construction. Some had the new clean sandbags exposed to full view, +thus serving as mere whited sepulchres to their occupants, others were +equally conspicuous from their absurd cock-shy appearance, others were +not bullet-proof, whilst others again would allow of shooting in one +direction, or into the ground at a few yards' range, or up into the +blue sky. As I corrected all these faults I thought that loopholes not +made under supervision might prove rather a snare. + +The result was, in the way of concealment, splendid. From these pits +with our heads at ground-level we could see quite clearly out on to +the veldt beyond, either from under the thicker part of the bushes or +even through those which were close to our eyes. From the open, on the +other hand, we were quite invisible, even from 300 yards' distance, +and would have been more so had we had the whiskers of the "brethren." +It was quite evident to me that these same whiskers were a wise +provision of nature for this very purpose and part of her universal +scheme of protective mimicry. + +The numerous small dongas and rifts lent themselves readily to +flanking fire, and in many places the vertical banks required no +cutting in order to give ideal protection against even artillery. In +others, the sides of the crooked waterways had to be merely scooped +out a little, or a shelf cut to stand upon. + +In one of these deeper ravines two tents, which, being below +ground-level, were quite invisible, were pitched for the women and +children, and small caves cut for them in case of a bombardment. The +position extended for a length of some 150 yards on each side of the +drift along both banks of the river, and at its extremities, where an +attack was most to be feared, pits were dug down the river-banks and +across the dry river-bed. These also were concealed as well as +possible. The flanks or ends were, of course, our greatest danger, for +it was from here we might expect to be rushed, and not from the open +veldt. I was undecided for some time as to whether to clear a "field +of fire" along the river-banks or not, as I had no wish to give away +our presence by any suspicious nudity of the banks at each end of our +position. I finally decided, in order to prevent this, to clear the +scrub for as great a range as possible from the ends of the position, +everywhere below the ground-level, and also on the level ground, +except for a good fringe just on the edges of the banks. This fringe I +thought would be sufficient to hide the clearance to any one not very +close. I now blessed the man who had left us some cutting tools. +Whilst all this was being carried out, I paced out some ranges to the +north and south, and these we marked by a few empty tins placed on +ant-heaps, etc. + +At dusk, when we had nearly all the pits finished and some of the +clearance done, tents and gear were hidden, ammunition and rations +distributed to all, and orders in case of an attack given out. As I +could not be everywhere, I had to rely on the outlying groups of men +fully understanding my aims beforehand, and acting on their "own." To +prevent our chance of a close-range volley into the enemy being spoilt +by some over-zealous or jumpy man opening fire at long range, I gave +orders that fire was to be held as long as possible, and that no man +was to fire a shot until firing had already commenced elsewhere (which +sounded rather Irish), or my whistle sounded. This was unless the +enemy were so close to him that further silence was useless. Firing +having once started, every man was to blaze away at any enemy within +range as judged by our range marks. Finally, we turned in to our pits +for the night with some complacency, each eight men furnishing their +own sentry. + +We had about three hours next morning before any enemy were reported +from Waschout Hill (the pre-arranged signal for this was the raising +of a pole from one of the huts). This time was employed in perfecting +our defences in various ways. We managed to clear away the scrub in +the dry river-bed and banks for some 200 yards beyond our line of pits +on each side, and actually attained to the refinement of an +"obstacle;" for at the extremity of this clearance a sort of _abatis_ +entanglement was made with the wire from an adjacent fence which the +men had discovered. During the morning I visited the post on Waschout +Hill, found everything correct, and took the opportunity of showing +the detachment the exact limits of our position in the river-bed, and +explained what we were going to do. After about three hours' work, +"Somebody in sight" was signalled, and we soon after saw from our +position a cloud of dust away to the north. This force, which proved +to be a commando, approached as already described in the last dream; +all we could do meanwhile was to sit tight in concealment. Their +scouts came on in clumps of twos and threes which extended over some +mile of front, the centre of the line heading for the drift. As the +scouts got closer, the natural impulse to make for the easiest +crossing place was obeyed by two or three of the parties on each side +of the one approaching the drift, and they inclined inwards and joined +forces with it. This was evidently the largest party we could hope to +surprise, and we accordingly lay for it. When about 300 yards away, +the "brethren" stopped rather suspiciously. This was too much for +some man on the east side, who let fly, and the air was rent by the +rattle as we emptied our magazines, killing five of this special +scouting party and two from other groups further out on either side. +We continued to fire at the scouts as they galloped back, dropping two +more, and also at the column which was about a mile away, but afforded +a splendid target till it opened out. + +In a very few moments our position was being shelled by three guns, +but with the only result, as far as we were concerned, of having one +man wounded by shell-fire, though the firing went on slowly till dark. +To be accurate, I should say the river was being shelled, our position +incidentally, for shells were bursting along the river for some half +mile. The Boers were evidently quite at sea as regards the extent of +our position and strength, and wasted many shells. We noticed much +galloping of men away to the east and west, out of range, and guessed +that these were parties who intended to strike the river at some +distance away, and gradually work along the bed, in order probably to +get into close range during the night. + +We exchanged a few shots during the night along the river bed, and not +much was done on either side, though of course we were on the _qui +vive_ all the time; but it was not till near one in the morning that +Waschout Hill had an inning. + +As I had hoped, the fact that we held the kraal had not been spotted +by the enemy, and a large body of them, crawling up the south side of +the hill in order to get a good fire on to us in the river, struck a +snag in the shape of a close-range volley from our detachment. As the +night was not very dark, in the panic following the first volley our +men were able (as I learnt afterwards) to stand right up and shoot at +the surprised burghers bolting down the hill. However, their panic did +not last long, to judge by the sound, for after the first volley from +our Lee-Metfords and the subsequent minute's independent firing, the +reports of our rifles were soon mingled with the softer reports of the +Mausers, and we shortly observed flashes on our side of Waschout Hill. +As these could not be our men, we knew the enemy were endeavoring to +surround the detachment. We knew the ranges fairly well, and though, +as we could not see our sights, the shooting was rather guesswork, we +soon put a stop to this manoeuvre by firing a small volley from +three or four rifles at each flash on the hill-side. So the night +passed without much incident. + +During the dark we had taken the opportunity cunningly to place some +new white sandbags (which I had found among the stores) in full view +at some little distance from our actual trenches and pits. Some men +had even gone further, and added a helmet here and a coat there +peeping over the top. This ruse had been postponed until our position +was discovered, so as not to betray our presence, but after the +fighting had begun no harm was done by it. Next morning it was quite a +pleasure to see the very accurate shooting made by "Brother" at these +sandbags, as betokened by the little spurts of dust. + +During this day the veldt to the north and south was deserted by the +enemy except at out-of-range distance, but a continuous sniping fire +was kept up along the river-banks on each side. The Boer guns were +shifted--one to the top of Incidentamba and one to the east and west +in order to enfilade the river bank--but, owing to our good cover, we +escaped with two killed and three wounded. The enemy did not shell +quite such a length of river this time. I confidently expected an +attack along the river bank that night, and slightly strengthened my +flanks, even at the risk of dangerously denuding the north bank. I was +not disappointed. + +Under cover of the dark, the enemy came up to within, perhaps, 600 +yards on the open veldt on the north and round the edges of Waschout +Hill, on the south, and kept up a furious fire, probably to distract +our attention, whilst the guns shelled us for about an hour. As soon +as the gun-fire ceased they tried to rush us along the river-bed east +and west, but owing to the _abatis_ and the holes in the ground, and +the fact that it was not a very dark night, they were unsuccessful. +However, it was touch and go, and a few of the Boers did succeed in +getting into our position only to be bayoneted. Luckily the enemy did +not know our strength, or rather our weakness, or they would have +persisted in their attempt and succeeded; as it was, they must have +lost 20 or 30 men killed and wounded. + +Next morning, with so many men out of my original 40 out of action +(not to include Waschout Hill, whose losses I did not know), matters +seemed to be serious, and I was greatly afraid that another night +would be the end of us. I was pleased to see that the detachment on +Waschout Hill had still got its tail well up, for they had hoisted a +red rag at the masthead. True, this was not the national flag, +probably only a mere handkerchief, but it was not white. The day wore +on with intermittent shelling and sniping, and we all felt that the +enemy must have by now guessed our weakness, and were saving +themselves for another night attack, relying upon our being tired out. +We did our best to snatch a little sleep by turns during the day, and +I did all I could to keep the spirits of the little force up by saying +that relief could not be very far off. But it was with a gloomy +desperation at best that we saw the day wear on and morning turn into +afternoon. + +The Boer guns had not been firing for some two hours, and the silence +was just beginning to get irritating and mysterious, when the booming +of guns in the distance aroused us to the highest pitch of excitement. +We were saved! We could not say what guns these were--they might be +British or Boer--but, any way, it proved the neighborhood of another +force. All faces lighted up, for somehow the welcome sound at once +drew the tired feeling out of us. + +In order to prevent any chance of the fresh force missing our +whereabouts, I collected a few men and at once started to fire some +good old British volleys into the scrub, "Ready--present--fire," which +were not to be mistaken. Shortly afterwards we heard musketry in the +distance, and saw a cloud of dust to the northeast. We were relieved! + + * * * * * + +Our total losses were 11 killed and 15 wounded; but we had held the +drift, and so enabled a victory to be won. I need not here touch upon +the well-known and far-reaching results of the holding of Duffer's +Drift, of the prevention thereby of Boer guns, ammunition, and +reinforcements reaching one of their sorely pressed forces at a +critical moment, and the ensuing victory gained by our side. It is +now, of course, all public knowledge that this was the turning-point +in the war, though we, the humble instruments, did not know what vital +results hung upon our action. + +That evening the relieving force halted at the drift, and, after +burying the dead, we spent some time examining the lairs of the Boer +snipers, the men collecting bits of shell and cartridge-cases as +mementoes--only to be thrown away at once. We found some 25 dead and +partially buried Boers, to whom we gave burial. + +That night I did not trek, but lay down (in my own breeches and +spotted waistcoat). As the smoke from the "prime segar," presented to +me by my Colonel, was eddying in spirals over my head, these gradually +changed into clouds of rosy glory, and I heard brass bands in the +distance playing a familiar air: "See the Conquering Hero comes," it +was they were playing. + +I felt a tap on my shoulder, and heard a gentle voice say, "Arise, Sir +Backsight Forethought;" but in a trice my dream of bliss was +shattered--the gentle voice changed into the well-known croak of my +servant. "Time to pack your kit on the wagon, sir. Corfy's been up +some time now, sir." I was still in stinking old Dreamdorp. + + + + * * * * * + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 166: maneuvers replaced with manoeuvres | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by +Ernest Dunlop Swinton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT *** + +***** This file should be named 24842.txt or 24842.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/8/4/24842/ + +Produced by Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +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. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/24842.zip b/24842.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8735f4d --- /dev/null +++ b/24842.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b32d3b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #24842 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24842) |
