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diff --git a/41488-8.txt b/41488-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8bc69b3..0000000 --- a/41488-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5836 +0,0 @@ - TEN MONTHS IN THE FIELD WITH THE BOERS - - - - -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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - - -Title: Ten Months in the Field with the Boers -Author: Anonymous -Release Date: November 24, 2012 [EBook #41488] -Language: English -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN MONTHS IN THE FIELD WITH -THE BOERS *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - - -[Illustration: Cover] - - - - -[Illustration: GENERAL DE VILLEBOIS-MAREUIL] - - - - - Ten Months in the - Field with the Boers - - - By - An Ex-Lieutenant of - General de Villebois-Mareuil - - - - With a Map and Portrait - - - - London - William Heinemann - 1901 - - - - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - To - GENERAL DE VILLEBOIS-MAREUIL - -_To you, General, who, from the Paradise of the Valiant, can read in my -heart the sentiments of respect and affection that guide me, I dedicate -these lines in token of the profound admiration of your former -Lieutenant._ - -TRANSVAAL, 1899-1900. - - - - - I - - -'No room, sir!' - -This was the phrase that greeted my friend De C---- and myself at the -door of every carriage we tried. - -The fast train for Marseilles leaving Paris at 8.25 was, indeed, full to -overflowing that night of December 23; by eight o'clock not a place was -left. - -Finally, after treading on a good many toes, and exchanging a good many -elbowings, we installed ourselves more or less comfortably--a good deal -less, to be accurate--one in the front of the train, the other close to -the luggage-van. - -A last clasp of the hand to the comrades who have come to the station -with us, and we are off. - -The lights of Paris begin to die out in the distance; conversation -languishes; the monotonous rumble of the train lulls the travellers into -drowsiness; heads nod and droop in the dim light of the lamp. - -'La Roche! Wait here five minutes!' - -We jump out. C---- and I meet again. - -'Well, how are you getting on?' - -'Not very well. And you?' - -'Very badly!' - -And, much depressed, we return to our respective carriages. - -At last the patience under discomfort habitual to men of our unsettled -lives asserts itself, and we sleep soundly till we reach Arles, when we -find two seats together. - -At Marseilles we were kindly received by a pleasant cousin of mine, and -by a delightful lady, also of my kindred. - -The 24th we spent with some comrades, officers of the neighbouring -garrison, and on the 25th we and our baggage were safely on board the -_Natal_, of the Messageries Maritimes. - -I make special mention of our baggage, which, in preparation for the -campaign we are about to undertake, consists of two little canteens. -The two together weigh exactly 38 kilos, making about 19 kilos each. -They hold all our belongings, including our two revolvers and two -hundred cartridges. We are not overloaded with baggage. - -The _Natal_ is one of the 'fine steamers' of former days, fairly large. - -We first take possession of our cabin, which opens into the -dining-saloon. Then we go up on the bridge, where we are introduced to -Colonel Gourko, who is also on his way to the Transvaal, as Russian -military attaché. We had met him the evening before at the station, for -he arrived by the same train as ourselves. But his fluent French, and -his rosette of the Legion of Honour, which he always wears by courtesy -in France, had made us take him for some important functionary on his -way to Madagascar!... - -We ask his pardon. But the minutes pass. Hand-shakings, good wishes, -bursts of emotion, the time-honoured formula of departure have been gone -through; the gangways are taken up, the ropes cast off; we steam out of -port. The handkerchiefs that flutter on the quay and on the pier -gradually diminish, the houses seem to flatten, Notre Dame de la Garde -dwindles, becomes smaller and smaller, till at last it is a mere speck -on the horizon. Then it disappears altogether; we are on the open sea. - -I shall not thrill with ecstasy, nor pour out a tribute of emotion to -the 'blue immensity,' for, though I have many parts--as you, my readers, -will readily believe, especially such of you as do not know me--I am no -poet. The dinner-bell finds De C---- and me prosaically wrangling over -150 points at piquet. - -The dining-saloon is large, but there are few diners. We take a general -survey. - -The captain, who is supposed to preside over the meals, is not well, and -does not appear. In fact, we scarcely see him at table during the -passage. - -Colonel Gourko, Captain Ram, and Lieutenant Thomson, the Dutch military -attachés, Captain D---- of the Marines, with his charming young wife and -their son Guy--who is soon one of our firmest friends--an engineer, a -naval doctor, a young lady on her way to set up as a milliner at -Tananariva, an English journalist, and Henry de Charette, a volunteer -for the Transvaal, where his health will prevent him from playing a very -active part, make up the sum total of diners, or very nearly so. - -We further discovered on board Messieurs de Breda, a former cavalry -officer, Pimpin, Michel, a distinguished artillery officer, and a few -others destined to be our pleasant comrades in the future. - -As at least fifteen of us are bound for Lourenço Marques, and as we have -reason to fear a visit from some English cruiser not unaccustomed to -such travellers, we have all adopted the most extraordinary callings. -One of us is a commercial traveller in the wine or drug trade; another -is a dealer in apparatus of various kinds. I also met a bird-seller, a -manufacturer of blinds, and an agent for bitumens! - -C---- and I are modest! We are in quest of purchasers for 'Calaya,' a -febrifuge of extraordinary virtues, a specific for fever, dysentery, -headache, toothache, etc. - -The weather is superb; but our boat is slow, and we rarely make 300 -miles in the twenty-four hours. - -We reach Port Said on December 31. For New Year's Day we get up an -entertainment with a lottery on board, and, thanks to Madame D----, it -proves a great success. - -The profits, amounting to nearly a thousand francs, were handed over to -the Widows and Orphans' Fund of the Messageries Maritimes. - -The prizes offered by the passengers were of the most curious -description, and as we were bound for sunny climes, there were more than -twenty umbrellas among them. Chance, with perhaps a little extraneous -help, made a good many of these fall to the share of Colonel Gourko, who -took the little joke in excellent part. - -Breda undertakes the refreshment buffet, with the help of a charming -young girl, and presides with great dignity. - -After leaving Port Said the company is increased by the members of a -Russian ambulance going to the Transvaal. They keep very much to -themselves, and every evening they meet together on the lower deck to -sing their vesper prayer. The sacred chant, in itself very imposing, -takes on a solemn grandeur in the picturesque setting of the Red Sea. - -At Aden we go on shore, and make an execrable lunch, washed down, -however, by some excellent Chianti and Barolo; then we go to see the -famous cisterns, in which there is hardly ever any water now. - -We also pick up a new passenger, Captain B----, of the Royal Field -Artillery, who also is for Durban on warfare bound. Our approaching -hostility does not prevent us from being the best of friends throughout -the passage. He wears the medal of the Soudan, too, which gives him a -further title to our sympathies. He describes his very interesting -campaigns in India and Egypt. He was present at Omdurman--'the great -battle,' as he calls it. - -Ever since we started we have been hearing terrific accounts of -Guardafui. Few vessels, it appears, escape disaster at this point! But -the sea is like oil, to the great mortification, no doubt, of all our -ancient mariners. - -Now we are bound straight for Madagascar. For eight days we shall be -between sky and water. Let us turn them to account for a rapid -retrospect of the causes which have led to the war in which we are about -to take part. - -It will not, I think, be necessary to dwell on the origin of the -Boers.[#] - - -[#] Boer means peasant; Burgher denotes a citizen. - - -Colonists sent out in 1652 by the Dutch East India Company, they landed -at the Cape of Good Hope, discovered two centuries before (1486), and -settled there, employing themselves in agriculture and cattle-breeding. - -At the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 300 French -Huguenots joined them, bringing up the number of the colonists to about -1,000. The fusion of the two races was rapid, and the French tongue -disappeared among them. Many of the French names even were -corrupted--Cronje was originally Crosnier--but many, on the other hand, -have persisted in their Gallic form--Villiers, Marais, Joubert, Du -Toit--and their bearers are very proud of their French descent. But -England, anxious to acquire the colony when it began to prosper, sent -out a number of emigrants, reinforcing them steadily, till they became -an important factor in the community. - -From 1815, when Cape Colony was recognised as a British possession by -the Treaty of Vienna, English policy has been hostile to the Boers, who, -for their part, received the English settlers in no friendly spirit. - -About 1835 the Boers, under the pressure of the vexations to which they -were subjected, began their exodus to the north--the Great Trek, as they -still call it--and founded the Orange Free State, recognised in 1869 by -Europe, and the Transvaal. - -They were not left long in the enjoyment of the territory they had -wrested from the Kaffirs. Diamondiferous deposits were discovered in the -Orange Free State in 1871; the English promptly confiscated the find on -the pretext that it belonged to a native chief under their protection. - -In 1877, the Zulus having risen against the Boers, England intervened -for the alleged pacification of the country, sent her troops to -Pretoria, and annexed the Transvaal. - -But in 1880 the Boers revolted, and under Joubert inflicted a crushing -defeat on the English at Majuba Hill, on the frontier of Natal, February -27, 1881. - -The treaty of August 3, 1881, recognised the independence of the -Transvaal under the suzerainty of the Queen. Another treaty, signed in -London, February 27, 1884, recognised the absolute independence of the -Transvaal. - -On January 2, 1896, the famous Jameson Raid, still fresh in men's -memories, was checked at Krugersdorp. - -Wishing to satisfy the claims of the Uitlanders, the President reduced -the term necessary for the acquisition of electoral rights from fourteen -to nine years. Finally, in 1899, England, constituting herself the -champion of the foreigners, instructed Sir Alfred Milner, Governor of -the Cape, to demand a further reduction of the term to five years. - -This measure meant the rapid intrusion of the alien into the -administration, and the gradual swamping of the Boers. It would have -been the ruin of Boer autonomy. The President refused. 'Her Majesty's -subjects,' he said, 'demanded my trousers; I gave them, and my coat -likewise. They now want my life; I cannot grant them that.' - -All these demands were but so many pretexts intended to mask the true -designs of England from the European Powers. But they are manifest to -the least discerning. On the one hand, there are gold-mines in the -Transvaal, and speculators demand them. On the other, Cecil Rhodes has -declared that 'Africa must be English from the Cape to Cairo.' War had -therefore long been foreseen, and the Transvaal quietly prepared for the -struggle. - -Under cover of an expedition into Swaziland, which was nothing but a -march of some few hundred Burghers who had never fired a shot except at -game, considerable armaments had been made from 1895 onwards. - -Krupp supplied them with field-guns of 12 and 15 pound. -Maxim-Nordenfeldts were bought. These quick-firing guns throw -percussion-shells to a distance of about 5,000 metres; their calibre is -35 millimetres. The English have a great respect for these little -pieces, which they have christened 'pom-poms,' in imitation of the noise -made by their rapid fire. The same firm supplied small calibre Maxim -guns for Lee-Metford cartridges. The cartridges are fixed to strips of -canvas (belts), which unroll automatically, presenting a fresh cartridge -to the striker the instant its predecessor has been fired. - -Lastly, the Creusot factories received orders for guns of the latest -pattern: four 155 centimetres long, with a range of about 10,000 metres, -which the Boers call 'Long Toms,' and two batteries of 75 millimetre -field-guns. - -These cannon (model 95) were furnished with all the latest improvements. -They fire very rapidly, and the brakes, situated on either side of the -piece, absorb the recoil, the carriage being the fulcrum, and the -trunnions the points of contact with the piece. They have a range of -about 7,000 metres. They are loaded by means of cartridges, the whole -charge enclosed in a single metal case. When efficiently served, they -will fire from fifteen to twenty shots a minute. - -We have advanced indeed since the year 1881, and the cannon made in the -Transvaal itself, with cartwheel axle-trees riveted and braised -together![#] - - -[#] This is preserved in the museum at Pretoria, side by side with a -mitrailleuse labelled 'Meudon,' given to the President by the Emperor -William. - - -A large stock of Mauser, Martini-Henry and Steyr rifles (1887 pattern), -with plentiful ammunition, was also bought by the Boer Government. - -The weapon most in favour is the Mauser rifle of 1891, calibre 7.5 -millimetres. It is sighted up to 2,000 metres. It has a magazine -containing five cartridges. The movable straight-levered breech-block -has a safety-bolt. - -The cavalry carbine, also much appreciated, is a reduced model of the -rifle. The mechanism is the same, and it also has a magazine holding -five cartridges, but the movable breech-block has a bent lever. This -carbine is sighted up to 1,400 metres. - -These two weapons are of great precision, but I have heard it objected -since my return that the wooden grip which covers part of the barrel -causes an unequal heating and cooling of the metal between the covered -and uncovered parts, giving rise to occasional explosions or -distortions. Personally, I saw no instance of this. - -The Martini-Henry rifles, carbines, and muskets are sometimes preferred -by the older Boers. They are of an obsolete pattern, and have an -insignificant range of only 800 metres for carbines and muskets. They -are 11 millimetres in calibre, and their leaden bullets have no casing -of harder metal. To some persons they have the advantage of disabling a -man more rapidly and effectually at a short range than bullets of -smaller calibre. - -Events now follow closely one on another. On September 26, 1899, the -Volksraad issued the following proclamation from Bloemfontein: - -'The Volksraad, considering paragraph 2 of the President's speech, and -the official documents and correspondence submitted therewith, having -regard to the fact that the strained state of affairs throughout the -whole of South Africa, which has arisen owing to the differences between -the Imperial Government and the Transvaal, threatens to lead to -hostilities, the calamitous consequences of which to the white -inhabitants would be immeasurable, being connected with the Transvaal by -the closest ties of blood and confederacy, and standing in the most -friendly relationship with the Imperial Government; fearing that, should -war break out, a hatred between European races would be born which would -arrest or retard peaceful developments in all States and colonies of -South Africa, and produce distrust in the future; feeling that the -solemn duty rests upon it of doing everything possible to avoid the -shedding of blood; considering that the Transvaal Government during the -negotiations with the Imperial Government, which extended over several -months, made every endeavour to arrive at a peaceful solution of the -differences raised by the aliens in the Transvaal, and taken up by the -Imperial Government as its own cause, which endeavours have -unfortunately had only this result, that British troops were -concentrated on the border of the Transvaal, and are still being -strengthened--resolves to instruct the Government still to use every -means to maintain and insure peace, and in a peaceful manner to -contribute towards a solution of existing differences, provided it be -done without violating the honour and independence of the Free State and -the Transvaal; and wishes unmistakably to make known its opinion that -there exists no cause for war, and that a war against the Transvaal, if -now undertaken by the Imperial Government, will morally be a war against -the whole white population of South Africa, and in its consequences -criminal, for, come what may, the Free State will honestly and -faithfully fulfil its obligations towards the Transvaal, by virtue of -the political alliance existing between the two Republics.' - -On the 29th Mr. Chamberlain, more aggressive than ever, laid down -certain impossible conditions: - -1. The franchise to every Uitlander after five years of residence, -unencumbered by any formalities that might restrict the privilege. - -2. An absolute separation of the executive and judicial power in the -Transvaal. - -3. Abolition of the dynamite monopoly. - -4. Dismantlement of the fortress of Johannesburg. - -5. A special municipal government for Johannesburg. - -6. Official recognition of the English language, and an equal use of it -and the Dutch tongue. - -During the first days of October the situation became more and more -serious. Certain attempts at conciliation were still made. On October -5, President Steyn demanded that the massing of troops on the frontier -should cease. But on the 6th Sir Alfred Milner replied that he could -not accede to his request. Mr. Steyn accordingly wrote to the Governor -of Cape Colony 'that the success of further negotiations was very -doubtful, as the Transvaal would refuse any conditions whatever laid -down by Her Majesty's Government if British troops continued to arrive -while negotiations were in progress.' - -Finally, on October 10 the Boer ultimatum was handed to Mr. -Conyngham-Green. The Transvaal Executive had demanded an answer within -twenty-four hours, but the delegates of the Orange Free State got the -term extended to forty-eight hours. - -War was declared on October 11. The Boer commandos grouped themselves -in two principal centres, the Orange Free State and Natal. In the Free -State, Du Toit and Kolby invested Kimberley on October 14. Cronje -advanced against Methuen in the south-east, Schoeman against Colesberg, -and Olivier to meet Gatacre south of Aliwal North. - -In Natal, Botha, Schalk Burgher, Lucas Meyer and Prinsloo, under the -Commander-in-Chief Joubert, marched upon Ladysmith. - -On October 20 a desperate engagement took place at Glencoe. General -Symons, himself mortally wounded, lost sixty killed, 300 wounded, and -300 prisoners. The Boers had seventy men killed. - -On October 21, at Elandslaagte, the German Legion and the Scandinavians, -surprised by the enemy, were slaughtered by the English Lancers after a -heroic resistance. - -On the 23rd, at Dundee, Generals Yule and White were obliged to fall -back on Ladysmith. - -Finally, on October 30, under the very walls of the town, at Lombard's -Kop, General White, beaten again, lost 300 dead and wounded, 1,200 -prisoners and ten guns. - -On November 2 Ladysmith was invested. - -To judge by the behaviour of the Boers at this juncture, it would have -seemed that the siege of the three towns, Mafeking, Kimberley and -Ladysmith, was the end and object of the whole campaign. - -They had at this stage of the war one of the most magnificent -opportunities imaginable. Full of confidence, flushed with success, -well equipped, and more numerous than they would ever be again, they -might have reckoned on the co-operation of the Cape Boers, who, -believing in the possible success of their brethren, were preparing to -throw in their lot with them. - -Against them they had some 40,000 English, half of them only just -disembarked, unacclimatized, untried in warfare, the other half -discouraged by recent events and scattered over a vast area. - -Order and effort prolonged for one week only would have overwhelmed and -annihilated the English army. Cape Colony and Natal would have thrown -off the yoke, associating themselves with the Transvaal and the Orange -Free State, and the United States of South Africa would have been a -power to reckon with. But no! Nothing was attempted. Joubert seemed to -be hypnotized before Ladysmith, Du Toit before Kimberley. - -And, quietly and undisturbedly, England gradually disembarked the -200,000 men Lord Kitchener thought necessary for the work in hand. -Nevertheless, for two months more the incapacity of the English generals -all along the line thrust the flower of the Queen's battalions under the -deadly fire of the Mausers, without a chance of fighting for their -lives, so to speak. - -On November 10, at Belmont, Lord Methuen was repulsed with heavy loss. -A month later, at Stormberg, General Gatacre ventured an advance without -scouts, without a map, blindly following a guide whose course he did not -even verify by a compass. - -The advance took place in the utmost disorder, though it had been -arranged forty-eight hours, previously. The ambulance lost touch with -the detachment, and went its own way. The 2nd Battalion of the -Northumberland Fusiliers lost its ammunition-waggon. The column -advanced in close order to within 100 yards of the Boer entrenchments -without any warning, and was decimated. Gatacre lost 100 men killed and -700 prisoners. - -On December 11, at Magersfontein, Lord Methuen had a second disaster to -deplore. Half an hour after midnight, after twenty-four hours of -artillery preparations and bombardment of the Boer entrenchments, five -Highland regiments advanced in line of quarter-column. The night was -dark, and rain was falling in torrents. At half-past three in the -morning the English halted, not very sure of their route. In an instant -a deadly fire poured out from the rocks. They were less than 200 yards -from the trenches occupied by Cronje's men. - -The Black Watch was decimated. General Wauchope fell, crying: 'My poor -fellows! 'twas not I who brought you here!' The Marquis of Winchester -was also killed. - -The whole body was demoralized, and it was not possible to make the -fugitives lie down till they had reached a distance of several hundreds -of yards. 'It was,' says an eye-witness, 'one of the saddest sights -that could wring the heart of an English soldier of our times.' - -In this turmoil of confusion and indecision, Lord Methuen only gave the -order to retire towards four o'clock in the afternoon. More than a -thousand dead strewed the battle-field, and no help was given to the -wounded till the following day. - -In the last letter he wrote to England, Wauchope said: 'This is my last -letter, for I have been ordered to attempt an impossible task. I have -protested, but I must obey or give up my sword.... The men of the -Modder River army will probably never follow Lord Methuen in another -engagement.' - -Finally, on December 15, the Battle of Colenso was fought. I borrow an -account of it from Sir Redvers Buller's telegram despatched from -Chieveley Camp in the evening: - -'I regret to report serious reverse. I moved in full strength from camp -near Chieveley this morning at 4 a.m. There are two fordable places in -the Tugela, and it was my intention to force a passage through at one of -them. They are about two miles apart, and my intention was to force one -or the other with one brigade, supported by a central brigade. - -'General Hart was to attack the left drift, General Hildyard the right -road, and General Lyttleton in the centre to support either. - -'Early in the day I saw that General Hart would not be able to force a -passage, and directed him to withdraw. He had, however, attacked with -great gallantry, and his leading battalion, the Connaught Rangers, I -fear suffered a great deal. Colonel Brooke was severely wounded. - -'I then ordered General Hildyard to advance, which he did, and his -leading regiment, the East Surrey, occupied Colenso Station and the -houses near the bridge. - -'At that moment I heard that the whole of the artillery I had sent to -that attack--namely, the 14th and 66th Field Batteries and six naval -12-pounder quick-firing guns, the whole under Colonel Long, R.A.--were -out of action, as it appears that Colonel Long, in his desire to be -within effective range, advanced close to the river. It proved to be -full of the enemy, who suddenly opened a galling fire at close range, -killing all their horses, and the gunners were compelled to stand to -their guns.' - -Desperate efforts were made to bring back the guns, but only two were -saved by the exertions of Captain Schofield and two or three of the -drivers. - -It was here that Lieutenant Roberts, of the 66th Battery of Artillery, -son of Field-Marshal Lord Roberts, met a glorious death. - -'Some of the waggon-teams got shelter for troops in a donga, and -desperate efforts were made to bring out the field-guns, but the fire -was too severe, and only two were saved by Captain Schofield and some -drivers, whose names I will furnish. - -'Another most gallant attempt with three teams was made by an officer -whose name I will obtain. Of the 18 horses, 13 were killed, and as -several of the drivers were wounded, I would not allow another attempt. - -'As it seemed they would be a shell mark, sacrificing loss of life to a -gallant attempt to force passage unsupported by artillery, I directed -the troops to withdraw, which they did in good order. - -'Throughout the day a considerable force of the enemy was pressing on my -right flank, but was kept back by the mounted men under Lord Dundonald -and part of General Barton's brigade. - -'The day was intensely hot and most trying to the troops, whose conduct -was excellent. - -'We have abandoned ten guns, and lost by shell-fire one. - -'The losses in General Hart's brigade are, I fear, heavy, though the -proportion of severely wounded is, I hope, not large. - -'The 14th and 66th Field Batteries also suffered severe losses. - -'We have retired to our camp at Chieveley. - -'The Boer losses are said to be over 700 men.'[#] - - -[#] This statement does not appear in the _Times_ report of General -Buller's telegram.--TRANSLATOR. - - -No, General, we did not lose 700 men that day. - -General Botha's report gave 8 dead and 20 wounded, while more than 2,000 -English lay on the battle-field. - -Round about the batteries especially the carnage had been terrible. The -Boers, ambushed on a little kopje on the further side of the Tugela, 300 -metres from the cannon, kept up an unerring fire for an hour. - -December 15, be it noted, has long been a day of rejoicing in the -Transvaal. It is the anniversary of the Battle of Bloedriver, when -Pretorius, to avenge the massacre of Pieter Retief and over 500 Boers, -defied the bands of the Zulu chief Dingaun. This was on December 15, -1838, and on that eventful day Pretorius and his 400 men left 3,000 -Zulus on the field, with a loss of only three wounded themselves. - -After Colenso the victors had another splendid opportunity. They might -have pushed forward with the armies of Natal and the Free State. The -English troops had, it is true, been reinforced, but the arms of the -Republics were still victorious in every direction. - -In the beginning, on the whole, the elements of success were -overwhelmingly with the Boers. These were superiority of numbers, of -marksmanship, a profound knowledge of the country, of which no accurate -maps exist, and the great distances between their opponents and such -reinforcements as the latter could depend on. It might have been said -that the fortune of war, taking into account the right and justice of -their cause, had been pleased to place all the elements of victory in -their hands. But neither the advice offered by the most authoritative -voices and based on the great teachings of military history, nor the -entreaties dictated by the most generous devotion to the cause of the -Boers, could rouse the superiors in command from the apathy that seemed -to have overtaken them. - -Christmas passed in rejoicings on both sides. The belligerents exchanged -Christmas and New Year good wishes by the medium of shells specially -prepared, containing sweets, chocolates, etc. New Year's Day found them -all much in the same positions. The bombardment of the three towns, -Mafeking, Kimberley, and Ladysmith, continued. - -However, on January 6 Joubert made up his mind to attack--if, indeed, -that strange encounter, aimless and incoherent, can be called an attack. -Was it an assault by the besiegers or a sortie of the besieged? Perhaps -both. It took place at Platrand. Four or five hundred of Prinsloo's men -were seriously engaged; the others (there were 6,000 round the town) -took up positions early in the morning, quitted them towards ten o'clock -to come back and breakfast in camp, returned to them later, and remained -for the rest of the day 1,800 yards from the town, which was no longer -defended, without firing a shot, without a thought of throwing -themselves against it or of going to the help of their comrades, hotly -engaged close by. In the evening they went back quietly to camp, while -the commandos of Zand River, Harrismith, Heilbron, and Kroonstad had -fifty-four killed and ninety-five wounded. The English lost 138 killed -and over 200 wounded. A little dash, decision, and cohesion, and the -town might have been taken. Such was Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil's -opinion. - -But even in the full flush of success we shall never find among the -Boers that eagerness, that scorn of death, that enthusiasm which sweep -troops forward and make great victories. - -The same day, at Colesberg, an _accident_ (this word is a happy -invention of General French's to denote a reverse) cost the English 150 -lives, among them that of Colonel Watson. - -The sieges followed their--I will not say normal--course, for the -ill-defended towns ought long ago to have been taken by the Boers. Such -was the general situation, more or less, when we landed. - - - - - II - - -Time passed, the screw laboured round, and on January 12 we arrived at -Diego Suarez. - -'Passengers for Lourenço Marques change steamers!' - -For the _Natal_ is bound for Mauritius, along the east coast of -Madagascar. We shall therefore spend the night on shore. - -Wandering about the town, we meet Colonel Gourko, whom we invite to -dinner, as we are in a French colony. I can't pride myself much on this -meal, in the name of French culinary art. - -The next day I lighted on a quartermaster of the Marine Artillery, whom -I had known in the Soudan when he was only a gunner. He went off to -find the other Soudanese campaigners of the settlement, and in a quarter -of an hour I was surrounded by half a dozen old comrades. They were all -in high spirits, for it had been a day of promotions, and several of -them were toasting their new stripes. - -I spend a full hour with them, recalling the old days spent in the -colony that all who have once known regret. - -The hour of parting draws near; several subalterns return to their -duties, while my old friend and a newly-promoted officer come to see me -off. - -The _Gironde_, also of the Messageries Maritimes, plies from Diego -Suarez to Durban and _vice versâ_. Several artillery and marine -officers, having heard of my presence, have come to wish me godspeed on -board. I am much touched at this token of sympathy from unknown -friends, for, setting my humble personality aside, it is a homage to the -noble cause I am on my way to uphold. - -But the bell rings, the anchor is weighed, and we are off. If the -_Natal_ was an old 'fine steamer,' the _Gironde_ is a _very_ old one. -She was formerly one of the swift and elegant Indian liners, but now, -obsolete and worn-out, is reserved for this little auxiliary service -till such time as some sudden squall shall send her to the bottom. - -Nevertheless, we arrived safely at Mozambique, where some few days -before a terrible cyclone had destroyed part of the native village. Huts -were overthrown and lying in fragments, trees torn up by the roots, -telegraph-wires broken; an air of mournful desolation hung over the -district. - -Meanwhile, the buxom negresses of the quarter went about their daily -work, apparently unmoved at the ruin of their dwellings. - -We pay a visit to the fort, a very curious sight, with its mediæval -battlements bristling with cannon two hundred years old, and its -soldiers armed with flintlock muskets. All these excellent Portuguese -warriors seem to be impressed by a sense of their lofty mission. They -even demurred a little before admitting us into their 'citadel.' - -We take up the Archbishop of Mozambique, I believe; he is brought on -board by a military launch, with all the honours due to his rank, and -saluted by the guns of the fort. - -We leave Mozambique the same evening. - -Every day there were superb sunsets, glories of deep purple, blue, -blazing red, green, yellow and pink, vivid pieces of impressionism that -beggar description. - -Thus, still avoiding shipwreck, we come to Beira, where we land our -prelate, who is received by a numerous staff of officers; troops line -the quays, and salutes are fired! - -Portugal has certainly a remarkable colonial army. Among the others -there is a huge captain, bursting out of his tunic. Each of his long -commands, incomprehensible to me, seems to produce consternation in his -troop, followed by a series of perfectly diverse manoeuvres. - -We turn away that we may avoid laughing aloud, for the moment is a -serious one... Two or three trombones attack the Portuguese national -air. A good many of the worthy soldiers have shouldered arms, and the -majority have presented them.... His lordship passes. He gets into a -little 'lorry' pushed by natives, and goes off quickly, while the troops -disperse. They are worthy of those I have several times seen at Lisbon. - -I think if I were the Portuguese I would prefer none at all to such as -these.... And, then, the suppression of the military budget would -perhaps enable them to pay their dividends. In the afternoon we embark a -band of Englishmen coming from Rhodesia to enlist as volunteers at -Durban and Cape Town. They invade the saloon with their friends, and -sing 'God save the Queen.' Some of the Frenchmen present retort with -the Marseillaise; the situation becomes strained, fists are clenched, -and finally a certain number of blows are exchanged. We have on board a -grandson of President Kruger's, whose home is in Holland. After having -been arrested once, conducted to Durban and sent back to Europe, he is -making a second attempt to enter his country. Thanks to a strict -incognito, only laid aside for two of us, he succeeds in his design. - -At night we arrive off Lourenço Marques, where, without let or -hindrance, we disembark on January 21. - -We order a bottle of Moët in the saloon to drink the health of Captain -B----, whom we are leaving, and against whom we are going to fight -presently. - -'Your good health,' he says, 'and I trust we shan't meet later on!' - -We part with a hearty shake of the hand. At the Custom-house we easily -get our artistically-concealed revolvers through, but the Customs -officers fall upon the uniforms, arms and harness belonging to Colonel -Gourko. They decline to pass anything, in spite of all explanations. -The Colonel is obliged to go and fetch the Russian Consul and the -Governor. We take up our quarters at the Hotel Continental, which, we -are told, is the best. Five of us are packed into one small room on -improvised beds, where we are devoured by mosquitoes ... and this costs -fourteen shillings a day! - -Colonel Gourko, having recovered his baggage, joins us there, and, in -his turn, invites us to dinner. He does things in a princely fashion, -and the bill must have been one that Paillard himself would have -hesitated to present. - -All sorts of obstacles are invented to prevent our departure. Firstly, -of course, our passports have to be _visé_, but before this can be done -we have to get stamps, which are only to be had at the opposite end of -the town; we have, further, to produce a certificate of good conduct -(having only arrived the night before!). Then more stamps, then a note -from the French Consul, then more stamps; and the office where you get -the signature or the paper is never the same as the one that sells the -stamps. - -At last all formalities have been carried out. Our pockets are bulging -with some dozen papers covered with innumerable signatures and a shower -of stamps. Cost: over 50 francs--10,850 reïs! - -We go to the station at seven o'clock the following morning. There are -a great many police officers on duty. By the Governor's orders no one -is to be allowed to start for the Transvaal with the exception of the -Russian ambulance. We all exclaim shrilly, and hurry off to the Consul. - -Upon our formal declaration that this order will injure us in our -business, he proceeds to the Governor and remonstrates, with the result -that we are authorized to start next morning, there being only one train -a day. - -We spend the day wandering about the town, which is of little interest. -The great square planted with trees is pleasant, however. - -We see the funeral procession of an officer of the English man-of-war -stationed here. The coffin, covered with the Union Jack, is placed on a -little gun-carriage drawn by sailors; others line the way. Officers in -full uniform follow, and a company of red-coats bring up the rear. - -This is our last encounter with the 'soldiers of the Queen' before we -open fire upon them. They are already numerous in South Africa, and -every day brings reinforcements. - -At the beginning of hostilities there were about 25,000 men distributed -over Natal and Cape Colony. From November 9 to January 1 seventy-eight -transports have brought 70,000 men, completing the fifth division; -15,000 volunteers have been raised on the spot, making in all 110,000 -men. - -The sixth and seventh divisions, a contribution from the colonies, will -bring them up to 22,000; 3,000 yeomanry and 7,000 militiamen will -complete the total of 152,000 promised for the month of February. The -seventh division started from January 4 to January 11, bringing nearly -10,000 men and eighteen cannon. - -Engagements at the rate of 3,600 francs (£124) are being made on every -side--1,600 (£64) on enlistment, 2,000 francs (£80) at the end of the -war. Enlistments in our Foreign Legion are affected and fall off -considerably. - -The City of London, by means of a public subscription of £100,000, -raises a corps of volunteers. This desperate system of enlistment is -severely criticised, even in England. - -'What a humiliation,' says Mr. Frederick Greenwood in the _Westminster -Gazette_ of January 2, 'to have to cry Help! help! at every crossway to -pick up a man or a horse.' - -Seventeen new battalions are to be raised after January 15. The choice -of men rests with the colonel or the lieutenant-colonel commanding the -regimental district. They are required to be aged from twenty to -thirty-five, to have gone through a course of instruction in 1898 or -1899, and to hold a certificate of proficiency in shooting. But, as a -fact, many of these certificates are given by favour, and a third of the -volunteers are from eighteen to twenty years old. The effort made by -the country has been considerable. - -On January 19 the eighth division was mobilized. It comprised the -sixteenth and seventeenth brigades under the command of Major-Generals -B. Campbell and J. E. Boyes; Batteries 89, 90, and 91, and the 5th -company of Engineers, making a strength of 10,540 men, 1,548 horses, -eighteen cannon, and eight machine guns. - -The eighth division is under the command of General H. M. L. Rundle, -aged forty-four, who has already served in the Zulu campaign, at the -siege of Potchefstroom in the Transvaal in 1881, and in the Egyptian and -Soudanese campaigns from 1884 to 1898. - - - - - III - - -To return to our journey. On the morning of the 24th, at 10 o'clock, we -took the train and departed, happy to leave Lourenço Marques. The last -station on the frontier is Ressano-Garcia; again our papers are -examined. If we paid highly for them, they at least do good service. - -The train rolls on again, and in a few minutes we are on the soil of the -Transvaal. All along the line, at every little bridge, bands of armed -Boers are posted. Komatipoort Station is also occupied by troops. -Everyone gets out. There is a minute inspection of all papers, even of -private letters, and we are conscientiously searched. Having satisfied -our challengers, we are allowed to go on. The trains travel very slowly -in this very broken, varied country. We ascend almost uninterruptedly, -and the line seems to run either along the sides of rocky mountains or -the edges of bottomless abysses. Many of the spots we pass are -extraordinarily picturesque. In the evening we arrive at -Watervaalonder, and the train stops; for in this country neither trains -nor men are in a hurry. - -A Frenchman, named Mathis, keeps a hotel, at which we sleep. He -receives us with much affability, and talks enthusiastically of the game -in the neighbourhood. He is a Nimrod. - -The next day we start again, and in the evening we are at Pretoria. My -friend Gallopaud is at the station, and takes us to the Transvaal Hotel, -where the guests of the Government are quartered. - -On the 26th, thanks to the good graces of M. Grunberg, we are presented -to M. de Souza, Mr. Reitz's secretary, for whom we have letters of -introduction. - -We take the oath of fealty as burghers, and receive our weapons, Mauser -carbines, the stock of which is getting low, cartridges and belts. -Horses and saddles are already giving out. We are impatient to be off, -but shops and offices are all closed on Saturday at one o'clock and -throughout Sunday. - -We take advantage of the holiday to inspect the town. Pretoria, as -everyone knows, is the capital of the Transvaal. It is the seat of the -Government, which is composed of two Chambers, the First Volksraad and -the Second Volksraad. Each is composed of twenty-nine members, elected -by direct suffrage. The President of the Republic and the -Commander-in-Chief are elected by the members of the First Chamber, the -former for five, the latter for ten years. They are eligible for -re-election for any length of time. - -The President, Paul Kruger, familiarly known as 'Oom Paul,' was -Commander-in-Chief for a long time before he became President. The -present Generalissimo, Joubert, was his rival in the Presidential -elections. - -The Transvaal revenue is drawn for the most part from heavy royalties on -the mines, and a crushing tax on explosives; in 1897 an income of -112,005,450 francs (£4,480,218) was received, against an expenditure of -109,851,400 francs (£4,394,056). - -The general aspect of Pretoria is depressing; only two or three streets -show any animation. The circumstances of the moment are not certainly -such as to enliven the town, but I have been told that even in times of -peace it is never very cheerful. - -Stretching over a wide area, it is intersected by little tramways, the -cars drawn by two consumptive horses. In the centre is Government -House, a huge building of freestone, massive and ungraceful, though not -without certain pretensions to the 'grand style,' I believe. On each -side a sentry of the Presidential guard paces up and down. Under the -colonnade of the main entrance, which faces a large open space, a few -steps lead up to a vast hall, with a monumental staircase at the end. -On each side of the hall two wide corridors run round the building, and -give access to all the different offices. We find the whole place, -hall, corridors and offices, crowded with busy people, some soliciting, -others solicited, all hurrying hither and thither. With the exception of -some few buildings of several storeys grouped round the palace and in -the main street--the post-office, the clubs, the banks, the hotels and -the large shops--all the houses are little one-storey cottages -surrounded by gardens. - - * * * * * - -On Monday morning we are able to have horses, which we go and catch -ourselves in the great courtyard which serves as a dépôt. We have also -some old English saddles, and after buying some rugs and some -indispensable provisions, we are ready to start at about five in the -evening. - -Our departure is fixed for eleven o'clock, by the special train which is -to take _Long Tom_ to Kimberley, where we are to join Colonel Villebois. -This _Long Tom_, a 155 millimetres Creusot gun, is a personage, a -celebrity. It weighs 2,500 kilogrammes; its carriage weighs the same. -Its fame is derived from its history. - -One night last November, at Lombard's Kop, in front of Ladysmith, where -the gun was mounted, sixty English, taking advantage of the slumbers of -the Boer sentinels, stormed the hill, seized the cannon, and finding it -impossible to displace it, damaged the two ends with dynamite. After -this the burghers, coming up in force, retook the gun, brought it to -Pretoria, and repaired it in a remarkable manner. It was, however, -shortened by about 25 centimetres. - -After these adventures it has become a sort of prodigal son, a legendary -weapon beloved of those great children we call the Boers. It is, -therefore, no small honour to be called upon to escort _Long Tom_. We -share this honour with a gunner named Erasmus, a strange being, who, -after being severely wounded at the taking of 'his cannon,' had sworn -only to return and fight in its company. - -On this Monday night, accordingly, at eleven o'clock, in a downpour of -rain, we and our horses take our places in the train, which, profiting -no doubt by its being a 'special,' starts an hour after time. It -consists of three or four first-class coaches with lateral corridors. -These coaches, which are comfortable enough, and very high in the -ceiling, have in each compartment two seats of three places each, -covered with leather, and in the centre a folding-table about 50 -centimetres wide. At night a second seat, which is raised in the -day-time, or serves as a luggage-net, makes a sleeping-berth, so that -four travellers in each compartment can rest comfortably, a convenience -highly desirable in a country where journeys often last forty-eight -hours, and even six or seven days, as from Cape Town to Buluwayo and -Fort Salisbury. - -Travellers install themselves as they please, without any sort of -constraint. Luggage is not registered, and the carriages are invaded--I -use the term advisedly--with weapons, saddles, bridles, bandoliers, -provisions, dogs, if one has any, rugs, trunks and bundles. No -officials, no staff, no warning cries, no notices forbidding travellers -to get out while the train is in motion. A station-master, and hardly -anything more. - -A bell rung three times at short intervals announces the departure of -the train. You get in, or you don't get in; you stand on the footboard, -climb on to the roof of the carriage, leave the door open or shut it, -get into a truck or cattle-van--it's your own look out. You are free, -and no one would dream of interfering with you in the matter. - -In the carriages passengers sleep, drink, eat, sing, shoot and gamble, -and every morning a negro comes and cleans up. - -There is a little of everything among the debris--old papers, empty -preserve-tins, fruit-parings, tobacco-ash, cartridge-cases, empty, and -sometimes broken, bottles. An inspector on the P. L. M. would go mad at -the sight. - -While the cleaning goes on, we go and ask for a little hot water from -the engine, and make our morning coffee. On trucks that we go and fetch -ourselves we load up heavy carts of provisions, ammunition, and cannon. -Finally, we heap up pell-mell in open cattle-vans, mules and horses in -some, oxen in another. And casualties are no more numerous than in -Europe, where we arrange them like sardines in a box--'thirty-two men, -eight horses.' The beasts of these regions, like the men, have -apparently learnt to take care of themselves from their earliest -infancy. - -During the journey of Tuesday a springbock, a kind of antelope, startled -by the engine, is so imprudent as to run along by the train at a -distance of about 300 metres. From the tender to the last van a brisk -fire suddenly opens. The engine-driver slows down, then, as the -creature falls, stops altogether. A man gets down, fetches the quarry, -and comes quietly back. The train goes on again, the springbock is cut -up, and at the next station the engine-driver gets a haunch as an -acknowledgment of his good-nature. This is indeed travelling made -enjoyable! - -But there are always folks who like to cut down the cakes and ale! In -April, 1900, a penalty of £5 sterling was decreed for persons who fire a -gun or a revolver in a railway-station or a village. - -In every station--and they are legion--the whole feminine population has -gathered, and sings the Boer hymn as soon as the train appears. And at -every station the following ceremony takes place: A deputation comes to -Erasmus, and begs him to show _Long Tom_. Erasmus mounts on the truck -where the cannon is installed, and opens the breech. Each woman passes -in front of it, putting either her head or her arm in, with cries of -admiration. Then Erasmus closes the breech, gets down, and the -Transvaal hymn, sung in chorus, alternates with that of the Orange Free -State until the departure of the train. - -On Tuesday evening at six o'clock we arrive at Brandfort. It is too -late to unload the gun, and we spend the night in the village, where we -are very well received. - -Early on Wednesday we begin our task, with the help of the whole -village, and to the accompaniment of the national hymn. The young girls -all have sharp, forced voices, but from a distance the effect of these -voices in chorus is not unpleasant. As to the male choirs, which are -heard on every possible occasion, they are really charming and very -impressive. Their music is very slow, and almost exclusively devotional -in its rhythm. - -Towards three o'clock on Thursday the convoy is ready. Thirty bullocks -have been harnessed to _Long Tom_. The rest of the convoy consists of -some twenty waggons of provisions and ammunition. As we set off, two or -three photographers make their appearance. - -The column, escorted by some sixty Boers, moves off towards Kimberley, -in the midst of enthusiastic demonstrations. The waggons are heavy -four-wheeled carts, with powerful brakes; the back part is covered with -a sort of rounded tent stretched over hoops. This tent is the home of -the travelling Boer. In it he keeps his mattress, his blankets, his -utensils, his arms, while the front part is reserved for the heavy -stores--millet, flour, biscuits, etc. - -The driver walks beside his team, armed with a long whip, which he -wields in both hands. The thick cane handle is often about 10 feet, and -the lash, of strips of undressed hide, from 15 to 20 feet long. The -management of this whip is no easy matter, and it is curious to see a -good driver, at the moment when an effort is required, giving each of -his twenty or thirty bullocks the necessary stroke in an instant. - -The Burgher himself is mounted, shabby and ragged, dressed in a faded -coat, a shapeless hat, and long trousers without straps. - -For some time on the march we had a neighbour whose ulster, formerly, no -doubt, of some normal hue, had turned, under the rains of years (I had -almost said of centuries), a pinkish colour, with green reflections, -like a sunset at sea. And the happy owner of this prism seemed quite -unconscious that, amidst much that was extraordinary, he was perhaps the -most extraordinary sight of all. - -One warrior was mounted on a wretched old English saddle, to which were -slung pell-mell a mackintosh, a many-coloured rug, a coffee-pot, a -water-bottle, and a bag containing a medley of coffee, sugar, tobacco, -biscuit and _biltong_ (dried meat). Two bandoliers, and sometimes his -rifle, were slung across his body, the latter horizontally on his -stomach, when he was not carrying it upright in his hand, like a taper. -His braces hung down his back. He had a single spur, for the Burgher -rarely uses two, thinking a second an unnecessary luxury. Indeed, he -relies much more on his _shambock_ (a thong of hippopotamus hide) than -on his single spur for the control of his horse. - -Thus equipped, he shambles along on his jade, which trots, canters and -gallops at intervals, silent, his legs well forward, his feet stuck out, -catching at his over-long stirrups. His military organization is on a -par with his equipment. - -The 'commando' is the only military division known among the Boers. A -commando is a levy of the men of a district, under the leadership of a -field-cornet or a commandant. These grades, which are ratified by the -Government, are independent of any hierarchy, and merely imply a -difference in the number of electors. - -I say electors advisedly, for the field-cornets are chosen by their men, -and, in their turn, take part in the nomination of the generals. This -arrangement works well enough when electors and elected are of one mind. -But when the leader wants to carry out some plan which his electors -disapprove, he runs the risk of being cashiered and replaced by one of -the majority. - -I do not know what are the results of this system in politics; but, -applied to an army, it is disastrous, for very often the leader, brave -enough himself, dares not engage his men, lest he become unpopular; and -this, I think, has been the main cause of the total absence of offensive -action on the part of the Boers. Perhaps, indeed, it will prove one of -the main causes of their final overthrow. - -The commandant, or field-cornet, chooses among his men a 'corporal,' who -acts as his auxiliary. These 'commandos,' the effective numbers of -which are essentially variable, are called after the chief town of the -district from which they are drawn: Heidelberg Commando, Carolina -Commando. And not only do they vary considerably, according to the -population of a district, but the field-cornet himself never knows how -many men he has at his disposal, for the Burghers have no notion of -remaining continuously at the front; when one of the number wants to go -back to his farm nothing can stop him. He goes, though he will come -back later for another spell of service. Desertions of this kind often -took place _en masse_ the day after a reverse. - -The Johannesburg Politie and the Artillery are the only troops in the -Transvaal which can be described as more or less disciplined. The -Politie are the police-force of Johannesburg and Pretoria. - -In times of peace the men wear a uniform consisting of a black tunic, -cut after the English pattern, and black trousers. On their heads they -wear a little hard black cap, with a button at the end, and for full -dress a white peaked cap with a badge bearing the arms of the Transvaal. -On the collars of their tunics are three brass letters: Z. A. R. (Zuid -Africa Republic). But during the campaign their uniform has -disappeared, and they are not to be distinguished from the ordinary -Burghers. A certain discipline obtains among them, and they receive -regular pay, which is reduced in time of war, as their families are then -in receipt of indemnities in kind. - -These men are the only ones who can be relied on to hold a position they -have been told to keep. The other Burghers will only fight if they -choose, and if they can do so without much risk. - -The fighting strength of the Johannesburg Politie is about 800 men, with -four lieutenants, under Commandant van Dam, an energetic and intelligent -man. - -The guns, of which I have already given a brief description--four _Long -Toms_, a dozen 75 millimetres Creusot guns, some thirty Krupp -field-pieces and old Armstrongs--are served by a body of artillery whose -barracks are at Pretoria. I do not say nineteen or twenty batteries, -for there are no groups or detachments. Each gun is used separately, -according to the needs of the generals or the fancy of the artillerymen. - -The corps consists of thirty officers and about 400 men. They wear a -black tunic and breeches, and a sort of shako much like that of the -Swiss army. In the field this shako is replaced by a large felt hat -looped up on one side, and the rest of the costume undergoes any -modification that suggests itself to the wearer. - -They were at first under the command of Commandant Erasmus, who was -superseded after the affair of Lombard's Kop, below Ladysmith.[#] - - -[#] Commandant Erasmus must not be confused with the Adjutant Erasmus -who was with our party. The same names are very frequent throughout the -Republics, the natives of which are mainly sprung from the few families -who originally settled there. Thus there are some twenty Bothas, thirty -Jouberts, etc. - - -The artillery of the Free State, composed of old Armstrong guns and a -few Krupp guns lent by the Transvaal, is served by a corps who look like -the artillerymen of a comic opera. They wear a drab tunic and breeches -with a great deal of orange braid, and are inferior even to their -colleagues of the Transvaal. - -All told, then, the army consists of some 40,000 to 50,000 Burghers, -without cohesion and without discipline, field-cornets who do not obey -their generals, and who cannot command the obedience of their men. Over -them are titular generals and vecht-generals (generals appointed for the -term of the campaign only), for the most part ignorant of the very -elements of the art of war, and at variance one with another. - -How often during this campaign are we led to ponder over the phrase we -have been mechanically reciting for ten years past: 'Seeing that -discipline is the strength of armies!' - - * * * * * - -We have a six days' march before us. The bullocks are accustomed to -travel by short stages of two hours, followed by an hour's rest. At -night, however, we advance by stages of four or five hours. - -The soil over which we pass is bare and sandy, of a uniform -grayish-yellow tint, and produces nothing but short, coarse grass, which -serves as fodder for the oxen and horses. - -At every halt the cattle are let loose, and when the rest is over the -Kaffir 'boys' go off in pursuit of them, often to a considerable -distance. Water is scarce, and generally bad. - -Very often on the way we are received with delightful hospitality at the -farms we pass. These houses are clean, and often even those which stand -quite alone in the bush have a parlour adorned with photographs, -religious prints, and Scripture texts in large characters. The furniture -is simple, but there is very often a harmonium, for the singing of hymns -is a frequent exercise in a Boer household. - -Nevertheless, a respect for musical instruments is not carried to -extremes. At Dundee, for instance, a Burgher had made a shelter for -himself with a piano taken from an English villa. - -The head of the family, often an old man with a white beard, is an -absolute and much respected master in his home. He presides at meals, -waited on by the women, who do not eat till the men have finished. The -menu invariably consists of eggs and mutton cooked together in a -frying-pan, bread or biscuit, and fruit. The drink is coffee with milk. - -The Boer women are not well favoured. As a rule, they are thick-set and -weather-beaten. They wear large pink or white sun-bonnets, very becoming -to the young girls. - -The traveller is a guest, received as if he were an old acquaintance; -and whatever the hour of his appearance, he is at once offered coffee -with milk, and, when they are in season, peaches. - -At the time of our journey a good many men were at the front; but there -are often some dozen children with the women, making large households. -They all live pell-mell in two or three rooms. - -In time of peace the Burgher is a keen sportsman; this is, indeed, the -reason of his wonderful skill as a marksman, for he always shoots with -ball-cartridge; shot is never used. In time of war he is a hunter -still. He fights as he hunts, the game alone is changed; but as the -quarry has means of defence more efficacious and violent than those of -the ostrich or the springbock, he is often less persevering in pursuit -of it. - -When the Burgher halts to hunt or to fight, he dismounts, shelters his -horse behind some rock, and leaves it loose, taking care to pass the -bridle over its neck. All the horses are trained to stand perfectly -still when they see the reins hanging in front of them thus, and, no -matter how heavy the fire, they will not stir. - -The Boers have a way of their own of reckoning distances. When, for -instance, they tell you that it is seven hours from a certain place to -another, don't imagine that you will be in time for dinner if you set -off at noon; the seven hours in question are a conventional term. They -are hours at the gallop, and it is supposed that a swift horse, going at -his utmost speed, could cover the distance in seven hours. - -The immense concessions given by the Government are not cultivated, for -the Boer has a rooted dislike to work; his black servants grow the -necessary mealies, and keep his numerous flocks. As his wants are very -primitive, this suffices him. To procure sugar, coffee, and other -necessaries, he goes to town and sells two or three oxen. - -The rifle and cartridges furnished by the State in time of war become -the Burgher's property. - - * * * * * - -On the march in war-time this system of halting the oxen because they -are hot, and the men because they want to drink coffee at every farm, is -neither very rapid nor very practical. We do not arrive at Boshof till -the fifth day. This is the spot fated to be the grave of our venerated -leader. - -Boshof, in contrast to its surroundings, is a gay little oasis, -traversed by a cool stream. It boasts green trees and pretty villas. -Two ambulances are installed here, but they shelter only two or three -wounded as yet. - -At the end of the village is a pool, which delights us vastly. We spend -the afternoon in it, after lunching with the field-cornet. - -The town is _en fête_, as at Brandfort, to receive us, or rather--away -with illusion!--to receive _Long Tom_. - -We start again in the night, and reach Riverton Road. We are now on -English territory, in Cape Colony. - -Towards noon, M. Léon comes to meet the cannon, the arrival of which has -been anxiously expected for the last two days. - -We are only an hour from the camp, which we reach at a gallop. There, -at Waterworks--the reservoir that supplies Kimberley--we find Colonel de -Villebois-Mareuil. - -Need I describe that frank and energetic face, with its searching blue -eyes, and its benevolent smile, sometimes a little ironical, always -subtle; the clear voice; the concise manner of speech, brief without -being brusque? Even at that stage a look of sadness had stamped itself -upon his face; he saw that the men for whom he was to lay down his life -would not follow the counsels dictated by his profound knowledge and -unquenchable devotion. - - * * * * * - -We had been expected for two days, and twice the Colonel had had good -luncheons prepared. Then, giving us up, he had ordered nothing, and we -took his kitchen by surprise. - -We find with him Baron de Sternberg, that charming Viennese, whose -inexhaustible good spirits are famous throughout London and Paris. In -the evening he works in his tent at a history of the war, and composes -the most delicious verses in German. The Colonel also works hard. - -_Long Tom_ arrives some time after us. - -Our laager at Waterworks is a large square, measuring some 200 metres on -every side, planted with trees, and containing the machinery for -distributing the water. It looks like an oasis in the midst of the vast -yellow plain. In the distance are a few kopjes. We are about 700 -metres from Kimberley. The camp is commanded by General du Toit. - -Kampferdam, where the cannon has been taken, is 3 kilometres to the -south, and 5,500 metres from Kimberley. It is a kind of whitish peak, -about 50 metres high, formed of the refuse from the diamond mine below. - -The night of Tuesday to Wednesday is spent in the construction of the -wooden platform on which _Long Tom_ and his carriage are to be mounted. - -The English searchlights fix their great round eyes upon us from time to -time, but there is nothing to show that the enemy has noticed anything -abnormal in our proceedings. - -All night long the work goes on with feverish activity, for Léon, who is -superintending the operations, wants to fire his first shell at -daybreak. But it is no easy task to hoist up that mass of 5,000 kilos, -especially with inexperienced, undisciplined, and obstinate men, and the -cannon is not ready till ten o'clock. - -One of our party, Michel, an old artilleryman, the holder of some twenty -gunnery prizes, gives the workers the benefit of his experience, and as -he cannot find any sights, Erasmus artlessly proposes to make one of -wood! - -At last the first shot is fired! I am certain that at this moment not a -single Boer is left in the trenches. Everyone has rushed out to see the -effect produced. It is of two kinds. Firstly, our shell, badly -calculated, bursts far off in the plain; then, no sooner has it been -fired, than an English shell from the Autoskopje battery, 3,500 metres -to our right, falls and explodes among the machinery of the Kampferdam -mine. This exchange of compliments goes on till near twelve o'clock. -This is the sacred hour of lunch. The fire ceases. - -As coffee is a liquid which has to be imbibed slowly, firing does not -begin again till nearly four o'clock. It is very hot, for it is the -height of summer. - -During this interval, the Colonel has been several times to General du -Toit, to ask for fifty volunteers. - -The Colonel's plan is to batter the town with a storm of shells (we have -450) for two hours, from four to six, and thus demoralize it; then, with -fifty men, whom the French contingent would lead, to seize the -Autoskopje battery, which is but poorly defended, at nightfall, and -thence to gradually creep up to the town through a little wood, which -would mask the advance. The plan was very simple, requiring but few -men, and had every chance of success, because of the surprise it would -have been to the English, who had never been attacked hitherto. - -'Wait a bit,' said Du Toit; 'I will lay your plan before the council of -war to-morrow.' - -In vain the Colonel tells him that the success of the plan depends on -its immediate execution. He can get no answer. The evening is wasted. - -General du Toit is a big, bronzed man, with a black pointed beard and a -straight and penetrating gaze. Though very brave personally, he has -never dared to engage his men. - -The latter are very well pleased with their role of besiegers. They -will appreciate it less when the _Long Cecil_ comes upon the scene. -Hitherto, the long _far niente_, comparatively free from peril--the -town, under the command of Colonel Kekewich, was defended by such a -small garrison that _sorties_ were impossible--has only been broken by -the singing of hymns, the brewing of coffee and cocoa, and the -occasional pursuit of a springbock. - -Every evening a guard, composed, I fancy, of anyone who chose to go, -went off, provided with a comfortable stock of bedding, to do duty round -the camp. - -Others, the valiant spirits, remained at the three batteries where were -installed _Long Tom_, the three Armstrongs, and the Maxim. - -_Long Tom's_ battery was by far the most popular, for several reasons. -In the first place, its processes were much more interesting than those -of the small guns; then, its defenders were much more sheltered, owing -to the proximity of the mining works; and finally, a good many former -miners were always on the look-out for a stray diamond or two. - -Among the besiegers of Kimberley, indeed, we met with a good many -adventurers who took no other part in the campaign. - -Men of all nationalities, many of them familiar with the town, having -worked in the mines here, they came in the hope of finding some diamond -overlooked in the sudden cessation of mining operations.... Then, too, -they knew that Cecil Rhodes was in the town, having had no time to fly -or to carry off his treasure. - -Then, again, there are bankers and jewellers in Kimberley, and if the -Boers had taken the town.... - -It appears that Cecil Rhodes was quite aware of this danger, and I have -heard that he attempted to manufacture a balloon which was to have -carried 'Cecil and his fortunes' to a safer city. - -In any case, his gratitude to his defenders was very lively. And, in -addition to other liberalities, he presented a commemorative medal to -them all. - - - - - IV - - -Failing an assault, we resume the bombardment. The firing is slow and -inaccurate. The English reply in much the same fashion, when suddenly -their new cannon appears on the scene, not altogether to our surprise, -for some intercepted letters had warned us of its manufacture. It was -the famous _Long Cecil_. - -The _Long Cecil_ was a gun of about 12 centimetres, made in Kimberley -itself during the siege with a piece of steel taken from the machinery -of the De Beers mine. - -The piece was drilled and rifled with the means at the disposal of the -besieged. - -The closing of the breech, a somewhat fantastic arrangement, was based -on the Canet system. In default of a trial field, the range was arrived -at from observations of actual firing against us. - -_Long Cecil_ accordingly began to speak, and to speak very much to the -point. Several times we were covered with earth, and I am certain that -out of twenty shells, the extreme error was not more than 200 metres. -One fortunately fell diagonally on _Long Tom's_ very platform, -rebounded, and burst a little way off. Seven men were killed. - -The next day, Thursday, passed in almost precisely the same fashion. -Towards five o'clock the interchange of amenities between _Long Tom_ and -_Long Cecil_ began, and lasted till 8.30; at 8.30, breakfast. After -breakfast, the guns went to work again till 11. At 11, lunch, rest. -From 4 to 6, another cannonade. At 6, dinner. - -This respect for meal-times is charming, and greatly facilitates life in -the field. - -It is a pity the attention of the Powers is not called to this subject -by an international convention! Many affections of the stomach would be -hereby avoided. - -Encouraged by the example of their big brothers, the little 12 and -15-pounder Krupps and Armstrongs join in the concert. - -The English have five, and we have four. It is delightful, and one -can't complain of a single second of boredom. - -On Friday, the Colonel's request is still unanswered. - -'Wait a little while!' - -Sternberg has had enough of it. Recognising the impossibility of -persuading Du Toit to take decisive action, he starts off to Jacobsdal, -where the English make him a prisoner. He was a great loss, for he had -an extraordinary repertory of adventures, which he told in a very -amusing manner, and, besides, he was a capital cook. - -The 'boys' in these regions, greatly inferior to those of the Soudan in -this respect, claim to be cooks as soon as they know how to light a -fire. Accordingly, we prepare our meals ourselves. Tinned meat, a bit -of roast mutton, or a stew, are the usual dishes. - -The Colonel eats very little, and only takes grilled meat; he drinks tea -or milk, and never touches wine or spirits. He does not smoke. He is a -striking contrast to the rest of us, who eat like ogres, drink like -sponges, and smoke like engines! - -Our contingent, consisting of Breda, Léon, Michel, Coste, my friend De -C---- and I, remain with Villebois. - -Michel has calculated the ranges, and we fire all Friday night. The -points aimed at are: the searchlights, Cecil Rhodes' house, the Grand -Hotel, the last high chimney on the left, and that on the right. - -Erasmus was unable to suppress a gentle amusement at the sight of our -preparations for night-firing. But when he grasped the idea that we -were in earnest, and that his _Long Tom_ was being loaded, the -benevolent smile with which one would watch a spoilt child engaged in -some innocent folly changed to a look of real anxiety. He thought poor -Michel had gone mad. He finally got used to the novel proceeding. - -Firing ceased on both sides about 12.30 a.m. Early on Saturday morning -it began again. One of our shells fell on the De Beers magazine, -transformed into an ammunition factory, and caused an explosion and a -fire. - -The English, despairing of silencing our _Long Tom_ with their _Long -Cecil_, replied to every shot at the town by a shell into our laager. -The accuracy of their fire with this gun at a range of about 7,000 -metres was remarkable. We were indeed a capital target: a green -rectangle of 200 metres in the midst of a yellow, arid plain. - -The shell arrived in thirty-four seconds, but did no great damage, for a -watchman gave the alarm, 'Skit!' each time when he saw the smoke, and we -retreated into shelter. - -The telegraphists of the staff, who were working in a little house, were -placed in communication with the watchman by means of a bell, and, -warned half a minute before the arrival, they had time to take refuge in -a neighbouring trench. - -We learnt later that a similar system had been adopted in Kimberley as a -protection against _Long Tom_, and hence the small number of killed -during the siege. One of the first victims of _Long Tom_, however, was -the engineer of the _Long Cecil_, who had just finished his work. A -shell burst on his house and killed him in his bedroom. Another cause -of the slight mortality on both sides was the bad quality of the fuses -for the projectiles, which often burst imperfectly, or not at all. Thus, -one of the English shells fell in the machinery of the waterworks, only -a few inches from our reserve of a hundred shells, and happily failed to -explode. Another went through a cast-iron pipe, over a centimetre -thick, and buried itself in the earth without exploding; its fuse was -completely flattened on the projectile by contact with the pipe. - -Nevertheless, a good many, too many indeed, _did_ burst with -satisfactory results--to those who fired them. - -A good many of the Boers accordingly took the precaution of digging a -sort of tomb several feet deep, in which they piled mattresses and -blankets. They spent all night and part of the day lying in this -shelter. - -On Saturday morning, on arriving at the battery, we were surprised by a -whistling sound. The English, harassed by the fire of _Long Tom_, had -dug trenches during the night to a distance of about 1,200 yards, and -had manned them with riflemen. Their fire was not yet very galling, -because of the distance between us. - -Colonel de Villebois, seeing clearly what would happen, renewed his -request for a party of men. He now only asked for twenty-five to make -an assault that very night, for he pointed out that the _shanjes_ -(trenches) would be pushed forward during the night, and that our -battery would become untenable. But he was repulsed by the eternal -'Wait a little while!' - -Long convoys of Kaffirs that the English could no longer feed came out -of the town every day, preceded by huge white flags. Some were allowed -to pass after a parley, others were sent back again. - -The Colonel feared that an attempt would be made against _Long Tom_ by -night, as a sequel to the offensive movement on the part of the garrison -indicated by the making of the trenches. - -Everyone goes to spend the night at the battery, and we take the -opportunity of firing at the town. It proves to be merely a pastime. -The English reply, but do not attack us. - -On Sunday, February 11, we rest all along the line. The Burghers sing -hymns in chorus, and do not cease till late in the evening. A sort of -patriarchal simplicity obtains among them. Yesterday the Colonel was -shaving. A Boer entered without saying a word, sat down on his little -camp-bed, and remained there motionless. The Colonel, used to their -ways, took no notice, but waited for the visitor to explain his visit. -As this was prolonged considerably, the Colonel continued his toilet by -a tub taken _puris naturalibus_. The Boer remained, staring silently at -him. At last, his toilet ended, the Colonel explained to the visitor -that he must go, as he wanted to close his tent. The Boer departed -without a word. About ten minutes afterwards he came back with a friend, -who explained that he wanted the Colonel's razor. He would bring it -back _afterwards_. It was very hard to make him understand that the -Colonel wished to reserve the implement for his private use. - -On this Sunday, the day of rest, we accordingly went off to bathe at a -spring four kilometres from our laager. We enjoy this peaceful pastime -in the company of a young clergyman who was at one time in the camp. -When _Long Cecil_ began to bombard us, he judged its war-like thunders -to be incompatible with his sacred function, and set up his tent beyond -its range. - -On Monday morning the firing began again early. Léon and the Colonel -went off to the battery. Our horses had been turned out to graze by -mistake, so we did not start till an hour after them. On arriving, we -found the balls whistling more smartly than on Saturday. We could -plainly distinguish the buzz of the dum-dum bullets amidst the whir of -the ordinary charge. - -During the two nights, the English had pushed forward their trenches to -a distance of from 700 to 800 yards from us. We went up on the -platform, where the Colonel, his glass in his eye, was talking -imperturbably to General du Toit. At the same moment we saw Léon, who -was standing behind them, spin round and fall across the gun-carriage. -The poor fellow had been shot right through the forehead just above the -eyes. - -The Colonel at once raised him in his arms, others started off in haste -for an ambulance; but the bullets were now falling round us like hail. -Two horses were wounded in an instant, and a Burgher fell, a bullet -clean through his body. - -Poor Léon was still conscious. He bid us all good-bye calmly, taking a -particularly affectionate leave of the Colonel, to whom he was greatly -attached. The Colonel took a little water to wash the blood from his -face, and placed the empty pannikin on the parapet of sacks filled with -earth behind which we were sheltered. So heavy was the English fire -that the pannikin instantly fell to the ground pierced by a bullet. - -At last a cart appeared with an attendant and a stretcher. The wounded, -who numbered about a dozen by this time, received first aid; then Léon -was carried off on a stretcher. - -What a journey was that march of three kilometres, the first part of -which was performed under a rain of bullets! The head of the wounded -man was swathed in cloths, which we kept wetting continually, holding an -umbrella over his head, for the heat was intense--it was eleven o'clock -in the morning. Blood poured from his mouth and nose. Poor fellow! we -made up our minds that it was all over with him. - -We reached Waterworks in two hours. But the little house that had been -turned into a hospital was no longer safe since the bombardment of our -camp had begun. A telegram had therefore been sent to Riverton Road, -where there was an ambulance-station with a good doctor. Towards one -o'clock an ambulance-carriage arrived and carried off our comrade. - -On Tuesday, the 13th, we missed the salute _Long Tom_ had been in the -habit of giving the enemy at daybreak. What had happened? We sent off -for news. General du Toit replied that Erasmus declared the gun was -broken, and could not be fired. He himself had not been to inquire into -the damage, and seemed to be no more concerned than if he had been told -it was raining at Chicago. We set off to Kampferdam in great distress, -expecting to find the gun a wreck. - -As we approached, however, we saw that it was still in place, apparently -wondering at its own silence. We examined it carefully all over, but -could find nothing to account for the catastrophe, and, in despair, we -sent for Erasmus. - -Standing back a couple of paces, he showed us that one of the beams of -the platform, which had received the full force of the recoil, had sunk -some few centimetres. It was a matter of no importance, and did not -interfere with the firing in any way. But Erasmus, I suppose, did not -feel inclined to work the gun that day. He had told Du Toit that it was -broken, and the General had at once accepted the statement. After a -severe reprimand to the recalcitrant gunner, the firing recommenced as -usual. - -Our provisions began to run out in camp, in spite of a stock of potatoes -we had discovered at the waterworks. It was accordingly arranged that -we should start off with two others of the party to get fresh stores, -and a cart and mules, at Pretoria. - -The Colonel, believing that the lack of offensive action among the Boers -would prolong the siege indefinitely, determined to set out himself on -the 15th for Colesberg, where we were to rejoin him in a few days. We -started on the 14th, bound for Brandfort and Pretoria. - -On setting out, my mare, an excellent mount, but very fiery, brought me -suddenly to the ground, to the great amusement of the Colonel. The same -accident having happened to Breda a day or two before, it began to be -looked upon as a special privilege of the ex-cavalry officers! - -At nightfall we arrived at Riverton Road, where Léon was lying. During -the evening the Colonel himself came over to inquire for him. He had -had a good day, and the operation that was judged necessary had been -fixed for eleven o'clock that night, to avoid the heat of daylight. We -waited about the door of the baggage-shed, which had been converted into -an ambulance. - -The operation, which proved perfectly successful, lasted an hour and a -half. The doctor, a Scotchman called Dunlop, assured us that our poor -friend was out of danger. - -At daybreak on the 15th we started, the Colonel for the camp, we for -Brandfort. It was terribly hot, and we were in a hurry, for a rumour of -Lord Roberts' arrival had got about. It seemed likely that there would -be some more lively work on hand very soon, and we were anxious to get -through the drudgery of revictualling as quickly as possible. - -In the evening we reached Boshof, where a good many wounded had been -brought since our last visit. We rode all day on the 16th, slept in the -bush, and started again at daybreak on the 17th. Towards noon we took a -rest of an hour and a half, and consumed a tin of corned beef. - -It was nearly two when we mounted again under a sky of fire, not to draw -rein till we reached Brandfort at ten o'clock on Sunday morning, save -for a compulsory halt of two hours from three to five in the morning, -when the darkness made it impossible for us to continue our journey in -the trackless sand and tangled bush. - -We had been in the saddle twenty-six hours out of thirty to accomplish -our journey of 120 miles, and had taken three and a half days, riding -over sixty kilometres a day, in average heat of from 38° to 40° -(centigrade), without fodder and almost without water, in a wild, -unknown country. - -Our horses were dead-beat, and we entered the village on foot, dragging -the poor brutes by their bridles. What was our stupefaction to hear -that the siege of Kimberley had been raised without any engagement the -very day after our departure! - -The surprise, it seems, had been complete. There was a cry of 'The -English!' and then a panic, which barely left time to carry off the guns -and waggons. Part of the ammunition was left behind, some provisions, -_Long Tom's_ break and its platform. The Colonel had escaped with -Breda. But in the confusion one of our comrades, Coste, was lost, and -eventually joined Cronje. - -A story which amused us all at the time may be told here. A volunteer, -no longer in his first youth--well over fifty, in fact--had come to join -the Colonel just at the time of the English attack. A very eccentric -character, and slightly bemused by drink, he found himself in the thick -of the stampede, without any clear idea of what it was all about. - -Suddenly the Burghers, who had never seen him in the camp before, struck -by his odd behaviour, demanded his passports. Not understanding a word -of Dutch, he had some difficulty in making out what they wanted. - -At last he produced the necessary paper. The pandours of the moment -scrutinized them carefully, then, shaking their heads in the fashion -which among all races implies negation, they said: - -'No good! _Obsal!_' (mount). - -Two men ranged themselves on either side of the unlucky wight, a -complete novice in horsemanship, and galloped off with him to a farm -several miles off. - -'Dismount! Your passports!' - -About fifteen persons, men, women and children, were grouped round a -table. The passport, handed round once more, is discussed by the -assembly, each person present giving an opinion. The general verdict is -unfavourable, for heads are again shaken. - -'No good! _Obsal!_' - -The poor volunteer, aching from his furious gallop, begins to think -things rather beyond a joke; but, anxious to conciliate, he remounts, -and gallops off again under escort. On arriving at another farm another -inspection, also unfavourable, takes place. - -'No good! _Obsal!_' - -This time the worm turns. Pale, exhausted and racked with pain, he -opposes the force of inertia to the rigour of his tormentors, who, -convinced that he is a spy, set him against a wall and load their -rifles. This argument is so convincing that he remounts, and finally -makes them understand that he will be able to find someone to answer for -him at Brandfort. - -Two days later he arrived there, fasting, exhausted, and still guarded -by his escort. Fortunately he was recognised and released. He never -returned to the front. - - * * * * * - -We leave for Pretoria by the first train, and arrive on the evening of -the 20th. We at once set to work on our re-victualling mission. - -Two days later, I got a telegram from Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil. -Having heard of the arrival of a good many French volunteers at -Pretoria, he agrees to take the command of them, and orders me to get -them together. A letter to M. Reitz, sent off at the same time, -explains the project. - -Among the new arrivals are ex-petty officers, ex-sailors, ex-legionaries -... a motley crew. Their equipment will take several days, and it is -arranged that they are to join us at Colesberg, for which we start by -that evening's train. - -During this short sojourn at Pretoria I was presented by Colonel Gourko -to Captain D----, the French military attaché, one of the most charming -men I have ever met. - -We noticed numerous placards on the town walls, giving notice of -thanksgiving services for February 26 and 27. It is the anniversary of -Majuba Hill, which is celebrated every year with great pomp. This year, -in spite of the national pre-occupation in current events, the -traditional custom is to be kept up. The usual review of the troops by -the President and the Commander-in-Chief cannot, of course, take place; -but the shops and offices will be closed for forty-eight hours, and the -whole population will flock to the churches. - -Shortly after our departure, at a station the name of which I -forget--perhaps intentionally, for I feel a qualm of remorse at the -recollection of it--a little fox-terrier playing about the train jumped -into our carriage. We were just starting.... It would have been cruel -to throw the poor little beast on to the platform at the risk of maiming -it or causing it to be run over.... In short, we kept her, and -christened her Nelly. She was very pretty, pure white, with a black -patch on her head and another on her back. I felt remorseful--until the -next station; then I overcame my scruples. I am so fond of dogs. - -At Brandfort, a counter-order awaits us, directing us to go to -Bloemfontein, where the Colonel awaits us, in consequence of Lord -Roberts' latest operations. We land our cart, our mules, and our -provisions. But our worn-out horses have to be replaced. The Colonel, -impatient to be gone, will not wait for us, and starts for Petrusburg, -where we are to join him as quickly as possible. - -On the 28th, the news of Cronje's capitulation reaches us. We know -nothing of the details, but the moral effect is terrible. - -We had got together hastily at Pretoria a cart, harness, mules, and -three black boys. Individually, each of these acquisitions is highly -satisfactory. The cart is a superb omnibus, freshly painted gray; the -harness is almost new, the mules very handsome--a little black one in -particular. The boys were chosen to suit all tastes: one tall, one -short, and one of medium height. But it proves very difficult to -establish any sort of cohesion between these various elements. - -At the first attempt the harness breaks, the mules bite and kick. It -needs the cunning of an Apache even to approach the little black one. -The boys are stupid, and speak neither Dutch nor English, nothing but -Kaffir. The omnibus alone remains stationary, but it creaks and groans -in a pitiable fashion when touched. - -A second experiment is no more successful than the first. The third -gives a better result: the vehicle moves, and even goes very near to -losing a wheel. - -This remarkable result is achieved, firstly, because all the rotten -leathers of the harness are in pieces, after a double series of joltings -and strainings; only the solid ones are left. Secondly, the pretty -little black mule has run away, after breaking some dozen halters, so -that we are saved the trouble of harnessing her. Lastly, we have -stationed the three boys at a safe distance, begging them on no account -to help us, and Michel, who as an old artilleryman is an adept in -harness, does wonders. Finally we get off, escorting our omnibus, which -groans aloud at every step. - -We look like 'The Attack on the Stage Coach' in Buffalo Bill! - - - - - V - - -On the morning of the 7th, the road to Petrusburg was blocked, and the -guns were roaring in front of us. Marais, Botha's adjutant, joined us. -At the first sound of the guns we left the waggons, and galloped off in -the direction he pointed out. The battle of Poplar Grove was about to -be fought under our eyes, though we were unable to take a very active -part in it. - -The engagement went on mainly oh our right; we were on the left of the -Boer lines. In front of us was a kopje occupied by a hundred rifles. - -About 11 o'clock the English cavalry charged at the guns, about two -miles away. The firing slackened. Then about 2 o'clock the English -began to shell us furiously with shrapnel, also the kopje forming the -Boer centre. An outflanking movement completed the demoralisation of -the Boers, and at 3.30 the retreat became general. - -President Kruger came by this morning to announce that he had made the -following peace proposals: - - -'BLOEMFONTEIN, -'_March_ 5, 1900. - -'The blood and tears of the thousands who have suffered by this war, and -the prospect of all the moral and economic ruin with which South Africa -is now threatened, make it necessary for both belligerents to ask -themselves dispassionately, and as in the sight of the Triune God, for -what they are fighting, and whether the aim of each justifies all this -appalling misery and devastation. - -'With this object, and in view of the assertions of various British -statesmen to the effect that this war was begun, and is being carried -on, with the set purpose of undermining Her Majesty's authority in South -Africa, and of setting up an administration over all South Africa, -independent of Her Majesty's Government, we consider it our duty -solemnly to declare that this war was undertaken solely as a defensive -measure to safeguard the threatened independence of the South African -Republic, and is only continued in order to secure and safeguard the -incontestable independence of both Republics as sovereign international -States, and to obtain the assurance that those of Her Majesty's subjects -who have taken part with us in this war shall suffer no harm whatsoever -in person or property. - -'On these two conditions, but on these alone, are we now, as in the -past, desirous of seeing peace re-established in South Africa, and of -putting an end to the evils now reigning over South Africa; while, if -Her Majesty's Government is determined to destroy the independence of -the Republics, there is nothing left to us and to our people but to -persevere to the end in the course already begun, in spite of the -overwhelming pre-eminence of the British Empire, confident that that God -who lighted the inextinguishable fire of the love of freedom in the -hearts of ourselves and of our fathers will not forsake us, but will -accomplish His work in us and in our descendants. - -'We hesitated to make this declaration earlier to your Excellency, as we -feared that, as long as the advantage was always on our side, and as -long as our forces held defensive positions far in Her Majesty's -colonies, such a declaration might hurt the feelings of honour of the -British people; but now that the prestige of the British Empire may be -considered to be assured by the capture of one of our forces by Her -Majesty's troops, and that we are thereby forced to evacuate other -positions which our forces had occupied, that difficulty is over, and we -can no longer hesitate clearly to inform your Government and people in -the sight of the whole civilized world why we are fighting, and on what -conditions we are ready to restore peace.' - - -Lord Salisbury replied as follows: - - -'FOREIGN OFFICE, -'_March_ 11, 1900. - -'I have the honour to acknowledge your Honours' telegram, dated the 5th -of March, from Bloemfontein, of which the purport is principally to -demand that Her Majesty's Government shall recognise the "incontestable -independence" of the South African Republic and Orange Free State "as -sovereign international States," and to offer on those terms to bring -the war to a conclusion. - -'In the beginning of October peace existed between Her Majesty and the -two Republics under the Conventions which were then in existence. A -discussion had been proceeding for some months between Her Majesty's -Government and the South African Republic, of which the object was to -obtain redress for certain very serious grievances under which British -residents in the South African Republic were suffering. In the course of -these negotiations the South African Republic had, to the knowledge of -Her Majesty's Government, made considerable armaments, and the latter -had, consequently, taken steps to provide corresponding reinforcements -to the British garrisons of Cape Town and Natal. No infringement of the -rights guaranteed by the Conventions had, up to that point, taken place -on the British side. Suddenly, at two days' notice, the South African -Republic, after issuing an insulting ultimatum, declared war upon Her -Majesty; and the Orange Free State, with whom there had not even been -any discussion, took a similar step. Her Majesty's dominions were -immediately invaded by the two Republics, siege was laid to three towns -within the British frontier, a large portion of the two colonies was -overrun, with great destruction to property and life, and the Republics -claimed to treat the inhabitants of extensive portions of Her Majesty's -dominions as if those dominions had been annexed to one or other of -them. In anticipation of these operations, the South African Republic -had been accumulating for many years past military stores on an enormous -scale, which, by their character, could only have been intended for use -against Great Britain. - -'Your Honours make some observations of a negative character upon the -object with which these preparations were made. I do not think it -necessary to discuss the questions you have raised. But the result of -these preparations, carried on with great secrecy, has been that the -British Empire has been compelled to confront an invasion which has -entailed upon the Empire a costly war and the loss of thousands of -precious lives. This great calamity has been the penalty which Great -Britain has suffered for having in recent years acquiesced in the -existence of the two Republics. - -'In view of the use to which the two Republics have put the position -which was given to them, and the calamities which their unprovoked -attack has inflicted upon Her Majesty's dominions, Her Majesty's -Government can only answer your Honours' telegram by saying that they -are not prepared to assent to the independence either of the South -African Republic or of the Orange Free State.' - - -It was to be war, then, to the bitter end. - - * * * * * - -At the beginning of the retreat, a field-cornet came to ask my advice, -as often happened. He disregarded it, as always happened. I wanted them -to destroy the reservoirs, burn the forage, and poison the wells all -along the line of retreat.[#] He would never consent. - - -[#] The writer apparently made this monstrous suggestion quite -seriously.--TRANSLATOR. - - -Later on, when I was a prisoner, an English officer of rank, who had -taken part in the march across the Orange Free State, told me he had -suffered terribly from thirst, and he assured me that if the measures I -had advised had been taken, Roberts' 40,000 men, for the most part -mounted, would never have achieved their task. - -But at the moment time failed me to prove to the brave field-cornet, by -the teaching of history in general, and of the wars in Spain in -particular, what excellent results might be obtained by such a method of -defence. Minutes were becoming precious, and we made off as fast as we -could, while in the distance we saw half our convoy blazing, fired by -bursting shells. - -Towards half-past nine we lay down on the veldt, without pitching any -tents, and keeping a sharp look-out. By eleven the last of the Boer -stragglers had passed. Colonel Gourko and Lieutenant Thomson had been -made prisoners. - -On the 8th we were astir at daybreak. Our three boys went off to find -our beasts, which had strayed far in search of pasture, on account of -the scanty herbage, in spite of their hobbles. They were all recovered, -however, with the exception of one mule, which remained deaf to every -summons, a most inconsiderate proceeding on his part, seeing that the -English were at our heels. - -Time being precious, we started off as well as we could with our reduced -convoy. Suddenly one of our boys, big John, stood tiptoe on his long -feet, gave a sweeping glance around, and went quietly on his way. Half -an hour later, he began again to increase in height and to study the -horizon.... We could see absolutely nothing. As my acquaintance with -John was slight, I imagined that he probably suffered from some nervous -affection. But this time he sniffed the air loudly, and, without a -word, darted off obliquely from our track. - -An hour passed, and he did not return. Grave doubts of his fidelity -began to afflict us. At last, two hours later, we noticed a speck on the -horizon, then two. It was John with the missing mule. John is an -angel--a black angel! - -All the farms we passed on the road had hoisted the white flag. At noon -we reached the point where the road to Bloemfontein bifurcates. A few -Burghers were gathered there. We pitched our tents. - -During the evening the French military attaché, Captain D----, passed, -and told us that Colonel de Villebois was only about an hour distant -from us. - -On March 9 we set out to join him. We found him with about fifty men, -coming from Pretoria. These men were divided into two companies, the -first under Breda, the second under me. Directly we arrived it was -agreed to start at ten o'clock. We stopped long enough to add our cart -to the Colonel's convoy, which we were to pick up near the farm of -Abraham's Kraal. The 'French Corps' was formed! - -About four o'clock we arrived on the height of Abraham's Kraal. The -farm so-called lies along the Modder River, which flows from east to -west. Its steep, bush-entangled banks are bathed with yellow, turbid -water, whence its name--Modder (Mud) River. A line of kopjes, starting -from the edge of the river, stretches several miles south of it. In -front of them, to the west, lies a barren yellow plain. Far off on the -horizon lie the kopjes of Poplar Grove, where we were forty-eight hours -before. - -The Colonel, who has gone off on a scouting expedition with his troop, -is not to be found. We wait for him vainly all the evening with General -Delarey's staff, in company with Baron von Wrangel, an ex-lieutenant of -the German Guards. In this expedition a young volunteer named Franck, a -quartermaster of the Chasseurs d'Afrique, whose term had just expired, -distinguished himself by his coolness and his boldness under fire. He -was a brave fellow, as he was to prove later on. - -Night came on fast, our chief was still absent, and we went off to sleep -at a little deserted farm, with the officers of the Johannesburg -Politie. We lay down beside them and slept like men who have been in the -saddle for twelve hours. - -On March 10, at 5 a.m., we started for General Delarey's bivouac. It -might have been 6.30, when Vecht-General Sellier passed us at a gallop, -crying: '_Obsal!_ The English!' - -Our positions, chosen the night before, were as follows: Our right, with -the Modder River beyond, consisted of about 400 men of the Johannesburg -Politie, with a Krupp gun, an Armstrong, and two Maxims. Then a space -in the plain, where a commando of 200 men, with three cannon and a Maxim -gun, constituting our centre, had taken up a position early in the -morning. Finally, to the south, on our left, 300 men on a round kopje, -fairly high. - -At Poplar Grove two days before we had numbered several thousands; but -the Boers, discouraged by the check they had undergone, had returned to -their farms, refusing to fight. This was a proceeding very -characteristic of these men, slow physically and morally, profoundly -obstinate, astute rather than intelligent, distrustful, sometimes -magnanimous. Easily depressed and as easily elated, without any -apparent cause, they are a curious jumble of virtues and failings, often -of the most contradictory kinds. The sort of panics frequent among them -are due, I think, rather to their total lack of organization than to -their temperament; for, not to speak of individual instances of valour, -by no means rare among them, the Johannesburg Politie, with their very -primitive discipline, have shown what might have been done by the Boers -with some slight instruction and some slight discipline.[#] - - -[#] Ten years ago the Duc de Broglie, in his 'Marie-Thérèse -Impératrice,' wrote as follows of the campaign of 1744 against Frederick -the Great: - -'Prince Charles had not even all his force at his disposal.... All that -had been left him were the Hungarian levies, who had indeed been the -main strength of the Austrian army; but these irregular troops, passing -from ardour to discouragement with that mobility proper to men with whom -enthusiasm does duty for experience and discipline, now thought of -nothing but of a speedy return to their homesteads, and entered -reluctantly upon every enterprise that retarded this return. Whole -companies deserted the flag and took the road for Hungary.' - -These words, written of the Hungarians of the seventeenth century, are -literally applicable to the Boers of to-day, and it is curious to -note--though I do not for a moment compare Lord Roberts to Frederick the -Great--that the Hungarians often inflicted a check on the King of -Prussia, just as the Boers have occasionally stopped the English -Marshal. - - -They alone had remained, with a handful of foreigners and some stray men -from various commandos. - -The Heilbron Commando, consisting of over 200 men, was represented by -the corporal and three men. All the rest, the commandant at their head, -had gone home; hence their reduced fighting strength. At last all the -remnant of the force was in its place, behind little rocky entrenchments -hastily thrown up. - -In the distance a long column of 'khakis' defiles, marching from north -to south, presenting its left flank to us from a distance of seven or -eight miles, and preceded by a body of mounted scouts. - -We go to inspect the mounting of our guns, which are arriving on our -left and in the centre of our line. Then we return to the kopje where -we were before with the Johannesburg Politie. Captain D----, the French -military attaché, is there following all the movements. - -About eight o'clock an English detachment essays a movement against us, -and we open fire with our Krupp gun. English regiments defile against -the horizon till eleven o'clock. Some Maxims and a battery of -field-guns have been mounted against us. - -Between the English and Boer lines a herd of springbock are running -about in terror under the shells. The poor beasts finally make off to -more tranquil regions and disappear. - -The Maxims fire short, but after a few seconds the field-guns find the -range, and fire with a certain precision. Two shrapnel-shells fired one -after the other burst over our heads. My right-hand neighbour gets a -bullet just below his right eye, and falls against me; I am covered with -his blood. He died soon after. - -As I bathe his face, I see Captain D---- hobbling back. I go to him. -He has been struck on the hip by a ball, which, having fortunately spent -most of its force, has not penetrated the flesh. The wound was not -dangerous, but it swelled a good deal at once, and caused a numbness in -the leg. I hastily applied the necessary dressing, which the Captain -had with him, and then went to fetch his horse. - -After his departure, we return to the kopje. The Mounted Rifles advance -in force. We wait till they are about 500 metres off, and then open a -heavy fire upon them, supported by the two Maxims. They retreat -rapidly, leaving some dozen of their number on the field. We make four -prisoners. They are sailors who have been mounted, lads of barely -twenty. There is a lull after this attempt. - -About four o'clock the artillery fire begins again with redoubled fury, -heralding a violent charge by the infantry, who have been concentrated -under the shelter of the field-guns. A simultaneous charge is made on -our left wing. All along the line and on both flanks we sustain a heavy -fusillade from the enemy. Although protected to some extent by our -rocks, our losses are pretty heavy. - -The English come up to be killed with admirable courage. Three times -they return to the charge in the open, losing a great many men. At -nightfall they are close upon us. - -I go in search of Colonel Villebois, who means to rest his men in a -little wood behind a kopje on the banks of the Modder. We have eaten -nothing since the night before. - -At eight o'clock comes an order for a general retreat. We learn that an -outflanking movement is to be attempted against us. In the evening -General Delarey telegraphed as follows: - -'The English are advancing upon our positions in two different -directions. They have begun to bombard General Sellier, and are keeping -up a sharp rifle-fire. We have been heavily engaged from nine o'clock -this morning till sunset. The federated troops fought like heroes. -Three times they repulsed a strong force of the English, who brought up -fresh troops against us every time. Each attack was repulsed, and at -sunset the English troops were only about forty metres from us. Their -losses were very heavy. Our own have not yet been ascertained. A -report on this point will follow.' - -We found afterwards that Roberts' entire army was present, some 40,000 -men, and that he had engaged over 12,000. Our losses were 380 men out -of about 950. - -At 8.30 we set out hastily for Bloemfontein, carrying off our prisoners -and wounded on trolleys drawn by mules. About eleven o'clock we pass -some English outposts, which are pointed out to us on our right at a -distance of only a few hundred metres. - -At three in the morning we arrive at the store where we had bivouacked -two nights before. We leave our horses to graze in a field of maize, -and take a short rest. About five we are greeted by distant volleys. - -'_Obsal!_' - -But my horse is dead lame in the right hind-leg. I try to bind it up -with the remains of an old waistcoat. Impossible. He cannot drag -himself along. I am forced to 'find' another which is grazing near by. - -I seem to be forming predatory habits. Here I am now with a dog I -'found,' which follows me faithfully, on a horse I also 'found'! But it -is in the cause of liberty. - -Besides, these habits are so much in vogue among the Boers. I could -tell a tale of one of my comrades, to whose detriment some half-dozen -horses had been 'found' by the Burghers (the process is called by them -_obtail_). And, to conclude, my find was no great acquisition. - -We finally arrive at Bloemfontein about three o'clock in the afternoon. -Here we meet numbers of English men and women, smartly dressed in summer -costumes, smiling and cheerful, starting out in carriages to meet the -victors. They are not aggressive, however; our sullen bearing perhaps -warns them that a misplaced exuberance might have unpleasant -consequences. - -We find our convoy at the entrance of the town, and we pass through to -our camp on the east. - -Poor capital! What terror, what disorder shows itself on every side! -The shops have been hurriedly shut; men, carriages, riders pass each -other in every direction, and the two main streets are encumbered with -an interminable string of bullock-waggons. In the market-place and in -the market itself an improvised ambulance has been set up, and the -wounded are being tended. On every threshold stand women and children, -whose anxious eyes seem to ask: 'Where are they?' - - - - - VI - - -We start again on the 12th, at three in the morning. Not a Burgher -remains with us. They have all gone off in the directions of Wynburg and -Kroonstad. - -On the 13th we are on the bridge of the Modder River. We establish -ourselves in a deserted farm, and execute some stray ducks, which would -no doubt have died of hunger but for our timely appearance--a most -painful end, I believe. - -Scouts are sent out. In about an hour the English are suddenly sighted. -We rush to the road, and in ten minutes a barricade is thrown across it. -I am in the centre with the others. But the English hang back, and -finally go off. - -Towards noon we start in the direction of Brandfort, where our convoy, -which was to travel day and night, is expected to be by this time. It -is about 4.30 when we come in sight of the village. - -There is a cloud of dust on our left, then two despatch-riders on -bicycles fly past us. The Lancers! - -We set off at a gallop to get to the houses before them. It is a -steeplechase between us. After an hour's ride we arrive at the same -time as the head of the enemy's advanced guard, which falls back at a -gallop. We try to pursue them, but our broken-down horses can carry us -no further. - -We rush into the village, while our men hastily harness our carts. The -Colonel sends us to take up a position to cover their retreat, for there -are two squadrons of Lancers in the little wood 500 metres from the -village. The Landdrost, fearing reprisals, comes to beg me not to fire. -I give him these alternatives--to hold his tongue or to be shot. He -prefers the former, and I see him no more. - -Meanwhile, C---- and Michel get down a cannon from a truck at the -railway-station. The terrified artillerymen refuse to work it. But the -English, not knowing what our numbers are (we are barely twenty-five), -dare not attack us, and we get away in the night. - -Our rallying-point is Kroonstad, the new capital of the Free State. - -On the 15th we are at Wynburg. We leave it again on the morning of the -16th by the last train, setting fire to the railway-station and -destroying the reservoirs. Comfortably installed in a train we made up -ourselves, at Smaldeel we are invaded by a whole commando.... Six men -to every carriage, with their six saddles, six bridles, six rifles, six -cloaks, a dozen blankets, and some twenty packages.... Ouf! - -These good Burghers, who smoke as long as they can, are without the most -elementary ideas of ordinary civility of behaviour. Their familiarity -of manner is extraordinary; happily, they show no resentment if one -retorts in like fashion. One of them, to steady himself during his -slumbers, thrusts his foot--and such a foot!--into the pocket of C----'s -coat. C----, put quite at his ease by this proceeding, does not hesitate -to increase the comfort of his own position by a reciprocal thrusting of -his foot into the waistcoat of his sympathetic _vis-à-vis_. They form a -touchingly fraternal group, and in this position they sleep for ten -hours. At every sudden stoppage, the rounded paunch of the good Burgher -acts as a buffer, deadening the violence of the jolt for my friend. - -My _vis-à-vis_--I had almost said my opponent--much more formal, is -content to plant a bag on my knees, and a box on my feet.... How -beautiful is the simplicity of rustic manners! - -At last, on March 17, we reach Kroonstad and establish our camp there. -We take advantage of this sojourn to pursue the education of our 'boys.' - -In consequence of our having 'chummed' with other comrades, our suite -has taken on alarming proportions; we look like a company of -slave-dealers. - -The biggest and oldest of our boys is called John. He seems to have an -inordinate affection for straws, with which he delights to adorn the -calves of his legs. - -The second is also called John; he is one of the best. We have -christened him 'Cook,' in allusion to his functions. An old stove, -found in a house that had been burnt, gives him quite an important air -when he prepares our meals. - -The third is called Charlie. He is very intelligent, an excellent -mule-driver, but a thorough rascal. - -The fourth, who is chocolate-coloured, is good at guarding the mules at -the pasture. He is called 'Beguini,' which means little. - -The fifth is not of much use for anything, but he is very fond of his -master, a sympathetic survivor of 'Fort Chabrol.' - -The sixth belongs to no one. But noting that his compatriots seem happy -enough with us, he has established himself in our kitchen, and serves us -more or less like the others. - -The Walsh River, a very remarkable stream, for there is water in it,[#] -flows past Kroonstad, and we occupy our leisure moments with the bucolic -occupation of fishing. - - -[#] Most of the rivers are dried up in summer-time. - - -All the members of the Government have assembled at Kroonstad; the two -Presidents, the generals, the military attachés, and Colonel de -Villebois-Mareuil are present at their deliberations. - -There seems to be a tendency to energetic measures. A martial law -decreeing the death-penalty against deserters is passed and proclaimed. -Unfortunately, it was never enforced. The confidence of the Burghers has -been somewhat shaken. The Executive begins to understand that he who -foretold the consequences of their blunders so unerringly may perhaps be -able to remedy them. - -On the 20th, accordingly, Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil is appointed -Vecht-General, and all the Europeans are placed under his command. But -scarcely had this just and intelligent resolution been passed, when -jealousy, pride, and fear of seeing a stranger succeed where they -themselves had failed took possession of the Burghers, and the orders to -concentrate were never carried out. - -It is much to be regretted that sentiments so injurious to the national -cause should have deprived the Government of the inestimable services -that might have been rendered by a corps of 1,500 or 2,000 resolute -Europeans, all formerly soldiers, under the command of a man of the -science, the valour, and the worth of General de Villebois-Mareuil. - -Nevertheless, about 200 men of all nationalities, drawn by the -confidence such a leader alone could inspire, came of their own free -will to place themselves under his orders. With these he organized the -'European Legion.' It included the two divisions of the French corps, a -Dutch corps, and a German corps. - -Everything General de Villebois asked for was promised, but nothing was -carried out. His plan consisted primarily of raids like those which -marked the War of Secession. - -On the 20th he addressed this stirring proclamation to us and to those -who were scattered further afield: - -'_To the Legionaries who have known me as their comrade:_ - -'Officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers! I know you have not -forgotten me, and that we understand each other, hence this appeal to -you. - -'We see around us a worthy people, who are threatened with the loss of -their rights, their property, and their liberty, for the satisfaction of -a handful of capitalists. - -'The blood which flows in the veins of this people is partly French -blood. France, therefore, owes them some manifestation of sympathy. - -'You are men whose martial temperaments, to say nothing of the great -obligations of nationality, have brought together under the banner of -this people. May success and victory attend their flag! I know you as -the ideal type of a corps made for attack, and ignorant of retreat.' - -Influenced mainly by the unfriendly attitude of certain generals to whom -his promotion had given umbrage, Villebois determined to strike a great -blow in all haste. - -Without waiting to complete the organization of the Legion, he formed us -into a corps of 100 men, which he made up by the addition of twenty-five -Afrikanders, under Field-Cornet Coleman; and as soon as the cartload of -dynamite he had been awaiting arrived, he set out on the 24th, at eight -o'clock in the evening. - -His parting orders to me were to hold myself in readiness, with the rest -of the men (about 100) and the new arrivals, for Saturday next, March -31, and to collect horses and provisions. On the 31st, he would come -back and explain the second part of the operation he was then beginning. - -Absolute secrecy was preserved as to the object of his expedition. To -Breda's question as to the direction he proposed to take, he replied: -'To the right.' - -Our poor General was very nervous. On March 23, the eve of his -departure, he telegraphed to a wounded friend who was returning to -France: 'You, at least, know your fate, whereas I am uncertain what lies -before me!' A dark presentiment, perhaps. In any case, what melancholy -underlies that short phrase! I do not say _discouragement_, for there -are some stout hearts who know not the feeling, and Villebois was of -these. - -Two days after, one of my men returned in the evening; his horse had -broken down on the road. They had made a very rapid march, taking only -four hours' rest at night and four in the day, in two fractions. -Nevertheless, after thirty-six hours of marching at this rate, this man, -unmounted, and separated from the rest of the column, had found a horse -in a kraal, and had been able to return to Kroonstad in two hours. - -Where then had the guide led them? If I could have communicated with -the General, I would have warned him, but this was out of the question. -On the 31st, there was no news; on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of April, still -none. On the 4th, after a notice from Colonel Maximoff, our detachment -moved to Brandfort. - -We are at a loss to account for the delay in the return of our comrades. -But in a campaign delays are so common, the unexpected happens so -constantly, that our anxiety is not very great. - -The special train that takes us to Smaldeel consists of fifty-three -coaches, the number found necessary for the men, waggons, and horses of -our contingent. We found that the railway had been cut beyond Smaldeel, -and we were obliged to go on to Brandfort by the road. - -Brandfort had been occupied by the Lancers for several days, but they -had fallen back. The village is now the centre of Generals Delarey, -Kolby and Smith. - -We arrive on April 7 at 8.30. In the afternoon a telegram is posted up -announcing that General Christian de Wet, who is operating to the east -of Bloemfontein, has arrived near Sanna's Post, cutting off the -water-supply of the Bloemfontein garrison, and carrying off 375 men, 7 -cannon, 1,000 mules and 400 waggons. Three days later, on April 4, at -Dewetsdorp, he took 459 more prisoners and 12 waggons. - -This was the beginning of that series of _razzie_ and surprises he has -been carrying on incessantly ever since, astonishing the most audacious -by his audacity, and by the rapidity and suddenness of his movements -defeating the most scientific and elaborate devices for his capture. -Broadwood, Rundle, Hunter, even Kitchener have been forced to give up -the chase, and to wait till Fortune, unfaithful for a day, shall deliver -the valiant Burgher into their hands. - -We met the Landdrost of Brandfort again, now more patriotic than ever; -but he seemed slightly embarrassed when he saw us. - -On April 7, the day of our arrival, we made a reconnaissance towards the -south with four men. As we left the Boer lines we met a man, who, -hearing us talking French, came to bid us 'Bon jour!' We entered into -conversation, and he seemed to take a great interest in European news. -At last he told us he was a Belgian, and suddenly asked: - -'You had a war with the Germans one time, didn't you?' - -The war of 1870 was news to him. He had been on the Veldt since 1867. - -'Do you know if our Leopold is still on the throne?' - -After assuring him of the health and even vigour of his Sovereign, we -continued our reconnaissance, not without moralizing a little over a man -who had so completely broken with Europe and the old civilization. - -The English positions were visible from Brandfort, on Tabel Kop and -Tabel Berg, the other side of the plain that stretches south-east of the -little town. Towards five o'clock we received a few volleys, hastily -fired, which did no damage. But our object was attained: we had -discovered that the enemy's positions extended a good way to the south. - -The 8th was a Sunday. In the evening I received this telegram from -President Steyn: - -'The Landdrost of Hoopstad sends me the following: "Field-Cornet Daniels -reports that the troops under Methuen's command at Boshof have marched -upon Hoopstad, and I have received from Methuen himself the letter I -communicate below. The native who brought the letter tells us that an -engagement took place with General de Villebois in the neighbourhood of -Boshof, that ten men were killed on our side, and fifteen on that of the -enemy, among them a superior officer, but that all our force was finally -made prisoner. Field-Cornet Daniels supposes that the enemy will march -upon Christiana and Hoopstad, and thence upon Kroonstad." - -"'HEADQUARTERS, SWARTZ KOPJEFONTEIN, -"'_April_ 8, 1900. - -"'To THE COMMANDANT OF THE FREE STATE LAAGER. - -"'SIR, - -'"I have the honour of sending you a copy of Lord Roberts' proclamation -to the Free State, laying down the conditions under which you are -invited to surrender. - -'"Two days ago the Foreign Legion was taken prisoner by me, and their -General, Villebois, was killed. - -'"The English army is advancing on every side, and I beg you to consider -the very liberal conditions now offered you, which would not be renewed -at a later date. - -'"I have the honour to be, sir, - -'"Your obedient servant, -'"METHUEN," - -'"Lieutenant-General commanding the 10th Division."' - -This telegram was a thunderbolt for us. The anxiety we had felt at the -General's delay had not been such as to have caused us to dream of such -a catastrophe. Yet we could not doubt the news. - -'Two days ago the Foreign Legion was taken prisoner by me, and their -General, Villebois, was killed,' said the telegram. - -That evening two reconnoitring parties were sent out; the first, from -the Tabel Kop direction, came in next morning with a wounded man. The -second, under Wrangel, started for the neighbourhood of Hoopstad, and -could not return for several days. - -On the 9th we made an inventory of the property belonging to the -General, to Breda, and to the rest of our poor comrades, all of which -was packed for transmission to Pretoria. The same day I received the -following telegram from Colonel Gourko: - -'Thomson unites with me in the expression of our profound grief at the -cruel loss you have sustained in the person of Colonel de -Villebois-Mareuil, a valiant soldier and distinguished leader.' - -This homage from the Russian and Dutch attachés to the memory of our -great compatriot touched us deeply. - -On the 10th one of Ganetzki's men was killed in a reconnaissance. Comte -Ganetzki had his day of Parisian celebrity in connection with La belle -O----. - -On the 11th I had a telegram from Wrangel: - -'I reached here (Hoopstad) at 5.30 this evening, with five men. The -English are at Knappiesfontein, an hour and a half's march from Boshof. -There are no Burghers at Hoopstad. I shall start for Boshof to-morrow, -and send you a report later on. I await your orders.' - -I at once communicate this news to General P. Botha. He believes that -the environs of Hoopstad are occupied by the Burghers, and that the -English will march upon Smaldeel to cut off communication (April 12). -Events proved him to have been entirely mistaken; but I might have -talked to him for hours without altering his convictions an iota. - -Cannon had been thundering all the evening in the distance, but we had -not been able to determine in what direction they were. On April 13, -Commandant Delarey, brother of the General, was appointed honorary -commander of the European Legion--'honorary' because he could not act -save in concert with the heads of the different corps--Rittmeister -Illich for the Austro-Hungarians, Captain Lorentz for the Germans, -myself for the French. - -An official telegram announces that General de Villebois was buried at -Boshof with military honours. Lord Methuen was present, and the -prisoners of the Legion were represented. There was even a funeral -oration, to which Breda replied. - -In the engagement of April 5 there had been 11 killed, the General being -one, and 51 wounded, out of 68. The rest had been made prisoners. - -_Easter Day_, 1900.--A second telegram from Wrangel, dated from -Hoopstad, reports as follows: - -'1. Braschel (a former officer of the German artillery) informs us that -10,000 men and 700 cavalry are marching from Boshof on Bultfontein. He -counted thirty-six gun-carriages, cannon, and waggons. - -'2. There are about 700 Burghers at Landslaagte.' - -On the 16th, we take horse at noon with every man available to join -Kolby. This excellent General, one of the best men that ever lived, is -not remarkable for the originality of his combinations. He witnessed -our arrival with delight, smiling--he is always smiling--received us -very cordially, and asked us what we had come for! He had had no -instructions about us; however, it was all the same to him whether we -slept there or elsewhere, so we remained. We came in for a perfect -deluge of rain all night, and at four the next morning we started to -take up a position with Delarey's, Botha's, and Kolby's commandos. - -We number from 1,000 to 1,200 Burghers, with two Creusot guns, a Krupp -and a Nordenfeldt. - -At 4.30 in the evening, orders are given to retire to the different -camps. We arrive at 10 o'clock. - -On the 18th, it rains again in torrents. In the evening, about 9 -o'clock, Wrangel's reconnoitring party comes in. I will transcribe the -account given me by one of his men, Meslier, that it may lose nothing of -its interest by a paraphrase. - -'Starting on Monday, the 9th, in the evening, we marched secretly and -rapidly towards Hoopstad, following first the Vedula and then the Wet -River across the veldt. We crossed rivers without any fords, passing -through a country without roads or paths, and through the dense bush -that grows on the banks of the water-courses. Out of ten picked horses -two died, and three men fell out on the road exhausted. One of them went -into hospital at Smaldeel. - -'On Wednesday, the 11th, we reached Hoopstad at five o'clock in the -evening, and slept at the President Hotel, which is kept by a German. - -'At six o'clock next morning (April 12) I started with Braschel and -Brostolicky in the direction of Boshof. The English, after having -advanced upon Bultfontein, as reported in our telegram of the 15th, -returned for the most part towards Boshof. We slept that night at -Landslaagte, where the Johannesburg Politie are encamped. They number -about 200, and expect a reinforcement of 300 men. - -'We left again on the morning of the 13th, separating at a given point, -Braschel and his companion going towards the camp of Commandant Cronje -(brother of the General taken prisoner at Paardeberg), and I towards -Boshof. - -'Towards noon I passed Driefontein, which was supposed to be occupied by -the English. The inhabitants of the farm told me that when Colonel de -Villebois arrived an English corps had been in the neighbourhood for -several days, apparently waiting. The people at the farm heard the -noise of the battle, which lasted about four hours, and helped to -collect the dead and wounded afterwards. Among our men they noticed one -who had a handkerchief bound round his head and a very large nose. -Another had a very long beard. - -'Towards one o'clock I arrived at Muyfontein, where there was a little -outpost of thirty Lancers under an officer. I sheered off to the east, -and arrived near Boshof about half-past four. - -'Boshof was full of troops. From the neighbouring kopjes one could -distinctly see the "khakis" moving about in the village. Skirting -Boshof, I arrived at Kopjefontein on the south-west. There I was a good -deal disturbed by strange hissing noises coming from about 800 metres -away, and the pursuit of a party of twenty Lancers, who followed me for -about half an hour. - -'I returned to Rothsplaats Farm, where I spent the night. I had -fastened my horse to a cart, and had laid down myself under a tree. -About ten o'clock eight marauders approached from the path. Not seeing -me, some of the party installed themselves in the farm, while the rest -chased a young pig, which, flying in terror before them, came quite -close to the corner where I was lying in ambush. Fortunately he changed -his mind, and made off in another direction. Finally, to my great -satisfaction, they caught him, and the whole party returned to the farm. -They stayed about two hours, and then departed. - -'At four in the morning I continued my journey, and at eight o'clock I -arrived at Landslaagte, where I joined the Johannesburg Politie. - -'Between Landslaagte and Driefontein I met Cronje with about 2,000 men, -a Krupp and a Nordenfeldt gun. His intention was to attack -Kopjefontein. I reported what I had seen, and went on towards Hoopstad; -but my worn-out horse fell when we were still some four hours distant -from the town. I was obliged to sleep at a farm, and was unable to -reach Hoopstad till the afternoon of Sunday, the 15th. All our seven -horses had broken down. We asked for others, which the Landdrost -refused. Wrangel accordingly telegraphed to President Steyn, who -replied by an order to give us everything we required. - -'We took some excellent horses and a few necessary garments, for a three -days' journey through the thorns and bush that border the Wet River had -reduced us to absolute rags. - -'These negotiations and a brief rest occupied Monday and Tuesday. We -started on Wednesday at one o'clock, and knowing the road to be safe, we -passed through Bultfontein, accomplishing our return journey in a day -and a half. - -'At Hoopstad we were told that when the Villebois contingent had passed -through, all had remarked the gaiety of the General, who had kept the -piano going all the evening, and the depression of Breda.' - -These last words gave a fresh poignancy to our regrets. Just as the -General had been the ideal of the brilliant and revered leader, so had -Breda been the ideal of the devoted friend, the good comrade, the man of -sound judgment and charming amenities. - - * * * * * - -From this report we gathered certain facts hard to explain. We group -them here together with others which reached us from a different source. - -1. Wrangel and his men, who left Brandfort on the evening of the 9th, -arrived at Driefontein at noon on the 13th--in four nights and three and -a half days. The General, under the conduct of his Afrikander guide, -took twelve nights and eleven days (from the evening of March 24 to the -morning of April 5) to cover an equivalent distance. Now, the length -and irregularity of this march were utterly irreconcilable with the -object the General had in view, with the dates he had himself fixed, and -with the length and severity of the distances he was in the habit of -exacting from his men. - -2. Numerous desertions took place among the Dutch and the Afrikanders, -men who spoke the same language. - -3. Finally, and this is a very serious coincidence, a whole English -brigade, which retired as soon as it had made the _coup_ determined on, -was lying in wait for the contingent, the itinerary of which had been -kept so strictly secret that only the guide could have known it exactly. - -This fact was confirmed by the following statement made to me by an -English officer present at the engagement. The General, finding himself -surrounded at daybreak, after having marched all night, took up a -position on a kopje near the farm of Driefontein. Artillery fire began -almost immediately, opened by Battery No. 4 of the Royal Field -Artillery. - -Throughout the four hours of the engagement the General was seen walking -up and down, encouraging first one and then another, and pointing out -the spots at which his followers were to fire. His death was followed -by the surrender of the decimated band. - -The General wore the costume he always put on for expeditions and for -the field--a brown hat, fastened up on one side with a badge bearing the -arms of the Transvaal; an old black tunic, the large metal buttons of -which had been replaced by large black ones; brown corduroy trousers, -and shooting-boots, laced in front and buckled at the sides; his -revolver in a cross-belt, and at his waist a yellow leather case, -containing a chronometer, a barometer and a compass. He always wore -brown kid gloves, and carried a bamboo cane. I will not yet express the -melancholy thought which, with me, has become a firm conviction; but -when I learned the fate of my revered chief, 'the La Fayette of South -Africa,' as one of the most distinguished Generals of the French army -called him, how could I but remember the disappointments he had suffered -during the last six months, the petty jealousies by which he had been -pursued, and the ill-will which had hampered all his bold and -intelligent initiative? - -Pondering these things, I recalled the day when, before Kimberley, the -General had received from France a little gold medal, which he showed me -with proud emotion. It bore this inscription: 'To a great Frenchman, -from the companions of his daughter.' - -Yes, a great Frenchman! For in him flourished all high thoughts of duty -and abnegation, all the noble virtues that make up a great leader and a -great patriot. He was a man and a soldier. - -In this connection it will be of interest to record what my friend and -comrade Breda told me, on his return from Saint Helena, of the -engagement of April 5. He cannot believe that there was treachery, yet -he cannot explain certain strange coincidences. - -'We started, as you know,' he said, 'on the evening of March 24. Our -guide began by losing his way the first night and the first day. (This -confirmed the story told by my man, who came back in two hours, after -marching out for thirty-six.) - -'At last we arrived at Hoopstad, where an important group of the Dutch -contingent refused to advance. - -'The General, determined to advance with the French alone, ordered the -names of the Dutch who remained faithful to be taken down. A sudden -revulsion of feeling made the majority of them give in their names, and -the detachment set off in the direction of Boshof. - -'At the farm of Driefontein a messenger came in search of the General. -A most important communication from a distinguished personage awaited -him at Hoopstad. A serious scheme was on foot for the formation of a -large legion. - -'This project appealed strongly to the General, who left me at -Driefontein with the detachment, returning himself to Hoopstad to confer -with the envoy. He returned in three days, and the march towards the -south was resumed. - -'The General supposed that there might be about 200 or 300 men at -Boshof, and, on being assured of this, a Boer commando of about 200 men -joined us. But on the 4th, information was received that Boshof was -much more strongly occupied, and that it might hold from 800 to 1,000 -men. The General, believing this story to be an invention of the -Burghers to excuse their defection--of which they immediately gave -notice--disregarded it, and continued his march. - -'We arrived near a farm where, it appears, the English officers at -Boshof were in the habit of coming to picnic on Sundays. The General -made for a point a little way from this, and halted beside a small -kopje. We unsaddled the horses and sent them to graze, and the tired -men lay down to sleep. - -'I remained talking with General de Villebois, when we suddenly caught -sight of a few horsemen. - -'"The English!" - -'I went off to wake the men quietly, for we hoped to surprise this -little reconnoitring party. There were so few of them that we did not -fetch in our horses. - -'They came nearer. All of a sudden, behind them in the distance a long -column of "khakis" came in sight. It was no longer a question of -surprising a patrol. We had to defend ourselves. - -'The General at once recognised the gravity of the situation. He -arranged his men on two little kopjes, the Dutch on one, the French on -the other, remaining himself with the latter. Each man had his place -assigned him, his rock to defend. - -'And the battle began--a furious, hopeless encounter. For three hours -we replied as well as we could to the tremendous fusillade that soon -made gaps among us. - -'Almost at the outset the Dutch hoisted the white flag and surrendered. -Two or three of them who chanced to be with the French contingent came -and asked General de Villebois to surrender. He pointed to the kopje -where their compatriots had already laid down their arms. - -'"Here we do not surrender," he said. - -'By degrees, however, the first shelters were abandoned, and the men -fell back on some rocks beyond. The General noticed this. - -'"Return to the first positions!" he ordered. - -'Bullets were falling like hail. There was a moment's hesitation. - -'"Shall I go myself?" cried the Chief, advancing. - -'But a brave fellow springs forward. It is Franck, who had already -distinguished himself at Abraham's Kraal. Waving his rifle with a grand -gesture, he cried: "Vive la France!" - -'He fell instantly, struck by two bullets. But the impulse had been -given; the positions were resumed. - -'On all sides, however, the "khakis" were closing in upon us. They -fixed their bayonets and charged. Suddenly the General fell back -without a word. He was dead.' - - * * * * * - -Whatever the strength and vitality of a man may be, the inert body will -fall when the soul takes flight. Villebois was the soul of the legion. -Accordingly, when he was killed, the survivors surrendered, after four -hours of heroic resistance. - -Out of twenty-seven Frenchmen, the General, Le Gilles and Robiquet were -killed, Bardin, Bernard, Franck and the others were wounded. - -The English officers told us that they had been informed several days -before of the arrival of 100 Frenchmen at Hoopstad, thus confirming the -story of the Driefontein farmers. - -The Comte de Villebois, one of the youngest colonels in the French army, -had been severely wounded as a sub-lieutenant in the army of the Loire -in 1870. His conduct had been such as to merit the Cross of the Legion -of Honour at the age of twenty. - -I will transcribe here, as a touching homage to his memory, the order of -the day which Colonel de Nadaillac addressed to his regiment, informing -them of the glorious death of their former chief: - -'Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil, who had the honour of commanding the -130th Regiment, has died a soldier's death in the Transvaal, shot -through the breast by the fragment of a shell. - -'Retiring at an early age, at his own request, he took his sword and the -resources of his fine intelligence to the aid of the little Boer nation. - -'His chivalrous soul could not resist the appeal of those generous -sentiments which have so long been a tradition in our fair France. He -wished to defend the weak against the strong. - -'Let us respectfully salute this victim of the noblest French virtues, -this valiant soldier who has fallen on the field of honour. - -'The former Colonel of the 130th will be held in loving remembrance by -us, and we offer the just tribute of our patriotic regrets to his -memory. - -'May God have mercy on the brave man who left child, friends, and -fortune, to defend the oppressed. - -'The death of Colonel de Villebois-Mareuil will be recorded in the -regimental annals of the 130th.' - - - - - VII - - -On the 18th we heard that De Wet, after his successes at Taba N'chu and -Sanna's Post, was at Wepener, where he had surrounded 2,000 men of -Brabant's Horse. - - * * * * * - -Without orders, and without precise tidings of any kind, we remain five -days longer at Brandfort. - -General Delarey seems uncertain what to do. While he is casting about -for a plan of action, we may take a glance at our enemies, and study -them a little. - -In this campaign the English army has collected together elements the -most diverse. About one half of it consists of regular troops, the other -half of volunteers, colonial troops, and contingents from every country. -Their behaviour under fire varies greatly, according to their origin. - -Tommy Atkins the regular, cold, calm, advances under a hail of -projectiles, marching steadily in time, as if on the parade-ground. -Scornful of danger, his head held high, he seems to say: 'Make way! I -am an Englishman!' - -The colonial, on the other hand, the cowboy, the volunteer from the -Cape, from Rhodesia, and from Australia, a hunter by profession, fights -in the same fashion as the Boers. He has their qualities and their -defects: great precision as a marksman, but a lack of cohesion and of -discipline. Crouching behind a rock, taking advantage of every scrap of -cover, like his adversary, he hunts rather than fights. - -But a good many militiamen, volunteers from various towns, and yeomen -are even less brilliant, and exchange perils, privations, and fatigue -for a sojourn in a Boer prison with great readiness. Some of the regular -regiments, too, brought up to their fighting strength by hasty -recruiting at the last moment, are not exempt from the shame of -unnecessary capitulations. - -But such proceedings are not characteristic of Tommy. The Englishman -knows very little of the art of war, but he is brave, very brave. - -The officers, with some few exceptions, are ignorant of everything an -officer should know. The operations (?) of Sir Charles Warren, Lord -Methuen, and Sir Redvers Buller seem to be a sort of competition of -lunatics. - -General Buller appears to have some inkling of it himself; on December -28 he writes as follows from the camp of Frere: - -'I suppose our officers will in time learn the value of scouting; but in -spite of all one can say, up to this our men seem to blunder into the -midst of the enemy, and suffer accordingly.' - -These words from the pen of the General who, on January 24, was to -'authorize' the Spion Kop fiasco are delicious! - -The profession of arms in England is an occupation not at all absorbing, -but very fashionable, very 'sporting.' - -War itself is a sport, which has its special costume, its accidents -proper to the soldier, but which is not supposed to engross the man. The -fact that a great many officers brought with them, in addition to their -khaki uniforms and braided tunics, tennis, football, and polo costumes, -dress-coats and smoking-jackets, is significant of this state of mind. - -The programme they had mentally drawn up was something of this sort: -From 7 to 8 a.m., football, breakfast; from 9 to 10, lawn tennis; from -10 to 11, a battle; then a rest, a tub, massage, lunch! - -The English officer is a gentleman, always perfectly well bred, often -very well educated, and extremely affable; but he is a gentleman, and -not an officer. - -War entered upon by men of this type demands neither serious preliminary -study nor effective progress in an army; and as regards military art and -science, the English are still at the stage of the pitched battle. - -It is but just to add that they have also preserved the cool, tenacious -courage and the indomitable energy of their race, qualities which none -can deny them. I saw some superb charges by English troops in Africa, -but they always reminded me of Marechal Pelissier's remark after the -heroic charge at Balaclava: 'C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la -guerre!' - -I am no Anglophile, as my campaign of over eight months on the Boer side -sufficiently proves, but it is the duty of a loyal soldier to recognise -the qualities and the courage of his adversaries. - -After this short digression, let us resume our survey of the English -army. - -During the first months, up to March, their artillery ammunition seems -to have been very defective, often exploding imperfectly, or not at all. -The fire took a long time to regulate, and was nearly always -independent, rarely in salvoes. Nevertheless, I several times saw guns -served in a remarkably efficient manner. - -The horses are superb, and were constantly renewed; throughout the -campaign they had from five to six quarterns of oats a day. - -Their artillery equipment consists of a variety of very ordinary -patterns. They have not yet any field-guns with breaks. The mounted -artillery (Royal Horse Artillery) is a picked body of men. Its officers -must have served four years in the Field Artillery, and must also be -possessed of a certain private income. - -Their guns, Armstrongs of 76.2 millimetres, are called 12-pounders (from -the weight of the projectile). The Field Artillery uses 89 millimetre -guns with 22-pound shells. The breech-blocks are screwed in. The -mountain-guns (1882 pattern) are loaded at the muzzle. - -The batteries consist of six pieces, with the exception of the volunteer -batteries, which have only four. - -Their shell-guns, of which even during their operations on the open -plain they had a certain number of batteries (notably No. 61 Battery at -Spion Kop, and No. 65 Battery at Paardeburg), are howitzers of the -latest pattern; they are loaded at the breech, and are specially -constructed for fire at a high angle of elevation. - -Their naval guns and siege guns, dragged about by teams of from twenty -to thirty oxen, were able to follow the troops in a satisfactory manner. - -The lyddite shells did not prove very effective. They explode with a -loud and violent report. The green smoke has a stupefying effect; -objects such as stones or fragments of shell that come in contact with -the explosive take on a sulphur-green tint. - -The English used over 300 guns; and if we add to these thirty-five large -naval guns, mounted upon siege-gun carriages, and those of the volunteer -batteries, we get a total of about 400. - -The cavalry has played but a secondary part; but the charges of General -French's division at Poplar Grove were vigorously executed, and cost the -lives of two officers and some fifty men. The relief of Kimberley by -this same division was rather a raid of great rapidity than a cavalry -action properly so-called. - -The Boer method of warfare explains the powerlessness of the cavalry to -take any prominent part in the operations; reconnaissances were carried -out by Kaffir spies and Afrikander irregulars. Cavalry pursuit would, I -think, have been perfectly useless, for the Boers would have immediately -taken up defensive positions in kopjes inaccessible to horses, and the -precision of their fire would soon have proved extremely harassing to -the horsemen. - -The infantry, to give it greater mobility, was relieved of every kind of -impedimenta. The uniform is extremely practical as a whole. - -The foot-soldier wears a khaki tunic with pockets, made in the summer of -canvas, in the winter of cloth; trousers to match, the lower part bound -up in strips of khaki flannel, on the same pattern as those of our -Chasseurs Alpins. His helmet is absolutely unsuitable; heavy and ugly, -it does not even protect him from the sun. - -A big dark-gray cloak, a blanket, and a waterproof tent canvas, which -theoretically are supposed to be carried on the back in two little -rolls, are as a fact transported on trolleys drawn by mules marching on -the left of each company. - -The man carries only his canteen and his bandolier. The latter seemed -to me too large and heavy to be practical, but the canteen, the lid of -which makes a saucepan, seems convenient. It is the same for officers -and privates. Each battalion is followed by a little Maxim gun, firing -Lee-Metford cartridges. - -The Mounted Infantry is, theoretically, an arm of the first importance. -In practice it has its partisans and its detractors. I leave the task -of authoritative pronouncement to critics more expert than myself, and -shall only say that Colonel Martyr's and General Hutton's Mounted Rifles -rendered very considerable service to Lord Roberts. The Mounted Rifle -has an ordinary cavalry saddle, with a black cloak rolled up on the -holsters before him. His uniform is the same as that of the infantry: a -tunic, trousers, and flannel bandages. He wears the felt hat of the -country. He carries two bandoliers and is armed with the Lee-Metford -rifle and with a short bayonet like that of our artillery-men. The -butt-end of his gun rests in a bucket hanging on the right of his -saddle, and the stock is supported by a leather thong round the right -arm like a lance. - -The Mounted Rifle fights on foot, sheltering his horse behind a piece of -rising ground. His horse to him is merely a rapid means of transport. - -Belts and straps, swords, sheaths and hilts, guns and waggons, are all -painted khaki colour. - -After enumerating all the weapons used by the belligerents, it would be -an unpardonable omission to say nothing of the famous dum-dum bullets. - -Have they been much used? Yes, certainly, and on both sides. - -The story that the Boers only used those they had captured from the -English is quite inadmissible, for the Mauser rifles, which were used -exclusively in the Transvaal, were largely provided with them. - -I will try to describe the patterns chiefly used: - -1. Section in the nickel casing, leaving the extremity of the leaden -bullet exposed; the lead, getting very hot, emerges partly from the -casing, flattens at the slightest resistance, and expands. - -2. Four longitudinal sections in the nickel casing allow the bullet to -flatten at the moment of contact, and to exude lead through the -apertures. - -These two first patterns, the ones most in use, are made for Lee-Metford -and Mauser rifles. - -The English also use hollow-nosed bullets, the extremity of which is cut -or rubbed off. - -The Boers, for their part, have manufactured solid projectiles, which -show the lead through a straight section, and have the four longitudinal -slits. - -A few expansive Lee-Metford cartridges, hollow, and filled with -fulminate, certainly existed, but I do not believe that they were ever -in general use. - -I need not insist upon the terrible injuries inflicted by all these -projectiles. I have seen the whole of the back of a man's hand carried -away by a bullet entering the palm, where it had only made a hole of the -normal dimension. - -During this war, in an arid country without any towns, Tommy has -suffered terribly. Accustomed to the comfort of English barracks and to -abundant meals, he was ill-prepared to spend his nights on the hard -ground in cold and rain, with stones that bruised his ribs for his only -bed, and half a biscuit for his dinner. - -Now that we have inspected the English army, let us see what it has -accomplished since our arrival. - -First of all in Natal. In January, Ladysmith was still invested. The -garrison of nearly 10,000 men and the inhabitants were decimated more by -disease than by the occasional shells the Boers threw into the town -every day as a matter of duty. Provisions had become scarce. An -officer's ration was two biscuits and 240 grammes of horseflesh a day. - -A dozen eggs cost £2 8s.; a dozen tomatoes, 18s.; a tin of preserved -meat, £3; a tin of condensed milk, 10s.; a pot of jam, £1 11s.; a -quarter of a pound of English tobacco, £3; a case containing a dozen -bottles of whisky, £140, nearly £12 a bottle. - -Nevertheless, a newspaper published by the besieged, the _Lyre_, is -still facetious. It publishes the following notes: - -'_Telegram from London_.--A shell thrown by _Long Tom_ fell in the War -Office. General Brackenbury received it with resignation.... A good -many reputations have been damaged. The 2nd Army Corps has been -discovered in the War Office portfolios.' - -Meanwhile, Buller was still trying to cross the Tugela and relieve -Ladysmith. Without any definite plan, perplexed and irresolute, he runs -up and down the bank of the river like a cat afraid of the water. - -At last he 'permits' Warren to attack Spion Kop. It is strange indeed -to find Warren's 15,000 men (the 5th Division) and Buller's 25,000 -setting out without a map, without information, and without a guide. - -On January 16 Lieutenant Flood luckily discovered a ford, by which two -battalions crossed the river; but then the Engineers were obliged to -await the arrival of Lieutenant Mazzari's sailors to make a ferry. - -At Trichardt's Drift two pontoon bridges were built, and the whole of -Warren's division crossed. - -On the 19th this General essays an out-flanking movement in the -direction of Acton Homes; but this manoeuvre at the base of escarpments -occupied by the enemy is found to be too dangerous; the division falls -back upon Trichardt's Drift with its convoys and the 420 bullock-waggons -intended for the Ladysmith garrison. - -A frontal attack, facing east, is decided upon for January 20. The -infantry is engaged 800 yards from the Boer trenches. It is three -o'clock; an assault is about to be made on the position. But a -counter-order arrives, the reason for which has never yet been -explained. - -On the 21st, 22nd and 23rd the English try to gain a few hundred yards. -Clery and Warren confess themselves powerless, and turn the attack -towards the south-east. - -On the night of the 23rd General Woodgate receives orders to seize Spion -Kop. General Woodgate, commanding the 9th Brigade, took part in the -Abyssinian campaigns of 1868, the Ashanti campaign of 1873, and the Zulu -campaign of 1879. Later he was in command of the English forces in West -Africa, during the rising of 1898. - -He took with him eight companies of the 2nd Battalion Lancashire -Fusiliers, six companies of the 2nd Battalion Royal Lancashire Regiment, -two companies of the 1st Battalion South Lancashire Regiment, 194 men of -Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry, and a half-company Royal Engineers. To -these were added two battalions from General Lyttelton's Brigade. - -At 3.30 in the morning, after mounting the hill in silence, Lieutenant -Audrey, in command of the advance-guard, took two of the Boer trenches -with the bayonet. They were held by Boers of the Vryheid commando, who -were few in number, and had been completely surprised. - -But the Heidelberg and Carolina commandos, under Schalk Burger, came to -the rescue. Urged forward by a German commando and by Ricciardi's -Italians, they crossed an open space under a hail of bullets and lyddite -shells, and established themselves on one of the three spurs formed by -the kopje at this point. - -The struggle was very fierce. Between nine and eleven the English -charged three times with the bayonet and were repulsed. Under the -deadly fire of the Mausers and the Maxim-Nordenfeldts they were obliged -to fall back gradually, before any serviceable reinforcements had -reached them. - -Woodgate, mortally wounded, was replaced by Colonel Thorneycroft; the -latter received neither orders nor instructions, though it would have -been easy to have established optical telegraph communication, as the -heliograph was working between Mount Alice and Bester Farm (Redvers -Buller and White).[#] - - -[#] A heliograph _was_ working on the height, but 'the signallers and -their apparatus were destroyed by the heavy fire' (_vide_ Sir Charles -Warren's report).--TRANSLATOR. - - -His position had become most critical; a council of war was hastily -called, on the decision of which the height was evacuated under cover of -night. - -On January 25 Sir Redvers Buller, who had hastened to Warren's camp, was -informed of this catastrophe, which upset all his combinations. A -general retreat was determined on, and the troops recrossed the Tugela. - -After this bloody check, General Buller's report of the movement is -delicious: - -'The fact that we were able to withdraw our ox-waggons and mule -transports over a river 85 yards broad and with a rapid current, without -any interference from the enemy, is, I think, a proof that they have -learnt to respect the fighting powers of our soldiers.' - -The 'lesson' he had given the Boers had cost him 307 killed, thirty-one -of whom were officers; 175 wounded, of whom forty-nine were officers; -and 347 prisoners and missing, among them seven officers. - -The Boers had 168 men killed. And, as Ricciardi has pointed out, but -for the incomprehensible opposition of General Joubert, this retreat -across the Tugela would have been, not a proof that the enemy had learnt -to respect the fighting powers of the English, but a terrific rout. For -General Louis Botha, surrounded by a dozen guns, was watching the -English passing over their pontoons from the heights he had defended the -night before. They were well within range, and the gunners were at -their posts. It wanted but an order, the pontoons would have been -destroyed, and Warren's division, hemmed in by the river, would have -been massacred to a man. Why was this order not given? - -In March, even before the death of the Generalissimo, a terrible word -had been whispered--treason! At any rate, his inaction was highly -culpable, for if the struggle seems hopeless now, there was a time when -he might have turned it into victory, and made it another Majuba Hill -campaign. - -We know that Joubert's ignorance was almost incredible, that he could -not even use a map, and that he stubbornly refused to learn. His -attitude at the time of Warren's retreat and in certain other -circumstances no doubt gave colour to the rumours of poisoning which -followed the General's sudden death in March. It is conceivable that -some Burgher, carried away by patriotic zeal, did not hesitate to commit -a crime that the supreme command might pass into more faithful or bolder -hands.... - -Later on, when I was a prisoner in the English camp, I said one day in -jest to a young sub-lieutenant: - -'You lost one of your best generals in March.' - -'Who do you mean?' - -'Joubert.' - -Seeing his air of surprise and annoyance, a superior officer who was -present said, with a smile: - -'You are right!' - -On February 1 the positions of the belligerents had undergone no very -notable modification since the beginning of the war. We will -recapitulate them for the last time, for English reinforcements were -arriving from every side. Lord Roberts had assumed the supreme command, -the besieged towns were shortly to be delivered, and the war was to -enter upon an active phase. - -In the north, in Rhodesia, General Carrington was at Marondellas, and -Colonel Plumer at Safili Camp, near Buluwayo. - -At Mafeking, Colonel Baden-Powell is made a Lieutenant-General. 'The -Wolf who never sleeps,' as his men call him, is still besieged by -Snyman. - -Colonel Kekewich at Kimberley is surrounded by the troops of Du Toit, -Kolby, Delarey, and Ferreira. - -General Cronje, to the south of Kimberley, is well informed as to Lord -Roberts' preparations, but he pays no heed to them, and meets all -Villebois' far-seeing counsels with the stock phrase: 'I was a general -when you were still a child.' - -Schoeman is near Colesberg, facing General French. - -Olivier, to the north of Burghersdorp, confronts Gatacre. - -Botha and Schalk Burgher, on the north bank of the Tugela, hold in check -Buller and Warren on the south bank, near Colenso. - -Finally, Joubert, Prinsloo, and Lucas Meyer are round Ladysmith, where -General White is still imprisoned. - -On February 5 Buller, after deploying his troops as if for a frontal -attack in the direction of Potgieter, at last crossed the Tugela at the -foot of Dorn Kop. If perseverance deserves a reward, he has certainly -earned one. - -But the period of sieges draws to a close. The war is entering on -another phase. Lord Roberts has completed his concentration, his orders -are given, the invasion begins. - - - - - VIII - - -On February 10 the Field Marshal concentrated three divisions on the -Modder River: Kelly-Kenny (6th), Tucker (7th), and Colvile (9th). Then -he secretly assembled the cavalry, grouped into three brigades (those of -Broadwood, Porter, and Gordon), under General French. The latter, -supported by seven mounted batteries and six field batteries, started in -the night of the 11th-12th, reached Rooidam, continued by way of -Potgieter's Farm, brushed aside General Ferreira, and entered Kimberley -on Thursday, February 15, at half-past five in the evening. - -The surprise was complete, as we know! - -Meanwhile, Lord Roberts had not been idle. On the 15th, Maxwell's -Brigade occupied Jacobsdal, and Lord Kitchener was pressing Cronje, who -was retiring upon Paardeburg. - -French, his raid accomplished, joined Kitchener by way of Koodoesrand, -and on the 17th the whole of Roberts' force surrounded the Boer General. - -After a ten days' defence, more heroic than reasonable--for he might -have broken through with De Wet's help--Cronje, crushed by the terrible -fire of 90 cannon,[#] bore out Colonel de Villebois' prediction, being -forced to surrender unconditionally on February 27, at 7.30 a.m. - - -[#] Lord Roberts had 6 field batteries, 1 howitzer battery, 7 horse -batteries, and 5 naval guns--90 pieces in all, to be exact. - - -Lord Roberts telegraphed as follows to the War Office: - -'PAARDEBURG, 7.45 a.m. - -'General Cronje is now a prisoner in my camp. The strength of his force -will be communicated later. I hope Her Majesty's Government will -consider this event satisfactory, occurring as it does on the -anniversary of Majuba.' - -It was afterwards announced by the War Office that the General had -surrendered two Krupp guns, one belonging to the Orange Free State, and -two Maxims, one of these also belonging to the Orange Free State, 4,000 -men, of whom 1,150 were Free Staters, and 47 officers, 18 of them Free -Staters. Among the officers was the artillery commandant Albrecht, -formerly an Austrian officer. - -In Natal, on the 28th, Lord Dundonald entered Ladysmith, the siege of -which had been raised at six in the evening, preceding a convoy of -provisions which arrived on the morning of March 2. - -Lord Roberts did not linger long on the banks of the Modder River. -After giving his troops a short rest while he went with Kitchener to -visit Kimberley, where he was the guest of Cecil Rhodes, he continued -his march upon Bloemfontein. On the 7th he was at Poplar Grove, on the -10th at Abraham's Kraal--he called the battle fought here -Driefontein--and on the 13th he entered the capital of the Orange Free -State. - -'BLOEMFONTEIN, -'_March_ 13, 8 p.m. - -'By God's help, and thanks to the bravery of Her Majesty's soldiers, the -troops under my command have taken possession of Bloemfontein. The -British flag is now flying over the President's house, which was last -night abandoned by Mr. Steyn, the late President of the Orange Free -State. - -'Mr. Fraser, a member of the former executive, the mayor, the secretary -of the late Government, the Landdrost and other functionaries, came to -meet me two miles out of the town, and handed me the keys of the -Government offices. - -'The enemy has retired from the neighbourhood, and all seems calm. The -inhabitants of Bloemfontein gave our troops a hearty reception. - -'ROBERTS.' - -Lord Roberts's first operation was accomplished; he established a solid -base at Bloemfontein, accumulating a great quantity of provisions there, -a very wise measure to take before throwing his troops into a hostile -country, impoverished by five months of warfare, the resources of which -had already been heavily laid under contribution by the Boers. At the -same time his troops radiated round the former capital to drive off the -little commandos that were still hovering about in the neighbourhood. - -The 9th Division, under General Colvile, was broken up to keep -communications open, and its chief returned to England. - -Such was the situation when, on Monday, April 23, we received orders to -saddle at seven in the morning. We started at 8.30, with two days' -rations. - -The direction is the same as before, towards the south. But after the -counter-order of last Monday, we feel no great confidence as to the -object of this new manoeuvre. We have christened these starts 'the -Monday morning exercises.' - -This time, it seems, that while De Wet is busy at Wepener with Brabant's -Horse, which he is still surrounding, a strong column is to attempt to -cut him off from the north, by establishing a line between Bloemfontein -and the frontier of Basutoland. We are to oppose this movement and -enable De Wet to pass. - -We arrive in the plain watered by the Onspruit about five in the -evening. We bivouac there with Lorentz's Germans, with whom we are -still grouped. The nights begin to be cold. During the evening 1,000 -men and two 75 millimetre Creusot guns arrive. - -In Botha's camp, close by, there are still from 300 to 400 men, a Krupp -gun, an Armstrong, and a Nordenfeldt. - -On the morning of the 24th a reinforcement of from 200 to 300 men -arrives. Our total strength is from 1,500 to 1,800 men. - -We remain in bivouac, but on the 25th our provisions are exhausted, and -they re-victual us by driving a flock of sheep across the plain. Each -group of five or six men takes one. Part of the flesh is grilled over a -fire of cow-dung--the only fuel available in the Veldt--and the rest, -cut into quarters, is slung on the saddles for next day. - -For the last two days the luminous balloon of the English has been -visible all the evening till midnight. - -In the afternoon we get orders to start for the Waterworks, to the east -of Bloemfontein, which the English have recaptured from General Lemmer. -We are to take provisions for several days; but the English, it seems, -are close behind us. They have come down into the plain, and the road -from here to Brandfort is very insecure. - -At three o'clock in the afternoon Wrangel, two former officers in the -German army, Couves, De Loth, and I, set out to fetch a trolley loaded -with necessaries for the two corps. - -We arrive at Brandfort towards midnight. Captain D----, whom we meet -here, gives us the news from France. The Théâtre Français was burnt -down on March 9, and Mdlle. Henriot was one of the victims of the -catastrophe. We also hear of the explosion at Johannesburg. A telegram -says that the fort blew up on the 24th. But we learn later that it was -Begbie's factory and not the fort that exploded. Another telegram, -relating to the fight at Boshof, says that Prince Bagration is not dead, -but wounded only. A lieutenant of marines named Gilles was killed. -This is all we have in the way of details, for the official list of the -losses of April 5 has not yet appeared. - -As regards the explosion, the following information may be of interest. - -The citadel of Johannesburg was not constructed with a view to defending -the town, but, on the contrary, with the idea of bombarding it. This -curious arrangement calls for some explanation. - -On January 1, 1896, Dr. Jameson, coming from the east, was checked at -Krugersdorp with his contingent, which prevented the execution of his -_coup de main_. But at the news of his arrival a number of Uitlanders, -for the most part English, had armed. Forming themselves into -commandos, and reinforced by a battery of Maxims smuggled in among -machines for use in the mines, they bivouacked on the heights of -Yeoville, commanding Johannesburg, to await and join the men of the -Chartered Company. - -After this escapade the Transvaal Government, in order to work upon the -loyal sentiments of its good city of Johannesburg, presented it with a -fort, which, situated in a prominent position in the town, would have -been capable in a very few minutes of correcting any ill-timed -manifestations of sympathy to which its inhabitants might be inclined to -give way in the future. - -The Begbie factory was used for the manufacture of projectiles. With -comparatively primitive methods and absolutely inexperienced workmen, -the making and charging of shells of all the patterns in use in our own -artillery had been carried on here. Every evening from 700 to 800 were -despatched in every direction. - -For a long time past, directly after war was declared, the English who -had been expelled had publicly predicted an explosion at this factory. -On February 2 a telegram from Durban announced that this explosion had -taken place. The manager, Mr. Grünberg, had even vainly called the -attention of the police to a house close to the powder magazine. - -To be brief, a terrible explosion took place on the 24th, killing some -hundred persons, and destroying a quarter of the town. - -This was in the main what the inquiry that took place afterwards brought -to light: - -A little mine containing black powder had been dug in the suspected -house, close to the dynamite reserve of the powder magazine. The authors -of the explosion had afterwards connected the mine with the electric -light of their rooms; then they had departed quietly to a place of -safety, having still half a day to spare. In the evening, at five -o'clock, when the electric light works turned on the current to -distribute light in the town, the explosion was produced automatically. -The guilty persons were never discovered. - - * * * * * - -We spent our evening discussing all this news, and then went to bed in -our encampment. On the morning of the 26th we loaded a trolley, to which -we had harnessed eight strong mules, with cartridges, biscuit, and a few -other necessary provisions. We started at two o'clock in the afternoon, -and arrived late in the evening at a farm where an ambulance was -installed. - -We bivouacked several hundreds of metres off, as we were urgently -recommended to do by the doctor, who was accompanied by his wife. He -took advantage of the Geneva Convention to protect his domestic peace, -no doubt with an eye to Wrangel, who is a very pretty fellow! - -I do not know if the legislator foresaw such a case as this! - -Our dinner was furnished by the roosters of the farmyard, which three of -our number had initiated in the laws of hospitality. Certain -protestations are raised by the victims, during which I call and scold -my poor Nelly, who is lying perfectly innocent at my feet. But the -ambulance men will think it was she who was pursuing the poultry.... -One should always try to save appearances. - -We take a very light sleep, and towards three o'clock a Kaffir comes to -tell us that he has just met a numerous band of English. We harness up -rapidly, and make off still more rapidly at a hand-gallop, while in the -dawning light we make out the scouts of the enemy on the neighbouring -kopjes. - -All day we marched across the plain without a guide, and at six in the -evening we reached Botha's camp. Our comrades, who had gone off on a -little reconnaissance, which proved to be fruitless, came in at about -8.30. - -A rumour that we had been taken prisoners together with the trolley had -preceded us; it had been brought in by the Irish Americans, and -confirmed by a heliographic message from the commissary at Brandfort. - -On the 28th all the Europeans were told to hold themselves in readiness -to start as an advanced guard. I meet with a very cordial reception -from the officers of the staff, for I find among them the Adjutant,[#] -Marais, who was with us at Poplar Grove. The order to start was given -at two in the afternoon. - - -[#] The title of Adjutant to a Boer General often corresponds to that of -head of the staff, and not to the subordinate rank implied by the grade -in France. - - -We have just heard that Von Loosberg, an ex-lieutenant of the German -army, whom we knew at Abraham's Kraal, and who had since taken service -in the artillery, had received seven Maxim bullets at Dewetsdorp, two in -the head and five in the body. He recovered! - -At five o'clock we reach a little stream. Here we are to encamp for -three days. From 1,200 to 1,500 are gathered here with Botha, Delarey -and Kolby. The tents are set up a little apart. We are very -comfortable. - -At about 8.30 we had finished dinner, and were about to seek a -well-earned repose; several of the party were already rolled up in their -blankets. Suddenly there was a noise of the tramp of horses and strange -murmurs. We went in search of information. All the camp was astir, and -the Boers were making off quietly. - -'The English! Be off!' - -We struck our tents hastily, saddled our horses, and harnessed the -mules, without getting any more precise information, and then we joined -in the general retreat. The questions we ask call forth answers -precisely like those given by young recruits at their first manoeuvres. - -'The enemy!' - -'Where?' - -'Over there!' - -A sweeping gesture embraces the whole horizon; the indication is all the -more vague in that it is ten o'clock, and that the night is very dark. - -'Are there many of them?' - -'I don't know.' - -'Which way are they going?' - -'I don't know.' - -I almost think that if one asked rather sharply, 'Did you see them?' the -man would answer, 'No.' - -Nevertheless, the convoy takes an easterly direction, and the men are so -disposed as to cover the retreat. We are on a rocky kopje swept by an -icy wind. Thinking we were to bivouac again further on, we had packed -up our cloaks and rugs on the trolley. Our benumbed fingers can no -longer grasp our rifles; we shiver, swear, and sneeze in chorus. It was -a horrible experience! - -After a night that seemed interminable, dawn and sunlight put an end to -our torture. During the morning certain information is brought in. The -camp has been broken up, 1,500 men have been mobilized, and have spent -the night on the _qui vive_. A patrol of thirteen Lancers passed close -by. - -The 29th is a Sunday. The Boers sing hymns. We pitch our tents again -about two hours' distance from our camp of the night before. - -On the 30th, at eight o'clock, orders are given to transport our laager -to the foot of the high kopjes we see four or five miles off in the -direction of Taba N'chu. - -Towards 9.30 the Maxim suddenly opens fire, without our having seen or -heard anything to account for it. We gallop off to the kopjes straight -in front of us, making for one of the highest, which is called Taba -N'berg. But a field-cornet comes after us at a gallop, and sends us -more to the left to join General Kolby. It is all the same to us, as we -know nothing of what is on hand. We take up a position on a little -rocky peak. - -The kopjes form a large semicircle, slightly oval, the curve of which -lies to the north-east and the opening to the south-east. A group of -trees in the midst of the arid yellow basin is Taba N'chu. To the west -of our position twenty miles off is Bloemfontein. All the bottom of the -vast hollow is full of men in khaki. - -It is ten o'clock. We have one cannon on our left, and on our right, -between us and the big kopje, another cannon and a Maxim gun. Later in -the day two or three Grobler guns appeared on the scene. One English -battery took up a position about 4,000 metres from us, then another, -distributing common shell and shrapnel all along our line. A brisk -fusillade was also brought to bear upon us at a long range (about 2,500 -yards). - -Judging the distance to be too great for effective rifle-fire, we did -not respond to this, but did our best with our guns. At eleven o'clock, -however, our Maxim was silenced. - -The Duke of Edinburgh's Volunteers and the Royal Irish charged our right -wing four times, and finally succeeded in establishing themselves on the -flank of the incline, which was relatively slight on their side. - -Von Braschel was killed, and Brostolowsky, both former officers in the -German army; also Baudin, a former sergeant of marines, who had served -his fifteen years, and had come to the Transvaal while waiting for the -liquidation of his retiring pension. - -About 4.30 we were ourselves vigorously charged by the infantry, but a -brisk fire, unerringly delivered, dispersed those who did not fall. - -The fighting ceased with the day. In the evening, owing to the -unexpected nature of the engagement, we had neither provisions nor -coverings. A box of sardines between ten of us was our dinner, and the -intense cold debarred us from the sleep that would have consoled us for -our missing meal. - -We remained in position, and at daybreak on May 1 the battle began -again. - -With the Germans, we were sent to occupy the big kopje against which the -English attack had been most violent the night before. Its dominant -position made it of great strategic value; but the Boers who had held it -were guilty of the disastrous negligence, only too habitual with them, -of retiring from it in order to sleep comfortably, instead of -strengthening their position upon it. - -The English, on the other hand, had spent the night digging trenches, -and were firmly established on the ground they had gained in the two -days. From the very beginning, therefore, our position was less -favourable. - -The ascent of Taba N'berg by a rocky, steep, and almost precipitous -incline took about thirty-five minutes. So rugged was the hillside that -it was impossible to use litters to bring down the wounded. We were -forced to drag them down by the feet, or to make them slide down -sitting. Our shelters were therefore often stained with long trails of -blood. - -Our horses were left at the bottom of the hill, without anyone on guard -as usual. On reaching the top, we were greeted by steady infantry fire -and by a few shrapnel shells, which we received without responding till -ten o'clock. Then, leaning a little upon our right, we began to fire. -We numbered about a hundred--fifty foreigners, and as many Boers; for -the majority of those who had been with us the night before--perhaps 500 -Europeans, and a rather smaller number of Burghers--had returned to the -laager, and had not come back. - -It is true that the day had been a hard one for them, and that they had -had to bear the brunt of the battle under a heavy artillery fire. - -Up to this moment nothing serious had been attempted. But about eleven -o'clock the whole of the Royal Canadian contingent arrived in open -formation. They were greeted on their passage by our two 75 millimetre -guns, which had taken up a position on our left at the foot of the -kopje. - -I heard afterwards that the guns, though they had been remarkably well -laid, had not been very effective, the shells with fuses having fallen -without exploding. In consequence of this, only two or three men, who -had been struck full by the shells as if they had been bullets, had been -killed. Several others were knocked over by the shock, but picked -themselves up unharmed. I got this information later from a superior -officer of an English regiment who had been present in the engagement. - -About one o'clock, without any order and without any reason, the Boers, -who were occupying another little kopje on our left, forsook their -position. The English artillerymen at once rushed forward, and now -began to fire upon us at a distance of 3,500 metres. Then, all at once, -there was a cry of, 'To the horses!' At our feet, behind us in the -plain, a regiment of Lancers, who had come round the big kopje where we -were stranded as on an island, sweep forward in loose order, to seize -our horses which are sheltered below. - -There is a rush to protect them. A few Boers, coming from I know not -whence, took ambush in a little spruit, and drove off the Lancers by a -withering fire; but while this feint was being carried out, the English -made another rush forward, more serious than the first. A fierce -fusillade was kept up on both sides. - -We are now only hanging on to the kopje by the left corner. - -Suddenly, not having been able to seize our horses, the enemy open a -terrible artillery fire upon them obliquely. The Boers retreat before -it, and the position becomes untenable; we have only just time to reach -our horses. As we come down the kopje, one of my comrades, who is a -great declaimer of verse, recites 'Rolla'; but his memory fails him at a -certain verse, and he asks me to help him out. I reply that I don't -know 'Rolla,' but my answer is cut short by a shell which, passing -between us, bursts and carries off the head of a Burgher clean from the -nape of the neck. - -And through the crash of shells and the whistle of bullets I hear a few -metres off the voice of my friend De C---- speaking to someone I cannot -see: - -'It was at Tabarin, you know.' - -At last we reach the horses; Buhors arrives, bringing the water-bottles -he has filled at a little spring a hundred metres off under a hail of -projectiles. An ambulance is on the spot, riddled with bullets, and the -doctor, admirably calm, tends the wounded, while the natives hastily -harness the mules. We see two or three more men fall; a horse drops -disembowelled by a shell; then we are in the saddle. - -Four or five men, who were firing at us from a distance of about 200 -metres on top of the kopje we had just abandoned, and the battery which -was working away unceasingly 3,000 yards off, had got us in an angle of -fire. The ground was ploughed up by a hail of projectiles, and the -shower of bullets raised thousands of little clouds. - -A hard gallop of 2,000 metres under these convergent fires carried us -pretty well out of danger. - -A German, with a long fair beard, whom I knew well, galloped past me. -He had no coat, no hat, no arms; his horse had neither saddle nor -bridle; he was guiding it by a halter. Pale, with staring eyes, his -face contracted, he dashed past me. There was a large blood-stain on -his shirt. He had been shot right through the body! - -It was half-past two o'clock. - -These two days cost us twenty killed, among them six Europeans, and -about fifty wounded, of whom twenty were Europeans. - -Scarcely had we got beyond range, when we met Botha, who posted us on a -little slope. There were about sixty of us. Then Botha went off. When -he had disappeared, a Burgher went slowly up to his horse, mounted it, -and left the field. Another followed him, just as slowly, then a third. -Soon there were only about fifteen Europeans left. - -We could see nothing on the horizon, neither convoy nor retreating -troops. We in our turn departed, saluted by a few shells. - -Here and there a few wounded, and one or two men who had lost their -horses, were going away. No one knew what had become of the army. - - - - - IX - - -At last we meet General Olivier's troops, marching to the north-west. -They appear to know nothing of the battle. Scarcely have we gone 100 -metres with them before we are stopped by a battery, which opens fire -upon us. The English form a semicircle round us. The situation is -serious. We make off across the Veldt, towards the east, till far on in -the night. We sleep on the ground, keeping a sharp look-out. - -On the next day, Tuesday, at dawn, we set out again, describing a wide -circle, first to the east, then to the north, and finally to the west. -It proved lucky for us that we had done so, for we were behind the -English columns marching on Brandfort and Winburg. - -Finally, always making our way across the Veldt, we arrived at Brandfort -on the 4th about eight o'clock in the morning. - -Oh, how thankful we were to be in our camp and in our tents again! What -a tub we had! what a breakfast! and what a sleep we look forward to when -night comes! - -While waiting for the preparation of a serious meal, we set to work to -grill a few chops. They have scarcely been on the embers more than two -minutes, when we hear Pom! pom! pom! - -There is no time for breakfast. To horse! We swallow our raw cutlets, -and gallop off. - -Four men stay behind to strike the camp, and we take up a position to -the south-east of Brandfort, on the kopjes that command the plain. - -In the distance, about eight kilometres off, we see the English convoys -already making for Brandfort. They are pretty confident. - -To the right, a battery, of which we can distinguish the escort, -silences the cannon nearest us by killing the gunners. Then a second -battery advances at a trot on the left in the plain, and crosses the -fire of the first. - -The Boers watch this manoeuvre with great interest, discussing it and -giving their opinions on it. Then, as the battery halts and takes up a -position, slowly but surely, they all make for their horses. - -Scarcely are the first shells fired before they are in their saddles, -decamping at full speed. - -Our two 75-millimetre guns come up, and throw a few shells from a -distance, with no result. - -It is always the same. They watch the enemy's operations without -interfering, and when they want to act, it is too late. - -It is two o'clock. Our waggons went off long ago, but the road is -encumbered with a long string of vehicles. - -The roads to Smaldeel and Winburg are cut off. There is an -indescribable throng on the Veldt; each person is going in his own -direction. The confusion is complete. - -C---- and I go off to try and find our baggage, for since the 1st we -have had no news of the trolley, which is with Michel and a few -comrades. The rest of the carts may very well have been captured, like -so many others, either near Winburg or near Smaldeel. - -My friend, always full of foresight, had taken the precaution of putting -a pot of peach jam in his pocket when we started in the morning. On this -we dined without a scrap of biscuit. - -Late in the evening we arrived at a farm, from whence we were shown the -English outposts on a kopje opposite. During the night the owners of -the farm went off in a cart. Kaffirs kept watch to warn us should any -attempt be made on our refuge. We slipped away at daybreak, and arrived -at Smaldeel towards noon on the 5th. - -The retreat continued. Each day was marked by a skirmish, though no -serious engagement took place except at Zand River on the 9th. There the -fighting was pretty hot. The Boers of our right wing were driven back, -while the Germans, who were in front, held the bed of the river, which -makes an angle at this point. The English column advanced, greatly -outnumbering the Germans, who were very nearly taken. They ordered the -Boers to stand firm to allow them to disengage themselves, but the -panic-stricken Burghers would not stop. Then, without receiving any -orders, the Germans, moved by a feeling of deep and legitimate anger, -once more summoned the fugitives to fight, and on their refusal, poured -a volley into them at a distance of about 200 metres. Several fell; the -rest, cowed by this prompt action, returned to their positions, held the -English column in check for a few moments, and gave the Germans time to -disengage themselves. - -On the 12th French had arrived first at Kroonstad by one of his usual -outflanking movements. The surprise had been complete. Fortunately our -carts had left the day before. - -Since the 8th Heilbron had become the seat of government of the Free -State. - -The Irish Brigade,[#] nearly all of whom were drunk after the sacking of -the stores, had been made prisoners for the most part. - - -[#] A certain number of Irish, commanded by Colonel Blake, had taken -service with the Boers under the name of the Irish Brigade. - - -The railway-station, which served as a commissariat store, had been -burnt to the ground with all the provisions, which there had been no -time to save. - -Everyone was worn out. Lorentz had been shot in two places at Zand -River; Wrangel too was wounded. Everywhere where resistance had been -necessary the Boers had not stood against a dozen shells. - -The retreat continued to Vereeniging; we arrived there on the 14th. The -most contradictory rumours were freely circulated. On the 12th, -Mafeking was said to have been taken by the Boers; on the 13th the news -was confirmed; on the 14th it was denied. - -The town, it appeared, had very nearly been taken by a hundred -foreigners; but getting no support from the Boers, they had failed in -their attempt, and seventy-two of them had been killed. - -On the morning of the 17th we were said to have captured eighteen guns -at Mafeking. The following telegram, signed by General Snyman, had even -been published: - -'This morning I had the good fortune to take prisoner Baden-Powell and -his 900 men.' - -In the evening it was reported that we had suffered a check, and had -lost ten guns. - -The last report was, unhappily, the only true one. - -Baden-Powell, whom Lord Roberts had asked in April to hold on till May -18, had been relieved on the 17th, after a siege of 118 days. - -The last few days, it seems, had been very hard ones, for on April 22 -the ration had been reduced to 120 grammes of meat and 240 grammes of -bread a day. - -The little garrison had been greatly tried, losing more than half of its -numbers during this siege, the longest in modern times after those of -Khartoum (341 days) and Sebastopol (327 days), though a trifling affair -as compared with the ten years of Troy, or the twenty-nine years of -Azoth recorded by Herodotus. - -We found our waggons awaiting us at Vereeniging on the 15th; we were -thoroughly disgusted, as may be supposed. We had been retreating and -retreating continuously, without a struggle, without an effort, offering -no resistance. - -However, we found that a _Long Tom_ had been brought up, mounted on a -truck. It was protected by a steel shield and a rampart of sandbags. A -second truck, also casemated with logs and sandbags, served as a -magazine for powder and shell. But the kind of armoured train thus -formed remained idle in the railway-station. - -I inquired whether we were to attempt an attack and push forward. The -answer was that we could not venture to cross the Vaal with the gun, -because it was feared that the Free State Boers, who were displeased at -the war, might blow up the railway bridge while the 'armoured train' was -in the Orange territory, and thus deliver it into the hands of the -English. Such was the spirit of confidence that reigned! - -In spite of all this, we wished to try once more to organize an -effective foreign legion. De Malzan, a former officer in the German -army, was appointed Adjutant of the Uitlanders' Corps under Blignault, -by the Government of Pretoria; his commission was signed by Reitz and -Souza. He went, his jaw still bandaged for a wound received at -Platrand, to confer with General Botha. He was very badly received. - -'I do not recognise anyone's right to make appointments. Blignault is -not a General, and you are nothing at all. The Europeans can all go -back to their own countries. I don't want them. My Burghers are quite -enough for me'--a remark he might have spared the European legion, -which, out of about 280, had in the last two months lost fifteen killed, -nineteen prisoners and eighty-seven wounded on the battlefields of -Boshof, Taba N'chu, Brandfort and Zand River. - -Anxious to clear up the question definitively, I left my camp on the -other side of the Vaal, and made for Pretoria on the evening of the 18th -in a coal-truck. - -On the 19th I found Lorentz there. He had been made a Colonel. We held -a council of war--Lorentz, still lame from his two wounds; Wrangel, with -his arm in a sling; Rittmeister Illich, the Austro-Hungarian, and -myself. It was decided that we should lay before the President a scheme -of organization, from which I will quote a passage, as it shows the -state of mind in which we all were: - -'We earnestly hope that on the lines we have laid down, and with the -active support of the Government--which no one has yet obtained--a good -result may be achieved. - -'This plan, taking into account the rapidity with which events are -following one upon another, depends for its success on the swiftness -with which it is carried out. But we much fear that a fresh rebuff from -the Government, after so many others, would irrevocably discourage its -well-wishers.' - - * * * * * - -We obtained an interview with De Korte, who had influence. He approved -the plan, but feared to see it fail, like so many others. Our -representations became more and more pressing. - -On the 24th I went to Johannesburg to see Dr. Krause, who is also -influential. He was very amiable, but irresolute, and did not know what -to say. - - * * * * * - -The English continued to advance. A despatch-rider came to tell me that -my convoy had arrived. It joined me, indeed, at Johannesburg on the -26th, without any 'boys,' all of them having deserted; the waggons -battered and broken by fording the rivers, the beasts dead or exhausted -by a journey without rest or food, the men worn out by continual -vigilance, and by their double duties as 'boys' and combatants, -disgusted at the retreat and the disorder. - -Many of them laid down their arms, and found work at the -cartridge-factory and in the mines at from twenty-five to thirty -shillings a day. One, more desperate than the rest, left his arms with -us, and went off to the English lines to surrender. Only a very few -remained, waiting for the President's decision as a last resource. - -The Landdrost allots a piece of waste ground to the twenty mules, -twenty-one oxen, thirty-two horses and two 'boys,' which constitute the -debris of our convoy. The men find lodging where they can. - -On Sunday, the 27th, one of my men arrived from Pretoria with a letter -from Lorentz, dated Saturday morning. The scheme had been signed and -approved. Afterwards he handed me a proclamation by Lorentz, dated the -evening of the same day. At two o'clock everything was retracted and -refused. Furious and despairing, Colonel Lorentz adjured all the -foreigners to lay down their arms: - -'As the honourable Government of the Z.A.R. cannot accede to our modest -but just demands, we, the foreigners of various nationalities, being -without means of livelihood, are no longer in a position to sacrifice -our lives for the maintenance of the Federated Republics. - -'I, the under-signed, hitherto commandant of the international corps, -hereby invite all persons who voluntarily joined me to lay down their -arms on Tuesday, May 29, 1900, at ten o'clock in the morning, at the Old -Union Club at Pretoria, or at any other place where they may happen to -be. - -'(Signed) C. LORENTZ. -'HAUPTMANN v. L.' - -I hesitated to show the proclamation to my companions, they were already -so depressed. - -On the morning of Monday, the 28th, a policeman, furnished with an order -from the Landdrost, requisitioned our beasts at the grazing-ground -without even giving us notice. I believe he sold them. I had almost -certain proof of this later on. We never found them again. - -In the night three of our waggons out of the five were pillaged in spite -of the man on guard. Such behaviour to Europeans who were being cut up -into mincemeat for them! ... It was too much! The cup was full. I -handed Lorentz's proclamation to the men. It did not raise a regret; -they were all sick of the business. - -Those in authority had refused them a few shillings, scarcely the pay of -a Kaffir, of which they were sorely in need, for they were utterly -destitute, and had not the means to escape from the English and return -to their countries. - -And now the authorities were taking advantage of our exhaustion to steal -our horses--under a pretext of legality--to give, or, rather, to sell -them to Boers who were going back quietly to their farms. For if a few -thousand still stood their ground, the majority had lost heart, and had -returned to their homes, only leaving them when their wives, more -patriotic than themselves, drove them back to the front. - -It was generally the old men, those who had taken part in the 'Great -Treks,' who set the example of resistance. These men have inherited the -virtues of their ignorant and rustic ancestors. If they can read at -all, the Bible is their only book; and even if they cannot read it, they -know its grand pages, and try to live up to its precepts. - -Many Burghers of the younger generation, on the other hand, have -inhabited towns; they have become greedy of gain, very English in their -habits and customs, and have lost the principal virtues of their race, -substituting for them the faults, often much aggravated, of those who -have given them the shady civilization of South African cities. - -In the army of Natal, round about Amajuba, there were seven guns and -about 200 men. Of these just _six were Burghers_, the rest were -Afrikanders and foreigners. And while former officers and -non-commissioned officers of the European artillery were begging for -cannon, two of these seven guns were idle for want of men to serve them. - -They prefer to leave them thus rather than to give them over to -foreigners. I was told this by a Burgher, an artilleryman of twenty, -who was going to his post. I travelled with him from Pretoria to -Elandsfontein on the morning of May 24. He himself did not conceal his -indignation at this method of proceeding. - -At Pretoria the Government had given up all pretence of action. A -general panic seemed to reign. Rumour reported that influential persons -were mainly occupied in dividing the public money among themselves. - -It is a fact that none of the tradespeople, whether they were -hotel-keepers who had lodged and fed troops on presentation of -requisition warrants, or dealers in clothes and provisions, had been -paid. They all now declined to lodge persons or provide goods for the -State. - -A woman, Mrs. S. D., who had had a contract for saddles, was obliged, -after many fruitless appeals, to enter the Government offices horsewhip -in hand, like Louis XIV. when he intimidated his Parliament. - -Thanks to this vigorous proceeding, she received a credit-note, on which -a certain number of bars of gold were given her, for the national -bank-notes had fallen to about two-thirds of their nominal value. But -this was an exceptional case, and most of the trades-people were less -fortunate. - -What became of the gold that for eight months was taken out of seven -mines working for the State? No one knows! - -It is true that, from the highest functionary to the humblest Burgher, -all were intent on the most shameless pillage. I saw army contractors, -on whom no sort of check existed, charged with the provision of every -kind of necessary, food, clothing, horses, oxen, etc., and making fine -fortunes in no time; while the honest and worthy Boer received from the -State horses and harness which he afterwards sold to it again with the -utmost coolness. - -I know, too, that very large sums were devoted to a press propaganda in -favour of the South African Republics. And how many skilful middlemen, -by means of round sums judiciously distributed, secured orders for the -most expensive and useless commodities! - -In all countries and in all ages it is notorious that out of ten army -contractors nine are thieves and one is a rogue, especially in war-time. -Their depredations date back to the institution of armies, and the Boer -contractors had only to follow on a path already clearly marked out for -them by their European confrères. But few of these have displayed such -a degree of proficiency in their calling. - -I might quote the case of a famous Parisian firm of balloonists, to -which nearly 10,000 francs were paid in ready money for waterproof silk, -cord, and various utensils for the construction of a balloon. An -aeronaut was also engaged at a salary of 2,000 francs a month, all -expenses paid, and when he arrived at Machadodorp, where the President -was at the time, he was greeted with: - -'A balloon? What for?' - -After awaiting a solution for three weeks, the aeronaut returned to -France, noting on his return journey a number of stray packages on the -quay at Lourenço Marques. They contained the silk and the rest of the -apparatus. - -It was by a scientific application of these Boer principles that Mrs. S. -D. came by the very pretty sum we have seen her collecting with her -horsewhip! - -She had engaged to deliver 500 saddles a week at £10 each; but a good -many of the Burghers to whom the saddles were distributed sold them back -to the worthy lady's agents for £4 or £5, and she then sold them again -to the State, after changing the more conspicuous of them a little. So -that these wretched saddles were always reappearing on the scene, as in -a review at the Châtelet; but each of their migrations brought in a -solid sum to Mrs. D----. - -It is not difficult to see why there was no money for the combatants. - - - - - X - - -After forty-eight hours of fighting from Elandsfontein to Florida, on -May 29 and 30, we were cut off from the road to Pretoria by General -French and his cavalry. - -Without horses it was impossible for us to follow the retreat, and we -found ourselves shut up in Johannesburg. We succeeded in enrolling -ourselves among the police of the mines, which gave us a temporary -shelter, and perhaps saved us a sojourn at St. Helena; for we were -determined not to take the oath of neutrality, but to begin fighting -again as soon as possible. - -On May 31 the English entered Johannesburg. The English flag was hoisted -with great pomp at noon in the great square, in the presence of Lord -Roberts. Dr. Krause had been empowered to surrender the town. - -Johannesburg is a very English town. Its behaviour at the time of -Jameson's raid sufficiently proved this, and many of the more -irreconcilable Burghers who had been brought into hospital there wounded -ran away before they were cured rather than remain in the hostile town. - -The Union Jack was accordingly greeted with loud shouts of 'Hip! hip! -hip! hurrah!' - -Nevertheless, we often met Burghers in the crowd who, like ourselves, -were only biding their time to return to the front. I saw one old man -weeping silently. I am not sentimental, but I have rarely felt a more -poignant emotion than this mute and dignified despair excited in me. I -hurried away. I think I should have wept myself. - -The entry of the troops began at about 10.30, and lasted four hours. -About 12,000 men marched through the town, and in the environs, as far -off as Elandsfontein, some 50,000 passed, it was said. - -But what a procession it was! There was no order; the men barely -marched in ranks. No uniforms, officers and soldiers huddled together, -dirty, and many of them in rags. They had eaten nothing since the day -before, when the ration had been two biscuits. - -On they came, or rather dragged themselves, with drooping heads, one -with his rifle on his shoulder, another with his slung across his back, -one with the butt-end uppermost, some without bayonets, others with -bayonets fixed. Some officers had our Mauser rifles, others -Lee-Enfields, others sporting rifles. Nearly all, both officers and -soldiers, walked with the help of sticks. - -From Bloemfontein to Johannesburg they had covered 250 miles, fighting -every day, and sometimes marching 45 kilometres without a halt across -country. - -A few days earlier, at Kroonstad, their convoys had not come up. Lord -Roberts, anxious to continue his forward movement by forced marches, -asked the commissariat-officer: - -'Can you serve the ration?' - -'No, sir.' - -'Half ration, then?' - -'No, sir.' - -'Quarter ration?' - -'Yes, perhaps.' - -On receiving this problematic reply, the Marshal explained the situation -to his men. They immediately replied with acclamations: 'For Lord -Roberts we would march without any ration at all!' - -The Black Watch, out of a thousand men, their strength on landing, -mustered about sixty behind their pipers. The others lie in the -trenches of Magersfontein and at the foot of Dorn Kop. - -Save for a few battalions that have arrived recently, the regiments are -skeleton corps. - -As we watched these haggard, exhausted troops dragging themselves along, -involuntarily we called to mind him who once marched our fathers through -all the capitals of Europe. In spite of fatigue, privation, and hard -fighting, it was in a very different guise that the Grand Army entered -Vienna and Berlin behind the Emperor and his glittering staff. - -The artillery was in better form. Some fifteen batteries were drawn by -magnificent horses, and I saw men on cobs that looked well worth from -two to three hundred louis. - -There were also some siege-guns, and some 15 centimetre naval guns--one -from the _Monarch_--drawn by thirty-two oxen. It was behind this -powerful artillery, devastating the whole region with it on principle, -whether occupied or not, that the English army had advanced from -Bloemfontein. - -If we had had a body of cavalry, I believe that rapid and energetic -action would have resulted in a considerable loss of _matériel_ to the -English army; for, relying on the absolute lack of offensive measures on -our side, they often left their batteries defenceless. - -Next came a strong train--telegraph apparatus, balloonists, engineering -implements for digging wells, pumps, etc. - -The troops merely passed through the town, leaving in it a garrison -under the command of Colonel Mackenzie (Seaforth Highlanders), who was -appointed Governor of Johannesburg. - -The next day a proclamation by Frederick Sleigh, Baron Roberts of -Kandahar and Waterford, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., V.C., -Field-Marshal, commanding Her Majesty's Forces in South Africa: - -'Assures the non-combatant population of his protection. - -'All Burghers who have committed no act of violence contrary to the laws -of civilization against any of Her Majesty's subjects are authorized to -return to their homes, after giving up their arms and pledging -themselves to take no further part in hostilities. Passports will be -given them. - -'Her Majesty's Government will respect the private property of the -inhabitants of the South African Republic, as far as is compatible with -the exigencies of war. - -'All individual attempts upon property will be severely punished. - - 'GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! - -'Given under my hand and seal at Johannesburg, May 31, 1900.' - -At the same time, regulations fixing the prices of provisions for the -troops were issued: 30s. for a sack of 168 lb. of oats; -champagne-tisane, 160s. a case; tobacco, from 3s. to 7s. a pound, etc. - -Let us take advantage of our ephemeral functions as policemen to explore -the town a little. Johannesburg was not the first mining centre in the -Transvaal. The first workers established themselves at Barberton in -1886. A few years later the Brothers Strubens, whilom prospectors, -discovered an auriferous vein in the Witwatersrand near the farm of -Landlaagte. Johannesburg then consisted of a few scattered huts. It -now numbers over 100,000 inhabitants (I mean, of course, before the -war). - -It is a town given over to business. The centre is occupied by the -post-office, a huge building, in front of which is a vast marketplace. -Here in normal times trains of carts bring in all the necessaries of -life--fruit, vegetables, mealies, etc. The principal streets, -Commissioner Street, Market Street, Pritchard Street and President -Street, are wide, clean, and bordered by handsome shops. The whole town -is lighted by electricity. - -The blocks of houses, three and four stories high, are called -'buildings'; often several of them belong to the same owner or to the -same society, and bear their names: Ægis Building, Commissioner Street; -S.A. Mutual Building; Standard Building; Heritier Building. - -The houses are not numbered, but this does not inconvenience the -postmen, for they do not exist. Each inhabitant pays a small sum for -his own box at the post-office, and goes to fetch his correspondence -when he likes. - -Johannesburg has a very well organized fire-brigade, with engines, -ladders and fire-escapes of the latest pattern. The captain, who is, I -believe, an Englishman, served for a time in Paris, London, and New -York, and wears the honorary medal of our Paris brigade. The men wear -the same uniform as English firemen. - -The hosiers, tailors, French milliners, dressmakers, saddlers, and -music-sellers of the town are on a par with the best European -specialists. Life is very expensive, and all luxuries command tremendous -prices. Cabs, dirty and ill-harnessed, drawn by two miserable horses -and very badly driven, cost 7s. an hour. Little light cabriolets drawn -by negroes are therefore generally used for locomotion. These are much -cheaper and fairly rapid, for the negroes--Kaffirs or Zulus--are in -excellent training, and can go extraordinary distances at the double. - -The currency was for a long time English, but in 1892 the Transvaal -struck her first coins (pounds and shillings) with the effigy of -President Kruger. - -The Free State has no coinage of her own, and uses English or -Transvaalian money. - -Bronze money, of which the President only allowed a few specimens to be -struck, is not current; the monetary unit is the 'ticket,' a small -silver coin worth 3d.[#] - - -[#] Some English officers, it seems, saw for the first time at -Elandsfontein a Kruger's penny, and bought it for £2. The current price -of a Kruger's penny is from two to three shillings. - - -The Johannesburg journals, the _Standard and Diggers' News_ and the -_Wolkstrem_, the official organ, therefore cost 3d. - -At Johannesburg much more than at Pretoria, because the town is more -English, the houses in the centre of the town are mainly offices, for -all the inhabitants who are comfortably off live in the suburbs, either -on the height beyond the fort, or at the end of Main Street, in the -great park of Belgravia. - -Most of these suburban dwellings are very expensive, and are comfortably -and luxuriously arranged. A garden more or less large is considered an -absolute necessity. - -The majority of the population speculate and gamble, and it is not rare -in times of peace to recognise in some barman or miner a gentleman who -had dazzled the town by the magnificence of his carriages and horses a -few months back. No surprise is felt by anyone, for the next 'boom' will -perhaps make him a wealthy man of fashion once more. - -I could quote the case of a young man I knew well who was twice a -millionaire, and who, after having been ruined for the second time, was -gradually building up a third fortune. He is very little more than -thirty. - -Johannesburg, however, is merely a city of passage. Men stay here just -long enough to make money, and directly this is done, they return to -their own countries. The end and aim of everything here is to make -money, and to make it quickly. - -Based on this principle, and composed of a number of adventurers, the -cosmopolitan society one finds here hardly offers a guarantee of -irreproachable morality. - -Antecedents are of little account, indeed. A merchant who has been -convicted of fraud in France, here enjoys the consideration due to the -£500,000 he has gained with the money he stole in his fraudulent -bankruptcy. - -I have even heard that some years ago the extradition of a rogue was the -signal for disorderly scenes and an expostulatory address, because he -had not been convicted of theft since his arrival at Johannesburg. He -had made a considerable sum of money there, and was accompanied to the -station by a number of friends. - - * * * * * - -No sketch of Johannesburg would be complete without a few words about -the gold-mines. - -I am no authority on the subject, but I will describe what was told me -and what I saw; and as the engineer who was good enough to give me some -information knew me to be ignorant, my precis will be a little 'Manual -on Mining' for the use of novices. - -In the first place, there is an essential difference between the manner -in which gold is found in Witwatersrand and in other districts, such as -Klondyke, Senegal, or the Soudan. In the latter, the gold is in grains, -either embedded between the frozen stones, or rolling in the beds of -rivers. The auriferous mud is taken up and washed, and the gold is -retained. Nothing could be simpler. - -In the Rand, however, the working of the mines is purely scientific. -The mineral is found in blocks of quartz and silicious clay containing -pyrites of auriferous copper and gold. - -After calculating the direction of the reef, one must dig down to a -greater or less depth to find it. Dynamite is then used to detach the -gold-bearing quartz, which is brought to the surface. It has the -appearance of very hard white stone, slightly veined with blue. It is -carried off to the batteries in Decauville trucks, and there a -crushing-mill, which looks like a gigantic coffee-mill, and -sledge-hammers combined into groups of five, reduce it to a very fine -powder. A current of air spreads this powder over copper-plates covered -with mercury. - -A large proportion of the gold, about 60 per cent., amalgamates with the -mercury, and once a fortnight the amalgam is scraped off. After fusion -the mercury in the amalgam volatilizes, leaving a deposit of almost pure -gold. - -The residuum of the first process is afterwards poured into huge vats of -from 10 to 12 metres in diameter, in which cyanide of potassium has been -placed. A solution of cyanide of gold is thus obtained, and this is put -into cases lined with strips of zinc, on which the gold is precipitated. -The 40 per cent. lost in the first process is thus recovered. - -The gold thus collected is melted down into ingots, the transport and -verification of which are the objects of interminable regulations. - -So much for the scientific part. The rest is simpler. - -The heavy labour is mainly done by Kaffirs or Zulus under the -supervision of white miners who earn about twenty-five pounds a month, -and live in the boarding-house connected with the mine. - -The natives live in a compound where no alcohol is allowed. Their -rations are given them, and they live on very little. Their ambition is -to earn enough money to return to their native place, buy two wives, and -do no more work; the wives work for them thenceforth. It takes them -about two years to realize this dream. When the time is up, it is -impossible to keep them in the mines. - -The first year of working (1888) yielded about £1,000,000. In 1895 -about £8,000,000 was extracted. Finally, from January 1 to August 31, -1899, the harvest was nearly £13,000,000. The net profits of -exploitation are considerably diminished by the enormous expenses -resulting from the dearness of European labour, and the heavy taxes -imposed by the Transvaal Government on mining rights and on the -importation of explosives. - -At the time of my sojourn all the works were closed. In the town, as -every hospital and ambulance was full to overflowing, the hotels were -requisitioned for the sick. In front of the Victoria Hotel there were -often strings of ten and twelve waggons bringing in the wounded. - -Often at dusk a dray would pass, into which long, heavy cases of deal -were furtively slipped.... The _avowed_ losses were terrible enough. -What were they in reality? - -About the middle of December the War Office confessed to 7,350 men. At -the beginning of February this number was doubled, and Buller's three -attempts on the Tugela cost 1,046 killed, 3,785 wounded, and over 1,500 -missing. - -In March the numbers had swelled to 14,000. It was the unhealthy season, -and sickness--enteric fever especially--made wider gaps in the English -ranks than bullets. On May 10 over 18,000 men were missing, 5,000 of -whom were dead. - -On the Boer side the statistics are much more difficult to check, -especially when one is confronted with such discrepancies as these: -Rumours and reports stated the Boer losses at the Battle of Colenso, on -December 15, to have been 8 killed and 14 wounded. But I find a report -drawn up by the Red Cross Society in which the numbers are given as 77 -killed and 210 wounded. - -What is one to believe? In all ages belligerents have tried to conceal -their losses, and this kind of juggling is, of course, much easier among -incoherent groups like the commandos than in regular battalions. - - * * * * * - -One day--it was June 10, I think--all the police of the mines were -requisitioned to transport the wounded from the station to the -hospitals. There were a great many, and they had been forbidden to say -whence they came; the police were also forbidden to speak to them on any -pretext whatever. Had something very serious happened? We never knew -exactly what it was. - -Pretoria had been occupied on June 5. The news that reached us came at -long intervals, after manipulation by the censor, and was often of the -most fantastic order. - -The police regulations were most stringent. Everyone was ordered to be -indoors, at first by seven o'clock, later by 8.30. The streets and -squares were guarded by troops. Jewellers' and wine-merchants' shops -and bars were closed by order. No one was allowed to draw money without -a permit from the military authorities, and a limit--of £20 a week, I -think--was enforced as to the amount, unless a special permission had -been granted. - -Finally, residents in the town were required to get a pass and to take -an oath of allegiance. Those who, like ourselves, had resolved not to do -this, were obliged to hide like outlaws, to avoid being marched off to -the fort, and thence to Ceylon. We give a reproduction of this police -regulation[#] which was posted on the walls of the town. - - -[#] See pp. 216, 217. - - -A few days back a German had gone into Government Place at noon and -hauled down the English flag. The sentry looked on aghast at first, and -then began to question him. - -'It has no business here,' replied the German, going on with his work. -He was arrested at last, and condemned to nine months' hard labour. - -The life of inaction had become unbearable to me. At the end of June, -still on the lookout for a means of returning to the front, I at last -'found' the papers of an English police-officer. And now for liberty! - - * * * * * * * * - - V. R. - POLICE NOTICE, - -1. All Civilians are required to remain in their houses between the -hours of 7 p.m. and 6.30 a.m. unless provided with a pass signed by the -Military Commissioner of Police. - -2. No Natives are allowed in the town except such as are permanently -employed within its limits. - -3. All Liquor Stores, Bars, and Kaffir Eating Houses are closed until -further orders. No liquor will be sold except on the written order of -an Officer of Her Majesty's Forces. 4. All Jewellers' Shops are closed. - -5. No Civilian is allowed to ride or drive, or ride a bicycle within -the town unless provided with a pass signed by the Military Commissioner -of Police. - -6. Any person disobeying these regulations is liable to arrest, and -will be dealt with under Martial Law. - -By Order, -FRANCIS DAVIES, MAJOR GRENADIER GUARDS, -_Military Commissioner of Police._ -JOHANNESBURG, 1ST JUNE, 1900. - - - POLITIE KENNISGEVING. - -1. Alle Inwoners worden hierbij bevolen om in hun huizen te blyven van -7 uur 's avonds tot 6.30 uur 's morgens indien niet voorzien van een -Paspoort, geteekend door de Militaire Commissaris van Politie. - -2. Geen Kleurlingen mogen in de Stad zyn indien zy geen vast werk -hebben daarin. - -3. Alle Bottel Stores, Bars en Kleurling Kosthuizen moeten gesloten -worden tot nadere kennisgeving. Geen Drank mag verkocht worden indien -niet voorzien van een Permit van den Officier van Harer Majesteit's -Troepen. - -4. Alle Jewelier Winkels moeten gesloten worden. - -5. Geen Inwoner mag ryden te Paard, Rytuig of Bicycle in de Stad, -zonder voorzien te zyn van een permit, geteekend door de Militaire -Commissaris van Politie. - -6. Eenig persoon die deze Regulaties niet opvolgt, zal gestraft worden -onder de Krygswet. - -By Order, -FRANCIS DAVIES, MAJOR GRENADIER GUARDS. -_Militaire Commissaris van Politie._ -JOHANNESBURG, 1 JUNI, 1900. - - * * * * * * * * - - - - - XI - - -With a brief but resolute gesture, I took off my hat in farewell to the -City of Gold. With a few necessaries rolled up in a cloak, I succeeded -in passing through the English lines at Boksburg, after journeying for -three days, sometimes in friendly carts, sometimes on foot, to escape -attention. - -Near the level crossing of the railway at Boksburg a party of Lancers -was encamped. Putting on the tranquil and indifferent air of a man whose -conscience is at ease, I passed through them without molestation. -Further along the road there were two small outposts, which I was able -to avoid by passing over a dried-up pond. - -When night came on, I slept at Benoni. Commandant Derksen, of the -Boksburg commando, was in the neighbourhood. I hoped to fall in with -him in the north-east. The nights began to be terribly cold. - -At 4 a.m. on July 4 I was once more on my way. I walked till nine in -the evening. My feet were sore and bleeding. - -I arrived at last at a farm, where I was coldly received at first; for -they took me for a spy. But when I showed the papers that constituted me -a Burgher, I was petted as if I had been a son of the house. They gave -me eggs, milk and biscuit, and offered me shelter for the night. As I -had no rug, and the cold was terrible, I accepted the offer with joy. - -My hostess had three sons with Derksen, and a fourth with De Wet. The -fourth was Baby, as she called him, showing me the photograph of this -little Benjamin, who may have been about forty, and had a beard down to -his waist. - -They were worthy folks, Boers of the old school, hospitable and -patriotic. They made me up a bed in a kind of old travelling carriage -in the coach-house, and after half an hour of fierce conflict with a -swarm of mice, I fell asleep. - -Twice I was roused by further attacks from the rodents, and a third time -by a man with a long beard, who said: - -'_Obsal!_' - -I was a little surprised at first, but finally I grasped the situation. -A patrol commanded by one of the Bothas (a cousin of the Generalissimo), -had come to the farm at three in the morning. My hostess explained my -case, and they had sent to ask me if I would join them. - -I agreed eagerly, and rapid preparations were at once made for my -equipment. They found me a lean hack, gave me a rug by way of saddle, -and two pieces of cord for stirrups, and armed me with a Lee-Metford -rifle, taken from the English a little while before! Don Quixote! - -We consumed the usual coffee and biscuit, and started, taking a zigzag -route northwards towards Irene. Derksen was rather more to the east. - -Towards nine in the evening we lay down to rest on the Veldt. I think I -never suffered as I did from the cold that night. It was freezing hard, -and I had nothing to cover me but the rug, which, soaked through with -the horse's sweat, was as stiff as a board in ten minutes. It was -impossible to sleep for a moment, and the pain became so intolerable -that I was obliged to walk about to warm myself a little; and then the -wounds on my feet, which were quite raw, made me suffer cruelly. - -A few days later an officer of the first brigade of Mounted Infantry was -found frozen to death on bivouac, in spite of his blankets. - -We started at daybreak on the 6th, making for a Kaffir kraal. At about -7.30 we heard three cannon-shots fired, but could not tell exactly from -what direction. Then there was silence again. - -Towards eight o'clock a group of about fifteen horsemen in felt hats and -long dark overcoats came towards us, then, suddenly wheeling, went off -at a gallop. We were fourteen, all told. - -When it reached the top of the kopje, the party disappeared, and when, -in our turn, we rose above the crest, we were received with a fusillade. -There were about forty men, some 400 metres from us. We turned back -hastily, to put our horses in shelter on the other side, and then -replied. - -A Burgher was wounded in the head. We had the cover of the rocks to -protect us, and, in spite of our inferior numbers, the two sides were -about equal. Then another Burgher and my neighbour were wounded almost -simultaneously, the latter in the thigh, probably by a ricochet. His -wound was serious. I took his Mauser and his cartridges from him. - -I am not very sure how long this little game had been going on, perhaps -ten minutes. Suddenly we heard shots behind us. One of our horses fell; -Botha got a bullet right through him. We were surrounded by about 300 -men of the Imperial Light Horse. There was nothing to be done. A -Burgher named Marais held up a white handkerchief. There were only ten -of us left. I was handed over to some English officers, who received me -with the greatest possible courtesy. As the action had now extended all -along the line, I was taken to the rear. - -In the evening I was confided to the Connaught Rangers, who had been -kept in reserve. Hearing of my nationality and my former rank in the -French army, they said: 'We are allies now! We are making common cause -in China!' I made many inquiries about the events in the Far East, of -which we knew nothing, having held no communication with Europe since -April. - -Hoping to be able to take part in the Chinese Expedition by joining the -Foreign Legion, I made up my mind to give my parole to General H----, -who was in command of the column. - -Meanwhile I heard the most interesting details from the English officers -of the campaign in which we had lately been fighting against each other. -There were among them survivors of Colenso and Spion Kop, and men of the -Ladysmith garrison. - -The Connaught Rangers were commanded by Colonel Brooke, who was -seriously wounded at Colenso, near the railway bridge. He was acting as -General in command of the Irish Brigade. He invited me to dine with him, -and at night, though most of the officers were sleeping in the open air, -he offered me half of the little shanty which formed his bedroom, and -himself fetched a bundle of straw for my bed. Then I had innumerable -offers of rugs, cloaks, and capes, till at last I believe I was better -wrapped up than anyone in the camp. - -During the evening a telegram came telling Colonel Brooke that he had -been promoted and was a general. I willingly joined in the toasts that -were drunk in his honour, for it is a fine and noble feature of a -military career that one feels no bitterness to an adversary. When the -battle is over, foes can shake hands heartily, though they are ready to -slash each other to pieces again a few hours later. - -On July 7 we rose at six. A captain brought me some hot water in an -indiarubber basin, sponges, and soap. Then breakfast was served. We had -porridge, red herrings, butter, jam, biscuits, coffee and tea. - -But the Irish Brigade had received orders to saddle up, and I was handed -over to the staff of the first brigade of Mounted Infantry. I was very -politely received by General Hutton's staff-officer, a lieutenant. The -superior officer who took me to him, Major M. D----, of the 2nd Royal -Irish Fusiliers, asked him if he spoke French. I was delighted to hear -him answer in the affirmative. I went to lunch with him in his tent. -Conversation languished. For a long time he did not open his lips, if I -may so express it, for he was eating the grilled mutton his orderly had -given us with evident appetite. Suddenly he addressed me: - -'Navet du pon.' - -I bowed amiably, thinking we were to have a dish of turnips of some -kind. 'Du pon' puzzled me a little; but perhaps there were 'Navets -Dupont' just as there are 'Bouchées Lucullus' and 'Purée Soubise.' I -was astonished at my host's culinary knowledge. At last, later on, when -I had heard the phrase a great many times without ever seeing any -turnips, I found out that he wished to say, 'N'avez-vous du pain.' This -was the highest flight of which he was capable in French. - -Nevertheless, my sojourn with Colonel Hutton's staff was extremely -interesting. I heard that we had killed the day before Captain Currie -and Lieutenant Kirk of the Imperial Light Horse, and I was present at an -engagement that lasted three days. On the third day, indeed, shells -burst so near me that I ran a fair chance of being killed by my friends. - -I will give a brief journal of events hour by hour, so to speak. - -On the 7th fighting began early towards the east. We could hear it, -though we could see nothing. From noon to three o'clock the cannonade -was very lively towards Olifantsfontein. This was the engagement at -Witklip, I believe. The English lost some fifty men, among them ten -killed. - -On the morning of July 8 twenty mounted men went out with picks and -spades to bury the dead. They were preceded by a large white flag. At -10.30 cannon-shots were heard east-south-east, then suddenly, at 11.5, -three detachments of the Mounted Rifles went off. - -Officers and despatch-riders were galloping up and down everywhere. I -think the English had been completely surprised by a return of the -Boers. - -There was rapid harnessing and saddling. All round the bivouac horsemen -were bringing in oxen, mules, and horses from grazing. - -The Mounted Rifles galloped off to take up a position on the crest a -mile away about which there had been fighting the day before. - -At 11.15 another large detachment of Mounted Rifles passed, returning -the salute of the sentry on duty at headquarters. - -In all they may have been from three to four squadrons. It was -difficult to form any idea of actual numbers, for they were not marching -in strict order, and taking into account the reduction in the strength -of certain corps, a column of two or three hundred men may well have -represented a whole regiment. - -A captain of the Irish Brigade told me that his company consisted of -seventy-eight men, completed by yeomanry, and he called his adjutant to -verify the figures he had given me. - -At 11.20 a battery of the Royal Field Artillery went off in the same -direction at a trot. A fraction of about fifty returned at a walk. - -About 100 metres from my point of observation--an old waggon--the Irish -Brigade and the Borderers stood at ease. At 11.30 a battalion was moved -forward. Five minutes later a second battery, a great naval -10-centimetre gun, drawn by twenty oxen, joined the fighting line with -the rest of the Irish. - -Everything had been done very rapidly. One could see that the men had -been trained to sudden alarms by six months of warfare. Thirty-five -minutes before the men were busy in camp, and the beasts were grazing. -Now more than half the men were engaged, and all were ready awaiting -orders to advance. - -The skirmishers came back at a gallop, and a man arrived to hasten the -advance of the naval gun, the oxen of which were almost trotting -already. - -At 11.55 two other naval guns, also drawn by twenty oxen each, went -forward to join the others. A large ambulance-waggon followed. - -In the camp a dog was howling dismally. The cannonade slackened a -little. - -At noon an ammunition-waggon, drawn by ten mules, went off to supply the -line of combatants. - -It is lamentable that the Burghers, clinging obstinately to their -defensive tactics, know nothing of rear or flank movements. - -There are no sentries either right or left. All the troops have gone off -in the direction of the cannon--that is to say, towards the east--and in -that immense camp, containing some hundreds of waggons, there are only a -platoon of Mounted Rifles and a half-battalion of infantry. A handful -of men could carry the camp and sack it. - -In addition to the material result, what a moral effect would be -produced on the troops engaged a mile and a half off, if they knew that -an enemy, however feeble, was in possession of the road of retreat, and -engaged in plundering the stores and ammunition! - -It is true that the Boers did not know the state of the camp, but if -they had they would have done nothing. This circumstance, confirming -many other instances, would have convinced me more firmly than ever, if -that were possible, that the great secret of warfare is to _dare_! -This, I think, was the sole science of Murat, Lassalle and many another -famous _sabreur_. And the Emperor himself, was not he, too, a type of -audacity in the conception of his most brilliant campaigns, in the -conduct of his most glorious victories? - -About 12.30 the firing ceased. It recommenced again about 3 and 4.30. -At three o'clock another great ammunition waggon was despatched. No -losses were announced that evening. - -The staff was at work till one o'clock in the morning, and a long -telegram in cipher was sent off to Pretoria. In the evening rather late -I heard the movements of troops, which recommenced the next morning at -dawn. - -July 9.--From 7 a.m. to 7.30 a battery and several detachments of the -Mounted Rifles, ten or fifteen, moved off to the east-south-east, -strongly flanked on the right (south) by other Mounted Rifles and by a -battery. - -In the early morning there were two centimetres of ice on the artillery -buckets, and towards noon we were glad to be in our shirtsleeves. This -great variation, more than 37 degrees in twenty hours, is very trying. -We were now in mid-winter, and the sun set at five o'clock. At eight the -firing, which was very brisk, seemed nearer than the day before. The -Boer shells, carrying too far, burst between the camp and the line of -the English artillery, which we could see perfectly. The infantry was -posted towards the east-south-east. - -The staff-officer told me that the English were engaged with General -Botha's 5,000 men. I offered no opinion, but I was sure he was wrong, -and information I received later justified this belief. I was rather -inclined to think that it was the worthy Derksen, who had collected some -500 or 600 men, and who, by rapid and unexpected movements, was trying -to make the enemy believe in the presence of a very considerable force. -My staff-officer further told me that General Hutton was in command of -6,000 men, three batteries, and four naval guns. This, to judge by what -I saw, may very probably have been correct. At any rate, a formidable -convoy was on the spot. The guns were still booming. - -An old sergeant with four stripes was introduced to me. He was the -senior member of Battery 66, which had been kept in reserve. He had been -serving under Lieutenant Roberts, who was killed at Colenso. - -During the day four ambulance-waggons were sent out to the lines. It -was at first intended that I should be taken to Pretoria, but as the -route of the convoy had been changed, I was conveyed to Springs. I was -one of fifteen prisoners, not counting the wounded. - -At 4.30 the firing was much closer, but we had to start; the convoy was -ready. It consisted of fifty bullock-waggons, eight or ten of them -filled with wounded men. We, the prisoners, were at the head of the -convoy, strongly guarded by infantry and mounted men. A few mounted -irregulars preceded us as scouts. These men, recruited chiefly among the -Afrikanders, sometimes even among the Boers, know the country very well. - -Our guide was a native of Boksburg, and knew all the men with Derksen, -the leader of the Boksburg commando. I made no attempt to conceal the -disgust I felt for this renegade. But nothing distracted him from his -duties, for he had a holy horror of falling into the hands of the Boers. - -During the night fires in the bush reddened the horizon on every side. -They came to ask us several times if these were signals. I really had -no idea, but I was inclined to think not. - -On account of the meagre fuel afforded by the short dry grass of the -veldt, the fires we saw in these regions had none of the grandeur of the -bush-fires in the Soudan, where the high grass is from 6 to 10 feet -high. In those whirlwinds of fire the flames seem to lick the sky, and -the tallest trees are twisted and calcined like straws. Numerous as the -fires were, they did not warm the atmosphere, and the cold was terrible. - -At last we arrived, supperless, at Springs, at 1.30 in the morning, so -frozen that we were obliged to look and see if our feet and hands were -still in place. We slept huddled in the guard-room at the -railway-station. - -Early on the morning of the 10th, Major Pelletier, of the Royal Canadian -Regiment, came to fetch me to breakfast at mess. But Captain Ogilvie, -the commandant of the station, would not let me leave his jurisdiction -till I had been to his quarters to make my toilet. - -After this process I went off with the Major. He was a charming fellow, -a French Canadian, as his name indicates, and a native of a little -village in Normandy. I spent the day with him. He told me the most -interesting things about Canadian life, spoke enthusiastically of the -fine sport there, and invited me to come and pay him a visit later on. -At the same time he confided to me that both he and his men were -suffering terribly from the heat. I then, being almost frozen, make up -my mind never to accept his kind invitation. - -I met a young doctor, too, whose name I forget, also a French Canadian. -All the French Canadians, who form the majority of the contingent, speak -excellent French, interlarded with old-fashioned expressions and marked -by a strong Norman accent. Many of them do not know a word of English. - -At six o'clock I start for Johannesburg, in the carriage reserved for -officers. My pockets are full of French Canadian papers, which, though -some two months old, are full of news fresh to me. - -On my arrival, I presented myself to Major Davies, the commandant of the -military police. He speaks French very correctly, was very agreeable, -and gave me leave to go about the town on parole. I had only to leave -my address with him, and to report myself at his office every morning at -eleven o'clock. - -On the 13th a plot was discovered to seize the town. About 500 arrests -took place during the evening. As I had taken the oath of neutrality, I -was not among the conspirators, and while hostilities last I can say no -more on this subject. - -On the 14th I received a permit to return to France, and I started by -the two o'clock train that very day. - -All along the line the railway-stations had been converted into -entrenched camps. We continually passed trains loaded with horses, -guns, and men--some twenty in all, perhaps. We arrived at Kroonstad at -eleven in the morning on the 15th. Nothing remained of the sheds and -the goods-station which we had burnt on May 12, with all the stores. - -Involuntarily I took out my pocket-book, and read the names of the men -who then composed the French corps. We were not forty altogether. -Three had been killed, five had disappeared, the others were dispersed. - -I tried to go out of the station to revisit all those places in the town -where we spent a fortnight, gay, full of hope, almost complete in -numbers. But the station was surrounded by sentries, and no one was -allowed to pass. - -From a distance the prospect was dismal enough. The streets were -deserted, and, as if to emphasize the fact that everywhere there is -suffering, the Red Cross flag floated sadly over the town. In the -foreground, close to us, on the line, and in the sidings, were deserted -railway-carriages, half burnt, overturned, and broken. - -All round the town were field hospitals and vast camps. There were -about 11,000 men in all, I was told. A feverish activity reigned at the -station, a continuous bustle and movement. Convoys of provisions and -arms followed each other in rapid succession. We counted sixteen during -the day on the 16th. - -Horses and mules were entrained in some, others brought back the -worn-out horses. Many of these poor beasts had died on the road; most of -them could hardly stand. They were dragged along a few steps, and a -non-commissioned officer put a bullet through their heads inside the -station. Thirty or forty thus executed lay heaped one on another in a -pool of blood, which ran in a little stream towards the line. - -On the platform stood cases of ammunition and arms. Several placed -together contained Lee-Enfield cavalry carbines, and were marked 'Very -Urgent.' - -On the 16th we were still at Kroonstad, and a trainful of prisoners -passed going to East London. It became one of the daily exercises of -the garrison to walk to the station and see the travellers. - -Two questions were to be heard perpetually: - -'Do you think it is nearly over?' 'Have you any Kruger pennies?' - -And Tommy is quite happy when they tell him that, as to being nearly -over, it's not quite that; but that as to going on much longer, it won't -go on much longer--at least, it depends on what you mean by much longer; -or when someone gives him one or two Kruger pennies. - -At last we left Kroonstad at ten o'clock in the evening, passing through -Brandfort, that village to which, feted and acclaimed, we had come with -_Long Tom_ in January. All along the route the railway had been -destroyed, and we travelled on rails laid on unballasted sleepers by the -Royal Engineers. - -Trenches had been dug to enable the train to pass over the shallow, -dried-up streams without any very artistic labour, and sometimes the -little half-destroyed bridges had been repaired with logs and made to do -duty again. - -It seemed wonderful that it could all hold. But it appeared--I heard -this at the camp at Springs--that one of the chief engineers of the -railway service was a civilian, a French Canadian, who had already -distinguished himself in America by the construction of very daring -railways. - -He must have been extraordinary indeed to have astonished the Americans! - -It is certain that the English successfully re-established railway -communication with very restricted means in a very rapid manner--not -that this prevents it from being constantly re-cut, however. - -On July 17, at 8.30 in the morning, we were at Bloemfontein. Poor old -capital of the Orange Free State! It is now the chief town of the -Orange River Colony. Here again there was an immense camp, a large -proportion of the Kelly-Kenny division. - -We only stayed half an hour, and, after changing trains at -Springfontein, we passed Norval's Pont at 6.35 in the evening. We were -in Cape Colony! Here we were no longer on an improvised railway, and we -got on faster. On the 18th, about 7.30 a.m., we were in the environs of -Cape Town. - -In accordance with English custom, many of the merchants have offices in -the town, and live in little houses which give a gay and smiling aspect -to the suburbs. We therefore took up a number of passengers who looked -like men of business. In a few minutes we were in the town. We left -the train at 8.30. - -My permission to return to France was confirmed by the General -commanding the garrison. I was almost a free man! - - * * * * * - -Vague rumours reached us from the front, always carefully doctored by -the censor. Prinsloo was taken prisoner with several thousand men; but -on the line to Lourenço Marques Botha was still defending himself -vigorously. After the taking of Pretoria the Government, incarnating -itself, so to speak, in the person of President Kruger, installed itself -in a special train. There Oom Paul slept, received, ate, and lived. -There the official printing-press was also set up, and the money that -was circulated was minted there. As in the hurried departure from -Pretoria it had not been possible to carry off a complete set of -weights, the sovereigns issued were simple gold discs, quite plain, -without image or inscription. - -It was on this line, too, that the last great battles were fought, at -Middelburg, Belfast, and Machadodorp, after which, renouncing all -attempts at defence, the Boers began that guerilla campaign which De Wet -had already successfully essayed. - -In a few days our steamer sailed. It was not without a pang that we -quitted the land we had hoped to see free, for which we had fought for -seven months, and which had proved the grave of a venerated leader and -of beloved friends. - - - - - CONCLUSION. - - -An inexperienced writer, more expert with arms than with the pen, I do -not know if I have described all these events in a manner sufficiently -clear and coherent to convey a distinct impression. I shall therefore -try to sum up on a few broad lines the ideas I have been able to form -after the experiences I have recorded. - -First of all, two great questions seem to present themselves: Why, in -spite of all their qualities, have the Boers been beaten? Why are the -English, with over 250,000 men, held in check by a handful of peasants? - -These two questions are closely connected, for, though this seems a -paradox, the chief cause of the defeat of the Boers is also the cause of -their long resistance. I will explain. - -I think we must attribute the defeat of the federated troops mainly to -their absolute lack of military organization, for in spite of the legend -of the volunteers of 1792, no undisciplined force, however brave, will -ever prove a match for a regular army. - -Resistance may be more or less prolonged, phases more or less heroic, -but the issue is foredoomed. - -This lack of organization, of discipline--that is the great -thing--explains the absence of cohesion, of combined action, of rational -leadership. - -I have already sufficiently pointed out the evils of suffrage as applied -to the election of commanders. In addition to this, what enthusiasm or -confidence can these feel, when they know that half the men of their -commando will leave them on the road if they feel so inclined? And even -if they do not actually do so, the leader's confidence is put to a rude -test! - -Yet these same Boers who have fought like lions on occasion, and on -occasion have fled without firing a shot, are capable of education in -the art of war. - -The Johannesburg Politie is a striking proof of this. With the -elementary discipline that obtains among them, this corps held their own -for a whole day against Lord Roberts's 40,000 men on two occasions, at -Abraham's Kraal on March 10, and near Machadodorp on August 27, almost -unsupported. And each time at the price of a third of their number! - - * * * * * - -To this chief and primordial cause we must add another, not altogether -inexcusable, but very harmful under the circumstances. I mean the dread -and hatred of the foreigner. - -Not inexcusable, I say, for, for nearly a century, the foreigner has -been to the Boer the invader, the robber, and the enemy! - -The Boers therefore, as a whole, could never believe that for love of a -noble cause, or a passion for adventure, men of every nation should have -come to espouse their cause against the United Kingdom quite -disinterestedly. - -In the unfortunate state of mind that prevailed among them, the eulogies -of a well-intentioned but maladroit press had the most disastrous -effect. - -What sort of respect, indeed, could these primitive people feel for -Europeans when Lombroso and Kuyser had written in all good faith: 'As 63 -per cent. of Boer blood is Dutch, 12 per cent. French, 12 per cent. -Scotch, and 3 per cent. German, this mixture of the best nations of -Europe ought to constitute a centre of liberty and civilization, a race -superior to any in Europe!' - -Why, when one belongs to 'a race superior to any in Europe,' should one -follow the advice of officers of the European armies, and, consequently, -of the inferior races? - -And, indeed, when we consider the remarkable campaign now being carried -on by De Wet and Botha, we may well ask whether Europeans could obtain -better results. Under present conditions, I think, it would be hard to -do better. - -But if General de Villebois' advice had been taken from the first, it is -very probable that the guerilla war would never have been inaugurated. -The campaign would have been over long ago; for whereas the Boers were -content to hold the English in check, the Europeans wanted to beat them. - -Not satisfied with successful engagements that gave no solid advantage, -they wanted to push forward, with the enthusiasm that surprises a -demoralized enemy, creates a panic, and results in total rout. - -Haunted by the names that gleam in the folds of our banners--Jemmapes, -Valmy, Marengo and Austerlitz--we dreamed of great victories. And if -the Boers had wished it, this dream might have been realized! - -We now come to the reason why the English, with over 250,000 men, are -held in check by a handful of peasants. - -I have said that this question is closely bound up with the cause of the -Boer defeat--the absence of discipline. For how is it possible to -surround, to conquer, and to crush adversaries who will never be drawn -into a battle, and who make off directly a blow is struck at them? - -Are they closely pressed by the enemy? Each man goes off as he chooses -in a different direction, and the commando of 500 men which attacked a -little convoy yesterday has melted away before the column of 2,000 sent -in pursuit of it. - -Far away in the bush, to the east, a horseman disappears on the horizon, -another on the west--and that is all. - -If one of these men should have been too closely engaged in the English -lines, the first farm he comes to offers him an asylum. His rifle is -thrust under a plank in the flooring, his horse turned out to graze, the -white flag floats over the house, and Her Majesty has no more -inoffensive subject than my Burgher--for the next twenty-four hours. - -If need be, when the English authority is too near, an old gun--I once -saw a flintlock--will be handed to him in sign of submission, and the -oath of neutrality taken. - -This explains the enormous number of arms that have been given up, while -the Burghers have retained their good Mausers and Martini-Henrys, and -still use them. - -But as soon as the English, pleased at a fresh submission, have gone -off, the rifle--the good one this time--is brought out, the horse -stealthily mounted, and the Burgher is abroad once more. - -The dispersions are merely momentary, and very often a rallying-point -among the hills has been fixed on in advance. Eight days later the -commando, concentrating again, appears on the scene with some unexpected -stroke. This kind of thing may go on for a long time. - -'Egaillez-vous, les gas!' was the cry of the Vendéen chiefs; and it is -this manoeuvre, and the rally which follows it, that regular troops -cannot execute. - -This kind of warfare is obviously very painful and fatiguing for the -invader. But it is a purely defensive method, and cannot have any -decisive success, unless the invading army should give up the struggle. - -For which side does Fortune reserve her final favours? It is certain -that the English are weary, very weary, and that they have been so for -some time. - -Ten months ago, at the beginning of January, a soldier of the 2nd West -Yorkshire Regiment wrote with mournful resignation: - -'We shall all be thankful when this war is over, and this horrible -butchery at an end!' - -Another, less disciplined and more easily discouraged, a yeoman, wrote -after Colenso: - -'If I come through alive, the army will have seen the last of me! I -have had enough of it, and I bitterly regret having rejoined my -regiment.' - -I do not say that these sentiments are general, but they indicate the -weariness of the combatants. And this lassitude seemed to me to be -creeping over all, from the general to the private, among those I met -between Springs and Cape Town. - -The army itself will not be consulted, of course, but I wish to note -this state of mind, which seems to me serious. - -On the other hand, British prestige is too deeply engaged for the -English to retreat without losing caste. - -What will happen? It would be foolhardy to prophesy. 'If in doubt, -refrain,' says the sage. I will take his advice, offering for the -consideration of those who have followed me so far this melancholy -sentence from the Westminster Gazette of last March: - -'Each Boer will have cost us £2,000 to subdue, and no one can yet say -what each will cost us to govern.' - -October, 1900. - - - - BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD - - - - -[Illustration: Map of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (small -version)] - - - - -[Illustration: Map of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (large -version)] - - - - - - - * * * * * * * * - - - - - - - The Transvaal from Within - - - BY J. P. FITZPATRICK - - Demy 8vo., cloth, 10s. net. Popular Edition, cloth, 2s. 6d. net. - People's Edition, paper, 6d. net - -Mr. Chamberlain, replying to a Westmoreland correspondent, who -complained of the want of a printed defence of the Government's policy -in the Transvaal, wrote, 'I refer you to Mr. FitzPatrick's book.' - -Lord Rosebery at Bath: 'A book which seems to me to bear on every page -and in every sentence the mark of truth, which gives you wholesale and -in detail an extraordinary, and I think I may say an appalling, record -of the way in which the Government of the Transvaal was carried on and -the subjection to which it reduced our fellow-countrymen there.' - -The Times: 'Mr. FitzPatrick's book supplies a want which has been widely -felt. For the first time, the information which everyone has been -asking for, and which nobody has been able to obtain, with regard to the -common facts of contemporary Transvaal history, is collected in a volume -convenient for reference and easy to read. Nothing that has been -written upon the Transvaal brings the conditions of life there so -clearly before English readers. Mr. FitzPatrick lays his arguments -boldly and simply before his readers, but it is in the facts of the -book--facts never before brought together in so convenient a form--that -the most powerful of all arguments will be found. Few readers will lay -down the volume without feeling that they know more than they have ever -known before of the real issues on trial in South Africa.' - - - - Why Kruger Made War - - Or, Behind the Boer Scenes - - BY JOHN A. BUTTERY - - LATE OF THE 'STANDARD AND DIGGERS' NEWS,' JOHANNESBURG - - 1 vol., crown 8vo., 3s. 6d. Second Impression - -The Times.--'Amid the never-ceasing flood of South African literature, -Mr. Buttery's is a book which deserves to be read. He writes with -inside knowledge of the Transvaal, its recent history, and its public -men. His chapters are pointed, easy to read, and full of interesting -local matter. His description of the position of the Cape Dutch and of -the Bond is worth reading. The book contains within small compass more -useful and interesting information than is sometimes to be found in far -more pretentious volumes.' - -Literature.--'It has the incisiveness that one expects from the work of -the man on the spot, and it illuminates the British case with anecdotes -and circumstantial details. - -The Daily Telegraph.--'The author throws a good deal of light on the -proceedings of the Hollander clique. The book contains much that is of -interest at the present time. - - - - The Rise and Fall of Krugerism - - BY JOHN SCOBLE AND H. R. ABERCROMBIE - - Demy 8vo., cloth extra, 10s. net. Popular Edition, 2s. 6d. net - -The Daily Chronicle.--'The authors throw new light on much that we knew -before, and they write with the experience of old inhabitants.' - -The Daily Express.--'A most timely book, and one well deserving the -serious consideration of all public men.' - -The Scotsman.--'Those in search of enlightenment respecting the rise and -fall of Krugerism in South Africa will find this volume a mine of -information on the subject.' - -The Manchester Courier.--'The most striking feature of the work is its -almost encyclopedic completeness, for there is hardly one of the many -phases of political interest connected with South Africa which is not -threshed out in these pages. There is a tone of healthy Imperialism -about this book which is refreshing and attractive. It will be welcomed -as a logical and painstaking presentation of the South African -question.' - -The Newcastle Daily Chronicle.--'We leave the book convinced that a -perusal of it will open the eyes of the British people all over the -world to the evils and dangers of Krugerism in such a way as perhaps no -other one book could do.' - -The Yorkshire Post.--'A valuable as well as an interesting work.' - - - - The South African Conspiracy - - Or, The Aims of Afrikanderdom - - BY FRED. W. BELL, F.S.S. - - Demy 8vo., cloth extra, 5s. net - -The Times.--'The matter is one of great importance, and the volume -serves a useful purpose in bringing the known facts and the arguments to -be deduced from them within the reach of all.' - -The Morning Post.--'If there are left in this country any reasonable -persons who yet believe in the righteousness of Krugerism and the -whole-hearted loyalty of the Afrikander Bond to the Mother Country, we -commend to their kind attention "The South African Conspiracy," which -forms a valuable companion to "The Transvaal from Within" and "The Rise -and Fall of Krugerism." It is well that the voice of yet another who -has lived long in South Africa, who has travelled far and wide in Cape -Colony and the Transvaal, and who is familiar with the temper and -aspirations of every section of the population, should have added its -testimony to the mass of evidence which serves to show us how, but for -the employment of military force, the British Empire would have soon -been in a fair way of classing South Africa with the United States, and -other portions of the earth, that were once a part of that Empire, and -now are not.' - -The Scotsman.--'Mr. Bell's book will be found eminently worthy of -perusal and consideration. It clears up many points and facts that have -been purposely obscured.' - -The Daily Express.--'A valuable contribution to South African history.' - -The Yorkshire Post.--'We hope that Mr. Bell's book will be widely read; -it should be of real service in the face of the coming settlement.' - -The Daily Mail.--'The true inwardness of the origin, growth, and -achievements of the Afrikander Bond have never been so succinctly and -tersely set forth as in this book, which is excellent in its moderation, -reserve, and judicious impartiality.' - - - LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 21, BEDFORD ST., W.C. - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN MONTHS IN THE FIELD WITH THE -BOERS *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41488 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. 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