As a rule, the garrison at Groenfontein after the posting of the watch
settled itself down for a quiet night's rest, for experience had taught
that there was very little to fear in the shape of a night attack. This
was foreign at first to the Boers' idea of warfare. They knew well
enough that they were strongest in defence, and acted accordingly.
Every place they held was turned into a hive of cells, in which they
lurked, stings ready. It was generally some kopje covered with loose
stones, cracks, and crevices, while the open portions were soon made
formidable with loopholed walls of loosely built-up stones. If their
resting-place was in the more open country, it was a laager whose walls
were the wagons, banked up and strengthened with stakes, thorn bushes,
and a terrible entanglement of barbed galvanised iron wire.
Attacks had been made on the fortified village and the kopje at early
morning, but never pushed home; and all through the occupation the
tactics of the general in command had been the harassing of the British
regiment with shell fire and clever marksmanship from cover, so constant
and so dangerous that the wonder to the English officers was that the
enemy had not long before fired their last cartridge away.
But upon this particular night something more was fully expected. The
English scouting parties had brought in the information respecting the
reinforcements to the Boer corps, so that when a Zulu, who had been a
very faithful hanger-on to the British force, came in full of eagerness
that afternoon to announce that the Boers meant to attack in force, the
colonel, though always ready to doubt the information received and the
possibility of the black spies' surmises being correct, felt that he was
warranted in making every preparation; and this was set about in a calm,
matter-of-fact way.
Judging that the attack would be in the form of a surprise directed at
the kopje, possession of which would render the village perfectly
untenable, the two field-guns posted in the most commanding position in
the village were hauled up to appointed places on the kopje to
strengthen the big captured gun, and the major portion of the troops
were marched up to the well-fortified lines there, the colonel intending
to hold the rocky elevation himself, leaving the defence of the village
to the major, who was to keep the enemy who attacked in play there as
long as seemed necessary, and then retire along the well-fortified path
which connected village and kopje, where the principal stand was to be
made.
The great natural advantages of the rocky mount had not been neglected.
From the first the colonel had looked upon it as a little inland
Gibraltar in which he could bid defiance to ten times the number of the
enemy that had been attacking him, so long as food and ammunition
lasted; and to this end he had, directly after the discovery of the
entrance to the cavern, supplemented the stores found there by removing
all they had from the village, and making additions from time to time
whenever suitable captures were made; while, greatest prize of all,
there was the inexhaustible supply of pure cold water, easily enough
obtainable as soon as proper arrangements were made.
Hence it was that the little English force was always ready, the plans
for the defence arranged, and nothing remained to be done but for the
various defenders to march quietly to their appointed places.
Consequently, after the watch-setting, the orders were given, and party
after party moved silently through the soft darkness, till by the
brilliant starlight each battery was manned and the trenches which
commanded the probable approaches to the kopje lined, while the same
precautions were taken in the village, where wall and hut had been
carefully loopholed; and then all was ready. The men lay down in their
greatcoats and blankets to snatch such sleep as they could get, as it
was anticipated that several hours would probably elapse before the
attack--if any--was made.
"I was in hopes," said Dickenson when all was ready, "that we should be
up yonder, ready to cover the gunners. It would be a treat to play Boer
and show them what firing from behind stones is like. Something new for
them."
"But we shall not stay here very long if they do come," replied Lennox.
"No; we understand all that. Been drilled into us pretty well. But it
strikes me that, according to the good old fashion of nothing occurring
so likely as the unexpected, if they do come it will not be to where we
are waiting, but from somewhere else."
"Where else can they come from?" said Lennox sharply.
"Oh, don't ask me," said Dickenson, laughing. "I'm not a Boer: how can
I tell? They'll have hatched out some dodge. Got a balloon all the way
from Komati Poort, perhaps, and about three o'clock they'll have it
right over the top of the kopje, and if we had been up there I dare say
we should have found them sliding down ropes like spiders."
"Highly probable," said Lennox dryly.
"Ah, you may jest; but you see if they don't come crawling right close
up like so many slugs on a wet night. The first thing we shall know
will be that they are there."
"Ah, now you are talking sense."
"But I don't guarantee that it's going to be like that," said Dickenson
quickly, "so don't be disappointed."
"I shall not be. I'm ready for anything."
"Good, lad. That's the way to deal with the Boers. I've learnt that:
for they certainly are the trickiest fellows going. I say--"
"Hadn't you better leave off talking now?"
"Only whispering. I was going to say that the major's here with us, and
has put Edwards in command of both companies."
"But Roby's with him?"
"Yes; but Edwards is boss. I shouldn't have felt comfortable with our
convalescent at the head of affairs."
"You need not have minded. Roby's as brave as he is high."
"May be; but he has that bee in his bonnet still. I half believe that
old Emden's wrong after all."
"In what way?"
"He said the bullet just ploughed through Roby's scalp and pressed down
a bit of bone. I believe he has the bullet in his head."
"Absurd!" said Lennox.
"Oh no. Likely enough. They came buzzing along, too, like swarming
bees. That would account for what he said about you."
"Be quiet," said Lennox sharply. "If the enemy comes to-night I want to
fight, and not to think about that."
"All right. I hope they will come; it will be a waste of sleep if they
don't. Bah!" he added after a long-drawn yawn. "They won't come--they
know better. These nigger spies see a few men on ponies, and away they
run to say they've seen a big commando, and hold out their hands for the
pay. Take my word for it, there'll be no fighting to-night."
It seemed as if Dickenson was right in his surmise, for the time glided
on, with the stars rising to the zenith and beginning to decline. The
heavens had never seemed more beautiful, being one grand dome of
sparkling incrustations. The atmosphere was so clear that it seemed to
those who lay back watching as if the dazzling points of light formed by
the stars of the first magnitude stood out alone in the midst of the
transparent darkness, while the shape of the kopje was plainly marked
out against the vivid sky.
"Too light for them," said Dickenson after a long pause.
"They will not come till morning.--Who's this?"
"Roby."
He it was, the tall figure in a greatcoat coming close up to stop and
speak to Sergeant James about being watchful, and then passing on
without a word to his juniors. Roby came in the same quiet, furtive
manner three times over during the night, twice being in company with
Captain Edwards, who stopped to have a few words with Lennox and
Dickenson as to the probability of an attack; but Roby stood aloof.
"And a good job too," said Dickenson after the last occasion. "I don't
want to be malicious, though it seems so, about a man who has just got
over a bad hurt; but I do hope the Boers will come, and that he will be
wounded again--"
"Shame!" said Lennox angrily.
"Perhaps so; but you might have let me finish--wounded again; not a
bullet wound, but a good cut that will bleed well and take the bad blood
out of him. We should hear no more of his fancies."
"Drop that," said Lennox sternly; and then, to change the conversation,
"Surely it must be getting near daybreak."
"Oh no; not yet. Let's have another walk round, and a word with the
men."
This, one of many, was carried out, the young officers finding that
there were no sleepers, the men not on the watch having, from the
expectation that if there were an attack it would be about daybreak,
instinctively roused up, every one being fully on the alert.
Lennox winced more than ever now as he stood in the trench they expected
to be the likeliest, from its position, for the attack, for its capture
would give the enemy a good point for further advances; and Captain
Edwards had pointed it out to the major as being likely to be rushed,
with the consequence that this part was the most strongly held, and the
supporting party placed near.
And now, as Dickenson began whispering to his men, Lennox felt more
bitterly than ever how thoroughly Roby's charge had gone home. For
whenever he spoke to one of the watch the answer was abrupt and cold,
while with his companion the men were eager and ready to be questioned.
Everything possible had been done to guard against surprise, and the
communication with the chain of outposts was constant; but the surprise
came from where it was least expected, and just when the friends were
standing together in the redoubt, with Dickenson grudgingly owning that
the stars were perhaps not so bright.
"The night has passed more quickly than I expected it would," whispered
Lennox. "Can't you feel what a chill there is in the air?"
"Ugh--yes!" said Dickenson, with a shiver. "It's quite frosty out
here."
"And a hot cup of coffee would be a blessing," said Captain Edwards,
who, with Roby, had returned again.
"Yes," said Dickenson; "a good fire would warm us up."
"There it is, then," said Captain Edwards excitedly, for without a
warning from the outposts, between which the Boers had crawled in the
darkness unheard, a tremendous burst of firing was opened upon the
kopje, the enemy having made their way up by inches till they were well
within reach of the defending lines--so close, in fact, that for the
time being the big guns were useless, their fire at such close quarters
being as likely to injure friend as foe.
"Stand fast, my lads!" cried Captain Edwards. "We shall have them here
directly.--Now, gentlemen, you know what to do. Ah! I thought so;" for
a scattering fire was opened by the outposts, who, according to their
instructions, began to fall back to take their places in the line ready
to resist the attack upon the village.
Lennox felt stunned by the suddenness of the attack, and ready to
confess that their trained troops were in nowise equal to the enemy in
the matter of cunning; for, as if by magic, the wild fire ran completely
round the kopje, which, contrary to expectation, had become the main
object of attack, and in a short time the flashing of the rifles and the
continuous rattle told plainly enough that by their clever ruse the
Boers had completely surrounded the kopje, cutting the British force in
two.
Certainly a portion of them had been led between two fires--between that
of the village and that from the eminence; but the British fire was
hindered by the danger of injuring their friends, and in a very short
time the major grasped the fact that it was waste of energy to try and
defend the village, which was only lightly attacked, and quite time for
him to retire and lead his men to the support of the colonel.
His orders had hardly been given to the various centres to fall back
from the trenches and houses held, when the agreed-upon signal flew up
from the top of the kopje in a long line of light, followed by the
bursting of a rocket, whose stars lit up the cloud of smoke rising round
the mount.
Everything had been so well planned beforehand that there was not the
slightest confusion: the men fell back steadily to the village square,
leaving the Boers still firing out of the darkness into the defensive
lines; and then, as steadily as if in a review, the advance was made to
cut through the investing crowd, which, facing the other way, was
keeping up a tremendous fire.
The signal for the advance was given with another rocket fired from the
square as a warning to the colonel to cease firing on their side; and
then the men steadily commenced their arduous task, the leading company
going on in rushes, seizing the shelters, pouring in volleys, and
driving the Boers before them and to right and left, in spite of their
determined resistance to hold that which they had surprised by rising,
as it were, as Sergeant James afterwards said, right out of the earth.
The holders of the village under the major numbered pretty well half of
the total force remaining to the colonel, and, led by the major himself,
two companies went at the strong force of the enemy drawn across their
way, like a wedge, in spite of the concentrated fire delivered by the
desperate men, who had to give way. The second body was under Captain
Edwards, and Roby and Lennox and Dickenson had the dangerous post of
bringing on the single company that formed the rear-guard.
The start was made without a man down. Three or four had slight wounds,
but in the rear-guard not a man had been hit, while for some distance
after quitting the redoubt they were still exempt. But the leading
company was beginning to suffer badly: men kept on falling or staggering
out to seek shelter in trench, rifle-pit, or behind boulder, and for a
while the battle raged fiercely and but little progress was made, a
crowd of the enemy pressing up from either side to take the places of
those who fell or were beaten back, till the order was given in a lull
to fix bayonets.
Then for a few brief moments the firing near at hand almost ceased, so
that the metallic rattle of the little daggers being affixed to the
rifle muzzles was plainly heard, to be followed by a hearty British
cheer given by every throat from van to rear, the men's voices sounding
full of exultation as, with the bugle ringing out, they dashed forward.
There was no working forward by inch or by foot now; the Boers gave way
at once, and the broad column dashed on, dealing death and destruction
to all who, in a half-hearted way, opposed their progress. It was quick
work, for there was less than a couple of hundred yards to cover to be
through the Boer line and reach the shelter of the rough stone walls and
huge boulders which formed on that side the first defences of the kopje.
In the wild excitement of those minutes Lennox was conscious of cheering
his men on, as with bayonets at the ready they dashed on toward the main
body, driving back the Boers who were trying to close in again after
being beaten back by the first rushes. Men were trampled under foot in
the half-darkness, friends and foes alike, for it was a horrible
business; but the men, in their wild excitement, cheered and cheered
again till they were brought up by the first rugged wall and received
with another burst of cheers from the holders of the bristling line of
rifles and bayonets who were lining it.
"Through with you--over with you!" shouted the major.--"Here, help those
poor fellows in.--Where's Captain Edwards?"
"Here he is," panted Dickenson, as he half-carried, half-dragged his
brother officer to an opening in the wall.
"Tut, tut, tut!" ejaculated the major. "Here, Captain Roby, take full
lead there on the left. Captain Roby!--Who has seen Captain Roby?"
"I did," said Captain Edwards faintly. "Shot down at the same time as I
was."
"Ah-h!" roared the major. Then excitedly: "Where about?"
"A hundred yards away, perhaps. Shot down leading the left company in
the charge. I--I was trying to help him along when I went down too."
"Killed?" said the major.
"No; bullet through the thigh."
"We must fetch him in. Here; volunteers!"
Lennox leaped on to the wall in the pale grey light of the fast-coming
day, and as he stood there, stooping ready to leap down, fully a score
of rifles sent forth their deadly pencil-like balls from where to right
and left the Boers were crouching.
Down he went, to pitch head first, and a sound like a fierce snarling
ran along the sheltered side of the stone wall; but as the men saw him
spring to his feet again and begin to run they were silent for a few
moments, as if in doubt as to what their young lieutenant meant; for
Dickenson sprang on to the wall, trying hard to balance himself on the
loose top where bullets kept on spattering, as he roared out, with his
voice plainly heard above the rattle of the Boers' rifles, "Look at the
coward! Running away again! Volunteers, come on!"
There was a curious hysterical ring in his loud laugh as, with the
bullets whirring and whistling about him and a cross fire concentrated
upon where he stood, he too leaped down, to begin running, while a
burly-looking sergeant literally rolled over the wall, followed by two
more men from the rear company, all plainly seen now dashing towards
where Lennox was running here and there among the dead and wounded which
dotted the sloping ground, before stopping suddenly to go down on one
knee and begin lifting a wounded man upon his shoulder.
"Well," cried the major, "he's the queerest coward I ever saw. I wish
the colonel was here."
His words brought forth a tremendous cheer from all who heard them, but
the major turned upon the men angrily.
"Shoot, you rascals, shoot!" he cried; "right and left. Keep down the
savages' fire if you can."
For, unmoved by the gallant actions going on in front, brave men setting
death at defiance--as scores of others had done all through the war--in
the noble endeavour to save a wounded man's life, dozens of the Boers
began firing at the rescue party, heedless of the fact that their
bullets crossed the narrow way traversed by the little force in their
dash from the village to the kopje, and now horribly dotted by the
wounded and dying of both sides who had fallen in the desperate
encounter.
Yells and shouts arose from both sides as the bullets took effect among
friends; but in their mad hate against those whom they called the
British rooineks, the Boers fired on. Fortunately, for the most part
the wielders of the Mauser were not calmly lying down behind stones,
with rests for their rifles, but were crowded together, nervous,
agitated, and breathless with running, so that their bullets were badly
aimed during the first minute or two. Directly after, they were
startled by the hail poured upon them from the whole line of men behind
the great wall--a hail of lead beneath which many fell never to rise
again, while the greater part devoted themselves to seeking cover,
crawling anywhere to get under the shelter of some stone.
The roar, then, that greeted the little party struggling back was not
from British throats but from British rifles, which for the time being
thoroughly kept down the enemy's fire, till Lennox and Dickenson bore
the insensible form of Roby right up to the wall, followed by Sergeant
James and his two companions, each carrying a wounded comrade on his
back.
And now, without ceasing their firing, the line cheered till all were
hoarse, while four men sprang over to Roby's help, the others being
tumbled over, to be seized by willing hands.
It was quite time, for both Lennox and Dickenson were spent--the former
sinking upon his knees to hold on by one of the stones; Dickenson
bending forward to try and wave one hand, but dropping suddenly across
Roby's knees.
"Wounded?" cried the major excitedly, as he bent over Lennox directly he
was lifted in, the last of the four.
Lennox opened his fast-closing eyes and stretched out his right hand to
feel for Dickenson's, in vain. Then, with a sigh, he looked up at the
major and touched his left arm, his breast, and his neck. "Yes," he
said faintly, "the coward has it now."
"Bearers here," cried the major, and he turned to direct his men, for he
was needed.
The Boers were coming on again in short rushes, regardless of the
terrific fire poured upon them in the faint light of day, and a perfect
hail of bullets was flying to and fro. And not only facing the village,
but all round the kopje, where the enemy had in several places secured a
footing and were utilising the stone defences prepared by the colonel's
men, but of course from the reverse side. It had this good effect,
though; it condensed the British force, giving them less ground to
defend; and for the next two hours wherever a Boer dared to show enough
of himself to form a spot at which to aim, a bullet came.
The losses were terrible on both sides, for the attack was as brave as
the defence; and even when the two small guns were brought into action,
to send shells hurtling wherever the continually increasing enemy were
seen to approach in clusters, the attack went on.
"It's of no use, major," said the colonel at last, as they stood
together; "they mean to have the place."
"What!" said the latter officer fiercely. "You don't mean surrender?"
"My dear fellow, no: not while there's a cartridge left."
"Ha!" sighed the major. "You gave me quite a turn."
"I meant, if this keeps on we shall lose as many men as if we brought it
to a head. Besides, they'll hold on to the parts they've got, and keep
creeping nearer."
"You mean the bayonet at once?"
"Exactly," said the colonel. "Off with you; take one side and I'll take
the other. We must clear the kopje before the heat comes on."
"Yes," said the major, with a grim smile; "and the lads must want their
breakfast now."
The men in each trench rolled up their sleeves as they heard the order
given to fix bayonets again, and, leaping over the defences, rushed
forward, to be staggered a little by the enemy's fire; then, with a
cheer, on they went, the sun glistening upon the line of pointed steel.
It was more than the Boers could bear; defence after defence was
vacated, and, soon after, the result of charge after charge was followed
by a headlong flight which soon spread into a panic. It was "_Sauve qui
peut_," uttered in Boer Dutch; while the failure of the daring attack
was completed fast by the emptying of the rifle magazines among flying
men, and the shots from the three guns, which had their opportunity at
last.
A stand was made in the village, which was obstinately held for a time
by two big commandos which had come upon the ground too late to be of
much service; but in spite of a pom-pom, a Maxim, and a heavy howitzer,
the big gun on the top of the kopje silenced their fire before sundown,
by which time their heaviest piece was destroyed, the village burning,
and the two commandos in full flight.
Then came the flag of truce for permission to carry off the wounded and
bury the many dead.
It was about this time that Doctor Emden looked to the colonel and said:
"Awful! Poor fellows! I don't know where to turn to first."