ELUDING THE BRITISH CORDON.
"The shades of eve were falling fast" as we moved cautiously away from
Mapochsberg and proceeded through Landdrift, Steelpoort, and the
Tautesberg. At 3 o'clock in the morning we halted in a hollow place
where we would not be observed, yet we were still a mile and a half
from the enemy's cordon. Our position was now more critical than ever;
for should the enemy discover our departure, and General Plumer hurry
up towards us that morning, we should have little chance of escape.
During the day I was obliged to call all the burghers together, and to
earnestly address them concerning the happenings of the previous day.
I told them to tell me candidly if they had lost faith in me, or if
they had any reason not to trust me implicitly, as I would not
tolerate the way in which they had behaved the day before. I added:--
"If you cannot see your way clear to obey implicitly my commands, to
be true to me, and to believe that I am true to you, I shall at once
leave you, and you can appoint someone else to look after you. We are
by no means out of the wood yet, and it is now more than ever
necessary that we should be able to trust one another to the fullest
extent. Therefore, I ask those who have lost confidence in me, or have
any objection to my leading them, to stand out."
No one stirred. Other officers and burghers next rose and spoke,
assuring me that all the rebels had deserted the previous night, and
that all the men with me would be true and faithful. Then Pastor J.
Louw addressed the burghers very earnestly, pointing out to them the
offensive way in which some of them had spoken of their superior
officers, and that in the present difficult circumstances it was
absolutely necessary that there should be no disintegration and
discord amongst ourselves. I think all these perorations had a very
salutary effect. But such were the difficulties that we officers had
to contend with at the hands of undisciplined men who held exaggerated
notions of freedom of action and of speech, and I was not the only
Boer officer who suffered in this respect.
About two in the afternoon I gave the order to saddle up, as it was
necessary to start before sunset in order to be able to cross the
Olifant's River before daybreak, so that the enemy should not overtake
us should they notice us. We dismounted and led our horses, for we had
discovered that the English could not distinguish between a body of
men leading their horses and a troop of cattle, so long as the horses
were all kept close together. All the hills around us were covered
with cattle captured from our "bush-lancers," and therefore our
passage was unnoticed.
We followed an old waggon track along the Buffelskloof, where a road
leads from Tautesberg to Blood River. The stream runs between Botha's
and Tautesbergen, and flows into the Olifant's River near Mazeppa
Drift. It is called Blood River on account of the horrible massacre
which took place there many years before, when the Swazi kaffirs
murdered a whole kaffir tribe without distinction of age or sex,
literally turning the river red with blood.
Towards evening we reached the foot of the mountains, and moved in a
north-westerly direction past Makleerewskop. We got through the
English lines without any difficulty along some footpaths, but our
progress was very slow, as we had to proceed in Indian file, and we
had to stop frequently to see that no one was left behind. The country
was thickly wooded, and frequently the baggage on the pack-horses
became entangled with branches of trees, and had to be disentangled
and pulled off the horses' backs, which also caused considerable
delay.
It was 3 o'clock in the morning before we reached the Olifant's River,
at a spot which was once a footpath drift, but was now washed away and
overgrown with trees and shrubs, making it very difficult to find the
right spot to cross. Our only guide who knew the way had not been
there for 15 years, but recognised the place by some high trees which
rose above the others. We had considerable difficulty in crossing, the
water reaching to our horses' saddles, and the banks being very steep.
By the time we had all forded the sun had risen. All the other drifts
on the river were occupied by the enemy, our scouts reporting that
Mazeppa Drift, three miles down stream, was entrenched by a strong
English force, as was the case with Kalkfontein Drift, a little higher
up. I suppose this drift was not known to them, and thus had been left
unguarded.
[Illustration: Crossing Railway Line Northward (Between Balmoral and
Brugspruit Stations).]
Having got through we rode in a northerly direction until about 9
o'clock in the morning, and not until then were we sure of being clear
of the enemy's clutches. But there was a danger that the English had
noticed our absence and had followed us up. I therefore sent out
scouts on the high kopjes in the neighbourhood, and not until these
had reported all clear did we take the risk of off-saddling. You can
imagine how thankful we were after having been in the saddle for over
19 hours, and I believe our poor animals were no less thankful for
a rest.
We had not slept for three consecutive nights, and soon the whole
commando, with the exception of the sentries, were fast asleep. Few of
us thought of food, for our fatigue and drowsiness were greater than
our hunger. But we could only sleep for two hours, for we were much
too close to the enemy, and we wished to make them lose scent of us
entirely.
The burghers grumbled a good deal at being awakened and ordered to
saddle up, but we moved on nevertheless. I sent some men to enquire at
a kaffir kraal for the way to Pietersburg, and although I had no
intention of going in that direction, I knew that the kaffirs, so soon
as we had gone, would report to the nearest British camp that they had
met a commando of Boers going there. Kaffirs would do this with the
hope of reward, which they often received in the shape of spirituous
liquor. We proceeded all that day in the direction of Pietersburg
until just before sunset we came to a small stream. Here we stopped
for an hour and then went on again, this time, however, to the left
in a southerly direction through the bush to Poortjesnek near
Rhenosterkop, where a little time before the fight with General
Paget's force had taken place. We had to hurry through the bush, as
horse-sickness was prevalent here and we still had a long way before
us. It was midnight before we reached the foot of the Poortjesnek.
Here my officers informed me that two young burghers had become insane
through fatigue and want of sleep, and that several, while asleep in
their saddles had been pulled off their horses by low branches and
severely injured. Yet we had to get through the Nek and get to the
plateau before I could allow any rest. I went and had a look at the
demented men. They looked as if intoxicated and were very violent. All
our men and horses were utterly exhausted, but we pushed on and at
last reached the plateau, where, to everybody's great delight, we
rested for the whole day. The demented men would not sleep, but I had
luckily some opium pills with me and I gave each man one of them, so
that they got calmer, and, dropping off to sleep, afterwards
recovered.
My scouts reported next day that a strong English patrol had followed
us up, but that otherwise it was "all serene." We pushed on through
Langkloof over our old fighting ground near Rhenosterkop, then through
the Wilge River near Gousdenberg up to Blackwood Camp, about nine
miles north of Balmoral Station. Here we stayed a few days to allow
our animals to rest and recover from their hardships, and then moved
on across the railway to the Bethel and Ermelo districts. Here the
enemy was much less active, and we should have an opportunity of being
left undisturbed for a little time. But we lost 40 of our horses, who
had caught the dreaded horse-sickness whilst passing through the bush
country.
On the second day of our stay at Blackwood Camp I sent 150 men under
Commandants Groenwald and Viljoen through the Banks, via Staghoek, to
attack the enemy's camp near Wagendrift on the Olifant's River. This
was a detachment of the force which had been surrounding us. We
discovered that they were still trying to find us, and that the patrol
which had followed us were not aware of our having got away. It
appears that they only discovered this several days afterwards, and
great must have been the good general's surprise when they found that
the birds had flown and their great laid schemes had failed.
My 150 men approached the enemy's camp early in the morning, and when
at a short range began pouring in a deadly rifle fire on the western
side. The British soldiers, who were not dreaming of an attack, ran to
and fro in wild disorder. Our burghers, however, ceased firing when
they saw that there were many women and children in the camp, but the
enemy began soon to pour out a rifle and gun fire, and our men were
obliged to carry on the fight.
After a few days' absence they returned to our camp and reported to me
that "they had frightened the English out of their wits, for they
thought we were to the east at Roos Senekal, whereas we turned up from
the west."
Of course the British speedily discovered where we were, and came
marching up from Poortjesnek in great force. But we sent out a patrol
to meet them, and the latter by passing them west of Rhenosterkop
effectually misled them, and we were left undisturbed at Blackwood
Camp.
This left us time to prepare for crossing the railway; so I despatched
scouts south to see how matters stood, and bade them return the next
day. We knew that a number of small commandos were located on the
south side of the railway, but to effect a junction was a difficult
matter, and we would risk getting trapped between the columns if we
moved at random. The railway and all the roads were closely guarded,
and great care was being taken to prevent any communication between
the burghers on either side of the line.