KIMBERLEY
The Boer fire slackened as the day went on, for the besiegers had
learned that it was death to raise a head above a rock. There were
originally a hundred Boers on the kopje, and of these eighteen had been
killed and twelve wounded, the proportion of killed being so great in
consequence of the majority of wounds being in the head. A messenger
had been despatched to them from a hill on the other side of the road,
but hearing that there were only two men in the hut no aid had been
sent to them, and they were now lying waiting for night, for none dared
ascend the hill again, exposed to the deadly fire from the defenders.
One or other of them had remained at a loophole all day. Not a shot
had entered, for the Boers had fired too hastily to take accurate aim,
but the roof was riddled with bullets. It was getting dusk when Peter
held up his hand and listened, and then threw himself down, putting his
ear to the ground.
"What is it, Peter?"
"Horsemen coming, baas, many horsemen."
Yorke ran to the other side of the hut. He could see nothing at first,
for the night was fast closing in, and he had just said that in another
quarter of an hour it would be dark enough to make a start, but soon
he saw a dark mass which was fast approaching. For a moment he stood
irresolute, then he shouted, "Hurrah! they are friends. They are riding
abreast; if they were Boers, they would be riding anyhow; pull the
stones away from the door."
The mass halted as he spoke, then two horsemen galloped forward towards
the hut.
"Who is there?" a voice shouted in English.
Yorke opened the door, darting out, placed himself on the side facing
them. "Despatches from the Modder!" Then, feeling certain that the
Boers, two hundred yards away, would not be able to make out his figure
in the gloom, he called to Peter, and together they ran forward. A
number of shots were fired, but these whistled overhead. The Boers
had also doubtless heard the approaching horse, and were firing in
their direction, forgetting for the moment the two men who had all day
kept them at bay. In a couple of minutes Yorke and Peter joined their
rescuers.
"I am glad indeed to see you, sir," an officer said as he came up. "We
have heard firing going on all day, and could make out that it came
from this point; but as we did not know how many Boers were on the
kopje we could not go out to see about it till it became dusk. Are
there only you and the native?"
"That is all."
"Then we may as well be off at once, for though I don't think the
Boers can make us out at this distance, we may get a stray bullet among
us at any moment. Will you mount behind me?"
"Thank you. I will run alongside and keep hold of your stirrup leather."
"Very well. We will break into a walk as soon as we are out of range of
those rascals, then you shall tell me the news."
He gave the order, and the troop faced round and went off at a trot,
which they maintained until the Boer fire had entirely ceased.
"Tell me how you got through their lines. Is it possible that you and
that native alone have kept the Boers off all day? The firing sounded
heavy at times, and we thought that they must have a considerable
force there. After the first outburst it was for the most part only a
dropping fire."
"There were about a hundred of them I should say," Yorke answered. "I
happen to be a very good shot, and the Kaffir is a very fair one, and
the consequence was they very soon learned that it was death to show
a head. Some mounted men came out first, but I waited till they were
within two hundred yards, and four of their horses went back riderless.
They did not show again, and it has been a duel ever since between
us and the men on the hillside, all the advantage being with us, as
the loopholes through which we fired were but a couple of inches wide
at the opening. We stopped their rush at once, and they have been in
hiding ever since."
"We heard that Lord Methuen was advancing to our relief. How far is he
off?"
"He crossed the Modder River the day before yesterday."
"As near as that is he?" the officer exclaimed. "Then we may indeed
expect to see him soon. Was there fighting there? We thought we heard
a faint rumble on that day, but it might have been thunder at a great
distance."
"He has fought three battles, the first at Belmont, the second at
Graspan, and the third on the Modder. The battle on the Modder was very
severe, and lasted the whole day. I am afraid you won't see him here
as soon as you expect. We have had upwards of a thousand casualties
in the three fights. He had only about ten thousand troops with him,
and after the way the Boers fought on the Modder he will not march
until he is joined by the reinforcements coming up, as their position
at Spytfontein is said to be very strong. I think it will be twelve
days or a fortnight before he moves forward. Five or six regiments
are on their way up, and some heavy naval guns. Stores are being
pushed forward as fast as possible. The trains can only run during the
daytime, as the Dutch along the line might at any moment pull up a few
rails or blow up a culvert, so that, even if the general did not wait
for reinforcements, he would have to wait for stores and ammunition.
Our three batteries fired away nearly all they had, and the consumption
of ball cartridge was also very heavy."
"Then the Boers fought stoutly?"
"They fought stoutly, but as they were all in deep trenches, and we
scarcely caught sight of a man during the whole time, there was no
very great credit in that. We have heard from prisoners that the Free
Staters were for the most part placed in rifle-pits on the south side
of the river, and as this had been dammed and rendered unfordable, they
had no choice in the matter; but they did give way at last, and this
compelled the whole force to fall back; the Transvaal men were never
really attacked. It was only on our left that there was a possibility
of our advancing."
"So we have lost a thousand altogether," the officer said--"about ten
per cent of the total strength. That is pretty heavy fighting; but I
suppose a considerable proportion were only wounded."
"Yes; and the doctors say that Mauser bullets do not make very serious
wounds unless they hit a vital point. I know that they are quite
surprised at the rapidity with which many of the wounds are healing,
and that men seem to be recovering from injuries which they at first
believed to be mortal. What corps is yours?"
"We are the Kimberley Light Horse. We are three hundred and fifty
strong."
"I suppose you are all right here at present?"
"Oh, yes! The Boers must be fighting a great deal better against
Methuen than they are doing here. They annoy us a bit by throwing shell
into the town, and they have cut off the water-supply, have raided a
lot of waggons and cattle, and blown up the De Beers dynamite magazine,
which is a great loss, as it will put a stop to most of the work at
the mines. The last was the result of the mayor's timidity about an
explosion, but if the dynamite had been taken down into the mines it
would have been in absolute safety.
"The water seems the most serious item."
"Well, it is not as serious as it looks. A lot of water comes into one
of the mines, enough to keep a big pumping-engine at work, and anyhow
there is sufficient to supply our animals with drinking water, though
the authorities have had to forbid its use for watering gardens and
that sort of thing. What were the first battles like?"
"They were the same in each case. The Boers were entrenched on kopjes,
and as we could not leave these in rear we had to storm them. The
fighting lasted a very short time, but the Grenadiers in the first
fight, and the Naval Brigade in the second, lost very heavily. The
Modder was quite different. The Boers were hidden in the bushes that
fringed the river, and they had on rising ground behind a number of
guns. The fighting began at five o'clock in the morning, and it was
not until nearly five in the evening that the regiments on our left
got across the river. They maintained themselves there till dark, and
the Boers, fearing that the whole force would cross in the middle of
the night and cut off their retreat, retired silently, and carried off
their guns. We won the passage of the river, but it was in no way a
decisive victory. And so you have had no fighting yet?"
"Very little. On the 25th we made a sortie with one troop of our men
and some of the Cape Police. Forty of our fellows stormed one of
their redoubts, and we brought in thirty-three prisoners. That was
encouraging, and though Major Scott-Turner, who commanded us, was
wounded, he led us out again the day before yesterday. We could just
hear a low rumble, and guessed that Methuen was fighting, so we thought
it would be well to keep the Boers round here and prevent their sending
reinforcements to Spytfontein, but I expect the Boers had thought that
we would be likely to make some such move, for they were prepared for
us. We gained ground at first, but they were soon on the spot in great
force, and the rifle-fire was terrible. Poor Scott-Turner was killed
and twenty-one of our fellows, and twenty-eight wounded. So it was a
bad affair altogether, and I don't think we shall try any more sorties
of that kind.
"If it hadn't been for that I dare say we should have come out directly
we heard your firing; but after our experience of their Mauser fire,
it would have been folly to get within range of an unknown strength of
Boers posted on a hill. So we waited till there was a fair chance of
our succouring whoever there might be without running any extraordinary
risk, but we had an anxious day of it. It did not seem that any
considerable force could have got through, and yet it was evident
that, whoever it was, was able to hold his ground. We could make out
that little hut with the glasses, and it seemed to us that it was the
point against which the Boers were firing, though at that distance we
could not see the smoke of your rifles, firing as you did from the side
facing the hill."
They had by this time reached the line of defence.
"Now, sir," the officer said, "if you will mount my horse one of the
troopers will ride with you to the commandant's quarters, and will
bring my horse back with him."
The colonel was in his office. During the greater part of the day he
passed his time at the look-out at Wesselton mine. It was erected on
the top of the mine head-gear, a hundred and twenty feet above the
level. This lofty look-out commanded a view of the whole country round.
Yorke was shown in at once.
"I have the honour to be the bearer of a despatch from Lord Methuen,
sir," Yorke said as he came.
"You have managed to get through the Boers? You have done well indeed.
Did you come alone?"
"I came with this Kaffir scout. He is one of a small party under my
orders. He has been two years at work here and knows the country well.
I should never have got through without him, and he has stood by me
most bravely all day."
"Ah! then it was your firing that we have been hearing. The officer
in command of the Light Horse sent a message to say that he intended,
with my permission, to go out as soon as it was dusk, to ascertain, if
possible, the cause of firing, and bring off any party who might be
defending themselves against the Boers. Of course I was willing that
he should do so, but, anxious as we were, I could not run the risk of
losing a number of men by sending out a force by daylight. Take a seat,
sir, while I go through the despatch."
"The general evidently thinks," he said, when he had read it, "that
we know what has been taking place outside. We know nothing beyond
the fact that a column under Lord Methuen was advancing from the
Orange River Station. Now, I shall be obliged if you will give me
full information as to what happened between the time he left and his
arrival on the Modder."
Yorke gave a full account of the movements and battles.
"The Boers are making a much stouter resistance than I expected of
them," the colonel said, when the story was brought to a conclusion.
"Now, tell me, if you please, how you managed to get through here."
Yorke then described his adventure.
"Very good indeed, sir; admirably done. You and your Kaffir must be
good marksmen indeed to have, as you say, killed eighteen of them and
wounded twelve others."
"The distance was short--not over two hundred yards. As we were in
almost perfect shelter, and they had to expose themselves to fire at
us, we could scarce miss hitting them. And now, sir, I have a message
to give you privately. The despatch was, I think, intended to be made
public, should you think fit to do so, as an encouragement to the
inhabitants, and, moreover, if it fell into the enemy's hands, it could
do no great harm. I have a verbal message from General Colville, who
is in command while Lord Methuen is temporarily disabled. He told me
that I was to give it to you privately, as it would not be desirable
that everyone should be aware of it. It was to this effect, that after
the desperate resistance offered by the Boers at the Modder River, and
the fact that only a portion of their force was engaged there, it is
quite possible that the attack upon the very strong position they hold
at Spytfontein may fail, and in that case there may be a long delay,
as the attack could not be renewed until large reinforcements arrive
from England. He is therefore anxious to know exactly how matters stand
here--what stores and food you have, and how long you consider that you
can possibly hold out. Upon that his movements will necessarily depend.
If you are approaching the period when starvation would oblige you to
surrender, another effort to relieve you must at whatever cost be made;
if not, he would not repeat an operation which, even if successful, can
only be effected at immense loss, and might lead to his being in turn
beleaguered here."
"I can quite understand his anxiety on that score," Colonel Kekewich
said. "As to holding the place, I have no fear whatever. We have
five hundred Lancashires, three hundred and eighty Kimberley Rifle
Volunteers, ninety-five men of the Royal Artillery, and one hundred and
eighteen Diamond Field Artillery. Of cavalry we have three hundred
and fifty Kimberley Light Horse--they were armed and are paid by
Rhodes--three hundred Cape Police, and one hundred and fifty Diamond
Field Horse. Besides these we have a town guard, which comprises the
greater part of the able-bodied men, about two thousand eight hundred.
So that altogether we can oppose any attack with four thousand eight
hundred men, all of whom could, I am sure, be trusted to fight their
best. But I do not think there is any chance of the Boers attacking us.
They believe they can starve us out, and, of course, they could do so
in time; but I feel sure that we can hold out for some months. The De
Beers people got up a quantity of provisions before the line was cut,
and a large firm at Cape Town also sent up great supplies.
"We have cattle enough to go on for some time, and when they are used
up we must take to horse-flesh. I will obtain a rough account of our
stores for you to-morrow. It will be best for you to learn it by heart,
for if the Boers, who have, I fancy, no idea how we are supplied, were
to learn the facts, they might move away for a few days to strengthen
Cronje at Spytfontein; and in the event of Lord Methuen failing to
break through, might see that they were but wasting their time here,
and, leaving enough to keep Methuen in check, might send some five
thousand men on a raid into the Colony; whereas at present we are
keeping that number idle here. I suppose you won't be starting again at
once?"
"No, sir; I am feeling pretty well done up, for I have not had much
sleep since the night before the attack on the Modder; and besides, I
should like to see the defences, so that I could explain the situation
to Lord Methuen."
"I will lend you a copy of my plans, Mr. Harberton. I say lend, because
it would not do for you to take it out of here, for it would be very
valuable to the Boers if it were to fall into their hands. I will place
a horse at your disposal to-morrow. I am sorry to have kept you talking
all this time; you must be famished."
"No, indeed, sir. I brought a tin of meat and some bread out with me."
"Ah, well, you will be all the better for dinner, and mine must be
ready by this time. I hope you will join me. There is a bed upstairs at
your disposal. I will tell them to give your boy something to eat, too."
As soon as dinner was over, Yorke went to bed and slept till next
morning, when, obtaining a permit, signed by the commandant,
authorizing him to go wherever he pleased, he made a tour of the
forts round the town. Several of these were placed on the great
heaps of debris from the mines, and commanded a wide view over the
country. These heaps were very steep on the outward face, and it had
not been deemed necessary to erect any serious works on the crests,
but breast-works of stone had been thrown up to protect the men from
rifle-fire should the Boers venture to make an attack. The ground round
the town had been cleared of the houses which would interfere with the
line of fire. Native huts had all been levelled, and the bushes cleared
away, so that the enemy would have to cross the open and be exposed to
musketry and artillery fire. This was a great advantage from the point
of view of defence; but on the other hand, it was an equal disadvantage
to the British when they made sorties against the enemy, as the latter
could lie hidden among the bushes, while our men had to advance across
the open.
Search-lights had been established on the lofty top of one of the
mine-works, and at night swept the circle of cleared ground, so that
it was impossible for the Boers to crawl up to make a sudden attack.
Barricades had been formed across all the streets leading out of the
town, and no one was allowed to pass in or out after nightfall. It
was hoped that in this way the Boer sympathizers in the town would
not be able to carry news to their friends outside. In spite of these
precautions, however, there is no doubt that throughout the siege the
enemy were aware of all that was done. In the town itself, there were
few visible signs of the bombardment, though here and there a house
in ruins showed that a shell had burst inside. The town was full of
people, for although some of the wealthiest men had left before the
siege began, their places were filled by hundreds who came in from
the houses outside the line that was to be held, and from the farming
stations in the surrounding country.
Many, too, had moved in from the outlying suburb of Kenilworth, and
from that part of Beaconsfield which would be most exposed to the fire
of the Boer guns. Numbers of Kaffirs had also come in. So far, the
bombardment had effected comparatively little damage, for the Boers
had not as yet brought up their big guns. Nevertheless, most of the
inhabitants had erected some sort of shelter, with bags filled with
earth, and roofed with timber, over which more sand-bags were placed.
Underground shelters could not well be constructed, for the soil was
but eighteen inches deep, and below it was the solid rock. It was
intended that directly the enemy began the bombardment in earnest with
heavier guns, the women and children should be lowered into the mines,
where they would be perfectly safe from harm.
Yorke was out the whole day taking notes of everything he saw, in order
to be able to report as fully as possible. He was accosted by many
officers, and warmly invited into their mess-rooms. He could not refuse
these invitations, as he knew how intensely anxious all were to hear
the news from outside, and especially the accounts of the fighting.
He took Peter with him on his rounds, pointing out everything to him,
so that if he himself were captured on his way out, and the Kaffir
escaped, he would be able to give as much information as possible to
the general. On returning to dinner at the commandant's, he found the
list of the stores in readiness.
"You understand this is only approximate, Mr. Harberton. A great many
of the residents have stores of their own; having, as soon as it was
evident that we were going to be cut off, bought a large supply from
the store-keepers for their own use. As you will see, the only item
in which we are likely to fail is preserved milk. Unfortunately the
Boers managed to drive off all our milch cows a day or two after they
closed in, and we have only the tins left to rely upon. It is not of
much importance to the men, but were the supply to run out, I fear it
would be very trying for the young children. With that exception you
will see we are fairly supplied for three months, possibly for longer,
as, of course, the rations will be reduced if we find that we are not
relieved."
Yorke spent two or three hours that evening learning by heart the items
of the list. Then he put the figures down in the order in which they
stood. These without a key would furnish no information, and he had no
fear of forgetting what each group referred to. In the morning he asked
the colonel which side of the town he considered would offer the best
chance of getting through unobserved.
"Do you mean to go on foot or on horseback? Of course I will furnish
you with two horses if you decide on riding."
"I should be glad of them if I were once through the Boers, sir; but
there would be so much greater chance of my being seen if mounted, that
I should much prefer going on foot.
"I think you are right. In any case, it will be best for you to make
to the north-east, leaving by the road to Boshof, which goes out close
to the De Beers mine. The Boers have an entrenchment on Tarantaalrand
Kop, on its right, and one on Tafel Kop, on its left; but they are less
likely to be watchful on that side than they are on the south or west,
as it would be in those directions that any messenger or despatch-rider
would be most likely to go. What time do you propose starting?"
"At nine o'clock, sir. It will be quite dark by that time."
"Very well; then I will get a troop of cavalry to go out towards
Kamfers Dam, and will open fire from the guns on that side. Of course
they will be told not to push the attack home, but to retire as soon as
the Boers begin to fire hotly. In that way the attention of the Boers
on the kopjes you have to pass will be attracted, and you will have
a better chance of getting through unseen. I will, of course, order
that the search-light shall not be directed near the road that you are
travelling, but it shall play frequently on the two kopjes; the beam
will pretty nearly blind the men up there. The best eyes cannot stand
the glare of a search-light long, and when it is turned off, can see
nothing for some time. So I think that, what with that and the attack
on the other side, you will be able to make your way through, if you
have luck. Of course you will not go as far as Boshof, and once past
their lines, you will journey due south. In that way you will strike
the Boshof and Jacobsdal road. When you do so, your course will be
west, with a little south, which will lead you into your camp without
going near their lines at Spytfontein and Magersfontein had better have
a good look at my map. It is not as accurate as it ought to be, but it
will at least be of some assistance to you. Have you a compass?"
"Yes, sir; but it is of no use at night unless one is quite sure that
there are no Boers near, as the striking of a match may be seen a very
long way."
"I will give you some American matches. They are beastly things, with
a lot of sulphur in them, but they have the advantage that they do
not strike with a sudden flash like most English matches, especially
the safety-matches. There is only just enough phosphorus to light
the sulphur, but, without allowing the flame to catch the wood, they
will give enough light to let you see your compass. I don't say that
it would be safe to strike one of them if there was a Boer within a
hundred yards. But I do not think that the light would be seen half a
mile away, especially as you would naturally strike it in the heart of
a bush or in the shelter of a clump of rocks. Of course there is no
chance of your getting back to camp before daylight, for the morning
begins to break soon after five o'clock."
"Thank you, sir! I shall be very much obliged for the matches; they
would certainly prove most useful."
Yorke did not care to walk about much, as he had a hard night's
work before him, and he spent the day in one of the forts which was
exchanging an occasional shot with a Boer battery, chatting with the
officer in command.
"The Boers are shocking bad shots," the latter said. "You are in much
more danger of being hit when they are not firing at you than when they
are aiming at you. They direct their fire principally at Wesselton
Mine, in the hope, no doubt, that shells will go down the pit and
damage the pumping-gear, for if they should succeed we should find it
very difficult to maintain our water-supply, as it would all have to be
carried up from the mine by hand. Not a single shot has fallen within
a hundred yards of it. They have damaged the houses a good deal in the
line of fire, but they have never been able to give their guns the
right elevation. I fancy their powder is by no means good, and is very
uneven in quality. Sometimes it will carry a good deal beyond the mine,
and at other times falls short of it."
"You have a good supply of shell, have you not?"
"Yes, a very fair supply; and the De Beers people have begun casting
some, and have turned out some very fair specimens. They are rougher
than British work, no doubt, but they serve the purpose very well, and
we can make as good practice with them as with our own. Ah, here comes
the man himself! He often comes up here for a look-out. I don't think
he gets on very well with the commandant, but the people here swear
by him, and his presence is an immense encouragement to us all; and
there can be no doubt that with the resources he has at his back, with
a whole army of well-trained mechanics of all sorts, and machinery, to
say nothing of his miners and Kaffirs, he is a host in himself."
[Illustration: YORKE GAVE A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLES.]
As he spoke Rhodes himself came up. Yorke looked with interest at the
man who is the Napoleon of South Africa--a square-built man, with
a smoothly shaven face except for a thick moustache, with hair
waving back from a broad forehead, strong and determined chin and
mouth, somewhat broad in the cheeks, giving his face the appearance
of squareness, light eyes, keen but kindly; altogether a strong and
pleasant face.
"Good-morning!" he said to the officer; "things seem pretty quiet
to-day. Our fight three days back could not be called a success in
itself, but it must have given the Boers a higher respect for our
fighting powers, and made them dislike more than ever the idea of
trying to attack us. I do not think I know your face, sir," he went on,
turning to Yorke. "I thought I knew all the officers in the place."
"I only came in the day before yesterday, in the evening, bringing
despatches from Lord Methuen to Colonel Kekewich."
"A gallant action, sir," Mr. Rhodes said, holding out his hand to him.
"Of course I heard about it, and of your plucky defence all day till
the Kimberley Horse went out and brought you in. I heard at the mess
of the Diamond Field Horse yesterday that you had been there an hour
before, and given them an account of Lord Methuen's three battles. If
you have nothing better to do, sir, perhaps you will kindly tell me the
story. We had better sit down on these sand-bags. The commandant sent
me a copy of your report, but that, of course, gave no details."
Yorke gave a full account of the battles.
"It does not seem to me," Mr. Rhodes said when he had finished, "that
there can be sufficient scouting. Of course I am not a military man,
and know nothing of the handling of the troops. But certainly before
attacking a place I should have taken steps to find out the exact
position of the enemy, and, as far as possible, their strength. This
could have been done by a handful of mounted men. Now, tell me a little
more as to how you got through."
Yorke much more briefly gave the account of his journey.
"And now, Mr. Harberton--for such, I hear, is your name--will you
tell me how it comes that so young an officer was entrusted with such
hazardous work. First of all, would you mind telling me something about
yourself. I like to know the ins and outs of things. Believe me, I am
not asking from mere curiosity."
Yorke felt that in this strong able man he might find a valuable
friend, therefore he gave him a sketch of his reasons for leaving
England.
"So you were at Rugby!" his hearer broke in. "I am a public-school
boy myself, you know, and there is always a fellow-feeling among
public-school boys, even if they were not at the same school. You came
out to a cousin, you say, and that is some eight months ago. What did
you do with him?"
"I looked after his farm a bit, but the greater part of my time I spent
in learning to shoot and to speak Dutch."
"Do you speak Dutch well?"
"Well enough to pass in ordinary conversation, sir. I had a Dutch boy
as a companion, and as my cousin's wife was Dutch, that language was
principally spoken in the house."
"And why did you leave?"
"I should have gone anyhow, sir, because, from what I heard from the
Dutch who came there, there was certain to be war; and as I could
ride well, had made myself a good shot, and could speak Dutch and a
little Kaffir, I thought I might be useful in the scouting way. If I
had not been able to enlist in such a corps I should have enlisted, if
possible, in the regular cavalry. But I left suddenly. I was shot at by
a young Boer, a relation of my cousin's wife, who was jealous because
I had beaten him in a shooting match. His ball went through my hat,
and I naturally fired back in return, and the bullet struck him in the
chest. They did not think that the wound would be mortal, but my cousin
thought it better that I should go at once, as the fellow had many
friends round him who would certainly take the matter up."
Then he related how he had obtained a commission in the latter corps,
and had gone up with Colonel Pinkerton; and had ridden out dressed
as a Dutchman, as they went up the line, to obtain information as to
the sentiments of the Africanders; and how in the same disguise he
had gone with the Dutch lad who had accompanied him, among the Boers,
and had learned that the commando was going south, and that there was
no intention of attacking De Aar; how twenty Kaffirs had been placed
under him, and had done what scouting was possible on the way up to the
Modder.
"I see that you have plenty of intelligence, as well as grit, Mr.
Harberton. When this war is over come to me; you are the sort of man I
want, and I promise you that you will find me a good friend."
"Thank you very much, sir!"
"No, you have to thank yourself," Mr. Rhodes said. "A lad who will
learn Dutch in six months, instead of contenting himself with sporting
and amusement, as too many young fellows who come out here do, who will
undertake dangerous enterprises, and carry them through as successfully
as you have done, is certain, in any case, to make his way, and
deserves to do so. I am a hard worker myself, and I am only too glad
to have men round me with clear heads, a capacity for work, and, in
a pinch, plenty of pluck and decision. All these you have shown. You
have come out at a younger age than most men, and have already highly
distinguished yourself. Don't be foolish and take a commission if it
is offered to you, at any rate not for a permanency. It is a poor
business, and unless you have an income of your own, it would be as
much as you could do to keep your head above water until the time when
you might become a captain. In Rhodesia you will by that time be in a
position that a colonel might envy."
"Thank you, sir. I had no thought of taking a commission where I could
render but little service except as an interpreter, and did I take it I
should certainly resign at the end of the war. I came out here to push
my way, and be able to help my mother and sisters to some extent, in
the event of the death of my father, whose income as a clergyman will,
of course, expire with him, and who can now only afford to insure his
life for a small sum. Therefore I most gratefully accept your very kind
offer, and when this business is ended will come to you, and be only
too glad to accept any post that you may think me fit for."
They had been alone during this conversation, as the officer in command
of the battery had left them to attend to his duties when they first
sat down to talk. Mr. Rhodes now rose, and shook hands with Yorke;
then, nodding to the officer, said, "I shall be up again this afternoon
if the Boers make any fresh move," and strolled away. Yorke dined that
evening at the mess of the Kimberley Horse, but left directly the cloth
was removed, and having said good-bye to Colonel Kekewich, started with
Peter, an officer accompanying them to pass them out through the lines.
Already there was a sound of musketry away near Kamfers Dam; the Boer
guns joined in, and the battery at which he had passed the morning
replied to their fire.
"That will occupy their attention on the kopje near this road, Peter.
We will keep along close to it as far as we can. It is all open veldt,
and as far as I can make out, the foot of the kopjes is at least two or
three hundred yards from it, so that walking will be a good deal easier
than it was coming here. But mind, if we are surprised, Peter, you are
to follow my orders and make a bolt for it at once. As long as the
ground is open like this I can use my own eyes, and I wish you now to
fall back and walk thirty or forty yards behind me. It is of no use our
both being captured. I have given you a copy of the figures that I have
put down, and have gone through them over and over again with you, so
that you know what each of them means. I have also told you the message
Colonel Kekewich sent me, which you are to repeat to the general when
you get back to the Modder. When we have got well past the Kopjes you
can come up to me again, but until we do so keep well behind, and if I
am suddenly pounced upon make straight off. We have agreed that you can
follow me and help me if there is a chance of making my escape, but I
hardly think that such a chance would occur. However, that I must leave
to you. But you must remember that you are not to follow me long, not
more than a day or two, for it is all-important that the message should
get to the Modder as soon as possible."
"If it is your orders, I must obey them," the Kaffir said, "but I don't
like it, baas."
"Never mind that, Peter; we all have to do things we don't like
sometimes. Now, drop back."
Yorke had before leaving the lines again muffled his boots, and he
walked along fast, feeling confident that he should get through
unobserved. He was walking close to the road, and was within four or
five hundred yards of the kopjes, when he took to it again, as there
were some clumps of bushes in front of him. Suddenly he fell on his
face with a crash, his foot having caught against a wire stretched
tightly some six inches above the ground. Before he could spring to his
feet a dozen men rushed out from the bushes and seized him.
"Run, Peter, run!" he shouted, and then said as the Boers raised him to
his feet, "I surrender."
Several of them raised their rifles and faced towards the road by
which he had come, thinking that he might be followed by a strong
force. After waiting for three or four minutes two of them ran forward
cautiously, but returned in five minutes, saying that there was no sign
of any one there.
"But this man shouted to someone. Whom did you shout to?" he asked
Yorke roughly.
Yorke shook his head. He thought it best to profess ignorance of Dutch.
The man repeated the question in English.
"It was a Kaffir," Yorke answered. "He was coming to show me the way
across the country when we had passed through your lines."
"You are a spy, then," the man said fiercely.
"Not at all," Yorke replied. "If it were daylight you could see by my
uniform that I am an English officer. If I had come as a spy I should
have disguised myself. But I preferred coming in uniform, so that if I
were captured I should have a right to be treated as a prisoner of war."
"That is for the field cornet to decide," the man said grimly. "Now,
come along with us."