Rivers and Margetts hurried down the steep descent without pausing to
pick their way, and reached the bottom just as the traveller, whose
horse was evidently tired out, passed them at a broken-winded canter,
which was the utmost speed, apparently, to which the unlucky animal
could be urged.
"Hallo!" shouted George,--"hallo, Hardy, if it really is you! Here are
two old friends of yours, who would like to have some talk with you, if
you can spare them the time."
The horseman drew his rein in evident surprise.
"What! Rivers, Margetts!" he exclaimed. "Well, this is a piece of good
luck. I was just thinking that the best thing I could do would be to
ride round by Dykeman's Hollow and ask you to help me. What brings you
here?"
"Oh, we have been confined within the bounds of Rogers' property for
several weeks, and we made up a party to-day to come here, more for
something to do than anything else."
"And why are you confined within the bounds of Dykeman's Hollow?" asked
Hardy; "and who has confined you?"
"Well, it is more prudence than necessity," said George. "We don't want
to provoke the Dutchmen to attack us."
"You talk riddles," said Hardy, "but I have no time to solve them. Can
you tell me where Praetorius,--the great man among the Boers,--can you
tell me where he is to be found?"
"I don't know with any certainty," said George; "I expect he has gone
southward with the others."
"Southward! what do you mean?" exclaimed Hardy hastily. "What can he
have gone south for?"
"Well, he didn't tell me," said Redgy, "but I think I can form a pretty
good guess for what he has gone. It is to attack the English troops."
"English troops!" repeated Hardy in evident anxiety and alarm; "what
English troops? I did not know that there were any in this
neighbourhood."
"We hear that Sir George Colley is marching to the relief of Praetoria
with, some say 1000, some 1500 men. Mr Rogers thinks he has got as far
as Newcastle, if not still farther north," said Rivers.
"The relief of Praetoria!" again cried Hardy. "Is Pretoria besieged?
Do you mean that the rebellion has actually broken out?"
"No doubt of that," replied Margetts; "that is an old story now. The
English have for two or three weeks past been besieged by the Boers in
all the large towns,--Praetoria, Potchefstroom, Standerton,--and there
has been sharp fighting in several places. About the end of December,
250 men belonging to the 94th Regiment were killed or taken prisoners at
Bronker's Spruit, near Middelburgh."
"How did that come about?" asked Hardy.
"Well, I suppose Colonel Anstruther didn't know that there was any
chance of his being attacked,--didn't know, in fact, that any outbreak
was likely to take place,--or his neglect of precautions would seem to
be of a piece with what we remember. He was marching, with a number of
waggons and 250 men, as Redgy said, along the road, his train being half
a mile long, when, at a place called Bronker's Spruit, two Dutchmen rode
up to him and handed him a paper, which was found to be a letter from
Joubert, who calls himself the Boer General. It stated that war had
been declared between the Republic of the Transvaal and England, and
called on him to surrender his men and waggons. I suppose Colonel
Anstruther hardly thought that the summons was seriously meant; at all
events, there was no superior force visible, to which he would be unable
to offer resistance, and he only replied by forming his men in column
and desiring them to move on, but--"
"But Joubert had planted his sharpshooters under cover everywhere round,
and they opened their fire on the soldiers before they knew of their
presence."
"That was it, certainly. In ten minutes half the men had been shot
down. They were entangled in a marsh, and had not been able to get
sight of any enemy to shoot at in return."
"Exactly; and then, I suppose, Colonel Anstruther surrendered?"
"Precisely; that is what he did, and he and his surviving men were taken
prisoners."
"He could do nothing else. But I am afraid this will prevent any good
being done by my mission. You say this occurred some weeks ago?"
"Yes," said Margetts; "the catastrophe near Middelburgh took place on
the 28th of last month, and this is the 28th of January."
"Why, the 28th of last month was just about the time when I set out for
Bloemfontein!" cried Hardy. "It is most extraordinary that I never
heard this before!"
"What have you been to Bloemfontein for?" asked Rivers.
"I was sent there by the authorities at Natal," answered Hardy, "in
consequence of a message from the Colonial Office in England. The
Colonial Secretary wanted to come to terms with these Boers. I suppose
he thought (as every one else thought) that the annexation had been a
most foolish procedure, and that it would be better to come to some
reasonable understanding with the Boers than keep up an irritating
quarrel with them."
"Small blame to him for that," said George. "Well, go on."
"He thought that Brandt, the President of the Orange Free State, would
be a good person to mediate between us and the Boers, and he sent me
with a letter to him."
"Did you see him?" asked Margetts.
"Yes; I had two or three very satisfactory interviews with him. He
seemed quite sincere in the desire he expressed of preventing bloodshed,
and I am the bearer of a letter from him to Praetorius, which, as I was
in hopes, would prevent any outbreak of hostilities. He certainly did
not know, when I left Bloemfontein, that fighting was going on. I
should be almost afraid it will be too late now."
"Is it not extraordinary that no message was sent either from Durban or
London, to stop any proceedings until the result of the negotiations
with Mr Brandt were known?" asked Rivers.
"It seems so to me, certainly," replied Hardy; "but very likely there
are reasons for it, of which I know nothing. Well, anyhow, I had better
carry President Brandt's letter to Praetorius. It is only carrying out
my orders, and cannot do any harm."
"Not to any one but yourself, Hardy," said Margetts; "but I am not sure
it would be safe for you to put yourself in the way of these Boers. The
leaders among them seem to behave well enough, but many of the
subordinate officers, if one may call them so, are rude and brutal, and
might shoot any Englishman who approached them, without inquiry and
without listening to any representations."
"You are right, Redgy, I am afraid," said Rivers. "I think Hardy had,
at all events, better go with us to Dykeman's Hollow and consult Mr
Mansen. He might go with him to Praetorius, and he is so well known to
the Boers--indeed, he is one of them himself--that there could be no
danger in his company."
"Are the Mansens at Dykeman's Hollow?" asked Hardy.
"Yes, they are Mr Rogers' guests; but they are nearer to us than that.
They are up on the Kop yonder, though the trees hide them from our
sight. Leave your horse here in Redgy's keeping, and I will go with you
up to the Kop."
Hardy accordingly dismounted, and he and George were just commencing the
ascent, when three or four men, whose uniform showed that they belonged
to the 58th Regiment, came running down one of the narrow passes at the
utmost of their speed, close to the spot where the three friends were
standing. They had evidently just escaped from some great danger.
Their trousers were covered with mud, so that the regimental stripe
could hardly be distinguished; their jackets were cut and stained with
blood; two of them had lost their caps, and all had thrown away their
arms, which would have impeded their flight. As they reached the corner
of the road, they came in sight of George and Hardy, and would have
turned another way, if the last-named had not called to them.
"Hallo, my lads!" he shouted; "what has happened, and where are you
running to?"
Hearing themselves addressed in English, the fugitives stopped, and one
of them, a corporal from his dress, answered,--
"There has been a brush with the enemy at Laing's Nek, if you know where
that is."
"I know it well enough," returned Hardy; "it is a narrow defile, filled
with rocky boulders--just the sort of place where these Dutchmen would
take up a position, quite out of sight, and shoot down our soldiers at
their leisure. You don't mean to say, I suppose, that you attacked the
Boers there?"
"Yes, we did, sir," answered the corporal, "and to our cost. Half our
men were killed or wounded in no time, and we couldn't see a single
Dutchman to fire at in return. The rest contrived to retreat to the
camp, or there wouldn't have been a man left alive. We were cut off by
a party of mounted Boers, and offered to surrender to them. But they
paid no heed, and fired on us, killing all but two or three. They are
after us still, I expect. They couldn't follow us on horseback up the
mountain paths, but they are riding round, I believe, by another road.
Can you shelter as?"
"I suppose in strictness we oughtn't to," said Margetts. "But we can't
see our countrymen shot down in cold blood; I'd rather take the chance
of being shot myself. Come along with me, my lads; you can hide in the
caves under Kolman's Kop. The Boers, unless they come from this
neighbourhood, won't know anything about them; and they will hardly
venture in there after you, if they do. Only we must make all possible
haste."
He mounted Hardy's horse and rode off at a trot, the men following him
as well as they were able.
Rivers and Hardy watched them as they hurried along under the side of a
steep cliff, and then turned into a narrow defile.
"He is right, I suppose," said George; "we are bound not to interfere;
but if the laws of civilised warfare are set aside, as it seems they are
by these Boers, they cannot expect us to observe them so rigidly as
giving these poor fellows up to be shot would amount to. Don't you
think so?"
"We have only their word that the Boers would give no quarter," said
Hardy, "and it may be that they didn't understand what our fellows said.
Still, I can't blame Margetts, if that is what you mean. But we had
better make our way to Dykeman's Hollow, hadn't we? I suppose your
friends will have gone home by this time."
"All right!" said Rivers; "come this way."
They began climbing the steep path, and were nearly half-way up when
they heard voices calling to them, and looking down saw a party of
mounted Boers, who were levelling their rifles at them and shouting to
them to descend.
"What do you want with us?" called out Hardy in Dutch. "We are not
soldiers, and have nothing to do with this war!"
"You are English--I can tell that by your speech," answered the man who
had hailed them. "I want to ask some questions of you, to which I mean
to have an answer. You had better come down at once, or we will send
some bullets to fetch you."
This was evidently no idle threat Half a dozen Boers had already taken
their aim, and the path at the point at which the Englishmen had been
stopped was without shelter of any kind. There was no help for it.
They had to retrace their steps, and presently found themselves face to
face with the leader of the Boers, who proved to be no other than
Rivers' old acquaintance, Rudolf Kransberg.
"Ha! it is you, Mynheer Rivers?" he remarked with a scowl. "You are an
English soldier, I think, though your companion said you were not."
"I _was_ an English soldier in the Zulu war," returned George; "but I
left the army at its conclusion, and am now a clergyman of the Church of
England."
"I don't care for that. I want to know whether you have seen some
runaways from the battle that has been fought at Laing's Nek. We are in
pursuit of them, and they must, I think, have passed this way."
"We have told you that we are not belligerents," replied George; "you
have no right to question us."
"Ha! I see you will not answer, because you have seen your countrymen,
and know where they are. As to having no right, we will see about that.
We are at war with the English, and the English are our enemies, though
they may choose to say they are not. I shall make you my prisoner. And
this person," he continued, turning to Hardy, "who is he?"
"I am an Englishman, like Mr Rivers," answered Hardy; "like him, too,
not a belligerent. Your President, Mynheer Praetorius, would not, I am
sure, approve your proceedings."
"You think so, hey? Well, you may see him at Laing's Nek, and find out
how much respect he will have for your rights?"
"We are quite willing to be taken before him," said Hardy. "We will
accompany you to the camp, and answer, without objection, any questions
he may put to us."
Rudolf appeared to be somewhat puzzled by this suggestion, but saw no
reason why he should not agree to it. Indeed, it had already occurred
to him that George Rivers was the stepson of Ludwig Mansen, a man well
known to, and respected by, the Boer leaders. Any violence used towards
a near relative of his would probably be condemned by his superiors.
And he further reflected that he had no kind of evidence that these two
Englishmen had really encountered the soldiers, or knew where they were.
It was also evidently no use to attempt any further pursuit of the
runaways, every trace of whom had disappeared.
"Very well," he said, after a few minutes of silence, "you shall go with
us to Laing's Nek, and if the President is still there, and chooses to
see you, he will do so. You can ride on the saddles of two of the men,
but, I warn you, you will be shot without mercy if you make the
slightest attempt to escape."
They mounted accordingly, and the party rode off. George, who
understood Hardy's manoeuvre, by which he would get access to Praetorius
without attracting general attention, which it was his special object to
avoid, made no demur to the arrangement. He further reflected that, as
soon as he reached the Boer camp, he could ask for an interview with
Vander Heyden, who would, no doubt, at once set him at liberty and grant
him an escort to Dykeman's Hollow. Nothing worse, therefore, was likely
to happen to either of them than a ride to the Dutch camp and a few
hours of detention there; and to this he was so far from objecting, that
he was particularly anxious to learn from an authentic source what had
really taken place and was likely to ensue.
They rode in profound silence, the Boers being habitually taciturn, and
George and Hardy anxious under present circumstances to say as little as
possible. Presently the narrow defile running between lofty rocks and
along the margin of mountain streams was passed, and they entered the
broken and wild country which extends between Newcastle and the border
of the Transvaal. After an hour's ride, which would have been
protracted to twice that length but for the Boers' knowledge of the
ground, they reached the camp, where some five or six thousand men had
established themselves. George was at once struck with the difference
between it and the camps to which he had been accustomed. There was an
utter absence of the military discipline to which he had been used. It
bore more the appearance of a great camp meeting, at which every person
provided for his own lodging and maintenance; and yet there was a
readiness to carry out the orders of the general officers in command,
which seemed to take the place of the regular routine of a camp. As
they rode over the ground where the battle had been fought that morning,
they passed numbers of men employed in the melancholy duties which
follow only too surely on an armed encounter. Wounded men were being
conveyed on stretchers to the farmhouses and inns, which had been turned
into temporary hospitals; others, whose injuries were too severe to
permit of removal, were being ministered to on the ground as well as
circumstances allowed; while several parties were engaged in digging
graves to receive the dead bodies which lay scattered in all directions.
One of these companies was working under the direction of Henryk Vander
Heyden; and the latter no sooner perceived the two Englishmen than he
rode up to them, and, after a friendly salutation, inquired what had
brought them to Laing's Nek.
"This gentleman, Mynheer Kransberg,--I am not aware of his military
rank,--but he has brought us here as his prisoners," replied Rivers.
"Prisoners! You have not been--"
"We have not been interfering in military matters at all," interposed
George. "We had given you our parole not to do so, and, I need not say,
have not broken it. We told Mr Kransberg so."
"Then how comes this, Lieutenant Kransberg?" said Vander Heyden
haughtily. "Mr Rivers holds a protection which at my instance was
granted to him by the President, which exempts him from all interference
on the part of the military authorities."
"He did not produce it," said Kransberg sullenly.
"He had no time to do so," interposed Hardy. "But if you would grant me
one moment, Commandant Vander Heyden,--that, I believe, is your proper
title,--I will explain why the protection was not shown to Mynheer
Kransberg. It was because I wished to avail myself of his escort
hither. I am the bearer of a letter from Mr Brandt, the President of
the Orange Free State, to your President, Mynheer Praetorius, which he
was in hopes would prevent the outbreak of war. I regret to find I have
arrived too late for that."
"I regret also, Mr Hardy, to say that you have. We have been attacked,
and we have driven back our enemies with heavy loss. But we should have
preferred to gain our object without spilling of blood."
"Just so," said Hardy; "and you would prefer to gain it now without
further bloodshed?"
"Undoubtedly," assented Vander Heyden.
"Then will you obtain me an audience with the President, at which I can
still present this letter? If the terms it proposes should be
acceptable to him, an armistice may be agreed on, and the question of a
settlement between the English Government and that of the Transvaal may
be discussed."
"I would take you to him this instant," returned the Dutchman, "were it
in my power to do so. But he is not at present in the camp. He has
to-day gone northwards on business of urgent importance, nor can I say,
without inquiry, when he will return. In his absence I fear the
Vice-President and the Commandant-General Joubert could not discuss--
certainly could not decide--a question of this importance. But if you
will come with me, I will take you to General Joubert's quarters."
"I will go at once; but I should like to ask Rivers what he proposes to
do, or rather, what you advise so far as he is concerned."
"He can, of course, return to Dykeman's Hollow if he wishes it, and I
will send an escort with him. But I believe they are greatly in want of
clergymen to attend the sick and dying in the English camp. Perhaps, if
he knew that, he would prefer going there. I need not say he will be at
full liberty to do so. But we can speak to him after you have seen
Mynheer Joubert. We had better lose no time in going thither."
Hardy accordingly followed Vander Heyden across the rugged and stony
ground on which the action had been fought that morning, to a tent--it
was the only one in the camp--where the Commandant-General had fixed his
quarters. No difficulty was made about obtaining an interview, and
Hardy almost immediately found himself in the presence of the rebel
leader, as well as in that of another bearded and grave-looking
personage, who, he was informed, was Kruger, the Vice-President of the
newly-proclaimed Republic.
Hardy looked with interest at the Boer general, who, although he had not
at that time attained all the celebrity now attaching to his name, had
already achieved some brilliant successes. His family, as Hardy
subsequently learned, was of Huguenot extraction, having migrated to the
Cape at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. But
intermarriages with the Dutch in succeeding generations had had their
effect, and Joubert had all the appearance of a genuine Boer. Like his
fathers, he had followed the calling of a farmer, and had had no
experience of warfare, except with native tribes. But he was possessed
of rare military ability, and if he had had the advantage of
professional training, would have made a great general.
In personal appearance he was of middle height and powerful frame, with
an unusually dark complexion, a beard and moustache, and features
expressing intelligence and good humour. He was apparently somewhat
advanced in years, though he had not passed the vigour of life. He
received Hardy with civility, and, after he had heard his story,
expressed his regret, as Vander Heyden had done, that the President was
not in the camp, so that the matter might be immediately dealt with.
Praetorius was expected back very shortly, and then instant attention
should be given to it.
"Meanwhile, be assured," he said, "that we desire peace with England,
and are willing to concede everything to her, except our national
independence. You may not, perhaps, be aware that when the Volksraad
declared that the Transvaal Republic was again established, it passed
several resolutions, which may well form the basis of negotiations with
the agents of the British Government."
"I have only just arrived in the country after an absence of several
weeks," said Hardy, "and have therefore had no opportunity of learning
what those resolutions were."
"They are soon recited," said Joubert. "The first proclaimed a general
amnesty for all past offences. The second ratified all the acts of the
British Government up to the date of the proclamation, and the third
declared that questions relating to foreign policy might be made matter
of special discussion. I think you will allow that these resolutions
are not framed in any spirit hostile to your Government."
"I must allow that they are not," replied Hardy. "I should certainly
hope that they might form the basis of negotiations satisfactory to both
parties. That was also the opinion of the President of the Orange Free
State."
"I may add, it is also the opinion of our countrymen in Holland, who
have sent an urgent entreaty to the Queen of England that our national
independence may be restored to us. The same sentiment has been
expressed in other European countries. But I should hardly have thought
that such a petition would require foreign support, when it had once
been submitted to the English people. They have ever been the first,
the most uncompromising of all nations in the assertion of their own
liberty. Why should they grudge to others that which they value so
highly themselves?"
"You speak well, sir," said Hardy. "I am unable to deny the force of
your appeal. We may hope that when the President returns,
communications may be opened with the English Government which may lead
to a settlement honourable and satisfactory to both parties. But
meanwhile, ought not all hostile operations to be suspended? They could
not facilitate any negotiations that might be set on foot, but they
might seriously impede them."
"If the English general proposes an armistice, it will certainly be
agreed to," said Joubert. "On our side we have no need to make any such
proposition. If we are not attacked, we shall not ourselves make any
attack. The British have only to do the same, and all fighting will be
suspended. But, of course, if we are assailed, we shall repel the
assault."
Hardy bowed and took his leave. On returning to the place where he had
left George Rivers, he found that the latter had already taken his
departure for the British camp, where, as the reader has heard, his
services were greatly needed. A few days passed without any resumption
of hostilities, when, on the 8th of February, Sir George Colley
unexpectedly sallied out of his camp, and the action at Hooge's Chain,
between Laing's Nek and Newcastle, on the banks of the Ingogo, was
fought, with a result as discreditable and damaging to the English arms
as that of Laing's Nek had been.
"What has come to our generals and soldiers I cannot think," said Hardy
to George, when he encountered him after the battle on the field,
whither both had gone to minister to the wounded and dying. "They seem
to me absolutely to court defeat. The only comfort is, that they will
hardly make a third attempt after two such calamitous failures."