As soon as the Jacksons' house was finished, they went into residence
there; but two or three times a week Dick and Tom managed to meet, one
or other being sure to find some excuse for riding over.
The Humphreys had arrived in Natal at the end of April, 1877, and by
November in the following year their farm presented a very different
appearance to that which it had worn on their arrival--sixteen months of
energetic labour, carried on by a considerable number of hands, will
effect wonders. Possessing ample capital Mr Humphreys was able to keep
a strong gang of Kaffirs at work, and for some time had thirty men upon
the farm. Thus the house which, when he took it, stood solitary and
lone in a bare plain, was now surrounded by 200 acres of young trees.
Of these, twenty acres were fruit-trees; the remainder, trees grown for
their wood. These were planted thickly, as they would every year be
thinned out, and the young poles would fetch a good sum for fencing.
Although they had only been planted a few months, they were already
green and bright; they were protected from the cattle by a wire fence
encircling the whole.
The cattle had thriven and were doing well, and a large field of Indian
corn had been harvested for the use of the Kaffirs. The cattle had
nearly doubled in numbers, as Mr Humphreys did not care about selling
at present. The expenses of living were slight. Meat, fowls, and eggs
were raised upon the farm, and the guns of Mr Humphreys and Dick
provided them with a plentiful supply of game. Four milch cows were
kept in a paddock near the house, and supplied it with milk, butter, and
cheese. Groceries and flour had alone to be purchased, and, as Mr
Humphreys said, he did not care if he did not sell a head of cattle for
the next ten years; but he would be obliged to do so before long, as the
farm would carry but a small number more than he already possessed, and
its available extent for that purpose would diminish every year, as the
planting went on.
Mr Humphreys was fortunate in having a small stream run through his
farm. He erected a dam across a hollow, so that in winter a pond of two
or three acres in extent, and fifteen or sixteen feet deep, was formed,
affording an ample supply for the summer; this was of great utility to
him, as he was thereby enabled to continue his planting operations,
filling up each hole with water when the trees were put in, and then, as
this subsided, filling in the earth; by this means the young trees got a
good start, and seldom required watering afterwards. He had a large
water-cart built for him; this was drawn by four oxen, and brought the
water to the point where the Kaffirs were engaged in planting.
Steers sufficient for two waggons had been broken in, and when these
were not employed in bringing up young trees and fencing from Newcastle
they worked upon the road between Newcastle and Pieter-Maritzburg, there
being a great demand for conveyance, as numbers of traders were going up
into the Transvaal and opening stores there. Mr Jackson had also two
waggons engaged in the same work. When trees and goods were wanted for
the farm, Dick went down with the waggons to see that these were
properly loaded, and that the young trees, which were often in leaf,
were taken out every night and set with the roots in water until the
morning.
One evening, early in October, Mr Jackson rode over with Tom.
"I have heard," the former said to Mr Humphreys, "that the government
have determined on moving the troops down to the Zulu frontier; the
attitude of Cetewayo is very threatening."
"He is a troublesome neighbour," Mr Humphreys said. "They say that he
has 30,000 fighting-men, and in that case he ought to be able to overrun
both Natal and the Transvaal, for there is no doubt that Zulus fight
with great bravery. As for the Dutch, I really can't blame the Zulus.
The Boers are always encroaching on their territory, and any
remonstrance is answered by a rifle-shot. Had it not been for our
annexation of the Transvaal, Cetewayo would have overrun it and
exterminated the Dutch before now. We have a strong force in the colony
just at present, and I think Sir Bartle Frere means to bring matters to
a crisis. The existence of such an army of warlike savages on the
frontier is a standing threat to the very existence of the colony, and
the constitution of the army renders it almost a necessity that it
should fight. All the men are soldiers, and as none are allowed to
marry until the regiment to which they belong has distinguished itself
in battle they are naturally always burning for war. The
Pieter-Maritzburg paper says that it understands that Sir Bartle Frere
is about to send in an ultimatum, demanding--in addition to various
small matters, such as the punishing of raiders across the frontier--the
entire abandonment of the present system of the Zulu army, and cessation
of the bloody massacres which constantly take place in that country. If
a man offends the king, not only is he put to death, but the whole of
the people of his village are often massacred. Altogether an abominable
state of things prevails; there seems to be but one opinion throughout
the colony, that it is absolutely necessary for our safety that the Zulu
organisation shall be broken up."
"I see," Mr Jackson said, "that there is an advertisement in the papers
for waggons for the transport of stores, and the price offered is
excellent. A large number are required; I was thinking of sending down
my two teams--what do you think?"
"I have been turning it over in my mind," Mr Humphreys replied, "and I
am inclined also to offer my waggons. The rate of pay is, as you say,
high, and they certainly will have a difficulty in obtaining the number
they require. I shall not have need for mine for home purposes for a
considerable time now. The hot weather will soon be setting in, and
planting is over for the season. I shall of course go on digging holes
for my next batch, but I shall not want them up until after the end of
the hot season. So I think, as I can spare them, I shall hire them to
government. I think we ought all to do what we can to aid it at
present, for every one agrees as to the necessity of the steps it is now
taking."
"And do you think that there will be any fighting, father?" Dick asked
eagerly.
"That no one can say, my boy. The Zulus are a proud as well as a brave
people, and believe that they are invincible. I hardly think that they
will consent to break up their army and abandon their customs at our
dictation; I should not be surprised if it comes to fighting."
"Oh, father, if you hire the waggons to government, may I go with them?
I can see that the Kaffirs look after the oxen, you know, and that
everything goes straight. I have picked up a little Kaffir from Joel,
and can manage to make them understand."
"Well, Dick," Mr Humphreys said, after a little thought, "I don't know
that I have any objection to it; it will be a change for you, and of
course there will be no chance of the waggons being near if any fighting
goes on. What do you think, Jackson? I suppose your boy will want to
go if mine does?"
"Well, I don't mind," Mr Jackson answered. "I suppose it will not be
for long, for the boy is useful on the farm now. However, as you say,
it will be a change, and boys like a little excitement. Well, I suppose
I must say yes; they are fifteen now, and old enough to keep out of
mischief."
The boys were delighted at the prospect of the expedition, and at once
went out to talk matters over together. They cordially agreed in the
hope that the Zulus would fight, and promised themselves that if
possible they would see something of it. Their fathers would, they
thought, allow them to take their horses, and it would be easy, if the
waggons were left behind, to ride forward with the troops, and see what
went on.
Two days later the four teams started together for Pieter-Maritzburg.
Contrary to their expectations the boys were not allowed to take their
horses.
"No, no, Dick," Mr Humphreys had said, when his son asked him, "no
horses, if you please; I know what you will be up to. Galloping about
to see what is going on, and getting into all sorts of mischief and
scrapes. No, if you go, you go with the waggons, to see that everything
goes straight, to translate orders to the Kaffirs, and to learn
something of waggon-driving across a rough country. For between this
place and Pieter-Maritzburg it is such a fair road that you really learn
nothing in that way; once get into a cross country, and you will see how
they get waggons down steep kloofs, across streams, and over rough
places. No, you and Tom will stick to the waggons. I have been fixing
a number of rings to-day underneath one of them, and your mother and the
women have been at work, making a sort of curtain to hook on all round;
so at night you will have a comfortable place to sleep in, for the
waggons will likely enough be so filled with cases and stores that there
will be no sleeping in them. You can take the double-barrel as well as
your Winchester, as of an evening you may be able to get a shot
sometimes at game, which will vary your rations a bit. You must take
with you a stock of tinned meats from Pieter-Maritzburg, for I do not
suppose they will issue regular rations to you. So long as you are this
side of the Tugela, you will be able to buy food; but if the troops
cross into Zululand, you may have to depend on what you carry."
Tom with his two waggons arrived at daybreak, and the four teams set off
together, Mrs Humphreys--who had now completely lost her cough and was
quite strong and well--laying many injunctions upon Dick against
exposing himself to any danger, and Dick promising to be as careful as
possible.
Upon their arrival at Pieter-Maritzburg the boys went at once to the
government transport-yard, and on stating their errand were shown into
the office of the officer in charge.
"We have brought down four teams of sixteen oxen each," Dick said, "from
near Newcastle, to be hired to the government."
"That is right, my lads," the officer said, "we have room for plenty
more. This is the form of contract. You engage to serve the government
by the month; you bear any damages which may take place from wear and
tear of the roads, breakdowns, and the other ordinary accidents of
travel; the government engages to make good any loss or damage which may
occur from the action of the enemy. This is not," he said, smiling,
"likely to take place, but still those are the terms. Have you any
authority from your fathers, to whom, I suppose, the teams belong, to
sign the contracts for them?"
"Yes, sir," Dick said. "Here is a paper from my father, and one from
Tom Jackson's father, saying that they agree to be bound by the terms of
the contract, and that they authorise us to sign in their names. We are
going with the waggons, sir, to look after the Kaffirs."
"Well," the officer said, "you can do as you like about that; but if you
speak Kaffir it will be useful--only, mind, you will have to provision
yourselves. From the day the teams are taken up, rations of mealies
will be served to the Kaffirs at the various halting-places, but there
is no provision for rations of white men. The cattle, too, will be fed,
but you will have to see to yourselves."
"Yes, sir; we expected to do so."
"Well, you had better fetch the teams up to the yard. I must inspect
and pass them before they are taken up. Bring them round at once; then
they will be loaded to-night, and start at daybreak to-morrow."
The teams were brought round to the yard, and immediately passed by the
officer, who indeed remarked upon the excellence of the animals. The
Kaffirs were directed to outspan or unyoke the oxen, for whom rations of
hay and grain were at once issued.
The boys returned to the town and made their purchases, which were
carried down by two Kaffirs and stored in the waggons, which were
already in process of being loaded--two with boxes of ammunition, the
others with miscellaneous stores for the troops. They slept at an
hotel, and next morning at daybreak presented themselves at the yard.
The Kaffirs were already harnessing up the oxen, and in a quarter of an
hour the four waggons, with sixteen others, started for the Tugela.
It was now the middle of December. Early in the month commissioners had
been sent to Cetewayo with the terms decided upon by Sir Bartle Frere.
The first clauses of the document contained the settlement of the
disputed frontier, and fines were fixed to be paid by the chiefs whose
men had committed forays across the borders; it then went on to demand
that the whole of Cetewayo's army should at once be disbanded; freedom
of marriage was to be allowed, when the parties thereto were of age;
justice was to be impartially administered; missionaries to be allowed
to reside in the Zulu country; British residents to be appointed; all
disputes between Zulus and Europeans to be referred to the king and
resident; and no expulsion from Zulu territory was to be carried into
effect without the distinct approval of the resident.
It was intimated to the king that unless these terms were accepted by
the 11th of January the army would at once invade the country. Few men
expected that the Zulu king would tamely submit to conditions which
would deprive him of all the military power in which he delighted, and
would reduce him to a state of something like dependency upon the
British.
During the month of December General Thesiger, who commanded the British
forces in South Africa, made every effort to prepare for hostilities.
The regiments which were at the Cape were brought round by sea; a
brigade of seamen and marines was landed from the ships of war; several
corps of irregular horse were raised among the colonists; and regiments
of natives were enrolled. Before the date by which the king was to send
in his answer the troops were assembled along the frontier in the
following disposition:--
Number 1 Column.
(_Headquarters, Thring's Post, Lower Tugela_.)
Commandant.--Colonel C.K. Pearson, the Buffs.
Naval Brigade.--170 bluejackets and marines of
H.M.S. _Active_ (with one Gatling and two 7-pounder guns), under
Captain Campbell, R.N.
Royal Artillery.--Two 7-pounder guns and rocket-battery, under
Lieutenant W.N. Lloyd, R.A.
Infantry.--2nd battalion, 3rd Buffs, under Lieutenant-Colonel H.
Parnell.
Mounted Infantry.--100 men under Captain Barrow, 19th Hussars.
Volunteers.--Durban Rifles, Natal Hussars, Stanger Rifles, Victoria
Rifles, Alexandra Rifles. Average, forty men per corps--all mounted.
Native Contingent.--1000 men under Major Graves, the Buffs.
Number Two Column.
(_Headquarters, Helpmakaar, near Rorke's Drift.)
_Commandant.--Colonel Glyn, 1st battalion, 24th Regiment.
Royal Artillery.--N. battery, 5th brigade, Royal Artillery
(with 7-pounder guns), under Major A. Harness, R.A.
Infantry.--Seven companies 1st battalion, 24th Regiment, and 2nd
battalion, 24th Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Degacher.
Natal Mounted Police.--Commanded by Major Dartnell.
Volunteers.--Natal Carabineers, Buffalo Border Guard, Newcastle
Mounted
Rifles--all mounted; average, forty men.
Native Contingent--1000 men, under Commandant Lonsdale, late 74th
Highlanders.
Number 3 Column.
(_Headquarters, Utrecht.)
_Commandant.--Colonel Evelyn Wood, V.C. C.B., 40th Regiment.
Royal Artillery.--11th battery, 7th brigade, R.A. (with four
7-pounder
guns), under Major E. Tremlett, R.A.
Infantry.--1st battalion 13th Regiment, and 90th Regiment.
Mounted Infantry.--100 men, under Major J.C. Russell, 12th Lancers.
Frontier Light Horse.--200 strong, under Major Redvers Buller, C.B.,
60th Rifles.
Volunteers.--The Kaffrarian Vanguard, Commandant Schermbrucker, 100
strong.
Native Contingent.--The Swazis, our native allies, some 5000 strong.
In the first fortnight of their engagement the waggons travelled
backward and forward between Pieter-Maritzburg and Grey Town, which for
the time formed the base for the column of Colonel Glyn. The distance
of the town from the capital was forty-five miles, and as the waggons
travelled at the rate of fifteen miles a day, they were twelve days in
accomplishing two double journeys. When they were loaded up the third
time, they received orders to go straight through to the headquarters of
the column at Helpmakaar. The boys were pleased at the change, for the
road as far as Grey Town was a good one.
They reached Grey Town for the third time on the 2nd of January. Here
they found the place in a state of great excitement, a mounted messenger
having arrived that morning with the news that Cetewayo had refused all
demands and that large bodies of the Zulus were marching towards the
frontier to oppose the various columns collecting there.
On arriving at the government-yard the lads received orders at once to
unload the waggons and to take on the stores of the 2nd battalion of the
24th, which was to march from Grey Town the next morning. The start was
delayed until the afternoon, as sufficient waggons had not arrived to
take on their baggage. The road was rough, and it was late in the
afternoon before they arrived at the Mooin River.
The weather had set in wet, the river was in flood, and the oxen had
immense difficulty in getting the waggons across. Two teams had to be
attached to each waggon, and even then it was as much as they could do
to get across, for the water was so high that it nearly took them off
their feet.
The troops were taken over in punts, and, after crossing, a halt was
made for the night.
After seeing the cattle outspanned and attended to, the boys wandered
away among the troops, as they were to start at daybreak, and it was
long past dark before all were over. The tents were not pitched, and
the troops bivouacked in the open. Brushwood was collected from the
rough ground around, and blazing fires were soon burning merrily. It
was all new and very amusing to the boys. The troops were in high
spirits at the prospect of an early brush with the enemy, and songs were
sung around the fires until the bugle rang out the order, "Lights out,"
when the men wrapped themselves in their blankets and lay down, and the
boys retired to their snug shelter under the waggons, where their
Kaffirs had as usual laid piles of brushwood to serve as their beds.
The next morning they were off early, and reached the Tugela after five
hours' march. This river does not here form the frontier between
Zululand and Natal, this being marked by the Buffalo--a much larger and
more important stream--from the point where this falls into the Tugela,
some fifteen miles below the spot where they crossed the latter river,
which here runs towards the southwest. Two more days' marching took the
column to Helpmakaar. The weather was wet and misty, and the troops now
marched in close order, with flankers thrown out, for the road ran
parallel with the Buffalo, about five miles distant, and it was thought
possible that the Zulus might cross the river and commence hostilities.
A cordon of sentinels had, however, been placed all along the river from
Rorke's Drift down to the point of junction of the Buffalo and Tugela;
below the stream was so wide that there was no fear of the Zulus
effecting a crossing.
Most of the troops which had been stationed at Helpmakaar had already
marched up to Rorke's Drift, and after staying two days at Helpmakaar
the 2nd battalion of the 24th marched to that place, where the 1st
battalion of the same regiment were already encamped.
Two days later the remainder of the force destined to act under Colonel
Glyn had assembled at Rorke's Drift--the term "drift" meaning a ford
across a river.
This column was the strongest of those which had been formed for the
simultaneous invasion of Zululand, and General Thesiger was himself upon
the spot to accompany it. Many of the waggons which had brought up
stores were sent back to Grey Town for further supplies; but those of
the boys, being laden with the spare ammunition and baggage of a portion
of the 24th, were to accompany the column in its advance.
The last two days of the term granted to Cetewayo to accede to our terms
were full of excitement; it had been reported, indeed, that the king was
determined upon resistance, but it was thought probable that he might
yield at the last moment, and the road leading down to the drift on the
other side of the river was anxiously watched.
As the hours went on and no messenger was seen approaching, the spirits
of the troops rose, for there is nothing that soldiers hate so much as,
after enduring the fatigues preparatory to the opening of a campaign,
the long marches, the wet nights, and other privations and hardships,
for the enemy to yield without a blow. Men who had been in the
campaigns of Abyssinia and Ashanti told their comrades how on both
occasions the same uncertainty had prevailed as to the intentions of the
enemy up to the last moment; and the fact that in both campaigns the
enemy had at the last moment resolved to fight, was hailed as a sort of
presage that a similar determination would be arrived at by the Zulu
king.
To the boys these days passed very pleasantly; they had nothing to do
but to wander about the camp and watch the proceedings. There was a
parade of the two native regiments before the general, who was much
pleased with their appearance, and who exhorted them on no account to
kill women, children, or prisoners.
Among these native regiments were curiously many Zulus; for great
numbers of this people had at various times been obliged to take refuge
in Natal, to avoid the destruction threatened them by their despotic
king, and these were now eager to fight against their late monarch.
Some of the bodies of volunteer horse were very smart and soldier-like
in their appearance. They were for the most part composed of young
farmers, and Dick and Tom bitterly regretted that they had not been a
few years older, in which case, instead of looking after a lot of bulls,
as Dick contemptuously said, they might have been riding in the ranks of
the volunteers.
By the regulars the two days were spent in cleaning their arms and
accoutrements, whose burnish and cleanliness had suffered much in the
long wet march, and from the bivouacs on the damp ground.
After marching from Grey Town with the 24th the boys had been placed
regularly on the roll of the army, as conductors, and, although they
drew no pay, had now the advantage of receiving rations as white men.
They had upon the line of march frequently chatted with the young
officers of the regiment, who, finding that they were the sons of
well-to-do farmers and were cheery, high-spirited lads, took to them
very much, and invited them of an evening to join them round the
camp-fire.
The last day came, and still no messenger arrived from Cetewayo, and in
the evening orders were issued that the column should at daybreak pass
the drift and advance into the enemy's country. The troops laid down
that night in high spirits, little dreaming of the disaster which was to
befall them in the campaign which they thought of so lightly.