Christian de Wet, the elder of two brothers of that name, was at this
time in the prime of life, a little over forty years of age. He was a
burly middle-sized bearded man, poorly educated, but endowed with much
energy and common-sense. His military experience dated back to Majuba
Hill, and he had a large share of that curious race hatred which
is intelligible in the case of the Transvaal, but inexplicable in a
Freestater who has received no injury from the British Empire. Some
weakness of his sight compels the use of tinted spectacles, and he had
now turned these, with a pair of particularly observant eyes behind
them, upon the scattered British forces and the long exposed line of
railway.
De Wet's force was an offshoot from the army of Freestaters under De
Villiers, Olivier, and Prinsloo, which lay in the mountainous north-east
of the State. To him were committed five guns, fifteen hundred men, and
the best of the horses. Well armed, well mounted, and operating in
a country which consisted of rolling plains with occasional fortress
kopjes, his little force had everything in its favour. There were so
many tempting objects of attack lying before him that he must have had
some difficulty in knowing where to begin. The tinted spectacles were
turned first upon the isolated town of Lindley.
Colvile with the Highland Brigade had come up from Ventersburg with
instructions to move onward to Heilbron, pacifying the country as he
passed. The country, however, refused to be pacified, and his march from
Ventersburg to Lindley was harassed by snipers every mile of the way.
Finding that De Wet and his men were close upon him, he did not linger
at Lindley, but passed on to his destination, his entire march of 126
miles costing him sixty-three casualties, of which nine were fatal.
It was a difficult and dangerous march, especially for the handful of
Eastern Province Horse, upon whom fell all the mounted work. By evil
fortune a force of five hundred Yeomanry, the 18th battalion, including
the Duke of Cambridge's Own and the Irish companies, had been sent from
Kroonstad to join Colvile at Lindley. Colonel Spragge was in command.
On May 27th this body of horsemen reached their destination only to find
that Colvile had already abandoned it. They appear to have determined to
halt for a day in Lindley, and then follow Colvile to Heilbron. Within
a few hours of their entering the town they were fiercely attacked by De
Wet.
Colonel Spragge seems to have acted for the best. Under a heavy fire he
caused his troopers to fall back upon his transport, which had been
left at a point a few miles out upon the Kroonstad Road, where three
defensible kopjes sheltered a valley in which the cattle and horses
could be herded. A stream ran through it. There were all the materials
there for a stand which would have brought glory to the British arms.
The men were of peculiarly fine quality, many of them from the public
schools and from the universities, and if any would fight to the death
these with their sporting spirit and their high sense of honour might
have been expected to do so.
They had the stronger motive for holding out, as they had taken steps
to convey word of their difficulty to Colvile and to Methuen. The former
continued his march to Heilbron, and it is hard to blame him for doing
so, but Methuen on hearing the message, which was conveyed to him at
great personal peril by Corporal Hankey of the Yeomanry, pushed on
instantly with the utmost energy, though he arrived too late to prevent,
or even to repair, a disaster. It must be remembered that Colvile was
under orders to reach Heilbron on a certain date, that he was himself
fighting his way, and that the force which he was asked to relieve was
much more mobile than his own. His cavalry at that date consisted of 100
men of the Eastern Province Horse.
Colonel Spragge's men had held their own for the first three days
of their investment, during which they had been simply exposed to a
long-range rifle fire which inflicted no very serious loss upon them.
Their principal defence consisted of a stone kraal about twenty yards
square, which sheltered them from rifle bullets, but must obviously be a
perfect death-trap in the not improbable event of the Boers sending for
artillery. The spirit of the troopers was admirable. Several dashing
sorties were carried out under the leadership of Captain Humby and Lord
Longford. The latter was a particularly dashing business, ending in a
bayonet charge which cleared a neighbouring ridge. Early in the siege
the gallant Keith met his end. On the fourth day the Boers brought up
five guns. One would have thought that during so long a time as three
days it would have been possible for the officer in command to make such
preparations against this obvious possibility as were so successfully
taken at a later stage of the war by the handful who garrisoned
Ladybrand. Surely in this period, even without engineers, it would not
have been hard to construct such trenches as the Boers have again and
again opposed to our own artillery. But the preparations which were
made proved to be quite inadequate. One of the two smaller kopjes was
carried, and the garrison fled to the other. This also was compelled to
surrender, and finally the main kopje also hoisted the white flag.
No blame can rest upon the men, for their presence there at all is a
sufficient proof of their public spirit and their gallantry. But the
lessons of the war seem to have been imperfectly learned, especially
that very certain lesson that shell fire in a close formation is
insupportable, while in an open formation with a little cover it can
never compel surrender. The casualty lists (80 killed and wounded out
of a force of 470) show that the Yeomanry took considerable punishment
before surrendering, but do not permit us to call the defence desperate
or heroic. It is only fair to add that Colonel Spragge was acquitted
of all blame by a court of inquiry, which agreed, however, that the
surrender was premature, and attributed it to the unauthorised hoisting
of a white flag upon one of the detached kopjes. With regard to the
subsequent controversy as to whether General Colvile might have returned
to the relief of the Yeomanry, it is impossible to see how that General
could have acted in any other way than he did.
Some explanation is needed of Lord Methuen's appearance upon the central
scene of warfare, his division having, when last described, been at
Boshof, not far from Kimberley, where early in April he fought the
successful action which led to the death of Villebois. Thence he
proceeded along the Vaal and then south to Kroonstad, arriving there on
May 28th. He had with him the 9th Brigade (Douglas's), which contained
the troops which had started with him for the relief of Kimberley six
months before. These were the Northumberland Fusiliers, Loyal North
Lancashires, Northamptons, and Yorkshire Light Infantry. With him also
were the Munsters, Lord Chesham's Yeomanry (five companies), with the
4th and 37th batteries, two howitzers and two pom-poms. His total force
was about 6000 men. On arriving at Kroonstad he was given the task
of relieving Heilbron, where Colvile, with the Highland Brigade, some
Colonial horse, Lovat's Scouts, two naval guns, and the 5th battery,
were short of food and ammunition. The more urgent message from the
Yeomen at Lindley, however, took him on a fruitless journey to that
town on June 1st. So vigorous was the pursuit of the Yeomanry that
the leading squadrons, consisting of South Notts Hussars and Sherwood
Rangers, actually cut into the Boer convoy and might have rescued the
prisoners had they been supported. As it was they were recalled, and
had to fight their way back to Lindley with some loss, including Colonel
Rolleston, the commander, who was badly wounded. A garrison was left
under Paget, and the rest of the force pursued its original mission
to Heilbron, arriving there on June 7th, when the Highlanders had been
reduced to quarter rations. 'The Salvation Army' was the nickname by
which they expressed their gratitude to the relieving force.
A previous convoy sent to the same destination had less good fortune.
On June 1st fifty-five wagons started from the railway line to reach
Heilbron. The escort consisted of one hundred and sixty details
belonging to Highland regiments without any guns, Captain Corballis in
command. But the gentleman with the tinted glasses was waiting on the
way. 'I have twelve hundred men and five guns. Surrender at once!'
Such was the message which reached the escort, and in their defenceless
condition there was nothing for it but to comply. Thus one disaster
leads to another, for, had the Yeomanry held out at Lindley, De Wet
would not on June 4th have laid hands upon our wagons; and had he not
recruited his supplies from our wagons it is doubtful if he could have
made his attack upon Roodeval. This was the next point upon which he
turned his attention.
Two miles beyond Roodeval station there is a well-marked kopje by the
railway line, with other hills some distance to the right and the left.
A militia regiment, the 4th Derbyshire, had been sent up to occupy this
post. There were rumours of Boers on the line, and Major Haig, who with
one thousand details of various regiments commanded at railhead, had
been attacked on June 6th but had beaten off his assailants. De Wet,
acting sometimes in company with, and sometimes independently of, his
lieutenant Nel, passed down the line looking fur some easier prey,
and on the night of June 7th came upon the militia regiment, which was
encamped in a position which could be completely commanded by artillery.
It is not true that they had neglected to occupy the kopje under which
they lay, for two companies had been posted upon it. But there seems to
have been no thought of imminent danger, and the regiment had pitched
its tents and gone very comfortably to sleep without a thought of the
gentleman in the tinted glasses. In the middle of the night he was upon
them with a hissing sleet of bullets. At the first dawn the guns opened
and the shells began to burst among them. It was a horrible ordeal for
raw troops. The men were miners and agricultural labourers, who had
never seen more bloodshed than a cut finger in their lives. They had
been four months in the country, but their life had been a picnic, as
the luxury of their baggage shows. Now in an instant the picnic was
ended, and in the grey cold dawn war was upon them--grim war with the
whine of bullets, the screams of pain, the crash of shell, the horrible
rending and riving of body and limb. In desperate straits, which would
have tried the oldest soldiers, the brave miners did well. They never
from the beginning had a chance save to show how gamely they could take
punishment, but that at least they did. Bullets were coming from all
sides at once and yet no enemy was visible. They lined one side of the
embankment, and they were shot in the back. They lined the other, and
were again shot in the back. Baird-Douglas, the Colonel, vowed to shoot
the man who should raise the white flag, and he fell dead himself before
he saw the hated emblem. But it had to come. A hundred and forty of the
men were down, many of them suffering from the horrible wounds which
shell inflicts. The place was a shambles. Then the flag went up and the
Boers at last became visible. Outnumbered, outgeneralled, and without
guns, there is no shadow of stain upon the good name of the one militia
regiment which was ever seriously engaged during the war. Their position
was hopeless from the first, and they came out of it with death,
mutilation, and honour.
Two miles south of the Rhenoster kopje stands Roodeval station, in
which, on that June morning, there stood a train containing the mails
for the army, a supply of great-coats, and a truck full of enormous
shells. A number of details of various sorts, a hundred or more, had
alighted from the train, twenty of them Post-office volunteers, some
of the Pioneer Railway corps, a few Shropshires, and other waifs and
strays. To them in the early morning came the gentleman with the tinted
glasses, his hands still red with the blood of the Derbies. 'I have
fourteen hundred men and four guns. Surrender!' said the messenger.
But it is not in nature for a postman to give up his postbag without
a struggle. 'Never!' cried the valiant postmen. But shell after shell
battered the corrugated-iron buildings about their ears, and it was not
possible for them to answer the guns which were smashing the life out of
them. There was no help for it but to surrender. De Wet added samples of
the British volunteer and of the British regular to his bag of militia.
The station and train were burned down, the great-coats looted, the
big shells exploded, and the mails burned. The latter was the one
unsportsmanlike action which can up to that date be laid to De Wet's
charge. Forty thousand men to the north of him could forego their coats
and their food, but they yearned greatly for those home letters,
charred fragments of which are still blowing about the veld. [Footnote:
Fragments continually met the eye which must have afforded curious
reading for the victors. 'I hope you have killed all those Boers by
now,' was the beginning of one letter which I could not help observing.]
For three days De Wet held the line, and during all that time he worked
his wicked will upon it. For miles and miles it was wrecked with most
scientific completeness. The Rhenoster bridge was destroyed. So, for the
second time, was the Roodeval bridge. The rails were blown upwards with
dynamite until they looked like an unfinished line to heaven. De Wet's
heavy hand was everywhere. Not a telegraph-post remained standing within
ten miles. His headquarters continued to be the kopje at Roodeval.
On June 10th two British forces were converging upon the point of
danger. One was Methuen's, from Heilbron. The other was a small force
consisting of the Shropshires, the South Wales Borderers, and a battery
which had come south with Lord Kitchener. The energetic Chief of the
Staff was always sent by Lord Roberts to the point where a strong man
was needed, and it was seldom that he failed to justify his mission.
Lord Methuen, however, was the first to arrive, and at once attacked
De Wet, who moved swiftly away to the eastward. With a tendency to
exaggeration, which has been too common during the war, the affair was
described as a victory. It was really a strategic and almost bloodless
move upon the part of the Boers. It is not the business of guerillas
to fight pitched battles. Methuen pushed for the south, having been
informed that Kroonstad had been captured. Finding this to be untrue, he
turned again to the eastward in search of De Wet.
That wily and indefatigable man was not long out of our ken. On June
14th he appeared once more at Rhenoster, where the construction trains,
under the famous Girouard, were working furiously at the repair of the
damage which he had already done. This time the guard was sufficient
to beat him off, and he vanished again to the eastward. He succeeded,
however, in doing some harm, and very nearly captured Lord Kitchener
himself. A permanent post had been established at Rhenoster under the
charge of Colonel Spens of the Shropshires, with his own regiment and
several guns. Smith-Dorrien, one of the youngest and most energetic
of the divisional commanders, had at the same time undertaken the
supervision and patrolling of the line.
An attack had at this period been made by a commando of some hundred
Boers at the Sand River to the south of Kroonstad, where there is a
most important bridge. The attempt was frustrated by the Royal Lancaster
regiment and the Railway Pioneer regiment, helped by some mounted
infantry and Yeomanry. The fight was for a time a brisk one, and the
Pioneers, upon whom the brunt of it fell, behaved with great steadiness.
The skirmish is principally remarkable for the death of Major Seymour
of the Pioneers, a noble American, who gave his services and at last his
life for what, in the face of all slander and misrepresentation, he knew
to be the cause of justice and of liberty.
It was hoped now, after all these precautions, that the last had been
seen of the gentleman with the tinted glasses, but on June 21st he was
back in his old haunts once more. Honing Spruit Station, about midway
between Kroonstad and Roodeval, was the scene of his new raid. On that
date his men appeared suddenly as a train waited in the station, and
ripped up the rails on either side of it. There were no guns at this
point, and the only available troops were three hundred of the prisoners
from Pretoria, armed with Martini-Henry rifles and obsolete ammunition.
A good man was in command, however--the same Colonel Bullock of the
Devons who had distinguished himself at Colenso--and every tattered,
half-starved wastrel was nerved by a recollection of the humiliations
which he had already endured. For seven hours they lay helpless under
the shell-fire, but their constancy was rewarded by the arrival of
Colonel Brookfield with 300 Yeomanry and four guns of the 17th R.F.A.,
followed in the evening by a larger force from the south. The Boers
fled, but left some of their number behind them; while of the British,
Major Hobbs and four men were killed and nineteen wounded. This defence
of three hundred half-armed men against seven hundred Boer riflemen,
with three guns firing shell and shrapnel, was a very good performance.
The same body of burghers immediately afterwards attacked a post held by
Colonel Evans with two companies of the Shropshires and fifty Canadians.
They were again beaten back with loss, the Canadians under Inglis
especially distinguishing themselves by their desperate resistance in an
exposed position.
All these attacks, irritating and destructive as they were, were not
able to hinder the general progress of the war. After the battle of
Diamond Hill the captured position was occupied by the mounted infantry,
while the rest of the forces returned to their camps round Pretoria,
there to await the much-needed remounts. At other parts of the seat
of war the British cordon was being drawn more tightly round the Boer
forces. Buller had come as far as Standerton, and Ian Hamilton, in the
last week of June, had occupied Heidelberg. A week afterwards the two
forces were able to join hands, and so to completely cut off the Free
State from the Transvaal armies. Hamilton in these operations had the
misfortune to break his collar-bone, and for a time the command of his
division passed to Hunter--the one man, perhaps, whom the army would
regard as an adequate successor.
It was evident now to the British commanders that there would be no
peace and no safety for their communications while an undefeated army of
seven or eight thousand men, under such leaders as De Wet and Olivier,
was lurking amid the hills which flanked their railroad. A determined
effort was made, therefore, to clear up that corner of the country.
Having closed the only line of escape by the junction of Ian Hamilton
and of Buller, the attention of six separate bodies of troops was
concentrated upon the stalwart Freestaters. These were the divisions of
Rundle and of Brabant from the south, the brigade of Clements on their
extreme left, the garrison of Lindley under Paget, the garrison of
Heilbron under Macdonald, and, most formidable of all, a detachment
under Hunter which was moving from the north. A crisis was evidently
approaching.
The nearest Free State town of importance still untaken was Bethlehem--a
singular name to connect with the operations of war. The country on the
south of it forbade an advance by Rundle or Brabant, but it was more
accessible from the west. The first operation of the British consisted,
therefore, in massing sufficient troops to be able to advance from
this side. This was done by effecting a junction between Clements from
Senekal, and Paget who commanded at Lindley, which was carried out upon
July 1st near the latter place. Clements encountered some opposition,
but besides his excellent infantry regiments, the Royal Irish,
Worcesters, Wiltshires, and Bedfords, he had with him the 2nd Brabant's
Horse, with yeomanry, mounted infantry, two 5-inch guns, and the 38th
R.F.A. Aided by a demonstration on the part of Grenfell and of Brabant,
he pushed his way through after three days of continual skirmish.
On getting into touch with Clements, Paget sallied out from Lindley,
leaving the Buffs behind to garrison the town. He had with him
Brookfield's mounted brigade one thousand strong, eight guns, and two
fine battalions of infantry, the Munster Fusiliers and the Yorkshire
Light Infantry. On July 3rd he found near Leeuw Kop a considerable force
of Boers with three guns opposed to him, Clements being at that time
too far off upon the flank to assist him. Four guns of the 38th R.F.A.
(Major Oldfield) and two belonging to the City Volunteers came into
action. The Royal Artillery guns appear to have been exposed to a very
severe fire, and the losses were so heavy that for a time they could not
be served. The escort was inadequate, insufficiently advanced, and badly
handled, for the Boer riflemen were able, by creeping up a donga, to
get right into the 38th battery, and the gallant major, with Lieutenant
Belcher, was killed in the defence of the guns. Captain FitzGerald, the
only other officer present, was wounded in two places, and twenty men
were struck down, with nearly all the horses of one section. Captain
Marks, who was brigade-major of Colonel Brookfield's Yeomanry, with the
help of Lieutenant Keevil Davis and the 15th I.Y. came to the rescue of
the disorganised and almost annihilated section. At the same time the
C.I.V. guns were in imminent danger, but were energetically covered by
Captain Budworth, adjutant of the battery. Soon, however, the infantry,
Munster Fusiliers, and Yorkshire Light Infantry, which had been carrying
out a turning movement, came into action, and the position was
taken. The force moved onwards, and on July 6th they were in front of
Bethlehem.
The place is surrounded by hills, and the enemy was found strongly
posted. Clements's force was now on the left and Paget's on the right.
From both sides an attempt was made to turn the Boer flanks, but they
were found to be very wide and strong. All day a long-range action was
kept up while Clements felt his way in the hope of coming upon some weak
spot in the position, but in the evening a direct attack was made by
Paget's two infantry regiments upon the right, which gave the British
a footing on the Boer position. The Munster Fusiliers and the Yorkshire
Light Infantry lost forty killed and wounded, including four officers,
in this gallant affair, the heavier loss and the greater honour going to
the men of Munster.
The centre of the position was still held, and on the morning of July
7th Clements gave instructions to the colonel of the Royal Irish to
storm it if the occasion should seem favourable. Such an order to such
a regiment means that the occasion will seem favourable. Up they went in
three extended lines, dropping forty or fifty on the way, but arriving
breathless and enthusiastic upon the crest of the ridge. Below them,
upon the further side, lay the village of Bethlehem. On the slopes
beyond hundreds of horsemen were retreating, and a gun was being
hurriedly dragged into the town. For a moment it seemed as if nothing
had been left as a trophy, but suddenly a keen-eyed sergeant raised a
cheer, which was taken up again and again until it resounded over the
veld. Under the crest, lying on its side with a broken wheel, was a
gun--one of the 15-pounders of Stormberg which it was a point of honour
to regain once more. Many a time had the gunners been friends in need
to the infantry. Now it was the turn of the infantry to do something in
exchange. That evening Clements had occupied Bethlehem, and one more of
their towns had passed out of the hands of the Freestaters.
A word now as to that force under General Hunter which was closing in
from the north. The gallant and energetic Hamilton, lean, aquiline, and
tireless, had, as already stated, broken his collar-bone at Heidelberg,
and it was as his lieutenant that Hunter was leading these troops out
of the Transvaal into the Orange River Colony. Most of his infantry was
left behind at Heidelberg, but he took with him Broadwood's cavalry
(two brigades) and Bruce Hamilton's 21st infantry brigade, with Ridley's
mounted infantry, some seven thousand men in all. On the 2nd of July
this force reached Frankfort in the north of the Free State without
resistance, and on July 3rd they were joined there by Macdonald's force
from Heilbron, so that Hunter found himself with over eleven thousand
men under his command. Here was an instrument with which surely the coup
de grace could be given to the dying State. Passing south, still without
meeting serious resistance, Hunter occupied Reitz, and finally sent on
Broadwood's cavalry to Bethlehem, where on July 8th they joined Paget
and Clements.
The net was now in position, and about to be drawn tight, but at this
last moment the biggest fish of all dashed furiously out from it.
Leaving the main Free State force in a hopeless position behind him, De
Wet, with fifteen hundred well-mounted men and five guns, broke through
Slabbert's Nek between Bethlehem and Ficksburg, and made swiftly for the
north-west, closely followed by Paget's and Broadwood's cavalry. It was
on July 16th that he made his dash for freedom. On the 19th Little, with
the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, had come into touch with him near Lindley. De
Wet shook himself clear, and with splendid audacity cut the railway once
more to the north of Honing Spruit, gathering up a train as he passed,
and taking two hundred details prisoners. On July 22nd De Wet was at
Vredefort, still closely followed by Broadwood, Ridley, and Little, who
gleaned his wagons and his stragglers. Thence he threw himself into the
hilly country some miles to the south of the Vaal River, where he
lurked for a week or more while Lord Kitchener came south to direct the
operations which would, as it was hoped, lead to a surrender.
Leaving the indomitable guerilla in his hiding-place, the narrative must
return to that drawing of the net which still continued in spite of the
escape of this one important fish. On all sides the British forces had
drawn closer, and they were both more numerous and more formidable in
quality. It was evident now that by a rapid advance from Bethlehem in
the direction of the Basuto border all Boers to the north of Ficksburg
would be hemmed in. On July 22nd the columns were moving. On that
date Paget moved out of Bethlehem, and Rundle took a step forward from
Ficksburg. Bruce Hamilton had already, at the cost of twenty Cameron
Highlanders, got a grip upon a bastion of that rocky country in which
the enemy lurked. On the 23rd Hunter's force was held by the Boers at
the strong pass of Retief's Nek, but on the 24th they were compelled
to abandon it, as the capture of Slabbert's Nek by Clements threatened
their rear. This latter pass was fortified most elaborately. It was
attacked upon the 23rd by Brabant's Horse and the Royal Irish without
success. Later in the day two companies of the Wiltshire Regiment were
also brought to a standstill, but retained a position until nightfall
within stone-throw of the Boer lines, though a single company had lost
17 killed and wounded. Part of the Royal Irish remained also close
to the enemy's trenches. Under cover of darkness, Clements sent four
companies of the Royal Irish and two of the Wiltshires under Colonel
Guinness to make a flanking movement along the crest of the heights.
These six companies completely surprised the enemy, and caused them to
hurriedly evacuate the position. Their night march was performed under
great difficulties, the men crawling on hands and knees along a rocky
path with a drop of 400 feet upon one side. But their exertions were
greatly rewarded. Upon the success of their turning movement depended
the fall of Slabbert's Nek. Retief's Nek was untenable if we held
Slabbert's Nek, and if both were in our hands the retreat of Prinsloo
was cut off.
At every opening of the hills the British guns were thundering, and the
heads of British columns were appearing on every height. The Highland
Brigade had fairly established themselves over the Boer position, though
not without hard fighting, in which a hundred men of the Highland Light
Infantry had been killed and wounded. The Seaforths and the Sussex had
also gripped the positions in front of them, and taken some punishment
in doing so. The outworks of the great mountain fortress were all taken,
and on July 26th the British columns were converging on Fouriesburg,
while Naauwpoort on the line of retreat was held by Macdonald. It was
only a matter of time now with the Boers.
On the 28th Clements was still advancing, and contracting still further
the space which was occupied by our stubborn foe. He found himself faced
by the stiff position of Slaapkrantz, and a hot little action was needed
before the Boers could be dislodged. The fighting fell upon Brabant's
Horse, the Royal Irish, and the Wiltshires. Three companies of the
latter seized a farm upon the enemy's left, but lost ten men in doing
so, while their gallant colonel, Carter, was severely wounded in two
places. The Wiltshires, who were excellently handled by Captain Bolton,
held on to the farm and were reinforced there by a handful of the Scots
Guards. In the night the position was abandoned by the Boers, and
the advance swept onwards. On all sides the pressure was becoming
unendurable. The burghers in the valley below could see all day the
twinkle of British heliographs from every hill, while at night the
constant flash of signals told of the sleepless vigilance which hemmed
them in. Upon July 29th, Prinsloo sent in a request for an armistice,
which was refused. Later in the day he despatched a messenger with
the white flag to Hunter, with an announcement of his unconditional
surrender.
On July 30th the motley army which had held the British off so long
emerged from among the mountains. But it soon became evident that in
speaking for all Prinsloo had gone beyond his powers. Discipline was low
and individualism high in the Boer army. Every man might repudiate the
decision of his commandant, as every man might repudiate the white flag
of his comrade. On the first day no more than eleven hundred men of the
Ficksburg and Ladybrand commandos, with fifteen hundred horses and two
guns, were surrendered. Next day seven hundred and fifty more men
came in with eight hundred horses, and by August 6th the total of the
prisoners had mounted to four thousand one hundred and fifty with three
guns, two of which were our own. But Olivier, with fifteen hundred men
and several guns, broke away from the captured force and escaped through
the hills. Of this incident General Hunter, an honourable soldier,
remarks in his official report: 'I regard it as a dishonourable
breach of faith upon the part of General Olivier, for which I hold him
personally responsible. He admitted that he knew that General Prinsloo
had included him in the unconditional surrender.' It is strange that,
on Olivier's capture shortly afterwards, he was not court-martialled
for this breach of the rules of war, but that good-natured giant, the
Empire, is quick--too quick, perhaps--to let byegones be byegones. On
August 4th Harrismith surrendered to Macdonald, and thus was secured
the opening of the Van Reenen's Pass and the end of the Natal system
of railways. This was of the very first importance, as the utmost
difficulty had been found in supplying so large a body of troops so far
from the Cape base. In a day the base was shifted to Durban, and the
distance shortened by two-thirds, while the army came to be on the
railway instead of a hundred miles from it. This great success assured
Lord Roberts's communications from serious attack, and was of the utmost
importance in enabling him to consolidate his position at Pretoria.