From Capetown to Ladysmith | Page 9

my property in the Free State, and odds are I shall lose every
penny I've got--what part? all over--and come here on to British soil,
and what do I find? With fifty men I'd hold this place--
_Thin-faced man._ They'll be here to-night, old De Wet says, and
they're to come here and sjambok the Englishmen who've been talking
too much. That's what comes of being loyal!
_Fat man._ Loyal! With fifty men--
_Brown-faced, grey-haired man_ (_smoking deep-bowled pipe in
corner_). No, you wouldn't.
Fat man (_playing with sights of Lee-Metford_). What! Not keep the
bridge with fifty men--
_Brown-faced, grey-haired man._ And they'd cross by the old drift, and
be on every side of you in ten minutes.
Fat man (_grounding Lee-Metford_). Ah! Well--h'm!
_Thick-set man._ But we're safe enough. Has not the Government sent
us a garrison? Six policemen! Six policemen, gentlemen, and the Boers
are at Pieter's farrm, and they'll be here to-night and sjambok--
_Thin-faced man._ Where are the troops? Where are the volunteers?
Where are the--

_Brown-faced, grey-haired man._ There are no troops, and the better
for you. The strength of Aliwal is in its weakness. (To fat man.) Put
that gun away.
_Thin-faced man, thick-set man, and general chorus._ Yes, put it away.
_Thin-faced man._ But I want to know why the Boers are armed and
we aren't? Why does our Government--
_Brown-faced man._ Are you accustomed to shoot?
_Thin-faced man_ (_faintly_). No.
Fat man (_returning from putting away Lee-Metford_). But where do
you come from?
_Brown-faced man._ Free State, same as you do. Lived there
five-and-twenty years.
_Thin-faced man._ Any trouble in getting away?
_Brown-faced man._ No. Field-cornet was a good old fellow and an old
friend of mine, and he gave me the hint--
_Thin-faced man._ Not much like ours! Why, there's a lady staying
here that's friendly with his daughters, and she went out to see them the
other day, and the old man said they'd stop here and sjam--
_Fat man._ Gentlemen, drinks all round! Here's success to the British
arms!
_All._ Success to the British arms!
_Thick-set man._ And may the British Government not desert us again!
_Fat man._ I'll take a shade of odds about it. They will. I've no trust in
Chamberlain. It'll be just the same as it was in '81. A few reverses and
you'll find they'll begin to talk about terms. I know them. Every loyal
man in South Africa knows them. (_General murmur of assent._)

_Hotel-keeper._ Gentlemen, drinks all round! Here's success to the
British arms!
_All._ Success to the British arms!
_Thick-set man._ And where are the British arms? Where's the Army
Corps? Has a man of that Army Corps left England? Shilly-shally, as
usual. South Africa's no place for an Englishman to live in. Armoured
train blown up, Mafeking cut off, Kimberley in danger, and General
Butler--what? Oh yes--General Buller leaves England to-day. Why
didna they send the Army Corps out three months ago?
_Brown-faced man._ It's six thousand miles--
_Thick-set man._ Why didna they send them just after the
Bloemfontein conference, before the Boers were ready? British Gov--
_Brown-faced man._ They've had three rifles a man with ammunition
since 1896.
I (_timidly_). Well, then, if the Army Corps had left three months ago,
wouldn't the Boers have declared war three months ago too?
_All except brown-faced man_ (_loudly_). No!
_Brown-faced man_ (_quietly_). Yes. Gentlemen, bedtime! As Brand
used to say, "Al zal rijt komen!"
All (_fervently_). Al zal rijt komen! Success to the British arms! Good
night!
(All go to bed. In the night somebody on the Boer side--or
elsewhere--goes out shooting, or looses off his rifle on general grounds;
two loyalists and a refugee spring up and grasp their revolvers. In the
morning everybody wakes up unsjamboked. The hotel-keeper takes me
out to numerous points whence Pieter's farm can be reconnoitred: there
is not a single tent to be seen, and no sign of a single Boer.)
It is a shame to smile at them. They are really very, very loyal, and they

are excellent fellows and most desirable colonists. Aliwal is a nest of
green on the yellow veldt, speckless, well-furnished, with Maréchal
Niel roses growing over trellises, and a scheme to dam the Orange river
for water-supply, and electric light. They were quite unprotected, and
their position was certainly humiliating.

VI.
THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE.
FRENCH'S RECONNAISSANCE--AN ARTILLERY
DUEL--BEGINNING OF THE ATTACK--RIDGE AFTER RIDGE--A
CROWDED HALF-HOUR.
LADYSMITH, _Oct. 22._
From a billow of the rolling veldt we looked back, and black columns
were coming up behind us.
Along the road from Ladysmith moved cavalry and guns. Along the
railway line to right of it crept trains--one, two, three of them--packed
with khaki, bristling with the rifles of infantry. We knew then that we
should fight before nightfall.
Major-General French,