In the Shadow of Death | Page 2

myself. I do not recollect much of the days
of my youth--save that I was of a very lively disposition, with a
fondness for all sorts of fun, and often of mischief, which landed me
occasionally in great trouble. My parents obeyed the injunctions of
Holy Writ in diligently applying the rod when they thought it necessary.
As a child, I could but dimly understand, and scarcely believe, that love
was at the root of every chastisement.
At the age of five I met with a serious accident. While gathering shells
on the beach at Port Elizabeth, the receding waves drew me seaward
with irresistible power. But for the pluck and courage of my little
playfellow, a lassie of some twelve summers, I was lost. She came to
the rescue. I was saved at the last moment: a few seconds more and I
must have perished in the deep.
In 1882 my parents, leaving Cape Colony in search of a new home in
the Orange Free State, settled down in the district of Ladybrand. It was,
however, decided that I should remain behind with an uncle. This uncle
was my godfather, and had promised to provide for my education.
Having no children, he made me his adopted son. However excellent
these arrangements might be, I resolved that I too should go to the
Orange Free State. I succeeded in persuading my brother, who had
charge of the waggons, to let me follow him on horseback under cover
of darkness. I left my uncle's home alone and at dusk on the third
evening after my brother's departure. How I felt, and in what condition
I was, after riding thirty-five miles on the bare back of a horse, I shall
not describe. My parents, who had gone ahead of the waggons, were
not a little astonished, and yet they were not angry, at the unexpected
appearance of the boy that was left behind.
On my arrival in the Free State it so happened that there was then a
dispute as to headship between two Barolong chiefs. This quarrel called
forth the intervention of the Free State Government. The burghers were
commandoed in the event of resistance on the part of the native chiefs;
and I, though a mere boy, at once offered my services to the nearest

Field Cornet. He declined to accept them on the score that I was too
young. Like David, I was loth to go back home. I borrowed an old gun,
got a horse, and off I stole to the Boer commando. The dispute was
amicably settled. Some thirty Barolongs, however, offered resistance.
Most eagerly I thus fired my first shot upon a human being. I did not
know then that it would not be the last; that I should live to hear the
mountains and hills of South Africa reverberate with the sound of
exploding shells, that the whizz of bullets would assail my ears like the
humming of bees; that a bullet would penetrate my own lungs, leaving
me a mass of bleeding clay on the battle-field. I did not know that
South Africa's plains would yet be drenched with the blood of Boer and
Briton until the very rivers ran crimson.
At the early age of seventeen I left the parental roof to earn for myself
an independent living. I went to the district of Rouxville, where I
occupied a farm situated on the Basutoland border. Several of the
Basuto chiefs I got to know well. They allowed me to purchase all I
desired from their subjects. Occupied thus with my private affairs while
years sped by, I unconsciously drifted on to the disastrous war.
My mind was never absorbed nor disturbed by the many political
controversies and problems of South Africa, not that I was indifferent
to the welfare of my people and country, for, once war was declared by
the leaders, my services were ready. I attached myself to the Rouxville
Commando, under Commandant J. Olivier, as a private burgher. When
Prinsloo surrendered, late in 1900, I was appointed
Assistant-Commandant over that portion of the Rouxville Commando
which had refused to lay down arms on Prinsloo's authority. This was
my first commission in the Boer Army. On more than one occasion I
had been requested to accept appointments; but, realising the great
responsibility involved in leadership, I preferred to fight as a private.
But events pushed onward; and on the 26th of August, 1900, when
Commandant Olivier made an unsuccessful attack on Winburg, which
resulted in his capture, I was elected in his stead, and so became
Commandant of the Rouxville Commando.
On December 16th, 1900, carrying out instructions of General De Wet,

I crossed the Orange River at a point near Odendaal's Stroom, with
about 270 burghers. General De Wet was to follow