On Commando | Page 5

but stopped
again almost immediately--why, I do not yet know. So we were obliged
to lie in our positions. It was terribly hot, and not a cloud in the sky.
We suffered horribly from thirst, and scarcely dared move to get at our
water-bags. One of our comrades lay groaning behind me. He was shot
through both legs. The bullets kept flying over our heads to the kopje
behind us, where some of our burghers lay firing at the enemy. Every
now and again a bullet exploded in our neighbourhood with the noise
of a pistol-shot. I fancy only Dum-Dums make that peculiar noise. We
had already seen many such bullets taken from the enemy by our
burghers in the Battle of Modderspruit. Another burgher, Mulder, ran
past me with a smile on his lips, threw himself behind an ant-hill,
immediately rose again with the intention of joining some of our
burghers in the front ranks, who sat calmly smoking behind some rocks
under a tree, but had not gone two paces when he was shot in the thigh.
There he had to lie groaning until our brave Reineke, who was killed
later on at Spion Kop, saw a chance of carrying him away.
Some of us fell asleep from fatigue. One of our men on waking heard
the hiss of a bullet over his head at regular intervals, and thought that a
khaki had got closer up to him, and was firing at him from the side.
When he lifted his head he found that he had rolled away from all cover.
One, two, three, back he was again behind his ant-hill, and the
scoundrel stopped firing at him. It was lucky for us that the enemy were
such bad shots, or not many of us would have lived to tell the tale.
When our cannon at last, towards evening, condescended to bombard
the enemy, the firing almost wholly ceased, and we made use of that
favourable opportunity to get back to the donga. We had lain nine
hours behind those ant-hills, and, strange to say, there were only two

wounded on our side. We decided not to run the same risk again. In this
way we lost our confidence in men like the brothers Erasmus, General
and Commandant, who, in the first place, were incapable of organizing
a good plan of attack, and, secondly, never took part in a battle.
The months spent near Ladysmith were to most of us the most tedious
of the whole war. We had so little to do, and the heat between the
glowing rocks of the kopjes was awful. The little work we had was
anything but pleasant; it consisted chiefly in keeping guard either by
day or by night. In the beginning a very bad watch was kept. Later on
we had to climb the kopje at least every alternate evening to pass the
long nights in our positions, while not far behind us stood our empty
tents.
When we got back in the morning with our bundles on our backs, dead
tired, we simply 'flopped' on to a stone, and sat waiting for our cup of
coffee, either gazing at the lovely landscape or at the dirty camp,
according to the mood we were in, or exchanging loud jokes with our
neighbours. Constantly being on guard and constantly being in danger
wears one out. We much prefer active service on patrol or in a skirmish
to lying in our positions. It is not in the nature of the Boer to lie
inactive far from his home. He soon wants to go 'huis-toe' (home), and
very soon the 'leave-plague' broke out in our camp. That plague was
one of the causes why the enemy succeeded in breaking through our
lines.
Through unfairness on the part of the officers, some burghers often got
leave, others never, and the consequence, of course, was a constant
quarrelling. Many burghers got leave and never returned--either with or
without the knowledge of the officers. No wonder we never had a
proper fighting force in the field.
The difficulties we had to contend with through want of organization
prevented the Generals from putting their plans into execution.
Fortunately, many burghers were very willing, and if there was to be a
fight they always went voluntarily. It was noticeable that those under a
capable General fought well, while those under a bad or incapable
General were very weak indeed. Sometimes wonders were done at the
initiative of some of the burghers. We had a few games in the camp to
pass the time, but we were kept busy in a different way also.
Sometimes, when we were all just comfortably lazy, the order would be

given to 'mount.' That meant a hurried search for our horses and
snatching up our