Three Years War | Page 7

did not comprise the whole of our capture: we also seized a thousand Lee-Metford rifles, twenty cases of cartridges, and some baggage mules and horses.
The fighting had continued without intermission from nine o'clock in the morning until two in the afternoon. The day was exceedingly hot, and as there was no water to be obtained nearer than a mile from the berg,[12] we suffered greatly from thirst. The condition of the wounded touched my heart deeply. It was pitiable to hear them cry, "Water! water!"
I ordered my burghers to carry these unfortunate creatures to some thorn-bushes, which afforded shelter from the scorching rays of the sun, and where their doctors could attend to them. Other burghers I told off to fetch water from our prisoners' canteens, to supply our own wounded.
As soon as the wounded were safe under the shelter of the trees I despatched a message to Sir George White asking him to send his ambulance to fetch them, and also to make arrangements for the burial of his dead. For some unexplained reason, the English ambulance did not arrive till the following morning.
We stayed on the mountain until sunset, and then went down to the laager. I ordered my brother, Piet de Wet, with fifty men of the Bethlehem commando, to remain behind and guard the kop.
We reached camp at eight o'clock, and as the men had been without food during the whole day it can be imagined with what delight each watched his bout span frizzling on the spit. This, with a couple of stormjagers and a tin of coffee, made up the meal, and speedily restored them. They were exempted from sentry duty that night, and greatly enjoyed their well-earned rest.
To complete my narrative of the day's work, I have only to add that the Transvaal burghers were engaged at various points some eight miles from Nicholson's Nek, and succeeded in taking four hundred prisoners.
We placed our sentries that evening with the greatest care. They were stationed not only at a distance from the camp, as Brandwachten,[13] but also close round the laager itself. We were especially careful, as it was rumoured that the English had armed the Zulus of Natal. Had this been true, it would have been necessary to exercise the utmost vigilance to guard against these barbarians.
Since the very beginning of our existence as a nation--in 1836--our people had been acquainted with black races, and bitter had been their experience. All that our voortrekkers[14] had suffered was indelibly stamped on our memory. We well knew what the Zulus could do under cover of darkness--their sanguinary night attacks were not easily forgotten. Their name of "night-wolves" had been well earned. Also we Free-Staters had endured much from the Basutos, in the wars of 1865 and 1867.
History had thus taught us to place Brandwachten round our laagers at night, and to reconnoitre during the hours of darkness as well as in the day-time.
Perhaps I shall be able to give later on a fuller account in these pages--or, it may be, in another book--of the way we were accustomed to reconnoitre, and of the reasons why the scouting of the British so frequently ended in disaster. But I cannot resist saying here that the English only learnt the art of scouting during the latter part of the war, when they made use of the Boer deserters--the "Hands-uppers."
These deserters were our undoing. I shall have a good deal more to say about them before I finally lay down my pen, and I shall not hesitate to call them by their true name--the name with which they will be for ever branded before all the nations of the world.
[Footnote 10: About nine miles: distance reckoned by average pace of ridden horse--six miles an hour.]
[Footnote 11: Clear off.]
[Footnote 12: Hill.]
[Footnote 13: Literally, watch-fire men. They were the furthest outposts, whose duty it was to signal by means of their fires.]
[Footnote 14: Pioneers.]
CHAPTER III
Ladysmith Besieged
The Orange Free State and the South African Republic held a joint council of war on the 1st of November, and it was then decided to lay siege to Ladysmith.
We also agreed to send out a horse-commando in the direction of Estcourt. This commando, under Vice-General Louis Botha, had several skirmishes with the enemy. On the 15th of November he engaged an armoured train, capturing a hundred of the British troops. This was General Botha's chief exploit, and shortly afterwards he returned to camp. But I must not anticipate.
On the night of the council of war, General Piet Cronje was sent to occupy positions to the south and south-west of Ladysmith. He had with him the Heilbron burghers, a part of the commandos from Winburg and Harrismith, and two Krupp guns. On the following day a brush took place with the enemy, who, however, speedily fell