After the business was concluded, Yorke was invited to join the staff at lunch, which he was not sorry to do. When this was finished, he was asked to dine with them also, as he would not be able to start till after dark.
Many of the Boer rifles had been picked up, and great quantities of ammunition, which had been left in the trenches, collected. The arms were to be destroyed, and Yorke, at luncheon, asked the officer to give him an order for the Kaffir who was going with him to take one of them. "It is quite certain," he said, "that if we are caught, theywill shoot the native, whether he is armed or not, and I think the man ought to have a chance of at least trying to defend his life."
"I will give you an order for him to take one, but it had better be put in my office till you start, or he would have trouble with every officer he met. I think that, as you say, it is only fair to give the man a chance, though I don't suppose it will be of much use to him, for he is not likely to be a good shot even with an ordinary rifle, and he would know nothing of the working of a Mauser."
"I could show him how to work it in five minutes," Yorke said; "and if he cannot shoot himself, he could load as fast as I could fire."
The officer smiled. "I fancy if you get cut off, Mr. Harberton, your best plan would be to tie a handkerchief to your rifle in token of surrender. Possibly they might then content themselves with taking you as a prisoner of war, while if you were to shoot some of them, the others would not be very likely to respect your uniform."
"I don't want to fight, certainly," Yorke said; "and I should not think of resisting unless I saw a chance of doing so successfully, as, for instance, if I were seen and chased by two or three mounted Boers when I was getting near our own lines."
"Yes, in that case the rifle might be useful. The Boers have considerable respect for a single man with a good rifle in the open. However, I hope you will get through unobserved. You certainly will have more chance to-night than you would otherwise have, for they will be even more tired than our men, as they probably marched all night to Spytfontein. Moreover, they have their wounded to attend to, and will, no doubt, be very much down in the mouth at being turned out here, where they felt absolutely certain of holding their own. Still, Cronje could not have had anything like all his force here, and some of the men who stopped intheir lines will be sent out to watch the roads to-night, lest we should push forward a brigade to relieve Kimberley."
On going out, Yorke found that the Kaffirs had arrived with his horse.
"Peter," he said in Dutch, "I am going to try to get into Kimberley. I want you to go with me. I have chosen you for two reasons; in the first place, because I know that you are a good man; and in the second, because you are the only one of the party who has been in the town, for you told me that you had worked there for two years. Are you willing to go? It is a very dangerous business, for if we are caught, the Boers are not likely to show us any mercy."
"I will go, baas," the man said, speaking as usual in Dutch. "If you can go I can; if you are killed I will be killed."
"Your danger is greater than mine, Peter. I shall be in uniform; and they may take me prisoner, but they would be certain to shoot you."
The Kaffir nodded. "Shoot me, sure enough, baas; but I will go with you. You will go in the dark, I suppose? How could you find your way if you were alone? You could not keep on the road. The Boers are sure to keep watch there."
"I feel that, Peter. If it were not for that I would not risk anyone else's life. I mean to ride the first part of the way. Jack, you will go with us so far and bring my horse back, and take it to Major Rimington's lines. I shall give you a letter to Hans to tell him to look after you all till I come back."
"Cannot I go with you too, baas?" the man asked.
"No, that would be of no use, Jack. The more there are of us, the more chance there is of being seen. Now, here is an order on the supply-stores for two days' rations. Draw them at once. Go back to camp and fetch the spare water-bottles we got at De Aar, bring four of them, two for eachof us. We may not be able to get through to-night, and may have to lie up at some hiding-place till it is dark again. I will get hold of some biscuits and a tin of meat."
Having now finished his arrangements Yorke went down and made an inspection of the deserted trenches of the Boers. These were generally some four feet deep, and, like those at Graspan, had evidently been tenanted for some days. They were for the most part some seven feet long and four feet wide. They had been untouched since their occupiers had fled, for there was nothing in them to tempt the soldiers to search them. He had no difficulty in finding a couple of tins of meat and as much bread as he required. All were littered with empty cartridge cases, showing how large was the provision that had been made, and how steadily the Boers had for hours maintained their fire. There were, too, piles of still unused cartridges. His own bandolier was full, but he put as many as he could carry into his pocket.
In the afternoon he went to the office where he had placed the Mauser rifle, when it had, by the officer's orders, been handed to him, put his own rifle in its place, and slinging the Mauser on his shoulder, went out again. Presently he found the two Kaffirs squatted near his horse, which they were feeding with bread they had picked up. Calling Peter to follow him he went into a quiet spot among the trees.
"You are going to carry a rifle, Peter," he said, "the one that I have got on my shoulder. Can you shoot?"
"I can shoot with a common gun, baas, but I don't know that thing; it doesn't seem to have any hammer."
"No, it is a Mauser. That is the gun the Boers use. I will show you how it works, for if we should get into trouble, and there are only a few Boers, we might fight. You see this slip, holding five cartridges. The breech opens like this; you push the five cartridges into the magazine, close it with this bolt, and the gun is ready for firing five shots without removing it from the shoulder. When the last shot is fired, you reload as before. You see how I do it. Now, letme see you try; but don't pull the trigger. If you were to fire, we should alarm the camp."
After a dozen attempts, the Kaffir learnt the knack of loading and firing the gun.
"I have plenty of cartridges here. You had better go and look in the Boer trenches, and you will find scores of bandoliers lying about. Pick two out, one for yourself and one for me, and fill them with cartridges. When we start I will divide those I have with you. That will amount to something like two hundred shots apiece. I am going to leave my rifle here and take another Mauser, as these cartridges won't fit my gun. Here are two tins of meat and enough bread to last us for a day, in case we cannot get straight through and have to hide up. Get hold of a piece of stuff to tie them all up in a bundle, which you can sling on your rifle. Fill these four water-bottles with the best water you can find. Don't take it out of the river, it is likely enough that there are a good many dead Boers in it. Now, there is nothing more for you to do before we start. You had better watch the horse by turns. Take it down to the river and give it a good drink an hour before sunset.
"You will find plenty of blankets in the Boer trenches. Take a couple of these and cut them up into strips, and before it gets dark fasten these thickly to the horse's hoofs, so that they will make no noise on the road. Fasten a roll of it on to my saddle; I shall twist it round my boots when I dismount, then I shall be less likely to slip in climbing over the rocks. And now I have one more word to say to you. If we should be surprised by the Boers, and I find that I must be taken, you are to escape if possible. Your death could be of no benefit to me, and if you were killed I should not forgive myself for having brought you with me. Now, you quite understand that this is an absolute order. But at the same time, when you have escaped you may be of immense service, you are to remember that. Of course, if I am kept a prisoner at Spytfontein you would find it altogether impossible to get near me; but if I am sent to Pretoria, you might follow at some distance, and possibly aid me to make my escape. So you see it would be to my interest, as well as your own, that you should get clear away."
The Kaffir, who had looked sullen at the first part of the instructions, brightened up. "I understand, baas. As long as baas fights, Peter will fight; when baas says 'Go,' Peter will run off, and do what he can to help afterwards."
Yorke now returned to the office, and asked one of the sergeants there to look after his own rifle till he returned, and then went to the heap of Boer weapons and picked out a Mauser. All being now ready, he lay down and slept until sunset, and then went in to dinner. After the meal was over, the colonel took him in to the general's quarters, and said, "This is Mr. Harberton, sir; he is going to start in an hour or so with your despatch for Kimberley."
"Do you know the country, Mr. Harberton?" the general asked.
"No, sir, but I am taking with me one of the Kaffirs who has been there for two years. He worked at Dutoitspan, which is, he says on this side of the town, and not far from Beaconsfield, so that he knows the country all round perfectly; and I have every confidence that he will be able to guide me in, especially as the ground for the last few miles is flat. Of course I shall leave the road when I have gone a few miles, and make my way across the hills."
"It will be a hazardous journey, Mr. Harberton, and I admire your spirit in undertaking such a mission. I understand that you speak Taal well, but as you are going in uniform that will be no great advantage to you. If you succeed, I need not say that you will have rendered us a very great service, which will not be forgotten."
"It is just the service that I had hoped I should find an opportunity of performing, sir, when I volunteered to undertake the work of scouting and obtaining information, instead of enlisting in one of the regiments at Cape Town."
"Yes, I hear you rendered valuable service to the officer in command at De Aar by going in disguise to Fauresmith, and discovering that the Boers had no intention of attacking our base, for it was thus unnecessary to draw bodies of men from other points to aid in the defence of the place. I should not advise you to endeavour to return by the road by which you came, although you will be the best judge as to that; but it seems to me that it would be easier to get out by the other side and make a detour across the river somewhere near Douglas, and then make for Honeynest Kloof, and so here. Above all, tell Colonel Kekewich privately that it is by no means certain that we shall be able to force our way past Spytfontein. Lord Methuen will try to do so, but after what we have seen of the Boer style of fighting here there is no assurance that he will succeed, for the position by all accounts is a very strong one.
"Of course it will be impossible for you now to travel far by the road from here; the Boer position extends across it. Your best chance is to strike across the country and come on the road from Jacobsdal. Whether they are posted on that line or not I cannot say. It certainly lies beyond their main position, but they will hardly have neglected it altogether."
"Yes, sir, that is the route I propose taking."
"Well, I wish you good fortune and a safe return;" and he shook hands with Yorke.
At eight o'clock Yorke started. The horse's hoofs had been effectually muffled and he had been provided with the countersign, and, passing through the pickets, he rode off, the Kaffirs trotting by his side. He had told the officer in command of the pickets that one of them would return with the horse in the course of an hour. After proceeding about four miles a glow of light could be seen here and there on ScholtzKop, a short distance to the left of the road they were following, and also away farther over on the same side on the hill of Spytfontein. These were but the reflection of the fires in the trenches where the Boers were cooking their suppers and smoking their pipes. No flame betrayed the positions held by them, but the hills seemed lit up by a faint glow.
"It is time to turn off, Peter," Yorke said, reining in his horse. "They may have outposts on the road, and as they would be keeping quiet, we might get in among them before we noticed them."
Although they were still nearly two miles from the Boer position they could distinctly hear in the stillness of the night a faint continuous murmur, such as might be made by a waterfall or a stream running among rocks. This they knew to be the talk of thousands of the enemy. They had been conscious of it even before they reached the turn in the road whence they saw the lights, for their own advance had been almost noiseless. The Kaffirs were running barefoot, and the horse's hoofs had been so well muffled that its footstep was no more audible than those of the natives.
It was now time to dismount and send the horse back, and Yorke handed the animal over to the native who was to return to camp.
"When you get half-way back, Jack," Yorke said, "take off those blankets from the horse's feet, so that our sentries can hear your approach. If you were to come up quite silently, and they did not hear you till you were close to them, they might fire hastily. Therefore, lead the horse, and when you get near the lines strike up a song—not too loud, but so that they can hear you a hundred yards away. When they challenge, that is to say, when they call, 'Who comes there?' you answer as I told you, then they will let you pass, though they may keep you until their officer comes. As I spoke to him on the way out, he will pass you through.Don't go right into the lines near the Modder; half a mile outside lead the horse off the road and wait with him till it is daylight. You would be challenged by every sentry in camp if you were to enter in the dark."
"Good fortune to you, baas! I wish I were going with you," Jack said, and then led the horse away.
"Now, Peter," continued Yorke, "our work begins. The first thing is to put the strips of blankets round our feet. You had better put on your own shoes and muffle them, otherwise you might lame yourself among the rocks, and that would be fatal to us both."
The native did as he was told, then he said, "Let us stop a little, baas, and listen. There may be Boers on that hill we have to cross."
He stood for a minute or two listening intently. "There are men up there," he said.
"Did you hear voices?"
"No, but I heard a click as if a kettle had hit against a stone. I am certain that there are some of them up there—not many, perhaps, but certainly there are men there. We had better go back a little between that hill and the next. I will walk first, you follow quite close to me; I can see in the dark much better than you can. If there are rocks in the way I will stop, then you put your hand on my shoulder and I will lead you between them or show you where to climb across them."
"All right, Peter! I trust in you entirely, for I could not see a stone the size of my head on the ground."
It took them four hours of severe work before they came down on the Jacobsdal road. The ground had in many places been covered with rocks and boulders, through which it would have been hard work to pick a way in the daylight, and quite impossible in the darkness for Yorke, had it not been for the guidance and assistance of Peter. Sometimes they had to climb rough and precipitous hills, and more difficult still, to descend the boulder-strewn slopes. In spiteof the care of his guide Yorke had had several heavy falls, had cut his hands and knees, and seriously damaged his garments.
"Now, shall we follow the road, baas?"
"No, we had better not. There may be parties moving between Jacobsdal and the Boer lines round Kimberley, or reinforcements coming down to Jacobsdal from the north."
"They would not travel at night," Peter said positively. "Boers can ride all day, but nothing would make them go out at night if they could help it. Boers sleep like a pig."
"Well, we will keep to the road for a bit then. I should like to push on as fast as we can, for we have some sixteen miles to go yet and we have lost a lot of time in getting across here, and if we were to take to the rocks again there would be very little chance of our getting through the Boer lines before daylight."
They had gone about a mile when the native stopped. "Men on the road, baas."
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure, baas. I heard one strike a match."
Walking very carefully, they could presently make out a dark mass ahead of them. "Waggons, baas," Peter whispered, and they at once left the road, moved a couple of hundred yards to the right, and then, stepping with the greatest care, continued their way parallel with the road. They could hear the sound of voices as two or three Boers talked together, and occasionally a movement among the oxen. They could not make out the outline of the waggons, nor see in which direction they had been moving, but guessed that it was a party of Boers from the north, moving down to strengthen Jacobsdal, or it might be a convoy of stores from that town for the use of the force beleaguering Kimberley. For the next hour their progress was very slow, for they had to make their way through thick bush,and it needed the greatest caution to avoid being heard by the party on the road.
It was not that they feared being hit by their fire, but the sound of rifle shots would put all the Boers within sound of them on the watch, and greatly diminish their chance of getting through. As soon as they were a quarter of a mile beyond the waggons they came down nearer to the road again. Here there were no bushes, but the ground was thickly covered with boulders of all sizes. At times the hills approached so close to the road that they were obliged to take to it for a while. Whenever this was the case they went at a trot, but as they were now abreast of the line of the Boer forts, they took to the rocks again as soon as possible. Twice they heard parties of horsemen coming along the road, and hid up until these had passed.
"They do not mean to be caught napping, Peter," Yorke said. "They are evidently uneasy. I have no doubt they are well prepared along the Spytfontein line, but they cannot be sure that we shall try to break through that way, and may believe that we shall attack Jacobsdal, and, making a wide circuit, enter Kimberley from the north. In some respects that might be the better plan, and I have no doubt the general has well considered it; but although he might get into Kimberley that way without any fighting, he would be worse off when he got there than he is on the Modder. He has not sufficient stores collected yet to provision Kimberley for any length of time, and the fighting the other day showed that he has not enough men to defeat the whole Boer force stationed among the kopjes, so that he would be completely cut off, with the enemy between him and any force coming up to his assistance."
Steadily they plodded on, keeping for the most part along the road, and stopping frequently to listen. Several times Peter declared that there were Boers among the hills on either side of them, and once or twice even Yorke couldfaintly hear what he judged to be snoring in the stillness of the night air. At length even the keen ears of the native were unable to detect any warning sound, and he declared that they must now have passed the outside line.
"We have done with them now Peter, till we get near those round the town."
They went fast now, for the night was nearly over, and the sky was beginning to lighten in the east when, leaving the road, they ascended the hill and saw a level plain stretching before them.
"It is too late to get through," Yorke said, "another quarter of an hour and it will be light, and that dark mass of houses we see there must be nearly three miles away."
"Yes, baas, that is Beaconsfield; Kimberley is more away to the left, I can just make it out. What will you do now, baas? Go back a bit and hide, or go on to that little house half a mile away close to the road?"
"I think we had best go on. We should have to go a good bit back to a place where the boulders are thick enough to give us a good hiding-place; it will certainly be light before we get there, indeed I am afraid it will be light enough before we can gain that hut, if there are any Boers on the look-out on that kopje to the right."
They started at once, and had gone but half-way when they found that the distance had been deceiving, and that it was nearer a mile than half a mile to the hut, which, being white-washed, had seemed much nearer than it was. The light was broadening out rapidly and they ran at the top of their speed, but just before they reached the place a shot rang out from a low hill some four hundred yards away. For a moment Yorke hesitated, but he knew that where there were Boers there were ponies, and that they would be overtaken long before they could reach the British camp.
"We had better fight it out here, Peter. The firing may bring up help; we can certainly keep the Boers off for some time."
race
A RACE FOR LIFE.
The hut was some twelve feet square, a rough building of loose stone with a light roof. It apparently had been made for the occupation of men working on the road. It had no windows, and the door stood open.
"Now, Peter, get to work and get a stone or two out on that side so that we can fire on the enemy; the hole must be as small as possible. If we can make one or two on each side so much the better. I will bring some stones from outside to block the door up, then I will help you."
He rolled in blocks, closed the door, and placed them against it. Then he set to work to make loopholes. The walls were loosely built, so that in two or three minutes he had made a satisfactory hole in the front of the hut, while Peter had already made one at the back.
"It is lucky that we did not run on," Yorke said, as he looked out. "There are a dozen mounted Boers coming along from behind the hill. Work away, Peter, we had better have two holes, one on each side of the door; I will show these fellows that we mean fighting when they come a little nearer. They are sure to draw off and talk, and that will give us plenty of time to get ready for them."
When the mounted Boers were within four hundred yards he took a steady aim and fired, one of them fell headlong from his horse; the others reined in sharply, but before they could turn, the rifle spoke out twice, another man fell, and a third swerved in his saddle evidently hard hit; the others galloped off, but the fourth cartridge in the magazine did its work, and another man fell. Yorke recharged his rifle, stood it in a corner, and then aided Peter.
"You hit them, baas?"
"I have killed three and wounded one," he said quietly. "That will make them careful; anyhow, they have learned that we can shoot."
"There are some men coming down the hill, baas."
"Very well, then, do you go on with your work, I will check them a bit too."
He went to a loophole the native had completed. Some twenty or thirty men were coming down the hill; the lesson given to the horsemen had not been without its effect on them also, for they were taking to what cover boulders and bush afforded. He waited till he got a good view of a man making his way from one shelter to another, and as he fired the Boer fell headlong. A dozen rifles flashed in reply; two or three bullets went through the roof, which was only of felt spread over a light framework, the others pattered harmlessly against the wall.
"Look out occasionally to see what the mounted men are doing, Peter. There is little chance of these fellows on the hill making up their minds to try a rush across the open ground, and though they may be good shots, their chance of getting a ball through a hole two inches wide and three high is not very great; it would be as well to make two more, so that we can move from one point to another."
Peter soon finished his work.
"May I fire now, baas?" he asked eagerly.
"Yes, but make sure of your aim. I have fired about twenty shots and at least eighteen have told. Certainly eight, counting those at the horsemen, have been fatal, that is what keeps them so quiet. A number of misses would encourage them. Always rest the muzzle of your rifle on bottom of the loophole. You had best fix upon your man, and watch the shelter where he is lying, then you won't be hurried, and can fire directly he moves or changes his position."
"Well done!" he exclaimed two or three minutes later, when, as Peter fired, he saw a Boer pitch forward, while the native raised a triumphant shout.
For hours the exchange of rifle-fire continued.
"They won't move till it is dark," Yorke said at one o'clock; "then will be the dangerous time."
"They will be able to creep up to the door and blow it in when it gets dark, baas. The best plan will be for you toslip out and run; I will keep on firing, and they will think that we are both here; and when you have got a good start I will run too. The Boers on foot would never catch me; and as to the mounted men, they would not find me in the dark, I could hear them and they would not hear me, and I could always find some bush or boulder where I could hide if they came my way."
"I will not do that, Peter, unless you give me your solemn oath that you will not stay more than five minutes after I have gone. I am a good runner too."
"I will promise that, baas. I don't want the Boers to catch me, but if we were to stop firing they would guess at once that we had gone. I will fire very quick, sometimes out of one hole sometimes out of the other, so that they will think there are two of us. They would stop a minute or two after I had done firing, and then come up very slowly and cautiously. The only fear is from the mounted men, who will be out on the plain as soon as it is dark."
CHAPTER IX
KIMBERLEY
The Boer fire slackened as the day went on, for the besiegers had learned that it was death to raise a head above a rock. There were originally a hundred Boers on the kopje, and of these eighteen had been killed and twelve wounded, the proportion of killed being so great in consequence of the majority of wounds being in the head. A messenger had been despatched to them from a hill on the other side of the road, but hearing that there were only two men in the hut no aid had been sent to them, and they were now lying waiting for night, for none dared ascend the hill again, exposed to the deadly fire from the defenders. Oneor other of them had remained at a loophole all day. Not a shot had entered, for the Boers had fired too hastily to take accurate aim, but the roof was riddled with bullets. It was getting dusk when Peter held up his hand and listened, and then threw himself down, putting his ear to the ground.
"What is it, Peter?"
"Horsemen coming, baas, many horsemen."
Yorke ran to the other side of the hut. He could see nothing at first, for the night was fast closing in, and he had just said that in another quarter of an hour it would be dark enough to make a start, but soon he saw a dark mass which was fast approaching. For a moment he stood irresolute, then he shouted, "Hurrah! they are friends. They are riding abreast; if they were Boers, they would be riding anyhow; pull the stones away from the door."
The mass halted as he spoke, then two horsemen galloped forward towards the hut.
"Who is there?" a voice shouted in English.
Yorke opened the door, darting out, placed himself on the side facing them. "Despatches from the Modder!" Then, feeling certain that the Boers, two hundred yards away, would not be able to make out his figure in the gloom, he called to Peter, and together they ran forward. A number of shots were fired, but these whistled overhead. The Boers had also doubtless heard the approaching horse, and were firing in their direction, forgetting for the moment the two men who had all day kept them at bay. In a couple of minutes Yorke and Peter joined their rescuers.
"I am glad indeed to see you, sir," an officer said as he came up. "We have heard firing going on all day, and could make out that it came from this point; but as we did not know how many Boers were on the kopje we could not go out to see about it till it became dusk. Are there only you and the native?"
"That is all."
"Then we may as well be off at once, for though I don'tthink the Boers can make us out at this distance, we may get a stray bullet among us at any moment. Will you mount behind me?"
"Thank you. I will run alongside and keep hold of your stirrup leather."
"Very well. We will break into a walk as soon as we are out of range of those rascals, then you shall tell me the news."
He gave the order, and the troop faced round and went off at a trot, which they maintained until the Boer fire had entirely ceased.
"Tell me how you got through their lines. Is it possible that you and that native alone have kept the Boers off all day? The firing sounded heavy at times, and we thought that they must have a considerable force there. After the first outburst it was for the most part only a dropping fire."
"There were about a hundred of them I should say," Yorke answered. "I happen to be a very good shot, and the Kaffir is a very fair one, and the consequence was they very soon learned that it was death to show a head. Some mounted men came out first, but I waited till they were within two hundred yards, and four of their horses went back riderless. They did not show again, and it has been a duel ever since between us and the men on the hillside, all the advantage being with us, as the loopholes through which we fired were but a couple of inches wide at the opening. We stopped their rush at once, and they have been in hiding ever since."
"We heard that Lord Methuen was advancing to our relief. How far is he off?"
"He crossed the Modder River the day before yesterday."
"As near as that is he?" the officer exclaimed. "Then we may indeed expect to see him soon. Was there fighting there? We thought we heard a faint rumble on that day, but it might have been thunder at a great distance."
"He has fought three battles, the first at Belmont, thesecond at Graspan, and the third on the Modder. The battle on the Modder was very severe, and lasted the whole day. I am afraid you won't see him here as soon as you expect. We have had upwards of a thousand casualties in the three fights. He had only about ten thousand troops with him, and after the way the Boers fought on the Modder he will not march until he is joined by the reinforcements coming up, as their position at Spytfontein is said to be very strong. I think it will be twelve days or a fortnight before he moves forward. Five or six regiments are on their way up, and some heavy naval guns. Stores are being pushed forward as fast as possible. The trains can only run during the daytime, as the Dutch along the line might at any moment pull up a few rails or blow up a culvert, so that, even if the general did not wait for reinforcements, he would have to wait for stores and ammunition. Our three batteries fired away nearly all they had, and the consumption of ball cartridge was also very heavy."
"Then the Boers fought stoutly?"
"They fought stoutly, but as they were all in deep trenches, and we scarcely caught sight of a man during the whole time, there was no very great credit in that. We have heard from prisoners that the Free Staters were for the most part placed in rifle-pits on the south side of the river, and as this had been dammed and rendered unfordable, they had no choice in the matter; but they did give way at last, and this compelled the whole force to fall back; the Transvaal men were never really attacked. It was only on our left that there was a possibility of our advancing."
"So we have lost a thousand altogether," the officer said—"about ten per cent of the total strength. That is pretty heavy fighting; but I suppose a considerable proportion were only wounded."
"Yes; and the doctors say that Mauser bullets do not make very serious wounds unless they hit a vital point.I know that they are quite surprised at the rapidity with which many of the wounds are healing, and that men seem to be recovering from injuries which they at first believed to be mortal. What corps is yours?"
"We are the Kimberley Light Horse. We are three hundred and fifty strong."
"I suppose you are all right here at present?"
"Oh, yes! The Boers must be fighting a great deal better against Methuen than they are doing here. They annoy us a bit by throwing shell into the town, and they have cut off the water-supply, have raided a lot of waggons and cattle, and blown up the De Beers dynamite magazine, which is a great loss, as it will put a stop to most of the work at the mines. The last was the result of the mayor's timidity about an explosion, but if the dynamite had been taken down into the mines it would have been in absolute safety.
"The water seems the most serious item."
"Well, it is not as serious as it looks. A lot of water comes into one of the mines, enough to keep a big pumping-engine at work, and anyhow there is sufficient to supply our animals with drinking water, though the authorities have had to forbid its use for watering gardens and that sort of thing. What were the first battles like?"
"They were the same in each case. The Boers were entrenched on kopjes, and as we could not leave these in rear we had to storm them. The fighting lasted a very short time, but the Grenadiers in the first fight, and the Naval Brigade in the second, lost very heavily. The Modder was quite different. The Boers were hidden in the bushes that fringed the river, and they had on rising ground behind a number of guns. The fighting began at five o'clock in the morning, and it was not until nearly five in the evening that the regiments on our left got across the river. They maintained themselves there till dark, and the Boers, fearing that the whole force would cross in the middle of the night and cut off their retreat, retired silently, and carried off their guns. We wonthe passage of the river, but it was in no way a decisive victory. And so you have had no fighting yet?"
"Very little. On the 25th we made a sortie with one troop of our men and some of the Cape Police. Forty of our fellows stormed one of their redoubts, and we brought in thirty-three prisoners. That was encouraging, and though Major Scott-Turner, who commanded us, was wounded, he led us out again the day before yesterday. We could just hear a low rumble, and guessed that Methuen was fighting, so we thought it would be well to keep the Boers round here and prevent their sending reinforcements to Spytfontein, but I expect the Boers had thought that we would be likely to make some such move, for they were prepared for us. We gained ground at first, but they were soon on the spot in great force, and the rifle-fire was terrible. Poor Scott-Turner was killed and twenty-one of our fellows, and twenty-eight wounded. So it was a bad affair altogether, and I don't think we shall try any more sorties of that kind.
"If it hadn't been for that I dare say we should have come out directly we heard your firing; but after our experience of their Mauser fire, it would have been folly to get within range of an unknown strength of Boers posted on a hill. So we waited till there was a fair chance of our succouring whoever there might be without running any extraordinary risk, but we had an anxious day of it. It did not seem that any considerable force could have got through, and yet it was evident that, whoever it was, was able to hold his ground. We could make out that little hut with the glasses, and it seemed to us that it was the point against which the Boers were firing, though at that distance we could not see the smoke of your rifles, firing as you did from the side facing the hill."
They had by this time reached the line of defence.
"Now, sir," the officer said, "if you will mount my horse one of the troopers will ride with you to the commandant's quarters, and will bring my horse back with him."
The colonel was in his office. During the greater part of the day he passed his time at the look-out at Wesselton mine. It was erected on the top of the mine head-gear, a hundred and twenty feet above the level. This lofty look-out commanded a view of the whole country round. Yorke was shown in at once.
"I have the honour to be the bearer of a despatch from Lord Methuen, sir," Yorke said as he came.
"You have managed to get through the Boers? You have done well indeed. Did you come alone?"
"I came with this Kaffir scout. He is one of a small party under my orders. He has been two years at work here and knows the country well. I should never have got through without him, and he has stood by me most bravely all day."
"Ah! then it was your firing that we have been hearing. The officer in command of the Light Horse sent a message to say that he intended, with my permission, to go out as soon as it was dusk, to ascertain, if possible, the cause of firing, and bring off any party who might be defending themselves against the Boers. Of course I was willing that he should do so, but, anxious as we were, I could not run the risk of losing a number of men by sending out a force by daylight. Take a seat, sir, while I go through the despatch."
"The general evidently thinks," he said, when he had read it, "that we know what has been taking place outside. We know nothing beyond the fact that a column under Lord Methuen was advancing from the Orange River Station. Now, I shall be obliged if you will give me full information as to what happened between the time he left and his arrival on the Modder."
Yorke gave a full account of the movements and battles.
"The Boers are making a much stouter resistance than I expected of them," the colonel said, when the story was brought to a conclusion. "Now, tell me, if you please, how you managed to get through here."
Yorke then described his adventure.
"Very good indeed, sir; admirably done. You and your Kaffir must be good marksmen indeed to have, as you say, killed eighteen of them and wounded twelve others."
"The distance was short—not over two hundred yards. As we were in almost perfect shelter, and they had to expose themselves to fire at us, we could scarce miss hitting them. And now, sir, I have a message to give you privately. The despatch was, I think, intended to be made public, should you think fit to do so, as an encouragement to the inhabitants, and, moreover, if it fell into the enemy's hands, it could do no great harm. I have a verbal message from General Colville, who is in command while Lord Methuen is temporarily disabled. He told me that I was to give it to you privately, as it would not be desirable that everyone should be aware of it. It was to this effect, that after the desperate resistance offered by the Boers at the Modder River, and the fact that only a portion of their force was engaged there, it is quite possible that the attack upon the very strong position they hold at Spytfontein may fail, and in that case there may be a long delay, as the attack could not be renewed until large reinforcements arrive from England. He is therefore anxious to know exactly how matters stand here—what stores and food you have, and how long you consider that you can possibly hold out. Upon that his movements will necessarily depend. If you are approaching the period when starvation would oblige you to surrender, another effort to relieve you must at whatever cost be made; if not, he would not repeat an operation which, even if successful, can only be effected at immense loss, and might lead to his being in turn beleaguered here."
"I can quite understand his anxiety on that score," Colonel Kekewich said. "As to holding the place, I have no fear whatever. We have five hundred Lancashires, three hundred and eighty Kimberley Rifle Volunteers, ninety-five men of the Royal Artillery, and one hundred and eighteen DiamondField Artillery. Of cavalry we have three hundred and fifty Kimberley Light Horse—they were armed and are paid by Rhodes—three hundred Cape Police, and one hundred and fifty Diamond Field Horse. Besides these we have a town guard, which comprises the greater part of the able-bodied men, about two thousand eight hundred. So that altogether we can oppose any attack with four thousand eight hundred men, all of whom could, I am sure, be trusted to fight their best. But I do not think there is any chance of the Boers attacking us. They believe they can starve us out, and, of course, they could do so in time; but I feel sure that we can hold out for some months. The De Beers people got up a quantity of provisions before the line was cut, and a large firm at Cape Town also sent up great supplies.
"We have cattle enough to go on for some time, and when they are used up we must take to horse-flesh. I will obtain a rough account of our stores for you to-morrow. It will be best for you to learn it by heart, for if the Boers, who have, I fancy, no idea how we are supplied, were to learn the facts, they might move away for a few days to strengthen Cronje at Spytfontein; and in the event of Lord Methuen failing to break through, might see that they were but wasting their time here, and, leaving enough to keep Methuen in check, might send some five thousand men on a raid into the Colony; whereas at present we are keeping that number idle here. I suppose you won't be starting again at once?"
"No, sir; I am feeling pretty well done up, for I have not had much sleep since the night before the attack on the Modder; and besides, I should like to see the defences, so that I could explain the situation to Lord Methuen."
"I will lend you a copy of my plans, Mr. Harberton. I say lend, because it would not do for you to take it out of here, for it would be very valuable to the Boers if it were to fall into their hands. I will place a horse at your disposal to-morrow. I am sorry to have kept you talking all this time; you must be famished."
"No, indeed, sir. I brought a tin of meat and some bread out with me."
"Ah, well, you will be all the better for dinner, and mine must be ready by this time. I hope you will join me. There is a bed upstairs at your disposal. I will tell them to give your boy something to eat, too."
As soon as dinner was over, Yorke went to bed and slept till next morning, when, obtaining a permit, signed by the commandant, authorizing him to go wherever he pleased, he made a tour of the forts round the town. Several of these were placed on the great heaps of debris from the mines, and commanded a wide view over the country. These heaps were very steep on the outward face, and it had not been deemed necessary to erect any serious works on the crests, but breast-works of stone had been thrown up to protect the men from rifle-fire should the Boers venture to make an attack. The ground round the town had been cleared of the houses which would interfere with the line of fire. Native huts had all been levelled, and the bushes cleared away, so that the enemy would have to cross the open and be exposed to musketry and artillery fire. This was a great advantage from the point of view of defence; but on the other hand, it was an equal disadvantage to the British when they made sorties against the enemy, as the latter could lie hidden among the bushes, while our men had to advance across the open.
Search-lights had been established on the lofty top of one of the mine-works, and at night swept the circle of cleared ground, so that it was impossible for the Boers to crawl up to make a sudden attack. Barricades had been formed across all the streets leading out of the town, and no one was allowed to pass in or out after nightfall. It was hoped that in this way the Boer sympathizers in the town would not be able to carry news to their friends outside. In spite of these precautions, however, there is no doubt that throughout the siege the enemy were aware of all that was done. In the town itself, there were few visible signs of the bombardment,though here and there a house in ruins showed that a shell had burst inside. The town was full of people, for although some of the wealthiest men had left before the siege began, their places were filled by hundreds who came in from the houses outside the line that was to be held, and from the farming stations in the surrounding country.
Many, too, had moved in from the outlying suburb of Kenilworth, and from that part of Beaconsfield which would be most exposed to the fire of the Boer guns. Numbers of Kaffirs had also come in. So far, the bombardment had effected comparatively little damage, for the Boers had not as yet brought up their big guns. Nevertheless, most of the inhabitants had erected some sort of shelter, with bags filled with earth, and roofed with timber, over which more sand-bags were placed. Underground shelters could not well be constructed, for the soil was but eighteen inches deep, and below it was the solid rock. It was intended that directly the enemy began the bombardment in earnest with heavier guns, the women and children should be lowered into the mines, where they would be perfectly safe from harm.
Yorke was out the whole day taking notes of everything he saw, in order to be able to report as fully as possible. He was accosted by many officers, and warmly invited into their mess-rooms. He could not refuse these invitations, as he knew how intensely anxious all were to hear the news from outside, and especially the accounts of the fighting. He took Peter with him on his rounds, pointing out everything to him, so that if he himself were captured on his way out, and the Kaffir escaped, he would be able to give as much information as possible to the general. On returning to dinner at the commandant's, he found the list of the stores in readiness.
"You understand this is only approximate, Mr. Harberton. A great many of the residents have stores of their own; having, as soon as it was evident that we were going to be cut off, bought a large supply from the store-keepers for their own use. As you will see, the only item in which we are likely tofail is preserved milk. Unfortunately the Boers managed to drive off all our milch cows a day or two after they closed in, and we have only the tins left to rely upon. It is not of much importance to the men, but were the supply to run out, I fear it would be very trying for the young children. With that exception you will see we are fairly supplied for three months, possibly for longer, as, of course, the rations will be reduced if we find that we are not relieved."
Yorke spent two or three hours that evening learning by heart the items of the list. Then he put the figures down in the order in which they stood. These without a key would furnish no information, and he had no fear of forgetting what each group referred to. In the morning he asked the colonel which side of the town he considered would offer the best chance of getting through unobserved.
"Do you mean to go on foot or on horseback? Of course I will furnish you with two horses if you decide on riding."
"I should be glad of them if I were once through the Boers, sir; but there would be so much greater chance of my being seen if mounted, that I should much prefer going on foot.
"I think you are right. In any case, it will be best for you to make to the north-east, leaving by the road to Boshof, which goes out close to the De Beers mine. The Boers have an entrenchment on Tarantaalrand Kop, on its right, and one on Tafel Kop, on its left; but they are less likely to be watchful on that side than they are on the south or west, as it would be in those directions that any messenger or despatch-rider would be most likely to go. What time do you propose starting?"
"At nine o'clock, sir. It will be quite dark by that time."
"Very well; then I will get a troop of cavalry to go out towards Kamfers Dam, and will open fire from the guns on that side. Of course they will be told not to push the attack home, but to retire as soon as the Boers begin to fire hotly.In that way the attention of the Boers on the kopjes you have to pass will be attracted, and you will have a better chance of getting through unseen. I will, of course, order that the search-light shall not be directed near the road that you are travelling, but it shall play frequently on the two kopjes; the beam will pretty nearly blind the men up there. The best eyes cannot stand the glare of a search-light long, and when it is turned off, can see nothing for some time. So I think that, what with that and the attack on the other side, you will be able to make your way through, if you have luck. Of course you will not go as far as Boshof, and once past their lines, you will journey due south. In that way you will strike the Boshof and Jacobsdal road. When you do so, your course will be west, with a little south, which will lead you into your camp without going near their lines at Spytfontein and Magersfontein had better have a good look at my map. It is not as accurate as it ought to be, but it will at least be of some assistance to you. Have you a compass?"
"Yes, sir; but it is of no use at night unless one is quite sure that there are no Boers near, as the striking of a match may be seen a very long way."
"I will give you some American matches. They are beastly things, with a lot of sulphur in them, but they have the advantage that they do not strike with a sudden flash like most English matches, especially the safety-matches. There is only just enough phosphorus to light the sulphur, but, without allowing the flame to catch the wood, they will give enough light to let you see your compass. I don't say that it would be safe to strike one of them if there was a Boer within a hundred yards. But I do not think that the light would be seen half a mile away, especially as you would naturally strike it in the heart of a bush or in the shelter of a clump of rocks. Of course there is no chance of your getting back to camp before daylight, for the morning begins to break soon after five o'clock."
"Thank you, sir! I shall be very much obliged for the matches; they would certainly prove most useful."
Yorke did not care to walk about much, as he had a hard night's work before him, and he spent the day in one of the forts which was exchanging an occasional shot with a Boer battery, chatting with the officer in command.
"The Boers are shocking bad shots," the latter said. "You are in much more danger of being hit when they are not firing at you than when they are aiming at you. They direct their fire principally at Wesselton Mine, in the hope, no doubt, that shells will go down the pit and damage the pumping-gear, for if they should succeed we should find it very difficult to maintain our water-supply, as it would all have to be carried up from the mine by hand. Not a single shot has fallen within a hundred yards of it. They have damaged the houses a good deal in the line of fire, but they have never been able to give their guns the right elevation. I fancy their powder is by no means good, and is very uneven in quality. Sometimes it will carry a good deal beyond the mine, and at other times falls short of it."
"You have a good supply of shell, have you not?"
"Yes, a very fair supply; and the De Beers people have begun casting some, and have turned out some very fair specimens. They are rougher than British work, no doubt, but they serve the purpose very well, and we can make as good practice with them as with our own. Ah, here comes the man himself! He often comes up here for a look-out. I don't think he gets on very well with the commandant, but the people here swear by him, and his presence is an immense encouragement to us all; and there can be no doubt that with the resources he has at his back, with a whole army of well-trained mechanics of all sorts, and machinery, to say nothing of his miners and Kaffirs, he is a host in himself."
battles
YORKE GAVE A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLES.
As he spoke Rhodes himself came up. Yorke looked with interest at the man who is the Napoleon of South Africa—a square-built man, with a smoothly shaven face except for athick moustache, with hair waving back from a broad forehead, strong and determined chin and mouth, somewhat broad in the cheeks, giving his face the appearance of squareness, light eyes, keen but kindly; altogether a strong and pleasant face.
"Good-morning!" he said to the officer; "things seem pretty quiet to-day. Our fight three days back could not be called a success in itself, but it must have given the Boers a higher respect for our fighting powers, and made them dislike more than ever the idea of trying to attack us. I do not think I know your face, sir," he went on, turning to Yorke. "I thought I knew all the officers in the place."
"I only came in the day before yesterday, in the evening, bringing despatches from Lord Methuen to Colonel Kekewich."
"A gallant action, sir," Mr. Rhodes said, holding out his hand to him. "Of course I heard about it, and of your plucky defence all day till the Kimberley Horse went out and brought you in. I heard at the mess of the Diamond Field Horse yesterday that you had been there an hour before, and given them an account of Lord Methuen's three battles. If you have nothing better to do, sir, perhaps you will kindly tell me the story. We had better sit down on these sand-bags. The commandant sent me a copy of your report, but that, of course, gave no details."
Yorke gave a full account of the battles.
"It does not seem to me," Mr. Rhodes said when he had finished, "that there can be sufficient scouting. Of course I am not a military man, and know nothing of the handling of the troops. But certainly before attacking a place I should have taken steps to find out the exact position of the enemy, and, as far as possible, their strength. This could have been done by a handful of mounted men. Now, tell me a little more as to how you got through."
Yorke much more briefly gave the account of his journey.
"And now, Mr. Harberton—for such, I hear, is yourname—will you tell me how it comes that so young an officer was entrusted with such hazardous work. First of all, would you mind telling me something about yourself. I like to know the ins and outs of things. Believe me, I am not asking from mere curiosity."
Yorke felt that in this strong able man he might find a valuable friend, therefore he gave him a sketch of his reasons for leaving England.
"So you were at Rugby!" his hearer broke in. "I am a public-school boy myself, you know, and there is always a fellow-feeling among public-school boys, even if they were not at the same school. You came out to a cousin, you say, and that is some eight months ago. What did you do with him?"
"I looked after his farm a bit, but the greater part of my time I spent in learning to shoot and to speak Dutch."
"Do you speak Dutch well?"
"Well enough to pass in ordinary conversation, sir. I had a Dutch boy as a companion, and as my cousin's wife was Dutch, that language was principally spoken in the house."
"And why did you leave?"
"I should have gone anyhow, sir, because, from what I heard from the Dutch who came there, there was certain to be war; and as I could ride well, had made myself a good shot, and could speak Dutch and a little Kaffir, I thought I might be useful in the scouting way. If I had not been able to enlist in such a corps I should have enlisted, if possible, in the regular cavalry. But I left suddenly. I was shot at by a young Boer, a relation of my cousin's wife, who was jealous because I had beaten him in a shooting match. His ball went through my hat, and I naturally fired back in return, and the bullet struck him in the chest. They did not think that the wound would be mortal, but my cousin thought it better that I should go at once, as the fellow had many friends round him who would certainly take the matter up."
Then he related how he had obtained a commission in the latter corps, and had gone up with Colonel Pinkerton; and had ridden out dressed as a Dutchman, as they went up the line, to obtain information as to the sentiments of the Africanders; and how in the same disguise he had gone with the Dutch lad who had accompanied him, among the Boers, and had learned that the commando was going south, and that there was no intention of attacking De Aar; how twenty Kaffirs had been placed under him, and had done what scouting was possible on the way up to the Modder.
"I see that you have plenty of intelligence, as well as grit, Mr. Harberton. When this war is over come to me; you are the sort of man I want, and I promise you that you will find me a good friend."
"Thank you very much, sir!"
"No, you have to thank yourself," Mr. Rhodes said. "A lad who will learn Dutch in six months, instead of contenting himself with sporting and amusement, as too many young fellows who come out here do, who will undertake dangerous enterprises, and carry them through as successfully as you have done, is certain, in any case, to make his way, and deserves to do so. I am a hard worker myself, and I am only too glad to have men round me with clear heads, a capacity for work, and, in a pinch, plenty of pluck and decision. All these you have shown. You have come out at a younger age than most men, and have already highly distinguished yourself. Don't be foolish and take a commission if it is offered to you, at any rate not for a permanency. It is a poor business, and unless you have an income of your own, it would be as much as you could do to keep your head above water until the time when you might become a captain. In Rhodesia you will by that time be in a position that a colonel might envy."
"Thank you, sir. I had no thought of taking a commission where I could render but little service except as an interpreter, and did I take it I should certainly resign at theend of the war. I came out here to push my way, and be able to help my mother and sisters to some extent, in the event of the death of my father, whose income as a clergyman will, of course, expire with him, and who can now only afford to insure his life for a small sum. Therefore I most gratefully accept your very kind offer, and when this business is ended will come to you, and be only too glad to accept any post that you may think me fit for."
They had been alone during this conversation, as the officer in command of the battery had left them to attend to his duties when they first sat down to talk. Mr. Rhodes now rose, and shook hands with Yorke; then, nodding to the officer, said, "I shall be up again this afternoon if the Boers make any fresh move," and strolled away. Yorke dined that evening at the mess of the Kimberley Horse, but left directly the cloth was removed, and having said good-bye to Colonel Kekewich, started with Peter, an officer accompanying them to pass them out through the lines. Already there was a sound of musketry away near Kamfers Dam; the Boer guns joined in, and the battery at which he had passed the morning replied to their fire.
"That will occupy their attention on the kopje near this road, Peter. We will keep along close to it as far as we can. It is all open veldt, and as far as I can make out, the foot of the kopjes is at least two or three hundred yards from it, so that walking will be a good deal easier than it was coming here. But mind, if we are surprised, Peter, you are to follow my orders and make a bolt for it at once. As long as the ground is open like this I can use my own eyes, and I wish you now to fall back and walk thirty or forty yards behind me. It is of no use our both being captured. I have given you a copy of the figures that I have put down, and have gone through them over and over again with you, so that you know what each of them means. I have also told you the message Colonel Kekewich sent me, which you are to repeat to the general when you get back tothe Modder. When we have got well past the Kopjes you can come up to me again, but until we do so keep well behind, and if I am suddenly pounced upon make straight off. We have agreed that you can follow me and help me if there is a chance of making my escape, but I hardly think that such a chance would occur. However, that I must leave to you. But you must remember that you are not to follow me long, not more than a day or two, for it is all-important that the message should get to the Modder as soon as possible."
"If it is your orders, I must obey them," the Kaffir said, "but I don't like it, baas."
"Never mind that, Peter; we all have to do things we don't like sometimes. Now, drop back."
Yorke had before leaving the lines again muffled his boots, and he walked along fast, feeling confident that he should get through unobserved. He was walking close to the road, and was within four or five hundred yards of the kopjes, when he took to it again, as there were some clumps of bushes in front of him. Suddenly he fell on his face with a crash, his foot having caught against a wire stretched tightly some six inches above the ground. Before he could spring to his feet a dozen men rushed out from the bushes and seized him.
"Run, Peter, run!" he shouted, and then said as the Boers raised him to his feet, "I surrender."
Several of them raised their rifles and faced towards the road by which he had come, thinking that he might be followed by a strong force. After waiting for three or four minutes two of them ran forward cautiously, but returned in five minutes, saying that there was no sign of any one there.
"But this man shouted to someone. Whom did you shout to?" he asked Yorke roughly.
Yorke shook his head. He thought it best to profess ignorance of Dutch. The man repeated the question in English.
"It was a Kaffir," Yorke answered. "He was coming toshow me the way across the country when we had passed through your lines."
"You are a spy, then," the man said fiercely.
"Not at all," Yorke replied. "If it were daylight you could see by my uniform that I am an English officer. If I had come as a spy I should have disguised myself. But I preferred coming in uniform, so that if I were captured I should have a right to be treated as a prisoner of war."
"That is for the field cornet to decide," the man said grimly. "Now, come along with us."
CHAPTER X
AN ESCAPE
Having relieved him of his rifle and bandolier, the Boers led Yorke with them along the road until they had passed the kopje, and then turned off to the left and took him to where several fires were burning at the back of the hill. A strong party of Boers were sitting round, some smoking, others eating their supper.
"Whom have you got there, le Clus?" enquired one of them with a white cockade in his hat.
"He says that he is a British officer, mynheer. He was coming along the road when he tumbled over our wire, and we had him in a moment."
"He was walking along the road, was he?"
"Yes."
"Then he hardly can have been sent to spy out our position and strength," the man said. "If he had been, he would not have kept to the road. Why, he is quite a boy!"
"He says he is not a spy, mynheer, but has been sent out to carry a message to the British on the Modder. He claims to be in uniform, and so to be treated as a prisoner of war."
supper
A STRONG PARTY OF BOERS WERE SITTING ROUND. SOME SMOKING, OTHERS EATING THEIR SUPPER.
The conversation had been in Dutch, and the field cornet then said in English to the prisoner, "Have you any papers about you?"
"I have only this little scrap," Yorke said. "It is written in a cipher, and I suppose the English general will understand. It is only a lot of figures."
The Boer opened it and held it so that the light of the fires would fall upon it. "3104, 8660, 241. It is like that all the way down. Do you understand the cipher?" he asked.
"As it is a military cipher, it is only the generals who would know it. These things are kept very secret, and no cipher would be told to a young officer like myself."
"Why should they choose you to carry it?"
"I can only suppose," Yorke said with a smile, "because they thought that I could be better spared than older officers. Besides, I am a good runner, and would bet that if I had twenty yards start none of your men would overtake me."
"Perhaps not, my lad, but a rifle bullet would travel faster than you."
There was a laugh among the Boers standing round, which was what Yorke had aimed at, knowing the importance of keeping them in good temper.
"Well, in the morning I shall send you on to Boshof," the field cornet said. "I do not know anything of the usages of war, and whether your uniform will save your skin or not; I will leave it to others to settle. But you must be a bold young fellow to have undertaken such a job, for it is ridiculous to suppose that you could get through in that uniform, and you would probably be shot by the first of our men you met without his stopping to ask any questions. Will you give me your word that you will not try to escape to-night? If so, I will not tie you up."
Two or three of the men grumbled. "I know these English officers," he said, "and am willing to take his word. Still, to prevent any risks, two of you must take it by turns to watch him."
Yorke looked indifferent till he spoke to him in English, and then said, "I will give you my word of honour, sir, not to attempt to escape to-night, but I don't say that if I can get a chance afterwards I won't do so."
"That is all right. I don't think you will get a chance. At any rate, I accept your word that you will remain here quietly all night."
So saying, he reseated himself by the fire and began to puff at his pipe. Yorke thought it would be best to imitate his example. He had, when at the farm, taken to smoking occasionally; he did it in self-defence, for sometimes, when there were several Dutch visitors, the room was so full of smoke that he could scarcely breathe in it. He therefore took out his pipe, filled and lit it, and sat quietly down near the field cornet. He then took from his pocket a flask, which had been filled for him at the mess with whiskey, and handed it to the cornet. The Boer's eyes twinkled, and he took a long draught of it.
"That is good stuff," he said, "a good deal better than they sell us at your stores."
"Please pass it round, cornet. I am afraid it won't go very far, but you are heartily welcome to it. I don't drink it myself, but I generally carry it in case I should get hurt anyhow, or sprain my ankle among your rocks. I may as well hand you this pistol too," Yorke said—it had been unnoticed in the dark by the men who had taken his rifle—"it is certain that your people will not let me keep it, and you may as well have it as another; but I do not suppose your cartridges will fit it." He had dropped his own on the way.
"As you say, I may as well have it as another," the field cornet said taking it. "Besides, it might go off by the way, and it is well to avoid the possibility of accidents. Now, as you have given me your word of honour that you will not try to escape to-night, will you assure me, on your word ofhonour, that you have not come out to gather information—in fact, that you are not a spy?"