Three Years' War Part 19

CHAPTER XIX

I Return to the Free State

Whilst we were encamped on the Krokodil River, President Steyn expressed a wish to pay a visit, with the Members of his Government, to the Government of the South African Republic, which was then at Machadodorp.

This was no easy task to accomplish, for one would have to pa.s.s through a part of the Transvaal where there was a great scarcity of water--it was little better than a desert--and where in some places the Kaffirs were unfriendly. In other words, one would have to go through the Boschveldt. There would also be some danger from the English, since the President would have to cross the Pietersburg Railway, which was in that direction.

However, this plan was approved.

I decided not to accompany the President, but to return at once with two hundred riders to the Orange Free State. I intended to make it known on the farms which I pa.s.sed on the way that I was going back, hoping thus to draw the attention of the English from our laager.

I called together the Commandants, and informed them of my intention.

They agreed that the course I proposed was the right one. Commandant Steenekamp was then nominated to act as a.s.sistant Commander-in-Chief, with the duty of conducting the laager through the Boschveldt.

On August the 14th President Steyn left the laager on his way to Machadodorp; and I myself took my departure three days later. I took with me General Philip Botha and Commandant Prinsloo, and 200 men, and also Captain Scheepers with his corps, which consisted of thirty men.

With the addition of my staff we numbered altogether 246 men.

Thus our ways parted--the President going to the Government of the South African Republic, the laager to the north, and I back to the Free State.

I had now to cross the Magalies Mountains. The nearest two pa.s.ses were Olifantsnek and Commandonek. But the first named was too much to the west, and the second was probably occupied by the English. I therefore decided to take a footpath that crossed the mountains between the two saddles. I was forced to choose this middle road because I had no means of ascertaining whether Commandonek was, or was not, in the hands of the enemy.

On August 18th we arrived at a house where some Germans were living--the parents and sisters of Mr. Penzhorn, Secretary to General Piet Cronje.

They were exceedingly friendly to us, and did all in their power to make us comfortable.

We did not stay here for long, but were on the march again the same day.

Soon after we had mounted our horses we came in sight of a large English camp, which was stationed on the road from Rustenburg to Pretoria, between Commandonek and Krokodil River. This camp lay about six miles to the south-east of the point where we first saw it. Another great camp stood about seven miles to the north-west.

The enemy could see us clearly, as it was open veldt, with only a few bushes cropping up here and there. We now rode on in the direction of Wolhuterskop, which is close to the Magalies Mountains. I thought I should thus be able to reach the great road from Rustenburg to Pretoria, which was eight or nine miles from the footpath across the Magaliesberg.

When we were about two miles east of Wolhuterskop we suddenly came upon two English scouts. One of them we captured; and he told us that there was a great force of the enemy in front of us and marching in our direction. What could we do now? It was impossible to proceed along the footpath because that road was closed by the enemy. North and west of us there were other bodies of troops, as I have already said; and there, directly in front of us, were the chains of the Magaliesbergen. Thus we found ourselves between four fires.

In addition to this, I was much troubled by the thought that our horses were now exhausted by all this endless marching. I knew this was also the case with the English horses, but for all I knew, they might have obtained fresh ones from Pretoria. They could at all events have picked the best horses from each camp, and thus send an overpowering force against me. This was one of those moments when a man has to keep his presence of mind, or else all is lost.

Whilst I was still thinking the matter over, troops began to come out of the camps, about two miles to the west of us on the road between Wolhuterskop and Magaliesberg. The scout who had escaped might now be with that force. I had therefore to act at once.

I decided on climbing the Magalies Mountains, without a path or road!

Near by there was a Kaffir hut, and I rode up to it. When the Kaffir came out to me, I pointed to the Magalies Mountains, and asked:--

"Right before us, can a man cross there?"

"No, baas,[67] you cannot!" the Kaffir answered.

"Has a man never ridden across here?"

"Yes, baas," replied the Kaffir, "long ago."

"Do baboons walk across?"

"Yes! baboons do, but not a man."

"Come on!" I said to my burghers. "This is our only way, and where a baboon can cross, we can cross."

With us was one Adriaan Matthijsen, a corporal who came from the district of Bethlehem, and was a sort of jocular character. He looked up at the mountains, 2,000 feet above him, and sighed:--

"O Red Sea!"

I replied, "The children of Israel had faith and went through, and all you need is faith. This is not the first Red Sea we have met with and will not be the last!"

What Corporal Matthijsen thought I do not know, for he kept silence. But he pulled a long face, as if saying to himself:--

"Neither you, nor anybody else with us, is a Moses!"

We climbed up un.o.bserved to a bit of bush which, to continue the metaphor of the Red Sea, was a "Pillar of Cloud" to hide us from the English.

We then reached a kloof[68] running in a south-westerly direction, and ascended by it, still out of sight of the English, till we reached a point nearly half-way up the mountain. There we had to leave the kloof, and, turning to the south, continue our ascent in full view of the enemy.

It was now so precipitous that there was no possibility of proceeding any further on horseback. The burghers had therefore to lead their horses, and had great difficulty even in keeping their own footing. It frequently happened that a burgher fell and slipped backwards under his horse. The climb became now more and more difficult; and when we had nearly reached the top of the mountain, there was a huge slab of granite as slippery as ice, and here man and horse stumbled still more, and were continually falling.

We were, as I have said, in view of the enemy, and although out of reach of the Lee-Metfords, were in range of their big guns!

I heard burghers muttering:--

"Suppose the enemy should aim those guns at us--what will become of us then? n.o.body can get out of the road here!"

I told them that this could only be done if the English had a Howitzer.

But I did not add that this was a sort of gun which the columns now pursuing me were likely enough to possess.

But nothing happened. The English neither shot at us, nor did they pursue us. Corporal Matthijsen would have said that they were more cautious than Pharaoh.

We now reached the top of the mountain--entirely exhausted. I have ascended many a mountain--the rough cliffs of Majuba, the steep sides of Nicholson's Nek--but never before had I been so tired as I was now; yet in the depths of my heart I was satisfied. All our toil was repaid by the glorious panorama that now stretched out before us to the south. We saw the undulating veldt between the Magaliesbergen where we stood, and the Wit.w.a.tersrand. Through a ravine we had a view extending for many miles, but wherever we cast our eyes there was no sign of anything that resembled the enemy.

As it was now too late to off-saddle, we began, after having taken a little rest, to descend the mountain on the other side, my object being to reach a farm where I hoped to get some sheep or oxen for my men, who not only were tired out, but nearly famished.

We went down the mountain--well, somewhat quicker than we had climbed it; however, we could not go very fast, as the incline was steep. In an hour and a half we reached a Boer farm.

One can imagine how the burghers recovered their spirits as they ate their supper, and what it meant for them to give their tired limbs a rest.

The following morning we found good horse-provender, and plenty of it.

It was not as yet the habit of the English to burn everything they came across--they had not yet begun to carry out that policy of destruction.

I now felt quite easy about the safety of our camp. The attention of the English would be turned in quite another direction.

I was quite right in this view of the matter. For I heard a few days later that the enemy had not been able to pursue the laager as their draft-cattle and horses were so completely exhausted, that they had fallen down dead in heaps. I heard also that they had soon been made acquainted with the fact that I was on my way back to the Free State, where I would soon begin again to wreck railway lines and telegraph wires. They had also discovered that President Steyn had left the laager and was on the road to Machadodorp.

It was on the 18th of August, 1900, that we were able to eat our crust of bread in safety on the farm just mentioned, and to let our horses have as much food as they wanted. It seemed that for the time being a heavy burden had fallen from our shoulders. That afternoon we crossed the Krokodil River, and stopped at a "winkel"[69] under the Wit.w.a.tersrand, which had been spared as yet, although it was nearly empty of stores. Fodder, however, was plentiful, and thus, again, we could give our horses a good feed.

I now received a report that a strong contingent of the enemy was on the march from Olifantsnek to Krugersdorp, and accordingly we rode off in the night. We found that this force was the very one that had flanked our laager the previous week, when we were pa.s.sing Ventersdorp. The road which the enemy were taking was the same which Jameson had marched when he made his inroad into the South African Republic.

My intention was to cross the enemy's path before daylight the following morning, which I succeeded in doing; and we heard no more of this force.

I proceeded now in the direction of Gatsrand.