"The shades of eve were falling fast" as we moved cautiously away from
Mapochsberg and proceeded through Landdrift, Steelpoort, and the Tautesberg.
At 3 o'clock in the morning we halted in a hollow place where we would not
be observed, yet we were still a mile and a half from the enemy's cordon.
Our position was now more critical than ever; for should the enemy discover
our departure, and General Plumer hurry up towards us that morning, we
should have little chance of escape.
During the day I was obliged to call all the burghers together, and to
earnestly address them concerning the happenings of the previous day. I told
them to tell me candidly if they had lost faith in me, or if they had any
reason not to trust me implicitly, as I would not tolerate the way in which
they had behaved the day before. I added:—
"If you cannot see your way clear to obey implicitly my commands, to be true
to me, and to believe that I am true to you, I shall at once leave you, and
you can appoint someone else to look after you. We are by no means out of
the wood yet, and it is now more than ever necessary that we should be able
to trust one another to the fullest extent. Therefore, I ask those who have
lost confidence in me, or have any objection to my leading them, to stand
out."
No
one stirred. Other officers and burghers next rose and spoke, assuring me
that all the rebels had deserted the previous night, and that all the men
with me would be true and faithful. Then Pastor J. Louw addressed the
burghers very earnestly, pointing out to them the offensive way in which
some of them had spoken of their superior officers, and that in the present
difficult circumstances it was absolutely necessary that there should be no
disintegration and discord amongst ourselves. I think all these perorations
had a very salutary effect. But such were the difficulties that we officers
had to contend with at the hands of undisciplined men who held exaggerated
notions of freedom of action and of speech, and I was not the only Boer
officer who suffered in this respect.
About two in the afternoon I gave the order to saddle up, as it was
necessary to start before sunset in order to be able to cross the Olifant's
River before daybreak, so that the enemy should not overtake us should they
notice us. We dismounted and led our horses, for we had discovered that the
English could not distinguish between a body of men leading their horses and
a troop of cattle, so long as the horses were all kept close together. All
the hills around us were covered with cattle captured from our
"bush-lancers," and therefore our passage was unnoticed.
We
followed an old waggon track along the Buffelskloof, where a road leads from
Tautesberg to Blood River. The stream runs between Botha's and Tautesbergen,
and flows into the Olifant's River near Mazeppa Drift. It is called Blood
River on account of the horrible massacre which took place there many years
before, when the Swazi kaffirs murdered a whole kaffir tribe without
distinction of age or sex, literally turning the river red with blood.
Towards evening we reached the foot of the mountains, and moved in a
north-westerly direction past Makleerewskop. We got through the English
lines without any difficulty along some footpaths, but our progress was very
slow, as we had to proceed in Indian file, and we had to stop frequently to
see that no one was left behind. The country was thickly wooded, and
frequently the baggage on the pack-horses became entangled with branches of
trees, and had to be disentangled and pulled off the horses' backs, which
also caused considerable delay.
It
was 3 o'clock in the morning before we reached the Olifant's River, at a
spot which was once a footpath drift, but was now washed away and overgrown
with trees and shrubs, making it very difficult to find the right spot to
cross. Our only guide who knew the way had not been there for 15 years, but
recognised the place by some high trees which rose above the others. We had
considerable difficulty in crossing, the water reaching to our horses'
saddles, and the banks being very steep. By the time we had all forded the
sun had risen. All the other drifts on the river were occupied by the enemy,
our scouts reporting that Mazeppa Drift, three miles down stream, was
entrenched by a strong English force, as was the case with Kalkfontein
Drift, a little higher up. I suppose this drift was not known to them, and
thus had been left unguarded.
Having got through we rode in a northerly direction until about 9 o'clock in
the morning, and not until then were we sure of being clear of the enemy's
clutches. But there was a danger that the English had noticed our absence
and had followed us up. I therefore sent out scouts on the high kopjes in
the neighbourhood, and not until these had reported all clear did we take
the risk of off-saddling. You can imagine how thankful we were after having
been in the saddle for over 19 hours, and I believe our poor animals were
no less thankful for a rest.
We
had not slept for three consecutive nights, and soon the whole commando,
with the exception of the sentries, were fast asleep. Few of us thought of
food, for our fatigue and drowsiness were greater than our hunger. But we
could only sleep for two hours, for we were much too close to the enemy, and
we wished to make them lose scent of us entirely.
The burghers grumbled a good deal at being awakened and ordered to saddle
up, but we moved on nevertheless. I sent some men to enquire at a kaffir
kraal for the way to Pietersburg, and although I had no intention of going
in that direction, I knew that the kaffirs, so soon as we had gone, would
report to the nearest British camp that they had met a commando of Boers
going there. Kaffirs would do this with the hope of reward, which they often
received in the shape of spirituous liquor. We proceeded all that day in the
direction of Pietersburg until just before sunset we came to a small stream.
Here we stopped for an hour and then went on again, this time, however, to
the left in a southerly direction through the bush to Poortjesnek near
Rhenosterkop, where a little time before the fight with General Paget's
force had taken place. We had to hurry through the bush, as horse-sickness
was prevalent here and we still had a long way before us. It was midnight
before we reached the foot of the Poortjesnek.
Here my officers informed me that two young burghers had become insane
through fatigue and want of sleep, and that several, while asleep in their
saddles had been pulled off their horses by low branches and severely
injured. Yet we had to get through the Nek and get to the plateau before I
could allow any rest. I went and had a look at the demented men. They looked
as if intoxicated and were very violent. All our men and horses were utterly
exhausted, but we pushed on and at last reached the plateau, where, to
everybody's great delight, we rested for the whole day. The demented men
would not sleep, but I had luckily some opium pills with me and I gave each
man one of them, so that they got calmer, and, dropping off to sleep,
afterwards recovered.
My
scouts reported next day that a strong English patrol had followed us up,
but that otherwise it was "all serene." We pushed on through Langkloof over
our old fighting ground near Rhenosterkop, then through the Wilge River near
Gousdenberg up to Blackwood Camp, about nine miles north of Balmoral
Station. Here we stayed a few days to allow our animals to rest and recover
from their hardships, and then moved on across the railway to the Bethel and
Ermelo districts. Here the enemy was much less active, and we should have an
opportunity of being left undisturbed for a little time. But we lost 40 of
our horses, who had caught the dreaded horse-sickness whilst passing through
the bush country.
On
the second day of our stay at Blackwood Camp I sent 150 men under
Commandants Groenwald and Viljoen through the Banks, via Staghoek, to attack
the enemy's camp near Wagendrift on the Olifant's River. This was a
detachment of the force which had been surrounding us. We discovered that
they were still trying to find us, and that the patrol which had followed us
were not aware of our having got away. It appears that they only discovered
this several days afterwards, and great must have been the good general's
surprise when they found that the birds had flown and their great laid
schemes had failed.
My
150 men approached the enemy's camp early in the morning, and when at a
short range began pouring in a deadly rifle fire on the western side. The
British soldiers, who were not dreaming of an attack, ran to and fro in wild
disorder. Our burghers, however, ceased firing when they saw that there were
many women and children in the camp, but the enemy began soon to pour out a
rifle and gun fire, and our men were obliged to carry on the fight.
After a few days' absence they returned to our camp and reported to me that
"they had frightened the English out of their wits, for they thought we were
to the east at Roos Senekal, whereas we turned up from the west."
Of course the British speedily discovered where we were, and came marching
up from Poortjesnek in great force. But we sent out a patrol to meet them,
and the latter by passing them west of Rhenosterkop effectually misled them,
and we were left undisturbed at Blackwood Camp.
This left us time to prepare for crossing the railway; so I despatched
scouts south to see how matters stood, and bade them return the next day. We
knew that a number of small commandos were located on the south side of the
railway, but to effect a junction was a difficult matter, and we would risk
getting trapped between the columns if we moved at random. The railway and
all the roads were closely guarded, and great care was being taken to
prevent any communication between the burghers on either side of the line.
