CHAPTER XIII

THE BATTLE OF DOORNKOP

Steve’s horse went bravely on, but with slackened speed. We will not follow his further journey too closely; he met many people, all telling different tales as to the fortunes of war. One confirmed Captain Thatcher’s tale, while others totally denied it.

Steve now found himself in the vicinity of Krugersdorp. It was Thursday, the third day since he had left his friends on the banks of the Vaal. He had travelled about one hundred and fifty miles or more during the forty-eight hours since he had left them.

He was riding along as fast as his horse would go; for he knew he was reaching his journey’s end, and he could restrain his impatience no longer. He saw a man galloping towards him in a slanting direction, which would take him towards Krugersdorp. As the man approached near enough, he recognised him to be a newspaper reporter whom he had known in Pretoria.

He stopped the reporter and inquired eagerly for news.

‘Oh! the Burghers are holding their own bravely. Since yesterday they have kept Jameson dancing about, trying to force his way through to Johannesburg, but in vain; Jameson can’t get any nearer Johannesburg. The Burghers are gradually enclosing him, and soon they will have him and his freebooters at their mercy.’

‘Thank God! but how many Burghers have been killed?’

‘Up to now, two or three at the most, and as many wounded, while Jameson has lost heavily all along.’

‘What? You are fooling me!’

‘Why?’

‘Last night I heard a report, spread by one Captain Thatcher, a despatch rider of Jameson’s, that three hundred Boers were killed, and that Jameson had beaten the Boers.’

‘It is a d----d lie!’ was the impolite but emphatic denial. ‘You can take my word for it that not more than two or three Boers are killed, and one was killed by accident in the dark by his own people, while the Boers have never been beaten yet by Jameson; on the contrary, the Boers have held Jameson in check all along, and have only been waiting for reinforcements and their artillery to carry Jameson and his troopers by storm.’

The reporter here stopped, and sat looking at Steve open-mouthed. The antics of this young man were really amusing, to say the least of it. He had rolled off his horse, and was now lying on his back, kicking his feet in the air, and now he was capering about on the grass, throwing summersault upon summersault, all the while shouting and laughing like one possessed.

‘I say, Joubert, stop that; are you mad? Get on your horse and go on; I have no time to look after a lunatic now, or to take you to the lunatic asylum.’

‘I beg your pardon, old man; I had to do it, or I should really have gone mad from joy, but I am better now,’ said Steve, remounting his horse. ‘Where are you going to?’ he asked of the reporter.

‘Oh, I am off to town to send news to the _Pretoria Press_, which I represent here. And what do you intend doing?’

‘I wish to join one of our commandos; where shall I find one?’

‘If you will go to the top of that rise there, you will see the whole position. When I came over it, the Burghers were retreating from the railway cutting (which they had occupied during the night) towards that very ridge. I think they intend taking possession of it and the drift, so as to finally stop the progress of the Chartered troops. Good-bye; I must be off to send particulars of our position to our paper. Take care of yourself and keep out of the way of the Maxims.’

What gratitude filled the heart of Steve now when he knew that Captain Thatcher’s story was all lies and invention.

It went beyond Steve’s comprehension what object any man could have in telling such deliberate lies. This Captain Thatcher ought to have known that what he was saying was all lies, and that ultimately his want of veracity was bound to be discovered. Steve could find only one explanation, and that was that such a person tells lies simply for the love of the thing, and for the temporary notoriety that such sensational tales may bring. Some people have a way of manufacturing their news according to the demand of their audiences. If the audience were composed of Government haters and Jameson sympathisers the news was made to suit their wishes, while if it were friends of the Government, the contrary rule was observed.

When Steve came to the top of the height he saw a party of Burghers coming directly towards him. At a distance he perceived a large troop of men coming in apparent pursuit of the Burghers. These latter he correctly took to be Jameson’s filibusters.

‘Thank God! I have arrived in time to fight with my countrymen for life or--death. And if it is to lose, I would a thousand times rather die than live!’ thought Steve to himself.

Where he was standing on the rise or ridge, a reef was cropping out, throwing out projections of rocks, which formed splendid natural fortifications, giving good protection against the fire of an enemy coming in the direction from which Jameson was coming.

The Burghers seemed to be retiring from the enemy--_so were_ they. The fire from Jameson’s Maxims and long-range field-pieces could not be resisted on the open veld, for which reason they were retiring towards the aforesaid out-croppings, where Steve was standing. When they arrived on the spot, Steve discovered the field cornet in command of the Burghers to be an old acquaintance and friend of his. It did not take Steve more than a minute to explain matters, and to be provided with a spare rifle and a belt of ammunition.

The Burghers now took up their position amongst the rocks (which were situated exactly on the sky line of the ridge mostly, thus giving them the command of the approaches to the drift through which Jameson must pass if he passed the Burghers at all) and prepared to oppose the passage of the enemy. Jameson came on now--Maxims, field-pieces and all; his force was variously estimated from five hundred to eight hundred men. His troops were forcing onwards towards the drift.

Opposing his passage to the drift were eighty-seven Burghers (this is correct, as near as possible; there may have been a difference of one or two, more or less--but rather less) disposed in the following manner:--

In the first patch of rocks, two hundred yards from the road, twenty-five men occupied a position; farther on fifteen men were disposed a little nearer to the drift, but in a line with the aforesaid twenty-five men; still nearer to the drift seven men were lying in wait. Beyond the drift, about seven hundred yards away, forty Burghers occupied a small kopje. These forty men could only fire at long range on the enemy, as the long range field-pieces of the enemy prevented their leaving their shelter. The seven and fifteen men mentioned had to do most of the fighting, and had to stand the hottest fire, as the Maxims were playing almost continually on their position, but they were nobly supported by the twenty-five men stationed a little higher up. Jameson’s passage to the drift was soon stopped by the heavy fire of the Burghers, his men were dropping continually. He was obliged to give up all idea of crossing, and took possession of a farmhouse, a cattle kraal and stone-walled land. His Maxims and field-pieces were protected partially by the stone wall of the land. The majority of troops took possession of the kraal and the house. The men in possession of the kraal and house found themselves directly opposed to the twenty-five men on the ridge. The Maxims directed their fire mostly on the parties of fifteen and seven, who were directly opposite them. The field-pieces directed the full force of their fire on the forty Burghers occupying the kopje beyond the drift, who were seven hundred yards away, while the party of twenty-five was about two hundred yards from the kraal and house occupied by the enemy, and the parties of fifteen and seven, who were near to each other, were about one hundred yards from the troopers, and four hundred yards from the Maxims. More Burghers, amounting to over one thousand, were certainly in the neighbourhood of the battlefield, but were too far away to take part in the fight, and those occupying the positions above described were the only Burghers fighting--actually fighting, I mean--against Jameson at the battle of Doornkop. Steve found himself amongst the party of fifteen described as being opposed to the Maxims.

It was a terrible ordeal for those twenty-two men lying flat behind the rocks. The Maxim bullets literally rained on them, and, unprotected by the rocks, every soul of that little band would have been wiped out in a few moments.

Steve heard (in fact, felt) a continuous patter against the rock in front of him. It seemed to him as if a whole battery of Maxims were firing at that particular rock. The chips of rock and sand were raining upon him, thrown up by the bullets. Luckily his rock was just large enough to protect him against the heavy and continuous fire. Once he just peeped over a little dent in the rock, took aim and fired, when _whew_ came a bullet right through his hat. Next moment his body must have moved slightly outside the line protected by the rock, when he felt a stinging sensation at his hip, a bullet had just grazed him. He got several more through his clothing in this way, as he moved and wormed himself about to take aim to fire. Luckily the Maxims could not fire all over at once, and while they fired at one party the other party would take advantage of the diversion in their favour to rain well-aimed shots on the enemy, and when a Burgher fired he reckoned upon one enemy being the less, either wounded or killed. For a Transvaal Boer never wastes ammunition; he never fires unless he is sure of his aim. A pang of pity went through Steve’s heart as he saw the poor troopers of Jameson dropping down one after the other; he felt that, although they were guilty of a great wrong to his country, still they were human, and to be hurled into eternity while participating in such a cowardly, back-handed blow against a people who had looked upon them as friends, and not as foes, was awful. And while aiming his rifle as accurately as he could, he murmured a prayer for the souls of those that he was helping to send to the judgment seat of God, but--in self-defence, in defence of country and national existence.

When first the fight began, Steve had felt the trembling, half fear, half suspense and excitement, usually experienced by the soldier on first facing the fire of battle. But soon he felt as calm and cool as if he were taking part in a target practice.

‘By Heaven, but these English can fight better than I thought,’ remarked a Burgher on the left of Steve. ‘I have never known them to fight so bravely before; I will give them credit for that.’

‘Yes, they do fight bravely,’ replied an old man next to him. ‘I never saw a brave fight such as this in 1881; but you must remember they have had their training in South Africa.’

‘True,’ was the reply.

At this moment Steve heard a groan on his right. Turning round, he saw a young fellow lying in such a position, that he perceived at once he must be wounded. He rolled himself towards the wounded man, took his head upon his knees and spoke to him, but received no answer. On examination he saw that he had been shot through the head. It was poor M’Donald, who, although shot through the brain, lived ten days longer, and then died, when he received an honoured funeral.

Steve helped to carry the wounded man down the opposite side of the ridge into safety, where he was left with one more wounded Burgher, in a small deserted house, in the care of two men. Steve then returned to his place, and resumed his share in the fierce fight.

The battle was raging fierce and hot. The cannon of the Chartered troops roared hoarsely above the rattle of small arms; while the continuous rat-a-tat-tat-tat of the Maxims was also to be distinguished from the more irregular and less incessant cracking of the rifles. A heavy cloud of smoke was floating above, concealing the sun as if it wished to hide the murderous work from the sight of Heaven. The slaughter amongst the Chartered troops was terrible. One detachment after another bravely charged the position of the Burghers, under the protection of their Maxims; but it was in vain, the heavy and accurate fire of the Burghers forced them to retire with great loss every time; and the Chartered troopers were only too glad to regain their shelter.

In spite of his pity for them, Steve’s heart throbbed with a joy almost savage in its intensity when he saw the troopers giving way all along the line. They seemed to look for some point of safety towards which they might fly. But ’tis a vain hope. Look towards whatever side they will, they could see Burghers in the distance awaiting them. _They were thoroughly hemmed in._

Steve saw all this and realised the position in which Jameson must find himself. He tried to place himself in Jameson’s position in imagination.

‘What should I do if I were to find myself in such a hole of my own making? Should I surrender and take my chance of getting out alive? Could I expect to get out alive in case I surrendered? No! A filibustering murderer can expect nothing but death. Death would be my sentence, by _Human Laws_, by _Moral Law_, by God’s Law. I could not even expect a word of mercy from England. She has disowned me and my expedition, and I have disobeyed her. _No_, rather than give in now, after having ventured so much and risked so much to obtain my aim (whatever that may be), I would rather fight to the end and obtain that sympathy and that martyrdom that the grave always brings. That would be something, at least, while to surrender _now_ would mean eternal disgrace, trouble unending, and perhaps death on the scaffold.

But Jameson must have thought otherwise, as we shall see. He was either too cowardly to die such a death, or he must have known beforehand that external aid (of which Steve did not know then) would be rendered him. He must have known (maybe it was promised him in case of failure) that the full weight of Chartered influences and Chartered capital would be exerted in his favour.

While Steve was thus meditating, as he surveyed the field of battle and Jameson’s hopeless condition, the battle was still proceeding as fiercely as ever. Turn and twist as they would, the Chartered troops found that the Boer bullets followed them everywhere.

Suddenly a cheer was raised by the Burghers. Steve looked to see the reason for this, and saw, directed by the joyful looks of the Burghers, the State artillery taking up a position on a distant rise.

The artillery had arrived at last, but too late. At this moment a white flag was hoisted by the Chartered troops. It had been asserted by some that the Burghers fired a volley after the white flag was hoisted. It is partly true. The flag was hoisted by the troopers directly facing Steve’s party of Burghers. The white flag was out of sight of the twenty-five Burghers stationed higher up, as the rocks hid the lower end of Jameson’s line from their view. Therefore a few shots were fired by them the moment after the flag was hoisted. But the shouts of their companions who saw the flag apprised them of the fact, when, of course, they immediately ceased firing.

The Burghers now left their shelter and came out, walking and riding towards Jameson’s position. Jameson’s troopers deployed, so as to place themselves between the Burghers and their own Maxims and cannon.

The field cornet now ordered a Burgher named P. Nagel to go and see ‘what the English wanted.’ He went, and returned with a request from Jameson to be allowed to return over the border. He (Jameson) was informed that his request was impossible, as he had had the opportunity given him to return before any fighting took place, and he failed to take advantage of it, but that a meeting of officers would be called together at once to further consider his request.

In the meanwhile Commandant Cronje, who was with the Burghers beyond the drift, sent to Jameson to know whether he surrendered, being unaware of the messenger sent by the field cornet, and whose report had been submitted to Commandant Polgieter of Krugersdorp. Jameson replied to Commandant Cronje’s message with an offer to surrender if the lives of himself and men were guaranteed, whereupon Commandant Cronje informed Jameson that if he laid down his arms and would promise to pay the expenses of the Government of the South African Republic, that he would guarantee the lives of himself and men _until handed over to the Commandant-General, when the Krijgsraad would further decide upon his case_. More, he had no authority to promise. He gave Jameson thirty minutes to consider and accept. _Jameson accepted._