CHAPTER XV

THE FIGHTING PREVIOUS TO DOORNKOP’S BATTLE

Steve inquired from his friend the field cornet for particulars of the fight previous to his arrival. We give the words of the field cornet _verbatim_:--

‘Fighting began yesterday. We were only a small party of Burghers at first, and could hardly expect to defeat Jameson on the open veld, so we harassed him as much as possible, to delay him until reinforcements arrived. But we had to remain at a distance most of the time, as we had only rifles to fight with, and they had Maxims, which carried much farther than our Martinis, not to speak of their field-pieces. But later on in the day we reached a strong position. We were directly in Jameson’s road. He had to conquer us before he could pass on towards Johannesburg _via_ Krugersdorp. But we were quite confident that our position was inaccessible to the enemy. We had selected a _rise_, crested with rocks, offering good shelter against the enemy’s fire. Below the rise, and between us and the enemy, was a spruit, spreading out into a marsh. Through this marshy spruit the enemy had to pass before reaching our position. Beyond the marsh the enemy took up a position with their cannon and Maxims, sending out three detachments to charge us. One party of about eighty troopers charged our centre, through the usual drift of the spruit, while the other two detachments charged our left and right wings respectively. At this moment our ammunition was giving in. We had anxiously been awaiting an ammunition train, which we had been informed had been despatched from Pretoria for our use. Half-an-hour before the enemy prepared to charge, a messenger had arrived from Krugersdorp to inform us of the arrival of the ammunition train there, with a promise that a trolley loaded with the required ammunition would soon follow. Now, just at the moment when the enemy were leaving their own position to charge us, and when we most needed it, the much-longed-for ammunition trolley arrived upon the scene. An old man, with several others, was standing on the trolley handing packets of cartridges down, when a shell from the enemy fell right on top of the ammunition trolley between the group handing the cartridges down, and burst. Marvellous to relate, the shell did no injury to the ammunition, nor was anyone hurt.

‘“A miracle! a miracle, brothers!” cried the old man. “God is with us, let us fight and conquer; God has given them into our hands.” The face of the old patriarch glowed with faith as he spoke.

‘This seemed to give us all fresh courage and enthusiasm, and as the enemy came charging in their three divisions we repelled them with great loss to themselves. The right and left divisions of the enemy were simply forced to retire in disorder, leaving several of their comrades on the veld. The centre detachment of the enemy succeeded in reaching the drift of the spruit, but the Burgher fire was too hot for them; a part of them fled back and succeeded in rejoining their main force, but seven of them were left wounded on the road, and, as we afterwards ascertained, nineteen of them took cover amongst the tall grass of the marsh, and lay in the mud and water until their main force retired from the scene towards evening, when we took the above-mentioned nineteen troopers prisoners. Poor fellows, they were in a sorry plight; they had been lying under water and mud all the time, with only their noses and mouths out of water for breathing.

‘As I said, the main force saw that they could not force our position, and retired, cutting across the veld with the hope of avoiding us; but while the majority of us remained to guard the road at the drift, about one hundred of us kept abreast of Jameson’s force, so as to prevent them from slipping through.

‘We saw Jameson was heading towards the railway cutting, so we raced on ahead and took possession of the cutting, using the embankment as a breastwork, and again brought the invaders to a full stop. As it was getting dark now, Jameson encamped for the night, out of rifle shot from the embankment; but he was near enough to keep on shelling our position, off and on, during the night. But as we were well protected by our embankment, no harm was done.

‘During the night, a sad accident happened.

‘The son of Commandant Cronje, who was rather too venturesome, had crossed the railway cutting and was riding about on the other side. We could not recognise him in the dark. We thought it was a spy from the enemy. We called out three times, “Who goes there?” but received no reply. Whether he did not hear us, I cannot say; some of our men fired and he fell, severely wounded. It is a sad thing that, out of five of our Burghers who have been killed, two have been killed by our own men, besides the one wounded just now by that careless young man. And another, I hear, has been killed to-day by our own men. He was near to the enemy, and as his dress was somewhat similar to Jameson’s troopers, he was fired at and killed; and our men only found out their mistake when too late.

‘Well, to resume, when day broke, Jameson once more earnestly set to work, trying to beat us back from the embankment, but in vain. We drove him along the line, always keeping him back and preventing him from crossing. But while he kept us busy, he sent some of his heavy field-pieces on ahead, which crossed over before we saw their dodge, as we were busy repelling charge after charge from Jameson’s troopers. As he was able to sweep our side of the embankment now, we had to leave Jameson in possession of the line. We now resolved once more to retire, and go on ahead to cut Jameson off at some other convenient place. Jameson was now on the road to Doornkop, and in possession of the road. It was vain for us to attempt stopping him on the open road, as he had the advantage of numbers, as well as having cannon and Maxims against our rifles. We resolved to cut across the veld towards the drift at Brinks’ farm, which Jameson must cross to reach Krugersdorp, unless he took the other road, on which our commando was waiting for him. We raced across the veld and arrived here, finding you in possession already. The rest you know yourself.’

‘Yes, but you say one hundred of you left the main commando to watch Jameson as he was dodging about; what has become of those hundred men? There are only eighty-seven here on the battlefield, besides those who came after the battle was over. What has become of the rest?’

‘Well, you see, as we raced across the veld to cut Jameson off here, those who had the weakest horses were left behind, and they, in their turn, were again cut off by Jameson’s men, and they had to go a roundabout way to reach us. I see they have arrived now, but too late to take part in the fight.’

Steve thanked his friend for the information, and resumed his investigations elsewhere.

Steve was detailed to assist in guarding the prisoners, and as he spoke English well, he questioned them and got much information from them.

One of them told him that he had been lying in a slight depression of the ground during the fight. He said,--

‘I thought that, if I lay flat, the Boers could never hit me, as a slight hollow seemed to afford me all the protection I needed. But the bullets kept striking right in front of my eyes, and the ground seemed to be wearing down more and more in front of me, so that the bullets, instead of passing over me, threatened to soon pass through me. I had a hatchet, which I used to deepen my little hollow as fast as my protection was being shot away. Thus, by hugging the ground closely, I managed to escape safe and sound to the end.’

Many of them told tales of marvellous escapes from the unerring aim of the Burghers, as well as unheard-of hiding-places used by them during the battle.

They told of how they had to leave dead and wounded, the day before; Jameson seeming to think that the dead might bury its own dead!--he only cared for the living.

I may here state that the Government sent parties on the route travelled to bury the dead and succour the deserted wounded. Some of these last had undergone terrible sufferings--wounded, unprotected, unsheltered, deserted by their friends, they lay on the veld; but Jameson has enough to answer for already--over this we shall draw a veil and say no more.

Another told how he was one of several who had been sent from Johannesburg to join Jameson beyond the border. They had been engaged to fight Kaffirs. When they were told that they were going to march to Johannesburg, many deserted. These latter were Afrikanders of the right sort, and declined to fight their own countrymen.

‘Even I would have deserted if I had had the chance, but I was too closely watched,’ remarked his informant.

‘But could these Afrikanders, who meant the Transvaal well, not send a telegram to warn the Government of their danger and of Jameson’s intentions?’

‘No; why we could not even write a letter to our relatives unless it was submitted to the officers to first read it.’

‘When did you first learn your true destination?’

‘When Jameson and other officers addressed us, and told us that we were going to assist men, women and children at the Rand, who were in danger of their lives. He told us that we were going to assist in upholding British supremacy in South Africa, and that he was sure not a shot would be fired; also, that the Boers would not be molested.

‘He asked for volunteers, but no one moved until ordered to do so. Great promises were made to us. We were promised £1000 and a farm each if successful, besides other considerations. I am afraid we have lost that farm and £1000,’ he concluded smilingly.

Another one informed Steve how Jameson had been preparing for months back for his raid into the Transvaal.

‘We were not supposed to know what the great preparations were made for; it was stated by our leaders that we were going to fight some native chief, but many of us had our suspicions. There was too much mystery and private conference amongst the officers. I for one had my suspicions, and it has exactly turned out as I expected. I am only surprised that your Government did not suspect what was going on. Why, all along our route we found buildings erected, containing stores, forage and food for ourselves, and even fresh horses. All this must have taken time to prepare. Always in due time we found one of these stores, containing food and forage.’

‘But how is it that I hear your leader wrote, in reply to the protest of the Commandant of Marico against his entry into the country, that he came in reply to a request for help from leading men in Johannesburg to protect life and property, and to help them to obtain certain political rights, for which they had asked a week ago. He also gave you and others to understand that he was going to Johannesburg to protect women and children against goodness knows what. Now the only danger that Johannesburg and its inhabitants may be in might be because they have been in a revolutionary state for the last few days. How could Jameson have known months ago that this would be the case, if he has been preparing himself for months?’

‘Oh, you must be innocent! Do you believe, or do you think we ever believed this story about protecting women and children. Look here! I am a man of the world, and I know when two and two make four. I have kept my eyes and ears open, and I have found out a thing or two, and you may believe me when I say that the whole thing is a deep laid plot to dispossess your Government of all responsibility of the government of the Transvaal. You must know that Johannesburg is altogether too rich to be left in the possession of the Boers, and certain wealthy and avaricious persons in England, Cape Town and Johannesburg have formed a great plot to get possession of your country. You may thank your stars that you have defeated us; if you had allowed us to once enter Johannesburg, I think Paul Kruger and his people would have been lost, and instead of Paul Kruger, Cecil Rhodes would have been your chief, and I pity your people if Cecil Rhodes had them in his power; he would rule them with a rod of iron.’

‘Thank God, Cecil Rhodes is not all-powerful,’ said Steve; ‘even the power of a millionaire and diamond king is limited, and I hope that after this, the eyes of the Colonial Afrikander Bond will be opened, and that his power will be more limited still?’

‘Do your people then know that he is at the head of all this plot and revolution?’

‘We do not know yet positively, but we suspect a great deal, and will know all soon, I expect.’

Steve was very tired that evening, but he saw that many Burghers had had a very hard struggle to arrive in time, and that most of them had slept even less than he had done the last few days, and not one of them complained, or tried to shirk duty, therefore he volunteered for guard duty or anything else that he might be required for. He was then appointed to be one of the guards escorting the officers to Pretoria.