The Fifes in South Africa: Being a History of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry ...

Google

This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project

to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the

publisher to a library and finally to you.

Usage guidelines

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe.

About Google Book Search

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web

at |http: //books .google .com/I

/.

^, dj^^c^ So-vXt

J3oi-

M
t]
•I
II

i

|l
S<

!i

la
Jl

if

^

THE FIFES IN SOUTH AFRICA

^NY

Siu

rrcc K,

i

THE SEW YOKK

PUBLIC IIBRABY

AffTOK LBNOX AND

B

Colonel Sir John Qllmour, Bart.

z'

niE FlFliS

T T

SOUTH AFRIC.\

;:K1Ni' \ U\W'C:-:\ '.

. n .■ '■■'

If!

. J.

an:; K0RF.\R \fA^'^!^\HV iN TJTf

bOTTH

•\ 1 >\ :

Vfc

T'

(j

U ' (> I. \\

CUJ^VRilM::: A. Vi.<l\V<.)\^ .\ SvV,

1 'V

.* *•

*•

tt

^. .«.*.^.,:^

?,

>s^ ...

' *!

:v

4

•V

. t

*

r.

.Si

.*. *

}'

■*»"

*J-

.'^;

,'\ i*f«rl.

THE FIFES

IN

SOUTH AFRICA

r

BEING A HISTORY OF THE FIFE

AND FORFAR YEOMANRY IN THE

SOUTH AFRICAN WAR, 1900- 1901

BY

9i76 I.Y.

CUPAR-FIFE: A. WESTWOOD & SON

»903

T

217902B

/>t

Z)eMcate^ to tbe Aemors

OF

Caftain W. B. CHAPPEL HODGE,

LiBUTBNANT A. C. CAMPBELL,

Troopers GRANT, MATTHEW, MUDGE, OGILVIE,

PRENTICE, RENNY, WACHER, WALKER,

WILSON. YEOMANS,

And of his Faithful Friend Trooper E. A. M*GRADY,

BY

9176 LY.

*^ Not once or twice in our fair island'Story^
The path of duty was the way to gloryJ**

INTRODUCTION.

WHEN I consented to write an Introduction to the
History of the 20th Company, I did so with the
feeling that little would be required to introduce or ex-
plain the following pages.

Briefly, then, this book sets before its readers a history
of the work and wanderings of the first active service
contingent of the Imperial Yeomanry.

The outbreak of the Boer war, and the subsequent
development in the military situation in South Africa,
necessitated the despatch of a large force of mounted
troops in the early part of the year 1900, and all over
the country the Yeomanry force fprmed the nucleus of
this general movement The organisation, equipment,
and drilling of the various companies were materially
assisted by having existing headquarters and permanent
staffs who could deal with the many intricate questions
which arose. The country at large, and the officers and
men who went out to South Africa, owe to them a debt
of gratitude which is difficult to estimate or fittingly to
acknowledge.

In the district occupied by the Fife and Forfar Light
Horse — at that time the last existing body of Mounted
Volunteers, and which has now become Yeomanry — the
response to the call for men to serve their country was

viii. Introduction

most satisfactory. Probably no company went out more
serviceably equipped, owing very largely to the kindness
and foresight of many friends in Fife and Forfar and
the surrounding districts. Such an interest was mani-
fested in the welfare of the Company, and so closely
were its various movements followed, that it appeared as
if a history in a modest form might meet with accep-
tance, and herein is an apology for intrusion if such is
required.

Looking back on the events of 1900 and 1901, I
venture to think that the history of the Empire will be
far from complete without a history of the movement
which resulted in the formation of the Yeomanry. The
spirit which prompted it was the same spirit which was
the making of all those enterprises in the days of Drake
and Nelson — ^a love of the mother country, a feeling of
intense patriotism, a joy of fighting. Fostered and kept
alive as it was through many years of peace by a small
and patriotic body of civilian soldiers, it broke out with
no uncertain flame at a time of necessity.

Modern warfare, with modem arms of precision, had
greatly altered the conditions of opposing forces. Add
to this a country of immense size, and endowed with
strong natural defences, held by an enemy with the
hardihood of all pioneers, with a language which was
understood only by a small proportion of our forces, and
assisted by a native population who, from long acquain-
tance with the Boer, feared him and served him until
they saw him beaten, small wonder is it that the South
African war dragged on, or that the penalty we paid

Introduction ix.

was a heavy one. Individualism in officers and men
was required, adaptability to circumstances was abso-
lutely essential, and the more rapidly this was achieved
the sooner the end would come. In military organisa-
tions, as in all others, the duties of one arm differs widely
from the other, and where in one branch of the service
absolute precision is essential, in another it is the want
of it which assures success.

The impressions which I carried away from this cam-
paign are many and varied ; but, if I may be allowed
to say so, nothing was more prominent than the deter-
mination — the dogged, determination — of all the troops,
whether regular or auxiliary. Cheerful under the most
trying circumstances, humane to their enemies, and chiv-
alrous to the women and children, the British soldier
could still fight and march and starve and die if need
be. Happy is the fatherland which, like ours, has sons
to rally round it from all quarters of the globe — Cana-
dians, Australians, New Zealanders, Indians, Afrikanders,
Colonists from every quarter — ^good men and true, who,
by their actions, impressed on the world the fact that
our Empire was one in fact and not in name alone.

In conclusion, let us not forget the memory of our
comrades who shared with us those days of patriotism,
and who in the fulfilment of their vows gave their lives
for their country and their Sovereign. In this and in
our wanderings there is a tie which binds us over never
to forget the honour of our Company and our land.

To many reading these pages memories will arise of
deeds and words unrecorded which will none the less

X. Introduction

live with us, and if the history serves but to remind us
of them, it will have done much. I, at least, am glad
to have assisted the Author even in a small way in the
production of this volume. And having shared with the
Company their fortunes and misfortunes, I would fain
take this opportunity to express my appreciation of
their services, and to wish them God-speed.

JOHN GILMOUR,

Major, Fife and For&r Imperial Yeomanry.

CONTENTS.

Chapter
I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XL

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.
XX.

Page

Six Weeks in Cupar - - - - ^

Cupar to Cape Town - - - - 15

Three Weeks in the Colony - - - 22

To KiMBERLEY 28

Relief of Mafeking - - - - 33

Occupation of Potchefstroom - - 41

To Pretoria 48

The Fun Begins 55

A Trek in the Bushveldt - - - 66

With Clements 73

Death of Captain Hodge - - - 83

Nooitgedacht (Never-to-be-Forgotten) - 90

A Little Band and Lowly - - - loi

middlefontein and modderfontein - i07

With Gallant Benson - - - - 114

The Losberg 122

Farewell to the Transvaal - - - 131

Bloemfontein, and Rambles in the Free

State 139

Homeward Bound 151

The Brighter Side of War - j- - 164

Appendices, containing List of Names, Itiner-
ary of Company, &c. - - - - 169

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Colonel Sir John Gilmour, Bart - - Frontispiece

The Company at Cupar 15

Camp at Stellenbosch 27

Picquet at Potchefstroom 40

Captain Hodge 83

Sketch of Position where Captain Hodge was Killed 85

The Company at Krugersdorp 93

A Tent at Krugersdorp - loi

Sketch of Position at Middlefontein - - - 108

Sketch of Blanket Bivouac as used in the Field - 128

"The Submerged 20th" 130

Photos of Lieutenants 151

Map showing Scene of Operations of 20th Company

NOTES ON THE ORIGIN OF THE
IMPERIAL YEOMANRY.

Taken from Blue Book.

SO early in the war as the second week of October,
1899, Colonel Lucas had an interview with the
Inspector- General of Auxiliary Forces, and proposed
that a composite regiment of Yeomanry should be
mobilised at once for active service, but the answer
was that there was no intention of utilising the services
of the Yeomanry in South Africa.

Again, in November, this idea of a composite regiment
drawn from the different corps of Volunteer Yeomanry
in England was urged upon the War Office, and it was
proposed that men should provide their own horses and
equipment.

The reply received on 28th November, 1899, was
"that there was no intention of employing the Yeo-
manry at present in South Africa."

As a matter of fact, Lord Lonsdale had already, early
in November, got together a fully-equipped force of 500
men. and was arranging for mounting them and obtain-
ing the necessary saddlery and transport to enable them
to take the field. He then saw Sir Evelyn Wood, and
asked him if the service of such a force would be ac-
cepted, but was assured that there was no possibility of
this being done.

On December 8th Lord Lonsdale and Lord Chesham

called together on the Under-Secretary for War and Sir
B

2 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

Evelyn Wood. It was then arranged to raise a force of
3000 men, and to make arrangements at once to obtain
the necessary mounts. This force was almost immedi-
ately raised to 8000 men, and finally 10,500 men were
called for, and the following public advertisement was
the first intimation which the country had of the fact
that at last the authorities realised the urgent need for
mounted troops in South Africa.

First announcement in public press re the raising of
the Imperial Yeomanry, December, 1899: —

1. Her Majesty's Government have decided to raise
for service in South Africa a Mounted Infantry force, to
be named " The Imperial Yeomanry."

2. The force will be recruited from the Yeomanry, but
Volunteers and civilians who may possess the requisite
qualifications (as given below) will be specially enrolled
in the Yeomanry for this purpose.

3. The force will be organised in companies of 115
rank and file, five officers being allotted to each company
— viz., one captain and four subalterns, preference being
given to Yeomanry officers.

4. The terms of enlistment for officers and men will
be for one year, or for not less than the period of the
war.

5. The officers and men will bring their own horses,
clothing, saddlery, and accoutrements. Arms and am-
munition, camp equipment, and regimental transport
will be provided by Government.

6. The men will be dressed in Norfolk jackets of
woollen material of neutral colour, breeches and gaiters,
lace boots, and felt hats. Strict uniformity of pattern
will not be insisted on.

7. The pay will be at cavalry rates, with a capitation
grant for horses, clothing, saddles, and accoutrements.
All ranks will receive rations from date of joining.

Notes on their Origin 3

Gratuities and allowances will be those laid down in
Special Army Order of loth May, 1899.

8. Applications for enrolment should be addressed
to Colonels commanding Yeomanry regiments, or to
General Officers commanding districts, to whom instruc-
tions will be immediately issued.

Had I a dozen sons, each in my love alike,

I had rather had eleven die nobly for their country

Than one voluptuously surfeit out of action.

— CORIOLANUS.

CHAPTER I.

SIX WEEKS IN CUPAR.

THESE were stirring times in the County Town.
Cupar had not been so busy for many a day:
the shops and streets had never been so crowded and
so bustling as they were in the beginning of the year
1900. The Fife folk were determined to show them-
selves worthy citizens in this hour of crisis in the
country's history. Patriotism beamed on every face
and found a place in every heart.

Groups of young men in the railway station, the
rattle of spurs on the pavements, the noisy clamour of
the various hotel parlours throughout the town, all told
the same tale. The capital of the Kingdom of Fife had
not forgotten that it had a duty to perform to the
Empire in the day of its necessity. From all corners of
the County, and from the remotest shires of the High-
lands, every train brought its quota of stalwart youths,
eager to shoulder a rifle in the service of their Queen.

An advertisement in the newspapers had announced
that a corps was to be formed for service in South
Africa, and immediately every young man who could
ride and shoot (or who thought he could) was on his
way to Cupar to offer his service. The pen was thrown
down, the student's books were laid aside, the farm was
left to take care of itself, and every one was speculating
on his chance of success at the ranges or in the riding
school. In many cases anxious parents, alarmed at
the war fever that had broken out, tried to exert their

6 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

authority to keep their sons at home. There is an
old saying, however, " He that will to Cupar maun to
Cupar," and it was never more true than in this case.

Having passed the doctor's examination, surmounted
the hurdle, and made a sufficient score at the shooting
range at Priestfield, 120 men, between twenty and thirty-
five years of age, were enrolled for service against the
Boer. Hundreds of others who failed to pass in one or
other of the tests were rejected, and turned away from
the butts or the riding school with a heavy heart be-
cause they were to be left behind by their more success-
ful comrades.

The popular and energetic Colonel of the Fife Light
Horse, Sir John Gilmour, Bart, of Lundin and Montrave,
was the man of the hour. Making Cupar his head-
quarters, he spared neither time nor trouble in his
efforts on behalf of the new corps. Here, there, and
everywhere he was the guiding spirit of the movement,
superintending every detail. Whether it was arranging
with tailors or bootmakers for equipment, wiring to head-
quarters, testing men in the riding school, or choosing
horses and saddlery. Sir John was always taking an
active share in the work of the moment

All these matters having been satisfactorily arranged,
the work of training the company began in earnest. The
horses were quartered in the stables of the Royal, Ton-
tine, Station, and Albert Hotels, and the men were
billeted in these houses and in sundry other taverns and
hostels in the town.

At seven o'clock in these dark winter mornings the
sleeping town was roused by the bugles sounding reveille,
and soon hurrying troopers were sallying forth from
every doorway to groom their horses and clean the
stables before the breakfast hour. It was no unusual
sight at daybreak to see some professional man or ex-

I

• • • -

Six Weeks in Cupar J

volunteer officer trundling a barrow to the dunghill,
with sleeves rolled up and a look as if he was to the
manner bom. The corps included all sorts and con-
ditions of men — farmers, doctors, lawyers, cab-drivers,
and blacksmiths were all members of the happy family.
The bond which brought them together knew no respect
of persons, and if veneration was given to any one it
was to the men who sported the Egyptian or Matabele
ribbon in token of campaigns and hardships already
undergone. Three officers and thirty-five members and
ex-members of the Fife and Forfar Light Horse volun-
teered. The majority of the latter were granted non-
commissioned rank on the strength of their superior
knowledge of military matters, and without doubt their
skill did much to ensure the smartness and efficiency of
the company.

In the forenoon of these busy days of training the
riding school was the scene of action. It was a scene of
infinite embarrassment and discomfort to some whose
horsemanship was not up to army standard. The
sergeant-major, with his large whip, was apt to be re-
garded with somewhat mixed feelings by those who did
not know what was good for them. Certainly he had
no small job in hand when he started, and it was greatly
to his credit that the company had never any reason to
be ashamed of its horsemanship in the field. The train-
ing in the riding school took the form of ordinary cavalry
school drill, mounting and dismounting without stirrups
off side and near side, trotting round on stripped saddles
rifle in hand, and other tests of the same sort, which
ensured that every man could ride.

In the afternoon, foot drill and bayonet exercises on
the Fluthers — an open space at one end of the town
— was substituted for mounted work. In the evening,
after the work of the day was over, skating and curling

8 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

were indulged in, and in various other ways the embryo
warriors enjoyed themselves before the last post sounded
to warn them to their quarters. The hospitality and
kindness of the townspeople was unbounded, and fare-
well banquets, farewell smoking concerts, and other
tokens of goodwill were lavished upon the company.
On other nights each hotel held its little party of merry-
makers, and songs and choruses echoed down the streets.
There is ample precedent for soldiers on the eve of war
spending the night in revelry, and certainly the Fife
yeomen enjoyed themselves without stint during those
last few weeks in Cupar.

Each Sunday for several weeks eloquent farewell ser-
mons were preached, and the lusty singing of " Onward,
Christian Soldiers," was indulged in by the company.
Still, there was no word of marching orders, and general
impatience was manifested by officers and men at the
delay. Want of transport was the reason alleged, and
there was nothing for it but to await patiently the order
to embark. It was not known from what port the com-
pany would sail, but Southampton was regarded as the
likely place of embarkation.

During February the weather was exceedingly cold,
and an iron frost bound the earth and made work out
of doors almost impossible. When drill in the open
country was engaged in, the squadron performed cavalry
movements in close formation, and for various reasons,
such as want of space, no work of the nature of scouting
or extended movements was practised.

Captain Hodge, who took command of the company,
had served as an officer in the 12th Lancers, and soon
made a very favourable impression on his men by his
keenness for work and his open, kindly manner in his
dealings with them. He had such a seat in the saddle
as a man only acquires in the hunting field, and in this

J

Six Weeks in Cupar 9

respect he was well supported by his b'eutenants, who all
knew how to handle a horse. With the instinct of the
"clanny Scot," the men would undoubtedly have been
pleased and proud to have had a Fife man at their head ;
but when it became apparent that no local leader was
to be forthcoming, it was generally felt that no better
man than their gallant captain could have been found to
take command. There was a very general feeling that
if the success of the company depended on the energy
and ability of the officers and non-coms., its success was
assured.

It was a picturesque sight to see the yeomen in big
slouch hats and long cavalry overcoats riding through
the snow-covered streets on these bright winter morn-
ings^ Probably some hundreds of years had elapsed
since the Bonnygate of Cupar had worn such a martial
aspect. The clatter of hoofs and the jingling of spurs
must have awakened recollections of days long gone
in the impassive minds of the old buildings that flanked
the way to the new riding school.

At last the glad news arrived that the Fife company
would sail from Liverpool in a few tiays. Everything
was in readiness, and after a few final parades, and a
few last nights of joyous carousal, the great night of the
company's departure arrived. What a nigtit it was !
When will it be forgotten by those who witnessed it ?

The company mustered at eight o'clock in the
yard of the Royal Hotel, and, after a hurried roll call,
marched through the town, headed by a brass band
and a party of torch -bearers, to the railway station.
The route was lined by K Company 6th V.B. Royal
Highlanders, and the streets were crowded with an
enthusiastic mass of sightseers, who cheered lustily as
the procession marched off. The rain beat down in
torrents ; but it beat down in vain : it could not cool

lo Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

the ardour of the patriotic men and women of Fife.
Every window along the liqe of route was gaily illumi-
nated, and fireworks were discharged from the house-
tops. Many of the men of the company were carried
shoulder high by their friends, and at the gates of the
station a fierce struggle between the police and the
populace almost prevented the departing company
from gaining the inside of the yard. It was a memor-
able night, and as the train steamed away to Liverpool
every heart beat high, and a feeling of great satisfac-
tion was expressed at the idea that at last the enter-
prise to which all were looking forward was begun.

It is perhaps well that men cannot see into the
future, for there were many there that night whose
gaiety would have been turned to gloom if they could
have seen the return of a little band of twenty some
eighteen months later, the representatives of the strong
squadron that set out with such a flourish of trumpets
to beat the Boer.

(Extract from "Dundee Advertiser" of 28th

February, 1900.)

THE FIFE AND FORFAR YEOMANRY.

DEPARTURE FOR THE FRONT.

ENTHUSIASTIC SEND-OFF.

Last night the Fife and Forfar unit of the Imperial
Yeomanry got what may be termed a Royal send-ofT
from the county town of Fifeshire on the eve of their
departure for South Africa. The streets were densely
crowded, they were brilliantly illuminated, and the
march of the Yeomanry from the Royal Hotel to the
Railway Station was a memorable military procession.
During the day the town was en fite^ and the deplorable
weather failed to damp the enthusiasm that prevailed.
St Catherine Street presented a magnificent appearance.
It was crossed by streamers and flaglets at different
points, and from the County Buildings and many other
edifices floated fine displays of flags, while many of
them were brilliantly illuminated. The British Linen
Company's Bank premises, which have been the head-
quarters of the staff, were embellished with flags and
banners. A large illuminated crown occupied the
centre, having a large V on the one side and an R on
the other. The Bonnygate, although off the main
route, was also decorated at different parts. In the
Crossgate, shopkeepers and householders vied with each
other in their demonstrations of loyalty and patriotism.

12 Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

and in their desire to wish the Yeomanry God-speed.
Shop windows were lit up, and almost without excep-
tion flags and bannerettes were displayed at every
window. At the entrance gate to the Railway Station
there was a floral arch grandly illuminated, and in
addition there was a large horse shoe, "Good Luck,"
and I.Y. shone in a blaze of light. The muster of the
departing troops took place in the courtyard of the
Royal Hotel at 7.45 p.m. The town's brass band,
surrounded by torch-bearers, Provost Watson, Quarter-
master Osborne, the Magistrates, the Council, and lead-
ing citizens were present.

Provost Watson said that the time had now come
when the Fife and Forfar unit of the Imperial Yeomanry
were to leave home and country and proceed to the seat
of war in South Africa. The glorious news received on
that Majuba Day of the surrender of Cronje and his
army would fire them with intensified enthusiasm.
(Cheers.) While they had much to look forward to,
their thoughts must often dwell on their associations
at home — the most important .being the invaluable
services rendered to them by Colonel Sir John Gilmour,
Bart, who had done so much on their behalf, and whose
name would stand out in distinguished prominence in
the historical record of that movement. (Cheers.) How-
ever bright and happy they were that night, parting,
which always suggested some feelings of regret, on that
occasion seemed to be overshadowed by sentiments of
genuine pride and congratulation. (Cheers.) The in-
habitants of Cupar were exceedingly proud of the Fife
and Forfar Yeomanry, and would cherish in happy
thoughts the memorable occasion of their visit. The
voice of the nation swelled with praise at their splendid
devotion to Queen and country. (Cheers.) In whatever
position they might be placed, led by their brave and

Extract from ^^ Dundee Advertiser*^ 13

accomplished officers they would prove to the world
that they, representing the flower of their youth, were
equal to any duty that they might be called upon to
perform, never forgetting that

Honour and fame from no condition rise ;
Act well your part, there all the honour lies.

(Cheers.) In the name of the Magistrates, Town Coun-
cil, and inhabitants of Cupar, and with the best and
warmest feelings of their hearts, he bade them a kind
farewell, and hoped they would have a safe and plea-
sant voyage. He expressed the sincere and devout
wish that the protecting care of Heaven would guard
and guide them in the performance of their noble and
patriotic duties. (Cheers.)

Three hearty cheers were given on the call of the
Provost for the troopers.

Colonel Sir John Gilmour thanked the Provost for
the kind words he had spoken, and ventured to 3ay,
on behalf of the Fife and Forfar Contingent of the
Imperial Yeomanry that now left the county town,
that these words would be remembered in another land,
and enable them to carry out what all of them wished,
liberty and freedom to all those who would be under
the Empire's flag before long. (Cheers.) The words
would go forth to the counties north of the Forth and
of Fife, and, in speaking in the name of the contingent,
he had to express their deep feelings for the great kind-
ness which they had received during the weeks they
had passed amongst the inhabitants of Cupar. (Cheers.)
He had to thank the members of the Town Council
and the inhabitants of the county town for all they had
done to make their sojourn as pleasant as possible.
They were now leaving, as it were, their own door mat,
and he was sure the citizens wished them every comfort,

14 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

not only on their journey to South Africa, but in all the
duties they hoped and trusted them to perform there.
(Cheers.) They fully realised that night that they were
leaving home, and that they were to take part in a great
work ; but they would always have at home hearts beat-
ing for them, kindly thoughts, and proud sentiments.
They had heard with great pleasure that day of the sur-
render of Cronje, and no doubt that General had heard
that the Fife and Forfar Contingent were at last to start
to the front. (Laughter and cheers.) Again, in name of
the Fife and Forfar Contingent, he thanked the people
of Cupar and those in the counties north of the Forth
for the great kindness they had shown to the contingent
(Cheers.)

The officers going to the front are Captain Hodge,
Lieutenant John Gilmour, Lieutenant James Simpson,
Lieutenant Burton-Stewart, and Lieutenant R. W. Purvis.
Sir John Gilmour accompanied them to Liverpool, where
they will embark to-day for South Africa.

The band having played "God Save the Queen," the
Yeomanry, preceded by the band, surrounded by torch-
bearers, marched through St Catherine Street, the Cross-
gate, and the Station Road to the railway station, where
there was a large concourse of people. The Volunteers
lined the courtyard as a guard of honour. The enthu-
siasm and crowding at the station were something ex-
traordinary. A large contingent of the county police,
under Captain James F. Bremner, the Chief Constable,
had difficulty in restraining the people from bursting
through the iron gates. The train with the contingent
steamed away from the platform at 8.40 p.m., amid
cheers, again and again renewed, and the firing of fog
signals.

^ * it

¥*•

<»'

CHAPTER II.

CUPAR TO CAPE TOWN.

IN the cold grey dawn of a wintry morning the train,
which had been ratth'rig along all night, drew up
beside an enormous empty warehouse on the quay of
one of the Liverpool docks. In front of the yeomen,
as they alighted on the quay and gathered their be-
longings together, was the mighty hulk of a White Star
liner, the Cymric^ which was waiting for its complement
of "khaki ordered south." No sooner had one train
drawn up and been . shunted to a siding, than another
arrived and discharged its human cargo. Thick and fast
they came, until at last it became evident that in the
silence of the frosty night train-loads of eager yeomen
had been speeding to Liverpool from many county towns
in England. In a few hours 1200 men were gathered
in the shed, all in khaki, but each squadron bearing
some distinctive hat -badge or other token by which
their men were easily identified. The East and West
Kents, the First and Second Wilts, two Middlesex
companies, a Welsh company, and many others were
amongst the travelling companions that were to accom-
pany the Fifes across the sea.

Soon they were all paraded and marched on board —
after receiving, however, mugs of coffee and hot pies —
and each man began to make his first acquaintance
with life on board a troopship. This way of travelling
has never been recommended by those who have tried
it, and consequently every one had been warned that

1 6 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

probably it would prove the most unpleasant part of
the whole business. All were accordingly prepared for
a few weeks of discomfort, and although life on board
the Cymric was not all beer and skittles, it was not so
very unpleasant ; indeed, in the light of some after ex-
periences, it might have been very much worse.

The whole complement of khaki having been taken
on board, along with some 600 horses that were stowed
away between decks, the yeomen were addressed by the
Right Hon. Walter Long, Minister for Agriculture, whose
brother was on board as an officer; and the Lord Mayor
of Liverpool, wearing the chain of his office, also said a
few words of farewell to " the flower of England's man-
hood," as he called them. Unfortunately, this did not
include the men of Fife ; but as they hailed from a king-
dom which is second to none, not even to England, they
overlooked the omission and gave a parting cheer. The
gigantic vessel swung slowly out of dock, and dropped
anchor in the river Mersey, where she lay all night,
apparently awaiting final orders from the War Office
Next morning, in a driving storm of sleet and snow, the
anchor was weighed, and the throbbing of the powerful
engines awakened the mighty monster into life. The
Cymric was soon speeding before the cold east wind
out into the Irish Channel, away from Merrie England
to a land where its human cargo, hardy and hopeful as
it was at starting, was to meet with many vicissitudes
and many trials ere it returned to its native land. Some
alas, there were amongst them who were doomed never
to return. But what of that? As the vessel sped to-
wards the equator, there was little time for lugubrious
reflection, even if it had been in the mind of any ; and,
as a matter of fact, every soul on board, when he was
not quarrelling with his messmates, was building castles
in the air and imagining the adventures that were in

Cupar to Cape Town 17

store for him on the veldt — adventures from which he
was always to emerge triumphant, generally at the ex-
pense of his enemy the Boer. King Richard and his
gallant Crusaders were never more enthusiastic over
their enterprise to the Holy Land than were the Im-
perial Yeomanry on their way to South Africa.

By the kind offices of Mr John Rankin, of Liverpool,
at the instigation of Sir John Gilmour, the news of the
relief of Ladysmith was sent by helio from Holyhead to
the Cymric as she passed, and evoked a hearty cheer
from those on bojard.

From cold winds and leaden skies the vessel sped
onwards into the sunnier, warmer regions of the south :
after four days at sea greatcoats were dispensed with,
and when the Grand Canaries were reached it was a
pleasure to lie on deck and bask in the sun. At Las
Palmas, which was reached at sunrise one morning, the
vessel swung into the bay and dropped anchor for a few
hours, while the men bought fruit from the natives who
had come out in their little bumboats in hundreds when-
ever the rising sun disclosed our arrival. And it was a
rising sun that morning in Las Palmas. Like a great
orange on the mighty waste of waters it rolled up above
the cloudless sky-line — up, up — every moment brighter,
every mom'fent warmer, until at last the blue waves
seemed on fire with the brilliance of its glory. No
sloping, slanting path did it take, but climbed straight
to the masthead and beat upon the decks of the floating
city as she rode at anchor in the peaceful waters of the
bay. Before midday the fleet of small boats were cast
off, and the Cymric was once more speeding to the
Cape. A sad tragedy occurred at this stage to mar the
pleasure of the voyage, and to depress the men of the
20th Company. Private Wedderbum Ogilvy, one of

the best men in the squadron, took suddenly ill, and
C

1 8 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

died in a few hours. This sad news was conveyed to
the members of the company whenever the boat left
Las Palmas, and the burial at sea — a sad and impres-
sive function — took place an hour or two later.

Dr Cotterill (now in the R. A. M. C), a trooper in
the East Kent Company, and a splendid player on
the bagpipes, headed the funeral procession, playing a
lament as the body of the deceased was borne to the
poop-deck, where the company was paraded to hear
the burial service read. All the other companies were
drawn up in their places on the different decks, and
while the vessel was stopped for a few minutes, Trooper
Wedderburn Ogilvy was consigjned to the care of the
boundless deep, far from home and kindred, but mourned
by all on board who knew him. This was the first
break in the ranks, but not by any means the last, for
the gap was to grow wider in the land to which the
company was bound.

For the next fortnight life on board the troopship
was uneventful, and time was spent in performing the
routine duties that became more irksome as the tropical
heat increased. At five g.m. — as the company farrier
expressed it — the bugles of the various companies
united in a grand reveille, which was blown down the
hatches with sufficient energy to wake the heaviest
sleeper. Some there were, however, who were either
deaf or stupefied by the heavy atmosphere of the troop
deck, and as they delayed to " show a leg " or descend
from their hammocks, it became the unpleasant (?) duty
of their comrades to cut them down and let them fall
to the deck with a crash. To hear their language when
thus rudely awakened was to grasp at once the full
meaning of the phrase, "to swear like a trooper." It
was absolutely necessary to deal summarily with the
sluggards, however, because breakfast had to be taken

Cupar to Cape Town 19

in an hour's time on the tables above which the ham-
mocks were slung. Each row of hammocks had a table
underneath, which seated the dozen men who swung
above it at night, and to see the 100 tables or messes
at feeding time was a spectacle never to be forgotten.
What a noise there was on the troop deck on these
occasions : what a clattering of dishes, what a babel of
tongues, what a hurrying to and fro of orderlies as they
sped to the galleys for the supplies for their different
messes. The attempts to wash the greasy dishes after
dinner in pails of salt water will never be forgotten by
those to whom this delightful duty fell. After meals,
horses had to be attended to (warm work in equa-
torial regions), decks had to be swabbed by barefooted
yeomen new to the job, various other duties had to be
performed, and all day long the bugles clamoured for
pioneers, fatigue men, and others to hoist stores from
the hold, to supply the canteen with beer, and otherwise
to make themselves generally useful. Every forenoon
the whole vessel had to be trim and tidy for inspection
by the captain of the ship, and troops paraded and
stood to attention until this officer, accompanied by the
officer commanding the troops and staff, finished his
tour through the various decks.

As regards amusements, these were not awanting.
Thomas Atkins dearly loves a gamble, and the men of
the I. Y. were no exception to this rule ; so a daily
sweepstake on the registered run of the ship for twenty-
four hours was entered into, and proved a cause of no
little excitement and expectation to the men who drew
likely numbers. The beer canteen, where beer at six-
pence a bottle was in great demand, was only open at
certain hours, and long lines of men waiting their turn
to purchase accounted for a sale of about 3000 bottles
a day. So great was the demand in the tropics that

20 Fife and Forfar I, Y. in South Africa

the supply collapsed a few days before the vessel
reached her destination, and the look of gloom which
every man wore on hearing this tragic announcement
showed that a heavy blow had fallen on the whole
ship's company. In the evening a circle round some
lamp on deck squatted in the cool night air and sang
such stirring choruses as "The Young British Soldier,"
and other Kipling ballads.

During the last few days of the voyage a great tug-
of-war contest was engaged in between teams repre-
senting the different counties on board, and the Fifes
had the honour of reaching the final tie, having without
difficulty pulled all the Sassenachs round the ship. In
the final tie with the men of Kent the Fifes had to
give way; but it is a significant fact that on getting
ashore the winners of the contest had another pull
against the Kingdom and were easily defeated.

At last the voyage was drawing to an end, and no
one was sorry at the prospect of getting on land again
to stretch his legs. Hope ran high as daylight revealed
the massive form of Table Mountain in the distance; kits
were made ready, and every man prepared for speedy
disembarking. As the Cymric sped along the coast by
Sea Point and Green Point, the seaside suburbs of Cape
Town, the decks and booms and rigging were crowded
with troopers, all in their go-ashores, booted and spurred,
and ready for the fray. It was an inspiring moment.
After all their training, all their waiting, and a voyage
of six thousand miles, the moment had arrived to which
all had been looking forward, when they were to set foot
on a foreign shore to fight for their Queen and country.

. And what a sight was Table Bay in the bright sun-
shine of early morning ! What an object lesson on the
greatness of Empire ! If ever a Scotsman was made to
realise the truth of " Rule Britannia " it was this mom-

Cupar to Cape Town 21

ing, when the mighty Cymric swung to her anchorage
in front of Cape Town, surrounded on all sides by the
most imposing array of transports and liners, crowded
fore and aft with eager troops waiting to disembark. As
the White Star boat passed one after another of these
fine vessels — some of her sister ships among the number
— the bay echoed with the lusty cheering of soldiers
welcoming their comrades-in-arms. Scarcely an hour
passed when another vessel swung into the bay and
dropped anchor in the serried ranks of the fleet Drawn
up like a regiment of lancers opposite the quays of Cape
Town, their forest of masts forming a wall against the
rising sun, they must have filled the hearts of the British
in Cape Town with a feeling of calm assurance.

The evidences of war were everywhere present On
one side a vessel, heavily guarded, was full of Boer
prisoners ; while on the other, a hospital ship, the Maine^
was embarking sick and wounded for home. For two
long days — interminable they seemed to those on board
— the Cymric lay waiting her turn to get alongside .the
quay; but at last, after several others had discharged,
the anchor was weighed, and soon the vessel lay along-
side the wharf

'chapter III.

THREE WEEKS IN CAPE COLONY.

THE first duty of the Fife yeomen when they set
foot in South Africa was to lay siege to a tea
and fruit stall on the quay, part of the propaganda of
the Tommies' Welcome Association, instituted by the
public-spirited matrons of Cape Town to provide re-
freshments for the troops as they landed. Never was
kindness more appreciated than this, and never were
men more eager to show their gratitude than the Eng-
lish and Scottish yeomen who debarked from the great
White Star liner.

At the same wharf several other vessels were un-
shipping cargoes of khaki, the living freight that had
gathered from all corners of the world to uphold the
pillars of the Empire. Lumsden's Horse, from Calcutta,
were stepping ashore with their horses at one end, while
the Scottish contingent was busy at the other. The
work of unloading the stores of saddlery, of placing
waggons on their wheels, and hoisting the various bulky
cases which are a necessary accompaniment of a squad-
ron of horse, was begun forthwith. The men worked
willingly, and no gang of wharfingers ever handled a
cargo more expeditiously. In twelve hours the huge
hulk of the vessel was towering above the quay in all
the majesty of floating emptiness. The poor horses,
•after standing on their legs for weeks in a tropical
atmosphere, were a sorry spectacle as they staggered
down the gangways. Some of them displayed a strange

Three Weeks in Cape Colony 23

reluctance to leave the scene of their imprisonment, and
had to be hustled ashore in a somewhat unceremonious
fashion. Meantime the mysteries of Cape Town were
unexplored, and when work was over for the evening,
and it was announced that the night would be spent on
board, many and varied schemes for evading the sen-
tries at the dock gates were suggested and discussed.
The men of Fife were hardly reconciled to the idea yet
that they had sold their liberty, and that as Thomas
Atkins they were no longer to stroll and wander at
their own sweet will. Some, by hiding themselves in
empty hansoms and in other ways, managed to escape,
and spent the night in town.

Next morning, in a sand-storm of the sort for which
Cape Town is famous, the company started on its way
to Maitland camp, distant some three miles from the city,
along a dusty track called Sir Lowry Road. The camp
reached, and the baggage having been brought along by
steam transport (otherwise traction engine), life in camp
was entered upon, in the case of many for the first
time. To begin with, the tents (which, of course, were
limited in number) were somewhat crowded, from four-
teen to sixteen men being stowed away in each, so that
there was a congestion of feet around the tent-pole at
night. Maitland camp was situated not far from Groote
Shuur (the Great Barn), where at that time Cecil Rhodes
had his home. The ground was sandy, and when the
wind blew, as it did almost daily, the shifting sand got
into the tents and amongst the food and clothing, mak-
ing things rather unpleasant for the newcomers until
accustomed to this sort of life. Fortunately, there was
at some distance from the camp a large swimming bath
and club -room, which was a daily resort, where th^
luxury of a bathe could be indulged in. The nights at
this period of the year were cold, but during the after-

24 Fif€ and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

noons the heat, although by no means immoderate,
struck down several of those who had so recently left
the cold and frosty northern land. A week end of
drenching rain and cold wind, accompanied by the duty
of night guards to watch the horses, brought home to
many for the first time the fact that a soldier's life is
not a life of ease. Sad specimens some of the men
looked already, with the green dye running down from
the lining of their helmets on their cheeks, and their
puttees and boots oozing with water at every step.
Sentry-go under these weather conditions was regarded
with no feeling of delight; but it was hardly realised
that this was a mere foretaste of pleasures in store.
When the sun shone, however, it was delightfully warm,
and in a few days every man had the back of his neck
blistered, and had earned the name of rooinek, by which
our countrymen are known to the Boers. Busy pre-
parations of saddlery and equipment for a move to the
front, which was expected daily, occupied the time, and
when work was over the fruit stalls and canteens in the
vicinity of the camp were busily engaged. One of the
great compensations of life in this thirsty climate was
the beautiful fruit, melons and grapes of the most
luscious varieties were to be had in exchange for a
ticky or threepenny bit. From Maitland, after a week's
stay, the company was suddenly ordered to proceed
to Stellenbosch, a remount dep6t some thirty miles in-
land, where horses were to be provided. Those already
mounted marched by road to Durban Road Bridge,
joining the first picquet detailed for duty from the
company to protect the railway bridge, and reached
Stellenbosch next day. Having stacked the bulky kit
bags which had been brought out from home in the
loft of a large farm steading, the bulk of the company,
who were as yet unmounted, set off on foot to the

Three Weeks in Cape Colony 25

railway station, carrying blankets, overcoats, rifles, and
ammunition, and finding it a very unpleasant journey in
the heat of the afternoon. Arrived at the railway, to find
that a train would not be ready for their transport till
next day, a bivouac amongst the bush was the only way
to spend the night ; and accordingly, in a sort of sandy
hollow amongst the mimosas, a camp fire of generous
dimensions was lit, and a sing-song engaged in with
great gusto. A surprising amount of singing talent in
the company was disclosed, and the choruses were ren-
dered with wonderful spirit. It was a picturesque scene
on that beautiful starry night to see, in the glow of the
great fire, the reflection of these hundred men, all squat-
ting on the sandy slopes that were formed like a natural
amphitheatre, for the very purpose, apparently, of an
al fresco smoking concert. The only songs that were
not encouraged, needless to say, were soldiers* songs of
the death and glory variety. These are far more popular
items in a British music hall than they are with the men
in the field. Next day the necessary train was forth-
coming, and Stellenbosch was reached — by no means
an ideal spot for a camp, as it had been occupied by
troops for months before, and the place was particularly
unsavoury. This was soon made evident by the fact
that dysentery seized more than half the members of
the company, and Lieutenant Simpson, one of the most
popular of oflicers, was despatched to an hospital in
the town, three miles distant, and did not rejoin his
commando for several weeks. At Stellenbosch the
whole Scottish battalion camped together — the Fife,
Ayr, Lanark, and Lothians companies. A number of
strangle little friends, who were altogether new to the
men and very unwelcome, made their appearance at this
stage ; and it became a matter of daily importance to
retire to the outskirts of the camp and hold a general

26 Fife and Forfar /. Y. in South Africa

inspection of clothing. The camp at Stellenbosch was
situated on a sloping hillside, overlooking a valley sur-
rounded by heath-clad hills. The event of importance
during the stay of the company here was the issue of
horses — Argentines and Walers, and other varieties of
untamed, half-bred cobs. The saddlery with which the
men were supplied having been made for horses, would
not fit these wiry little ponies without a good deal
of adjustment ; but at last the squadron paraded, and
the order "prepare to mount" was given. At the first
attempt to put a foot in the stirrup the ranks were
plunged in confusion. The men were as yet ignorant
of the fact that an Argentine will not stand still to be
mounted unless seized by the cheek-strap of the bridle.
Men and mounts, however, soon became reconciled to
each other's ways, with the exception of one cream-
coloured brute that refused to be bridled until it had
been hobbled and cast upon the ground. Some of these
extraordinary animals were magnificent boxers, stand-
ing on their hind legs and letting out in very scientific
fashion with their fore feet. Many of them were inno-
cent of iron shoes, and indeed had come straight from
their native " estancias " to act the part of war-horse at
a moment's notice. Trooper Francis prpved an invalu-
able horse-breaker and roughrider at this stage in the
company's history.

Field days and training were now indulged in, and
for the first time the rat-tat-tat of a pom-pom was made
acquaintance with. It was fired at nothing more dan-
gerous than a barren hillside ; but it was wonderful to
see how quickly a big rock or a sandy hole could be
located by these dangerous little bursting shells, that
threw up clouds of dust and smoke where they fell.

The daily routine at Stellenbosch was the same as
that in any other base camp, the chief variety being

«-<-»» '

E
d
U

Three Weeks in Cape Colony 27

given to the day's proceedings by the ride across the
valley to water the horses. This was a ride of a couple
of miles, and as it was performed bareback and leading
two little Argentines by their head-ropes, it was very
excellent practice in horsemanship. The following, taken
from a diary of one of the troopers, will show how the
men of the Scottish battalion spent their day : —

5.30 am. Reveille.

Water horses.

Grooming and cleaning up.

Breakfast (tea and dry bread).

Boot and saddle.

Battalion mounted parade.

Water horses again.

Stables.

Dinner.

Foot parade and target practice.

Rifle inspection.

Stables, water and feed.

Tea.
6.30 p.m. Night guard mounted.

These duties were varied by fatigues to bring forage
and food from the railway, and other camp duties. A
little excitement was occasioned now and then when a
stray ostrich got into camp and wandered amongst the
horses. The nights at this time were damp and misty,
and the tents in the morning were very wet Night guard,
which only came round once a week, became less popu-
lar than ever, as the men had to sleep in the open when
off duty.

545

a.m.

6.30

a.m.

7

a.m.

8

a.m.

8.30

a.m.

11.30

a.m.

12 noon.

I

p.m.

2

p.m.

4

p.m.

5

p.m.

6

p.m.

CHAPTER IV.

TO KIMBERLEY.

LEAVING Stellenbosch, the Scottish battalion made
a two days' march through the Dutch district of
the Paarl to the old-fashioned town of Wellington, where
they camped on a fresh, clean bit of ground near the
railway station. On this memorable march each trooper
presented a very formidable appearance, quite sufficient
to intimidate the most rebellious Dutchman. Loaded
up in front with spare boots, overcoat, and forage nets,
and supported behind by a rear-pack containing blan-
kets, picketing pegs, and ground ropes, each man looked
like an old dragoon of the time of Cromwell. In fact, the
Argentine pony on which he was mounted was scarcely
visible beneath the load which it carried, and it was won-
derful how they managed to do their twenty miles a day.
The weather on this march was damp and dull, and the
air was therefore free from dust, a great consideration,
as dust is one of the worst enemies of the soldier when
a big column of troops is on the march.

In Wellington a week was spent awaiting orders to
proceed to the front. Day and night trains were passing
up the single railway line from Cape Town with troops
of various kinds from every part of the Empire, with
horses, mules, guns, and saddlery, and provisions of all
sorts for the army in the field. As Lovat's Scouts
passed up the line they received a hearty cheer from
their brother Scots who were less fortunate in being left
behind. Occasionally, to the unconcealed satisfaction

To Kimberley » 29

of the Dutch, a Red Cross train with sick and wounded
came down the line.

From Wellington the battalion proceeded to Wor-
cester, another charming Dutch town at the base of the
mighty mountain range which marks the beginning of
the great karoo. Worcester is a regular old sleepy
hollow — broad streets, shaded with fragrant eucalyptus
trees, are bordered by widely - scattered houses and
shops, each with a stoep or verandah opening on to
the footpath. Streams of crystal water run down the
channels at the sides of the streets, and impart a sense
of coolness even in the heat of a mid-winter day. It
was almost mid -winter when the Fife men were in
Worcester, and yet the heat of the day time exceeded
the warmth of a July day at home. Between the town
and the neighbouring mountain there was ample train-
ing ground for exercising the troops, and it was here
that the Fife squadron practised the bayonet charge on
horseback, which was afterwards so useful in the field
when a litter of young pigs had to be sacrificed to re-
plenish the larder. After a week in Worcester the glad
announcement that at last the battalion was to proceed
to the front was received with cheers. The entraining
was a business which required a good deal of manage-
ment, the boxing of the horses and mules being an affair
of no little difficulty. Many of them had to travel in
temporary trucks made from converted coal waggons
by the addition of a few spars. Each of the four
squadrons of the battalion required a whole train to
itself

It was rumoured that the destination was Spring-
fontein, in the Free State ; but, as a matter of fact, the
battalion was bound for Kimberley. Passing up country
on the train, the men had a capital view of the battle-
fields of Belmont, Graspan, and Magersfontein, where

30 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

very shortly before such obstinate opposition had been
offered by the Boers to Lord Methuen's advance to
Kimberley. Few traces of the bloody conflict that had
been waged on these battlefields were to be seen. Long
lines of empty trenches here and there marked the posi-
tion of Boer marksmen near the foot of some kopje. It
was not the sort of broken, hilly country, however, which
would be considered suitable for opposing the advance
of an army. Open level plains for miles on all sides,
with a very occasional kopje, characterised the country
in which the Boers, to Lord Methuen's astonishment,
offered a very stubborn resistance to the British advance.
The difficulty of getting near an entrenched enemy on
an open plain was well known to the Boer leaders
evidently, and their success proved to our troops the
helplessness of artillery even to dislodge them from
such a position. The rifle was the weapon of the day,
and the Boer, with his quick -loading Mauser and the
range staked off, was very difficult to tackle. After
three nights and two days of uneventful travelling, in-
terrupted every few hours to feed and water horses, the
squadron reached Kimberley, the famous diamond city,
at twelve o'clock at night

Even at that hour, however, the loyal women of the
neighbourhood turned out and supplied the men with
tea, which was gladly welcomed after a long and tedious
journey. As it was too late to remove the horses, the
train was shunted to a siding, and at daybreak next
morning the company proceeded to camp in the out-
skirts of the town.

Kimberley ! What a disappointing town it was : one
or two stone buildings scattered here and there that
would have been approved by a British bondholder,
but beyond that mere congeries of tin sheds and corru-
gated iron villas. Just a few weeks before the siege of

To Kimberley 31

the town had been raised by General French's cavalry,
and the fortifications, along with sundry evidences of
the Boer botpbardment, remained to tell the tale. Even
at this time the enemy was not far distant, as the sound
of heavy artillery had been distinctly audible on the pre-
vious day. Sir Archibald Hunter's division of infantry,
which the Scottish yeomen were to join, was lying at
Fourteen Streams, about thirty miles north.

Already some of the Argentine remounts obtained at
Stellenbosch had died of old age and general debility,
and several new remounts were allotted to the squadron
here. Several members of the company having obtained
leave, visited the town and explored the shops and
places of refreshment. A famous dining-room, where a
hearty meal of four or five courses was to be had for the
modest sum of one shilling, proved a great attraction in
a land*which, so far, had not been a land of plenty. The
largest building, an imposing hotel called the "Queen's,"
which the stranger might mistake for the town-house or
some great public building, was owned by a Forfarshire
man, who was also the colonel of a local Volunteer corps
that had done meritorious service during the siege.

Needless to say, a very martial spirit prevailed in
Kimberley at this time, and the citizens had not re-
quired to be reminded of their duty when the need for
home defence arose. From the oldest to the youngest,
all did their share. The first sight which greeted the
Fife yeomen when they alighted from the train in the
morning was a little nipper, not more than twelve years
of age, in a blue and scarlet uniform, armed with a car-
bine, who was doing sentry-go over some ammunition
at the railway dep6t He assured the enquiring Scots-
men, with a strong colonial twang, that he belonged to
the Kimberley Juvenile Town Guard, and that although
they had not gone out to meet the enemy, they were

32 Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

ready to do so if they were wanted. He looked as if he
meant what he said too ; and the Scotsmen could not
but be impressed with the serious and manly air of the
young colonial. They are much older for their age
than the boys of the old country; and as they are
trained in a rough school, they begin very early to
assume a look of responsibility and to take their share
in the work of the Empire. In this respect they re-
semble the young Boers, who did a great deal of picquet
duty and night work for their fathers during the course
of the war.

Time was pressing, however, and as Sir Archibald
Hunter's column was under orders to push forward to
the relief of Mafeking, the Scottish Yeomanry, after a
very short stay, went on to join his force. He had sent
on a flying column, consisting of the Imperial Light
Horse and other mounted troops, and was raady to
move on in support of them with his infantry division
of 10,000 men. The only mounted troops to perform
the cavalry work of this great force were the Scottish
Yeomanry and a few Kimberley Mounted Rifles, and it
was therefore with a certain feeling of the importance of
the work in hand that the Fifes went out to meet the
enemy.

CHAPTER V.

THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING.

THE heading of this chapter is not intended to con-
vey the impression that the Fife Light Horse
alone effected the celebrated relief of this beleaguered
town in the wilderness ; but there can be no doubt that
the moral effect of their presence in the district had an
important influence on the retreat of the enemy. Leav-
ing Kimberley by coal truck for Fourteen Streams, a
point on the Vaal river at which the last battle had
taken place with the retreating Boers, the company tra-
velled al fresco sitting on the baggage in the waggons;
while the horses, upsaddled and ready, were standing
ready to detrain and be mounted if occasion arose. The
company was actually at the front now, and might at
any moment find itself face to face with the enemy.
Looking over the silent, sunburnt veldt, that stretched
like a boundless sea on all sides, it seemed difficult to
realise that this had recently been the scene of conflict
between two opposing armies. As the train had borne
the men of Fife past the battlefields of Belmont, and
Graspan, and Magersfontein, things looked so peaceful
and quiet that it was difficult to believe they had wit-
nessed the horrors of war a few weeks before.

Arrived at Fourteen Streams, where Sir Archibald
Hunter's division was encamped, the squadron camped
alongside of battalions of the line from Natal, bronzed
and hardened heroes from Ladysmith, who were to be

their companions-in-arms for the next few weeks. After
D

34 Pif^ <^*^d Forfar I. F. in South Africa

spending a quiet Sunday without incident, and taking
part in an open-air church parade on the veldt, the
whole division prepared to move off early next morning
to meet the enemy. The enemy, however, was not
anxious to come to close quarters with this great force,
now numbering some 10,000 men, and carefully retreated
before it. Starting at two in the morning in the star-
light, and marching as advance guard screen for twelve
* hours, the Fifes soon began to have a pretty fair idea of
what a soldier's work is like.

What a magnificent spectacle the march of this
mighty column presented to the eye of the novice.
First the thinly scattered horsemen, stretched in long
lines as far as the eye could travel ; behind them lines
of infantry in skirmishing order, plodding along with
an appearance of irresistible determination; then the
thundering artillery, with its jingling chains and cheery
drivers ; after them the miles of baggage waggons,
drawn by mules and bullocks, making an apparently
interminable tail to the fighting force as it stretched
away in a cloud of red dust to the horizon.

No enemy was found as the force advanced, and at
last the column came to a halt at a spot where camp
was pitched for the night. Tents had been left behind,
but each squadron or company pegged down beside its
own transport waggons and slept on the veldt. Nor
was this any hardship so long as the dry, cold, winter
weather lasted, for every weary trooper slept like a log,
and would willingly have lain longer, as a rule, if he had
been allowed. Early hours are a feature of the soldier's
life in the field, however, and reveille at two or three
o'clock in the morning was the usual order. What a
magnificent sight a camp is out in the open on a fine,
clear night. Hundreds of camp fires, each surrounded
by a group of bronzed soldiers, cooking and chatting,

The Relief of Maf eking 35

shouts and choruses and laughter on all sides, make it
a most exhilarating spectacle.

It should be mentioned that the Scottish yeomen
were the only mounted troops, with the exception of
a few Kimberley Rifles, attached to Sir Archibald
Hunter's division, so that each day found them on
advance or rear guard, or on one of the flanks, looking
out for an elusive enemy that chose to remain invisible.
The capture of the town of Christiana was the first ^
achievement of the Fife squadron in the field. Two
days out from Fourteen Streams, Captain Hodge was
ordered to surround this town and search the place. It
had been vacated by the Boers the night before, and in
the neighbourhood traces of the recent camping ground
of the enemy were plainly visible. The Fifes surrounded
the place at a gallop in the most approved method, and
" the citadel fell " without a shot being fired. The white
flag was everywhere to be ^een, and the Landrost or
Provost of the town handed over the keys.

The half-hour spent in looting the deserted hotel,
which belonged to a fighting Burgher, was amongst the
bright, outstanding incidents of the campaign. The
recollection of the sack of the cellars and cigar stores
was a source of pleasure to the squadron in many a less
happy moment

The fact that Lord Roberts* main army was no
further than Kroonstad at this time, and that the cap-
ture of Christiana was the first act of the war to be
performed on the soil of the Transvaal, entitles the Fife
yeomen to distinction. Day after day the column now
pushed on through the treeless, waterless desert of
Bechuanaland on its way to beleaguered Mafeking.
Marching early and camping late, exposed to the
broiling sun all day and to the frost at night, it is idle
to deny that these were days of hardship. To make

36 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

matters worse, the commissariat was so limited by
reason of lack of transport that half rations only were
allowed. Two hard biscuits a day, and a tin of salt
beef or bully between two, was little enough to live
upon, especially as the open-air life and bodily exercise
made every man as hungry as a hawk. There was no
murmur of complaint, however, because every man knew
that it was unavoidable.

A drink of thin coffee at three in the morning, with-
out sugar or milk, and half of a hard biscuit,, is the fare
on which a soldier starts off to do a hard day's work.
Every second man has his pound tin of bully strapped
to the saddle, and shares this with his companion at
any convenient halt in the middle of the day.

The tantalising slowness of a great column of troops
was the first thing that impressed the mind of the new
troopers, who, in their fond imaginings, had pictured
themselves galloping about in true colonial style, and
having a skirmish or a pitched battle three times a day.
Instead of that, a uniform speed of two to three miles an
hour, a sort of glorified funeral march, without a single
shot at an enemy, was the sad reality of the business.

On the Queen's Birthday (25th May) the town of
Vryburg was reached, and the Yeomanry camped in the
large square or plaats, which is an invariable feature of
every town planned by the early Dutch settlers. The
inhabitants — those of them who were not on commando
— were delighted at the arrival of the column. For six
months, while Kimberley was besieged, they had been
cut off from communication with the outer world, the
stores had all been looted by the Boers, and they were
left even without oil or candles, so that they had to go
to bed at six or seven in the evening. Food was at
famine prices, and the only contents of the stores
seemed to be enamel paint and baby linen — neither of

The Relief of Maf eking 37

which were of any service to a hungry army. The chief
aim of life at this time amongst the soldiers who were
exploring the town was to get enough to eat — every
other idea had to take second place.

The washing of shirts in a small stream near the town
occupied the spare time of many of the men during the
few days' halt in Vryburg. To some of them the art
of washing was almost unknown, and a great deal of
humour was derived from the performance. The first
step in the -process was to find a rock or large flat stone
to support the garment while soap was applied. The
washing over, it was necessary to sit for ten minutes
while the sun dried the garment, and it could then be
worn again.

While the force lay at Vryburg, Mafeking was re-
lieved by a flying column of mounted men, who had
pushed on in front under the command of Colonel
Mahon. The Scottish Yeomanry joined this body at
Lichtenburg a few days later, and had the pleasure and
advantage of working alongside of the Imperial Light
Horse, a famous corps, which had gone through the
siege of Ladysmith, and did splendid work afterwards
in the field.

At Lichtenburg the force lay for two or three days,
resting the horses and awaiting the arrival of artillery
and waggons from Mafeking. A lovely old town is
Lichtenburg, quiet and sleepy out there in the wilder-
ness remote from railways, and until within the last few
years almost an outpost of civilisation, where the old
lion-hunting Dutchman smoked his pipe in peace. At
a corner of the inevitable square was Delarey's house,
the home of the daring and resolute farmer and ex-
transport rider, who gave our troops many a bad half
hour in the later stages of the war. Food was scarce
in Lichtenburg, but an occasional loaf of bread from

38 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

the oven of some vrouw in the town found its way to
the camp and was speedily vanquished.

At this time all the talk was of the proclamation of
peace and the capture of Pretoria, and a mighty burst
of cheering in the infantry lines one night at sundown
was supposed to herald the announcement of this good
news. On enquiry, it was found to mean nothing more
than the issue of a ration of rum, which is invariably
greeted by the troops with loud acclamation.

The pleasant, sleepy life of Lichtenburg, however,
was soon exchanged for the trek once more, and the
Scotsmen, accompanied by the I. L. H. and the Field
Artillery, found themselves at the little town of Ven-
tersdorp after a couple of days' forced marching, a good
deal of which was done in the dark of the frosty winter
mornings.

The fact that Sir Archibald Hunter and his staff
pushed on adventurously and reached the town, which
was in possession of armed Boers, was not generally
known at the time ; but it was only by a bit of bluff
and presence of mind that they escaped capture by the
enemy on this occasion.

Pretoria had been entered by the British, and this
news was made known to the Fifes on arrival here.
No one was sorry, of course, and all looked forward to
the end of a war which at that time seemed to be all
marching and no fighting. During the couple of days
spent at Ventersdorp hundreds of Burghers came in and
surrendered, and obtained passes to return to their farms
after handing over their rifles and bandoliers.

The work of the campaign was not yet over, and,
after two days, the company was again -off with the
flying column, to reach the town of Potchefstroom
by daybreak next morning. Leaving Ventersdorp at
three on a Sunday afternoon, they pressed on till

The Relief of Maf eking 39

about eleven o'clock, and then halted for a couple of
hours to rest the horses. How intensely cold it was
that night out on the veldt Few of the men, accus-
tomed as they were to a rigorous northern climate, had
ever experienced anything so terrible. A thick, icy fog
hung over the face of the earth, making the darkness
deeper and the going more than ever dangerous. At
one a.m. the horses were saddled, and the men, who had
been walking about on the frozen grass to keep them-
selves warm, mounted once more and groped their way
along. It seemed an interminable march — on, on, in the
darkness, unable to see the man alongside, teeth chat-
tering, feet and fingers numb with the cold — every man
having the impression that that night was the longest he
had ever spent. The thermometer must have registered
twenty degrees of frost, and everyone was longing for
the first rays of the rising sun.

At last, through the darkness and the mist, the sound
of crowing cocks struck gladly on the tingling ears of
the troopers. Potchefstroom at last ! was the thought
that filled every heart with joy. After a great deal of
halting and hanging about, while the day was gradually
dawning, it became apparent that something was wrong.
The guides had apparently lost their way, and it tran-
spired that the village in front was Frederikstad, distant
some ten or twelve miles from the destination of the
column ; and so, turning off at a tangent, the weary
march was resumed. At eleven o'clock that forenoon
Potchefstroom was reached, an escaping railway train
was captured, and the town was occupied by the British
amid the rejoicings of the natives and a few British
residents, whose lives for some time back had been far
from enviable. That was the first great night march
of the Fife Light Horse, and every man hoped that it
'might be the last. Little did they dream that more than

40 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

a year later they would be doing two or three every
week, and enjoying them as much as it is possible to
enjoy adventures of this somnambulistic description.

I

• t

fc-T'

CHAPTER VI.

OCCUPATION OF POTCHEFSTROOM.

■

ONE of the first proceedings on arrival in Potchef-
stroom was the hoisting of the Union Jack,
said to be the same ensign that was hauled down in
1 88 1, when the Boers under Kronje besieged and de-
feated the little British garrison in a somewhat Dutch
fashion, after the arrangement come to between the two
Governments at that time. The old ramparts and forti-
fications were still to the fore, and, whether from recol-
lection of former times or for other reasons, an elaborate
scheme of defence, which entailed a good deal of pick
and shovel work on the exhausted troops, was imme-
diately embarked upon. Day by day crowds of Boers
in waggons and Cape carts trooped into the town to
take the oath and deliver up their rifles, which, having
been stacked and burned in the market-place, were
afterwards repaired and used again hy the enemy, if we
are to believe the extraordinary story of De Wet in
his " Three Years' War." Picquet duty at the different
roads leading into the town, and occasional patrols to
neighbouring farms, formed the bulk of the duty of the
squadron at this time. Leaving the camp on horse-
back, and riding through the long, straggling town (the
late capital of the South African Republic) to some
bridge or outlying position on the outskirts, a twenty-
four hours' picnic was spent in a delightful freedom
from restraint. Every waggon or cart that came in or
left the town had to be stopped and searched, and many

42 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

interesting conversations with the surrounding farmers
took place. At this time the nights were intensely cold,
and at daybreak each morning the ground was encrusted
with hoar frost and the streams and ponds were covered
with ice. No member of the squadron will ever forget
the splendid picquets at the Venterskroon Road or the
Meal Mill — glorified picnics they were, with plenty of
firewood (not always obtainable elsewhere), and " plenty
skofif " to eat, as the Kaffirs would say.

The patrols from Potchefstroom were not always so
delightful, and one in particular was long remembered
by the uncomplimentary name of "starvation patrol."
This was, indeed, one of the unhappiest experiences of
the Fifes at this stage in the campaign. Leaving the
town about three one morning, without overcoats and
thinly clad, the squadron rode out to the south in the
direction of the Vaal river to make a reconnaissance at
a drift which De Wet was supposed to be using. It was
anticipated that the whole business would be over by
mid-day, and that at the most it would be merely a
twelve hours' affair. In the afternoon a message was
received by helio to remain out all night and guard a
certain drift. This was delightful ; but as the men had
had nothing to eat all day, and as no supplies had been
brought, and there were none in the neighbourhood, it
looked as if a hungry night lay ahead of them. To relate
how some of them saw with eager eyes a flight of pigeons
settling on a deserted cottage beside the drift-r— to say
that each man wondered whether his hungry neighbour
had observed them also— would be to give some idea
of the animal side of the trooper's nature. No sooner
had the shades of night fallen than that cottage was
surrounded by those who had marked the possibility of
a meal. Seized in the rafters, killed, skinned (for there
was no time to pluck them), and roasted in the embers

Occupation of Potchefstroom 43

of the fire, they were devoured half raw by the men with
the voracity of starving animals. Let those who sit at
home and live in the lap of luxury hold up their hands
in horror at the picture : only those who have worked
hard for twenty-four hours in the open-air without food
can appreciate the irresistible craving to satisfy hunger,
which becomes the leading and controlling passion of
the moment. Those who were not lucky enough to
commandeer even a pigeon — the men who were posted
on sentry-go for example — had a forty-eight hours' fast
on that occasion, which would have made them exceed-
ingly dangerous in any poultry-yard. Another incident
which made this night a memorable one in the annals
of the Fifes was the fact that no blankets had been
carried, as the affair was supposed to be merely a short
patrol. What a cold, wretched night that was : how
they crouched together for warmth in the moonlight,
unable to sleep for the chattering of their teeth and the
numbness of their feet. As they stamped about at day-
break trying to raise the circulation, each man had had
an object lesson as an amateur soldier that will entitle
Thomas Atkins to his respect and admiration as long
as he lives. For these and similar hardships are borne
without a murmur by our soldiers in the field, and no
one ever hears a word about them.

The more the yeomen saw of campaigning, and the
more they saw of the silent, passive, cheerful heroism of
the British soldier, the more they admired him. Need-
less to say, they did their utmost to prove themselves
worthy to be comrades-in-arms of these splendid fellows.

If the return to camp after this starvation patrol was
not exactly in the nature of a return from the jaws of
death, it was a glad release from a very painful pre-
dicament When the men were let loose again upon
their accumulated two days' rations, these were severely
punished.

44 Pif^ ^^^ Forfar L Y, in South Africa

Many ponies were delivered up by the surrendering
Burghers at this time, and remounts were plentiful for
the moment A pretty little pony, a dappled grey with
a good deal of Arab blood in his veins, afterwards
known to the squadron as "Chummy," was introduced
to the ranks amongst these. It had carried a burly
Boer through the hottest six months of the campaign,
and was destined to carry one of the Fife troopers for
a couple of years more. Most of the men by this time
had gone through one or two remounts — a fact which
was at once attributed at home to carelessness and want
of knowledge of how to take care of a horse. This was
not altogether the case. No doubt there were one or
two who were not accustomed to grooming and saddling
their own horses till they joined the I. Y., but the greater
number of the first contingent of Yeomanry were prac-
tical men — farmers and others — who knew how best to
preserve their mount and to make the most of it. The
cause of many a sore back and many a girth-gall was
to be found in the saddlery sent out, which was of the
size and pattern suited to the home cavalry horse, and
not the thin, wiry little ponies of the veldt, or the short,
cobby little Argentines. The long, slow marches, also,
"and the consequent weariness of the riders making them
sit loosely in the saddle, produced sore backs very
quickly. There is no doubt that the rifle bucket (a
leather attachment hung to the British saddles to hold
the rifle) had a very bad effect in producing sores. The
weight on one side of the saddle is bad of itself, but the
tendency to hold the muzzle in the hand and lean on it
is irresistible. The Boer system of slinging the rifle on
the back was the better one, and indeed it was imitated
later in the equipment of our Mounted Infantry.

Sickness began to claim a number of men, and the
squadron began to feel the result of the hardships of a

Occupation of Potchefstroom 45

campaign, as was evidenced by the gradual shrinkage
in the number fit for parade. Sergeant Lumsden, who
had been acting sergeant-major since Sergeant- Major
Simpson's collapse, now in his turn was invalided to
hospital. Several others, attacked by the cold at nights,
and suffering from dysentery and other ailments, were
laid aside through illness. Dysentery, that scourge of
the soldier's life, had indeed never been absent from the
ranks since the company sailed from Liverpool. The
total strength of the company at this time — after three
months in the field — had fallen below one hundred. At
Cape Town, at Kimberley, at Pokwani, at Lichtenburg,
derelict troopers, broken down by disease or injured by
accidents, had been left behind.

Before the squadron left Potchefstroom, the first ex-
perience — one which they were to get sadly accustomed
to by-and-bye — of a wet night in the open warned the
men that the dry winter season would not last for ever,
and that there was perhaps something worse in the way
of weather than frost and cold. To waken up for the
first time in life to feel the rain-drops pattering on the
face, and to hear the noise on the covering overcoat,
is an unpleasant surprise indeed. Combined, as it was
on this occasion, with an untimely reveille and an ex-
pected attack, it was part of a disagreeable night's work ;
but the town was unmolested during its occupation, the
Boers finding it easier to wait till the troops had cleared
out, when they immediately returned and took posses-
sion. The tales that were afterwards told, when the
Fifes returned a year later, of the treatment accorded to
the local blacksmith because he had repaired the British
pom-pom, and the beating out of the brains of the local
brewer who supplied beer to the rooineks, left an un-
pleasant impression of Mr Christian De Wet and the
ways of his commando.

46 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

At Potchefstroom, camped as they were beside the
I. L. H. — hardy colonial warriors, who knew a good deal
about campaigning and how to do it comfortably — the
Fife men soon learned a few wrinkles that were of great
service to them afterwards. The Imperial Light Horse,
instead of having bulky tents, which had to be left be-
hind, carried light, portable booby huts or bivouacs of
canvas, each man bringing one-half of the structure with
him if transport was scarce. In this way they were pre-
pared for any weather, and by the help of the fur
carosses which they each possessed, managed to keep
warm on the coldest night. It is a strange thing that,
although the British soldiers in the Crimea were tentless,
while the French alongside them were snugly ensconced
in their canvas huts, the British army to-day is still en-
cumbered with heavy tents, which have to be left behind
whenever any real work is to be done. The weight of a
few bell-tents, wet with the dew of morning, can only be
properly appreciated by carrying a few of them out of a
waggon which has sunk beneath their weight into the
mud. In after months, when thq Fife tents had all been
captured and burned by the Boers, the use of blanket
bivouacs soon came to be appreciated ; and, when ac-
customed to them, there was no desire to go back to
crowded tent life again.

After a stay of a fortnight, orders were received that
Sir Archibald Hunter's force was to proceed to Pretoria
by way of Johannesburg. Although delighted at the
prospect of reaching the goal of their ambitions, it was
not without regret that the company said good-bye to
the old capital on the banks of the Mooi river. The
Mooi (or beautiful) river, where it splashed down by the
old meal mill by the bridge leading into the town, was
quite the most home-like bit of South African scenery
the Scotsmen had come across, and they, cherished

Occupation of Potchefstroom 47

pleasant recollections of the picquets out there at
night when the roaring camp-fire was the centre of a
happy band. Kind friends at home had warned the
departing troopers that they were not going out to a
picnic ; but, after all, the two weeks spent in Potchef-
stroom was probably the finest picnic in the lives of
those who were there The men of the Fifes will never •
forget* the rambling old town, with its solitary baker's
shop, where a cup of tea could be had for sixpence ; its
brewery, where they never seemed to brew any beer;
its little ramshackle hotels, with a piano in the back
parlour, and all the other little touches of civilisation
that made the time pass so pleasantly. When the com-
pany left it, one hundred strong, it scarcely imagined
that it was destined to return almost a year later sadly
reduced by disease and death. Yet in March of the
following year, after many strange vicissitudes, the Fife
men found themselves enjoying a square meal in Vrouw
Van ZyPs eating-house, and revisiting the scenes of their
former wanderings. Where the picquets had lain out
by the Venterskroon bridge, iron block -houses were
then erected, and garrisoned by Coldstream Guards and
other regular troops. Like every other town which had
been " pacified " by the temporary visit of British troops,
Potchefstroom had known the alternate occupation of
Briton and Boer, and had some strange ups-and-downs
before its first friends, the Fife yeomen, returned to pay
it a second visit.

CHAPTER VII.

TO PRETORIA.

LEAVING Potchefstroom finally pacified and dis-
armed as they fondly imagined, the troops set
ofT, well mounted and in good spirits, towards the north.
The magic word " Pretoria " was on every lip, and every
heart beat high. For some unexplained reason, from
the very day that the squadron had left Cupar, the
fondest hope of every mother's son was that he might
ride in triumph into Oom Paul's capital and witness the
hoisting of the Union Jack over the seat of the govern-
ment of the South African Republic.

Great, then, was the delight in every mind when it was
rumoured that at last the goal of every man's ambition
was the destination of the column. See Rome and die
is an old maxim ; but in truth there were many who
would have died happy, or who thought they would, if
once they had ridden through the streets of the capital
of the Transvaal. It had been a keen disappointment
that the company had not had the good luck to be
with the main body in the general advance through the
Free State, and when the news of the triumphal entry
of Lord Roberts* army into Pretoria reached them in
the wilderness, every man felt that he had a personal
grievance to urge against his fate.

Better late than never, it is true, and it looked as if
the Fifes would not be so very late after all in arriving
at the centre of the military universe for the time being.
Trekking along the western side of the Gatsrand (or

To Pretoria 49

holey ridge, from the number of meercat holes in the
ground), the column made three marches towards the
north and east before arriving at Johannesburg. Near
Krugersdorp the column was split up — the other com-
panies of the Scottish battalion went off with another
command, and the Fifes were divorced from their brither
Scots for the next ten months. The number of mines
on all sides showed that the Rand proper had been
reached^ and soon the waterworks of a great city warned
them that the column was approaching the golden gates
of the premier town in South Africa. Everyone was on
the qui vive; Kimberley had been disappointing, and
no town worth calling a town had been encountered
since. It was natural, therefore, that some interest
should be expressed in Johannesburg, a place of which
so much had been heard at the commencement of the
war, and indeed for several years. It was hoped that
the column would halt on the outskirts, and that an
opportunity would be allowed to inspect the city. It
seemed impossible that the stores could be empty in
such a large place, and everyone had hopes that he
would be able to replenish his slender stock of food-
stuffs from the shops and warehouses.

When the town was approached it became apparent
that no halt was to be made ; and at last the column
entered the streets and wended its way to the other
side of the town. Certainly it was a finer city than
Kimberley — the streets were broad and well planned,
and the buildings had an appearance of solidity and
comfort that was conspicuous by its absence in any
other South African town they had been in. The
plate-glass magnificence of some of the large stores
had quite a home-like European look. Alas! to our
chagrin, they were all more or less empty. The usual

plethora of enamel paint and uneatable haberdashery
E

50 Fife and Forfar I. Y, in South Africa

was there, but little or nothing of the more useful nature
of matches, candles, or sugar. After a brief halt in a
small open square, the column again moved on, and
finally, having left Johannesburg behind, camped on a
slope beside the Simmer and Jack gold mines. The
camp was a long way from water, and it was late
in the evening until the tea was boiled, and the men
were " down to it," as soldiers term it A very expres-
sive and reasonable term this "down to it," for it is
manifestly absurd to talk of going to bed when there
is no bed. The soldier, when he is rolled in his blanket
and big overcoat, with his head upon his saddle, is
simply "down to it," and is delighted so to be. His
only nightmare is a sudden reveille in the middle of
the night, a weary stand to arms in the moonlight, or
a sudden night march or patrol. Defend him from
dangers such as these, and he is as happy — aye, and
happier — than many a luxurious sleeper in a well-
appointed bedroom.

Next day the march was continued, and the column
camped midway between the two towns — the capital of
commerce and the seat of government When, on the
2nd of July, the march was resumed once more, it was
generally known that this was the last lap to Pretoria,
where everybody understood that, after a grand review
of some sort, the Yeomanry would go down country and
embark for home. Extraordinary rumours of all sorts
are a regular feature of the soldier's life on active ser-
vice. This is explained to some extent by the fact that
there are no newspapers, and therefore no authentic
information. The result is that anyone who is gifted
with a brilliant imagination can set afloat a plausible
story, which soon gains general credence, and often is
so magnified and altered as it passes from one regiment
to another that the author has difficulty in recognising
it when it finds its. way back again.

To Pretoria 51

The want of newspapers and the want of mails from
home at this time was almost a greater hardship than
the scarcity of food and water. For a couple of months
the men had been cut off from the outer world, and for
a much longer period from any news from home. One
of the curious results of being in a country where no
daily paper was published, was that nobody knew the
day of the week. Many a debate arose as to whether
it was Sunday or Wednesday, and the matter had to be
left to some man with a diary for decision.

The Fifes were on the left flank of the column on
the last day's march to Pretoria, and as the convoy was
winding its way down the centre of a narrow valley,
they were over the hilltops and out of sight of the
waggons and main body. On every side were evidences
of the recent general advance of Lord Roberts' army.
The air was heavy with the stench of putrid carcases,
and the vultures, flapping lazily overhead or hopping
amongst the ant-hills, had a leisurely, satisfied look, as
if they were enjoying a time of prosperity and plenty.

As the day advanced, and it became evident that
Pretoria could not be far off, all eyes were strained in
the direction which the column was taking to catch the
first glimpse of the place which so many had travelled
seven thousand miles to see. There can be no doubt
that the entry to the capital of the Transvaal was re-
garded as the climax of an enterprise which had drawn
men from their peaceful homes and daily occupation,
and for which they had left friends and family to under-
take a long and adventurous journey over land and sea.
Pretoria was the loadstone which had fired their curiosity
and aroused their passions ; that had impelled them
to engage for a time in the almost forgotten art of wkr.
Now it was within a few miles — a few hours at the most
and they must reach it— and a feeling of exultation and

$2 Fife and Forfar I. F. in South Africa

indefinable happiness pervaded every mind. The very
horses seemed to feel the magnetic influence of the
moment, and to step out with unusual briskness.

The scenery was becoming every moment more
Scottish in its character, the long valley through which
the column had been wending became a rugged high-
land glen, and at every sharp turn in the road the
waggons and water-carts were in danger of falling over
the edges into the mountain stream which rushed
amongst the rocks some fifty feet below. Winding
down this rugged gorge, it soon became apparent that
screens and scouts could no longer be of service, and
gradually the whole column, flankers and all, found
themselves riding on the narrow track alongside the
buck waggons.

Suddenly, on rounding a corner of jagged rocks, Pre-
toria, lying right below in a hollow at the foot of the hill-
side, burst upon the gaze. From the distance, seen as it
was in a sort of bird's-eye view, the details of the scene
were criticised and commented on. The Government
buildings were immediately located towering in the
centre above the heads of the surrounding houses. The
Union Jack floated proudly over all with a quiet dignity
that seemed to infer that it was quite at home again
after an absence of twenty years. Soon the column
was meandering through suburban streets, flanked on
each side by prim and comfortable-looking villas situ-
ated in beautiful gardens, and many of them occupied
by officials and officers of the new regime. The camp
at Arcadia, one of the suburban slopes, was reached
without passing through the centre of the town, so that
no particulars of the shops and stores had yet been
gathered. Every man, of course, was bent upon a
voyage of discovery as soon as leave could be obtained,
and the chief aims of life at the moment were to buy

To Pretoria 53

matches and sugar, and to see Oom Paul's house. In
the first they were doomed to be disappointed, for
matches and sugar were not to be had for gold ; but
Oom Paul's house was there, and the first man who
returned and reported having seen it was regarded as
having achieved the main object of life.

Just at this time of year (July) the weather was ex-
ceedingly cold, and life in the open was not an ideal
existence. Cloudy skies and cold winds, that reminded
the troopers of March winds at home, were the order of
the day. Sickness became more prevalent, and one or
two more men were carried off to hospital. The camp
was well supplied with water, and rations were plentiful,
with the important exception of sugar, which, as already
mentioned, was not obtainable. It was extraordinary to
note the craving for anything sweet which developed in
full-grown men after a few weeks of a sugarless life.
Later in the campaign bronzed and bearded soldiers
might be seen at the Field Force canteens buying quan-
tities of Turkish delight at the price of a shilling for a
small box.

The one great compensation in the campaigner's life
was tobacco. Boer tobacco, in large cotton bags, was
easily obtained as a rule, and pipes wetfe lit first thing
in the morning, and only laid aside last thing at night.
The open air rendered tobacco smoking perfectly in-
nocuous, and as the company was now supplied with
tents, each evening found the men trying their utmost
to get up a home-like atmosphere of reek. This was
not easy, as the smoke seemed to evaporate through the
canvas and disappear as fast as it was emitted.

Every day there was talk of peace proposals and
terms of settlement One forenoon a gay cavalcade
rode past the lines, and it was announced that General
Botha, with an escort of lancers, had come into Pretoria

54 Pif^ c^f^d Forfar L Y, in South Africa

to discuss matters with our Commander-in-Chief, Lord
Roberts. What came of that conference is matter of
common knowledge. Soon it became evident that the
capture of Pretoria and the proclamation of annexation
would not be accepted as final by the Boers. Ugly-
rumours floated around the camp of stores of provisions
and extensive fortifications in the Lydenburg hill dis-
trict; but it was hoped that, as organised resistance must
be at an end, the Yeomanry and irregulars would be
allowed to depart in peace, while the regular arniy was
left to finish matters up. These surmises showed a lack
of appreciation of the real position. Two years later
raw irregulars were raised to assist to bring the war to
a close. The original Yeomanry, who volunteered at a
time of crisis, and who left their occupations and their
homes for one shilling a day, were beginning to think
that, when police duty began and the period of organ-
ised war seemed at an end, they would have the option
of going home to attend to their business. This proved
to be a fallacy.

Marching orders were received after a stay of three
days in the capital, and as the Fife men turned their
backs upon Pretoria late one afternoon and trekked
away from the railway, it became apparent that the
Lydenburg hills story might not be without foundation.
Marching orders, as is usual in active service, had come
very suddenly, and those who were in the town on pass
had some difficulty in being ready for parade. The sun
was low in the sky when the outskirts of Pretoria were
left behind, and, trekking till midnight, the company
camped with General Button's brigade, which it had
been ordered to join, at a spot called Reitfontein, some
thirty miles south-east of Pretoria.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE FUN BEGINS.

GENERAL BUTTON was in command of a
brigade chiefly composed of mounted irregulars
—New Zealand Rough Riders (or Roost Robbers, as
they were more often called), Australian Bushmen, and
other equally serviceable corps — so that the Fifes on
arrival found themselves in good company. Their old
friends the Imperial Light Horse were also there, and, as
usual, were bearing the brunt and sustaining casualties
at the hands of the enemy. General Hutton's brigade
numbered 5520 men, including 1520 mounted troops and
26 guns. On 6th July, when the company joined, the
enemy was reported on the Standerton road. Driven
out of Pretoria, they were apparently determined to con-
tinue the struggle and to resist the advance of the British
along the railway line to Delagoa Bay. It became a
question, therefore, of driving them from position to
position, and gradually forcing them towards the Portu-
guese border, where it was hoped they would have to
surrender.

Unfortunately, the first position they occupied was a
very good one, and proved a hard nut to crack. They
were supposed to number 4000 men, with 15 guns, at
this time, and were in command of Louis Botha, whose
headquarters or hooftlaager was at Bronkhorstspruit
This spruit, which was several miles south of the rail-
way station of that name, was the scene of a disaster to
a body of our troops under Colonel Anstruther (a Fife

56 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

man) twenty years before. The Boer forces held an
almost impregnable line of good positions round this
centre on a front of fifteen miles, and every attempt to
break through or to drive them out seemed to be un-
availing. On the first day after their arrival with General
Hutton, the Fifes, who were out reconnoitring, came
suddenly under a brisk fire from the enemy, when the
first shots were exchanged and a rapid retirement effected
with the loss of one horse. This loss of a horse and
saddle was the first casualty sustained by the company
in the field, and the plight of the trooper, whose heavy
overcoat had to be left behind, was calculated on these
cold nights to bring home to him the hazards of war.
Covered with old sacks, he presented a cold and shivering
spectacle at sunrise next morning.

'A detachment of the company was told off at this
time to escort a convoy of waggons to the town of
Springs and bring back supplies to the column. It was
a bullock convoy, and, as a consequence, moved at night
and rested by day. Starting 'at eight o'clock one even-
ing, it had hardly gone a mile before midnight, thanks
to the darkness and confusion, and Springs was not
reached until the sun was high next morning. The
night was bitterly cold, and the movement of the lum-
bering ox waggons was so tediously slow that it made
the march seem doubly long. When the troopers plod-
ding along on the flanks began to find their feet and
hands numb with the frost they dismounted and marched
on foot There was a body of active service Volunteers
marching on foot with the waggons — London men of
some Middlesex regiment — who seemed to be even
more sorry for themselves that night than the Yeomanry.
Even when walking briskly it was impossible to keep
warm, and walking with a heavy overcoat and cartridges
and rifle is by no means an amusing fprm of exercise.

714^ Fun Begins 57

Springs was ultimately reached, and it was generally
agreed that a few hours* sleep would be a good thing
while the waggons were being loaded. The return
journey was begun the same afternoon, and the troopers
set off happy in the possession of a quantity of tinned
meat and other stores that would command any price
when the column was reached once more. Later in the
campaign the acquisition of supplies from the A.S.C. was
the accomplishment of every self-respecting soldier, espe-
cially when riding in support of the rear-guard. This job
entailed the work of dealing with broken-down waggons ;
and on one memorable night march, when a waggon
had tilted into a donga that ran alongside the road, a
great haul was made by the company by the aid of the
" moonbeam's misty light." To this day some of them
must reproach themselves for the pillaging of the M. I.'s
jam supply ; but of course anything is fair in time of
war, and the M. I., good men though they were, had no
soul above making away with the supplies of their
friends of the I.Y. when they had the chance. To the
uninitiated, it should be explained that during the war
large numbers of infantry soldiers were mounted on
ponies, and became Mounted Infantry or M.I. They
were as fine men as were to be met in the field, and
although their knowledge of horsemanship left a good
deal to be desired, they made up for this by their other
many good qualities.

On 7th July the Boers had concentrated their atten-
tion on the force under Mahon, who suffered heavily,
losing two officers and six men killed and eleven
wounded of the I.L. H. — the total list of casualties for
the day being two officers and six men killed, one officer
and twenty-eight men wounded.

The following day Botha attacked with an increased
force, estimated at about 6000 ; and when it is remem-

58 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

bered that their ah'gnment round Hutton's position
covered a circumference of twenty-three miles, it may
be to some extent realised what a task he had. A
strong flanking movement on the right towards Springs,
led by Commandant Dirksee, was checked by the New
Zealanders, the 20th Company, and G Battery R. H. A.

For the next few days Hutton held his own, and on
the loth of July General French, with Colonel Porter's
brigade of cavalry (about 1000 strong), joined, and
French took over command.

On the nth a successful engagement took place, the
cavalry on the right, Hutton's main force in the centre,
with Mahon, Alderson, and Pilcher on the left The
ridges had just been cleared when, at two o'clock, orders
came for Mahon and Pilcher to return to Pretoria with
their respective commands. Grobelaar and Delarey
were threatening all along the Magaliesberg range, had
taken the post at Mazilikats Nek, composed of Lincolns
and Greys, and had attacked the troops at Watervaal.

On isth July the company was ordered back to Pre-
toria, and, leaving their colonial friends with unfeigned
regret, they bade farewell to General Hutton and his
brigade ; not, however, before the Greneral had congra-
tulated Captain Hodge on the way his company had
done their duty.

It was while the company was attached to the
Colonial Brigade that a well-known corporal of the
Fifes, who possessed in rich measure the brogue^ of his
native land, asked a sergeant-major of a regular regiment
to which he and some others were attached the famous
question — " Dae ye no blaw a trumpet in the mornin' ?"
So long as any member of the 20th Company lives he
will remember the account of the sergeant-major of the
line and his expression when he was asked this simple
question. Another account of how the worthy corporal

The Fun Begins 59

surprised some English Tommies, who were relieving
his guard, by the stentorian command — "Auld gaird,
shoother airms!" is not so well authenticated.

Humorous incidents and sayings were so scarce at
this stage that anything in the nature of a joke was
repeated on all sides and made as much of as possible.
An amusing story in conifection with the colonials has
the merit of absolute truth. One of the Australians,
determined to have a mount, had the audacity during the
night to commandeer one of General Hutton's chargers,
and when his servants commenced to search for it, and
officers commanding regiments ordered its return, the
Australian, who had docked its mane and tail, and
otherwise altered its appearance, removed it to the New
Zealanders' lines and tied it up there. It is said that
the General, when it was recovered, ordered the New
Zealanders to parade, and informed them that he could
not blame them, as their fathers had been horse-stealers
before them, and it was well known that what was bred
in the bone would come out in the flesh.

A member of the company attached at this time to
the New Zealand Rough Riders had the misfortune to
fall into the hands of the enemy, and the following de-
scription of how he fared may be of interest : —

" Having walked into an ambushed picquet of the
Johannesburg Police, who were concealed amongst the
rocks on top of a kopje, we were taken to the hooft-
laager or headquarters camp to be dealt with by the
Commandant-General, Louis Botha. Crossing the river
at Bronkhorstspruit, we came upon a small group of
Boers squatting on the grass beside a tent close to the
spruit. In the background was a goedkoop winkel or
cheap store, shaded by a few trees. In the centre of the
group of Boers was a dark, bronzed man of somewhat
better appearance than the rest, to whom our escort

6o Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

raised their hats. We afterwards found that this was
Louis Botha, their commander-in-chief He was dressed
with more neatness than the average Boer we had seen,
and wore a clean linen collar. A Norfolk jacket and
Tyrolean hat formed part of his costume, and he was
smoking and reading a book at the moment we ap-
proached.

"After a few remarks, and a little joke about a
Scotch yeoman without a kilt, we were marched off to
a waggon and driven over to the railway station of Bal-
moral, whence we were taken by train to the prison cage
at Nooitgedacht, near Barberton.

" This prison was a mere open-air enclosure of four or
five acres of ploughed land, in a deep valley, surrounded
by hills sooo feet in height. It lay between the Delagoa
Bay railway on one side and the Crocodile river on the
other. At the time of our capture there were 1800
British prisoners there — a ragged, half-starved, merry
crowd of Tommies of every branch of the service. Their
miserable plight, herde;! night and day in an insanitary
enclosure, did not make them less cheerful. The fact is,
it takes a lot to depress Thomas Atkins, and the worse
his plight the better his spirits as a rule. When rain
poured and sleep was impossible in the open, they
marched up and down singing gay choruses and enjoy-
ing themselves immensely. The scarcity of firewood was
the worst feature of life in the Boer prison. The scanty
rations issued consisted of mealie meal or maize meal
and rice, and as these required to be boiled, firewood
was a necessity. Once a week a number of logs were
thrown into the enclosure, and a terrible scramble for
possession of them invariably followed. The prison was
surrounded by two fences of barbed wire, an outer and
an inner fence, about ten feet high, and between them a
mesh of crossed wires made escape impossible. This

The Fun Begins 6i

stockade was lit at night with electric lights, worked by
a donkey engine, which was used during the day to
grind mealies. Sentries were posted at intervals round
the outside of the enclosure with Mauser rifles, which
they were continually letting off* by accident, to the
great danger of everyone near them. The commandant
in charge of the prison, a Boer called Grobelar, had an
unpleasant way of ordering the sentries to charge their
magazines and present their rifles at the mob when the
prisoners in their scramble for firewood were inclined to
press on the inner fence. On one or two occasions (as
when an Irish fusilier hurled a brick at the commandant)
a volley was fired over the prisoners' heads, and this had
a wonderfully sobering effect on the crowd. The rule
was that no man was allowed to come within a yard of
the fence, and several men were fired upon with blank
cartridge to impress this rule upon the memory. One
prisoner (a colonial) suffered a good deal from the wound
made by the wad of a blank cartridge which lodged in
his leg. Another was almost blinded, and had his pipe
broken by this playful trick. The principal occupation
of the 1800 prisoners during the day was the washing
and cleaning of their shirts, for they were much afflicted
by the presence of many energetic little friends, who
often made sleep at night impossible. Even a daily
washing was no remedy for this state of affairs, and
sunset invariably witnessed a renewed outbreak of hos-
tilities and a great deal of bad language. At night the
Burghers' laager adjacent to the prison sent forth the
sounds of the Boers' psalm-singing aad evening devo-
tions, and the sentries round the wires sat beside small
lion-scaring watch-fires and indulged in the singing of
doleful dirges of a religious nature. To lie awake in a
ploughed field at night shivering with cold, exceedingly
hungry, and tormented almost beyond endurance by

62 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

the incessant irritation of vermin, while a sentry with a
loaded rifle raises his voice in devotion and praise, is an
experience calculated to make a man a scoffer at religion
for the remainder of his life. Never, let us hope, will
* Man's inhumanity to man ' be shown by our country-
men as it was by the Boers to their prisoners in the cage
at Nooitgedacht. Captives and prisoners of war do not
expect luxury or even comfort, but surely they are en-
titled to look for that amount of consideration that is
commonly given to a dog or other dumb animal by its
master. The condition of a regularly fed, well cared for
animal in a menagerie was an enviable one compared
to that of the British prisoners of war. They could not
fail to contrast their plight with the fate of the Boers in
the refugee camps which they saw after their release.
Housed in spacious marquees, living in an unaccustomed
atmosphere of enforced cleanliness and sanitary decency,
the occupants of the concentration camps belied by their
own looks of cheerfulness the extraordinary stories of a
section of the British public.

"The food supplied to the British prisoners was
barely enough to keep them alive. A saucerful of
half- boiled mealie porridge in the morning and a
saucerful of boiled rice at night was the allowance,
which only made the prisoners feel more hungry. The
cooking was done in the New Zealand mess in an old
kerosene tin taken from a midden, and for which one of
the sentries who fetched it received a shilling. Plates
and spoons were unknown, but substitutes were found in
old sardine tins, and one of the few occupations of the
prisoner's life was the making of wooden spoons. It
was delightful to get anything to do in these days, fpr
there was nothing to read and nothing to talk about
except the prospect of release.

"At daybreak one morning about the end of August

The Fun Begins 63

a low, dull thud was heard like the sound of distant
thunder. Many of the prisoners sat up and listened.
Ten minutes later a faint boom again sounded in the
distant hills. Many argued that it must be a gun ;
others declared that they heard nothing. By this time,
however, dozens of men were standing almost holding
their breath in their eagerness to catch the sound.
Again it sounded, faint and distant, but undoubtedly a
gun, and from end to end of the enclosure went up
from 1800 British throats a rousing British cheer. In a
few hours the sound of several guns could be distinctly
heard, and at intervals the hillsides rang with the cheers
of the delighted Tommies. The Boers began to wear a
troubled look. Like the prisoner of Chillon —

' A k&d of change came in our &te,
Our keepers grew compassionate.'

" For three days, from sunrise to sunset, the ground
shook and the air vibrated with the glad roar of the
relieving artillery, and every heart beat high in anticipa-
tion of freedom. Naval guns, field guns, and pom-poms
kept up a mighty chorus, and with a wicked satisfaction
the prisoners noted the rumbling Red Cross trains full
of dead and wounded Boers that passed the prison .two
or three times a day. Oom Paul passed down the line,
and addressed the Burghers at the little wayside station
as he fled. A common chorus of the prisoners in the
evening was an original rendering of * Old Cock Robin,'
with the refrain —

' And the Boers in their laager were a-sighing one and all
When they heard of the flight of old Oom Paul ' ;

and certainly his hurried disappearance from the scene
was rather a blow to them.

" The trains on the railway were now all running in
one direction, away from the British, and the dead and
wounded were coming down in coal trucks. They will

64 Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

not stand, was the firm conviction of the prisoners, as
they heard and saw the evidences of the punishment
they were receiving.

" A perfect Bamum's show was now hurrying down
the valley past thfe prison — waggons with women and
children, furniture and bedding, and all their household
goods. Kaffirs driving pigs and poultry, sheep and
goats, and every kind of live stock. A small boy riding
a donkey trotted past the fence with the cheerful re-
mark, * Khaki no catch me,' which delighted the prisoners
enormously. They were lined up at the fence enjoying
the procession as if it had been organised for their
amusement

" Soon the whole of BothsCs army was flying helter-
skelter. They had stood obstinately for three days in
the face of 30,000 troops and 50 pieces of artillery, but
at last they could * stick it ' no longer.

" The first, of course, to fly (they were always the first
in retreat, the Boers confided in us) was the dastardly
Irish brigade, distinguished by the green ribbons round
their hats. When the Irish Fusiliers and Irish Yeo-
manry saw them approaching they were received with
howls of execration, and it looked as if the prisoners
were to break out and beat them with their fists. Never
did men look more like whipped curs than Colonel
Lynch's Irishmen as they led the retreat The Burghers
assured the prisoners that these men had always been
first when it was a case of looting a store or getting
away from the enemy.

The Burghers were now coming down in thousands,
the valley was filled with smoke — for they burned every-
thing they could not get away — and the gates of the
prison were thrown open. Viljoen, standing in a Cape
cart, implored the prisoners to return peaceably to their
own army, and with a wild cheer at the regaining of

The Fun Begins 65

their freedom, the prisoners advanced in ' column of
lumps' towards General French's camp. This was still
some ten miles distant, and soon the weak and emaci-
ated prisoners began to fall out by the wayside. Many
were unable to continue the march, and had to be
brought in on ambulances. A few days later, the pri-
soners were paraded in their rags before Lord Roberts,
who was accompanied by Lord Kitchener, his chief of
staff, and Generals Buller, French, Ian Hamilton, and
Pole-Carew. Thereafter the prisoners were entrained
for Pretoria, where they were provided with good food,
and equipped with clean clothing and blankets and
drafted back to their own regiments. They had had a
taste of brother Boer's hospitality, and had received an
instructive lesson in his ways of behaving when he had
the upper hand,"

CHAPTER IX.

A TREK IN THE BUSHVELDT.

ARRIVED at Pretoria late in the evening after a
hurried march, which resulted in one good horse,
at least, dying in the streets of the town, the company
joined the command of Colonel Mahon again, and was
A attached to the 7th battalion, consisting of Devon, Dorset,

ym if ^^ Somerset, and Sussex Yeomanrjr^ It was with this batta-

X f^icU^^ lion of south country farmers that the Fifes were to see
/v^ ** ^ ^ the greater part of their service. To the Sussex squadron

they were destined to be even more closely allied than
to the others, as both were, after a few months, so' re-
duced in strength that they formed one composite com-
pany in the field. No better companions could have
been wished. In the life of a campaigner there is much
opportunity for a man to know his fellow -men: they
eat together, and work together, and sleep together.
Society, which at home is divided into families and
villages, is divided in the field into messes and com-
mandos, and each member of a force is brought into
continual contact and closest intimacy with all the
others. A great deal depends, therefore, on the kind of
men who compose a squadron or a reginient. It may
safely be said that, if the Fifes had searched through the
200,000 men who composed the South African field force,
they could not have chosen better travelling companions
than the 7th battalion. Not only were they the sort of
men to make life in camp cheerful, and to render a long
trek less monotonous, but when the sterner work of war

A Trek in the Bushveldt 6y

was taken in hand, and the Mausers began, they proved
themselves worthy companions, and men to be relied on
in moments of emergency. After nine or ten months of
service together in almost daily contact with the enemy,
the Fifes parted with their southern friends with the
greatest regret, and without ever having had the shadow
of a quarrel with them.

Colonel Mahon's force was now augmented by the ^ ^ ya C^^'
arrival of two new squadrons of Yeomanry, the Rough '
Riders from London, who had come straight up country
by train to Pretoria, and then took the field for the first
time. These new chums, called by familiar abbreviation
"the Roughs," did not at first belie their name. They
had the misfortune to go through their initiation into
the art of war a few months later than their already
seasoned comrades. Naturally they commenced at the
beginning, and appeared in the heavy dragoon style
with a superfluity of hay -nets, shoe -cases, and other
useless pieces of impedimenta. The result was that,
when they set off* at a trot, such trifles as tins of bully
beef and other extras that were loosely strapped to their
saddles shook off" on all sides, to the delight of the men
who followed in their wake and reaped the harvest.

On a Monday morning in the middle of July the
force moved out in the direction of Middelburg, on a
memorable trek to Balmoral, a town on the Delagoa
Bay railway. They formed part of a division under
Hamilton which drove the Boers back from the right
flank of their positions east of Pretoria. The 7th
battalion on this march did a great deal of scouting and
drawing fire when the troops approached the kopjes,
which were exceedingly plentiful in these parts.

One story at the expense of the Rough Riders
afforded much amusement to the Fife squadron. The
enemy had opposed the advance, and a brisk shell fire

68 Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

was being kept up between the two sides, when orders
were given that a certain position must be taken at once.
It may here be stated that the Fifes had galloped another
position some hours before, and were occupying it with
a view to keeping off the enemy. An officer of the
Rough Riders now galloped up, and, waving his hand
in the direction of the kopje where the Fifes were posted,
announced in a loud voice — " The General says that
kopje must be taken. The Rough Riders will take
it." Putting spurs to his horse, he galloped with the
whole squadron towards the crest, and suddenly came
upon one of the Fife number three's, or men in charge
of horses, who was having a shave by way of passing
the time. Their disgust when they found that their
gallant charge was all in vain was added to by the
good-natured chaff of their Fife friends, who asked them
if they had come to relieve them, and whether they
had brought their rations, &c. History does not relate
whether they found another kopje and performed another
charge.

After a week's marching and fighting, the force,
which had halted at Bronkhorstspruit for a day, pushed
on to Balmoral, which had been hastily evacuated by
the Boers on their approach. The account of the
column's entry into Balmoral was a sad one. In the
afternoon rain began to descend in torrents, a cold
wind arose, and in an atmosphere like that of a Scotch
November day the Fifes plodded along through the
mud and waded their horses through rushing streams.
Night fell and darkness came on while they were still
miles from their destination.

Meantime the long column of supply waggons which
they were escorting found it increasingly difficult to make
progress on the heavy roads of puddled clay, which each
waggon made more impassable for the following one.

A Trek in the Bushveldt 69

The thunder roared, and it was only by the vivid flashes
of lightning that it was possible to see the struggling
teams of mules and bullocks as they ploughed their way
through the stormy night.

It was almost midnight before the Fifes, wet and
exhausted, reached the camping ground of the column,
and what a scene of confusion it was when they got
there. The wind howled, and almost drowned the noise
of cracking whips and yelling Kaffirs. Men rode about
shouting to find out where their own contingent lay.
Many did not reach their own lines till morning, but
anchored to the first waggon they could see. Several
soldiers and Kaffirs died of exposure to the weather
before daybreak, but the tremendous loss of transport
animals was not realised until the force returned by the
road it had come. This it did after a day's rest, having
been recalled to Pretoria to meet some new move of the
enemy. On returning it was found that the whole road
on both sides of the way was strewn with the carcases
of mules and bullocks, and that at least two hundred
animals had perished in the endeavour to reach Bal-
moral. Needless to say, when the South African sun
beat down as it did upon the return journey, the air,
to use the expressive phrase of Thomas Atkins, " fairly
hummed."

The company, glad to forget this unpleasant expe-
rience, reached the capital again on the last day of
July, and were reviewed with the rest of the force by
the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Roberts, in the Market
Square. Camping in the outskirts of the town, the after-
noon was spent in the issue of remounts to those whose
horses were no more, and thereafter orders were issued
that reveille would be at four next morning. " Reveille
at four ; march at five," was invariably the telegraphic
form of orders for the morrow at this time.

70 Fife an(f Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

Colonel Mahon now left Pretoria, and advanced in
a westerly direction towards Commando Nek. Within
eight miles of Pretoria some Boers in a fruit farm
opened fire on the screen, but were soon dislodged.
That night the force camped beside an orange grove,
and men with sacks and nose-bags were busy gathering
quantities of ripe fruit and taking them back to camp.
Those who do not know the thirsty climate of the veldt
will be astonished at the confession of one man, who ad-
mitted that he ate thirty tangerines before he off-saddled.
Next night the force joined Ian Hamilton's great column,
with its square miles of troops and camp fires. During
the following two days the Fife company was beauti-
fully ambushed by a party of Boers, whose laager lay
behind a kopje. The Fifes, advancing with scouts out
in approved fashion, reached the deserted laager and
pushed on across a stream, when the enemy suddenly
poured in a volley and scattered them. Three horses
hit and one man's hat shot was the not very serious
casualty list In a short time the Boers were driven off,
and a large number of waggons, cattle, &c., captured.

The force was now on the heels of De Wet, who was
encumbered with an enormous waggon laager, which, as
he has since admitted, came very near costing him and
his entire force their freedom. Seeing that he was
closely pursued, and that it was merely a matter of time
till his laager fell into the hands of the British, the wily
Boer leader made a rush through Oliphant's Nek, and
was hurrying into the Bushveldt, where he hoped to take
advantage of the nature of the country to elude his foes.

This Bushveldt is a vast waterless country, perfectly
flat for the most part, and everywhere overgrown with
stunted old trees of ^ the prickly mimosa variety. The
movement of a column in this country is exceedingly
diflicult, as it is impossible to follow a straight course.

A Trek in the Bushveldt 71

The waggons and horses had to dodge about and seek
a way where it could be found. To collide with a
mimosa tree on horseback is an experience that will be
long remembered by the unfortunate person who does
so. They are not unlike the elder tree in appearance,
but are literally bristling with long, sharp spikes like
darning needles, which will tear the clothes and scratch
the eyes out of the person who is foolhardy enough to
embrace them. As a horse only allows for its own
height, and has not the sense to know that its rider
requires a little extra headway, the result of falling
asleep in the saddle in the Bushveldt was extremely
unpleasant.

De Wet, having reached this part of the country, con-
trived to hide his laager in some isolated and unlikely
spot, and made off south with a small bodyguard to the
Magaliesbergs, which he crossed at a place called Blok
Kloof, afterwards well known to the yeomen.

Meantime the Fifes and their friends, who had been
living on the produce of the country as they came along
— rations having given out — arrived at a place called
Warmbaths, where hot minerah springs afforded the
men the unaccustomed luxury of a hot bath. A long
row of one hundred bathrooms, each containing a bath
well supplied with hot and cold water, was eagerly be-
sieged by the troopers, who found their British instinct
of cleanliness reasserting itself after a few months of en-
forced disregard of practices that are said to be akin to
godliness.

Lumsden's Horse, a corps of tea-planters from India,
were also with Mahon's corps, and as some of the yeomen
had brothers and cousins amongst them, visits to each
other in camp were frequent. After twenty-eight days
of a wild chase after De Wet, the force returned to
Pretoria, and the slippery Boer leader crossed into the

72 Fife and Forfar L F. in South Africa

Free State, and metaphorically put his fingers to his
nose at the Fife Light Horse. A terrible loss of horse-
flesh on both sides was the result of this excursion into
the Bushveldt, and the Fifes were almost altogether dis-
mounted. Several of them had been without horses for
some time, and had occasion to curse De Wet and his
Burghers as they trudged along on foot at the rate of
thirty miles a day. If anything was likely to make a
man careful of horse-flesh this was. One member of the
company. Trooper Renny, who had taken ill at Warm-
baths, and was sent down to Krugersdorp by bullock
waggon on the railway, had died there before the com-
pany returned to Pretoria. He had been more or less
unwell from the day he had set foot in the country, but
as he was a big strong fellow, no one imagined that he
would collapse so quickly when enteric seized him, and
the news of his end was received with sorrow by his
companions. By this time men were dropping out
almost every week, and the squadron was formed into
two troops from the remains of the original force.
Heavy rains at night and no tents on the trek accounted
for many cases of fever and rheumatism.

CHAPTER X.

WITH CLEMENTS.

THE beginning of September found the Fifes in
Pretoria again, and wondering what the next
move of the wonderful war game was to be. Remounts
were issued on a Sunday, and next day the composite
battalion was off to join Clements' column, which was
operating in the Rustenburg district of the Transvaal.
A halt for the first night was called at Rietfontein, a
large dep6t for stores at that time, about twenty miles
west of Pretoria, close to the Magaliesbergs, and within
range of Nitral's Nek and Commando Nek, the scene of
one or two exciting incidents in the war. Trekking up
the Hekpoort valley, which lies along the south side of
the Magaliesbergs, between them and the Witwaters-
rand, the yeomen joined Clements* force, and found
them suffering from the polite attention of the merry
band of snipers who were in the habit of keeping the
outposts busy at this stage. Next morning reveille was
at four o'clock, and the force marched 6p the valley — the
mounted men clearing the low ground, and the infantry
on the kopjes and hills on either side ; but the snipers
were not to be deterred by tactics of this sort, and kept
up a continual and irritating opposition to the advance
from every coign of vantage.

The approach of the yeomen in extended order to a
bare, grassy kopje near Hekpoort met with a warm re-
ception, and one of the Fifes (Trooper Mundell) was
wounded in the shoulder. The Rough Riders had two
or three casualties on this occasion.

74 Pif^ ^^ Forfar L K in South Africa

This is one of the great lessons of modern war — the
utter impossibility of any living creature approaching a
few well-placed rifles without cover. .Even if the rifles
are lying on the open veldt it is impossible to get near
them, and equally impossible to locate them. At Bel-
mont and Graspan this was proved, and it has been
proved hundreds of times since. Six men on a hillside
may baffle six hundred men for hours, unless they can
be surrounded. A rifle firing smokeless powder from
behind a rock, and killing men at 1500 yards, is the
difficult problem of war. Shells do it no harm, no
amount of fire will locate it, and until it is laid by the
heels it continues to kill. This feeling of being hit in
the chest by an unseen foe, who is merely represented
by an acre of rocky hillside, is the one that takes all the
old ideas of courage and chivalry from the present-day
battlefield. War is becoming more and more a game of
skill, and less and less an affair of personal strength and
courage, although these qualities still tell in favour of the
side that possesses them. The invention of a noiseless
rifle will be the last straw that will make the soldier's lot
an altogether unenviable one.

The column camped early on this occasion, and the
yeomen had just finished their midday dinner, when
bang went a Boer gun on a distant kopje, and with a
long wail and a wobble a shell fell into the camp. Soon
they were dropping gaily on all sides, and the British
cow-gun and field battery took up the challenge, and
were giving a good account of themselves. The Boers
shifted, and for a time all was peaceful. Suddenly from
another point on the horizon the boom of a Krupp gun
broke upon the silence of the hot afternoon. This time
they had got the range very accurately, and began to
throw in shell after shell in rapid succession from a
position about 6000 yards off* the camp. The shrapnel

With Clements 7$

burst several times right over the Fifes' horses, another
burst amongst a group of men to whom Corporal Cargill
was issuing com, but no damage was done, although a
piece of the shell actually buried itself in the sack of
oats with which he was working.

So far as the Fife men could see, shell fire never did
any damage on either side, and merely served as an
agreeable interlude to liven the soldier's life. " It isn't
that they do much harm," said the General, "it's their
beastly moral effect ;" and this might have been wit-
nessed that afternoon as the Fifes ran to gather up the
broken fragments to preserve them as trophies.

On the loth of September a stiff encounter with De-
larey took place at Boschfontein, and the Fifes and
Sussex had their full share of all that was going. Pom-
poms, field guns, and Maxims were all at it hammer and
tongs, and the yeomen who were in front had a very
trying day in the heat of the sun and under a heavy fire.
The Worcester Regiment had a dozen casualties in this
little encounter, but the loss of the I. Y. was confined to
horse-flesh.

On the following day the column halted, and next
day a start was no sooner made than the Boers barred
the way from a ridge of kopjes that ran across the
valley. A regular bombardment ensued, and the fight
lasted all day ; but the Boers stuck to their position till
nightfall, when they retired.

The Fifes had no sooner reached camp next day than
they were ordered out to clear some Boers from a river
bed in the vicinity. Two troops went out, and were
divided into three parties — one to lie in wait, while the
other two commenced at different points to beat up the
bed of the river till they met The move proved en-
tirely successful, and several Boers and their horses were
hands-upped.

76 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

Almost a week later, after a few days' halt at Hek-
poort, a little village on the Crocodile river, a Sunday
reconnaissance was undertaken by the mounted men,
when the Fifes and Sussex got into a hot corner — the
Rough Riders having retired from a position on their
right and allowed the enemy to close in on them.
Lieutenant Stanley, of the Sussex, a brave officer, and
a well-known cricketer, was shot through the head, and
was buried next day. His grave was dug in the garden
of a Scotchman's house, by the side of a stream, where
the willows and blossoming peach trees cast their plea-
sant shade. Sewn up in his brown military blankets,
he was borne to his last resting-place by the men of his
squadron, several of whom had been at Eton and Oxford
with him in former years.

At this time General Clements' column was co-oper-
ating with a force under Colonel Ridley. Enteric, that
scourge of armies in the field, had been claiming many
victims, and a waggon train containing thirty sufferers
was despatched t6 Pretoria.

In the beginning of October the force returned to
Commando Nek, and mails from home, the first for
many months, were eagerly seized upon, and news-
papers and letters — luxuries almost forgotten — were
read and re-read with the keenest enjoyment Horses
were beginning to give out again under the strain of the
continual marching and counter- marching over rocky
hills and rough ground. The news of the departure of
the C.I.V.'s (the London Volunteer force), and the im-
minence of the rainy season, tended to make the men
somewhat discontented with their lot

A grand drive over the Magaliesbergs — in which the
bulk of the hard work fell to the infantry, while the
mounted men had short marches and many farms to
search — dispelled the temporary grumbling or grousing

WM Clements 77

which always asserted itself when the column camped
for any length of time in one place. Keep the soldier
moving, and give him plenty of fighting and hard work,
and he is the most cheerful and contented man on earth ;
but lay him up at a base dep6t for a week, and he be-
comes a miserable and discontented wretch.

On the conclusion of this drive, which resulted in the
capture of a number of Boers, the column camped at
Nooitgedacht, on the south side of the range, a spot
which was to witness a sad tragedy some three months
later. Here the Rough Riders left the command and
returned to Pretoria, and the Yeomanry were joined by
many of their original comrades, who had been doing
police duty in the capital.

Rations were now becoming more plentiful, and
besides an increased allowance of biscuits, tinned jam
and bacon were added to the soldier's fare, so that he
began to put on flesh again. Clements was a very
popular general with the men of his own column, and
this was in no small measure due to the fact that he fed
them well. Thomas Atkins is essentially a practical
man, and has no appreciation for the higher qualities of
his leaders unless they give him plenty to eat A large
capture of Boers was a very satisfactory announcement
to the troops, but it was not received with more enthu-
siasm than the intimation of a tot of rum all round or a
special issue of jam. Only those who have lived upon
the plaster-of-Paris variety of army biscuits for a few
weeks can understand how glad the soldier is of any-
thing with a flavour.

If the writer was asked what was the saddest sight
he had seen during the South African War, he would
say that nothing had brought home to him the reality
of war so much as the sight of a- little toddling child
at a farm near Hekpoort trying to nibble the comer

78 Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

off an army biscuit. To see children who have been
deprived for months of such necessaries of their life as
sugar and jam, and who are reduced to sucking a hard
dog biscuit, is to realise that war is a cruel and wielded
method of settling international disputes. It was com-
forting, to some extent, to reflect that it was our
obstinate enemies who were alone responsible for the
prolongation of the conflict.

The yeomen were now detached from the rest of the
force to hold a mountain pass in the Magaliesbergs
called Blok Kloof, the narrow defile or bridle path that
De Wet and his bodyguard crossed when they escaped
south into the Free State. His account of the passage
of this mountain gorge is to be found in " Three Years*
War." As all the other possible neks in this range were
securely guarded, it was resolved that no further body
of the Boers should use this route, so the yeomen were
stationed at the foot of the kloof, and had to send up
strong picquets morning and night to do sentry-go on
top of the hill.

It was a lovely camp at Blok Kloof, a perfectly ideal
spot for a picnic, and it would have been a picnic had it
not been for the picquet duties, which came round every
second day and night The annual rains were now in
full swing, swamping the camp every twenty-four hours,
and this rather spoiled the pleasure of life in the open.

At the foot of the precipitous rocky mountain side
was a more gradual slope of grassy ground, beautifully
shaded by a belt of mimosa trees that fringed the foot
of the hills. Although only at the beginning of the real
ascent, this grassy camping-ground was several hundred
feet above the valley, and quitfe concealed by the
scattered bush. The tents, of course, could not be
pitched in army fashion in regular lines, but were
scattered among the trees in the most refreshing dis-

With dements 79

order. The waggons were drawn up on an open bit of
green sward, and the whole camp had the air of a gipsy
encampment rather than that of a military force. Dur-
ing the day those who had been on picquet the previous
night had nothing to do but lie about land sun them-
selves, and smoke their pipes over the newspapers of
three months before, that had only been read three times
over. To learn to appreciate a newspaper properly it
is necessary to be cut off from all reliable news of the
world for several months, and then to be suddenly pre-
sented with a paper not older than last year's issue.
The smallest patent medicine advertisement is not over-
looked under these circumstances, and the greatest
interest is manifested in all that takes place in the
native kailyard of the reader. The only serious occu-
pation in these pleasant days at Blok Kloof was the
drying of blankets in the sun. It was a proceeding in
which there was not a great deal of satisfaction, for the
blankets were as certain to be wet again very shortly.
The reason for this was that the rainy season had now
fairly set in. Every afternoon about four o'clock a great
fleecy cloud began to gather in the west. Gradually it
grew bigger and bigger until it resembled great moun-
tains of cotton- wool, and in another hour the whole face
of the heavens was overcast, an ominous silence hanging
over the earth. The very animals seemed to know that
something was about to happen, and even the birds were
silent in the branches. Suddenly a wild blast of icy
cold wind swept through the camp and rattled in anger
against the flapping tents. It was as if the windows of
a warm room had suddenly been thrown open on a
winter's night. Then close on the heels of this icy
breath came a mighty rush of storm -wind, tearing up
tent pegs, scattering camp fires, and hurling sand and
stones along in its wild career. All hands manned the

8o Fife and Forfar I. K in South Africa

tent poles, and for a minute it was a struggle between
them and the fury of the gale. In another moment this
outrider or advance guard had passed on, and the main
body of the storm prepared to deliver the attack. Every-
thing by this time was hidden in the inky blackness,
and it was difficult to distinguish the trembling horses
as they stood with their hind-quarters to the advancing
storm preparing for the onslaught. Suddenly a lurid
glare of lightning flashed across the heavens, and in
another moment a crash that made the very hillside
tremble broke upon the ear. Flash after flash in rapid
succession played round the horizon, crash after crash
of thunder echoed down the hillsides, and in blinding
sheets the torrential rain poured down with an irresistible
violence that mocked the tents and trenches of the
wretched soldiers. Never was a homeless dog more
miserable than Thomas Atkins in one of these dreadful
thunderstorms. Never was shelter more desired or more
impossible of attainment. Soon the camp was running
like a river, the horses had pulled their pegs and were
stampeding in front of the blast, and men were wandering
about with their blankets carefully rolled in a waterproof
sheet, wondering how long the storm would continue.
As a rule, the sky cleared about midnight, and the moon
and stars looked down through the clear frosty air upon
an indescribable scene of muddy devastation. On a
sloping hillside things were not so bad, for the rain ran
off as fast as it fell ; but in a camp on the flat it was
often impossible to find a dry spot anywhere to anchor
down for the night. Every afternoon, after a day of
great heat, these thunderstorms swept over the country,
and made life in the open or under canvas anything
but a pleasure. After a few months in the field, how-
ever, men became inured to these continual drenchings,
and managed to swim along wonderfully.

With Clements 8i

Had it not been for the continual climbing of the
steep heights with blankets on back, and the wet, cold
sentry-go up beside the chattering baboons, life at
Blok Kloof would have been thoroughly enjoyable.
The baboons not only gave the midnight sentry a good
deal of anxiety by rattling the rocks and stones down
the hillside, but they infested the immediate neighbour-
hood of the camp, and were to be seen amongst the
trees and rocks in the quiet sultry afternoons when it
was a pleasure to lie and bask upon the grass. Bees
were numerous, too, in this camp, although seldom met
with on the veldt Their nests seemed to be in the
trunks of the old trees that grew at the foot of the hills,
and during the day tents were 'buzzing with the noise of
their wings as they wandered in and out beneath the
curtain. At Blok Kloof, in spite of the weather con-
ditions, the health of the company was fairly good, but
one old campaigner, who had been through the Mata-
bele war, had to go to hospital, much against his will.

Suddenly the order came one afternoon to rejoin
Clements' column, and just as the daily thunderstorm
was gathering the waggons were packed and the little
force set off towards Damhoek, near which they were
camped. How it poured that night Overcoats were
sodden and heavy, boots were full of moisture, the whole
valley was inches deep in water, and in the gathering
darkness the little force of Yeomanry pushed on, won-
dering how long it would last Several drifts had to be
crossed, and as the rivers were swollen by the rain on
the hills the crossing of the waggons was attended with
some difficulty. In the end one of the waggons (a
Somerset one, badly loaded and rickety) broke down
or lost a wheel, and had to be left in the stream all
night about a couple of miles from camp.

Out all night beside a drift, doing sentry-go over a
G

82 Fife and Forfar I, Y, in South Africa

broken-down waggon, some of the Fife men had time
to reflect upon the wickedness of their Somerset friends,
who were unable to pack a waggon properly, and placed
all the weight upon the front wheels. This sort of job
was one of the penalties of rearguard work, but there
certainly was some compensation to be derived from a
midnight attack upon the Somerset rations. Early next
morning the waggon was repaired, and the men who
had been left to guard it were ordered to camp as the
column was about to march.

During the night a strange accident happened to one
of the Fife tents, which had been pitched in the dark,
and as the ropes were tight and the rain heavy it was
not to be wondered at. As the inmates were lying
asleep inside on the swampy ground the cap of the tent
burst with a report like a big gun, and the tent slipped
down the pole on top of them ; but they did not allow
this to interfere with their night's rest, and crawled out
at daybreak next morning from beneath the wet canvas.

Soon the sun rose, the waggons were loaded up, the
men stood to their horses, and the column began to get
under weigh. At the last moment it was decided that
the Somersets were to be left behind on account of their
wretched transport, and for the future the 7th battalion
consisted of the Devons, Dorsets, Sussex, and Fifes.

• (

%*-•

From a Photo br w. WD. Stdabt

Captain Chapell Hodge

T

CHAPTER XL

DEATH OF CAPTAIN HODGE.

HE column now set off in the direction of Krugers-
dorp, and the first obstacle that retarded its
progress was a deep drift, with steep, muddy banks,
where the transport animals had very little footing. The
South* African rivers, as a rule, flow through a deep
cutting in the soft clay soil of the valleys, and their
banks are very often twenty or thirty feet high, and
^ almost perpendicular. When a road or track crosses

' them, a steep descent to the river bed is generally fol-

lowed by an equally steep climb on the opposite side.
After one or two waggons have crossed, the water is
worked up on the opposite bank by the feet of the
bullocks and the waggon wheels, and soon the road is
converted into mud and slime. As the other waggons
^ come along the mules or bullocks lose their footing, slip

on their knees, and the great rumbling waggon comes to
an anchor in the bed of the stream. Drag ropes, pulled
by a line of men, and sometimes the team of another
waggon, have to be called on to assist when this happens.
The noise the Kaffirs make on these occasions is inde-
scribable and fearsome. Standing in two lines on each
side of the drift, and some of them in mid- stream up to
the waist in water, they endeavour to get the waggons
across by dint of mere voice power. Waving whips and
sjamboks over their heads, they bring them down on the
backs of the struggling team or on each other, and give
forth wild war-whoops calculated to terrify the most

84 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

hardened bullock in the span. Ike — ike — iva-a-a ! they
shout, and down comes the mighty whip, like the cast
of a salmon rod, on the backs of the team ; every muscle
and nerve is strained, and, unless the chain breaks, the
mighty waggon lurches out of the river bed and creaks
up the banks to the veldt above. At some drifts every
waggon has to be double -spanned as it comes along,
and considerable delay to the progress of the column
is the result. Occasionally a waggon breaks down in
mid-stream, or sinks in the muddy bottom, and has to
be unloaded, and all the sacks of oats and other contents
carried up the opposite banks before it can be moved.

On the occasion in question two or three hours saw
every wheel across the river, and the trek was resumed.
The Fifes were on the left flank, and were very busy
driving off cattle and sheep, for they were now being
cleared by the columns in order to impress the Boers
with the folly of further resistance. From every farm
and glen another herd of live stock was added to the
lot, and as many as 20,000 head of cattle and 100,000
head of sheep were driven in on this excursion.

Camp was pitched that afternoon at a place called
Hartley's Nek, in the Witwatersrand hills. It was a
splendid spot for a camp, and at a large mill close by a
store full of Boer tobacco was largely patronised by
those whose supply of smokeables was running short.
There was a good flowing river here too, where the un-
accustomed luxury of a bathe was indulged in before
sunset.

An early start was made next morning, and as the
Fifes were advance guard, they had to be off first to
screen the movement of the column. It was known that
the Boers were in the neighbourhood, and the pack
horse with extra ammunition was ordered to follow up
the company in case of need.

Death of Captain Hodge

8s

About ten or eleven in the forenoon the screen of
scouts approached some broken, rocky ground on the
right front, when the enemy suddenly opened fire. The
scouts galloped back under a regular fusilade of bullets,
and got out of range without any casualty. Captain
Hodge was riding at the head of the support, which
consisted of the half of the Fife squadron that was not
on the screen, and when the Boers opened fire from
the position B on the accompanying sketch, he received
orders to gallop round in a wide semicircle and get
behind the enemy's position.

I?

rigi

..->

• ,..^^tC»l^^^'

^-.v- ^v.v>*

A

^^/

B

m^'A

■m^^T'mmm

% t

r.

I f f • • fl t
I I I I • • «

The two troops, riding at ten paces interval, as was
usual in supporting a screen, went off at a gallop, and
in a few minutes, as it seemed, rode down the grassy
slope at the back of the rocky kopje. A Boer was seen
galloping away as they approached. Another kopje in

86 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

rear of the first position was on the left, and, as they
were about to ride in between the two positions, Captain
Hodge halted and ordered scouts out ahead before going
further. No sooner had his hand gone up to signal a
halt then every rock and bush on both sides and in front
seemed to open fire on the little band of halted horse-
men. The ground simply boiled with bullets, falling
like raindrops on the surface of a pond. The order,
"Files about — gallop!" was hardly needed, for every
man knew at once that a moment's delay in such a
storm might be his last

As the bullets whisked past on both sides of their
heads the horses shot off like arrows in a neck and neck
race up the slope. Even they, poor animals, seemed to
know that something was wrong, and that it was a time
to show their mettle. Hardly had they started when
the captain's charger, with empty saddle, galloped past,
and showed the others a clean pair of heels. When the
bullets began to fall astern and the fire slackened.
Lieutenant Purvis and some others immediately went
back to find Captain Hodge, anci came upon him griev-
ously wounded where he had fallen at the first volley.
He was immediately carried to the shelter of a Kaffir
kraal close by, his wounds were attended to by the
doctors, and an ambulance was sent for. The bullet
had entered the small of the back, and, emerging at
the shoulder, had penetrated under the jaw and passed
through the cheek. It was hoped, however, that the
Captain would recover, and he appeared to be fighting
bravely against his sufferings.

That night the camp was pitched at a place called
Cyferfontein, and it was reported that two or three had
been killed by snipers that day. A woman had been
taken prisoner with a rifle in her hand on one of the
kopjes on the flank. Naturally she was an object of

Death of Captain Hodge 87

some interest as she came into camp, and everyone was
anxious to set eyes on this modem amazon. She was
of enormous size, must have weighed close on twenty
stone, terribly ugly, and absolutely shapeless. She wore
the usual black dress without any waist, and a black
kappy or sun-bonnet such as is worn by all the Dutch
women in South Africa. Her feet were covered with
veldt schoon, a sort of heavy clogs, and she was inno-
cent of stocking^. From the appearance of this good
vrouw, it was evident that her time might have been
better spent in having a wash than in shooting at the
rooineks. The Boers, even where they live near a run-
ning stream, seem to have a strange distrust of cold
water, and in this respect resemble our lowest class at
home. By calling a perfectly harmless little stream
Crocodile river, they excuse themselves for giving it a
wide berth.

Next day the column marched off early, and did a
good deal of farm-clearing and forage-burning. This by
way of a lesson to snipers. Needless to say, the Fife
men did not adopt any half measures, and the satisfac-
tion with which they set fire to forage and waggons and
other belongings of their fugitive enemies was increased
as they thought of the bullets that were continually
coming from behind rocks and trees and whizzing past
their ears. They had come out to fight, not to be shot
at by an enemy they could not see, and the result was
that they let off their feelings in the way of bonfires and
cattle-lifting with the greatest pleasure.

Camped at Vlakfontein that night, it was reported
that Captain Hodge was not so well, and the company
turned in for the night with heavy hearts.

Next morning, at half- past four, the stable guards
announced reveille, and- as the troopers emerged from
their tents to feed their horses they were informed that

88 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

their captain was no more. It was indeed a dismal
morning: the sky was murky, the rain poured down,
and the great black clouds were hurrying over the face
of the heavens. A feeling of depression seemed to settle
on every man as he went about his duties : for months
past the company had been a sort of happy family, and
now it felt as if the head of the family was gone ; but
there was no time to be lost, for already the column was
on the move. The Fifes were rearguard this morning,
and had an hour's grace, in which the funeral of their
leader must be conducted. A wooden cross was hastily
improvised, and in a drenching rain and cold wind the
little procession started from the Red Cross tent to the
spot beneath the great acacia trees where the grave had
been prepared. Sewn up in his brown military blanket,
and borne on. a stretcher, the form of Captain Hodge
was lowered by the surcingles of his sorrowing troopers
into a soldier's grave.

Firing three rounds into the air, the grave was care-
fully marked off with stones, the cross placed at its head,
and the rear screen mounted and trekked on, knowing
well that in a few hours the hand that laid their captain
low would be gloating over the evidence of its handi-
work.

Down came the rain in torrents, the cold wind howled,
and the whole face of the earth was like the surface of a
muddy pond. Soon it became evident that the waggons
could not struggle along much further through the mud
and wet After a trek of ten miles, in which it was with
the greatest difficulty that the horses could be made to
face the storm, the column came to an anchor at Leeuw-
fontein (Lion's Spring), where even a lion would have
refused to sleep on such a night. There was not a dry
spot anywhere, and tents were erected in the mud, and
an effort at cheerfulness was difficult indeed. By night-

Death of Captain Hodge 89

fall the storm redoubled its fury, tents swayed and
groaned, blankets were soaked and clothes sodden,
bullocks roared piteously around the laager, and every-
one longed for daybreak.

At last daylight came, but brought no intermission
in the storm. The camp was a dreary spectacle in the
cold grey light of early morning. Scarcely a horse was
left in the lines. The soft ground, trodden into a quag-
mire by restless hoofs, had failed to hold the picketing
pegs, and the wretched horses had stampeded in all
directions. Round the camp carcases of dead bullocks
and horses showed that the storm had told its tale. It
looked as if the column would be storm-stayed in this
filthy swamp. Fortunately, by ten or eleven in the
forenoon, the sky cleared a little, orders were given to
inspan, and a move was made to better ground. A
trek of four miles brought the force to a dry slope, where
tents were pitched and blankets dried, and a waggon
was despatched for wood to make a fire. Fires or hot
coffee had not been possible for twenty-four hours, and
a warm drink and a baking sun soon revived the de-
jected soldiers. When the waggon returned laden with
oranges from a neighbouring grove, the heat was so
great that a little ripe fruit was very refreshing. It is
a curious country South Africa — a country of extremes.
Yesterday it had been as cold as a Christmas day in
the old country, this day it was warmer than a Scottish
July.

CHAPTER XII.

NOOITGEDACHT (fJ EVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN).

LEAVING Leeuwfontein after a three days' halt,
during which forage patrols and other duties fell
to the lot of the Yeomanry, General Clements set off on
an excursion in the direction of Zeerust, and a great deal
of burning and clearing was undertaken in the direction
of Elands river. Long treks and hard work began to
tell upon the horses, and scarcely a day passed but some
member of the company had to say good-bye to his
tottering old Bucephalus. To lead a horse aside from
the column and blow its brains out behind a bush was
a job that many had to undertake when their horse had
knelt down to say its prayers three or four times in half
an hour. After collecting tremendous herds of live stock
(acres of cattle and square milbs of sheep was the only
way to measure them), the column made for Krugers-
dorp, and was sniped into the very outpost lines of the
town by the indignant Boer, who had heard the lowing
of his flocks and herds with sullen anger when he rea-
lised that they were surrounded by an armed screen of
rooineks. In case anyone should be ignorant of the
origin of the word " rooinek," it should be explained that
when a Britisher arrives in South Africa the sun imme-
diately attacks the back of his neck and makes it a
fiery red, hence the name of red-necks, which the Boers
substituted for the old name of rooibatjes or red-coats,
by which they called the British soldier at the time of
Majuba.

Nooitgedacht 91

A week in the middle of November was spent in
Krugersdorp, an ugly little mining town of modem
growth, with little of the attractiveness of the old Dutch
villages. In " The Dive," an underground restaurant, a
sort of local " Trocadero," the luxury of a square meal
proved a great attraction. There was little to be seen
in the town, and beyond a few clothes-lines for guy-
ropes and a few pipes, there was nothing to be had in
the way of stores. The horses were rested, however,
and grazing guards were out every afternoon while they
roamed at will across the veldt A pond of water close
to the camp was reserved for drinking purposes, but by
taking an empty biscuit box and filling it with water a
bath of a sort was possible. Many of the troopers paid
a visit to the local cemetery, where Trooper Renny had
been buried three months before.

Suddenly, at two o'clock one morning, an unexpected
reveille was announced, and in the inky darkness of a
wet night tents were hastily struck, horses up-saddled,
and preparations made to march. The enemy were re-
ported to be in force near at hand, and General Clements
was ordered out to greet them at daybreak. The Fifes
were on the left flank, and as soon as the first streak of
dawn rendered them visible to the snipers, they began
to send bullets whisking past the flankers' heads. It was
useless to stop and fire back, as they could not be
located, so there ,was nothing for the men to do but
march on stolidly and use bad language. It was a very
one-sided game this of riding about the country to be
shot at by a hidden enemy. Soon the firing in front of
the column developed into a regular attempt to oppose
the march, and after a heavy Mauser fire for some time,
the pom-pom began to bark and the field guns threw a
few shells against the kopjes. The enemy fell back, and
a position was reached where the water supply and the

92 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

lie of the land made a suitable camping-ground. As
the force was reaching this spot several shots were fired
from the vicinity of a farm-house, which was at once
demolished by the guns, and when it was surrounded by
mounted men several women-snipers were captured with
rifles in their possession.

Next day the Boers sounded reveille by a brisk shell
fire from their Krupp guns, directed evidently at the
heights round the camp, where the artillery was posted.
Their shots were pitched a trifle high, and passing over
the tops of the kopjes, fell close to the lines of the tents
and horses. There was no time for any thought of
breakfast, but saddling up in haste the yeomen were
mounted and away to support the guns. Within five
minutes of the bursting of the first shell the men were
holding their horses on the slopes, where the artillery
were getting to work, and awaiting further orders.
Meantime "Weary Willie," the big cow -gun, had
wakened up, and the hillsides trembled as the gunners
pumped lyddite into the enemy's position. "Let 'em
'ave some sugar in their coffee. Bill," one cheerful
gunner was saying to another as he staggered along
with another shell.

The Yeomanry were standing on a wide, grassy pla-
teau alongside the guns, where the Boers on the opposite
heights must have seen them. Suddenly, without a
moment's warning, the sound of a pom-pom rang out
from a nek between two hills, and in another moment
the scream of approaching shells began to make the
horses cock their ears. Rat-tat-tat-tat went the pom-
pom, the shells howled and whistled like the wind in
the rigging of a ship, and before the Fifes had time to
realise it, the shells were bursting in a long line about
fifty yards off! Another belt followed, and immediately
landed at their very feet. The order was at once given

»-' »

■S ■J

: >•
2 I

Nooitgedacht 93

to lead the horses under cover, a matter of 500 yards,
and as they walked oflF trying to look unconcerned, the
earth was literally ploughed up and thrown about by
these infernal missiles. No man cared to mount and
trot off, but the slow journey on foot was a most un-
pleasant one. When at last the squadron got under
cover, some of the men were covered with dirt thrown
up by the shells, and everybody marvelled at their
escape. Men who could hardly be accused of cowardice
were a sort of pale green in colour, and no one professed
to have enjoyed the entertainment.

Fighting was continued till midday, and then a
mounted patrol was sent out, which did not return till
sundown. It was a long and hungry day, but there
never was a merrier band than the Fifes that night
when the tea-dixies were brought from the fire, and the
rations having been vanquished, pipes were lit and talk
of hairbreadth escapes and strange experiences went
round the tents.

Next morning, at two o'clock, the force stood to
arms, and in the forenoon, the Boers having apparently
cleared, moved on to Rietfontein (another of the many
Rietfonteins), and so, after a few more days of sniping
and fighting and farm -burning, back to Krugersdorp
once more.

The camp this time was pitched near the town on
the ground of the very diamond mine where the Jame-
son raiders surrendered. New clothes and hats were
issued to the ragged warriors, and the squadron was so
pleased with the unwonted respectability of its appear-
ance that a local photographer was commissioned to
take a group of the company on the last few plates
which he possessed.

In a few days the order came to trek once more, and
the column set off to its old familiar haunts in the Hek-

94 Pif^ ^^ Forfar I. Y, in South Africa

poort valley to tackle Delarey. On the ist of December
Krugersdorp was left behind, and on the 9th the column
camped at Nooitgedacht to await reinforcements, as it
was reported that Delarey was in command of a large
number of men. Clements' column at this time num-
bered only 1200.

For several days the column lay at the foot of the
Magaliesbergs in helio communication with Commando
Nek, which in its turn was in communication with Pre-
toria. The intelligence department promised a day-
break attack each morning, and although the force
stood to arms before daybreak every morning, no
attack was made. The niggers were beginning to be
discredited, and it was generally supposed that Delarey
was not anxious for a fight. The Boer laager was
situated about ten miles off amongst the hills, and,
according to report, they were making no warlike pre-
parations. Little did the British know that Delarey had
sent an urgent message to Beyers, whose commando
was north in the Bushveldt, to come and help him to
overpower General Clements* little force. This was the
explanation of their apparent inactivity, and already
2000 mounted men were trekking from Pietersburg to
co-operate with Delarey's commando of 1 500 in a grand
assault-at-arms.

The British camp lay on a grassy slope between the
valley and the steep Magaliesbergs that rose a thousand
feet high behind the camp. The rocky slopes were sur-
mounted by a long cliff of rocks, somewhat resembling
Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh. On the top of this cliff
the Northumberland Fusiliers, nearly 400 strong, were
posted to protect the camp from surprise. On the other
side the hills sloped very gradually to the Rustenburg
valley.

At earliest dawn on the morning of the 13th De-

Nooitgedacht 95

cember the camp of the slumbering rooineks was
awakened by the rattle of Mausers on the hillsides.
The camp resounded with cries of "Stand to your
horses," " Saddle up," " Inspan," and a dozen other calls
of alarm. Every trooper's ear knew well the sound of a
Mauser, however, and no warning was necessary to rouse
him. Every man knew by instinct that the promised
attack had come at last. In three minutes horses were
saddled and men were standing to arms. The firing
ceased, and an eerie silence supervened. As some were
beginning to think that they had been aroused by a
mere outpost disturbance, and that no serious attack
was meditated, the solemn silence was broken abruptly
by a rattle of musketry, and the hilltops rang from one
end to the other with the noise of battle. The storm
had burst, and soon the dropping bullets falling over the
steep cliffs at the back of the camp announced that the
enemy's firing line was not far off. The order was given
to lead the horses up to the foot of the hills, where they
would be out of danger. At the same time the waggons
were got down the slope into the valley below. The
yeomen were ordered to climb the hill by a kloof or
gulley where a small stream trickled down from the top,
and an effort was made to send up ammunition to the
Northumberlands above. As soon as the mules carry-
ing the ammunition reached the top of the kloof and
crossed the skyline, they w.ere caught by the enemy's
fire. Lieutenant Gilmour and ten men of the Fifes, who
had volunteered to climb the hill, were recalled, and
orders were given to get the horses away, through the
camp into the valley. Captain Purvis, who had been
in command of the company since Captain Hodge's
death, had, meantime led the rest of the Fife men up
the hill by another route, and the Devon and Dorset
companies were also ordered to make for the heights.

96 " Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

As the camp was being rapidly cleared of horses and
waggons, the rattle of rifles on the top of the hill never
ceased for a moment. Soon it became evident that the
British fire was slackening, and that the Mausers had
the upper hand. A heavy fire was poured down from
the cliffs into the camp beneath, and there was then no
doubt that the Boers had overpowered the Northumber-
lands and were in possession of the summit

The camp was now swept by a regular hailstorm of
bullets, and the attack had been developed on the other
side of the valley — indeed, the Boers seemed to have
drawn a circle round the little force. The field guns were
ordered to shell the ridge of the hills with shrapnel, but
they might as well have tried to stem the tide of victory
with a fire-hose. A Boer dressed in khaki had been
standing at the top of the kloof waving his arm and
urging the yeomanry to hurry up or they would be too
late. Scrambling up the hillside over bush and boulders,
the willing men of Fife and Devon were being merci-
lessly shot down by a cross fire from the cliffs above.
A staff officer reached the skyline and fell heavily to
the ground riddled with bullets. Lieutenant Campbell
urged his men on, and as he clambered up breathless
and excited was shot through the head. At the same
moment Captain Purvis fell to the ground wounded in
three places, and when the lyddite shells from the big
gun began to pound the hillside in a vain attempt to
hold back the enemy, it looked as if every man must be
annihilated.

The Boers were now behind rocks within twenty yards
of the yeomen in the kloof, who had no cover beyond
what the long grass afforded them. Crawling on hands
and knees, and shooting as they advanced, the men
showed no sign of breaking, and, indeed, retreat would
have been certain death. Walker fell back across the

Nooitgedacht 97

bcxly of a firing comrade, Wilson's throat was lacerated
by a bullet, Matthew and Mudge died without a word,
and Grant had his arm shattered and lay groaning
behind a rock. It was a terrible moment, and one that
the survivors will never forget When it became evident
that further resistance was useless, Bonthrone rose and
held up his hands in token of surrender. He was at
once shot in the spine. In another moment the light
of heaven was suddenly obscured by the bursting of a
lyddite shell, and when the clouds of green smoke
cleared off the sergeant-major was seen to be lying in
the bed of the stream, where he had been hurled by the
force of the explosion. Blinded and deaf, he lay for
several hours in a pool of water, and felt the effects of
the shock for weeks afterwards.

By this time the Boers were swarming past our men,
the few survivors having thrown down their rifles in
despair, and were pressing on to the camp. Of the
fifty yeomen in the kloof thirty were killed or wounded
and the rest were taken prisoners.

In the valley below things were little better. Colonel

Legge, commanding the mounted troops, had been shot

revolver in hand at the very outset. General Clements

was giving hurried orders to his brigade-major, when the

latter was struck down by an expanding bullet, which

killed him instantly. Soon the whole of the staff, with

the exception of Captain Carr, had been put out of

action, and the General was left to direct the fight

almost single-handed. Great difficulty was experienced

in removing the cow-gun. As fast as the oxen were

inspanned they were shot down, and at one' time it

looked as if the gun would have to be abandoned. The

Greneral insisted on its removal, however, and after

serious loss of life and a marvellous display of cool

courage on the part of the artillerymen, the lumbering
H

98 Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

" Weary Willie " was drawn out of range by a half-dozen
of the fine team of black bullocks that belonged to it
A waggon of ammunition had to be left behind^ in spite
of the brave endeavours of Sergeant Pullar and six men
of the Fifes to remove it

The waggons and other transport were now lying in
a small grassy hollow in the centre of the valley, out of
rifle range, but perfectly visible to the enemy. They
were huddled together in inextricable confusion — roar-
ing ox-teams, mule waggons, ambulances, watet carts,
and led horses — a regular chaos of noise and disorder.
The Boers bpened fire from the end of the valley with
a Krupp gun, and shrapnel began to burst overhead.
The Kafllirs went mad with terror, the wounded animals
roared and bellowed, horses plunged and reared, and
it looked as if the last scene of the drama was to be
enacted here. Another moment and the shrieking of
pom-pom shells as they swept down the hollow added
to the horror and confusion. Filling the air with their
tumult, they tore through the canvas covers of the wag-
gons and plunged amongst the terrified animals, causing
awful destruction. The climax had been reached, and
without a moment's warning the convoy set off in a
mad rush down the valley. Cracking their whips and
yelling like madmen, the natives lashed their teams
into the open valley, and by so doing only offered a
better target for the enemy's guns. Eight or ten abreast,
the waggons raced neck and neck until they crashed one
after another into a deep, marshy donga that lay across
their path. It was a moment of indescribable confusion.
Waggons were overturned, loose teams were charging
in all directions, and for a time it looked as if the fight
was to end in a general rout Fortunately the stam-
pede was arrested by men galloping after the waggon
boys with revolvers, and threatening to shoot them if

>v

Nooitgedacht 99

they did not return. The Boer pom-pom was put out of
action by a shell, and this also helped to restore the
balance of the fight. Meantime all the guns had been
safely withdrawn from the camp, thanks to the heroism
of the gunners, who, in one case, pulled a field gun down
the hill by hand when the Boers had approached to
within fifty yards of it. Hour after hour the battle
raged furiously, and men fell so fast that the ambulance
parties could not cope with their work. The Boers,
encouraged by their success, pressed on all sides, and
the circle of fire grew ever narrower.

At four o'clock in the afternoon an organised retreat
was commenced, and flank screens of the infantry were
thrown out on each side of the valley. The mounted
men acted as rearguard, and several casualties were sus-
tained in effecting the retreat' As the column moved
off down the valley the Boers followed up and attacked
it from every available position. By six o'clock the sun,
which had beaten down fiercely all day, sank behind the
hills, and when darkness set in the fire of the Mausers
ceased. The stars came out, and in the silence of the
retreat the men had a first opportunity of thinking over
the exciting events of the day. None of the party
that had climbed the hill had apparently escaped, but it
was only at roll-call next morning that the true state of
affairs could be known. At midnight the big gun stuck
fast in the river bed, and it required two hours of the
hardest work with drag-ropes and implements to bring
it along. At sunrise next morning the column halted
at Commando Nek, beneath the shelter of position guns
and batteries manned by a British garrison.

The Fifes were now a little band of twenty-five, the
sole representatives of the fifty men who had stood to
arms the day before. Busy Red Cross parties were
sorting out the wounded from the dead, while the sound

^

7902B

lOO Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

of pick and shovel in the distance beat sullenly upon the
early morning air. It was a solemn roll-call, and it is
not likely that those who were present to answer their
names will ever forget that day, or the bravery of their
less fortunate comrades who had been called on to give
up their lives for their Queen and fatherland.

Where so many displayed the highest courage, there
were one or two acts of conspicuous bravery performed
that day that will live in history, and one of these is the
story of how Sergeant Farmer, of the Cameron High-
landers M.I., won the Victoria Cross. A picquet was
being hotly engaged by the enemy, when a detachment
of Camerons, numbering fifteen, under Lieutenant Sandi-
lands, and including Farmer, marched out to their relief.
Arriving on the spot, they found most of the picquet killed
or wounded, and the remainder fighting against despe-
rate odds. The enemy, who were hidden behind trees,
waited until the relief party advanced to within twenty
yards, and then opened a deadly and murderous fire,
killing two and wounding five men, including Lieutenant
Sandilands. Seeing his officer wounded and bleeding
on the ground, and knowing too well that if he were
allowed to remain where he was he must surely die, the
gallant sergeant went to his assistance, and succeeded in
carrying him to a place of safety amid a perfect hail of
bullets. Having seen his officer carefully looked after,
with what appeared to be certain death staring him in
the face, Farmer returned to his sorely -pressed com-
rades. They fought on, but at length were compelled
to surrender, and so in one day Farmer had gained the
V. C. and was taken prisoner by the enemy.

1

CHAPTER XIII.

A LITTLE BAND AND LOWLY.

GENERAL FRENCH was now despatched to clear
the Boers from the position won at Nooitgedacht,
but the Yeomanry, being so reduced in numbers, and so
handicapped for want of transport and stores, were sent
in to Rietfontein to be re-fitted.

The wounded men of the company who were lying in
the open on the field of the battle relate how the Boers
were busy fortifying and entrenching the position they
had taken, and how this work was superintended by
French and German officers in their service. When the
British forces returned they got a warm reception, and
fell back for a time with considerable loss. The Boers,
however, had lost heavily on the 13th, and had been
busy bringing their dead and wounded down from the
hills on the backs of their ponies. Some idea of the
intensity of the fire in the camp on the day of the fight
may be gathered from the fact that the pet monkey —
that had been with the Fifes for several months, and was
chained to a tree in their camp — was wounded in three
places. When it was found the Red Cross party ban-
daged its wounds, but it escaped and made off to its
native hills.

With the renewed attack by General French we have
no concern, for the small remnant of the 20th Company
was now at Rietfontein awaiting the issue of blankets,
overcoats, forks and spoons, and other necessaries. On
the 1 6th Trooper E. A. M*Grady, who had been lying

102 Fife and* Forfar I, Y. in South Africa

ill in Clements' camp before the attack, succumbed
to enteric fever. No member of the company was a
greater favourite or more deservedly popular with his
companions. Every man felt that he had lost a good
friend, and that a brave and reliable member of the
company had gone. His funeral took place in the after-
noon, and Lieutenant Gilmoiv, the sole remaining officer
of the company, read the burial service. He was laid in
a soldier's grave at the foot of the kopje which lies in the
centre of the valley, about twenty miles west of Pretoria.

The company was now without tents, and as it was
midsummer the sun was intensely hot during the day,
while heavy rains were still of nightly occurrence.
Blankets were issued to the men, and this enabled them
to erect bivouacs or booby huts to protect them from
the weather. Christmas was spent at Rietfontein in
this way, and, thanks to the kindly forethought of
Lieutenant ' Gilmour and Sergeant Pullar, some sem-
blance of conviviality was possible. A concert, attended
by all the troops in camp, was held that evening round
a camp fire, to which each member of the audience had
to contribute a precious log of wood. On the 29th of
December the Fifes moved off with a column under
General Cunningham, and proceeded by night march
through Commando Nek into the Rustenburg district,
north of the Magaliesbergs. The force camped next
morning on the slope of a solitary hill in the centre of
the valley, by name Wolhuter's Kop. Here the com-
pany's lines were pitched beside a battalion of Argyle
and Sutherland Highlanders, and as many of these were
Fife and Forfar men, the New Year was brought in in
good company.

The Boers, under Delarey, were not far distant, and
a very ugly position some ten miles up the valley was
said to be strongly held by them. This position, called

A Little Band and Lowly 103

Buffelspoort, was to be attacked by General Cunningham
in a day or two, and reinforcements were hourly arriving,
until his column must have numbered 3000 men. It was
not very reassuring to see the mounted infantry being
taught to ride in a riding school in the centre of the
valley, where they were trotting round morning, noon,
and night. This was field-training with a vengeance,
and no doubt Delarey's men, with their telescopes, were
criticising the various styles of horsemanship. These
mounted infantry were being formed and equipped on
the spot from the foot battalions in the field.

At midnight on the 3rd of January the column com-
menced to march against the Boer position, but not
before lai^e fires had been lit throughout the camp
to provide coffee for the troops, and incidently to warn
the Boers of their approach. At daybreak, after six
hours' slow marching, the Boer position loomed imme-
diately in front The column, which had been bucketing
along a narrow track through the thick bush, now de-
bouched on the open veldt and advanced against the
kopjes in battle array.

Line after line of mounted men were extended for
almost five miles against the front of the position. The
Fifes were in the second line from the front, and every
man listened impatiently for the first report of a rifle to
announce that the fight had begun. On these occasions
the anticipation was worse than the reality; and to creep
up on horseback beneath the beetling crags that might
at any moment ring out with the report of the enemy's
rifles required more heroism than was needed to gallop
a position in the heat of a fight In the present instance
the suspense was long and agonising, and it was only
when the position had been thoroughly overrun that it
was ascertained that the birds had flown. Buffelspoort
was taken without any opposition, to the disappointment

I04 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

of those who had been looking for what was called a
" scrap."

The column remained here until a very heavy convoy
of provisions had been taken through to Rustenbuig.
To enable this to be accomplished in safety, the mounted
troops were ordered out with the guns every morning at
one o'clock. After occupying the hilltops on either side
of the valley from sunrise until late in the afternoon,
they seldom were back in camp till nightfall. After a
week of this, the Fifes were ordered to occupy Breedt
Nek, a rocky defile in the Magaliesbergs. The approach
to this position was steep and rocky, and in some places
the company's waggon had to be lifted bodily before it
could be taken on. When the position was finally
reached, the company settled down, along with 200 men
of the Border Regiment, to hold the nek against all
comers. Picquets by night and observation posts by
day, together with a great deal of manual labour with
pick and shovel, formed the programme of the garrison.
After a week's work, the position was as well fortified as
Edinburgh Castle ; but before any attack was delivered
to test it, the troops were ordered down to rejoin Cun-
ningham's brigade. The morning that the little garrison
was ordered down from its eyrie in the mountains a
storm of wind and rain of extraordinary fury was raging
on the hills. Soaked by the rain, and shivering in a
cutting wind, the sentries on the heights above the nek
were not sorry when they were recalled. In the camp
it had been found impossible to light a fire, and, without
their morning coffee, the troops commenced to get the
waggons down the hillside.

The column was reached at sunset, and the company
camped on the village green of a beautiful little hamlet,
which might have been situated in the south of England
from its appearance. There was no rest meantime.

A Little Band and Lowly 105

however, and half the company was sent out on picquet
to a point at some distance from the camp. No time
was allowed for such a trifle as tea, and off* they marched
on foot to their allotted post, which was on the other
side of a considerable stream. Having waded across
this, and settled down for a cold, damp night without
the solace of a pipe, an incident occurred which would
have been humorous if it had not been pathetic. A
man coming out from camp with a dixie of tea for the
picquet, was shouting in the dark to find its where-
abouts. Having been guided to the spot on the other
side of the stream, he essayed to wade across, but losing
his footing midway, he collapsed into ,the river, and the
dark waters closed over the head of the tea kettle and
washed it down the stream. Little incidents like these,
laughable as -they appear after a lapse of time, are
amongst the tragedies of war, and only those who
spend twenty-four hours in a cold, inhospitable climate
without a warm drink can realise the disappointment
which an accident of this sort causes.

Next morning the sun shone bright, the morning
coffee, or "gunfire" as Thomas Atkins calls it, was
ready betimes, and the force moved off* in the best of
spirits towards Oliphant's Nek. At this point, where a
good road crossed the Magaliesbergs, a halt was called
for a couple of days. Oliphant's Nek, though no longer
the haunt of elephants, was well grown with bush, and
made a splendid site for a camp. Firewood was plenti-
ful, and every couple of troopers could have their own
camp-fire at the end of their bivouac. As the force lay
here an unpleasant little tragedy occurred which brought
home to every man the disagreeable nature of the game
he was playing. Two troopers of Roberts' Horse, a
colonial corps, with which the Fife men were very
friendly, strolled out of camp to search for a stray horse ,

io6 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

amongst the bush. Half-an-hour later one of them came
back for a dooley or ambulance to bring in the body of
his comrade, who had been shot in cold blood by a Boer
concealed amongst the trees. He himself had been
slightly wounded, but his companion had been shot
through the heart This was war, no doubt, but it was
a sort of war that the Yeomanry had scarcely bai^ained
for.

Next day the force marched through the pass to try
conclusions with Delarey, who was in command of a
lai^e force In the hill country to the south. Ever since
Nooitgedacht the men had been ordered to stand to
arms an hour be^re daybreak, and as a great deal of
night work had fallen to the lot of the mounted men
for some time, they had almost forgotten what a good
night's sleep was like. This was also due in great
measure to the fact that the squadron was so reduced
in numbers.

CHAPTER XIV.

MIDDLEFONTEIN AND MODDERFONTEIN.

AT daybreak on the 23rd of January, 1901, the Fife
Yeomanry, along with the English companies to
which they were attached, under the command of General
Cunningham, marched against the enemy. They were
acting as support to the guns, their numbers being so
small at this time that they were unable to provide a
screen of scouts for the column or undertake any job
that required a large body of men.

Having left Oliphant's Nek behind in charge of a
garrison of Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, the
column headed south, and wended its way down a long
valley, flanked on either side with a ridge of grassy
kopjes. After marching for a few hours without oppo-
sition, the enemy disclosed themselves on some high hills
in front by opening fire on the advance guard.

Whether by design or otherwise, the Boers now showed
themselves on horseback on the high grassy slopes in
hasty retreat, and offered a splendid target for the guns.
At once the field batteries were unlimbered and opened
fire upon the hilltops on both sides of the way. As
the shrapnel burst over the heights the Boers were to
be seen galloping in hot haste over the skyline, and
apparently vacating their positions. It was most un-
usual for brother Boer to show himself so openly, and
as there was no reason why he should not have had his
horses under cover before the force reached this spot,
his movements were somewhat difficult to explain.

lo8 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

When it was seen that the enemy were clearing off
at the gallop, the Fife men were sent to take a bare,
stony kopje which lay in the centre of a hollow amongst
the hills in front. The Boer tactics were soon made
evident. The Fifes galloped the kopje, and when they
reached the top were greeted with a withering volley
from the hills beyond. Having taken cover, the guns
were brought up and opened fire, and at the same
time the tail of the convoy and rearguard advanced on
to the kopje and allowed the gate through which the
position had been reached to fall into the hands of the
enemy. They lost not a moment in announcing by a
regular rattle of musketry from all sides that the
rooineks had been trapped ^^in.

«a.

f»#

%0

My.

^ ---z^'g^ ,-

S

Middlefontein and Modderfontein 109

The British force, unable to advance, was equally
unable to retire, and had practically telescoped on to a
bare hillside, which was within rifle range of the hills
on all sides. The Boers were strongly posted all round,
and commenced a vigorous attack, that made the pro-
spect very bad indeed for the unfortunate British soldier.

By good luck, the position was in direct helio com-
munication with 01iphant*s Nek, and if it could be
held, help would assuredly be sent to the beleaguered
party. All day long a heavy fire was kept up on both
sides, but every effort to drive the Boers back proved
unavailing. Twelve field guns — that the Boers after-
wards admitted they had not reckoned with — made
their positions far from comfortable. A busy pom-pom
searched every kloof and gully, and Maxim guns blazed
away ammunition at likely spots on the hillsides ; but
the rattle of Mausers never slackened.

At sunset the firing lines were drawn in, and, amid a
regular salvo of artillery fire, the force prepared to spend
an uncomfortable night. No boots or spurs were re-
moved, and the horses stood upsaddled and ready for
the fray. All night long the infantry were putting up
sangars or stone shelters for the inevitable renewal of
the fight, and the Boers were similarly improving their
positions under cover of darkness.

Before the sun set the flickering helio had flashed a
sad message to the surrounded troops, a message that
informed them that the Queen for whom they were
fighting would reign on earth no more. The men lay
down beside their horses and enjoyed a few hours* rest
and sleep, rising before daybreak and preparing for a
renewal of the struggle. As soon as dawn lightened up
the sky the waking Mausers commenced to spit lead
into the camp on all sides. First one or two, then a few
dozen, and finally the rattle of hundreds and thousands

no Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

of rifled barrels broke the stillness of the morning. All
the time a desultory rain of bullets fell into the camp,
and horses and bullocks here and there fell to the I

ground after stopping a flying piece of lead. The Fife
men were acting as escort to General Cunningham ; but
as he was unable to stir from the hillside on which he
was standing, their duty consisted of lying about in
readiness for orders. A dozen pieces of field artillery
were playing on the kopjes, and were stationed close
be$ide each other where the Fife men lay. Suddenly a
Krupp gun opened fire on the position, and a momen-
tary excitement was developed as the shells came over
towards the hill ; but the shooting was inaccurate, and
no damage was done. The gunners were now bending
all their eflbrts to silence the artillery opposition, and
after a few more shots were fired the Krupp was knocked
out of action. Four guns played for hours upon a kopje
on one side of the camp, but seemed to have no effect
in silencing the fire. Although it looked as if a rat
could scarcely live under such a cannonade, every '"^
bursting shell was followed by a volley of Mausers that
seemed to mock the efforts of the gunners. One of the Fife
men, finding that the bullets were whizzing overhead in a
certain direction, put up a few stones to shelter his head,
and sat down again. No sooner had he done so than a ,

bullet struck the stone which he had just placed in posi-
tion and ricocheted through his horse's ribs. There was ,
barely time to remove the horse from the immediate
proximity of the others when it fell to the ground. As
the day wore on, it became evident that the Boer bullets
were causing havoc in the firing line, and the doolies
were running briskly back and forward with wounded
and with dead. One ambulance, whose mission could
not be mistaken, was returning from an outlying posi-
tion with a wounded man, and was literally riddled with

Middlefontein and Modderfontein 1 1 1

Boer bullets. Stretcher-bearers, with stiff, blanket-covered
burdens, were also to be seen retiring from the firing line
at intervals. At nightfall another tremendous bombard-
ment from the guns hurled defiance at the enemy, and
another pause in the fighting was necessitated by the
gathering darkness. The Fife squadron (barely the size
of a troop) was now ordered to picquet an outlying
position, which had been captured during the day, and
which, it was expected, the Boers might try to recover
overnight or at daybreak.

An uneasy night was spent in guarding this rocky,
bush -covered outpost At intervals of five or ten
minutes all night the other picquets, provided by the
infantry, were firing at imaginary enemies in the dark.
A loose pig or a stray mule in the surrounding bush
called forth a volley, and, amid a succession of alarms
like this, sleep was impossible. The result was that the
whole picquet had practically to stand to arms all night.
At daybreak excitement rose to fever heat, and every
rifle was loaded and ready to begin.

Daybreak came and the sky began to lighten, until
first one dark object and then another showed itself clearly
to be a bush or stone. Now or never, was the feeling of
every man as he peered over his sangar and awaited the
first shot The position had been splendidly fortified
during the night with no small labour, and the 20th
Company was prepared to sell it dearly. The moments
fled, the daylight increased, until it became evident that
something was wrong. Not a shot was heard around
the camp. Evidently they had had enough. To keep
their spirits up the gunners began to work the guns,
and the enemy, by a feeble reply, announced that he
was tired of the game. The truth was that another
British column was threatening the Boers. on the other
side, and had camped within a day's march of their
position.

112 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

In the afternoon, after a little more scrapping, the
column commenced to retire, and the Fifes were told off
to act as rearguard. This was no sinecure, for the Boers,
who were really in full retreat at the same time, had
left a rearguard to keep their enemy busy while they
withdrew. For some time the two forces, lying on op-
posite ridges of rock, pelted lead at each other as hard
as they could. The British position was one which had
to be reached over a higher skyline, and retreat was im-
possible as long as daylight lasted. Two guns had been
left to support the rearguard, and it became an awkward
problem how to get them away. The teams could not
approach the position without crossing the skyline : the
enemy's fire was accurate and heavy, and to bring horses
on the scene would have been madness. The Fifes, in
galloping over the skyline, had had a taste of what
might be the reception accorded to a gun team.

The difficulty was solved by raising the recoil brake
and shooting the guns backwards over the ridge under
cover. The teams were then inspanned, and the guns
galloped off after the retreating column. The infantry
were all gone, and of the whole force only a handful of
Yeomanry were left in a position from which, owing to
the lie of the ground, retreat was impossible without
great loss of horse-flesh. It was within an hour of sun-
set, however, and the only hope of the little rearguard
was to keep up a show of defence until sundown, and
then get away. The Boers seemed to redouble their
efforts to capture the force, and gradually closed on the
flank. Fortunately darkness at last enabled the men to
mount and make off over the rocky ridge behind and
down the steep hillside of the deserted camp. The
whisking bullets hastened them on their way, and put-
ting spurs to their horses, they made off at a gallop
through the gathering darkness of the night After a

Middlefontein and Modderfontein 1 1 3

ride of five' or six miles, the camp of the column, in an
open bit of country, was safely reached. It was with
a feeling of relief that Middlefontein, with its odours of
putrid horse-flesh and its carcases of bullocks, was left
behind.

CHAPTER XV.

WITH GALLANT BENSON.

HAVING escaped from a position which threatened
to become a second Nooitgedacht, the company
settled down for the night at a place called Koffyfontein,
where the lines were amongst the long dry grass that
surrounded a peach grove and a few deserted houses.
Peach groves and orange groves were now laden with
ripe fruit, and scarcely a day passed but the troopers
had a nose-bag filled with the spoil of a farm garden.
As a rule, the garden of a Boer farm consists of a peach
and orange grove, surrounded by a hedge of quince and
fig bushes. Many other fruits flourish in these gardens :
pears and pomegranates, and very often vines, are to be
found growing wild amongst the peach trees. The figs
were perhaps more appreciated than any other fruit, and
resembled large ripe gooseberries rather than the dried
article known in this country. Peaches are cut into
slices before they ripen, and are dried in the sun on
wicker screens. A pocketful of these dried peaches often
formed an agreeable solace on a long march.

General Cunningham's column now made for Vlak-
fontein, where General Babington's column, having been
sent to relieve the beleaguered force at Middlefontein,
was lying. The 19th company of the Scottish Yeo-
manry were with Babington, and at evening, when the
two forces camped side by side, there were many cordial
visits between the two long -separated bodies of Scotch-
men, who were thus unexpectedly brought together.

With Gallant Benson 115

Next day the Fife men took the opportunity of
goiijg to see Captain Hodge's grave, and found that it
had been visited by his old regiment, the 12th Lancers,
who had erected a new and more substantial cross to
mark the spot. In the afternoon the column, having
borrowed a little ammunition for the guns, set off to-
wards Krugersdorp, and said good-bye for a time to the
rest of the Scottish yeomen, who went on to hustle
Delarey. The night before tljey reached Krugersdorp
the camp was pitched at a place called Steinkopjes, and
several of the Fifes and Sussex were on picquet on a
hill behind the laager. In the early morning the snipers
gathered round and hustled the rooineks out of the
position most unceremoniously. The ground over which
they marched was exceedingly broken and rocky, and
the rearguard was handled with the greatest skill in
very difficult circumstances.

Krugersdorp was reached late in the afternoon after
a very fatiguing march, on which dozens of the infantry
collapsed. As the day wore on, the Fifes, supporting
the rearguard, had dismounted one by one, and were
marching by the footsore Tommies, who had mounted
in their place. Men and horses were just about dead
beat when camp was reached, and all looked forward to
a rest after the trying'experiences of the last week.

This was not to be, for no sooner had the lines been
laid out than the mounted men were ordered not to off-
saddle, but to hold themselves ready to march at any
moment to the relief of a force that had been held up
by the Boers at a place called Modderfontein, about
twenty miles away.

This was bad news indeed, and none who heard the
weary troopers that afternoon would wonder at the ex-
pression " to swear like a trooper." Their language was
painfully free, for it is the soldier's prerogative to grumble

1 1 6 Fife and Forfar I. Y, in South Africa

at everything, and, on occasions like this, to condemn the
whole British Empire. When every man had tried to
persuade himself that his horse was unfit for another
march (and indeed most of them were), it appeared that,
as no horse was better than another, they must all go.
Helio messages of a more or less contradictory order
were coming into camp, and orders were issued and
countermanded every five minutes. Messages asking
for help had been received from Modderfontein, where
the Oxford Yeomanry and some other troops had taken
a convoy of supplies to an outlying post. Soon after-
wards information arrived saying that no help was now
required, as the enemy had been driven off. Ultimately
it transpired that the Boers had captured the post and
convoy, and were sending messages purporting to be
from our troops.

At last the order was given that no move would be
made that night, and with the greatest feelings of relief,
the men of the Fife and South of England Yeomanry
turned in for a night's sleep, only two having been got
the previous week. At two in the morning, or some
such untimely hour, the hoarse voice of the regimental
sergeant-major could be heard shouting down the lines,
"Saddle up, there — saddle up!" and amid a renewal of
the storm of bad language, the force turned out and
stood to arms. Not till eleven o'clock in the forenoon,
however, were orders to march actually received, and at
last the yeomen found themselves at the head of a large
force bound for the recapture of Modderfontein. Pas-
sing the great gold mine at Randfontein, whose powerful
search-light had been visible from the heights at Breedt
Nek, thirty miles away, the column camped for the night
at Wonderfontein. Next day's march brought them
within striking distance of the enemy, who occupied a
particularly strong position right in front.

With Gallant Benson 117

" The enem/s position will be attacked at daybreak,"
were the cheerful orders that were issued to the troops
as they "got down to it" for a night's rest In their
little blanket bivouacs that night, ere they fell asleep,
one or two of the troopers arranged with their mates
that each should have the home address of the other,
and write to tell his people if one of them should be
so foolish as to stop a flying bullet. The little band
had seen so much of the grim reality of war lately
that they were justified in anticipating what might be
in store for them. As a matter of fact, the brunt of
the attack next morning did not fall upon the mounted
men at all. Advancing against the bare, grassy kopjes
where the enemy were posted, the mounted men were
not long in drawing fire. The position, which was not
more than a hundred feet high, looked perfectly harm-
less, but was in reality one of those places that the Boer
riflemen could render entirely impregnable. A sort of
grassy bank, four miles long, and flanked by gentle
slopes at each end, it was surrounded on all sides by a
perfectly open plain, which gave no vestige of shelter to
an advancing enemy. The Yeomanry were detached to
work round the left flank of the position with a pom-
pom, and were waiting for a favourable opportunity
while the main attack was delivered in the centre of the
position some two miles away.

While the attack was in progress the Boers opened
fire with a pom-pom on the waggons and transport
animals, but they were got out of range before much
damage was done. The day was one of excessive heat,
and for the yeomen there was little excitement — a little
desultory firing, a trip to a point within range of the Boer
rifles to water horses, and lying about in the sweltering
sun, formed their day's programme. Camp was being
marked out at sundown when orders were suddenly re-

Ii8 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

ceived to retire to the original camping ground that had
been left that morning. At six o'clock the weary return
journey began, and lasted till almost midnight ; but it
was so far satisfactory to know that the camp was in
open country, and so not liable to a counter-attack next
morning. The reports of the day's work pointed to a
heavy loss amongst the infantry, one company espe-
cially having been decimated in the attempt to take the
heights.

Next day reinforcements arrived, and on the following
day the attack was renewed, but again without success,
and at last it became apparent that the position was not
to be taken without great loss of life. The attempt to
storm it was finally abandoned, and the force rested for
a couple of days at a place called Roodepoort, beside a
large peach grove where fruit was plentiful. It was now
arranged that the troops should work round the Gats-
rand and enter the Modderfontein position from the
rear. Marching past a station called Banks, on the
Johannesburg and Potchefstroom railway, an attempt
was made to get through a nek in the hills above Wel-
verdiend ; but as it was found to be strongly occupied
by the enemy, another road was taken a few miles
further on.

The 7th battalion, including the Fifes, now left Cun-
ningham's column, and were attached to a mounted force
or flying column under Colonel Benson, accompanied by
a few field guns, a howitzer, and a pom-pom. The squad-
ron was by this time reduced to twelve men on parade;
but, according to the "survival of the fittest" theory, they
were each worth a dozen untried men. While the Fife
contingent was so small, the Devons and Dorsets had
been joined by a lai^e draft of details, and the battalion
was stronger than it had been for some time. As a result
of this, it had been promoted again to do the scouting

With Gallant Benson 119

and rearguard work for the column, and the men were
beginning to regain the self-esteem they had lost when
they d^enerated into mere escort-to-the-guns and per-
formers of odd jobs of that kind.

In a broken country such as that on the south of the
Gatsrand there was much excitement in scouting and
outpost work, especially as the merry snipers were
particularly lively at this time.

The country in which Colonel Benson's force was
now operating had apparently been neglected by the
troops hitherto, and in consequence large numbers of
women and children had to be removed from the various
farm houses in the district It was not very agreeable
work this farm clearing, but if anything tended more
than another to make its performance less unpleasant,
it was the thankfulness of the Boer families for the
many kindnesses shown to them by the soldiers. The
fatherly care of Tommy Atkins in handling the little
children of his enemies was wonderful to witness. The
work of farm clearing was fraught with considerable
danger, as the Boers invariably retired to the surround-
ing kopjes, and sniped the soldiers as they left the scene
of their labours. What made this treatment specially
exasperating was that the officers would never allow the
men to leave a farm house until the waggons with the
women and children were safely away. When they had
gone to a safe distance, the men were then allowed to
gallop for it under a heavy fire from the goodman and
his sons on the hillsides. In the opinion of the men,
this way of doing things was carrying chivalry too far,
especially in dealing with an enemy who showed how
little they appreciated it

One of the amusing incidents of this trek was the
surrounding of a picquet of Fife men, under Corporal
Cargill, by the Boers, and their subsequent rescue by a

I20 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

pom-pom and two hundred men. It was an incident
that amused the remainder of the company, perhaps
more than the men involved, but they escaped without
any casualty after a bad half-hour.

Of all the leaders that the Fifes had served under
during the campaign Colonel Benson was considered
the best He could play the Boer game as well as the
Boers themselves. Once he got on their track he never
allowed them to rest, but kept them moving, captured
their waggons and stock, shifted them from one position
to another, and followed them into the most difficult
bits of country without a casualty. The work was hard,
but the men did not complain, for they realised that they
were led by a man who was no mere book soldier, but a
terror to the enemy. Never a day passed without a
capture. The scent was never lost, and every morning
at daybreak the men found themselves on the heels of
their elusive foes.

After a fortnight's work of this sort, the column made
tracks for Potchefstroom, where a concentration camp
awaited the arrival of the women and children. This
was one of the first concentration camps the Fifes had
seen, and they were almost envious of the inmates when
they saw the long rows of beautiful Indian marquees,
spotlessly clean and well furnished, in which they were
accommodated. A look of order and neatness pervaded
the place, and every family had their Kaffir servants to
cook and clean for them when required. Surely a
nation at war was never more magnanimous thought
the troopers as they watched the children playing and
the vrouws sewing at the tent doors in the cool of the
evening.

Potchefstroom was exactly as it had been on the pre-
vious visit, except that the sites of the outpost picnics
were occupied by iron blockhouses, fortified and gar-
risoned by regular troops.

Wit A Gallant Benson 121

No sooner had the women been disembarked and the
stores replenished than the column set off again in the
direction of Frederikstad and Ventersdorp, to keep the
active Delarey in check. They had not been more than
twenty-four hours in Potchefstroom, but in that time
several remounts had been allotted to the company,
and a draft of twenty details rejoined and made up the
company's strength again to about forty all told. Cor-
poral Cargill, who up till this time had been one of the
never-say-dies, had to lay up with enteric, and was in-
valided home after a serious illness. He was a great
loss to the company, for he had always proved himself
a man who could be relied on in any emergency. One
of the men who rejoined the company at Potchefstroom
was Wacher, whose death falls to be recorded a couple
of days later.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE LOSBERG.

LEAVING Potchefstroom by the bridge across the
Mooi river, Colonel Benson now struck west to a
place called Witpoort, and then doubled back towards
Frederikstad, on the railway line.

A letter from one of the Fife men, which appeared in
the home papers, describes how the Boers were hustled
occasionally by Benson's column, and also records the
death of two well-known and popular members of the
company.

" Yesterday (28th February) was the anniversary of
our setting sail from home, and we celebrated it by a
grand battue or Boer chase, which was perhaps more
exciting than any day's work we have had out here since
we got to the front

" The day began in the usual way : reveille at 3.30,
march at 5 ; and in the darkness of the early morning
we saddled our horses and loaded our kits upon the
waggon. Riding out of camp before dawn, we were
ready to form the advance screen of the column when-
ever daylight came. The veldt was flat and open, and
not at all the sort of ground to suit the Boers. The
long waving grass is turning khaki in colour again, and
our men are difficult to distinguish as they advance.

" We trotted on at a good pace for some miles, and
the sun was already high in the heavens when we ap-
proached the kopjes so dear to the heart of our enemy.
We began to keep our eyes skinned and to move with

The Losberg 123

caution, but were still advancing rapidly, and had left
the column some considerable distance behind, when we
came upon a large mealie patch, beyond which was a
kopje surmounted by trees and Kaffir kraals. As we
emerged on the other side of the mealie field the screen
halted from the centre, and an orderly galloping along
told each pair of horsemen to stop and keep a sharp
look-out till the column came up a bit. We had no
sooner halted than half-a-dozen men were seen riding
away round the side of the kopje in front of us, and
from the spot they had left the smoke of a fire was
rising. A Boer picquet, we thought, and were adjusting
the sights of our rifles to have a shot at two thousand
yards, when suddenly, right beside us somewhere, the
click-clack, click-clack of Mausers rang out.

" Mounting at once, we galloped through the crashing
mealie stems in the direction of the firing. Sergt. John
Anderson came galloping towards us, and announced
that the Boers were amongst the mealies, between us and
the two outer flank pairs of scouts. They had opened
fire on them at fifty yards, but what damage had been
done was not known. At that moment the Boers were
seen making off* down the slope in front towards the foot
of the opposite hill, and on Captain Gilmour coming up
we all set off" at their heels, firing at their retreating
figures from the backs of our horses.

"The Devons, who were supporting the advance
screen, now came up and joined us, and as the Boers
had taken up a position on our left front and opened
fire, we set off" at a wild gallop to the top of the kopje
in front. When we were half-way there the rattle of
Mausers and the whistle of their bullets were drowned
by the sudden angry bark of a pom-pom. The shells
whistled overhead with an ugly howl, and every horse
went off" like an arrow. As we were wondering whether

124 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

we were charging a pom-pom and a posse of Boers con-
cealed amongst the kraals, we saw with great relief the
shells of our own pom-pom bursting right on the Boer
position. In another minute we had reached the top
and were amongst the kraals.

" We had no sooner dismounted than we were told to
mount again and gallop forward. Down we went into
another hollow, right through the Boer laager, which
they had evidently left in a hurry a very short time
before. We saw the tracks of their waggons and were
hot on the scent, the Devons and Fifes all mixed up and
going neck-and-neck. At every ridge we came to we
could see the Boers, two or three hundred strong, swarm-
ing over the next skyline, and scarcely waiting to fire a
shot Pausing, we fired a few rounds at them as they dis-
appeared, and galloped on again after Captain Gilmour,
who was mounted on his charger Bull's-eye, and going
well. We scarcely required his shout to urge us on, for
the Devons were pressing us hard for the lead, and we
had to show them what the men of Fife could do. On
through the waving grass we went, over rocks and holes
and every obstacle, never turning round to see whether
the column was coming on. As we shot past a kraal,
the Kaffir boys leaned against the wall and smiled to
see the rooineks having it all their own way with the
Boer baas. They seemed to think the whole business
was for their amusement, and showed their delight ac-
cordingly. Mile after mile we galloped, but could get
no nearer our retreating foe, who evidently thought we
were in great force, although, as a matter of fact, we
were not fifty strong, and they might easily have turned
the tables on us if they had stood. For ten miles, at
least, we chased them, and when at last we halted I was
bathed in perspiration, my horse's heart was going like
a steam hammer, and my rifle barrel was almost red

The Losberg 125

hot. We overtook several of their wounded horses, but
did not find the track of their retreat marked with their
dead and wounded. Several of them, when their horses
were shot, got away two on a horse. When our horses
could go no further we closed in and prepared to retire,
and as we saw a forest of spears on the horizon, and a
squadron of lancers on their panting steeds came along
to outflank the enemy and cut them up, we raised a
derisive cheer and advised them to come home. It was
unlikely that they would ever see the enemy that we
had barely been able to keep in rifle range.

" On our way back it was admitted that it had been
much better sport than a day with the hounds in Fife,
and the Devons declared it was as good as a stag hunt
on Dartmoor. Our only regret was that we had not
been able to show the Boers our bayonet charge on
horseback that we had learned down country at Wor-
cester. When we reached camp in the evening, after a
long march back, we heard with sorrow that Wacher
had been killed and Prentice severely wounded at the
very outset of the day's work. It appears they ran
right into the Boers in' the mealie patch, and were
shot down at fifty yards. The couple on the extreme
flank — Honeyman and Findlay — ^had an exciting ride
for their lives, for they were actually beyond the Boers
when they opened fire. Findlay had four holes in his
hat when he got back, but was quite uninjured. We
buried Wacher to-day in a soaking rainstorm beside the
Mooi river."

These wild chases were of almost daily occurrence
with Colonel Benson's force, and the Boers began to see
that he was a man to be feared. The day after Wacher's
funeral the force halted, and the Fifes supplied a picquet
on a bare kopje on the other side of the Mooi river.
After a long day in the heat of the sun, they proceeded

126 Fife and Forfar L V. in South Africa

to return to camp at sundown, but were quite unable to
find the drift by which to cross the river. As it was
almost dark, it was absolutely necessary to cross, and
although the river looked deep and muddy, with over-
hanging banks, there was nothing for it but to, plunge
across. The bold Trooper Francis, recollecting the hints
on scouting of the Cupar lecture room, spurred his horse,
much against its will, into the water. Sempill, Sturrock,
and Clacher, the remaining men of the picquet, followed
on, and, after a little wild plunging, got safely to the
other side. The take-ofT was a regular header into the
water, and every man was drenched ; but in a few
minutes they were back in camp and none the worse.

The column now made for the Gatsrand once more,
and, crossing the hills, started to chase the Boers round
the well-known Losberg. This hill stands out in con-
spicuous loneliness on the plain between the Gatsrand
and the Vaal river, and as it is about ten or fifteen miles
round the base, it afforded an excellent place for the
Boers to play at hide-and-seek. A commando of Boers,
with a laager of women and children, was reported to be
in the neighbourliood at this time, and the result was
that reveille was ordered at midnight, and, marching at
one every morning, the column found itself trying to
get to close quarters with an enemy that always seemed
to have a day's start It was a most exasperating job,
and after two or three night marches in succession,
the Fifes found themselves doing the whole round of
the Losberg in twenty-four hours, and also covering
another ten or twelve miles of country in the direction
of Potchefstroom. Starting at one in the morning, the
force moved round the plain at the base of the hill in
the moonlight, at daybreak preparations for an attack
were made on an invisible enemy, then the march round
was resumed till the other side of the mountain was

The Losberg 127

reached ; and then the whole plan of the campaign
altered in the mysterious way that was not uncommon
in the field.

Although the men were not aware of it, a helio mes-
sage had been received announcing that Delarey was
besieging Lichtenburg, and that the column must repair
immediately to Potchefstroom, in case a relief force
was required. Saying good-bye to any interview with
Johnny Boer, the force set off. The route lay across a
vast, low-lying plain, intersected at intervals by muddy
spruits. The following account of this excursion is taken
from one of the trooper's letters, and conveys a fairly
accurate idea of the appreciation of these outings at the
time of their occurrence : —

" We turned in about seven last night to have a few
hours' sleep, and at midnight commenced to march by
moonlight against the enemy — to steal with cat-like tread
upon our prey. We trekked till daylight, we trekked
till noon, as the sun began to slope towards the west we
still trekked on without a halt, our horses staggering
like drunken men, and we ourselves sound asleep at
times in the saddle. Occasionally a horse would kneel
down to pray, and the rudely -awakened rider would
spoil the beauty of the scene by indulging in an out-
burst of bad language. We were a sore and sorry band,
and as the sun declined clouds overspread the sky and
a drenching rain and fog added to the general cheerful-
ness. With overcoats heavy with rain, and weighed
down with the extra ammunition — intended as a present
for a good Boer — no camp in sight, we walked along,
dragging our half-dead horses behind us, through the
mud. Just as we were beginning to ask ourselves,
" How long, O Lord, how long ?" we reached the con-
voy, and as night was falling, pitched our blanket
bivouacs on the swampy veldt."

128 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

These blanket bivouacs were now the happy home
of the majority of men in the field. They were much
more portable and much easier to erect than the heavy
bell-tents used in our army, and were thus more con-
venient when wagons were left behind. A mounted
man could carry the blanket under his saddle, and use
his rifle as a support for the erection. The plan of
erecting these bivouacs or booby-huts was as follows : —
Two men subscribed one blanket and a rifle apiece, the
blankets were fixed by loops to the muzzles of the rifles,
which were then p^ged to the ground by means of
a bridle and reins or a piece of string, the comers of
the blankets being also pegged out to their full extent
The result was that, with the addition of two saddles
and a few old sacks at the head, a very comfortable
and perfectly weather-proof house was obtained.

SKETCH OV BLANKET BIVOUAC

The Loshtrg 129

On the day follouang this circular tour of the Losberg,
Potchefstroom was reached, and the company settled
down for five of the wettest days and nights in its ex-
perience. Hitherto the rain had been an affair of one
day or night at the most, followed by scorching sun-
shine. On this occasion the weather so completely lost
control of itself that it rained day and night without
intermission for the best part of a week. When it rains
in South Africa it does rain. Soon the camp was like
a swamp, and men with tents and bivouacs were on
the look-out for rising ground, which was hard to find.
The daily farce of taking the poor horses down to the
Mooi river, where they stood and shed tears into the
water for a few minutes, was the only duty that could
be performed during this storm. It was impossible for
the men to have tea or coffee, because everything in the
shape of fuel was too wet to burn. There was nothing
for it but to lie in wet blankets on the mud and pray for
the sun to come out Things were so wet during these
few days of rain that the men's hands were blistered like
the hands of a washerwoman who has been all day at the
tub. Rheumatism was prevalent, and even the horses
could hardly bend a leg after a night's exposure to the
rain. At last, however, the sun came out, and the earth
began to smoke and the blankets to dry in the magic
way that things do dry in South Africa when the sun
shines. Even the stolid, imperturbable shoeing-smith,
who had declared while it rained that at anyrate "this
was better than working," had to admit that the return
of the sun was matter for rejoicing.

The company again said good-bye to Potchefstroom,
and set out to look for drowned Boers on the veldt

K

130 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

"THE SUBMERGED aoTH."
(Fnm tie erigmal iktlck by Carpi. Rett of lie Siuiex I. Y.)

Sussex Yeoman — "It don't look like clearing up I"
Fifa Yeoman — "A' weel, it's as bad for the Boon. I hope they
a' dee o' pneumonia 1 "

CHAPTER XVII.

FAREWELL TO THE TRANSVAAL.

THE last trek in the Transvaal was now embarked
upon, although of course no suspicion that it was
the latst was entertained at its outset. So many trips had
been inaugurated in the belief that each was positively
the last appearance that the men had lost all interest in
the question of their emancipation. They were resolved
to stick it out, as they expressed it, and to see the war
brought to a close if need be.

The column now made for the town of Parys, on the
Vaal river, and entered a very difficult bit of country,
such as the soldier had no reason to regard with pleasure.
It was the very place to find brother Boer in his worst
form — as a sniper amongst the rocks. And brother Boer
was not Ibng in learning that the rooineks were in an
awkward comer of the country. Whether the fiery cross
had gone out or not, the fact was evident that the enemy
were gathering round to give trouble. From early morn
till dewy eve they buzzed around the column, taking
pot-shots at the scouts from every kloof and gully. A
forage patrol to a farm, which lay at the end of a long
narrow valley, proved a lively outing for the yeomen
who were engaged in it Proceeding down the valley,
the high, wooded hills on both sides were surmounted
by groups of men on foot, whose horses had been left
half-way up the hill when it became too steep. The
farm was safely reached, the bams emptied, and the
waggons of forage, accompanied by the inevitable pom-

132 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

pom, started back to camp. The rearguard rode up the
valley, and as it passed the foot of the hills the picquets
on top began to descend to their horses with a view to
retiring. This was the treacherous Boer's opportunity,
and when he saw a handful of men on horseback sliding
down the face of a precipitous hill with considerable
difficulty, he at once proclaimed himself.

Suddenly the valley re-echoed with the sound of
rifles, and the bullets began to patter on the rocks and
bushes of the hillside round the retiring picquets. It
was an uncomfortable moment, and the Boers knew
they had their enemy on toast. To stop was fatal ; it
was impossible to hurry ; there was nothing for it but
to crawl leisurely down the rocky slope under an exas-
perating fire. One man had his reins cut with a bullet,
another had his hat shot off; but all reached the level
safely, and made off at a gallop up the valley. Some
Kaffir kraals were in front, surrounded by a fence of
brushwood, which barred the passage of the galloping
horsemen. Over this hurdle the little ponies, in spite of
the kits on their backs, managed to jump, and were
soon under cover. Fire was opened on the kloof from
which the enemy were shooting, and their fire at once
ceased.

•Immediately after this little episode a terrific hail-
storm set in, and it was impossible to urge the horses in
the face of the stinging shower of ice. The hailstones
were of extraordinary size, and rattled down with such
violence that hands were cut and scratched by them.
Some, with a view to easing their ponies, had left camp
without an overcoat, and suffered for their thoughtful-
ness. The camp that afternoon, when it was reached,
presented an indescribable scene of watery desolation.
The bivouac was in a hollow amongst the hills, and the
melting ice coming down the gullies made a river of

Farewell to the Transvaal 133

considerable depth and breadth, which swept through
the camp and buried kits in the mud, destroying all
hopes of a comfortable night's rest To add to the
discomfort of that night, the snipers kept up a sort of
moonlight sonata with the greatest persistence, and gave
the outposts little peace.

About this time the company lost another of its men,
who was wounded in a very unexpected fashion by a
ricochet or stray shot Trooper Macdonald (of Banff)
was sitting with some others on a sloping hillside, while
the guns were blazing away at a Boer position about
two thousand yards off. The Fifes were acting as sup-
port to the guns, and were squatting on the back of the
hill holding their horses, and of course under cover of
the hill, which rose between them and the enemy.
Suddenly, as Macdonald was filling his pipe, feeling as
safe as he would have done in the streets of Edinburgh,
a spent bullet, dropping over the hilltop, and no doubt
aimed at the guns, caught him in the small of the back
and passed through his body into the ground. The
bullet, which made no noise in its approach, hit its mark
with a thud which suggested a kick from a horse, and
for a few minutes the other men sitting round thought
that this was what had occurred. It may seem strange
that a small pointed bullet, no thicker than a lead pencil,
should mak^ any noise when it enters the human body ;
but, as a matter of fact, the noise in this case was like
the sound of a heavy bale of cloth falling on a wooden
floor. In this way another good man was removed to
hospital, and the small company became even smaller
than before. Fortunately the wound was not serious,
and in a month or so Macdonald had quite recovered.

A reconnaissance along the banks of the Vaal in the
neighbourhood of Parys afforded another day's amuse-
ment at this time. The Boers were in some force on

134 Pif^ ^^ Forfar I. V. in South Africa

the Free State side of the river, and as they knew that
the troops could not get across to them, were bold as
lions. Taking up a position on a grassy kopje on the
southern bank, they made it quite impossible for the
troops to reach the spot where a ferry-boat was moored
at the river side. The result was that the ferry-boat had
to be destroyed by shell fire from a considerable distance.
The Fifes, in galloping to a position with Lieutenant
Pullar, came under an unpleasant cross fire — or enfilad-
ing fire, to use the military term — ^but reached the rocky
eminence they were making for without casualty. The
return journey was also accelerated by an unpleasant
quantity of lead from the other side of the river.
• The extrication of the column from the difficult hill
country in which it had been operating was performed
as only Colonel Benson knew how to perform it With
magnificent foresight, the heights commanding the exit
from the hills had been occupied overnight by the in-
fantry, and the Boers, who had informed the natives
that not one of the force would get out alive, were
driven before the mounted men and guns like dust
before the wind. The usefulness of the howitzer was
very apparent on this occasion. For the benefit of those
who are not conversant with military matters, it may be
explained that this is a gun so constructed that it throws
shells at a considerable angle into the air. It is there-
fore very useful in attacking hill positions or throwing
shells up the face of a brae. In the present instance it
was by means of a howitzer and a few lyddite shells
that the Boers were driven from ridge to ridge and from
height to height until the column emerged with some
feeling of relief on to the open plain. Each man in his
own mind decided that there never was a better tactician
than Colonel Benson. They had been in some nasty
places with him, and he had always emerged triumphant,
and that without serious loss.

Farewell to the Transvaal 135

The column again worked back to the well-known
region between the Losberg and the Gatsrand, and had
one or two very exciting chases after the Boers in com-
paratively open country. In one of these wild swoops
the column, after a few hours' march, came on the heels
of the Boers at daybreak, and immediately set off with
a pom-pom and a couple of field guns to close with
them if possible. It was a lovely morning, and a fine
open stretch of veldt lay in front; with slight rises or
skylines at intervals of two or three miles, and small
muddy streams flowing between. In such a country
there w^ no reason why the field guns should not have
a gallop, and so the whole force set off neck and neck
like a pack of hounds on the scent Coming to a muddy
spruit, the guns struggled through bravely and set off
to the crest in front at a good steady trot When the
yeomen reached the skyline under fire, great was their
delight to find one or two bullock waggons unable to
go further, and left behind by the Boers. These waggons
were well loaded with women and children, who raised
a dreadful clamour when the pom-pom came up. and,
hastily unlimbering, opened fire on the fleeing Boers,
who were about a mile away, and galloping at the
hardest An old man and a youth of about eighteen
years of age, who had been left to drive the waggons,
had coats on that were worn into holes across the back
by the bandoliers of ammunition they had been wearing
for the past two years. In spite of this, however, they
protested that they had never fired a shot A search of
the waggon disclosed a Martini-Henry rifle, which was
hot with firing, having apparently been used until our
men were within a hundred yards of the waggon.
Quantities of Mauser ammunition were also discovered.
Several men were told off to escort the waggons back
to camp, while the chase was continued/ and others

136 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

were captured further on. After a chase of five or
six miles the fugitive Boers at last reached a position
where they could stand. They did so, and opened a hot
fire upon the advancing yeomen. Captain Gilmour got
into a very warm comer, and as he lay firing at the
enemy's position two men of the Sussex on each side of
him were wounded. One of them, Trooper Blake, died
next day, and was buried at Modderfontein.

In escorting the captured waggons back to camp the
writer witnessed the only act bordering on barbarism,
perpetrated by a British soldier, that came under his
notice during the war. On one of the waggons was
seated a boy of twelve or thirteen years of age, a hand-
some little fellow, who seemed to haye a certain manly
feeling of unhappiness that he should be left behind
with the women while his big brothers went off on
horseback to fight He was the possessor of a fine
slouch hat, with a white and chocolate coloured ribbon
round it. One of the lancers who were with Benson's
column, riding up to the waggon, caught sight of the
boy's hat, and immediately leaned over and snatched
it from his head, throwing his own tattered headgear
on the waggon. The little Boer looked for a minute
as if the tears were not far from his eyes, for he was
evidently proud of his hat, but when he caught sight
of the lancer's disreputable article, a sudden look of
indignation and disgust overspread his features, and
he turned away determined to wear no hat at all
rather than such a sorry specimen. The lancer — a
great, rough character — had no sooner placed the boy's
.hat upon his head than a chorus of rage and disapproval
was raised by the other troopers, who at once shouted,
" Give the kiddie back his hat," and threatened to make
unpleasantness if this was not done at once. There was
no doubt that they meant to enforce their threats if it

Farewell to the Transvaal 137

was not immediately returned, and so, with a shame-
faced scowl, the hat was returned to the little Boer.
There were limits beyond which even Thomas Atkins,
with his rough and ready ways, was not allowed to
pass. The chivalrous nature of the British soldier
never shows more strongly than when he is in charge
of a prisoner of war. There are, of course, individuals
like this lancer, but they are very few and far between.

While the column now halted at Modderfontein, in
the very position which had been so successfully de-
fended by the Boers some weeks before, the Fifes were
informed that they were to proceed to Banks station and
, train for the south. Every man was delighted, and it
was generally supposed that the company was bound for
home at last. Farewells to the sorrowing Sussex and
the other companies of the regiment having been made,
the company inspanned their waggon, mounted their
horses, and started for the railway line. Arrived at
Banks station, a sad disappointment awaited them, for
a message had been received that they were to return
forthwith to rejoin the column at Modderfontein. There
was nothing for it but to return, and although the
temper of the yeomen was sorely tried, they at once
set off to rejoin the comrades to whom they had bidden
an affectionate farewell. As they rode into camp in the
twilight, the sarcastic singing of "Will ye no come back
again ?" greeted their ears on all sides.

Colonel Benson again set off in the direction of the
Vaal, and after a few more exciting scraps with the
enemy, and the capture of a number of poor Boers of
the lowest class, who were found in caves along the river .
bank, the column reached the town of Vereeniging, since
made famous by the Peace Conference. Vereeniging is
situated on the railway at the point where it crosses the
Vaal, and is in the heart of a prosperous coalfield, which

138 Fife and Forfar I. V. m South Africa

to the men of Fife, or to some of them at anyrate, was
suggestive of home, sweet home. Here the Fife men
said good-bye to their friends and some faithful steeds
and entrained for Bloemfontein — receiving on their de-
parture the thanks of their brigadier, Colonel Benson,
for the manner in which they had worked with his
column, of which they were not a little proud.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BLOEMFONTEIN, AND RAMBLES IN THE FREE STATE.

BLOEMFONTEIN, at the time of the arrival of
the Fife yeomen — the beginning of April, 1900
— was wonderfully gay and busy. Unlike Pretoria and
the other towns of the Transvaal, its shops were full of
goods, and the streets could boast of an occasional
civilian. Khaki was not so all-pervading as it had been
further north, and the conditions of life were altogether
more normal and more civilised.

The few soldiers who were about the town at this
time were of a kind quite new to the warriors from the
veldt They were spick and span in brand new hats
and uniforms, and looked, from their ostrich tips to their
nickel spurs, as if they had just come out of a glass
case. To quote Thomas Atkins once again, they had
evidently been opening some new boxes — of toy soldiers.
These men, who had evidently not lately smelt powder,
were attached to various headquarters staffs, rest camps,
and remount depdts.

Passing through the market square of the town, the
Fifes climbed a steep hill, and were ultimately ordered
to pitch camp on a muddy flat opposite the cemetery.
This teaming graveyard was one of the sights of Bloem-
fontein, and as they lay right opposite it, the Fife men
had ample opportunity of pondering over the story that
it told. Row upon row of white wooden crosses, many
marked by a mere number, acres of undulating mounds,
and a continual stream of solemn funeral processions, bore

I40 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

evidence of the fact that for many Bloemfontein marked
the final chapter in the South African war. This was
not so much due to the unhealthiness of the place itself
as to the fact that it was a great hospital centre for a
large field army, at which invalids and wounded men
were continually arriving. It was not a cheerful phase
of war, however, and the men were, anxious to be out on
the open veldt again. The difference between a clean
camp every evening amongst the long waving grass and
the squalid, muddy bivouac at Bloemfontein made it
difficult to understand how anyone could prefer the
latter. At Bloemfontein, as at Pretoria, there were
literally square miles of hospital camps, where the Red
Cross flag fluttered over the lines of great marquees that
contained so much of misery and suffering. A visit to
the cemetery one evening disclosed the fact that twenty
graves were dug to be ready for the harvest of the
morrow. The very air seemed to be permeated with
enteric, and the wandering trooper was glad to quit the
spot without delay.

On the other side of the camp where the yeomen lay
was a large rest camp for infantry soldiers, and here, to
their delight and surprise, the Fifes met the active
service section of the Black Watch from Dundee, in
charge of Lieutenants Valentine and Tosh. The meet-
ing of old friends, or even of men who hail from the
same place, is one of the greatest pleasures that can
befal a wanderer in a foreign land. This meeting be-
tween the yeomen and the highlanders from Fife and
Forfar was particularly cordial, and the mounted men
felt proud indeed to claim acquaintance with the kilted
soldiers whose name was such a terror to their enemies.
The bergskotten or mountain Scots were held in proper
veneration by the Boers, who had reason to know them
pretty well. The highlanders now at Bloemfontein were

i*-^' -.>.^— .a^ih^ ,JM— M^ — ^

Rambles in the Free State 141

homeward bound, but there was no such luck in store for
the Yeomanry.

Without any warning, a trainload of new levies, fresh
from home, was marched up from the station, and the
Fife men were informed that these new natives of the
Kingdom were to be their future comrades-in-arms.
This announcement was accompanied by the informa-
tion that the men of the first contingent would not be
allowed to go home until the new men were efficient in
the field. This was joy indeed I The new men, with
the very best intentions in the world, could not possibly
hope to be able to tackle the Boer at his own game with
success in less than three months. In fact, the old men,
after twelve months in the field, were learning every
day, and gaining further insight into the art of guerilla
warfare. Moreover, the second contingent of Yeomanry
were yeomen in nanle only, and many of them knew
nothing — did not even pretend to know anything^— of
horsemanship. Many of them could not bit and saddle
a horse without assistance, and some of them confessed
candidly that they had received no training in cavalry
work at all while they were at Aldershot prior to sailing
for the front. Of course there were some among them
who had nothing to learn in regard to riding and care of
the horse ; but, without exception, they had everything
to learn of brother Boer and his methods on the veldt.

Having obtained mounts for the newcomers, and in-
structed them in the intricacies of military saddlery and
accoutrements, an inspection of the squadron was held
by Greneral Knox, and marching orders were thereafter
issued. Late one afternoon the company, now 150
strong (with drafts for the other companies, bringing
the force up to nearly 300), moved out of Bloemfontein
in the direction of Thaban'chu (called Tabanchew), and
camped at a spot midway between the capital and the

142 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in Samih Africa

notorious Sanaa's Post Here another contingent of
Black Watch volunteers was encountered, and many did
friends were soon shaking hands and indulging in the
polite art of question-asking. The Fife waggon had
broken down soon after leaving Bloemfontein, and a
dreadful thunderstorm, with a deluge of tropical rain,
made the yeomen glad to accept the hospitable offer
of the highlanders to share their tents till the waggon
arrived.

Major Miller and Captain Smith were the officers
with this party, which was making for Bloemfontein on
its way home. Two half-drowned yeomen of their
acquaintance, who sought the hospitable shelter of their
canvas roof, will ever be grateful for their kindness on
that occasion.

At midnight a cheer announced the arrival of the
waggon, and late as it was, the old men lost no time in
erecting their tent, and slept in comfort till daybreak.

Next night a halt was made at Sanna's Post, and on
the following day Thaban'chu was reached, and the
company camped beyond the village under the shadow
of the mighty hill — the black mountain, as it is named.
Another day's march brought the company to Colonel
Pilcher's column, which it had been ordered to join, with
whom were the 17th and i8th companies of Scottish
Yeomanry, under Colonel Campbell.

A party of men was left behind here for a night to
bring on mails next day, and was visited by another
tremendous storm of rain and thunder, which filled a
dry donga between the town and the camp with a
rushing torrent, preventing Sergeant Waldie and others
of the party from getting to camp until a horse arrived
to carry them across.

No sooner had the new force joined Colonel Pilcher
than the Boers again began to give trouble. Almost the

Rambles in the Free State 143

first night the column camped the enemy took up a
position on an eminence within range of the lines, from
which it was considered necessary to remove them. For
this purpose two troops of the Fife squadron were
ordered out, one to outflank the position and the other
to attack in front. Unfortunately the troop advancing
on the front did not wait until the flank had been turned,
but rushed against the enemy's rifles. A wire fence near
the foot of the kopje obstructed the approach, and the
new men, in their innocence, all made a rush at the same
moment for the one opening that was visible. No sooner
were they gathered in a heap than a merry rattle of
Mausers announced to those in camp that the enemy
was not to retire without giving trouble. Meantime the
raw troopers wheeled about, and, crowding together, gal-
loped out of range, some without their hats, and others
minus a rifle. In a few minutes riderless horses came
galloping into their places in the lines, and the old
members, who had seen empty saddles before, were
preparing to lament the early death of the promising
recruits. As they were endeavouring to identify the
saddlery, a mounted orderly galloped into camp with a
message, and announced that he had seen the riderless
horses, but that ^e thought the riders were not killed,
" but just fell aif wi' fricht." By way of confirmation,
several of them returned to camp on foot, and put their
comrades out of suspense.

No blame to the men themselves that they were
hurried into the field before they had received any
training. If there was any blame it was to be attributed
to the men at home who could ride and shoot, but re-
fused to place their services at their country's disposal.
The men who came were willing to do their best, but
their treatment was unfair in the extreme, and if any
had been killed on this occasion it would not have been

144 ^if^ ^^ Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

their own fault Where were the men who had declared,
when the first contingent was raised, that, if a further call
was made, they would volunteer at once? They were
sitting comfortably at home, sneering at the Yeomanry,
and saying, when they heard of their inexperience, ^ I
told you so."

The new men steadily improved after this, for there
is nothing that makes a soldier so quickly as a little lead
in the air. At first they spent their time in camp quar-
relling and fighting, they scorned the idea of obedience
or discipline, and treated the suggestion that they would
be sniped if they did not look alive with supreme con-
tempt After a few days of rearguard work, they could
mount with the first and gallop with the best, but ad-
mitted, after a few narrow escapes, that they did not
know everything; and when they had been under fire
tc^ether a few times they forgot to quarrel and curse
each other when they were in camp. A little Mauser
fire changed them from larrikins into soldiers in a few
weeks.

The column now reached a place called Belmont,
which was famous in the Fife annals of the campaign
as the place where the interesting love-letters of Laura
Lindequ6 were discovered. Her father was a prosperous
Free State farmer, judging by the appearance of the
farm, and her lover was a scion of a well-known Boer
family, who had held the highest ofEce in the State.
He was employed in a bureau in Bloemfontein, and
some idea of his powers as a writer of amatory epistles
may be gathered from the fact that the floor of the
paternal coach-house was strewn a foot deep with these
precious effusions. Laura's life seemed to have been
brightened for two or three years with an almost daily
letter of ten or twelve pages of official foolscap. The
discovery of this mine of wealth in the way of amusing

Rambles in the Free State 145

literature was a regular godsend to men who had re-
ceived no mails for some time, and with whom reading
matter was exceedingly scarce. For many nights tents
and bivouacs rang with happy laughter as the corre-
spondence was read aloud. The announcement that the
sideboard had been bought brought matters to an inte-
resting point, but unfortunately the next letter declared
that the ardent lover awaited but the blast of the bugle
to hurl himself against the wicked rooineks. Hence-
forth, he said, I will write not in the accursed English
tongue, but in the dear old Hollandsche spraak of my
voorvaders. The letters thereafter had to be translated,
and it was gathered that the blast of the bugle had
called our hero to the front, where he was acting on the
commissariat of the Boer forces, and hurling himself
upon his enemies by doling out coffee and sugar to the
Burghers. His accounts of several battles in Natal
brought his voluminous correspondence to an abrupt
conclusion. Some of the letters were exceedingly funny,
as love letters generally are, and when, after nine or ten
closely-written pages of the utmost drivel, he urged his
darling, if she felt low-spirited, to read his letter all over
again from the beginning, the roars of the troopers pro-
claimed that their sense of humour was not impaired
by the life of soldiering. If the column halted at mid-
day a group of M.I. might be seen squatting on the
veldt and chuckling over some bit of paper, one of the
many letters of our friend, for there were enough to go
round the whole column and keep them in good spirits.
It may be thought that the correspondence of our
enemies should have been sacred ; but, as a matter of
fact, there was no harm in the troopers reading the
private affairs of people they never knew, and were
never likely to know. One of the chief pleasures of

rummaging in empty farm houses was to find the old
L

146 Fife and Forfar /. K in South Africa

letters of the inmates, and, as a rule, these seemed to be
mostly of the love-letter variety.

The column now made several night marches, and
had a good deal of fighting round a large mountain
called the Korannaberg, the top of which was a plateau
ten miles long and seven miles broad. This hill, like
many others in the Free State, was a tafel kop or table
mountain, surrounded by a precipitous ledge of rock of
great height, and as this ledge ran right round the hill,
there was only one possible way of reaching the summit

At the comer of this Korannaberg Colonel Pilcher's
column received a check one day by a party of snipers,
who were posted on the rocky face of the hill. It was
impossible to pass, because the column had to march
between the base of the hill and the Zand river, and
these snipers were in a position to pick off men and
horses as they came along. The result was that the
column had to halt and shell the face of the hill. Still
the snipers were neither dislodged nor silenced. After
a great deal of ammunition had been wasted, a party of
men were despatched to drive along the face of the hill
and clear it. Not until these men were close upon them,
and some of them had been ruthlessly shot down as
they scrambled amongst the rocks, did these villainous
snipers throw their hands up and at once become the
honoured guests of the British soldier. When they were
brought in it was found that an old farmer and his six
sons were responsible for the mischief

A night march now brought the force to Senekal, a
deserted village, occupied by one Jew and his family,
who had entertained De Wet a short time before, and
supplied him with a new hat and co^t, for which the
great guerilla leader omitted to pay him. While camped
here, a night attack on a farm, some twelve miles away,
to capture De Wet, who was sleeping there with a small

Rambles in the Free State 147

bodyguard, ended in a fiasco. The wheels of the pom-
pom and all the harnesb chains having been bound with
puttees to ensure their noiselessness, a mounted force
set out in the black darkness to reach the spot Un-
fortunately, when within a few miles of the place, they
ran into a picquet of natives, who, firing their rifles, rode
off to apprise the laager. There was nothing for the
expedition to do but return to camp, which they did in
the early hours of the morning.

Another night march, undertaken a few days later,
was more successful, and the Boer laager was put to
flight and several men captured or killed. One of the
new Fife contingent, who had been captured by the
enemy a few days before, effected his escape from them
by concealing himself when the attack began, and in a
few minutes he was left alone in the laager. His de-
scription of the rude awakening of the enemy by a volley
close to their lines, and their hasty flight on bareback
horses, was borne out by the quantity of saddlery and
other belongings which they left behind.

The town of Reitz was now visited, and a day was
spent by the Yeomanry in a systematic destruction of
all forage and supplies in the place. This was the town
that was afterwards the scene of President Steyn's wild
flight in a somewhat picturesque costume a few months
later. On the day on which it was visited by the Fifes
a cold rain storm of considerable severity was raging,
and the place looked gloomy enough with the great
bonfires flaring against the dull, wintry-looking sky.

The first few days of May were again spent at
Senekal, where several of the old men left for home.
The company as. a company was not yet allowed to
leave, however, but were informed that at the end of the
next trek they would be permitted to quit the field. The
column now crossed the railway line and made for the

148 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

ground to the south of the Vaal river, which the old
members of the company had ^een when with Colonel
Benson they had trekked and fought on the northern
banks of the river. After passing Bothaville, where the
graves of Colonel Le Gallais and his brave men are to
be seen side by side with those of their enemies who
were killed in the fierce fight there, the column camped
at a spot called Commando Drifl, on the Vaal river.
While lying here the Boers, who were in force on the
opposite side, opened a sudden night attack on the
camp under cover of darkness. The flash of their rifles
amongst the bush on the river bank revealed their posi-
tion, however, and the guns opened fire on them with
case shot and put them to flight One of the results of
this little escapade was that all the camp fires had to be
hastily exting^uished, so that the dinner, which was being
cooked, was spoiled. Brother Boer came in for a good
deal of abuse that night, and condemnation of his bad
form was loud, especially from a well-known lazy man
of the company, who had not even bothered to turn out
of his tent, and who had been wounded as he lay in the
dark smoking.

Some members of the company on this occasion were
absent on a two days' patrol, which finished up with an
experience that almost spoiled the pleasure of an other-
wise pleasant picnic. The patrol, consisting of the yeo-
men and their friends the 6th and 7th M. I., had arrived
at Bothaville, where they were to be rejoined by Colonel
Pilcher's main body. Having arrived early in the day,
and seeing the dust of the main body on the horizon
several miles away, they settled down to have an after-
noon nap, and turned the horses out to graze. One or
two Cape carts and Scotch carts that accompanied them
were outspanned beside the farm house, and the party
must have presented all the appearance of a Boer uitspan.

Rambles in the Free State 149

As the tea kettles were beginning to boil, and the troopers
were dozing under the shadow of the Cape carts, a sudden
unearthly bark from a pom-pom made every man bound
to his feet Two weary shells came whistling on the
breeze, and landed within twenty yards of the little
party. Again a whole dozen shells were sent to find
the range, and came dashing in amongst the carts and
saddles. Teapots were overturned, dust was thrown
about, and as the shells exploded gaily in their midst
the troopers set off in pursuit of their wandering steeds.
The horses, of course, began to make off as fast as their
knee-halters would allow, and as the men chased them
in great excitement they presented a clear target for
the enemy. Another belt of shells came howling over-
head and slaughtered a couple of horses, and as there
was not even a rabbit hole to give cover it looked as if
the little force was to be annihilated within sight almost
of its advancing main body. Fortunately, one of the
signallers, suspecting that something was wrong (for the
enemy were known to have no guns), flashed a helio
on the spot on the horizon where the pom-pom was

firing. Soon an answer was received, " Who the h

are you ?" and the matter was cleared up. It was not
De Wet who had dug up a gun, but the well-known
Thomeycroft, who was making for the same rendezvous
as Colonel Pilcher, and who had mistaken the patrol for
a party of Boers. After this, the column trekked by the
Lonely Kopje, or Kopje Allein, to a station on the railway
called Virginia Siding, where a pleasant trek — that had
been one of the most successful in the way of pigs and
poultry that the company had ever enjoyed — was brought
to an end. The last two treks of the company had
indeed been the most enjoyable of the campaign, food
(or skoff, as the KaflSrs called it,) had been plentiful,
and the work had been varied and interesting. Night

150 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

marches and other troubles were compensated for by
the capture of such charming young ladies as Miss Van
Wyk, whose lovely face, enshrined in a large sun-bonnet,
and shaded by a green silk parasol, make a lasting im-
pression on the hearts of her Fife captors. If they had
only had the pleasure of meeting the no doubt equally
charming Miss Laura Lindequ6, and cutting out her
ardent Boer lover, their happiness and triumph would
have been complete.

I

Uentonwit Burton 5tawart

CHAPTER XIX.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

THE time had surely come when the little remnant
of the squadron, that had seen so many vicissi-
tudes and done so much hard work, was to be allowed
to depart in peace. At Virginia Siding, a railway station
on the main line through the Free State, their wander-
ings were actually to be brought to an end. The last
armed camp they were to sleep in was pitched upon the
dusty veldt, on the site of former camps of the great
army of Lord Roberts, and probably of many forces
since. The air was redolent of dead horse, the ground
was strewn with skeletons and bones — it was altogether
not the place that would have been chosen for a picnic.
All this mattered little, however, to the survivors, who
were informed by Captain Gilmour that they would pro-
ceed down country next day, and might sail for home
within a week's time. Latterly they had grown so
accustomed to a nomad life and the excitements of the
field that they had come to enjoy it, and chafed at the
idea of being two days in one place. They were so
inured to hunger and night marching, and the other ac-
companiments of campaigning, that they thought nothing
of them. Although it may seem to place a very low
estimate on human character, the misery and dissatis-
faction of the new drafts, when confronted with the
unaccustomed hardships of life in the field, made life
appear all the more enjoyable. What was a totally in-
sufficient ration of food for a new chum was more than

152 Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

ample for them ; when he was half-dead for want of
sleep, they were quite lively; when he g^roaned at the
dirt and discomfort of the life of a tramp, the old men
revelled in their long-time uncleanliness. When all was
said and done, they were not sorry at the prospect of a
return to the Land of Cakes, where water and soap and
other luxuries of life were plentiful.

Having disposed of their various belongings in the
way of saddlery and other equipment for the field to
those who were in want of them, they chartered a few
waggon boys to carry their kits to the station, and set
off in great spirits for Bloemfontein. Before leaving,
Captain Gilmour wished them farewell, and announced
his intention of remaining with the company till an
officer could be found to take his place. While appreci-
ating the motives that prompted him to take this step —
motives that were highly creditable to his sense of duty
— they r^retted that they should not have him with
them on their return to Cupar. It almost seemed like
deserting their captain to leave in this way; but, after
all, business had to be returned to, and sentiment had to
stand aside. Lieutenant Pullar — than whom no officer
in the battalion was more popular — took charge of the
party on the journey home.

Arrived at Bloemfontein in open trucks, after dark,
the men settled down to spend the night as they were.
About midnight the waggons were shunted off to join
some train going north again, and in the darkness of the
night there was only time to seize kits and jump over-
board. The rest of the night having been spent on the
platform, the company boarded a comfortable corridor
train next morning and started for Cape Town.

The journey in the train from Bloemfontein was a
most enjoyable affair after fifteen months on the veldt
No more picquets, no more night attacks, no more

n

Homeward Bound 153

trouble of any kind, nothing to do for three days and
nights but eat and sleep and smoke the hours away.
It was delightful to think that at last the company was
homeward bound, although the pleasure was somewhat
marred by the fact that trainloads of raw troops from
home were still hurrying up country to finish the job
that should have been finished before a man returned
The only satisfaction when this thought occurred was to
reflect that, after all, the war was no longer war, but a
gigantic game of hide and seek, for which one had never
bargained.

The whole railway line from Bloemfontein to Cape
Town seemed to be an unending chain of garrisons,
picquets, and blockhouses, connected by a system of
incessant patrols. Right through Cape Colony this was
maintained, and on the wild solitude of the karoo, and
in the mountain passes separating it from the seaboard,
weary parties of sentries were glad to have a newspaper
thrown to them from a passing train to keep them in
touch with the world. Many of these posts were garri-
soned by militia regiments, and they certainly deserved
the greatest praise for the patience they displayed in the
performance of irksome routine duties. Life on the
veldt was bad enough, but it was a treat compared to
the monotony of the lines of communication.

As the train passed the Orange river and entered
Cape Colony it was joined by a large number of Cape
rebels, who were being deported to undergo terms of
imprisonment. Great, powerful farmers, with bushy
beards and the keen eyes of hunters, they afforded
an excellent idea of the men the British were fighting
against. They were in charge of a body of Cape Colony
volunteers from Dordrecht, called the Dordrecht Volun-
teer Guard, many of whom were travelling to Cape Town
for the first time in their lives.

154 Pif^ ^^ Forfar I. K in South Africa

The train now began to descend through what is
known as Bain's Kloof, and even the Scotchmen had to
admit that Scotland had nothing in the way of scenety
or mountain railways to surpass this. Winding along
the side of one steep, rocky hill, the railway could be
seen on the other side of the gorge hundreds of feet
below. The gradient was so steep that even the floor
of the railway carriage was on a decided slope, and every
minute the train seemed to be coming down a few hun-
dred feet nearer the level of the plain.

In a few more hours Worcester was reached, and as
the Yeomanry camp for mobilisation for home was
situated here, the company detrained and made for the
camp, where tents were soon allotted to them.

A week was spent in Worcester, and a busy week it
was, for every man had many purchases to make in pre-
paration for the voyage home. The men were all at ,
home in the old town, and revisited many of the places
they had discovered in the time of their stay on the way
up country. The Jewish barber, who had made a comer
in sjamboks, was visited daily in the endeavour to beat
down prices ; and others were busy buying clothes and
other odds and ends to enable them to appear clean and
smart when they reached Southampton.

The weather, which was now at its best up-country,
was particularly villainous in Cape Colony. There the
wet season comes on in winter, and as it was now mid-
winter at Worcester, the rain came down for days on end.
The wind blew with hurricane force, and it was almost
impossible to keep a tent erect on account of the con-
tinual storm. The high hills were covered with snow,
and the air was damp and chilly. It was not with
regret, therefore, that the company at last was ordered
to entrain for Cape Town on a Sunday afternoon after a
week's stay in Worcester.

Homeward Bound 155

One sad parting with an old friend occurred the night
before, when Trooper Haines returned up-country to
take up an appointment in Johannesburg. He was the
only member who elected to remain in South Africa at
this time, and at midnight, in a storm of wind and rain,
he said good-bye to the comrades who had shared so
many adventures with him, and joined a north -going
train. He was followed by the best wishes of every
member of the little band, all of whom had found in
him a true friend and a most lovable companion on the
veldt. It was indeed a matter for regret that his cheerful
presence would not enliven the homeward voyage, and
that he would not be there to celebrate with the others
the return to Fife, and to pledge with them the days of
auld lang syne.

After a night journey in an open truck — fitting end
to a strange sojourn — the company reached Cape Town,
and embarked at once on board the Hawarden Castle,
There was no chance of seeing the town, as the port was
at this time stricken with plague, and carefully quaran-
tined. The complement of 80O yeomen was soon aboard,
and the vessel set off from the quay and commenced the
homeward journey. '

The day of departure had actually arrived, and the
yeomen were once more on the wide ocean — homeward
bound. How joyfully this day had been talked of and
looked forward to ; how eagerly it had been anticipated ;
and now how sadly and soberly it was being taken when
it came. How could their pleasure be otherwise than a
sad one when they thought of the friends with whom
they had hoped to share it lying beneath the silent veldt*
What strange vicissitudes, what cruel cuts of fortune the
company had experienced in fifteen months. How happy
they had all been together when they sailed into Table
Bay, and now only a score of all the hundred and twenty

156 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

men who were on board the Cymric were speeding away
from a land that had not dealt over kindly with them.
Even the purpose for which they came out had not been
properly achieved, and there was a certain sense of com-
pleteness lacking that spoiled the return home. They had
done their best, however, and no man can do more.

As the bold outline of Table Mountain faded in the
distance, as the snow-topped hills of Cape Colony were
lost to sight in the gathering darkness of the night, each
man was glad to get below and sling himself in his ham-
mock, to be lulled to sleep by the unaccustomed motion
of the sea. There was none of that irrepressible uproar
on the troop-deck that marked the outward journey. A
year's campaigning had taken the steam off, and rendered
the noisy, brawling mess as quiet and staid as a party of
church elders. There was no quarrelling and " chewing
the rag," as Thomas Atkins calls it, for every man knew
his neighbour well and how far he could rely on his good
nature. It was strange to note who were the last sur-
vivors of the company on this homeward voyage. Where
were all the big men — the tug-of-war veterans — where
were they ? Invalided home, many of them six months
before.

If the campaign had proved anything at all, it had
proved conclusively how foolish it is to choose soldiers
by bulk and to value men by avoirdupois measure. The
men who stood out and faced the music were all thin,
wiry men of moderate size and strength, while many a
man of might and muscle had buckled up under the
hardships and fatigues of life in the field. Although the
soldier's life in time of war has many glorious compensa-
tions, and is certainly the lordliest life of all in many
respects, it cannot be denied that it is a life of continual
fatigue and vexation. This it always has been, and
must ever be, because a soldier to be of any use must

Homeward Bound 157

carry a rifle and a tremendous load of ammunition. It
has been abundantly demonstrated that it is absolutely
necessary for a man marching in an enemy's country to
be ready to meet his enemy at any moment, and in order
that he may give as good as he gets when they do meet,
he must have 200 rounds of ammunition on his person.
It is impossible to trust to pack horses and carts for their
supply, and the result is that every soldier on active
service must be more or less a beast of burden. He
must also cross all sorts of country, climb hills, and
surmount every obstacle that is to be encountered in a
bee-line march. The work of the mounted men in South
Africa was in almost every case far harder than that of
the infantry, who merely marched from one point to
another by the nearest route, while the mounted men
had to climb hills and visit outlying farms as part of
every day's work.

A typical day's work of the Yeomanry was to leave
camp before sunrise to relieve an infantry outpost and
let it rejoin the main body, then to move off on a flank
of the column, and, dismounting, to climb a high hill
and hold it till the column was safely past Returning
to their horses (often under a heavy fire), they had to
gallop along to the head of the column again and climb
another steep hill in the same way. This mountaineering
in the South African sun, with a rifle and two bandoliers
full of ammunition, was no light work. Meantime the
infantry were plodding along beside the waggons or
squatting on the veldt while the convoy crossed a drift.
The mounted men had certain compensations, however,
in the shape of feathered booty that accompanied them
into camp at sunset. The men who could not elude the
provost marshal and annex a good fat turkey or a leg of
pork for dinner was accounted a poor specimen by his
messmates. When camp was pitched the foot-sloggers,

158 Fife and Forfar L K. in South Africa

as they were nicknamed, were busy round their camp
fires before the " ikonas/' or mounted men, had picketed
their weary steeds. Then, if pigs and poultry were not
forthcoming, sheep had to be killed and dressed, water
brought, ration fatigues at the supply waggons had to
be attended to, and a dozen other jobs performed before
settling down for the night Amusement or recreation
there is none on active service. By eight o'clock every
man is asleep who is not on duty, and, as a rule, reveille
may be expected any time after two in the morning.

Night duties are of two sorts, outpost duty and horse-
picquet in camp. In one case the man has to "hump his
swag," or shoulder his blankets, and ride or walk, as the
case may be, to a hilltop in the vicinity of the camp ; in
the other case he has to take his turn of strolling up and
down the horse lines with a heavy hammer in his hand
to see that no horse pulls its p^ or gets loose during the
night These duties come at least twice a week, and
sometimes — if the majority of the squadron are lying in
some rest camp a hundred miles away — it may come
every second night Outpost duty is, of course, the least
desirable, for besides having to go without tea, very
often there is little chance of getting breakfast in the
morning. Moreover, there is no hope of a smoke, con-
versation is tabooed, and the greatest tension on the
nerves may, in certain positions, be inevitable, as when
the picquet is in a nek amongst the haunts of baboons,
who grunt and scurry about all night Stable-guard or
horse-picquet on a fine night is not a bad occupation at
all, especially if wood is plentiful and a fire can be kept
up. In this case the sentry can sit on an empty biscuit-
box and doze over the fire till some stray horse falls over
a sleeping comrade, who roars with virtuous indignation
at the assault

Take it all round, however, a soldier's life is free from

Homeward Bound 159

care, and a campaign, after it is all over, seems to have
been a glorious holiday ; but while it lasts the strain is
intense, and the duties of the hardest To be on picquet
one night, to be ordered on a night march the next, to
fight all the following day in the heat, and to return to
camp in a rainstorm to find that fires cannot be lit on
account of the wet — that is a life which may seem very
delightful to look back upon, but while it lasts it makes
a man wish that he was dead.

The survivors of the 20th Company will never regret
their experience in the field, and in spite of their cordial
"never again" so often repeated, will probably be amongst
the first to volunteer another time if required ; but after
a good taste of a soldier's life they will never look upon
Thomas Atkins, especially if his breast is hUng with
medals, without a feeling of admiration — aye, and venera-
tion almost — as they think of his cheerfulness in moments
of difficulty and danger. ^

The South African war has shown many that there
is more reason than might appear for the patriotism of
the music halls that finds expression in such words as
"You're a credit to your country." The British soldier is
not overrated. He is the most patient, most kindly, most
cheerful and unselfish individual on the face of the earth.
The worse things look, the more cheerful he becomes ;
the less he has to eat, the more willing he is to share it ;
the more he is sniped at, the more humane is he to his
enemies when captured. He has a big heart, in which
he finds a place even for the low caste nigger, who is not
worthy to lick his boots. In short, he is terribly British,
and every inch a man.

(From " Dundee Advertiser," 26th June, 1901.)

FIFE YEOMEN HOME.
WARM WELCOME TO SOUTHAMPTON.

This morning the Hawarden Castle^ conveying tiearly
800 yeomen and volunteers, including a party of the
Fife and Forfar contingent of the Imperial Yeomanry,
arrived at Southampton, and the men received a hearty
welcome. A fine fresh breeze was blowing across the
Solent when the first glimpse was caught of the
Hawarden Castle. Many people were down early at
the entrance to the harbour awaiting her arrival. As
she approached the lockway, towed by a powerful tug, a
rousing cheer went up from those on shore, answered by
the men on board. They swarmed up the rigging, into
the lifeboats, and everywhere that they could reach.
Anxious fathers and mothers searched for well-known
features, and when friends recognised friends many affec-
tionate greetings passed from the shore to the vessel
I scanned the faces on the quarterdeck and the fore-
castle, hoping to recognise some of the local men. At
last my search was rewarded by my finding Corporal
Honeyman, of Coupar Angus, who called down that his
comrades were all well in health. Many of the men dis-
embarked at once, and were entrained for their respective
destinations. During the course of the forenoon several
specials left for different parts of England.

The Fife and Forfar men number twenty in all, and
every man in the best of health. Their names are : —

Arrival at Southampton i6i

Lieutenant H. S. Pullar, Perth.

Sergeant-Major Simpson, Cullen.

Quartermaster-Sergeant Brown, Dundee.

Sergeant Bowman, Buckhaven.

Sergeant Waldie, Cupar- Fife.

Sergeant G. B. Scott, St Andrews.

Sergeant Bucher, Leith.

Sergeant Gordon, Brechin.

Sergeant Campbell, Annan.

Corporal Sturrock, Newport.

Corporal Shiell, Brechin.

Corporal Robb, Arbroath.

Corporal Honeyman, Coupar Angus.

Lance-Corporal Gordon.

Trooper Bell.

Trooper Rintoul, Blebo.

Trooper Matheson.

Trooper Scott

Trooper Henrie, Comhill-on-Tweed.

Trooper Truscott, St Ewe, Cornwall.

In reply to greetings from an "Advertiser" reporter,

Lieutenant Pullar, who was met by his father, said that

they had had a fine voyage on the Hawarden Castle.

"She can roll a bit," he added. With 800 yeomen on

board the Castle Liner was not naturally a paradise upon

the sea, and what I saw of her this morning made it clear

that life on a transport is no great treat. Coming through

the dreaded bay the other day the vessel rolled heavily,

and not a few of the men were completely upset, although

they had already had considerable experience of the sea.

With soldier-like reticence, the yeomen preserve silence

regarding their exploits. Readers of the "Advertiser"

are now pretty familiar with the principal events in their

South African record, and it may suffice here to say that
M

1 62 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

for some short time before leaving for home no great
event occurred in which the yeomen took part The
Fifes were with Colonel Pilcher during the last part of
their service. With him they had one or two exciting
engagements in the north-west of the Orange Free State.
They held a drift on the Vaal riVer there, and one night
at dark their camp was attacked, while some of the men
were out on patrol, by about 600 Boers. A stiff engage-
ment ensued. Pilcher turned his big guns upon the
enemy, and the vivid flashes of their guns firing in reply
served to make a striking illumination in the dark of the
evening. The Boers were driven back at the time, but
they remained in the vicinity, and afterwards gave
further trouble when they were reinforced by a few hun-
dred brother Boers from the Orange River Colony. I
may mention that the new yeomen straight out from
Aldershot took part in this engagement, and were
already, according to the old men, showing considerable
adaptability.

Speaking of the vast number of soldiers still on duty
in South Africa, one of the Fife men pointed out that
they were mainly to be accounted for as on the line of
communication.

" What struck me most," he said, " on our way south
was the fact that along more than 1000 miles of railway
line, down to within 100 miles or so of Cape Town, there
were soldiers all the way. Lord Kitchener lays great
faith in picquets and block-houses. The latter you can
see at points every mile of the way along."

To the northerner this has been an oppressively warm
day here, but to the yeoman straight back from life under
the blazing South African sun it is only a medium heat
As I have indicated, the Hawarden Castle^ a small vessel
compared to some of the Union-Castle liners, was not
an over-pleasant transport with 800 men aboard. Every

Arrival at Southampton 163

inch of space was apparently utilised, and thus the men
were glad to get on shore to-day to stretch their legs.
No less delighted with their liberty were a few horses
brought home by officers. Sentries were placed at the
exits from No. 25 berth, alongside of which the Hawar-
den Castle lay, and it was no easy matter for some of the
men to escape for a walk in the town. Most of the
English companies left here early, but the Scots re-
mained until evening. At 5.30 their special train, bearing
Ayr and Edinburgh men as well, left the docks, and will
proceed by Cheltenham and the Midland route. It is
better not to prophesy at what hour the special will
reach the north, but most of the men ought to be home
by to-morrow evening at latest.

'

CHAPTER XX.

THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF WAR.

NO narrative of the 20th Company's doings in South
Africa would be complete without an acknow-
ledgment of the many kindnesses received by them from
the friends they left behind. To the public - spirited
ladies of Fife and Forfar especially they must ever be
grateful^ and it is well that their gratitude should be re-
corded. During the whole campaign — fighting in a
country where stores were scarce and clothing difficult
to obtain — the men were supplied with shirts and socks
and other comforts by the goodness of these friends at
home, and felt that they were not foi^otten. From the
sterner sex presents of pipes and tobacco were equally
acceptable, and helped to solace the dark evening hours
upon the veldt

After a year and a half of service, it is very doubtful
if the troopers were so imbued with a sense of the horrors
of war as those who stayed at home and read the papers.
When it is all over, it is only the brighter side of life
in the field that is remembered, and indeed, throughout
the campaign, this was far more in evidence than the
darker side of hatred and destruction, which is so often
exaggerated by those who only hear one side of the
business. As a matter of fact, the soldier is one of the
most good natured, peace-loving individuals on earth.
Nothing was more noticeable in the field than the
kindness of the soldiers, not only to each other, but
also to their enemies, and especially to the women and

The Brighter Side of War 165

children. In all fairness, it must also be said of the
Boers that they treated those who fell into their hands
with marvellous magfnanimity. Exception^ there were,
of course, on both sides, for in a large army it is im-
possible to hope that there are not any bad characters ;
but it is doubtful if it would have been possible to find
in any community on the face of the earth of 200,000
people so few bad characters as in the field force in South
Africa. The men there were living under ideal condi-
tions of course. They were strictly temperate by neces-
sity, they were fed on the minimum of good, wholesome
food, and every day saw them engaged in hard open-air
work of some sort. The result was that they were
splendidly behaved, and that a very high moral tone
was evident throughout the ranks. Many tales could be
told to prove their cheerfulness and unselfishness ; and
every man who was not a regular soldier, and who per-
haps had a few doubts as to their character, was loud in
their praise after a few months in the field. When their
behaviour in the field is contrasted with the behaviour of
some of our civilian population at home, it is enough to
make one wish that a state of war and a consequent
enforcing of discipline was more general. Those who
deplore war and everything connected with war as a
great moral evil, should take the first opportunity they
have of seeing an army in the field, and they will admit
that even war has its redeeming features.

The men who cry out against militarism, and who
draw gloomy pictures of a nation of bloodthirsty soldiers,
or " paid butchers," as they term them, know little of the
real soldier's naturd Not only does modern war in no
way appeal to the brute side of a man's nature, but it
teaches those who engage in it many of the nobler
attributes of human character.

This is what Sir Howard Vincent says of our soldiers:

1 66 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

" I have been in an open railway truck through the long
hours of the night, in the drenching rain, with men who
stripped themselves to warm a more sensitive comrade
succumbing to the cold. Their conversation and bearing
were fit for any drawing-room. Hour after hour my
admiration of the soldiers of the Queen has increased. '*
This is only the experience and impression of everyone
who knows Thomas Atkins as he i^

Even his weaknesses are more like virtues at times.
The writer well remembers a cold dark night when he
was doing sentry-go on the horse lines, and, as part of
his duty, was keeping an eye on the waggons where the
forage and rations were stored. In the middle of the
night he detected a shadowy figure prowling round a
waggon, and advancing to see whether it was a nigger
at the "skoff," discovered a Tommy with a nose -bag
stealing com for his hungry horse. At a time when all
others were soundly sleeping, this soldier, who would
have scorned to steal for himself, crept out from his
warm blankets and was endeavouring to secure a break-
fast for his faithful Argentine. Love for animals is one
feature of our soldiers' nature that is always in evidence,
and it seems impossible that the men who are so fond of
dumb creatures can have that thirst for the blood of their
fellow men with which they are credited. It is their duty
to shoot and kill, but not their pleasure; and it is certain
that if every man was a soldier there would be less likeli-
hood of war. It is those who do not fight who cause the
trouble, and unfortunately the soldier has often to be
called in to restore order when the advocates of gentle-
ness and peace have brought about a state of war and
bloodshed.

If war is a bad thing, there can be no doubt in the
mind of any thinking man that it is a necessary thing,
and will be a necessity

The Brighter Side of War 167

" So long as the heart has passions.
So long as earth has woes."

The day when the war-drum will beat no. longer and
when the earth will be governed in peace by the common-
sense of most is still a long way off, and the wickedness
of those who invite their country's ruin by a cry of peace
at any price is only exceeded by their ignorance of
human nature. The words spoken by a War Minister
in the House of Commons a hundred years ago are still
applicable, and should be laid to heart —

"A state of war is, in itself, a state of evil. We wish
not for it ; we would fain avoid it ; we would be at peace
could we be so with honour and security to ourselves.
But, whether at war or in the most profound peace, let us
never neglect to encourage a military aptitude and spirit
in the people. History teaches us that, in all nations
and times, the extinction of this spirit has been rapidly
followed by the loss of every other national virtue."

If it should ever again come to pass that volunteers
are called to take the field along with the regular army,
it is to be hoped that no able-bodied young man in
Fife or Forfar will delay to offer his services. He has
here the testimony of those who have tried it to prove to
him that the soldier's life is the lordliest life of all, and
that he need never hesitate to take up arms for his
country by reason that he is not of a bloodthirsty dis-
position. A year in the army will be found to improve
a man's opinion of his fellow men, and to show him
much hitherto unsuspected good in human nature. It
might safely be prescribed as a tonic to those who are
so prone to find wickedness and bad motives in the
aspirations of their own countrymen. Although many
of them discouraged their country's soldiers by encour-
aging their enemies, and proved themselves unworthy
of the proud privilege of British citizenship, it is to be

i68 Fife and Forfar L K in South Africa

hoped that they will now follow the advice of Scotland's
national bard, who writes —

" For ^Id the merchant plough the main,
The fiumer ploughs the manor ;
But glory is the sodger's prize,
The sodger's wealth is honour.'

" The brave poor sodger ne'er despise,
Nor count him as a stranger.
Remember he's his country's stay
In day and hour of danger."

APPENDIX I.

(From "Dundee Advertiser" of 29TH June, 1901.)

THE RETURNED YEOMANRY.

Much enthusiasm was evinced in Cupar yesterday over the
reception accorded to the members of the original 20th Com-
pany of Imperial Yeomanry (Fife and Forfar), who have
returned from South Africa, The weather was glorious, the
heat being tempered by a refreshing breeze. The citizens
responded in a gratifying way to the request of the Provost
and Magistrates that they should decorate their places of
business and residences in honour of the occasion. The re-
turned yeomen, according to arrangements, mustered at the
Riding School, and marched by way of Bonnygate, Crossgate,
Station Road, round to Victoria Bridge, and up St Catherine
Street to the Corn Exchange, in which the banquet took place.
The route is fully a mile in length, and the greater part of it
was profusely decorated. Particular attention had been de-
voted to the decoration of the Town Hall, which was gay with
innumerable flags, banners, and lines of streamers, the Royal
standard floating from one of the windows. On the front next
Crossgate there was a shield with a lion rampant, the Union
Jack, and the crown, with a large " Welcome " above it On
the side next St Catherine Street was a capital portrait of
Captain Jack Gilmour, and the motto, "A safe return to
Captain Gilmour and the I. Y. men in South Africa.'* The Corn
Exchange was gay. The interior of the hall was elaborately
decorated. On the end wall there was a Union Jack and
lion rampant, surmounted by the arms of Fife, with the words
"Welcome to the Gallant Fife and Forfar. God Save the
King." On the east wall there was " Success to the New Yeo-

170 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

manry. May they worthily follow the Old Light Horse." On
the west wall, '' Crod-speed to Captain Gilmour and the Second
Contingent L Y." And on the front wall, " Honour the Brave/'
"Orange River Colony," " Transvaal,'* "Cape Colony," "Dulce
et decorum est pro patria mori,'' and underneath a portrait of
the late Captain Hodge. Other portraits on the walls were
those of Captain Jack Gilmour, Colonel Sir John Gilmour,
Hon. Colonel J. Anstruther Thomson, and a cabinet containing^
photos of the members of the original company. The hall
was seated for 450 guests, to serve which a staff of 40 waiters
had been engaged.

THE PROCESSION.

The procession was timed to leave the Riding School at
1. 15 p.m., and long before that hour the streets along the
route were crowded with spectators, while every window was
filled with onlookers. Business was practically suspended in
the town and surrounding districts, and large numbers of
visitors put in an appearance. About 12.15 nearly 100 men
from the Yeomanry camp at Annsmuir, Ladybank, arrived and
proceeded to the Bonnygate, where they took up a position to
guard the line of route. The local company of volunteers also
paraded and marched to Bonnygate, while a strong detach-
ment of the Fife Militia marched into the town, headed by
their pipers, and took up a position in the neighbourhood of
the Station Road. A large staff of constables also assisted in
keeping the road clear. Promptly at a quarter past one o'clock
the veterans stepped out from the Riding School. The band
struck up, and with a swinging step the yeomen set out on their
march to the Com Exchange. Along the route flags floated
and ladies waved their handkerchiefs and sunshades. The
band played " When the boys come marching home," and the
swarthy yeomen looked glad as they swung along in the sun-
shine amid crowds of familiar faces. The one sad note in the
scene was the black band on the arms of the officers. At one
point an old woman created a sensation by going up to the
line of procession and waving a nondescript flag, curiously like

Banquet at Cupar lyi

a Boer banner. The yeomen cheered the old woman, and the
crowd joined noisily in. As the men marched down Bonny-
gate between the lines of their Yeomanry comrades the band
played " See the Conquering Hero Comes," and as the khaki-
clad company swung round at the Cross the great crowd broke
into hearty cheers, renewed again and again. At a quarter to
two o'clock the men marched into the banqueting hall, receiv-
ing an ovation only equalled by that given them when they
left Cupar for South Africa.

THE BANQUET.

The chair was occupied by Lord Elgin, Lord-Lieutenant of
Fifeshire, and he was accompanied on the platform as follows :
— On the right — Captain Purvis, Lord Bruce, Mr R. Cathcart,
Colonel Anstruther Thomson, Colonel Johnston, East Wemyss;
Mr John Purvis, Kinaldy. On the left — Colonel Sir John
Gilmour, Hon. George Waldegrave Leslie, Provost Watson,
Colonel Erskine, yr. of Cambo; Major Carnegie of Lour,
Commander Maitland-Dougall, Colonel Purvis, Mr Wedder-
burn, Birkhill ; Sheriff Armour. Amongst others on the plat-
form were — Mr Baxter of Teasses; Mr Nairn, Rankeilour;
Mr Rigg, Tarvit; Mr Torry, Wemysshall; Mr R. D. PuUar,
Perth; Mr Norman; Major Scott Davidson; Major Osborne;
Captain Mitchell; Mr Bowman, Muiredge; Captain Kavanagh
and Lieutenant Simpson, Fife Artillery; Hon. Sheriff-Substitute
Gray; Dr Douglas; Mr W. Thomson, banker; Provost Grant,
Arbroath; Mr William Low, Blebo. The croupiers were —
Provost Ritchie Welch, St Andrews; Provost Hutchison,
Kirkcaldy ; Hon. Sheriff-Substitute Honeyman, Chief-Constable
Bremner, Dr Nasmyth, and Bailie Arnot. Grace was said by
the Rev. Mr Burt, Largo, chaplain to the Fife and Forfar
Imperial Yeomanry. During luncheon a capital programme
of music was rendered by the band of the regiment After the
luncheon a short but important toast list was proceeded with.
Before this was entered upon, Mr John L. Anderson, Town
Clerk of Cupar, who was in the uniform of the old Light
Horse, intimated the following apologies for absence: — Sir

^

172 Fife and Forfar L F. in South Africa

Ralph Anstruther, Bart; Mr H. T. Anstrather, Nf.P.; Sir
Thomas Erskine of Cambo, Bart; Sir A. A. Campbell of
Gibliston, Bart; Sir John Leng» M.P.; Mr M. B. Nairn of
Rankdlour; Mr C. M. M. Crichton Johnston of Lathrisk; Mr
James Farmer of Brownhills; Mr J. H. Baxter of Gilston; Mr
R. Davidson of Clayton; Mr R. W. Rankine of Cunnoquhie;
R. E. Walker of Transylaw, Dunfermline; Captain Hender-
son, St Andrews; Major-Greneral Morgan of Aboyne, Aber-
deenshire; Mr H. H. Brown, Procurator-Fiscal of Fife; Mr
Lewis Grant, ironfounder, Kirkcaldy; Lord Provost Hunter,
Dundee ; Major-General Briggs of Strathairly ; Mr A. G. Pater-
son, Dysart ; Mr C. Anderson of Fettykil ; Captain Harkness,
Portsea (late Fife Militia); and Sheriff Kincaid Mackenzie.
The Chairman gave the loyal toasts.

Provost Watson, Cupar, in proposing the Imperial Forces,
said there seemed less reason now separately to define the
reserve forces from the army, as they shared the same duties
and the same dangers. In the past volunteers were paraded
and drilled in their respective districts, but there was always
the impression that the serious work of the soldier might not
be called for or be so cheerfully performed ; but the lesson of
the South African war had dispelled that fallacy for ever, and
had proved that their reserve forces could be looked to as the
backbone of the nation. Whether as infantry or cavalry, there
had been no work they could not do and no duty they could
not or would not undertake. Their services had proved a
source of strength of which the country was exceedingly proud.
(Cheers.)

The toast was coupled with the names of Commander
Maitland-Dougall, Colonel Purvis, and Colonel Johnston.

Commander Maitland-Dougall said they were met that day
to welcome home a corps that so gallantly and so patriotically
left their employment and went to fight voluntarily when their
country called upon them. The scenes he saw in 1900 when
serving as a naval transport officer at Liverpool and Glasgow
marked the spirit in which these volunteers left their' homes.
The way that discomforts were borne, and the unselfish spirit

S9

&

Banquet at Cupar 173

shown by the volunteer soldiers, would never be effaced from
his memory.

Colonel Purvis, in replying for the land forces, spoke of
the growing popularity of the volunteer movement, and of the
valuable services rendered by the auxiliary forces, and remarked
that he was sure that the men whom they were honouring that
day well deserved the honour. (Cheers.)

Colonel Johnston replied for the reserve forces. He stated
that he had been intimately connected with these forces from
the first inception of the movement. He remembered the
enthusiasm which marked its birth ; then came the period of
indifference; but to-day he thought the reserve forces were
being regarded with truer perspective. Some were surprised
at the noble response made by the volunteers to the call for
men, but he was not, because these men had taken an oath
of allegiance to their sovereign, and he knew that as Britishers
they would do their duty when called upon. (Cheers.)

Colonel Anstruther Thomson, who was received with loud
cheering, said that he enlisted as the first recruit in the Fife
Light Horse forty-one years ago, and he little thought then
that they would ever be on foreign service. He saw them
embark in the Cymric, and if he had been twenty-eight years
of age instead of eighty-two he would have gone with them.
(Loud cheers.) He was very proud that he in some degree
lent a hand in forming a regiment which had done such gallant
service to its King and its country. (Cheers.) As to the new
regiment which had been formed, he would simply refer them
to the motto which was written on the wall — "May they
worthily follow the old Light Horse."

Lord Elgin then proposed the toast of the afternoon — "The
20th Company (Fife and Forfar) Imperial Yeomanry." They
had, he said, assembled to meet those men who had repre-
sented them at the front, and to congratulate them on the
performance of their duty and on their safe return home, and
to give them a very hearty welcome. It would be in their
recollection that it was towards the end of 1 899, when the call
came for mounted men, that the gallant Fife and Forfar Light

174 f'if^ ^^ Forfar /. K in South Africa

Horse claimed, and established their claim, to send a contin-
gent They would remember the enthusiasm with which that
contingent was raised, and they would not easily forget the
indefatigable organising skill and devotion which secured their
adequate equipment in all the stages for their despatch, and
which was administered by the colonel. Sir John Gilmour.
(Cheers.) The fact was that Sir John Gilmour had been so
much the heart and soul of the business that it was difficult to
realise the fact that he was not one of those who had come
back fix>m the war. (Laughter and cheers.) They knew Sir
John had been there in spirit, and they knew that he had been
represented there by two gallant sons— (cheers) — one of whom
they trusted was now recovering from his severe injuries, and
the other, if he had delayed coming for a little time, had done
so because he did not like to leave a job half done, and thereby
had proved himself a true chip of the old block. His Lordship
then made a brief reference to Nooitgedacht, and remarked
that the 20th Company had served under nearly every general,
and had earned the good* opinion of all. (Cheers.) That in
itself was not a bad record. (Hear, hear.) They might
arrive, however, at some further idea of the nature of the
service in which they had been engaged by another calcula-
tion of not quite so agreeable a nature. The contingent left
Cupar on 27 th February, 1900, with a strength of 6 officers
and 121 men, and he was told that, speaking in round num-
bers, it was not too much to say that one-half had been found
in the sad lists which included the killed, the wounded, and
the invalided. He was thankful to say that they numbered
among their guests 77 that afternoon, and he must congratu-
late them on the appearance which they presented. (Cheers.)
He thought they might congratulate themselves that a good
many of those included in the lists had now recovered their
health and strength. But he was sure it would be consonant
with their feelings in that their hour of rejoicing and triumph
that he should not omit a word of remembrance to their less
fortunate comrades and sympathy with their relations.^ Some
of those who went out had fallen as a soldier wished to fall —

Banquet at Cupar 175

with his face to the foe — such as the gallant officer who led
them out — Captain Hodge — and the promising young officer,
Lieutenant Campbell, whose service with the contingent was
all too short But they must remember also that those who
succumbed to the dire influence of disease or of hardship
deserved equal recognition at their hands. These things re-
minded them that with all its glories and triumphs and
successes war was an evil thing — an evil which he thought no
responsible man would bring upon his country without having
exhausted every possible alternative. It was a great privilege
to be able to couple the toast with one who bore an honoured
Fife name — Captain Purvis. He was sure many of his friends
felt great sympathy with Mr Purvis of Kinaldy when the news
came that his son had been wounded, but they would ask him
to accept their most heartfelt congratulations that day on the
excellent appearance which the health of Captain Purvis seemed
now to present (Cheers.)

Captain Purvis was received with enthusiastic cheering.
He said — In rising to return thanks to you on behalf of my
comrades and myself for the right royal welcome and enter-
tainment we have received to-day at your hands, I felt that
a more than Titanic burden has been put upon my shoulders,
and that with the best intentions in the world, it would be
quite impossible for me adequately to convey to you how very
grateful we all are for it, and how heartily we appreciate the
kind expressions you yourself have just given utterance to.
There is a saying that the realisation of anything much looked
forward to is seldom equal to the expectation. Well, that may
be, but, as with many rules, it has its exceptions. Often and
often — and when I speak for myself I know I am speaking for
all of us— often and often while trekking across the veldt, we
have looked forward to the day of our return to our county
town as a very pleasant day. It appeared to us to be so far
distant that it was hard to realise that it would ever come. It
has come, however, and has exceeded all our rosiest anticipa-
tions. 1 should like to call to mind that this is not the first
hospitable entertainment we have received in this hall, and I

176 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

know that the one of now eighteen months ago was as heartily
appreciated as your hospitality to<lay. You were taking such
a great deal for granted The old saying that one volunteer
is worth ten pressed men has become so very old that I daresay
there was doubt as to how it would work out in modem warfare.
From the kind things we have just heard you say, however,
and from the fact of your entertaining us in this magnificent
manner again to^ay, I hope that we may consider that your
verdict is that we have done our duty as well as you expected
of us. I must ask you to accept these few words on behalf
of myself and my comrades of the 20th Company Imperial
Yeomanry as testifying to the very great satisfaction they have
afforded us. (Cheers.)

Mr Robert Cathcart of Pitcairlie, Convener of the County,
proposed '^ Captain Gilmour and the 20th Company Imperial
Yeomanry now in South Africa.'' Captain Gilmour went out
with the original company, and he had remained, with that
spirit of a soldier, because he thought he could be of use to his
country. (Cheers.) They regretted his absence ; at the same
time, they could not but admire his conduct, and all he could
say was this, and he thought he was speaking for the county,
that when Captain Gilmour did come he would get a right
royal welcome. (Cheers.)

The toast was enthusiastically pledged, the company sing-
ing " Scots wha ha'e " and '* For he's a jolly good fellow."

Colonel Sir John Gilmour, with whose name the toast was
coupled, on rising to reply, was received with loud cheering.
He said he thoroughly appreciated the opportunity given to
him to reply for those who were so far away, but he felt that
words were well-nigh unnecessary, because the enthusiasm with
which the toast had been received was high praise to his son
and those whom he hoped he now led. (Cheers.) That day
he was certain would ever remain in the hearts of those who
had been in the county town as one of the brightest and the
best that they had experienced. In the annals of the county
it would ever be a day that would be looked back upon with
pleasure and with pride. They had met, county and town, to

Jb.

Banquet at Cupar 177

do their best to welcome back to their midst those who in the
time of the Empire's need went to the Empire's help, and they
had welcomed them with every symptom of hearty and most
sincere and heartfelt rejoicing. He was only too glad to feel
and think that while they had done so, those who were absent
had not been out of their thoughts. (Cheers.) He was sure
that those within the hall who would appreciate the toast most
would be the men who were receiving this great welcome.
These men knew better than any of the rest what those who
went to fill their places had to do. The new contingent were
fulfilling the same duties that their guests went through and
were maintaining the same good reputation, doing the same
work, and meeting with -the same dangers; and therefore he
felt there would be no heartier responders to the toast than
those whom it was a pride and a pleasure to welcome in their
midst (Cheers.) As one who had something to do with the
raising of both contingents, it was only right that he should
point out the different conditions in which they went to South
Africa. Early in 1900 the first contingent spent well-nigh
three months within that hospitable county town, and under-
went training during that time before leaving; but the mem-
bers of the second contingent were shipped almost immediately
to the front It was, however, a source of satisfaction and
pleasure to tell them that his son, who commanded the second
draft, was well satisfied with those sent out (Cheers.) His
son told them they were as keen as mustard, and he was satis-
fied that they would maintain the character and reputation
that had been established by those who were home. He would
take the swiftest means of conveying to his son what had taken
place that day, and ask him to say how enthusiastically his
name and those of the men serving under him had been re-
ceived in the centre of his native county. (Cheers.) All at
Montrave longed indeed to have him home once more, but
they felt that in the circumstances he was doing his duty, and
that was everything that parents or relations could wish.
(Cheers.) He again thanked them for the enthusiastic way
in which they had honoured the toast, and on Sir John conclud-

N

178 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

ing the company again rose and sang *' For he's a jolly good
fellow," a cheer being given for Lieutenant Harry Gilmour.

Sheriff Armour, in the absence of Sheriff Kincaid Mackenzie,
proposed " The Chairman," whom they all recognised as one
of Fife's most distinguished sons. (Loud applause.)

Lord Elgin replied, and the proceedings, which were most
enthusiastic throughout, then terminated.

Mr Philip SuUey recited a poem, composed by himself, en-
titled " Welcome home, 20th Company L Y.*'

APPENDIX IL
(From ** Dundee Advertiser" of 27TH July, 1901.)

PRESENTATION OF WAR MEDALS BY THE KING.

The officers and men of the various regiments of Yeomanry,
to the number of about 3000, were massed on the Horse
Guaids Parade yesterday morning to receive their medals for
the South African war campaign at the hands of the King.
Unfortunately, a heavy downpour of rain was experienced
soon after the men paraded. Among those present was a
representative contingent of Fife and Forfar men — ^41 in all.
The majority of these travelled south by the 9.40 train from
Edinburgh on Thursday night, arriving at London about seven
o'clock yesterday morning. They proceeded at once to their
rendezvous, Albany Barracks, Regent's Park, the headquarters
of one of the regiments of Household Cavalry, and there they
were joined by others of the detachment, who had previously
come to town. Soon after breakfast the men fell in, and the

Presentation of War Medals by the King 179

full roll of those present was as follows: — Captain Purvis,
Lieutenant Simpson, Lieutenant Pullar, Surgeon - Captain
Dewar, Lieutenant Burton Stewart, Veterinary - Lieutenant
Young, Sergeant- Major Simpson, Quartermaster S. Brown,
Farrier-Sergeant Spreull, Sergeants Lumsden, Nicholson, and
Thorns, Corporals Bonthrone, Bowman, Campbell, Cargill,
Hunter, Shiell, and Shields ; Privates Ainslie, Almond, Ander-
son, Baird, Clacher, Findlay, Haig, Milliken, M 'Grady,
Mitchell, Playfair, Scott, Sinclair, Stephen, Stratton, Stewart,
Sturrock, Westland, Pople, Rintoul; Shoeing-Smith Craigon,
Trumpeter M'Dougall. All the officers and men were in
khaki. Shortly after nine o'clock they mounted two large
covered brakes and drove off through the deluge by way of
Oxford Street to St James's Park. As the hour of the cere-
mony drew near the scene had the elements of a striking
spectacular display, but much of the effect was lost owing to
the gloomy weather that prevailed. A considerable crowd of
spectators, soaked, but still interested, fringed the parade
ground and the Mall, and there were onlookers at all the
windows of the Government buildings around. Near the
centre of the parade, and in line with the Whitehall entrance,
a handsome canopy had been erected over a large platform
laid with red cloth, and here assembled one by one a distin-
guished company of army notabilities in full uniform, including
Mr Brodrick, the Secretary for War; Lord Roberts, Com-
mander-in-Chief; Sir Evelyn Wood, Sir Mansfield Clarke, and
others. The yeomen were drawn up in companies facing the
royal dais — an imposing array of khaki, touched here and
there with the uniforms of officers who have rejoined their own
regiments, and by civilians who no longer own their war paint,
and had to appear in the humdrum garb of everyday life. The
ground was held by a strong body of the Foot Guards wearing
their capes, and a number of the Guards' regimental bands
were posted at several points. Time hung rather heavily until
the arrival of the King and Queen, prompt, as usual, to the
appointed hour.* Half-past eleven had just struck when the red
cloaks and gleaming helmets of the mounted escort appeared

i8o Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

in the Mall, and ringing cheers (the first signs of enthusiasm)
announced the approach of the Royal pair in an open carriage.
As their Majesties alighted they were received foy the Com-
mander-in-Chief and Mr Brodrick. The royal standard was
run up, and the bands played the National Anthem, while the
guard of honour and every oflBcer saluted, and the troopers and
foot soldiers stood at attention. The Ring was in military
uniform; the Queen, of course, in deep mourning. With them
came Princess Victoria, Prince Edward of York, Prince William
of Saxe- Weimar, and a number of the officers of the Household.
The group thus completed was brilliant and distinguished. As
if he feared another deluge, the Ring lost not a moment in
beginning the ceremony of the day. At once the yeomen,
in a single unbroken line, began to defile past the Ring and
Queen, the bands meantime striking up selections of military
music The medals were arranged in trays beside the platform
in charge of men of the Grenadier Guards, each accompanied
by an officer. One was handed to His Majesty, who in turn
presented it, while the Queen sat by an interested and sympa-
thetic spectator of the proceedings. It was a simple, and in
some respects almost a touching, ceremony. The Yeomanry
went by in a seemingly endless procession — hundreds of lithe,
strapping, sunburnt fellows, all of whom had had their share
of the hardships of the campaign, and many their share in its
triumphs and disasters. Several, still on the sick list, were
wheeled along in bath chairs, and one or two hobbled up on
crutches. For these and others specially brought under his
notice the Ring seemed to have a few kindly words to say.
Quite a number of the men were in civilian attire. Some were
wearing silk hat and frock coat, others a straw hat or cloth
cap. The ceremony lasted about two hours, but by good
fortune the rain held off, and the proceedings were carried
through without a hitch. At the conclusion the Ring and
Queen were loudly cheered on their return to Marlborough
House.

1

Appendix III.

i8i

0\
OS
00

o

J5

Q

s
O

•s

Q

S

^

•

•c

2;

<

►-4

o

s

HH

a

5

X

C/)
CO

8

9
O

fH

CO

1

s
s

•a

•c

.s

03

<

o

iL

o

• mm

(J

a

^

1

o

1

1^

(4

&

M

•
1— <

U

>

(><

(i<

O

a

(Z4

o

a

H

5

o

W)

CI

^■^

I-]

4>

o

3

i

"Sti

Is

o-d

^ ..

>^o

^ o

o ^

S$

t CO A

.2 "b -s

^ ^ »3r
0) >S o

(0

c

-8

<i3

E
o

'a

a

o
u

CO

go s
§« §

o c.S
t* .o o

CO

a

4)

C C

a p

O4 o

B ^

o

c

a

CJ'O

oJ-^

>

4>
CO

a s5 s-flS
i I SI'S

a a o >

•2 J J- g J

<d -M »rt G **
■M G^ 4) C

8)11 8 .§

J3

^55

G

a
8

O r- G

■s s =• s

o e 4> o

ra C? c« 00

G rs G M
O CO .s

pC

I

9* >

M

O
CO

G
CO

&

G

>

>

G
O

9
O

a

.-a

o

G^

I

CO

c

u

CO

4-r

— 0)

s

bb

G
G
O

G

^CO J3^

a s G i-J

S

u

G
G

G

G
4^

G G
c« el

G G

G 3

1-^1-4

G
0)

•-J
I

>

o

1 84 Fifi and Forfar /. V. in South Africa

-it

si

41 .S

|s
I?

«i o S 3 -a

&%\ r. S

-s-?a "g

1-0

II

8.

l|l£si|i.||jsllii

iLS.

is

I"

H HH H

IslJ

S.S.S.S.
8888

-A ^

S. I s.

Appendix IIL

185

1
•I

f

H

Q

<

U

fa

fa

o

§

CO
CO

o
2

CO

fa
fa

O

fa
O

o

C

3
0)

C
c«

8s

"S

B o
2 w

"St

O ctf
CO ^

e

o ®
^ t:

a; ci
o

U2

u bo
0) c

45

a

o

•-a

c

1^

4)

M

c«

O
O

u

>^

c

cii

6
o

a3 qj C ♦*

CO c . ^

S

o
u

<U
IS 4)

c Si

^ ii b

S S
g rt g

^ ^ ^

Jc o •- -•

.0^

to ;:-

O 7» *55 -^
4> CO r3

4J G-= 5

■31

-a §

<3 o
U

tri-S
.00

a
a

C4 4^

CL c« % S

.S S-g rt

<3t>l

>

ST

3 O .3

M IS

CO

4> c4

H»5

•

•

bo

c

i

1

levally.

acher, Leuchars.

arke, Anstruther.

aigon, Perth.

. Cunningham, Glas

'undee.
roath.

Iimberla

chaeFs.
ndee.
iweem.
rton.

1
i

Campbell.

E

(3

. Dawson, D
Dewar, Arb

Dugdale, Ci
der, Cupar,
tiwick, St Mi
Findlay, Du
eming, Pittei
Forbes, Libe

Z

•

H'

CDDo^

s«i2uEfc:

•

•

fe <i fi^' &^'

Sh-

!-:.< HAi-^ei ►-^

i-i

In

^4 In In Im ^4

is.

»N ^4 In In In ^4

s.

s.

4; V 4; 4; 4;
O4 O4 O4 O4 O4

D4 O4 D* 0« 0« 0«

8

8

88888

888888

t^

1-1

In .^4 »-• .^4 ^

J^ Kl

>4 ^4 .In .In .Wi ^4

H

H

HHHHH

^^

HHHHHH

•

"^

M

t^ o^oo

»OVO

fO t^ w to

M

M

r^ "^00 to

m

Tf 10 lOOO M M

M

e«

M M M M M

M M

e« M M M M M

o\

OS

0\ 0^ Qs OS On

ON ON

O^ Q^ On On On On

Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

8 I 11 I

|> "Z^

%& I

p so- "

5 g ID 3

S a & C
8

2*5 ■=

is t

i 5

So-

- sslllpliisii

as

bnCQ

I ^11

CO j^-<:t=i

3 ^' > =

■a 3

S.S. S. S.S. s. S.S.S.S. s. s.
II I II I nil % I

Appendix III.

I8S

1

•I

I

2

o

CO

0$
o

Q
H
%
O

CO
CO

O
co*^

h.
O

O
H

CO

0^

CO

-s

c«

*:

C4

c

cd

8s

s

o ®
^ t:

c a*
o

S s

0) c

-8

>

••^ •a .;:i

4)

E
o

-8

Sen

CM

a i a5'S

4^ 0^ i>« c4

-id c4
d >

• •\ CO

§1

88

53 *^ ♦*
goo

^ c c

o

>
u

0)

8^

•8

s

o
S

0)

o c

tig

s B

4S 04

< o
O

. 00
•J -

^ G
c«

d

is *:.

&^^

s >^ ^

88i

5 0.5
en

8

t:

_ t

CO bofc

rt s «»

4> ^ -

.S S-g*

8 b wi »~5

8

>

CO

2

•«1

hJ5

73

C

1
s

u

4)

8

4-*

e
c3

^ H'

•^Jr?

■3^

5: u

^ cd

jc s^

uo

c 5

4^

5-c 2

±3 ti -JS
to a> <=^

^ c c

4) O D

4< boCJ
^ 2rJ

4) .

c

c«

CO

C

o

%

ce

^<

c4

4>

1 ^
SW|2

G
S

S

4)
4>

G
4)

C

4)
.0

fe <i cJ 0^ ^ 2 H !-:»<

O

2

I

M »^ l-i l-« l-i

4) O 4) 4) 4^
O4 O4 D* Q4 Q4
00000

22 22 2
HHHHH

^4 ^4 ^4

4> 4> 4) 4) 4> 4>
D4 D4 D4 M4 O4 0«

SO O O Q O
u- 2 g S 2 9
HHHHHH

o

M
M

ON

0\

O t^ O OnOO tovo

r* ^00 to O 10 O

M M M et M MM

On On On On On On G^

to O t^ w o m
^ lO »ooo « ««

e« M M M M ««

^N ^N ^\ ^\ Q\ On

1 86 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

1

■I

<

CO

p<

U

»^

Ui

O

g

o

CO
CO

o

CO

(<

1-4

O

o

H

CO

O

2

<

i

s

3

c

0)

a

-I
s 8-

s s

bo

o
o

ffi S rt Jj

1

O

S
S

c

3 '5

3

•o

iS «

c«

C c«

4>

>

o

(O

c B

<

o

(A

•c

o

o

c
o

c

a?

a c
a3 o

^ ««

b o«

> *i

o ^ «

tj .^ "^ •-

^^ C "p JO

CO 8 c ^ ♦*

*^ M ^ 'ST* S

u

c4

bo<

o
o

o

■■4

CO

CO

a
a

o
u

Tj.a

S£ o

u

cd

bfi
O

o

^:

-a

c

c«

!0 O

C 73 w_

<U M -

a; > S

CO •. O

_ ^ C/3

Ctf KJ S

45

a

o

•a
12

>

g §
^ 3 3

^ •^ H-J

'O S o

S g a

> £ 2

o

c

ctf

a

.*> bo

g 2

ao

o S

i^ a

2 ce

o

>

c

• *•«
(Z4

CO

o

C
c4

0)

HZ

jc o

-^
-2 o

C c4

4}

bo

•c

«
bo d

o bi)

o

O

O

cd

i-i

o

^- S^*^ CO

S'5 bOc

Oi a*
o

2 ^

*-• ^ H

a> 4) (U

O4 Ci« Cu
000
000

Vh W« li

0) a;
ci* a.
o
o

h^ Wt %* %~*

4) O) 4> <U
CU CU CL CU
0000
O P O O

^^ h<b^^b^

o

00 to

M M

Ov On

M tooo

M M M

On O^ ON

Tj-NO

N M

ON ON

in M vo 00

M d M M

ON ON ON On

CO

3

Q

4)
4>

o

c
o

9
bO

c4
CU

3
O

U

c

cd

a
>^

o

4) 0)

cu&4r>^

ffiK gS

COffi

SiJ

Hi-ao<:

^ t^ M 1^

4) 4; 4) 4>

CU O4 CU CU

0000

0000
1^ v« »M M

HHHH

Th N OnOO
M rovo M

« W M M

On On On ON

Appendix III.

187

I

Q
<
ill

L>

»m

O

Q
H
2:
O

CO
M

:^
a

8

o

z

CA

p<

u

fa
fa
o

fa
o

H

(O

o

^4

s

o
o

c

t-i

0)

E
E

s

o
'a

'O

OS

c
o

(O

s
s

o
u

>

u

(O

c«
u

IS

o

CO

>

.0)

CO

CO

JC
^-^

c
o

E

c

0)

a
c

5b j5
«OJS

o
o
(J

E G
O rt

E o ^

0) cd (U

rt'S E

c4

S

J,

s

o
c :s

£3

O
O

a.

<v

s

'O

c
s
o

n3

0)

(4:4

4>

>
c

o
o

0)
0)

CT)

-o E
s o

*J ^

-3 "2^ ^

TJ ^ p-S F

1^

0^

G

TJ

4)

'2 •
G 0)

3 E
o

13
<U

to rQ

o 4-*

E
o
o

»^

CO

0)

S
0)

o

4>

Q

c

S §
.52*2

CQ gj

E(^
•S S

•a *"

^3 O ,

^5"

O

o

I

•

Si

a

JC

• •

. **

§

S

12;

C. Jeffrey, Aberdeen.
P. Law, Ceres.
J. Lennox, Lochee.
T. Low, Arbroath.
Mathieson, Anstruther.
P. Matheson, Edinburg

S. Matthew, Edinburgh
Martin, Edinburgh.
C. Milliken, Dundee,
illiam Miller, Edinburgh
S. Minto, Crieff.

B. Mudge, Devonshire
W. Mundell, Lairg, Su
hire.
G. Macdonald, Keith.

. W. H. M'Grady, Arbri
A. M*Grady, Arbroath.

Q d CJ Q psi »^*

HfiiH^&ffi

fflu

CO •

^W

4) <i> <u 4> 4)

Im >M M f^ kl

0) <U <U <P 4>

O4 D4 D4 o« O4

0)

IM

^

0) 0)

Cli CI4 Q4 Ou CI4 cu

cud.

cxo.

000000

00000

9 9

8

ii

000000

00000

»N C C v^ M ui

Urn >^ ^ >■* %^

i-« t-i

u

i-i u

^^^^^^

^^^^^

b<b*

H

h^b*

-f

Tf Tf OS ''^ ►^ M

10 M ^VO 00

t- to

ON

^ t^

t^ to M 00 00 «

VO ON M

ON

m t^

M M d M M C<

M M M »-i e«

M M

M

M Hi

0\ 0^ On On On O^

On On On On On

ON ON

ON

ON ON

1 88 Fife and Forfar L Y. in South Africa

a

1

13

1
•c

S
"8

1

•

M
M

Division
rp, 1 6th

h second contingent
Farmer; returned

h second contingent

%

c
o

•§

i

<

1

. a
i •§
s ^

e

1

to
•S

« o

o e 2

i

u

11

4) ^

*5 J

C ^^ 4-* •

•

E
S

2 1

-s

c
o

il

O ^ '^ .—

•4-i

^ s

O S G

o S s

ONO S

IS

S E

SI'S

1

Em
Em

o

>

l-H

>;-o'B'S c

sill's

•8-S
rsrs

73 73

> >

l-H HH

ti

M

o

o>

M

h4 »50

s

i

o

^

^4

•

**

(S

1

•

o

1

•
0^

r

V
o

J

S E §

D4

go

to

•a

1-^

^4
•Eg

<
1

1

•

•3 "8 "8

e

c
2J

S

%

"if

fin

O

;2;

^

2 ^^ « o

• •

•

(A

•

^1

So

•

^(«

^K

^

^

V:.^

• •

A

k«

tit

l-i

ki ki

M

IM

!•« >•*

hi ^

&

a*

s.

4>

04

S.S.

S.S.

o
o

8SS

88§

o
o

O
O

il

8§

1-4

^4 ^4 l-l

^

»-l ^4

'^

^

-»^ fc4

In I-i

H

HHH

^b^b^

H

H

b^^

b<\r^

^

o

w « ^

eovo O

t^

o

ON M

o o

1

w

MOO

w

to "^

o

ON

« eo

O NO

M

W M W

M

M e«

M

M

M IH

« M

ON

ON On ON

On ON ON

ON

ON

ON ON

ON ON

Appendix III,

189

f

Q

<

tn

06
U

u

fa

o

Q

H

O

CO
CO

»-<

O

V

%

o

CO

P<
U

fa
fa

o

fa
o

H

CO

0)

o

s 2

•a 3
S o

Is

Sua

>

•s

.C

o

255

>* c? O o

_9 tec/3 >Ti

•a

>
c

•33 ^ S^O CO

B
o

•T? to *»

C« ••\'T3

7^ CO Q .
O '^ CO

> S3
CO

kJ^-^ to
« 2 o

g S ^fc<

^ O CJ ^

^ <u c:
'"" *" .^ ^

g si o o

.-3

^ SL.s s

-a

o o a;

O 0) _

S 5:2 «*i

oj ii4 ^ c4

PUi

>

(L)
CO

u

•s

;j3 O

>

"-• o

OS

ctf

£?

0)

(O

o
B
S

. G

W 'rt

=3«>.t

•n

(U

•u

c

0)

• «

73 -O

o;

-o-o

• ^4

• p^

«w^

^■^4

ot

03

>

>

C

G

SG G

•a C 4)
oj bA*^

>-c 2

'fa &lte

»r S s

B.ti <u <«
a ^ *3 4)

C c «tf • •? o

O faQ

§

s

bpj3
0) c •^

C--5J c

H

i

S

CO

PQ

CO

o

CO ctf

bb

s

■4^ (P

^CJ

a;
CO

CJ

c

CO ^ . S *?

^ CO

^:3

> ^4

C c«

a".

• O

Oco

c

CO

0)
CO

o o
coco

»o

t— >•—»•— »i—»H

us

£P

O4

gco

1^

o
o

H

o

2
H

^4

o
o

^4 Wi In In ^ i-i l-i

<P 4> 4) (U 1^ 1> <u

O4 O4 cii cu O4 04 O4

0000000

0000000

Wl »N l-l l-l >^ Wl Ii4

HHHHHHH

•^ ^4

^

t^

^^

t^ fo

to «

M

e«

Ov OS

o

00
ON
M

OS

OS

M
ON

OS

M OS OS ON e« 10 eo

€4 M M M M M fl

Os OS OS OS On On On

1 90 Fife and Forfar L Y, in South Africa

\

1

.«

T

CO

p<

U

b

o

Q

5z

O

»M

M
CO

:s
o

V
o

03

P<

H
U

h
O

b
O

H

CO

o

CA
10

-a

a

«>

a

E
o

CO

4-»

c
o

E

c

c«
Ou

E
o

•8
E

c -a

OT3 ■

0)

c

73 CO

t

S
o

cd

>

•2

4.>

8

o
o

OS

•c

c

0)

CO

3.E;r ^

0)

E

.^ C O

03 'So E

eg

E

o

o

&

o
o

.s -o **^

s °'
o

CO

E^

cd

s

s

P

i3 1^ "^ *-•

E E ^ E

O <U 3 «

-c E^ E

0)

:3 *?

^'rt^'3

^5 .».* ^i .«"*

> 'C

O

eS-S

X iJ ^ ..
♦:* -is bo g

E*C r3 -^
OO o 3

^ .-^ Lh a>

o
o

ON

c«

*©

c

3
O

e

4)

13

E -G

g bo
^ c O

•S H E

o *i 2i <i>
c S o

•

•

•

£P

Rugby.

wdenbeath.

Newport.

d, Markinc

Idy.

>rnwall.

•
3

c
-3

nburgh.
London.

chtermucht

Kirkcaldy,
ds, Edinbu
hrewsbury.

n, Wilts.
Dundee.

C. Stratton,
. Stewart, Co
P. Sturrock,
A. Sutherlan
Tod, Kirkca:

Truscott, Cc

CO

•

. Veitch, Edi
G. Wacher,

3
<

. T. Wilson, ]

. M. Westlan

Yeomans, S

M. Thomsoi
D. Mitchell,

< ffi ^^i^O

M

^fa

•

<<Q^

WhI,

^ Im Vh »H t^ M

M

^ 1^

u

^ u u»

I-. 1-1

4J (U 4J <L> ^ <U

s.

S.S-

0)

V 9^ V

a> <u

0« Q* Pu D4 Cli Ci«

Oi

P4 CU O4

O4 0*

88S888

S 9 5

S 2

S

000

P P

c C S C S t-.

wi ^

hm

u, J^ u,

J'^ -**

Hb-<Hb^b*b*

H

HH

H

h^b*H

HH

•

M r*vo 00 N

ON

'^ N

to

OS CO 10

10

1

r* to t^ ro ^ ^

N

^VO

-*

10 r^oo

"^

M M M C4 M M

M

HI M

M

M M M

M

On On Os On On On

OS

OS OS

Os

ON On ON

OS

Appendix IV.

ITINERARY OF 20TH COMPANY VI. BATTALION
IMPERIAL YE^OMANRY, 1900-1901.

From the Diary of LUutenatU Pullar.

The letter F opposite a date signlfiet the days on which the Gompany was engaged

with the enemy.

TRANSVAAL.

Date. Place. Miles, &c.

1900

April Wellington, Paarl, and Worcester - ^

May 15 Warrenton ( ^5

16 Christiana )

17 Bloemhovel )

18 Phokwani > ^5

19-20 Phokwani >

21 Taungs - - - - - -)

22 Madrid (

23-26 Vryburg )^°

27 Trafalgar - >

28-29 Hartebeestpan >• 47

30 Geysdorp )

31 Barberspan

June 1-2 Barberspan

3 Beijesvallei [ ^

4 KalksprUit

5-6-7 Lichtenburg 12

8 Potfontein )

9 Ventersdorp ) ^^

10 Night March )

11 Potchefstroom ) ^^

11-24 Potchefetroom (patrols) - - -

25 Frederikstadt

26 Welverdiend l ^

27 Bank Station

192 Fife and Forfar I. Y. in South Africa

Date.

June a8
29

July I

2

3-4

S
6

6-1 1

12-14

IS
16-17

18
19

20
21
22

23

as

26
27
28
29

30

31

I

2

3

4

5
6

7-8

9
10

II

12

13

14

IS
16

17

August

PUoe.

Gemsbokfontein - - -
Klip Drift - . - .
Johannesburg (Germiston) -
Kaalfontein ...
Pretoria - - - -
Pretoria - - - -
Rietvlei (General Hutton) -
Rietfontein (Bronkhorstspruit)
Rietfontein- - . -
Pretorious Farm ...
Pretoria ... *
Dourdepoort (General Mahon)
Eight miles to Aapres River
Kameldrift (Pienaarspoort) -
Kameldrift (Pienaarspoort) -
Doomkraal ...
Doomkraal ...
Doomkraal ...
Bronkhorstspruit Station
Balmoral ....

S£Uef,ftc.

;

40

IS
20

7S

FI

F2

F

MIS

1^3

IS F

>IOO

Balmoral )

Bronkhorstspruit J '^

Diamond Hill

Erstefabriken - - - .

Pretoria

Pretoria

Home's Nek ....
Elands Nek ....
Crossed Crocodile River
Brakspruit .....
Dorzaak Laager ....

Dorzaak

Brakfontein ....
Commando Nek (Rekewich joined)
Commando Nek (Grootplaats)
Ten miles S.-W. to - - -
Hartley's Farm and Nek
Jameson's Kop . . - -
Jameson's Kop ....
Vlakfontein ....
Vlakfontein (De Wet)-
Oliphant's Nek and Rustenburg -

F
F

F

>SS

:}

25 F

Dftte.

August 1 8
20

21
22

23
24

25
26

27

28

29-Sep. 2

Sept 3
4

S
6

7-9
10

II

12-18

19.25

26

27

28

29

30
1-2

3

4

5

6.7

8

10

11-12

^3

14

1S-17
18

19
20-28

29

30

31
I

Oct.

Nov.

Itinerary of Company

Place.

E. night march to Crocodile River

Roode Kopjes - - - -

Zoutpans Drift - - - -

North

Zoutpan (Salt Works) -

North twelve miles - - -

Warmbaths - - - -

Warmbaths . - - -

South to Pienaars River Station -
Rosenbloom and Waterval -

Pretoria

Pretoria

Rietfontein (General Clements) -

Skeerpoort- - - - -
Witwaterberg (f Bulfontein)
Yeomanry Hill (Hekpoort) -

Hekpoort - - - - -

Boschfontein - - - -

Zandfontein - - - -

Hekpoort (patrols) - - -

Thorndale - - - - -

Waggonpadspruit - - -

Near Oliphant's Nek - - -
Buffelshoek (Selous River) -

Bufifelshoek (patrol) - - -

Oliphanfs Nek - - - -

Sterkstroom - . - -

Bethanie (patrol) - - -

Backfontein - - - -
Commando Nek (bridge) -

Commando Nek - - -
Rhenosterspruit (south)

Kalkhoeval - - - -

Rietfontein (river) - . -
Hartebeestfontein

Pompeon Kraal - - - -

Damhoek

Boschfontein - - - -

Beyond Hekpoort - - -
De Wet's Pass (Blok Kloof)

Hekpoort - - - - -

Hartley's Nek to store (Boon's) -

Cyferfontein - - - -

Vlakfontein - - - -

193

MUm, &c.
25 F

75

60

20

45

18
10

25

45

r3o

F

F
F2
F
40 F
F4

60

25

F
F

194 Ptf^ ^^ Forfar L Y. in South Africa

Nov. a

3-4

5
6

7
8

9

lO

II

12
I2*20
21
22
23

«4

as

26
27-DeC. 2

Dec. 3

4-5
6

7
8

9
10

11-12

13

14
14-22

23
24-27

29

30-31
1901

Jany. 1-2

3-9
10-18

^9

20

21-22
23-24

«5
26-27

Plaet.

Leeuwfontein - - - - -
Leeuwfontrin (patrob) ...
Leeuwfontein - - - - -
Doomkom (Klipspruit) ...
Magato Nek and Leeuwfontein -
Elands River . - - - -

Elandsfontein

Hartebeestfontein . . - -

Vlakfontein

Krugersdorp

Krugersdorp (patrols) - - - -
Sterkfontein - - - - -
Sterkfontein - - - - -

Sterkfontein

Convoy ------

Rietfontein (84)

Krugersdorp

Krugersdorp - - - - -
Dwasvlei ------

Skeerpoort-

Pompeon Kraal - - - - -

Damhoek ------

Nooitgedacht - - - - -

Convoy to Rietfontein - - - -

Convoy returned - - - -

Nooitgedacht

Nooitgedacht (fatal 13th) & night march
Commando Nek - - - -

Rietfontein

Kalkhoeval (patrol) - - - -
Rietfontein - . - - -
Night march - - - - -
Wolhuters Kop

Wkm^kn.

Wolhuters Kop
Buffelspoort
Breedt Nek
Krobm River
Dorzaak -
Oliphant's Nek
Middlefontein
Kofi^fontein
Vlakfontein

«3

F
F

27

45

F
F

F
F

>56 F

^25

F
F

F

>i5 F

F

^35

F2

20

8 F3
8

Itinerary of Company

195

Date.

Jany. 28
29

31
February i

2

3
4-8

9
10

II

12

13

15
16-17

18-19

20

21

22

23

24

25
26

27

28

I
2

3
4

S
6

7
8

9-14

16

17
18

19
20

21

22-24

March

PlMe.

Rietfontein N. -

Steinkopje - - - -

Krugersdorp - - -

Wonderfontein - - -
Wonderfontein (Gemsbokfontein)
Gatsrand (night march)

Wonderfontein - - -
Roodepoort (Gatsrand)

Gemsbokfontein - - -

Oberholzer (passed Banks) -

Oberholzer- - - -

Welverdiend - - .

Rleinfontein - - -

Deelkraal - - - -

Buffelsdoom - - -

Kraalfontein - - -

Doomfontein - - -

Buffelsdoorn - - -
Nooitgedacht (Losberg)

Rooipoort - - - -
Rooipoort (Hartebeestfontein)

Potchefetroom - - -

Potchefetroom - - -
Mooi River Bridge

Witpoort - - - -
Rietpoort (Mooi River)
Rietvlei (Mooi River) -

Reitvlei - - - -
Frederikstadt Drift (Mooi River)
Frederikstadt Station -
Kaalplatz (Jew's store)
Nooitgedacht (Losberg)

Jew's store - - - -

Potchefetroom - - -

Potchefstroom - - -
Potchefstroom (south bridge)

Hartebeestpoort - - -

Wonderboom - - -

Rietpoort (opposite Parys) -

Rietpoort - - - -
Bronkhorstfontein
Raatskraal- ...

Modderfontein - - -

MUm, &c.

43 F

F
20

F
14 P

IS

35

>65

30

30

F

F

F
F

F

>"28 F
F

F
F
F

45

F

196 Fife and Forfar I, Y. in South Africa

Di««.

PlMe.

MIlM, ftc

March 35

Bank Station . - - .

10

26

Modderfontein - - - .

10

27

Kaalfontein - . . .

-)

28

Kaalfontein (Zoekoefontein)

: :t5«'
■ -)

29

Zurfontein - - - - ■

30

Vereeniging - - - .

Total miles in Transvaal, 2005 ; engagements, 65.

ORANGE RIVER COLONY.
Date. Place. MUes, &a

April 5 Bloemfontein ^

6 Springfield >• 22

7 Sanna's Post (Waterworks) - - - )

8 Thaban'chu 18

9-12 Brand's Drift )

13-14 Allandale j^^F

15 Korannaberg \ f

16 Korannaberg (Bestersflats) - - " v ^o ^

17 Onderkluitze's Kraal - - - - r" 3 p

18 Belmont (Monastery Mine) - - ) f

19 Belmont (Diamond Mine) - - - \

20 Trommel (Leeuwkop) - - - " C 60 ^

21 Trommel t^

22 Bakenfontein (Winburg) - - - )

23 Kaffir Kop \

24 Night march - - - - - >• 42

25 Senekal ) f

26 Dinkerfontein 30 f

27 Mispa (Blawkop) - - - - \ f

28 Reitz Farm ^ "^^ f

29 Reitz )

30 Mailer's Rust ) ^ f

May I Dinkerfontein Ica^

2-5 Senekal )^

6 Liliefontein \ f

7 Liliefontein - - - - "Ce^

8 Spytfontein f ^^ f

9 Ventersburg Road Station - - - }

Itinerary of Company 197

10

Dftte. Place. MUea, &c

May 10- 1 1 Ventersburg Road Station - - -

12 Geneva Siding - - - - -

13 Geneva Siding

14 Roode Bloem L « ^

15 Balkfontein f ^ f

16 Commando Drift (Vaal) - - -

17 Wilgelegen

18 Doomkraal

19 Rietgat

20 Roodepoort

21 Kopje Allein

22 Virginia Siding 24

Total miles in Orange River Colony, 568 ; engagements, 20
„ Transvaal, - 2005 ; „ 65

Total trek (excluding patrols), 2573; engagements, 85

F