At Koodoosrand It Was Found That A Boer Force
Was In Position In Front, But Mahon Avoided Them By Turning
Somewhat To The Westward.
His detour took him, however, into a
bushy country, and here the enemy headed him off, opening fire at
short range upon the ubiquitous Imperial Light Horse, who led the
column.
A short engagement ensued, in which the casualties amounted
to thirty killed and wounded, but which ended in the defeat and
dispersal of the Boers, whose force was certainly very much weaker
than the British. On May 15th the relieving column arrived without
further opposition at Masibi Stadt, twenty miles to the west of
Mafeking.
In the meantime Plumer's force upon the north had been strengthened
by the addition of C battery of four 12-pounder guns of the
Canadian Artillery under Major Eudon and a body of Queenslanders.
These forces had been part of the small army which had come with
General Carrington through Beira, and after a detour of thousands
of miles, through their own wonderful energy they had arrived in
time to form portion of the relieving column. Foreign military
critics, whose experience of warfare is to move troops across a
frontier, should think of what the Empire has to do before her men
go into battle. These contingents had been assembled by long
railway journeys, conveyed across thousands of miles of ocean to
Cape Town, brought round another two thousand or so to Beira,
transferred by a narrow-gauge railway to Bamboo Creek, changed to a
broader gauge to Marandellas, sent on in coaches for hundreds of
miles to Bulawayo, transferred to trains for another four or five
hundred miles to Ootsi, and had finally a forced march of a hundred
miles, which brought them up a few hours before their presence was
urgently needed upon the field. Their advance, which averaged
twenty-five miles a day on foot for four consecutive days over
deplorable roads, was one of the finest performances of the war.
With these high-spirited reinforcements and with his own hardy
Rhodesians Plumer pushed on, and the two columns reached the hamlet
of Masibi Stadt within an hour of each other. Their united strength
was far superior to anything which Snyman's force could place
against them.
But the gallant and tenacious Boers would not abandon their prey
without a last effort. As the little army advanced upon Mafeking
they found the enemy waiting in a strong position. For some hours
the Boers gallantly held their ground, and their artillery fire
was, as usual, most accurate. But our own guns were more numerous
and equally well served, and the position was soon made untenable.
The Boers retired past Mafeking and took refuge in the trenches
upon the eastern side, but Baden-Powell with his war-hardened
garrison sallied out, and, supported by the artillery fire of the
relieving column, drove them from their shelter. With their usual
admirable tactics their larger guns had been removed, but one small
cannon was secured as a souvenir by the townsfolk, together with a
number of wagons and a considerable quantity of supplies. A long
rolling trail of dust upon the eastern horizon told that the famous
siege of Mafeking had at last come to an end.
So ended a singular incident, the defence of an open town which
contained no regular soldiers and a most inadequate artillery
against a numerous and enterprising enemy with very heavy guns. All
honour to the towns folk who bore their trial so long and so
bravely - and to the indomitable men who lined the trenches for
seven weary months. Their constancy was of enormous value to the
empire. In the all-important early month at least four or five
thousand Boers were detained by them when their presence elsewhere
would have been fatal. During all the rest of the war, two thousand
men and eight guns (including one of the four big Creusots) had
been held there. It prevented the invasion of Rhodesia, and it gave
a rallying-point for loyal whites and natives in the huge stretch
of country from Kimberley to Bulawayo. All this had, at a cost of
two hundred lives, been done by this one devoted band of men, who
killed, wounded, or took no fewer than one thousand of their
opponents. Critics may say that the enthusiasm in the empire was
excessive, but at least it was expended over worthy men and a fine
deed of arms.
CHAPTER 25.
THE MARCH ON PRETORIA.
In the early days of May, when the season of the rains was past and
the veld was green, Lord Roberts's six weeks of enforced inaction
came to an end. He had gathered himself once more for one of those
tiger springs which should be as sure and as irresistible as that
which had brought him from Belmont to Bloemfontein, or that other
in olden days which had carried him from Cabul to Candahar. His
army had been decimated by sickness, and eight thousand men had
passed into the hospitals; but those who were with the colours were
of high heart, longing eagerly for action. Any change which would
carry them away from the pest-ridden, evil-smelling capital which
had revenged itself so terribly upon the invader must be a change
for the better. Therefore it was with glad faces and brisk feet
that the centre column left Bloemfontein on May 1st, and streamed,
with bands playing, along the northern road.
On May 3rd the main force was assembled at Karee, twenty miles upon
their way. Two hundred and twenty separated them from Pretoria, but
in little more than a month from the day of starting, in spite of
broken railway, a succession of rivers, and the opposition of the
enemy, this army was marching into the main street of the Transvaal
capital. Had there been no enemy there at all, it would still have
been a fine performance, the more so when one remembers that the
army was moving upon a front of twenty miles or more, each part of
which had to be co-ordinated to the rest.
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