But How Could Help Come When There Was No Means By Which They Could
Let White Know The Plight In Which They Found Themselves?
They had
brought a heliograph with them, but it was on the back of one of
those accursed mules.
The Boers were thick around them, and they
could not send a messenger. An attempt was made to convert a
polished biscuit tin into a heliograph, but with poor success. A
Kaffir was dispatched with promises of a heavy bribe, but he passed
out of history. And there in the clear cold morning air the balloon
hung to the south of them where the first distant thunder of
White's guns was beginning to sound. If only they could attract the
attention of that balloon! Vainly they wagged flags at it. Serene
and unresponsive it brooded over the distant battle.
And now the Boers were thickening round them on every side.
Christian de Wet, a name soon to be a household word, marshaled the
Boer attack, which was soon strengthened by the arrival of Van Dam
and his Police. At five o'clock the fire began, at six it was warm,
at seven warmer still. Two companies of the Gloucesters lined a
sangar on the tread of the sole, to prevent any one getting too
near to the heel. A fresh detachment of Boers, firing from a range
of nearly one thousand yards, took this defence in the rear.
Bullets fell among the men, and smacked up against the stone
breastwork.
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