At Night Without Cover, Drenched And Bitterly Cold, The
Troopers Threw Themselves Down On The Sodden Veld To Snatch A Few
Hours' Sleep Before Renewing The Interminable Pursuit.
The drift
over the Caledon flowed deep and strong, but the Boer had passed
and the Briton must pass also.
Thirty guns took to the water,
diving completely under the coffee-coloured surface, to reappear
glistening upon the southern bank. Everywhere there were signs of
the passage of the enemy. A litter of crippled or dying horses
marked their track, and a Krupp gun was found abandoned by the
drift. The Dewetsdorp prisoners, too, had been set loose, and began
to stumble and stagger back to their countrymen, their boots worn
off, and their putties wrapped round their bleeding feet. It is
painful to add that they had been treated with a personal violence
and a brutality in marked contrast to the elaborate hospitality
shown by the British Government to its involuntary guests.
On December 6th De Wet had at last reached the Orange River a clear
day in front of his pursuers. But it was only to find that his
labours had been in vain. At Odendaal, where he had hoped to cross,
the river was in spate, the British flag waved from a post upon the
further side, and a strong force of expectant Guardsmen eagerly
awaited him there. Instantly recognising that the game was up, the
Boer leader doubled back for the north and safety. At Rouxville he
hesitated as to whether he should snap up the small garrison, but
the commandant, Rundle, showed a bold face, and De Wet passed on to
the Coomassie Bridge over the Caledon. The small post there refused
to be bluffed into a surrender, and the Boers, still dropping their
horses fast, passed on, and got over the drift at Amsterdam, their
rearguard being hardly across before Knox had also reached the
river.
On the 10th the British were in touch again near Helvetia, where
there was a rearguard skirmish. On the 11th both parties rode
through Reddersberg, a few hours separating them. The Boers in
their cross-country trekking go, as one of their prisoners
observed, 'slap-bang at everything,' and as they are past-masters
in the art of ox and mule driving, and have such a knowledge of the
country that they can trek as well by night as by day, it says much
for the energy of Knox and his men that he was able for a fortnight
to keep in close touch with them.
It became evident now that there was not much chance of overtaking
the main body of the burghers, and an attempt was therefore made to
interpose a fresh force who might head them off. A line of posts
existed between Thabanchu and Ladybrand, and Colonel Thorneycroft
was stationed there with a movable column. It was Knox's plan
therefore to prevent the Boers from breaking to the west and to
head them towards the Basuto border. A small column under Parsons
had been sent by Hunter from Bloemfontein, and pushed in upon the
flank of De Wet, who had on the 12th got back to Dewetsdorp. Again
the pursuit became warm, but De Wet's time was not yet come. He
headed for Springhaan Nek, about fifteen miles east of Thabanchu.
This pass is about four miles broad, with a British fort upon
either side of it. There was only one way to safety, for Knox's
mounted infantrymen and lancers were already dotting the southern
skyline. Without hesitation the whole Boer force, now some 2500
strong, galloped at full speed in open order through the Nek,
braving the long range fire of riflemen and guns. The tactics were
those of French in his ride to Kimberley, and the success was as
complete. De Wet's force passed through the last barrier which had
been held against him, and vanished into the mountainous country
round Ficksburg, where it could safely rest and refit.
The result then of these bustling operations had been that De Wet
and his force survived, but that he had failed in his purpose of
invading the Colony, and had dropped some five hundred horses, two
guns, and about a hundred of his men. Haasbroek's commando had been
detached by De Wet to make a feint at another pass while he made
his way through the Springhaan. Parsons's force followed Haasbroek
up and engaged him, but under cover of night he was able to get
away and to join his leader to the north of Thabanchu. On December
13th, this, the second great chase after De Wet, may be said to
have closed.
CHAPTER 31.
THE GUERILLA WARFARE IN THE TRANSVAAL: NOOITGEDACHT.
Leaving De Wet in the Ficksburg mountains, where he lurked until
after the opening of the New Year, the story of the scattered
operations in the Transvaal may now be carried down to the same
point - a story comprising many skirmishes and one considerable
engagement, but so devoid of any central thread that it is
difficult to know how to approach it. From Lichtenburg to Komati, a
distance of four hundred miles, there was sporadic warfare
everywhere, attacks upon scattered posts, usually beaten off but
occasionally successful, attacks upon convoys, attacks upon railway
trains, attacks upon anything and everything which could harass the
invaders. Each General in his own district had his own work of
repression to perform, and so we had best trace the doings of each
up to the end of the year 1900.
Lord Methuen after his pursuit of De Wet in August had gone to
Mafeking to refit. From that point, with a force which contained a
large proportion of yeomanry and of Australian bushmen, he
conducted a long series of operations in the difficult and
important district which lies between Rustenburg, Lichtenburg, and
Zeerust. Several strong and mobile Boer commandos with guns moved
about in it, and an energetic though not very deadly warfare raged
between Lemmer, Snyman, and De la Rey on the one side, and the
troops of Methuen, Douglas, Broadwood, and Lord Errol upon the
other.
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