There Is No District In The Transvaal Which
Is Better Worth Fighting For, For It Is A Fair Country Side,
Studded With Farmhouses And Green With Orange-Groves, With Many
Clear Streams Running Through It.
The first sign of activity
appears to have been on July 7th, when a commando with guns
appeared upon the hills above Rustenburg.
Hanbury Tracy, commandant
of Rustenburg, was suddenly confronted with a summons to surrender.
He had only 120 men and one gun, but he showed a bold front.
Colonel Houldsworth, at the first whisper of danger, had started
from Zeerust with a small force of Australian bushmen, and arrived
at Rustenburg in time to drive the enemy away in a very spirited
action. On the evening of July 8th Baden-Powell took over the
command, the garrison being reinforced by Plumer's command.
The Boer commando was still in existence, however, and it was
reinforced and reinvigorated by De la Rey's success at Uitval's
Nek. On July 18th they began to close in upon Rustenburg again, and
a small skirmish took place between them and the Australians.
Methuen's division, which had been doing very arduous service in
the north of the Free State during the last six weeks, now received
orders to proceed into the Transvaal and to pass northwards through
the disturbed districts en route for Rustenburg, which appeared to
be the storm centre. The division was transported by train from
Kroonstad to Krugersdorp, and advanced on the evening of July 18th
upon its mission, through a bare and fire-blackened country. On the
19th Lord Methuen manoeuvred the Boers out of a strong position,
with little loss to either side. On the 21st he forced his way
through Olifant's Nek, in the Magaliesberg range, and so
established communication with Baden-Powell, whose valiant bushmen,
under Colonel Airey, had held their own in a severe conflict near
Magato Pass, in which they lost six killed, nineteen wounded, and
nearly two hundred horses. The fortunate arrival of Captain
FitzClarence with the Protectorate Regiment helped on this occasion
to avert a disaster. The force, only 300 strong, without guns, had
walked into an ugly ambuscade, and only the tenacity and resource
of the men enabled them ever to extricate themselves.
Although Methuen came within reach of Rustenburg, he did not
actually join hands with Baden-Powell. No doubt he saw and heard
enough to convince him that that astute soldier was very well able
to take care of himself. Learning of the existence of a Boer force
in his rear, Methuen turned, and on July 29th he was back at
Frederickstad on the Potchefstroom to Krugersdorp railway. The
sudden change in his plans was caused doubtless by the desire to
head off De Wet in case he should cross the Vaal River. Lord
Roberts was still anxious to clear the neighbourhood of Rustenburg
entirely of the enemy; and he therefore, since Methuen was needed
to complete the cordon round De Wet, recalled Hamilton's force from
the east and despatched it, as already described, to the west of
Pretoria.
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