At Midday They Halted At The Farm
Of Gregorowski, He Who Had Tried The Reform Prisoners After The
Raid.
The cavalry pushed on down Kaal Spruit, and in the evening
crossed the Southern railway line which connects Bloemfontein with
the colony, cutting it at a point some five miles from the town.
In
spite of some not very strenuous opposition from a Boer force a
hill was seized by a squadron of Greys with some mounted infantry
and Rimington's Guides, aided by U battery R.H.A., and was held by
them all that night.
On the same evening Major Hunter-Weston, an officer who had already
performed at least one brilliant feat in the war, was sent with
Lieutenant Charles and a handful of Mounted Sappers and Hussars to
cut the line to the north. After a difficult journey on a very dark
night he reached his object and succeeded in finding and blowing up
a culvert. There is a Victoria Cross gallantry which leads to
nothing save personal decoration, and there is another and far
higher gallantry of calculation, which springs from a cool brain as
well as a hot heart, and it is from the men who possess this rare
quality that great warriors arise. Such feats as the cutting of
this railway or the subsequent saving of the Bethulie Bridge by
Grant and Popham are of more service to the country than any degree
of mere valour untempered by judgment. Among other results the
cutting of the line secured for us twenty-eight locomotives, two
hundred and fifty trucks, and one thousand tons of coal, all of
which were standing ready to leave Bloemfontein station.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 402 of 842
Words from 107515 to 107793
of 225456
