An occasional shell
from the big gun plumped among them. One, through some freak of
gunnery, lobbed slowly through a division, and the men whooped and
threw their caps at it as it passed. The guns on Swartz Kop, at a
range of nearly five miles, tossed shells at the monster on
Doornkloof, and finally blew up his powder magazine amid the
applause of the infantry. For the army it was a picnic and a
spectacle.
But it was otherwise with the men up on Vaalkranz. In spite of
sangar and trench, that cross fire was finding them out; and no
feint or demonstration on either side came to draw the concentrated
fire from their position. Once there was a sudden alarm at the
western end of the hill, and stooping bearded figures with slouch
hats and bandoliers were right up on the ridge before they could be
stopped, so cleverly had their advance been conducted. But a fiery
rush of Durhams and Rifles cleared the crest again, and it was
proved once more how much stronger is the defence than the attack.
Nightfall found the position unchanged, save that another pontoon
bridge had been constructed during the day. Over this Hildyard's
Brigade marched to relieve Lyttelton's, who came back for a rest
under the cover of the Swartz Kop guns. Their losses in the two
days had been under two hundred and fifty, a trifle if any aim were
to be gained, but excessive for a mere demonstration.
That night Hildyard's men supplemented the defences made by
Lyttelton, and tightened their hold upon the hill. One futile night
attack caused them for an instant to change the spade for the
rifle. When in the morning it was found that the Boers had, as they
naturally would, brought up their outlying guns, the tired soldiers
did not regret their labours of the night. It was again
demonstrated how innocuous a thing is a severe shell fire, if the
position be an extended one with chances of cover. A total of forty
killed and wounded out of a strong brigade was the result of a long
day under an incessant cannonade. And then at nightfall came the
conclusion that the guns were too many, that the way was too hard,
and down came all their high hopes with the order to withdraw once
more across that accursed river. Vaalkranz was abandoned, and
Hildyard's Brigade, seething with indignation, was ordered back
once more to its camp.
CHAPTER 17.
BULLER'S FINAL ADVANCE.
The heroic moment of the siege of Ladysmith was that which
witnessed the repulse of the great attack. The epic should have
ended at that dramatic instant. But instead of doing so the story
falls back to an anticlimax of crowded hospitals, slaughtered
horses, and sporadic shell fire. For another six weeks of
inactivity the brave garrison endured all the sordid evils which
had steadily grown from inconvenience to misfortune and from
misfortune to misery. Away in the south they heard the thunder of
Buller's guns, and from the hills round the town they watched with
pale faces and bated breath the tragedy of Spion Kop, preserving a
firm conviction that a very little more would have transformed it
into their salvation. Their hearts sank with the sinking of the
cannonade, and rose again with the roar of Vaalkranz. But Vaalkranz
also failed them, and they waited on in the majesty of their hunger
and their weakness for the help which was to come.
It has been already narrated how General Buller had made his three
attempts for the relief of the city. The General who was inclined
to despair was now stimulated by despatches from Lord Roberts,
while his army, who were by no means inclined to despair, were
immensely cheered by the good news from the Kimberley side. Both
General and army prepared for a last supreme effort. This time, at
least, the soldiers hoped that they would be permitted to burst
their way to the help of their starving comrades or leave their
bones among the hills which had faced them so long. All they asked
was a fight to a finish, and now they were about to have one.
General Buller had tried the Boers' centre, he had tried their
extreme right, and now he was about to try their extreme left.
There were some obvious advantages on this side which make it
surprising that it was not the first to be attempted. In the first
place, the enemy's main position upon that flank was at Hlangwane
mountain, which is to the south of the Tugela, so that in case of
defeat the river ran behind them. In the second, Hlangwane mountain
was the one point from which the Boer position at Colenso could be
certainly enfiladed, and therefore the fruits of victory would be
greater on that flank than on the other. Finally, the operations
could be conducted at no great distance from the railhead, and the
force would be exposed to little danger of having its flank
attacked or its communications cut, as was the case in the Spion
Kop advance. Against these potent considerations there is only to
be put the single fact that the turning of the Boer right would
threaten the Freestaters' line of retreat. On the whole, the
balance of advantage lay entirely with the new attempt, and the
whole army advanced to it with a premonition of success. Of all the
examples which the war has given of the enduring qualities of the
British troops there is none more striking than the absolute
confidence and whole hearted delight with which, after three bloody
repulses, they set forth upon another venture.
On February 9th the movements were started which transferred the
greater part of the force from the extreme left to the centre and
right. By the 11th Lyttelton's (formerly Clery's) second division
and Warren's fifth division had come eastward, leaving Burn
Murdoch's cavalry brigade to guard the Western side.
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