網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

of a sense of humor or disgust, had added a little paragraph of his own.

"We are also informed," wrote he, "that Lord Kitchener and Lord Methuen are wounded, Lord Roberts is a prisoner, and the rest of the English army have committed suicide!"

"How about Kruger and his advisers?' I asked. "What did they hope to gain?"

He shrugged his shoulders (a Boer can dodge a direct question like a Yankee) and looked at me keenly.

"I suppose they had their hopes," he answered.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

'Ya-that was funny."

We spoke of the Boer generals. Louis Botha, Erasmus and Lucas Meyer, were friends of his.

"Botha is a proud man," said he. "And now he wants terms. He knows he cannot win, but he wishes to save his name. He does not want money. Erasmus is an old-style Boer fighting general-not so clever. Lucas Meyer I knew also well. He had great influence at first, but Botha is the best soldier the Boers have had." I have noticed a strange thing. The Boer always speaks of himself in the third person. He seldom uses "we"

[graphic]

"The Boers were

or "us." He says,
over here," or "Do you think the Boers
will return?"

I do not think that there was ever a people so hard to understand. They are as elusive in character as they are on the field. One cannot guess their thoughts any more than one can anticipate their sudden movements.

Just an instance or two. There is a man here in town named De Korte, a recent judge and inspector of police under the Kruger rule; two days before the British entry he was doing his utmost to secure the removal of the prisoners at Waterval, although this was contrary to an agreement made with the captured English officers to the effect that if the unruly prisoners (who had been unfed for two days) were kept from breaking out, they would not be removed. He actually persuaded nine hundred to leave the stockade and go under guard to the railway station. It was promised that they would be taken to neutral Portuguese territory and set free. They are now under confinement at a place near Elandspruit the promise was not kept.

Yet this man, in company with Louis da Souza, Burgomeister Potgieter, Smit, the Railway Commissioner, Kleynhaus, Minister of Mines (also acting TreasurerGeneral), Hans Minuar, Registrar of

[graphic]

LORD ROBERTS REVIEWING THE NAVAL BRIGADE

Deeds, Waerda, Chief of Public Works, Landrost Zeiler, Commandant Zeederberg, and De Beer, Inspector of Offices, came out to meet Lord Roberts and surrender the eagerly expectant town, De Korte volunteering to lead them.

Strange to say, Botha, with his few thousand irreconcilables, was on the northern outskirts. He had left but the morning of our entry; a few shots had been fired almost within sound of the Public Square. He had threatened to bombard the place the moment the English entered-which was most inconsiderate, everything taken into account. So Lord Roberts held the surrendering committee, and they sent a message to Botha. He withdrew some fourteen miles, and sent word that he would fight to the last, elsewhere.

All this was the strange undercurrent of the peaceful scene, that did not show in the least on the surface. There were the cheering crowd, the tame Boers with their irksome armaments, there was the committee in frock coats and tall hats, there were the watering-carts, the open shops, the hospitable hotels-and English flags rising everywhere in the example of the one that lifted on the public buildings. It is stranger than it was confusing.

Most of the committee now hold positions under the military and provisional governments. De Beer is an adviser, and De Korte is at the head of the Bcer police--for Boer policemen, with badges on their arms, still patrol the streets and assist the military. But there seems little use for either; the town might, to all appearance, be managed by one sleepy constable.

Sunnyside is a pretty little suburb of Pretoria; yet it is not exactly a suburb, but a quarter of the town, and is only separated by a clear running brook, crossed, except in one place where there is a real bridge, by drifts. It was here that Lord Roberts took up his headquarters at the British Residency; and nestling in back yards and down the tree-shrouded lanes were the camps of his body-guard and followers.

There were tents and covered wagons, pickets and camp-fires, everywhere among the little villas. At night it looked more like a gypsy encampment than the headquarters of an army.

The town, patrolled every night and policed every day, showed no evidence of any internal dissatisfaction. The Government, under the administration of Gen

eral Maxwell, military governor, and filled, in its various branches, by appointees from the staff or line, went on as smoothly as clockwork. Outside the town troops were camped, holding the ridges and keys of the positions.

There was some fighting and much heavy skirmishing to the eastward of the town, but of this I need not here write a detailed description. But a person living within the precincts of the town could perceive nothing of the rough side of warfare, and had not General Botha and his few obstinate followers remained under arms, the military restrictions might have been relaxed, and peace, with its attendant joys and privileges, would have been in full possession. Much suffering and hardship could have been avoided.

But a strange condition of affairs existed. For ten days Pretoria was absolutely cut off from communication with the south. General De Wet, that bold and hardy leader, had revived his forces in the Free State. The long line of railway, practically unguarded, had been broken in several places. Newly constructed bridges had been

Of the nine men who started in one week but three were successful. Three were captured and three turned back. But yet, as before, Pretoria continued quiet. There was no advance upon Leydenburg. It was only gradually that the effect of all this began to show.

There was a meaning in the whispering groups at the street corners. At the hotels that were frequented by officers the corridors and bar-rooms, dining and billiard rooms, were

[graphic]

thronged by foreignlooking people, who edged close to listen and pick up scraps of conversation.

The undercurrent of suspicion, and hatred even, of the minority appeared on the surface. Exaggerated rumors of all kinds filled the air. "Botha was on the outside of town with six thousand men." He was constantly being supplied, it was said, with news and information. Conspiracies were earthed, and men who were profiting by the British occupation, and had taken the oath of neutrality, were found to be concerned in these. Others who should have been neutrals because of their nationality and birth. were found to be involved also in the plottings of the Boers.

GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA Boer Commander-in-Chief.

destroyed, convoys had been taken, wires had been cut, and misguided and wanton mischief, that could have no possible bearing on the result, was rife.

People in London were much better informed of the condition of affairs than we were in Pretoria. With the lines destroyed, the correspondents had resorted to precarious despatch-riding, and as much as £30 was offered for carrying despatches through to the rail-head at Kroonstad.

un

The continuance of the struggle, fostered for what reason no one who knew the real situation could fathom, brought hardships in its train. The military rule became more strict. A feeling of vague suspicion and mistrust awoke between the soldiery and townsfolk. Stringent methods became necessary; horses were needed; the remounts on their way up from the south were prevented from arriv

[graphic]

ing by the mischief-makers in the Free State.

There was a resort perforce to Boer methods, even for the protection of the town itself. Every horse in town was commandeered. Those who could show reason why they should retain their property were given licenses to own and permits to drive in the streets. The rest were all taken and properly paid for.

The line was repaired almost as quickly as it was destroyed, but it was strange how the falsity of the apparent situation added to the trouble. A few hundred yeomanry were captured somewhere along the railway line. It caused no dismay at headquarters in peaceful

Sunnyside. It was an irritation, as was the destruction of some two thousand mail-pouches, and the capture of winter clothing destined for the First Division.

But it set some of the people talking harder. The leniency and trustfulness, the invitation implied and extended to join in and help, "all hands together," was unappreciated, and so the conditions grew still harder. With the two capitals in English possession, and both Governments in flight, there appeared to rise the desire to foster a forlorn hope.

Baden-Powell's coming from Mafeking was but a ripple. The man who refused to be downed or daunted, who had jumped from a clever Colonel with ambitions to a Major-General by the sheer force of dogged determination and a cheerful heart, rode into town almost unheralded.

In fact, until he had met the guard sent out to meet him, he had ridden almost alone; but five or six men accompanied him from Rustenburg.

I shall never forget my first glimpse of him outside of town. Somehow, he looked un-English. He wore no straps or ribbons. In appearance he looked the Western cavalry leader who might have fought in our own frontier wars. Here was the man that the real Boer admired

A TYPICAL BOER SCOUT

and feared more than any that the English army had produced.

Had his approach been universally known, there would have been a large crowd to greet him in the Plaza. As it was, but few knew of his coming, but there was a cheer as soon as he was recognized.

A citizen of English appearance dismounted from a bicycle, and, pressing through the crowd, shook him by the hand. I was close enough to overhear the conversation.

"We've waited for you here a long time, Colonel," he said. "May I shake hands with you?"

"Certainly," said the General, laughingly. "I thought I'd get here some time."

With that he and his escort galloped along through the street on their way to meet the Field-Marshal at Sunnyside. There were hearty greetings when they met. A shake of the hand, and they repaired to the Residency for luncheon. At every corner the two men who had won most renown in the war were subjected to heavy camera fire. As they dismounted they had to submit to a volley of machine-photography; and I suspect, long before this is in print, the publics of

48

the London music halls have seen the Field-Marshal and the keen-eyed, thinfaced man with the cowboy hat, with the well-known" Denver poke " in the crown, come strolling down across the canvas

screen.

He stayed but a day, and went back to join his command at Rustenburg, and before long much more will have been heard of him. But I shall not forget another glimpse I had of "B.-P.," as his friends call him, at the Pretoria Club.

He came in quietly for a few minutes and reached a corner with some friends. Englishmen are neither demonstrative nor effusive in their greetings. Those who

[1 September

ernment, as represented by the military authorities, had taken a high hand in regard to the position assumed and the part played by the Transvaal Hollander and German in the war from its beginning, particularly by the Government railways, foreigners, and which represented almost which were managed and controlled by onistic to British influence and combated solely Dutch interests. They were antag British control.

fused to assist in any way, and in the At the outset they had absolutely resouth of the Transvaal the situation had sity. Engine-drivers and railway embeen met in a manner dictated by neces

[graphic]

BRITISH PRISONERS AT WATERVAL

knew him went up and spoke to him. But there was no reception or ovation. He seemed to enjoy his drink like an ordinary person; indulged in some conversation that was apparently amusing for he has the saving grace of the ambi tious man who will grow to larger thingsunconsciousness and a sense of humor. It is safe to wager that should BadenPowell make mistakes or meet with misfortunes, his popularity will never wane. But to return to Pretoria, for my pen has carried me into generalities.

It was known for a long time, but the censor absolutely refused to allow it to be published abroad, that the English Gov

ployees who had refused to work were compelled to. That is the flat truth of it. Armed guards stood by them to see that deered " for the public good and safety. they did their work. They were "comman

the management of the monopoly became The antagonism previously dictated by a serious thing. The Transvaal burgher wished to go back to his farm drifted out who had laid down his arms and honestly in Pretoria itself, a problem that would of the question. A serious problem arose cial recognition of English rights as a conhave been obviated had there been an offiquering and therefore paramount power by the government that had left for the hills.

« 上一頁繼續 »