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i
i
>
War
Sketches
Hedl'^v
V.
Mackinnon
! I
■■■■^^.^r"
WAR SKPrrCHES
WAR
SKETCHES
RKMIXISCI-XCKS OF Tlli:
BORR WAR
IN
SOUTH AFRICA
1S99-1900
m-
HEDLKV V. MACKINNON
LATK OK (J COMP.W^
2n|> matt. UOVAI, can a MIAN KKOT
\ 1 O ^
THE EXAMINER PUBUShlNQ COMPANY
CMAIILOTTETOWN P F 1
1900
I
Kiilcr«-(1 itctoriliiiu lo X.i ,,f ii,,. 11...1; . . , ,.
yi-;ii- KuKr liy
i
!
II"
H. \'. MACKINNON
INTRODUCTION.
jif ■ i- ■
I ANY books have already been written on the
Boer war in South Africa and manv more
vv.ll be sure to follow ; but, to Canadians, no descrip
tion „f the war will appeal more stron^rlv than such
reminiscent sketches as are contained in this booklet
These pen pictures trive the best possible idea n\
the imi)ressions made on tlir minds of the men in
the ranks, and faithfully portrav the life of the
soldier, with its lij^hts and shadows, durintr a cam
miSn m many respects uni.aralleled in the historv
of (mr (Jreat Empire.
Tlr. writer of the sketches has carefully kept
vv.thm the ranjre of his own experience ; and what
.1 thrlhnjr experienci. it was throuu-h which he in
common with his comrades, passed, durin^r the year
of service. They fouj^ht : they endured the fati«-ue
of lonK dreary marches over barren veldt-acro.ss hujr,
l<opje.s-throujrh mud pans and rivers ; they felt the
panjrs of hun«-er and the indescribable horrors of
thirst m a waterle.s.s land. They did it all .so bravelv
so uniinchin,dy, that their Bri^^adier in wishin-^
them bon voya.^e in a tele,.ram to Col. Otter added '^
Tell the men 1 feel that any credit I mav have
h
I.N'l'l<(»I)i;<TIUN
trained in this u.ir T shall owe Kiru-ely to the splendid
way the Koyal Canadians served ine. "
I bespeak for this booklet a uide readin-, and I
leel sure, from my perusal of the sketches, in which
scenes familiar to myself are described, that the
i-eader will come away understandin^r somethin^r of
the life of ••T(,mmy Atkins" actually enya^-ed hi a
J-^reat campaio-n. The pen pictures are alike in-
structive and entertaininjr.
T. F. FI'LT.ERT(^N.
I !
e splendid
niX, ;uid I
in which
that the
ethin<!f of
f^ed in a
alike in-
RTON.
B
ON TREK.
" Walk ! you beggars ! walk ! "
ri?[X(; the last twelve months the })nvs wh,,
went from this Island to serve in South Africa
have passed throuj^rh-as the old sayin^r is -many and
varied experiences. Commencino- at Belmont, where
they learned what onti)ost dnty means, and endino- at
Pretoria, when their work was crowned by success.
there was crowded into this short space of time, days
of sutferinn- and hardship such, that tho.se who have
not experienced it could scarcely l)elieve possible. We
have yone into action, on the now famous field of
Paardel)erir, sinniny. whistlin,tr, and even doinjr the
cake-walk, not throun-h bravery, but rather throusrh
sheer i-norance of dan-.r. It was no uncommon
thino- to see a man jret up and walk two or three
hundred yards under fire to liu-ht a pipe or cijrarette.
or toofather the water bottles from his chums and jr,.
down to the river to fill them.
We have jrone out at nio-ht to brino- in the dead
and wounded, and in many cases have made poor
fellows mcn-e comfortable in their last moments. Often
nie,ssao-es for home and mother were spoken from lips
fast becominjr silent, Closing eyes looked lovinylv on
photofrraphs of a mother, sister or ..weetheart"^, "and
hands lony u.sed to holdin- a rifle were clasi.e.l in
prayer.
^
a ON TKEK
We have forded rivers where men and horses were
carried away by the rushin<»" swirl of waters, some to
find safety further down, others to meet their death,
if not nobly on the field, at least in the honest en-
dCfivor to perform their duty.
We have lived on one and a quarter biscuit per
day—lived, but in a state of such weakness that 1
have seen two formerly strong" men restinjjf every few
yards when carrying a forty pound box of biscuit.
Our clothing- hung in rags. The legfs were cut ofi'
our trousers to make patches for other parts. I^uttons
were gone, and in many cases men were without coats
at all.
Night after nig^ht we .slept in six inches of mud. in
the pouring rain, with absolutely no protection. A
thunder storm was always welcomed, for the flashes
of lightning- seemed to vary the monotony of the inky
darkness, and the light was cheerful. Nor was this
only for a night or two, but for weeks at a time. We
never could get our clothing" or blankets dry between
the rain storms, and the condition of the g-round
made us feel so sick of life that an oft-heard expres-
sion was. "Cheer up, boys, you'll soon be dead!"
Of course at times we had our little fun. It was
interesting' to walk among the Highland reg^iments
and hear stories of former campaigns. When the rain
was not too bad, and there was any wood to be had,
we used to g-ather round the cook fires and singf songs
of a more or less cheerful character. But the pleasure
was so little and the sufl'eringf so g^i'eat, that nothing
■seemed to break the monotonv of misery. It was
I
)r.ses were
i, some to
iir death,
onest en-
scuit per
is that ]
J very few
►iscuit.
e cut oti'
Buttons
3ut coats
mud. in
tion. A
e flashes
the inky
vas this
ne. We
between
ground
exj^res-
It was
jfiments
he rain
be had,
r song-s
leasure
lothin^
It was
DN TRKK
9
rather annoying to clean our rifles and find them half
an hour afterwards knocked out o^ action by mud and
water. Annoyin^r, too, when our one solitary biscuit
accidentally fell into the mud and had to be scraped
clean, thereby decreasing- its .size.
But all these thing's could not compare with the
horrors of that awful march from Jacobsdal to Bloem-
tontem. The scenes of sufferin^r witnessed on that
seeming-ly endless tramp are .so imprinted on the minds
«.f everyone who took part in it that they will .stand
out clearly when all else is forjrotten.
The grreatest hardship of all was, of cour.se, scarcity
of water. I have .seen men stumbling- alongr with heav-
in,^ breasts and blood-shot eyes, oyer rock, sand and
sagre brush, mile after mile, beg^gnng., praying., yes
even cursingr for water. Poor fellows with "lips
cracked and bleeding-, would hold the water bottles to
their lips vainly endeavoringr to find a last drop in
them. Some wiped with their hands the prespiration
trom their foreheads and then rubbed the moisture
<>n their parched lips. Others, pale ami weak from
hungrer and thir.st-would rush to a dirty pool on the
i-oad. and. pushing, aside the grreen slime and filth
suck up a few drops of liquid poison. When any kind
ot water was to be had we were joyful, and even
thoug.h a rag- had to be put over the mouth of the
water bottle to keep back the hundreds of little ani-
mals we thanked God. In our worst times a mud
puddle was always welcome, for a few handfuls put in
a handkerchief and .squeezed would furnish, sufficient
water to moisten the lips and throats of three or four
10
ON TREK
I >
I I
men. No talking- was done on that inarch, for we
needed all our spare wind, and besides, breathinp^ was
painful enoug-h without making our throats more
parched by unnecessary conversation. Blistered feet
were plentiful ; veldt sores, those terrible ulcers, were
common, and the way those boys from comfortable
Canadian homes strug-gled along when every stej)
must have been a hell is deserving of the g^reatest
praise.
In times such as those our officers would often pass
down the Imes, usually with a word or two to cheer
us up and help the weaker ones along". Only four
more miles, boys," "Try to hang" on," "It won't be
over two hours till we halt," etc. And the tired soldier
would grasp his rifle more firmly, the poor fellow with
soleless boots move with a quicker step, and the man
almost crazy for water would straighten up, each with
the look in his eyes that showed he would "stick it
out" for that day's march at least.
And when the long-looked for pond ""ime in sight,
with what joy we hastened to the halting--place, piled
arms, threw off our equipment, and hurried down to
drink cup after cup of water, —.sometimes slimy, it is
true, .sometimes dipping- it up from between the horses
and mules that needed it as badly as we did, but still
water. Then on returning to the lines we heard orders
read: "Reveille at 2 a. m., blankets in waggrons at
2.30, breakfast at 3, march off at 3.30 a. m " The
orderly men brought supper from the cook "house,
blankets were spread, darkness beg-an to settle, and
we lay down to sleep, — our day's work done.
:h, for we
ithinjT was
*oats more
iterert feet
leers, were
omfortable
every step
e j,'-reatest
often pass
I to cheer
Only four
; wont be
red soldier
ellow with
I the man
each with
"stick it
; in siiiht,
lace, piled
down to
limy, it is
the horses
I, but still
ird orders
jrfTons at
m.' The
)l\ "house,
!ttle, and
9
i
THE FAMOUS CHRISTMAS DINNER.
•"Some men live to eat. others eat to live, but we did
neither.' "
WE were at Belmont, a half homesick and wholly
discontented crowd, anxious to do somethin^^
more than ^rarrison duty and lon^injr for a move. Our
idea-perhaps a somewhat mistaken one-was that we
had come out to Africa to fight and not to spend our
year m seeminq-ly useless outpost duty on the line of
communication. This anxiety of ours to get into a
hffht was a great source of amusement to the Imperial
troops, but although they smiled at our wild talk they
always gave the same piece of advice, "Dout hurt
yourselves in looking for a scrap, for after you have
been in one you won't like it so well." We di.scovered
the truth of this statement later on.
However, Christmas was drawing near and grad-
ually from war our conversation flowed into the
channel of what we were mi.ssing by not being at
home. We knew of course that presents had been
•sent to us, but as many other things had gone astray
we did not anticipate very much from that source
Our hopes were based chiefly on what the Army Serv-
ice Corps would issue and our Colonel buy In fact
our Captain had told us that there was to be a plum
II'
i •
12
TIIK KAMOIS CIIKISTMAS IMNNKH
puddintj for each man, lots of chicken, etc., and more
fruit than we could eat. The puddinjrs we knew were
canned goods, probably partially dried, and would
need steam inj^ to brinjf them to proper condition.
In anticipation of this many of the boys made
from old biscuit boxes a curious style of steamer.
They bent the tin in a circle, nailed the edfi^es tog^ether,
put a bottom on in the same way, and punched holes
through it with their bay<mets. One tent, we knew,
had no less than eleven of these utensils for sixteen
men. It was truly a case of labor lost, for all the
puddings they received might be served in an ordinary
flower pot.
The wished-for fruit arrived in due course but to
those of us who were at the Quartermaster "s stores
at the time it did not smell very fresh, to say the least,
and when we shoved our fingers through the cases
there was a sort of soft, mushy feeling that was not
altogether satisfactory. But the fruit would be good,
for had we not been told so, and there was plenty of
it — but it did not arrive while we were there.
Christmas Day came and each man woke in the
morning with such a hungry look in his eyes that he
was at once handed a piece of biscuit. We did not
hang up our stockings the night before but one man
had pinned a pair of trousers on the outside of the
tent to dry, and found them minus the buttons -an
ostrich had been on the warpath.
For breakfast we had the usual bread and coffee,
although we did not call them by those names. Bread
f
• , and more
: knew were
and would
ondition.
boys made
steamer.
s tog-ether,
iched holes
, vve knew,
or sixteen
or all the
n ordinary
rse but to
Ts stores
the least,
the cases
t was not
I be good,
plenty of
ce in the
i that he
! did not
one man
e of the
;tons - an
id coffee,
Bread
THE FAMOUS CHRISTMAS DINNKR ]Ji
is kno^Ti as ' rooti, " tea or coffee as ' hot stuff ' any
thick kind of food like porridg-e or boiled mealies is
called 'burg-oo,' a thinner mixture such as soup goes
by the name of 'skilly,' potatoes, of course, are
•Murphys,' pre.served beef 'buUy,' and the making
and eatingr of any food is ' having a drum-up. ' But
this is by the way.
For breakfast, then, we had rooti and hot stuff-
not exactly what we mi^ht be eating at home where
the breakfast hour is usually spent in cracking- nuts
for the children,-but we were quite .satisfied with
what there was, for had we not been told that there
would be lots of everything nice for dinner.
At nine o'clock the ration bug-le sounded and our
orderly men went to the Q. M. stores to draw the
luxuries. We even sent a few extra men to help with
the loads and the rest of us lay in the tents anxiously
awaitingr their return. In due time they appeared,
but with a sad report. Nothing had been issued but
the regular quantity of bread, beef and vegetables
Strangle to say, this did not trouble us in the least for
we had been told that the dinner on that day was to
be a f^rand one. Ah ! Here was the explanation. A
serg-eant pushed aside the tent door and jerked out
his head moving- from side to side as if keeping- time
to his words : "The Colonel as hordered that hall the
men ave dinner hat the usual hour. Hextras will be
hi.s.sued hat three ho'clock.- His head waggled some
more and finally disappeared. Of course the ' hextran
14
TIIK FAMdl'S CHRISTMAS fUNNKR
1 '',
would be hissued' for we had been told so, and knew
we would not be deceived.
Dinner was cooked at twelve o'clock but the cooks
must have been greatly worried, or busy preparing;
for the sumptuous repast that was to follow, for the
stuff they sent into us was not fit for dogs. We left
it in the pot untouched, as no one cared about pai*-
boiled beef when in a few hours chickens and plum
puddings would be common. The dinner was thrown
out, the pot nicely cleaned with sand and water, and
taken back to the cook-house, bright enough to re-
ceive any chickens that ever laid eggs.
About two o clock a call was heard " No. 1 Section
turn out for your puddings, " " and everyone rushed to
the door. In an instant twenty-six men were gathered
round the spot whei^e, on a blanket lay packed in
pretty tins, our puddings. It was a time we had long
wished for and now right in front of us was the reality.
Hut as we gazed on the big heap before us something
seemed astray. We could not count the whole twenty-
six. Then the corporal spoke. "You see boys, there
is a pudding for each man but we are a few short —
twenty-three short in fact — so number two tent with
fourteen men will take two tins and out of them will
give one-third of a pudding to number one. This
makes an average of about eight men to each pudding,
and the Colonel hopes you will enjoy them."'
Were we worried ? not a bit for we had been told
that there was lots of pudding and such being the case
any more would not be good for us. We did not use
i, and knew
t the cooks
preparin),^
ow, for the
s. We left
about par-
and plum
^as thrown
water, and
igh to re-
'. 1 Section
rushed to
e g-athered
packed in
e had loiifr
he reality,
something'-
ie twenty-
3ys, there
w short —
tent with
them will
ne. This
I pudding,
been told
r the case
i not use
I
4
•nil': KAMors christmas dinnkr ]-,
the steamer previously made, but divided the '> plenty"
into twelve parts and received our shares on spoons.
Then mifi-ht have been seen an exhibition of true
c.mrapre, for every man opened his mourh and actually
swallowed plenty plum puddinjr, in fac; all he could
eat. at one mouthful. xNo one thoufrht ot indifrestion ;
the chan«-e to .such a rich diet never bothered an>
person, but strange to say, after having all the plum
pudding we could eat we did not experience that full
teeling. One fellow in an ashamed sort of way mur-
mured that he would not object to .some more, but he
was a glutton and did not know when to stop eating.
-Who is orderly man here?' The corporal was
.speaking. -Gone out.' -Well anyone will d,>. 1
want a man from each tent to draw chickens • (Gen-
eral chorus :" 111 go. • "You come Silver.- "Wait
tilllwa.shmy hands.- '-You are a chump. I don t
want you t(, draw the chickens in that way but just
to draw them from stores. " Silver went-but never
returned.
Three oclock came, four, half-past four, and no
chickens. Suddenly a faint voice was heard- -You
fellows ! Will you give your rations of chicken to the
man m hospital who has fever ? The other companies
are domg so and we expect to have plenty to give him
a feed. You know a fever patient does not eat much
We looked at the big pile of chicken-two wings and a
thread of meat--enough f<,r twelve men, and c<,n-
■sidered. Here we were with a splendid dinner before
us and actually asked to give it awav when we had
I
10
THK FAMolH CHRISTMAH DrV^KK
eaten nothing all clay. Ah! Hadn't we? We were
nearly forjrettinfr the puddinjj. But we looked ajjain
at the two wind's etc., and thoujfht that all that, to
be eaten by only twelve men, mijfht hurt us, so the
verdict was in favor of the fever patient. When it
had f^'one, the pflutton who wanted more pudding
annoyed us still more by sayinj^ that he miy^ht have
had a yood square meal for his pet tarantula if we ha«l
not been so quick in giving the grub away.
They told us that the sick man had a splendid feed
—we doubt it.
At five o'clock we were ordered to fall in and when
the regiment formed up on parade the six barrels of
beer were opened — all but Ave of them which were kept
for future use. The company orderlies brought pots
t'lnd each mess received its share. Then (mr senior
major made a short speech in which he thanked the
regiment for its good conduct up to the present time
and said that in return for our excellent behaviour
we were to receive a plentiful supply of fruit to make
the day seem more like Christmas. In addition to this,
if none of the men got drunk on the most generous
share of English beer already issued we would be given
an extra ration of rum — two brimming spoonfuls.
Regiment was dismissed and we returned to our
tents with the intention of doing our best to keep sober
after drinking a whole pint of beer. On reaching our
tents what should we find but the non-coms, dividing
the issue of fruit into equal shares. We stared in
wonder at the big basketful before us and almost
TIIK KA.M(»rs niRISTMAS DINNKH
r
' We were
H)ked .'i^ain
all that, to
: us, so the
. When it
*e puddinjif
fni^rht havt-
ta if we had
ivay.
lendid feed
n and when
barrels of
I were kept
mjrht pots
our senior
lanked the
•esent time
behaviour
it to make
ion to this.
: generous
Id be |,^iven
?nfuls.
ed to our
keep sober
iching- our
s. dividinjT
stared in
id almost
wished it had been kept in stores for a few days, for
how could we manajre to do it justice after all the plum
l)uddin«- and other luxuries which had jrone before ?
However here it was. three black bananas, one oraufre.
four plums, eleven K'rapes, and two maufrroves ;- and
we had to eat it. Even the jrlutton had hard work to
swallow the last of his two frrapes and such bein^r the
case it is easy to ima^nne how the rest of us felt.
We dreaded cramps and lay down in the tents to
rest our overloaded .stomachs. It had been a si)Ien(li(l
dinner, we were told so at least, but the beer must
have made a jtckI many of the men drunk, for the rum
was never i.ssued.
PAARDEBERG.
" The Canadians hastened the inevitable."
|UCH has been said and written of this our first
enjrag-ement, but as it comes home to the
people of Canada more than any other fi^ht in which
our rejriment took part, it may be classed as one of
those events which are always new. At other times
in the campaign we have endured for a .short time
much greater hardships, but never were there four
weeks of misery such as those from February 17th to
March 15th, 1900. We had left Graspan on the morn-
ing of Tuesday, Feby. 13th, and reached Klip Drift
early the following Saturday. Fully expected to have
a day's rest there, but about sundown orders came to
pack up and be ready to move at a moment's notice.
We started at seven in the evening and marched until
ten, when a halt of an hour or so was called that the
mules and oxen might be watered at the river. Dur-
ing this hour we slept. Then it began again and we
went along, mile after mile, hour after hour, not
knowing where we were going or what was ahead of us.
One misery we were spared on that march— the heat-
but the night was fairly warm and we were in a very
sandy part of the country, so that the dust bothered
us almost as much as the sun would have done. We
were short of water, for the supply at Klip Drift was
PAARDKMKRO
1}>
limited and many of the boys had found it impossible
to fill their bottles ; but our captain-a man in every
sense of the word-did everythin^r in his power to mak'e
it easier for us. He, in some way, manajred to obtain
about half a bucket of water ami served it out with
his own hands-one cuj^ful for ten men-and the last
person in the company to wet his lips was the captain
himself. We were hun^rry too, but hun^rer is for^^otten
in the lonj^injir for water.
Towards morninjr j^runs were heard in advance and
we quickened our pace, not knowing- what was poin^r
on but wishinjr to jret there before the finish. As
liRlit be«-an to break over the hills and we could see
the road, numbers of scraps of me.on and citron riml
were found .scattered alon^r our line of march where
they had been thrown by the Kaffirs accompanyinjr
our advance yuard. These were ea^rerly picked up
sciaped, and eaten by our men, as they were both
juicy and cool. The last few hours were terrible, but
everything must have an end and shortly before six
o'clock we halted in a grove near the bank of the Mod-
der. Rations were at once issued-one and a quarter
biscuit per man, tea was made-the ration of tea at
that time being one twenty-fourth of an ounce and
sugar one quarter ounce-and we tried to eat a morsel
before going into action. It was useless, for before the
tea was cool enough to sip we were given the usual
ration of rum-one half gill-and ordered to fall in.
We went first at the double to the slope of a rising
ground on the top of which our guns were in position,
20
I'AARDKnKRO
but after stayin^r there a short time were ordered
back and proceeded to cross the river.
At the point of crossing— Troop's Drift— the cur-
rent was very swift and the water varied in depth
from two to six feet. From our place on the bank we
saw the Gordons wading- across, three or four of them
C9r0^m»„A Omit; '■
AJfe-SU£.>y
KIMBERLEY
Z''^,
R(
^TT
TToo^
Qj/\COBiOa(,
Pa«rdc
Ber^
CMH«U»
joining- arms and thus supporting- each other, but when
our fellows started they carried ropes over and by a
number pulling on each end we were enabled to cross
in single file more easily than the others had done.
Our haversacks, containing the fragment of biscuit
supposed to represent a day's food, were tied around
our necks, rifles slung as high as possible, and watches
or other articles liable to be damaged by water were
placed in the helmets. In this way we forded the
im^ > ^- /■■^i»w^,%rt ■ /,■
PAARDEBERG
21
Modeler, and althoujrh many of our men were thrown
off their feet by the rushinjr river none were lost. On
reachin},^ the farther bank we had a good wash and
filled our water bottles, after drinking as much as we
could hold, and then formed up to begin our first fight.
As one of the boys remarked, "We were up against
the real thing then. ■'
The general plan of attack is so well known that a
description of it would only be a repetition of what
everyone already understands. Enough to say that
we were extended to ten paces and advanced. Our
company was held in reserve during the greater part
of the fight, but on this day, on account of the ground
sloping towards the Boer position the casualty list
among the reserves was larger than is usually the case.
We had, of course, got wringing wet when crossing
the river, but the sun came out about nine o'clock and
in a few hours our clothing was almost dry. Then a
most unusual thing happened. Our men, lying under
fire, but not actually engaged, one by one fell asleep
and enjoyed the best rest they had had for some days.
While sleeping, a heavy thunder storm came on and in
a few moments we were as wet as ever. As it was now
late in the afternoon there was not enough sun to dry
our clothes and consequently the same old, miserable
feeling tackled us again.
It was about this time that Father O'Leary walked
along the lines, stopping to speak to each man, espec-
ially the French Canadians, and doing his best to cheer
them up. A plucky action on his part, but very foolish
22
PAARDKBKRO
for he was making- a tarjret of himself and drawing fire
on each man he spoke to. During all this time the
usual quiet excitement of a fig-ht was keeping- up our
interest. Every now and then a cry would come for
stretcher-bearers, and by and by some poor fellow was
carried past moaning^, often with blood trickling- down
trom his wounds. One of our own boys, who has not
come home, walked alongr the line, under fire,
.i^^athered the water bottles from his chums, w( nt to
the river and filled them, and then came back and
deliberately carried each (me to its owner. And in
our reg-iment dozens of brave deeds were performed,
any one of which was worthy of the Victoria Cross
had the proper report been sent in. It is a very
strangre thing- that in the Royal Canadian Keg-iment,
which did its part so well and received such praise,
uot one man ever received the V. C. This was not
because no one had earned it. but rather that the
deeds of valor performed in our numerous engtig^-
uients were never reported, and no effort was made
to reward any of the boys for their heroism. About
four or five o'clock on Sunday afternoon as we were
beg-inning- to tire of the thing-, the Cornwalls were seen
commgr up from the rear, and we found that they
were to do a bayonet chargre. Before making- the
final ru.sh they lay down with us for a few minutes'
rest, and it was then that the mistake occurred which
gave us such a name for bravery, but which was paid
tor with the blood of many of our brave fellows.
When the Cornwalls halted, preparatory to charg-ingr
PAARDEBKRO
28
a and H Companies of their corp.. were ri^ht beside
G and H of the Canadians, and when, in a minute
or two the order was passed alonjr for G and H Com-
panies to fix bayonets, we naturally understood it to
refer to ourselves and acted according-ly. Almost in-
stantly the bucrles sounded the charge and we started.
When our other companies saw G and H rushinjr
alon^, they fixed bayonets and did the same, so that
the work which was intended to be done by the Corn-
walls became a combined rush by both battalions.
The charg-e failed. No men who ever lived could have
made a success of it, but the jrrandeur of that wild
rush must have ^aven the Boers a much hijrher opinion
of British courajre.
The Colonel of the Cornwalls, who ordered the
charjre, and who held in his hand five pounds for the
first man to reach the Boer trenches, fell at the first
volley, when leading: his men, and was buried by them
next day.
This piece of work practically ended the davs fi^rht-
injr but firing- was continued until lonjr after .sundown,
when all our men who could be found, .rathered
tog-ether to march back to where we were encamped
for the night. When we had walked about a mile
our junior major appeared, and, after giving us orders
for the nijrht, asked for a volunteer search party
togfoout for dead and wounded. In the whole cam"
paigrn there is nothing- more creditable to Prince
Edward Island than the fact that all the men who
formed that party were from her shores. And it i^
u
PAARDEBERO
the more worthy of praise, as all our own wounded
had previously been brouffht in.
The scenes witnessed on that field where so manv
heroes lay dyinjr, are beyond description. It was sad
in the extreme, but amid the sadne.ss was a feelinjr of
pride— that we were permitted to form part of an
army which held such men in its ranks. One poor
chap shot throufrh the throat told us that he was not
badly hurt but dreaded lyin^r on the field all nifrht.
His wound, he said, was not painful, but interfered
mth his breathing. We g-ave him more clothinjr and
promised to send a stretcher out for him. "No,"
was his answer, " Dont say that. So many have
promised a stretcher and I have waited hours for it.
Let it come as a surprise." We found him in the
morniny—dead.
For the remainder of that ni^rht we slept, in spite
of the cold and huno-er. It had been found impossible
to brinjr our wag-ons over the river and food and
blankets were not ready for us. On an average five
men tried to find shelter under one rubber sheet.
Next day, Monday, we rested after burying- the
dead, and in the evening- marched out to a rising-
ground a few miles from the bivouac, where our Brigr-
adier made a short address of cong-ratulation and
thanked the battallion for its conduct on the previous
day.
Tuesday morningr we moved out to take our place in
the cordon formed around the enemy. All day we lay
on the field doings some fine shooting with almost no
■ ^•WSiHi " /,
I»AARI)KBERG
25
danger to ourselves, and at sundown retired to the
hills where we were to do outpost duty. Here we re-
mained until about noon on Friday, starving-, shiverinjr
with the cold, and wrinfriny wet all the time from the
continuous rain. While on these hills some of our
men mana^-ed to capture a nice heifer which was killed
and eaten in double time, the meat beinjr put on to
fry almost before it was cold.
On Friday our company moved back near Troops
Brift to a hill we afterwards named Starvation Kopje,
and on it passed three more days of misery. Rain
every nijrht, no firewood, wet clothin;,r and blankets,
outpost duty and a two mile walk for water.
From this position we had a splendid view of the
.surrounding- country and could see all that was yoinjr
on in the plain below us. Here we first saw a larj>e
army, almo.st fifty thousand men, and could watch all
their movements. The boys would sit for hours enjoy-
injr the spectacle and observing the effect of the
shrapnel and lyddite which poured unceasino-lv into
the Boer trenches. Rut even this little excitement
yrew monotonous and on the third day our only topic
of conversation was about when we were likelv to ^o
home. Poor boys ! None of them dreamed how soon
some were jjroinjr home.
On Monday afternoon we came down from the hill
and marched up the river to the British trenches
whither the rest of our battalion had preceeded us. I„
passinjr over the position first held bv Cronje we
actually had to break ranks to avoid the" carcasses of
i
26
PAARDEBERa
mules, horses and bullocks with which the frround was
almost covered. The stench was sick'eninfr ; so bad
indeed that in our regiment the name Paardeberg was
seldom heard. We used a more vulgar but certainly a
more expressive word and called the place Stinkfontein.
In the evening- tea was made and served on the bank of
the river and when the nijrht jrrew sufficiently dark we
moved in silence to the trenches and took up our posi-
tion in readiness for the advance. Our orders were
that we were to move out at 2 a. m. in two ranks, the
front rank with fixed bayonets, fifteen paces in advance
of the others, who were to sling their rifles and carry
picks and shovels to assist the Royal Engineers in
digging the new trench. Front rrnk of course to act
as a guard in case of an attack. The new trench to be
two hundred yards nearer the Boer position than we
then were. We lay down in the trenches to get a few
hours sleep and at two o'clock were awakened and got
ready for the advance. Orders were passed along in
a whisper and we started. We knew that the Boers
were about six hundred yards away but never imagined
that we were to get any nearer to them than the
distance ordered. So when, the word to halt was
passed along we lay down, thinking the worst was over
and that we only had to keep quiet until the new
trench was made. But in a very few moments, to the
surprise of everyone, word came to advance again. On
and on we moved, scarcely daring to think what the
result might be but hoping that our leaders knew what
they were doing. For the last minute or two the
4**^" - V>;'-^» I
PAARDEBERO
?T
nervous strain was intense. We knew how far our
trench was from the Boers, and could judjre fairly well
the distance we had come, so expected every second
to be ris-ht on top of the enemy. This mijrht have
happened, but one of our feUows kicked a tin can,
probably there for that very purpase, and then came a
•single shot from the Boer sentry, followed by a volley
that almost took our breath away. The flashes from
the rifles made a continuous blaze of lijrht rifrht in
front and we could almost imajrine we felt the heat
from them. Men dropped on all sides and in a few
seconds the air was filled with cries and groans from
the wounded. Those who were hit in that first volley
and did not manage to get back almost at once were
afterwards killed, for. being disabled, they could not
throw up any protection for themselves. The rest of
us, using our bayonets as picks, and canteen covers or
hands for shovels, quickly dug small holes and piled the
clay in front as a covering for our heads. The hardest
part of the whole thing was to he there being shot at
without returning the enemy's fire. The Boers knew
we were .somewhere in front of them but could not tell
exactly where and were firing at random. Conse^
quently had any one of our men discharged his rifle the
flash from it would have betrayed our position and the
probable result would have been that not a single man
of F or G companies would have come out alive.
Then the thought struck us that we were in a
delicate position should morning break and show us to
the enemy. But before this happened the fire gradually
fii^
28
PAARDKBKKd
n
slackened and we crawled back one at a time to the
trench which had been built. However, another un-
comfortable feeling- arose from this cause— that here
were F, G and H Companies of the Canadians forty
yards from five thousand Dutchmen and nearly six-
hundred yards from any of our own men. Our only
plan therefore was to scare the life out of the enemy
and keep down their fire. This was done to perfection,
for all the men g-athered in the trenches with rifles
cocked and ready for anythiufr that mijrht turn up.
We thoug-ht the Boers would be anxious to see what
had occurred in the nigfht, and just as day was break-
ing our suppositions were shown to be correct. One
man, more ea/^er than his fellows, slowly raised his
head over the trench. We just had time to observe
the look of surpiise on his face and then there was not
much face left to look at, for nearly all our fellows fired
to^rether, and over a hundred rifles aimed at one small
tar^ret less than fifty yards away made that Boer look
surprised. In fact he lost his head entirely.
From that time until the sun was up they were
continually jumpinjr around their trenches wavino-
white flajfs. but everyone who showed himself was shot.
About seven o'clock the matter seemed settled, for a
veldt-cornet of theirs came {rallopinfr over the field
with a lar^re white flajr on a statt'. The Boers laid
down their arms and came troopinjr out of the
trenches; the ten days" fijrht at Paardeberjr Drift
was over : the Canadians had hastened the inevitable :
Majuba was avenged, for Cronje had surrendered.
.-'^*'^
OUR DOCTOR.
"Bless thee, Bully Doctor."
WE was a F-enchman, with all the peculiar char-
acteristics of his race ; short and slijrht, but
well put tojrether ; a thorough athlete and quick as a
steel trap. When he joined us first, his knowledjre of
the Enjrlish lanf^uajre was somewhat hazy, but {gradu-
ally improved as time passed. On the steamer from
Quebec to Capetown we befran to discover that in the
little doctor we had a bit of a curiosity, but not until
we reached Belmont did we find out just what he was.
The task of drillinfr the stretcher bearers fell to him
as junior surjreon, and the way he handled them was
somethinjT marvellous. In the forenoon we always
manaired to jrather around, at a respectable distance
of course, and watch the fun. No sio-n of a smile ever
appeared on the faces of the onlookers, but when the
show was over and the " little doctor " jrone, we {rave
our feelings full play, and lau<rhed until we were sore.
As a rule the men underjjfoing- the operation fell in
before him properly. Then he would number them,
and proceed to {jfive a few orders,—" Stretcher bears,
move to the rifrht in file ! Form fours ! Left ! Go on !
Move ! Quick march ! Rijrht form ! Stop ! Halt ! !
Whoa ! ! ! Oh, Damn de Engrlish ! ! ! !"'
.*_-*- r->*
30
orK DonoR
r
HLs usual method of treatinjr anyone who reporteff
sick was-lookinjr at the sick report-" Jenkin«, Wen-
kins. Henkins. Oh, 1 don't know, but come on anyhow,
whatever your name is. Well, my boy, what is the
matter?- " Cramps. Eh ? What! You will have
cramps? Well T will jrive you three pills, you under-
stand : you take one pill now. one piR at dinner time,
one pill to-ni-ht. and the other in the morning-. You
understand ? And if you not well next week come
back a^-ain, eh ?"
He was always (juick in his movements, and ex-
pected every(me else to be the .same. Woe betide the
man who was slow in answering- to his name when
called from the sick report. Nothinjr was too bad for
him. '-My boy, you think I am .sit here all day to wait
for you ? Why you not come when I call, eh ? You
ever come to me this way agrain. I will g-ive you some
thmjrs that make you move more quick, eh ? You
understand? Now. what is the matter ?"
In the medicine panniers the pills always went by
numbers instead of names, and his favorite seemed to
be number nine. No matter whether the man for
treatment was sufferingf from a touch of sunstroke or
a blistered foot, it was all the same. On one occasion,
when the victim was. by his own account, feelinjr
pretty feveri.sh. the doctor called for number nine
The orderly replied that there were no number nines in
stock. Quick as a flash came the request, " Well then
g-ive me a six and a three. • Talk about Yankees bein^r
equal to any emerg-ency : with our doctor necessity was
■^'%.'«> (r
• >rK DOCTOR
81
certainly the mother of invention, and he always rose
to the occasion.
While he was on duty at Klip River, the Sjrt. Major
of the Royal Irish Rifles reported sick with a veldt sore
on his hand. Lookinjr him over carefully, the doctor
broke out : " My boy, you are Serjreant Major you have
one sore hand, eh >. Well, my boy, you eat too much. I
will «-ive you two ,)ill,s, eh ; you will take one pill every
two hours, you understand ; the last one not .so soon "'
Rut when a man was really sick no one could be more
attentive than he. We all liked him. althoujrh bis
manner was, to say the least, verv peculiar. In cases
where his knowledjre of sury-ery was required, he
always did his best and treated the different wounds or
sores with all the tenderne.ss of a woman. One of our
boys received a nasty cut, and the doctor was as
attentive as thouyh the wounded man were his own
brother. He came into our car on the armoured train
one eveninjr with a pillow in his hand, and jroinjr over to
the sick man asked : - Well, my boy, how your head is
this evening- ?■• - Pretty .sore, doctor. • " Is it one
jump, jump pain?- -No." -A pain that stands
.still all the time?- ^Ye.s.- -And sore, .sore like
blazes ? - - Yes. doctor. " •' Well, my boy. I will o-ive
you one pillow for put under your head, eh ? You will
put the pillow down and your head on the pillow you
understand, eh ? .And the.se two little pills v<m will
take, now one of them if your head is .sore, and the
other one I will wrap in a piece of paper, eh. and it
you will take in the ni^rht if your head is .s.re a<.-iin
I .
H2
OIK IMKTOK
you understand?' The piece ..f paper in which the
I'ill was vvrajjped was fully as lar«-e as a juistaire
stamp.
He was certainly peculiar, a thorou^-h Frenchman,
but with a very soft heart, and. am<.n«- the few
pleasin^r recollections „f a hard campaign, one fijrure
will be remembered when most others are for^rotten
—that of (mr little French Doctor.
'^-ej^
^i'^^i^ A
INDIGESTION PILLS.
"Now good digestion wait on cippetite. dnd
health on both."
mFIEY weie first heard of at Belmont, when some
1 of the boys received letters sayiny- that the
IH'ople at home were sendinjr „ut a number of boxes
containinfr puddinys. cake of all kinds, chocolates,
cigarettes, and in fact lots of evervthiuo- o-enerally
supposed to make Christmas what it ouj^ht to be,
After that, in almost every letter we received there
would be the expre.ssion: " ] hope the Christmas boxes
reached you all rifrht," and we invariably answered
that they had not exactly arrived but that we had
heard they were on the \vay. Then one dav we were
told that the cases were in Cape Town, and our officer
had wired to have them forwarded at once to Belmont.
Naturally that jrood news raised our hopes, and. as the
day on which they should arrive drew near, a few of
the boys always happened to be at the station. But
they did not come, and we be^-an to ima<rine all sorts of
thinirs. Perhaps they had u-one the wrony" road. An
accident mi^rht have happened to the train. l>er-
chance .some hospital men had commandeered them
for the sick. Anythinjr mijjfht have occurred, and we
jrrew pale and hafrjjfard-lookinjr from the terrible strain
; II
-tr«L- r-s»
:u
I^fT)IOESTlON r'lr.LS
on our nerves. But after a time the exh^e was worn
off our suffering- and we were able to think of the mat-
ter with a cahiier mind. In fact the non-arrival of
the ^oods formed a common topic of conversation and
we were never tired of <j^uessin<f what would be sent to
each fellow. It fjfot to be a standinjjf joke in the com-
pany for someone to remark, whenever a train was
heard, "there come our Christmas boxes, boys, "but
Christmas came and went and we enjoyed the presents
in imajifination only. We lay on our backs in the tents
thoroughly ajjpreciatinjr' the plentiful supply of imajjf-
inary chocolates, raisins, and almond nuts with which
we ended our spiritual banquet. It was a time when
the xihilosophy of Christian Science would have been
very comforting'', but none of us were well read in that
subject and thus were not ible to properly enjoy the
ima<ifinary viands. A ci<ifar with even a faintly percep-
tible flavor, and any smoke at all, would have been
relished more than the ones we had, and even army
biscuit satisfied our appetites in a far g^reater de^a-ee
than the visionary plum puddinys and cake could ever
have done. It was a Barmecides feast all rijjfht. but
only as rejL>"irds the first part. The second half was
still to come and sometimes we re<rretted that imlike
Schacabac we had no one to strike for causing the
delay in furnishinir it.
Time passed, and gradually we ijfrew to think less of
our Christmas boxes until one day, after Paardeberj^-,
word was received that they had been sent to Kimber-
ley, and miyht come across to us by tran>p )rt. At
^mmii^74
INIJKJESTION PILLS .^-
that .statre of the (fame we were in a state „f semi-
»tarvati.,„ and had the presents reached us then thev
would have been appreciated as perhaps nothing, was
«-er appreciated before. But the, did not come and
after a da, or two we became quite resi^^ned to our
ate never expecting, to .see the cakes or puddings
untd we started for home.
A short time after this we marched into Bloeuifon-
tern and very soon g^ot better food and far more of it
than we had received since leavinjr Grn.s Pan
While quartered at Bioemfontein our re^nraent .vent
■mt several times on reconnais,sance and when the
-hsaster at Sannahs Post occurred we were hurried out
t" reinforce or tr, to mend matters. It was a fast
march and fair,, ,on,. ^^■, were not in ,„,k, condition
or here had been rain nearl, ever, „i,,ht since we
eached the town and our tents had not arrived A
tew da,s later ue marched back to the city and there
u-e few m G Company who will for,.et the surprise
t^t awa.ted us. Our tents were all pitched and readv
tor us to occupy, and the Christmas boxes had arrived
fecarcel, had we piled arms and taken off our
e.,u>pme„t when the order was heard G Companv fall
." for ,our Christmas presents.- And we fellin so
<l".ckly that our non-coms, almost wished that there
>vere presents to be is.sued at every parade. We fairlv
ran to the Quartermasters stores and there la, three
an,e boxe.s-T,,K boxes-containinjr the ^ood thin.,s
that we had been thinkiu,. about for months
>«r the New Brunswick b„,s there was a lar^e case
36
INDKJKS'TION IMI.LS
Hi
»l>
i
with a small box in it for each man. From Charlotte-
town three boxes had been sent — one larj^^^e one from
the ladies of the city with a present for each of
us, the other two containinj^ private shifts. By
chance, one plum pudding-,* which should have been
in the larji^e box was packed in one of the others,
and it is the only thinjif we ever received from the
people at home. The principal box for the Island
boys had jifone to G Co. of the Butt's.
But although the puddings, etc. had failed to
materialize we still had our private presents to fall
back upon, and they were well worth receivin<r. Sev-
eral of the boys g^ot larj^e fruit cakes, tins of milk,
oysters, jam, salmon, etc. It was amusinj^- to hear the
remarks as each name was called, and the man stepped
forward to receive his box: "Is that frcmi her,
Bobby?" ''Now remember your failiny. Shaky, and
don't eat too much." "Come to dinner with me
to-morrow, will you — and bring" a few doug^hnuts
along-, " etc., etc. When the cases were empty and
there was no chance of receiving any more, we hurried
back to our tents and beg^an opening the different
packagfes. "Oh ! what nice red and blue ribbon — and
I need a bootlace." " Say. boys, homemade candy in a
tin box — just what I wanted to hold my towel and soay)
— have a piece." "Here, darling-, try this — well 111
be blowed. If there ain't some of Jack Joy's oysters.
Open them quick. "' " You fellows just keep your hair
♦From Mrs. (Capt.) Bartlett.
'mim74
INDlOESTiON PILLS
87
on for a few minutes. First thin? vou know every-
thmcr will be eaten and you will have nothing- for to-
morrow. • "I say, old man, here is a package of Sweet
Caporals for you-came in my box. " ' " G ive me a taste
of that cake, Silver. " •' Boys, look here ; a whole bi..
truit cake-but there s citron in it; what a pity ^'
" What s this? A tin of condensed milk-Oak brand
That must be from the new factory at home. We'll
try it in the tea this eveninfr.' " Pay attention. y(m
fellows. Here is a box of ci^rars for the crowd, with the
compliments of the barbers of Charlottetown. They
will just ^ro two apiece. Pass them round. •" "Some
one go for the tea, ifs ready. " - Whos orderlv man"'-
"Ah ! here it comes. Dish it out plea.se. • Now. let us
have a proper supper. Say ^race, Silver." "All
rif^ht. Shut up fellows. Oh Lord, thanks awfully. Eat!"-
Then we started, and for the next half hour every-
one was too busy to talk. Scotch cake, fruit cake
doughnuts, tarts, canned meats and fish, bon-bons and
ra,sms vanished as if by magic, and it was not until
one ot the boys looked up, and uttered along-drawn
A-h-h-h ! that we understood how much we had
eaten. Had the people at home onlv seen us then
they would not only have considered themselves
well repaid for their trouble, but would have wished
-as we did-that they had sent more
Our company was the only one in the regiment
which received anything like this, and we found great
pleasure in inviting members of other companies to
oome and see what the little Provinces had sent to their
li
Mr
^ INDIGESTION PIM,S
boys. Some of the others were well supplied with
^I'fferent articles of underclothinjr, had received plenty
money from their own towns and been well treated
m many ways, but when it came to a ffood biy- feed of
the thinjrs they used to eat at home, the underclothes
and money were all forjrotten and the one thought in
their minds was "why didnt our people send some
«Tub mstead of those blooming- socks. "
We enjoyed watchinjr the hunjrrv look in their eyes
as they walked up and down our lines, vainly wishin.r
for an m^itation to come in and have a taste, and the
enjoyment was increased by the knowledjre that while
we had rao-g-ed clothes they had jrood (mes and would
not ffive us any.
The presents as a whole lasted for two davs, and
after that, for about a week, we had at every meal a
small piece of cake from some which had been held
m reserve. Gradually, however, everythiufr disap-
peared, and in a few days the only .sij^s of the pres-
ents that remained were the boxes they had come in
Hut every now and then at supper one of the boys
with that hm^nnjr io„k in his eyes would remark : -'j;
wi.sh we had some more of that fruit cake.""
*!r
■»:-vi®iPf^-.
OUR FRIENDS THE ENEMY.
" His army is a ragged multitude
Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless."
mnK Boer is a coward. No one who ha.s ever bee,,
1 in action ayain.st him can reasonably think-
otherwise. In the mornin,r ,^hen he ,roes out to fi.-ht
hus one prayer to Heaven is that he mav be shown how
he can most treacherously murder our men With a
bandolier, bible, and white fla«-. he takes his position
amonj, the rocks, leavin^r his horse at the foot of the
lull furthest from the British. A Dutchman can hide
himself and find almost ab.solute protection, where a
tSntish soldier would expose his whole body
In person the Boer is-to use a common slan.- ex-
I>re,s.sion-not much to look at. The men, althc.u.^h
tanned by exposure, are usually of a fair complexion
^vith mouse-colored hair and watery blue eyes These
eyes are a distino-uishin,. characteristic of the people
<>rn.ore than any other race, they have the sneaky."
treacherous expression always .seen on the face of 'a
coward. In most cases he dre.sses in a suit of ...ey
homespun, often just as useful as our khaki for aMv
'lenn,. himself invisible in the sunburned ,a-ass of the
veldt. A lijrht slouch hat with a handkerchief wound
round in the form of a pu^aree covers his head, and
40
OUR FRIEXDS TIIK KNK.AH'
If!
.11,
iiil
i
in
his les^s are g-enerally protected by leather le'i'jring's.
Picture to yourself a filthy, ifrnorant-lookinj]^ fellow in
a costume like this, wearinjr over his shoulder the in-
evitable bandolier full of ammunition, in his hand a
Mauser rifle and you will see the Boer as we saw him,
a cowardly cur, belonj^in^ to a civilization of three
hunc^r. \ rs ago, and a cancer on the face of the
earth.
As a fiij^hter the Dutchman most certainly is a suc-
cess in his own way. He knows his country perfectly,
is a g-ood ri''-r- ,]Aes not object to filth, eats any old
thinjj. ana vr's ''■';>. s' when there is the least sifjfu of
daufi^er. Th , ruL i.' -ay kind of warfare is, ''Injure
the . neniy ?.' ■ iruoh o • ssible, with the least loss to
yourself," anJ il pr.^, [i mv« the maxim certainly,
but before it always piace.-^ another, older than the
hills, to the effect that "he who fijfhts and runs away
may live to fljifht another day. '
In practically all the enji^auements in which our
rejjfiment took part, the firins»- was at long" ranj^e, sel-
dom becomin}>- less than three or four hundred yards.
Whenever our firinjif line g'ot to within any decent
ran<re, the main body of Boers fled down the far side of
the hills, mounted their horses, and rode oft' as quickly
as possible to the next suitable position, leaving a few
men ajjainst us to keep up a pretence of firinjif and
cover the retreat of the others. In several cases our
fellows, workin<r towards the position in the ordinary
form of attack, rushed the kopjes with fixed bayo-
nets, only to see on reachinj^ the top the main
vm^«» 7.
OUK FKIKXDS THK KN'K.MV
41
b-Kly „f Boer« a ,„i,e a.ay an,l still ,,„i„. s,„„e-
left behmd, e,ther intentionally <,r by their horses
™nn,„,, away, but in most cases they entirely escaped
us and our only satisfaction ,vas in hearin./fron, the
natives, who saw the enemy in retreat, that they were
carrying, away with them a certain number of killed
and wounded. We have never had a decent chance at
them w,th the bayonet, but have seen others catch
hem^for .nstance, the famous charjre of the Gordons
at Hout Nek. Here we heard the Hi,d,land cheer and
»m,led kno^vinp that althou«h we were not lucky
enough to be in it, the ,.allant Go,-d„„s .ere harin.".
their reven,.e for Ma,rersfontein, To our straining
ears came the shrieks and ,.roans of wounded ..nd
dym,. Dutchmen, and we fairly huf,(,ed ourselves with
dehjrht, each man picturing to hi,n.self the worried look
"n h faces of the Boers as they saw the relentless
tee, draw nearer and nearer. Our greatest hope was
to engage them at close quarters, but the op,x, tunity
never came, for every ti,ne we made a rush they ZZ
J-'one, but we knew that in many cases other regm.el
have got mto the.n, and while we regret our own j."
fortune ,„ this respect, we rejoice th.t the ™rk
wh.ch would have giy.n us so much satisfaction ":
done, and well done, by others
In the battle of Poplar firoye, as an mstance of l,o„.
the Boers ,nanaged to get away, three or four ,ne„
-re left to handle a forty pound gun ,n„unted ol™
l.'rge kopje. com,nandi„g our lin, „f advance. The
42
OL'H FRIKNDH TMK KNKMV
H ''
til
firing" from this gun delayed our column for four hours,
during which time Kruger and Steyn who were
present, were able to flee. In Roman history we read
about Horatius and two companions holding the
bridge against Lars Porsena and his army, but who
can say that the few men who worked that gun on the
big hill might not become just as famous were there a
Macaulay to put in verse the story of their exploit ?
In this particular case our brigade could not march
past that kopje when the shells were dropping all
around, and for all we knew it might have been a trap :
but after a time another battalion of ours — the Shrop-
shires I think,— worked round to the rear, climbed the
hill, and captured the gun. But the damage had been
done. The delay enabled the Boer army to get away,
and for the remainder of the march into Bloemfontein
we fought a continuous rear guard action.
And thus it has been all along: cowardly, tricky and
treacherous, the Boer is not worthy of the British
soldier's steel. A disgrace to Christianity and modern
civilization, he has put up a good fight simply because
he knows the country perfectly, has at his command
any number of natural fortresses, and is a good hand
at retreating. There is no doubt but that, as the
Boers have for years been preparing for this war.
enonnovis quantities both of food and ammunition are
buried throughout the country, and are being drawn
upon from time to time, as occasion requires. But it
cannot last forever, and in a very short time we
may hope to see our army, under the Generalship
-> 'in^
'^'^'mm (M
•^'f Lord Kitchener, thorouo-hlv fitted -mrl • ,
ior the species of .nierill. u-.rf-n ''''''''"''
The extreme mobility of the enemv i ■ f i,
.,,„,,. . -^ '^"'^ enemy is the cause of the
..PIMrent s„cc.»s „f his mov™,e„t,s, but >vith „e„
Wses .n„ p,ent.v „f the„, there is „„ ..aso Z
™. ...valr, could „.,t e„„a,i.e matter, and the fi„er
he .cu,u „f the earth, the thorn in the si„e „f e1 '
l.'n,l. be settle,] once ami forever
■»^k3o.
ir
"SPASMS."
"For spangled nighf does not always spread its
shade for mortals."
/JVN Ntn. Ye.-,i-, nijjht G Company was ,ktaile<l f,„-
uTll , ! '■'™" '" "''"™'" «'•■"■"" ""<' -em
up the hne shortly after five o'clock. The evening,
was clear an,, cool, though not at all unco.n
ftrtable and we anticipated a „uiet ni,*ts duty.
At that t.me of the year the ,,r„„„d became very
hot dunn,. the day, and towards ni,.ht sent up
waves of heat throu,* which the stars seemed
to waver to and fro. The ser<r.-,„t ,•„ ,, '
,. ^"e sergfeant m charije of
us-the same who shook his head so much on Christ-
mas da.y-was of a very nervous disposition, and
..bout e,,,ht o'clock, as a particularly bri.^ht sta
-meup, we noticed his eyes fixed very intently upon
t- «oys, m a hoarse whisper, "the Boers are
sendmg up fire balloons from Ma,.ersfontein. Lo„k !''
Ihat s a star, sergeant."
eyesr'"' °°"'' '"" "™'' ' "'" "^''-'^ "-V o""
^ The man from the permanent corps broke in.
Perhaps one of the angels is smokiuff a ci,.arette or
lighting a match on his hob-nailed boots '
Jm\--^y^mmi4
•«IMK.M»- u
Show t . """"' "' "'"•""« "" ^' '-« '>»ll-«-
billow them where it Is."
The man went, an,l ,-etnrne<l with o„)er.s for the
3'! t„ .H np and watch that the bahoon die,
burn an,- ,„«ulati„n ,.,r the wirele.,« tele..n,„h line.
* *
•St
We were at Paardeberfr when Ladysmith wa^
eheved and were f.elin, pretty miserable. Su,:
P he. were .short and the n,en were almost «tarvi„ ,
wa form"," '"■" '■"'" ""^ """™"- '-^ ''='«^""'"
was formed up on parade. Naturally we thon^^ht that
"ur v,ctory was to be celebrated in some a^.eeabl
~. Perha,. they were ,„in. to give u.s an eTtt
b.scu,t perhaps only half of one ; but every man felt
I that something, pleasant would happen. When
tered 1 -.7 !^ composite regiment had en-
tered I.adysm,th. ■ We were told not to cheer or
make any demonstration- no one knew why-b^ th"
ng What d„, we care about Ladysmith or Buller s
cavalry when we were starving? Why didn^ r
1,'ive us something to eat' Th„ k .. , ^'^
a„,i «, ., ""^ battalion was dismissed
and then the men gave vent to their nent „„ t ,
While »!,« , P°°t up feelings.
While the people at home were wavin,. fl-„r« fl •
each othe.. we cursed Ladysmith and the Boers,
M'>
SPASMS
anatheinized the Army Service Corps for not furnish -
injr more food, abused our officers, and went away to
drink cup after cup of Modder River water with the
enerj^y of despair. And that is how the Royal Cana-
dians celei)rated the relief of Ladvsmith.
*
When the disaster at Sannah's Post occurred, our
brififade was hurried out from Bloemf(mtein, but at
Sprinjrfield, about ei^'^ht miles from the city, quite a
number of the men fell out. Amonjjf these were three
who had been out in that direction before without
haviufjf any fij^htin','" to do, and not expectinjj^ any on
this trip thouirht it quite an unnecessary march.
These three came back to Sprinfjftield camp where some
Life Guards were doinjjf some {garrison duty, and in
order that they mijjht receive }J"ood treatment one of
them pretended that he was suft'erin}.^ from a touch of
sunstroke, and the other two that they were escortinjjf
him back to Bloemfontein. The Guards made a nice
bed of straw in the loft of a barn, loaned the three
Canadians some of their blankets and greatcoats and
shared supper with them. The night was passed very
comfortably, and in the morning the supposed sick man
bluffed the doctor and was ordered into hospital at
Bloemfontein. All were to be sent in on a Red Cross
wagon which was leaving Springfield at nine o'clock.
When the Canadians saw the Kaffirs inspanning the
mules they went down to the spring for the purpose of
tilling their water bottles and forgot to coine back. By
(I
SPAH.MS"
47
the Hide of the stream was a nice yrove in which thev
lay hidden and fr,„n whence they could watch tlie
(iuards searching- the house and barn for them. After
a time the wau-on started and when it was \vell out <.f
sijrht the three made dinner. Rice had beLMi bou«-ht
the day before, each man had lots of biscuit, tea and
su^rar, and they had a fine meal. After dirin^r. s(,me-
one suyjrested a bath, and as such thinj^rs were rare in
tho.se days it was thoroujrhly enjoyed. They dre.ssed
and rambled around amon^r the trees f<,r a few hours
and towards eveniufr strolled back to Jiloemfontein.
Reached camj) alxmt .seven o'clock but could not find a
place to sleep as all their blankets had o-„„e „ut ,.u the
tran.sport wajron with the battali ui. However, the
town was still open, so with a .sovereiyn borrowed from
one of the officers they went in. One of them had
previously spent a ni-ht in the city, .so led the way at
once to a private house wh. . e «-increr beer and cakes
could be bouu-ht and a bed supplied if nece.s.sarv. They
afterwards told that between the three thev" ate twn
dozen cakes and drank nine bottles of beer." Candles
and writing paper were furnished bv the lad- of the
house and the three retired to a room in one" of the
adjoining- buildino-.s. Each man sat up two and a half
hours to keep watch -the time beinjr told bv the length
ot candle consumed -and made the hours seem less
lonff by writinjr letters. At five o'clock next moru-
m^r they left the house and reached camp before
reveille, perfectly satisfied with the knowledge that
they had passed two days and ni«hts in as pleasant
I
4g
si»AK>rs
and comfortable a manner as any of the army haci
ever done.
i
i
ll
* *
Towards the end of Aujrust, DeWet was hoverin>>'
around the railway line in the vicinity of Klip River,
and in consequence of this, we, on the armoured ti-ain.
Were kept Ccmtinually on the move, patrollinjjf the line
from Vereenij^injj to Elandsfontein. The <»-an"isons at
the different stations were weak, and every nifjht we
were sent to some place to assist in case of an attack.
But on Friday, Auj^. 81st, General Chermside found it
necessary to make an inspection of the line from
Elandsfontein Junction to Pretoria, and it was our
duty to escort him. We left Pretoria on the return
journey Friday afternoon and reached Elandsfontein
about 7 p. in. Orders were that our enjjcine was to be
sent to Johannesburjif for repairs, so we were side-
tracked for the niiifht and the eng-ine detached.
As everyone expected, DeWet, knowinjr that we
Were well out of the way for that niy^ht at least, held
lip a train, and early next morninjif we were hurried
down to the scene of action, — about four miles south
of Klip River. Of course we were too late. The Roers
had taken all the stuff they wanted, set fire to the
train and hurried off to the hills on either side of the
line. When we arrived the whole was a mass of
Haraes but throujrh the smoke we saw that .several
Carloads of food were still almost uninjured. Immed-
iately after our train stopped most of our men were
sent awav on observation duty to jruard afjainst an
m»^ '^-^^^ A
*■ spasms'
40
attack, and the remainder put on Fatijrue uorU on the
burning- train. After haulino- off the cars all the stutr
they could jret at, our men decided that some of it
would be far safer if stowed away in our own cars and
at once proceeded to dispose of it in this way. Here-
upon a .sentry was placed over the yoods with orders
that no unbroken cases were to be touched, but in the
smoke it was almost impossible for the sentry to see
what was beni-r done, even had he wished to do so.
and thus the accidental fallinjr and consequent break-
injr of a case was never noticed.
In our car, which carried the rations, only one man
had been left, and he was not of much account as a
forajrer, but manay-ed to jrather in a little. Abcmt an
hour after the fun be^an he came out to where we
were on duty and made us almost wild by the stories
he told of the jrreat quantities of jam, mutton chop.s,
etc., which were bein<r acquired by the other cars.
We abused him for not layino- in a supply for us, and
his answer was that he was only one man, and could
not be expected to do much, but that he had carried
down a few tins of jam-four or five hundred-and two
or three cases of mutton chops. This made us feel a
little better, and when in a few hours we were re-
called, and each man brouoht down about a hundred
tins more we were quite satisfied.
Our train pulled out shortly afterwards and for the
next three weeks we remained on it doing- grarri.son
duty at Klip River. From Sept. 1st Jam Saturdav-
until we were well out to sea on our wav home, there
50
SPASMS
1^
was lots of jam. Every evening when the Johannes-
burfr Exprsss came past our men were carryinjj out
armfuls of it for the troops g-oinf*- down the line. At
each meal a pile of tins were put on the floor of the car
for g-eneral use and in a few days everythin{jf was
covered with jam. The sides of the cars were so
smeared that a loaf of bread fluno- against them would
almost stick there. This state of affairs attracted flies
and at times we almost regretted that the stuff had
ever been brought in. Our feelings were well des-
cribed by the immortal Peterson in the following lines:
" Flies in the butter.
Flies on the ham,
Flies on Bobby Graham s face
Walking in the jam,
Flies buzzing round your ears
And in your nose and eyes.
But we're having such a jolly time
We don't mind flies."
But we were glad of it afterwards, for when we started
down the line we carried with us several hundred tins,
and succeeded in getting one lai-ge box on board the
ship. Tins of it adorned our mess table, the envy of
other companies, and while they were eating soggy
bread without anything to make it more palatable, we
spread on it the strawberry, gooseberry and apricot,
and ble.ssed DeWet, the armoured train and Jam
Saturday,
.^^%?«l* (,
FIVE MINUTES ON AN ARMOURED TRAIN.
•' Brief life is here our portion."
@UR train was not of the regulation pattern, but
as a proper one was not available, it had been
built by General Chermside to i)atrol his section of
the line -from Kronstadt to Pretoria. It was com-
posed of an armoured en<rine, officers' coach, jruards
van, three low-sided box cars,-one for the pom-pom
or Vickers-Maxim, the others each carryinjr two
Ross-Maxims.— three roofie.ss box-cars for the rifle-
men, a van for the tele<rraph corps of engineers, and
a small flat-car with tank containinjr our emerjrency
supply of water. The armour with which all the
cars, excepting enj^ineers' and water tank, were pro-
tected, consisted of heavy sheets of steel plate backed
by six inches of oak,— perfect protection from bul-
lets, but of course useless ajrainst shell tire. Throujrh
this armour port holes were cut in the sides and
ends of the box cars, and it was only by the entrance
of a bullet throujrh these that a man could be hit,
unless indeed, we happened to come under fire at
the foot of a hill, where the Boers mijrht be able
to drop their lead in the top of the car.
The e.scort to the train was : five men and an
officer for the machine <run, fourteen Ross Maxim.
52
FIVK .MINriTKS ON AN A K,M( ilUKI) TKAIN
squad and officer for the (juick-firinjr jruns; and sixty
men with officer, of the Royal Canadians, as riflemen.
Our party was divided as follows : No. 1 Car, thir-
teen men. one corporal, one serj>eant and one color-
serjjfeant ; No. 2, twenty men. (me corporal, one
ser^reant ; No. a. twenty-one men and one cor])orai.
No. 1 Car carried the stores a-, well as men. and ir;
it we lived, moved and had our heinj.r, from July 20th
until September 25th. It was an ea.sy job-we used
to say the snap of the whole war,— and while there
the men refrained all the flesh they had lost on the
march to Pretoria. In the evcninjr.s we u.sually
gathered in the car to talk about the war, and what
we would like to eat; and were a stranjrer to drop
in suddenly he mijrht have found the conversation,
if not very instructive, at least amusinir.
•' Weary, let s challenjre them to a ^arne of whist."
"All ri^rht. come on, you fellows."
"Oh, no you dont. Go and <ret some marbles
or .some easy, little y-ame. and we will play you.
There is no use in beating- you all the time."
"Chee.se it, for Heaven's sake! You know quite
well we have Avon every frame this week."
"You have won? Why, last nijrht our little man
and I had six points before you <»-ot— "
"Some son of a jrun has swiped my canteen.
Which of you fellows took it? Dont all speak at
(mce. If I catch the man who took it. Ill— "
" I saw a canteen drop over the side just as we
pulled out of Vereenijriny. What was yours like ? "
11
i!
.■^"%w*i (.
VIVK MIM'TKS (»N AN AH.MOURKl) TKAl.V
53
'■ Had two dents on the side and my name cut
in the bottom. Some of you fellows lend me one
for a few minutes."
"Fweddy, jro on and make a little drop of tea.
Sandy will jrive you .some sa.y-ar. ""
" Make it yourself. "
•■Til ^ro for the water if you make the tea:
come on now, and 111 never forjret your kindness—
not for a lonjr time anyway."
" Pass the jam I
"Hand me s(mie of that hot stuH'. Silver. i)lease. '
''Ccmie and <jfet it yourself. I'm not working- to-
day."
*' Pass the jam I ! '"
''Well, let me pass then. You don't mind if 1
step on you. father, do you ? Gosh ! There jroes
Silver's tea ! That's what little boys jret for not
being- obliy-ing-. ' '
"Oh! There comes Trouble a^'-ain : every time
we sit down he bejjfins wanderinfr round like a lost
sheep. Why in—?"
"Pass the jam! !! "
"Say, someone, kindly hand our little boy some
jam. Here, darlin<r, have a whole tin for yourself.
Have two tins. Catch !"-^Bitn Splash! and another
canteen of cort'ee runs over the floor.
"Well, of all the clumsy brutes ever I saw you
take the cake ! "
"But supposing- Ruller does o-et to Lydenbury.
he will lose half his men with fever and--"
'^ J ^5^
54
KIVK Ml.MTKS ON AN AR.MOI RKI) TRAIN
"For {Toodness sake stop talkin{r war, and jrive
us something- to eat. Heavens! My bread is ffone.
Sandy, ^nve me to-morrow's rations, like a g-ood boy;
oh, please do. and 111 never ask you ag-ain."
Another man conies climbin<r into the car with:
"Look out for me, Fm a coming- g-eneration. Did
you fellows hear the news?"
"Yes, we heard it longr ajro, what is it ?"
"The Royal Irish say that Ladysmith is relieved."
" Very likely, isn't it? Just about as true as the
yarn those Northumberlands were frivinfr us at
Vereenig-ing-— that Cronje had surrendered."
"Well! anyway, DeWet is .surrounded below Rhe-
noster. and can't escape."
"Sandy, will you please count tho.se marks on
the side of the car just over your head, and tell
us how many times DeWet has been captured?"
"But you knew her, didn't you? Thev lived on
Pownal Street, between Grafton and Richmond. Her
sister worked in—"
"As u.sual. Talking about g-irls. "
"Say, Fweddy, what is your idea of Heaven?"
"Haven't g-ot any."
"Oh ! Fweddy ! That is too bad. You should g-et
an idea at once. No family should be without one.
What's yours, Silver ? "
" Eh ! Oh ! Mechanics Hall, — at the piano,
and HER. ' '
"Well an.swered. my boy, but ju.st change the
name of her, and you come about rigrht."
FIVK MIMTKS OX AN AK.MOl RKI) TRAIN
i);)
**What would you jrive for a ^-ood feed of oysters
now ? ' '
"Shut up! don't talk about oysters to me. My
little man, please pass the pressed chicken, and if
you have any lemon pie left — ah, none left: well
then, another hard tack will do."
"What's the latest about going- home. Gadg-et ? "
"Nothing."
"Come on, now, tell us the latest telegram."
"I'll watch it. Last time I told you the news
vou would not believe it and it came straight, too.
I'll carefully watch telling you any more news."
A loud shout from outside : ' ' Fweddy ! Fweddy !
Here is the Johannesburg express, and there are
girls on it too. Hurry up!"
A wild rush over the sides of the car ; the train
pulls up, stops for a moment or two, and then steams
off. The boys scatter over the veldt; some to play
quoits: others to talk to the Royal Irish; the cars
are deserted, and the excitement of the dav is over.
^i^-»
OUR CHUMS-THE GORDONS.
" Scots wha" hae wi' Wallace bled."
TN the British army there are five re-iments u-hich
1 wear kilts, the Camerons. (Jordons, Seaforths
Forty-Second or Royal Hio-hlanders, and the Arjryle
and Sutherlands.
Another corps, the Hiu-hland Liyht Infantry, wore
the kilt at one time but lost it at Waterloo. ' There
are different stories current in the army re-ardinn-
this event, but no one seems to know the true
reason. One story is that, beinjr in a tijrht corner,
they dropped the kilts in order that they mijrht be
freer to fijrht. But some say that it wa.s that thev
mio-ht run away the more easily. This last is not .so
likely to be true as the first, because the Highland
Reo-iments are not as a rule trained to run away.
However, the rhyme common in the army is :
" The H. L. I., the crazy crew.
They lost their kilts at Waterloo""
The Hi.irhland Brijrade, which was formerly com-
tnanded by General Wauchope. but now by Hector
MacDonald, is formed of the H. L. I., the Seaforths.
Ar^ryle and Sutherlands, and the 42nd-the famous
Black Watch. In the South African campaiy-n the
.^^P4ii^
OUR Clir.MS— TIIK noKDONS
;>(
Cameron Hifjfhlanders were attached to the 21.st Bri-
j^-ade with the Sussex, Derbys and ('. 1. Vs., and
the Gordons or "Gay Gordons,' as they are sar-
castically called, were with us.*
We saw them fii'st at Oranjjfe River when we
wei"e buildinjr railroads. They marched from their
camp to entrain for M odder Kiver. and as we stood
and wzitched them \>o past with their lonjr. loose
stride we thoujrht what tine-looking'' men they were
and tried to imaj^ine how they would look in a fijjfht.
After that we never met them ajruin until the IHth
of February, when we were brijraded. and started
from Graspan on the march to Bloemfontein. In
line of column the reifiments form from rijjfht to
left in order of seniority, so that our briy-ade marched
and camped with the Shi'opshires on the rij^ht, then
Corn walls, Gordons and cmrs. This fcn^maticm made
us far more friendly with the "Jocks" than we
might otherwise have become, but another reason for
the stranjre friendship was that the Gordons have
no sister refij^iment in the army. Of course they are
the wives of the Scots Greys, but the Greys are a
mounted corps, and were not in our division, so the
(rordons were all alone. The fact that we were in
the same state formed a bond between us and it is
seldom that two bodies of men from different parts
of the world become such true friends as the "Jocks"
and " Canucks."
*'rhis article only tak^.•^, into account liic- l)atlaliuii> with which we came in
contact.
.JH
(ll'll CIllMS — rilK (i(HU>0.\S
I
On the march to Pannleberfj they were at first
both anjjfry and anuised at the way wc acted.
While actually on the road oiir fellows moved alon^r
with such a lon<ji stride that the other re<ifiments
found it very hard to Ut-e)) up. and. in fact, (m the
morninjr oi the fourth day. instead of allowinj^- our
battalion to set the pace. Smith- Dcn-rien called out :
'"The Brigade will advance in line of column, the
rioRDoN Hi(iiii,A.\i)i:!is directiny." And then they had
tlieir revenjiv. for towards evening' when we were
iifettiny pretty well used u]). what slKUiId we hear
but the whole bunch of pii)ers startinjr the '" White
Cockade." The step (piickened in time to the music,
but if the (lordons thoujjht we were H'oinjjf to be
left they were much mistaken, for our men went
akm^" as thoujjh it were only the beyinnin}>- of the
walk instead of the end. We finished in fine style
and came in to the haltinjjf-place witliout a sij^n of
fatiyue. althoutrh we were all feelinj.>- played out.
Then to g"et square with the others who were just as
tired as we were, our boys .started sinj>-in<»" and danc-
ing while supper was beintj cooked. That settled the
lousiness, for the Gordons thouoht that men who could
march as we had done and seem so fji^ay afterwards
were all rijrht and would make g^ood companions.
Fi-om that time until the end of the job one could
scarcely tell when in bivouac which was our rejjfi-
ment and which the Gordons for they were always
over talkinjif to us, and our men of course returned
the calls. Thinj^s went on in this pleasant way until
OIH (III MS— ■'UK (i(»RI)()NS
after tht^ first day's (ij^ht at Paardeberfr, when their
jrotKl ()i)ini()ii of lis was increased if jxissible by the
way our boys acted under fire. The feeling- thev held
for the '-Indians ■' is well sh')wn in a story told of
a Cornwall and Gordon. In the fi<rht of February
IHth, the Cornwalls were held in reserve until the
middle of the afternoon while we were in the firin»-
line all day, and the Cornwalls accounted for this
by sayinjr that they were kept back in ca.se the
Canadians miy-ht run away. "What?" was the
(Gordon's answer. '• You keep the Canadians from
running- away, why man it would take more than
sixteen of your bloomin/jf lot to keep the Canadians
from y-oinm- back a step.
On our side as well as likinu- the (Jordons l)()th
personally and as a battalion, we admired them. In
an army like the British, where every man is a
hero, it is ahnost foolish to say that any one rej,nment
is braver than another but there are different styles
of bravery. The ordinary British soldier will face
death as calmly as thou;jfh he were >»'oin<»- to dinner,
but the Gordons were always happy as well as calm
and never kxst their heads. On one occasion when
they made a bayonet charoe at Doom Ko]> the
Dutchmen lay behind rocks waitinjr for them and
calling- (mt all kinds of abuse. An officer of theirs
tells that in the charge he saw a biy sergeaut finishing
a man with a Ixiyonet and heard the Boers shout-
ing to him "Come on, you gfi-eat big- woman, come
(m, we wait for you."' And the .serg-eant answered.
:
(iO
<»l K (111 .MS TIIK (i(»HlioXH
"Hoot, mon I Dinna fear. Til be there a lot too soon
for you. " He was shot throuirh the head a few
seconds later.
In rej,''ard to former campaijifns they have very
little to say. Any one will tell you what sort of
a country Ejrypt or India is. but when it comes to
an account of any of their entjatifements they ;ire
silent. They alway say that too much prai.se was
jjfiven to them for the charijfe at Darjjfai, and state
that the other battalions did all the hard tijji'htinjjf
i>efore they took any ])art in it.
But even a sim])le statement like this cannot V)e
yot out of them easily. They are not boasters by
any means and look u])on others as just as ^innl
men as themselves. One evening"", on the march to
Pretoria, after we had finished a fairly stiff enjj^aj^'e-
inent in which the brunt of the work fell to the
(Gordons, we were lyinjjf in bivouac when they came
marchinjif back to take their place in column. They
looked worn out. tired after the d.ay .s work, and
were not in the best of spirits as they had lost a
jrood many men. biit ju.st as the first of their line
reached us our men burst into one loud, rinjrinjjf
cheer. At first the "Kilties" did not seem to under-
stand what it meant, but when they saw that it
was they we were cheerinjr a remarkable chanj^e
came over them. Rifles went up to the .slope, their
step quickened, chests were thrown out and the
battalion went past as if on review before the Queen.
Then as the other re.sjfiments in our brifjfade noticed
oni Clir.MS TIIK (KtltltOXS
(H
vvh;it was jr„injr „„ they took up the cheerin^r and
wild "Hurrahs- ran down the line. It was as ^rreat
an honor as could be paid to any corps— to be cheered
by their own companions, and they well deserved it.
One of them speakin^^ about it afterwards said that
it was the happiest moment of his life and that if
the Canadians only knew how much trood it had
done they would always feel pleased with themselves.
When we left them there were tears in many
eyes and .sadness was felt on both .sides, but throujrh
it all we were proud that it had been our privilej^e
to march and fiyht beside such men. Expre.s.sions
of rejrret were heard on all sides and more than
once has one of them told us that he felt far
worse at partinj^ from the Canadians than he did from
his own folks at home. We felt the .same.
As tijrhters they are perfect. As men the whole
Firitish army should be proud of them and as friends
n(me could be truer or more kind hearted.
(~)ur battalion has been di.sbanded. and as a fij^ht-
inir unit we will never more meet the Hi^rhhinders.
They may forget us— I think nt)t -but one thin^^
sure is, that no man of the Royal Canadian Rejri-
ment will ever fory-et or fail to admire-not the
(iay, but the '>rand Gordons.
*
We've wandered mony a wearv fit
Frae morninfr sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roard
Sin' auld lan},>- syne.
11
HOW WE ANNIHILATED THE TURK.
•'A perfect creature, nobly planned."
p was at Wo.vehoek in the Oran^re River Colony
I that we first saw the bird, and surelv ''never
iM^hlea on this orb a more celestial vision. - We
had just co„.e in iron. Heilbron, and were feelin.r
quite happy after a severe enjra,.ement with a herd
ot sprin,rbok which resulted in a complete victorv
1 heSouth Wales Borderers were doin^ .arrison dutv
at Wolvehoelc. and in some manner best known to
himself one of them had commandeered or otherwise
acquu-ed a fine lar«-e turkey. At any time in the
campai,rn turkeys were a rare sio-ht, but to our
astonished eyes here appeared a regular beautv-for
that ountry to produce -wei,.hino- at least twelve
IKHinds.
,,, ""^' ^^'"'"^ '''' t'^ ^^^t possession of the fowl v
that was the point that troubled us. and for a time
•^) 'nnuls were concentrated on the all-important
subject. As the affair turned out we need not have
troubled ourselves about it, for the S. W. B's con-
sidered a turkey supper far beyond their wildest
dreams, and .such extrava^^ance could not be thou-^ht
ot for a moment. Under the.se circum.stances the
••"'y thin.r for them to <lo u-as to dispose of the
bird by auction ,„■ otherwise. S„ ,vheu we arrived
they were Ixoldinj, an ar,.ume„t a.s t., the respectivj
i|dva„ta«e» of .-,„ auction or hrttery. The latter
ncthod wa. decided upon, and they i.nmediatelv
»t,u-te<. .elhn. tici.et.s at .sixpence each-twentv-flve
t.Jcets to be „„!<,. which wonhl ^.ive then, b;tter
returns than a strai,.ht .sale. Our fellows, with a
y recollection of „,„-ti„,e Christmas dinners, all
hat hey d,d not decide to buy the whole t,ve„tv-
hve, but before this could be done our little man
had clo.sed with the owner of the turic an,l secured
for ten or twelve shillings. It was borne in
mp to the car and hun. .p on a pe. in one
■-nd, wlule the crowd sat round and o,,.„l open-
'""uthed at such a vision. '
w.:\o"r"f "" •" """' "'*' "■ ^•"""■""- "■'-'
v>as to be ,l,me, and we appointed three men a
c,.mm,ttee of ways and n.eans. who were to treat
'"' .•■'■;■"""' ""■"'■■'-' ^'" <"™» at any station where
:::;7"' ^""' '"■• •' f«» "ours. ,.■„,. ,„.o .,avs ti,
b huu, .,,teinthe end of our car, arnon,
b es of b,.scu.t, bully.beef and .Maconochies rations
uutU ,u .son,e ndu.ls came the fear that unle.ss we
n foun a chance for cooldn,. it n,i,ht liKe riches,
take to ,tselt wi„,,s. for at that tin.e of vear tl,;
2 "•- 'varraer than is absolutely neces'sarv for
the preservafon of food. fJut jus, as though our
. eral Knew what was passin, ,„. „,„.„;„,„,,,
came tor us to nn>,-..M/i ♦ i"i-
puK.vd to \il,„en.s Orift on the
J' 1
.'t 1
6-4
now WK ANNIIIir-ATKl) TIIK TURK
h }
banks of the Vaal — the one place on the whole line
which we would have chosen had such been our privi-
lej^e. In Viljoen's was a military bake shop, in
which worked some very decent fellows belonjjfing' to
the 5th Northumberland. They, we knew, would
consider it no trouble to roast the turkey for us,
but would rather feel pleased with the thouj^ht
that while they were livin<jf on beef, another part
of the army could indulge in turkey. Suddenly in
the midst of our rejoicinjr an awful thin},'" happened.
Someone — it is better not to mention names — .suj,*"-
•rested that it mififht be an improvement on the
supper if the bird were drawn and dressed. Let
a veil be drawn over the first part of the opera-
tion. Our next consideration was what we were to
use for dressinjif. Many su^jfjcestions were offered, but
the mixture decided upon, and which any one of
the boys can heartily recommend to persons desiriny
a recipe for dressinfj, was as follows : — Two army
biscuits, finely powdered with a pom-pom shell, one
loaf of bread crumbled as well as possible with the
hands (our bread was too fresh and turned out
lumpy), one packet of mixed spice, half pound of
breakfast bacon partially fried, as much lard or any
old sort of <,'"rease you can raise, two tins of Mac-
onochie rations No. 4, with meat extracted, salt,
pepper, etc. to ta.ste. This must be well mixed in
a bucket, moistened with one half pint of water
and f(mr rations of rum, and used as soon as pos-
sible. Our little man held the fowl between his
•.iir^'t
II' >W WK ANMim.ATKI. TlIK TIMK (jf,
knees, the corporal inserted handfuls of the mixture
and the strono- man-who has been used to artillery
work-rammed home with the handle of a bavonet.
The cavity was closed by punching, holes in each
side with the marlinspike on our ammunition knives
and sewin,r up with a strand of twine, taken from
the su,rar ba,r. While this was .oin,. on, our commit-
ee previously appointed had paid a visit t(, the
'>ake shop and on returnin«- reported that cmr sup-
positions were correct, the bakers bein<, quite wiUin.-
o undertake the task. So, with an oat ba. wrapped
ound him as a protection from the .sand storm
then ra^nn,r. we carried all that remained of the
once proud cobbler to the shop, and with u.anv
instructions as to turnin. etc., handed him <n-er to
the cooks, not without mis,nvin<.s as to his safety
but hopm,. for the best. We were told to ccnne
back at seven o'clock and take delivery of the bird
The hours pas.sed .slowly. I cant remember ever
spendin,. such a Ion,, evenin,.. and one woul.l have
hou,.ht that .some of the men had lost their best
trends. On most faces was that hungry look usually
betokenino- a lon.nn,. for the indefinite. ()„e nr,u
m particular .sat with open mouth and wide staring-
eves, ^a.in^ at vacancy, till son.e person inserted
•between his teeth a piece of biscuit. Then the
laws came toirpfht.,. ,„;+i, .. , .
expression
on his face was like that of
a pleasant dream, and
dream true. But in
i>ne who has been h:
■sudden 1
ivinj.i-
y awakes to find the
an instant the ex
pression
i;ii
now \\K Awmii.A ii.() iiiK 11 i:
cliaii<^"e(l : the bisouit (ln>])|»e(l on tlu' (ioor. :[\u] witli
a >m(>theiv(l " Damn !" tin' poor soldier cliinbjd out
ol tlu" oar and wt-iit to soothe tiis injured t\'elinL!>
with a ciii';irette.
I>nt no two lionrs can last forever, and >^"ra(hiallv
the hands of tlie coriyoral s w.'tcli approaclied the
appointed time We (."aUed upon all the hoys to foi'ui
lip. and with a (piiids. firm stt.']) walked over to the
oake snoi)
Tl
lere
lav the turkev. on tlu
COVi^'l" ol
a diekshee. a lovely brown eolor and sendinii" out a
p 'rtunie far njire i)L'asinn- tlian aiiy atlai' ol' looses
could havi' been. The Color isloke raided aloft over
his lu\ad the cover coidainnii;- our darlini^-, aud we
formed in line. In front marched the i)and an
accordeoii ])laved i)V — . next. ( 'oloi-> with tin.'
i»ird. and then thirteen of us headi'd by tlu' c<ir])oral.
The Dead .Nhirch is not allowed to l)e ])laved on serv-
ice, and at anv rate we woidd lia\e found it too
mourn ful foi" >uch a hap]iy occasion. !)ut we had the
'■ CoiKpierinL;' Hero. ' ■■.Ma])le l^eaf. and " Ihatish
I i i-enadiei"s, " In triuini)h we marched to the cai"
and climlied over tin.' side. I>v mutual consent the
ciirp(>i-al was chosen to do the carvinjj. and it was done
in a manner onlv ac(piired bv loiii;" experience'. Then
of course, our little man, as owner i»f the bird, was
called upon to >erve it. It was an e.vcitiuL:' nioiu.-nt.
for after evi.'ry one had receivei a sliare. w.' waited
ai sirspeuse to heai" what name would follow the
inevitable '" \nu oidv L:(»t .1 small share, iiaxe some
more .
■„-i!f^*,>
""^^ ^^l-: AXMUM.ArK/. ■
I'liK rruK
^ '"' '»^"^-'«si,.n lor „,,,,.), .
ui (lo not su])|)(,se th-if- if f I
.ninut..s to ,at our ' '" ^'''''^'
'"■^■'•O'. and not to l,e nrul '^^ ^■''-' " "
-as,i.,.n tu-oi.,-. ,■ ' --•" -^ so each n.an
the ,>an.,L ,: '^: "^^^ ^' "-'"• -^<^ '" this ..v
">vr to „ur litH. tlH- m,„„.v „,!» |,,-„,.|,,|
.U,tv „ ' , Z '^ "'" "■•■ '■ '"-■•"' "•"■
... , . ' "^^'^ '"■■'" n.st^ to n.:.k-.. •. ,>
^iK'x'ch in ,-(M,|v t,> , . ~ ^" ■""'''■ •' ^'i<"-t
who
after
'""■ "tte^an^t^ oou,^,
'■ ""^^' '^ ^^-^'^ "-arlv |,,,,tin,.. s
spivad in tht
<| ')laiil\\'t>
cai-.
pixF
ajKl
<.^rrt"(l
tht
also ontside
anoth
i^r Wf
^■■'••""Hl to a hard \\
l>v th
OSf
oor.
av d
''ours tht
own t(
•'"'y sound to Iv I
' slt't-|). an
'■"ow u-onid t
''-■ard \va>
urn
<i in a
u'htni
( )nt
r t^ w
S,
o\vr in hi
some
IV
old man. if y
SK't'l)
\ou can snai-
"■■'vni- another juece of th
e it. I
•tud remark.
\\onld not mind
t" oreast.
pv
'Hi
n
P^
DID WE LIKE IT?
"Everything is mere opinion."
as an experience, Yes. As a year pleasantly
spent, most emphatically. No ! There was not
much to like about the trip and few of our men
would care for the experience a seccmd time. None
of us would willin^rly have missed it, but havinjr seen
practically all there is to be .seen in a war we are
«iuite content now to let others try it. We have
fcujrht, marched, and starved ; have seen battle's- -
lots of them-in .so far as one really in action can see
.1 battle ; have performed the sad duty of buryinj."
our comrades : have been witnesses of brilliant bayo-
net charjres and have attempted the same thiny-
ourselves. We know what it is to stay awake on
outpost duty with nerves strained to the utmo.st ten-
sion thnmo-h the " lonely watches of the ni«-ht ■
hstenino- to every sound no matter how faint and
searching- the darkness for any sicrn of a treacherous
foe.
We have worn clothinjr in such a tattered state
that it could not be said that we were dressed, but
only pai-tially covered.
The filth was abominable, and water to wash even
our hands and faces was rarely seen on the march.
:sr^^^
^^.
I>ID WK LIKK IT ? gjj
Many of our men suffered from fever, few have
escaped sickness in some form or other, and is it
stranjre that we did not see much fun in this '? One
experience we were denied, and happily so-we were
never defeated in action, so cannot tell what it feels
like.
The o.mntry throuj,* which we marched was raon-
"tonous. In the Oranfre River Colony the soil is dry
and sandy with plenty of rock mixed amon^r it A
™nburned .rass intermin^.led with stunted Karroo
bushes forms a coatin^r over the veldt, and kopjes,
heaps of round iron-stones, piled one upon another
as over Giants' ..raves,' ri.se abruptly from the
but althou,.h we spent a g-ood part of our time in
that country we saw nothino- but mealies and citron
Of course around the farm-houses where there is
any attempt at irri,.ation, we found small vegetable
srardens, but none of any account.
Wood is almost unknown, and all the houses are
bmlt of mud or c„rru,.ated iron. The homesteads
themselves nestle in the valley between two kopjes
t.r»t the .stone walls forming, kralls for sheep or oxen'
then the farmhouse, a square, one-storied buildin.
usually of white-washed mud, with rou^h thatched
root and at a short distance a number of Kaffir huts
Over ,such a country as this we tramped for weeks'
footsore and weary, bothered by flies, short of water'
and hun,.ry. We suffered both from the direct rays
■>f the sun and the heat radiated from the earth
(0
1 1 W K
11'
aj.';tinst wliii-li latter
protci-tioi). ()iii- t'l'c't
otii" lii'lniets w
i'i\' ()
Course riip
Wfl-f
blist
^"i-c froin rluniiuat
fivd. limits stiff ai]((
111' ufiwht of ,,1
sin. and our -shoulders chaft
l)V
niucli pleasure in this a?
"■ •'Miiipiiient. Theie was not
in a little summer stroll at
iionu'
W'v Would also I
lave greatly preferred a clean bed
m Canada to some of ilu. spots on which
we
uir few short lion
l"s of |-est. In t
inr,' of war.
^pent
sieei)-
my
acconmiodations ai'
Usual plan was to
i- very primitive, and tl
around on tlu
le
■>eai-i-|i of
some htti
space les-
avinsj' found what wa,-
yround m
ii'n])y than the rest.
cotisidei-ed a suita
)ie
we s])re;id our blankets an
■^pot
middl
.\
ay down I'ntil tht
)V\\
we had
'<>'" each man
i-a.i,'yvd blaida-t and a ^1
while in 15!
lari- oi a laibber
one
heet.
-mall
but
oemlontein n
the remaind
Comfort.
I'w ones were i.ssued. and for
er ol
th(
.||>l> we enjoyed comparative
tw
Our company, with tli
" in tents at Hloemlont
e e.\
ceptioii of a nio-lit
or
s. were ue\er un
in houses at S])rinn
•lannary L'2nd until October 1;
we had the oitportnnity of test
oni. and about tw
o wee
• liffcrent kinds of
der cover from
t. f)urin<)- this time
in«^- the (|ualities of
sou 111 r
I'li'
ard to their abilitv t
ii-nish conilort at ninht. and tl
le unaniiiuui
.f
o
s decision
"iir iiu'ii IS that
far the best. On
a .li'ood bin- p
ya-a.ssv
rou
)ne ot rctcks is bv
nd which, by the wav.
IS usnallv
and the who!
xinipy on,, is compelled to lie straight
e weiiiht of
<uie
l)0(
y C(unes on the
••sIlOllM.M-s .111(1 hip. iJut (.
■^i<iliriil iiaiidlirin- ,,1' t
Itracticc. to work- t
♦^^•tM-v jiart tak.-s ii
tlli^ way romlurt i> i
" •' '"'Mvi'-. it is ..a,,v. I)v
i>* nu-ks. only ai-(|iiir
•I'lwii aiiioiiu- th,
If lto(|\-
<■<! iiy lonj.'-
Ill so t hat
"'\vii •^han- of il
u- WfiLiiit. 1 1
'|"<I a suit,
">iii\'(|. and if th
tl'lt-' stollf f
L-'Tfatlv ill
"I" a pillow 1
ori'ast'd !)v
f sift'|)cr can
It' roiiifoi-t i<
planiin his an
i'I>"ii it and thii- t
" ill a hriit posit
on
'"■"•"in- a iv>t lor tl
'^vfii this luaniur ,,r
;i-^ plt-asant as in a "
"■ lu-ad. |5iiv
p''iid,iin- a njuht
is not (jiiite
• HKi iH'd at
X
lloiilc
!'!■ \va.-
oiir
'I'litf trill' that
a coininn- to him "
I'lil t) h.tv!
ar
"■'h'ii Toiiiiii
y .yi't,-
it i-
all that'.
t roni)
11*' has niori' t
't' IS that
lan rnou;j-h. Put t
lu- dot
not n-ft it
nil (lav
meat.
IT
'•••itioii consists of .Mtlu-r I
w^yy ol'tiMi. T
''• l>iilly. or i tin M
iiH'at (»r
iCdiiochif rat
ll)s fiv.l,
ions with
Diillv
I 11). Vfyetal
!>• nix-ad or
'h-'^ is issut.'d : |
t wii
f a ut'tdx
■uit. usually the latter
.i^'iii laiin ditto.
<>Z. C(
)ti
ee
<'>^- suyar a IK
addition to th
I II' jam
pt-i' day.
I'i^'iit.v pepper and salt.
"/. tea
IS. ch
twii
eese or haeoii
<■' a Week, tw
"lay l)e dra.\vn
f<|i''il to a
piarter
" -^<>H-(^s of either beiiiu- eoiisideivd
pound
IJiit it \va>
meat.
that
ratioi
"Illy uhij,. on tl
\V(.' n-, ,t thi-
ll' aniKuired tr;
I in
amount
ol loo(|
is wer
At other 1
line
•' y^-yy short
aiis for I
<'iii<l we had to tr
y all sort?
Willi
)Urn- We n-ot on
^''t'pinn- up ,,„,. streii-ih. \Vh
at
e (,
npfiil
^•om p,^r day, and found it
"' ""'HI- <'f half erushed
.\.>
almost inii
"'^itt^''- of fact I mvself I
• ■>SSll)|f t
O LOO I
!a\'e L:(>lle to t
le
72
DM) WK 1,1 KK IT :
refuse pits and after (11<,''.i,'"iti^'' up sheepskins have
piclted from them the little lumps of fat which had
come away from the bodies durinjj the skinninjf
process, and used that fat to fry tlie cakes made
from the mealies.
Often on the march we came across patches of
citron, half ripe, and filled up on them. But they
were .sickening" thinjrs, and we jjfrew to hate the
sijjfht of the stuff even in fruit cakes. This food
was not equal to what we mij^ht be ealinj,'" at home.
Very few Chinese laundries accompany tlie British
army, and consequently we found it ditlicult to keep
clean. Often the boys who had any underclothes
would take them off and wash them in a river or
pool, only to find on returninjr to bivouac that we
were j'l'ettinf,'' ready to move ajjain. Then the wet
clothes were put on, and after a few hours' marcliiny
through du.st became as dirty as ever.
But in spite of all these discomforts there is a
strong- attraction in the life of a soldier. Where
can one meet a finer class of men than in the
British army, or where find more excitement than in
battle ? The very worst hai'dships only served to
teach us how to appreciate comfort when we aj^ain
found it. Many times throu<rhout the campaicfn did
we wish ourselves back in Canada, but never was
anyone sorry for havinfj come to Africa. We all
knew that the experience was worth the hardship.
Among our men now, however, the general opinion
is that one campaign is enough for any ordinary
<^^'
'»ll' WK UKK IT ?
73
'"•I" : and that, althoujrh the fi.rhtin.r • •. •
^^tn-n,. within us. the next tim T ' " ''''
Canada for F.rek.n s ^' ''""""" '^''^^'^'^
fied to t u '' ''' ^"•" ^^^ 'l"'te satis-
^-' to stam, w,th the ..nall lx,v on the street
-rners and shout mth all our .ni.^ht :
0<»i. .Savk Thk Kin,,,
^^