The Young Colonists: A Story of the Zulu and Boer Wars
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"If theyshould happen to hit one of our horses, it would be all up with us.Dismount, Tom, as soon as you are over the rise."
As soon as they were out of sight of their pursuers, they reined uptheir horses and dismounted. They again made the animals lie down, and,throwing themselves behind them, rested their rifles upon them.
The Boers, they had noticed, were not all together--two of them beingabout fifty yards ahead of the others. At full speed the leadingpursuers dashed for the rise; as they came fairly in view, they were butfifty yards distant. The lads and their horses were almost hidden inthe long grass, and the Boers did not for a moment notice them. Whenthey did, they instantly reined in their horses, but it was too late.
The lads had their rifles fixed upon them, the two shots rang outtogether, both the Boers fell lifeless from the saddle, and the Dutchhorses dashed back along the track by which they had come.
The lads instantly reloaded; but they waited in vain for the coming ofthe other pursuers; these on seeing the horses galloping towards themafter the shots had been fired had at once turned and rode off. Afterwaiting for a little time to be sure that they were not going to beattacked, the friends mounted and rode on. They did not retrace theirsteps to see what had become of the other pursuers, as it was possiblethat these had imitated their own tactics, and were lying down by theirhorses, waiting to get a shot at them, should they ride back. They nowcontinued their journey at an easy canter, and late in the eveningentered the little town of Standerton.
Standerton presented a scene of unusual excitement; teams of waggonsfilled its streets, armed men moved about and talked excitedly, numbersof cattle and horses under the charge of Kaffirs occupied every spareplace near the town--it was an exodus. The loyal Boers, who were atthat time in an absolute majority throughout the colony, were many ofthem moving across the frontier, to escape the conflict which they sawapproaching.
The more enlightened among these people had been fully conscious of theshort-comings of their own government, prior to the annexation toEngland.
Short as had been the period that had elapsed since that event, thebenefits which had accrued to the country had been immense. The valueof land had risen fourfold; English traders had opened establishments inevery village, and the Dutch obtained far higher prices than before fortheir produce, with a corresponding reduction in that of the articleswhich they had to purchase. Peaceable men were no longer harassed bybeing summoned to take part in commandos or levies for expeditionsagainst the natives. The feeling of insecurity from the threateningattitude of the Zulus and other warlike neighbours was at an end, as wasthe danger of a general rising among the natives in the colony, whooutnumbered the Boers by ten to one.
Thus the wiser heads among the Boers bitterly regretted the movementwhich had commenced for the renewed independence of the country. Theydid not believe that it would be successful, because they could notsuppose that England, having, by the repeated assertions of itsrepresentatives that the annexation was final and absolute, inducedthousands of Englishmen to purchase land, erect trading establishments,and embark their capital in the country, could ever desert and ruinthem. They foresaw, moreover, that even should the rebellion besuccessful it would throw the country back a century, the rising tradewould be nipped in the bud, the English colonists would leave thecountry, the price of land would again fall to a nominal sum, the olddifficulties of raising taxes to carry on the government would recur,and restless spirits would again be carrying out lawless raids upon thenatives, and involving them in difficulties and dangers.
Farther north the loyal portion of the Dutch remained quiet during thetrouble; but around Standerton, Utrecht, and other places near thefrontier large numbers of them crossed into Natal, with their wives andfamilies, their cattle and horses, and there remained until the end ofthe war. The English settlers, almost to a man, abandoned their farms,and either retired into Natal or assembled in the towns and formedthemselves with the traders there into corps for their defence. Themanner in which throughout the war these little bodies uniformlysucceeded in repulsing every attempt of the Boers to capture the townsshowed how easily the latter could have been defeated, had the Britishgovernment acted with energy when a sufficient force had been collectedon the frontier, instead of losing heart and surrendering at discretion.It is not too much to say that, had the British government stoodaltogether aloof, the colony of Natal, with the English settlers andloyal Boers, could single-handed have put down the insurrection in theTransvaal.
The news which the lads brought to Standerton of the unprovoked attackupon, and massacre of, the 94th caused a wild feeling of excitement. Acrowd rapidly gathered round the lads, and so great was the anxiety tohear what had taken place that Dick was obliged to mount on a waggon,and to relate the whole circumstances to the crowd.
Englishmen living at home in the happy conviction that their own is thegreatest of nations can form little idea of the feelings of men in acolony like the Cape, where our rule is but half-consolidated, and wherea Dutch population, equal in numbers, are sullenly hostile, or openlyinsolent. The love of the old flag and the pride of nationality arethere very different feelings from the dull and languid sentiment athome; and the news of this bloody massacre, at a time when hostilitieshad not commenced on either side, and when no overt act of rebellion hadtaken place, caused every eye to flash, and the blood to run hotly inmen's veins.
Those who had hitherto counselled that the English settlers shouldremain neutral in the contest were now as eager as the rest in theirdemands that the place should be defended. There was but one company ofBritish troops in the town; but within an hour of the story of themassacre being known 150 men had put down their names to form a corps;officers were chosen, and these at once waited upon the captain incommand of the troops, and placed themselves under his orders.
The next morning scores of men set to work throwing up a breastworkround the place, cutting holes in the walls and houses for musketry, andpreparing to defend the little town to the last against any attack ofthe Boers.
The moment that he had heard from the lads of the disaster to the 94th,the officer in command despatched a horseman to carry the news at fullspeed to Sir G. Pomeroy Colley, who was advancing towards Newcastlewith the troops from Natal.
The same night a messenger rode in, saying that the Boers had raisedtheir flag at Pretoria, had killed several English there, and werepreparing to attack the little British force encamped at a smalldistance from the town; that at Potchefstroom they had also attacked thetroops; and that the insurrection was general.
The next morning the lads mounted and proceeded on their way, andreached home late that evening, to the immense delight of their parents.
The news of the rising created a fever of excitement throughout Natal.H.M.S. _Boadicea_ landed a rocket-battery and a naval brigade, who atonce marched up towards the front; and Sir G.P. Colley, who commandedthe forces, hurried every available man towards Newcastle, as the Boerswere advancing in force towards the frontier, and were preparing toinvade Natal.
Every day brought fresh news from the Transvaal. The little towns wherethe British were centred, isolated and alone as they were in the midstof a hostile country, in every case prepared to defend themselves to thelast; and at Potchefstroom, Wackerstroom, Standerton, Leydenberg, andother places the Boers, attempting to carry the towns were vigorouslyrepulsed. The news that a large force of Boers was marching againstNewcastle caused great excitement in that portion of Natal; here largenumbers of Dutch were settled, and the colonists were consequentlydivided into hostile camps. Large numbers of British colonists sent intheir names as ready to serve against the Boers; but the Englishmilitary authorities unfortunately declined to avail themselves of theirservices, on the ground that they did not wish to involve the colonistsin a struggle which was purely an imperial one. For, were they to doso, the Dutch throughout the colony and in the Orange Free State mightalso join in the struggle, and the whole of South Africa be involved ina civil war.
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br /> There was much in this view of the case; but had a strong corps ofcolonists been attached to the force of General Colley, it is prettycertain that it would have escaped the disaster which subsequentlybefell it; for, being for the most part excellent shots and accustomedto the chase, they would have met the Boers with their own tactics, andthus, as the English settlers in the garrisons in the Transvaal showedthemselves far better fighters than their Dutch antagonists, so Natal,where large numbers of young colonists had served against the Zulus,Secoceni, Moirosi, and in other native troubles, could, if permitted,have furnished a contingent which would have entirely altered thecomplexion of the struggle.
Upon the very day after the return of their sons, Mr Humphreys and hisfriend Jackson, furious at the two attacks which had been made by theBoers upon the parties accompanied by their sons, rode into Newcastleand inscribed their names in the list of those willing to serve againstthe enemy. They also offered their waggons and cattle to theauthorities, to