by G. A. Henty
collected to advance with theforce, and all the inhabitants who could bear arms, and many settlersfrom the surrounding country, had come in to aid in the defence, shouldthe Boers attack it.
The arrival of the relieving column ensured the safety of the town, andthe Boers between Newcastle and General Coney's little camp at once fellback to their old position on Laing's Neck, leaving the road open.General Colley and his staff rode in from Prospect Hill, the name of thecamp, and had a consultation with General Wood. The 92nd Regimentmarched out and reinforced General Colley's column.
The Boers' position at Laing's Neck was commanded by a lofty and ruggedmountain, called Majuba Hill, on its right, and the occupation of thishill by the British would render the position untenable. It would havebeen an admirable military movement to seize this hill when the wholeforce was collected at the camp in readiness to advance, as, with theirflank turned and a force advancing for a direct attack, the Boers mustat once have retreated, but General Colley most unfortunately desired toretrieve the two defeats he had suffered, by compelling the Boers tofall back, before the arrival on the scene of Sir Evelyn Wood with themain body. He believed, no doubt, and with reason, that Majuba Hillonce captured would be impregnable against any attack which might bemade against it.
Accordingly, on the night of the 26th, with twenty officers and 627 mendrawn from the 58th, 60th, 92nd, and naval brigade, he started from thecamp with the intention of seizing the hill. The night was a dark one,and the march across the unknown country difficult in the extreme. Theintervening ground was cut up by steep valleys and rapid ascents, andfor hours the troops struggled up and down these places, many of whichwould have been difficult to climb by daylight. At last, after immenselabour, the force reached the foot of Majuba Hill, having taken sixhours in accomplishing a distance which, as the crow flies, is littlemore than four miles. At a commanding point near the foot of the hill200 men were left, to keep open the communication; the main body kept onuntil they reached the summit, just before daylight, the Boers beingentirely in ignorance of the movement which had taken place. Theposition was of immense natural strength, as it was only at a few pointsthat an ascent could be made. On the summit was a plateau, so that allthe troops not actually engaged in repelling assaults could lie downperfectly secure from the fire from below. At sunrise the Boers couldbe seen moving about in their lines. An hour later a party of mountedvedettes were seen trotting out towards the hill, which during the daythey used as a post of observation; as they approached the outlyingpickets fired upon them. As the sound of the guns was heard by theBoers below, a scene of the greatest confusion and excitement wasobserved from the height to prevail. Swarms of men were seen rushinghither and thither; some to their arms, some to their horses, others totheir waggons, to which the oxen were at once harnessed, ready for aretreat in case of necessity. Then a great portion of the Boers movedforward towards the hill, with the evident intention of attacking it.
At seven o'clock the enemy opened fire, and the bullets whistled upthickly round the edge of the plateau. The main body of the troopsremained in the centre of the plateau, out of fire, small bodies beingposted near the edge to answer the fire of the Boers and prevent theirapproaching the accessible points. For five hours the musketry duelcontinued. So far its effect had been trifling, a few men only beingwounded. The position appeared perfectly safe. The Boers were indeedbetween the garrison of the hill and the camp, but the former had threedays' provisions with them, and could therefore hold out until SirEvelyn Wood arrived with the main body for a direct attack upon theBoers' position.
Between twelve and one o'clock the Boers' fire slackened, and thebesieged force thought that their assailants were drawing off; this,however, was not the case. Under cover of the shrubs and rocks theBoers were creeping quietly up, and at one o'clock a terrific firesuddenly broke out, and the enemy in great numbers rushed up the shortintervening distance between themselves and the scanty line of defenderson the edge of the plateau; these, seized by panic, at once fled, andthe exulting Boers poured up on to the plateau and opened a destructivefire upon the troops.
The scene which ensued was one of the most discreditable in the annalsof the British army. Although armed with breech-loaders, and fully asnumerous as the assailants who had gained the crest of the hill, theresistance offered was feeble in the extreme; had the troops charged theBoers, the advantages of discipline and of their vastly superior weaponswould have been irresistible, and they could have cleared the plateau asspeedily as it had been occupied. The great majority, however, wereseized with a wild panic, and, in spite of the efforts of the officers,thought of nothing but seeking safety in flight. A few stood and fired,but how few these were can be judged from the fact that only one Boerwas killed, one severely wounded, and four slightly so; while half theBritish force were killed, wounded, or taken prisoners, the remaindermanaging to escape down the sides of the hill, and to join the forceleft at its foot, or to hide in the bushes until night. Among thekilled were General Colley, Captain the Hon. C. Maude, Surgeon-MajorH. Cornish, Surgeon A. Landon, and Lieutenant Trower of the navalbrigade; eight officers were killed, and seven taken prisoners;eighty-six men were killed, 125 wounded, fifty-one taken prisoners, andtwo missing. The fight, such as it was, lasted five minutes. The forcewhich had been left at the bottom of the hill, under Captain Robertson,was also attacked; but, being admirably led by that officer, fought itsway back to the camp with but small loss, the guns there assisting tocover its retreat.
The boys had not accompanied the expedition, and from the camp hadwatched the line of smoke round the hill, and had joined in the laughterof the officers at the idea of the Boers attacking so tremendouslystrong a position. Intense was the astonishment in camp when a wreathof smoke suddenly rose from the summit, and when this cleared away, andall was quiet, and it became evident that the Boers had carried theposition, it was difficult to say whether the feeling of dismay orhumiliation most prevailed.
With the defeat of Majuba Hill the war in the Transvaal virtuallyterminated. When the news reached England, the government declared thatthe honour of the British flag should be vindicated, and great numbersof troops were sent out to Natal; these marched up the country, and werein readiness to assault the Boers' position, when the English governmentsuddenly gave way, and granted to the Boers all that they demanded, thesole provision insisted upon being a purely nominal sovereignty on thepart of the queen, and an equally nominal protection for the natives--aclause in the treaty which, from that time to this, no attempt whateverhas been made to enforce. Not only were the natives practicallyabandoned to the mercy of the Boers, to be shot down or enslaved attheir will, as in former times, but the English settlers, who had formonths made such a noble defence in every town in the Transvaal, wereabandoned, and the greater portion of them, ruined and plundered, havelong since left the country where, relying upon the empty promises andvain guarantee of England, they had embarked their fortunes. A moredisgraceful and humiliating chapter in English history than the war inthe Transvaal, and the treaty which concluded it, is not to be found.
After the battle of Majuba Hill Dick and Tom returned to their farms,resolved to have nothing farther to do with the business; there theyhave remained steadily since that time. Mr Humphreys' plantation oftrees now covers a great extent of ground, and promises fully to answerhis expectations of eventual profit. Those first-planted are attaininglarge size, and the thinning brings in a considerable annualincome. His waggons are fully employed in taking down fruit toPieter-Maritzburg. In another ten years Mr Humphreys expects that hewill be a very wealthy man; he is thinking next year of paying a visit,with his wife and two sons, to England, where John will be left tofinish his education and pass through college, with a view of eventuallyentering the Church. Dick is quite contented with his life; he hastaken no farther part in trading expeditions into the interior, althoughthe profit realised in the venture under Mr Harvey was considerable,but there is plenty of work on the farm to occupy
his time. A largenumber of natives are employed in planting operations, and since thefirst year Mr Humphreys has raised all his own trees from seeds. Thebreeding of cattle and horses has been abandoned, only a small herd anda flock of sheep being kept for home requirements, as it is found thatthe ever-increasing plantation and the great orchards of fruit-trees arequite sufficient to occupy their attention.
Mr Jackson too is prospering greatly; influenced by the example of hisneighbour, he too has gone in for planting, although on a much smallerscale than Mr Humphreys, his means being insufficient to carry out suchextensive operations. Tom and Dick are as great friends as ever, and,when they can be spared, often go out together on a deer-huntingexpedition. Tom is engaged to the daughter of a trader in Newcastle;Dick, laughing, says that he shall look out for a wife when he gets toEngland. The prospects would be altogether bright for the emigrantsfrom