in our rear. General Symons told me that he did
not expect any general advance of the enemy just yet,
because he heard that their transport was incomplete,
and that they were very short of provisions. But
I don’t think the want of transport would prevent
their advancing. We know well enough that the
Boers think nothing of going out for three or four
days without any prospect of getting any more provisions
than they carry about them, unless they have the luck
to bring down an antelope. And as Utrecht and
Vryheid and Newcastle are all within a few miles of
us, and the Free Staters have already come down through
some of the passes of the Drakensberg, they must be
within an easy ride of us; and if they are in force
enough to drive us out of this place, they must know
they would find themselves in clover, for we heard
at Ladysmith that there were provisions and stores
for two months collected here.”
DUNDEE
After picketing his horse, Chris went into the town.
He found the streets full of excited people, for the
news that the railway had been cut was serious indeed,
and the scene reminded Chris of that which he had
witnessed in the streets of Johannesburg but eight
days before. Only eight days! and yet it seemed
to him as if weeks had passed since then. So
much had been done, so great had been the changes.
As at Johannesburg, a considerable portion of the
population had left, seeing that, although the troops
might for a time defend the town, the Boers were certain
to cut the line of railway. Work at the coal-mines
had been pushed on feverishly of late, for strangely
enough there was no store of coals either in Dundee
itself or at any of the stations down to Durban, and
the authorities had only woke up a few days before
to the fact that coal would be required in large quantities
for the transports on the arrival of the troops.
But now all this was to come to a stop. The hands
would be thrown out of employment, and the town would
become stagnant until it was captured by the Boers,
or until an army arrived of sufficient strength to
clear Natal of its invaders. That evening many
who possessed vehicles started by road for Ladysmith,
feeling that in another twenty-four hours it might
be too late.
At seven o’clock, as had been arranged when
they arrived, all the members of the band met at the
bivouac for supper. There was a general feeling
of excitement among them. They had known that
hostilities must soon begin, but to find that the
line had already been cut, and that the enemy were
closing in in all directions, came almost as a surprise.
This, however, in no way prevented them from enjoying
their meal. After it was over they held, at Chris’s
suggestion, a sort of council. He had already
told them what the general had said to him, and that
they were to be inspected in the morning. As
their saddlery was all new, there was nothing to be
done in the way of burnishing buckles and rubbing up
leather. As Chris remarked, all that would be
necessary was an hour’s work in the morning
grooming their horses.
