chance of making it a second Saratoga. Since
Saturday last that has been our fear. Nearly a
week has passed and nothing has happened. The
chance of the Boers is fleeting; the transports approach
the land; scarcely forty-eight hours remain.
Yet, as I write, they have done nothing. Why?
To some extent I think they have been influenced by
the fear of the Tugela River rising behind their raiding
parties, and cutting their line of retreat; to some
extent by the serene and confident way in which General
Wolfe Murray, placed in a most trying position, has
handled his force and maintained by frequent reconnaissance
and a determined attitude the appearance of actual
strength; but when all has been said on these grounds,
the fact will remain that the enemy have not destroyed
the railway because they do not fear the reinforcements
that are coming, because they do not believe that
many will come, and because they are sure that, however
many may come, they will defeat them. To this
end they preserve the line, and watch the bridges
as carefully as we do. It is by the railway that
they are to be supplied in their march through Natal
to the sea. After what they have accomplished
it would be foolish to laugh at any of their ambitions,
however wicked and extravagant these may be; but it
appears to most military critics at this moment that
they have committed a serious strategic error, and
have thrown away the chance they had almost won.
How much that error will cost them will depend on the
operations of the relieving force, which I shall hope
to chronicle as fully as possible in future letters.
CHAPTER VII
THE FATE OF THE ARMOURED TRAIN
Pretoria: November 20, 1899.
Now I perceive that I was foolish to choose in advance
a definite title for these letters and to think that
it could continue to be appropriate for any length
of time. In the strong stream of war the swimmer
is swirled helplessly about hither and thither by
the waves, and he can by no means tell where he will
come to land, or, indeed, that he may not be overwhelmed
in the flood. A week ago I described to you a
reconnoitring expedition in the Estcourt armoured
train, and I pointed out the many defects in the construction
and the great dangers in the employment of that forlorn
military machine. So patent were these to all
who concerned themselves in the matter that the train
was nicknamed in the camp ‘Wilson’s death
trap.’
On Tuesday, the 14th, the mounted infantry patrols
reported that the Boers in small parties were approaching
Estcourt from the directions of Weenen and Colenso,
and Colonel Long made a reconnaissance in force to
ascertain what strength lay behind the advanced scouts.
The reconnaissance, which was marked only by an exchange
of shots between the patrols, revealed little, but
it was generally believed that a considerable portion
of the army investing Ladysmith was moving, or was