With Buller in Natal A Born Leader

wraps of one sort or another, the cold was severe. This, however, was less felt than the cramped position in which all had to sit on the floor, unable to move or to stretch their legs, the only

from the uncovered trucks as could lie down there with them; but as the latter were

ir places again, some of the Boers using their heavy whips over their heads and shoulders, while others with pointed guns prevented any attempt at retaliation. Men, and even women, crowded the platform, jeering and cursing those in the waggons, menacing them with their whips and snatching at such trinkets, and even cloaks as took their fancy. The men were all several times searched for weapons, and made to turn their pockets inside out, the contents being unceremoniously transferred to those of the Boers. Chris and h

rode in, and falling upon them with their whips, drove them back to the train. Had they been armed the men would assuredly have resisted till the last, although certain to be killed, so mad were they with passion. As it was, it would have been throwing away their lives, without a chance of even avenging themselves on their assailants. As they reached the waggons and climbed into their places again, several h

their places on the roofs of the carriages, and sat there with their pulses beating and their fists clenched as they heard the shouts and the cracking of the heavy whips in the village, and presentl

ice. "We can't repay them now, but we

ng the waggons, striking at the men, hurling every epithet of contempt and hatred at them, an

le pious farmers! I call them, both from their appearance and their actions, as unmitigated

or all purposes of cleanliness. The Boer sleeps in his clothes, gives himself a shake when he gets up, and his toilet is completed, unles

bout him stained and discoloured by long usage. In the majority of cases he is altogether without education, and very many Boers are scarcely able to sign their names. Most of them wear beards and long unkempt hair. But in point of physique they are fine men, tall and powerfully, though loosely, built, b

er shooting jackets or long loose coats; some were in straw hats, but the elder men all wore large felt hats with wide brims. They were all, however, similarly armed with rifles o

Then the emigrant tram crawled on again. There was another night of wretchedness, and in the morning they arrived at Volksrust, the frontier town. Here they were again closely searched for arms, and what provisions remained among them were comm

y went off at once. The prospect was not, however, a pleasant one. Newcastle was nearly thirty miles away, but they hoped that at least they might obtain shelter and rest and food for the women at some of the scattered farms. At first their progress was slow, for after being for more than two days and a half packed up like cattle, they had alm

he men, however, who were alone, determined to push on at once to Newcastle, and promised they would send vehicles of some so

in a short time great fires blazed in every room. The bedding had been carried away, but utterly worn out as they were, the women were only too glad to lie down on rugs and cover themselves with their cloaks. The men gathered in the lower room and talked for some time before thinking of going to sleep. There was scarce one who was not determined to join one of

as soon as possible so as to get well on the way before the heat of the day was at its fullest. Accordingly by six all were in movement. The long night's rest had done them good, still more so the thought that by the end of the day they would be among friends, and they were disposed to laugh and joke over their present situation. All the men had cut themselves heavy cudgels from the

oubt if many will reach the town to-night. Of course for the men it is nothing. Very often when I have been out on the veldt and have started early, I have had nothing till I got back late in the

r doing it, but I

hat; as she did so, Chris uttered a sharp exclamation

e said in a tone of horror, "that

ris, and there was no reason why I

s face g

not call out?

ppened. It flashed across me at once that if you had seen it happen you would have been down from the roof in an instant and struck the man. Had you done so, your fate would have been sealed, you wou

Thank you, mother. I am sure it would have been as you said. I could not

lation for me had you been killed in endeavouring to right a wron

the fellow's name, or even knew him by sight, so that I might

there had been some rain two days before, and they had been able to quench their thirst at a li

and as I see cattle and horses, it evidently is not deserted. Let u

rig

house, which stood some half a mile away. As they approached it a Boer c

et nothing here," Harri

ng for the Boers to

dare say that you are right; but Boer or no Boer,

y were within fifty yards the

advance. "They are exhausted from want of food and fatigue, and we have

t have a crumb of bread or a drop of milk. H

not heed t

ay you, and are willing to gi

is sprang at him. The Boer, who had no idea that this lad would venture to attack him, discharged his rifle almost at random, and the

whips. Cairns, pick up his rifle, and reload it. Sankey, do you and the others keep guard at the door, and don't let th

reloaded. Chris took it and said to the Boer, who, in view of the f

wling Boer a tremendous thrashing. "There," he said, when his arm was tired, "you may get up and go, and I hope that the lesson will do you good. Now, Cairns, we will search the hou

searched the house thoroughly, and in a large case in a disused room they found twelve Mauser rifles, with a thousa

table. "Your man has been good enough to tell us that he will be in Maritzburg with the Boers in a week's time.

that is a fair capture to begin with," Chris said. "As far as we are concerned, the war has begun. The Boer has made off, I see. I shou

and children when they returned

," his mother said. "We heard the man fire.

gh my hat, and abusing us and our nation heartily, we took the liberty of searching his house, with good success. I ne

e said that a bullet had gone thr

n?" she asked. "You di

with thrashing him with one of h

ose who could best use them. In half an hour the women said that they were ready to go on again, and that they would rather do that than wait, for they greatly feared that the Bo

arty of mounted men

ren, and take shelter a bit farther on. I don't suppose they will venture to attack us when they find, to t

the party went forward two hundred yards and then took shelter also. The Boers, feeling certain that the party

away now," one of the men said. "

ad counted, sixteen Boers. Five horses fell, three others galloped off rider

r, who, was one of the party, as he rose to his feet. "You may be sure t

along the road. In ten minutes the women and children, with all the older men, were comfortably seated and on their way to Ne

Field said. "I don't think any of us would have gone forw

I don't think I ever felt such a satisfaction as I did in thrashing that Boer. One of them struck my mother across the

on the road that the little town was crowded with fugitives from the Transvaal and the farms near the frontier, they determined to continue the journey to the capital, which they reached the next morning. The lads had quite decided upon their course before starting, and had arranged with their parents to remain at Maritzburg. The general opinion was that the B

oppose them successfully north of Maritzburg. He might even, it was thought, be obliged to fall back to Durban until reinforcements arrived from England. Already there was a rush to the offices that had been opened for the volunteer corps. Many of the fugitives from the Transvaal had joined, as had most of the young farmers who had been obliged by the hostility of their Dutch neighbours to abandon their homes in the north of Natal, while num

in greater strength than had been expected, for they found that the boys who had preceded them had all waited in the town, and were s

t on hearing how Chris had thrashed the Boer, and had gone tip to him in spite of his threat to shoot. At their last meeting at Johannesburg they had elected him their captain, but he had at the time refused to accept the post, saying that it w

teen rifles: twelve of them are Mausers, the other we will sell; so we shall have to buy nine others. That had better be done this morning, for we may be sure that there will be a rush to the gunsmiths' shops. In the next place we must each buy a saddle and saddlery. We have agreed

e to do, th

ts when we are in the neighbourhood of the Boers, and when we are riding anywhere near our own troops we can put them on instead of ou

it would be an

him that there are one-and-twenty of us, all somewhere about my age, and that we mean fighting; and that as we all speak Dutch we think we can do more good by scouting about on our own account than by joining any regular corps; but that at the same time we should like, if there was anything like regular fighting, to place ourselves under the orders of an officer like himself. It is

I hear that many of the loyal farmers north have driven their animals down here, and are only too glad to sell the horses at the usual prices. Mind, the clothes we have now won't do; we must get them of farmer fashion. Don't go together to any shop, but let each choose for himself; we don't want anything like uniformity of pattern. The stuff must be strong. We shall each want

know they have agreed to give us a hundred pounds each to last us through the war. It is of no use carrying money about with us. I think we shoul

we cannot all expect to come out alive, and that

ls, and it was agreed at once that Sankey, Carmichael, and Peters should hire a buggy and drive over there and choose twenty-one good horses. Harris and Field undertook the purch

e you. You have grown and widened out a good deal since last yea

y father thought that he ought to re

come here

t;" and he told the officer of the little corps that

ay they all do, they ought to do good servi

ris exp

u think that you will be able to see and do more if yo

ighting we should much rather be under orders. Such a s

ould serve under different conditions, you can to a certain extent dictate your own terms. I will, if you like, accept you as an independent corps, attached to my command when with me, but at other times free to scout and to act as you

ch, sir; that is j

from that which the others take, and merely pledge you, when under my orders, to obey them, with permission to withdraw from

lt, and saddlery, and then returned to the hotel and told his mother how he had

your father agreed to it, of course I need say no more. I hav

l more than pay for my outfit. I don't know what we shall do

d you over another hundred when I went to