tried conclusions with 400 Boers, and had been merely
hopelessly outnumbered. The latter had, however, scored an initial
success, and the intelligence cast a gloom, even where all was blackest
night. Vellum brought a few more verbal details, to the effect that
Sergeant Matthews had actually succeeded in stopping the armoured train
after pursuing it on horseback for some way, expecting every moment to
be taken for a Boer and fired on. He asked to speak to the officer in
charge, and a young man put his head over the truck. Matthews then told
him that several hundred Boers were awaiting the train, strongly
entrenched, and that the metals were up for about three-quarters of a
mile. "Is that all?" was the answer; then, turning to the engine-driver,
"Go straight ahead." Here was a conspicuous instance of English
foolhardy pluck.

The evening was a lovely one. I took a walk along the road by which we
had come in the morning, and was soothed by the peaceful serenity of the
surrounding country.

It seemed to be impossible that men were killing each other only a few
short miles away. The herd of cattle we had passed came into view, and
caught sight of the water in the dam. It was curious to see the whole
herd, some five or six hundred beasts, break into a clumsy canter, and,
with a bellowing noise, dash helter-skelter to the water--big oxen with
huge branching horns, meek-eyed cows, young bullocks, and tiny calves,
all joining in the rush for a welcome drink after a long hot day on the
veldt.

The last news that came in that evening was that all the wires were cut
north and south of Mafeking, and the telegraphists fled, as their lives
had been threatened.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] Captain Gordon Wilson, Royal Horse Guards, now Lieutenant-Colonel
Wilson, M.V.O.

[16] Now Major-General Sir Herbert Plumer, K.C.B.

[17] Now Marquis of Winchester.

[18] Now Marchioness of Ripon.

[19] Now Lady de Bathe.

[20] Died in Africa, 1909.

[21] Now Sir Hamilton Gould Adams, Governor of the Orange River Colony.

[22] Dutch for a peculiar kind of cheap brandy very popular with the
Boers.

[23] This return was given me by Major Gould Adams.

[24] African wild-turkeys.

[25] This was incorrect. The officer in charge and two others were
severely wounded, the driver and stoker killed by the explosion of the
boiler.

CHAPTER VII

IN A REBELLIOUS COLONY--VISIT TO VRYBURG DURING THE BOER
OCCUPATION--I PASS OFF AS A DU