raffic north of this,' he said. 'Yours was the last train
through from De Aar. I shall send away all my men by the special
to-night. And that's the end as far as Stormberg goes.'

'And you?'

'Oh, I shall stay. I have lived here for twelve years, and am well
known. Perhaps I may be able to protect the company's property.'

While we waited the armoured train returned from patrolling--an engine
between two carriages cloaked from end to end with thick plates and
slabs of blue-grey iron. It had seen nothing of the advancing Boers,
but, like us and like the troops, it had to retire southwards. There
were fifty Uitlanders from Johannesburg on the platform. They had been
employed entrenching; now they were bundled back again towards East
London.

So we left Stormberg in much anger and some humiliation, and jolted away
towards the open sea, where British supremacy is not yet contested by
the Boer. At Molteno we picked up a hundred volunteers--fine-looking
fellows all eager to encounter the enemy, but much surprised at the turn
events had taken. They, too, were ordered to fall back. The Boers were
advancing, and to despondent minds even the rattle of the train seemed
to urge 'Retreat, retreat, retreat.'

I do not desire to invest this wise and prudent though discouraging move
with more than its proper importance. Anything is better than to leave
small garrisons to be overwhelmed. Until the Army Corps comes, the
situation will continue to be unsatisfactory, and the ground to be
recovered afterwards will increase in extent. But with the arrival of
powerful and well-equipped forces the tide of war will surely turn.

CHAPTER IV

IN NATAL

Estcourt: November 6, 1899.

The reader may remember that we started post haste from Cape Town, and,
having the good fortune to pass along the southern frontier from De Aar
to Stormberg by the last train before the interruption of traffic, had
every hope of reaching Ladysmith while its investment was incomplete. I
had looked forward to writing an account of our voyage from East London
to Durban while on board the vessel; but the weather was so tempestuous,
and the little steamer of scarcely 100 tons burthen so buffeted by the
waves, that I lay prostrate in all the anguish of sea-sickness, and had
no thought for anything else. Moreover, we were delayed some twenty
hours by contrary winds; nor was it until we had passed St. John's that
the gale, as if repenting, veered suddenly to