ON THE HEELS OF DE WET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7414, 28 May 1902, Page 2

ON THE HEELS OF DE WET.

A BRILLIANT WAR PICTURE. A VIGNETTE OE GUERILLA FIGHTING. Under this title a -writer in " Blackwood " is giving a series of very brilliant pictures of South African war. In the March: number is given, with Dutch fidelity, a little vignette of the guerilla fighting into -which the -war ; has now shrank. A British column is crossing the veldt, with liny par--ties of scouts thrust out on every side, like the antensb of some huge insect. Suddenly the news is brought that one of the outposts is in the presence of the enemy. Here is a picture of the fight which, follows :— THE CHARGE. "A heavy dragoon, sweating from every pore, his face portraying the satisfaction of a man first shot over, before he realises what it means, came galloping in. He handed to the general a slip of paper from the subaltern in command of the advance guard : — " ' 11.55.— Enemy firing on my left- flanking patrol — about fifty mounted men advancing towards me. lamon a rise 500yds to the south-west of the farm-house.' " ' That is a good boy,' said the brigadier, musingly, as he swung round on, his heel and took in the topography of our position at a glance. 'A very clear report. Here ! You tell the officer commanding the pom-pom to take his gun up on to that rise. And you' (turning to another of his staff) 'tell Colonel Washington to send a squadron with the pom-pom ! Wait, don't be in a hurry ; hear me .out, please. Tell him that the squadron is to extend, take the rise at a gallop — dismount just before it reaches the top. Now, you may go.' • "Then, turning to the chief of the staff, 'Have you, got a match? Thanks. Now, tell Freddy' (the major commanding the battery R.H. A.) 'to send two of his guns on to that rise south of the dam. Send a troop with him. I will be here with the vest to await developments!' " ' Order given, sir !' and the intelligence officer- touched his cap. j " Good. Now you go with the pom-pom. I shall be here; let me know developments. Get along. Don't argue!' " Already the pom-pom is trotting out of the farmhouse enclosure and the squadron j of Dragoons extending on the plain beyond, j The faces of the gunners are as impassive .j as if they were about to* gallop past at a j review. They have been doing this sort of j thing for months; it has no novelty for I them. But with the Dragoons it is differ- j cnt. This is their first engagement ; you j can see it in the countenances of the men ; nearest you. The excitement which whitens j .men's cheeks and makes every action angular and awkward. "'B Squadron, 20th Dragoon GuardsGallop!' '" Pom-pom— Gallop !' comes the echo. " The Boers must be close up for the advance guard is falling back. They are coming! back for all they are worth. It will be a race between us and tho enemy for _ the : possession of the ridge; please Providence that we may be first, for of a truth he who loses will pay the stake. The officers' realise this, and sitting down to their work they make pace. Tbe wild line careering behind them suits itself to their lead ; instinctively in its excitement and inexperience it closes inwards. Only 200 yards more. The skyline is clear and defined. No heads (have appeared as yet. One hundred yards! Now we are under the rise, the horses feel the hill— a few seconds and we shall know who has won the race. • 'Steady, men, > steady !' Up goes the squadron leader's arm. 'Halt! Dismount!' A chaotic second as the frenzied line reins in. "'No. 3's." Where tbe "No. 3's?" —'Way for the pom-pom.' The straining team crashes through the line. The dismounted troopers folfow their officers up the slope. A moment of suspense — and a long-drawn breath. We are first. There are the Boers' dismounting a hundred yards away. 'Action front, the pompom.' ' Down, men, down !' — come the hoarse orders, and -a ripple oi fire crackles along the summit of the rise. 'Let them have the whole belt.' THE GUNS SPEAK. " Pom-pom -pom-pom -pom-pom ! The little gun reels and quivers as it belches forth ita stream of spiteful bombs. For a moment the Boers return the fire^ Then they rush for their horses, and in as many seconds as it takes to light a cigarette are galloping 'ventre a terre' across the plain in an ever-extending fan. The merciless lead -pursues them. The Dragoons spring to their feet to ! facilitate rapidity of tire, while the pom- , pom, churns the dry dust of the veldt into j little whirlwinds among the flying horse- j men. Five hundred! yards away stands ft kopje. li\ three (minutes the last of the Boers have placed it between them and the British fire— except for the three or four that lie motionless upon the plain. "'Now, we shall have it! and the pompom captain turns to the squadron commander. advise you to make your men lie down again. I'm going to man-handle my gun down the slope' '" "Click-clock, click-clock, click-clock !' go the 'Mausers. The Boers are oh the top of the kopje. It is to be their turn--now. No; there is a roar behind the farm, then another, then another. Then three little white cloud-balls open out on the lip of the kopje. " ' Good little , Freddy' soliloquises the pom-pom captain as he snaps his glasses into their case. ' lie was- watching them. I must get my beauty Ito the end of this rise, to catch them as they leave.'—Pompom, limber up !' " Boom ! boom ! boom ! Three more little puffs of white over the kopje. Click-clock once, and the brush was over. What-was it worth? Four mangled rebels on the veldt, and one stalwart dragoon, with white drawn face and sightless eyes turned to tho beautiful blue of heaven. • "The brigadier cantered up to the rise." A section of the Horse Artillery rumbled up after him. 'Look here,' he said to the squadron leader, 'you must get tout onen on to that kopje ; they are not worth pursuing — there are not more than twenty of them. If I were you I should open out, divide and gallop round both flanks of the kopje ; it's open veldt beyond, and we'll look after you from this ridge. You won't see any, more of them than their tails. Don't 2^msue beyond 3000 yards. My orders are to go to Britstown x hot to wear my horses out over scallywag snipers.' *' A.h ! here's Mr Intelligence, direct from that blood-stained field; now' -we shaillknow the damage ! "Brigadier: 'Any Boers wounded?' " Intelligence Officer : ' Yes, sir, two ; and two killed.' "B. : 'Are the wounded talkative?' " 1.0. : 'One is too far gone, sir; the other is quite communicative.' '• B. : 'Well, what has he got to say?' "1.0. : 'He lies about himself; swears that he is a Free Starter; but as a matter of fact his.vuame is Pretorius, and he is a son of the farmer from whose wife we got our guides last night. By the merest chance we took a photograph, of the fanner's two sons out of an album we found at the farm. And here is one of them wounded to-day. From his ••icconnt, it appears that a man called Lotter is here with a commando, and that he and his have just been brought off rather a bad thing. Lotter's commando only joined- the rebels returning from Nieuwjaarsfontein about an hour ago. The rebels knew that our advance squadron was at this farm last night, and when they saw us here, they mistook us fov Major Twine, and knowing' his strength, attacked in gocd heart.' ; • "B. : 'I thought 'it was: something of 'Uurt^'i. Well, we need not eat our 'hearts

out about Twine. Those swine won't- be taking any more to-day, especially now thatth ey have reason to believe that we are about.' THE CAMP. "As the shadows began to grow long across the level of stunted Karoo we had placed another ten miles behind us on the road to Britstown. Never a further sign did we see that day of our enemy. Bub this typicai of this free fighting on the open veldt. Your enemy comes upon you like a dust devil— he appears, strikes, wins or loses, and then disappears again as suddenly as he came. You fight your, little battle, bury your dead, shake yourselves, and forget all about the incident. This, I assume, for the lasfc year has b,een the nature of the life which all mounted men have led out here. "Just before the sun set ; enshrouded ire a curtain of rising niist^ wc reached' a grcafc ridge of tableland, A particularly w,ild and forsaken tract of country. •"We shall have to halt at the first water,' said the- brigadier. 'Whafc an unholy place to camp in.' Well, if there are no Boers ifc doesn't- matter. It's lucky we had a turn-up against those fellows to-day. They -will hardly stomach a night attack with the echo of a pom-pom chorus still ringing in their ears. Is that a flag?' - The advance guard were beginning to show like stunted tree-trunks upon the skyline on our front, Yes; it was a flag. There was work for the lumbering dragoon signaller again. Slowly he spelt out the message 'No enemy have been seen. Ridge is clear.- Right flanking patrol had touch with rear troop of Major Twine's squadron, now moving on Nieuwjaarsfontein. Lieutenant Meadows, rejoined, reports Major Twine's 1 squadron seen- several bodies of enemy ; his squadron has been sniped, but himself not seriously engaged. Country very open on far side of ridge. Good camping ground and water at the foot of ridge.' '* ' Good business !' said the brigadier, turning to his chief of staff. 'Will you canter up and mark out a camp? It's a great relief to find that that advance squadron hasn't been scuppered.' * "A more dismal camping-ground could not have been found.* The fair veldt Seemed to have vanished. Instead of a sprinkling of farms, there was only one human habitation within sight. This belonged to a Boer shepherd of the lowest type — a miserable edifice of mud and unbaked bricks. The dam ,was a natural depression, formed by what appeared to have been the crater of/^ome long-extinct volcano. The country surrounding it was of the roughest, and to make the situation more depressing, -with sundown, great banks of cloud had gathered in the west. The brigadier might well be anxious for his small force of raw troops in such a fastness,' and it is easy to- appreciate, the feeling which prompted him to peraonally post the night pickets.^ Bufc raw troops, raw transport, all Vill settle down in time, and an hour after sundown the •men were having their food. . . . " The gathering clouds did not prove simply a seasonable warning. A great icy blast swept up the valley, driving a broad belt of stinging dust beforo it, and the bivouac was smitten through and through by a South African dustj-storai. Five minutes of fierce gale, with lightning that momentarily dispelled the night, then a pause-— the herald of coming rain. A few great ice-cold drops smote like hail on the tarpaulin shelter that served headquarters for a mess-tent. Then followed five minutes of a deluge such as you in England cannot- conceive. A deluge against which the stoutest oilskin is as -blottingpaper. A rain which seems also to entice fountains from the f-arth beneath you. In ten minutes all is over. The stars are again demurely winking above you, and all that you know of the storm is that you see the vast diminishing cloud, revealed in the west by fading lightning flashes, and that yon have nofc a dry possession, either in your kit or on your person. " ' Not much fear of sleeping sentries tonight,' Isaid the chief of staff, as we cowered round a fire under the waggonsail."