THE SOUTH AFRICAN TROUBLE

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10367, 17 June 1901, Page 3

THE SOUTH AFRICAN TROUBLE

THE MYSTERIOUS DE WET.

SOME OP THE TALES THAT AEE TOLD OF HIM.

It was early in the month of May 1900, that Christian De Wet first began to impress the force of his character upon the English military mind, when the great army under Lord Roberts was in full sweep of its northward pilgrimage. Along the line of the railway there was little opposition Wt to. the eastward the dogged and Beleimined Boer fighter was hanging on the rear of General Hamilton's division, engaging him in almost daily , actions, harassing transport and rearguard. Since then if • I have heard one .English officer _ have heard a score express the hope that De- Wet would come out of the war alive.

Between Natal Spruit and Stnnderton, De Wet, according to a recent Boer Btory, while endeavouring to move ' northward, found his transport headed by a largo body of British troops. What did he do but approach the camp after dark, following the mr-in road, and he drove his waggons straight ; through the camp. He was hailed, but ihduired for some detachment of the . British that was farther on, and wns all awed to pass. The only objection that was made to his progress was one made by a group of officers dining near the roadway, who did not like the dust his waggon wheels were making. I have heard this tale denied, but I tell it as it was told to me (I got it from a Boer source).

MOBE DUST IN THEIR EYES.

„ When General De Wet had made that remarkable march of his and crossed .the Rustenbutg.road west of Pretoria, he was headed, off about 18 miles north at Warm Baths. The evening before the army was jubilant, for it was snpposcd that they had the wily BBer on the. hip. They had effectually prevented him from joining forces with Botha. They had, so they supposed, cut off his escape southward, and there was nothing for it but to stand and fight, or to break up his' force into small parties and disappear into the biißli veldt. At midnight nil of the English troops were called suddenly to arms. and the stood in the ranks until daybreak.

From the direction of the Boer camp they could hear sounds of much stirring aim movement; the continual rattle of wheels and the shouts of ,the Kaffir drivers. Something was up; what it wa« no one could tell. The Boers appeared to be confused, and it was whispered about that they had lost their way and might stumble upon the outpost* at any minute.' The British adrance line* stood with their rifles ready Everyone was ready for a -midnight attack,, and supposed at least that the action would begin at the ' crack of dawn.

But -when the sun rose what did they ■ find? About 40 empty waggons, dragged by a- few played-out oxen, had been driren and thumped around in a circle •11 night ! A score of black boys and a naif-dozen white men were oil the prisoners taken. De Wet had escaped, and .had managed to take most of his lic-ht carts with him along the .top of the flanking ridge, and had acu tally rounded the end of the Britsh line and was some 20 miles away retracing his steps .towards ,the Vaal. At least, that is what he was actually doing at the time, but the Britsh did' not. find it out quickly enough .to pursue him. He got almost 24 hours' start.

ALMOST COMIC OPERA. Two night* after a watchman on guard at a railway crossing about 12 miles west of Johannesburg, on the Krugersdorp line, was surprised by the appearance of a trooper in a helmet and the uniform of a mounted infantry man, who asked his way to the Florida station. The sentry turned to point down the line, when he was confronted with a cocked revolver. "Keep quiet," said the supposed Tommy, "and- you will not be touched." With that he .relieved the astonished nan of his rifle,, and, in true- storybook -fashion, gave three low whistles. Immediately tome men appeared from behind a near-by shed, and a few minutes later the head of a column of mounted men, followed by --.long train ot' Cape carte ( and led horses, came down, the road and crossed the railway. It took them almost half an hour to go by. The sentry judged they must be in the neighbourhood of 2000, with at least 80 carte. When all had passed, the watchman's guard said to him pleasantly: r "Your relief will come to you in about an hour. If you stir from where you are until five minutes before that time you are a dead man, for there is a sure shot with a rifle watching yon from the corner of the shed. Tou can inform your officer -that Christian de Wet and his army passed by here at twenty minutes to one." The man, whose riflo wns taken from .him, declares that shortly before the timo for the relief, came he heard a man gallop away from the shedi near by. Upon that he walked, into the camp, distant about a mile, and gave the alarm.

LOOT AS A LINK. I The same evening it was reported that another small party of Boers had crossed the main line heading north, and the post at Natal Spruit had been captured at daybreak and the bridge blown up. With which party was General de Wet it would be hard to state. I think myself he .was with the one to the eastward, for the simple reason that ha had led the English to believe lie was with the one to the west.

When De Wet captured all of the supplies and the huge quantities ofammunition and clothing at Vredefort "Weg, ho said to his prisoners: "Now that we have got more than we want — turn to and help yourselves." And soon Dutch and Britich were busy looting indiscriminately, taking everything they could get. A burgher and • "Tommy" almost came to blows over the possession of a camera that was being sent to an officer through the post. The mail pouches were all rip-^ ped open, and the veldt for miles around was covered with letters and newspapers. Some of these were afterwards gathered up and reached the proper authorities. Strange to say, among them was one of my own, which was bed up carefully and forwarded several weeks later with the following remarks: — "Found on the veldt and forwarded to destination." „ When the Boers marched away, it, was hard to tell captors from captives, for they all wore brand new v winter suits of khaki serge and a sort of peajacket of yellowish dun cloth, called ''British warms." In the meantime, 12,000 troops at Pretoria shivered in the cold, for what he and his prisoners left behind De Wet had, burned.

LTJNCH WITH DE WET.

Captain Corballis, who was in charge of tie big transport train which" was captured en route to the relief of the Highland Brigade under General Macdonald told me something of De Web's personality. According to the captain, he was most kindly and just. He had hi» men. well in hand;, and they respected him and feared him. The officers as wm customary in the English Army, possessed in common what was known .a« a meesrcart, a- light waggon or two-wheeled trap, capable of canying some six or seven hunderd pounds, ana usually laden with delicacies not down on the ration list. As the JWrs were examining » their capture, which wm some 50 or 60 waggons, they came upon thia valuable prize. -But upon hearing that it belonged to the officers and was their private possession. General Da Wet put a guard over it, and not a thing was touched. That every day aa the officers were lunching' on jam and pickles and pate de foie gras, they observed on« or two men squatted about a fire near by, frying bully beef in a skillet. It was General De Wet's headquarters mew, and one of the Englishmen at once went over and asked the General if he would not come and lunch with them. At first he declined, but, upon all his «taff being included in the invitation, he accepted and joined them. Strange to say, the conversation wasnot about war, but of farming and the pouibUitiia of irrigation. Later, however, he expressed some of his views to one of his prisoners. He said that he knew the Boer* had no chance of being victorious, bu the intended to do his

best "to moke it the most expensive war England ever attempted." He has pretty well fulfilled his threat by this time.