Chapter 27 - Page 2

the cattle and horses
could be herded. A stream ran through it. There were all the materials
there for a stand which would have brought glory to the British
arms. The men were of peculiarly fine quality, many of them from the
public schools and from the universities, and if any would fight to
the death these with their sporting spirit and their high sense of
honour might have been expected to do so.

They had the stronger motive for holding out, as they had taken steps
to convey word of their difficulty to Colvile and to Methuen. The
former continued his march to Heilbron, and it is hard to blame him for
doing so, but Methuen on hearing the message, which was conveyed to
him at great personal peril by Corporal Hankey of the Yeomanry, pushed
on instantly with the utmost energy, though he arrived too late to
prevent, or even to repair, a disaster. It must be remembered that
Colvile was under orders to reach Heilbron on a certain date, that he
was himself fighting his way, and that the force which he was asked to
relieve was much more mobile than his own. His cavalry at that date
consisted of 100 men of the Eastern Province Horse.

Colonel Spragge's men had held their own for the first three days of
their investment, during which they had been simply exposed to a
long-range rifle fire which inflicted no very serious loss upon
them. Their principal defence consisted of a stone kraal about twenty
yards square, which sheltered them from rifle bullets, but must
obviously be a perfect death-trap in the not improbable event of the
Boers sending for artillery. The spirit of the troopers was
admirable. Several dashing sorties were carried out under the
leadership of Captain Humby and Lord Longford. The latter was a
particularly dashing business, ending in a bayonet charge which
cleared a neighbouring ridge. Early in the siege the gallant Keith
met his end. On the fourth day the Boers brought up five guns. One
would have thought that during so long a time as three days it would
have been possible for the officer in command to make such
preparations against this obvious possibility as were so successfully
taken at a later stage of the war by the handful who garrisoned
Ladybrand. Surely in this period, even without engineers, it would
not have been hard to construct such trenches as the Boers have again
and again opposed to our own artillery. But the preparations which
were made proved to be quite inadequate. One of the two smaller kopjes
was carried, and the garrison fled to the other. This also was
compelled to surrender, and finally the main kopje also hoisted the
white flag. No blame can rest upon the men, for their presence there
at all is a sufficient proof of their public spirit and their