Chapter Thirty Six.
The Relief of Kimberley.
This most inhuman and bloody-minded Kruger, who misquoted Scripture, as he so often did, considered himself safe to order his victims to their empty tents. He had stripped them, as he fondly thought, of all means of protecting their wives and children. As he imagined, they had only their naked fists to support their manhood against his armed hordes; therefore he could be as bold as a bushranger who has bailed up a household. He had them, or, as he impiously remarked, “The Lord of the Boer hosts has put them into our hands, even as He gave the Amalekites up to the vengeance of Israel.”
To those who were not in the “know,” the Jew dealers and other aliens, who had no patriotic interest in the land, this ultimatum fell like the first ashes of Vesuvius upon Pompeii. It was definite, clear, and curtailed. They had either to join in and fight with the Boers, or else be treated with those who stood for English authority.
There was no equivocation, or holding aloof. Johannesburg, with its riches, must be abandoned, and at once, i.e. within the next twenty hours at latest. Those who remained in that city would be forced to take up arms by the Boers, when the time of grace was over. They were driven like sheep into the pen, where they were to be slaughtered if they did not declare themselves enemies of England, and “bind” themselves to the masters of this Boer rebellion.
Poor, miserable, and terror-stricken wretches—these gold and diamond traffickers, who had come here only to make money, and who were without a single molecule of courage in their composition,—they were placed between two fires, and knew not where to turn for safety. They were likely to be shot or hanged whatever side they decided to take.
They drove home in their flash traps, or in the saloon cars, with bloodless, flabby lips and staring eyes. Inside their swell houses they collapsed, and found the champagne and brandy of no more aid to them than coloured water.
Their wives, however,—the painted, illiterate, dyed-haired, and outrageously dressed and be-diamonded ex-shop girls, ex-barmaids, and ex-variety actresses,—were not going to let the twenty hours pass before making up their minds what to do. The Boers were at their doors, and at present bosses of the show. Like Simon, Lord Lovat, they believed in serving the customer who was in possession.
By six o’clock that night thousands of these mercenaries had signed the papers of allegiance to the Republic, and left Johannesburg in detachments, escorted by their masters, while their women were driven out of the country to become paupers at Durban and Cape Town.
After a frightful and never-to-be-forgotten train journey, our disguised heroes at last found themselves on British soil, with hearts burning with rage and hatred at the vile treatment they had received in the trains.
The rush for trains by that panic-thralled crowd of refugees resembled a stampede of wild cattle. Delicate women and children struggled frantically for places with rough, strong men, and were glad to find themselves packed in open trucks. Order was at an end, and gallantry rarely displayed by that pushing, shouting, and sweltering crowd, while the Boer officials only mocked at their despair.
By reason of their personal strength, however, and taking advantage of their disguises, our heroes managed to secure good places for themselves; and also to protect a number of ladies, who would otherwise have fared badly. During the journey, also, the burghers had reason to regret insulting and trying to frighten these three strapping young females.
When they reached Cape Colony they learned much more than they had been aware of before.
Paul Kruger and his burghers were in a better condition for warfare than had been suspected. The loyal colonists had also been trifled with and hoodwinked by the Honourable Mr Schreiner and his traitor gang. In fact, the British forces were so scanty and ill-provided, while on the enemy’s side were so many spies and rebels, that the young men no longer wondered at the courage of the Transvaal chief.
Already war had been declared, and Cape Colony and Natal invaded in force. If the rebels had only proper leaders, the English possessions were in extreme danger.
England also seemed bristling with renegades and pro-Boers, whose yelpings disturbed the loyal colonists greatly.
But the lion was rousing up for action, and the nation shouted out for punishment to be meted out to those insolent rebels. From every part of our mighty Empire came the offer of help to the mother country. The Boers, by their invasions, had united Englishmen as one people. When our heroes heard this news, they saw the wisdom of letting the Federals have the first blow.
They were now going to join the man they adored, and take a hand in the great coming struggle.
It was November 3rd before our heroes managed to pass the rebel lines and get into Kimberley. Here they found the town in a state of siege, but well prepared. Cecil Rhodes was calm and cheerful, with no doubts as to the results of the war.
He welcomed the adventurers warmly, and heard the account of their travels with pleasure. The news they brought him also from the outside gave him great satisfaction.
“There is nothing else to be done now but to make ourselves as comfortable as possible here, and defend ourselves until we are relieved. We shall all have enough work to keep us from being dull.”
He was right, as our heroes found as the weeks rolled past. General Cronje and his army kept them in a constant state of attention and excitement.
Thanks to the personal magnetism of Cecil Rhodes, with his unfailing serenity and constant exertions to amuse the besieged townspeople, the first two months, although nerve-trying, were not unpleasant from a social point of view.
Balls, concerts, and parties filled up the intervals of bombarding and repelling the enemy. The town had been well provisioned, and the great empire-maker had taken previous precautions to outwit his rival, W.P. Schreiner, as far as could be done. Had the loyal colonists trusted implicitly in the Cape Premier, Kimberley, as well as Mafeking, must have succumbed in a month. This Bond leader had played his cards well to serve his friends the Boers at the expense of his fellow-subjects; but Cecil Rhodes, like Baden-Powell, found himself equal to the occasion.
Inadequately garrisoned as it was and imperfectly armed, the mines which they were protecting proved of invaluable service to them. From the débris they formed perfect forts and trenches, and soon made the place impregnable. They had a splendid mayor, a commander of infinite resources, and a garrison of undaunted heroes. The result was that they kept Cronje with his hosts and Long Toms at bay, and went on eating, drinking, fighting, and enjoying themselves in spite of the deadly dangers that environed them. Yet it was nerve-trying, and added grey hairs to every head in that beleaguered town, young and old. Out of bravado they might speak of those bursting shells and those numerous attacks as subjects for joking, but all the same, the sport was grim and heart-corroding.
Every hour had its casualties, with wounded and killed. No one knew the moment their own hour might come.
As time went on and they became more isolated from the world, it took a lot of pluck to keep a bold front to the relentless, treacherous, and dastardly foe. If they had not occasionally received news of the outside world by special runners, they must have lost heart long before their provisions became short.
But they did get reliable news now and again, and that kept them up to concert pitch. The brave fellows knew that the world was watching their heroic efforts, and that the Empire had risen and was pouring out its best sons to help and rescue them. They heard what Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were doing. They knew that the home Government was now working with might and main to repair its former errors of undue trust and confidence. They would not be deserted, nor would England neglect her duty now. The iniquitous and false Boer would be crushed, even although it cost England her best and bravest. This braced them up and enabled them to endure all that they were called to endure.
They knew that the enemies of England—those wretched traitors, traducers, and fratricides—were repudiated by their countrymen as obnoxious vermin. They knew that the gold which Kruger and his hireling Leyds had scattered broadcast, had failed to influence the people. The people of England were not to be biased by paid demagogues. They demanded that right should be done, and the Government obeyed the universal voice. The defenders of Kimberley were holding this post for the Empire, and they did so bravely, now that the Empire appreciated their efforts. While a man was left, and an ounce of food remained, Cronje might bark his loudest, they would never cave in.
This was the kind of spirit which moved the whole camp. When food began to fall short and they had to buckle their belts tighter round their waists, they did so with a jest, for they knew that the end must be victory.
They heard the news about Ladysmith, and all about the British disasters. But they also heard that, instead of sixty thousand men being sent out to help them, England was packing off two hundred thousand of her best soldiers, and ready to send at the back of that six or eight hundred thousand, if wanted, to clear the board. That assurance braced them up. The Lion and his cubs were in earnest now, and the inflated rebels were doomed. The Boer had thrown off the mask too completely ever to be trusted with a rifle again. He must be disarmed and kept so until he was civilised. The master villains, Paul Kruger and his weak-minded catspaw, Steyn, would be arraigned for their crimes against civilisation and quashed. This Cronje, the vile and brutal murderer, would yet be tried for his atrocities, and punished as he deserved. Schreiner and his brother traitors would have to give account of their stewardship and be properly rewarded, and the land would be free for honest colonists to cultivate.
Not a man in this beleaguered garrison but rested assured that those Irish Nationalists, those paid Boer agents and home-bred renegades, as well as the treacherous Cape Afrikanders, would yet get the just reward of their atrocious treason; and this braced them up to endure half and quarter rations, and to stand to their guns while famine, fever, and shells thinned their ranks day after day. They trusted in their country to do her duty when the hour of retribution arrived, and to punish those dastards who used explosive bullets, fired on hospitals and the women’s quarters; who used the sacred white flag for murder, wantonly slaughtered the wounded and their benefactors in spite of the red cross flag; who ravenously destroyed and looted farms, and did in a hundred ways what savages would have been ashamed of. They trusted that all these dastardly actions would be sifted and punished, in individuals as well as in masses, therefore they kept up their spirits and held to their posts without a thought of surrender. Let England remember the lacerations and wounds of her brave and dauntless sons when the hour comes for dealing with this most unworthy and despicable foe.
They have fought well, but so do many of the most atrocious murderers, pirates, and bushrangers, when driven into a corner, yet all the same the pirates are hanged when caught. A rat, a snake, or a scorpion will also face up under such circumstances, yet these vermin are crushed all the same. Desperation and brute viciousness is not heroism, any more than tolerated treason is a token of nobility.
Ned Romer and his comrades did their part like brave men during this prolonged siege. It was a magnificent education to them as sons of the Empire.
Fortunately they escaped so far woundless, and also kept off the sick list; yet during those four and a half months they had plenty to do, and, like the rest of the defenders, had little time to rest.
And while they were holding their own they heard how gallant Baden-Powell was guarding little Mafeking, and how Sir George White was keeping the enemy at arm’s length in Ladysmith. Never a thought of surrender troubled any soul at either of those places. All the world was watching them, and they meant to come out right.
It did not trouble them too much that Sir Redvers Buller was stopped on the Tugela, or Lord Methuen at the Modder River. They knew what men and cavalry these generals had at their command, and how impossible the task was, before proper reinforcements came, so they were content to wait and trust.
Then came the glorious news that Lords Roberts and Kitchener were on their way with all the men and armament required.
“Now for the clearing of the board!” cried Cecil Rhodes, exultantly. “We shall soon be on full rations again.”
Many thought the news too good to be true, but their fears were groundless. In a few weeks more the bombardment suddenly ceased. On a happy day General French rode in, after a message, “French coming to relief of Kimberley,” and their woes were over.
Cronje was in full flight, and the first decisive blow had been struck at the rebels. Then there was rejoicing in Kimberley, and our heroes were at liberty to follow the rest of the war.