4th August.—To–day we had a delightful patrol. At one o’clock this morning I left camp (at Dawson’s Store on the Umzingwane), with Richardson as interpreter, Jan Grootboom, Jonas, and three other native boys, and went across the valley eight miles to the foot of the Matopos. Our fighting against Babyan, and our subsequent raids along the Matopos, had evidently disturbed the rebels at the eastern end of the mountain. We knew that Sikombo, Inyanda, and Mnyakavulu had retired from their original positions, as marked in my map (p. 103), to a position a little more retired within the Matopos, but we were not sure whether Umlugulu had also joined them in their concentration, and I was now anxious to ascertain this, and at the same time to capture one or two prisoners, if possible, who might serve as guides, or give us information regarding the new positions taken up by the enemy.
As we got near to one of the hills, close to which I had already passed on one or two occasions, we saw the twinkle of a watch–fire, and just before dawn about half a dozen were lit there in succession, but apparently lit by one or two men only, probably as a lure or a blind to us. However, at dawn, we saw what they were, and we passed on viâ the Tuli road. At the point where this road passes through the end of the eastern hills was the scene of Brand’s fight of the 10th of April. Jan Grootboom had been with this column, and gave us a most circumstantial account of the fight, taking special care to show us his own horse where it lay shot dead. Father Barthelemy, who is with our force now as chaplain, was also in this action, and did grand work, so they all say, in helping the wounded and giving the last rites to those who wanted it, whatever their creed.
My Boy preparing Breakfast
An important item in the day’s doings when out scouting was breakfast. For, as a rule, we had marched a good part of the night, and had reconnoitred during the early morning, so that by breakfast–time we were getting ravenous. A place had to be selected where we should be safe from surprise, and while one of us kept a look–out, the other lit the fire and boiled the “billy.”
As we went down the road through the pass, we found the road barricaded with trees which had been felled in such a way as to lie across it; evidently a plan of the enemy’s to prevent Brand’s force from turning back and escaping by the way they came. Just beyond one of these barricades, we found the remains of a white man who had been killed in that fight, a young fellow with light curly hair. The other bodies had been buried during our visit of the 2nd inst.