Monday, 7th May.—Still at Elandslaagte. Rumours of a possible attack made us stand to guns before daylight, and it was well we did so, as at 5.45 a.m. a party of Boers tried to rush the station and were repulsed with slight loss on both sides; they managed to clear off in the dim light. The attacking commando became afterwards known as the "Ice Cream Brigade," being largely composed of Italians and Scandinavians.
Thursday, 10th May.—Rumours of a move. Poor Captain Jones is laid up with jaundice, and indeed all in camp are a little off colour. Nice letters to-day from my father and Admiral Douglas. The Middlesex and Halsey's guns are shifted over to Krogman's farm. Self busy putting to rights some of our wagon wheels which had shrunk from the tyres owing to the great heat and drought.
Friday, 11th May.—A great move this morning. The Dorsets trekked at daylight to hold Indudo Mountain and Indumeni on our right. General Clery's Division marched with Dundonald's Cavalry up Waschbank Valley, and the 5" have been shifted to cover this advance. We were much amused to-day in reading the first edition of the Ladysmith Lyre (Liar), which perhaps I may be forgiven for quoting, with songs sung by the garrison:—A duet by Sir George White and General Clery, "O that we two were maying"; by Buller's Relief Force, "Over the hills and far away"; by the Intelligence Officer, "I ain't a-going to tell"; by Captain Lambton, "Up I came with my little lot"; then a letter from Ladysmith to Paradise Alley, Whitechapel:
"Dear Maria,
"This 'ere seige is something orful. We sits and sits and sits and does nothing. Rations is short, taters is off, and butter is gone. We only gets Dubbin. These blooming shells are a fair snorter; they 'um something 'orrid. 'Opin' this finds you as it leaves me,
"Your affectionate,
"Martha."
Among other amusing items was, "Mrs. K. says her dear Oom is getting too English: he no longer turns into bed in his clothes and boots."
Sunday, 13th May.—We got our marching orders at last about 11 a.m., and I was just in the act of mounting my horse in good spirits to ride off and see my guns brought down over Elandslaagte Kop, when something startled him and he bolted over the rocks near the camp; having only one foot in the stirrup I overbalanced and came heavily on my head and left shoulder and was knocked silly for twenty minutes with a gash over my eye to the bone. I was carried to my tent and kindly stitched up by Dr. Campbell of the Imperial Light Infantry, and being much shaken I was obliged to hand over command of my guns to poor Steel who was only just recovering from jaundice and had to trek off at 3 p.m. to Sunday's River Drift. By keeping very quiet in the 4.7 camp in Hunt's tent I got over my fall better than I expected, and was able to move on, with a bandaged head and a sore body, with the 4.7 Battery when they marched at daybreak on the 17th to Waschbank Bridge which we reached at about 11 p.m. after a very hot and dusty march—all done up and cross, and self in addition bandaged up and feeling altogether unlovely after a slow and horribly dusty ride of eighteen miles. The position of affairs now seems to be this: General Buller with Clery's Division (the 2nd) and the Cavalry have occupied Beith and moved on Dundee from which the Boers fled on the 14th with 4,000 men and eighteen guns. Thus, Buller is in Dundee; Lyttelton's Division (the 4th) is still near Ladysmith under orders to advance; and we (the 5th) are to move to Glencoe with all speed up Glencoe Pass and along the railway line route.
Friday, 18th May.—At 7 a.m. we trekked under General Hildyard and had a very trying march with dust, dust, dust, sometimes a foot thick, till arriving half-way to Glencoe we outspanned oxen. We found all the railway bridges and the culverts of the line, some twenty-eight all told, blown up along our line of march. The Boer positions we passed on the road were extraordinarily strong, as usual; and one can well understand why they held on to this place and the Biggarsberg ranges on each side, a position ten times stronger than any Colenso. We reached Glencoe about 5 p.m., and marching through it bivouacked for the night a mile beyond the town on the level uplands. Here we received orders to advance with all speed to Newcastle, where the Commander-in-Chief is with the 2nd Division; so on we moved by moonlight in a cloud of dust and passed the night on an awful rocky place at Hatton's Spruit, trekking on in the morning towards Newcastle; but when five miles on our march we received orders to move back to Glencoe as the line had broken down and there were no supplies for us at Newcastle. All disappointed, but back we had to go! The weather is bitterly cold, and although we have our tents, we are, no doubt for good reasons, not allowed to pitch them.
Sunday, 20th May.—Took over my guns from Steel feeling rather low with a plastered cut on my face. General Hildyard has congratulated us all on the hard work and marching of the last few days. Both he and his Staff have always a kind word for everyone, and I was greatly pleased when they and Prince Christian, on seeing me with my faithful guns once more, told me how glad they were that I had got so well over my fall.