The armoured train had previously been out in the morning due south and bagged one, and went out again in the same direction on its return, under Captain Williams, and secured another.
October 14th, 1899. The fight to-day may be summarized thus: Boers firing on the picquets; Boer retirement harassed by the armoured train, which was eventually supported by one squadron, which engaged the retreating Boers heavily. The Boers tried to cut them off, but the arrival of another squadron and a seven-pounder settled the matter. Their attack was repelled with great loss, and we retired to our lines.
Whilst we were at breakfast firing was heard in the direction of the cemetery to the north of the town, and shortly afterwards increased in volume; then came the bark of the Maxim, the boom of heavy guns and the increasing rattle of musketry. D squadron of the Protectorate Regiment was ordered out to support the armoured train. We waited on the Market Square knowing nothing, hearing only the heavy fire.
What had transpired was this: a squadron of the Protectorate Regiment commanded by Lord Charles Bentinck had furnished a strong patrol to discover the whereabouts of the Boers. He happened to come upon them about four miles out. They promptly pursued and tried to cut him off. The Corporal with his right flank patrol galloped on to the armoured train, and on his own initiative directed it to move out in support. The Boers were driven back, hotly engaged by the armoured train, in charge of Captain Williams, British South Africa Police, a train which was constructed and conducted by Lieutenant More, Railway Volunteers. The train drove their artillery from two positions; their shells burst all round, under and over the train, and, strange to say, only two men were slightly scratched.
THE CREW OF THE H.M.S. "FIREFLY."
At that period Captain Fitzclarence arrived, and engaged the Boers who were withdrawing, firing at the armoured train, towards their own laager. To explain the situation now, I must describe the field of battle. The railway runs due north and south of Mafeking. The Boers' laager about eight miles N.N.E. of the town. The train had driven the enemy about five miles and a half back from the town, therefore by this divergence, when Captain Fitzclarence came into action he had perforce lost the effective support of the train, and the squadron fought on its own account. It numbered about seventy men: it faced about five or six hundred. Two orderlies were sent to Captain Fitzclarence and the armoured train to tell them to fall back, one on a bicycle who was captured, and the other on horseback.
Now to show the advantage of khaki as a fighting colour on the well-bleached Veldt. The horseman rode up to the Boers and was fired upon. He then galloped along the front of, and through and along the rear of our own men without seeing a man, delivered his message to the armoured train, and returned to seek his invisible friends unsuccessfully. His horse was shot, and he returned to Mafeking on an engine. In at least two instances he was within thirty yards of his own men and could not see them. The dark clothing of the Boers is, however, more conspicuous, but with smokeless powder and khaki the firing line even at short ranges is invisible as a target.
To return to the actual fight. The Boers pelted by a well-directed fire returned a wild and ineffectual one. The incidents of the fight commenced. Two cousins, Corporals Walshe and Parland, Irishmen, and men of means who had joined not for pay but for patriotism, quickly fell, both shot through the head by the same Dutchman, who was ensconced in a tree, but unfortunately for himself he let fall a piece of paper which caught the quick eye of Private Wormald, who promptly picked him off like a rook. Several other Dutchmen in like positions met the same fate. This treatment did not appeal to the Boer, who came out to shoot and not to be shot at, and so he made his usual move to work round and cut off the squadron from their base.
At the distance the squadron was from the line (over three quarters of a mile), and at the angle it was to the line, in addition to the difficulty with smokeless powder of telling friend from foe, it was impossible for the armoured train to act. Previous to this they had been supported by a troop of A squadron under Lieutenant Brady who was wounded on coming into action. The situation was distinctly serious, their flank was nearly turned, and the Boers had almost interposed themselves between the squadron and Mafeking; at this critical juncture Lord Charles Bentinck and two more troops with a seven-pound gun arrived within striking distance. Two rounds of shrapnel and the Boers commenced retiring. When their retirement was assured D squadron withdrew, placing their wounded in the armoured train. The fight was over.