“I would like to get an order for a carbine from you,” answered the burgher.
“You cannot get a carbine, for they are very scarce just now, and every one seems to want them; but I will give you an order on the commandant at the arsenal for a rifle,” said the general, and he began to write the order at once.
“Well, I’m sorry; but a rifle won’t do,” hesitated the man.
General Botha looked up quickly, and said with some sharpness:
“I’d like to know why a rifle won’t do; you will use a rifle or nothing.”
The old burgher still hesitated; then finally said, “I’d just as soon have a rifle, but I’m afraid my boy isn’t big enough to carry one.” He turned and motioned to a little smooth-faced lad to come forward.
He was not yet ten years old—a bashful yet manly little fellow, ready to follow his grandfather and to fight for the cause for which his father had died. Not big enough to carry a rifle, he must needs fight with a carbine. He got his carbine.
This incident is typical of the spirit that prevails among the Boers who are now in the field, and it is that unconquerable spirit that will fight on as long as there is a man still free on the wide veldt or in the mountains.
It was thought at first that the capital would be defended to the last, according to the intention when the forts were first built. But after long debate it was decided that Pretoria should not be defended, and two very excellent reasons were given for abandoning the capital to the British without resistance. One was that the officials did not wish to subject their families and the families of their men to the suffering of a siege, or their buildings to the mercy of the British guns. The principal reason, however, was that if they should defend the capital it would be necessary to use all the troops of the Transvaal army and would allow the English troops to surround them, cutting off all possibility of escape or retreat. Thus their cause would be lost. But with the removal of their forces to the high veldt or to the mountains they could continue the struggle many months.
