CAPTAIN WILLIAMS
Commanding Boer Scouts.
The English took all the Kaffirs away and burnt their kraals. In these kraals there were large Kaffir baskets, some that would hold fifty bags of mealies or Kaffir corn. The English would set these on fire, but they would not burn. Then they would destroy the baskets and scatter the corn. In a pinch we would take this corn, wash and dry it and find it as good as ever with the exception of a little sand or gravel that might be in it. But a hungry soldier has little regard for sand and gravel under the circumstances. Now, we always had cattle near by, and generally two or three good fat bullocks with us. These we would drive along with us, until they were wanted. In every mess of two or three men, there was one ordinary coffee mill, but of course we had neither coffee nor sugar. We used these mills, however, to grind the corn into a rather coarse meal. It was hard, tedious work, but do it we must, if we were to have anything with our fresh meat. Having ground sufficient meal for breakfast, a small tin pot filled with water would be brought to the boiling point, the meal carefully stirred in and constantly stirred for about forty minutes, when it would be cooked. Of course we had no salt; so our fresh meat would be thrown into the ashes, broiled to suit each one's taste, and then breakfast was ready. There is ammonia or some other kind of salts in the ashes, that help the meat out. For coffee, we had in each little mess another small tin bucket, which would be filled with water and boiled. Some meal would be burnt in a small pan, till black, and then put into the boiling water; this makes a very good drink, but I don't believe, reader, that you would like it.
When near the bush veldt, we often used acorns for the same purpose, and the coffee was very good. At times, during peach season, we dried some peaches, charred them and had a really delicious drink. Sweet potatoes prepared in the same way make a nice beverage, too. So you see that, after all, we lived very well. Live on mush and fresh meat, as we did, and you will never be sick.
We lived in this way for two long years, fighting all the time or trying to evade the English, and we lost but one man from sickness; this, too, in the face of the fact that we had nothing to protect us against the cold of winter, or the severe rain storms of summer.
Of course many English convoys were taken, and many railway trains, too, but the Boers have good sense, and will not eat any canned stuff. They would destroy all such, and only take what they could comfortably carry on their horses. To every man's saddle you would see tied either a small tin bucket, or a coffee mill, and these constituted our complete cooking outfit. On this high veldt there is practically no wood. So for fuel we would go about the veldt and collect dry cow dung, just as they did in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona in the early days.
Now, reader, you are sure to tell me that the English captured all our cattle, because you read it in the paper. Well, I confess they did; and let me tell you about it. When the war began, the number of cattle in the Transvaal and Free State together, was nearly 300,000. The English captured all these cattle, time and time again, and if you will take the trouble to look up their official reports, you will find that during the war they captured some 2,000,000 head from us, although we had less than 300,000 to begin with. Here is the explanation: the English would capture our cattle to-day, and make their report. Tomorrow, we would take the cattle back, but the English would make no report of it. They always reported the capture, but not the re-capture, and that is how they captured some 2,000,000 head of cattle. The cattle were captured and re-captured so often that they grew to know the khaki's uniform as well as the Boer's rags; so when they saw a man or two coming, if he or they wore khaki uniforms, they would at once start toward the railway line. If the men were recognized by their rags as Boers, they would all start for the high veldt, where the Boers always took them.
The poor, patient and willing cattle had hard lives, and many and many miles they travelled during the war. At the end of it, the Boers still had nearly one-fifth the original number, and all were fat and in good eating condition.
Now, I will drop this subject for the present, and tell what was done during June. All the columns made another drive at General Louis Botha, east of Ermelo, and they had him cornered this time sure; "there was no possible chance for his escape," and all that remained to be done was to go through the formal ceremony of surrender of the Commandant General of the Boer forces. True it is they gave him a lively dance, in double quick time, too, but when they closed they found that General Botha and his men were missing, and had left them nothing but the corner. This was too bad, for the English felt much disappointed at the idea of having to correct all previous reports. To add to their misery, General Chris. Botha slipped up behind them, fired a volley into their rear, and nearly shattered the nervous system of the whole English force. It was simply a joke on the part of General Chris. Botha, and having played it, he and his men rode away to some warm spot where they could rest and eat their mealie pap and fresh meat. One of these English "drives" is a wonderful tactical success when the number of telegrams, and the quantity of paper required in the execution, are considered. However, as long as there were any women and children on the veldt they managed to get some of them, and these they could kill in the concentration camps, if they couldn't kill their men on the battle field.