The whole of the wounded were taken by the enemy, and Colonel Bethune had no resource but to retire on N’qutu.

The Boers were falling back from Natal, and the British at this date were in possession of Christiana, Kroonstad, Lindley, and Newcastle. Thus, it will be seen, we were sweeping up, like an incoming tide, from all quarters. Sir Redvers Buller now halted to concentrate his army, collect supplies, and repair the rail, in order that his next move should be both rapid and effective. That being the case, his programme for the celebration of the Queen’s Birthday took an unique form. The General decided that the men should spend “a record day” in repairing the rail. This they did with a will, as, indeed, they did all things at the behest of their much-respected chief. Repairs on all sides were prosecuted with ardour, the railway engineering staff working away at bridging operations on the Ingagane River at Waschbank, till, by the 28th, the line was clear to Newcastle. To clear the right flank Generals Hildyard and Lyttelton had been directed to Utrecht and Vryheid respectively, and the month closed with the entry into Utrecht, the first Transvaal town to be taken by the Natal Field Force. In the skirmishing which occurred, Captain St. John and Lieutenant Pearse had their horses shot under them, and Lieutenant Thompson had the misfortune to be wounded and taken prisoner. The town, however, was not really occupied till some weeks later.

Their part of the strategical programme accomplished, General Hildyard’s Division left for Ingogo, while that of General Lyttelton marched to Coetze’s Drift, due east of Ingogo, for the purpose of clearing the country between Vryheid and Wakkerstroom.

CHAPTER IX
THE INTERREGNUM AT PRETORIA

While tremendous excitement was convulsing Johannesburg, Pretoria was simmering. The populace was trekking away towards the Lydenburg Mountains, their ox-carts rumbling incessantly along the streets, while a stream of Dutchmen, motley of habit and of mien, moved out before the rumour of the advancing army. They had decided that, though they might no longer be able to resist, they could still retain the ability to annoy! Mr. Kruger, with his Executive, amid the lamentations of his admirers, also fled. He hurried to the Middleburg Railway, leaving behind him a committee of citizens who were deputed to surrender the town to the British. He fled not empty-handed. In the dead of night gold in bars was piled recklessly into whatever vehicles could be found to hold it, and the spoil was shipped on board the train which bore the President from the scene of his really amazing career. With him went a good many of the British prisoners, though many more stoutly resisted the order for removal and showed fight. Their attitude betokened a general uproar, the story of which may be gleaned from the accounts of various officers who lived through days of tension which, coming atop of a long experience of incarceration, seemed to them like some hideous nightmare of the senses.

An officer, who had been captured by the Boers while in the hospital at Dundee after the retreat of General Yule, described the circumstances connected with the threatened commotion:—

“We were all at dinner, when Wood, of Standard Bank, and Hay, the American Consul, came in with two Hollanders. Their object in coming was to get us to send officers to the 5000 odd men out at Waterval, who were threatening to break out. It transpired that Kruger and the Government were ‘clearing’ (the report said in ambulance carts). The town was in a state of chaos, looting and drinking, and the British were expected next morning. The commandant—a Hollander, and not a bad chap in spite of it—then came in and announced that the British scouts were within six miles of Pretoria, and that he expected them in on the following morning. He appealed to us as soldiers, and asked us not to make it difficult for him to carry out his duty till the end. Well, we were in such good spirits that we gave him three cheers. Then Colonel H—— got up and called for three cheers for Wood and Hay, who have done so much for our men at Waterval. If it had not been for these two, and for subscriptions in the town and from us, the men would have been absolutely neglected. For though the Boer authorities took all the credit for what was done, they did nothing, discouraging all efforts, and treating with suspicion any one who stirred in the matter. At one time the hospital almost broke down for want of funds. Well, we gave them a tremendous ovation, and then sang ‘For he’s a jolly good fellow’ over and over again. Then we struck up ‘God save the Queen.’ You never heard it sung as it was! It had been forbidden for nearly eight months. For the first Sunday when it was sung they took away the organ, and made themselves objectionable in many small ways. We had only once before sung it—on the Queen’s birthday....

“About twenty-five officers went off after dinner to keep the men in order. Waterval is about ten miles from here. If this step had not been taken there is no saying what might have happened. The men had heard the booming of guns all day, in the direction of Johannesburg, and it is not to be wondered at that when the Boers tried to move them they flatly refused to budge. There are Maxims at each corner, and the loss of life would have been very great. But the Boers gave in. What might have happened if the men got loose in the town, after so much privation and such hardships, can be imagined, but the sending of officers should alter all things.”

Naturally, at this time, the officers, who were prisoners, were bursting with excitement. On the 3rd, guns, about ten or twelve miles to south and south-west, were heard, and on the 4th, early, shells from British guns crashed on the ridge of hills south of the town—the first shots being fired at a redoubt behind the Artillery Barracks in Pretoria. Soon, to their delight, this was cleared of Boers, and subsequently two big forts on either side of the gorge in which is the railway then received attention. Three lyddite shells from the howitzer batteries were placed in the western fort, and a fierce and continuous fire from the 4.7 naval gun was concentrated on the railway station, and though the place remained intact the moral effect of the attack was sufficient to clear the course. Before dusk, more lyddite and shrapnel were concentrated on the huge hill south of Pretoria, and on part of the main ridge which had been shelled all day. The prisoners, acutely listening in their “bird cage,” fancied they heard in the distance a British cheer, and confidently went to rest calculating on the morrow’s freedom. At 1 A.M., however, they were awakened. The commandant declared that he had received orders from Botha, and they must at once pack and trek outside the town—as the town was to be defended, and was therefore unsafe. Waggons were prepared to receive the kit; and the guard, usually numbering about forty-eight, had been more than doubled; and over one hundred armed Boers and Hollanders were waiting to escort 125 defenceless officers.