When the cat is away the mice may play, and the opportunity for a game was not lost on the Boers. During General Baden-Powell’s absence from Rustenburg a party of Dutchmen under Commandant Limmer made an effort to lodge themselves on the heights commanding the town, and demanded its surrender. Major Hanbury Tracy, who with 120 men was in charge of the place, replied that he held Rustenburg for her Majesty’s Government, and intended so to do. Thereupon hostile artillery began its thunderous detonations, and things grew frowning. But Colonel Holdsworth (7th Hussars) from the region of Zeerust, forty-eight miles off, scenting fight from afar, made a brilliant march, and assisted by Colonel Airey and his mettlesome Bushmen drove back the enemy. Two Bushmen were slain, and Captain Machattie and three men were wounded. This was the state of affairs when General Baden-Powell returned on the 9th of July. By the 10th the Boers had betaken themselves to Olifant’s Nek in the Magaliesberg range, and so as to secure the other pass—Magato Nek—the Rustenburg party seized it. Unfortunately, nearer Pretoria was another nek, the Commando Nek, and here, as we shall see anon, the Boers, on the 11th of July, managed cunningly to locate themselves, thus cutting off General Baden-Powell from Pretoria.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Lord Kensington, of the 2nd Life Guards, succeeded his father in 1896. He was educated at Eton, and entered the army as second lieutenant on June 22, 1892; he was promoted to lieutenant on April 5, 1893, and obtained his company on February 3, 1900. He was J.P. for Pembrokeshire and for Haverfordwest.
CHAPTER IV
JULY
THE BATTLE OF BETHLEHEM AND THE SURRENDER OF PRINSLOO
The drama in Natal having been concluded, the curtain rose on the last act of the drama in Orange River Colony, the final scenes of which went “on greased wheels,” as it were, owing to the tremendous energy and talent in the field of, first, General Sir Leslie Rundle, who had had all the hard preliminary work to do; second, Generals Clements and Paget, and finally of the greatest martial performer of all—General Sir Archibald Hunter. It will be remembered that this officer, after the accident to General Ian Hamilton, had taken over his command, but July found him released from the eastern Transvaal and in act of assisting in the concluding operations in the Orange River Colony. His force now consisted of the 2nd and 3rd Brigades of Mounted Infantry, Kitchener’s Horse, Lovat’s Scouts, the Composite Regiment of Cavalry from the Transvaal, the Highland Brigade (minus the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders guarding Heilbron), the Munsters, the Yorkshire Light Infantry, the Scottish Rifles (Militia), and South Staffordshire (Militia), under the command of General Arthur Paget, the 38th Battery Royal Field Artillery and Battery of the City Imperial Volunteers, the Scottish Yeomanry, under Colonel Burn, the 14th and 15th Imperial Yeomanry, and the Imperial Australian Regiment. In conjunction with General Brabant and General Rundle, who were in or around Senekal and Hammonia respectively, he moved steadily to the south-east, the main object of the operations being to dislodge the Boers from Bethlehem and sweep them off from the rich grain country on the eastern side of the Orange River Colony, and prevent them from penetrating lower and disturbing already pacified districts.
Near Lindley, as we are aware, as a commencement of the combined closing in movement, Generals Clements and Paget had effected a junction. The Boers clustering in the neighbourhood of Winburg and Senekal were known to be yet active, though many of their number came in at times and surrendered, while others, longing to do likewise, were caught sneaking forth and were sjamboked by their compatriots. In fact, strong guards had to be posted round the laagers to prevent the desertion of Boers of pacific tendencies. Still, when they fought, they fought well and tenaciously, and managed to give a vast amount of trouble at every turn of the road.
General Paget, on the 3rd, attacked the Dutchmen in their strong position at Pleisirfontein, driving them off across Leeuw Kop to Broncrifontein. He bivouacked for the night in the position he had secured, not without some fierce fighting, an account of which was given by one of the Imperial Yeomanry:—
“We moved from Lindley on the morning of July 2, and by midday were in touch with the enemy, who had taken up a position on some kopjes overlooking the road on which we had to pass. We opened fire with the 38th Battery Field Artillery 15-pounder, and also with the C.I.V. 12-pounder quick-firing guns. The Boers replied with two 15-pounders, but we were too much for them, and by 2 P.M. we had driven them off and our Mounted Infantry and Yeomanry had taken the position. It was a miserably cold day with drizzling rain, so you may imagine it was anything but pleasant.
“We camped that night at a farm which the enemy had occupied all day. They retired some distance, and continued shelling our camp till dark, and though some of their shells fell into our camp and among the waggons no harm was done. Our casualties were two of our men wounded. After we had pitched our camp it came on to rain, so we had to lie down in our wet blankets on the damp veldt. We were, however, able to get plenty of wood from the farmhouse, so we made a large fire which, with some warm tea, was a comfort. Next day we moved camp at 8 A.M. and proceeded, after the Boers had dropped a few shells into us. Our artillery went on ahead, and took up a position on a kopje, and shortly after we located the Boer guns on another kopje. To-day we found they had a large gun, a Creusot, which outranged ours. The artillery duel lasted all day till 4 P.M. when a general attack was made by the Infantry and Yeomanry on the kopje. While this was going on a force of Boers dressed in khaki and helmets, the same as those used at Lindley, managed to creep up on the 38th Battery, who had run short of ammunition, and shot the men down at the guns. The captain and lieutenant were killed, and Major Oldfield was mortally wounded.”