The following day we remained stationary, waiting for the supplies. The clouds came creeping down the hills all around, as if to envelop us, and ended in heavy rain, which continued steadily pouring down all the afternoon and evening. As we had not even patrol-tents, we sat crouching round the miserable fires in our steaming cloaks, mingling the smoke of our pipes with the heavy wreaths from the damp wood fires, which, circling and eddying round, filled our eyes with tears, giving us altogether, with our dripping forage-caps and damp clothes, a ridiculously forlorn aspect.
After a final pull from the flask of "Cape-smoke," to keep out the cold, we spread our plaids on the sloppy ground, which, at all events, had the advantage of being much softer than usual, and with a few green branches stuck into the turf to keep the wet off our saddle pillows, rolled ourselves up, and, in defiance of the rain, slept till daybreak.
19th.—Stiff and cold with the wet in which we had lain all night, we awoke at four. The 12th and 74th, under Lieut.-Col. Perceval, marched at five to meet the supplies coming from Fort Beaufort, leaving a party behind in bivouac with the pack-horses. The rain cleared off shortly after we had started, and our clothes soon dried on our backs. The General on the Waterkloof heights, with Lieut.-Col. Michell's Brigade, was occupying this interval in reconnoitering the enemy's positions, preparatory to further operations on our return.
We halted within sight of Fort Beaufort, about a mile and a half distant, to wait for the waggons coming up; a few of us having got leave to ride in to obtain a few necessaries for our prolonged patrol, on condition we were back again with the waggons, set off at full gallop, meeting them, to our great annoyance, about half way, and escorted by a reinforcement of the 12th and a fresh draft from the depôt, under Lieutenant Philpot; hastily welcoming him to the Cape, and begging the officer in command of the escort not to distress the oxen by pushing on too fast! we sped on our way, for we were only half a mile from the town, and there was no likelihood of our having such a chance again for weeks. We were soon rattling up the quiet streets of Beaufort, a most ruffianly-looking party, with rusted rifles, mud-caked horses, bronzed unshaven faces, and tattered clothes, torn to shreds in the thorny bush. To our surprise, we found the fashionably-dressed inhabitants going to church, for we had no idea of its being Sunday. The barracks were all in confusion, the 60th Rifles having just arrived, together with detachments of the 12th and 45th regiments, a strong body of Marines from the men-of-war on the coast, and a party of Sappers and Miners, in all about 1000 men; so there was nothing to be had there in the way of food. Dunbar, however, kindly took us to his quarters, and gave us such a breakfast as we had not seen for many a day; and as we sat on chairs round the well-spread table, with its snowy cloth, we felt as if we were in a dream, though we helped ourselves in a very wide-awake manner. Having each secured in the town whatever we could lay hands on, to take back to our less fortunate comrades, we returned full gallop. I had got a couple of loaves in my haversac, with an enormous cabbage, and a bottle of brandy. We overtook the waggons just as the last one had come up to the Colonel's party, and they were preparing to move forward.
An unusual number of Hottentot women accompanied the train; and as of late their conduct had excited much suspicion in Beaufort as well as in the field (for numbers infest all the camps, a nuisance to everybody but the Cape Corps men and waggon-drivers, from whom they are inseparable), the Colonel had made some inquiries as to their movements; and obtaining very unsatisfactory replies, ordered them to be searched by the Fingoes, who set to work at once with a mischievous alacrity. To the indignation of all, quantities of ammunition were found secreted in their bundles and on their persons, for the undoubted purpose of being clandestinely conveyed to the Rebels. On one woman ninety-five rounds of government ammunition were found; on another, eighty; others had smaller quantities; and one carried a canister of loose powder, and a bullet-mould and turnscrew. They must either have stolen or obtained the ball-cartridge from the Hottentots at Beaufort in government pay; and how and to what extent the practice was carried on, became a question of serious consideration. It was with the greatest difficulty the women were rescued from the infuriated Fingoes, who would have assegaied them on the spot but for the interference of the officers; they were sent back prisoners to Beaufort. By these wretches the enemy was provided, not only with means for destroying us, but of keeping themselves in absolute comfort. Ammunition and food it was accidentally found had been regularly forwarded to them by the Tottie women of our own camps, fed, by the way, at the government expense, who, under pretence of collecting firewood in the bush, hid their supplies in certain assigned spots, whence they were to be secretly taken away at night by the rebels.
Late in the afternoon our long train reached the bivouac in torrents of rain, which again poured down with a steady relentlessness that soon flooded the camp, and we made up our minds for another wet night. On rising, at three o'clock next morning, we found little pools of water collected in the hollows indented in the soft ground by our hips and shoulders. We fell in, and stood for half an hour in the ranks ankle deep in the mud, waiting for the waggons to move on, shivering like men with ague, our fingers so benumbed that we could scarcely hold our rifles. After creeping along for about half a mile we came to a complete stand-still at a small rise, the road being too slippery for the oxen, which cannot draw on wet ground, and we had to return to our bivouac once more.
Here we remained all day in the incessant rain, slushing about in the mud, and trying to keep our feet warm by pacing up and down as on board ship, for it was not safe in the thick fog to venture far enough from the camp for a walk. We busied ourselves also in trying to make the fires burn better; collecting stones, and building them up so as to raise the wood from the flooded ground. A cloaked and dripping cavalry express enveloped in steam, arrived in the afternoon from the Heights with a letter from the General, to know why we had not marched, as the covering party at the top of the pass had been waiting for us several hours. Shortly afterwards a second equally damp party came in with a despatch, "to be forwarded immediately" to Fort Beaufort, ordering the 60th Rifles to move to the Blinkwater the following day.
Next morning we made another attempt to get the waggons off, but after an hour's work had only got about 200 yards from the bivouac, and continued for the next three to crawl along at this snail's pace, suffering very much in our thin clothing from the frost. On entering the foot of the pass at its upper end a party of Kaffirs, perched on the summit of an isolated sugarloaf hill on our left, shouted to us, "Nina Ez'innqulo ez'ingafanela ukuze apa kanjako kulendhlela leyo!" (You Tortoise warriors had better not again attempt to come by this path.) Every word being perfectly distinct, though at first we could barely distinguish their forms; then they upbraided the Fingoes, "Nina Amafingo yinina ukuba niya silwa tina? Gokuba nina ezisicthloba zetu kanjaka sasimika amazimba nemasi kumi, nokuba nina inyabulala sina jeninja." (Why, Fingoes, do you fight against your friends? We gave you corn, and plenty of sour milk, and you fire at us as though we were dogs.) The ready retort, sung out with measured distinctness was, "Waza wapendula amanfingo, nina Amaxoso hiyenza amaqoboka tina into ufanela ukuba womtu wa nika uku 'dhle kwamasheshi ake, asibulela tina." (You made us your slaves, Kaffirs; a man must feed his horse; we do not thank you.) We desired our spokesman to inform them that if they intended to prevent the white faces coming that way they had better be prepared at once, for another war party was coming the same path to-morrow; to this they replied by firing a shot at us, which fell among the bushes a few paces short; a long shot, even for a Dutch roer, which from the report we had no doubt it was. Many of these heavy clumsy-looking weapons carry a four-ounce ball, and are of enormous length and weight. The nominal charge of powder is as much as will cover the ball placed on the flat palm of the hand, but as it is poured by guess out of the rough cow-horn powder-flask it generally exceeds even this liberal allowance, and if it does not dislocate the shooter's shoulder, or knock him down, seldom fails to send him reeling. On this challenge several of our long range rifles were immediately brought to bear on the group; Baird's, a heavy metalled 'polygroove,' by Dickson, of Edinburgh, throwing a ball right amongst them at a distance of at least 1200 yards, the effect of which was most absurd; one fellow, who had been standing conspicuously in a dark red blanket, throwing himself flat on his face, and the rest jumping right and left with uncommon agility. They fired several more shots at us, and Bruce, Gordon, and myself, each in turn brought our rifles to bear on them, completely silencing their conversation as well as the fire.
The wheezing oxen having recovered their breath for another spell, the creaking waggons again moved slowly on, and halting every five or ten yards, toiled wearily up the steep ascent, the slippery road constantly bringing a whole team on their knees in their efforts to move their load; so tedious was our progress that we were fourteen hours performing these eight miles. When about half-way up the Pass, at a turn in the road, we saw that "the krantz" was held by a strong party of the other brigade posted to cover our ascent, the red coats of the 6th and 91st appearing like specks along its lofty precipitous edge, peeping from among the bush and huge masses of rock some hundreds of feet above us. The heat of the sun in the narrow road, shut in between thick forest, was intense, and told fearfully against the cattle. We had barely gained the top of the Pass by three o'clock, and with the exception of a single cup of coffee, at two in the morning, had not yet broken our fast, for unfortunately none of us had any biscuit in our haversacs, as it was "ration day," and we had expected to gain the top of the hill for breakfast. I was, however, lucky enough to get a few raisins from a dirty but generous Dutchman, to the envy of the less favoured. When we had fairly gained the open flat above, the covering party of artillery and infantry was withdrawn, and formed our rear-guard, and in a couple of hours more we reached the camp, far more fatigued by the slow creeping pace and constant halting than we should have been by a long day's march, and were so hungry and tired that we could not wait for anything being cooked. As for myself, having secured a lead-like loaf of camp manufacture, I devoured the whole of it, and fell asleep on the grass.