Ladysmith, her garrison2 and her rescuers, were still recovering, the one from the effects of long confinement3, the other from over-exertion. All was quiet along the Tugela except for the plashing of the waters, and from Hunger's Poorte to Weenen no sound of rifle or cannon4 shot disturbed the echoes.
The war had rolled northward5: the floods of invasion that had isolated--almost overwhelmed--Ladysmith and threatened to submerge the whole country had abated6 and receded7, so that the Army of Natal might spread itself out to feed and strengthen at its leisure and convenience on the reconquered territory.
Knox's (Ladysmith) Brigade went into camp at Arcadia, five miles west of the town. Howard's (Ladysmith) Brigade retired8 to the breezy plains south of Colenso. Clery's Division--for the gallant9 Clery, recovered from his sickness, had displaced the gallant and successful Lyttelton--moved north and encamped beyond Elandslaagte along the banks of Sunday's River. Hunter's Division was disposed with one brigade at Elandslaagte and one at Tinta Inyoni. Warren, whom it was no longer necessary to send to the Cape10 Colony, established himself and his two brigades north of Ladysmith, along the railway line to the Orange Free State. Brocklehurst, with the remnants of what had once been almost a Cavalry11 Division, and now could scarcely mount three squadrons, occupied a neighbouring plain, sending his regiments12 one by one to Colenso, or even Mooi River, to be re-horsed; and around all this great Army, resting after its labours and preparing for fresh efforts, the Cavalry brigades of Dundonald and Burn-Murdoch drew an immense curtain of pickets13 and patrols which extended from Acton Homes in the east, through Bester's Station right round to Wessels Nek and further still, and which enabled the protected soldiers within to close their eyes by night and stretch their legs by day.
Meanwhile, the burghers had all retreated to the Drakensburg and the Biggarsburg and other refuges, from which elevated positions they defied intrusion or attack, and their scattered15 line stretched in a vast crescent even around our widely extended front from the Tintwa Pass, through Waschbank to Pomeroy.
But with the exception of outpost skirmishes, wholly unimportant to those not engaged in them, a strange peace brooded over Natal, and tranquillity16 was intensified17 by the recollection of the struggle that was over and the anticipation18 of the struggle that impended19. It was a lull20 in the storm.
All this might be war, but it was not journalism21. The tempest for the moment had passed, and above the army in Natal the sky was monotonously22 blue. It was true that dark clouds hung near the northern horizon, but who should say when they would break? Not, at any rate, for three weeks, I thought, and so resolved to fill the interval23 by trying to catch a little of the tempest elsewhere.
After the relief of Ladysmith four courses offered themselves to Sir Redvers Buller. To stand strictly24 on the defensive25 in Natal and to send Lord Roberts every gun and man who could be spared; to break into the Free State by forcing Van Reenen's Pass or the Tintwa; to attack the twelve thousand Boers in the Biggarsburg, clear Natal, and invade the Transvaal through the Vryheid district; and, lastly, to unite and reorganise and co-operate with Lord Roberts's main advance either by striking west or north.
Which course would be adopted? I made inquiries26. Staff officers, bland27 and inscrutable--it is wonderful how well men can keep secrets they have not been told--continued to smile and smile. Brigadiers frankly28 confessed their ignorance. The general-in-chief observed pleasantly that he would 'go for' the enemy as soon as he was ready, but was scarcely precise about when and where.
It was necessary to go to more humble29 sources for truth, and after diligent30 search I learned from a railway porter, or somebody like that, that all attempts to repair the bridge across the Sunday's River had been postponed32 indefinitely. This, on further inquiry33, proved to be true.
Now, what does this mean? It means, I take it, that no direct advance against the Biggarsburg is intended for some time; and as the idea of reducing the Natal Army to reinforce the Cape Colony forces has been definitely abandoned the western line of advance suggests itself.
It would be absurd to force Van Reenen's Pass with heavy loss of life, when by waiting until the main Army has reached, let us say, Kroonstad, we could walk through without opposition34; so that it looks very likely that the Natal troops will do nothing until Lord Roberts's advance is more developed, and that then they will enter the Free State and operate in conjunction with him, all of which is strategy and common-sense besides. At any rate there will be a long delay.
Therefore, I said to myself, I will go to Bloemfontein, see all that may be seen there and on the way, and rejoin the Natal Army when it comes through the passes. Such was the plan, and the reader shall be a witness of its abandonment.
I left the camp of Dundonald's Brigade early in the morning of the 29th of March, and riding through Ladysmith, round the hill on which stands the battered35 convent, now serving as headquarters, and down the main street, along which the relieving Army had entered the city, reached the railway station and caught the 10 A.M. down train.
We were delayed for a few minutes by the departure for Elandslaagte of a train load of Volunteers, the first to reach the Natal Army, and the officers hastened to look at these citizen soldiers. There were five companies in all, making nearly a thousand men, fine looking fellows, with bright intelligent eyes, which they turned inquiringly on every object in turn, pointing and laughing at the numerous shell holes in the corrugated36 iron engine sheds and other buildings of the station.
A few regulars--sunburnt men, who had fought their way in with Buller--sauntered up to the trucks, and began a conversation with the reinforcement. I caught a fragment: 'Cattle trucks, are they? Well, they didn't give us no blooming cattle trucks. No, no! We came into Ladysmith in a first-class doubly extry Pullman car. 'Oo sent 'em? Why, President ---- Kruger, of course,' whereat there was much laughter.
I must explain that the epithet37 which the average soldier uses so often as to make it perfectly38 meaningless, and which we conveniently express by a ----, is always placed immediately before the noun it is intended to qualify. For instance, no soldier would under any circumstances say '---- Mr. Kruger has pursued a ---- reactionary39 policy,' but 'Mr. ---- Kruger has pursued a reactionary ---- policy.' Having once voyaged for five days down the Nile in a sailing boat with a company of Grenadiers, I have had the best opportunities for being acquainted with these idiomatic40 constructions, and I insert this little note in case it may be useful to some of our national poets and minstrels.
The train started across the well-known ground, and how fast and easily it ran. Already we were bounding through the scrub in which a month before Dundonald's leading squadrons, galloping41 in with beating hearts, had met the hungry picket14 line.
Intombi Spruit hospital camp was reached in a quarter of an hour. Hospital camp no longer, thank goodness! Since the bridge had been repaired the trains had been busy, and two days before I left the town the last of the 2,500 sick had been moved down to the great hospital and convalescent camps at Mooi River and Highlands, or on to the ships in the Durban Harbour. Nothing remained behind but 100 tents and marquees, a stack of iron cots, the cook houses, the drinking-water tanks, and 600 graves. Ghastly Intombi had faded into the past, as a nightmare flies at the dawn of day.
We sped swiftly across the plain of Pieters, and I remembered how I had toiled42 across it, some five months before, a miserable43 captive, casting longing44 eyes at the Ladysmith balloon, and vigilantly45 guarded by the Boer mounted escort. Then the train ran into the deep ravine between Barton's Hill and Railway Hill, the ravine the Cavalry had 'fanned' on the day of the battle, and, increasing its pace as we descended46 towards the Tugela, carried us along the whole front of the Boer position. Signs of the fighting appeared on every side. Biscuit tins flashed brightly on the hill-side like heliographs. In places the slopes were honey-combed with little stone walls and traverses, masking the sheltering refuges of the Infantry47 battalions48 during the week they had lain in the sun-blaze exposed to the cross-fire of gun and rifle. White wooden crosses gleamed here and there among the thorn bushes. The dark lines of the Boer trenches49 crowned the hills. The train swept by--and that was all.
I knew every slope, every hillock and accident of ground, as one knows men and women in the world. Here was good cover. There was a dangerous space. Here it was wise to stoop, and there to run. Behind that steep kopje a man might scorn the shrapnel. Those rocks gave sure protection from the flanking rifle fire. Only a month ago how much these things had meant. If we could carry that ridge31 it would command those trenches, and that might mean the hill itself, and perhaps the hill would lead to Ladysmith. Only a month ago these things meant honour or shame, victory or defeat, life or death. An anxious Empire and a waiting world wanted to know about every one of them--and now they were precisely50 what I have said, dark jumbled51 mounds52 of stone and scrub, with a few holes and crevices53 scratched in them, and a litter of tin-pots, paper, and cartridge54 cases strewn about.
The train steamed cautiously over the temporary wooden bridge at Colenso and ran into the open country beyond. On we hurried past the green slope where poor Long's artillery55 had been shot to bits, past Gun Hill, whence the great naval56 guns had fired so often, through Chieveley Camp, or rather through the site of Chieveley Camp, past the wreck57 of the armoured train--still lying where we had dragged it with such labour and peril58, just clear of the line--through Frere and Estcourt, and so, after seven hours' journey, we came to Pietermaritzburg.
An officer who was travelling down with me pointed59 out the trenches on the signal hill above the town.
'Seems queer,' he said, 'to think that the Boers might so easily have taken this town. When we dug those trenches they were expected every day, and the Governor, who refused to leave the capital and was going to stick it out with us, had his kit60 packed ready to come up into the entrenchments at an hour's notice.'
It was very pleasant to know that those dark and critical days were gone, and that the armies in the field were strong enough to maintain the Queen's dominions61 against any further invasion; yet one could not but recall with annoyance62 that the northern part of Natal was still in the hands of the enemy. Not for long, however, shall this endure.
After waiting in Pietermaritzburg long enough only to dine, I proceeded by the night train to Durban, and was here so fortunate as to find a union boat, the Guelph, leaving almost immediately for East London. The weather was fine, the sea comparatively smooth, and the passengers few and unobtrusive, so that the voyage, being short, might almost be considered pleasant.
The captain took the greatest interest in the war, which he had followed with attention, and with the details and incidents of which he was extraordinarily63 familiar. He had brought out a ship full of Volunteers, new drafts, and had much to say concerning the British soldier and his comrades in arms.
The good news which had delighted and relieved everyone had reached him in the most dramatic and striking manner. When they left England Roberts had just begun his welcome advance, and the public anxiety was at its height. At Madeira there was an English cable to say that he was engaging Cronje, and that no news had arrived for three days. This was supplied, however, by the Spanish wire, which asserted with circumstantial details that the British had been heavily defeated and had fled south beyond the Orange River. With this to reflect on they had to sail. Imagine the doubts and fears that flourished in ten days of ignorance, idleness, and speculation64. Imagine with what feelings they approached St. Helena. He told me that when the tug-boat came off no man dared hail them for news. Nor was it until the launch was alongside that a soldier cried out nervously65, 'The war, the war: what's happened there!' and when they heard the answer, 'Cronje surrendered; Ladysmith relieved,' he said that such a shout went up as he had never heard before, and I believed him.
After twenty-four hours of breeze and tossing the good ship found herself in the roads at East London, and having by this time had quite enough of the sea I resolved to disembark forthwith.
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1
natal
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| adj.出生的，先天的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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pickets
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| 罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 ) | |
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picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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impended
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| v.进行威胁，即将发生( impend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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journalism
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| n.新闻工作，报业 | |
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monotonously
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| adv.单调地，无变化地 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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corrugated
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| adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词) | |
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epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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reactionary
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| n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的 | |
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idiomatic
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| adj.成语的，符合语言习惯的 | |
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galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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42
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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43
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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vigilantly
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| adv.警觉地，警惕地 | |
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46
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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48
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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49
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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50
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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jumbled
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| adj.混乱的；杂乱的 | |
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mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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cartridge
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| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
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55
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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56
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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57
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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dominions
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| 统治权( dominion的名词复数 )； 领土； 疆土； 版图 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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