[Pg 338]
"I shall certainly be glad when we are off, sir. But I am by no means sorry for a rest after being on horseback for six months. But I am perfectly1 ready to go anywhere if I can be of service."
"What do you say to a ride to Kimberley?"
"I am quite ready to go, sir; though I hope to be back with you when you advance."
Lord Roberts shook his head. "I hope to be away before you get back. I have some despatches for you to carry. The wires are so frequently cut by the Boers that I cannot trust to them in a matter of importance. They relate to an expedition that is being prepared for the relief of Mafeking. Lord Methuen is confronted by so strong a force of Boers—doubtless a portion of Cronje's force, which moved north with the guns—that he cannot go forward. Colonel Plumer in the north has not a sufficient force to fight his way in. Therefore profound secrecy3 is necessary with regard to the route of a force with which Lord Methuen and I hope to relieve the town. It is for this reason that I dare not trust to the wire. You have done good service, Mr. Harberton, and if you like I will attach you to the force, which will start in ten days or so. And if all goes well, you will be at Mafeking, and will have time to rejoin me, say at Johannesburg, before I advance on Pretoria. I cannot expect my progress to be very rapid, for although I do not anticipate any serious resistance on the part of the Boers, I shall have to make halts to enable the supplies to come up. And as the party you will go with will travel fast, I do not think that, if all goes well, you will be many days behind me at Johannesburg."
"Thank you very much, sir! If I cannot be with you, I should above all things like to be at the relief of Mafeking."
"The despatches will be ready for you this evening," the general said. "You can start with them as early as you[Pg 339] like. I hope that your usual good luck will again attend you."
Yorke bowed and retired4. He had no doubt that Lord Roberts would, as before, turn the Boers out of their positions by flanking movements, and that if a great battle were fought, it would be close to Pretoria, and he felt delighted at the thought of being with an expedition which the general evidently believed was likely to effect the relief of Mafeking.
That town had, since the day of the declaration of war by the Boers, been a cause of no little anxiety. As time went on, and the garrison5 continued to defend themselves heroically, the feeling at home heightened, until every scrap6 of news that came through was regarded with as much interest as the more important operations of the army.
Mafeking was a small town, and was chiefly known in Britain as the place from which the Jameson raid had started. It was the nearest point of the western railway to Pretoria, and was within a few miles of the Transvaal frontier. Unlike Kimberley, it contained no garrison of regular troops, the force consisting only of three hundred and forty men of the Protectorate Regiment8, one hundred and seventy Police, and two hundred Volunteers. But fortunately, early in July, the military authorities at Cape9 Town had appointed Colonel Baden-Powell to organize a force of irregulars, both for the purpose of preventing any native rising in case of war, and as far as possible to defend the eastern border. The difficulty of such a task, owing to the extreme length of the frontier, had been recognized at once; and a better man could not have been chosen for the task. Baden-Powell had, a year before, taken a conspicuous10 part in the campaign against the Matabele; and before the outbreak began, had organized the Protectorate Regiment; while, under his orders, Colonel Plumer had raised a regiment in Rhodesia.
[Pg 340]
He saw that Mafeking was certain to be the first point of attack. It was but a hundred and fifty miles from Pretoria, and was the route through which the Boers would naturally pour into the colony, where the population was largely Dutch. He had chosen as his chief of staff Major Lord Edward Cecil, who arrived at the town on October 1, 1899, and set to work to prepare the town for defence, with Captain Williams and Captain Fitz-Clarence, Lord Charles Bentinck, and other officers.
The military authorities had sent up a certain amount of stores. These were quite inadequate11 for the purpose, and Baden-Powell and Lord Cecil took upon themselves the responsibility of ordering far larger supplies to be forwarded. They might have failed in obtaining these had it not been for the patriotism12 of Messrs. Weil & Co., one of the largest firms in South Africa. These accepted the order, although quite aware that the prices of all goods were advancing enormously, and furnished the supplies asked for. And thus the store of provisions was accumulated that enabled Mafeking to hold out for so many months.
But the requisitions for guns was not so promptly13 complied with. The Africander government of Cape Colony, whose sympathies were wholly with the Transvaal, pretended to doubt that there was any probability of war, and refused to send up the guns, and when at the last moment half a dozen small pieces of artillery14 were forwarded, they arrived too late and were unable to enter the place.
On Baden-Powell's arrival he organized the town guard, consisting of all white inhabitants capable of carrying guns, and even boys of from fourteen to sixteen were formed into a cadet corps15 for orderly duty. An armoured train was constructed and armed with a Maxim16 and Nordenfeldt, and mines were laid in a circle round the town.
Already several large commandos of Boers had appeared on the frontier, and whatever might be the opinion elsewhere, at Mafeking there was no question whatever that[Pg 341] these men were only waiting for the declaration of war by Kruger to attack the town. On the day after the expiration17 of the time named in Kruger's ultimatum18 the railway was torn up forty miles south of the town, and an armoured train, bringing two seven-pounders for Mafeking, was thrown off the rails, and an artillery fire opened upon it. The officer who, with twenty men, was escorting the train, defended himself valiantly19 for five hours, but was then obliged to surrender. This was the first blood shed in the war.
The Boers had doubtless expected to enter the town with scarce any resistance. They were five thousand in number, and knew from their sympathizers in the place that, including the town guard, its defenders20 amounted to only nine hundred men, with two seven-pounder guns and six machine-guns. The difficulties of the besieged21 lay chiefly in the fact that Mafeking, though but a small town, was scattered22 over a very large area, and that the defences were naturally erected23 some distance outside the circuit. These defences were planned by Colonel Vyvyan and Major Panzera.
Two days after the declaration of war the Boers appeared before Mafeking, and drove in the pickets24 round the town. The armoured train and a squadron of the Protectorate Regiment went out and drove back the Boers. Great numbers of the enemy hurried up and cut off the party, but another squadron and a seven-pounder went out and opened a passage into the town. The loss was about two killed and fourteen wounded, while the Boers suffered much more heavily. Two days later the Boers opened fire on the town with two twelve-pounder guns, and in another four days Cronje sent in a messenger with the summons: "Surrender to avoid bloodshed"; to which Powell replied, "When is bloodshed going to begin?" Two or three days later the Boers brought up a ninety-six-pounder, and the bombardment began in earnest.
[Pg 342]
On the 27th a sortie was made; one of the Boer trenches25 was carried, the Boers were driven out with a loss of a hundred men, while we had six killed and eleven wounded. About half the Boers who fell were killed by the bayonet, and consequently this weapon was throughout the siege regarded with a wholesome26 dread27 by the besiegers. There were now, in addition to the ninety-six-pounder, five seven-pounders, one ten-pounder, and two twelve-pounders playing on the town, and yet the damage done was so slight that on the day after the sortie there was a concert at the hotel, the officers all attending in fighting costume, in readiness to rush out in case the Boers attacked.
Bomb-proof shelters were dug, everyone kept in good spirits, and Baden-Powell sent out the cheerful message, "All well. Four hours' bombardment; one dog killed." Another summons to surrender was answered with the message, "Tell General Cronje that I will let him know when we have had enough."
Two assaults were made, but they were both repulsed28 with loss, although one of them was pushed with great energy against an old fort which was the key to our position. It was held by Colonel Walford and men of the South African Police. The attack was covered by the fire of four guns and the ninety-six-pounder. The Boers fought well, and pushed up to within three hundred yards of the little fort, but were repulsed with heavy loss. We had two officers, Captain the Hon. D.H. Marshall and Captain Pechell, among the six killed. Various skirmishes followed, but the siege languished29 until, on the 18th of November, Cronje left to take command of the force assembling to oppose the advance of Lord Methuen. Commandant Snyman succeeded to his post.
Things went on quietly until a great sortie was made on 26th December. The object was to attack a post called Game Tree Fort. The storming-party was composed of eighty men and six officers. Captain Vernon of the Pro[Pg 343]tectorate Regiment was in command. Supported by a considerable force and by guns playing on the enemy to distract their attention, the storming-party dashed forward. Many fell as they advanced, but they pushed forward till they reached the fort, which was composed of sand-bags. These stood up like a wall, and no efforts of the men sufficed to enable them to scale it, whereas from loopholes left between the bags a murderous fire was maintained. Captains Vernon, Sandford, and Paton were killed, Captain Fitz-Clarence wounded, and Lieutenants30 Swinburne and Bridges alone escaped the deadly fire and led back the survivors31 of the little storming-party. Twenty-one had fallen, and four of those carried off were found to be mortally wounded.
After this there was a long period of inaction. The bombardment was continued, Snyman, in spite of the protests of Baden-Powell, continuing to throw shells into the nunnery and the women's laager, until the colonel ordered a number of the Boer prisoners to be also confined there. Occasionally a message was got through, and, carefully as the provisions were doled32 out, the gallant33 commander at last informed General Roberts that by the 20th of May the stock would absolutely come to an end, and that he could not hold out beyond that date.
On 17th April, seeing that the force from Rhodesia under Colonel Plumer was not sufficiently34 strong to fight its way through, and that the expedition that had been sent there by way of Beira could hardly, in spite of the tremendous exertions35 that were being made, be depended upon to join Plumer in time, Lord Roberts ordered that a flying column of mounted troops, under the command of Colonel Mahon of the 8th Hussars, should start from Kimberley not later than the 4th of May.
Yorke, after leaving Lord Roberts, at once returned to his quarters and told his host that he was going to Kimberley, and should probably not return to Bloemfontein, but should rejoin the army on its way up the country.
[Pg 344]
"Are you going to take your man with you?"
"No, sir, I shall have to travel fast, and may have to ride for my life. I shall take my best horse. If you will kindly36 allow me to leave the other in your stable, my man can bring him on when the army moves."
"That I will gladly do, but you must let me lend you a better mount than the one you are taking. I have two in my stable of which you can take your choice. I think either of them is as good as any in the state—or, I should say, in the colony, as, since your general's proclamation, we are all British subjects."
"I could not think of accepting your kind offer, sir."
"But I insist upon it, Mr. Harberton. Indeed you will be doing me a service, for since the war began I have had no use for my horses at all, and they sadly want exercise. A month's hard work will be of real benefit to the animal; and I should benefit too, for time was when I did not mind how fiery37 a horse was, but now that I am getting on in life I am not fond of having to fight with my mount."
"I am extremely obliged to you, sir; but I do not see how I shall be able to send it back again to you."
"When you get to Johannesburg you can leave it with Mr. Chambers38, he and I will arrange how it is to be returned. In fact, as soon as matters are settled down I shall certainly go there myself. Do not let that trouble you in any way."
Yorke gratefully accepted the offer. Both of his own horses had felt the hard work to which they had been subjected, that which Hans rode more than his own; for the latter had been kept hard at work since their arrival at Bloemfontein, and was certainly not fit to start on a journey of many hundred miles. Both horses could, without difficulty, go on at the rate the army was likely to advance, especially after having another ten days' rest at Bloemfontein.
Hans and Peter were both disappointed when they heard[Pg 345] that they were not to accompany Yorke. But Hans himself, who throughout had taken great care of the horses, admitted that these were not fit to start on so long a journey. Accordingly the next morning at daybreak Yorke started alone on the horse that had been lent to him. The distance between Bloemfontein and Kimberley was somewhat under a hundred miles, and this was traversed in two days, Yorke riding only forty miles the first day, as he felt that it would not do to push the animal too hard immediately after being so long without work. He did not hesitate to complete the remaining part of the journey on the second day, as he knew that the horse would have at least a week's rest before starting again. It was a splendid animal, superior even to that which had been killed at the time when he was taken prisoner on his way to Belmont, and as it stretched out in a gallop39 under him he felt that he could ride anywhere across country without fear of being overtaken by any party of Boers he might meet.
On his arrival at Kimberley he handed his despatches to Colonel Mahon, to whom he was instructed to deliver them if Lord Methuen was still at Boshof.
"I have brought despatches for you, sir," he said as he entered that officer's head-quarters. "Lord Roberts informed me that if, as he supposed, Lord Methuen was still at Boshof, I was to hand them to you, as they relate entirely40 to the force you are preparing. I have the honour to be one of the commander-in-chief's extra aides-de-camp. My name is Harberton."
"We have all heard of you, Mr. Harberton," the colonel said as he opened the despatches. "Your journey to Kimberley, and your adventurous41 escape from Pretoria, have made your name familiar to us all."
When he glanced through the despatches he said: "I am glad to see that you are to accompany me till we get to Mafeking. Our arrangements are going on most satisfactorily, and I have no doubt that we shall be in a posi[Pg 346]tion to start on the day named. Now, you must be famishing after your ride, though, I suppose, as an old hand, you did not leave Bloemfontein without some provision for the journey. I will tell my orderly to put your horse up at once. Dinner will be ready downstairs in half an hour; they always keep a table for me and my officers."
The dinner at the hotel bore few signs of the long siege. Supplies had been got up, and some of the principal inhabitants had returned, and though at Bloemfontein things had been well managed and comfortable, the style in which meals were served was very inferior to that which had already been attained42 at Kimberley. Some ten or twelve officers joined Colonel Mahon's party. No allusion43 whatever was made to the intended expedition, which was kept a profound secret, as even at Kimberley there were many Boer sympathizers, and it was all-important that no rumour44 of the approaching departure of a large body of horse should be known to them. It was to consist of the Imperial Light Horse, which had arrived from Natal45, the Kimberley mounted corps, the Diamond Field Horse, a party of Imperial Yeomanry, and a detachment of the Cape Police, a horse artillery battery with four guns and two machine-guns, a hundred men of the Fusiliers to guard the waggons46, fifty-two waggons with ten mules47 each, and a number of spare horses to take the place of any that might break down. The force amounted in all to twelve hundred men. Not even to the officers who commanded the different corps was their destination made known until the morning of the 4th of May, when the force had ridden out from Kimberley.
Yorke had placed himself altogether under Colonel Mahon's orders, and had looked after many of the details connected with the waggons and provisions. The store of food carried was quite enough to last fourteen days, this being the outside limit of the time that the march was likely to occupy. Once off there was no delay. The mules and the waggons did their work well, and the force moved[Pg 347] round to the west of the position of a large body of Boers, who were opposing Methuen's advance by the line of railway, and on the 9th marched into Vryburg, having done a hundred and twenty miles in five days. They halted here for a day to rest the animals, and on the 11th they started again. Hitherto not a shot had been fired. From this point they were watched by the enemy, as their arrival at Vryburg had been at once notified to the Boers, and at Koodoosrand a force was found posted in a strong position in front of them.
Mahon, whose object was not to fight but to relieve Mafeking, moved off to the westward48; but here the country was found to be thickly covered with bush, which greatly impeded49 the progress of the waggons, and presently the enemy, leaving their position, threw themselves across his path. There was a sharp but short encounter, and the Boers were soon in flight. The casualties in killed and wounded on our side were only thirty.
On the 15th the relieving column arrived at a village twenty miles to the west of Mafeking, where, within an hour of their entry, they were joined by Plumer's force, which had just been strengthened by the arrival of four twelve-pounder guns of the Canadian artillery, and a party of Queenslanders.
These troops had performed a marvellous march. On their arrival from Canada and Queensland respectively they had been brought round by ship to Beira, carried by train to the plateau of Rhodesia, from there in vehicles a hundred miles to Buluwayo, then by train over four hundred miles to Ootsi, and had then pushed on on foot for four days over terribly bad roads at the rate of twenty-five miles a day, and had been with Plumer only a few hours.
There was no fear now that they would fail to gain the success they had striven for, as their united force was stronger than that with which Snyman could oppose them. The Boer commander, however, would not retire without[Pg 348] one last effort, and he planted his force on a hill which commanded the water supply; but after he had held his ground for an hour, his guns were silenced, and he retired past Mafeking to the trenches on the eastern side. Here, however, the Boers had no rest, for Baden-Powell sallied out with his garrison, and Mahon's guns opened upon them, so that ere long they withdrew and retreated eastward50.
Mafeking was free at last! Only six days before, fearing doubtless that relief would come ere long, and possibly hearing that a large cavalry51 force was nearing Vryburg, the Boers made the most determined52 attempt to capture Mafeking that had occurred during the siege. Early on the morning of the 12th three hundred volunteers, under the command of Eloff, a grandson of Kruger, crept up to the west of the besiegers' line and reached the native quarters, to which they at once set fire. The barracks of the Protectorate Regiment were held by Hore and some twenty of his men. These, after a stout53 defence, were compelled to surrender. Two other positions within the line were captured, and had Snyman sent up his support at once, affairs might have ended badly; but this failed to arrive. The telephone and telegraph wires called up the defenders from all parts of the town. These gradually surrounded the positions the Boers had taken, and prevented any reinforcements from reaching them. Knowing that unless aided they must surrender in time, Baden-Powell refused to allow the loss of life that must ensue if the Boers were attacked, and contented54 himself with preventing them from being reinforced, and at seven in the evening Eloff, finding his position desperate, surrendered.
The defence of Mafeking ranks with that of Ladysmith in the stubbornness of the resistance which it, an open town, made against a powerful enemy, and is the more remarkable55 inasmuch as the garrison consisted entirely of irregulars, with but two or three guns of the smallest calibre, while the enemy had far more numerous and powerful artillery.[Pg 349] For six months the little garrison had maintained an unflinching defence, during which time their spirits, and it may be said their gaiety, never flagged under any privation, hardship, or work.
The service they rendered the country is beyond computation; for they had detained throughout the early months of the siege five thousand men, who would otherwise have been carrying fire and sword throughout the Colony, and causing a general rising among the Dutch population, who were only waiting for the fall of Mafeking and the arrival of their friends to take up arms. Pressed as the garrison had been, they were in better condition than the inhabitants of Ladysmith when that town was relieved. The arrangements had all been admirable. Horse-flesh and horse-soup had been served out regularly. Oats had largely entered into the rations7. A certain allowance of oat flour was served out, and porridge was made from bran, by mixing the sifting56 of the husks with water, letting this stand for twenty-four hours until it became slightly sour, then boiling it for an hour and leaving it to cool. The natives, who had an objection to the horse-flesh and horse-soup, were in the latter days of the siege fed wholly on this porridge.
Mafeking was relieved on the 18th of May. On the 20th, Snyman had informed the government at Pretoria that he had retired from before Mafeking on the arrival of a superior force. Thence it was telegraphed through Loren?o Marques to the Cape, thence flashed both to Lord Roberts at Kroonstad, and home, and in a few hours the English-speaking people throughout the whole of the British Empire joined in rejoicing at the safety of the heroic garrison.
Yorke that evening received from Baden-Powell a despatch2 giving an account of the incidents of the siege, and the capture of Commandant Eloff and his party. With this, and the despatches of Colonels Mahon and Plumer, he started at daybreak on the following morning. Uncertain as to the position of Lord Roberts, he kept close to the[Pg 350] line by which the force had advanced, and on the afternoon of the fifth day rode into Boshof. He had taken with him provisions for the journey, a bag of oats for the horse, and a canvas bag of water. He was twice seen and chased by small parties of Boers, but, thanks to the excellence57 of his horse, he left them behind without difficulty. He travelled from daylight up till eleven o'clock, halted during the heat of the day, and at four started again and rode till dark, and by this means his horse was able to carry him without great effort.
He found that Lord Methuen, with the greater part of his force, had on the 12th moved forward, and that he had reached Hoopstad on the 17th. Kroonstad had been occupied by Lord Roberts on the 12th, and the force still at Boshof heard that a halt had been made there until the day before Yorke himself arrived at Boshof. The commander-in-chief had effected the passage of the Rhenoster River without fighting, the Boers having abandoned the strong position they had prepared, owing to their being threatened by the cavalry, who had crossed the river higher up.
After a rest of eighteen hours, Yorke started for Kroonstad. He scarcely saw a person during his long ride. The advance of Methuen to Hoopstad, and Roberts to Kroonstad, so alarmed the Boers that they had for the most part abandoned their farms and trekked58 north. The majority, however, of the men capable of bearing arms were with the commandos, and a few women only remained in the farmhouses59. On the third day after leaving Boshof he arrived at Kroonstad. Here his work was practically over, and he was not sorry for it; for, excellent as his horse was, it was beginning to feel the terrible strain of the journey, having accomplished60 over four hundred miles in nine days, a performance that showed the strength and endurance of the horses of the lofty plateau of the Free State and the Transvaal.
despatch
YORKE RECEIVES A DESPATCH FROM BADEN-POWELL.
[Pg 351]
A strong force was stationed at Kroonstad, which was now the base of the advancing army. Going at once to Lord Methuen, who had arrived there from Hoopstad two days before, Yorke obtained an order from him for carriage for himself and horse in a train that would start at midnight. He spent an hour relating to the general the adventures he had passed through since he had last seen him on the Modder.
"You must be well mounted indeed to have got down from Mafeking in nine days, Mr. Harberton. Of course, you might have done it in a great deal shorter time had you ridden direct from Mafeking here, though I quite understand that, knowing nothing of the commander-in-chief's movements, you could not well have attempted that, for you would have had to pass through a country we have not touched yet."
"Yes, sir, it would have been only about half the distance—probably, I should say, even less than that."
"Yes, much less. We only reckon it to be a hundred and fifty miles from here to Mafeking in a direct line. But, of course, carrying despatches you could not have risked that, especially as you would have had to cross the Vaal, and you may be sure that every drift on that river will be strongly guarded."
"I don't think I should have come much quicker, sir. For, according to my map, the country is a great deal rougher than that through which I have travelled; and as the Boers have not been disturbed, I dared not have ridden by day, and could hardly have found my way by night; and there was no road marked, leading south-east from Mafeking, which is about the line that I must have followed. I knew, too, that Lord Roberts would have heard the news of the relief of Mafeking via Pretoria. Had it been otherwise, I should have risked the attempt, knowing the intense anxiety throughout the army and at home as to the safety of the garrison. As I was only carrying the details, two[Pg 352] or three days' difference did not seem to me to be of importance. Had I travelled by that line, I could only have hoped to succeed by coming in disguise. I knew that Lord Roberts hoped to move from Bloemfontein two days after I left him, but there might have been fresh misfortunes like that at Sanna's Post. The line might have been cut in several places, and he might have been so delayed that he would not have been at Kroonstad by the time I arrived there. May I ask how far the general has got?"
"He crossed the Vaal to-day and bivouacked at Vereeniging. Generals French and Hutton, I believe, have moved on to Rietfontein, and General Ian Hamilton to Rietkuil."
"Then he has crossed the Vaal without opposition61, sir?"
"Yes, the cavalry outflanked the enemy. False news had been spread as to the drifts by which they would cross, and the route they took completely surprised the Boers, who had all cleared off before the main army reached the river."
At twelve o'clock, Yorke took his place with his horse on a cattle truck, and the next day came up to the head-quarters, which had that morning arrived at the Klip River Station, little over ten miles from Johannesburg. There he delivered his despatches to Lord Roberts, who, on hearing the route he had followed, complimented him warmly upon the rapidity with which he had made his journey.
"It did not look like it, sir. I do not know what stores they had remaining, but I heard that they were pretty nearly out of everything except oats and horse-flesh. The men certainly looked somewhat thin and worn, but by all accounts they had kept up their spirits wonderfully, and confidently relied upon succour arriving by the time we named."
"Did Mahon succeed in capturing any considerable force?"
"No, sir. There was a fight outside the town, but our[Pg 353] guns were too strong for them, and they fell back to their entrenchments on the other side of the town. Colonel Baden-Powell attacked them there, but I think they only made a stand to get their big gun away. This they succeeded in doing, and only one small gun was captured. If the horses had been fresher, no doubt a heavy blow might have been dealt them, but they had had a very heavy march. Certainly the four Canadian guns could not have pursued them with any chance of coming up with them, especially as they had abandoned their waggons and stores; and Colonel Baden-Powell believes that they sent off the big gun the day before, and only fought their battle with us to give it time to get a long way on the road."
"It is a sort of conjuring63 trick," Lord Roberts said, with a smile. "Heigh-ho, presto64! and the gun is gone. We have out-man[oe]uvred them many times, but never once have we caught one of their big guns. Such cannon65 until the present war have been considered as simply guns of position and wholly out of the question in military operations in the field. I am sure I am much obliged to you for the zeal66 and activity that you have displayed, and shall have pleasure in mentioning your name most favourably67 in my despatches."
On leaving the general's tent, Yorke, to his great satisfaction, saw Hans standing68 near. "I saw you ride in, master, and glad I was, for one never knows what may happen."
"I am also glad to see you, Hans. I suppose Peter is here too?"
"Yes, sir, he is with the two horses; they are quite right again now. I didn't ride either of them coming up, so that they should be as fit as possible for work by the time you wanted them."
"I am glad to hear that, Hans, for this horse, good as it is, wants a fortnight's rest after the tremendously hard work it has done since I left you."
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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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despatch
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secrecy
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retired
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garrison
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scrap
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rations
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cape
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patriotism
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promptly
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artillery
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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ultimatum
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| n.最后通牒 | |
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valiantly
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| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
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defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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pickets
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| 罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 ) | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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languished
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| 长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
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lieutenants
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| n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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doled
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| 救济物( dole的过去式和过去分词 )； 失业救济金 | |
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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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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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natal
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| adj.出生的，先天的 | |
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waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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51
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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sifting
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| n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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trekked
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| v.艰苦跋涉，徒步旅行( trek的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在山中）远足，徒步旅行，游山玩水 | |
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farmhouses
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| n.农舍，农场的主要住房( farmhouse的名词复数 ) | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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62
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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conjuring
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| n.魔术 | |
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presto
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| adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的 | |
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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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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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