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 +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | | been preserved. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+

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VOL. I. April, 1905 No. 4. 

JOURNAL OF THEUNITED STATESINFANTRYASSOCIATION

PUBLISHED QUARTERLYBY THE UNITED STATES INFANTRY ASSOCIATION75 CENTS PER COPY; $3. 00 PER YEAR

MAJOR WM. P. EVANS, A. A. G. , _Editor_

1800 F STREET NORTHWEST, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Entered July 5, 1904, at the Post Office at Washington, D. C. , as second-class matter, under act of March 3, 1879. Copyright, 1904, by the U. S. Infantry Association. All rights reserved. 

THE UNITED STATESINFANTRYASSOCIATION

OFFICERS

_President. _Major-General J. C. BATES, U. S. Army. 

_Vice-President. _Lieutenant-Colonel JAS. S. PETTIT, U. S. Infantry. _Assistant Adjutant-General. _

_Secretary and Treasurer. _Captain BENJAMIN ALVORD, General Staff. 

_Executive Council. _Lieutenant-Colonel JAMES S. PETTIT, U. S. Infantry, A. A. G. Major WM. P. EVANS, U. S. Infantry, A. A. G. Major JOHN S. MALLORY, 12th Infantry, G. S. Captain BENJAMIN ALVORD, 25th Infantry, G. S. Captain H. C. HALE, 15th Infantry, G. S. Captain C. H. MUIR, 2d Infantry, G. S. Captain FRANK MCINTYRE, 19th Infantry, G. S. Captain D. E. NOLAN, 30th Infantry, G. S. 

THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT. 

BY CAPTAIN E. D. SWINTON, D. S. O. , R. E. --(BACKSIGHT FORETHOUGHT. )

BY PERMISSION. 

PROLOGUE. 

Upon an evening after a long and tiring trek, I arrived at Dreamdorp. The local atmosphere, combined with a heavy meal, are responsible forthe following nightmare, consisting of a series of dreams. To make thesequence of the whole intelligible, it is necessary to explain that, though the scene of each vision was the same, yet by some curiousmental process I had no recollection of the place whatsoever. In eachdream the locality was totally new to me, and I had an entirely freshdetachment. Thus I had not the great advantage of working overfamiliar ground. One thing, and one only, was carried on from dream todream, and that was the vivid recollection of the general lessonspreviously learnt. These finally produced success. 

The whole series of dreams, however, remained in my memory as aconnected whole when I awoke. 

FIRST DREAM. 

 "Any fool can get into a hole. "--_Old Chinese proverb. _

 "If left to you, for defence make spades. "--_Bridge Maxim. _

I felt lonely, and not a little sad, as I stood on the bank of theriver near Duffer's Drift and watched the red dust haze, raised by thesouthward departing column in the distance, turn slowly into gold asit hung in the afternoon sunlight. It was just three o'clock, and hereI was on the banks of the Silliaasvogel river, left behind by mycolumn with a party of fifty N. C. O. 's and men to hold the drift. Itwas an important ford, because it was the only one across whichwheeled traffic could pass for some miles up or down the river. 

[Illustration: MAP OF DUFFER'S DRIFT. ]

The river was a sluggish stream, not now in flood, crawling along atthe very bottom of its bed between steep banks which were almostvertical, or at any rate too steep for wagons everywhere except at thedrift itself. The banks from the river edge to their tops and somedistance outwards were covered with dense thorn and other bushes, which formed a screen impenetrable to the sight. They were also brokenby small ravines and holes, where the earth had been eaten away by theriver when in flood, and were consequently very rough. 

Some two thousand odd yards north of the drift was a flat-topped, rocky mountain, and about a mile to the northeast appeared the usualsugar-loaf kopje, covered with bushes and boulders--steep on thesouth, but gently falling to the north; this had a farm on the nearside of it. About a thousand yards south of the drift was a convex andsmooth hill, somewhat like an inverted basin, sparsely sown with smallboulders, and with a Kaffir kraal, consisting of a few grass and mudhuts on top. Between the river and the hills on the north the groundconsisted of open and almost level veldt; on the south bank the veldtwas more undulating, and equally open. The whole place was coveredwith ant-hills. 

My orders were--to hold Duffer's Drift at all costs. That I shouldprobably be visited by some column within three or four days' time. That I might possibly be attacked before that time, but that this wasvery unlikely, as no enemy were known to be within a hundred miles. That the enemy had guns. 

It all seemed plain enough except that the true inwardness of the lastpiece of information did not strike me at the time. Though in companywith fifty "good men and true, " it certainly made me feel somewhatlonely and marooned to be left out there comparatively alone on theboundless veldt; but the chance of an attack filled me, and, I amquite sure, my men with martial ardor; and at last here was the chanceI had so often longed for. This was my first "show, " my firstindependent command, and I was determined to carry out my orders tothe bitter end. I was young and inexperienced, it is true, but I hadpassed all my examinations with fair success; my men were a goodwilling lot, with the traditions of a glorious regiment to uphold, andwould, I knew, do all I should require of them. We were also wellsupplied with ammunition and rations; and had a number of picks, shovels and sandbags, etc. , which I confess had been rather forced onme. 

As I turned towards my gallant little detachment, visions of a bloodyand desperate fight crossed my mind--a fight to the last cartridge, and then an appeal to cold steel, with ultimate victory--and---- Buta discreet cough at my elbow brought me back to realities, and warnedme that my color-sergeant was waiting for orders. 

After a moment's consideration, I decided to pitch my small camp on aspot just south of the drift, because it was slightly rising ground, which I knew should be chosen for a camp whenever possible. It was, moreover, quite close to the drift, which was also in its favor, for, as everyone knows, if you are told off to guard anything, you mount aguard quite close to it, and place a sentry, if possible, standing ontop of it. The place picked out by me also had the river circlinground three sides of it in a regular horseshoe bend, which formed akind of ditch, or, as the book says, "a natural obstacle. " I wasindeed lucky to have such an ideal place close at hand; nothing couldhave been more suitable. 

I came to the conclusion that, as the enemy were not within a hundredmiles, there would be no need to place the camp in a state of defencetill the following day. Besides, the men were tired after their longtrek, and it would be quite as much as they could do comfortably toarrange nice and shipshape all the stores and tools, which had beendumped down anyhow in a heap, pitch the camp, and get their teasbefore dark. 

Between you and me, I was really relieved to be able to put off mydefensive measures till the morrow, because I was a wee bit puzzled asto what to do. In fact, the more I thought, the more puzzled I grew. The only "measures of defence" I could recall for the moment were, howto tie "a thumb or overhand knot, " and how long it takes to cut downan apple tree of six inches' diameter. Unluckily neither of theseuseful facts seemed quite to apply. Now, if they had given me a joblike fighting the battle of Waterloo, or Sedan, or Bull Run, I knewall about that, as I had crammed it up and been examined in it, too. Ialso knew how to take up a position for a division, or even an armycorps, but the stupid little subaltern's game of the defence of adrift with a small detachment was, curiously enough, most perplexing. I had never really considered such a thing. However, in the light ofmy habitual dealings with army corps, it would, no doubt, bechild's-play after a little thought. 

Having issued my immediate orders accordingly, I decided to explorethe neighborhood, but was for a moment puzzled as to which direction Ishould take; for, having no horse, I could not possibly get all roundbefore dark. After a little thought, it flashed across my mind thatobviously I should go to the north. The bulk of the enemy being awayto the north, that, of course, must be the _front_. I knew naturallythat there must be a front, because in all the schemes I had had toprepare, or the exams I had undergone, there was always a front, or--"the place where the enemies come from. " How often, also, had Inot had trouble in getting out of a dull sentry which his "front" andwhat his "beat" was. The north, then, being my front, the east andwest were my flanks, where there might possibly be enemies, and thesouth was my _rear_, where naturally there were none. 

I settled these knotty points to my satisfaction, and off I trudged, with my field-glasses and, of course, my kodak, directing my stepstowards the Dutch farm, with gleaming white walls, nestling under thekopje to the northeast. It was quite a snug little farm for SouthAfrica, surrounded by blue gums and fruit trees. About a quarter of amile from the farm I was met by the owner, Mr. Andreas Brink, a tameor surrendered Boer farmer, and his two sons, Piet and Gert. Such anice man, too, with a pleasant face and long beard. He would insist oncalling me "captain, " and as any correction might have confused him, Idid not think it worth while to make any, and after all I wasn't sovery far from my "company. " The three of them positively bristled withdog's-eared and dirty passes from every provost marshal in SouthAfrica, which they insisted on showing me. I had not thought ofasking for them, and was much impressed; to have so many they must bespecial men. They escorted me to the farm, where the guid wife andseveral daughters met us, and gave me a drink of milk, which was mostacceptable after my long and dusty trek. The whole family appearedeither to speak or to understand English, and we had a very friendlychat, during the course of which I gathered that there were no Boercommandoes anywhere within miles; that the whole family cordiallyhoped that there never would be again, and that Brink was really amost loyal Briton, and had been much against the war, but had beenforced to go on commando with his two sons. Their loyalty was evident, because there was an oleograph of the Queen on the wall, and one ofthe numerous flappers was playing our National anthem on the harmoniumas I entered. 

The farmer and the boys took a great interest in all my personal gear, especially a brand-new pair of latest-pattern field-glasses, whichthey tried with much delight, and many exclamations of "Allermachtig. "They evidently appreciated them extremely, but could not imagine anyuse for my kodak in war-time, even after I had taken a family group. Funny, simple fellows! They asked and got permission from me to sellmilk, eggs, and butter in the camp, and I strolled on my waycongratulating myself on the good turn I was thus able to do myselfand detachment, none of whom had even smelt such luxuries for weeks. 

After an uneventful round, I directed my steps back towards the thinblue threads of smoke, rising vertically in the still air, which aloneshowed the position of my little post, and as I walked thepeacefulness of the whole scene impressed me. The landscape lay bathedin the warm light of the setting sun, whose parting rays tinged moststrongly the various heights within view, and the hush of approachingevening was only broken by the distant lowing of oxen, and by theindistinct and cheerful hum of the camp, which gradually grew louderas I approached. I strolled along in quite a pleasant frame of mind, meditating over the rather curious names which Mr. Brink had given mefor the surrounding features of the landscape. The kopje above hisfarm was called Incidentamba, the flat-topped mountain some two milesto the north was called Regret Table Mountain, and the gently risinghill close to the drift on the south of the river was called WaschoutHill. Everything was going on well, and the men were at their teaswhen I got back. The nice Dutchman, with his apostolic face, and thelanky Piet and Gert, were already there, surrounded by a swarm of men, to whom they were selling their wares at exorbitant rates. The threeof them strolled about the camp, showing great interest in everything, asking most intelligent questions about the British forces and thegeneral position of affairs, and seemed really relieved to have astrong British post near. They did not even take offence when some ofthe rougher men called them "blarsted Dutchmen, " and refused toconverse with them, or buy their "skoff. " About dusk they left, withmany promises to return with a fresh supply on the morrow. 

After writing out my orders for next day--one of which was for diggingsome trenches round the camp, an operation which I knew my men, asbecomes good British soldiers, disliked very much, and regarded asfatigues--I saw the two guards mounted, one at the drift, and theother some little way down the river, each furnishing one sentry onthe river bank. 

When all had turned in, and the camp was quite silent, it was almostcomforting to hear the half-hourly cry of the sentries--"Numberone--all is well;" "Number two--all is well. " By this sound I was ableto locate them, and knew they were at their proper posts. On goinground sentries about midnight, I was pleased to find that they wereboth alert, and that, as it was a cold night, each guard had built abonfire, silhouetted in the cheerful blaze of which stood thesentry--a clear-cut monument to all round that here was a Britishsentry fully on the _qui-vive_. After impressing them with theirorders, the extent of their "beat, " and the direction of their"front, " etc. , I turned in. The fires they had built, besides being acomfort to themselves, were also useful to me, because twice duringthe night when I looked out I could, without leaving my tent, plainlysee them at their posts. I finally fell asleep, and dreamt of beingdecorated with a crossbelt made of V. C. 's and D. S. O. 's and of wearingred tabs all down my back. 

 * * * * *

I was suddenly awoken, about the grey of dawn, by a hoarse cry--"Halt!who goes----" cut short by the unmistakable "plip-plop" of a Mauserrifle. Before I was off my valise, the reports of Mausers rang aroundthe camp from every side; these, mingled with the smack of the bulletsas they hit the ground and stripped the "zipzip" of the leaden hailthrough the tents, and the curses and groans of men who were hit asthey lay or stumbled about trying to get out, made a hellish din. There was some wild shooting in return from my men, but it was allover in a moment, and as I managed to wriggle out of my tent the wholeplace was swarming with bearded men, shooting into the heaving canvas. At that moment I must have been clubbed on the head, for I knew nomore until I found myself seated on an empty case having my head, which was dripping with blood, tied up by one of my men. 

 * * * * *

Our losses were ten men killed, including both sentries, andtwenty-one wounded; the Boers, one killed and two wounded. 

 * * * * *

Later on, as, at the order of the not ill-natured but very frowzy Boercommandant, I was gloomily taking off the saucy warm spotted waistcoatknitted for me by my sister, I noticed our friends of the previousevening in very animated and friendly conversation with the burghers, and "Pappa" was, curiously enough, carrying a rifle and bandolier andmy new field-glasses. He was laughing and pointing towards somethinglying on the ground, through which he finally put his foot. This, tomy horror, I recognized as my unhappy camera. Here, I suppose, my mindmust have slightly wandered, for I found myself repeating some Latinlines, once my favorite imposition, but forgotten since myschool-days--

 "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes----"

when suddenly the voice of the field cornet broke into my musing with"Your breeches, too, captain. "

 * * * * *

Trekking all that day on foot, sockless, and in the boots of another, I had much to think of besides my throbbing head. The sight of thelong Boer convoy with guns, which had succeeded so easily in crossingthe drift _I_ was to have held, was a continual reminder of myfailure, and of my responsibility for the dreadful losses to my poordetachment. I gradually gathered from the Boers what I had alreadypartially guessed, namely, that they had been fetched and guided allround our camp by friend Brink, had surrounded it in the dark, crawling about in the bush on the river bank, and had carefully markeddown our two poor sentries. These they had at once shot on the alarmbeing given, and had then rushed the camp from the dense cover onthree sides. Towards evening my head got worse, and its rhythmicthrobbing seemed gradually to take a meaning, and hammered out thefollowing lessons, the result of much pondering on my failure:

1. Do not put off taking your measures of defence till the morrow, asthis is more important than the comfort of your men or the shipshapearrangement of your camp. Choose the position of your camp mainly withreference to your defence. 

2. Do not in war-time show stray men of the enemy's breed all overyour camp, be they never so kind and full of butter, and do not behypnotized, by numerous "passes, " at once to confide in them. 

3. Do not let your sentries advertise their position to the wholeworld, including the enemy, by standing in the full glare of a fire, and making much noise every half hour. 

4. Do not, if avoidable, be in tents when bullets are ripping throughthem: at such times a hole in the ground is worth many tents. 

After these lessons had been dinned into my soul millions and millionsof times, so that I could never forget them, a strange thing came topass--there was a kaleidoscopic change. I had another dream. 

SECOND DREAM. 

 "And what did ye look they should compass? Warcraft learnt in a breath, Knowledge unto occasion at the first far view of Death?"--KIPLING. 

I suddenly found myself dumped down at Duffer's Drift with the sameorders as already detailed, and an equal detachment composed ofentirely different men. As before, and on every subsequent occasion, Ihad ample stores, ammunition, and tools. My position was preciselysimilar to my former one, with this important exception, runningthrough my brain were _four_ lessons. 

As soon as I received my orders, therefore, I began to make out myplan of operations without wasting any time over the landscape, thesetting sun, or the departing column, which, having off-loaded all ourstores, soon vanished. I was determined to carry out all the lessons Ihad learnt as well as I knew how. 

To prevent any strangers, friendly or otherwise, from coming into myposition and spying out the elaborate defences I was going to make, Isent out at once two examining posts of one N. C. O. And three men each, one to the top of Waschout Hill, and the other some 1, 000 yards out onthe veldt to the north of the drift. Their orders were to watch thesurrounding country, and give the alarm in the event of the approachof any body of men whatever (Boers were, of course, improbable, butstill just possible), and also to stop any individuals, friendly ornot, from coming anywhere near camp, and to shoot at once onnon-compliance with the order to halt. If the new-comers had anyprovisions to sell, these were to be sent in with a list by one of theguard, who would return with the money, but the strangers were not tobe allowed nearer the camp on any account. 

Having thus arranged a safeguard against spies, I proceeded to choosea camping-ground. I chose the site already described in my formerdream, and for the same reasons, which still appealed to me. So longas I was entrenched, it appeared the best place around. We startedmaking our trenches as soon as I had marked off a nice squarish littleenclosure which would about contain our small camp. Though, ofcourse, the north was the front, I thought, having a camp, it would bebest to have an all-round defence as a sort of obstacle. The majorityof the men were told off to dig, which they did not relish, a fewbeing detailed to pitch camp and prepare tea. As the length of trenchwas rather great for the available number of diggers, and the soil washard, we were only able by dark, by which time the men were quite doneup by their hard day, to make quite a low parapet and shallow trench. Still, we were "entrenched, " which was the great thing, and the trenchwas all round our camp, so we were well prepared, even should we beattacked during the night or early next morning, which was out of thequestion. 

During this time one or two strangers had approached the guard of thenorth from a farm under Incidentamba. As they had eggs and butter, etc. , to sell, these were brought in as arranged for. The man sent inwith the stuff reported that the elder of the Dutchmen was a mostpleasant man, and had sent me a present of a pat of butter and someeggs, with his compliments, and would I allow him to come in and speakto me. However, not being such a fool as to allow him in my defences, I went out instead, in case he had any information. His onlyinformation was that there were no Boers anywhere near. He was an oldman, but though he had a museum of "passes, " I was not to bechloroformed by them into confidence. As he seemed friendly, andpossibly loyal, I walked part of the way back to his farm with him, inorder to look around. At dark the two examining posts came in, and twoguards were mounted close by the object I was to watch, namely, thedrift, at the same places as in my previous dream. This time, however, there was no half-hourly shouting, nor were there any fires, and thesentries had orders not to challenge but to shoot any person theymight see outside camp at once. They were placed standing down theriver bank, just high enough to see over the top, and were thus notunnecessarily exposed. Teas had been eaten, and all fires put out atdusk, and after dark all turned in, but in the trenches instead of intents. After going round sentries to see everything snug for thenight, I lay down myself with a sense of having done my duty, andneglected no possible precaution for our safety. 

 * * * * *

Just before dawn much the same happened as already described in myfirst dream, except that the ball was started by a shot withoutchallenge from one of our sentries at something moving among the bush, which resulted in close range fire opening onto us from all sides. This time we were not rushed, but a perfect hail of bullets whistledin from every direction--from in front of each trench, along eachtrench, and from behind each trench, and over and through our parapet. It was sufficient to put a hand or head up to have a dozen bulletsthrough and all round it, and the strange part was, we saw no one. Asthe detachment wag plaintively remarked, we could have seen lots ofBoers, "if wasn't for the bushes in between. "

After vainly trying until bright daylight to see the enemy in order todo some damage in return, so many men were hit, and the positionseemed so utterly hopeless, that I had to hoist the white flag. We hadby then twenty-four men killed and six wounded. As soon as the whiteflag went up the Boers ceased firing at once, and stood up; every bushand ant-hill up to 100 yards' range seemed to have hid a Boer behindit. This close range explained the marvelous accuracy of theirshooting, and the great proportion of our killed (who were nearly allshot through the head) to our wounded. 

As we were collecting ourselves preparatory to marching off, therewere one or two things which struck me; one was that the Dutchman whohad presented me with eggs and butter was in earnest confabulationwith the Boer commandant, who was calling him "Oom" mostaffectionately. I also noticed that all the male Kaffirs from theneighboring kraal had been fetched and impressed to assist in gettingthe Boer guns and wagons across the drift and to load up our capturedgear, and generally do odd and dirty jobs. These same Kaffirs didtheir work with amazing alacrity, and looked as if they enjoyed it;there was no "backchat" when an order was given--usually by friend"Oom. "

Again, as I trudged with blistered feet that livelong day, did Ithink over my failure. It seemed so strange, I had done all I knew, and yet, here we were, ignominiously captured, twenty-four of uskilled, and the Boers over the drift. "Ah, B. F. , my boy, " I thought, "there must be a few more lessons to be learnt besides those youalready know, " and in order to find out what these were, I pondereddeeply over the details of the fight. 

How the Boers must have known of our position, and how they hadmanaged to get close up all round within snapshooting range withoutbeing discovered. What a tremendous advantage they had had in shootingfrom among the bushes on the bank, where they could not be seen, overus who had to show up over a parapet every time we looked for anenemy, and show up, moreover, just in the very place where every Boerexpected us to, and was watching. There seemed to be some fault in theposition. How the bullets seemed sometimes to come through theparapet, and how those that passed over one side hit the men defendingthe other side in the back. How on the whole that "natural obstacle, "the river bed, seemed to be more of a disadvantage than a protection. 

Eventually the following lessons framed themselves in my head--some ofthem quite new, some of them supplementing those four I had alreadylearnt:

5. With modern rifles, to guard a drift or locality does _not_necessitate sitting on top of it (as if it could be picked up andcarried away), unless the locality is suitable to hold for other anddefensive reasons. It may even be much better to take up yourdefensive position some way from the spot, and so away from concealedground, which enables the enemy to crawl up to very close range, concealed and unperceived, and to fire from cover which hides themeven when shooting. It would be better, if possible, to have the enemyin the open, or to have what is called a clear "field of fire. "

A non-bullet proof parapet or shelter which is visible serves merelyto attract bullets instead of keeping them out--the proof-thicknesscan be easily tested practically. 

When fired at by an enemy at close range from nearly all round, a lowparapet and shallow trench are not of much use, as what bullets donot hit the defenders on one side hit those on another. 

6. It is _not_ enough to keep strange men of the enemy's breed awayfrom your actual defences, letting them go free to warn their friendsof your existence and whereabouts--even though they do not know thedetails of your defences. It would be very much better to gather inall such strangers and kindly, but firmly, to take care of them, sothat they should not be under temptation to impart any knowledge theymay have obtained. "Another way, " as the cookery book says, moreeconomical in lives, would be as follows: Gather and warmly greet asufficiency of strangers. Stuff well with chestnuts as to the largeforce about to join you in a few hours; garnish with corroborativedetail, and season according to taste with whiskey or tobacco. Thiswill very likely be sufficient for the nearest commando. Probablecost--some heavy and glib lying, but no lives will be expended. 

7. It is not business to allow lazy black men (even though they bebrothers and neutrals) to sit and pick their teeth outside theirkraals whilst tired white men are breaking their hearts trying to doheavy labor in short time. It is more the duty of a Christian soldierto teach the dusky neutral the dignity of labor, and to keep him underguard, to prevent his going away to talk about it. 

By the time the above lessons had been well burnt into my brain, beyond all chance of forgetfulness, a strange thing happened--I had afresh dream. 

THIRD DREAM. 

 "So when we take tea with a few guns, o' course you will know what to do--hoo! hoo!"--KIPLING. 

I was at Duffer's Drift on a similar sunny afternoon and underprecisely similar conditions, except that I now had _seven_ lessonsrunning through my mind. 

I at once sent out two patrols, each of one N. C. O. And three men, oneto the north and one to the south. They were to visit all neighboringfarms and kraals and bring in all able-bodied Dutchmen and boys andmale Kaffirs--by persuasion if possible, but by force if necessary. This would prevent the news of our arrival being carried around to anyadjacent commandoes, and would also assist to solve the laborquestion. A small guard was mounted on the top of Waschout Hill as alook-out. 

I decided that as the drift could not get up and run away, it was notnecessary to take up my post or position quite close to it, especiallyas such a position would be under close rifle fire from the riverbank, to which the approaches were quite concealed, and which gaveexcellent cover. The very worst place for such a position seemed to beanywhere within the horseshoe bend of the river, as this would allowan enemy practically to surround it. My choice, therefore, fell on aspot to which the ground gently rose from the river bank some 700 to800 yards south of the drift. Here I arranged to dig a trench roughlyfacing the front (north) which thus would have about 800 yards clearground on its front. We started to make a trench about fifty yardslong for my fifty men, according to the usual rule. 

Some little time after beginning, the patrols came in, havingcollected three Dutchmen and two boys, and about thirteen Kaffirs. Theformer, the leader of whom seemed a man of education and someimportance, were at first inclined to protest when they were giventools to dig trenches for themselves, showed bundles of "passes, " andtalked very big about complaining to the General, and even as to aquestion in the "House" about our brutality. This momentarilystaggered me, as I could not help wondering what might happen to poorB. F. If the member for Upper Tooting should raise the point; butWestminster was far away, and I hardened my heart. Finally they hadthe humor to see the force of the argument, that it was, after all, necessary, for their own health, as they would otherwise be out in theopen veldt, should the post be attacked. 

The Kaffirs served as a welcome relief to my men as they got tired. They also dug a separate hole for themselves on one side of and behindour trench, in a small ravine. 

By evening we had quite a decent trench dug--the parapet was abouttwo feet six inches thick at the top, and was quite bullet-proof, as Itested it. Our trench was not all in one straight line, but in twoportions, broken back at a slight angle, so as to get a more divergentfire [rather cunning of me], though each half was of course asstraight as I could get it. 

It was astonishing what difficulty I had to get the men to dig in anice straight line. I was particular as to this point, because I onceheard a certain captain severely "told off" at manoeuvres by a verysenior officer for having his trenches "out of dressing. " No one couldtell whether some "brass hat" might not come around and inspect usnext day, so it was as well to be prepared for anything. 

At dusk the guard on Waschout Hill, for whom a trench had also beendug, was relieved and increased to six men, and after teas and givingout the orders for the next day, we all "turned in" in our trenches. The tents were not pitched, as we were not going to occupy them, andit was no good merely showing up our position. A guard was mountedover our prisoners, or rather "guests, " and furnished one sentry towatch over them. 

Before falling asleep I ran over my seven lessons, and it seemed to meI had left nothing undone which could possibly help towards success. We were entrenched, had a good bullet-proof defence, all our rationsand ammunition close at hand in the trenches, and water-bottlesfilled. It was with a contented feeling of having done everythingright and of being quite "the little white-haired boy" that Igradually dozed off. 

Next morning dawned brightly and uneventfully, and we had about anhour's work improving details of our trenches before breakfasts wereready. Just as breakfast was over, the sentry on Waschout Hillreported a cloud of dust away to the north, by Regret Table Mountain. This was caused by a large party of men mounted with wheeled transportof some sort. They were most probably the enemy, and seemed to betrekking in all innocence of our presence for the drift. 

What a "scoop, " I thought, if they come on quite unsuspecting, andcross the drift in a lump without discerning our position. I shalllie low, let the advanced party go past without a shot, and wait untilthe main body gets over this side within close range, and then openmagazine fire into the thick of them. Yes, it will be just when theyreach that broken ant-hill about 400 yards away that I shall give theword "Fire!"

However, it was not to be. After a short time the enemy halted, apparently for consideration. The advanced men seemed to have aconsultation, and then gradually approached Incidentamba farm withmuch caution. Two or three women ran out and waved, whereupon thesemen galloped up to the farm at once. What passed, of course, we couldnot tell, but evidently the women gave information as to our arrivaland position, because the effect was electrical. The advanced Boerssplit up into two main parties, one riding towards the river a longway to the east, and another going similarly to the west. One mangalloped back with the information obtained to the main body, whichbecame all bustle, and started off with their wagons behindIncidentamba, when they were lost to sight. Of course, they were allwell out of range, and as we were quite ready, the only thing to dowas to wait till they came out in the open within range, and then toshoot them down. 

The minutes seemed to crawl--five, then ten minutes passed with nofurther sign of the enemy. Suddenly, "Beg pardon, sir; I think I seesomethink on top of that kop-je on the fur side yonder. " One of themen drew my attention to a few specks which looked like wagons movingabout on the flatish shoulder of Incidentamba. Whilst I was focussingmy glasses there was a "boom" from the hill, followed by a sharpreport and a puff of smoke up in the air quite close by, then thesound as of heavy rain pattering down some two hundred feet in frontof the trench, each drop raising its own little cloud of dust. This, of course, called forth the time-honored remarks of "What ho, shebumps!" and "Now we shan't be long, " which proved only too true. I wasaghast--I had quite forgotten the possibility of guns being usedagainst me, though, had I remembered their existence, I do not knowwith my then knowledge, what difference it would have made to mydefensive measures. As there was some little uneasiness among my men, I, quite cheerful in the security of our nice trench with the thickbullet-proof parapet, at once shouted out, "It's all right, men; keepunder cover, and they can't touch us. " A moment later there was asecond boom, the shell whistled over our heads, and the hillside someway behind the trench was spattered with bullets. 

By this time we were crouching as close as possible to the parapet, which, though it had seemed only quite a short time before socomplete, now suddenly felt most woefully inadequate, with thosebeastly shells dropping their bullets down from the sky. Another boom. This time the shell burst well, and the whole ground in front of thetrench was covered with bullets, one man being hit. At this momentrifle fire began on Waschout Hill, but no bullets came our way. Almostimmediately another shot followed which showered bullets all over us;a few more men were hit, whose groans were unpleasant to listen to. Tools were seized, and men began frantically to try and dig themselvesdeeper into the hard earth, as our trench seemed to give no moreprotection from the dropping bullets than a saucer would from a stormof rain--but it was too late. We could not sink into the earth fastenough. The Boers had got the range of the trench to a nicety, and theshells burst over us now with a horrible methodic precision. Severalmen were hit, and there was no reason why the enemy should cease torain shrapnel over us until we were all killed. As we were absolutelypowerless to do anything, I put up the white flag. All I could do wasto thank Providence that the enemy had no quick-firing field guns, or, though "we had not been long, " we should have been blotted out beforewe could have hoisted it. 

As soon as the gun-fire ceased, I was greatly surprised to find thatno party of Boers came down from their artillery position onIncidentamba to take our surrender, but within three minutes somefifty Boers galloped up from the river bank on the east and the west, and a few more came up from the south round Waschout Hill. The guardon Waschout Hill, which had done a certain amount of damage to theenemy, had two men wounded by rifle fire. Not a single shell had comenear them, though they were close to the Kaffir huts, which were plainenough. 

 * * * * *

What an anti-climax the reality had been from the pleasurableanticipations of the early morn, when I had first sighted the Boers. 

Of course, the women on the farm had betrayed us, but it was difficultto make out why the Boers had at first halted and begun to besuspicious before they had seen the women at the farm. What could theyhave discovered? I failed entirely to solve this mystery. 

During the day's trek the following lessons slowly evolved themselves, and were stored in my mind in addition to those already learnt:

8. When collecting the friendly stranger and his sons in order toprevent their taking information to the enemy of your existence andwhereabouts, if you are wishful for a "surprise packet, " do not forgetalso to gather his wife and his daughter, his manservant and hismaidservant (who also have tongues), and his ox and his ass (which maypossibly serve the enemy). Of course, if they are very numerous orvery far off, this is impossible; only do not then hope to surprisethe enemy. 

9. Do not forget that, if guns are going to be used against you, ashallow trench with a low parapet some way from it is worse thanuseless, even though the parapet be bullet-proof ten times over. Thetrench gives the gunners an object to lay on, and gives no protectionfrom shrapnel. Against well-aimed long-range artillery fire it wouldbe better to scatter the defenders in the open, hidden in grass andbushes, or behind stones or ant-hills, than to keep them huddled insuch a trench. With your men scattered around you can safely let theenemy fill your trench to the brim with shrapnel bullets. 

10. Though to stop a shrapnel bullet much less actual thickness ofearth is necessary than to stop a rifle bullet, yet this earth must bein the right place. For protection you must be able to get rightclose under the cover. As narrow a trench as possible, with the sidesand inside of the parapet as steep as they will stand, will give youthe best chance. To hollow out the bottom of the trench sides to giveextra room will be even better, because the open top of the trench canbe kept the less wide. The more like a mere slit the open top of thetrench is, the fewer shrapnel bullets will get in. While chewing overthese lessons learnt from bitter experience, I had yet another dream. 

FOURTH DREAM. 

 "O wad some power the giftie gie us, To see oursels as others see us!" BURNS. 

Again did I find myself facing the same problem, this time with _ten_lessons to guide me. I started off by sending out patrols, asdescribed in my last dream, but their orders were slightly different. All human beings were to be brought into our post, and any animalswhich could be of use to the enemy were to be shot, as we had no placefor them. 

For my defensive post I chose the position already described in mylast dream, which seemed very suitable, for the reasons already given. We consequently dug a trench similar in plan to that alreadydescribed, but, as I feared the possibility of guns being used againstus, it was of a very different section. In plan it faced northgenerally, and was slightly broken forward to the front, each halfbeing quite straight. In section it was about three feet six inchesdeep, with a parapet about twelve inches high in front of it; we madethe trench as narrow as possible at the top compatible with freemovement. Each man hollowed out the under part of the trench to suithimself, and made his own portion of the parapet to suit his height. The parapet was about two feet six inches thick at the top and quitesteep inside, being built up of pieces of broken ant-heap, which werenearly as hard as stone. 

The patrols returned shortly with their bag of a few men, women, andchildren. The women indulged in much useless abuse, and refused toobey orders, taking the matter less philosophically than theirmankind. Here was evidently an opportunity of making use of the shorttraining I had once had as A. D. C. I tried it. I treated the ladieswith tons of "tact" in my suavest manner, and repeated the only Dutchwords of comfort I knew--"Al zal recht kom"--but to no purpose. Theyhad not been brought up to appreciate tact; in fact, they were nottaking any. I turned regretfully round to the color-sergeant, winkedsolemnly and officially, and seeing an answering but respectful quiverin his left eyelid, said:

"Color-sergeant. "

"Sir?"

"Which do you think is the best way of setting alight to a farm?"

"Well, sir, some prefer the large bedstead and straw, but I think the'armonium and a little kerosene in one corner is as neat as anything. "

There was no need for more--the ladies quite understood this sort oftact; the trouble was over. 

The Dutchmen and Kaffirs were at once started digging shelters forthemselves and the women and children. The latter were placedtogether, and were put into a small ravine not far from the trench, asit was necessary to place them in a really deep trench, firstly tokeep them safe, and secondly to prevent their waving or signalling tothe enemy. The existence of this ravine, therefore, saved muchdigging, as it only required some hollowing out at the bottom and alittle excavation to suit admirably. 

All dug with a will, and by night the shelters for the women andchildren and men prisoners, and the firing trench, were nearly done. All arrangements for the guards and sentries were the same as thosedescribed in the last dream, and after seeing everything was allcorrect and the ladies provided with tents to crawl under (they hadtheir own blankets), I went to sleep with a feeling of well-earnedsecurity. 

At daybreak next morning, as there were no signs of any enemy, wecontinued to improve our trench, altering the depth and alignmentwhere necessary, each man suiting the size of the trench to his ownlegs. In the end the trench really looked quite neat, with the freshred earth contrasting with the yellow of the veldt. As one of myreservists remarked, it only wanted an edging of oyster shells orginger-beer bottles to be like his little "broccoli patch" at home. Upon these important details and breakfast a good two hours had beenspent, when a force was reported to the north in the same position asdescribed in the previous dream. It advanced in the same manner, except, of course, the advance men were met by no one at the farm. When I saw this, I could not help patting myself on the back andsmiling at the Dutch ladies in the pit, who only scowled at me inreturn, and (whisper) spat!

The advanced party of the enemy came on, scouting carefully andstalking the farm as they came. As they appeared quite unwarned, I waswondering if I should be able to surprise them, all innocent of ourpresence, with a close-range volley, and then magazine fire into theirmidst, when suddenly one man stopped and the others gathered roundhim. This was when they were some 1, 800 yards away, about on a levelwith the end of Incidentamba. They had evidently seen something andsniffed danger, for there was a short palaver and much pointing. Amessenger then galloped back to the main body, which turned off behindIncidentamba with its wagons, etc. A small number, including a man ona white horse, rode off in a vague way to the west. The object of thismove I could not quite see. They appeared to have a vehicle with themof some sort. The advanced party split up as already described. As allwere still at long range, we could only wait. 

Very shortly "boom" went a gun from the top of Incidentamba, and ashrapnel shell burst not far from us. A second and third followed, after which they soon picked up our range exactly, and the shell beganto burst all about us; however, we were quite snug and happy in ournice deep trench, where we contentedly crouched. The waste of good andvaluable shrapnel shell by the enemy was the cause of much amusementto the men, who were in great spirits, and, as one of them remarked, were "as cosy as cockroaches in a crack. " At the expenditure of manyshells two men only were hit--in the legs. 

After a time the guns ceased fire, and we at once manned the parapetand stood up to repel an attack, but we could see no Boers, though theair began at once to whistle and hum with bullets. Nearly all theseseemed to come from the river-bank in front, to the north andnorth-east, and kept the parapet one continual spirt of dust as theysmacked into it. All we could do was to fire by sound at variouslikely bushes on the river-bank, and this we did with the greatestpossible diligence, but no visible result. 

In about a quarter of an hour we had had five men shot through thehead, the most exposed part. The mere raising of a head to fire seemedto be absolutely fatal, as it had on a former occasion when we wereattempting to fire at close range over a parapet against the enemyconcealed. I saw two poor fellows trying to build up a pitiful littlekind of house of cards with stones and pieces of anthill through whichto fire. This was as conspicuous as a chimney-pot on top of theparapet, and was at once shot to powder before they had even used it, but not before it had suggested to me the remedy for this state ofaffairs. Of course, we wanted in such a case "head cover" and"loopholes. " As usual, I was wise after the event, for we had nochance of making them then, even had we not been otherwise harassed. Suddenly the noise of firing became much more intense, but with thesmack of the bullets striking the earth all round quite close it wasnot easy to tell from which direction this fresh firing came. At thesame time the men seemed to be dropping much oftener, and I wasimpressing them with the necessity of keeping up a brisker fire to thefront, when I noticed a bullet hit _our_ side of the parapet. 

It then became clear, the enemy must evidently have got into the dongabehind us (to which I paid no attention, as it was to the rear), andwere shooting us in the back as we stood up to our parapet. 

This, I thought, must be what is called being "taken in _reverse_, "and it was. 

By the time I had gathered what was happening, about a dozen more menhad been bowled over. I then ordered the whole lot to take cover inthe trench, and only pop up to take a shot to the front or rear. Butno more could be done by us towards the rear than to the front. Theconditions were the same--no Boers to be seen. At this moment two ofthe guard from Waschout Hill started to run in to our trench, and aterrific fusillade was opened on to them, the bullets kicking up thedust all round them as they ran. One poor fellow was dropped, but theother managed to reach our trench and fall into it. He too was badlyhit, but just had the strength to gasp out that except himself and theman who had started with him, all the guard on Waschout Hill had beenkilled or wounded, and that the Boers were gradually working their wayup to the top. This was indeed cheering. 

So hot was the fire now that no one could raise his head above groundwithout being shot, and by crouching down altogether and notattempting to aim, but merely firing our rifles over the edge of thetrench, we remained for a short time without casualties. This respite, however, was short, for the men in the right half of the trench beganto drop unaccountably whilst they were sitting well under cover, andnot exposing themselves at all. I gradually discovered the cause ofthis. Some snipers must have reached the top of Waschout Hill, andwere shooting straight down our right half trench. As the bulletssnicked in thicker and thicker, it was plain the number of snipers wasbeing increased. 

This, I thought, must be being "_enfiladed_ from a flank. " It was so. 

Without any order, we had all instinctively vacated the right half ofour trench and crowded into the left half, which by great good luckcould not be enfiladed from any point on the south side of the river, nor indeed by rifle-fire from anywhere, as, owing to the ground, itsprolongation on the right was up above ground into the open air, andto the left did not touch ground for some 3, 000 yards away on theveldt on the north bank. 

Though we were huddled together quite helpless like rats in a trap, still it was in a small degree comforting to think that, short ofcharging the enemy could do nothing. For that we fixed bayonets andgrimly waited. If they did make an assault, we had bayonets, and theyhad not, and we could sell our lives very dearly in a rough-and-tumble. 

Alas! I was again deceived. There was to be no chance of closequarters and cold steel, for suddenly we heard, far away out on theveldt to the north, a sound as of some one beating a tin tray, and acovey of little shells whistled into the ground close by the trench;two of these burst on touching the ground. Right out of rifle-range, away on the open veldt on the north, I saw a party of Boers, with awhite horse and a vehicle. Then I knew. But how had they managed tohit off so well the right spot to go to to enfilade our trench beforethey even knew where we were?

Pompom pompompom again, and the little steel devils ploughed their wayinto the middle of us in our shell-trap, mangling seven men. I at oncediagnosed the position with great professional acumen--we were now_enfiladed_ from _both_ flanks, but the knowledge was acquired toolate to help us, for--

 "We lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow, To the hail of the Nordenfeldt. "

This was the last straw; there was nothing left but surrender orentire annihilation at long range. I surrendered. 

Boers, as usual, sprang up from all round. We had fought for threehours, and had twenty-five killed and seventeen wounded. Of these, seven only had been hit by the shrapnel and rifle-fire from the_front_. All the rest had been killed or hit from the _flanks_, wherethere should be few enemies, or the _rear_, where there should benone! This fact convinced me that my preconceived notions as to the_front_, and its danger relative to the other points of the compass, needed considerable modification. All my cherished ideas were beingruthlessly swept away, and I was plunged into a sea of doubt, gropingfor _something_ certain or fixed to lay hold of. Could Longfellow, when he wrote that immortal line, "Things are not what they seem, "ever have been in my position?

The survivors were naturally a little disheartened at their totaldiscomfiture, when all had started so well with them in their "crack. "This expressed itself in different ways. As one man said to acorporal, who was plugging a hole in his ear with a bit of rag--

"Somethink sickening, I call it, this enfilading racket; you neverknow which way it will take yer. I'm fairly fed up. " To which thegloomy reply, "Enfiladed? Of course we've been enfiladed. This 'eretrench should have been wiggled about a bit, and then there would nothave been quite so much of it. Yes, wiggled about--that's what itshould have been. " To which chipped in a third, "Yes, and somethink tokeep the blighters from shooting us in the back wouldn't 'ave done usmuch 'arm, anyway. "

There were evidently more things in _earth_ than I had hitherto dreamtof in my philosophy!

 * * * * *

As we trekked away to the north under a detached guard of Boers, manylittle points such as the above sank into my soul, but I could not forsome time solve the mystery of why we had not succeeded in surprisingthe enemy. There were no men, women, children, or Kaffirs who knew ofour arrival, who could have warned them. How did they spot ourpresence so soon, as they evidently must have done when they stoppedand consulted in the morning? It was not until passing Incidentamba, as I casually happened to look round and survey the scene of the fightfrom the enemy's point of view, that I discovered the simple answer tothe riddle. There on the smooth yellow slope of the veldt just southof the drift was a brownish-red streak, as plain as the Long Man ofWilmington on the dear old Sussex downs, which positively shriekedaloud, "Hi! hi! hi!--this way for the British defence. " I then grimlysmiled to think of myself sitting like a "slick Alick" in that posterof a trench and expecting to surprise anybody!

Besides having been enfiladed and also taken in reverse, we had againfound ourselves at a disadvantage as compared with the concealed enemyshooting at close range, from having to show up at a fixed place inorder to fire. 

Eventually I collected the following lessons:

11. For a small isolated post and an active enemy, there are no_flanks_, no _rear_, or, to put it otherwise, it is _front all round_. 

12. Beware of being taken in _reverse_; take care, when placing andmaking your defences, that when you are engaged in shooting the enemyto the front of your trench, his pal cannot sneak up and shoot you inthe back. 

13. Beware of being _enfiladed_. It is nasty from one flank--far worsefrom both flanks. 

Remember, also, that though you may arrange matters so that you cannotbe enfiladed by rifle-fire, yet you may be open to it from long range, by means of gun or pompom fire. There are few straight trenches thatcannot be enfiladed from somewhere, if the enemy can only get there. You can sometimes prevent being enfiladed by so placing your trenchthat no one can get into prolongation of it to fire down it, or youcan "wiggle" it about in many ways, so that it is not straight, ormake "traverses" across it, or dig separate trenches for every two orthree men. 

14. Do not have your trench near rising ground over which you cannotsee, and which you cannot hold. 

15. Do not huddle all your men together in a small trench like sheepin a pen. Give them air. 

16. As once before--cover from sight is often worth more than coverfrom bullets. 

For close shooting from a non-concealed trench, _head cover_ with_loopholes_ is an advantage. This should be bullet-proof and not beconspicuously on the top of the parapet, so as to draw fire, or itwill be far more dangerous than having none. 

17. To surprise the enemy is a great advantage. 

18. If you wish to obtain this advantage, _conceal_ your position. Though for promotion it may be sound to advertise your position, fordefence it is not. 

19. To test the concealment or otherwise of your position, look at itfrom the enemy's point of view. 

FIFTH DREAM. 

 "A trifling sum of misery New added to the foot of thy account. " DRYDEN. 

 "Jack Frost looked forth one still clear night, And he said, 'Now I shall be out of sight; So over the valley and over the height In silence I'll take my way. '" GOULD. 

Again I faced the same task with a fresh mind and fresh hopes, allthat remained with me of my former attempts being _nineteen_ lessons. 

Having detailed the two patrols and the guard on Waschout Hill asalready described, I spent some twenty minutes--whilst the stores, etc. , were being arranged--in walking about to choose a position tohold in the light of my nineteen lessons. 

I came to the conclusion that it was not any good being near the topof a hill and yet not _at_ the top. I would make my post on the top ofWaschout Hill, where I could not be overlooked from any place withinrifle-range, and where I should, I believed, have "command. " I was notquite certain what "command" meant, but I knew it was important--itsays so in the book; besides, in all the manoeuvres I had attendedand tactical schemes I had seen, the "defence" always held a positionon top of a hill or ridge. My duty was plain: Waschout Hill seemed theonly place which did not contravene any of the nineteen lessons I hadlearnt, and up it I walked. As I stood near one of the huts, I got anexcellent view of the drift and its southern approach just over thebulge of the hill, and a clear view of the river further east andwest. I thought at first I would demolish the few grass and mattinghuts which, with some empty kerosene tins and heaps of bones and_débris_, formed the Kaffir kraal, but on consideration I decided toplay cunning, and that this same innocent-looking Kaffir kraal wouldmaterially assist me to hide my defences. I made out my plan ofoperations in detail, and we had soon conveyed all our stores up tothe top of the hill, and started work. 

Upon the return of the patrols with their prisoners, the Dutchmen and"boys" were told off to dig for themselves and their females. TheKaffirs of the kraal we had impressed to assist at once. 

My arrangements were as follows: All round the huts on the hill-top, and close to them we dug some ten short lengths of deep firing-trench, curved in plan, and each long enough to hold five men. These trencheshad extremely low parapets, really only serving as rifle-rests, someof the excavated earth being heaped up _behind_ the trenches to theheight of a foot or so, the remainder being dealt with as describedlater. In most cases the parapets were provided with grooves to firethrough at ground-level, the parapet on each side being high enough tojust protect the head. As with the background the men's heads were notreally visible, it was unnecessary to provide proper loopholes, whichwould have necessitated also the use of new sandbags, which would berather conspicuous and troublesome to conceal. When the men usingthese trenches were firing, their heads would be just above the levelof the ground. These firing-trenches having been got well under way, the communication trenches were started. These were to be narrow anddeep, leading from one trench to the next, and also leading from eachtrench back to four of the huts, which were to be arranged as follows, to allow of men to fire standing up without being seen. Round theinside of the walls of these huts part of the excavated earth, ofwhich there was ample, would be built up with sand bags, piece ofanthill, stones, etc. , to a height that a man can fire over, aboutfour and a half feet, and to a thickness of some two and a half feetat the top, and loopholes, which would be quite invisible, cut throughthe hut sides above this parapet. There was room in each hut for threemen to fire. In three of them I meant to place my best shots, to actas snipers, as they would have a more favorable position than the menin the trenches below, and the fourth was a conning tower for myself. All the tents and stores were stacked inside one of the huts out ofsight. 

That evening, in spite of the hardness of the work, which caused muchgrousing among my men, we had got the firing trenches complete, butthe others were not finished--they were only half the necessary depth. The earth-walls inside the huts were also not quite completed. TheKaffirs and Dutch had deep pits, as before, in three of the huts. Ammunition and rations were distributed round the trenches the lastthing before we turned in. I also had all water-bottles and everyvessel that would hold water, such as empty tins, Kaffir gourds, andcooking-pots, filled and distributed in case of a long and protractedfight. Having issued orders as to the necessity for the greatestsecrecy in not giving away our position should Boers turn up earlynext morning, I went to sleep with confidence. We had, anyhow, a verygood position, and though our communications were not quite perfect, these we could soon improve if we had any time to ourselves the nextmorning. 

Next morning broke; no enemy in sight. This was excellent, and beforedaylight we were hard at it, finishing the work still undone. By thistime the men had fully entered into the spirit of the thing, and werequite keen on surprising Brother Boer if possible. While the diggingwas proceeding, the "dixies" were being boiled for the breakfastsinside four grass-screens, some of which we found lying about, so asto show nothing but some very natural smoke above the kraal. I pickedout one or two of my smartest N. C. O. 's, and instructed them to walkdown the hill in different directions to the river-bank and try ifthey could see the heads of the men in the firing trenches against thesky. If so, the heaps of earth, tins, bones, grass-screens, etc. , should be re-arranged so as to give a background to every man's head. 

To review the place generally, I and my orderly walked off somehalf-mile to the north of the river. As we were going some distance, we doffed our helmets and wrapped ourselves in two beautiful orangeand magenta striped blankets, borrowed from our Kaffir lady guests, incase any stray Boer should be lurking around, as he might beinterested to see two "khakis" wandering about on the veldt. It wasawkward trying to walk with our rifles hidden under our blankets, and, moreover, every two minutes we had to look around to see if the sentryat the camp had signalled any enemy in sight. This was to be done byraising a pole on the highest hut. The result of our work wassplendid. We saw a Kaffir kraal on a hill, and to us "it was nothingmore. " There were the heaps of _débris_ usually round a kraal, lookingmost natural, but no heads were visible, and no trenches. There wasonly one fault, and that was that a few thoughtless men began, as welooked, to spread their brown army blankets out in the sun on top ofthe huts and on the veldt. To the veriest new chum these square blots, like squares of brown sticking-plaster all around the kraal, wouldhave betokened something unusual. To remedy this before it was toolate I hastened back. 

After we had done our breakfasts, and some three hours after dawn, thesentry in one of the huts reported a force to the north. We could donothing but wait and hope; everything was ready, and every man knewwhat to do. No head was to be raised nor a rifle to be fired until Iwhistled from my conning-tower; then every man would pop up and emptyhis magazine into any of the enemy in range. If we were shelled themen in the huts could at once drop into the deep trenches and be safe. Standing in my "conning-tower, " from the loopholes of which I couldsee the drift, I thought over the possibilities before us. With greatluck perhaps the Boer scouts would pass us on either side, and soallow us to lie low for the main body. With a view to seeing exactlyhow far I would let the latter come before opening fire, and tomarking the exact spot when it would be best to give the word, I gotdown into the firing-trenches facing the drift and the road south tosee how matters appeared from the level of the rifles. To my intensehorror, I found that from these trenches neither the drift nor theroad on the near bank of the river, until it got a long way south ofWaschout Hill, _could be seen_! The bulging convexity of the hill hidall this; it must be _dead ground_! It was. The very spot where Icould best catch the enemy, where they _must_ pass, was not under myfire! At most, the northern loopholes of the conning tower and oneother hut alone could give fire on the drift. How I cursed mystupidity! However, it was no good. I could not now start diggingfresh trenches further down the hill; it would betray our wholeposition at once. I determined to make the best of it, and _if_ wewere not discovered by the scouts, to open fire on the main body whenthey were just on the other side of the river bunched up on the bank, waiting for those in front. Here we could fire on them; but it wouldbe at a much longer range than I had intended. It was really a strokeof luck that I had discovered this serious fault, for otherwise wemight have let the bulk of the enemy cross the drift withoutdiscovering the little fact of the dead ground till too late. Ireflected, also (though it was not much consolation), that I had erredin good company, for how often had I not seen a "brass-hat" ride alongon horseback, and from that height fix the exact position for trenchesin which the rifles would be little above the ground. These trenches, however, had not been put to the test of actual use. My error was notgoing to escape in the same way. 

Meanwhile the enemy's scouts had advanced in much the same way asdetailed before, except that after coming past Incidentamba Farm theyhad not halted suspiciously, but came on in small groups or clumps. They crossed the river in several places and examined the bushy banksmost carefully, but finding no "khakis" there, they evidentlysuspected none on the open veldt beyond them, for they advanced "anyway" without care. Several of the clumps joined together, and came onchatting in one body of some thirty men. Would they examine the kraal, or would they pass on? My heart beat. The little hill we were onwould, unluckily, be certain to prove an attraction for them, becauseit was an excellent vantage ground whence to scan the horizon to thesouth, and to signal back to the main body to the north. The kraal wasalso a suitable place to off-saddle for a few minutes while the mainbody came up to the drift, and it meant possibly a fire, and thereforea cup of coffee. They rode up towards it laughing, chatting, andsmoking, quite unsuspecting. We uttered no sound. Our Dutch and Kaffirguests uttered no sound either, for in their pits was a man with arifle alongside them. At last they halted a moment some 250 yards awayon the northeast, where the slope of the hill was more gradual andshowed them all up. A few dismounted, the rest started again straighttowards us. It was not magnificent, but it was war. I whistled. 

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About ten of them succeeded in galloping off, also some loose horses;five or six of them on the ground threw up their hands and came intothe post. On the ground there remained a mass of kicking horses anddead or groaning men. The other parties of scouts to east and west hadat once galloped back to the river, where they dismounted under coverand began to pepper us. Anyway, we had done _something_. 

As soon as our immediate enemy were disposed of, we opened fire on themain body some 1, 500 yards away, who had at once halted and openedout. To these we did a good deal of damage, causing great confusion, which was comforting to watch. The Boer in command of the main bodymust have gathered that the river-bed was clear, for he made a verybold move; he drove the whole of the wagons, etc. , straight on as fastas possible over the odd 400 yards to the river and down the driftinto the river-bed, where they were safe from our fire. Their lossesmust have been heavy over this short distance, for they had to abandontwo of their wagons on the way to the river. This was done under coverof the fire from a large number of riflemen, who had at once gallopedup to the river-bank, dismounted, and opened fire at us, and also oftwo guns and a pompom, which had immediately been driven a shortdistance back and then outwards to the east and west. It was reallythe best thing he could have done, and if he had only known that wecould not fire on the ground to the south of the drift, he might havecome straight on with a rush. 

We had so far scored; but now ensued a period of stalemate. We werebeing fired at from the river-bank on the north, and from anthills, etc. , pretty well all round, and were also under the intermittentshell-fire from the two guns. They made most excellent practice at thehuts, which were soon knocked to bits, but not till they had wellserved their turn. Some of the new white sandbags from inside the hutswere scattered out in full view of the enemy, and it was instructiveto see what a splendid target they made for rifle-fire, and how oftenthey were hit. They must have drawn a lot of fire away from the actualtrenches. Until the Boers discovered that they could advance southfrom the drift without being under rifle-fire from our position, theywere held up. 

Would they discover it? As they had ridden all round us by now, wellout of range, they must know all about us and our isolation. 

After dark, by which time we had one man killed and two wounded, thefiring died away into a continuous but desultory rifle-fire, with anoccasional dropping shell from the guns. Under cover of dark, I triedto guard the drift and dead ground to the south of it, by men standingup and firing at that level, but towards midnight I was forced towithdraw them into the trenches, after several casualties, as theenemy then apparently woke up and kept up a furious rifle-fire upon usfor over an hour. During this time the guns went through somemysterious evolutions. At first we got it very hot from the north, where the guns had been all along. Then suddenly a gun was opened onus away from the southwest, and we were shelled for a short time fromboth sides. After a little the shelling on the north ceased, andcontinued from the southwest only for twenty minutes. After this theguns ceased, and the rifle-fire also gradually died away. 

When day dawned not a living soul was to be seen; there were the deadmen, horses, and the deserted wagons. I feared a trap, but graduallycame to the conclusion the Boers had retired. After a little wediscovered the river-bed was deserted as well, but the Boers had notretired. They had discovered the dead ground, and under the mutuallysupporting fire of their guns, which had kept us to our trenches, hadall _crossed the drift_ and trekked south. 

True, we were not captured, and had very few losses, and had severelymauled the enemy, _but_ they had crossed the drift. It must haveevidently been of great importance to them to go on, or they wouldhave attempted to capture us, as they were about 500 to our 50. 

I had failed in my duty. 

During the next few hours we buried the dead, tended the wounded, andtook some well-earned rest, and I had ample leisure to consider myfailure and the causes. The lessons I derived from the fight were:

20. Beware of convex hills and _dead ground_. Especially take care tohave some place where the enemy _must_ come under your fire. Choosethe exact position of your firing-trenches, with your eye at the levelof the men who will eventually use them. 

21. A hill may not, after all, though it has "command, " be the bestplace to hold necessarily. 

22. A conspicuous "bluff" trench may cause the enemy to waste muchammunition, and draw fire away from the actual defences. 

In addition to these lessons, another little matter on my mind waswhat my colonel would say at my failure. 

Lying on my back, looking up at the sky, I was trying to get a fewwinks of sleep myself before we started to improve our defencesagainst a possible further attack, but it was no use, sleep evaded me. 

The clear blue vault of heaven was suddenly overcast by clouds, whichgradually assumed the frowning face of my colonel. "_What?_ You meanto say, Mr. Forethought, the Boers have _crossed_?" But, luckily forme, before more could be said, the face began slowly to fade away likethat of the Cheshire Puss in "Alice in Wonderland, " leaving nothingbut the awful frown across the sky. This too finally dissolved, andthe whole scene changed. I had another dream. 

SIXTH DREAM. 

 "Sweet are the uses of adversity. "

Once more was I fated to essay the task of defending Duffer's Drift. This time I had twenty-two lessons below my belt to help me out, andin the oblivion of my dream I was saved that sense of monotony whichby now may possibly have overtaken you, "gentle reader. "

After sending out the patrols, and placing a guard on Waschout Hill, as already described, and whilst the stores were being collected, Iconsidered deeply what position I should take up, and walked up to thetop of Waschout Hill to spy out the land. On the top I found a Kaffirkraal, which I saw would assist me much to concealment should Idecide to hold this hill. This I was very inclined to do, but after afew minutes' trial of the shape of the ground, with the help of somemen walking about down below, and my eyes a little aboveground-level--I found that its convexity was such that, to see andfire on the drift and the approach on the south side, I should have toabandon the top of the hill, and so the friendly concealment of theKaffir huts, and take up a position on the open hillside some waydown. This was, of course, quite feasible, especially if I held aposition at the top of the hill as well, near the huts on the east andsoutheast sides; but, as it would be impossible to really concealourselves on the bare hillside, it meant giving up all idea ofsurprising the enemy, which I wished to do. I must, therefore, findsome other place which would lend itself to easy and good concealment, and also have the drift or its approaches under close rifle-fire. Butwhere to find such a place?

As I stood deep in thought, considering this knotty problem, an ideagently wormed itself into my mind, which I at once threw out again asbeing absurd and out of the question. This idea was--to hold the riverbed and banks on each side of the drift! To give up all idea ofcommand, and, instead of seeking the nearest high ground, which comesas natural to the student of tactics as rushing for a tree does to asquirrel, to take the lowest ground, even though it should be allamong thick cover, instead of being nicely in the open. 

No, it was absolutely revolutionary, and against every canon I hadever read or heard of; it was evidently the freak of a sorely triedand worried brain. I would none of it, and I put it firmly from me. But the more I argued to myself the absurdity of it, the more thisidea obtained possession of me. The more I said it was impossible, themore allurements were spread before me in its favor, until each of myconscientious objections was enmeshed and smothered in a network ofspecious reasons as to the advantages of the proposal. 

I resisted, I struggled, but finally fell to temptation, dressed up inthe plausible guise of reason. I would hold the river-bed. 

The advantages I thus hoped to obtain were--

Perfect concealment and cover from sight. 

Trenches and protection against both rifle and gun fire practicallyready made. 

Communications under good cover. 

The enemy would be out in the open veldt except along the river-bank, where we, being in position first, would still have the advantage. 

Plentiful water-supply at hand. 

True, there were a few dead animals near the drift, and the taintedair seemed to hang heavy over the river-bed, but the carcasses couldbe quickly buried under the steep banks, and, after all, one could notexpect _every_ luxury. 

As our clear field of fire, which in the north was only bounded by therange of our rifles, was on the south limited by Waschout Hill, asuitable position for the enemy to occupy, I decided to hold the topof it as well as the river-bed. All I could spare for this would betwo N. C. O. 's and eight men, who would be able to defend the south sideof the hill, the north being under our fire from the river-bank. 

Having detailed this party, I gave my instructions for the work, whichwas soon started. In about a couple of hours the patrols returned withtheir prisoners, which were dealt with as before. 

For the post on Waschout Hill, the scheme was that the trenches shouldbe concealed much in the same way as described in the last dream, butgreat care should be taken that no one in the post should be exposedto rifle-fire from our main position in the river. I did not wish thefire of the main body to be in any degree hampered by a fear ofhitting the men on Waschout Hill, especially at night. If we knew itwas not possible to hit them, we could shoot freely all over the hill. This detachment was to have a double lot of water-bottles, besidesevery available receptacle collected in the kraal, filled with water, in anticipation of a prolonged struggle. 

The general idea for the main defensive position was to hold bothsides of the river, improving the existing steep banks and ravinesinto rifle-pits to contain from one to four men. These could, withvery little work, be made to give cover from all sides. As such alarge amount of the work was already done for us, we were enabled todig many more of these pits than the exact number required for ourparty. Pathways leading between these were to be cut into the bank, sothat we should be able to shift about from one position to another. Besides the advantage this would give us in the way of moving about, according as we wished to fire, it also meant that we should probablybe able to mislead the enemy as to our numbers--which, by suchshifting tactics might, for a time at least, be much exaggerated. Thepits for fire to the north and south were nearly all so placed as toallow the occupants to fire at ground-level over the veldt. They wereplaced well among the bushes, only just sufficient scrub being cutaway to allow a man to see all round, without exposing the position ofhis trench. On each side of the river, just by the drift, were some"spoil" heaps of earth, excavated from the road ramp. These stood somefive or six feet above the general level, and were as rough as thebanks in outline. These heaps were large enough to allow of a few pitsbeing made on them, which had the extra advantage of height. In someof the pits, to give head-cover, loopholes of sandbags were made, though in most cases this was not needed, owing to the concealment ofthe bushes. I found it was necessary to examine personally everyloophole, and correct the numerous mistakes made in theirconstruction. Some had the new clean sandbags exposed to full view, thus serving as mere whited sepulchres to their occupants, others wereequally conspicuous from their absurd cock-shy appearance, others werenot bullet-proof, whilst others again would allow of shooting in onedirection, or into the ground at a few yards' range, or up into theblue sky. As I corrected all these faults I thought that loopholes notmade under supervision might prove rather a snare. 

The result was, in the way of concealment, splendid. From these pitswith our heads at ground-level we could see quite clearly out on tothe veldt beyond, either from under the thicker part of the bushes oreven through those which were close to our eyes. From the open, on theother hand, we were quite invisible, even from 300 yards' distance, and would have been more so had we had the whiskers of the "brethren. "It was quite evident to me that these same whiskers were a wiseprovision of nature for this very purpose and part of her universalscheme of protective mimicry. 

The numerous small dongas and rifts lent themselves readily toflanking fire, and in many places the vertical banks required nocutting in order to give ideal protection against even artillery. Inothers, the sides of the crooked waterways had to be merely scoopedout a little, or a shelf cut to stand upon. 

In one of these deeper ravines two tents, which, being belowground-level, were quite invisible, were pitched for the women andchildren, and small caves cut for them in case of a bombardment. Theposition extended for a length of some 150 yards on each side of thedrift along both banks of the river, and at its extremities, where anattack was most to be feared, pits were dug down the river-banks andacross the dry river-bed. These also were concealed as well aspossible. The flanks or ends were, of course, our greatest danger, forit was from here we might expect to be rushed, and not from the openveldt. I was undecided for some time as to whether to clear a "fieldof fire" along the river-banks or not, as I had no wish to give awayour presence by any suspicious nudity of the banks at each end of ourposition. I finally decided, in order to prevent this, to clear thescrub for as great a range as possible from the ends of the position, everywhere below the ground-level, and also on the level ground, except for a good fringe just on the edges of the banks. This fringe Ithought would be sufficient to hide the clearance to any one not veryclose. I now blessed the man who had left us some cutting tools. Whilst all this was being carried out, I paced out some ranges to thenorth and south, and these we marked by a few empty tins placed onant-heaps, etc. 

At dusk, when we had nearly all the pits finished and some of theclearance done, tents and gear were hidden, ammunition and rationsdistributed to all, and orders in case of an attack given out. As Icould not be everywhere, I had to rely on the outlying groups of menfully understanding my aims beforehand, and acting on their "own. " Toprevent our chance of a close-range volley into the enemy being spoiltby some over-zealous or jumpy man opening fire at long range, I gaveorders that fire was to be held as long as possible, and that no manwas to fire a shot until firing had already commenced elsewhere (whichsounded rather Irish), or my whistle sounded. This was unless theenemy were so close to him that further silence was useless. Firinghaving once started, every man was to blaze away at any enemy withinrange as judged by our range marks. Finally, we turned in to our pitsfor the night with some complacency, each eight men furnishing theirown sentry. 

We had about three hours next morning before any enemy were reportedfrom Waschout Hill (the pre-arranged signal for this was the raisingof a pole from one of the huts). This time was employed in perfectingour defences in various ways. We managed to clear away the scrub inthe dry river-bed and banks for some 200 yards beyond our line of pitson each side, and actually attained to the refinement of an"obstacle;" for at the extremity of this clearance a sort of _abatis_entanglement was made with the wire from an adjacent fence which themen had discovered. During the morning I visited the post on WaschoutHill, found everything correct, and took the opportunity of showingthe detachment the exact limits of our position in the river-bed, andexplained what we were going to do. After about three hours' work, "Somebody in sight" was signalled, and we soon after saw from ourposition a cloud of dust away to the north. This force, which provedto be a commando, approached as already described in the last dream;all we could do meanwhile was to sit tight in concealment. Theirscouts came on in clumps of twos and threes which extended over somemile of front, the centre of the line heading for the drift. As thescouts got closer, the natural impulse to make for the easiestcrossing place was obeyed by two or three of the parties on each sideof the one approaching the drift, and they inclined inwards and joinedforces with it. This was evidently the largest party we could hope tosurprise, and we accordingly lay for it. When about 300 yards away, the "brethren" stopped rather suspiciously. This was too much forsome man on the east side, who let fly, and the air was rent by therattle as we emptied our magazines, killing five of this specialscouting party and two from other groups further out on either side. We continued to fire at the scouts as they galloped back, dropping twomore, and also at the column which was about a mile away, but affordeda splendid target till it opened out. 

In a very few moments our position was being shelled by three guns, but with the only result, as far as we were concerned, of having oneman wounded by shell-fire, though the firing went on slowly till dark. To be accurate, I should say the river was being shelled, our positionincidentally, for shells were bursting along the river for some halfmile. The Boers were evidently quite at sea as regards the extent ofour position and strength, and wasted many shells. We noticed muchgalloping of men away to the east and west, out of range, and guessedthat these were parties who intended to strike the river at somedistance away, and gradually work along the bed, in order probably toget into close range during the night. 

We exchanged a few shots during the night along the river bed, and notmuch was done on either side, though of course we were on the _quivive_ all the time; but it was not till near one in the morning thatWaschout Hill had an inning. 

As I had hoped, the fact that we held the kraal had not been spottedby the enemy, and a large body of them, crawling up the south side ofthe hill in order to get a good fire on to us in the river, struck asnag in the shape of a close-range volley from our detachment. As thenight was not very dark, in the panic following the first volley ourmen were able (as I learnt afterwards) to stand right up and shoot atthe surprised burghers bolting down the hill. However, their panic didnot last long, to judge by the sound, for after the first volley fromour Lee-Metfords and the subsequent minute's independent firing, thereports of our rifles were soon mingled with the softer reports of theMausers, and we shortly observed flashes on our side of Waschout Hill. As these could not be our men, we knew the enemy were endeavoring tosurround the detachment. We knew the ranges fairly well, and though, as we could not see our sights, the shooting was rather guesswork, wesoon put a stop to this manoeuvre by firing a small volley fromthree or four rifles at each flash on the hill-side. So the nightpassed without much incident. 

During the dark we had taken the opportunity cunningly to place somenew white sandbags (which I had found among the stores) in full viewat some little distance from our actual trenches and pits. Some menhad even gone further, and added a helmet here and a coat therepeeping over the top. This ruse had been postponed until our positionwas discovered, so as not to betray our presence, but after thefighting had begun no harm was done by it. Next morning it was quite apleasure to see the very accurate shooting made by "Brother" at thesesandbags, as betokened by the little spurts of dust. 

During this day the veldt to the north and south was deserted by theenemy except at out-of-range distance, but a continuous sniping firewas kept up along the river-banks on each side. The Boer guns wereshifted--one to the top of Incidentamba and one to the east and westin order to enfilade the river bank--but, owing to our good cover, weescaped with two killed and three wounded. The enemy did not shellquite such a length of river this time. I confidently expected anattack along the river bank that night, and slightly strengthened myflanks, even at the risk of dangerously denuding the north bank. I wasnot disappointed. 

Under cover of the dark, the enemy came up to within, perhaps, 600yards on the open veldt on the north and round the edges of WaschoutHill, on the south, and kept up a furious fire, probably to distractour attention, whilst the guns shelled us for about an hour. As soonas the gun-fire ceased they tried to rush us along the river-bed eastand west, but owing to the _abatis_ and the holes in the ground, andthe fact that it was not a very dark night, they were unsuccessful. However, it was touch and go, and a few of the Boers did succeed ingetting into our position only to be bayoneted. Luckily the enemy didnot know our strength, or rather our weakness, or they would havepersisted in their attempt and succeeded; as it was, they must havelost 20 or 30 men killed and wounded. 

Next morning, with so many men out of my original 40 out of action(not to include Waschout Hill, whose losses I did not know), mattersseemed to be serious, and I was greatly afraid that another nightwould be the end of us. I was pleased to see that the detachment onWaschout Hill had still got its tail well up, for they had hoisted ared rag at the masthead. True, this was not the national flag, probably only a mere handkerchief, but it was not white. The day woreon with intermittent shelling and sniping, and we all felt that theenemy must have by now guessed our weakness, and were savingthemselves for another night attack, relying upon our being tired out. We did our best to snatch a little sleep by turns during the day, andI did all I could to keep the spirits of the little force up by sayingthat relief could not be very far off. But it was with a gloomydesperation at best that we saw the day wear on and morning turn intoafternoon. 

The Boer guns had not been firing for some two hours, and the silencewas just beginning to get irritating and mysterious, when the boomingof guns in the distance aroused us to the highest pitch of excitement. We were saved! We could not say what guns these were--they might beBritish or Boer--but, any way, it proved the neighborhood of anotherforce. All faces lighted up, for somehow the welcome sound at oncedrew the tired feeling out of us. 

In order to prevent any chance of the fresh force missing ourwhereabouts, I collected a few men and at once started to fire somegood old British volleys into the scrub, "Ready--present--fire, " whichwere not to be mistaken. Shortly afterwards we heard musketry in thedistance, and saw a cloud of dust to the northeast. We were relieved!

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Our total losses were 11 killed and 15 wounded; but we had held thedrift, and so enabled a victory to be won. I need not here touch uponthe well-known and far-reaching results of the holding of Duffer'sDrift, of the prevention thereby of Boer guns, ammunition, andreinforcements reaching one of their sorely pressed forces at acritical moment, and the ensuing victory gained by our side. It isnow, of course, all public knowledge that this was the turning-pointin the war, though we, the humble instruments, did not know what vitalresults hung upon our action. 

That evening the relieving force halted at the drift, and, afterburying the dead, we spent some time examining the lairs of the Boersnipers, the men collecting bits of shell and cartridge-cases asmementoes--only to be thrown away at once. We found some 25 dead andpartially buried Boers, to whom we gave burial. 

That night I did not trek, but lay down (in my own breeches andspotted waistcoat). As the smoke from the "prime segar, " presented tome by my Colonel, was eddying in spirals over my head, these graduallychanged into clouds of rosy glory, and I heard brass bands in thedistance playing a familiar air: "See the Conquering Hero comes, " itwas they were playing. 

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and heard a gentle voice say, "Arise, SirBacksight Forethought;" but in a trice my dream of bliss wasshattered--the gentle voice changed into the well-known croak of myservant. "Time to pack your kit on the wagon, sir. Corfy's been upsome time now, sir. " I was still in stinking old Dreamdorp. 

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