CHAP. village, a hundred miles off, where he was carrying out a contract.

I.

Offer made

to two

officers.

Boer women marry deserters.

"An underground

Two officers, who were out shooting in the country in plain clothes, went to a Boer's house. The man, in the course of conversation, told them that he was willing to give £7, 10s. a-month, with board and lodging, to any person who could keep his books, and do other clerical work for him; and ended by asking if either of them would accept the situation!

While mentioning the inducements to desert, we must not omit that the fair young Boer woman sometimes exercised her influence. A look-out officer, as he was termed, in charge of the mounted patrols, had reason to suspect that a deserter was harboured in a certain farmhouse, which he insisted on entering. When the door was opened, only the daughter of the house could he seen; but presently, looking up the chimney, he espied his man. It transpired afterwards that the poor fellow was about to be married to the girl, and had arranged with her father to settle down on the farm.

The Boers generally rendered assistance quietly to railroad." men passing by their farms, and endeavouring to escape over the border; and no doubt deserters who had already succeeded in getting clear away, in some cases communicated with their former comrades as to the best line of country to follow. Cavalry men sometimes departed with their chargers; and infantry men, if they could ride, supplied themselves with their officers' or some one else's horses. They frequently, also, took with them their rifles, ammuni

I.

tion, and blankets, probably disposing of them to the CHAP. Boers in order to pay their way.

of deser

The men thus lost were all trained soldiers of some Large cost standing, by no means always the "black sheep" of tion. their corps, but often of long-tried service and character, who could be ill spared, and only replaced at considerable cost and the lapse of some months.

The expenses attending keeping up mounted lookout parties on the roads, payments for rewards and information, conveyance of deserters, increased prison accommodation, losses of horses, rifles, ammunition, and clothing, &c., formed a heavy item. To this must be added the loss of the services of those deserters retaken-for from one to two years' detention in prison after conviction, and period of absence before-and the cost of replacing those who were never recovered. Altogether, £200 for every man raised, trained, and sent to such a distant part-five weeks' march into the interior after disembarkingto fill each vacancy created by desertion, would notbe an overestimate.

Numerous cases of desertion occurred at the commencement of the year 1880, after the close of the Sekukuni war; then the number lessened, until the warmer months coming round again, admitting of less exposure in crossing over the high open plains, the cases again rapidly increased. They rose to the highest number during the month of August, when, out of a force then about 3000 men, 70 went off, of whom perhaps one-third were subsequently recovered.

We have not before us precise statistics, but, never

I.

CHAP. theless, sufficient data to enable us to form a belief that we shall be under the mark when we compute the loss by desertion in 1880 to have been 260 men, representing, at the foregoing estimate, a money loss of no less than £52,000.

Discomfort

of soldier's life in

Transvaal.

Soldiers

were underfed.

The troops left in the Transvaal had been subjected to much hard work and exposure the previous year, in the Zulu and Sekukuni campaigns; some had even been engaged in the Galeka and Gaeka war of 1877-78. Their lot had not been cast in pleasant, lively garrisons, surrounded by comforts, amusements, and civilising influences; but then, at least, they had a certain degree of the excitement and occupation incidental to campaigning life, which was missing when quartered in the Transvaal, until the close of 1880. Although their officers did as much as lay in their power to create a few amusements for them, still the soldiers found their existence at the out-stations monotonous and dreary in the extreme. Some took the matter into their own hands and deserted, while the rest anxiously anticipated the order to move down country to the coast.

Tent life is, with fine weather, and other surroundings being propitious, an agreeable novelty for a short time, or even longer, with some definite object in view; but when it comes to spending years, in all seasons, under canvas, the feelings are apt to alter and take a different view, especially if other circumstances contribute to render it distasteful. Now the soldier was under-fed for such a life as he was

I.

leading, on an elevated plateau several thousand CHAP. feet above the sea. The field-ration he had enjoyed during the campaigns was reduced to the ordinary ration given to soldiers in quarters. The 1 lb. meat, including bone, did not, during the dry season in the Transvaal, when, for want of good grass, the cattle became exceedingly poor, afford the same nourishment as a similar quantity elsewhere, while the amount of bone was proportionately greater. It was difficult for the soldier, with his small means, to purchase extra articles, as customary, to supplement his messing. Eggs, butter, and milk could not generally be obtained, and, if forthcoming, sold at extravagant prices.

like to

and tinned

With a view to reducing the surplus stores accu- Their dismulated for past campaigning purposes, an order was biscuits received to issue preserved meat and biscuit twice meats. a-week. As may be imagined, this order ran counter to the prevalent prejudice entertained by our lower classes to tinned meats.

of another

A deserter left a letter on his bed containing the Anecdote following words: "Private's kit is complete. i deserter. am going to see if i can get a little better dinner somewhere else than i got here to-day-old Bully

meat!"

resulting

drawal of

In order to cope effectively with the possible ris- Danger ing of a mounted population like the Boers-hunt- from withers from their childhood, and consequently prac- cavalry. tised horsemen and excellent shots at long distances, combined with thorough knowledge of country-it

CHAP.

I.

A mounted

force essen- emergency.

tial to cope

was obviously essential that a sufficient mounted force should remain at hand ready to meet such an Only so could the communications be with Boers. kept up, assistance rendered to the well-disposed, or protection afforded beyond the immediate vicinity of infantry posts; and only so could support and adequate security be given to infantry or artillery on the march. A body of infantry, moving with guns and supplies, would otherwise be always liable to be taken at a disadvantage by such a foe, wherever rocks or other cover were forthcoming, offering facilities for attack or disputing the way,—and certainly such spots were easily met with along all the roads-spots which could not always be avoided by a column obliged to carry its supplies with it. By the enemy hanging on the flanks and rear, as well as impeding the advance in front, the artillery horses and transport animals would soon be destroyed, and the guns and supplies imperilled.

The reason why the ca

withdrawn.

Such being the case-which should have been as valry were clear before the outbreak as it was after,-why was it that the King's Dragoon Guards, the only cavalry regiment—not alone in the Transvaal, but in South Africa-was withdrawn? Why was all proper caution set aside, when an element of risk still remained, and a game of chance instead played, all being staked on the settled but erroneous conviction entertained by some officials, that the Boers were wanting in pluck, and would not therefore become dangerous.2

1 See ante, p. 29.

2 See ante, pp. 14-17.