HLI Chronicle 1914 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

86 HIGHLAND LWHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.eyes of the whole brigade were now.fixed uponthe movements of the robust youth, when oneof our bandsmen, suddenly breaking loosefrom those who endeavoured to restrain himran down to the house, wielding a stretcherpole,an( plaoed himself on the other side ofof the door. The unsuspeoting Frenchmen atlength began to issue from the door, unconsciousof the fate that awaited them. ImmediatelyJack with his firelock and McRae withhis pole laid everyone that appeared sprawlingon the ground: if any were so fortunate as toescape the gun, they infallibly felt the weightof the pole, and vice versa. A number ofprisoners were thus secured by the mereexertions of these two. Jack was made aoorporal on the spot, but poor McRae wentunrewarded, having little more than his valourto recommend him, and, sad to relate, waskilled in aotion but three days afterwards atAire."Moving on again, we came to a smallvillage, where some partial skirmishing enlivenedthe scene. Our brigade then formedinto close column. Soon after this evolutiona body of troops oa!lle into sight, advancingalong a road. Their steps were hasty andagitated, but they were suffered to pass usunmolested, we making no doubt of their beingSpaniards. It was not long, however, beforethe mistake was rather unsatisfaotorily explainedby the appearance of a Scottishbrigade (the 42nd, 79th and 9lst) comingdown the same road, playing furiously on theirpipes, in full cry of the French, our supposedSpaniards. The discovery galled us to thequiok, the fugitives having been completelyat our mercy. But if they escaped from theinfantry they did not from the Britishoavalry."The casualties in the 7lst at Orthes are notactually recorded, but no doubt were CO!llparativelyslight, and were probably includedin the return rendered after the action atAire, fought three days later, on the 2nd ofMarch, when Hill foroed the passage of theriver Adour and when the 7lst were hotlyengaged. This casualty return shows Lieut.James Anderson and 17 rank and file killed,and Lieut. Henry Frederiok Lockyer, onesergeant, and 19 rank and file wounded.,­March of 1st Battalion H.L.1.through Basutoland.IT was towards the end of January, 1001,the South Afrioan War was at that stagewhen our mounted columns were racing upand down the Orange River Colony in hotpursuit of the elusive De Wett.Most of our infantry, after months ofmarching, had for some time been holdingthe scattered little Dutch towns, but it hadnow been decided to withdraw them, theybeing badly wanted along the rapidly extendinglines of blockhouses.The 1st H.L.I., with :M:ounted Infantry,2 guns R.A., and a force of S.A. Constabulary,was guarding the frontier town of Wepener,on the eastern side of the country, and withina couple of miles of the Basuto border.Late one night oame a cipher order­"Evacuate Wepener. Remove your storesand ammunition. March your column throughBasutoland to A~wal North."Owing to the tactful handling of our Residentand his officials, the Basutos, a fine raceof fighters, had been kept in hand and preventedfrom joining in the war, much as theywanted to payoff some old scores against theBoers.It was a white man's affair-we did not evenuse troops of our Indian Army--and if oncethe natives had been allowed to take an activepart in it there is no knowing which it mighthave led too-certainly to some terrible incidentI-:on the isolated farms.During the siege of Wepener, when our ColonialDivision was entrenched in the kopjesoverlooking the Caledon River, thousands ofexcited Basutos, eager to join in, watched thefighting from the Jammerberg Mountain,from which there is a magnificent view overthe Caledon Valley and far away across theveldt towards distant Blo2mfontein.As the weighty artillery-ammunition, alsoall military stores, provisions, etc., had tobe removed, a very large numbet of oxwaggonswere required, and were difficult to get(in fact impossible) without delay, as they had