78 Pages - The Black Vault

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come from. ” How often, also, had I not had troublein getting out of a dull sentry which his “front” andwhat his “beat” was. The north, then, being my front,the east and west were my flanks, where there mightpossibly be enemies, and the south was my rear,where naturally there were none.I settled these knotty points to my satisfaction, andoff I trudged, with my field-glasses, and, of course,my Kodak, directing my steps towards the gleamingwhite walls of the little Dutch farm, nestling under thekopje to the north-east. It was quite a snug little farmfor South Africa, and was surrounded by blue gumsand fruit trees. About a quarter of a mile from thefarm I was met by the owner, Mr. Andreas Brink, atame or surrendered Boer farmer, and his two sons,Piet and Gert. “Such a nice man too, ” with a pleasantface and long beard. He would insist on calling me“Captain, ” and as any correction might have confusedhim, I did not think it worth while to make any,and after all I wasn’t so very far from my “company.”The three of them positively bristled with dog’s-earedand dirty passes from every Provost Marshal in SouthAfrica, and these they insisted on showing me. I hadnot thought of asking for them, and was much impressed;to have so many they must be special men.They escorted me to the farm, where the good wifeand several daughters met us, and gave me a drinkof milk, which was most acceptable after my long anddusty trek. The whole family appeared either tospeak or to understand English, and we had a veryfriendly chat, during the course of which I gatheredthat there were no Boer commandos anywhere withinmiles, that the whole family cordially hoped thatthere never would be again, and that Brink was really13
a most loyal Briton, and had been much against thewar, but had been forced to go on commando withhis two sons. Their loyalty was evident, becausethere was an oleograph of the Queen on the wall,and one of the numerous flappers was playing ourNational $$nthern on the tiamnonium as 1 entered.The farmer and the boys took a great interest inall my personal gear, especially a brand-new pair ofthe latest-pattern field-glasses, which they tried withmucn delight, and many exclamations of “Aller -machtig. ” They evidently appreciated them extrerne-Iy, but could not imagine any use for my Kodak inwar-time, even after I had taken a family group.Funny, simple fellows! They asked and got permissionfrom me to sell milk, eggs and butter in the camp,and I strolled on my way, congratulating myself onthe good turn I was thus able to do myself and detachment,none of whom had even smelt such luxuriesfor weeks.After an uneventful round, I directed my steps backtowards the thin blue threads of smoke, rising verticallyin the still air, which alone showed the positionof my little post, and as I walked the peacefulness ofthe whole scene impressed me. The landscape laybathed in the warm light of the setting sun, whoseparting rays tinged most strongly the various heightswithin view, and the hush of approaching eveningwas only broken by the distant lowing of oxen, andby the indistinct and cheerful camp noises, whichgradually grew louder as I approached. I strolledalong in quite a pleasant frame of mind, meditatingover the rather curious names which Mr. Brink hadgiven me for the surrounding features of the landscape.The kopje above his farm was called lnciden-14
Page 2: FMFRP 12-33The DefenseofDuffer’sD
Page 6 and 7: ABOUTTHE AUTHORMajor General Sir Er
Page 8 and 9: BACKGROUNDINFORMATION(THE BOER WAR)
Page 10: “/t was our own fault, and our ve
Page 13 and 14: — ,-
Page 15 and 16: UDUOFFHR’SUDUNIFT.GENERAL PLAN.Ma
Page 17 and 18: I had so often longed for. This was
Page 19: stores and tools, which had been du
Page 23 and 24: silhouetted in the cheerful blaze o
Page 25 and 26: out the following lessons, the resu
Page 27 and 28: men each, one to the top of Waschou
Page 29 and 30: preached the guard of the north fro
Page 31 and 32: amazing alacrity, and looked as if
Page 33 and 34: teeth outside their kraals whilst t
Page 35 and 36: horseshoe bend of the river, as thi
Page 37 and 38: It was astonishing what difficulty
Page 39 and 40: on top of that kop-je on the fur si
Page 41 and 42: at first halted and begun to be sus
Page 43 and 44: Eh’eam‘(0 was some power the gi
Page 45 and 46: Map 5The Dutchmen and Kaffirs were
Page 47 and 48: presence, with a close-range volley
Page 49 and 50: By the time I had gathered what was
Page 51 and 52: “We lay bare as the paunchof the
Page 53 and 54: is frontall round.12. Beware of bei
Page 55 and 56: ifth &eam“A frif/ing sum of miser
Page 57 and 58: Map 6vialed with grooves to fire th
Page 59 and 60: distributed in case of a long and p
Page 61 and 62: and the road south to see how matte
Page 63 and 64: we opened fire on the main body som
Page 65 and 66: True, we were not captured, and had
Page 67 and 68: sixth!!)ream“Sweet are the uses o
Page 69 and 70: advantages of the proposal.I resist
Page 71 and 72:
any degree hampered by a fear of hi
Page 73 and 74:
scooped out a little, or a shelf cu
Page 75 and 76:
dream; all we could do meanwhile wa
Page 77 and 78:
and a coat there peeping over the t
Page 79:
musketry in the distance, and saw a
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78 Pages - The Black Vault

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