South African War, 1899-1902 -- Personal narratives
carbine got jammed somehow or other, and his disgust was expressed in
true military style, for the keenness of the New Zealander is wonderful.
One of our pom-poms and M Battery joining in, after a time the firing
slackened, and chancing to look round at the side of the farmhouse, I
beheld two of our fellows helping themselves to some chicken from a
three-legged iron pot over a smouldering fire. Thereupon, I promptly
quitted the firing line, and joined in the unexpected meal. It was
awfully good, I assure you. While finishing the fowl, a New Zealander,
pale-faced, with a wound in his throat and another in his hand, was
brought in by two comrades, and a horse, which had been shot, died
within a few yards of us. I am sorry to say that in this little affair
we lost an officer and a trooper killed, and several wounded, not to
mention a considerable amount of killed and wounded horses.
The next day we advanced under a heavy fire from our guns, but met with
no opposition. Our objective this time was the Zoutpan District, which
is principally composed of bush veldt.
Here I must pause, and give a veracious account of a certain not
uninteresting episode, which happened during our march after De Wet in
the Zoutpan District, and which I will call
THE YEOMAN, THE ARGENTINE AND THE FARRIER-SERGEANT.
On Tuesday, August the 22nd, we were advance guard through the bush
veldt, and shortly after starting, _Bete Noire_, who had gradually been
failing, gave out, so behold me, alone to all intents and purposes,
bushed. Of course I immediately took careful bearings, and assuming that
we should not be changing direction, slowly marched straight ahead.
After going a considerable distance I got on to a small track, and
finally, what might be termed by courtesy, a road, and was carefully
studying it when one of our sergeants and a staff officer rode up. I
told the latter that my horse was done, and the noble steed bore out my
statement by collapsing under me as I spoke. The officer advised me to
wait for the main body and lead my horse on after them, which I did,
dragging him along for about a dozen weary miles, till I reached the
camp at dark, just in time to participate in a lovely outlying picket.
The next morning, having reported the case to the sergeant-major, he
told me to lead the horse from the camp with the convoy, and instructed
the farrier-sergeant to shoot him a little way out. So, having put my
saddle on our waggon and asked the farrier if he had been told about the
shooting, I proceeded to drag the poor beggar along. After toiling
forward some considerable distance, I looked around for the man whose
duty it was to shoot him, but could see him nowhere. So on I pushed,
inquiring of everybody, "Where is the Farrier-Sergeant?" I lagged behind
for him, and then toiled, perspiring and ankle deep in dust, ahead for
him, but found him not. Even during the mid-day halt I could not find
him, and as the beast had fallen once, I was getting sick of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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