The Young Colonists: A Story of the Zulu and Boer Wars Read online

and Mr Harvey and struck one of the natives walkingjust in front of them, killing him upon the spot. This was too much.Mr Harvey and the lads wheeled their horses, unslung their rifles, andfired at the Boers, who were galloping away. One of them at oncedropped from his saddle, shot through the head; the other reeled, but,retaining his seat, galloped off at full speed.

  "This is a bad business, boys," Mr Harvey said; "we could not help it,but it will bring trouble upon us. Now let us branch off from the roadwe are following, and make for Leydenberg; we are within three days'march of that place. There is an English garrison there, and justicewill be done. If we push on straight for Standerton, we shall beovertaken and probably killed before we get there."

  The bullocks' heads were turned towards the southeast, and at the bestpace the teams were driven across the country. Several large nativekraals were passed in the course of the day, and after a march of nearlydouble the ordinary length the caravan halted for the night on the banksof a stream. A sharp watch was kept all night, but nothing particularhappened.

  Just as they were about to inspan the oxen in the morning some fifteenor twenty men were seen approaching at a gallop. The oxen were at oncedriven again to the laager, and every man seized his arms. The Dutchmenhalted at a distance of a hundred yards, and then three of them rode upto the caravan.

  "What do you want?" Mr Harvey said, advancing on foot in front of thewaggons, while the lads and the three hunters stood, rifles in hand,behind them.

  "We summon you to surrender," the Boers said; "you have murdered Mr VanBurer and wounded Mr Schlessihoff."

  "We have done nothing of the sort," Mr Harvey answered. "We were goingquietly along the road when those men insulted us; we passed on withoutanswering. After we had gone a hundred yards they fired at us, narrowlymissed me, and killed one of my men. We fired back, and with the resultyou have named. We are quite ready to answer for our conduct, and whenwe get to Leydenberg we shall at once deliver ourselves up to themagistrate, and report what has occurred, and you can then bring anycharge you want to make against us."

  "You will never get to Leydenberg," the Boers said scoffingly; "we areyour magistrates and judges; _we_ want no English law here. Once forall, will you surrender?"

  "We certainly will not," Mr Harvey replied, "and if you molest us itwill be at your peril."

  Without another word the Boers turned their horses' heads and rode backto their comrades; upon their joining them the whole rode some littledistance to the rear, and then divided, half turning to the left, theother to the right.

  "What on earth are they going to do?" Dick asked in surprise.

  "They are going to surround us," Mr Harvey said; "they will dismountand leave their horses in shelter. Now, lads, out with all the bales ofskins and pile them up under the waggons."

  All hands set to work, and soon under each waggon a thick breastwork ofbales was erected, reaching nearly up to the floor, leaving only enoughspace to see out of and fire; the three whites and the hunters tookstation, one under each waggon, the teamsters and other natives beingdistributed round the square. Quickly as they had laboured, thepreparations were not complete, when from a brow, at the distance ofabout a hundred yards from the laager, a shot was fired, the bulletburying itself with a thud in one of the bales of skins; almostinstantly from every point in a circle round other shots were fired, andthe splintering of wood and the dull sounds, as the shots struck thebarricade, told how accurate was their aim.

  Mr Harvey's orders had been, "Don't throw away a shot. When you seethe flash of a rifle, aim steadily at that point; the next time a headis lifted to take aim, hit it." The natives were ordered on no accountto fire, unless the Boers attempted to close, but to lie quietly undershelter of the defences. In consequence of these orders not a shotreplied to the first volley of the Boers; but when the second roundcommenced, puffs of smoke darted from beneath the waggons. Dick and Tomknew that their shots had been successful, for the heads at which theyhad aimed lay clearly in view, and no discharge came from the riflespointed towards them. The other shots must have passed near theirmarks, and after this first exhibition of the shooting powers of thedefenders, the Boers became much more careful, firing only at intervals,and shifting their ground each time, before they raised their heads totake aim. So the whole day passed, a dropping fire being kept up onboth sides. The defenders were convinced by the end of the day thatseven or eight of the Boers had fallen, but their places had been morethan filled by new-comers who had been seen galloping across the plaintowards the scene of conflict. On the side of the defenders nocasualties had occurred.

  Towards evening the fire died away, and Tom and Dick joined Mr Harvey.

  "What will they do next?"

  "I don't know, Dick; the Boers are by no means fond of exposingthemselves to danger, as has been proved over and over again in theirfights with natives. They must have suffered already a great deal morethan they bargained for, and are no doubt heartily sick of the job.They may try a rush at night, though I question whether they will do so.I rather imagine that their tactics will be to besiege us until we aredriven to make a move, and then to attack us by the way. Fortunatelythe stream is close at hand, and we can get water for our cattle.Still, there must be an end of it at some time or other."

  Blacking now crept under the waggon.

  "Massa, what you say?--me think the best plan will be for me to crawlout and run to chief Mangrope; his place twenty miles away; he alwayshate the Dutch, and refuse to pay tribute; several times they have sentparties against him, but he always beat them off. Blacking tell himthat de Boers attack English, and that if he come down and help drivethem off you give him one team of fine oxen,--he come."

  "I think your plan is a very good one, Blacking; but do you think thatyou can get through?"

  "Get through those stupid Boers? Easily," Blacking said contemptuously.

  "Very well, Blacking; then, as soon as it is dark, you had betterstart."

  Blacking nodded and withdrew, and an hour afterwards stole out from thecamp.

  As soon as night fell the Boers opened fire again, this time aimingentirely at the end of the waggons nearest the water, evidently with theintention of rendering it difficult to procure water from the stream.

  Mr Harvey and his companions answered by firing at the flashes. Asthey hoped that rescue would arrive ere long, Mr Harvey did not permitany one to go outside shelter to fetch water, as the animals had beenwatered in the morning the first thing, and could, if necessary, holdout until the following night.

  Just as daylight was breaking a tremendous yell was heard, followed by ahasty discharge of muskets; then there was the sound of horses' hoofsgalloping at full speed, and then, headed by Blacking, two to threehundred natives came up to the camp. The chief himself was among them.Mr Harvey had on several occasions traded with him, and now thanked himwarmly for the welcome aid he had brought him.

  The Boers were already far away, each man having run to his horse andgalloped off, panic-stricken at the sudden attack. The oxen were atonce inspanned, two being taken from each team and presented to thechief, together with a large bale of cotton in return for hisassistance. The caravan then started, and after a march of sixteenhours arrived at Leydenberg.

  "It is an awful nuisance," Dick said to Tom on the march, "our beingobliged to come round here. If everything had gone straight, Icalculated that we might be at home by Christmas-eve. Now, goodnessonly knows when we shall arrive; for, as likely as not, we may be kepthere for days over this row with the Boers."

  The moment they arrived at Leydenberg Mr Harvey, accompanied by the twolads and the three native hunters, went to the house of the magistrate.That gentleman had just finished his dinner; but on being told that hisvisitors' business was urgent he asked them to be shown in. The huntersremained outside, and the lads followed Mr Harvey into the house.

  "I have come to make a complaint against some Boers," the trader said.

  "Then I can tell you beforehand,
" the magistrate put in, "that yourmission is a vain one. Outside this town I have not at present theslightest authority. Complaints reach me on all sides of outragesperpetrated by the Boers upon English settlers and traders. Strongarmed parties are moving about the country; and although I will ofcourse hear anything that you have got to say, with a view of obtainingredress when things settle down again, I cannot hold out any hope ofbeing able to take action at present."

  "I have scarcely come to you, sir, with the idea of obtaining redress,but rather of stating my case, in case the Boers should bring acomplaint against me."

  The trader then proceeded to relate the circumstances which hadoccurred: the wanton attack upon them in the first place, the murder ofone of their servants, the killing of one and the wounding of the otherof