Flinders, I think you hadbetter ride with your troop, for yonder is Burns Hill. The missionstation lies to the right, and Sandilli's kraal is a little beyond it."
In another ten minutes they came in sight of the mission station, andB--galloped forward to join his advanced files.
"Keep your fellows well in hand," said he to Tom, before riding off;"and be ready to support me if necessary. From the fact that the housesand chapel are still standing, I am inclined to think that Sandilliintends to hold his ground."
Mr B--, however, was mistaken, for on approaching, with everyprecaution, Burns Hill, he found that both the mission station and thechief's kraal were deserted; but though the former was not burned down(as had been reported), every house had been ransacked, and brokenfurniture, papers, school-books, Bibles, and many other articles layscattered in all directions.
"Verily, the Caffre is a destructive animal!" cried Tom, when he rode upand surveyed the scene. "His bump of mischief must be stronglydeveloped."
"A European mob would commit quite as much damage, if in the mood,"Lieutenant B--answered. "I don't think there would be much to choosebetween Santerre's `sans culottes,' and Sandilli's `amadodas.' Butbehold our only trophy!" he added, holding up a couple of lions' tails."Sergeant Jackson found them at the entrance of the chief's hut."
"What are they?" asked Tom. "Chamboks?" [A peculiar kind of thongedwhip.]
"Chamboks! no indeed; they're the Caffre emblems of royalty."
Towards noon the division reached Burns Hill, and encamped near themission station, and shortly afterwards Major Sutton's "commando"marched up, and formed a separate camp on the other side of theKeiskamma River. So when the tired soldiers lay down to rest that nightit was pretty well understood that there would probably be warm work onthe morrow.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
TOM RECEIVES AN UNEXPECTED INVITATION--WITH THE CAPE RIFLES--MOUNTAINWARFARE--FORMIDABLE ODDS--THE EFFECTS OF SHELL.
Shortly before daylight on the 17th April, the trumpets of the 7thDragoon Guards and of the Cape Mounted Rifles, and the shrill bugles ofthe infantry corps, sounding the "reveille," roused Tom Flinders fromhis slumbers; and hardly had he finished a very hasty toilet, and made ahastier breakfast (consisting of a piece of biltong, a handful of"moss-biscuit," and a draught of icy-cold water from a neighbouringspruit), when the clear notes of the "assembly," quickly followed bythose of "boot and saddle," rang through the still morning air.
"Now, old chap," cried Frank Jamieson, who was already in the saddle,"look alive! Sergeant Keown is calling the roll; and--why, here comesthe governor looking very down on his luck! What's the matter, father?"he added as Captain Jamieson cantered up.
"Matter enough," growled the old gentleman--"matter enough! We're toremain in camp instead of marching with the column of attack. Where'sthat boy Tom Flinders?"
"Here am I, sir," replied our hero from under the saddle-flap; for hewas tugging away at the girths. "Bother these buckles! they're as stiffas--"
"Never mind the buckles, but listen to me," his chief struck in. "Yourfriend B--of the Mounted Rifles has got leave for you to be attached tohis troop for to-day. Will you go with him?"
"Will a duck swi--I beg pardon, sir; I mean I'll go like a shot," criedTom.
"To get shot!--eh, Tom?" laughed Frank Jamieson.
"But I say, sir," continued Tom after a moment's thought, "perhaps Frankwould like to--"
"Frank's all right, my boy," interrupted Captain Jamieson; "he is toride `galloper' to Major Sutton. And now the sooner you're off thebetter. The Rifles are parading."
And Tom, thrusting the remains of his morning meal into his haversack,shook hands with the captain and Frank, jumped into the saddle, andgalloped off to the Rifle lines, where he found Lieutenant B--awaitinghim.
At a "council of war," held at the Burns Hill mission station on theprevious evening, Colonel Somerset and his brother-commanders haddecided to form the division into three columns of attack; and it was inthis order that the troops took the field on the morning of the 17thApril.
The right column, which was composed entirely of infantry corps,commanded by Major Glencairn Campbell, 91st Foot, entered the AmatolaMountains at the gorge of the Amatola Basin, with Mount McDonald on theright and the Seven Kloof Mountain on the left.
The centre column, consisting of two squadrons of the Cape MountedRiflemen and Sutton's Kat River Burgher Horse, crossed the KeiskammaRiver and ascended one of the ridges of the Seven Kloof Mountain to itssummit.
The left column, under Colonels Somerset and Richardson, consisting ofthe 7th Dragoon Guards (the "Old Black Horse," as they loved to bestyled) and the remaining troops of the Mounted Rifles, with ahalf-battery of artillery, advanced towards the Seven Kloof Mountain,and, passing along its base, marched in the direction of Chumie Hoek.
The troop of the "C.M.R.," to which Tom Flinders was attached, was withthe centre column, which was led by Major Armstrong, with Major Suttonas his second in command.
When at length, after a toilsome climb up a steep mountain path windingamongst patches of bush and rocky boulders, Major Armstrong's horsemenreached the summit of the Seven Kloof Mountain, they beheld a strongbody of Caffres drawn up in the shape of a crescent, with a dense forestin their rear and their front protected by a tangled mass of brushwoodand swamp, apparently impracticable for cavalry.
At the same time the incessant rattle of musketry in the Amatola Basinbelow told them that Campbell's infantry were hotly engaged with theenemy.
"They seem to be having a pretty warm time of it down there," observedTom to his friend B--.
"You're right, Flinders," the other replied. "And I can tell you thosefellows yonder will give us a warm time of it _up here_. Hark to theyelling savages! 'Pon my word, they're no--"
"No worse than `Santerre's sans culottes,'" Tom broke in with a slylaugh, as he called to mind his friend's previous remarks anent the"noble savage."
"I never meant to say that they were," retorted B--; "so none of yourchaff, my boy! But they are very fiends for all that, and Heaven helpthe poor fellows who fall into their hands! For my part, I'd rather beshot fifty times over than be taken alive by Sandilli's warriors."
"Oh, I don't know," Tom carelessly replied. "`While there's lifethere's hope,' as old Brownjohn used to say."
"Old Brownjohn, whoever he may be, wouldn't have much hope left in himif he once fell into a Caffre's clutches," was B--'s dry remark. "In awarfare like this our motto should be that of Napoleon's old guard--`Wedie, but we do not surrender!' Here comes Major Armstrong. I wonder ifhe intends to attack the enemy's position?"
All this while the Caffres had been jeering at their foes, uttering loudcries of defiance and derision, brandishing their weapons and shields,and daring them to give battle. This insolent behaviour was verygalling to the Mounted Rifles and their Kat River comrades, and theywere naturally impatient to accept the challenge and teach the sablewarriors a sharp lesson. But Major Armstrong, after consulting with hissecond in command, decided that the enemy's position was too strong forhim to attack; and so he gave the word for the column to move on towardsChumie Hoek, in order that he might effect a junction with ColonelSomerset.
Though both officers and men were greatly disappointed at their leader'sdecision, they could not but own that he was acting wisely. It was oneof those cases when "discretion becomes the better part of valour," andinclination has to give way to duty.
Directly the column was put in motion, the Caffres, advancing withdiscordant yells (wherewith they thought to strike terror into thehearts of their foes), made an attack on its rear, and some smartskirmishing took place; but they never came to very close quarters, andafter a while retired, leaving the column to proceed on its wayunmolested.
Armstrong now led his troops down a steepish descent on to a low ridgewhich divided the Amatola Basin from the Chumie Hoek, at the foot of theHog's Back Mountain. Just as he reached the ridge Campbell's infantrymade their appearance, toiling up the p
recipitous slope of a lofty hillout of the valley of the Amatola, fighting desperately as they went, andevidently hard pressed by superior numbers. They had been attackedimmediately after entering the gorge of the basin, and had been inaction ever since; their losses had been considerable, and many of thewounded had fallen into the enemy's hands, there being no means ofcarrying them off the field.
Now between Major Armstrong's column and the infantry there was a steeprocky ledge, so that it was quite out of the question
The War of the Axe; Or, Adventures in South Africa Page 16
