The Washington times., 1901-07-21
SCOUTING FOR DYNAMITE.
Thrilling Experience of Men WHO
Look for Explosives.
Testing Fate in Hnndca-- British
Troops Hunt Deadly Bott'rs Placed
on Railway Tracks in south Afri-
cn-Shrewd scheme of the Beers.

1t is early morning and bitterly cold
Only the stars-froZen spangles OF light
in the heavens; only a white rime of frost
on the ground, and between frost and
stars an empty silence, save that from
the engine of the mail train that has been
held uD ali night at the little veidt sid
ing come the hiss and roar peculiar to its
kind. A feather of steam shakes impa-
tiently at its safety valve. for the wake
full engine and the sleepy passenger
coaches behind are ready as soon as light
shall come to resume the INTERRUPTED
journey to Pretoria.
But much may have happened in the
night. Brother Boer may have crept
down in the darkness and lifted a rail,
or worse, left a packet of some unpleas-
ant mess artfully hidden between rail
and ballast with the object of reducing
the rolling stock OF the imperial military
railways. So we are going down the line
on the granger's trolley to nose out these
modest destroyers that hide coyly be-
hind sleepers and retire unobtrusively to
the shelter of fishplates.
Before heaven and a critical public. /
declare l am no hero, although the men
VINO were with me We're. They knew the
risk they ran-1 did not. Perhaps if | had
known the risks I was about to take 1
shouid not have gone; certain it is L will
never go again
ihree full privates, one corporal of en-
glheers, one war correspondent of the
DaiIy Mail'-that was the trolley's pas
senger list; and as the night thought of
her sins and paled eastward two of the
Iommles gave the machine a shove and
we were off on our ten miles voyage of
discovery. The road" was downhilI and
easy going for a mile and the enemy's
country did not begin until we reached
the foot of the slope. There we passed
the advance post of the siding guard-a
solitary Tommy hidden somewhere in the
semi-darkness. who challenged and was
silent.
Then the search commenced. On the
outer edges of the trolley the corporal and
man stretched themselves full length
along a wooden platform, their heads Just
overreaching the fore end of the trolley,
their faces about twenty inches above
the rail. The other two men trundled the
car along, now running alongside pushing
heavily. now sitting on the back of the
platform propelling the little truck for
ward with an occasional kick at the
ground. l was seated amidships facing
forward and the cold air came to my
dry ice spray-if such a thing could be-
There was now just enough light for the
two watchers to see pretty clearly twenty
yards ahead, and the uncanniness of the
experience was passing. Atkins who
pushed on the right had fine taste for
gruesome anecdote, more particularly in
the matter of exploded mines, and his
conversation was not cheerful. His roper
tory included the stories of the injudi-
cious corporal. the inquistive loyalist, the
unfortunate goat, and the circumspect
Boer.
The story of the inquisitive loyalist was
about Boer who lived on a farm. And
when the English came along this ere
Boer discovered that he had never been in
favor of the war from the very first; SO
was allowed to live on his farm provided
he gave in his arms. So this ere some
thinged Boer handed in the Tower musket
with which he had been plugging Tom
mics at 1000 yards and upward, and the
flintlock, which was, so to speak, his
second barrel, and was allowed to live
peacefully in sight of the camp.
And as every day passed his love for the
British increased. so that the amiable
camp commandant allowed him to visit
the camp anu sell the brutal soldiery milk
and vegetables. But the amiable COM
mandant was not the fool his eyeglass
and his drawl led you to believe, and he
had a notion that the new convert to i'm
perialism was in the habit-and dis
gusting nabit it is-of communicating with
outside pals. And once culvcrt was
mysteriously blown up, and nobody saw
the Beers who did it. So the commandant
took that - - q won't attempt to tone
down the adjectives) Boer into his con-
fdence. The culvert south of the siding
had been blown up, he said. but had been
repaired; he was now having it carefully
guarded. He did not intend having the
other culvert, which was north of the
siding, watched, as he did not think the
Beers would experiment on that, and, be-
sides. he couldn't spare the men. And the
Boer was touched by the confidence the
guileless Fhilistine reposed in him and
wapt. That night the commandant sent
for the farmer and held him in conversa-
ton for two hours on agricultural pros
poets, while two engineers laid down
a devilish contrivance near the northern
culvert.
And this is the way it was made. They
dug a hole and placed therein camp
kettle Within that camp kettle We're
fifteen ponds of dynamite. Inserted in
that camp kettle was the muzzle of
loaded Martini carbine, and attached to
the trigger of that carbine were wires
that the foot of the most careful walker
would not fail to catch. Well. that
night
Stop
The story stops suddenly, two pairs of
hands grip the right hand brake and the
trolley jars to a s:andstill.
We are off in a second and the corp
oral is gingerly scraping away the earth
piled round a thing that looks like bot
tie with the neck protruding. 1t is placed
by the side of the rail. the bottle raised
to the rails level. and had the truck gone
another dozen feet it would have smash
ed the neck
This" said the corporal, speaking
with great niceness, and picking his words
as though some discordant phrase would
be sufficient to agitate the contents, lis
new fake. I'm not goin' to take this
along with me. Here, What 's-your- name,
take this bottle out about 600 yards and
stick it on rock where we can see it,
What ts-your-n tucked the bottle
under his arm with as much unconcern
to the required distance. l fancy it was
half that distance. for the bottle was
quite distinct in the broadening light.
When What s-his-name had got back the
four men took up their rifles from the
trolley floor and, taking steady aim
opened fire. The third shot took effect
The little black object, just visible. be-
came instantly Il broad white fan of an
CRY flaming light. Only for a second
and then smoke was where fame had
been and the earth shook with the roar
of the explosion.