The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-01-27

nurposefully south What reason there
was in the movement no man among Us
knew Lord Roberts occupied Bloemfon-
TEN, in front and all aroud us were
active columns of his army
With the little knot of foreign attaches
/ had received an invitation 10 accompany
General De Wet on an important expedi-
ton With such bald instructions we
perforce rested content and for three
days and nights rode steadily forward.
such breathing spaces as we had were
punctuated with queries:
Which Of the fifteen hundred men
arourd Us was De Wet?' whittier was
he bound?" 'eWas he going TO cut the
railway line?" 'sWas the Boer mad
dream Of an attack upon Bloemfontein
t. be put TO the test?"
We asked and marveIed. but found no
answer. With difficulty we singled out
De Wet. the man whose name win live
longest in the histories Of the Boer war.
With us were two De Wets-Hoofd Com
mandant Pet De Wet and plain Com
nandant De Wet. The hoofd command
ant was tan and young and commanding
and to US in our ignorance seemed the
leader Of the expedition.
The other De Wet was a taciturn man
Of middle height OF middle age with a
sparse, scrubby beard and a thick mus
tache His high. square forehead rose
steepiv from a pair Of bushy eyebrows,
beneath which a pair Of restless eagle
eyes there was no laughter but the CLEAN
OF a steady purpose the cold resourceful-
ness of man hunted by his fellows.
Dressed in seedg black coat and
pair OF striped trousers, nothing in his
attire or in his bearing suggested the
general He was common BOer peas
ant, speaking the patois of his race and
concerning himself with nothing beyond
the immediate concern of the moment
But in his face was the stamp Of invinci-
bic determination: his mouth slightly
dropping at the corners, was carried
tightly closed and the strong, equare jaw
was set firm behind the struggling rus
set beard
As the third sun set on our forced
march the attaches became FESTIVE, and
United States Attache Reichmann rode
forward to ask the object Of our exer-
tons.
II do not know" was the only reply
and we jerked at our brides as we rode
on into the gathering night
A simple Boer. ignorant Of maps, save
the wide landscape spread out before him
possessed of no strategy except his hum
ter's instinct and utterly incapable of in
tellibiy explaining his purpose. De Wet
took refuge in silence. No man of his
commando knew more than we did, but
they understood their leader and canter-
co unquestionfngly. unapprehensively on
ward.
Suddenly the long, struggling line was .
called to halt A despatch rider on
painting weld pony refined up beside the
general and delivered to him some kind
Of a report. Dom Christian heard and
considered. and then in the darkness our /
whole disposition was changed. The +
forced was divided into three. and two .
sections rode away to the eastward IN .
der Hood Commandant Pet De Wet.
With him went some eleven hundred men.
six guns. one Maxim-Nordenfelt and one +
mall Maxim.
The remaining four hundred. with those (
of as who accompanied the headquarters +
starr rode or to AIaraIs' farm az Oosprui-
and off-saddled there. About four O'Clock .
in the morning Old Christian DE Wet
moved as down into the Koorn Spruit ana
Of US along the further bank
nearest the Bloemfontein waterworks,
where the big road dives down to cross
he drift.
In front of us the British bivouac fires
slowed duly not quarter of a mile
away. Away over mile and half TO
the eastward, where the sky was already
beginning to tighten. Piet De Wet with
his six guns and eleven hundred men.
was safely slowed within three hundred .
yards of the British lines.
Between us were General Br0adwood. a
force of fally two thousand men and a
rich convey. And vet had we encounter
ed no outpost discovered no picket We
had ridden the ten miles since the des-
patch rider arrested us unchallenged. and
now the old hunter lay expectanuy await
ing daylight and the British
Asathe dawn broke Piet De Vets guns
sounded the reveile. In an instant Broad
wood and his camp were awake and
busuing. DON, out of the morning half
light doomed the first Cape cart rafting
downward toward us and Bloemfontein.
The word went round "N0 shot to be
fired TIN General De Vets rifle gives the
signali'
Without advance guard or cavalry
screen. scouts or hankers. the rich con-
voy rolled downward into the waiting
arms of Do Wet First came the Cane
carts then the light baggage wagons. ana
after them the long strinc of lumberine
muie wagons-two Tommies in front. the
rommies behnd-langiing their way to-
ward Bloemfontein
T1r, rn., ,--r.-. chs
taan be Wet silent cool and as The lead
mules crossed the Tip DE placed re-
straining hand on the line and nurmures
Come in.'
They came and after them came f1ilv
Tour score others draggled Tonmies.
iumfounded Tommies. devil-may-care
fommies-but no single Tommy had the
presence OF mind To wave back his srr-
,essors in The miserable procession. And
there was I'D escort.
NltA time and the parting OF the bag
gaze train in she snrut something 81
louot arose in The minds az the British
Commando He dispatched soul.fr.r
IF mounted infantry 10 reconnoitre the
position. The troopers came crisply .rot-
Ing an de0-oyed and advanced to- within
eighty yards u US Everv face fn rhe
ong straight line stood ont distinctly as
com christian once more rase ana ir
ited the cavalrymen's commander -,
one over.
Through his interpreter. Ricketts, rs
Net told the officer he au6 his tr7oo
aust surrender or Fan where her st.es
-he commander heard ana rode h7-z
lis men covered ali the distance sv ~ t
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