The Newtown bee., 1901-03-29

IdClOIlS OI CdnUeQ peel ana IldTu UdCk to the men; also at certain stations ways ready, so tea and coffee can be l made at short notice. At MatjeSfOn- tein, Beaufort West and Victoria, all on the KaroO, or desert, we passed sev- | eral thousand troops stationed there to put down any insurrectiOn in Cape Colony. At Beaufort West we found l Capt Park of our firm with his com pany, and as it was about time for supper, the train stopped there for an hour, while the men and horses had | their supper. l had mine in the sta tion with Capt Park. It is curious that only few hours after, he had orders to proceed to Elandsfontein, and came in a few hours after us. | Across from De Aar to Naumpoort is four hours journey and all one sees is few Kaffirs and great number of Ostriches. Naumpoort is we'll defended by troops and temporary forts, put up since I was there before, October 9, 1899.
 Here was able to get another coal car for my men and started on our ] journey nOrthward with room enough for each man to lie down on the bottom of the car, with his haverSack for pillow and wrapped in his blanket.
 About an hours ride from Naumpoort
 we passed through Colesburg, which
 has seen several fights in the past
 16 months, and on each side of the rail-
 way here we saw the graves of many soldiers, marked only by stake or a
 little wooden cross.
 A little further on we came to Nor
 val's Pont and crossed over into the
 Orange River Colony. This great
 bridge was almost destroyed by the
 Boers and rebuilt by the Railway
 Pioneer Regiment last year. At this
 place was told we would have to re-
 main all night, as, as yet, no trains
 had been allowed to run at night
 through the Orange River Colony. As
 it was only 5 o'clock 1 asked the rail-
 way staff officer to run us as far as he
 could, as we had orders to proceed as
 fast as possible, but he refused to give
 us an engine. We had two locomotive
 engineers among the men beside my self, and we volunteered to run the
 engine if we could only get one, so l
 telegraphed headquarters telling our
 position, and waited hours before get
 Despatch Railway Pioneers with all
 possible speed" So in half an hour
 we started again, told the officer he
 was not the ''only pebble,'' etc., and
 left him muttering about the 'infernal
 Yankees"
 We were the first train to go through
 the Orange River Colony in the night
 and every man put on his equipment
 and slept with his rifle in his hand
 at 8.3O in the morning rolled into
 Bloomfontein. Here we stopped ar
 hour for breakfast. The town is sur
 rounded by thousands of tents so many
 troops are stationed here, as well a!
 the great field hospital for all that
 part of the country.
 f All through the Orange River Colony Il not fence post remains, the wires lie }, on either side of the track, but the n posts have all been cut and used fol h fuel, during the war. All the way III e railway line, and as we pass thrOugf e Smalldeal we hear De Wet is fighting f six miles on our right and we car e plainly hear the big guns and see the |. smoke At KrOonstadt we stop again O Here also is large field hospital, an( n this once strong Boer town is now a ', much English as "Paddy's pig wa r Irish" v At Zand river the train stops and f visit the graves of Maj Seymour ant r Joe Clement, two American friends O the bridge there. It made us all fee e sad and I was glad when the trail e moved on. After passing Heilbrol e road it was dark and big search ligh 2. 10 miles ahead of us threw it's power > full light on the train and kept righ n with us, until we were 10 miles thu I other side of it.
 k At nine in the evening we reached e Vereering, where we cross the Vaa r river into the Transvaal. The com e mandant met me and said 700 Boer e had just crossed the line little wa h ahead of us, but the orders were for u }. to proceed to Elandsfontein. Ever l. man had his rifle loaded and in hi V hand and rode on the engine with tn d engineer and fireman. It was ticklisl Is ride, at night, knowing you might b e ditched any moment, but we reache' l. Elandsfontein safely at midnight g where we reported to the commandant is then lay down and slept until a: m O when we started to unload and ge e ready to go into camp. As the mail j d about to close will not write more un }. til next week.-[B. M. Mitchell.