This Question, However, Was Already
Academic, As The Outer Hills Were In The Hands Of The Enemy.
As it
was, the inner line - Caesar's Camp, Wagon Hill, Rifleman's Post,
and round to Helpmakaar Hill - made a
Perimeter of fourteen miles,
and the difficulty of retaining so extensive a line goes far to
exonerate General White, not only for abandoning the outer hills,
but also for retaining his cavalry in the town.
After the battle of Ladysmith and the retreat of the British, the
Boers in their deliberate but effective fashion set about the
investment of the town, while the British commander accepted the
same as inevitable, content if he could stem and hold back from the
colony the threatened flood of invasion. On Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday the commandoes gradually closed in upon the
south and east, harassed by some cavalry operations and
reconnaissances upon our part, the effect of which was much
exaggerated by the press. On Thursday, November 2nd, the last train
escaped under a brisk fire, the passengers upon the wrong side of
the seats. At 2 P.M. on the same day the telegraph line was cut,
and the lonely town settled herself somberly down to the task of
holding off the exultant Boers until the day - supposed to be
imminent - when the relieving army should appear from among the
labyrinth of mountains which lay to the south of them. Some there
were who, knowing both the enemy and the mountains, felt a cold
chill within their hearts as they asked themselves how an army was
to come through, but the greater number, from General to private,
trusted implicitly in the valour of their comrades and in the luck
of the British Army.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 235 of 842
Words from 63208 to 63495
of 225456
