IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V.
A NARRATIVE AND DIARY OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH THE C.I.V. BATTERY (HONOURABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY) IN SOUTH AFRICA
WITH A FRONTISPIECE
1900
CONTENTS.
| CHAPTER | |
|---|---|
| I. | THE "MONTFORT" |
| II. | CAPETOWN AND STELLENBOSCH |
| III. | PIQUETBERG ROAD |
| IV. | BLOEMFONTEIN |
| V. | LINDLEY |
| VI. | BETHLEHEM |
| VII. | BULTFONTEIN |
| VIII. | SLABBERT'S NEK AND FOURIESBERG |
| IX. | TO PRETORIA |
| X. | WARMBAD |
| XI. | HOSPITAL |
| XII. | A DETAIL |
| XIII. | SOUTH AGAIN |
| XIV. | CONCLUSION |
IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V.
CHAPTER I.
THE "MONTFORT."
A wintry ride—Retrospect—Embarkation—A typical day—"Stables" in rough weather—Las Palmas—The tropics—Inoculation—Journalism—Fashions—"Intelligent anticipation"—Stable-guard—Arrival.
With some who left for the War it was "roses, roses, all the way." For us, the scene was the square of St. John's Wood Barracks at 2 A.M. on the 3rd of February, a stormy winter's morning, with three inches of snow on the ground, and driving gusts of melting flakes lashing our faces. In utter silence the long lines of horses and cloaked riders filed out through the dimly-lit gateway and into the empty streets, and we were off at last on this long, strange journey to distant Africa. Six crowded weeks were behind us since the disastrous one of Colenso, and with it the news of the formation of the C.I.V., and the incorporation in that regiment of a battery to be supplied by the Honourable Artillery Company, with four quick-firing Vickers-Maxim guns. Then came the hurried run over from Ireland, the application for service, as a driver, the week of suspense, the joy of success, the brilliant scene of enlistment before the Lord Mayor, and the abrupt change one raw January morning from the ease and freedom of civilian life, to the rigours and serfd