A few more days march and we reached Middleburg on the
railway 50 or 60 miles north east of Pretoria.
Here we rested a week or two and as the Boers continued their resistance
in the form of guerrilla warfare, we formed a small column to hunt them down. We infantrymen were mounted in mule drawn
wagons, and with a regiment of cavalry, the 18th Hussars, we set out along with
other similar small columns to sweep the north eastern Transvaal. When the cavalry came up against stronger
opposition than they could overcome we dismounted and generally that did the
trick. While we threatened a frontal
attack the cavalry would be working round to their rear. The enemy, mounted on wiry ponies were a very
mobile force, and living on the country, whereas the scope of our operations
was limited by the supplies we could carry.
Much transport would limit our speed.
On one of our sweeps it was up to our column to destroy the
small town of Ermilo. It did seem a
shame, but we did the job by fire. Most
of the houses had a lot of wood in their construction and of course burnt
furiously. The destructive party I was
with had the jail and some bungalows to burn.
One of the bungalows had a false roof so I went up to it and found a
number of books. I picked out “Ivanhoe”
and “The White Company”, sat down and
became immersed in reading “The White Company” until the smoke coming up
through the hatchway reminded me of my job.
My mates, not knowing I was up there had fired the room below. I yelled and dropping through the hatch they
soon had me safe. I kept those two books
until I came home in 1904. I said it
seemed a shame to destroy Ermilo – it turned out to be just that. Twelve months later the Blockhouse Line from
Standerton north-westwards ran through the place.
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