At the Fireside by Webster Roger

Author:Webster Roger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Published: 2013-03-26T04:00:00+00:00

Of Character and Courage – Japie Greyling

OF CHARACTER AND COURAGE –

JAPIE GREYLING

When you are next on the N1 going south, do yourself a favour and turn off towards the little hamlet of Winburg. You will be in for a pleasant surprise, for there, nestled in the lee of tiny hills, lies a little town whose roots lie buried deep in the history of this land.

Winburg is also the scene of one of the most famous stories of Boer heroism of the entire war … and the hero of the story is not some battle-hardened burgher with a beard, a battered Mauser and a bandolier of ammunition, but an unarmed 12-year-old boy named Japie Greyling.

Japie’s act of courage became legend near the end of the first phase of the Second Anglo-Boer War when numerous commandos with thousands of men were harrying the British with all their might. One of the British soldiers involved was Captain the Hon JEB Seely, commander of a mounted squadron. One night a divisional intelligence member rousted him out of his uncomfortable bush-bed to give him some intriguing news.

A reliable spy had reported that the commandant of the largest commando in the vicinity, a man of great skill and daring who was known to believe in fighting on even if Pretoria were captured, was visiting his wife and youngest son at a farm no more than 20 miles away.

Seely sprang immediately into action. It was a risky enterprise, given the commandos in the vicinity, and the fact that the rough map Seely had gave only an approximate indication of where the farm lay. He decided to carry on and try to capture the commandant, however, hoping that one of his attached scouts would be able to find the way.

Seely picked 20 men from his squadron of Horse and set out into the night, acutely aware of the fact that if he and his small raiding party ran into any of the commandos, it was all over for them.

The farm turned out to be nearer 30 than 20 miles away, some of it over very rough terrain, and Seely’s would-be surprise attack failed. Just before they reached the farmhouse a little before dawn they saw three men gallop off to the left. Unfortunately for Seely his left flanking party had been delayed while crossing a stream, and the three men got clean away.

Seely gave up the pursuit and returned to the farm, acutely conscious of the fact, as he wrote later, that ‘the hunters had become the hunted, and that unless we could find out where the commando lay, we were almost bound to be intercepted and killed or, worse still, captured.’

At the farmhouse he found ‘an extraordinarily good-looking Dutch lad of about twelve years of age’ – none other than Japie Greyling – and in broken Afrikaans asked: ‘Who are you?’

Japie replied: ‘I am the son of my father whom you failed to capture,’ and Seely found that ‘it was impossible not to admire the fearless demeanour of this South African boy, surrounded by 20 of his country’s enemies’.

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