The Road to Ladysmith by Nigel Seed

Author:Nigel Seed [Seed, Nigel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781725773431
Published: 2018-11-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 36

Back To Kitchener

The reconnaissance troop rode slowly towards Ladysmith, off to one side of the road to keep out of the way of the infantry who marched along it. There was no singing or shouting, just weary men trudging through the heat to the town they had paid for in so much blood and pain. McGuire saw Buller riding through with his staff trailing behind them. The General was passing comments to the soldiers as he rode by. The men’s heads came up as they felt the pride their General was giving them.

Buller looked across to where the troop was riding and called a rider forward. The man nodded and turned his horse before riding across to McGuire. He called the troop to a halt to wait for the messenger.

The young Lieutenant rode up and reined in his horse in a cloud of dust. McGuire could hear the troop behind him coughing and spitting the dust from their already parched mouths.

“Careful, Lieutenant, you wouldn’t want to get dust on your shiny boots, now, would you?”

The officer looked at McGuire and was puzzled by what he saw. The badges of rank on his filthy and tattered uniform were almost invisible. In fact, the only thing that really marked him out as an officer was the Webley revolver on his waist belt. There was something about the eyes, though; a calm confidence that seemed to radiate from him.

The Lieutenant cleared his throat. “Ah, sorry ,sir, didn’t mean to cause the dust cloud. However, General Buller’s compliments and would you please come and find him in the headquarters at Ladysmith once all the fuss has died down?”

“I’ll be there as soon as I find my men somewhere to sleep.”

The messenger saluted, wheeled his horse and cantered back to the road to join the General’s entourage. Donnelly and Parks rode up on either side of McGuire and the three of them watched the officer ride away.

“What do you think that’s about, sir?” Parks asked.

“I think I know. Kitchener wants us to go across and join him with the main army. General Buller wanted to keep hold of us until he had Ladysmith in his hands. So my guess is that we are on our travels again.”

McGuire took his men into the town away from the main streets. He knew that the relief force was to parade past the Ladysmith headquarters and General White was to take the salute. Somehow he felt uncomfortable at the thought of parading in triumph past the half-starved defenders. His men found a quiet spot to make camp and in minutes they had the fire started and the meal beginning to cook. He gave it a time for the parade to finish and then rode his horse towards the building where he had spoken with General White.

After tying his horse’s reins to a tree, McGuire walked up the path to the white-painted bungalow and asked for General Buller. He sat in the shade and waited until the same young officer came and found him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.