Towards sunset Vellum appeared with a note from Sergeant Matthews. It
ran as follows:
"The armoured train captured; its fifteen occupants all killed.[25]
Boers opened fire on the train with field artillery."
In our isolation these words sank into our souls like lead, and were
intensified by the fact that we had that very morning been so near the
scene of the tragedy--"reverse" I would not allow it to be called, for
fifteen men had tried conclusions with 400 Boers, and had been merely
hopelessly outnumbered. The latter had, however, scored an initial
success, and the intelligence cast a gloom, even where all was blackest
night. Vellum brought a few more verbal details, to the effect that
Sergeant Matthews had actually succeeded in stopping the armoured train
after pursuing it on horseback for some way, expecting every moment to
be taken for a Boer and fired on. He asked to speak to the officer in
charge, and a young man put his head over the truck. Matthews then told
him that several hundred Boers were awaiting the train, strongly
entrenched, and that the metals were up for about three-quarters of a
mile. "Is that all?" was the answer; then, turning to the engine-driver,
"Go straight ahead." Here was a conspicuous instance of English
foolhardy pluck.
The evening was a lovely one.
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