The ground was
trampled by many feet of men and horses; straw, forage, packing-cases,
and rubbish of all kinds, were strewn about, and absolutely hid the soil
from view. Away on the hill beyond I spied the tiny house and hospital
where I had spent six weary nights and days; and between these two
buildings a patch of bare ground nearly half a mile square,
indescribably filthy, had been the site of the white-hooded waggons and
ragged tents of the laager itself. The road was of no interest, merely
rolling veldt with a very few scattered farmhouses, apparently deserted;
but one noticed that rough attempts had been made in the way of
irrigation, and that, as one approached the Transvaal, pools of water
were frequently to be seen.
A shallow ditch was pointed out to us by the driver, as the boundary
between Her Majesty's colony and the South African Republic, and after
another eight or ten miles we saw a few white roofs and trees, which
proved to be Otto's Hoep, in the Malmani Gold District, from which
locality great things had been hoped in bygone days, before the Rand
was ever thought of. At the tiny hotel we found several officers and men
of the Imperial Light Horse, who, warned by a telephone message from
Mafeking, had ordered us an excellent hot lunch. The proprietor, of
German origin, could do nothing but stare at us while we were eating the
meal, apparently amazed at finding his house reopened after so many
months of inactivity, and that people were actually prepared to pay for
what they had.
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