All along they had been misled
and misinformed, for none of their leaders ever hinted there could be
but one end to the war--namely, the decisive success of the Transvaal
Republic. It made it easy to realize the enormous difficulties that were
connected with what was airily talked of as the "pacification of the
country," and that those English officers who laboured then, and for
many months afterwards, at this task had just as colossal and arduous an
undertaking as the soldiers under Lord Roberts, who had gloriously cut
their way to Johannesburg and Pretoria. Someone said to me in Zeerust:
"When the English have reached Pretoria their difficulties will only
begin." In the heyday of our Relief, and with news of English victories
constantly coming to hand, I thought this gentleman a pessimist; but the
subsequent history of the war, and the many weary months following the
conclusion of peace, proved there was much truth in the above statement.
Two days later we heard that Lord Roberts had made his formal entry into
Pretoria on June 5, but our journey thither did not proceed as smoothly
as we had hoped. We chartered a Cape cart and an excellent pair of grey
horses, and made our first attempt to reach Pretoria via the lead-mines,
the same route taken by Dr. Jameson and the Raiders. Here we received a
check in the shape of a letter from General Baden-Powell requesting us
not to proceed, as he had received information that Lord Roberts's line
of communication had been temporarily interrupted.
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