At length, with many a puff and agonized groan from the poor little
undersized engine, we departed into the dim, mysterious night, which
hourly became more chill, and which promised a sharp frost before
morning. As we crawled out of the station, our kind military friends
saluted, and wished us, a little ironically, a pleasant journey. When I
was about to seek repose, Major White looked in, and said: "Sleep with
your head away from the window, in case of a stray shot"; and then I
turned down the light, and was soon in the land of dreams.
The much-dreaded night passed quite quietly, and in the morning the
carriage windows were thickly coated with several degrees of frost. The
engines of the Netherlands Railway, always small and weak, were at that
time so dirty from neglect and overpressure during the war, that their
pace was but a slow crawl, and uphill they almost died away to nothing.
However, fortunately, going south meant going downhill, and we made good
progress over the flat uninteresting country, which, in view of recent
events, proved worthy of careful attention. Already melancholy landmarks
of the march of the great army lay on each side of the line in the shape
of carcasses of horses, mules, and oxen. Wolvehoek was the first stop.
Here blue-nosed soldiers descended from the railway-carriages in varied
and weird costumes, making a rush with their billies[40] for hot water,
wherewith to cook their morning coffee, cheerily laughing and cracking
their jokes, while shivering natives in blankets and tattered overcoats
waited hungrily about for a job or scraps of food.
Pages:
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251