At the same time there
are also numbers of honest and loyal men, and it is from these, and
exclusively from these, that the fighters are drawn. In South Africa,
and among the South Africans, a war of this sort, between neighbours and
cousins, is the sternest test of loyalty. Many have failed to stand it.
But the loyalty of those who have not wavered, but have taken up arms
for their country in a quarrel like this, is of a sort you can trust to
the utmost extremity. There are no men in the field who feel so deep an
animosity towards the Boers, and whom the Boers in their turn hate so
much, as the fighting South African Colonials. As for the Guides, I can
assure you that there has not been a single case of any one of our men
having been accused of treachery, nor suspected of treachery. I have
made careful inquiries, lest such a case might have occurred without my
knowledge, and I am assured by our adjutant (C.H. Rankin, Captain 7th
Hussars) that there has been no such case, and that the slander was
without the slightest foundation whatever.
Shortly after Magersfontein the greater part of the Guides turned back
to Colesberg, leaving fifteen of us with Methuen, the services of the
whole corps not being required, as Methuen's force was now stationary.
Before it left, Methuen paraded the corps and spoke in the warmest terms
of the good work it had done.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179