One of the bravest men
in the Natal campaign was a young Pretoria burgher named Van Gas, who, in
his youth, had an accident which made it necessary that his right arm
should be amputated at the elbow. Later in life he was injured in one of
the native wars and the upper arm was amputated, so that when he joined a
commando he had only the left arm. It was an extraordinary spectacle to
observe young Van Gaz holding his carbine between his knees while loading
it with cartridges, and quite as strange to see the energy with which he
discharged his rifle with one hand. He was in the van of the storming
party at Spion Kop, where a bullet passed completely through his chest. He
continued, however, to work his rifle between his knees and to shoot with
his left arm, and was one of the first men to reach the summit of the
hill, where he snatched the rifles from the hands of two British
soldiers. After the battle was won he was carried to a hospital by several
other burghers, but a month afterwards he was again at the front at the
Tugela, going into exposed positions and shouting, "Come on, fellows, here
is a good chance!" His companions desired to elect him as their
field-cornet, but he refused the honour.
Evert Le Roux and Herculaas Nel, of the Swaziland Police, and two of the
best scouts in the Boer army, were constantly engaged in recklessly daring
enterprises, none of which, however, was quite equal to their actions on
April 21st, when the vicinity of Ladysmith had been in British hands for
almost two months.
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