General De Wet
stepped forward several paces, raised his carbine to his shoulder, aimed
steadily for a second, then fired. The bullet whistled menacingly over the
heads of oxen and drivers--it struck the officer, and he fell.[1]
[1] This incident of the battle was witnessed by the writer, as well
as by several of the foreign military attaches. Whether the British
officer broke his promise by asking his men to retreat or whether his
troopers were disobedient is a question, but it is more than likely
that he endeavoured to act in good faith. Whether the officer was
killed or only wounded by General De Wet's shot could not be
ascertained.
All along the banks of the spruit, for a mile on either side of the
ravine, and over on the hills where Peter De Wet and his burghers lay, men
had been waiting patiently and expectantly for that signal gun of
Christian De Wet. They had been watching the enemy toiling down the slope
under the very muzzles of their guns for almost an age, it seemed, yet
they dared not fire lest the plans of the generals should be thwarted. Men
had lain flat on the ground with their rifles pointing minute after minute
at individuals in the advancing column, but the words of their general, "I
will fire the first shot," restrained them. The flight of the bullet which
entered the body of the cavalry officer marked the ending of the long
period of nervous tension, and the burghers were free to use their guns.
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