Project Gutenberg's In the Ranks of the C.I.V., by Erskine Childers

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: In the Ranks of the C.I.V.

Author: Erskine Childers

Release Date: August 20, 2004 [EBook #13235]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V. ***

Produced by Clare Boothby, Ben Harris and PG Distributed Proofreaders

[Illustration: _Photo by Arthur Weston, 16, Poultry, London._]

IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V.

A NARRATIVE AND DIARY OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH THE C.I.V. BATTERY
(HONOURABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY) IN SOUTH AFRICA

BY DRIVER
ERSKINE CHILDERS
CLERK IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

_WITH A FRONTISPIECE_

1900

DEDICATED
TO
MY FRIEND AND COMRADE
GUNNER BASIL WILLIAMS

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

I. THE "MONTFORT"

II. CAPETOWN AND STELLENBOSCH

III. PIQUETBERG ROAD

IV. BLOEMFONTEIN

V. LINDLEY

VI. BETHLEHEM

VII. BULTFONTEIN

VIII. SLABBERT'S NEK AND FOURIESBERG

IX. TO PRETORIA

X. WARMBAD

XI. HOSPITAL

XII. A DETAIL

XIII. SOUTH AGAIN

XIV. CONCLUSION

IN THE RANKS OF THE C.I.V.

CHAPTER I.

THE "MONTFORT."

A wintry ride--Retrospect--Embarkation--A typical day--"Stables" in
rough weather--Las Palmas--The tropics--Inoculation--Journalism--
Fashions--"Intelligent anticipation"--Stable-guard--Arrival.

With some who left for the War it was "roses, roses, all the way." For
us, the scene was the square of St. John's Wood Barracks at 2 A.M. on
the 3rd of February, a stormy winter's morning, with three inches of
snow on the ground, and driving gusts of melting flakes lashing our
faces. In utter silence the long lines of horses and cloaked riders
filed out through the dimly-lit gateway and into the empty streets,
and we were off at last on this long, strange journey to distant
Africa. Six crowded weeks were behind us since the disastrous one of
Colenso, and with it the news of the formation of the C.I.V., and the
incorporation in that regiment of a battery to be supplied by the
Honourable Artillery Company, with four quick-firing Vickers-Maxim
guns. Then came the hurried run over from Ireland, the application for