Now I owned certain wagons and oxen, and just then the demand for
these was keen. So I hired them out to the military authorities
for service in the war, and incidentally myself with them. I
drove what I considered a splendid bargain with an officer who
wrote as many letters after his name as a Governor-General, but
was really something quite humble. At least I thought it
splendid until outside his tent I met a certain transport rider
of my acquaintance whom I had always looked upon as a perfect
fool, who told me that not half an hour before he had got twenty
per cent. more for unsalted oxen and very rickety wagons.
However, it did not matter much in the end as the whole outfit
was lost at Isandhlwana, and owing to the lack of some formality
which I had overlooked, I never recovered more than a tithe of
their value. I think it was that I neglected to claim within a
certain specified time.
At last my wagons were laden with ammunition and other Government
goods and I trekked over awful roads to Helpmakaar, a place on
the Highlands not far from Rorke's Drift where No. 3 Column was
stationed. Here we were delayed awhile, I and my wagons having
moved to a ford of the Buffalo, together with many others. It
was during this time that I ventured to make very urgent
representations to certain highly placed officers, I will not
mention which, as to the necessity of laagering, that is, forming
fortified camps, as soon as Zululand was entered, since from my
intimate knowledge of its people I was sure that they would
attack in force.
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