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27 chapters
CAMP FIRE YARNS OF THE LOST LEGION
CAMP FIRE YARNS OF THE LOST LEGION
Author of “With the Lost Legion in New Zealand” “A Lost Legionary in South Africa” LONDON T. WERNER LAURIE LTD. CLIFFORD’S INN THIS SKEIN OF YARNS IS DEDICATED TO MY OLD FRIEND AND COMRADE IN ARMS DURING 1877-78-79 THOMAS F. KYNNERSLEY of Leighton, Co. Salop D.L., J.P. and Late Capt. and Staff Officer in Lonsdale’s Horse WHOSE FONDNESS FOR A GOOD STORY IS AS KEEN NOW AS IT WAS IN THE DAYS OF YORE WHEN IN BIVOUAC OR CAMP WE USED TO SPIN THEM...
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PREFACE
PREFACE
In introducing these yarns let me state that now I am laid up on the shelf my thoughts go back to those days and nights of the veld and bush, and I frequently feel I would give all the rest of the map if I could again find myself on the open lands of the frontier with a good horse between my knees and a few score of the old boys behind me. Now I hold pen instead of carbine and revolver, but why should memories of the old days pass away? Let me fancy I sit by the camp fire again, telling yarns as
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THE NEGLECTED SOLDIER
THE NEGLECTED SOLDIER
Fame is but a fleeting shadow, Glory but an empty name; Spite of all that I have gone through, ’Tis, I find, a losing game: Without interest, without money, Nothing can a soldier gain; Though he be the sole survivor Of a host of comrades slain: What avail these glitt’ring honours, Which a queen laid on my breast; Though I’ve sought them from my childhood, Would I’d fallen with the rest: Then my heart had not been broken Life had fled without a sigh; Hunger presses—I am fainting— Ought a soldier
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CHAPTER I THE MAORI AS I KNEW HIM
CHAPTER I THE MAORI AS I KNEW HIM
Camped in a London flat, sick of the turmoil, rows and worries of the big city, with its pushing, hurrying and ill-mannered crowds, can it be wondered at that I let my thoughts often wander far away to the days of my early manhood, when I passed over ten years in the dense and silent, though beautiful, bush of New Zealand, or rode across the wild, open and breezy plains of its inland plateaus? During this time I had ample opportunities for observing and studying the natives, both in war and peac
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CHAPTER II HOW MATENE FAILED TO CONVERT THE LOWER WANGANUI
CHAPTER II HOW MATENE FAILED TO CONVERT THE LOWER WANGANUI
It was in April 1864 that Te Ua, the crazy founder of the Pai Marire faith, despatched his apostle and prophet, Matene Rangitanira, to convert the tribes of the Wanganui River to the new religion. Now these tribes were divided into two sections, who, although closely connected by blood, lived under separate chiefs, and notwithstanding the fact that they were allied for mutual support against outsiders still, like many European families, harboured jealousies among themselves. There was also this
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CHAPTER III HOW A SCOUT WON THE NEW ZEALAND CROSS
CHAPTER III HOW A SCOUT WON THE NEW ZEALAND CROSS
Up to the year 1879 the Victoria Cross was not to be won by any officer or man of H.M. Colonial Forces, although one civilian (Cavanagh) had received it during the Indian Mutiny, yet in New Zealand the greatest honour to be won by a Britisher was denied to all but those actually serving in H.M. regular army or navy. This being so, the New Zealand Government obtained royal sanction to issue a similar cross, only manufactured out of gold and silver instead of bronze, to be won by the Colonial troo
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CHAPTER IV A HAU HAU MARTYR
CHAPTER IV A HAU HAU MARTYR
Let me spin you a yarn of how a Maori was so imbued with fanaticism that he faced in cold blood extinction for the same. Many of the Hau Haus, bloodthirsty, cruel fanatics as they were, whom the Colonial forces ruthlessly knocked on the head during the latter half of the New Zealand wars, are just as much entitled to be enrolled in the army of martyrs as are the early Christians or any other poor devils who have perished by fire or sword for believing and sticking to their faith. Again, there ar
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CHAPTER V A BRUSH WITH BUSHRANGERS
CHAPTER V A BRUSH WITH BUSHRANGERS
( Told by the Old Identity ) In Australia, during the early seventies, bushrangers were still to the fore, who with cattle-thieves and hostile blacks made the squatters on the back blocks keep their eyes skinned, and the banker in the bush townships cash a cheque with one hand, while he kept the other on his revolver. True the mounted police were very good, none better, but, like the British army, there were not enough of them, and the amount of work in covering, protecting and patrolling such e
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CHAPTER VI THE SCOUT THAT FAILED
CHAPTER VI THE SCOUT THAT FAILED
( Told by the Kia Tangata ) Scouting, like every other sort of business, has its ups and downs, and a scout may often fail to obtain the information he has gone out to gain, through no fault of his own. He may even lose the number of his mess, be captured, or have to ride or run for his life, notwithstanding the fact that he has played the right game from the start, until something happens, and he fails, frequently through bad luck, or because the vigilance of the enemy renders it impossible to
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CHAPTER VII SOME MIRACULOUS ESCAPES I HAVE KNOWN
CHAPTER VII SOME MIRACULOUS ESCAPES I HAVE KNOWN
“There’s a sweet little cherub who sits up aloft And looks after the life of poor Jack.” Dibdin. By miraculous escapes I mean those escapes from death that have been entirely engineered by the Power above, who has preserved the life of human beings when they were utterly helpless, and who, for some inscrutable reason, saves one life and allows others to be destroyed. The yarns I am now going to spin will illustrate, I think, what I have written above. About midnight on 6th September 1868 a New Z
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CHAPTER VIII A TOUGH SWIM IN BAD COMPANY
CHAPTER VIII A TOUGH SWIM IN BAD COMPANY
If you look at the map of the middle island of New Zealand you will see the north coast of it, washed by Cook’s Straits, is deeply indented by fiords running inland, and that Tory Channel and Queen Charlotte’s Sound are two of the principal ones. These run in separately for some miles, and then join together and form one sound, which continues for a considerable distance, having on one side, some miles farther south, the important seaport of Picton. The island, surrounded by the water of the afo
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CHAPTER IX HELD UP BY A BUSHRANGER
CHAPTER IX HELD UP BY A BUSHRANGER
( Told by the Old Identity ) It took place in the early seventies. I was in Australia, and was temporarily in command of a body of Mounted Police, doing duty as gold escort—a very necessary precaution in those days. On one occasion I was travelling up-country, accompanied by four troopers, when a big squatter, a friend of mine, asked leave to ride with my small party, as he was carrying a quantity of gold up-country with him to his station. Of course I was delighted to have his company, and we s
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CHAPTER X ON THE SCOUT IN NEW ZEALAND
CHAPTER X ON THE SCOUT IN NEW ZEALAND
( Told by the old Kai Tongata ) It was in June 1869 that Te Kooti, chief of the rebel Hau Haus, caught a party of mounted volunteers on the hop, at a place called Opepe, on the high plateau near Lake Taupo. The men, worn out by a long march, and soaked through by the cold winter rain and sleet, had taken shelter on some old whares (huts) and were trying to dry themselves when a few Maoris came up, and, declaring themselves to be friendlies, joined them at their fires. More and more of them gradu
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CHAPTER XI THE COLONEL’S FIERY TOT
CHAPTER XI THE COLONEL’S FIERY TOT
( Told by the old Kai Tongata ) During the east coast war the division in which I was serving landed on the beach to seize a “pah,” or native stronghold, two days’ march inland. As usual we carried four days’ rations, including rum. We were led by a fine old colonel, a distinguished Crimean officer, who was much liked by the men. He was one of the old “two-bottle men”—or, rather, he was contented with two bottles when he could not get three. At that time I had not acquired a liking for ration ru
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CHAPTER XII LOST IN THE NEW ZEALAND BUSH
CHAPTER XII LOST IN THE NEW ZEALAND BUSH
In spinning this yarn I wish to warn all new chums that, no matter how clever you may fancy yourself to be, you must, when you enter a bush, keep all your senses on deck, or you will run the chance of finding yourself bushed just as easily as the greenest tenderfoot ever exported. True, an old hand will, as a rule, pull through, while the greenhorn will go under; but yet the number of old bushmen who have been lost and who have died is very great, and no one, no matter how experienced he is, or
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CHAPTER XIII A TROOPER’S REGARD FOR HIS TRUST AND HORSE
CHAPTER XIII A TROOPER’S REGARD FOR HIS TRUST AND HORSE
Years ago on the Taupo line (the road running from Napier to Lake Taupo) everything used by the men garrisoning the forts on the line had to be carried on pack-horses from the town of Napier up to the headquarters (Opepe), and this necessitated hard work and required hard language on the part of the troopers escorting the pack train, which consisted of some sixty horses and mules. Of course the men were held responsible for the goods or valuables entrusted to them, and they regarded this trust a
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CHAPTER XIV A GRUESOME FLUTE
CHAPTER XIV A GRUESOME FLUTE
( Told by the old Kai Tongata ) There was nothing of a picnic about the wars in New Zealand. The cold-blooded massacres at Poverty Bay, Mohaka, and scores of other places, as well as the vile tortures practised on any of our men who were unfortunate enough to fall alive into their hands, made us treat the Hau Haus with very scant mercy; and this savagery was not diminished by the brutal hardships, hunger, cold and toil we underwent while in pursuit of Te Kooti and his bands of bloodthirsty and f
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CHAPTER XV THE DOCTOR AND THE SENTRY
CHAPTER XV THE DOCTOR AND THE SENTRY
Years ago in New Zealand there was a chain of forts stretching from the sea to the centre of the island. These forts were intended to keep open the road that had been constructed at great trouble and expense, on which a coach ran every week, conveying the mails and passengers to and from the wonderlands of Taupo and Rotomahana. The headquarters of the district was at a place called Opepe, and consisted of a strong stockaded fort on the top of a pumice-stone hill, or, rather, I should say on a fl
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CHAPTER XVI HOW KIWI SAVED HIS CLOTHES
CHAPTER XVI HOW KIWI SAVED HIS CLOTHES
New Zealand is, of course, famous for its natural beauties and wonders, among them the hot lakes and the terraces of pink and gleaming white stone. The latter, unfortunately, were destroyed by volcanic eruption in the eighties, but, I believe, are forming again. On one occasion when I was located in the hot lake district several prominent Colonial officials, with their wives, came up, and I had to show them round. On Lake Rotorua we had two large whale-boats, and it was arranged that the party s
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CHAPTER XVII A SOUTH SEA BUBBLE
CHAPTER XVII A SOUTH SEA BUBBLE
“So we found no copper island, nor rapid fortunes made, But by strictly honest trading a dividend we paid. And Maori Browne converted, with an ancient flint-lock gun, A mob of ruddy pagans, beneath the southern sun.” I was in Auckland with a lot of spare time on my hands. I had come down-country intending to go over to Australia, but, having been stuck up by a flooded river for two days, I had missed my boat, and consequently was planted there, as boats at that time were neither so numerous nor
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CHAPTER I THE DÉBUT OF THE LOST LEGION IN NATAL
CHAPTER I THE DÉBUT OF THE LOST LEGION IN NATAL
“There were giants in the earth in those days.” Moses. Of course ninety-nine out of every hundred old war dogs who have the misfortune to retain their pristine longing for hard work and an active life, when they are rapidly approaching the allotted threescore years and ten of their existence, and maybe, like the writer, are incapacitated by rheumatism, sciatica, tic-doloreux, housemaid’s knee, liver and the hump from ever participating again in such sports as their hearts yearn for but their age
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CHAPTER II A QUEER CARD
CHAPTER II A QUEER CARD
Yes, you are quite right in saying that there must have been many queer as well as hard cases in South Africa during the seventies and eighties of the last century. Some of these I met, and knew well, and if I had been asked, during that period, to assign the biscuit to anyone of them in particular, I should without hesitation have handed it to one whom I shall call Mad Conway: a sobriquet he had earned by his wild pranks and escapades. As I said, this was not his name, but anyone who resided ei
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CHAPTER III A CONVERSION THAT FAILED
CHAPTER III A CONVERSION THAT FAILED
It has always been a source of wonder to me why so many people change their religion, for, although I have never had the time, opportunity, or perhaps the inclination, to study theology in any part of its ramifications, and have never even read the Thirty-Nine Articles which caused the fancy religionists not only to desert their Church, but has now enabled them, through their co-operation with rebels, atheists, socialists and a gang of men who, so long as they can hang on to power, are ready to
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CHAPTER IV JACK ASHORE IN 1871
CHAPTER IV JACK ASHORE IN 1871
Yes, I’ve had the honour and pleasure of serving in the same outfit as H.M. bluejackets, and I will maintain that the British sailor is second to none either as a fighting man or love-maker, the only man, in my unbiassed opinion, to equal him in the above pursuits being the Irish soldier. Now Jack and Pat both keenly appreciate a bit of fun and devilment, but I think, in pursuit of divarsion, Jack must be assigned the cake, as during his hours of relaxation, while at liberty, on shore, he freque
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CHAPTER V THE CONVERSION OF MIKE O’LEARY
CHAPTER V THE CONVERSION OF MIKE O’LEARY
“Whin a man’s that cross and crabbed that his sowle’s as black as paint, An’ his contrary conversation wud petrify a saint, And he will ate mate on fast days, an scornes the praste as well, Ould Nick will soon be after him, to escort him straight to (the guard room).” Quin. Years ago I was soldiering in South Africa, and at that time owned a few horses, my own private property and nothing to do with the Government. I used to race a bit in a small way, just for the sport, and it became necessary
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CHAPTER VI BUSHED
CHAPTER VI BUSHED
In very many parts of the world, which on the map are painted red and collectively called the British Empire, there are huge tracts of country covered with forests of all sorts, which are known to the inhabitants of the different colonies by various names, and these have exacted a heavy toll of human life from the venturesome traveller, prospector, hunter, or others, who have entered their recesses on their own business or pleasure. If the scrub of Australia, the bush of New Zealand, the forests
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CHAPTER VII THE NON-COM.’S REVENGE, OR THE CURATE AND THE SNAKE
CHAPTER VII THE NON-COM.’S REVENGE, OR THE CURATE AND THE SNAKE
I was proceeding up-country in South Africa with a small party of troopers and led horses. The day before I was to start the bishop came to me and said: “One of my young men has to go up to headquarters. Do you mind taking him with you? He is quite new to the country and, as he is not well off, he can’t afford the heavy coach fare. You are taking up led horses. He tells me he can ride a little, and you would be doing a very great kindness if you would take him.” Now the bishop and myself were ra
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