Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 19, 2025
At last some of Captain Scheepers' men appeared he was scouting in front, and Captain Danie Theron in the rear and reported that the railway line was clear, with the exception that at Honingspruit there were half a dozen tents, and four in the Kaallaagte to the north of Serfontein, and a few small outposts.
A few days before the flight from Poplar Grove, I had appointed Danie Theron captain of a scouting party. I now left him and his corps behind, with instructions to keep me informed of Lord Roberts' movements, and proceeded myself to Bloemfontein. There I disposed the available forces for defence, and kept them occupied in throwing up schanzes.
Obeying these orders they joined me, and, with my other troops, had occupied splendid positions on either side of the railway line. Commandant General Louis Botha was also there with his Transvaal burghers, having arrived in the Free State a few days previously. Captain Danie Theron was still with me as my trustworthy scout, and he constantly kept me informed of Lord Roberts' movements.
The following morning we went to lie in a trench that had been dug by our men on a rise to the right of Spion Kop. The previous day eight burghers had been wounded there. Red Danie Opperman was Field-Cornet. Not far from us, to our left, stood a few of our cannon, and facing us, to our left, on the long mountain slope, we could see fourteen guns of the enemy's.
Danie Theron, that famous captain of despatch-riders, had arrived on the previous day with reinforcements. I asked him if he would take a verbal message to General Cronje I dare not send a written one, lest it should fall into the hands of the English. Proud and distinct the answer came at once the only answer which such a hero as Danie Theron could have given: "Yes, General, I will go."
Tou', tou' pays blare! Danie qui commande ... And then Paris; and the university, with its wild under-life, some debts, some follies; and the frequent fond letters from home to which he might have replied so much oftener; Paris, where talent is mediocrity; Paris, with its thunders and its splendors and its seething of passion; Paris, supreme focus of human endeavor, with its madnesses of art, its frenzied striving to express the Inexpressible, its spasmodic strainings to clutch the Unattainable, its soarings of soul-fire to the heaven of the Impossible ...
Theron was to urge Cronje to abandon the laager, and everything contained in it, to fight his way out by night, and to meet me at two named places, where I would protect him from the pursuit of the English. Danie Theron undertook to pass the enemy's lines, and to deliver my message. He started on his errand on the night of the 25th of February.
It had to be done, and, I had no carriages by which I could convey it, as I had not sufficient hands to take carriages from the trucks. In order to do this responsible work I required a man whom I could trust. Captain Danie Theron was no longer with me, because he, being a Transvaaler, had gone with General Louis Botha. But there was another: Gideon J. Scheepers.
I also received there the sad news of the death of the never-to-be-forgotten Danie Theron, in a fight at Gatsrand. A more brave and faithful commander I have never seen. So Danie Theron was no more. His place would not be easily filled. Men as lovable or as valiant there might be, but where should I find a man who combined so many virtues and good qualities in one person?
Not only had he the heart of a lion but he also possessed consummate tact and the greatest energy. When he received an order, or if he wished to do anything, then it was bend or break with him. Danie Theron answered the highest demands that could be made on a warrior. One of Commandant Theron's lieutenants, Jan Theron, was appointed in his place.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking