Chapter 74: Smoke
The next morning, the surviving commandos received new orders to transport the captured prisoners to a concentration camp in Kimberley and then return to Cape Town.
"Damn war, I never want to come back. What I miss most now is the big guy's honest face. Give me a comfortable bed, I can sleep for two whole days." Henry lay in the carriage wailing. Rock and Phyllis looked at each other in silence, feeling that Henry was not as mature as a child.
"If we take a shortcut from here to Kimberley, we have to go through the Orange Free State. The road is not safe. The Boer guerrillas may attack us at any time. We must be prepared at all times." Rock was loading bullets into the bullet bag. Winston was still useful. At least Rock and his team got enough dum-dum bullets .
"Can't we use other methods?" Phyllis is a military novice. She has a lot of wild ideas, but they are of no use.
"It's difficult to take a detour. There is no train between Dordrecht and Kimberley. It may take one or two months to take a detour." Rock had no choice. The warhorse had become a receipt and was useless. Fortunately, because of the expeditionary force's counterattack, the Boer coalition was on the defensive as a whole. As long as they were careful, there would be no major problems.
Phyllis puffed her lips and said nothing. In front of Rock, Phyllis was very concerned about her image.
"Hey, brothers, I have good news..." Winston ran over and handed Rock a check with a scary number on it: "There is a reward for the guerrillas and Boer coalition forces you annihilated. The cheapest Boer coalition force is worth ten pounds each, and the guerrillas are worth twenty pounds. I have negotiated a round number for you. Remember to treat me to a drink when you return to Cape Town."
In order to defeat the Boers as quickly as possible, the expeditionary force headquarters tried every possible means, and offering a reward was just one of them.
However, the British were a bit stingy and offered too little reward. There were only 440,000 Boers in total. If the expeditionary force headquarters had raised the reward to 100 pounds per Boer, the war would have ended long ago.
During the entire Second Boer War, the British government paid 220 million pounds, so even if the British offered 100 pounds for each Boer, they would only have to pay 44 million pounds to wipe out all the Boers. However, the British did not do that. Even the current bounty is only paid out on a small scale. The British will not even admit such a thing. The great British Empire would never use such despicable means to win the war.
The amount on the check was £5,000, which was a lot considering the number of guerrillas and Boer coalition forces killed by the commandos.
Rock could understand that this should also include hush money. The expeditionary force headquarters certainly did not want policemen like Rock to steal the limelight from the regular army. Paying money to buy peace was a good choice.
"I suddenly like this place again. This is the hunting ground for the strong." Henry's eyes were shining as he looked at the check. 5,000 pounds was a huge sum of money in that era, but if it was divided among all the commandos, there would not be much.
Of course, it is impossible to divide it equally. According to the rules of the Cape Town Police Department, it is probably half for police officers and half for police officers. Police officers killed in battle do not participate in the distribution. Their pensions will be paid by the Cape Colonial Government and the Expeditionary Force Commander respectively.
This is actually not a small amount, after all, it is two pensions.
Before setting off, a drizzle began to fall. The commandos, wearing raincoats, huddled in an open carriage to keep warm, cursing the damn weather.
The carriage was moving very slowly, less than ten kilometers per hour. In such weather, there was no need to worry about the attack of the Boer guerrillas. After all, the Boer guerrillas were not iron men, and they also needed to rest on rainy days.
"Damn it, damn it--" Henry bent over, using his body to block the drizzle, trying to light a cigar, but because the matches were damp, Henry wasted a whole box of matches and still couldn't light the cigar.
"Try this." Rock handed the lighter given by Ada to Henry.
"What is this?" Henry asked like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.
Rock lit up the lighter casually, and Henry's eyes were brighter than the flame of the lighter: " Amazing, what is this?"
"Just like you can see, lighter." Rock was in a bad mood, just like the sky with drizzling rain.
"Where did you get it from?" Henry took the lighter and treated it like a treasure. He accidentally found the words on the bottom of the lighter: "To Rock - Ada! What a pair of bastards! I smell the sour smell of love!"
Your sister, you are sour and you are smelly!
Rock looked up and saw Phyllis's sparkling eyes, and he snatched the lighter back.
The carriage suddenly stopped slowly. Rock looked up and around in the rain, but there was nothing.
"The road ahead has been washed away by floods, and we can't move forward. Boss, we may have to find a place to camp." Anton trotted over in the rain, holding a rifle.
"Can't it be repaired?" Rock was speechless. Where could they camp in such a desolate mountain and wilderness?
"There's no way to repair it. We have to take a detour. If we can't find a place to camp after dark, we'll have to stay in the car." Anton wiped the rain off his face, looked up at the sky, then lowered his head and wiped it again.
The rain is getting heavier.
"Get off, everyone get off, and find a place to camp." Rock was helpless. It was impossible to stay in the carriage. There was not even a shed in the carriage. If he continued like this, he would definitely catch a cold. Don't underestimate the cold in 1900. It could be fatal if you weren't careful.
"Locke, what should we do?" Henry jumped down clumsily. The cigar in his mouth was wet by the rain, but Henry was reluctant to throw it away.
"I don't know." Rock didn't know where to go. This was already in the Orange Free State, and this was Rock's first time here.
"The guide told me that there is a town not far from this direction." Anton gave an answer. Because the commandos had to pass through the Orange Free State, they hired Boer guides when leaving Dordrecht.
Then go ahead. Even the simplest house can shelter you from wind and rain, and is better than camping in the open air.
Rock underestimated how far "not far" was. It was not until the sun set that Rock and his friends finally saw a town.
The town was not big, with only a dozen or so households scattered around. It was too tiring to travel on a rainy day. When Rock saw the town, he didn't even have the energy to cheer. He just wanted to find a warm room to stay in for a while.
Just when Rock and his companions were about to arrive in the town, Rock suddenly discovered something was wrong.
Just under a big tree at the outermost part of the town, Rock discovered two red dots that flickered.
Someone is smoking here. It's raining so hard and it's night time. Who would smoke here?
