“Pa-ha-ha.”  They look like slabs of cotton wool against the brazen blue sky.  And all afternoon the heat strikes up at you overpowering, like the breath of a wild animal.  Then the wind rises, and the sand shifts in eddies.  Veils and goggles are useless.  They can’t keep out that spinning curtain of grit.  The horses rattle the hard, dry bits in their mouths, trying to get some moisture.

On the 21st Headquarters moved into Riet.  Here we found two water-holes in the bed of the river; one was a splendid Persian well, with chain buckets.  Riet was no paradise; it was a luxury though, even if the river sand was blinding, to lie under a wagon and hear the water running.

[Illustration:  An unique picture of General Botha, the Commander-in-Chief and his Staff reconnoitring]

[Illustration:  After Riet water in blessed profusion]

Our casualties in the actions on the Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front were fifteen killed, thirty-nine wounded and forty-two missing.  On the 21st our commandos occupied Salem, eight miles further up the Swakop River.

The Commander-in-Chief and his party remained at Riet till the 24th.  It was then decided that a supply depot must be established at Riet before further advance was made.  On the evening of the 24th Headquarters returned to Swakopmund, reaching the coast at 9.30 on the morning of the 26th—­an extremely fast trek.

Looking out of my window in the heart of civilisation at the evening sun that glorifies the Pretoria green kopjes, the scene dissolves.  In its place comes the picture of the first gaunt daylight on the 26th of March last at fifteen kilometres, just going into Swakopmund.  The mist from the coast had rolled inland; through it after dawn came miles of horsemen and wagons, guns, limbers, lorries, ambulances.  Every human unit in that column was covered in white dust, and every horse was weary.  And except for the staccato “click-click” of bits and an occasional deep hum from a passing motor the army moved in perfect silence through the sand.

The official history of the South-West campaign remains to be written, of course; in the meantime I am convinced that the actions on the twenty-one mile Pforte-Jakalswater-Riet front were practically the deciding factors of the campaign.

[Illustration:  A Typical Parade of the Germans in South-West Africa]

SECTION III

THE RECORD TREK TO WINDHUK

On the 27th of March General Botha left Northern Force Headquarters at Swakopmund for Luderitzbucht, the landing-place of the Central Force under the commands of Brigadier-General Mackenzie.