The next day’s march (August 24) brought us to Warmbaths. As its name indicates, there are natural springs here. Some of the enterprising ones of the earth, taking advantage of this, have erected long rows of bathing houses supplied with every convenience, hot and cold water taps, &c., &c., and before the war broke out I understand they were making a good thing out of it. It was a great resort for invalids, I was told, and, being on the line of rail from Pretoria, it was quite the thing to spend a few days out there and take the waters. When we came in we found the baths entirely deserted, no one being left in charge of them.
There were any number of troops in the place when we arrived, Paget’s and Baden-Powell’s lot having come in the day before. They had had several brushes with the enemy under Grobler, and had driven them on to the hills beyond the town. As can easily be imagined, there was a regular rush on the baths, each room being in most cases engaged six deep. Many of us, in consequence, had to defer tubbing till next day, which we spent resting in camp. I was one of these. Oh! I shall never forget the luxury of that bath. I think I spent a whole hour lying full length in a tub of hot water, with just my chin above the surface. When one only gets the opportunity of bathing on rare occasions it is perhaps not surprising that one should wax enthusiastic over one such as this was. That we hadn’t been used to luxuries was fully demonstrated by the number of men who were suffering with colds the next day. We started again with Ian Hamilton on the evening of the 26th, leaving Generals Paget and Baden-Powell behind to settle with Grobler and his merry band, whom, as I have written above, they had already harried considerably. Our march was in the direction of Pretoria, and everybody in the column then heard for the first time that we were merely going there to refit and get remounts, after which we should be sent out in the direction of Middelburg. Alas! for our hopes that this was to have been our last trek.
Twenty-five miles of bushveldt had to be traversed to reach the next camp, at Pienaar’s River—an eccentric stream, the meandering of which caused us considerable inconvenience in crossing and re-crossing it a dozen times during the march. We reached Pienaar’s River station that night and camped there. Starting again next day, we got to Haaman’s Kraal about midday, and halted there for two or three hours. We heard here that our mails (we hadn’t had any since leaving Pretoria at the beginning of the month, so expected a good pile) had been sent on from Pretoria to meet us, and they were a mile or two ahead. About a dozen of us were accordingly sent to get them. There were eight or ten bags for us, and we immediately ‘buckled to’ the pleasant task of sorting. It took us a good two hours’ hard work, and this will give some idea of the number of letters and parcels received.