Episode 82 - Aborigine trackers, the Great Comet Viscara and the case of Gideon Scheepers

Deneys Reitz had broken his own leg in a freak accident and was still hobbling about, his compound fracture causing some pain. General de la Rey ordered him to a small medical camp behind the lines near Hartbeespoort which is west of Pretoria. There he was recovering when the British launched an attack on the Boers. Reitz saddled his horse and galloped to the ridge overlooking the British. But there was no much they could do - there were about 12 000 English versus 600 Boers. The casualties were light, although the British artillery were accurate enough and caused the Boers to fall back from ridge to ridge. By two in the afternoon the English gave up the chase. They rested their horses after the Generals’ ironic speech, and then under the cover of dark rode further away. An amazing sight greeted the men as they crested a rise that night - it was called the Great Comet of 1901, Comet Viscara. But as they rode, a boyish voice from the darkness called out Vlug means retreat, another example of the sense of humour of soldiers making the best of a bad situation. The Royal Observatory in Cape Town, the Argentine National Observatory and the Government observatory in Perth Australia shared their scientific evaluation which put the Comet at 79 million miles from Earth. While the comet caused the Prophet van Rensburg some excitement, there was more excitement in the Cape. Kritzinger was back in the Midlands and causing trouble, while Gideon Scheepers was about to commit a war crime. He shot dead two black troops who'd fired on his men from a farmhouse, saying "it was a white man's war". He was to pay for that act with this life after being captured.