One of these
expeditions nearly ended his life.
On June 2, 1901, while trying by night to blow up the line between
Pretoria and Delagoa Bay, he was surrounded by a party of Boers
and could save himself only by instant flight. He threw himself
Indian fashion along the back of his pony, and had all but got away
when a bullet caught the horse and, without even faltering in its
stride, it crashed to the ground dead, crushing Burnham beneath it
and knocking him senseless. He continued unconscious for
twenty-four hours, and when he came to, both friends and foes had
departed. Bent upon carrying out his orders, although suffering the
most acute agony, he crept back to the railroad and destroyed it.
Knowing the explosion would soon bring the Boers, on his hands
and knees he crept to an empty kraal, where for two days and
nights he lay insensible. At the end of that time he appreciated that
he was sinking and that unless he found aid he would die.
Accordingly, still on his hands and knees, he set forth toward the
sound of distant firing. He was indifferent as to whether it came
from the enemy or his own people, but, as it chanced, he was
picked up by a patrol of General Dickson's Brigade, who carried
him to Pretoria. There the surgeons discovered that in his fall he
had torn apart the muscles of the stomach and burst a blood-vessel.
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