wounded officer, who was being looked after by the
Captain. While we were standing talking, he died from loss of blood. Oh
the cruel brutality of war! The poor man was not dead five minutes when
we sat smoking his cigarettes.

We moved slightly more to the left towards the boulders. Khaki was on
the one side, we on the other. Some of our men had a most original and
amusing way of getting at the khakies. 'Come out, you rabbits, come out
of your holes, else we'll shoot down the lot of you!' Then the poor
things answered: 'We're afraid to come out. You'll kill us!' They really
thought we would shoot them down if they surrendered. The officers had
lost all control over the soldiers. Later on, at Nooit Gedacht, where
_we_ had cover as well as the enemy, it was proved that as soon as the
officers lose control over the men they remain lying behind the rocks
without firing a shot, as they are too frightened to expose themselves.
Most of them still had their bandoliers full of cartridges--there, too,
when they surrendered.

Before the war the English used to say they would fight us in our own
way, from behind rocks; but they forgot that as soon as an officer,
having to seek cover himself, fails to keep his eye on his men, they are
too cowardly to lift their heads from behind the rocks, as they are not
fighting for their independence. On a field like Selikatsnek we are by
far the better men.

To get the khakies from behind the rocks, one of our men ran as hard as
he could to a rock in their neighbourhood, and aimed at them. Then some
of them threw down their guns and put up their hands. Others surrendered
more calmly. So he sometimes made five or six of them surrender without
their having fired a single shot at him. A shower of bullets always came
from the white kopje, but, as his movements were quick and unexpected,
they could not take proper aim at him. One of the khakies said as he
surrendered: 'It is better to surrender than to be a dead man.' Another:
'Just fancy, in the hands of the Boers! I wonder what poor mother 'll
say!'

Meanwhile the gunners had received the Captain's report, and ceased
bombarding the reef that we wanted to storm. As it was getting late and
there was no other means, one of our men ran forward as hard as he
could, making use of every small covering, while the rest kept firing at
the white kopje to prevent the enemy from taking a proper aim at him.
There were not many khakies behind that reef, neit