ree months Lieutenant Long defended the fort gallantly against all
attacks. At one time the enemy set fire to the thatch roof of one of
the buildings, but the soldiers succeeded in extinguishing it, although
the Boers kept up a heavy fire; during the night the defenders stripped
off the roofs of the remaining thatch buildings, and so prevented a
renewal of this form of attack. The Boers cut off the water-supply, but
the garrison sunk wells, and succeeded in reaching water in time. The
casualties among the fifty men during the siege were three killed and
nineteen wounded. At the end of the war a general order was published,
conferring the highest praise upon Lieutenant Long and his little
garrison, for the bravery and endurance which they had shown in
maintaining for three months a close siege, and this without any hope of
relief or succour. At the conclusion of the war Lieutenant Long was so
disgusted at the humiliating terms of the treaty, and the surrender to
the Boers, that he resigned his commission in the army.

Marabadstadt, though called a village, consists of only seven or eight
houses. Sixty men of the 94th, under Captain Brook, formed the garrison
which was stationed there to keep order after the Secoceni War, as no
less than 500,000 natives inhabit the surrounding district. Fortunately
the races were being held at the time when the news of the massacre of
the 94th arrived, and the English inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who
were present, at once responded to the call of Captain Brook to aid in
the defence, and thirty white men and fifty half-castes enrolled
themselves as volunteers. The Boers attacked in considerable force,
having with them two cannons; but the fort held out until the end of the
war, the garrison making many sorties when the Boers brought up their
guns too close. At Rustenberg and Wackerstroom a successful defence was
also maintained throughout the war by the British and loyalists; but no
incidents of importance marked the siege of those places.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

LAING'S NECK.

On the 24th of January General Colley's little column, consisting of the
58th, a battalion of the 60th, a small naval brigade, 170 mounted
infantry, and six guns, moved out from Newcastle; they took with them an
amount of baggage-train altogether out of proportion to their force, as
in addition to their own baggage and ammunition they were taking up a
considerable amount of the latter for the use of t