h, refused to be taken to the rear for fear of
exposing the stretcher-bearers. Major Hobbs was made prisoner while
attending to a wounded man. General Hildyard especially commented on the
valorous behaviour of Lieutenant Davies, Mounted Infantry Company,
King's Royal Rifles. This young officer, under a heavy fire, dismounted,
disentangled the reins of a horse he was driving in front of him, and
assisted one of his men, who had lost his horse, to mount and escape.
Lieutenant James, Royal Navy, who commanded the Naval gun, greatly
distinguished himself in his efforts to reach the enemy's position, in
spite of the persistent attentions of a Creusot gun which had the range
of him. Captain Bottomley, Imperial Light Horse, rescued several of the
wounded under a heavy fire, and Lieutenant Palmer, R.A.M.C., while
attending the sufferers, was taken prisoner. He was subsequently
released. An amusing story was told of a trooper who was found to have
shot a very smart Boer, dressed in the regulation coat and polished
leather boots. "He was," explained Tommy, "such a swell of a toff, that
one couldn't help potting him." One of the West Yorks also viewed life
with much pluck and some jocosity. Though hopelessly shot through the
neck, with the bullet emerging in his left eye, he still demanded
tobacco, saying, "Ah wor varry near killed befoor wi' fallin' off a
house, but ah'm noan dead yet, and ah'm noan bown to dee." Let us hope
the plucky fellow lived to give his doctors the lie. The glorious
behaviour of all men of the West Yorks was especially eulogised. They
conducted themselves heroically; and those of the 2nd Battalion East
Surrey behaved with great gallantry under most trying circumstances.

During the fight Lieutenant Bridge, R.A., attached to the Imperial Light
Horse, under a heavy fire of both shot and shell rushed to a wounded man
of the West Yorks, picked him up, slung him over his shoulder, and
brought him to a place of safety. Trooper Fitzpatrick, I.L.H., brother
of the author of "The Transvaal from Within," and a prominent member of
the Reform movement--specially referred to in General Hildyard's
despatch--was killed while gallantly helping to save a wounded man. The
West Yorks' ambulance had just been reached when the poor fellow was
caught by a bullet in the back of the neck. He was buried in the
afternoon with military honours, his body being carried to the grave by
his comrades. Our loss was estimated at eleven kill