ion at Colenso could not be
taken by direct frontal attack, and that some arrangement to turn the
left of the enemy must simultaneously accompany a demonstration in
front. Mounted troops had now joined the British forces, and there was
every hope that the Dutchmen, once routed, could be pursued and kept on
the run. But so far the Boers were unconcerned; they seemed to be in
fine fettle, and even indulged in humour at the expense of the British
garrison. When the heliographers questioned the enemy, "Are you Boers?"
they replied, "Yes." They were then asked, "Where are you going?" and
bounced back, "To Maritzburg." "God help you," said we. "We think He
will," they devoutly replied. They also indulged in compliments of a
less righteous description, finishing up with the crude and scarcely
eloquent expression, "Go to h--ll." But, as a mild diversion, Boer
humour was accepted, for, in the routine of the soldier's existence, the
smallest mercies in the form of distraction were thankfully received.
Life just then, even for the officers, was not roseate--the messes had a
ubiquitous menu of bully beef and bread, and the mess-tents were made of
the tarpaulins of the big mule-waggons. Repose was a beautiful name. The
torture of sleeping on a valise on the ground for weeks at a stretch
was--so an officer declared--much the same as that produced by some beds
in Irish inns--after lying down for some hours, you have to get up and
take a rest!

Meanwhile, Provost-Marshal Major Chichester, at Frere Camp,
distinguished himself. On the 7th of December he started off with thirty
men of the Natal Carabineers and a few Mounted Police for the purpose of
arresting three colonists suspected of aiding the enemy. They left camp
for the Gourton district at about 5 A.M., and marched through the
country beneath the snow-capped Drakensberg Mountains some fifty miles.
There the landscape is picturesque and beautiful as any in Natal; but
their object was not to admire scenery, but to pursue traitors. At a
small farm they came upon the objects of their search. The miscreants
were promptly seized, together with their loot, some 150 head of cattle.
With these the party started to return, but were fired on by six Boers
from a neighbouring donga or ditch. Major Chichester then ordered
forward part of his troop with the prisoners in charge, while he and the
rest of his men held the enemy at bay. A brisk fusillade ensued, in
which five of the enemy's ponies w