d the fire of the two captured pieces, and the infantry, Derbys
and Borderers, swept over the position, retaking the two guns and
shooting down those of the enemy who tried to stand. The greater number
vanished into the smoke, which veiled their retreat as it had their
advance. Forty-one of them were left dead upon the ground. Six officers
and fifty men killed with about a hundred and twenty wounded made up the
British losses, to which two guns would certainly have been added
but for the gallant counter-attack of the infantry. With Dargai and
Vlakfontein to their credit the Derbys have green laurels upon their
war-worn colours. They share them on this occasion with the Scottish
Borderers, whose volunteer company carried itself as stoutly as the
regulars.

How is such an action to be summed up? To Kemp, the young Boer leader,
and his men belongs the credit of the capture of the guns; to the
British that of their recapture and of the final possession of the
field. The British loss was probably somewhat higher than that of the
Boers, but upon the other hand there could be no question as to which
side could afford loss the better. The Briton could be replaced, but
there were no reserves behind the fighting line of the Boers.

There is one subject which cannot be ignored in discussing this battle,
however repugnant it may be. That is the shooting of some of the British
wounded who lay round the guns. There is no question at all about the
fact, which is attested by many independent witnesses. There is reason
to hope that some of the murderers paid for their crimes with their
lives before the battle was over. It is pleasant to add that there is at
least one witness to the fact that Boer officers interfered with threats
to prevent some of these outrages. It is unfair to tarnish the whole
Boer nation and cause on account of a few irresponsible villains,
who would be disowned by their own decent comrades. Very many--too
many--British soldiers have known by experience what it is to fall into
the hands of the enemy, and it must be confessed that on the whole
they have been dealt with in no ungenerous spirit, while the British
treatment of the Boers has been unexampled in all military history for
its generosity and humanity. That so fair a tale should be darkened by
such ruffianly outrages is indeed deplorable, but the incident is too
well authenticated to be left unrecorded in any detailed account of the
campaign. General Dixon, f