to make sure of the
bearings. At last, in the black cold hours which come between midnight
and morning, the column swung to the left out of the road. In front
of them, hardly visible, stretched a long black kopje. It was the very
Nicholson's Nek which they had come to occupy. Carleton and Adye must
have heaved a sigh of relief as they realised that they had actually
struck it. The force was but two hundred yards from the position, and
all had gone without a hitch. And yet in those two hundred yards there
came an incident which decided the fate both of their enterprise and of
themselves.

Out of the darkness there blundered and rattled five horsemen, their
horses galloping, the loose stones flying around them. In the dim light
they were gone as soon as seen. Whence coming, whither going, no one
knows, nor is it certain whether it was design or ignorance or panic
which sent them riding so wildly through the darkness. Somebody fired.
A sergeant of the Fusiliers took the bullet through his hand. Some
one else shouted to fix bayonets. The mules which carried the spare
ammunition kicked and reared. There was no question of treachery, for
they were led by our own men, but to hold two frightened mules, one with
either hand, is a feat for a Hercules. They lashed and tossed and bucked
themselves loose, and an instant afterwards were flying helter skelter
through the column. Nearly all the mules caught the panic. In vain the
men held on to their heads. In the mad rush they were galloped over and
knocked down by the torrent of frightened creatures. In the gloom of
that early hour the men must have thought that they were charged by
cavalry. The column was dashed out of all military order as effectively
as if a regiment of dragoons had ridden over them. When the cyclone had
passed, and the men had with many a muttered curse gathered themselves
into their ranks once more, they realised how grave was the misfortune
which had befallen them. There, where those mad hoofs still rattled
in the distance, were their spare cartridges, their shells, and their
cannon. A mountain gun is not drawn upon wheels, but is carried in
adjustable parts upon mule-back. A wheel had gone south, a trail east, a
chase west. Some of the cartridges were strewn upon the road. Most were
on their way back to Ladysmith. There was nothing for it but to face
this new situation and to determine what should be done.

It has been often and naturally asked, why did not C