urrender.
When the young Irish-American reached him the officer was bleeding
profusely, and started to say: "You were a better man than I," but he died
in Donnelly's arms before he could utter the last two words of the
sentence. At Magersfontein Donnelly was in a perilous position between the
two forces, and realised that he could not escape being captured by the
British. He saw a number of cavalrymen sweeping down upon him, and started
to run in an opposite direction. Before he had proceeded a long distance
he stumbled across the corpse of a Red Cross physician which lay partly
concealed under tall grass. In a moment Donnelly had exchanged his own
papers and credentials for those in the physician's pockets, and a minute
later the cavalrymen were upon him. He was sent to Cape Town, and confined
in the prison-ship _Manila_, from which he and two other Boers attempted
to escape on New Year's night. One of the men managed to reach the water
without being observed by the guards, and swam almost three miles to
shore, but Donnelly and the other prisoner did not succeed in their
project. Several days later he was released on account of his Red Cross
credentials, and was sent to the British front to be delivered to the Boer
commander. He was taken out under a flag of truce by several unarmed
British officers, and several armed Boers went to receive him. While the
transfer was being made a British horseman, with an order to the officers
to hold the prisoner, dashed up to the group and delivered his
message. The officers attempted to take Donnelly back to camp with them,
but he refused to go, and, taking one of the Boer's rifles, ordered them
to return without him--a command which they obeyed with alacrity in view
of the fact that all of them were unarmed, while the Boers had carbines.

When the British column under Colonel Broadwood left the village of Thaba
N'Chu on March 30th all the British inhabitants were invited to accompany
the force to Bloemfontein, where they might have the protection of a
stronger part of the army. Among those who accepted the invitation were
four ladies and four children, ranging in ages from sixteen months to
fifteen years. When the column was attacked by the Boers at Sannaspost the
following morning, the ladies and children were sent by the Boers to a
culvert in the incomplete railway line which crossed the battlefield, and
remained there during almost the entire battle. They were in perfect
safety,