l as he does; we
must be successful. We shall be stoutly opposed by a clever
unscrupulous enemy; let no man allow himself to be deceived by them.
If a white flag is displayed it means nothing, unless the force who
display it halt, throw down their arms, and throw up their hands. If
they get a chance the enemy will try and mislead us by false words of
command and false bugle calls; everyone must guard against being
deceived by such conduct. Above all, if any are even surprised by a
sudden volley at close quarters, let there be no hesitation; do not
turn from it but rush at it. That is the road to victory and safety. A
retreat is fatal. The one thing the enemy cannot stand is our being at
close quarters with them. We are fighting for the health and safety of
comrades; we are fighting in defence of the flag against an enemy who
has forced war on us from the worst and lowest motives, by treachery,
conspiracy, and deceit. Let us bear ourselves as the cause deserves."

_Sunday, 14th January._--Church Parade at 6 a.m. with the West Yorks,
Devons, East Surreys, and Queen's. About 8 a.m. a wagon and team
crawled up to our camp; this turned out to be the light trolley I had
sent for and which Lieutenant Melville had kindly hurried forward from
Frere. I was awfully pleased to see it as our load before was
absurdly heavy. The General was also quite glad to see and hear of the
new trolley. At 2 p.m. in came my new horse from Frere, and a bag of
excellent saddlery; the horse was in an awful state; he had apparently
bolted on getting out of the train at Frere and injured two Kaffirs
who tried to stop him; then the Cavalry chased him and caught him ten
miles from Frere towards the Drakensberg mountains. The poor animal
was very much done up and I found him afterwards a fine willing beast.

_Monday, 15th January._--Struck tents and limbered up ready to march
at 6 a.m., and moved off in rear of the 7th Battery R.A.; they have
been very good to us all along, shoeing ponies and giving us water. A
nice cool morning, and all in good spirits. We soon passed the first
drift across a spruit about four feet deep; my guns just grazed the
top of the water but luckily we had taken care to stuff up the muzzles
with straw. The bullocks had a very hard pull, more especially as my
men were obliged to ride across the gun wagons. The General looked on
and we got on very well; all working, laughing, joking, and helping,
especially our good friends the To