said, 'Never mind; come on across a drift close at hand.' When we
got opposite it, he kept straight on; I called to him, and said that
this was where we were to cross. His reply was, 'Come on!' I then
said to Captain Elliott, 'They intend taking us back to Pretoria,'
distant some forty miles. Suddenly the escort (which had all at once
increased from two to eight men, which Captain Elliott pointed out
to me; and I replied, 'I suppose they are determined we shall not
escape, which they need not be afraid of, as we are too keen to get
over the border') wheeled sharp down to the river, stopped, and,
pointing to the banks, said, 'There is the drift--cross!' I drove my
horses into the river, when they immediately fell; lifted them, and
drove on about five or six yards, when we fell into a hole. Got them
out with difficulty, and advanced another yard, when we got stuck
against a rock. The current was now so strong and drift deep, my
cart was turned over on to its side, and water rushed over the seat.
I called out to the commandant on the bank that we were stuck and to
send assistance, or might we return, to which he replied, 'If you
do, we will shoot you.' I then tried, but failed, to get the horses
to move. Turning to Captain Elliott, who was sitting beside me, I
said, 'We must swim for it'; and asked could he swim, to which he
replied, 'Yes.' I said, 'If you can't, I will stick to you, for I
can.' While we were holding this conversation, a volley from the
bank, ten or fifteen yards off, was fired into us, the bullets
passing through the tent of my cart, one of which must have mortally
wounded poor Elliott, who only uttered the single word 'Oh!' and
fell headlong into the river from the carriage. I immediately sprang
in after him, but was swept down the river under the current some
yards. On gaining the surface of the water, I could see nothing of
Elliott, but I called out his name twice, but received no reply.
Immediately another volley was fired at me, making the water hiss
around where the bullets struck. I now struck out for the opposite
bank, which I reached with difficulty in about ten minutes; but as
it was deep, black mud, on landing I stuck fast, but eventually
reached the top of the bank, and ran for about two hundred yards
under a heavy fire the whole while.

The Boers then invaded Natal and took up a position on Laing's Nek,
four miles inside the Natal border, from which, on January 28, Sir
George Colley endeavo