ously and to charge suddenly on the blowing of a whistle. Nothing
was stirring in the fort as we approached, and we began to think that
the garrison had departed; but when barely 70 yards from it the
officers noticed some forms moving about in the trenches, which
encompassed it. The whistle was blown and the burghers charged, a
cheer rising from a hundred throats. Volley after volley was
discharged from the trenches, but our burghers rushed steadily on,
jumped into the trenches themselves and drove the defenders into the
fort through secret passages. The English now began firing on us
through loopholes in the walls and several of our men had fallen, when
Commandant Moll shouted, "Jump over the wall!" A group of burghers
rushed at the 12-foot wall, and attempted to scale it; but a heavy
fire was directed on them and seven burghers, including the valiant
Commandant Moll, fell severely wounded. Nothing daunted, Captain
Malan, who was next in command of the division, urged his men to go
on, and most of them succeeded in jumping into the fort, where, after
a desperate resistance, in which Captain ----, their leader, fell
mortally wounded, the whole band surrendered to us. Our losses were
six burghers killed, whilst Commandant Moll and 12 others were
severely wounded. The burghers found one white man killed in the
fort, and two wounded, whilst a score of kaffirs lay wounded and dead.
We took 24 white prisoners and about 50 kaffirs. I repeat that the
whites were the lowest specimens of humanity that one can possibly
imagine.

Hardly was the fight over and our prisoners disarmed when a sentry we
had posted on the wall called out:

"Look out, there is a kaffir commando coming!"

It was, in fact, a strong kaffir commando, headed by the chief
M'pisana himself, who had come to the rescue of his friends of
Steinacker's Horse. They opened fire on us at about 100 yards, and the
burghers promptly returned their greeting, bowling over a fair number
of them, at which the remainder retired.

Alongside the fort were about 20 small huts, in which we found a
number of kaffir girls. On being asked who they were, they repeated
that they were the "missuses" of the white soldiers. Inside the
captured fort we found many useful articles, and the official books
of this band. They contained systematic entries of what had been
plundered, looted and stolen on their marauding expeditions and showed
how they had been divided amongst themselves, ded