ly finished." He
detailed a trooper named Gooding and Ingram to accompany Burnham.
"One of you may get through," he said. Gooding was but lately out from
London, and knew nothing of scouting, so Burnham and Ingram warned him,
whether he saw the reason for it or not, to act exactly as they did.
The three men had barely left the others before the enemy sprang at them
with their spears. In five minutes they were being fired at from every
bush. Then followed a remarkable ride, in which Burnham called to his
aid all he had learned in thirty years of border warfare. As the enemy
rushed after them, the three doubled on their tracks, rode in triple
loops, hid in dongas to breathe their horses; and to scatter their
pursuers, separated, joined again, and again separated. The enemy
followed them to the very bank of the river, where, finding the "drift"
covered with the swollen waters, they were forced to swim. They reached
the other bank only to find Forbes hotly engaged with another force of
the Matabeles.

"I have been sent for re-enforcements," Burnham said to Forbes, "but I
believe we are the only survivors of that party." Forbes himself was too
hard pressed to give help to Wilson, and Burnham, his errand over, took
his place in the column, and began firing upon the new enemy.

Six weeks later the bodies of Wilson's patrol were found lying in a
circle. Each of them had been shot many times. A son of Lobengula, who
witnessed their extermination, and who in Buluwayo had often heard the
Englishmen sing their national anthem, told how the five men who were
the last to die stood up and, swinging their hats defiantly, sang "God
Save the Queen." The incident will long be recorded in song and story;
and in London was reproduced in two theatres, in each of which the
man who played "Burnham, the American Scout," as he rode off for
re-enforcements, was as loudly cheered by those in the audience as by
those on the stage.

Hensman, in his "History of Rhodesia," says: "One hardly knows which to
most admire, the men who went on this dangerous errand, through brush
swarming with natives, or those who remained behind battling against
overwhelming odds."

For his help in this war the Chartered Company presented Burnham with
the campaign medal, a gold watch engraved with words of appreciation;
and at the suggestion of Cecil Rhodes gave him, Ingram, and the Hon.
Maurice Clifford, jointly, a tract of land of three hundred square
acres.

Aft