t supplies of food, and having no reserve of
ammunition and no means of carrying the wounded. The upshot was that
Major Forbes decided to return, but was prevented from doing so by a
letter received from Dr. Jameson, stating that he was sending forward a
reinforcement of dismounted men under Captain Napier with food,
ammunition, and wagons, also sixteen mounted men under Captain Borrow.
The force then proceeded to a deserted Mission Station known as Shiloh.
On November 25 the column, three hundred strong and carrying with it
three-quarter rations for twelve days, took up the King's wagon spoor
about one mile from Shiloh, and followed it through much discomfort,
caused by the constant rain and the lack of roads, till, on December S,
a point was reached on the Shangani River, N.N.W. of Shiloh and distant
from it about eighty miles.

On November 29, however, Major Forbes, finding that he could make small
progress with the wagons, sent them away, and proceeded with the best
mounted men and two Maxims only, so that the actual force which reached
the Shangani on the 3rd consisted of about one hundred and sixty men and
a couple of machine guns.

At this time the information in possession of the leaders of the column
was to the effect that the King was just in front of them across the
river, accompanied only by a few of his followers. Under these
circumstances Major Forbes instructed Major Wilson and eighteen men to
go forward and reconnoitre along Lobengula's spoor; the understanding
seeming to have been that the party was to return by sundown, but that
if it did not return it was, if necessary, to be supported by the whole
column. With this patrol went Mr. Burnham, the American scout, one of
the three surviving white men who were eye-witnesses of that eventful
night's work, which ended so tragically at dawn.

What followed is best told as he narrated it by word of mouth to the
compiler of this true story, and to a reporter of the 'Westminster
Gazette,' the editor of which paper has courteously given permission for
the reproduction of the interview. Indeed, it would be difficult to tell
it so well in words other than Mr. Burnham's own.

[Illustration: Sketch of Route of the Wilson Patrol and of the Scouts'
ride back to Major Forbes _Drawn from memory by Mr. Burnham_

N.B. _Supposed distance of King's Wagons from Forbes Camp 5 Miles,
windings by the Spoor might be a little more._]

'In the afternoon of December 8,' says M