The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-04-16
BY ZULUS.
The Story OF a Young English Officer
Escape at the Battle OF Isnnduln.

Escape Mt the Battle Of Isnnduln.
The. following letter from H. Smith
Dorian, n young English officer, gives a
graphic account of his escape during the
massacre of British troops in South
Africa:
At about halfpast one the Zulus were
seen coming over the hills in thousands.
They were in most perfect order, and
seemed to be in about twenty rows o
skirmishcrs one behind the other. They
were in Il semicircle round u two
hanks and in front of us, and must have
covered several miles Of ground. No
body knows how many there were Of
them, but the general idea is ut least
10000. Well, to cut the account short
in half IN hour they were right up to the
camp. l was out with the front com
panies of the Twenty-fourth, handing
them spare ammunition. Bullets were
flying all " the place, but l v
seemed to notice them. The Zulus near-
" all had firearms of some kind and lots
of ammunition. Before we knew where
we were they came right into the camp,
assegaing everybody right and left.
Everybody then who had d horse turned
to hy. The enemy were going at q kind
of very fast half-walk and halt-run.
On looking round we saw that we were
completely surrounded and the road to
Rorke's Drift was cut off. The place
where they seemed thinnest was where
we all made for. Everybody went pell-
nell over ground covered with huge
powders and rocks till we got to q deep
sprint or gully. How the horses got
over l have no idea. l was riding a
broken-kneed old crock which did not
belong to me, and which I expected to 60
on its head every minute. We had to 60
bang through them at the sprint. Lots
of our men were killed there. l had lots
of marvellous escapes, and was firing
away at them with my revolver as | gal
Hoped along. The ground there down to
the river was so broken that the Zulus
went rs fast as the horses, and kept kill
ing all the way. There were very few
white men; they were nearly all mount
ed natives of ours flying. This lasted
till we came to a kind of precipice down
to the river Buffalo. / jumped OFT and
led my horse down.
There was q poor fellow Of the mount
ed infantry Ga private) struck through
the arm, who said as | passed that if |
could bind up his arm and stop the
bleeding he would be all right. / ac-
cordingly took my handkerchief and tied
up his arm. Just rs l had done it,
Major Smith, of the artillery, came down
by me, wounded, saying; For Gods
sake get on, man; the Zulus are on the
top Of u.s." l had done all | could for
the wounded man, and so turned to
lump on my horse. Just rs | was doing
so the horse went with q bound to the
bottom of the prccipice, being, struck
with an assegai. / gave up all hope, ms
the Zulus were all round me, finishing Oft
the wounded, the MAJ l had helped and
Major Smith among the number. How
ever, with the strong hope that every
BODY clings to that some accident would
turn I'D, I rushed off on foot and plunged
into tile river, which was little better
than a roaring torrent. | was being
carried down the stream at a tremen-
dous pace, when q loose horse came by
me, and I got hold of his tail, and he
landed me safely on the Other bank;
but I was too tired to stick to him and
get on his back. l got up again and
rushed on, and was several times knock
ed over by our mounted natives, who
would not get out of my way, then up a
tremendous hill, with my wet clothes
and boots full of water.
About twenty Zulus got over the
water and followed us up the hill, but, l
am thankful to say, they had not their
firearms. Crossing the river, however,
the Zulus on the opposite side kept firing
at us as we went up the hill, and killed
several Of the natives round me. l was
the only white man to be seen until
came to one who had been kicked by his
horse and could not mount. | put him
on his horse and lent him my knife. lie
said he would catch me a horse. Dl-
rectly he was up he went clean away.
A few Zulus followed US tor about three
miles across the river, but they had no
gums, and l had a revolver, which | kept
letting them know. Also the mounted
natives stopped a little and kept firing
at them. They did not come in close,
and finally stopped altogether. Well, to
cut it short, I struggled into Helpma-
kaar, about twenty miles off, at night
fall, to find q few men who had escaped,
about ten or twenty, with others who
had been %intrenched in a wagonla ager.
A young lady rejoices that she did no
have to buv any furs last winter, be-