The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-27

they kept up fire some time, until silencsd
by two or three volleys from the infantry
The main body of the rebels was drawn uo
in front Of their huts. and as soon as the in
fantry approached, and the cavalry charged
down. they took to flight, but volley from
the Fingoes in the bush killed several of
them. The rest, however, succeeded IN
gaming the forest. The village was then
burnt, and $50 cattle and some horses ana
goats, all stolen from neighboring settlers,
were recovered.
The column then marched back to their
bivouac of the night before, and The follow
ing day returned TO Grahamstown. There
was no halt here, for the next morning they
marched to Join the column from King
Williamstown, passing through the Ecca
pass, where constant attacks hal been
made by natives upon wagons and conveys
going down the road. They crossed the
Koonap river, and at the end Of two DAYS
march encamped on ridge where the
Amerola range could ne seen, and finally
Joined the column compose OF the Ninety
first regiment and the rest of the of the
Cape Mounted Rifles, encamped near Fort
Hare.
Two days later the whole force, amount
ing to 1900 men, advanced to the base of
tho Amatolas anu encamped on the plains
at a short distance from the hills The at
tack was made in two columns the Seventy
fourth, a portion of the native levies, and
of the Mounted Rifles, were to attack a
formidable position in front, while the
Ninety-frst were to march round, and,
driving the enemy before them, to effect
junction at the end of the day with the
others. The cavalry could take no rart in
the strong position held by the Kaffirs,
which was line Of perpendicular cliffs, the
only approach to which was up the smooth
grassy incline that touched the summit OF
the cliff at one point only. The Seventy
fourth moved directly to the attack, the
native levies skirmish1ng on both fianks.
The enemy, who could be seen in large
numbers on the hight, waited until the
Highlanders were we'll within range before
they opened fire. The cavalry below
watched the progress of the troops with
anxiety. They replied with steady volleys
to the inceSsant firing of the enemy, ad-
vancing steadily up the slope, but occasion
ally leaving a wounded man behind Them
Two companies went ahead In skirmishing
order, and climbing from rock to rock ex-
changed shots with the enemy as they
went They succeeded in winning a foot
hold at the top of the cliff aud drove off the
defenders, who took refuge in a dim forest
few hundred Yards in the rear.
AS soon as the rest of the regiment had
got up they advanced against the wool
from which the enemy kept up constant
fire, and pouring in steady volleys entered
the forest and drove the enemy before them
foot by foot, until the Kafirs retreated
into thick bush absolutely inpenetrable tn
| the soldiers On emerging from the forest
the troops were joined by the other column,
which had driven the enemy from their
position on the Victoria nights and had
burned two or three villages While the
| fighting was going on between the first
division and the enemy, the second division
| had been engaged in another portion of the
hills and had penetrated some distance.
| Skirmishing went on during the rest of the
| day, but at nighttalI the troops returned to
the camp that they had left III the morning.
| The Kaffirs had suffered considerable loss
| during the day, two Of their leading chiefs
| being among the slain, and Sandilli himself
narrowly escaped being taken prisoner.
The Cape Mounted Rifles attached to the
| Seventy-fourth had taken no part III the
| affair, for the ground had been altogether
| impracticable for cavalry. The troops,
when they returned, were utterly exhaus ed
| with the fatigues they had undergone,
but were well satisfied with the events "
| the day.
sit is we'll enough for a beginning" Ron
aid said to Sergt. Menzies, "but what is iii?
| These hills extend twenty or thirty miles
| either way at the very least twice as far,
for anything know. They contain scores
| of kraals; don't suppose am far out when
l say hundreds. We have burnt three or
| four, have marched mile or two into the
| woods, have killed perhaps hundred
Kaffirs at the outide, and have lost in killed
and wounded about fifty Of our mon.
suppose altogether there are fifteen or
| twenty thousand Kafirs there They have
no end of places where our fellows can't
| possibly penetrate. There's no holding such
| position as that. The columns may toll
on through the woods, skirmishing all the
way, but they only hold the ground they
stand r.v;il fol
dozen expeditions. each made with force
three or four times larger than we have
now, before we can produce much effect on
the Amatolas.n
Il am afraid it WILL Blunt" the sergeant
said, before we break down the rebellion.
There is one thing, they say that the Kaffirs
have got 20, 900 or 30, 900 cattle among the
hills. IL we can drive them off we shall do
more good than by killing Kaffirs; the
chiefs care but little how much their follow
ers are shot down, but they do care
nightly for the loss of their wealth Cattle
are the one valuable possession of the K lf-
firs. Shooting them has very little effect
on those VINO are not shot; as for driving
them out of one part Of the country, it
makes no difference to them one way or an
other. They can put up their kraals any
where. The one point on which you can
hit them is their cattle. A chiefs coase-
quence depends on the number of bullocks
he owns. A young Kaffir cannot marry
unless he has cattle to buy a wife with
Putting aside their arms and their trumpery
necklaces and bracelets, cattle are
the sole valuables of the Kaffirs You will
see if we can capture their cattle we shall
put an end to the war, but any amount of
marching and fighting will make bit little
impression upon them"
The representations of the two soldiers
proved correct; it was only after six IN
vasions of the Amatolas by very much
larger forces, after hard fighting, in which
the troops did not always have the best OF
it, after very heavy losses, and after cap
turing $4,000 cattle, that the conquest of
Amatolas was finally achieved.
So far, Ronald had heard nothing more
as to the discovery of his identity by one of
the men of his troop. He thought that the
man could not have mentioned it to any
one else. He felt sure that had it become
at all known he must have heard of it, He
would have noticed some change in the
manner of the mon, and it would certainly
have come to the ears Of Menzies or one
other of the non-commissioned officers, who
would, of course, come to him t. iuuuire
whether there was any truth In the report;
besides he must have known him from the
time he joined the troop, and could have
mentioned it before if he had wanted TO d.
so. Ronald supposed, then, that he had
kept silence either because he thought that
by originating the report to the disadvan-
tage Of a popular man in the CORDS be