The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-15

looked down upon them more than upon the
other natives Not that there is any rea-
son for their doing so, except that they saw
more of them, for all the KaffirS are the
same in that respect"
do you think it is safe stopping here,
Mr.: Ara strongp Ronald asked. They
had been talking of the various cattle-steal-
ing raids that had taken place at various
points OF tho frontier.
81 still think so for the present By New
Years day l shall have got my crops in,
and then 1 will go in TO town,
as l told you l would but in the
meantime five or six of our near
est neighbors have agreed to move in here.
have the largest farm hereabout and we
could stand a stout seige."
II am glad TO hear that, Mr.. Armstrong;
the same thing has been done in a good
many places, and in that way you should
be quite safe. | quite think the Kaffirs
capable of coming down in small parties
and attacking isolated houses, and murder
ing their occupants; but after their late pro-
testations of fidelity, | cannot think that the
chiefs would permit anything like large
parties to sally out to make war. y
That Is my idea. But they are treach-
erous hounds, and there is never any trust
ing them.n
IF you can manage to send one of your
tlngoes off with news to us, you may
be sure we shall be with you in the shortest
possible time and we will soon make
mincemeat of them.n
do not be too sure of that don't say
IN the open they would stand against
force of cavalry anything approaching
their own number, but caa tell you that
in the bush | consider that man to man
they ere fully match for our troops.
What chance has soldier with his cl 2thes
and fifty or sixty pound weight on his back,
who goes crashing along through the bushes
and swapping the twlgs with his heavy
boots, against a native who can crawl
along stark naked without making the
slightest noise, and who gives the first init
nation of his presence by a shot from be-
HAD tree, or a stab with his spear When
L came out here | had naturally the same
ideas as you have, and scotfed at the notion
of naked savages standing up against a
regular soldier, but / can tell you that |
have changed my opinion, and if the tribes
under Sandilli are really in earnest, | can
tell you that you will want five times as
many troops as we have got ia the colony
to tackle them"
Two days later message arrived with
orders to Lieut.. Daniels to rejoin with his
detachment at once On Dec. 16, the
whole OF the troops in Albany and British
Kaff'aria were assembled and moved under
the commander-in-chief towards the ANA
tolas, the object being to averawe the
Gaikas without resorting to force, which
was to be carefully avoided The troops
consisted of the Sixth, Seventy third. and.
Ninety-third regiments and the Cape
Mounted Rifles, altogether about 1900
strong. with two divisions of the Kaffir po-
lice. The force moved in three columns.
the governor, who was with the central
column, was met by great number of the
Gakas, chiefs, with about 5000 of their
uen at Fort Cox. They again expressed
their desire for peace, but their bearing and
attitude was not satisfactory. Slndilli and
his half-brother, ANITA, were declared by
the governor to be outlawed, and a reward
Issued for their apprehension.
A few days passed without further move
ment On the evening of the 23rd, Sergt.
Menzies said to Ronald, whom he met
just as ne had come out from Capt. Twenty
mans, 81 have two pieces of news for you
Blunt. In the first place, as you know,
Corp. Hodge has LOST his stripes aud ha
been sent back to the ranks for getting
drunk. The day before Capt. Tweltymar
asked me who could recommend, and
told him that | thought there was no one il
the troop who would make better non
commissioned officer than you would. He
said that you were the man he had his eye
upon. At ordinary times he snoul1 moi
have liked to give you your corporal's stripe;
after being such short time in the corps
bat that in the present state of things it was
essential to have the best man who could
be picked out irrespective of his 10 18th OF
service; besides as you have served before
it makes it altogether different thing.n
81 am much obliged TO Won. sergeant,
Ronald answered IF it hadn't been for
this trouble 1 should have preferred re-
naming in the ranks. like troopers life and
do not care about tie extra pay one way or
the other. Besides, as q non-commissioned
officer one has more responsibility and less
Ireedo n. However, as l. is | shall bs glad
of the step, for doub less il there is fighting
there will be- lot of scouting and escort
work with very small detachments, and I
confess | would rather be In command of
five or six men on such work as that, to
being under the oraerS of a man who per-
haps wouldn't know as well as do what
ought to be done; and now what is your
next newsp
1.-THE next is that our troop and B troop
are to form part of colum 500 strong
that are to march tomorrow to place
where Sandilli is supposed 10 be concealed "
''Well. we shall see then" Ronald said
whether these fellow mean business or
not.n
81 was talking to the headquarter mess
sergeant He tells me that the governors
COCK sure thereswill be no fighting but that
SandlIn Will elJler surrender at once or
bolt before we get there.n
"From all | can hear, sergeant, the gov
ernor's opinions are usually wrong. How
ever, we snail see about it Tomorrow, and
at any rate it's a good thing to have the
question solved one way or the other
Nothing can bs worse for the colonists and
everyone else than this state of suspense
The fellows will have to make up their mind
one way or the other now"
In the morning the detachment, $50
strong, under Col. Maclinnon, marched
from Fort Cox. The Katfir police led the
way, and were followed by the Cape
Mounted Rifles, the infantry forming the
rear. There were a good many natives
about, but these shouted friendly greetings
as the column passed, and it proceeded
quietly until it reached the narrow, rocky
gorge of the Keiskamma which could only
be traversed in single file. Ronald Mer-
vyn had been placed n orders the previous
evening as corporal, and he was please to
find by the remarks of the men that they
did not grudge him his promotion, for sold
ders are quick TO recognize steadiness and
ability. and they had long since concluded
that Harry Blunt, although he never spoke
about his military experiences, hal served
for some time, and thoroughly knew his
work, and had been a non-commissioned
officer, if not an officer.
don't like the look of this place at ALL
he said the to Sergt. Menzies as they
walked to the mouth of the gorge. "If
| were in command of the force moving
oDono "a rooDulation who Tnivht any mo