The herald., 1897-01-10

kraal, Colonel Anderson taking the guns
and the Irish company and Maj3r Jen-
ner the rife company and the volunteers.
1t was all timed to a nicely, and the
bursting of a shell was Makoni's re-
veille. They had been having a merry
evening. and an indifferent lookout had
been kept in consequence. If native re-
porters are to be trusted, Makoni, in an
after dinner speech, had informed an ap-
preciative audience that the white men
would doubtless come TO the kraal to be
eaten up. and that they would probably
arrive about midnight, certainly not be-
fore.
The kraal was wonderfully strong.
natural position, and had been further
strengthened with stockades. loop holed
stone walls etc. The Mashonas are
hard to beat in this line. Makoni's, as
we have since discovered. is only a large
specimen of hundreds of kraals about
the country They are mostly built
somewhere near the top of a rocky hill.
and such rocks enormous bouders,
twenty, thirty, forty and fifty feet high.
perched one on the top of another, every
crack and crevice built up with thick
stone walls. Often the only way in Ii by
crawling on hands and knees through
a hole between two rocks. Immedia tely
beyond this there is probably a cave or
another loop-holed wall, invisible till
YOU nave SDl HdIi-NuS OUT Oh tne nIsl
little tunnel; in fact, one man with a
really sharp penknife and the courage
of a rabbit could hold out against an
army corps.
At Makoni's they tried TO make a stand
not in the open, but amongst their huts.
| 1t was the first place tackled, and they
I did not quite know what to expect Their
previous experiences had been against
Portuguese. and the results had not been
in the least 6iCa StrplIe-t1 l-opi's man
at any rate. Owing 10 the great natural
! strength Of the position. they managed
to hold the left hand party for some time.
and orders We're sent round to the right
! to abandon the cuttiuC-of5 process and
try to effect an entrance from that side.
This was promptly ard eftectualy done.
FlXlnS SWORDS on the march, the rifle
company went at it with run over thu
slippery rocks. The enemy's nerves
! could not quite stand it: their fire was
high and rneY lost their chance. In a
few seconds the rifemen had scaled the
wall ard entered the kraal, ard We're
vo;,eying into the hll,s in reply to Il
heavy fusilade from the enemy, now
mostly concealed behind rocks. stock
ades and-in huts. The irish company
greeted the charge of THEN comrades cf
the mounted infantry with hearty cheers
! and We're soon inside the kraal as wel
| The royal engineers sW4rned over the
wall IN the interval and formed up on the
| left Of the rifle company. II was here
that their gallant leader met his death
! He was killed by a shot fired from be-
! hind a hut at q distance Of only q yard
| or two. The NIashona who fired was
killed on the spot. Captain Haynes
| was great loss to the force. His kind
| ~ disposition and anxiety to help on
every occasion had made him, even in
the short time that he had been with the
J force, most popular with all ranks, while
| by his exceptional ability and resource
| lie had rendered himself invaluable as
| an engineer officer.
! Soon after this the Mashonas that had
| not bolted had all taken to the caves
| from which it would be impossible to
| dislodSe them without a week or two
: oI sitting round and dynamiting. This
I was out of the question. as we had to
| push on for Salisbury: so the job was
| ieIt Tor future occasion: but we had
! the satisfaction Of Knowing that the
kraal was taken and destroyed, and thai
! ABOUT 200 OF the enemy had been killed
|