Graham guardian., 1898-11-11

first Lancers swung into their first
charge.
Knee to knee, they swept on till
they were but 200 yards from the
enemy. Then suddenly--then in
flash they saw the trap. Be-
tween them and the 5000 there
yawned suddenly q deep ravlne;
out of the ravine there sprang in
stantly cloud of dark heads and
a brsndlished lightning of swords.
and thunder of savage voices.
Mabmud smiled when he heard the
tale in prisen at Halfa, and said il
was their favorIte stratagem. 1t
had succeeded. Three thousand, if
there was one, to a short 500; but
il was too late to check now.
Must go through with it now! The
blunders of the British cavalry are
the fertile seed of British glory;
knee to knee the lancers whirl on.
One hundred yards-fifty-knes to
knee
Slap! at was just like that"
said a captain, bringing his fist
hard into his open palm. Through
the swordmen they shore without
checking-and then came the khor.
The colonel at their head, riding
straight through everything, with.
out sword or revolver drawn, found
his horse on its head, and the
swords swooplng about his own.
He got the charger up again, and
rode on straight, unarmed, through
everything. The squadrons fol
lowed him down tho fall. Horses
plunged, blundered, recovered, fell!
Dervishes on the ground lay for
The hamstringing cut; officers pis-
toled them in passing.over.
And through everything, clean
out the other side, they came
those that kept up or got In time.
The others were on the ground-in
pieces by now, for the cruel swords
shore through shoulder and thigh,
and carved the dead into fillets.
Twenty-four Of these, and of those
that came out seventy four had felt
sword or bullet or spear. Few
horses staid behind among the
swords, but nearly one hundred
and thirty were wounded. Lieu
tenant Robert GrenfelPs troops
came on place with a jump out
as well as jump IN; it lost officer,
center guide, and both flank guides;
ten killed and eleven wounded.
Yet, when they burst struggling
out, their only thought was to raj
ly and go in again. "Rally, No.
q" yelled sergeant, 80 mangled
across the face that his body was a
cascade of blood, and nose and
cheeks tapped hideously as he
yelled. "Fall out, sergeant; you're
wounded" said the subaltern of his
troop mo, no, sir; fall imp came
the hoarse answer, and the man
reeled in his saddle. "Fall in, No
2; fall in. Where are the devils!
Show me the devilsW And No
2 fell in-four whole men out Of
thirty.
They chafed and stamped and
balsphemed to go through them
again, though the colonel wisely
forbade them to face the pit anew
There were gnashings of teeth and
bowls of spsechless rage-thlng'
half theatrical, half brutal, to tel
of when blood has cooled, yet
things to rejoice over, in that they
show the fighting devil has not
after all, been civilized out Of
Britons. Also, there were many
and many deeds of selfabandoning
Of which tale the half will never
be told. Take only one: Lieut.
de Montmorency missed his troop
sergeant, and rode back among the
slashes to look for him. There he
found the hacked body of Lieut.
| Grenfell. He disnounted and put
it on his horse, not seeing in his
heat that life had rained out long
since by a dozen channels. The
horse bolted under the slackened
muscle, and de Montmorency was
left alone with his revolver and
5000 screaming fiends. Capt. Ken
ma and Corp. Swarblck rode out,
caught his horse, and brought il
back; the three answered the fire
of 5000 at fifty yards, and got
| quietly back to their own line un
touched.
Forbearing second charge the
Lancers dismounted and opened
fire; the carabines at short range
took an opulent vengencs for the
lost. Back, back, back they drove
them, till they came into the fire
of the Thirty.second Battery,
Then shrapnel flew shrieking over
them; the 5000 fell all ways and
died.
Two minutes silence. Then
once more the howllng storm
rushed down upon US; once more
crashed forth the answering temp
est. This time it burst upon Mac
donald alone-from the northwest
ward upon his right flank, spread
ing and gathering to his right rear
For all their sudden swittuess oi
movement the dervIshes through
out this day never lost their form