The times., 1899-07-04

| from camp he left half company and two
| guns to guard the drifts of the flooded
| Ingogo River, and a mile or two further
on he encountered strong party of Beers.
With a confidence begotten OF their easy
victory at Laing's Mex. the Beers did not
wait to be attacked. but, without hesita-
ton, assumed the offensive. Coiley took
up a position on a fat-topped hill and
stood on his defence, having now about
800 men and two guns with him. Accord
| ing to Alfred Aylward, the Boer patrol
numbered 167. The Beers took cover all
round the hill. and prolonged rife duel
| ensued between the two forces.
Avoiding the British tactics at Laing's
/ Mex, the conditions of which were ex-
| actly reversed upon this occasion, the
Beers refrained from any attempt TO take
| the hill by direct assault in body, but as
| independent sharpshooters they kept up an
| incessant rifle fire until nightfall In ac-
curacy of shooting and in the skill with
| which they sheltered themselves they
| proved to be superior to the defenders Of
the hill They drew off at last with loss
of twelve killed and fourteen wounded, but
| the defenders had actually lost six times
! as many. The sharpshooting skirmishers
had put no less than half the force they
were attacking hors de combat. After the
withdrawal of the Beers, Colley, whose
horses were nearly all killed. with great
| difficulty succeeded In saving the guns,
| dotted all over as they were with the
splashes of the Boer bullets, and by des-
perate night march he regained his camp
under cover of darkness with the remnant
of his forces. England had to learn by Bit
/ ter experience that valor without good
| shooting is but waste of the lives of her
bravest sons. The spirit and stanehness
of the British troops were admirable, and
| Colleys own letters warmly acknowledge
~ Tltfs zharC thnry
1 pletely outclassed.
| Re-enforcements now began to arrive.
| Colley's force at the front, which had suf-
| fered so heavily in these two engagements,
! was strengthened by the arrival of the
Ninety-second Highlanders, fresh from
| their victories in Afghanistan; and with
| them he resumed the offensive. This
| time he decided to avoid making direct
attempt on Laing's Mex, and aimed at
| turning that position by occupying the Ma
| juba Mountain, which overhung the pass
| on the southwest. After LaingS Mex,
! Colley had promised the survivors of the
| Fifty-eighth TO give them another chance
| OF trying conclusions with their oppo-
nents; and to seize Majuba he took with
| him a force composed of three companies
! of the Ninety second, two of the Fifty
eighth, and two of the Sixtieth. supple
| mented as before by a naval contingent.
| BY skillful and daring march, on the
night of February %, he occupied, without
| opposition, this post of vantage, which
appeared to him impregnable.
Bravery of the HighIanders.
But, unfortunately for Colley. the rosi
| ton he had seized was not so strong as
he had imagined. The Majuba Mountain
was what Western Americans would call a
beIted mesa; it was a fiat-topped, or rather
|
pendicular cliff running round it little
below the summit, broken only here and
there by few gullies, through which ac-
cess to the summit might be gained from
the lower slopes. These lower slopes were
steep. and the upper parts of them were
screened from view from the summit by
being below the belt of cliff which looked
so formidable to the eye. Technically
| speaking they were dead" ground.
In his fancied security, Colley omitted
to fortify his position. the very error
which two years before had led to the dis
aster of Isandula. He allowed his stan
to distribute most OF his men around the
rim of the saucer-shaped basin, where they
contented themselves with pihng up little
heaps of stones to lie down behind.
AS soon as daylight revealed to the force
holding Laing's Mex that their flank was
threatened. they began to prepare to send
their wagons TO the rear; but they deter
mined also, before retreating. to try the
effect OF direct assault upon MaJuba. Ac-
cording to the account given by General Sir
| William Butler some of the Highlanders
showed themselves boldly on the sky line
in the morning light, shaking their fists de-
family at the hostile camp, which lay 1000
feet below and of which they could now
see every detail. Come up here you beg
gars" they cried. and II Alfred Aylward
may be trusted 223 Beers accepted the in
vitation Part of the Boer assailants took
cover at once with their usual skill, and
opened q ioug-range fire on the summit of
Majuba This fire did but little execution,
though a single shot at 900 yards mortally
wounded the brave Romilly, commander OF
the naval contingent. But, generally
speaking. the defenders of the hill took
good care not to expose themselves IN
necessarily to the craftsmanship of the
Beers with the result that the actual loss
inflicted by the long-ran fire was small.
| Though the Beers kept 1t up fneessantly
all that long summers morning, scarcely
anyone except Romilly was touched
Nevertheless, the Beers were not throw
ing away their gunpowder for nothing.
They succeeded in their object OF com
pelling the defenders of the hill to keep
closely under shelter. and prevented them
from observing what happened on the
slopes below the encircllng glrdle OF CHI
Protected thus by the fire of their com
panions, small parties Of Beers were creep
ing as stealthily as deerstalkers over the
wide spaces of the mountain side where
the cliff wall above screened them both
from the sight and from the fire OF the
defenders. Sir William Butler gives an
excellent map. shaded so as TO exhibit
clearly the dead" portions OF the hillside
across which these experienced hunters
made their way unobserved. So stealthy
and so cautious were they that they took
the whole morning over their stalk; but
their caution and skill were crowned with
perfect success.
Fell With His Face to the Foe.
At one part OF the circumference OF Ma
iuba there is little outlying kopje or
peak, which is really the key of the po-
sition. With unerring instinct. one of the