The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-07

of the police disturbed them for some time
longer than was required in the actual re-
tirement of the force.
'The Beers had been completely un-
nerved by the onslaught Of the Protector
ate men, and feature of the hours which
elapsed between the final withdrawal or
our force from the scene of conflict and
the advent of dawn was the heavy firing or
the enemy, who still continued discharging
useless yolleys into space. The loss TO US
in the encounter had been six killed, ten
wounded and two of our men taken prison
ers, but the gravity of the loss which the
enemy sustained can be most surely
measured by the fact that until
a late hour this afternoon they could not
find the spirit to resume the bombardment.
1t is said in camp here that some 200 Beers
will have reason to remember the charge
of the Protectorate regiment"
The doings of the besieged at Ladysmith
have been fully described by recent letters
If the Beers continue to so closely hem in
and continuously lombard Whites force
the besieged promise to become full-fedged
cave dwellers. for, according to the Daily
News correspondent at Ladysmith, the
prevalent tendency there is to burrow.
Some people, writes the authority, hav-
ing spent much time and patient labor in
making burrows for themselves. find life
so intolerably monotonous that they prefer
to take the chances above ground. Others
pass whole days with wives and families,
or in solitary misery where there is not
light enough to read or work, scarcely
showing a head outside from sunrise 10
sunset. They may be seen trooping away
from fragile tin-roofed houses half an
hour before daybreak carrying children in
their arms or a cat or monkey or a cage
of pet birds, and they come back similarly
laden when the night gets too dim for gun
ners to go on shooting. There would be a
touch of humor in this If it We're not so
deeply pathetic in its close association with
possible tragedies. One never knows where
or at what hour a stray shell or. splinter
will fall, and 1t is pitiful sometimes to hear
cries for dolly from a prattling mite who
may herself be fatherless or motherless to-
morrow. We think as little as possible of
such things, putting them from us with the
light comment that they may happen daily
elsewhere than in besieged towns, and
making the best we can of melancholy
situation.
CAVES FOR A REGIMENT.
1.-THE Imperial Light Horse have amused
themselves at Ladysmith by constructing
tunnels to the river bank, connecting dark
caves in which whole regiments might be
hidden. knowledge of mining is some
times useful, though there be no precious
metal to be dug out In these caves the
men find cooling relief from the burning
sum-
Looking out over the smiling plain that
stretches to the southeast of town."
writes the Standard representative at
Ladysmith on Nov. 10. "it is hard to real
ize that we are in the midst of war. There
is not Boer in sight. A great mystery OF
peace has fallen on the land. That Sc
rene tranquility which fills the air and
clothes the sunlight hills carries one back
to some remote English village on a Sab
bath morning. The scene, too. is homelike
level reaches of meadow on which cattle
are grazing, prosperous farmsteads dotting
the great plain. A puff of smoke. followed
eight seconds later by an angry rush of
air and a deafening crash, recalls one to
the actualities of the moment. On the
spurs of those tawny hills that appear not
mile away are twenty-five guns, and the
enemy lie concealed along the ridges and
among the patches Of green bush which
clothe the ravines and kopjes. We have
daily-almost hourly-reminders OF their
presence The officer who ascends in the
balloon reports that they are thick on all
Sides and cannot number fewer than
twenty or thirty thousand"
The same correspondent, describing the
repulse on the Prince of Wales's birthday,
says: "At noon when the enemy had fallen
back on their laager, a royal salute of
twenty-one guns was fired by the naval
brigade. Captain Rambler was resolved
that the salute should be effective. One
shot silenced the Imsulwani gun for the
day while another fell into Joubert's camp
and, according to coolie who escaped
in the confusion, killed twenty-five men,
1t must be many years since the national
anthem was sung to an accompaniment or
shrapnel."
OF the hard fight at Modder river, the
Globe correspondent says: ION the plain
were numerous white crosses which, we
subsequently discovered, were marked
ranges set out by the Beers previously.
The fighting line on both sides extended
quite six miles, and there was an incessant
fusillade and cannonade for twelve solid
hours The Beers were never seen by US;
none of the officers and men to whom
have spoken since saw a Boer. 1t Is GER
tainly marvellous how they always man.
age to hide themselves. The heat yester-
day was terrific, no wind, a hot blazing
sun all day. We were all done and literally
parched. Our only refreshment during the
twelve hours was water, heated by the
sun in our water bottles"
A SOLDIERS FIGHT.
OF the same battle the Daily News cor
respondent writes: 1.-THE historian who
writes a truthful story of the battle Of
Modder river will have a strange story to
tell, if all one hears is gospel. Stories of
guides who reported Modder river 10 be
held by six hundred Beers; of a regiment
sent out to clear them out and finding
twelve thousand; Of regiments thanking the
enemy's position and within few hun
dred yards of his guns, having TO retire
because they were shelled by their own ar
tillery. Modder river was an Alma 1t was
a soldiers fight. Grit, doggedness and
pride of caste made master of the
trenches. For sixteen hours the battle
ragged. For sixteen hours a plain as
bare OF cover as the dome Of st. Pauls.
the infantry advanced by short rushes in
the sweltering heat, to shoot and get shot.
For sixteen hours the artillery innocent