The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-01-07

descriptions of fighting in South Africa
give some faint idea of the conditions I'M
der which it is being carried on. Belated
as these letters are, by the time they APP
pear in English papers, they throw much
needed light upon the campaign, SO bar
renly reported over the censored cables.
The heat that drove British soldiers
to drink gratefully from the exhaust
pipe Of an engine, after seven hours fight
ing at Enslin, where they lost 179 killed
and wounded, has proved serious factor
In the care of the wounded. Surgeon
Makins formerly of St. Thomas hospital,
writes under date of the field hospital at
Orange River:
During an eight-day stay some 600
wounded men have passed through the
hands Of the royal army medical corps
here. In one night alone 800 patients ar
rived from the fight at Modder River,
Yesterday the thermometer registered 125
degrees Fahrenheit in some of the tents.
The journey from here to the base hos
pital at Wynberg, which takes twenty
eight hours, emphasizes the difficulties
due to the immense length of the line of
communication.
1.-The immense majority of the wounds
have been inflicted by the Mauser or Lee
Metford bullet and a small proportion by
Martini bullets and large projectiles. A
wounded Boer referred to the Lee-Met-
ford as 'gentlemanly bullet and this
remark is equally applicable to the Maui
ser. The wounds made by them are
small, clean and little disposed to suppu-
rate. Those bullets met with have been
little deformed unless they have struck
bones before entering, and 1 have seen
no single instance which would suggest
the use of either fattened or so-called
explosive bullets among the wounded
here"
NIGHT SORTIE.
From Mafeking, under date of Oct. 26,
the Times correspondent in that be-
leaguered place wildly describes a night
sortie by Capt. Fitzclarence, with fifty
five men of the Protectorate regiment,
and Lieut.. Murray, with twenty-five men
Of the Cape police.
Shortly after IL O'clock" writes this
correspondent, capt. Fitzclarence and
his men started on their perilous under
taking. In the faint light of the night
we could see their figures silently hurry
, ing across the veldt. Then in the blue
/ haze of the distance a black blur be-
tokened the position of the enemy, and
1t seemed that at any moment the hoarse
challenge of the Boer outposts would
give the alarm. The men crept on 81
lently in extended order, holding them
selves in readiness for the supreme mo-
ment. The silence was intense. The
| veldt at night, the shadowy forms of the
men seemed to heighten the tension of
! ones nerves. In little while our men
were within few yards of the enemy,
i then furtively each fixed his bayonet to
| his rifle, and as the blades rang home
upon their sockets the gallant band
! raised a ringing cheer. Instantly the
/ Boer position was galvanized into ac-
! tivity. Figures showed everywhere, shots
/ rang out, men shouted horses stampeded,
| the confusion, which reigned supreme
everywhere, gave to our men one vital
moment in which to hurl themselves
/ across the intervening space. Then there
was crash, for, as it happened, many
of our men were nearer the intrench-
ments than had been anticipated, and
their charge had precipitated them upon
some sheets of corrugated iron which
the Beers had torn from the grand
stand at the race track for protection
from the rain.
| Approaching the trench few rapid