The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1900-03-30
for him, though he is tho hardest
master | ever served"

| "All through his son. There had been
moro of them, but there was only tho
| one-Archie-whcn the Lanccrs were
ordered to South Africa. lie was
youngstcr, only II, they tell nc, and he
| had just been gazcttcd to his cornctcy.
| The old man WAS all wrapped up in him,
| for Of tho thrco boys tho eldest had died
only the month before the regiment was
| ordered on foreign service and tho Soc
| ond had been killed i'm India Both
| these two who wcro gono had mado
| themselves famous among thrir COM
radcS by their fcarlcSSncss and hi~h
character, and the old man, Of course,
could not ask Archie to quit tho service
just when orders for dangerous duty
came. The boy went to the Capc with
his corps, and got into tho thick Of tho
Zulu war just at the time Of tho massa-
cro of the Twenty fourth at Isandlwhana
and tho fight at RorLc's Drift. was
Mt homo then, and all England was
Quivcring with grief over such needless
sacrifice as was made Of that regiment,
and all ready to fall down and worship
such fellows rs Chard and Bromhcad,
who mado tho superb fight almost ut tho
same time.
"rhcy say old Maitland wanted to go
himself, as volunteer or something, with
Lord Chelmsford, but it couldn't be
DONE His Gather had fought at Alma
and lnkcrman. and his grandfather had
led the Guards at Waterloo The whole
tribe were soldiers, you know; and now
Archie was with the Lanccrs in Zululand,
and the Lanccrs were going to wipo out
tho disasters Of the first fights Of tho
campaign, and Archie was to uphold tho
grand old fighting namo and como homo
covered with glory. lilo was tho heir
now. and Miss Gladys was but Il lttlo
girl. | have heard it all from Mrs.
Cowan; sho was their housckccpcr in
those days, and a sort Of companion, too,
to Mrs. Maitland, who was very delicate.
The old man was very fiery and proud
and full of ficrco denunciation of every.
thing that had gono wrong in tho CAM
paign; and he offended somc pcoplo by
the way he condemned some officer who
was friend Of theirs, and there were
others who thought ho talked too much;
but he fairly boiled over when the news
camo Of how tho prince imperial had
been abandoned by his escort, and that a
British officer and dozen men had run
two miles ut top speed from Il hcggarly
little squad of niggcrs before they dared
look round to SEQ what had become Of
their prince, whom they had left to fight
the gang alone. That was old Maitands
text for month. If any son Of his had
| ever been Of that party ho would disown,
disgrace, deny him, forbid him his sight,
cut him of forever. And right in tho
midst Of it ALA judgment, some people
said-thcre camo tho awful news that
Cornct Maitland Of tho Lanccrs was to he
court martialcd for misbchavior i'm face
of tho enemy.
"Of course tho old man only ragged at
first; said it couldn't bo true; twas all
somo foul invention or ridiculous blum.
der; but he ran up to London and saw
somebody ut tho Horse Guards-thats
our war Office, you know--and came
back looking Il century older and simply
crushed to earth. Mrs. Cowan says they
showed him tho official report Of gen
cral officer who was called upon to OK
plain why he had not sent certain troops
to tho relief of an advanced and threat
encd post, and he replied that he had
sent tho order by Cornct Maitland, Of the
Lanccrs; had given him an escort of u
dozen men and strict in functions to push
through by night, at all hazards, though
the way was bcsct with Zllls, and that
he neither went through nor returned,
but was found hiding at kraal two days
after, only twenty miles away. The
escort returned, and after much cross
examination had told tho story, separate.
ly and collectively. that tho young officer
l,n,1
midnight by the reports from scouting
parties and others; lad declared to them
that it was simply madness to attempt
to push through: they would bo massa-
cred to IL man; and, though they an
nounccd that they were stanch and ready,
he refused, and ordered them to bivouac
where they were for tho night, and in
tho morning he had disappeared They
declared they supposed he had gone back
to camp, and after waiting day they
returned. reporting him lost.
"Whcn found ut tho kraal no was de-
lirious with fever. or pretended to be,
said the general, and he was brought in
under arrest and Tho trial was to pro-
cecd. don't know how it turned out.
He was not court martialcd, but permit
CCi w ICLuih w ~ WIS Sttlu nc
told very different story; that he had
begged the brigade ajor who detailed
the escort to let him have half a dozen
Of his own Lanccrs instead of the pack
Of irrcgulars they gave him; he did not
trust them, and feared they would aban
don him as they had tho prince; but the
staff officer said the order couldn't be
changcd-thcsc men knew the country
and all that sort Of thing, you know; and
there was ono fellow in the Lancers who
stuck tC it that he believed Maitland had
tried his best to get through alone. But
twas all useless; somebody had to be
held responsible, and tho failure was all
heapcd on him.
Meantime, there had been fury at
home; old Maitland had written casting
him off, rcpudiating-cursing him for
all know--and tho next thing there
came messenger from tho captain of
hi, pI,s NJ I