The Saint Paul globe., 1900-05-07

fully six miles in our rear and as the
day wore on and the cannonade became
more furious than ever. we saw creeping
along the river bank toward the right of
our position regiment after regi-
ment Of our splendid soldiers ready to
develop the attack. a title Of musketry
on the left indicated that we were trying
to divert the enemy's attention from our
right, and then in extended order from
the right and left and from the center
followed by the supports and reserves
our infantry rushed the first positions
and We're soon engaged In deadly earnest
with the invisible Beers. Madly and des-
perately they fought. having hitherto con-
cealed their positions. preferring to risk
the chance of death like rats In their
holes. But now or never they had TO
face us and retire or be cut off.
Position by position was carried, some
times at the point Of the bayonet. and
ever and again I saw hastily summoned
reinforcemeuts galloping to the Boer
trenches. only to fall back from our ter
rible artillery fire. The hills on the other
side seemed to be ahame. and yet there
was no dimlnuton in the energy of our
guns Now / heard the distant cheer OF
our men as they captured Harts Jill,
and then in the distance, from the direc-
tion OF Neltherpe, / saw with hair on END
a desperate effort to surround one of our
positions.
''It was the anniversary Of Majuba, and
I held my breath as ] heard the COM
mand from one of the naval officers:
Turn the guns onto those men Sight
them at $500 yards Bang! bang! bang!
The noise was deafening. But right into
the scrub where the BOer horsemen were
preparing to open fire the shells burst
with splendid accuracy.
away they went--galloping across the
open plain saddle after saddle emptied.
and as the daylight disappeared and the
fire of the enemys 'pOm-posn grew less
and less, We knew that the day was ours,
and that our troops had done all that
had been asked OF them in the battle
which will probably earn the name Of
Peters Hill.
For our own part, we were only sniped
at occasionally. The ping of the bullets
being uncommonly close; but 1 was in
lucks way in sesing one of the greatest
battles and, as others say. the most tre-
mendous artillery display Of the present
war in Natal Whatever effect our ar
tillery fire must have had where II fell, I
fear many Of our men must have lost
life or limb through 1t. 80 impossible is
1t to distinguish friend from foe I'm an
attack Of such magnitude.
''The Beers relieved Ladysmith Of their
own account, and not from any defeat by
does this detract from the merit our
troops deserve for their extraordinarily
gallant conduct.
Not far away the stretcher bearers
were burying a young woman. not 81
years of age. Their tale was pitiful
one. She had been found dying in the
trenches. bandolier across her breast and
rife in hand, and as she died she told
them her husband had forced her to fight.
as she was such a good shot. How ter
ribly crueli But against that I may re-
late another story in favor Of the Beers.
"In one Of the recent fights in which
the Dublin Fusieers were heavy losers,
there were but two officers and two men
left to be surrounded by the Beers One
of the officers recounted to me the fol-
lowing narrative: He fell into the hands
OF De Wet. one of the opposing generals.
and asked for water for his wounded
men. Ten orderlies were at once told OFF
to fetch water for the water bottles. and
with his own hands De Wet fastened on
this officers arm a white handkerchief
and told him he could go about his
wounded without fear Of being shot So
instead of being made a prisoner. he was
able to perform his errand Of mercy"