The Opelousas courier., 1900-03-10
A Heroine at Gutenberg.
An EPISODE IN the TRANsvAAL WAR Of $780, 81.
BY w. wILMOTT IxoN

structions. Muller consented, and
Lieutenant Long thus cleverly gained
q delay Of five days, which he utilized
in very materially strengthening his
defences.
On the 4th Of January the Beers
appeared in force, some TOO of them,
and formally demanded surrender OF
the fort, to which summons the young
subaltern returned the spirited reply:
st is inconsistent with my duty Is a
soldier to surrender my trust" An
urgent appeal was once more made by
Mrs. Longs friends in the town to
induce her to quit the fort aud take
up her residence in one of the many
homes placed at her disposal. But she
stoutly refused.
Two days afterwards the attack com.
menced. For three hours and a half
700 Beers kept up a continuous rife
fire upon the little fort at a range of
500 yards. In her own charmingly
modest and simple narrative, Mrs.
Long thusdescribes her feelings when
she first found herself under fire:
81 must humbly confess that DUR
ing the first hour of the firing I was
dreadfully frightened, and took refuge
under a table, for its imaginary shell
ter. Father Walsh, entering the hut
at that moment, with his breviary in
his hand, to look for me, and not find
ing me, as he expected, called me. I
lifted the table cover and poked my
head out, saying, Here I am, Father!'
position struck me as 80 ludicrous
that I burst into q hearty fit of laugh
ter. Not till 4 p. m. was I able to as
certain that, notwithstanding the ter
ribfe fire of the last four hours, not o
had been wounded. My hus-
band, knowing how anxious I should
be as to his safety, looked in as often
as he could to cheer me-"
What with tending the sick and
wounded, and making sandbags, soma-
times turning out as many as four
dozen of them in a day, Mrs. Longs
time was fully occupied. Think of
her there, one woman, little more than
q girl, alone among so men fighting
for their lives against ten times their
number! What wonder that the men
like heroes with this daintily
bred England lady sharing all their
dangers aud setting them an example
Of patience and courage and cheerful
ness. She admitted that at first she
felt the absence of any of her own sex
But the soldiers were so de-
voted TO her, so delicate in their solicit
Jude and consideration for her, that
she soon lost the sense Of loneliness.
One day q strange messenger ar
a little black-and-tan terrier,
with q piece Of paper folded in a rag
led round its neck. It was q commu-
nication from some friendly townsfolk
them that the Beers were
luarreling among themselves, furious
with Dietrich Muller for being such
fool az to allow the English those
i've days to complete their defences;
Ind adding, as ahint, that the defend
,rs of the fort were firing too high
which hint, I need hardly say, was
quickly taken.
The garrison had nothing in the
'hape of q gun with which to meet the
ire Of the two-poundexs that the Beers
lad in position. But one day Mrs.
long suggested to one of the army
|~ervice men that the monkey" Of an
lbyssinian pump which they had
night perhaps be utilized. The idea
promptly seized upon and ingen-
oua1y carried into execution; and the
Loefs ere very much amazed when o
shot weighing two pounds
il ounces. formed ofround crowbar
ron cased in lead, came crashing in
tmong them. mrs. Longs gun" az
81 christened, proved a very valu-
bic addition to the armament OF Fort
dary.
The huts were riddled through and
trough with ronnd-shot and rife
and the escapes from death
rere SO miraculous that Lieutenant
long twice had the men assembled
or a special Thanksgiving service con-
lucted BY. Father Walsh. On one oc-
aston q cannon-shot struck the wall
rithin an inch of Mrs. Longs head
nd COY ered her with dust and debris.
Another time the hut in which she
wed came down about her ears. and
er escape from being crushed in the
uins was marvellous. But she must
eeds, woman-like, go back to rescue
things" and expressed truly
sminine sorrow to find her best bon
ct smashed Al fiat rs q pancake, and
My one cup, two saucers and d couple
+ plates left Of all her cherished
rockery.
Meanwhile, the men kept up their
pirits with music and dancing. aHold
be Fort" with.a strictly local appli-
alton, RAJ o favorite chorus, and the
len invented q version Of the famous
lingo song;
don't want to fight but, by lingo, II We
do,
got the pluck, we've rot the men.
and ~ammunition, too.
'e've fought the Zulu king and Sekskuni,
nd the Beers shall never get Into Fort
nd they never did, though they tried
ieir utmss 81 to drive ont the gallant