River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-11-27
TIER Last
Charge <&
BY JOHN w. HARDING.


card the latest from the Philip
pines?" queried young Lieut..
Cay at the Raconteurs' club, as he
glanced up from his newspaper at a
number Of the members who, cigar in
mouth, were enjoying the post-pran-
dial hour Of dolce far niente, utterly
Indifferent, in their contentment and
comfortable surroundings, to the
wind that ratified and the rain that
beat against the windows Of their
Fifth avenue clubhouse. Heres Il
single Filipino who has the sand to
charge a whole American column!"
''WOw!" chorused his listeners, in
creduIously. 'And what happened to
the gentle TagaIog?"
'He isn't, or | suppose it is safe to
say wasn't, TagalOg, but a Moro, re-
piled the lieutenant, though / sup
pose all FilipinOs are alike to us here.
As to what happened to him, the dis
patch leaves it to the imagination"
There was silence for a moment,
then a slight, elegant man Of medium
height, with clean-cut features and a
gray pointed beard, remarked quietly:
THAT recalls a similar and very ex-
traordinary incident which l witnessed
in the Soudan in 1885,"
The speaker was Stanford Hylish, d
visiting English journalist and eX-war
correspondent, to whom the cOurte-
sizes of the club had been extended.
The entire company was attention i'm
mediately, and Mr.. Hylish, on being
pressed, continued:
1T was during the operations, be-
gun too late, alas! for the rescue of
Gordon at Khartoum. / was with the
column commanded by Gen. Sir Her
bert Stewart, which made that famous
dash across the desert to Metemneh
when 1900 Tommies and bluejackets
at Abu Klea fought off 10000 tribes
men whose valOr is immortalized in
Kipling's barrack-room ballad Fuzzy
.WuZzy'
"The column was made up of the
Sussex regiment, mounted infantry,
a camel corps of guardsmen, and a
detachment of memo wars men,
with troop of the Nineteenth hus-
sars acting as scouts. We hurried
along with us four screw guns and a
couple of gatlings. Big Col. Fred
Burnaby, of The Ride to Khiva'
fame, was of the expedition, and re-
ioicing nightly thereat, caring moth
ing (if he had any premonition of
his fate) that it was to mark the
close of his adventurous career. Not
having been able to get himself sent
front ha had caOIraH Savaro1
months leave of absence, and, armed
with a shotgun, had overtak6n the
army on the Nile, having lodged, by
avoiding the Egyptian towns, impera-
tive orders to return telegraphed to
every point of possible interception
by the war department authorities,
who had learned of his departure.
I'VE had made forced march of
is hours and were nearing the wells
at Abu Klea. Not a man had had a
morsel to eat or a drop to drink
during all that time. Most of us
were on the verge of prostration
from fatigue and the torture caused
by the sand and fine dust which
clogged our mouths, ears and nos
trils, causing an intOlerable thirst.
and penetrated our worn and in many
cases ragged clothing. The scouts,
dashing in at breakneck speed, APP
prised us of danger, and we barely
had time to form a square about our
baggage and animals when two
mighty, surging torrents of black hui
manity swept upon us.
Three minutes after the first horde
got within range we could scarcely
see each other, owing to the smoke
from the rifles. There was no wind
The atmosphere, heavy with the ter
rible heat, as it seemed to US, ap-
peared to concentrate the powder
smoke in dense, acrid. choking pail
through which it was impossible to
see the onrushing tribesmen. The
screw guns had to be cleared of sand
before they could be put into action
AS for the gatlings, they had to be
taken to pieces and cleaned Blue
Jackets inside the square were doing
this expeditiously, but with the ut
most calmness, amid pandemonium,