The Irish standard., 1902-01-04

sides was extreme: the Beers marvel
ing at their easy victory, the English
astonshcd to hear their mother tongue
spoken so perfectly among barbarians.
The Irish Fusilccrs in turn were con-
founded to find so many OF their coun.
trymcn fighting with the Bocrs
Good feeling prevailed, however.
and the prisoners were plcntifully
supplied with hot coffee, fresh meat
and dry clothes before being shipped
to Pretoria. There they remained
objects OF curiosity until so many
wholesale captures made them COM
monplucc.
Navigation Collcrics was Il part OF the
battle varously described as Dundee
ana Talnna Hill. 1t resulted from the
concentrated movement OF three col
umns under General Joubcrt, who,
taking care of the main column him
self. intruStcd the others to Niljocn,
Bothn, Erasmus and Meyer. Tho Bo-
rrs numbered about twelve thousand.
They had left their farms. cleaned
their rifles. packed their wagons ami
reported for duty. all in twenty -four
hours. The entire army mobiliZcd
in two days, one detachment moving
upon Kimberley and Mnfcking, where
several engagements took place prior
to the battle of Dundee, the other and
largrr force scizing strong positions in
the mountain passes Of the Drakcns-
berg.
The British War Department had
called out the army reserves on Oct. G,
three days before the Beers sent their
"ultimatum," ana it was almost Il ccr-
tainty that Natal would be invaded.
But up to the last moment Englshmcn
could not believe Kruger had so great
tcmcrity Lieutenant Stirling, of the
First Kings Royal Rifles, who was
stationed at Dundee along with seven
thousand others, under the command
of Sir Penn Symons, said after the
lnttlc: 1--WE parndcd as usual in the
morning, 4.3O. We had dismissed the
men and went back for a cup of tea,
when one OF our fellows said: "Thcrc
they are" or course we all laughed,
went and got our glasses, ana saw
them all on two hills, two or three
miles away. We were so amazed we
must have stood there for nearly Il
quarter of an hour when suddenly
shell brought MS to our senses"
Ben ViljOcn-fOr it was his COM
mnnd the English saw--had planted
his cannon on EalanH Hill, and in Il
few minutes shells were singing and
SplaSlling all over the British camp.
The b,rgllcrs lay behind rocks on the
hiIlsidcs. IL was Sir Penn Symons
plan to charge their position. The
order came, "Dublins first line, Rifles
second, Fusiccrs third" and Col.
Robert Cunning said, as he called to-
gcthcr the noncOmmissioncd officers:
"Now, quietly, lads. Remember Ma
jubn, God and our country"
Up over hedges, bitches, stone walls
ana nullahs the British infantry rush
ed, dcplOying, charging and mHnOeuv-
cring during Il space of four hours in
their attempt to dislodgc the enemy.
In the midst of it nn awful thing hap
pcncd-thc English artillery, mistaking
the Fusilccrs for Beers, began firing
on them. Colonel Cunning stood up,
calling out, "Stop that firing" when IL
bullet plunged through his heart. Sir
Penn Symons met n similar fate.
M0rtally wounded and suffering in
tense agony, he asked: ooh, tell me,
have they taken the hill yet?" Two
hours later the hill was taken, the
Beers in retreat, but they had accom-
plishcd great havoc. The British
casualties included two hundred and
fifty killed and wounded and two hun
drcd ana twenty missing.
From that time on events followed
tragic and tumultuous in Natal. Cen
cral Yule succeeded Sir Penn SymOns,
ana after q terrible march, or rather
fight, reached Ladysmith, where his
exhausted troops rested, making the