by G. A. Henty
march brought Woodupon Wetherby's track, and high above them to the right the rear ofBuller's column could be seen. No more unsuitable ground for theoperation of mounted men could be found; perpendicular rocks rose in alldirections, while steep precipices fell away at their feet. Killed andwounded horses were seen at every turn of the road, showing how stoutlythe enemy had held their ground, and how difficult an operation Bullerhad performed. Sending fifty men to work upon the right flank andendeavour to take the Zulus in the rear, Colonel Wood kept his men for afew moments under cover of a friendly ledge of rocks, to take breath andlook to their rifles, girths, and ammunition, and then pressed rapidlyforward and joined the Border Horse.
The scene was now most exciting. The firing was almost continuous, andthe yells of the savages rose from every rock and bush, mingled with theloud cheers of Buller's men far up in front, as they saw the columnapproaching to their aid. The ground was now more level and practicablefor riding, and Colonel Wood mounted his horse and, accompanied by hisown little escort of a dozen men and the Border Horse under ColonelWetherby himself, with his gallant boy, aged fifteen, who was fightingby his side, galloped forward for the front, leaving Colonel Russell incommand of the column. When within a hundred paces of the summit of thecliff a rain of fire opened upon their front and flank from a mass ofZulus firing from caves, crevices, and behind enormous boulders. Fromone cave to the right front an excessively heavy fire was kept up, andColonel Wetherby dashed at this with his men just as Colonel Wood'shorse staggered from a deep assegai wound in the chest. At the samemoment a native from behind a boulder fired at that officer at tenpaces' distance; the bullet missed him and Lieutenant Lloyd rode at theman, but fell, shot through the head. Colonel Wood and Captain RonaldCampbell rode forward to cover his body. Two more Zulus fired at thesame instant and the colonel's horse fell dead. Colonel Wetherby's menwere hotly engaged at close quarters with the Zulus, and were unable tojoin the colonel. Captain Campbell, Lieutenant Lysons, and the eight90th men of the escort rushed at the opening. Captain Campbell fell,shot through the head, but the rest dashed forward.
There was a movement in the cave and a sudden shout in English of "Comeon!" and as the little band dashed in and fell upon the Zulus they saw,to their astonishment, two English boys, armed with assegais, attackingthese in the rear. In another minute the Zulus were all cut down, andthe party returned to Colonel Wood.
On the previous afternoon Zulu scouts had arrived at Zlobani with thenews that an English column was on its way towards it. Messengers weredespatched to Umbelleni's kraal, and at night his force there came tothe assistance of those at Zlobani. Early in the morning the boysproceeded with a number of Zulus to the edge of the plateau, and wereplaced with eight of their guards in a cave. From its mouth theywatched anxiously the events of the day.
Colonel Buller's party had struck upon the right road, and after hardfighting gained the summit of the cliff. Here a great quantity ofcattle were collected, and these were sent off in charge of a body offriendly natives, which accompanied the force. This column in theadvance had not passed near the cave in which the boys were placed.Their hearts beat high as they saw Colonel Wood's column suddenly turnoff from the line which Buller had followed, and make straight for it.Their excitement grew higher and higher as the conflict increased invigour.
Soon the Zulus in the cave were at work. When Captain Campbell chargedforward with his handful of men, Dick and Tom exchanged a glance. Theystood quiet until it was evident that the English attack would be pushedhome; then, as the men of the 90th, led by Lysons, dashed at theentrance of the cavern, the boys seized two assegais and each pinned oneof the crouching Zulus to the ground. Before the others could turnround upon them Lysons and his men were among them.
The fire of Buller's men from above drove the Zulus from theirhiding-places. But Colonel Wood, finding it impossible to make his wayup at this point, moved round at the foot of the rocks, to try and findthe point at which Buller had ascended the cliff. Before doing so,however, the bodies of Captain Campbell and Lieutenant Lloyd werecarried down the hill, and buried in a hastily-made grave. As, carryingtheir wounded men, the little party made their way to the foot of thecliff, Untongo, who had been reconnoitring the rocks on both sides, randown to him and began to talk rapidly, pointing over towards the plain.
Colonel Wood did not understand Kaffir, but Dick, who was standing by,said--
"He says, sir, that there is a great Zulu army marching below."
Colonel Wood mounted a fresh horse, and making his way with greatdifficulty across some broken ground reached a point where he could seethe plain. There, in five continuous columns, the Zulu army fromUlundi, 20,000 strong, was sweeping along at its usual rapid pace. Itwas evident at once that only by a speedy retreat could any of the forcehope to escape. Colonel Wood despatched a message at once to ColonelRussell, who had with his force by this time commenced the ascent at theextreme westerly point, to retrace his steps instantly, and to cover asfar as possible the retreat of the native allies with the cattle.
Colonel Buller above had also seen the coming danger. So far he hadaccomplished his work admirably. The Zulu position had beentriumphantly stormed, and a large number of cattle taken and driven off.
Had Colonel Wood's force and Wetherby's troop arrived on the scene ofaction immediately after Buller had ascended to the plateau, the retreatcould have been made in time, and the expedition would have beensuccessful at all points. The unfortunate incident of their losing thetrack, the delay caused thereby, and their inability to rejoin him hadgiven time for the Ulundi army to come up.
Colonel Buller found that it was impossible now to descend to the plainby the path by which he had ascended. Not only would he have to fighthis way back through the whole force of Umbelleni, but his retreat bythat route would be cut off by the Ulundi men. Consequently, pursued bya great body of exulting Zulus, he made his way along the plateau to thesteep path at its extremity.
The scene here was terrible. The Zulus blocked the way in front andlined both sides. Buller himself, with Piet-Uys, defended the rear,assisting the wounded, and often charging desperately into the ranks ofthe Zulus pressing upon him. The path was slippery with blood andstrewn with dead. As the last of his troop made their way down it,Piet-Uys, a most gallant Dutchman, fell dead across the body of hishorse, with six Zulus, whom he had shot with his revolver, around him.
Wetherby's troop was surrounded, and forty-five out of his eighty menkilled. The colonel himself and his boy both fell, the latter refusingto leave his father, although the latter urged him to gallop off andjoin the column, which appeared to be making its way through the Zulus.Colonel Russell's command got through without so much opposition; butBuller's horse, Piet-Uys' troop, and Wetherby's command sufferedterribly.
Fortunately the Ulundi army did not follow the retreat; first, becausethe tremendous three days' march which they had made had in a greatmeasure exhausted the men, who had started in such haste that they hadbrought no provisions with them, and secondly, on account of the steadyattitude and resolute bearing of Russell's command.
Buller's force reached Kambula camp at half-past seven at night. It hadset in stormy, and torrents of rain were falling. Although he had beenin the saddle for forty-eight hours, Colonel Buller, on hearing that asmall party of the survivors had taken refuge in hiding ten miles away,collected a party of volunteers, and, taking led horses, set out torescue them. This was effected; the fugitives were found to be seven innumber, and returned with their rescuers safely to camp.
The boys had both escaped, two of Wetherby's men, who accompaniedColonel Wood, taking them on their saddles behind them. The total losswas ten officers and seventy-eight men.
For the night the boys were handed over to the charge of one of theofficers of the staff, but in the morning Colonel Wood sent for them,and they then told him the story of their adventures since the battle ofIsandula, with which he was greatly interested. He said that he wouldat once have
sent them to Utrecht, but that the camp would probably beattacked during the day.
The troops had been on the alert all night, expecting an attack. Beforedaylight Captain Raaff was sent out with twenty-five men to reconnoitre,and returned with one of Oham's natives. This man had joined the Zuluarmy as it advanced, and was, fortunately for himself, not recognised bythem as being one of Oham's people. In the night he had slipped away.He reported the Zulus 20,000 strong, a great portion of them being armedwith rifles.
Fortunately little preparation was necessary at Kambula. Nothing hadbeen left to chance here, and there was therefore no fear of arepetition of the Isandula disaster. Each corps, each subdivision, eachsection, and each man had his place allotted to him, and had been toldto be in that place at the sound of the bugle.
The little fort was in a strong position, laid out upon an elevatednarrow reach of
