Chapter III · (continued 2)

It would be difficult to describe the marvellously rugged and weird nature of the rocks around, and the ghastly features of the sheer precipices gaping on either side. Killed and wounded horses now were seen at every turn of the road, showing how stoutly the enemy must have held their ground, and how difficult an operation Buller had performed. Sending fifty men round to work on our right flank and to endeavour to take the Zulus in the rear, Colonel Wood kept his men for a few moments under cover of a friendly ledge of rocks to look to their rifles, girths, and ammunition, and then ascended rapidly to the front, passing the Border Horse, who had by this time got off the track. The scene was at this moment intensely exciting. The firing was almost continuous, and the yells of the savages were re-echoed back by the loud and heart-stirring cheers of their gallant comrades, who had seen Wood's column coming and gave them this encouragement. It was not long before they came under more direct fire, and at this juncture Colonel Wood, who had been keeping his men cool and steady by his own presence of mind and good-humoured encouragement, left Colonel Russell in charge, and jumping upon his horse, as the ground was now practicable for riding, trotted through the skirmishers, and, closely followed by his staff and escort, pushed rapidly to the front. This party, with a dozen of the Border Horse, galloped to within a hundred paces of the summit of the cliff, where they saw that they were in the thick of the fire, raining upon them both from front and flank, and proceeding from a mass of Zulus skirmishing in the most artistic and workmanlike manner from their caves, crevices, and enormous boulders which formed the natural fortifications of the mountain plateau. At this moment Weatherly, with his gallant and noble-hearted boy, aged only fifteen, and who insisted on fighting by his father's side, were cheering on their men, dashing boldly into the caves, and closing in mortal strife with the Zulus. "Take a dozen men over to the cave to the right front, and rattle out the fellows who are firing so well, Colonel Weatherly," said Colonel Wood, as his horse staggered under him from a deep assegai wound in the chest, and a savage from behind a boulder fired at that officer at ten paces' distance. The bullet missed him, and Llewellen Lloyd, seeing the man loading quickly again, at once rode to cut him down, and was shot through the head. Wood, seeing this officer fall, dashed spurs into his wounded horse and galloped up to catch him, closely followed by Ronald Campbell. Two other Zulus from the cave now fired simultaneously at the colonel, whose horse at this moment was again struck, and fell upon him. The colonel was upon his feet in a moment, and assisted Captain Campbell and his orderly to carry Lloyd's body to a ledge more out of the way. The shot which killed poor Llewellen Lloyd tore Colonel Wood's sleeve underneath his arm before reaching its mark. As Colonel Weatherly's men were engaged with several Zulus at close quarters, some little delay occurred in their advance upon the cave, whence the fire was most galling; and Ronald Campbell, calling on Lysons and some of the escort to follow him, dashed at the opening, having first cleared a sort of breastwork at the entrance. Poor Campbell fell, shot through the head; and Lysons and a brave fellow, Corporal Fowler, following closely upon the footsteps of the brave young guardsman, killed the two remaining Zulus within the cave, while another, severely wounded, managed to crawl away through a narrow crevice in the rock. Having ascertained that the enemy were retreating before Buller on the summit, Colonel Weatherly was sent to make a small circuit lower down the cliff, to endeavour to hit off the path by which the former had so successfully ascended, and which the others were unfortunate enough to miss. Buller, in the meanwhile, was not only driving the Zulus' cattle before him, but was able to assist his comrades by his fire from his vantage-ground above. The enemy in front and flank retired, disputing every available spot, while Weatherly was most skilfully working round to their left rear. His disposition of his men was most judicious, and he rendered very material help to Wood's portion of the force, intercepting and driving back a strong party which were coming up to assist the body they were engaging. These, however, eventually took up a formidable position in some caves in a deep kloof, from which they kept up a constant and dropping fire. Amongst Wood's party they had up to this time but few casualties, though the loss of such splendid and noble-hearted soldiers as Campbell and Lloyd was a terrible blow to their chief, whose right hand men they were. Colonel Wood, in spite of the galling fire still maintained by the entrenched Zulus, assisted the party told off to carry the bodies of the dead to a place about half way down the first hill, where, in disregard of the bullets which kept rattling round, these noble young heroes were buried in a soldier's glorious grave, the funeral honours being discharged over them by the rifles of friend and foe.

Colonel Wood now made a flank movement with a portion of the column in a north-westerly direction, to see if a junction could be effected with that portion of the men which had been left in the charge of Colonel Russell. In effecting this change of position Wood had to pass under the steepest cliffs of the Zlobani Mountain. Umtongo, true to his Rob Roy and predatory instincts, had utilised his opportunity by a little cattle-lifting, and, in spite of the rather hot time he had been experiencing, was engaged in driving, with the aid of his people, a herd of sheep and goats abandoned by the foe. As Wood's party were carrying their wounded men, and now and then halted to give them stimulants, their progress was necessarily slow, and this delay led to serious consequences, for the large reinforcements they knew might arrive from Ulundi later in the day had, without their knowledge, actually arrived, and were marching parallel to their right front, and concealed from sight. Umtongo was the first to discover the proximity of this hostile array, and, although without an interpreter, Colonel Wood understood enough of his language, aided by signs, to comprehend the gravity of the situation. The colonel, having obtained a fresh horse, cantered across some very broken ground to a high bluff just under the Zunguin's Neck, and, guided by some of Oham's people, managed, not without considerable difficulty, to reach a point upon a ledge of rock whence he could, without a glass, see the movements and exact formation of the enemy's force. The column was evidently the reinforcements expected from Ulundi, and had a portion of the English column not missed its way on the night of the 27th, it is tolerably certain they would have effected the object of their raid and retreated to the shelter of the camp without much loss. Wood knew of the despatch of this army on the 24th, but did not calculate that it could have compassed the distance it marched in three days. As matters stood, however, the colonel and his staff could see from their coign of vantage that the Zulu army from Ulundi were marching in a line of five contiguous columns, with a line of skirmishers thrown out in front and on flank, forming the usual horns and chest. From subsequent description given by Buller, it appears that the first part of his task was successfully carried out; that the track up the Zlobani was correctly hit off, the Zulu entrenched caves triumphantly carried by storm, and a large quantity of cattle taken and driven off. Had Wood's portion of the attack and that commanded by Weatherly appeared on the scene of action in time to support Buller's splendid onslaught, all would have gone well, but the delay caused by their missing the track enabled the Zlobani followers of Umbelini and Manyanyoba to hold their own ground until the arrival of the Ulundi army. Buller did all that a skilled general could effect to bring off his men with small loss, but from the nature of the ground it was in this instance almost impossible for cavalry to work with any degree of celerity. The mountain having been carried soon after daybreak, a long off-saddle to feed the horses and an unavoidable delay of four hours were made, to enable the main division to come up. Suddenly the immense force of Zulus, seen by Wood from the Zunguin's Neck, was observed by Colonel Buller and Oham's scouts. An immediate but orderly retreat was commenced, but could not be effected without the most desperate fighting and severe loss. The enemy had massed themselves on three sides of the mountain, and only one terribly steep path was left to descend. This was thoroughly blocked by the Zulus, who, under cover, rained bullets and assegais upon these devoted men, and then, when the moment came for close fighting, dashed in dense masses upon their thinned and weakened files. Halfway down this fearful gorge the road was so narrow and so steep that it was nearly closed up by the proximity of the tall cliffs on either side. These hills seemed to be formed of smooth and slippery ledges, over which many wounded men and horses fell, coming down upon the points of the assegais waiting below to receive them! Caves, with natural breastworks, like casemated batteries, were on either side of the path, wet and slippery with blood. Colonel Wood was of opinion that the Ulundi army did not follow up Buller's retreat for two reasons: first, because its wonderful three days' march had in a great measure exhausted the men, who came in such haste as to dispense with provisions and spare ammunition; and secondly, on account of the powerful demonstration the main or second division made on their flank even at the eleventh hour. To the cool valour and devoted courage of Colonel Buller the safety of those who came back to camp was due. He fought at the rear of the retiring column, assisting the wounded, charged desperately at the dense masses of fiery Zulus who were pressing on with the thirst of blood, and not until he saw the last of his band through this terrible kloof did he turn his horse to follow his men, or to think of his own safety.

Seeing that nothing more could be done to help Buller in his retreat, Colonel Wood despatched a messenger to Colonel Russell, who by this time had commenced the ascent of the extreme westerly point of the range, to retrace his steps eastward, and to cover the retreat of the native allies upon the camp. Russell lost no time in carrying out these instructions, but before he could arrive several natives had been overtaken and speared. The Kambula camp was reached by the column about 7.30. Buller, on learning that our gallant young friend Barton had not returned, and was away on foot with the survivors of the Border Horse, some ten miles off, at once obtained permission from Colonel Wood to go in search of the party. The evening had set in stormy, and torrents of rain were now coming down. Buller had been in the saddle for forty-eight hours, was severely contused, and had escaped death by almost a miracle; but setting a noble example, he obtained a party of volunteers, and taking led horses, started on his expedition. Seven men, who would probably have never reached the camp, were brought in by this gallant act, and these were the sole survivors of Barton's Horse. It would seem that in attempting to follow Wood's track in retiring they were overtaken and cut off. They then attempted to retreat by the north and the Hyntecha Kloof, where the majority died fighting gallantly to the last. Splendid, manly, honest, simple, and taciturn Piet Uys, whose father, uncles, and cousins fought and fell in the old wars with Dingaan! On the evening of the 17th, after the conference in Wood's tent, he spoke in the most feeling terms of his children, of whom, like all Cape Dutchmen, he was passionately fond, and Colonel Wood, with that thoughtful kindness for which he is so well known, at once said that, should anything happen to the father, he would interest himself with the Government to provide for the orphans. Piet Uys could have easily escaped, but, like Buller, he would see the last of his men clear before turning rein. He was last seen with his back to the cliff, standing across the body of his favourite "mooi paard" (grey horse), with six large Zulus lying dead in a circle round him, his empty revolver in his left hand and his body pierced by two assegais! Colonel Weatherly's Horse went into action about eighty strong, and of these brave fellows forty-five were dead, including the gallant colonel and his brave, intelligent, and handsome son, a lad of fifteen, who, at an age when many an English youth is celebrated only in the cricket-field or on the river, had seen more of real fighting than many a veteran in the regulars. Nothing could be more sad than Weatherly's death. At the fatal hour when all save honour seemed lost, he placed his beloved boy upon his best horse, and kissing him on the forehead, commended him to another Father's care above, and implored him to overtake the nearest column of the English horse, which seemed at that time to be cutting its way out. The boy clung to his father, and begged to be allowed to stay by his side, and share his life or death. The contrast was characteristic. The man, a bearded, bronzed, and hardy sabreur, with a father's tears upon his cheek, while the blue-eyed and fair-haired lad, with much of the beauty of a girl in his appearance, was calmly and with a smile of fond delight loading his father's favourite carbine. When the two noble hearts were last seen, the father, wounded to death with cruel assegais, was clasping his boy's hand with his left, while the right cut down the brawny savages who came to despoil him of his charge.

Though in all these operations of which mention has been lately made Lord Chelmsford never once appears, it must not therefore be supposed that he had rested from his labours. On the contrary they were more incessant and arduous than ever. When the news of Isandhlwana first reached the colonies, it caused the utmost excitement and wildest apprehensions. Nothing less, it was averred, was about to happen than an immediate and overwhelming invasion of Natal by the Zulus. The black men were on the point of sweeping the whites into the sea. Lord Chelmsford's first duty, after an urgent application to the home authorities for reinforcements, was to render these alarms groundless. To organize of a sudden the defence of so extended a frontier was no easy task. How thoroughly and conscientiously it was performed the result testifies.

Another duty scarcely less urgent was the rescue of Colonel Pearson. And in this project he received aid, as valuable as unexpected, from the Governor of St. Helena. No sooner did that official hear of Lord Chelmsford's urgent need, than he at once assumed the responsibility of sending on the garrison of his island—in all 160 soldiers—to the rescue. Captain Bradshaw, of H.M.S. "Shah," chanced to be lying in the harbour, homeward bound, after a period of foreign service, but he hesitated not one whit more than the Governor. He embarked the garrison, and on February 19th had anchored at Durban. There a naval brigade of 400 men was furnished from his ship; and thus it came about that long before reinforcements from England could arrive, and on the day that Zlobani was fought, Lord Chelmsford was already well on the way to deliver Pearson from his captivity.