266 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



rushed toward his victim to recover the weapon, but the wounded 

 man still had strength left to draw a revolver and kill his assail- 

 ant. The enemy was dispersed by a raking fire, but less than a 

 mile beyond, when descending a hill in close order, an uproar 

 broke out suddenly as if all the demons of hell had resolved upon 

 a fight. Yells, screams, drums, horns, whistles, from many 

 thousands of concealed savages for an instant startled the troops. 

 Says Baker: "A tremendous rush in the grass gave notice of a 

 general attack from an immensely powerful ambuscade. The 

 officers did their duty. Every load was upon the ground, and in 

 a moment alternate files were facing to the right and left, kneel- 

 ing just as the lances began to fly across the path. The bugles 

 rang out ' fire,' and the fight commenced on our side. I saw 

 several lances pass within an inch or two of my wife's head ; 

 luckily we were kneeling on one knee. The file-firing was 

 extremely good, and the Sniders rattled without intermission. 

 The grass was so dense that simple buck-shot would be reduced 

 to a very limited range, although excellent at close quarters. 

 The servants quickly handed the elephant breech-loaders, and a 

 double shot to the right and left was followed by the loud explo- 

 sion of the picrate of potash shells against some unseen object, 

 either men or trees. A quick repetition of the picrate shells 

 seemed to affect the spirit of the attack. I imagine that the 

 extremely loud explosion of the shells in the midst, and perhaps 

 also in the rear of the enemy, led them to suppose that they 

 were attacked from behind." 



It is difficult to say how long the attack continued, but a vast 

 amount of ammunition was expended before the lances ceased 

 to fly through the line, and the drums and horns were at length 

 heard at a greater distance in the rear. The bugle at once sounded 

 the "advance," and the men marched forward, crossing the 

 stream at the bottom, and gained the open, where they found 

 themselves in a kind of swampy field of about ten acres. " Ha !" 

 exclaimed many of the soldiers, "if we could only get them on 

 a clear space like this." 



The rear-guard had been hotly pressed, and the natives had 



