288 Among Men and Horses. 



this purpose to scale the mountain side. In the meantime, 

 General Colley's troops, of about the same number, who had 

 gained the top of the hill before daybreak, found themselves 

 on a piece of ground, which is about 150 yards square, and 

 which is slightly depressed in the centre. It was an ideal 

 position on which to make a stand even against vastly 

 superior numbers ; but with an incredible want of foresight, 

 General Colley neglected to properly defend the edge of this 

 basin which faced the enemy. Had he done so, it would have 

 been impossible for a single Transvaaler to have reached the 

 top. Almost the first intimation of danger which was con- 

 veyed to our men, was the firing of the Boers who had crept 

 up and taken shelter behind the rocks and boulders which 

 surround the ground that had been occupied by the English. 

 Confusion and then panic ensued, with the result of a black- 

 ened page in our military history. These young Dutch 

 farmers were accustomed from their early youth to handle 

 a rifle and stalk game. From the open nature of the veldt, 

 they had to shoot — as they did with extraordinary accuracy 

 — springbok and blessbok, often at distances of from 400 to 

 600 yards. I may mention that our famed Indian shikaris, 

 such as Nightingale, Colonel Campbell {The Old Forest 

 Ranger), Gunning Campbell, Kennedy, Shakespeare, Forsyth, 

 Kinloch and others, have always held that about 200 yards 

 is the limit of a fair sporting range for black buck or ibex. 

 We have, however, this consolation for our feelings as regards 

 Majuba, that if we come, which God forbid, into collision again 

 with the Boers, that we shall find them far less formidable than 

 they were fourteen years ago ; for, owing to the rapid dis- 

 appearance of game, the young Dutchmen are not nearly such 

 good rifle shots as were their fathers. Happily an appeal to 

 arms is not likely to be again needed ; for the attack made 

 by English capital and intellect on the rich gold fields of the 

 Transvaal cannot be resisted by the rough farmers, whose sole 

 ambition is to have a homestead far from the abode of any 

 other man. 



