128 TALES OF A NOMAD. 



laid lightly on my shoulder and I moved aside in answer 

 to a polite request. A certain gallant cavalry officer 

 passed me and ran up the kopje, as unconcernedly as 

 though he were going up the steps of a club. I believe 

 he was the first man on the top, and I am glad to say 

 was not hurt. 



We now held the position, and the most dreadful 

 part of the play began. The engineers came up and 

 threw heavy charges of gun-cotton into the mouths of 

 the caves. The ground shook with each terrific report, 

 and I even managed to pity the feelings of the wretched 

 Basutos in the caves. 



I heard of a gallant thing done by one of the enemy. 

 He deliberately removed the burning fuzes from two 

 successive charges of gun-cotton. The suspicion of the 

 engineers being aroused, they shortened the fuze of the 

 third charge with the result that it exploded while the 

 brave Basuto was endeavouring to remove it. I heard 

 this story, but cannot vouch for the truth of it. 



A day or two afterwards when the whole affair was 

 over, I entered the caves to observe the effect of the gun- 

 cotton. Huge rocks had been split and rent about as 

 though they were mere bricks. I saw a ghastly spec- 

 tacle. It was the corpse of a Basuto flattened out. He 

 had been lying on a flat rock watching the mouth of the 

 cave, to fire at anyone who attempted to enter. An 

 explosion had split another huge boulder, and a portion 

 of it had fallen upon him, squashing him flat. His 

 head and one arm and shoulder were protruding. 



We lost a few valuable officers and men in this affair, 

 but the Amaswazi suffered most heavily. I was informed 

 that in this and other fights they lost seven hundred 

 killed. 



