270 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



those who go back for them are themselves liable to 

 be surrounded and cut off ; whereas if the last files re- 

 tire in line, keeping pretty close together, a wounded 

 man and his weapons can immediately be taken up 

 by his comrades without delays occurring ; and if the 

 enemy does close in, he has to meet a line of bay- 

 onets, besides the rapid fire of the Martini. Further, 

 until we can put more veterans into the field, the 

 continuous retirement over rough ground, followed 

 by yelling fiends with drawn swords, frantic, and re- 

 gardless of death, yet bobbing about in a way which 

 renders shooting uncertain, will act prejudicially on 

 the retiring soldiers' feelings ; and if a few men are 

 suddenly taken unawares and become panic-stricken, 

 or think it advisable or the right thing to do to make 

 a run for their supports, the consequences might at 

 times be disastrous. 



The enemies we have to deal with in these frontier 

 wars are quite as likely to miss every shot when 

 firing at a line two or four deep as at scattered bodies 

 of skirmishers. In the one case, if they do hit a 

 man, he is carried on easily by his comrades ; in the 

 other, he probably falls behind a bush or rock un- 

 seen, by his friends, and his wounded or dead body 

 becomes the sheath of scores of knives, and his rifle 

 and cartridges are carried off in triumph. 



It has been mentioned above, that behind us were 

 some two thousand spectators. Many of these had 

 come from far. As soon as they saw our retirement 



