102 
SPOET AND WAE. 
CHAP. XIII. 
defile to the narrow ridge where we found the trunks of 
the five dead officers—I say the trunks, for their heads 
had been cut off and carried away to have diabolical 
processes of witchcraft and other c devilry 5 perpetrated 
on them. 
It was quite evident that these officers had been 
watched by the enemy the day before, and allowed to 
pass through this defile and ascend the table-topped 
mountain beyond it. The Kafirs must then have closed 
in on the neck and attacked the officers on the plateau 
above, for the spoor or trace of their horses showed 
that they had made a rush to get down from the 
mountain, and had been compelled to descend at a very 
steep part. Unfortunately, they were waylaid on the 
neck, and a struggle must have ensued there. The five 
bodies were quite near each other, and all had received 
more or less wounds, except the Doctor’s, who did not 
appear to have received a single wound. His body was 
on a flat stone surface, quite naked, minus the head; and 
the quantity of blood which had flowed from him was 
equal to that from a bullock. It was a horrible sight. 
The bodies were sent back to camp in charge of an 
escort, and the troops proceeded on to attack the Kafirs, 
who had assembled in large numbers on the peninsula 
towards the Kie Kiver, with a ford across the river in 
their rear, through which they could retire when beaten 
and escape to the hills on the other side. The General 
