DEFENCE OF EKOWE. 
461 
occasion, sitting next to General Pearson when the following message 
was spelt out:—“Mrs. Pearson is—** then a dead silence all round; 
the sun had gone in and, as yet, we were unable to tell what he next 
word would be; would it be dead, or alive, or what ? • I shall never 
forget my general*s face when the sun having again shone out we red- 
the letter u W,** and he at once knew the word would be “ Well.** His 
look was that of intense relief. 
At the end of each day the “ Latest Telegrams ** were posted on a 
board in the fort, and eagerly devoured by the men. 
As we now fully expected relief on 13th March, we made every 
effort to repair the road for the advance of the relieving column. This 
operation was carried out under considerable difficulty, for so sure as 
the troops were marched down to their work, so certain were the 
Zulus to collect from the neighbouring kraals and open fire on them. 
We were obliged to take out the guns and an escort every morning to 
cover the road party. As a rule the Zulus opened their fire from long 
ranges and did no damage; however, they succeeded in wounding 
poor Lewis, of the “ Buffs/* very badly in the head; he was directing 
the men of his company, which was posted just below the guns, when 
I saw him fall, he was instantly picked up by two of his men; on 
arriving on the spot, I saw his face covered with blood and found that 
the bullet had passed through the peak of his helmet and hit his 
forehead just above the eye—a very lucky escape. 
We were now receiving three-fourths our proper rations of every¬ 
thing except meat. We had killed all the “fatted** oxen and were 
living on the “trek” or draft bullocks. Hard was no name for 
the meat; it was simply impossible to get one*s teeth through it 
unless it was stewed down to ribbons. However, we were quite happy 
as we hoped to see the relief column on 13th. 
Our utter dismay and disappointment may then be easily imagined 
when we received the following flash-signal on 12th March:—“ The 
relief column will not march till the end of the month, as Lord 
Chelmsford considers it advisable to await the arrival of reinforcements.** 
Our hopes, buoyed up for the past 10 days, were now dashed to 
the ground; we were to return to monotony and imprisonment. It 
was heart-breaking to be forced to impart this news to the sick, some 
of whom had, seemingly, taken a new lease of life at the idea of relief 
being so close at hand. Poor Captain Williams of the “ Buffs ** died on 
this very evening, and young Coker of the “ Active,** the midshipman 
who was so popular amongst us all, died of dysentry. He was a fine 
young fellow, beloved by his men, and only eighteen years* old. His 
burial was the most affecting sight I ever witnessed in my short life; 
there were very few dry eyes. Out of our small force there were 
150 men in the hospital, where there was overcrowding and a deficiency 
of medicine; the doctors worked manfully, and did all in their power 
to alleviate the suffering of their patients. The majority of the sick 
suffered from fever, which in most cases turned to delirium. The 
moaning of these poor men throughout the night was painful to hear, 
especially as one was certain to be informed in the morning that 
another death had occurred. 
57 
