" "It is a bad
business indeed," Chris said; "and of course all your guns are lost?"
"Every one of them, and what is worse, all the reserve small-arm
ammunition is lost too. The mules carrying them were with ours, and as
the fighting up there has been going on ever since, I am afraid the
infantry must have pretty well used up their last cartridges."
It was not until the next day that the extent of the calamity was known,
when a Boer came down with a white flag asking that doctors might be
sent up. The little column instead of, as had been hoped, surprising the
Boers had itself been ambushed, being suddenly attacked by two strong
parties of the enemy. They at once seized a little eminence, threw up a
breastwork of stone, and defended themselves successfully until the
ammunition was entirely exhausted, and a hundred and fifty had been
killed or wounded. The Boers had, by taking advantage of every bit of
cover, crept up close to them, and a murderous fire was poured in. The
two regiments asked Colonel Carleton, who commanded them, to allow them
to charge with their bayonets and cut their way through. He consented to
allow the desperate attempt to be made, and the men were in the act of
fixing bayonets when someone raised a white flag, and the Boers standing
up advanced to receive the surrender.
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