Campaigning in Kaffirland; Or, Scenes and Adventures in the Kaffir War of 1851-52King, William Ross
History
Campaigning in Kaffirland; Or, Scenes and Adventures in the Kaffir War of 1851-52
King, William Ross
South Africa -- History -- Frontier Wars, 1811-1878
The troops moved mournfully about their duties, every soldier appearing
to feel the heavy loss we had sustained; the cries and groans of the
wounded, which could be heard in every part of the little camp, added
to the general feeling of sadness; and, like a pall hanging over the
gallant dead that lay in the solitary tent, in front of which there
slowly paced a sentinel, the cold dark clouds rested on the lonely
peak, and enveloped us in a mist so dense that our evening fires were
hardly visible at a few yards, and our moving figures loomed through
it like giants. We went to take a farewell look at the bodies of our
late gallant Chief, and poor Carey, as brave a young fellow as ever
lived, highly talented, and beloved by us all. They lay side by side
with the men who had fallen that day, the corpses ranged on the grass,
each covered by a blanket; reverently uncovering their heads, we gazed
silently on their familiar faces; the Colonel's was as tranquil as
though he were sleeping, which, but for the blood that covered his
uniform and hands, might have been supposed. A change had passed over
poor Carey's. The men lay with fixed and rigid features, some with
their stony eyes still open, or their lower jaws fallen; it was a
mournful and touching spectacle. I could scarcely realize the death of
two officers, whom I had daily met for years, and had only a few hours
before conversed with in the full vigour of life. Slowly and silently
we left the tent, and without speaking sought our own fires.
The wounded, who lay on their stretchers on the ground, received every
possible attention; their own comrades, on such occasions, rough as
they may appear, move gently about the sick man, anticipating such
wants, and administering such comforts as are in their power, with
a woman's delicacy and forethought. Poor Gordon, over whose head we
had built a shelter of green boughs, suffered dreadful agonies all
night. The doctors, when questioned as to his case, shook their heads
in doubt; the ball had entered the outside of the right thigh, and,
passing through it, entered the inside of the left one fracturing the
bone close to the socket, and leaving two frightful lacerated wounds.
So close was the Kaffir who fired it, that Gordon had attempted to
seize his gun.
Soon after dark a drizzling rain came on, and the wind swept piercingly
cold over our lofty resting place; the men threw up little walls of the
loose stones and rock that lay about, or dug holes in the softer parts,
and piling the earth round them and large slabs of stone over, crept in
for shelter, and all but the orderly officers and weary sentinels were
soon slumbering after the fatigues of the day, in happy forgetfulness
of its horrors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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