We were joined here by the General and the rest of the forces, including Colonel Sutton's column, which had successfully attacked the enemy on the Victoria Heights, driving them from their position, and killing twenty, but with a loss of three men killed and five wounded (two of them mortally), and had burnt and destroyed two of their villages, which we saw blazing away fiercely, and sending up volumes of smoke on the Little Amatola across the valley. During our brief rest the rebels sent a messenger of truce to say they wished to surrender. Lieut.-Col. Sutton, riding out by desire of the General, held a parley with about fifty or sixty of them at the edge of the wood. They stated that they wished to leave their Kaffir allies, and requested a week to collect their own people, when they would give themselves up. But, as the General, of course, insisted on immediate surrender, and granted only half an hour instead of a week, they quickly disappeared into the forest, their object having evidently been only to gain time. Observing the enemy again assembling on their former ground, the General ordered the 74th to return through the forest once more. As we worked our difficult way through the underwood, taking care not to lose sight of our right and left files, we kept a sharp look out every step of our way; for each thicket, hollow trunk, or jackal's hole, tuft of grass, or lofty tree, may conceal the stealthy Kaffir when least expected; in an instant the silent forest is suddenly peopled with a legion of naked savages, springing, as it were, out of the earth, with a deadly volley from their unsuspected ambuscade.