It is interesting to note that both those brave men, Lord William Beresford and Fitzmaurice, were Irishmen, O’Toole, who came to the rescue, was Irish, and the horse which bore them into safety was Irish, each so splendid in their several parts; Lord William risking his life to save his countryman, he in his turn refusing to jeopardise his officer’s life, then the plucky Irish horse straining every nerve in response to his master’s bidding, though carrying a double burden of swaying riders. Again, the Irishman that grasped the situation, and without waiting for any word of command, lost not a moment in riding to their rescue, no precious time being lost in wondering what had happened, and if there had been a disaster. Truly a quartet of distinction. It was hard to tell when they arrived at last in safety who was the sufferer, for all were bathed in gore. Mr. Archibald Forbes, the clever newspaper correspondent, tells the story of how on the afternoon of the same day, hearing Lord William was to be recommended for a V.C., he hurried to his tent to tell him the news, and congratulate him; finding his lordship fast asleep, the sleep of exhaustion, he debated in his mind whether to awake him to hear the good news or let him sleep on and recuperate; deciding on the former, only to be rewarded by having a boot thrown at his head and being told to go to h---- (heaven, I suppose). Later on, hearing he really was to be recommended for the Cross for Valour, he remarked it would be no pleasure to him unless O’Toole received one also. I wonder how many men there are who would have thought of that? No doubt O’Toole’s promptness had a good deal to do with the ultimate safety of the party, but it was due to Lord Bill’s courage and kindness of heart that the episode occurred, and to him, assuredly, the greater glory. In a letter written at this time by Lord William to Lady Lytton he says, speaking of his experiences, “They were indeed two days worth living for, and never to be forgotten. I was lucky in the day’s reconnaissance inasmuch that I helped to save a poor man’s life, whose horse fell with him, about 200 yards from 3000 Zulus. He was half stunned and bleeding a good deal. I galloped back to him and with difficulty got him on to my horse (even more exciting than the gymkhana races two on one pony). The Zulus had come to within 50 yards of us when I managed to start off at a gallop with him, never thinking that the pair of us would get out alive, but we did.” It will be remembered that it was during this savage war that Prince Louis Napoleon lost his life. When Lord Bill, or “Fighting Bill” as he was now called, returned to India, many people hardly knew him he was so altered in appearance, owing to his having grown a beard. It certainly entirely changed his face, and his friends were glad when he turned up one morning “in his right mind” as somebody expressed it, or, in other words, shaved, and as he was before he wasn’t.