There was no glory in trying to proceed in the teeth--nay, into the jaws--of so overpowering a foe, a foe who was on the eve of outflanking us. It would have been walking into a fiery furnace--into the pocket of hell. Another council of war took place. Retirement was suggested. General Hart, as distinguished for valour as General Lyttelton for brave discretion, proposed the storming of Doorn Kop. He and his were ready for everything: he had Ireland at his back. But Pat was not to be thrown away on an impossible undertaking, and consequently the majority had their way, and the retirement was effected. On Friday the whole glorious persevering band were again across the Tugela, preparing to strike out in a fresh direction. [Illustration: FALLS ON THE TUGELA RIVER. Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.] The following is the list of casualties between the 5th and 7th of February:-- _Killed_:--1st Durham Light Infantry--Major Johnson Smith; Second Lieutenant Shafto. _Wounded_:--1st Durham Light Infantry--Lieut.-Colonel Fitzgerald; Captain Lascelles; Second Lieutenant Lambton; Second Lieutenant Appleby. 1st Rifle Brigade--Captain Thorp; Captain Talbot; Lieutenant Blewitt; Lieutenant Ellis; Lieutenant Sir T. Cunninghame, Bart. 3rd King's Royal Rifles--Lieutenant Sims. Royal Artillery--Lieut.-Colonel Montgomery, Captain Dawson, 78th Battery R.F.A. 2nd Scottish Rifles--Second Lieutenant Ferrars. 2nd West Yorkshire--Second Lieutenant Bicknell. 2nd East Surrey--Captain White. R.A.M.C., Major Rose. DISAPPOINTMENT AT LADYSMITH The fearful and ghastly activity of the 6th of January ceased with dusk. Night descended: she came softly as the footsteps of angels moving lightly among the tranquil dead. The moon, with pale white serenity, looked down on the scene of carnage, so still, so appallingly still; and the dots of twinkling stars seemed like a thousand eyes of heaven, seeing and inquiring how the face of the fair earth could grow so changed within a day. And everywhere there moved leaden hearts and feet weary with the long strain of foregone hours. Hunger, exposure, and long vigils had become a daily routine, but this close and sustained attack, and the terrible havoc it had wrought on the weakening numbers, brought with it new alarms. True, the bayonet, the trusty bayonet, had served its turn, and might serve again, so long as strength would hold out. But there were doubts. The Russian general Suvaroff once said, "The ball is a fool, but the bayonet is a brick." He took it for granted that the bayonet even must needs have a man, and not the ghost of a man, at the back of it; and the poor heroes in Ladysmith were fast becoming shadows of the hale and muscular fellows who had scaled the steeps of Talana Hill and broken the echoes of Elandslaagte with the yell of victory. Sadly and solemnly they now set themselves to the pathetic work of removing the slain.