On the 23rd of March an unlucky incident took place in the neighbourhood of Karee Siding. Some officers of the Guards Brigade rode off from Glen Camp in the early morning to make arrangements with the local farmers for ensuring forage and supplies. Glen Siding is a station on the Orange Free State Railway some fourteen miles north of Bloemfontein. Near here the Brigade of Guards and a force of Mounted Infantry had been stationed owing to the destruction by the Boers of a bridge on the Modder. Other troops were posted at intervals along the line of rail in order to watch over the enemy and prevent any further efforts at dynamite wrecking. On this day the party consisted of Colonel Crabbe, 3rd Grenadiers (who greatly distinguished himself in the battle of Belmont, and was wounded); Colonel Codrington, Coldstreams; Adjutant Hon. E. Lygon, who was also wounded at Belmont; Captain Trotter, and an orderly, Private Turner of the 1st Cape Volunteers. Why, when officers of high rank were so extremely valuable, these two Colonels should have thus recklessly exposed themselves has never been satisfactorily explained. The day was spent in making a tour of the farms, and everything went well until the middle of the afternoon. While riding along close to a homestead called Maas Farm, the Guards party discovered that four mounted men were making for a kopje as though to head them off. Whereupon the party instantly advanced to meet the enemy. These promptly hid themselves behind the friendly boulders, where they were joined by three other Dutchmen, who assisted them in pouring a smart shower of lead upon the approaching officers. These, with only four Lee-Metfords between them, made an effort to get at the unseen enemy, but in a very few moments all the members of the British band had dropped. Colonel Crabbe had a bullet through arm and leg, and his horse was killed. Colonel Codrington was injured in the thigh. Lieutenant Lygon was shot through the heart and died instantaneously, while Captain Trotter and Private Turner were also wounded. The situation was a lamentable one. The veldt was strewn with helpless men, while from the kopje the Dutchmen continued to fire, the flute-like song of the Mauser falling ominously on the ears of the gallant men who were unable to move a limb in defence. Then between the prostrate Colonels a debate took place. Now that resistance was useless, each invited the other to display a white handkerchief. One refused because he declared he couldn't--his handkerchief was a crimson one. The other refused because he vowed he wouldn't--his handkerchief was a British one, and never manufactured for waving at Boers. But, finally, he was brought to reason, and immediately on the display of the magic square the Boers ceased fire. They now emerged from their boulders, tended the wounded, spoke apologetically of their good marksmanship, and finally carried off their prizes to the neighbouring farm. Here the