[1] Colonel Ormelie Campbell Hannay was in his fifty-second year, having been born on December 23, 1848. He entered the army as an ensign in the 93rd Foot (now the Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) on October 5, 1867, received his lieutenancy on the 28th of October 1871, and from February to November 1878 was instructor of musketry. Obtaining his captaincy on November 17, 1878, he was employed on special service in South Africa during the latter part of the Zulu War, from June to October 1879, for which he had the medal with clasp. From April to September 1883 he was aide-de-camp to the brigadier-general at Aldershot, was gazetted a major in January 1884, and from September 1886 to November 1887 was again employed on staff service, for the first portion of the period as an aide-de-camp in Bengal, and for the latter portion in Bombay. He became lieutenant-colonel in June 1893, and colonel in June 1897, and in June 1899 was placed on the half-pay list, from which he was removed last October in order to take up the temporary appointment of assistant-adjutant-general at Portsmouth. Not till December 30, 1899, was he chosen for special service in South Africa. [2] Lieutenant-Colonel William Aldworth, D.S.O., was forty-four years of age, having been born on October 3, 1855. He entered the army as a sub-lieutenant on June 13, 1874, and was gazetted to the 16th Foot, of which he was adjutant from October 17, 1877, to March 29, 1881. Gazetted a captain in the Bedfordshire Regiment on March 30, 1881, he served with the Burmese Expedition from January 14, 1885, to March 3, 1886, as aide-de-camp and acting military secretary to Sir Harry Prendergast, first as a major-general in Madras, and then as general officer commanding in Upper Burma, being mentioned in despatches and receiving the D.S.O. and the medal with clasp. He also took part in the Isazai Expedition in 1892, and in February 1893 was gazetted a major. In 1895 he served with the Chitral Relief Force under Sir Robert Low with the 1st battalion of his then regiment (the Bedfordshire), and took part in the storming of the Malakand Pass and the engagement near Khar, for which he had the medal with clasp. Again he was in active service in 1897-98, under Sir William Lockhart, in the campaign on the North-West Frontier of India, with the Tirah Expeditionary Force as deputy-assistant-adjutant-general of the 2nd Brigade, and with the Khyber Force as deputy-assistant-adjutant-general, being present at the forcing of the Sampagha and Arhanga Passes, and the operations against the Chamkanis and in the Bazar Valley. He was mentioned in despatches, received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel (May 20, 1898), and two clasps. He obtained the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on October 12, 1898. CHAPTER II MAFEKING IN DECEMBER AND JANUARY