After our return to camp I was much gratified to receive from Colonel Ross, the Corps Commander, and Colonel Henry, the Brigade Commander, congratulations on the behaviour of my officers and men throughout the day, and on the morning following General Tucker, the Divisional Commander, came over in person for a similar purpose; but at the same time read me a lecture on the inadvisability of allowing my men to attempt to bring off their wounded comrades when under fire. He pointed out that it only drew fire on the wounded men and endangered their own lives for no adequate result, as the Boers were a very humane foe, who treated the wounded carefully. The troopers, he said, must remember that their first duty as soldiers was to their Queen and country. With deep regret I append a list of the casualties: Killed: Major Eden C. Showers—buried at Spytfontein; Privates R.J. Clayton Daubeny, H.C. Lumsden, R.N. Case, Alfred F. Franks—buried by the Boers. Wounded: Lieutenant Crane; Paymaster David S. Fraser; Sergeant-Major Cyril M.C. Marsham, bullet wounds through shoulders and thigh; Lance-Sergeant J.S. Elliott, shell wound of right foot; Sergeant F.S. McNamara, bullet wound in thigh; Private J.H. Burn-Murdoch, fracture of frontal bone by fall from his horse, which was shot under him during retirement. Of these Sergeant-Major Marsham, Lance-Sergeant Elliott, and Private Burn-Murdoch are in hospital at Karree Siding, and Sergeant McNamara rejoined for duty at Kroonstad. Though General Tucker was constrained, by the wisest military considerations, to rebuke men who, while displaying magnificent qualities of courage and self-sacrifice in attempts to save their wounded comrades, might have endangered the lives of others, we may be sure that he made a mental reservation and wished in his heart that he might have regiments of such men to lead. If the records of his own gallant career have been truthfully kept, he won promotion in the Bhootan expedition of 1866 and in fights against the Zulus twelve years later, and paved the way to a Knight Commandership of the Bath, not so much by obeying the dictates of caution as by brilliant leadership and by conspicuous valour that was almost reckless in its disregard of personal danger. But he knew, with the intuition of a soldier’s quick sympathies, that the corps to whose Colonel his words were addressed wanted no incentive to boldness, but rather a lesson in self-restraint. He had seen a great deal of their gallantry in that action for himself, and his brigadiers had told him more. Lumsden’s Horse, at any rate, had no reason to be ashamed of the way in which they had taken their ‘baptism of fire.’ The devotion of Corporal Firth in sticking to his wounded officer, Lieutenant Crane, under a withering fire was a deed of valour that should be famous throughout the Empire. [Illustration: LIEUTENANT C.E. CRANE]