told that, if he went, he was not to interfere with him, because his Imperial Highness, eager to re-gild the tarnished Eagles of his House, desired to have all the credit of conducting the [Illustration: MARRIAGE OF THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT. (_From the Picture by S. P. Hall._)] [Illustration: QUEEN VICTORIA (1887). (_From a Photograph by Lafayette, Dublin._)] [Illustration: THE MAUSOLEUM, FROGMORE.] Expedition. The Prince was in command of the party,[150] and in a fit of boyish impatience, and in defiance of Carey’s advice, ordered it to march without waiting for the six Basutos, who were late of putting in an appearance. He led his little troop on for some distance, and then, without taking the most ordinary precautions against surprise, he halted--again against Carey’s counsel--for a rest in a deserted kraal surrounded by a field of tall Indian corn. This was a fatal blunder, for the cover of the cornfield rendered the place eminently convenient for the concealment of an ambuscade. Here the Prince waited an hour, whilst the Zulus surrounded him. Then he gave his men the order to move. The Zulus sprang from their hiding-places and fired on the little band, whose startled horses were difficult to mount. It was impossible to see what was going on in the cornfield, and it was not till the troopers had retreated for some distance that Lieutenant Carey and his comrades discovered that the Prince was missing. To have made a stand in the cornfield would have been to court instant death. It appeared that the Prince had been unable to mount his horse, which was frightened and restive, and that the Zulus overtook him and stabbed him with their assegais. Thanks to Carey’s knowledge of the ground, the rest of the party, with the exception of two troopers, were saved, and Carey was able to give Colonel Wood’s force the valuable intelligence that the enemy, contrary to the general belief, were infesting the country in front.