RAILWAY HILL
There was little talking that evening. As soon as the tents had been
erected, a cup of cocoa and a biscuit taken, all turned in, and even
the constant booming of the artillery and the occasional sharp crack of
musketry had no effect whatever on their slumbers. Just before Chris
lay down, however, an orderly told him that Captain Brookfield wished
to see him.
"I have just received orders, Chris, that our brigade of cavalry is to
turn out tomorrow morning to support the infantry. Hildyard, Lyttleton,
and Barton are going. Their object is to carry Cingola, which is the
small peak at the end of the nek extending from it to the high peak of
Monte Cristo. The duty of the mounted infantry will be to clear the
eastern side of the southern end of the range, and to hold the nek
separating it from the highest peak, and so prevent the Boers from
their main position reinforcing the defenders of the lower peak. I
think that your party had better remain in camp, for after doing over
seventy miles today they won't be fit for work tomorrow."
"We should not like to be left behind here, sir, and the hill is not
very far away, so that it would not be hard work for the horses. No
doubt we should be dismounted a considerable part of the day."
"Then you would rather go, Chris?"
"Much rather, sir. We should all be terribly disappointed if we could
not go out the first day that there has been a chance of our doing
something."
"It is always as well to be on the right side, but I hardly think so
many troops will really be required; and I think it is a symptom that a
serious attack will be made in a day or two on Monte Cristo and
Hlangwane. You see, the possession of Cingola and Monte Cristo will
take us pretty well round its flank, and I do not expect the Boers will
be so much prepared there as they are in front."
An hour before daylight all were out engaged in grooming their horses,
which, having received a hot mash of mealie flour directly they came in
on the previous evening, looked better than could have been expected
after their hard work on two days out of three. By the time they had
finished, the natives had breakfast ready, and they had scarcely eaten
this when a trumpet sounded to horse. Five minutes later the mounted
infantry belonging to the regular regiments and the Colonial Horse
formed up, and, led by Lord Dundonald, marched north-east, followed by
the three infantry brigades and some batteries of artillery. When
within a couple of miles of the nek, the mounted infantry galloped
forward, and selecting a spot where the ascent was gradual, pushed
rapidly up the hill until they reached its brow. Here the horses were
placed in a depression, and the men scattered themselves across the
crest. They were but just in time, for a considerable force of Boers
from Monte Cristo were hurrying along to assist the defenders of
Cingola, it having now become evident to them that this was the point
to which the infantry moving across the plain were making.
A brisk fire was opened as they approached, and the Boers at once
stopped in surprise, for as they came along they had been unable to see
that the cavalry had quitted the rest of the column, and had therefore
no idea whatever that their way to Cingola was barred. As the rapid
fire showed them that the nek was held in force, they did not think it
prudent to advance farther, but after an exchange of fire fell back to
Monte Cristo. The task of the infantry was now comparatively easy.
Cingola was not held in any great force; and seeing that their retreat
along the nek was cut off, and that they could not hope to resist the
strong force that was approaching, the enemy contented themselves with
keeping up a brisk fire for a time, and then retreated hastily down the
northern face of the hill, and scattered among numerous kopjes between
it and the river. Lyttleton and Hildyard's brigades occupied the peak,
and Barton, with the Fusilier battalions, remained to the left of its
base.
As the mounted infantry had, before opening fire, taken shelter behind
bushes and rocks, there were only two or three casualties, and they
were much disappointed that the affair had been so trifling. It was
afternoon now, and for the rest of the day comparative quietude
reigned, although Monte Cristo threw an occasional shell on to the
crest of Cingola. The mounted infantry remained all night in their
position, acting as an advanced guard to the infantry; but they had
orders to descend the hill before daybreak and return to Chieveley,
there being no water obtainable for their horses, and their services
not being required for the succeeding operations. The next morning
(Sunday) a battery of field-artillery, which had been taken half-way up
Cingola, began to shell Monte Cristo, and as if this had been the
signal, the whole of the artillery on the plain opened a terrific fire
on the entrenchments of Monte Cristo, Hlangwane, and Green Hill, which
was close to Monte Cristo.
On the morning of the 18th, Lyttleton and Hildyard's brigades moved
forward to storm the precipitous peak, and Barton's brigade marched
against the tangled and difficult ground that surrounded Green Hill.
The Queen's on the right and the Scotch Fusiliers on the left led the
attack against the peak. The hillside was partly wooded, but although
the smokeless powder gave little indication as to the progress the
troops were making, occasional glimpses of the Boers flitting among the
trees showed that these were falling back. The roar of musketry was
continuous, as Hildyard's brigade and Lyttleton's were both engaged.
For a short time there was a pause, and then Lyttleton's men, having
gathered at the edge of a wood some couple of hundred yards from the
summit, advanced with a rush up the terribly steep rocks. The Boers
fired hurriedly, but the bullets flew for the most part far over the
heads of the Queen's, and then, fearful of being caught by Hildyard's
men, who were also rapidly coming up, they fled hastily.
The opposition had finally been trifling. The vast majority of the
Boers had cleared off, and the rest, after emptying their magazines,
had followed their example before the troops gained the summit, upon
which a heavy cannonade was at once opened from Grobler's Hill, Fort
Wylie, and other Boer positions. This, however, gradually slackened
under the storm of lyddite shells with which they were pelted by the
naval guns, and the important position of Hlangwane was at last
secured, and no time was lost in getting up guns and preparing for a
farther advance. Barton's brigade had been equally successful in their
attack, and half an hour after the capture of Monte Cristo the
Fusiliers crowned the summit of the wood-covered Green Hill.
The Boers' defences were now examined, and proved to be of a most
formidable nature. On the south face of the hill the trenches were in
tiers, line behind line. Most of them were fully six feet deep, and in
many cases provided with shelter from the weather by sheets of
corrugated iron, taken from the roofs of the houses in Colenso. In some
cases these were supported by props, and covered with six feet of
earth. These had evidently been used for sleeping and living places.
The ground was strewn with straw, empty tins, fragments of food, bones,
cartridge-cases, old bandoliers, and large quantities of unopened
tinned food and sacks of mealie flour. Here and there were patches of
dried blood, showing where the wounded by our shell had been brought
in, and laid down until they could be removed to the hospital under
cover of night. On the plateau the scene was similar. Here every
irregularity of ground had been utilized, and long lines of trenches
intersected it, showing that the Boers had intended to make a desperate
resistance even after we had won our way up the hill. These were in a
similar state of litter and disorder.
Although they had saved their guns, they had left behind them large
quantities of ammunition and provisions in the hurried flight,
necessitated by our attack being delivered in a direction from which no
danger had been apprehended, Four waggons full of ammunition had been
left by them in a kloof near the river. These had been observed by the
Engineers in the balloon, and their position had been signalled to the
naval brigade, who, turning their guns upon them, before long succeeded
in blowing them up.
When the infantry prepared for their final rush the Boers appeared,
indeed, to be entirely disconcerted at an attack from an altogether
unexpected direction. While for weeks they had been working incessantly
to render the hill impregnable, they had prepared it only on the face
against which they made sure the British infantry would dash itself.
Nevertheless, in this, as in every action, the Boers, as soon as they
saw that there was a risk of the position being taken, began early to
make preparations for retreat. While keeping up a very heavy musketry
fire on the woods through which the British infantry were advancing,
they began to withdraw their guns.
The speed and skill with which on every occasion throughout the war
they shifted heavy pieces of artillery from one point to another, or
withdrew them altogether, was a new feature in warfare. Except when the
garrison of Ladysmith, on two occasions of night sorties, surprised and
destroyed three of their guns, they scarcely lost a piece either in the
numerous actions during our advance to Ladysmith, or in their final
retreat from that town. And similarly on the other side, of the very
large number of guns employed at the fight on the Modder, at
Magersfontein, and in the siege of Kimberley the whole were, with the
exception of a few pieces captured when Cronje was surrounded,
withdrawn in spite of the hurried evacuation of their position, a feat
almost unparalleled even in an army accompanied only by
field-artillery, and extraordinary indeed in the case of works mounting
heavy siege-guns.
No farther advance was made till the afternoon, when General Buller
arrived on the summit of Green Hill, and seeing that Hlangwane was not
entrenched on its northern side, which was completely turned by our
advance, sent Barton's brigade against it. But the loss of Monte Cristo
had for the time quite taken the fight out of the Boers, and after
maintaining a brisk fire for a short period, they evacuated the
position as soon as the infantry neared the summit, and, hurrying down
the western slope, crossed the Tugela. Three camps full of provisions,
blankets, and the necessaries of Boer life fell into the hands of the
captors, together with a large amount of rifle and Maxim ammunition.
The place had been turned into a fortress. Trenches and some
breastworks covered all the approaches by which the Boers might look
for an attack, and as the whole mountain was covered with huge
boulders, they were able to withstand even the storm of lyddite shell
that was poured upon them.
On the following day Hart's brigade received orders to advance towards
Colenso. This was still held in force by the Boers, but was now
commanded by guns that had been got up the slopes of Hlangwane, and on
Tuesday morning General Hart captured the position without serious
loss, the Boers suffering severely from our shrapnel fire as they
retreated, some by the iron bridge and others by a ford. Thorneycroft's
Mounted Infantry, which was called up in the evening, took advantage of
the discovery that a drift existed there, and a squadron forded the
river in spite of a scattered fire from the Boers on the opposite bank.
Another portion of the colonial force occupied Fort Wylie, a redoubt
that had been thrown up by our troops when they occupied Colenso, but
had been abandoned when the advance of the Boers to cut the line
between Colenso and Frere forced them to retire.
The next morning Thorneycroft's regiment crossed, and, moving to the
left, seized the kopjes facing Grobler's Kloof; the Boers, still
suffering from the effect of their unexpected reverses, offered no
resistance, but, abandoning all their camps, trenches, and redoubts,
retired at once to the hill. The Scouts had followed Thorneycroft's
Horse in support, and now, placing their horses under shelter in the
abandoned entrenchments, prepared to act as infantry should the Boers
take the offensive. This, however, they showed no intention of doing,
and in the afternoon the troops who had crossed were able to examine
the deserted camps. They presented very much the same appearance as
those on Monte Cristo and Hlangwane. Many of them appeared to have been
occupied by men of a better position, as many articles of luxury,
choicer food, wearing apparel, newspapers, Bibles, fruit, and other
signs of comfort littered the places; but even here dirt had reigned
supreme. Although they must have been inhabited for a long time, it
could be seen that no attempts had been made to clear away the refuse,
or to make them in any degree tidy. As was natural, the effect of the
heat of the sun on scraps of food, vegetables, and refuse of all kinds
caused a sickening stench, and the soldiers spent as short a time as
possible over their investigations. One article which would have been
found in a British camp was altogether absent from those of the enemy,
and it was a joke among our troops that the only piece of soap ever
captured was found in the pocket of a dead Boer, and that its wrapper
was still unopened.
The strength of the position was, however, even more surprising than
the state of filth; every trench was enfiladed by another, great
boulders were connected by walls of massive construction, this being
specially the case where guns had been placed in position. Colenso
itself had been in a similar manner rendered almost impregnable to a
frontal attack, and could hardly have been captured by an assaulting
force until Hlangwane had been taken.
The hills beyond the railway still covered the road bridge by their
fire, and had the troops marched across it they would have suffered
severely. Accordingly a pontoon train was sent through an opening in
the Hlangwane range, and a bridge thrown over the Tugela north of Fort
Wylie. The Dorsets, Middlesex, and Somersets crossed at once, and,
ascending the kopjes, extended their line south until they were in
communication with Thorneycroft's men, holding therefore the railway
line along the river bank nearly half the distance between Colenso and
Pieters station. Other regiments and artillery followed.
It was now six days since the advance had commenced, and for the past
four fighting had been almost continuous. On Wednesday the three
regiments advanced towards Grobler's Hill in order to ascertain what
force was occupying it. They met with no opposition until they reached
the lower slopes, nor could any Boers be seen moving. Then suddenly a
heavy fire broke out from the boulders which covered the whole face of
the hill, and afforded such perfect shelter that it had not been
considered necessary to form entrenchments. As only a reconnaissance,
and not an attack, had been ordered, the force retired, the Somersets,
who were the leading regiment, having nearly a hundred casualties. The
other regiments had as many more between them. The next day a
continuous fire from all the points held by the Boers showed that large
reinforcements had reached them. The Lancashire Brigade, under Colonel
Wynne, started at two o'clock that afternoon to carry the kopjes up the
Brook Spruit, which ran in the rear of Grobler's Kloof. The Royal
Lancasters led the way, but as soon as they left the shelter of the
ridges by the side of the railway they were exposed to a terrible fire,
both in front and from Grobler's Kloof. The artillery on Hlangwane, and
those still on the plain, endeavoured to silence the enemy's guns, but
though they poured numbers of lyddite and shrapnel shells among them
they were unable to do so. The Lancasters advanced with the greatest
coolness up the spruit, followed by the South Lancasters. As they
pressed forward they were met by a heavy rifle fire both from the
kopjes in front and on the left. The Boers stuck to the hill until the
Lancasters were within a hundred yards, then most of them slunk off.
Not knowing this, the Lancasters lay under shelter for a few minutes
until their ammunition pouches had been replenished, then, being joined
by the South Lancasters and King's Royal Rifles, they rushed to the
crest.
For the past two days the Dublin Fusiliers had been lying near Colenso.
They had suffered very heavily in the first attack at Potgieter's
Drift, but they now volunteered to take Grobler's Hill; and this, aided
with the fire of the artillery and Colonel Wynne's brigade, they did in
gallant style, the Boers being evidently nervous that they might find
their retreat cut off should the Lancasters advance farther up the
spruit.
On Friday afternoon the Irish Brigade advanced along the line, and then
turned off towards Railway Hill, a steep jagged eminence almost
triangular in shape, with one angle pointing towards the river. The
sides were broken with sharp ledges covered with boulders. The railway
passed through this, separating the last jagged ledge from the higher
portion of the hill, which rises almost precipitously. Running back
several hundred yards at the base of this line was a dip full of thorn
trees. This deep winds round the rear of the hill, and here there was a
large Boer Camp.
A little farther to the rear was another steep hill, on which the
enemy's Creusot guns were now mounted. Several trenches were cut
alongside the hillsides, and on the crest were some strong redoubts. It
was a most formidable position, but as it seemed to bar all progress
farther up the line, it was necessary to carry it at all costs. The
mounted infantry had, after the skirmish towards Grobler's Kloof,
returned to the camp, as the country was so terribly broken as to be
altogether impracticable for mounted men.
On Thursday, Captain Brookfield had obtained a pass for himself and
three other officers to go to Hlangwane to view the operations, but one
of these being unwell, Captain Brook-field invited Chris to take his
place. After inspecting the plateau, they made their way down to the
left. Hearing that an attack was about to be made on Railway Hill, they
clambered down until they reached a point where, seated in an open spot
among the trees, they could command a view of what was passing.
"It is an awful place," Chris said, "and it seems to me almost
impossible to be carried."
"It is an awful place," Captain Brookfield agreed. "This is one of the
times, Chris, when one feels the advantage of belonging to a mounted
corps, for without being less brave than other men, I should regard it
as an order to meet certain death were I told to attack that rugged
hill. Ah, there are the Irish Brigade!"
The storming party consisted of the Inniskillings, with companies of
the Dublins, the Connaught Bangers, and the Imperial Light Infantry.
From a building called Platelayer's House at the mouth of the spruit,
to the foot of the hill, the ground was perfectly open to the point
where the left face of Railway Hill rose steeply up, and across this
open ground, a distance of half a mile, the assailants had to march.
"Here they come!"
As, in open order, with their rifles at the trail, the Inniskillings
appeared in view, a terrible fire broke out from every ledge of Railway
Hill, while the cannon joined in the roar. The guns on Hlangwane, and
those on the slopes nearer the river, with Maxims and quick-firing
guns, replied on our side.
"It is awful," Chris said, speaking to himself rather than to the
captain who was standing beside him. "I don't think that even at
Badajos, British soldiers were ever sent on a more desperate
enterprise. It looks as if nothing could live under that fire even now;
what will it be when they get closer?"
Not a shot was fired by the advancing infantry in reply to the storm of
bullets from the Boer marksmen. Every round of ammunition might be
wanted yet, and it would only be wasted on an invisible foe. They took
advantage of what little shelter could be obtained, sometimes close to
the river bank, sometimes following some slight depression which
afforded at least a partial protection. At last they reached a deep
donga running into the river; this was crossed by a small bridge, and
in passing over it they had to run the gauntlet of the Boer fire. Many
fell here, but the stream of men passed on, and then at a double rushed
to a sheltered spot close to the foot of the ascent, where they had
been ordered to gather. Here they had a breathing space. Their real
work was yet to begin, but already their casualties had been numerous.
The Inniskillings alone had lost thirty-eight killed and wounded. Not a
word had been spoken among the little group on the hill, for the last
ten minutes; they stood with tightly-pressed lips, breath coming hard,
and pale faces looking at the scene. Occasionally a short gasp broke
from one or other as a shell burst in the thick of the men crossing the
little bridge, a cry as if they themselves had been struck. When the
troops gained their shelter there was a sigh of relief.
"They will never do it," Captain Brookfield said decidedly. "It would
need ten times as many men to give them a chance."
This was the opinion of them all, and they hoped even now that this was
but the advance party, and that ere long they would see a far larger
body of men coming up. But there were no signs of reinforcements, and
at five o'clock the troops were re-formed and the advance began. They
dashed forward up the hill under a heavy fire, to which the supporting
line replied. The boulders afforded a certain amount of shelter, and of
this the Inniskillings took every advantage, until they reached the
last ledge with comparatively little loss. But the work was still
before them. Leaping over, they rushed down on to the railway line.
Here a wire-fence arrested their course for a moment, and many fell
while getting through or over it. Then they ran across the line, passed
through a fence on the other side, and dashed up the steep angle of the
hill to the first trench. Hitherto the fire of the Boers had been far
less destructive than might have been expected, their attention being
confused and their aim flurried by the constant explosion of lyddite
shell from the British batteries. They had but one eye for their
assailants, the other for the guns, and as each of the heavy pieces was
fired, they ducked down for shelter, only to get up again to take a
hasty shot before having to hide again.
Thus, then, they were in no condition to reckon the comparatively small
numbers of their assailants, and as they saw the Irishmen dashing
forward, cheering loudly, with pointed bayonets, they hesitated, and
then bolted up the hill to the next trench. Instead of waiting until
the supports had come up for another rush, the Irishmen with a cheer
dashed across the trench in hot pursuit. But the next line was far more
strongly manned, and a storm of bullets swept among them. Still, for a
time they kept on, but wasting so rapidly that even the most desperate
saw that it could not be done; and, turning, the survivors retreated to
the trench that they had already won, while the supports fell back to
the railway, both suffering heavily in the retreat. No fewer than two
hundred of the Inniskillings had fallen in that desperate charge, their
colonel and ten officers being either killed or wounded, while the
Dublins also lost their colonel.
All through the night the trench was held sternly, in spite of repeated
and desperate efforts of the Boers to dislodge its defenders. Nothing
could be done for those who lay wounded on the hill above. Morning
broke, and the fight still continued. At nine o'clock another desperate
charge was made; but the Boers were unable to face the steady fire that
was maintained by the defenders of the trench, and they again turned
and ran for their shelters. Just as this attack was repulsed,
Lyttleton's brigade arrived on the scene, exchanging a hearty cheer
with the men who had so long borne the brunt of this terrible conflict.
The Durham Light Infantry at once relieved those in the trenches, and
these descended the hill for the rest that was so much needed. All that
day the fighting continued, and while Lyttleton's men held to the
position on Railway Hill, there was fierce fighting away to the left,
where the Welsh Fusiliers and other regiments were hotly engaged. The
roar of artillery and musketry never ceased all day, but towards
evening white flags were hoisted on both sides, and a truce was agreed
upon for twelve hours to bury the dead.
The scene of the conflict presented a terrible sight. The hillside
between the two trenches was strewn with dead and wounded. The
sufferings of the latter had been terrible. For six-and-thirty hours
they had lain where they fell, their only relief being a little water,
that in the short intervals during the fighting some kindly Boers had
crept down to give them. The truce began at four o'clock in the morning
of Sunday the 25th, and the foes of the previous day mingled with each
other in the sad work, conversing freely with each other. The Boers
expressed their astonishment that such an attempt should ever have been
made, and their stupefaction at the manner in which the Irish had
pressed on through a fire in which it had seemed that no human being
could have existed for a minute. When informed of the relief of
Kimberley, and the fact that Cronje was hopelessly surrounded, they
scoffed at the news as a fable, and were so honestly amused that it was
evident they had been kept absolutely in the dark by their leaders.
Captain Brookfield and his party had remained at the lookout until
darkness set in. After the first exclamation of pain and grief as they
saw the attack fail, and the fearfully thinned ranks run back to
shelter, there had been little said. "It was impossible from the
first," Captain Brookfield sighed as they turned. "If the relief of
Ladysmith depends on our carrying that hill, Ladysmith is doomed to
fall."
They returned to the spot where they had left their horses in charge of
two of the blacks, and rode back to Chieveley. It was a sorrowful
evening. The men's hopes had risen daily as position after position had
been carried, and now it seemed that once again the enterprise had
hopelessly failed. On Monday there was a continuation of the lull of
firing. Many of the officers in camp who were off duty rode up to
examine the scene of the fight, and they were not surprised when they
saw the infantry recrossing the pontoon bridge. All wore a dejected
aspect, but especially the men who had fought so heroically and, as it
now seemed, in vain. They sat watching until the last soldier had
crossed, and then rode to the top of Hlangwane. All Chris's party had
come out, and those who had not before seen the view waited there for a
couple of hours, ate some refreshment they had brought with them,
discussed the difficulties that lay in the way of farther advance, and
the probable point against which General Buller would next direct his
attack.
"Hullo!" Chris exclaimed suddenly, "that pontoon train is not coming
back to camp. Do you see, after moving to the point where it passed
through this range, it has turned to the north again and not to the
south. Hurrah! Buller is not going to throw up the sponge this time.
The Boers have not done with us yet." This indeed was the case. The
general, seeing that Railway Hill was too strong to be carried by
assault, unless with an enormous loss of life, had caused the river to
be reconnoitred some distance farther up, and this had resulted in the
discovery of a spot where, with some little labour, the troops could
get down to the river and a pontoon bridge be again thrown. Such a spot
was found by Colonel Sandbach of the Royal Engineers, and a strong
working party was at once set to work to make a practicable approach.
The point lay some three or four miles below Railway Hill, and the most
formidable of the obstacles would therefore be turned. That night the
troops crossed, and the Boers--who were in ignorance of what had been
going on, the point chosen for the passage being at the bend of the
river and hidden by an intervening eminence from their positions--were
astonished at finding a strong force again across the river.
As soon as the news reached the camp that the army was again crossing,
satisfaction took the place of the deep depression that had reigned
during the past two days, and the situation was eagerly discussed.
Those who at all knew the country were eagerly questioned as to the
ground farther on near the line of railway. All these agreed that the
hill called Pieter's was a formidable position, almost, though not
perhaps quite, as strong as Railway Hill, but that beyond it the line
ran through a comparatively open country, and that if this hill could
be captured the relief of Ladysmith would be ensured. The Scouts had
not escaped altogether scatheless. At the reconnaissance towards
Grobler's Hill, Brown, Harris, and Willesden had all been wounded, but
none very seriously, although at first it was thought that Willesden's
was a mortal injury, for he had been hit in the stomach. The doctors,
however, assured his anxious comrades that there was every ground for
hope, for very many of those who had been so injured had made a speedy
recovery.
"Poor old Willesden!" Field had said as they talked it over; "it is
hard that he should have been hit in the stomach, for he was a capital
hand at taking care of it."
"And of ours too, Field. He has been a first-rate caterer. I do hope he
will pull through it." The lad himself had not seemed to suffer much
pain, and three days later the surgeon had been able to assure his
friends that as no fever had set in they had little fear of serious
consequences ensuing. The boys had not been allowed to see him. Captain
Brookfield, however, reported that he was going on capitally, but was
in a very bad temper because he was allowed to eat nothing but a piece
of bread and a sip of milk, while he declared himself desperately
hungry, and capable of devouring a good-sized leg of mutton.
"I don't think you need worry about him," he said to Chris; "the doctor
told me that in a fortnight he would be very likely to be about again,
and none the worse for the wound, the bullet having evidently missed
any vital point, in which case its passage would heal as quickly as the
little wounds where the bullet enters and passes out usually do."
Harris had his arm broken just above the elbow, and Brown a flesh wound
below the hip. He was the stoutest of the party, and jokingly said, as
he was carried back, that the bullet had passed through the largest
amount of flesh in the company. Chris once or twice went into the
hospitals with a doctor whose acquaintance he had made. They offered a
strong contrast to the scene that had taken place after the battle of
Elandslaagte, as in the hospitals at Chieveley and Frere everything was
as admirably arranged as they would have been in one of a large town.
In the daytime the sides of the marquees were lifted to allow of a free
passage of air. The nurses in their neat dresses moved quietly among
the patients with medicines, soups, jellies, and other refreshments
ordered for them. There were books for those sufficiently convalescent
to be able to read them, and those who wished to send a letter home
always found one of the nurses ready to write at their dictation. By
some of the bedsides stood bouquets of flowers sent by the ladies of
Maritzburg, and all had an abundance of delicious fruit from the same
source.