General
Koch, Dr. Coster, Colonel Schiel, Pretorius, And Other Well-Known
Transvaalers Fell Into Our Hands.
Our own casualty list consisted
of 41 killed and 220 wounded, much the same number as at Talana
Hill, the heaviest losses falling upon the Gordon Highlanders and
the Imperial Light Horse.
In the hollow where the Boer tents had stood, amid the laagered
wagons of the vanquished, under a murky sky and a constant drizzle
of rain, the victors spent the night. Sleep was out of the
question, for all night the fatigue parties were searching the
hillside and the wounded were being carried in. Camp-fires were lit
and soldiers and prisoners crowded round them, and it is pleasant
to recall that the warmest corner and the best of their rude fare
were always reserved for the downcast Dutchmen, while words of rude
praise and sympathy softened the pain of defeat. It is the memory
of such things which may in happier days be more potent than all
the wisdom of statesmen in welding our two races into one.
Having cleared the Boer force from the line of the railway, it is
evident that General White could not continue to garrison the
point, as he was aware that considerable forces were moving from
the north, and his first duty was the security of Ladysmith. Early
next morning (October 22nd), therefore, his weary but victorious
troops returned to the town. Once there he learned, no doubt, that
General Yule had no intention of using the broken railway for his
retreat, but that he intended to come in a circuitous fashion by
road.
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