The Man Who Raised The Flag Was
Captured, And It Says Much For The Humanity Of British Soldiers
That He Was Not Bayoneted Upon The Spot.
Yet it is not fair to
blame a whole people for the misdeeds of a few, and it is probable
that the men who descended to such devices, or who deliberately
fired upon our ambulances, were as much execrated by their own
comrades as by ourselves.
The victory was an expensive one, for fifty killed and two hundred
wounded lay upon the hillside, and, like so many of our skirmishes
with the Boers, it led to small material results. Their losses
appear to have been much about the same as ours, and we captured
some fifty prisoners, whom the soldiers regarded with the utmost
interest. They were a sullen slouching crowd rudely clad, and they
represented probably the poorest of the burghers, who now, as in
the middle ages, suffer most in battle, since a long purse means a
good horse. Most of the enemy galloped very comfortably away after
the action, leaving a fringe of sharpshooters among the kopjes to
hold back our pursuing cavalry. The want of horsemen and the want
of horse artillery are the two reasons which Lord Methuen gives why
the defeat was not converted into a rout. As it was, the feelings
of the retreating Boers were exemplified by one of their number,
who turned in his saddle in order to place his outstretched fingers
to his nose in derision of the victors.
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