In The
Morning We Found Captain Paley And Twenty-Two Of Them Killed And
Wounded.' It Seems Evident That Reitz Means That His Own Little
Party Were Eight Men, And Not That That Represented The Force Which
Intercepted The Retiring Riflemen.
Within his own knowledge five of
his countrymen were killed in the scuffle, so the total loss was
probably considerable.
Our own casualties were eleven dead,
forty-three wounded, and six prisoners, but the price was not
excessive for the howitzer and for the morale which arises from
such exploits. Had it not been for that unfortunate fuse, the
second success might have been as bloodless as the first. 'I am
sorry,' said a sympathetic correspondent to the stricken Paley.
'But we got the gun,' Paley whispered, and he spoke for the
Brigade.
Amid the shell-fire, the scanty rations, the enteric and the
dysentery, one ray of comfort had always brightened the garrison.
Buller was only twelve miles away - they could hear his guns - and
when his advance came in earnest their sufferings would be at an
end. But now in an instant this single light was shut off and the
true nature of their situation was revealed to them. Buller had
indeed moved. . .but backwards. He had been defeated at Colenso,
and the siege was not ending but beginning. With heavier hearts but
undiminished resolution the army and the townsfolk settled down to
the long, dour struggle. The exultant enemy replaced their
shattered guns and drew their lines closer still round the stricken
town.
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