Before His Fall He Had
Despatched His Staff Officer, Major Hickie, To Hurry Up Men From
The Rear.
On the fall of Ross and Le Gallais the command fell upon Major
Taylor of U battery.
The position at that time was sufficiently
alarming. The Boers were working round each flank in considerable
numbers, and they maintained a heavy fire from a stone enclosure in
the centre. The British forces actually engaged were insignificant,
consisting of forty men of the 5th Mounted Infantry, and two guns
in the centre, forty-six men of the 17th and 18th Imperial Yeomanry
upon the right, and 105 of the 8th Mounted Infantry on the left or
191 rifles in all. The flanks of this tiny force had to extend to
half a mile to hold off the Boer flank attack, but they were
heartened in their resistance by the knowledge that their comrades
were hastening to their assistance. Taylor, realising that a great
effort must be made to tide over the crisis, sent a messenger back
with orders that the convoy should be parked, and every available
man sent up to strengthen the right flank, which was the weakest.
The enemy got close on to one of the guns, and swept down the whole
detachment, but a handful of the Suffolk Mounted Infantry under
Lieutenant Peebles most gallantly held them off from it. For an
hour the pressure was extreme. Then two companies of the 7th
Mounted Infantry came up, and were thrown on to each flank. Shortly
afterwards Major Welch, with two more companies of the same corps,
arrived, and the tide began slowly to turn. The Boers were
themselves outflanked by the extension of the British line and were
forced to fall back. At half-past eight De Lisle, whose force had
trotted and galloped for twelve miles, arrived with several
companies of Australians, and the success of the day was assured.
The smoke of the Prussian guns at Waterloo was not a more welcome
sight than the dust of De Lisle's horsemen. But the question now
was whether the Boers, who were in the walled inclosure and farm
which formed their centre, would manage to escape. The place was
shelled, but here, as often before, it was found how useless a
weapon is shrapnel against buildings. There was nothing for it but
to storm it, and a grim little storming party of fifty men, half
British, half Australian, was actually waiting with fixed bayonets
for the whistle which was to be their signal, when the white flag
flew out from the farm, and all was over. Warned by many a tragic
experience the British still lay low in spite of the flag. 'Come
out! come out!' they shouted. Eighty-two unwounded Boers filed out
of the enclosure, and the total number of prisoners came to 114,
while between twenty and thirty Boers were killed. Six guns, a
pom-pom, and 1000 head of cattle were the prizes of the victors.
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