For Once, However, The Lance Meant More Than Five
Pounds Dead Weight And An Encumbrance To The Rider.
The guns were
saved, the Boers fled, and a dozen were left upon the ground.
But a
cavalry charge has to end in a re-formation, and that is the
instant of danger if any unbroken enemy remains within range. Now a
sleet of bullets hissed through their ranks as they retired, and
the gallant Lord Airlie, as modest and brave a soldier as ever drew
sword, was struck through the heart. 'Pray moderate your language!'
was his last characteristic remark, made to a battle-drunken
sergeant. Two officers, seventeen men, and thirty horses went down
with their Colonel, the great majority only slightly injured. In
the meantime the increasing pressure upon his right caused
Broadwood to order a second charge, of the Life Guards this time,
to drive off the assailants. The appearance rather than the swords
of the Guards prevailed, and cavalry as cavalry had vindicated
their existence more than they had ever done during the campaign.
The guns were saved, the flank attack was rolled back, but one
other danger had still to be met, for the Heidelberg commando - a
corps d'elite of the Boers - had made its way outside Hamilton's
flank and threatened to get past him. With cool judgment the
British General detached a battalion and a section of a battery,
which pushed the Boers back into a less menacing position. The rest
of Bruce Hamilton's Brigade were ordered to advance upon the hills
in front, and, aided by a heavy artillery fire, they had succeeded,
before the closing in of the winter night, in getting possession of
this first line of the enemy's defences.
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