In an evil moment for himself, tempted by the
thought of the supplies which they might contain, he stopped to
gather them up, and the force of the wave of invasion broke itself
as upon two granite rocks.
These two so-called forts were posts of very modest strength, a
chain of which had been erected at the time of the old Zulu war.
Fort Itala, the larger, was garrisoned by 300 men of the 5th
Mounted Infantry, drawn from the Dublin Fusiliers, Middlesex,
Dorsets, South Lancashires, and Lancashire Fusiliers - most of them
old soldiers of many battles. They had two guns of the 69th R.F.A.,
the same battery which had lost a section the week before. Major
Chapman, of the Dublins, was in command.
Upon September 25th the small garrison heard that the main force of
the Boers was sweeping towards them, and prepared to give them a
soldiers' welcome. The fort is situated upon the flank of a hill,
on the summit of which, a mile from the main trenches, a strong
outpost was stationed. It was upon this that the first force of the
attack broke at midnight of September 25th.
