ft flank. Our entrenchment
was now almost surrounded. The mounted Boers were the first to
attack us on our left flank, and their fire was spiritedly replied
to by the Rifles. At this moment, and while we were actually
engaging our enemy, the order came from the camp desiring Captain
Robertson to retreat his force without delay. No such easy matter
now, for the order came almost too late; the Boers were within easy
range of us, and determined to attack. Nevertheless, in the same
orderly and steady manner in which the preparations for defence had
been made, the preparations for retreat were begun. Much credit is
due to Captains Robertson and Thurlow for the energetic manner in
which they helped to load the mules, securing a safe retreat for
the ammunition and stores, and then assisting Surgeon-Major Cornish
to get off the wounded. All this time we were under fire, and it
was while retreating that poor Cornish was killed. When our little
entrenchment had been cleared of its stores, the real retreat
began, made under a murderous fire, which followed us as we hurried
down the steep slope into the ravine below. Captain Sulivan, with
his troop of Hussars, was placed on the right flank to try and
cover the retreat in that direction. By this time the Boers had
partially occupied our entrenchment, having broken down its
defences easily enough. And we had scarcely retreated down the
steep slope and into the ravine before they occupied the ridge
above us in hundreds, sending volley after volley after our
retreating men. It was a case now of _sauve qui peut_, and to me
the only marvel is how we lost so few under the circumstances. Our
casualties were four killed (including Surgeon-Major Cornish),
eleven wounded, and twenty-two prisoners. The Highlanders suffered
the most. The officers were the last to leave the ridge. I saw
Captain Robertson standing on the crest of the slope giving some
final directions just a moment before the ridge was entirely
covered by the Boers, and his escape consequently was almost a
miraculous one. I was in the ravine before I heard our artillery
open fire upon the Boers. Second-Lieutenant Staunton, 92nd
Highlanders, was taken prisoner. We were never joined by the two
companies of the Rifles who were left on the Imquela Mountain the