orning, when
a shell that hit the ground between his horse's feet had failed to
burst, and afterwards about luck in general. He advised the officers to
tell their men to sleep while they could, and then he said, 'Now I'll go
and get half-an-hour's sleep myself.' But at that moment an aide-de-camp
came saying that General French wanted to see him. When the Colonel
returned, it was to order his regiment to saddle up and prepare to
mount. In half-an-hour he was leading the attack on the first kopje.

"I like to think that before death smote him he knew that the battle was
won, and that his fellows had done well, as he expected that they would,
as he had helped them to do by example and generous encouragement."

A private of the Gordon Highlanders, in a letter dated Ladysmith,
November 2, gave a vivid account of the charge of the Gordons at
Elandslaagte, and described how Lieutenant-Colonel Dick-Cunyngham was
wounded when leading his men, and that officer's chagrin at his being
rendered impotent. He said: "We charged three times with the bayonet,
and my gun was covered with whiskers and blood, though I don't remember
striking anybody, but I was nearly mad with excitement, shells bursting
and bullets whizzing round like hail. I was close behind the commanding
officer when he was wounded. He was shot and had to sit down, but he
cheered on his men. 'Forward, Gordons,' he cried, 'the world is looking
at you. Brave lads, give it to the beggars, exterminate the
vermin--charge.' He then started crying because he could no longer lead
his battalion, and he would not retire from the field until the day was
won. He is a fine man to lead a battalion--as brave as a lion. The
Gordons were the last line, and we raced through the Manchesters and the
Devons and the Light Horse Volunteers, all charging together."

Here we have a proof how much the morale of soldiers may be influenced
by their immediate chief.

The _Natal Advertiser_ in its account of the final scene said:--

"By a quarter past six the Devonshire Regiment, the Gordon Highlanders,
and the Manchester Regiment, with the Imperial Light Horse, were in a
position to storm the Boer camp from the enemy's front and left flank,
and the signal for the bayonet charge was sounded. Then was witnessed
one of the most splendid pieces of storming imaginable, the Devons
taking the lead, closely followed by the Gordons, the Manchesters, and
the Light Horse, in the face of a tremendous, kill