._
Capt. A. DIBLEY. _Wounded._
Major LOWNDES. _Wounded._
Lieut. C. N. PERREAU. _Wounded._
Ser.-Maj. (Now Qr.-Mr) BURKE. _Wounded._]

It was impossible for these three companies to advance any further,
and they were therefore forced to limit their efforts to an attempt to
keep down the Boer fire. Meanwhile, General Penn-Symons had, about
9.15 a.m., come up to the far edge of the wood, and crying, 'Dublin
Fusiliers, we must take the hill!' crossed the wall. Shortly
afterwards he received a mortal wound. Captain Weldon was also killed
near the same spot in a gallant effort to help a wounded comrade, No.
5078 Private Gorman. Captain Weldon, together with several men of his
company, had surmounted the wall in face of a heavy fire, and had
taken cover in a small depression on its further side. Private Gorman
was hit in the very act of surmounting the obstacle, and was falling
backwards, when Captain Weldon, rushing out from his cover, seized him
by the arm, and was pulling him into safety when he himself was
mortally wounded. Privates Brady and Smith dragged him in under cover,
but he only lived a few minutes. His dog, a fox-terrier named Rose,
had accompanied him through the fight, and when his body was later on
recovered, the faithful little animal was found beside it, and was
afterwards taken care of by the men of 'E' company. There was no more
popular officer in the regiment than George Weldon, and his loss was
deeply felt by all ranks. He was the first officer of the Dublin
Fusiliers to fall in the war, which thus early asserted its claim to
seize the best. He was buried that same afternoon in the small
cemetery, facing the hill on which he had met his death.

[Illustration: The Last Rites.]

By this time, 9.30 a.m., the Rifles and Irish Fusiliers had closed up
and become merged in the firing line. Slowly, and by the advances of
small parties at a time, the attackers gained ground, principally by
creeping along the transverse wall which afforded cover from the enemy
on Dundee Hill, Helped by the incessant fire of the artillery, which
at 11.30 a.m. moved up to the coalfields railway, the infantry
gradually collected behind the second wall. They were now within 150
yards of the crest, and the roar of battle grew in intensity. About
11.30 a.m. Colonel Yule came up and ordered the hill to be assaulted,
directing the battalion to charge the right flank of the hill, and the
Rifles the centre. Captain Lowndes, who