drilling on the barrack square, although Colonel
Cooper had tried to open out to double company interval, a proceeding
which the General had promptly counter-ordered. But all did their
best. The men rushed forward after their officers, and at their signal
lay down in the long grass, whence fire was opened at the invisible
foe.

It was very difficult to discover the Boer positions. There was one
long trench near the kraal which the naval guns had been shelling,
and further to the west could be seen another parapet from which came
an occasional puff of smoke betraying a Martini rifle and black
powder. But if the Boers could not be seen, they could be both heard
and felt. There was one ceaseless rattle of mausers, and a constant
hum of bullets only drowned by the scream of the shells.

[Illustration: Casualties at Colenso.

Capt. BACON. _Killed._
Lieut. HENRY. _Killed._
Capt. H. M. SHEWAN. _Wounded._
Major GORDON (_1st Battalion, attached_). _Wounded._
Second Lieut. MACLEOD (_1st Battalion, attached_). _Wounded._]

Short rushes were made as a rule, and the flank companies edged away
in order to give room for a more reasonable extension. But no sooner
had the battalion opened out than it was reinforced by companies of
the Connaught Rangers, and, later, of the Inniskilling Fusiliers and
the Border Regiment. In a comparatively short time, after the first
Boer shell, the 5th Brigade had been practically crowded into one
line. Officers led men of all the four regiments, and encouraged them
with the cry, 'Come on, the Irish Brigade!'

There was no control, no cohesion, no arrangement in the attack. No
attempt was made to support, by the careful fire of one part of the
line, the advance of the remainder; nor did any order from the higher
ranks reach the firing line. Small groups of men, led by an officer,
jumped up, dashed forward a few scores of yards, and then lay down.
Nobody knew where the drift was, nobody had a clear idea of what was
happening. All pushed forward blindly, animated by the sole idea of
reaching the river-bank.

On the left, part of the battalion was almost on the river when the
Boers first opened fire, and quickly reached the bank. After a short
halt they turned to their right and moved in single file along the
river, being exposed all the time to a heavy fire. They passed through
a kraal, and eventually, not being able to find the drift, assembled
in a hollow, where they stayed until orde