ther and
sister of a young English officer, Lieutenant Pilkington, whom he had
found lying alone in a pool of blood among the rocks and shrubs.
Dietlof tended him, giving him brandy from a flask which he always
carried with him for such purposes, and laying grass under him on the
hard rocks. The poor man was shockingly wounded, and it was evident
that his case was hopeless. He held Dietlof's hand, imploring him not
to leave him, but Dietlof was the forerunner of the seven burghers who
were forcing their way wedgelike through the English ranks in order to
compel the enemy to surrender by attacking them from behind. He
considered it his duty to go forward, but assured the dying man that
the comrades who were following in his wake could speak English and
would care for him. The donga was strewn with dead and dying English.

In the meantime the younger brother Fritz was tending a soldier with a
terrible wound in the head. The seven men were now advancing steadily
from one ridge to the other, but Dietlof had reached a point on which
the burghers from behind were bombarding with their cannon, and as the
rocks flew into the air he found it impossible to proceed.

He therefore returned, and the captain sent a dispatch-bearer down
with orders that the cannon-firing should cease.

For a moment Dietlof went back to the wounded lieutenant, where he
found some of his comrades assembled, and while they stood there the
unfortunate man, exhausted by loss of blood, drew his last breath.

Through incredible dangers the seven burghers forced their way through
the donga until they reached the point from where they could attack
the enemy from behind. It was a most critical moment, for they were
exposed to the constant fire of their own burghers, under Commandant
Coetzee, as well as that of the enemy, but soon they were relieved to
see the white flag hoisted, and were then joined by the rest of the
commando.

The English could not believe that the party which had attacked them
from behind had consisted of only seven men.

Colonel Roberts, Lieutenant Lyall, and Lieutenant Davis were taken
with 210 men of the Lincolnshire Regiment. One officer escaped while
the burghers were disarming their prisoners and yielding themselves to
the spirit of plunder with which every man is possessed after a severe
struggle for victory.

Of dead and wounded the burghers had lost thirteen or fourteen men,
but the seven forerunners, who had been exposed to