THE SOUDAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 68, 19 August 1885, Page 2

THE SOUDAN.

AN INCIDENT OF THE^ SOTJDAN.

In a letter to one of the special corres- . ponderits. with the Sydney Contingent ! appears the followingaccount of an'incident which does not reflect much credit upon the invaders :-^ '•A good' deal of excitement wai caused on one occasion by the appearance of an Arab ascending a neighboring hill about 800 yards distant. No. 3 Company (Australians and Berks) at once opened fire, and though the bullets were dropping m all directions around him, he his way calmly up ; the hill till he reached the summit, "where no doubt ' he thought he would be safe, but what must have been his thoughts when he discovered that a company of Sikhs were on the other side, making escape By that way impossible 1 His only chance lay m again running the 'gauntlet of our bul« lets. Pausing for a minute or tiro, he turned and slowly made his way. across the side of the. hill, taking a downward . course, with the object of. obtaining cover m that direction; All this time our men , were keeping up a brisk fire, though many, men refrained from taking • aim, saving it was. a pity to kill snch a brave man. The steepness/of . the bill ; (or mountain) madeJiis progress necessarily slow, but onward he went, occasionally stopping to look down, on us, or measure the distance that intervened between him and safety. Many men stopped firing to watch him, and to excitement aa to whether he would escape or not creased. Bets were given and taken that he would not reach the shelter alive,' but ho seemed to bear a charmed life,: for j though we could see the bullets striking the ground all around him he seemed' to ; be invulnerable, Just before reaching cover he appeiwed as it struck, but re. covering himself gave a bound and : was nut of sight, but only to faU into .the I hands of the ' friendlies, ' wbo were scbur- , iug tUo hilte, and with them he "j?as 'itob ' so fortunate, being speedily despatched. We found out afterwards that he had been hit 11 times by our bullets.".