THE CHANCES OF WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 185, 5 August 1879, Page 4

THE CHANCES OF WAR.

A eorrjgpondent has supplied to the JNatal Mtrcury an account of the defence of Rorke's Drift, cWibir-g tHDfelf as ao "Eye-witne»B." He ■ays:— "About 430 p. m . t h e Zulus oinie in sight, bat the garden with its trees and surroundings gave ereat facilities ior numbers petting near us unseen. The garden must have soon been occupy for one unfortunate contmseni corporal, whose head most Lave fc,M oim %hen he taw the #nemy and heard the firing, got over the parapet and tried to make his «wc«pe on foot, bat a ballet from the garden struck him, and he fell dead within 150 yard* of onr front wall. One of the mounted chiefs was shot by Frivate Ducbar, 2nd Battalion 24tb, who also killed eisht of the enemy, in M many consecutive shots, us they CMne round a ledge of the hill. As fresh bodies of Zulus arrive they take possession of the elevated ledge of rocks overlooking oar building and barricades at the back, and all the •aves and crevices are quickly filled, and from these the enemy poor down a continuous fire upon us. A whisper passes round among the men — ' Poor old Xing Cole is killed.' He was at the front wall, a bullet passed through bis head, and then struck the next man upon the ridge of the nose, but the latter wss not seriously hart. Mr. Dal (on, who is a tall man, was continually going along the barricades, fearlessly expossiog himself, and cheering the men, and using his own rifle most effectively. A Zulu ran up near the barricade ; Mr Dalton called out ' Pot that fellow,* and himself aimed over the parapet at another when bis rifle dropped, he turned found quite pale, and said that he bad V.en shot. The doctor was by his •jfe ai ooce, and foond that a bullet bad passed quite through, above ihe right shoulder. Unable any longer to use his rifle (although he di ! not cease to direct the fire of the men who were near him), be banded it to Mr Byrne, who used it well. Presently Corporal C. Scsromell, N.N.C., who was near Mr Byrne, was shot through the shoulder and back ; he crawled a abort distance and handed the remainder of bis cartridges to Lieutenaut Chard, and then expressed his desire for a drink of water; Byrne at once fetched it for him, and while giving it him to drink poor Byrne was shot through the head and fell dead inatantly. The garden and the road — having the stone wall and thick belt of Ifoah as a screen from the fire of oar front defences — were now occupied by a large force of tbe enemy; they raebed op to the front barricade, and Boon owipied one side while we held tbe other; they seized hold of the bayonets of onr men, and in two instances suc-

ceeded in wresting them off the rifles; but tbe bold perpetrators were instantly ■hot. One fellow fired at a corporal of tbe N.N.C. (a Swiss by birth, who was a hospital patient), the charge blowing his hat off; he instantly jumped upon the parupet and bayoneted the roan, regained big place and shot another, and then, repeating his former exploit, climbed up the seeks and bayoneted a third; a bullet struck him in the instep early in the fight, but be wouM not allow that his wound was a sufficient reason for leaving bis post, yet he has suffered most acutely from it since. (The brave etragsle for ihe defence of the hospital h«s been already described.) Afterwards Gunner Howard, R.A., ran out of (he hospital and managed to hide himself in the long grass, on the upper side of tbe stone wall, below onr front parapet. He covered himself as well as ho could with twigg and grans, and there, in company with a dead pig end four of our horsaa (which had been shot where they were tied up), he lay unobserved all nigbf, and came in unharmed at daylight. Another, Private Waters, Ist Battaiion 24tb, fecreted himself in a cupbonrd in the hospital, and killed many Zulus who entered the room, be himself getting wounded in the arm. At last he put over him a black cloak, and ran oat of the burning building among the bushes, in one of which he lay concealed and unharmed until morning, while hundreds of Zobs were moving about daring the night upen all sides of him. The rashes and heavy firing of tbe enemy did not slacken until past milnight, and from that time until daylight a desultory fire was kept up by them, from the caves above us in our rear and from the bush and garden in front."