On the 15th
the Boers, thinking that this long extension must have weakened us,
made a spirited attack upon a position held by New Zealanders and a
company of the 1st Yorkshires, this regiment having been sent up to
reinforce French. The attempt was met by a volley and a bayonet
charge. Captain Orr, of the Yorkshires, was struck down; but
Captain Madocks, of the New Zealanders, who behaved with
conspicuous gallantry at a critical instant, took command, and the
enemy was heavily repulsed. Madocks engaged in a point-blank rifle
duel with the frock-coated top-hatted Boer leader, and had the good
fortune to kill his formidable opponent. Twenty-one Boer dead and
many wounded left upon the field made a small set-off to the
disaster of the Suffolks.
The next day, however (January 16th), the scales of fortune, which
swung alternately one way and the other, were again tipped against
us. It is difficult to give an intelligible account of the details
of these operations, because they were carried out by thin fringes
of men covering on both sides a very large area, each kopje
occupied as a fort, and the intervening plains patrolled by
cavalry.
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