Stump electronic books

It was officially
stated that the guns of Q battery were halted a thousand yards off
the donga, but my impression was, from examining the ground, that
it was not more than six hundred.] of Q battery and one gun (the
rearmost) of U battery swung round and dashed frantically for a
place of safety. At the same instant every Boer along the line of
the donga sprang up and emptied his magazine into the mass of
rushing, shouting soldiers, plunging horses, and screaming Kaffirs.
It was for a few moments a sauve-qui-peut. Serjeant-Major Martin of
U, with a single driver on a wheeler, got away the last gun of his
battery. The four guns which were extricated of Q, under Major
Phipps-Hornby, whirled across the plain, pulled up, unlimbered, and
opened a brisk fire of shrapnel from about a thousand yards upon
the donga. Had the battery gone on for double the distance, its
action would have been more effective, for it would have been under
a less deadly rifle fire, but in any case its sudden change from
flight to discipline and order steadied the whole force.


Pages:
589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613