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Page 15
It was not altogether a success.
At dusk the Regiment proceeded to the railway station and the men were
duly loaded up in the wagons. A start was then made, but as the second
wagon nearly took the whole station with it in its endeavours to
negotiate the first corner of the galvanized iron goods shed, no great
speed was effected, for this wagon and the demolished corner of the shed
blocked all further egress from the station till the road was cleared.
Shortly afterwards the wagons, at last let loose, came into contact with
the two city filth carts, the "Powerful" and "Terrible," which were
parading about the streets on their own. These exceedingly powerful
ironclads completed the defeat of the mule wagons, upset finally their
order of going, and the retirement was effected in detachments. The
manoeuvre was never repeated.
Wonderful tales and reports were continually being circulated from day
to day. On one day there would perhaps be no news of any value, followed
on the next day by the most woeful tidings; but on the third day, as if
ashamed of themselves for furnishing such bad news the previous day, the
tale-bearers would turn the winter of its discontent into the most
glorious summer, by sending forth to the garrison shaves bubbling over
with pleasing items.
On the evening of the 21st a heliograph message was received from the
2nd Battalion, which was with Sir Redvers Buller, stating that at the
Colenso fight on the 15th December Colonel Bullock, Major Walter, and
Lieutenant Smyth-Osbourne had been taken prisoners, and Captains
Goodwyn, Vigors, and Radcliffe and Lieutenants Gardiner and Storey
wounded.
After standing to arms daily at 4.15 a.m. till daylight, the Regiment
was employed in building long stone traverses, behind which the men were
to live, and this work was carried on again in the evening after dark by
the light of candles. The dimensions of the traverses were sixty yards
long, eight feet high, six feet (of stonework) thick at the top, and
nine feet of stonework at the base, the earth from a ditch in front
being thrown up at an angle of 1/1. They had a topping of sand-bags,
with intervals for air passage; and a tent, stretched lengthways from
the top down to ground, afforded the men shelter and accommodation.
On December 22nd a serious catastrophe happened to a party of the
Gloucester Regiment, who were quartered in a small traverse near those
occupied by the Regiment. A shell caught the whole party of twelve men
as they were sitting away from the cover of the traverse. Five were
killed, four died of their wounds almost immediately, and three were
severely wounded.
A man with a telescope was now placed on the look-out, with orders to
blow a whistle if he saw the big gun on Bulwana turned towards the lines
when firing; and as the shell took about thirty seconds from the time of
the discharge to reach its mark, the warning gave the men time to get
under cover.
There were frequently some very amusing incidents when the look-out man
blew his whistle. One morning whilst the business at the orderly-room
was being conducted, and a culprit being told off, the whistle gave
warning that the gun on Bulwana had fired, and in the direction of
Tunnel Hill. As all could not get inside the orderly-room shelter, which
was merely a hole dug into the side of the hill, there was a general
scuttle and _sauve qui peut_. One officer, trying to get into the
orderly-room from outside, ran into another who was escaping from it to
get into the first traverse, and each tumbled over the other. The
Quartermaster, trying to crawl on his hands and knees under the tenting
of the second traverse, got blocked out, and at the same time shut out
another officer flying for safety. At the same moment a man jumped from
above on the Quartermaster's back, and he, fancying that it was the
shell and that his end had come, gave himself up for lost. All, however,
ended happily for the immediate neighbourhood, for the look-out man had
made a mistake, and the shell, instead of arriving at Tunnel Hill,
crashed into the town.
All these incidents and accidents, individually very serious at the
time, were always amusing in the telling as soon as the tyranny was
overpast, and, resulting in a hearty laugh, helped to relieve the
strain.
The London _Gazette_ of October 9th was signalled into Ladysmith by the
2nd Battalion. This stated: "Major Park to be Lieutenant-Colonel;
Davies, 2nd-in-Command; Ellicombe, Major; Radcliffe, Captain."
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