The body had eighteen assegai wounds, all in front, and the marks on the ground and on the spurs indicated a desperate resistance.
The two white troopers were laid together beside a cairn of stones, which was erected to mark the exact spot where the Prince was found, and later in the day they were buried there, the chaplain on duty with the column performing the funeral service.
But for the Prince himself a true soldiers’ bier was formed of lances lashed together and horse blankets, and, borne thus, the body of the noble lad was carried up the hill towards the camp which he had left the previous day so full of energy and life.
The melancholy news was telegraphed throughout the colony, causing universal grief and consternation. Every heart was wrung with sympathy for the mother; and even those to whose homes and hearts the war had already brought desolation, felt their own grief hushed for awhile in the presence of a bereavement which seemed to surpass all others in bitterness and depth.
What citizen of ’Maritzburg will ever forget the melancholy Sunday afternoon, cold and storm-laden, when, at the first distant sound of the sad approaching funeral music, all left their homes and lined the streets through which the violet-adorned coffin passed on its way to its temporary resting-place.
In Durban, too, the solemn scene was repeated; the whole colony being deeply moved at the sad and untimely death of the gallant Prince. H.M.S. Boadicea, flag-ship of Commodore Richards, had the honour of conveying the body to Simon’s Bay, when it was transferred to H.M.S. Orontes with every possible mark of respect for conveyance to England.
A court of inquiry was at once assembled by Lord Chelmsford, and reported that Lieutenant Carey had not understood the position in which he stood towards the Prince, and, as a consequence, failed to estimate aright the responsibility which fell to his lot; also that he was much to blame for having proceeded on the duty in question with a portion only of the escort; and that the selection of the kraal where the halt was made, surrounded as it was by cover for the enemy, and adjacent to difficult ground, showed a lamentable want of military prudence. And, finally, the court deeply regretted that no effort was made after the attack to rally the escort and to show a front to the enemy, whereby the possibility of aiding those who had failed to make good their retreat might have been ascertained.
Lieutenant Carey was then tried by court-martial and found guilty. The home authorities decided, however, that the conviction and sentence could not be maintained, and consequently ordered this officer to be released from arrest and to return to his duty.
In justice to Lieutenant Carey it must be said that the Prince appears to have been actually in command of the party; Lieutenant Carey accompanied it, by permission, for the purpose of completing some of his own work, taking advantage of the protection of the escort to enable him to do so; he received no order about the command of the escort, or other instructions beyond the words, “You can look after the Prince,” which were evidently interpreted as advise him, but could scarcely warrant controlling his movements.
The Prince’s written instructions from Colonel Harrison were lost with him.