As a feat of arms on the British part the victory was a wonderful one. Words can scarcely give an idea of the strength of the Boer position. "Remember Majuba!" shouted the victorious troops, and it was Majuba over again, but with the difference that this time it was the Boers who were beaten. They fought bravely, but it is sad to relate that there were many instances of the most discreditable savagery on their part. A burgher deliberately shot two wounded British soldiers, when several Britishers came on him at his bloody work. He dropped on his knees and cried for mercy, but got what he deserved. A Gordon officer was killed by a Boer to whom he gave quarter. Another Boer showed a white flag and then emptied a revolver into the approaching Britishers, who were off their guard.
FUNERAL OF THE BOER GENERAL KOCH AT PRETORIA.
BOER PRISONERS ON BOARD H.M.S. PENELOPE AT SIMONSTOWN.
Oct. 21, 1899.] After the Battle.
Amongst the wounded Boers were many men of note in the Transvaal. General Koch was wounded, and his son, Judge Koch, who had acquitted the murderers of the British subject, Edgar, at Johannesburg some months before, was killed. Colonel Schiel, a German officer who had directed the Boer artillery and had in the past been guilty of inhuman atrocities to the natives, was severely wounded.
Night fell before the battle was over. The rain still poured down, the wind was bitterly cold; and the agony endured by the wounded, lying out on that stony mountain without shelter, food and water, was terrible. With all the expedition that was possible in the inky darkness the field of battle was searched for living men. The badly wounded were carried down the slopes to the enemy's captured camp; the slightly hurt gathered, Boers and Englishmen, round the camp fires. Our men gave the best places—the snuggest corners, if there could be any snug corners in the open on such a night as that—to their enemies.
[Photo by G. Lynch.