"The Natives had made two charges when, as I was aiming at one up the donga, about twenty yards off, a thrown assegai penetrated my right forearm.
"We were by this time getting very weak from loss of blood, and, as our fighting strength was four only, viz. Fraser, Holmes, Flynn and myself, things were looking very serious. I personally felt very weak but, after drinking some water from Flynn's water-bottle, I revived in time to assist in repelling the third charge. We succeeded in driving them back again, but I knew that unless help arrived soon, we would be overcome and, speaking to Fraser and Flynn, said if they succeeded in getting out to tell the Colonel that we had left our mark on the enemy. A minute or so later, Holmes said, 'Look out, they're preparing to rush again.' I, at that moment, was loading my revolver with the last six cartridges I had. I succeeded in getting five in, but dropped the sixth. I fired two shots at some Natives in the donga, twenty to thirty yards up. Holmes fired at them at the same time. They both dropped, I am certain Holmes killed one, but am not sure of the other. At this moment, shouting and shooting attracted our attention, and to our relief we saw other members of the regiment coming to our assistance, amongst the first being Lieuts. Male, Jones, and Oswald, then Colonel Royston a second or two later, he having stopped to bandage levy-leader W.H.E. Hopkins, who had been shot on the side of the head when running by the side of Colonel Royston in advance of the relieving party."
MANZIPAMBANA
Action at its height
The foregoing account is necessarily confined to what took place in Clerk's immediate vicinity. The following particulars, taken from others who were engaged, are intended to supplement Clerk's graphic narrative.
The action occurred at the bottom of a large valley, which lies wholly within Dukuza forest, and through which flows the Manzipambana stream. There are remarkably few stones about, except in the donga or water-course, which runs almost due north and south. The gully in question is but 130 yards long; it slopes steeply on the east, and is 12 to 14 ft. wide and about 6 ft. deep where Clerk lay. The forest is not very dense at this particular spot, one being able to see fifty yards all round. The enemy, about 300 strong—all exceptionally well-built men—was congregated in one spot. Although he must have been within twenty yards, the late Alexander, when sent forward to the left by Clerk to reconnoitre, did not see the impi, no doubt because lying flat on the ground in accordance with custom, and behind trees and other cover. Although frequent efforts were made by the rebels to charge one or other of the three groups of R.H. in that vicinity, not one was pressed home, due no doubt to the accuracy of the shooting, and to the fact that the 'horns' failed to get round at the lower end owing to the length of the line. Each of these groups was engaged, though at longer ranges than Clerk's group had to fire at. More than once the highest and the lowest groups fired at one another when masked by the rebels. Where Clerk was, the fighting was almost hand to hand. Many assegais were thrown and shots fired by the rebels. The engagement did not last more than fifteen to eighteen minutes.
It is difficult to determine how many of the enemy were killed; the number was at first given as fifty-three, but probably some of these were merely wounded and got away. In view of the duration of the action, and of its having taken place at short range, with at least twenty-four rifles, the killed were probably not less than thirty-five. The having of about nine head of cattle with them is noteworthy as evidence of an intention on the part of the rebels to decoy by offering a bait. As soon as the action commenced, the cattle were driven ahead, as if to confuse or afford cover. A device of this sort, it will be remembered, was adopted when the rebels made their first charge at Mpukunyoni. The enemy was in possession of anything from a dozen to three dozen guns of different kinds, but his shooting was distinctly poor; more casualties, however, were attributable to gun-fire, such as it was, in this action than in any other of the campaign.
The conduct of the levies in deserting en bloc at so critical a moment is a lesson to be carefully borne in mind in the future. At the same time, it is fair to point out that they were not being led by anyone well-known to them, or familiar with their language; there were not more than fifty, and these were separated from the rest of their party. In this connection, it was unfortunate that the levy-leader attached to that part of the line was not at hand to give such moral support as he could. The fact that one or more of the enemy wore Turkey-red, thereby becoming undistinguishable from the levies, may be due to such or similar material having been among the goods in the waggon looted by the rebels a few days before.