We now come to the statements of the survivors, and here we are at a considerable loss to reconcile the accounts. It is distinctly mentioned by one witness that the abandoned Prince was seen vainly endeavouring to spring into the saddle by the aid of the holster and the cantle. The story must be received with considerable reservation, if not utter mistrust. The Prince, it is well-known, was a most accomplished horseman, and especially distinguished by his proficiency in all the arts and minutiæ of the manége, and he therefore would be most unlikely to attempt to mount in the way described. Almost the first lesson given in the riding-school to a recruit is the one which teaches the method of mounting the horse. The merest novice in military equitation must be aware that the first motion with the left hand is to grasp a lock of the mane, before placing the right hand upon the cantle of the saddle, or horse's back if not saddled. The Prince was too well-drilled a cavalier to think of mounting by grasping either the saddle-flap, holster, or stirrup-leather, either of which would tend to turn a loosely-girthed saddle round under the horse. If the witnesses had sufficient time to minutely describe the details of the Prince's desperate struggle, they undoubtedly had equal time and opportunity to have drawn rein and assisted him to mount. From all that can be gleaned of a reliable nature, it would appear that the one exception of devotion and courage displayed in this otherwise disgraceful affair was exhibited by the friendly Zulu who was with the party. He it was who first discovered the proximity of the enemy, and who, not being mounted, might have had some excuse for trying to save his life by timely flight. But he stayed loyally and gallantly with his white comrades, and came back with quiet and deliberate consideration to give warning of the concealed Zulus. Even then it would appear that he did not attempt to fly, but fought with his breast to the foe until overcome by numbers. This poor fellow's body was afterwards discovered not far from that of the Prince, riddled with wounds, and in a pool of his own and the enemy's blood, together with a number of his own assegais broken, but reeking with the gore of his assailants. Doubtless, the first and real great error was committed by the Prince and his party advancing without the Basutos detailed to accompany them. Had these native scouts, whose powers of observation and eyesight so far exceed those of any white man, that no reconnaissance was considered complete without them, paraded as they had been ordered to, it is beyond question that they would have detected the vicinity of the concealed Zulus, and a fearful tragedy would have been averted.
The sad news thrilled the whole camp. In every tent, and amongst each group of old and young soldiers around the bivouac fires, the tidings were discussed during the whole of the evening, and late into the night. General Newdigate was applied to by General Marshall for permission to take out a cavalry patrol, during the night, to recover the body of the ill-fated Prince, but the former thought it would be more prudent to wait for the daylight. At four a.m., however, two squadrons were paraded in front of the camp, and, under General Marshall's command, proceeded in the direction of the plateau three miles above the junction of the Tombolaka and Ityolyozi rivers—about equidistant between the cavalry camp at the Incetu Neck and that of Wood at the Munhla hill, and some twelve miles from either. About eight miles from Incetu the horsemen came to a bend of the river, and after crossing the spruit, which in the rainy season helps to fill the Ityolyozi, they came to the base of one of those flat-topped hills which are so common in this country. With some considerable difficulty they ascended to the summit of this kop, from which was obtained a splendid view of the river below as it wound along the valley, and at the further end fell over a ledge of rock by a directly perpendicular descent of 150 feet high and fifty feet wide. Here the water whirled down into the abyss beneath, and seemed to be carried off in a serpentine form through a deep channel between great red scarped rocks. In the ascent to the kop several small but well-built Zulu kraals were passed, and it was noticed that the huts were very neatly built. The wickerwork was made of wattles, light and straight, and bent over at regular distances. The kraals were well plastered and very neatly thatched, while the doors were made rather small, with the flooring hard and smooth. At the upper end there was a raised ledge running right across the hut, which served as a cupboard where all utensils are placed. Firewood was neatly packed inside between two grass copes which were fastened against the wall. The furniture was scanty and all of native manufacture, and some large clay pots to hold native beer were in several of the huts. Looking down over the ground dividing the lower ground from the higher range, a fine view broke upon the eye in the foreground. Mount Munhla stood well out of the range upon the plain like some huge bastion, while behind it endless grassy slopes filled up the foreground of the picture. The hill ascended was one of the spots selected by the Prince for his sketches, and here it was that the party had made their first halt. Here they could be in no danger of surprise, and well would it have been if the party had chosen an equally safe position to off-saddle on Sunday. There is no doubt that the Prince's talent with the pencil and the pen, combined with his remarkable proficiency in military surveying, while making his services so valuable to the army, contributed in no inconsiderable manner to the risks which on several occasions he ran. From this spot, the Prince, when he had finished his sketches, pointed out to Lieutenant Carey the kraal at which he had been fired at on a previous occasion. From here might be seen the Umbazini, about two miles farther on, and the kraal, consisting of five huts, where the Prince was killed. Vedettes were now ordered to push along the ridges to right and left, and to signal as they advanced, while the main body of horsemen, in sections of fours, were led by the General down the north-eastern side of the krantz. It was an interesting sight to see the long blue and white line of horsemen winding like a huge serpent round the sides of the mountain; the steel-topped bamboo lances and fluttering pennons glistening bravely in the morning sunlight, while the horses' hoofs, noiseless upon the soft and elastic veldt, were in harmony with the silence and sad expression that were maintained in the ranks. From the General and all the officers to the rear-rank files there was a subdued and solemn determination of countenance which was far more eloquent in sympathy for their dead comrade than any words could speak, while might be seen, at the same time, in every eye and on every lip, a stern resolve of retribution should opportunity occur. The cry of "English cowards!" so often hurled at our men at Ekowe, at Zlobani, at Kambula, Ginghilovo, and, above all, on the fatal Sunday, was rankling in the hearts of our men, as they longed to find themselves in the presence of a Zulu force. As they rode cautiously yet speedily down the slopes of the mountain and came nearer and nearer to the place of blood, low whispers and murmurs in subdued accents were heard in the ranks, bronzed and bearded faces seemed to grow more ironlike and hard, weapons were grasped with a tighter clutch, and every eye scanned and searched the horizon for a hidden enemy. No trumpet was sounded, but lance signals were employed to tell the vedettes to close in upon the column as it advanced nearer to the kraal. Now could be seen the long and luxuriant patches of Tambookie grass and mealies intermixed which gave shelter to the foe, and whose proximity was so strangely and unaccountably ignored by the escort of the Prince.
In front, with General Marshall and two other officers of the 17th Lancers, rode Captain Wyatt-Edgell, their eyes fixed on the donga, where the massacre—for it is difficult to give it another name—took place. Would the lifeless remains of one whose bright spirit was part of a widowed and stricken life, whose pure and Christian nature ennobled the profession of strife to which his heart was devoted, be left intact by the savages or mutilated by the instincts of their brutal superstition? Would the young, calm, and somewhat sad eyes so well remembered by each be torn or defaced by the vulture, or his still more repugnant rival the common aasvogel (gyps fulvus), and would that lithe and graceful form which used to lounge at evening into the homely bell-tent and interchange camp gossip and pleasant badinage with glad and devoted comrades—would all these be gone to human sight and ken? Were they to have the mournful and defeated joy of bearing those poor shorn relics back even one stage on the way to a broken-hearted mother's hearth; or had the wild dog and the eagle feasted upon all that once was the pride and the hope of Imperial Gaul? As they neared the horrible pit, for it was nothing more, where the boy so well loved by all had given his spirit to Him who gave it, they were startled and horror-stricken at the sight of some bearded vultures, hawks, falcons, and secretary-birds, which mounted on the wing from the long, dank grasses as the advance was made; and they shuddered at the thought of the ghoul-like banquet of which they might have partaken. But a deep and impassable kloof had to be crossed, and although time was of the greatest importance at that moment, General Marshall was too good a sabreur to hazard the lives of the living without precaution, in order to recover the relics of the dead. Consequently, as it was quite possible that the foes might have discovered how valued was the life which had been so carelessly squandered, and that a large force might be hidden in other and neighbouring ambush, the usual simple but most effectual precautions were taken while the advance was continued. Vedettes were again thrown out, lance in sling and carbine on thigh. Oh! what a moment of pride for Drury-Lowe, for Boulderson, for Edgell, for Cooke, or for "Dick" Boyle (had he been there to see). Every trooper's eye gleamed with excitement, every thigh pressed the horse's flank, and every heart throbbed with unspeakable rapture at the thought that a chance might be gained to dash as an enfant perdu at the Golgotha where the dead friends should be, even though the living enemies were waiting to wrap and twine them in their grim embrace. Twelve men were selected to ride to the right, left, and front, and report. They had orders to dash at once into the bush should a Zulu appear. To run away in the open before these people is not only madness, but almost certain death to those whose misfortune it is to be left behind; but the merest tyro in North American, South African, or, indeed, any bush warfare, must know that once in the bush the assailed well armed is more than a match for the antagonist ill armed. But a ravine yet intervened between them and the scene of slaughter, and they were compelled to make a somewhat wide détour, during the passage of which, however, each eye and ear was on the qui-vive to the slightest rustle of branch or bough.
A group of officers were riding in front; but one topic could be discussed—a sad and yet a cherished and welcome theme. There is that peculiar temperament and idiosyncrasy about the soldier, a mixture of sentiment, poetry, and practical common sense, which makes up a philosophy all its own, and a measure of life and death, which no man who holds not his life in the hollow of his palm can pretend to comprehend. "Dépêchez-vous, s'il vous plait, monsieur," rang in every ear, and seemed to be echoed through the eldritch and ghostlike solitudes of the greystones and caverns above. The ravens, disturbed at their approach, screamed as they passed on, while the monkeys, nestling among the luxuriant clusters of imporotla or peopisi,—fruit whose pods, three feet long, full of large broad beans, hanging from the branches like cucumbers or sausages, gave a singular, a cultivated, and almost civilized aspect to the scene,—seemed as wishing to point out the spot where the gallant young Prince was slain.
Some Zulus, about one hundred in number, were now seen hiding in bushes and caves; but they were quickly dislodged by a party of dismounted Lancers under Adjutant Frith, a smart officer and worthy follower in the old traditions of his corps. The line then brought its shoulders sharply round to the left, and covered the five huts forming the kraal, while the officers in front galloped through the tambookie grass and maize, and posted vedettes at each angle of the plantation. Taking open order, General Marshall now advanced and surrounded the donga, and, dismounting himself, with three other officers, descended the slopes of the worn and steep shelter that held what once was a bright and gallant spirit.
A small bank of sand, over which the sparse and struggling wild flowers were striving to blossom and flourish, gave a pillow to the young Prince, whose body divested of all clothing, and stripped bare save for a charm or locket round his neck, lay extended, not in writhed contortion, but graceful as in slumber. The face was composed and almost smiling, and looked up to the sky towards which the pure and unselfish spirit had soared. No trace of a violent and bloody death could be seen on the fair and unwrinkled brow, where the lines of thought, care, and sorrow, were as yet unploughed. The eyes were open, and seemed to gaze up with human sympathy, though one was injured by a cruel wound which gashed the lid and eyebrow. The body was not mutilated, and save for the eighteen assegai wounds in the chest and front, no desecration of the clay had been committed. The left arm lay across the chest as if striving to shield the heart from some cruel thrust, while the right grasped in deathly rigour a tuft of human hair, which showed in conclusive evidence that the boy must have had time to close in the last death-struggle with one at least of his assailants. Beyond this fact, the ground near where the body lay was trampled and tossed, while here and there, in the direction towards which the Zulus fled, dark congealed clots of blood were still to be seen. Hence the conclusion that the generous and high-souled boy, whom all loved so well, had preserved, if not his revolver (which probably was left in his holster), at least his sword, and that, accomplished swordsman as he was, even in his mortal agony he had been able to sell his life dearly, and strike as he fell. Hard-hearted and hard-headed troopers, impervious to danger and to hardships, bowed their heads in sorrow and shame to their horses' manes, while the fierce light of battle which is to be seen when the trumpet sounds the "charge" gleamed through the mist of tears, as these honest fellows looked upon the remains of him whose gashed body seemed to appeal to them. But the sad duty was but half achieved, and, under the kind supervision of General Marshall, a soldier's bier was quickly improvised of 17th lances, covered with cut rushes and mealies laid above, while a horseman's cloak lay like a shroud to cover the whole. Tenderly and reverently as soldiers only can lift was the body lifted to its carriage, and it was carried in relays by loving and respectful hands back over the long and difficult road to the camp, where, on the same day, the whole of the division paraded to do honour to the dead. When the camp was nearly reached a messenger was sent on, and General Newdigate and his staff came out to meet the sad cortège, and when inside the lines, a gun-carriage was brought, upon which, decently wrapped in linen clothes and covered with the Union Jack, the remains were tenderly laid, while the funeral service was impressively performed by the Rev. Charles Ballard, the Roman Catholic chaplain, Lord Chelmsford, who was deeply affected, being the chief mourner. The same evening the corpse was enclosed in a rough deal coffin and conveyed by a mule waggon to Maritzburg. It was met bare-headed by the Lieutenant-Governor, the Colonial Secretary, General Sir John Bissett, and General Clifford, while minute-guns were fired from the fort, and all the flags were at half-mast. Here again there was an elaborate and impressive funeral, the coffin being carried by the representatives of every branch of the service, and followed out of the town by the whole of the large garrison, the civic authorities, and the Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Dissenting clergy. At Durban, where the remains arrived on the 10th inst., the body was received by the Mayor and Corporation. The streets leading to the Roman Catholic Church were lined by the garrison, leaning on their arms, reversed, and a requiem mass was celebrated the same day. The following morning the coffin was received on board her Majesty's ship "Boadicea," being escorted to the point of embarkation by the naval and military authorities, while the sad boom of the minute-guns accompanied the procession. The "Boadicea" then sailed for Simon's Bay. Arrived there, the relics were transferred to her Majesty's ship "Orontes," and so conveyed to England. After identification and lying in state at the Woolwich Arsenal, the body was conveyed to the Empress's residence at Chiselhurst; there, with all the pomp and pageantry of full military honours, it was laid in the tomb in the same chapel, where rest the remains of his loved father, Napoleon III., Emperor of France. The utmost sympathy was shown for his bereaved mother by the whole English nation, from highest to lowest. The Queen in person attended the funeral at Chiselhurst, and amongst the pall-bearers were the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Connaught, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Leopold.
A court-martial was held on Lieutenant Carey, on the charge of having behaved in an unsoldierlike manner in face of the foe; but the sentence was kept secret, awaiting its confirmation by the Commander-in-chief in England. Meanwhile Lieutenant Carey was sent home under arrest. On his arrival there the proceedings of the court-martial were declared null and void on account of some technical irregularity, and he was ordered to resume his duties.[1]
[1] It is untrue that he has since received a high staff appointment.
It was generally understood that the sentence was dismissal from the service with ignominy, but that it was not confirmed by the special desire of the Empress, who made a personal request to the Queen that nothing should be done in the matter.