The valley at last reached, we halted for a few minutes (till the pack-horses and mules in rear scrambled down after us) near a solitary farm-house, a burnt and blackened ruin, with a fine garden full of vines, bananas, orange, lemon, citron, pomegranate, fig, peach, and almond trees, their blossom scenting the morning air. A drizzling rain came on, and we continued our march up the beautifully wooded valley, which was shut in by high mountains, half covered by the fleecy clouds resting on their bush-covered heights, the broad path, cut through a perfect grove of flowering bushes, followed the course of a winding rocky burn up the centre of the glen. As we advanced, the mountains were varied by grey crags, fine belts of lichen-covered forest, and soft smooth slopes of the greenest grass; the rain gradually ceased, and the clouds slowly lifted, revealing lofty krantzes of basaltic rock rising perpendicularly from the dark bush that clothed the higher ridges; the large forest trees on the summit appearing against the clear blue sky like a fringe of small shrubs. The sun at length broke through the clouds, and the bush, sparkling with dew drops, scented the air with its fragrance. Parts of the road were so strikingly like a park at home that one almost expected at each turn to come in sight of the house.
Along each side of the path, and close to the bush, we found, as we proceeded, the dead bodies of many of the enemy killed in the engagement of the 14th; clouds of flies rose with a startling buzz from the corpses, which lay literally broiling in the hot sun, some on their faces in the long grass, others with their swollen features exposed, and legs drawn up, while a few lay half-reclining under the trees, as though they had died there of their wounds; most were partially eaten by jackals and hyænas, whose spoor was traceable all round; eighteen lay in this way along our path, and the horrible stench in many places told that others were concealed by the dense underwood; among others, was an enormous "Bastaard" Hottentot, who must have been nearly six feet three.
The melancholy ruins of two more farm-houses were passed, levelled with the ground; the fine orchards, in full blossom, contrasting strangely with the forsaken appearance of the blackened heaps of what had been happy and comfortable homes. At the entrance of another valley running into this, on our right, we found the fresh spoor of horses, cattle and sheep, leading along the sandy path that ran up its centre. The column was halted, and a mounted force, with three companies of the 74th, was detached to follow it, while the rest remained at the point of separation. Some cattle were seen on the hills, about a mile in advance, and we pushed on up the glen as quickly as possible; but after tracing the spoor for two miles, it disappeared in twenty different directions, leading into an impracticable bushy gorge, and as the Colonel did not think it advisable to follow it further, and so delay our great object of clearing the Waterkloof, we returned to the main body.
We now got a sight of the General's column on the opposite heights, moving along the ridge like a train of ants. As we proceeded, they reached the enemy's position just above us, and opened fire from the howitzers; the rolling boom, and the report of bursting shells, was followed by the faint rattle of small arms, from the 2nd and 6th regiments, which through the glass we could distinguish along the edge of the precipice.
Our Irregulars were extended and sent into the bush, to the right and left, climbing to a great height up the hills, working beautifully through the thick forests, and completely scouring it up to the base of the krantzes, setting fire to a number of huts hidden in the thickest retreats; the effect of the blue wreaths of smoke curling up above the tops of the trees in the higher forest after each rolling report; the thick white smoke rising from the burning huts; and the echoing of the Fingoes' peculiar cries, far up on the heights, with the shrill voices of captured women, was most singular. Two companies of the reserve battalion of the 91st regiment were extended across the valley, advancing through the scattered bush in line with the Levies on the mountains; the 12th regiment, and the 74th Highlanders, with the mounted force, following by the road in the centre, in column of sections. None of the enemy were to be seen, beyond a few single individuals far out of rifle range, perched on lofty crags, which appeared quite inaccessible, and we proceeded up the kloof, destroying their huts without opposition. Along the base of the northern range, and at the edge of the forest, sheltered under its overhanging trees, were numbers of kraals neatly built of reeds, and plastered with mud; immediately in front spread a smooth green, separated from the road by the rocky stream, whose beautifully clear waters bubbled over the stones with a most refreshing sound; a more delightful and picturesque situation for a village could not be found. It had evidently only just been abandoned, for in most of the huts we found fires smouldering on the centre of the mud floors; in some, half-ground coffee lay on the flat grinding stones (proving the fact of their obtaining town supplies); calabashes and sheep-skin rugs were in all, while the large quantities of freshly chewed root showed that a considerable number of Kaffirs must have been there very recently. The whole of these dwellings, built on the property of the ruined farmers, whose sacked and gutted houses we had passed, were set fire to, and in a few minutes, roaring and crackling, sent up their flames high above the shrivelling trees; the whole glen behind, as we entered the narrow pass at its head, was smoking as far as the eye could reach.
The ascent from the valley was by a very steep, rocky path, cut through a cool shady forest, leading straight up the face of the mountain, and only wide enough in many places to admit the men in single file; the underwood was choked up with an endless variety of luxuriant shrubs, entwined with the sweet scented wild vine, baboon-ropes of extraordinary length hanging from the topmost branches of the lofty, bare poled trees, which in some places met overhead, and in others showed a narrow strip of the bright blue sky above. In the thicket, full of wood anemones and bright flowers, lay the dead bodies of one or two more Kaffirs, exhibiting frightful wounds from the splinters of a shell.
Felled trees lay across the path to obstruct our passage, but the General's column at the head of the pass, and the simultaneous advance of the Fingoes as flank-skirmishers, one party sweeping round the head of the valley on our right, and another clearing the bush on the left, secured our ascent without opposition, till just at the summit, when the head of the brigade having gained the open field or "Horseshoe" (so called from its shape, enclosed by forest), the rear-guard, consisting of the 12th reserve, a company of the 74th, and the mounted men, was sharply attacked from the bush on their left, the Kaffirs after firing a volley rushing out with their assegais. One man of the 74th was killed and one wounded; Gordon, bravely rushing back to his rescue as he was left struggling on the ground with four or five of the savages, shot one of them dead with his pistol, and wounded another, when a few of the men running up, drove off or killed the rest, and carried away the wounded man, whose appearance gave but little hope of recovery, his face being frightfully cut with assegais, and his skull battered by the blows from the butt end of a gun. At the edge of the forest we set fire to a cluster of huts, larger and differently shaped from any we had seen before, and faced with smooth shining reeds; they were believed to belong to Macomo.
On emerging from the bush we found the artillery, the 2nd and 6th regiments and the Cape Mounted Rifles on the ground, and the enemy showing in considerable force on some low rocks on our right, whence they opened fire on us at long range. One man of the 12th was wounded, and one of the mounted men, whose horse was also killed. Our brigade "formed line to the right," and lay under cover of a ridge, two companies of the 74th and two of the 91st advancing in skirmishing order towards the forest in front, from which the rebels kept up a hot fire, the bullets falling thickly among us. From this position they were quickly driven, and the General bringing two of the guns under Lieutenant Field to bear on the rocks, drove them out of that one also, the shells falling among them with wonderful precision.
It was now about two o'clock, and the Waterkloof having been cleared below, and the enemy driven from their positions on the heights, we were ordered to join the other column under Lieut.-Col. Michell, who had attacked and destroyed the whole of the enemy's camps along the ridge. On our way, the Kaffirs suddenly opened fire on us from a narrow belt of forest on the left; the skirmishers of the 2nd brigade were again thrown forward, a sharp fire ensuing on both sides. A large ball, weighing about three ounces, striking a piece of rock on which I stood, with a loud whirring, lodged perfectly flattened in a small crevice under my feet; and at the same moment one of our men fell severely wounded. The 6th regiment reinforced our line of skirmishers; part of the 74th charged into the little belt of bush; the Kaffirs bolted into the dense thickets of the main forest, throwing away their guns, and we re-formed in extended order on the open green on the other side, under fire from a second forest in front, towards which we rapidly advanced. The Kaffirs were seen in several of the largest trees further from the edge of the bush, from which they kept up a hot fire as we approached, and the bullets whistled over our heads much more thickly than was quite pleasant; another private of the 74th Highlanders was shot dead, one of the 12th wounded, four men of the 91st were severely wounded, two men of the Levies killed, and two wounded, with four or five horses killed and disabled. The bush was entered at "the double," and the belt cleared as before; several of the enemy, who were chiefly "Totties," armed with double barrel carbines, being shot, the rest escaping down the mountain, under cover of the thick forest, impenetrable to our soldiers. Not a living creature was to be seen, and the bugle sounding the recall, we returned and formed column on the open ground; and bearing our killed and wounded on stretchers, and marshalling our prisoners, marched at four o'clock for our bivouac of the previous night, moving across the open flat, as on the former occasion; with two guns, the 2nd, and 6th regiments, and Cape Corps as a rear-guard, under Lieut.-Col. Michell.
We had not gone more than three quarters of a mile, when from the very bush we had just left apparently totally deserted, some fifteen or twenty Kaffirs issued; and running forward, fired half a dozen shots after us, which fell some two or three hundred yards short. In less than a minute one of the guns was unlimbered and a shell sent among them, killing several, and so alarming the rest, that they fled in every direction, and disappeared in the bush. Late in the evening we approached our old position, and saw, to our surprise, a party of dismounted horsemen apparently awaiting our arrival. On coming up, we found them to be a party of Burghers from the Mancazana district. Wearied and exhausted as the men were after this long and trying day, they busied themselves at once in looking after the comfort of their wounded comrades, who had the hospital-tent pitched, and everything done for them that was possible; though a single blanket on the hard ground with a canteen for a pillow, or a large stone with a pocket handkerchief over it, was a poor bed for a wounded or dying man, and we had nothing better to give them.