Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana by Chris Peers

Author:Chris Peers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Africa / South / General
Publisher: Greenhill Books
Published: 2021-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Along what will become known as the Fugitives’ Trail to Sothondose’s Drift, the rout and the slaughter continue. Some of the fugitives’ escapes are little short of miraculous. Horace Smith-Dorrien notes that the Zulus are more infuriated with the African soldiers and drivers than they are with the whites, perhaps regarding them as traitors, and seem to concentrate on killing them first. He also sees that all the white officers who get away are wearing dark blue patrol jackets instead of red coats, and later he will wonder whether the enemy are taking literally their king’s order to kill the ‘amasoja ebomvu’ or ‘redcoat soldiers’.6 Trooper Dorehill, of the Mounted Police, has reached the Mzinyathi and is looking for a place to cross when he sees two young Zulus running towards him, followed by an older married man wearing a head ring.7 As he prepares to jump into the raging river he hears two shots behind him. Supposing that the Zulus have fired at him and missed, he glances back to see the older man standing over the bodies of the other two warriors with a smoking double-barrelled shotgun. ‘Jump into the river!’ the man shouts in isiZulu. Dorehill does so, and manages to get across by holding on to the tail of his horse. On the far side he meets two other fugitives, Sergeant Costello of the Royal Artillery and a Mounted Infantryman, Private Gascoigne. Costello has got away on a splendid black horse belonging to his officer, Major Smith.

The three men are suddenly distracted by the cries of Trooper Hayes, who has been sharing a tent with Dorehill. Last night Hayes had a premonition of disaster and disturbed his companion’s sleep with his nightmares. Now he has got across the Mzinyathi only to become stuck in the mud on the far side and have his horse stolen by another fugitive. They pull Hayes out, then Gascoigne – who must be a better rider than most of the Mounted Infantry – catches up with the horse thief, knocks him off the animal’s back and reunites it with Hayes. Meanwhile, about twenty Zulus have appeared on the far bank and opened fire, and there is no sign of Dorehill’s mysterious rescuer. The three men ride off unscathed, although Costello is saved only by Major Smith’s riding cloak, which is still rolled up on the back of the saddle and is struck by several musket balls.

Smith-Dorrien is still on his way over the summit of Mpethe Hill when Lieutenant Melvill overtakes him carrying the Queen’s Colour. James Hamer, a civilian on Durnford’s staff, has managed to get as far as the Manzimnyama Ravine before his horse stops, too tired to go on. Just at that moment a man from the rocket battery rides up leading a spare horse and hands the reins to Hamer. He quickly takes the saddle off his blown horse and mounts up, just as a group of Zulus behind them fire a volley. Both Hamer’s old horse and his rescuer are shot dead, but Hamer rides off unhurt.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.