We now come to an event which, though it in no way affected the course or result of this war, was nevertheless so deplorably sad in itself, as well as to the British army, and was, furthermore, of such world-wide interest, altering, as it undoubtedly did, the history of one of the mightiest nations of Europe, that no apology is required for a detailed narrative.

Ever since the arrival of the Prince Imperial in the colony he had continued to win the friendship and esteem of all ranks, and his unassuming quietude and modesty, genial humour, and readiness to learn the most minute details of the profession he had adopted, made him a universal favourite. It has been previously mentioned that the Prince had been engaged in several reconnaissances, and only three days before his death he had been with Lord Chelmsford upon a patrol extending more than twenty miles into the Zulu country. On May the 28th General Wood received orders to move parallel to, but slightly in advance, of General Newdigate's column, from Kopje Allein, in a south-easterly direction towards the Itelezi hill. After three days had been spent in carefully exploring the country, General Newdigate moved forward on June 1st with his division, as nearly as possible 10,000 strong, and with a baggage train of 480 waggons. The country had been carefully scouted by Buller's Horse for twenty miles round, and no Zulus were reported near. On the evening of the 1st the column laagered not far from the Itelezi, and on the following day the General moved south-east along a level country towards the Inguita range; and the flying column being one march ahead, a communication was kept up by the vedettes of General Newdigate and General Wood. On Sunday, the 1st, General Wood with a small escort reconnoitred in advance of the column, which was about five miles in advance of General Newdigate's force. Away on the right and left were Buller's horsemen dotting the ridges of the hills on either side. In front lay green slopes, which were traversed here and there by watercourses, and bounded by the most singularly shaped mountains, flat at the summit and crowned with a sort of rocky dome. A good deal of rain had fallen in the night, and the morning was as clear and fresh as a May day in England. The General and his escort had ridden about six miles, when the path suddenly made a bend to the left, skirting a clump of trees, which grew near the edge of the stream. Pushing a way through thick thorny underwood mingled with date-palms and tall reeds, they at length looked down upon the still deep waters of a narrow river, flowing across a long red sandbank. A ledge of granite formed a rugged barrier eight feet or ten feet high across the river, and down the hollows of this the clear water rushed and gurgled in fantastic rills, cascades, and rapids, bubbling and eddying among the great masses of rock above, in many of which great holes were worn by stones which during the floods had settled in small hollows. Traversing a sandstone hill, with a long spur stretching away to the eastward, and rising in cliffs of 300 feet to the south of the river, they came upon a grove of fan-palms and mimosa, where the banks of the stream were covered with golden-blossomed acacias. Crossing the river by an easy ford, they had ridden on about another mile, when they observed some of the vedettes on the high ground to the left signalling that horsemen were approaching. Soon they came out upon an immense cultivated flat, terminating to the right in a long, dark, and winding gorge, black with bush, and arched by huge precipices of sandstone and granite. Into this they turned, and, following a Kaffir path marked with tracks made by Buller's men, they came upon a bush of about six or seven acres, in the centre of which were the remains of a burnt kraal and marks of recent fighting. On the edge of a small stream they discovered a path to the extreme right, in fact quite on the hillside, and here the surface showed numerous boot-marks, where the scouts had evidently been. They had now reached a plain, from which they were divided by a broad and well-worn watercourse, and here they were joined by three or four vedettes, who came to report that they had noticed some horsemen coming at a rapid canter from the direction of the Tombalaka and the Iyohgazi rivers, which were about equidistant between Wood's late camp and that of General Newdigate. They had not long to wait for the solution of the mystery, for, riding in the direction of the horsemen, they were met by Colonel Buller and a dozen of his men, who was equally anxious with General Wood to discover who the fugitives could be. They all rode on together, and rounding the base of the cliff came up with Lieutenant Carey and four troopers of Bettington's Horse. In a few seconds more the terrible secret was revealed, and Lieutenant Carey, whose horse was almost dead beat, and covered with foam, was rapidly relating to General Wood the details. "Where is the Prince?" exclaimed Wood, as he breasted his horse at some fallen trees which intervened, and dashed forward to meet the fugitives. "Speak, sir; what has happened?" "The Prince, I fear, is killed, sir," said one of the men, Carey being at first unable to speak. "Is that the case? Tell me instantly, sir," answered the General. "I fear 'tis so, General," was the answer; upon which our chief exclaimed, "And what are you, sir, doing here?" A veil must be drawn over the rest of the interview, which was of the most painful character. A short despatch was at once written while on horseback by the General, and in this a rÉsumÉ of the fearful tragedy was told, how English soldiers had had the unutterable shame of seeing an English officer and four English troopers unwounded and escaped from a Zulu ambush, in which a gallant young Prince, the guest of England and the hope of France, had been barbarously slain. This letter was at once despatched by the General to headquarters, where he ordered Lieutenant Carey and his party to proceed and make their report.

The story elicited from Carey and the four men, in spite of a few discrepancies, was in the main as follows:—

On Sunday, the 1st of June, the Prince learnt that a patrol was to be sent out in advance of the column, to choose the site for the camp on the following day, and his Highness at once applied for and obtained permission to accompany it. At six o'clock on Sunday morning the Prince Imperial sent for his groom, and consulted him as to what horse he should ride, and the man strongly advised him not to take the large grey horse, which was eventually one of the causes of his death. This animal was not one of those selected for the Prince by Sir John Bissett, who had assisted him in the choice of others. He was a big, awkward-looking, but very powerful animal, but an inveterate buck-jumper, and, moreover, excessively timid under fire, a fault which in a charger is dangerous to the last degree. Two of the Prince's horses had died, either on the voyage out or soon after landing, and upon the fatal Sunday the grey horse was the only steed not lame or upon the sick report, so he had to be taken as a case of "Hobson's choice." At seven o'clock a note arrived addressed to the Prince, in which he was informed that permission was accorded him to go with the patrol about to be sent on to choose next day's camping-ground. This note was from Colonel Harrison, the acting quarter-master-general, and the Prince at once went over to his tent, and received final instructions from him verbally; which it must be assumed, were in accordance with the wishes of the Commander-in-chief, who expressly stated that the Prince was to be well cared for, to have no military responsibility, and yet, at the same time, was not to be interfered with, or in any way prevented from seeing the country. Lieutenant Carey's account of these matters is somewhat at variance with this statement of Colonel Harrison, as he (Carey) says that he was told that the Prince was to have the entire charge of the escort and the entire duty of selecting the camp. Lieutenant Carey says in his written statement, that it was by his express desire that he was named to accompany the escort, and he made this request in consequence of his knowledge of the country and, in some degree, of the language. Six men of Captain Bettington's Horse and the same number of Shepstone's Basutos were ordered to parade at half-past eight a.m. as escort, but for some hitherto unexplained reason the latter never appeared, and when Carey suggested they should wait for them the Prince, with that utter contempt for danger for which he was always remarkable, exclaimed, "Oh, no; we are quite strong enough!" At nine a.m. all was ready, a frugal breakfast of black coffee and biscuit had been partaken of, saddles, carbines, swords, revolvers, and accoutrements had been carefully inspected, and the word was given to "mount" and "away!" Before leaving the camp, however, a message was sent to Captain Shepstone to say that the escort would halt and wait for the six Basutos on the ridge between the Incenzi and Itelezi hills. A messenger was again sent to hurry on these natives, but it seems they never came, and therefore the patrol consisted only of the Prince, Lieutenant Carey, six mounted men of Bettington's Horse, and one friendly Zulu. This was certainly not a fit escort for such a charge, and it seems impossible not to attach a grave responsibility to the staff officer who made the detail. All the six Europeans were well armed and well mounted, their weapons consisting of the Martini-Henry slung across the back, ammunition in bandoleer, and a stout serviceable knife, which could be used for meals or on emergency as a weapon at close quarters. The Prince and Lieutenant Carey had not rifles, but swords and revolvers, and unfortunately the latter were not worn upon the person as they invariably should be, but in the holsters. The Prince had been on several visits to General Wood's camp, and was an enthusiastic admirer of both Wood and Buller, with the latter of whom he had become very intimate ever since the last two patrols he had made with him. With Lieutenant Carey his Imperial Highness had also an intimacy of some standing, and as Carey's skill as a draughtsman was well known in the camp, he had been selected on several occasions to assist his Highness in surveying operations.

The day had broken on this fated Sunday with all the glory of a real South African morning. It had been raining during the night, but this only served to give a more delightful perfume to the odorous plants that were crushed by the hoofs of the horses belonging to the escort. The rain of the previous day and night had refreshed the ground, and filled the various pools with water, and the plains were cheerful with the animals and birds coming out of the bush to feed. The patrol met with no adventure for some time, but continued its course along a valley running north-east, and narrowing gradually. The track in some places crossed bad spruits, and was undefined, and in parts obliterated by thorn-trees and bush. It was also commanded here and there by projecting spurs and bluffs, where an enemy could have easily hidden in force, and have attacked them at an advantage, but on either side could be seen the friendly Basutos scouting in the distance. The watershed of the mountain was reached about an hour after the patrol started, and on arriving at the ridge the Prince and Lieutenant Carey dismounted, as they wished to fix the position of some important hills with their compasses. Here Colonel Harrison overtook them, and remarked that the whole of the escort was not with them, adding that the patrol had better wait for the Basutos to come up. The Prince said, "Oh, we are quite strong enough. Besides, we have all our friends around us, and with my glass I can see General Marshall's cavalry coming up." Lieutenant Carey, as soon as he had finished his sketch, proposed to off-saddle and breakfast; but he states that the Prince overruled this suggestion and expressed a wish to push on to the river. The patrol accordingly proceeded on for about four miles, where for some distance the way was along the bottom of a deep sandy nullah with very precipitous sides, which they were forced to take as the only practicable place. This at length debouched into an open space, from which there appeared to be an entrance to a disused kraal some two miles up the ravine. Here the escort found that there was good drinking-water in some pools under a large kopje in front, situated in a complete amphitheatre of hills, and upon this kopje were some of our Basuto skirmishers. After watering the horses, the party advanced for a mile and a half along a commanding and rocky range of hills a short distance beyond the Ilyotosi river. Here Carey again proposed to off-saddle, but the Prince did not approve of the spot, and after some more sketching and surveying the country with telescopes and compass, the valley was descended as far as an isolated kraal, and the order was given to off-saddle. The Prince, who did not appear very strong, now complained of being tired, and while coffee was being prepared lay down beside the door of a hut.

The place where this halt was made would appear, from the statements of Lieutenant Carey and the surviving men of the escort, to be about as ill-chosen and suspicious a locality as could be found. The kraal where they now were consisted of about half a dozen huts, and was situated about three hundred yards from the river Moazani (so called by the Zulu who accompanied the party). Between the kraal and the river stretched a tall and luxuriant growth of that most dangerous cover, five, six, and seven feet in height, Tambookie grass interspersed here and there, as is customary, with equally tall mealies and Kaffir corn. The plains beneath this spot afforded every temptation to the artistic eye of the Prince, and here again another sketch of the panorama was quickly made. The bright glowing tints of the foreground, whose colours were lit up by green and fresh grass and wide-spreading acacia and flowering shrubs, well mellowed away in the middle distance, while far away towards the horizon were to be seen the shadowy outlines of the blue Itelezi hills. The kraal was not completely surrounded, for in front there was an open space where broken cooking utensils and burnt-out embers, bones, and other dÉbris, showed that the place had not long ago been occupied. Some hungry-looking dogs came out and snarled at the intruders. Here the fatal order was given to off-saddle, and, in defiance of the most common and ordinary precautions, which the merest tyro should have taken, the horses were knee-haltered and turned out to graze, while coffee was prepared, and not the slightest search made in the cover around.

The friendly Zulu was sent down to the river for water, and also to see that the horses did not stray too far. All this time a party of Zulus, supposed to have been about thirty or forty, were concealed and watching the doomed party, who, utterly unsuspicious of an ambush, were seated around, chatting and sipping their coffee. A deep donga lay right across the path subsequently taken by the fugitives, and this served to screen the enemy as he stealthily crawled to his prey. Stealing noiselessly along, hidden by the rank vegetation, and unheard by the unwatchful escort, the savages came nearer and nearer to their quarry, but while creeping along were descried by the watchful eyes of the Kaffir, who, not losing a second, darted back to the Prince, and gave the warning of danger. A little delay now occurs, for his Highness fails to understand the native, who has to appeal to Corporal Grubb, one of the escort, to interpret. The corporal explains to the Prince, who looks at his watch, and (we are told) seeing it was ten minutes to four, says, "You can give your horses ten minutes more." But this must have been countermanded, for the horses were at once collected, and in a few moments were prepared to start. The Prince is carefully and calmly examining his bit and bridle, and, it is surmised, had not sufficiently tightened his girths. His grey horse is a fidgety, troublesome animal to mount, and now appears to be nervous and anxious to break away. Meanwhile all the escort stand to their horses and await the word, which the Prince now gives, "Prepare to mount." But this was the death-signal, for hardly had the order escaped the lips that gave it, and that spoke no other word on earth, than the fearful traditional "Usulu! Usulu!" awoke the echoes of the valley, and a tremendous volley was poured in from the favouring cover of the grass and mealies. All the horses swerved instinctively with terror, and some broke away. Private Rogers was shot before he could mount, and the Prince's tall grey, half mad with fright, became impossible to mount. Where is the English iron nerve that is proof against the panic of a moment? Where are the guardians of England's princely guest? All have lost their courage and their sense of manhood. Sauve qui peut! is the craven spirit of those who had they rallied back to back could have probably saved a noble life and preserved a nation's honour. Not a carbine was loaded, not a sentry placed. Surprise, the most unsoldierlike crime, was allowed, and white with fear each trooper galloped away to save himself, nor drew bridle-rein till miles of country placed safety in his path. Meanwhile, the gallant and unfortunate Prince is losing every chance of escape which the slightest attempt at succour would have given. One friendly hand to steady the scared and ill-broken steed; one carbine, even unloaded, presented at the bush—for the savages had not dared to come forth—or one gallant heart like Buller, Leet, or Wood to have shown the chivalry of France that England's sons were worthy of their ancient fame, and the Prince would have been alive to-day. There is, it is true, the testimony of one man, borne away by his frightened and possibly wounded horse, who says that not being more than half in the saddle, and having no control over his mount, he could not stay to aid the Prince. "DÉpÊchez-vous, monsieur!" he cried, as he swept by at a racing gallop, and that was all the warning he could give. And then—oh, shame and humiliation!—this young lad, schooled to arms with English soldiers' sons, wearing an English uniform, and escorted by British soldiers to a bloody grave, was left alone to be speared to death, without a sword being drawn or a shot fired, even from a distance, in his defence.

The Zulus, seeing only one man unable to mount, burst at length from their treacherous cover, and with fiendish yells rush upon the Prince, who, holding the stirrup-leather with one hand and the holster-flap with the other, must have made one final and desperate attempt to spring into the saddle. But all is in vain, the untrustworthy leather gives way in his hand; his feet slip from under him; he falls beneath the horse, which treads upon his body and gallops away! The last that was seen of the Empress's beloved son was, that he was alone and on foot, with some dozen Zulus poising their assegais within a few feet from him, and his body was afterwards found pierced in front with some eighteen or twenty thrusts, and stripped of all but his mother's amulet.

It cannot have escaped the reader that there are some discrepancies and anachronisms in the accounts given by Lieutenant Carey and the survivors of that fatal and ill-omened day, the 1st of June. These contradictions were not unnoticed by General Wood when he took down the report and forwarded it to the headquarter camp. In the first place we are told that the Prince was too rash and venturesome, and that he nearly lost his life on the day when, accompanied by Major Bettington, some of his men, and a party of Basutos, he visited a Zulu kraal in the neighbourhood of the camp, and was fired upon by the enemy. Now, on this as on former occasions, when the Prince went out with Colonel Buller, Lord Chelmsford, and other officers in charge of patrols or reconnaissances, he was perfectly well aware that he was merely incurring the same risk as were other English officers, whose lives to the British nation, if not to France, were as valuable as his, and whose temerity—if such it can be called—was absolutely necessary to the conduct of the campaign. But on the last fatal occasion his Highness was allowed to go alone, or virtually alone, for Lieutenant Carey does not seem to have taken his honest and proper share of responsibility, or looked after the most ordinary precautions which a subaltern of a week's standing would have carried out in a time of profound peace. We are told that the Prince gave all orders and words of command during the day, that he selected, approved of, and disapproved of each halting-place that was arrived at, and that when Lieutenant Carey wished the escort to muster and leave the deserted kraal at a certain hour the Prince demurred, and gave the order to stay much longer. Now this, if authentic, indicates a lack of military knowledge which it is difficult to understand as appertaining to an officer of Lieutenant Carey's standing. The rule of the service is imperative, and no civilian, no volunteer, and no guest, whatever his rank, may, can, or should at least be allowed to give a word of command when an official authority is present. If Lieutenant Carey, out of compliment or out of courtesy, allowed the Prince Imperial to choose the halting-places and to give the words of command to the troopers, whom he and not his Highness commanded, he betrayed an ignorance of the customs, duties, and etiquette of his profession which renders him totally unfit for the possession of her Majesty's commission. If he did not allow our deplored and gallant guest to select these halts, to choose the places for "off-saddle," and to give the necessary cautions and words of command in regard to mounting, why, then, he is still more to blame, as knowing, as he should have known, that he and not the Prince was in command, his first and transparently obvious duty was to post vedettes and keep a soldierlike look-out on all sides. Lieutenant Carey was specially ordered to take half a dozen Basutos with him, in addition to the scanty escort allotted by the Quarter-Master-General of six of Bettington's Horse. He says that the escort of Basutos never came, and that the Prince, when told of their absence, would not wait, but insisted on pushing forward. The captain of a ship who, at the instance of an impatient passenger, puts to sea with only half his water and provisions on board, endangers the lives of those under his command, and for ever forfeits his claim to future confidence in his conduct and prudence. We are told that as the first division and the flying column of General Wood were on converging lines, and were rapidly approaching, and that as the ground over which this fatal reconnaissance was made had been previously explored by the Prince, Lieutenant Carey was justified in arriving at the illogical conclusion that it must be safe from an enemy. A more preposterous assertion was never before made to hoodwink and blind justice. Why, not a day passed during this unhappy war when the troops, in all their camps, were not dogged and followed by parties more or less numerous, whose duties were to lie in wait for and cut off any imprudent scouts or stragglers from the camp. The officer in command of the escort should have been aware of this, and should have known that the fact of a particular neighbourhood or kraal having been searched a week previously and found deserted afforded no presumption that the locality would not be full of Kaffirs some days further on.

After the word "Mount" was given by the Prince, a fact which is to most minds somewhat doubtful, we are told that the volley of musketry was fired, and that some of the horses broke away, while that of the Prince became so frightened that he could not be mounted. "One by one the party galloped past the Prince, who was in vain endeavouring to mount." Where was the friend and associate of England's guest? Where was the officer who had specially applied for this sacred and most honourable duty? Where, we want to know, was the English officer in command of the "escort"? His place was with his men, not leading them away with their backs to the paltry handful of Zulus, which, it is now known, were in the mealies, but holding the ground, and covering the body of his charge. The captain of a sinking or waterlogged vessel is not the first man in the boats, leaving passengers and crew to sink without him. His place is upon his deck, trumpet in hand, and even if death-doomed, sinking like an Englishman under the shadow of the British flag. Such, comparatively, was the place and the devoir of the officer in command of the Prince's escort, and had he devoted one brief half-moment to see and aid our guest to his saddle he would, even if killed or wounded in the act, have earned a name in every English and French household more cherished and lustrous than the star of valour which our Queen gives to her bravest men.

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.