. Battles of the nineteenth century . would certainly have stood byeach other to the end. On reaching the nver at the point they hadcrossed it on the previous day, Burnham andhis two companions found it in flood, and hadto follow the bank for a considerable distancebefore they came to a place where they couldswim across. There was now nothing left to Major Forbesbut to save the remnant of his force, and retreaton Inj-ati and Buluwayo. The river was stillup, and might remain so for days. It was abso-lutely impossible to transport Maxims acrossit, and to have sent men over the river without. THE
. Battles of the nineteenth century . would certainly have stood byeach other to the end. On reaching the nver at the point they hadcrossed it on the previous day, Burnham andhis two companions found it in flood, and hadto follow the bank for a considerable distancebefore they came to a place where they couldswim across. There was now nothing left to Major Forbesbut to save the remnant of his force, and retreaton Inj-ati and Buluwayo. The river was stillup, and might remain so for days. It was abso-lutely impossible to transport Maxims acrossit, and to have sent men over the river without. THE SHANGANI PATROL Maxims would ha\e been to condemn them tocertain slaughter. Major Forbes remained wherehe was for one da}, in the hope of hearing somenews of Wilsons party ; but none came. Hethen commenced his retreat along the left banl<of the Shangani river, having first despatchedtwo troopers to find their way to Buluwayoand ask Dr. Jameson to send reinforcements,food, and ammunition to meet him. The hazardous retreat to Inyati occupiedeleven days. The column suffered great priva-tions, and was perpetually harassed by theMatabele, who hovered round it, creeping along through the bush oneither side of the lineof march, watching foran opportunity toush the white men,but having a due re-spect for the occasionallyopened a hot fire onthe troopers and theirhorses, they attemptedsurprises, and werenot repulsed withoutfurther loss to thealready weakenedcolumn. In theseskirmishes, the enemysucceeded in shoot-ing a number of thehorses, while manyother horses died, orbecame
Size: 1509px × 1655px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1901
