STORMING THE RIDGE. 163 moment General Earle fell, shot through the head from a small square window in the hut, close to which he had approached. He lived only for a few minutes afterwards, tended by Lieutenant St. Aubyn and Surgeon-major Harvey; and General Brackenbury at this critical moment had to take command.

There was but a short pause for the first expression of sorrow at the loss of the chief The men had still to be broujjht together for the work that lay before them, and General Brackenbury, having ordered two companies of the Black Watch to remain as a picket on the hills that had been taken, sent to assemble the Staffords, when the terrible message was brought to him that the two companies of these men, who, earlier in the action, had attempted to take the high ridge, had failed to reach a higher point than the cluster of rocks, where they had found some shelter at about a third of the way up; that Colonel Eyre, who was in command, lay there shot through the heart; that Captain Horsbrugh and Lieutenant Colborne had been severely wounded; that a number of men had been killed or seriously injured; that there were only four rounds of ammunition per man left, and that this had been reserved as the enemy was still holding the ridge. General Brackenbury at once directed four companies of the Black Watch to form a reserve at the foot of the hills, and, sending for Lieutenant-colonel Beale, who now succeeded to the command of the Staffords, instructed him to take the remainder of his regiment, and, with the help of the company which had been left to watch the hill early in the day, to reinforce the troops who were already there and assault and take the position. This was done. The Staffords went boldly up the steep side of the hill, and with a succession of rushing charges made their way to the summit and bayoneted the Arabs, who, like their companions on the koppies, fought desperately to the last.

It had been a day of sheer hard fighting, and all who were engaged had deserved high praise, including the Egyptian Camel Corps, who, under Major Marriott, had protected the flank of the infantry on its advance, and from their position in front of the high ridge had kept up a fire upon the heights. One Egyptian soldier