A DARING DEED.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1191, 28 December 1894, Page 34

A DARING DEED.

A TALE OF THE ZULU WAR.

He real the list through a third time. No, his name was not there. There were the names of Tom Chambers and Jerry Hutton, who had sat on each side of him in the examination room, but his own name was conspicuous by its absence. He had failed.

Well, the army had lost a good soldier. Dick Demaine consoled himself with that though as he caught sight of his own reflection in the mirror at the end of the room. He. was a firm'y. knit young fellow of twenty-two years of age. Erect as a young oak, he promised to develop into a model of manly physique. His face was chiselled like a woman's, but it was saved from femininity by the determined eyes in which the flashing fire told of the spirit within. •'That beastly French, I suppose," he muttered to himself, walking moodily about the room, and biting his lip 3. " How the devil can a fellow master all those irregular verbs ? Pshaw ! what is the good of it all ? A French verb in the head won't strengthen the g'ip on a musket. You can floor a fellow in an exam, with the tenses of 4 S'asseoir,' but you can't floor an enemy with them. No, a good right arm " —and Dick raised his muscular arm, and hurled his, fist at an invisible foe—"is worth a million French verbs when it comes to a fight." " This is bad news for the governor," he went on reflectively. "Well, T suppose I shall have to go into the church. The army doesn't want muscle, it wants mind: the church, on the other hand, want muscle, and not mind. A parson who can play cricket, tennis, and football ia a jolly sight more popular than a parson

who can't. Well, I shall fit them in that respect. If cricket and football will help a fellow, I shall be a bishop in no time."

Then he put on his hat and gloves, went downstairs, and passed a bad quarter of an hour with his affectionate parents. Dick was their only son. Of humble and obscure origin themselves, they desired to see Dick at the top of the social tree. Money was lavishly spent on his education, and the army was chosen as his career. But Dick preferred the manly sports in which he excelled to the prosy passivity of the class room, and thus when the army entrance examination came round, lie was wrecked on the reef of a French verb.

The Zulu war broke out, and Dick hurried off to the Cape to see if he could expend some of his surplus energy on behalf of his country. He had a dim and hazy idea that perhaps a display of courage procure him the commission ho had failed to obtain in the ordinary way. He thought it likely that he would be able to attach himself to one of the British regiments, and then, if circumstances favoured him, he would show the authorities at home that if he couldu't conjugate verbs, he could fight beter thaw many who could.

And he did. There lives in the recollection of every man who survived that campaign a record of heroism which would have won the Victoria Cross, if it had been performed by a soldier in the ranks.

One night the main body of the army lay encamped a few miles above the Tugela river, in the direction of Ekowe, when a Kaffir ran into the camp with the intelligence that the Zulus were massing on the banks of the river between Rorke's Drift and Fort Buckingham. Tiie news wa3 al inning in the extreme. The blacks were right in the track of the reinforcements, which were expected the following dny, and if they encountered the Zulus, the latter, by superior numbers, would inevitably annihilate them. What was to bo done i • To take a circuitous route to avoid the enemy would metvn two days' hard riding, by which time the expected would have happened. The river afforded the only rapid and direct means of reaching the English troops, and warning them of the peil. Dick Demaine had attached himself as an irregular horseman to a squadron of cavalry of which his father's friend, Colonel Boydell, held the command. When Dick heard of the peril which threatened the advancing force, he went to the Colonel and offered to take a message to them. "How?" asked the Colonel, in surprise. "By the river," said Dick, simply. "Give mo a boat and a pair of sculls, and I'll get ahead of those Zulus in no time." The Colonel pondered. This was the only way of reaching the troops in time. He hesitated to sacrifice the brave lad's life, but better that than a regiment of infantry. The Zulus were encamped on , both sides of the. river, and to pass right through them was an enterprise fraught with the direst peril. He consulted the General, who gladly acquiesced in the proposal. A. raft was hastily constructed, and Dick, bearing letters from the General, started on his dangerous journey. The wind v/as in his favour, and hoisting a piece of canvas he had brought wi h him from the stores, the raft scudded along the river at a rapid pace. When day dawned he was miles from the camp, floating through a wide, arid desert of veldt, wi'h not a human habitation within sight. " This is jolly !" said Dick to himself, lighting his pipe. " Gad ! it's as good as Pangbourne," he resumed, his thoughts flying back to his boating days on the Thames, " but not quite so pretty and lively." With the wind still in his favour the raft made rapid headway, and Dick, overcome by the midday heat and the emuci of enforced idleness, fell fast asleep. The luxury nearly cost him his life. A sudden shock aroused him, and jumping up. he saw that the current hid daahed the raft against the bank. He was in the act of poling it into the middle of the stream, when he saw a black object swimming towards the raft which sent a sensation of terror through him. It was the head of a Zu'u warrior, his "assegai between his teeth.

Keeping his eye fixed on the river, and pretending not to see the approaching enemy, Dick allowed the Zulu to swim close to the raft. Then, as he reached his hand to grasp the boat, Dick swung the pole round, and dealt the Zulu a tremendous blow on the head. He sank l.ke a stone.

" There, that's settled him," muttered Dick. "Better that than allow the beggar to get to the bink and warn hia fellows. 1 reckon I'm getting warm, as the children say." Hestood up and looked round. Yes, there in tha distance was a big black fellow, and beyond he faintly discerned a vast patch of bl*»ck, which told him he had entered the enemy's territory. "Shall I pull up and wait for night ?" he reasoned. "I sha'n'tget through that crowd easily, and if I wait here till nightfall it may mean the death of every man-jack of them. No ; I'll push on, whatever happens." And Dick pulled away at a couple of improvised oars to accelerate the speed of his craft. "How can I get through that crowd V he resumed, " There are sure to be

hundreds on the bank, and they can't help seeing me. Ah ! I have it —that'll bounce them beautifully !" He dropped his sail, pulled to the shore, and began to cut a hole large enough for his head to go through in the rear of the raft. The raft was made of poles about a foot apart from each other, and cohered with a thick matting of reeds. He pushed into the middle of the stream and resumed his perilous journey. He was now within earshot of the warriors. They were chanting a war-song, and, peering above the banks, he could see them dancing frantically around an old Zulu woman, who urged them on with discordant cries.

u Tim-3 for me to retire," said Dick, as he saw on the distant banks of the river the forms of the enemy.

Keeping firm hold of the raft, and slipping a rope noose over his wrist, he dropped over the stern into the river. Then, with his hands on the under poles, he put his head into the niche he had cut in the surface matting, baking care to obscure his face with some of the rushes. The supreme test of his courage had arrived. The current bore the raft slowly onward, right in the midst of the Zulu camp. To all appearance it was a floating mass of reeds. *' Hyah ! hyah I" sroufed a.Zulu, as he caught sight of the raft A crowd of warriors ran to the bank, and intently gazad at the object which the first Zulu had noticed. Dick held his breath as he saw the warriors consult together. Suddenly they disappeared, and he breathed freely again. In a moment they returned to the bank, this time accompanied by a stern, power-ful-looking man, bearing the Zulu insignia of chieftainship. The warriors pointed impatiently to the raft. The chief signalled to one of the number, a fine athletic fellow, and with a rapid movement he dived into the river. " Now the play begins," thought Dick, clenching the poles more firmly, and prepared to sell his life dearly. With a fast stroke the Zulu quickly reached the raft, and pulled hims If aboard. The crowd on the bank watched his proceedings narrowly. There was nothing on the raft to excite his suspicion. He walked from one end of it to the other, and as he approached the stern, Dick dropped his head into the water, put a large thick reed into his mouth, and managed by this simple breathing l apparatus, to remain under the water for five minutes at a time.

Coming to thw surfase, he saw the Zulu drop over the side of the raft and begin to swim around it. "One of us goes under this time," muttered Dick, and as the Zulu approached him he suddenly gripped him by tho waist and pulled him under the surface.

The crowd on the bank grew excited. What had happened ? The water had suddenly begun to boil, and the raft to shake all over. What was the meaning of this strange commotion ? And whare had Umslopas gone ? The water grew calm ag da, and the raft floated serenely on. The warriors waited for the return of their comrade, but he came not. Hi 3 black head had disappeared in the waves. They walked along the bank, looking with awestruck faces at the mysterious craft.

Then there was an excited movement amongst them, and a shower of assegais came hurling through the air. Three of them struck the rush matting, and remained like arrows in a target Seeing the weapons coming, Dick discreetly lowered his body in the water. An assegai, however, struck him on the shoulder, but the passage the water had deprived it of much of its force.

The chief impatiently commanded his warriors to attack the raft;, and several of them jumped into the water for that purpose. Before they had proceeded far, however, their superstitious fears overcame their courage, and they gradual y retreated to the bank.

They hung about the river until darkness came on, and then one by one returned to the camp. Five miles further on, Dick ll struck " the reinforcements encamped for the night. His message delivered, the camp was aroused, and a long circuitous night march commenced. When morning dawned, bhey had passed the Zulus, and were within easy reach of the main body of the army. Among the despatches that went to the War Office the following night was one from the general of the division, which read : " The reinforcements arrived this morning, and thanks to the heroism of a civilian named Richard Demaiue, who has unofficially attached himself to Colonel Boydell's corps, the detachment was saved an encounter with the enemy which must have ended disastrously."

And Dick ? He fell at Tsandula a week later, fighting like a tiger against overwhelming odds.