FROM THE RANKS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6834, 23 April 1890, Page 2

FROM THE RANKS.

A Sergeant's Account of Tel-el-Kobir. Ghastly Facts. [Fbom Our London Coebespondbnt.J London, March 7. One of the most notable articles, if not the most notable article in the March. Reviews, is a graphic account of the horrors of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, related by an intelligent non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Palmer, of the 79th Highlanders. He describes all the ghastly circumstances with a simple, straightforward frankness which brings out tbeit brutality better than the best description of the trained writer. Here are a few of the points :— THE MAECH, The first march was of course onr worst. The men were soft with inaction aboard Bhip, and the heat and drink told on them dreadfully. The s-enes of it are vividly in. my memory still ; how men were knocked over by the nun and buried where they fell; how others, falling exhausted, were borne to the adjacent railway line to await the chance of a passing train; how tho piteous yells of the prisoners being Hogged cut the darkness like a knife. Then the mad struggle for water when the " Halt" sounded— the rush to the foul and stinking misnamed " Sweetwater Canal," faces buried in the putrid water, men FIGHIING FOB BOOM TO KNEBL, snatching and emptying the kettles as fast as they were filled, till at last they had to be escorted to the cooiiing places under the protection of guards, so that te* could be made, which with ship biscuit was the supper of officers aud men. All night we lay in an abominable stench, the cause of which morning revealed. It came in great measure from the caiaal, which, as an Irishman said, was " ahtiff " with the dead bodies of camels and horses, and there were many human corpses as well. This ghastly water we were forced to drink; it was that or go without. I filtered my water-bottle full, against the day's march ; the contents still remained the colour of" mud and had a loathsome slimy taste. What of steuch the canal did not yield came from the unburied bodies of horßea and Egyptians that lay around the bivouac. THE CAPTAIN'S ADDKKSS. "Men, you are marching to-nighfc to attack a strongly entrenched position called | Tel-el-Kebir, mounting some sixty guns I Bweeping our line of approach. On the [ march from Nine Gun Hill there must be no smoking, the strictest silence must ba kept, and, unless ordered to the contrary, you are to continue the match steadily, no matter if bullets and shells come hailstone fashion in o the rank. 1 ?. No bayonets are to be fixed till the order is given, and no man is to charge until the last note of the bugle is finished. The bayonet alone is to do the work, aud not a shot is to be fired until the trenches are carried. You are to fight on so long as a man. stands up. Remember the country and the regiment you belong to j and fight now as fought the Highlanders of old ! " " PREPAItE TO CHARGE ! " The 79th bad n:arcbed quite one hundred ya r ds with their rifles at tho slope when the command, " Prepare to charge ! " was given. Down came the rifles of the front rank of the uubroken Hue, the "Charge! '* sounded, and as the Jast note of the bugle died aws-y, a tremendous cheer was raised, | tho pipers struck up the slogan, and with our gallant Colonel in front shouting, " Come on, the Camerons I " the ranks broke into double time, and still cheering with all their power, swept forward on theenemy's position. One of the pipers, just as he began to play, had his bagpipes pierced by a bullet, and most discordant sounds escaped from the wounded instrument. " Gude faith," cried the piper philosophically, "but the bullet's a dueviliteh Bicht better through her wame than through mine ! " "THE BIG EGYPTIAN OFFICER." Setting out to folloi7 the regiment. I came suddenly face to face with a big Egyptian officer, revolver in one hand, sword in the other. He flrud and bit me on the right hand, but the bulled glancedoff a ring I wore, and I rushed &i him with the bayonet. He warded off my first thrust and my second ; I then feinted ; he swung his sword round for the parry, and had not time to recover it before the bayonet was in him. Apull on a blue seal hanging from his tunic brought to light a silver watch, which I still keep as a remembrance of him. " YOU UNGRATEFUL BRUTE." The first wounded man I attended to wasan Egyptian, whose moans were piteous, and ou examination I found him severely wounded in the belly. I poured some eau-de-Cologne down his throat, and used my own surgical bandage to bind up his wound, so as to keep the flies from it. Then I lit a cigarette, put ifc in his mouth, placed more beside him, aud gave him a drink of water. He kissed my hand, and muttered something about "Allah." I had not left him far when I heard the crack of a rifle, and a bullet whizzed by my ear. Looking round I saw the smoke of the shot drifting away from where my wounded man lay, and noticed that he was quietly taking aim at mo again. He bad time to fire a second shot, which also missed mo, before I reached him, and I had no compunction in driving the life out of him wiih my bayonet, remarking to myself as I took the weapon out of him for the last time, "You won't come that game any more, you ungrateful brute !" Many such instances of this treacherous hate occurred. "POTAGE" V. "CIEAGE." When in the Egyptian camp I came across some little tin boxes labelled with a word which I hurriedly road as " potage." Some of the tinß I brought in, and, promising my comrades a treat, I had a kettleful of water boiled, and emptied into it the contents of the tins. After a good stirring the supposed soup was served out. The first comment was that it was curiously black. When it was cool enough to be tasted the wry faces made over it were a caution, and there was a roar of " Blacking, by !" Blacking it was ; the label which I had read " potago " was actually " cirage."