We made a great sensation on our entrance into Graham’s Town: the gun-carriages, wrapped up in hay to prevent any ill effects from the heat of the sun, might be readily taken for real artillery. The men--mostly seafaring people, with big rounded shoulders, bronzed faces, and long hirsute appendages--might, for size and determination of look, compare advantageously with any troops in the colony. They also wore leather helmets somewhat similar to those now adopted in the service, which added considerably to their martial appearance; and altogether they presented to the beholder (who knew nothing of their bolting proclivities, as lately displayed in the Ada bush) a most formidable accession to her Majesty’s forces at the Cape.
It may not be out of place to give a slight outline of the officers who commanded my detachment.
My first lieutenant, ----, a near relative of Lord ----’s, was a tall, handsome fellow, who had been in her Majesty’s service, of rather loose habits; not wanting in pluck, but fonder of excitement over the card-table than in the field.
My second lieutenant was named H----d, an enthusiast on the mission of Christianity. He had been lately suffering from brain fever, and with his hair cropped short, tall, gaunt figure, and deep-set, glistening eyes, looked the modern representative of one of Cromwell’s Ironsides. In spirit, he was a man all over; and had he possessed more _physique_ to ballast his mental faculties, would have left no inconsiderable mark in this world. As I pen these lines, I feel he was _un grand homme manqué_, and regret that a word I spoke during the heat of an engagement, and which he misinterpreted, caused him to resign.
My third lieutenant, named P----n, was a gentleman by birth, and had been in her Majesty’s service, but had advisedly resigned after having thrown a glass of wine in his superior officer’s face. He was of a tall, lusty figure, full of animal courage, and fond of animal enjoyment.
Sergeant-major Herridge I have already described.
Sergeant Beaufort had been in the Rifle Brigade: he was the handsomest man I perhaps ever beheld; with short, crisp, light chestnut locks, full, oval countenance, tall stature--six feet two inches--and well-rounded limbs. He looked the picture of what Richard Cœur de Lion might have been.