Page:MKGandhi patriot.djvu/99

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84
AN INDIAN PATRIOT

bank of the Tugela River had to be negotiated, and it proved a repetition of Alma to our men. Then, beyond again, there was the passage of the river, and still beyond, “tier after tier of hills crowned with stone walls, and seamed with trenches, defended by thousands of the best marksmen in the world, supported by an admirable artillery." All this meant loss of life. It meant, too, the need of hospital provision and ambulances on a scale much larger than at first had been dreamed of. Hospitals were then formed, and European ambulance corps sent up, while doctors, nurses, and bearers hurried to the front.

It was in this extreme necessity that the Indians obtained success. It is not often that men persist so doggedly in pressing their help upon unwilling people when help means, to those who offer, danger, suffering, perhaps death. It was an object-lesson in that determination to prove themselves worthy of regard, which has since formed such a pathetic feature of their history here.

At this moment, Dr. Booth, who was then in charge of the Indian Anglican Mission, and Bishop Baynes, made another attempt to further the effort of the Indians. At first there was no success, but