There is a mixture of comedy and tragedy in the following incident, which took place at the battle of Elandslaagte between the British and the Boers in 1899.
Major Sampson, of the Imperial Light Horse, observed a trooper lying down, and ordered him to go on. The poor fellow retorted that he was perfectly willing to go on, but at that moment was too paralysed with fear.
Major Sampson galloped on, but shortly afterwards was surprised to see the trooper charging past him. "What's the matter?" shouted the major.
The trooper showed that his moustache and part of his upper lip had been carried away by a Boer bullet, and yelled fiercely, "Where are the devils? Let me get at them!" With that he galloped on, and was in front of the charge the whole way.
一八九九年，英軍和波爾人戰於伊蘭斯拉特，其中一事，可笑可哀，謹述於後。
英國皇家輕騎兵團少校桑普森看見一名騎兵躺下來，命令他向前。那可憐傢伙回嘴說，他很想前進，但這一刻心驚肉跳，動彈不得。
桑普森繼續策馬急馳，過了不久，卻見那騎兵疾馳而過，向前衝鋒。他感到奇怪，高聲問道：「是什麼一回事？」
那騎兵回過臉，桑普森這才看見他的鬍子和一部分上唇給波爾人的槍彈轟掉了。那騎兵狠狠的說：「那些鬼子在哪裏？我非給點厲害他們看看不可。」說罷，他繼續策馬急馳，衝鋒一路領先。
*Get at someone有「抓住某人」或「襲擊某人」的意思，例如：He ordered his dog to get at the man（他命令他的狗襲擊那人。）