Surprised out of their sleep and unable to distinguish their antagonists, the brave Australians did as well as any troops could have done who were placed in so impossible a position.

Captain Watson, the officer in charge of the pom-poms, was shot down, and it proved to be impossible to bring the guns into action.

Within five minutes the Victorians had lost twenty killed and forty wounded, when the survivors surrendered.

It is pleasant to add that they were very well treated by the victors, but the high-spirited colonials felt their reverse most bitterly.

'It is the worst thing that ever happened to Australia!' says one in the letter in which he describes it.