It was at a quarter past four in the clear light of a South African morning that a shot, and then another, and then a rolling crash of musketry, told that we were to have one more rough lesson of the result of neglecting the usual precautions of warfare.

High up on the face of a steep line of hill the Boer riflemen lay hid, and from a short range their fire scourged our exposed flank.

The men appear to have been chiefly colonial rebels, and not Boers of the backveld, and to that happy chance it may be that the comparative harmlessness of their fire was due.

Even now, in spite of the surprise, the situation might have been saved had the bewildered troops and their harried officers known exactly what to do.

It is easy to be wise after the event, but it appears now that the only course that could commend itself would be to extricate the troops from their position, and then, if thought feasible, to plan an attack.