But a counsel of perfection is easy at a study table.
There are other things to be said--the responsibility of officers for the lives of their men, the hope that they may yet be of service to their country.

All was weighed, all was thought of, and so at last the white flag went up.

The officer who hoisted it could see no one unhurt save himself, for all in his sangar were hit, and the others were so placed that he was under the impression that they had withdrawn altogether.

Whether this hoisting of the flag necessarily compromised the whole force is a difficult question, but the Boers instantly left their cover, and the men in the sangars behind, some of whom had not been so seriously engaged, were ordered by their officers to desist from firing.

In an instant the victorious Boers were among them.
It was not, as I have been told by those who were there, a sight which one would wish to have seen or care now to dwell upon.