This was the plan: The Germans, ignorant of our arrival, undoubtedly believed the British infantry to be without support and were beginning to press forward in the hope of winning through to the railway line.

The infantry on our right front, already overwhelmed by weight of artillery fire, would be obliged to evacuate their trench and fall back, thus imperiling the whole line, unless we could save the day.
Observe this, sahib: so--I make a drawing in the dust.

Between the trench here, and the forest there, was a space of level ground some fifty or sixty yards wide.

There was scarcely more than a furrow across it to protect the riflemen--nothing at all that could stop a horse.

At a given signal the infantry were to draw aside from that piece of level land, like a curtain drawn back along a rod, and we were to charge through the gap thus made between them and the forest.