For the first two or three hundred yards they encountered no serious opposition, and they were then received by a tremendous fire from an unseen foe in front.

The left column had not gone a hundred yards before they too came under fire.
Captain Buckle of the Engineers, who was with the Engineer laborers occupied in cutting the path ahead of the advancing column, was shot through the heart.

A similar opposition was experienced by the right.
The roar of the fire was tremendous, so heavy indeed that all sound of individual reports was lost, and the noise was one hoarse hissing roar.
Even the crack of Rait's guns was lost in the general uproar, but the occasional rush of a rocket, of which two troughs with parties of Rait's men accompanied each wing, was distinctly audible.
The 42d could for a time make scarcely any way, and the flanking columns were also brought to a stand.

Owing to the extreme thickness of the wood and their ignorance of the nature of the ground these columns were unable to keep in their proper position, and diverged considerably.

The Ashantis, however, made no effort to penetrate between them and the 42d.