We came back across the plain, having more or less located
the position and the guns. Rimington with one squadron got into a tight
place among some kopjes on our right. The rifle fire was very hot, and
at close range. The Major took up his orderly, whose horse was shot, on
his own pony, and brought him off. For a moment the squadron came under
cover of a hill, but they had to run the gauntlet of the Boer fire to
get away. Rimington laughingly asked for a start as his pony was
carrying double, and rode first out into the storm of bullets. Several
men and horses were hit, but no men killed, and they were lucky in
getting off as cheap as they did. We then drew back to a cattle kraal on
the slope overlooking the plain, from which we watched the development
of the infantry attack.
I usually carry a note-book and pencil in my pocket, partly to jot down
any information one may pick up at farms from Kaffirs, &c., and partly
to make notes in of the things I see. Here is a note from the kraal.
"10 A.M.--There is a wide plain in front of me, four miles across, flat
as the sea, and all along the farther side a line of kopjes and hills
rising like reefs and detached islands out of it. You might think the
plain was empty at first glance, but, if you look hard, you will see it
crawling with little khaki-clad figures, dotted all over it; not packed
anywhere, but sprinkled over the whole surface.
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