At last they came under the protection of our hill. We had got
our battery of guns up it, and it was a moment of great satisfaction to
all concerned, except possibly the Boers, when the first angry roar rose
above the splutter of rifles, and the shell pitched among some of the
foremost of the enemy's sharpshooters. In a duel of this sort the
interference of artillery is usually regarded as decisive. Guns, as
people say, have "a moral effect" that is sometimes out of proportion to
the actual damage they inflict. Anyway, skirmishers seldom advance
under gun-fire, and the Boers on this occasion were decisively checked
by our battery. Even when the guns left, we were able from the
vantage-ground of the hill to keep them at arm's length until the time
came to catch up the column.
On the right flank they were more successful, pressing home a heavy
attack on the Mounted Infantry on that side. A squadron got cut off and
rushed by the enemy, who rode in to it shooting at pistol-shot distance,
and shouting "Hands up!" We lost pretty heavily in casualties, besides
about fifty prisoners. These small mishaps are of no great importance in
themselves, but they encourage the enemy no doubt to go on fighting. The
story as it goes round the farms will lose nothing in the telling.
Probably in a very short time it will amount to the rout of Hamilton's
column, and the captured troopers will lend a colour to the yarn.
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