In front of us was a tall
peak, and I sent a few men to work round it on the left while I went
round the right. This hill really overlooked the Boer position. My left
flankers got round and rejoined me in front. Either they must have been
concealed from the Boers by the mist or have been mistaken for a party
of Boers themselves, for they had passed within a few hundred yards of
the edge where the enemy lay and were not fired at.
Damant, our captain, coolest and bravest of officers, now joined me, and
with two or three men we pushed cautiously on towards some loose rocks,
which, from the top of the rise, seemed to command a view of the valley
beneath. We had advanced to within eighty yards of the rocks, in open
order, when we thought we heard voices talking, and immediately
afterwards some one said loudly in Dutch, "Who rides there?" And then
another voice more to the right exclaimed, "Here they are!" At the same
instant one caught a motion as of heads and shoulders cuddling down and
adjusting themselves in a disagreeable way. There they were and no
mistake, all tucked in among the rocks like wood-lice.
Our position then was a curious one, for we had actually walked quite in
the open up to within speaking distance of the main Boer position, a
position that was to defy our army for a day and a half.
The ground sloped down in a slight hollow.
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