the neck of the pass to protect the lagers.  Beyers, with some Zoutpansbergers, turned away from us to the right to reach Elandskrans along the mountain ridge.  It appeared, therefore, that Beyers and Kemp were going to make the attack from the north, with 1,000 men, and that Kemp had the centre and the left wing.  We were again too late.  The sun had risen when we began the attack.  Corporal Botman was ordered by Kemp to surround the extreme right of the enemy’s right wing, with thirty men.

We had to storm the left to enclose the enemy in the half-circle.  We were exposed to a rain of bullets, and had to storm through ravines and reefs, sometimes racing our horses, then leading them, and making use of every cover.  General Beyers, with his splendid sharp-shooters, was already in hot action with the right wing, and Commandant Kemp in the centre had forced his way close to the enemy.  We tied our horses together behind a reef, left them in charge of a few men, and advanced, spreading ourselves in groups of three, four and five.  A moment of extreme anxiety followed.

Not to expose ourselves unnecessarily, we had to peep from behind the rocks, shoot the course clear, and run to the next cover.  Malherbe and I stayed as close as possible to our cool, collected, brave corporal, and we had to gasp for breath sometimes if trying to keep up to him.  The others forced their way upwards more to the left, and so formed the furthest left point of the half-moon.

While the three of us were pushing our way from position to position into the neighbourhood of the few khakies who already dared not raise their heads from behind the rocks, I noticed, some 500 paces to our front, a number of khakies moving in our direction.  I warned Malherbe to keep up his courage, as the enemy were getting reinforcements.  A moment later, while our corporal had again moved onwards, I noticed several khakies on a stone ridge some 150 paces in front of us.  It appeared that they were driven on by part of the centre and right wing, for just then two men made their appearance, whom I at once recognised as Boers from the colour of their clothes and the quick way in which they aimed at me.  I stooped quick as a hare, and immediately rose again.  The enemy now surrendered, I believe to the number of two or three hundred of the Northumberland Fusiliers, called the ‘Fighting Fifth’ on account of their courage and bravery.  We also took on the mountain a heliograph that the enemy had broken.

The khakies acknowledged that we had taken the position with the greatest possible speed.  We were in the majority.  But it must not be forgotten that we were the attacking party and had to expose ourselves, and also that, although the battle on the mountain extended over a long line, our right wing had still to reckon with the reinforcements that were sent up through a narrow kloof from the camp.  It was a repetition of Selikatsnek.  The khakies had the good positions, and we had good cover behind the rocks on the mountain slope.  In such a case he is no match for us.