Later in the day “Joey” and I got quite thick.  There is a double kopje, detached from the main Boer position on our side, known as the Dumbell Kopje.  From our left-front place we could see a lot of Boers clustered under the hill, pasted, like swarming bees, up against the lee of it, while the naval gun’s shells—­for he evidently had a nonchalant idea that there was some one about there—­went flying overhead and bursting beyond.  This was very irritating to watch, and I was glad to be sent back to “whisper a word in his ear.”  Making a hasty sketch of the hill, I galloped back and presented it to the captain with explanation, and had the satisfaction of seeing 300 yards knocked off “Joey’s” next shot, which was, I should judge, a very hot one.  “Stay and have some grub,” said the jolly naval captain.  We sat on the ground eating and drinking, while “Joey” peppered the Dutchmen.

As for the fight itself, people seem inclined to make a great mystery about it and talk about “the difficulty of getting at the truth;” but I don’t see myself where the mystery comes in.  What happened was this.  The Highland Brigade (Black Watch, Seaforths, Argyle and Sutherlands, and Highland Light Infantry) was told off for the night attack and marched before light to the hill.  The night was very dark and heavy rain falling.  The ground was rough, stony, and rocky, with a good deal of low scrub, bushes, and thorn trees, very difficult to get through at night.  The difficulty of moving masses of men with any accuracy in the dark is extreme, and to keep them together at all it was necessary for them to advance in a compact body.  In quarter column, therefore, the Brigade advanced and approached the foot of the hill.  I have noticed several times that when you get rather close to the hill the rise comes to look more gradual and the ridge itself does not stand up in the abrupt and salient way that it does from a distance.  Whether it was this, or simply that the darkness of the night hid the outline, at any rate the column approached the hill and the trench which runs at the foot of the hill much too closely before the order to extend was given.  When it was given it was too late.  They were in the act of executing it when the volley came.

Of course an attack like this cannot be intended altogether as a surprise—­that is, it cannot be pushed home as a surprise.  You cannot march 4000 heavy-booted men through broken ground on a dark night without making plenty of noise over it; also the Boers must certainly have had pickets out, which would have moved in as we advanced and given the alarm.  But had our fellows deployed at half a mile, or less, under cover of darkness, and then advanced in open order, the enemy could not have seen clearly enough to shoot with accuracy until they were fairly close, and I daresay the fire then would not have stopped their rush.