ey have the advantage
of being all mounted, while the bulk of our force is infantry, massed
inertly in the middle; and also from the lofty position they occupy they
can command a bird's-eye view of the wide valley across which we are
advancing, and perceive the disposition of our forces, and in what
strength we are threatening the various points of defence, while their
forces are quite concealed from us. This is so much in their favour
that, on our flank at least, it is we, and not they, who are threatened
with being outflanked.

Their position could scarcely have been stronger if nature had designed
it for the purpose. A low range of hills gives admittance on the west
side to a long wide valley, and on the east side of this a steep rocky
range rises boldly up, showing in the sky a level outline like a rampart
fringed with wall-like slabs of rock or detached masses, giving
excellent cover from shrapnel. But besides this higher and last line of
defence, there are some lower hills and slopes which project from the
main rampart and command the valley, while they are in turn commanded by
the heights. It is a two-step position, in fact. You carry the lower
step first, and immediately come under the fire of the upper. The
General told me next day that he thought it as strong as anything he had
seen on the Natal side, and Winston Churchill set the matter at rest by
pronouncing it stronger in point of formation than Spion Kop.

In the first day's fighting we drove them from the western hills and
across the valley, which was more fertile than usual and full of cover,
until we had forced them into the two-step eastern range. My own work
lay right out on the flank end, at the very finger-tips, where the
farthest limit of each force was trying to feel a way round the other.
Here, with some of the Camerons, we felt about the hills, shelling them
with a couple of guns for Boer sharpshooters, and occasionally flushing
one or two. We were rather detached and out of the main action, feeling
rather like a gun that has been sent to stop birds from "going back"
while the main battue is at work in front. We stayed out all day, and as
we rode in that night to headquarters the whole valley under the
starlight was echoing like a great gallery and bustling with the
multitude of our army arranging itself and settling down for the night.
We picked our way through the various convoys hurrying forward in search
of their brigades, but often losing