oll up the whole line. They had cleared a gap of half
a mile, and it seemed as if the whole Boer force would certainly escape
through so long a gap in the defences. The desperate defence of the New
Zealanders gave time, however, for the further patrols, which consisted
of Cox's New South Wales Mounted Infantry, to fall back almost at right
angles so as to present a fresh face to the attack. The pivot of the
resistance was a maxim gun, most gallantly handled by Captain Begbie and
his men. The fight at this point was almost muzzle to muzzle, fifty or
sixty New Zealanders and Australians with the British gunners holding
off a force of several hundred of the best fighting men of the Boer
forces. In this desperate duel many dropped on both sides. Begbie died
beside his gun, which fired eighty rounds before it jammed. It was run
back by its crew in order to save it from capture. But reinforcements
were coming up, and the Boer attack was beaten back. A number of them
had escaped, however, through the opening which they had cleared, and it
was conjectured that the wonderful De Wet was among them. How fierce was
the storm which had broken on the New Zealanders may be shown by their
roll of twenty killed and forty wounded, while thirty dead Boers were
picked up in front of their picket line. Of eight New Zealand officers
seven are reported to have been hit, an even higher proportion than that
which the same gallant race endured at the battle of Rhenoster Kop more
than a year before.

It was feared at first that the greater part of the Boers might have
escaped upon this night of the 23rd, when Manie Botha's storming party
burst through the ranks of the New Zealanders. It was soon discovered
that this was not so, and the columns as they closed in had evidence
from the numerous horsemen who scampered aimlessly over the hills in
front of them that the main body of the enemy was still in the toils.
The advance was in tempestuous weather and over rugged country, but the
men were filled with eagerness, and no precaution was neglected to keep
the line intact.

This time their efforts were crowned with considerable success. A second
attempt was made by the corraled burghers to break out on the night
of February 26th, but it was easily repulsed by Nixon. The task of the
troopers as the cordon drew south was more and more difficult, and there
were places traversed upon the Natal border where an alpen stock would
have been a more useful adj