t's Horse, three companies of the ubiquitous Northumberland
Fusiliers, two guns of the 4th R.F.A., and a pom-pom, amounting in all
to 630 men. Colonel Anderson was in command. On the morning of Tuesday,
February 25th, the convoy was within ten miles of its destination, and
the sentries on the kopjes round the town could see the gleam of the
long line of white-tilted wagons. Their hazardous voyage was nearly
over, and yet they were destined to most complete and fatal wreck within
sight of port. So confident were they that the detachment of Paget's
Horse was permitted to ride on the night before into the town. It was
as well, for such a handful would have shared and could not have averted
the disaster.

The night had been dark and wet, and the Boers under cover of it had
crept between the sleeping convoy and the town. Some bushes which afford
excellent cover lie within a few hundred yards of the road, and here the
main ambush was laid. In the first grey of the morning the long line of
the convoy, 130 wagons in all, came trailing past--guns and Yeomanry in
front, Fusiliers upon the flanks and rear. Suddenly the black bank of
scrub was outlined in flame, and a furious rifle fire was opened
upon the head of the column. The troops behaved admirably under most
difficult circumstances. A counter-attack by the Fusiliers and some of
the Yeomanry, under cover of shrapnel from the guns, drove the enemy
out of the scrub and silenced his fire at this point. It was evident,
however, that he was present in force, for firing soon broke out along
the whole left flank, and the rearguard found itself as warmly attacked
as the van. Again, however, the assailants were driven off. It was now
broad daylight, and the wagons, which had got into great confusion in
the first turmoil of battle, had been remarshalled and arranged. It
was Colonel Anderson's hope that he might be able to send them on into
safety while he with the escort covered their retreat. His plan was
certainly the best one, and if it did not succeed it was due to nothing
which he could avert, but to the nature of the ground and the gallantry
of the enemy.

The physical obstacle consisted in a very deep and difficult spruit, the
Jagd Spruit, which forms an ugly passage in times of peace, but which
when crowded and choked with stampeding mules and splintering wagons,
under their terrified conductors, soon became impassable. Here the head
of the column was clubbed and the whole lin