heaviest
sufferers, and their Colonel Blomfield was wounded and fell into
the hands of the enemy. The Royal Lancasters also lost heavily.
Thorneycroft's had 80 men hit out of 180 engaged. The Imperial Light
Infantry, a raw corps of Rand refugees who were enduring their baptism
of fire, lost 130 men. In officers the losses were particularly heavy,
60 being killed or wounded. The Boer returns show some 50 killed and 150
wounded, which may not be far from the truth. Without the shell fire the
British losses might not have been much more.

General Buller had lost nearly two thousand men since he had crossed the
Tugela, and his purpose was still unfulfilled. Should he risk the loss
of a large part of his force in storming the ridges in front of him, or
should he recross the river and try for an easier route elsewhere? To
the surprise and disappointment both of the public and of the army,
he chose the latter course, and by January 27th he had fallen back,
unmolested by the Boers, to the other side of the Tugela. It must be
confessed that his retreat was admirably conducted, and that it was a
military feat to bring his men, his guns, and his stores in safety over
a broad river in the face of a victorious enemy. Stolid and unmoved, his
impenetrable demeanour restored serenity and confidence to the angry and
disappointed troops. There might well be heavy hearts among both them
and the public. After a fortnight's campaign, and the endurance of great
losses and hardships, both Ladysmith and her relievers found themselves
no better off than when they started. Buller still held the commanding
position of Mount Alice, and this was all that he had to show for such
sacrifices and such exertions. Once more there came a weary pause while
Ladysmith, sick with hope deferred, waited gloomily upon half-rations of
horse-flesh for the next movement from the South.

CHAPTER 16. VAALKRANZ.

Neither General Buller nor his troops appeared to be dismayed by the
failure of their plans, or by the heavy losses which were entailed by
the movement which culminated at Spion Kop. The soldiers grumbled, it
is true, at not being let go, and swore that even if it cost them
two-thirds of their number they could and would make their way through
this labyrinth of hills with its fringe of death. So doubtless they
might. But from first to last their General had shown a great--some
said an exaggerated--respect for human life, and he had no intention of
win