oornkloof, and finally blew up his powder magazine amid the applause of
the infantry. For the army it was a picnic and a spectacle.

But it was otherwise with the men up on Vaalkranz. In spite of sangar
and trench, that cross fire was finding them out; and no feint or
demonstration on either side came to draw the concentrated fire from
their position. Once there was a sudden alarm at the western end of the
hill, and stooping bearded figures with slouch hats and bandoliers were
right up on the ridge before they could be stopped, so cleverly had
their advance been conducted. But a fiery rush of Durhams and Rifles
cleared the crest again, and it was proved once more how much stronger
is the defence than the attack. Nightfall found the position unchanged,
save that another pontoon bridge had been constructed during the day.
Over this Hildyard's Brigade marched to relieve Lyttelton's, who came
back for a rest under the cover of the Swartz Kop guns. Their losses in
the two days had been under two hundred and fifty, a trifle if any aim
were to be gained, but excessive for a mere demonstration.

That night Hildyard's men supplemented the defences made by Lyttelton,
and tightened their hold upon the hill. One futile night attack caused
them for an instant to change the spade for the rifle. When in the
morning it was found that the Boers had, as they naturally would,
brought up their outlying guns, the tired soldiers did not regret their
labours of the night. It was again demonstrated how innocuous a thing is
a severe shell fire, if the position be an extended one with chances of
cover. A total of forty killed and wounded out of a strong brigade
was the result of a long day under an incessant cannonade. And then at
nightfall came the conclusion that the guns were too many, that the
way was too hard, and down came all their high hopes with the order to
withdraw once more across that accursed river. Vaalkranz was abandoned,
and Hildyard's Brigade, seething with indignation, was ordered back once
more to its camp.

CHAPTER 17. BULLER'S FINAL ADVANCE.

The heroic moment of the siege of Ladysmith was that which witnessed the
repulse of the great attack. The epic should have ended at that dramatic
instant. But instead of doing so the story falls back to an anticlimax
of crowded hospitals, slaughtered horses, and sporadic shell fire.
For another six weeks of inactivity the brave garrison endured all the
sordid evils which had ste