us turning the extreme left flank of the Boer position. For once
their mountainous fortresses were against them, for a mounted Boer force
is so mobile that in an open position, such as faced Methuen, it is very
hard and requires great celerity of movement ever to find a flank at
all. On a succession of hills, however, it was evident that some one
hill must mark the extreme end of their line, and Buller had found it at
Cingolo. Their answer to this movement was to throw their flank back so
as to face the new position.

Even now, however, the Boer leaders had apparently not realised that
this was the main attack, or it is possible that the intervention of the
river made it difficult for them to send reinforcements. However that
may be, it is certain that the task which the British found awaiting
them on the 18th proved to be far easier than they had dared to hope.
The honours of the day rested with Hildyard's English Brigade (East
Surrey, West Surrey, West Yorkshires, and 2nd Devons). In open order
and with a rapid advance, taking every advantage of the cover--which was
better than is usual in South African warfare--they gained the edge
of the Monte Christo ridge, and then swiftly cleared the crest. One at
least of the regiments engaged, the Devons, was nerved by the thought
that their own first battalion was waiting for them at Ladysmith.
The capture of the hill made the line of trenches which faced Buller
untenable, and he was at once able to advance with Barton's Fusilier
Brigade and to take possession of the whole Boer position of Hlangwane
and Green Hill. It was not a great tactical victory, for they had no
trophies to show save the worthless debris of the Boer camps. But it was
a very great strategical victory, for it not only gave them the whole
south side of the Tugela, but also the means of commanding with their
guns a great deal of the north side, including those Colenso trenches
which had blocked the way so long. A hundred and seventy killed and
wounded (of whom only fourteen were killed) was a trivial price for such
a result. At last from the captured ridges the exultant troops could
see far away the haze which lay over the roofs of Ladysmith, and the
besieged, with hearts beating high with hope, turned their glasses upon
the distant mottled patches which told them that their comrades were
approaching.

By February 20th the British had firmly established themselves along the
whole south bank of the river, Har