open were therefore made
by small parties, but these were cut down, the officers leading them
being killed. At this time the colonel, two majors, and four other
officers of the Light Horse were hit. It was to this resolute tenure
of the key of the situation by a handful of men that Sir George White
referred in a speech at Belfast. "On January 6th, which has been
alluded to as a tight day, had it not been for the Imperial Light
Horse, Joubert might have been spending his Sunday (January 7) where I
spent mine. I think I may say of them they were the bravest men I ever
had under my command." Colonel Ian Hamilton, the brigadier in command
on the ridge, also wrote of them, "It will be made quite clear in my
despatch that the Imperial Light Horse were second to none. No one
realizes more clearly than I do that they were the backbone of the
defence during that long day's fighting."[30] In other parts of the
field also the British loss of officers at this moment was heavy.

[Footnote 30: Burleigh's "Natal Campaign," p. 410.]

At dawn the lines lay as described, but reinforcements {p.243} were
being hurried to the British, the greater part directed on Caesar's
Camp. The Boers did not move during this critical period, relying upon
their deadly fire, maintained by veterans in cover-taking and
marksmanship. More than this was needed. In such a state of the
national cause, the crests should have been attempted at all risks;
and at all risks the forlorn hopes should have received immediate
substantial support. In cases like this, national temperament tells;
there was by them no such rush as those in which the British officers
had dared to fail. By 8 A.M., more or less, Wagon Hill and Wagon Hill
West had received, or saw coming, reinforcements of a half battalion
of infantry and two fresh squadrons of the Imperial Light Horse. The
Boers, however, were also pushing men up. Under these conditions no
further advance was tried from either line, but the firing continued
incessant and unpitying. By 10 A.M. the British force had so increased
that the Boer fire was considerably slackened.

While these things were happening on the west, Caesar's Camp had been
also the scene {p.244} of a contest--serious, and for a moment
apparently doubtful. At no time, however, was the peril here as great
as on Wagon Hill. There the fight was lost, and there won. Meantime
the Boer siege guns had opened upon the field of action with great