back, leaving
the place open to the British assault.

All through the night the troops, who with the bluejackets numbered
between 500 and 600 men, laboured across an extremely difficult country;
but, after encountering immense fatigue and difficulty, they reached the
top of Majuba Hill before sunrise. It was not until two hours later
that the Boer videttes, advancing to occupy their usual look-out, found
the English in position. The Boers at once perceived the danger, as
their position was made untenable by the possession of Majuba Hill by
the English. Had the force left in camp been sufficiently strong to
threaten a direct attack at this moment, the Boers would doubtless have
fled: but the paucity of numbers there prevented any demonstration being
made in favour of the defenders of Majuba Hill, and the Dutch were able
to use their whole force against these.

Surrounding the hill, and climbing upwards towards the precipitous
summit, they kept up for some hours a heavy fire upon the defenders.
Presently this lulled, and the garrison thought that the attack had
ceased. The Dutch were, however, strongly reinforcing their fighting
line, creeping among the bushes and gathering a strong force on the side
of the hill, unseen by the British. Suddenly these made an attack, and
this in such force that the defenders at the threatened point fell back
in haste before they could be reinforced from the main body, who were
lying in a hollow on the top of the small plateau which formed the
summit of the mountain.

The first to gain the summit were rapidly reinforced by large numbers of
their countrymen, and these, covering their advance with a tremendous
fire of musketry, rushed upon the British position. The defence was
feeble. Taken by surprise, shot down in numbers by the accurate firing
of the Boers, attacked on all sides at once, the garrison failed to
defend their position, and in a moment the Boers were among them. At
this point a bayonet charge would have turned defeat into a victory, but
there were no officers left to command, all had been picked off by the
accurate shooting of the Boers, and the soldiers were panic-stricken.
All cohesion became lost, and in a few minutes the whole of the
defenders of the position were either shot down or taken prisoners, with
the exception of a few who managed to make their escape down the side of
the hill and to lie concealed among the bushes, making their way back to
camp during t