t, and, having thus extended his right arm, to cross the
river where it flowed east and west, and make a still wider swoop on the
enemy's flank.

The first thing to do was to move the heavy guns, and this, with certain
redistributions of the cavalry, occupied the whole day. A long-range
four-gun naval battery was established on the western slopes of the
Monte Cristo ridge. Another similar battery was placed on the spurs of
Hlangwani. The 4.7-inch naval guns and the 5 in. fortress battery were
brought into line in the centre of the Hlangwani plateau. All this was
good. The big guns were getting back on to the big hills. The firing,
which continued all day, swelled into a roar towards night as the Boers
made vigorous attempts to drive Hart's Brigade from its lodgments. They
were, however, foiled in their endeavour to squeeze in between the
troops and the river.

The battalions, who were attacked frontally, lay down with fixed
bayonets and prayed that the Boers might be encouraged by their silence
to make an assault. The latter, however, were fully aware of the
eagerness of the soldiers for personal collision, and kept their
distance. The firing on both sides was unaimed, and very little harm was
done. No one, however, had much sleep. The condition of the wounded,
still lying sore and thirsty on the bare hillside, was now so shocking
that Sir Redvers Buller was forced, much against his inclination, at
dawn on the 25th, to send in a flag of truce to the Boer commander and
ask for an armistice. This the Boers formally refused, but agreed that
if we would not fire on their positions during the day they would not
prevent our bearer companies from removing the wounded and burying the
dead.

The arrangement worked well; the enemy were polite to our medical
officers, and by noon all the wounded had been brought down and the dead
buried. The neglect and exposure for forty-eight hours had much
aggravated the case of the former, and the bodies of the dead, swollen,
blackened, and torn by the terrible wounds of the expansive bullets, now
so generally used by the enemy, were ugly things to see. The fact that
no regular armistice was agreed on was an advantage, as we were not
thereby debarred from making military movements. The Boers improved
their entrenchments, and Sir Redvers Buller employed the day in
withdrawing his train across the river. This movement, seeming to
foreshadow another retreat, sorely disquieted the troops, who w