llery so that it would be almost impossible for our guns to silence
them, whilst at the same time he could sweep the plains below should our
infantry attempt to storm the heights at the point of the bayonet. At the
bottom of the kopjes, right under the muzzle of his guns, he had excavated
trenches deep enough to hide his riflemen, but he had thrown up no
earthworks, so that our guns could not locate the exact spot where his
rifle trenches lay. All the earth from the trenches had been very carefully
removed, and the low blue bush which covers these plains completely
screened his trenches from view. In front of the trenches, and extending
some considerable distance out in front of the veldt, the clever Boer
leader had placed an immense amount of barbed wire entanglement, so
fashioned that no cavalry could live amongst it, whilst even the very
flower of our infantry would find it hard work to charge over it, even in
daylight. The Boer forces are variously estimated at from 12,000 to 15,000
men. The number and nature of their guns can only be guessed at, but that
the enemy's men are well supplied in that respect there can be no question.
Our forces I estimate at about 11,000 men of all arms, including the
never-to-be-forgotten section of the Naval Brigade, to whom England owes a
debt of gratitude too deep for words to portray; for their steadiness,
valour, and accuracy of shooting saved England from disaster on this the
blackest day that Scotland has known since the Crimea.

Our troops extended over many miles of country. Every move had to be made
in full view of the enemy upon a level plain where a collie dog could not
have moved unperceived by those foemen hidden so securely behind
impregnable ramparts. During the whole of Sunday our gunners played havoc
with the enemy, the shooting of the Naval Brigade being of such a nature
that even thus early in the fight the big gun of the bluejackets, with its
42-pound lyddite shell, struck terror into the hearts of the enemy. But the
Boers were not idle. Whenever our infantry, in manoeuvring, came within
range'of their rifles, our ranks began to thin out, and the blood of our
gallant fellows dyed the sun-baked veldt in richest crimson.

During the night that followed it was considered expedient that the
Highland Brigade, about 4,000 strong, under General Wauchope, should get
close enough to the lines of the foe to make it possible to charge the
heights. At midnight the gallant, but