kness unheard, a tremendous burst of firing was opened upon the
kopje, the enemy having made their way up by inches till they were well
within reach of the defending lines--so close, in fact, that for the
time being the big guns were useless, their fire at such close quarters
being as likely to injure friend as foe.

"Stand fast, my lads!" cried Captain Edwards. "We shall have them here
directly.--Now, gentlemen, you know what to do. Ah! I thought so;" for
a scattering fire was opened by the outposts, who, according to their
instructions, began to fall back to take their places in the line ready
to resist the attack upon the village.

Lennox felt stunned by the suddenness of the attack, and ready to
confess that their trained troops were in nowise equal to the enemy in
the matter of cunning; for, as if by magic, the wild fire ran completely
round the kopje, which, contrary to expectation, had become the main
object of attack, and in a short time the flashing of the rifles and the
continuous rattle told plainly enough that by their clever ruse the
Boers had completely surrounded the kopje, cutting the British force in
two.

Certainly a portion of them had been led between two fires--between that
of the village and that from the eminence; but the British fire was
hindered by the danger of injuring their friends, and in a very short
time the major grasped the fact that it was waste of energy to try and
defend the village, which was only lightly attacked, and quite time for
him to retire and lead his men to the support of the colonel.

His orders had hardly been given to the various centres to fall back
from the trenches and houses held, when the agreed-upon signal flew up
from the top of the kopje in a long line of light, followed by the
bursting of a rocket, whose stars lit up the cloud of smoke rising round
the mount.

Everything had been so well planned beforehand that there was not the
slightest confusion: the men fell back steadily to the village square,
leaving the Boers still firing out of the darkness into the defensive
lines; and then, as steadily as if in a review, the advance was made to
cut through the investing crowd, which, facing the other way, was
keeping up a tremendous fire.

The signal for the advance was given with another rocket fired from the
square as a warning to the colonel to cease firing on their side; and
then the men steadily commenced their arduous task, the leading company
going on