30th of November, the day after the fight, I was with a patrol
on the first "randts," north-east of Rhenosterkop, just as the sun
rose, and had a splendid view of the whole battlefield of the previous
day. I saw the enemy's scouts, cautiously approaching the evacuated
positions, and concluded from the precautions they were taking that
they did not know we had left overnight. Indeed, very shortly after I
saw the Khakis storming and occupying the kopjes. How great must have
been their astonishment and disappointment on finding those positions
deserted, for the possession of which they had shed so much blood. A
number of ambulance waggons were brought up and were moving backwards
and forwards on the battlefield, taking the wounded to the hospital
camp, which must have assumed colossal proportions. Ditches were seen
to be dug, in which the killed soldiers were buried. A troop of
kaffirs carried the bodies, as far as I could distinguish, and I could
distinctly see some heaps of khaki-coloured forms near the graves.

[Illustration: Battle of Rhenosterkop--How Colonel Lloyd died.]

As the battlefield looked now, it was a sad spectacle. Death and
mutilation, sorrow and misery, were the traces yesterday's fight had
left behind. How sad, I thought, that civilised nations should thus
try to annihilate one another. The repeated brave charges made by
General Paget's soldiers, notwithstanding our deadly fire, had won our
greatest admiration for the enemy, and many a burgher sighed even
during the battle. What a pity such plucky fellows should have to be
led on to destruction like so many sheep to the butcher's block!

Meanwhile, General Lyttelton's columns had not got any nearer, and it
appeared to us that he had only made a display to confuse us, and with
the object of inducing us to flee in face of their overwhelming
strength.

On the 1st of December General Paget sent a strong mounted force to
meet us, and we had a short, sharp fight, without very great loss on
either side.

This column camped at Langkloof, near our positions, compelling us to
graze and water our horses at the bottom of the "neck" in the woods,
where horse-sickness was prevalent. We were, therefore, very soon
obliged to move.

About this time I received a report to the effect that a number of
women and children were wandering about near Rhenosterkop along the
Wilge River. Their houses had been burnt by order of General Paget,
and we were asked to protect th