western march.]

Major Milton, in the early morning, had led his small force of one
squadron and one and a half companies of mounted infantry by a
circuitous march well to the westward of the railway and thence
northward until he reached that previously described valley which
separates the three southern clusters of hills from Honey Nest Kloof
Kopjes. On a sugar loaf hill at its entrance he left an observation
piquet and, extending the Northumberland Fusiliers company very
widely, with instructions to hold its southern side, he pushed up the
valley eastward with the remainder (amounting now to less than two
hundred men) and reached Honey Nest Kloof station. This small
detachment had thus ridden completely across the Boer line of retreat,
and was now six miles in rear of their captured position. Moving
further to the east, Milton observed, in the plains beyond the distant
end of the valley, the two squadrons under Colonel Gough, but failed
in an attempt to attract their attention by heliograph. There were
already signs of Boers coming to him, and, hoping to intercept
fugitives, Milton moved back on the Fusilier company extended on the
southern side. But the Boers swarmed out of the kopjes on this very
side in greatly superior numbers, and opened a heavy fire upon the
weak line of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The audacity of their
position in the open with their horses some 1,000 yards in rear was
apparent to the enemy. About 400 Boers, moreover, detached themselves
from the main body and approached Milton's men. The situation thus
became very critical, and the cavalry squadron fell back to the
western entrance, covered by the mounted infantry, who succeeded in
seizing a kopje on the northern side. The Boers continued their
advance against the defending party to within three hundred yards of
this kopje, but then swerved off to the east, thus enabling Major
Milton to withdraw the whole of his detachment in safety. Any further
attempt at pursuit would have ended in disaster, because of the great
strength of the enemy, and the unbroken front they still presented.

[Sidenote: Lt.-Col. Gough on the east.]

Lieut.-Col. B. Gough's force on the east had similarly found itself to
be insufficient in strength to reap the fruits of victory. During the
earlier part of the fight it had done good service in holding back the
Ramdam detachment of Boers which occupied a kopje about two and a
quarter miles to the south-east of the batt