To obtain more room, and also in the hope of being able to
turn the right flank of the enemy, he marched westward, and, thanks to
a slight swell in the ground, was able to reach the railway, some
2,000 yards south of the broken bridge, without attracting much
attention. But as soon as the Northumberland Fusiliers were in the act
of crossing the line from east to west, the Boer guns opened upon them
and a few minutes later, about 7.30 a.m., the whole river bed, west of
the bridge, burst into one wide fusilade. In order to maintain touch
with the Guards, and to protect the westward march of his brigade, the
Major-General ordered the Northumberland Fusiliers to change
direction to their right, extend, and endeavour to beat down the
enemy's enfilading musketry, which was pouring across the plain, here
smooth as a glacis and as destitute of cover. Soon afterwards he found
it necessary to leave half the battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland
Highlanders to prolong the line of the Northumberland Fusiliers to the
left; and, later, he was compelled to direct the King's Own Yorkshire
Light Infantry yet further to prolong the covering force, behind whose
protection he was making the westward march. The continual necessity
thus to increase the numbers employed in this protective work now left
him only the half-battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire and the
half-battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders available for
carrying out the original design.

[Sidenote: Attempt to take Boer outposts.]

The left of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry made their way to
within a few hundred yards of a farmhouse and kraal, some 300 yards
south of the river. These buildings and a patch of rocky ground to the
west were strongly held as outworks by the Boers; and Major-General
Pole-Carew, being convinced by a report from Captain E. S. Bulfin, his
brigade-major, that they covered a ford across the Riet, endeavoured
to take them, but without success. In the hope of bringing enfilade
fire upon the defenders, he sent a small party of Argyll and
Sutherland Highlanders into a donga, which runs into the river between
the farmhouse and the nearest Boer trench on the left bank. Advancing
with a rush, this detachment reached the river bed without loss, and
was subsequently reinforced by another handful of the same battalion.

[Sidenote: After some delay they are captured.]

About 11 a.m. an order reached Pole-Carew telling him that as the