Battles of the nineteenth century . we call Caesars Camp and theKaffirs Intombi, nor the mixed force of volun- 148 THE BOER WAR. teers and police watching the scrub lower down,saw anv form or heard a movement during thenight. It was intensely dark, but in that stillair a steinboks light leap from rock to rockwould have struck sharpl_v on listening on picket duty aver that not a Boercould have shown himself or passed through themimosa scrub without being challenged. Yetfour or five hundred of them got to the juttingcrest of Caesars Camp somehow, and to reach lenged, and at once the r
Battles of the nineteenth century . we call Caesars Camp and theKaffirs Intombi, nor the mixed force of volun- 148 THE BOER WAR. teers and police watching the scrub lower down,saw anv form or heard a movement during thenight. It was intensely dark, but in that stillair a steinboks light leap from rock to rockwould have struck sharpl_v on listening on picket duty aver that not a Boercould have shown himself or passed through themimosa scrub without being challenged. Yetfour or five hundred of them got to the juttingcrest of Caesars Camp somehow, and to reach lenged, and at once the reply came, A he was suspicious, and raised his rifle. Ashe did so he was shot dead. The muzzle of theMauser that killed him was almost at his comrades sprang up, only to be swept awayby a volley. Some of the bullets passed rightover the hill, and the men at work pulling upthe naval gun at the foot of it, as they heardthem whizzing in the darkness overhead, thoughtsome of the sentries were stupidly firing acrow. THE TUGELA FALLS AND PONTOON BRIDGE. it they must either have crossed open groundor climbed with silent caution up the boulder-roughened steeps. It is said that as they crept across the openground and climbed amid bushes and rocks,the Boers walked barefoot. In the final ascentthey mounted faces of the hill so steep, that tothe last moment, even in daylight, most of themwould have been hidden from the sentries onthe summit. It was at a quarter to three thatthe first Boers. Free Staters of the Harrismithcommando, gained the crest of Waggon the point where they came up there was apost of eight of the Imperial Light Horse. Asentry slightly in front of the group saw or heardsomething moving in the darkness. He chal- the crest—so little did anyone believe in a Boerattack. But as the Boers pressed on, and the confusedfight in the darkness with the pickets of theImperial Light Horse began, everyone onWaggon Hill realised that after all the unex-pe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1901
