Battles of the nineteenth century . persistent,and a little later it was perceived that the enemywere drawing off. Their scouts, thrown far outto their left flank, had warned them in goodtime of Babingtons approach, and the Boercommandant had given the order to four oclock Babingtons column arrived tothe north of Koodoosberg. The 9th Lancersjoined him, and he started in pursuit of theenemy. But he did not go far. His guns fireda few shots at long range at the retreating Boers,but when the cavalry, whose horses were alreadyvery tired, rode forward, they were met by asharp rifle fire
Battles of the nineteenth century . persistent,and a little later it was perceived that the enemywere drawing off. Their scouts, thrown far outto their left flank, had warned them in goodtime of Babingtons approach, and the Boercommandant had given the order to four oclock Babingtons column arrived tothe north of Koodoosberg. The 9th Lancersjoined him, and he started in pursuit of theenemy. But he did not go far. His guns fireda few shots at long range at the retreating Boers,but when the cavalry, whose horses were alreadyvery tired, rode forward, they were met by asharp rifle fire from a Boer rearguard safelyhidden in a long donga, and all the ground inthe neighbourhood was made difficult for ourmounted men by the large number of barbedwire cattle-fences that crossed it in all cavalry therefore withdrew to KoodoosbergDrift, and the same evening Babington andMacDonald received orders to return with alltheir force to Modder River camp. The High-landers had lost about fifty men during the fight,. A LLLV£K 4 CAPTURE E\ MONTMORENCV S bCOUTb. 200 THE BOER WAR. including several officers. As the telegramsfrom the front had represented the fighting atKoodoosberg as a brilliant victorj-, some dis-appointment was felt in England at the news ofMacDonalds retirement, but the fact was thatLord Roberts «-as engaged in concentratingevery available man and gun in preparation forhij great movement to the relief ot Kiinberley. The Diamond City, which had been besiegedsince the first days of the war, had been havinga dreary time, and some of the messages sentout by runners and by the electric signal lightin the latter part of January and the beginningof February were not very pleasant reading forLord Roberts. The\ told of dissensions between-Mr. Rhodes and the powerful De Beers partyon the one hand and the regular militaryauthorities on the other ; and then came pressinglequests for immediate relief, some of whichseemed to indicate that under the pressure
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