the Boer Maxim-Nordenfelt sounds at intervals and the mingled smoke and
dust lies in a haze along the river."

It was, all through, almost entirely an infantry action, but about the
middle of the day we were sent down to the river on the Boer right, as
parties of the enemy were thought to be breaking away in that direction.
And here, I am sorry to say, poor Parker who had served in the
Greek-Turkish war, and used to beguile our long night marches with
stories of the Thessalian hills and the courage of the Turks, was hit,
it is feared mortally. The fight itself continued with intermissions all
day, and even in the evening, though parts of the Boer position had been
captured and many of them had fled, there were some who still made good
their defence, holding out in places of vantage with the greatest
obstinacy. These took advantage of the night to escape, and it was not
till next morning that we had the place in our possession. The Boers
themselves, as we are told by people here, thought the position
impregnable. Certainly it was very strong. The river has cut a channel
or groove thirty feet deep in the ground; the edges, sharp and distinct,
so that men can lie on the slant and look out across the plain. A big
loop in the river is subtended by a line of trenches and rifle-pits
hastily dug (they only decided twenty-four hours before the attack to
defend the position; this by Cronjé's advice, who had just come south
from Mafeking, the others were for retiring to the next range of hills),
from which the whole advance of our infantry across the level is
commanded. "We," as the soldiers explained to me, "could see nothing in
our front but a lot of little heads popping up to fire and then popping
down again." These shelters, a long line of them, are littered thick
with empty cartridge cases, hundreds in each; one thinks involuntarily
of grouse-driving. Bodies, still unburied, lay about when I was there.
Such odours! such sights! The unimaginable things that the force of shot