Drakensberg passes west of Ladysmith. The Natal Government now began to
feel uneasy about the safety of the colonial capital and even of Durban;
and informed White that undue importance had been attached to the
occupation of Dundee and that its retention was no longer desirable.
Thus in little more than a week White's original objection was
reconsidered and upheld. But again he allowed his better judgment to be
over-borne. Symons, whom he instructed to withdraw southwards unless he
felt his position to be absolutely secure, was at his own urgent request
allowed to remain. Next day, October 19, Elandslaagte, on the railway
between Ladysmith and Dundee, was occupied by a Boer commando, and it
was reported that 4,000 burghers were ready to cross the Buffalo River
at Jager's Drift during the night.

Symons' camp was pitched about a mile west of Dundee which lay between
it and Talana and Lennox Hills, which commanded the town from the east.
Some hours before sunrise on October 20 a British picket on Talana was
attacked. The incident was reported to Head Quarters, where it was not
deemed to be of much importance and the routine duties of the morning
were not interrupted. The artillery horses had been taken down as usual
to water, and some companies had even fallen in for skirmishing drill,
when the curtain of the morning mist upon the higher ground was raised
to the first scene in the Natal drama. The eastward hills, looming up
darkly into the brightening sky, were seen to be occupied in force by
the enemy under L. Meyer, and soon his shells were falling among the
tents.

The troops in camp, though taken by surprise, pulled themselves together
with admirable promptitude. The Boer guns were soon silenced, the
figures of men silhouetted along the sky line vanished, and the infantry
was ordered out to clear the hill. It was a formidable and dangerous