superintendent of the kitchen. It is a comfort, too, that we have some
clear water instead of having to get it from one of these muddy streams.
The storm has done good anyhow, for if it had not been for that there
would have been no breakfast for the troops until they had moved to the
river."

In another twenty minutes they were drinking hot coffee and munching
biscuits. At ten o'clock the bugle sounded the assembly, and the troops
formed up, the wounded were placed in ambulance waggons or carried on
stretchers, and all returned to Elandslaagte station. Here the wounded
were sent on by train, while the infantry and cavalry returned by road.
Talking to some of the officers of the Imperial Horse, several of whom
were friends of his father, and had only left Johannesburg a short time
before the declaration of war, Chris learned that the principal object
in fighting the battle was to drive the Boers off the line by which the
Dundee force would retreat; for Colonel Yule in his telegraphic despatch
had stated, that although a victory had been won he felt that the
position was untenable, and that he might at any moment be forced to
evacuate it. He also learned that the safety of the line beyond
Ladysmith was already threatened, but whether Sir George White would
decide upon falling back towards Pietermaritzburg or would hold
Ladysmith no one knew. Certainly nothing could be determined upon until
General Yule rejoined with the division from Dundee.

The position there was indeed growing worse every hour. While the battle
of Elandslaagte was being fought the Boers had opened fire from the
hills above Glencoe on the British camp, and had compelled it to shift
its position. The next day they were again obliged to move by artillery
on the Impati mountain, and it was then that General Yule decided to
retire at once on Ladysmith. A cavalry reconnaissance which was sent out