found that the Boers were in great strength in the pass of Glencoe, and
it was therefore determined to move by the roundabout way through
Helpmakaar. Some stores of ammunition that had been left under a guard
in the other camp were fetched, and with full pouches the little army
started on its long and perilous march at nine o'clock on the evening of
the 22nd. The camp was abandoned as it stood. The wounded remained with
some surgeons under the protection of the Red Cross flag. All the
available transport accompanied the column, but the men's kits and all
other encumbrances were left behind. They were obliged to pass through
Dundee to get upon the southern road, but so quietly was the movement
effected that but few of the townsmen knew what was happening.

The column was led by Colonel Dartnel, chief of the Natal Police, whose
knowledge of the district was invaluable to the troops. The roads were
heavy, and the rain continued to pour down in torrents. Each man carried
three days' provisions; they tramped along silently through the night;
stoppages by swollen streams were frequent, and by daybreak the next
morning they had only accomplished nine miles of their journey. Early in
the morning the townspeople had woke up to the fact that the army had
gone, and there was a general exodus of all who could obtain
conveyances. The Boers remained for some time in ignorance that the
force whose capture or destruction they had regarded as certain had
slipped away. They saw the tents, but the fact that neither men nor
horses were visible puzzled them, and it was eleven o'clock before some
of the more venturesome galloping down found that the English force had
escaped.

Then from all sides they poured into the town. Had they at once pursued
they might still have overtaken the retreating force before nightfall;
but they immediately set to work to loot the great stores of provisions