n these camps.

The troops which had not remained with the pack-horses now advanced
towards the mountain. Each commando was ordered to ride by itself, and
to leave in single file. My orders were that they were to march quietly
to the western foot of the mountain; here the horses were to be left
behind, and the climb made on foot, the burghers keeping the same order
as that in which they had been riding. Should the English, however,
discover us before we reached the mountain, we must then storm it
altogether, and leave the horses wherever we had dismounted.

We succeeded in coming to the mountain unobserved, and at once began the
climb. It was exactly two o'clock in the morning of December 25th, 1901.

When we had gone up about half-way we heard the challenge of a sentry:--

"Halt; who goes there?"

Then followed a few shots.

My command rang out through the night--

"Burghers, Storm!"

The word was taken up by the burghers themselves, and on all sides one
heard "Storm! Storm!"

It was a never-to-be-forgotten moment. Amidst the bullets, which we
could hear whistling above and around us, the burghers advanced to the
top, calling out, "Storm! Storm!"

The mountain, however, was so steep that it can scarcely be said that we
stormed it; it was much more of a climb. Often our feet slipped from
under us, and we fell to the ground; but in an instant we were up again
and climbed on, and on, to gain the summit.

I think that after the sentry heard us, three or four minutes must have
elapsed before the troops, who were lying asleep in their tents or on
the veldt, were awakened and could come out, because their camp was
about a hundred paces distant from our point of attack.

Directly we reached the top the deafening roar of a heavy fight began,
and lasted from fifteen to twenty minutes. Shortly before this the
Armstrong gun and the Maxim-Nordenfeldt had each fired two shots, but
they fired no more; as we reached the top the gunners were shot down at
their guns.

After a short but desperate struggle the English gave way, or
surrendered, and we took possession of the Armstrong and
Maxim-Nordenfeldt.

We continued to fire on the troops, who had retreated to a short
distance. Again they gave way, and took up another position a little
further on, and so it went on for about two thousand paces, and then the
English took to flight.

As we had no horses with us and it was dark, we did not pursue the
fleeing enemy, but