effect, maintaining a vigorous fire throughout; and the British on
their side had advanced field batteries in the plain, to sweep either
flank of the threatened ridge, a measure which markedly curtailed the
power of the enemy to send reinforcements to those already engaged on
the heights. The Boers had also developed attacks upon the north and
north-east of the town; but these, however intended, did not proceed
beyond mere demonstrations.

At 2 P.M., on Wagon Hill West, a few Boers at last attempted what
numbers should have tried hours before. It is trite to say that at
such a crisis proverbial truths receive double emphasis. "Not to gain
ground is to lose ground." "He who hesitates is lost." At the hour
named, a number--eight, it is said--at their head De Villiers, a Free
State commander, rose suddenly to their feet. The action, unexpected
after so many passive hours, {p.245} shook the steadiness of the
British opposite. Some turned and ran down hill, but the Engineer
detachment stood fast with fixed bayonets. An infantry major beside
them fell, shot dead, but their own lieutenant, Digby Jones, a youth
in his twenties, led them forward to the encounter. The parties met
midway, but only one follower had kept on with Villiers. The Boer
leader was killed by Jones, who himself dropped immediately after. His
junior, Denniss, went out to look for him, and quickly shared his
fate. So, after hours of steadfast bearing, died these gallant
lads--not in vain. With them fell also fifteen out of their thirty
sappers, wounded, but not all slain.

At 4 P.M. a rain-storm of exceptional violence, even for South Africa,
burst over the ridge. In the midst of it the Boers on Wagon Hill West,
whose numbers had increased beyond the British knowledge, again
attempted a forward movement; again, so the accounts say, waverers
were found on the British side; again their officers called them
together; charge threatened was met with charge effected, and for the
last time. Before {p.246} the levelled bayonets the enemy turned and
fled down hill to return no more.

The same opportunity of tempest was taken by the assailants on Wagon
Hill to mass their forces. Then it was that the British commander on
the spot asked Colonel Park whether, with the three companies of the
Devonshire Regiment in reserve, he could clear the hill. "We will
try," was the reply. The companies deployed in three lines, in
extended order--six to eight paces between the men-