rt sharp skirmish followed, in which we lost a
few horses and men, and claim to have killed six Boers, and which was
terminated after half an hour by the arrival of the leading Infantry
battalion--the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. During the day the occupation was
completed, and the brigades of Generals Wynne, Coke, and Barton, then
joining Warren's Division with the Artillery, entrenched themselves
strongly and bivouacked on the hill. Meanwhile Lyttelton's Division
marched from its camp in the Blue Krantz Valley, east of Chieveley,
along the valley to a position short of the eastern spurs of Hussar
Hill. These spurs are more thickly wooded and broken than the rest of
the hill, and about four o'clock in the afternoon some hundred Boers
established themselves among the rocks and opened a sharp fire. They
were, however, expelled from their position by the Artillery and by the
fire of the advanced battalions of Lyttelton's Division operating from
the Blue Krantz Valley.

During the 15th and 16th a desultory artillery duel proceeded on both
sides with slight loss to us. The water question presented some
difficulty, as the Blue Krantz River was several miles from Hussar Hill
and the hill itself was waterless. A system of iron tanks mounted on ox
waggons was arranged, and a sufficient though small supply maintained.
The heavy artillery was also brought into action and strongly
entrenched. The formidable nature of the enemy's position and the
evident care with which he had fortified it may well have added to the
delay by giving cause for the gravest reflection.

On the afternoon of the 16th Sir Redvers Buller resolved to plunge, and
orders were issued for a general advance at dawn. Colonel Sandbach,
under whose supervision the Intelligence Department has attained a new
and a refreshing standard of efficiency, made comprehensive and, as was
afterwards proved, accurate reports of the enemy's strength and spirit,
and strongly recommended the attack on the left flank. Two hours before
dawn the army was on the move. Hart's Brigade, the 6-inch and other
great guns at Chieveley, guarded Railhead. Hlangwani Hill, and the long
line of entrenchments rimming the Green Hill, were masked and fronted by
the display of the field and siege batteries, whose strength in guns was
as follows:

Guns
Four 5-inch siege guns.......................... 4
Six naval twelve-pounder long-range guns..