he other objectives of the attack. The Boer
detached left was, however, of considerable strength, and as soon as
Barton had occupied this hill (which proved, moreover, far more
extensive than had been expected), he was heavily attacked by rifle fire
from its under features and from a network of dongas to the eastward,
and as the Artillery were busy preparing the attack on Railway Hill, the
brigade, particularly the Scots and Irish Fusiliers, soon became
severely engaged and suffered grievous loss.

The fact that Barton's Hill was in our possession made the Boers on
Railway and Inniskilling Hills very insecure. A powerful Infantry force
was holding the left of their position, and though it was itself being
actively attacked on the eastern face, it could spare at least a
battalion to assail their flank and threaten their rear. Covered by this
flanking fire, by the long-range musketry, and by a tremendous
bombardment, in which every gun, from the lumbering 5 in. siege guns to
the little 9-pounder mountain battery, joined, the main attack was now
launched. It proceeded simultaneously against Railway Hill, Inniskilling
Hill, and the neck between them, but as the general line was placed
obliquely across the Boer front, the attack fell first on Railway Hill
and the neck.

The right battalions drew up in many long lines on the sides of the
river gorge. Then men began gradually to work their way upwards, until
all the dead patches of ground and every scrap of cover sheltered a
fierce little group. Behind the railway embankment, among the rocks, in
the scrub, in a cutting, near a ruined house, clusters of men eagerly
awaited the decisive moment: and all this time more than seventy guns
concentrated their fire on the entrenchments, scattering the stones and
earth high in the air. Then, suddenly, shortly after four o'clock, all
further attempts at advancing under cover were abandoned, and the
Lancashire Brigade marched proudly into the open ground and on the
enemy's works. The Mauser musketry burst forth at once, and the bullets,
humming through the assaulting waves of infantry, reached us on our
hillside and wounded a trooper in spite of the distance. But, bullets or
no bullets, we could not take our eyes off the scene.

The Lancashire Brigade advanced on a wide front. Norcott's Riflemen were
already prolonging their line to the right. The Boer fire was dispersed
along the whole front of attack, instead of converging on one narr