h
the exception of the small skirmish on the previous night, the Boers
had not as yet molested the column, whose sole aim was to reach
Johannesburg if possible without fighting.

[1.30 p.m.]

At this hour Hind's store was reached.

Here the troops rested for one and a half hours.

Unfortunately, hardly any provisions for men and horses were
available.

[3 p.m.]

An officers' patrol, consisting of Major Villiers (Royal Horse
Guards) and Lieutenant Grenfell (1st Life Guards) and six men, moved
off for the purpose of reconnoitring the left flank of the Boer
position, while Captain Lindsell, with his permanent force of
advanced scouts, pushed on as usual to reconnoitre the approach by
the main road. At the same time I forwarded a note to the Commandant
of the forces in Krugersdorp to the effect that, in the event of my
friendly force meeting with opposition on its approach, I should be
forced to shell the town, and that therefore I gave him this warning
in order that the women and children might be moved out of danger.

[Friendly!]

To this note, which was despatched by a Boer who had been detained at
Van Oudtshoorn, I received no reply.

At Hind's store we were informed that the force in our front had
increased during the forenoon to about 800 men, of whom a large
number were entrenched on the hillside.

[4.30 p.m.]

Four miles beyond Hind's store, the column following the scouts,
which met with no opposition, ascended a steep rise of some 400 feet,
and came full in view of the Boer position on the opposite side of
a deep valley, traversed by a broad "sluit" or muddy water course.

Standing on the plateau or spur, on which our force was forming up
for action, the view to our front was as follows:

Passing through our position to the west ran the Hind's
store--Krugersdorp Road traversing the valley and the Boer position
almost at right angles to both lines.

Immediately to the north of this road, at the point where it
disappeared over the sky-line on the opposite slope, lay the Queen's
Battery House and earthworks, completely commanding the valley on all
sides and distant 1,900 yards from our standpoint.

Some 1,000 yards down the valley to the north stood a farmhouse,
surrounded by a dense plantation, which flanked the valley.

Half-way up the opposite slope, and adjacent to the road, stood an
iron house which commanded the drift where the road crossed the
above-mentioned watercourse.

On the south