allant and historical reputation untarnished.
Our advanced patrols had already seen the first signs of the coming
torrent of invasion, and one and all were seized with that feeling,
common to all mankind, of longing to get the waiting and the
preparation over, and to commence the real business for which they had
been so carefully and so thoroughly prepared. Full of the most
implicit confidence in their brave leader, the regiment knew to a man
that they would soon be at hand-grips, and their two years' residence
in the country and knowledge of the history of the last Boer War, and
the stain to be rubbed out, made every pulse tingle with the desire to
show that the past had been but an unfortunate blunder, and that the
British soldier of the present day was no whit inferior to his
predecessors of Indian, Peninsular, Waterloo, and Crimean fame.

On the night of the 19-20th October, Lieutenant Grimshaw was sent with
a patrol of the Mounted Infantry company of the battalion to watch the
road to Vant's and Landsman's Drifts, ten miles east of Dundee. About
2 a.m. on October 20th this officer reported that a Boer commando was
advancing on the town. At a later hour he forwarded a second message
to the effect that he was retiring before superior numbers, one man of
his party having been wounded, and that the enemy were in occupation
of the hills to the east of the town. On the receipt of this message
General Penn-Symons ordered two companies of the Dublin Fusiliers to
support Lieutenant Grimshaw. 'B' and 'E' companies, under Captains
Dibley and Weldon, accordingly left camp at 4 a.m., and, moving
through the town, took up a position in Sand Spruit, which runs along
the eastern edge of Dundee. The whole brigade stood to arms, as usual,
at 5 a.m., but was dismissed at 5.15 a.m. At about 5.30 a.m. the mist
lifted, and everybody's gaze was directed on Talana Hill, where
numbers of men in black mackintoshes could be seen. The general
impression was that they were members of the town guard, but the
arrival of the first shell soon dispelled this illusion.

Soon after 5.30 a.m. the Boer artillery opened fire on the camp. Their
fire was accurate enough, considering that the range was near 5400
yards, but the damage done was practically nothing, as very few shells
burst, and these only on impact. Our own artillery (13th and 69th
Field Batteries, with 'D' company of the battalion as escort) did not
immediately respond, as they were at the