er fire as signal for a last successful attack, met in hasty
conference, and agreed to lead their men forward simultaneously. Soon
after 1 p.m. the whole British line surged over the wall, and
clambering up the hill, flooded its flat summit from end to end.

[Sidenote: The Boers abandon Lennox Hill.]

[Sidenote: Cavalry and guns both fail to make defeat crushing.]

[Sidenote: A fatal error.]

From Lennox Hill this final charge was marked, and in a few moments
it, too, was empty of Boers. Before 2 p.m. the entire position was
won, and Brigadier-General Yule, to whom the loss of General Symons
had given the command, at once ordered the artillery to the summit of
Smith's Nek, from whence they might shell the now flying foe. The
cavalry, looked for amongst the defeated Boers, who covered the plain
for miles in the direction of the Buffalo river, were nowhere to be
seen. On the guns then rested the last hope of confirming the victory,
but they, having gained the Nek, were, to the wonderment of all,
pointed silently at the receding commandos. Doubt had at this critical
moment assailed the artillery commander. Just before the final stroke,
about 1.30 p.m., a message, purporting to come from Lukas Meyer,
proposing an armistice to look for the wounded, had passed through his
hands on its way to the General. No authoritative information as to
its having been accorded or not having reached him, he, with other
officers, became uncertain as to the propriety of continuing the
battle. At this time a bystander exclaimed that the Boer hospital was
retreating before him, and believing that he himself saw red-crossed
flags waving over the Boer column moving slowly away within shrapnel
range, his hesitation deepened. He refrained from opening fire, and
the Boer army, defeated, but not crushed, made despondently, but
without further losses, for the laager under the Doornberg, from which
it had marched the night before.

[Sidenote: The return to camp.]

Brigadier-General Yule, beset with anxiety concerning the Boer army,
which had menaced his flank all day from Impati, had no thought but to
secure his men in quarters before night and the still expected attack
fell upon them together. The infantry, therefore, after searching the
hill for wounded, were sent from the field. By 6 p.m., as evening fell
amid a storm of rain, all were back in camp. The mounted troops alone,
unseen since the early morning, did not return to their lines, nor wa