eady; before him lay a defile known as Van Tonders Pass, deep and
difficult, some six miles in length. But at the slow rate of movement,
necessitated by the nature of the route through it, the passage of this
dangerous ground would take so much time and cause such disorder, that,
balancing the evils, Yule, after reconnoitring the obstacle, bivouacked
at 2 p.m. on a high and open spur of the Biggarsberg, overlooking the
valley of the Waschbank river, two miles east-south-east of Beith, and
one mile west of the junction of the Helpmakaar and Ladysmith roads.
Here he waited anxiously for the night.

[Footnote 99: See map No. 4.]

[Footnote 100: See map No. 3.]

[Sidenote: The Boers occupy Dundee.]

Late on the morning of the 23rd the Boers, after reconnoitring the
camp and its vicinity as closely as they dared, opened once more from
Impati with their heavy gun. The first shell burst in the hospital
lines, and Major J. F. Donegan, the chief medical officer, who,
fearing to prejudice General Yule's operations, had done nothing to
inform the enemy that his marquees were the only inhabited tents, now
determined to spare the wounded the horrors of further bombardment.
Captain A. E. Milner was therefore sent with a white flag to ask that
the fire should be stopped. Thereupon Erasmus' men, to whom news of
Yule's evacuation was a complete surprise, filed down the mountain,
and approached, not without caution. There was soon no room for doubt;
Dundee had fallen, and Erasmus' prize was large in inverse proportion
to the share he had taken in capturing it. No sooner was the absence
of the British soldiers established beyond a doubt, than the burghers
made haste to sack the camp and town. In a short time every tent,
except those of the hospitals, which were scrupulously respected, was
ransacked, and every shop turned inside out. Commandant-General
Joubert now sent orders to Lukas Meyer to pursue Yule with a thousand
men. Meyer did so, but marching late and slowly, failed to come up
with the British.

[Sidenote: Night march Oct. 23rd Oct. 24th.]

At 11 p.m. Yule roused his men for a fresh effort. A hot day had given
place to a bleak and bitter night. But though the road was steep and
obstructed, and Van Tenders Pass plunged in profound gloom, the
column, headed by the Dublin Fusiliers, marched punctually and well.
By dawn the dangerous defile was safely threaded and the force
debouched on to the broad veld whic