right the 69th battery stood in action upon Umbulwana Nek; the
21st battery on the northern side of Lombards Kop covered French's
left and Grimwood's right; out in the open to their left rear the 53rd
battery shot above the heads of the right wing of the infantry, whilst
farther northward the 13th sent shrapnel over the left wing. Only the
42nd and 67th batteries remained on the site first held by the
artillery facing north-west, where the former suffered considerable
losses from the heavy enfilade and frontal fire which recommenced. For
the Boer artillerymen, encouraged by the diminution of the British
gun-power at this point, had not only returned to the pieces upon
Pepworth, but placed fresh ones upon the northernmost spurs of Long
Hill itself.

[Sidenote: Reserve absorbed by action.]

The reserve on Limit Hill, under Colonel Ian Hamilton's command, had
been reduced considerably by the successive demands of the battle. He
had been early deprived of most of his cavalry and all his artillery,
and shortly after 8 a.m., on a report coming of a hostile advance
against the left flank, two squadrons ("E." and "F.") of his remaining
mounted troops, the Imperial Light Horse, had left him to occupy some
kopjes on either side of the railway close to Aller Park, from which
they could see the enemy moving in strength about the heights of Bell
Spruit. At 10 a.m. the 1st Manchester regiment was also withdrawn from
Hamilton's brigade, the right half-battalion proceeding towards
Lombards Kop, the left half passing into the open as escort to the
artillery. The former portion eventually became incorporated with
French's firing line, whilst the latter lay out upon the shelterless
ground between the original artillery position and the new one taken
up by the 13th battery, where they suffered somewhat severely from the
intermittent shells.

[Sidenote: Ladysmith threatened.]

Meanwhile Colonel W. G. Knox, who, in the absence of the army, had
been placed in charge of the defences of Ladysmith, was by no means
secure. Left with a garrison of a few companies of infantry, he
detailed two of these, with the 23rd of the Royal engineers, and the
two Boer guns captured at Elandslaagte, to cover the north of the
town, posting them upon a ridge north-west of Observation Hill. Here
he found himself confronted immediately by strong bodies and two guns
of the enemy, who manoeuvred about Bell's and the adjacent kopjes. He
was soon strengthened by