plan of attack was serious. Sir W. Gatacre, nevertheless,
decided that he would give his men an hour's rest, and then push on.

[Sidenote: The march resumed. Column arrives at dawn at destined
spot.]

About 2 a.m. the march was resumed in the same order as before, except
that the guns and mounted infantry had closed up to the infantry. But
after crossing the railway the roughness of the ground added to the
fatigue of the troops; moreover, doubt as to the manner in which the
column was being guided had spread discouragement. The General, moving
at the head of the leading battalion, constantly questioned the
guide, but was as constantly assured by Sergeant Morgan that the right
road was being followed, although the distance was greater than he had
estimated. The column, therefore, trudged on until at length, as the
first signs of dawn were beginning to appear, it reached the cross
roads near Van Zyl's house, and thus was on the very ground from
whence General Gatacre intended to make his assault on the Kissieberg.
If the assault had been delivered at once, the ridge might have been
carried and command over the Stormberg valley have been thus secured.

[Sidenote: Boers quite unprepared for the surprise march. All
circumstances favourable.]

[Sidenote: The column is taken away two miles further. _En route_ it
is surprised.]

The Boers in and near Stormberg on the morning of the 10th December were
under the command of Olivier: they consisted of about 1,700 burghers of
the Bethulie, Rouxville and Smithfield commandos, with two guns and a
Maxim. A detachment under Commandant Swanepoel, with one gun, held the
Nek between the Kissieberg and Rooi Kop. A piquet of about fifty men was
stationed on the western ridge of the former hill, and another piquet
watched the north end of the vlei; the remainder of the burghers slept
on the lower inner slopes of the two hills. The Boer accounts of the
fight all agree in stating that Gatacre's night march was a complete
surprise to them. So secure did Olivier feel in his position that on the
9th he had detached a commando of colonial rebels, amounting to some 500
or 600 men, under Grobelaar and Steinkamp, to Steynsburg to beat up more
recruits in that direction. In consequence of a dispute about a gun,
which was referred to President Steyn by telegram for settlement,
Grobelaar had outspanned for the night some seven or eight miles away on
the Stormberg-Steynsburg road, and his commando la