d
to be exceedingly steep and difficult to climb. A series of krantz, or
perpendicular walls of rocks, barred the ascent, except at certain
gaps, while between these krantz were interspersed bushes and large
boulders. The company officers ordered their men to unfix bayonets,
and to help each other up the rocks. The enemy's fire for the moment
had ceased to be effective, as the British soldiers were more or less
under cover of the krantz, but the clamber through the gaps in the
first barrier, nearly twelve feet high, took a considerable time. On
the top a halt was made to let men get their breath, and then began
again the onward advance of small groups of twos and threes in the
direction of the shoulder of the hill, where the burghers had managed
to place a gun. The Boers' shooting from the crest now again became
effective, whilst they themselves, carefully concealed, offered no
target to the British rifles. The rocks and bushes made communication
between the different parts of the line of the attack very difficult.

[Sidenote: Artillery come into action. A gun lost.]

At the moment when the first shot killed the corporal, the batteries,
under the command of Lieut.-Colonel H. B. Jeffreys, had rapidly moved
off to the left by sub-divisions for about 1,000 yards, and then
onward up the valley. There was no good position for the British guns,
except the ridge 2,000 yards to the west of the Kissieberg. But the
infantry's need of immediate support was too pressing to allow time
for that ridge's occupation. Lieut.-Colonel Jeffreys therefore, by the
direction of General Gatacre, caused the 77th battery to come into
action near kopje +a+, the 74th unlimbering on the open veld to the
westward. The mounted infantry continued to escort the batteries. In
getting into place a gun of the 74th battery had stuck in a donga,
owing to a horse being struck. It was smothered by a hail of bullets.
The three drivers were almost immediately wounded, and all the rest of
the team were shot down. The gun had therefore to be abandoned, part
of its breech mechanism being first removed.

[Sidenote: The course of the attack on Kissieberg.]

[Sidenote: Retreat.]

Meanwhile the three companies of the Irish Rifles, which had seized
kopje +a+, had made their way step by step up the northern extremity
of the Kissieberg, and had struggled on to within close proximity of
its crest line. The Boers from the main laager had now manned the
hill, but the B