ts, and held there, targets for the defenders. The burghers
who manned the trenches, though greatly harassed by the artillery,
were therefore still able to hold their own against the troops who
faced them, and the attack was brought to a complete standstill. For
many hours this situation continued. The wearied soldiers remained,
fasting and without water, exposed to the blazing sun of a South
African midsummer's day and pinned to the ground by an unseen enemy.

[Footnote 204: An officer in the Highland brigade who took
the time fixes the hour of this retirement at about 8 a.m.]

[Sidenote: The artillery saves the brigade, and with other corps, the
division.]

The accurate and well sustained shooting of the artillery now saved
the brigade from destruction. The resolute action of the cavalry and
mounted infantry, of the brigade of Guards, and of the Yorkshire Light
Infantry on the right, prevented the reverse from becoming a disaster
for the whole division. The Naval 4.7-in. gun, under Captain
Bearcroft, R.N., with two officers and 80 men, occupied the same
ground as during the bombardment of the 10th, the ground, namely, on
the west of the railway near the Ganger's Hut. To its right front was
the Howitzer battery, while the three field batteries came into action
to the north-east of Headquarter Hill, at a range of 2,000 yards.
Their first target was Magersfontein Hill, on which they opened about
4.50 a.m., as soon as they could see to lay their guns, but the
officers, soon realising that the Boers were holding, not the kopje
itself, but trenches cut at its foot, reduced their range to 1,700
yards, with the result that the volume of the enemy's fire sensibly
decreased. Half an hour later the officer commanding the artillery,
Lieutenant-Colonel Hall, pushed the 18th battery to within 1,400 yards
of the entrenchments, and shortly afterwards supported it with the
62nd battery. There these two batteries continued in action for the
rest of the day and, thanks to a slight swell in the ground in front
of the guns and to a favourable background, with exceedingly small
loss. The 75th, which had been supporting the bombardment of the
trenches by the other two batteries, was despatched between 9 and 10
a.m. to reinforce G. battery Royal Horse artillery, whose movements
will now be recorded.

[Sidenote: Babington's mounted column on the east.]

Shortly before 4 a.m. Major-General J. M. Babington led the 12th
L