At the front matters went on as before. It was now known how it was that
the guns had advanced so far. Colonel Long had sent forward some of his
mounted men with two officers. The Boers allowed them to approach the
river bank without firing a shot. One of the scouts actually rode across
the bridge to the other side, and returning to the battery they reported
that there were no Boers about, and it was only after receiving this
message that Colonel Long took the guns forward to within six hundred
yards of the river, and twelve hundred of Fort Wylie.
The wounded were all taken to Frere or Estcourt, where hospitals had
been prepared. Hart and Lyttleton's brigades were sent back to Frere,
and the camp at Chieveley was moved nearer to the station, both for
convenience of supply, and because the position now taken up was a more
defensible one, and was less exposed to the fire of the big Boer guns;
large numbers of transport animals and waggons were brought up country.
It was known that a newly-landed division under General Sir Charles
Warren was now coming up, one regiment, the Somersets, arrived in camp
two or three days after the battle, and the loss of the cannon was to
some extent retrieved by the arrival of a 50-lbs.
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