Some little
distance to the west rose two hills, Swartz Kop, which had been occupied
by the mounted infantry, and Spearman's Hill, named from a farm near its
base. Here General Buller had established his head-quarters. Spearman's
Hill, which was generally called Mount Alice, was a very important
position, and here the naval guns were placed, their fire commanding the
greater portion of the hills on the other side of the Tugela, and also
Potgieter's Drift, where it was intended the passage of the river should
be made. Swartz Kop was a less important position, though it also
dominated a wide extent of country; but as ridges on the other side
covered some important points from its fire, Mount Alice was selected as
the position for the naval battery, and also for the signallers, as from
here a direct communication could be kept up by heliograph and flash-
light with one of the hills held by the defenders of Ladysmith.
[Illustration: THE NAVAL GUNS ON MOUNT ALICE]
It was late on the 16th when the convoy which the Maritzburg Scouts were
escorting arrived at Springfield. All day they had heard the boom of
artillery and the rattle of machine-guns and musketry along the line of
hills on the other side of the Tugela and from the heights of Mount
Alice, and groaned in spirit as they laboured at their work of assisting
the waggons, that they were thus employed when hard fighting was going
on within eight miles of them.
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