Two hundred men
were left at the bottom of the hill to keep open communications with the
camp.
"From a hill close to the camp we could make out what was going on. Soon
after daybreak we saw a party of mounted men ride towards the hill,
where they usually stationed vedettes. They were fired at as they
approached, and directly a turmoil could be seen on Laing's Nek. Waggons
were inspanned, and we thought at first that they were all going to move
off, but this was not so. They were only getting ready to go if they
failed to recapture the hill, and in a short time we could see all their
force moving towards it. Well, from where we were it seemed that the
force on Majuba could have kept a hundred thousand Boers at bay, and so
they ought to have done.
"For a time the Boers did not make much progress. With glasses, puffs of
smoke could be made out all along the crest, and among the rocks below.
The firing began in earnest at seven, and between twelve and one the
Boer fire had ceased and ours died away. We thought it was all over, and
went back to our waggons again. Soon after one o'clock there was a
sudden outburst, and the men with the glasses observed that the Boers
were close up to the top of the hill. A few minutes later it was on the
plateau itself that the firing was going on.
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