Several Small British Columns Were Moving In The
South-East Of The Colony, But None Of Them Arrived In Time To Avert
The Disaster, Which Is The More Inexplicable As The Town Is Within
One Day's Ride Of Bloemfontein.
The place is a village hemmed in
upon its western side by a semicircle of steep rocky hills broken
in the centre by a gully.
The position was a very extended one, and
had the fatal weakness that the loss of any portion of it meant the
loss of it all. The garrison consisted of one company of Highland
Light Infantry on the southern horn of the semicircle, three
companies of the 2nd Gloucester Regiment on the northern and
central part, with two guns of the 68th battery. Some of the Royal
Irish Mounted Infantry and a handful of police made up the total of
the defenders to something over four hundred, Major Massy in
command.
The attack developed at that end of the ridge which was held by the
company of Highlanders. Every night the Boer riflemen drew in
closer, and every morning found the position more desperate. On the
20th the water supply of the garrison was cut, though a little was
still brought up by volunteers during the night. The thirst in the
sultry trenches was terrible, but the garrison still, with black
lips and parched tongues, held on to their lines. On the 22nd the
attack had made such progress that the post had by the Highlanders
became untenable, and had to be withdrawn.
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