Each Time,
However, The General Intervened, And At Last, Under A Stimulating
Rain Of Pom-Pom Shells, The Great Cannon Lurched Slowly Forward,
Quickening Its Pace As The Men Pulled On The Drag-Ropes, And The
Six Oxen Broke Into A Wheezy Canter.
Its retreat was covered by the
smaller guns which rained shrapnel upon the crest of the hill, and
upon the Boers who were descending to the camp.
Once the big gun
was out of danger, the others limbered up and followed, their rear
still covered by the staunch mounted infantry, with whom rest all
the honours of the battle. Cookson and Brooks with 250 men stood
for hours between Clements and absolute disaster. The camp was
abandoned as it stood, and all the stores, four hundred picketed
horses, and, most serious of all, two wagons of ammunition, fell
into the hands of the victors. To have saved all his guns, however,
after the destruction of half his force by an active enemy far
superior to him in numbers and in mobility, was a feat which goes
far to condone the disaster, and to increase rather than to impair
the confidence which his troops feel in General Clements. Having
retreated for a couple of miles he turned his big gun round upon
the hill, which is called Yeomanry Hill, and opened fire upon the
camp, which was being looted by swarms of Boers. So bold a face did
he present that he was able to remain with his crippled force upon
Yeomanry Hill from about nine until four in the afternoon, and no
attack was pressed home, though he lay under both shell and rifle
fire all day.
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