With
Elandslaagte, Waggon Hill, The Relief Of Mafeking, Naauwpoort, And
Haartebeestefontein Upon Their Standards, The Imperial Light Horse,
Should They Take A Permanent Place In The Army List, Will Start
With A Record Of Which Many Older Regiments Might Be Proud.
If the Light Horse had a few bad hours on March 22nd at the hands
of the Boers, they and their colonial comrades were soon able to
return the same with interest.
On March 23rd Babington moved
forward through Kafir Kraal, the enemy falling back before him.
Next morning the British again advanced, and as the New Zealanders
and Bushmen, who formed the vanguard under Colonel Gray, emerged
from a pass they saw upon the plain in front of them the Boer force
with all its guns moving towards them. Whether this was done of set
purpose or whether the Boers imagined that the British had turned
and were intending to pursue them cannot now be determined, but
whatever the cause it is certain that for almost the first time in
the campaign a considerable force of each side found themselves in
the open and face to face.
It was a glorious moment. Setting spurs to their horses, officers
and men with a yell dashed forward at the enemy. One of the Boer
guns unlimbered and attempted to open fire, but was overwhelmed by
the wave of horsemen. The Boer riders broke and fled, leaving their
artillery to escape as best it might. The guns dashed over the veld
in a mad gallop, but wilder still was the rush of the fiery cavalry
behind them.
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